Evelyn Reynolds

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    Fetterman defends decision to break with Democrats to end government shutdown: ‘My party crossed a line’ – live

    John Fetterman – the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania who voted on several occasions for a continuing resolution to end the shutdown – defended his decision to break from his party and join members of his caucus to pass a new bill to reopen the government.“My party crossed a line,” the lawmaker told Fox News in an interview. “It’s only wrong to shut our government down, and I’m relieved … the people now that are going to get paid and fed.”Fetterman added that he “never got any outreach” from the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, about his vote and holding out against Republicans to ensure that they came to the table on extending Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. “People went five weeks without being paid. I mean, that’s a violation of my core values, and I think it’s our party’s as well,” Fetterman said.The US Food and Drug Administration plans to name oncology expert Richard Pazdur as the nation’s top drug regulator, the Washington Post reports, citing three people familiar with the matter.Pazdur would lead the agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which regulates over-the-counter medicines and most prescription drugs. If selected, he would replace Dr George Tidmarsh, according to the Post.Tidmarsh resigned from the role last week following “serious concerns about his personal conduct”, according to a government spokesperson.The departure came the same day that a drugmaker connected to one of Tidmarsh’s former business associates filed a lawsuit alleging that he made “false and defamatory statements” during his time at the FDA.Tidmarsh, an experienced biotech executive and longtime Stanford University professor, took over as the director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in July.A government watchdog group has asked two different bar associations to investigate Lindsey Halligan, a former personal attorney for Donald Trump who brought cases against James Comey and Letitia James.Halligan is currently serving as US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia after an outburst in which Trump overtly put pressure on his attorney general to more aggressively pursue his political foes.The complaint filed by the Campaign for Accountability (CFA) asks the bar in Florida and Virginia to investigate misconduct they claim violates justice department regulations.“By contacting Lawfare journalist Anna Bower to discuss and attempt to influence her coverage of the James prosecution, Ms. Halligan appears to have violated DOJ regulations, Virginia District Court rules and RPC 3.6, prohibiting pretrial publicity,” reads the statement by the group.“Ms. Halligan appears to have violated numerous rules of professional conduct for lawyers,” said CFA executive director Michelle Kuppersmith. “We are asking the Virginia and Florida Bars to investigate, making clear that a government appointment is not a hall pass for unethical behavior.”

    The House is considering a short-term spending bill that passed in the Senate and would end the record long government shutdown. A small group of the Democratic caucus broke party ranks and joined Republicans to reach a 60-vote threshold in the upper chamber. Now, the House is set to cast a vote to secure its passage as early as tomorrow. Most Democrats in the lower chamber vow to vote “no” on the legislation, as it includes no extension for expiring Obamacare subsidies – the centerpiece of their negotiations throughout the shutdown. Today, the House’s largest ideological group, the centrist New Democrat Coalition, announced their opposition to the measure. The sentiment appears much the same in the congressional progressive caucus, where chair Greg Casar called the measure “a betrayal of millions of Americans counting on Democrats to fight for them”.

    Procedurally, before the bill heads to the House floor, it will require the rules committee to schedule a vote on the legislation. Politico is reporting, citing two people with knowledge of the matter, that this will take place at around 6pm ET today. The hope is then for an official vote on Wednesday afternoon.

    For his part, Donald Trump called the bill’s progress a “very big victory”, during his remarks at Arlington National Cemetery earlier to commemorate Veterans Day in the US. The president also congratulated House speaker Mike Johnson and Senate majority leader John Thune. “We’re opening up our country. Should have never been closed, should have never been closed,” Trump added.

    The justice department plans to investigate the University of California, Berkeley following altercations that occurred during a protest on Monday, outside a Turning Point USA campus event. The influential rightwing college group founded by Charlie Kirk made the final stop of its American Comeback tour at the San Francisco Bay Area university, which was met with large and sometimes rowdy protests. Demonstrators gathered outside the hall where the event was being held, chanting and carrying signs with slogans such as “We won the war, why are there still Nazis” and “No safe space for fascist scum”.

    A Utah judge handed Democrats a win in the continuing national fight over voting districts by ordering a new map that creates a House seat in a Democratic-leaning area, in a state where Republicans currently control all four positions. It consolidates Salt Lake county – which includes the state’s largest city – largely within a single district, rather than dividing the Democratic-voting population center among all four seats.
    John Fetterman – the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania who voted on several occasions for a continuing resolution to end the shutdown – defended his decision to break from his party and join members of his caucus to pass a new bill to reopen the government.“My party crossed a line,” the lawmaker told Fox News in an interview. “It’s only wrong to shut our government down, and I’m relieved … the people now that are going to get paid and fed.”Fetterman added that he “never got any outreach” from the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, about his vote and holding out against Republicans to ensure that they came to the table on extending Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. “People went five weeks without being paid. I mean, that’s a violation of my core values, and I think it’s our party’s as well,” Fetterman said.The Trump administration has launched its most direct attempt yet to shut down the top US consumer watchdog, arguing the current funding mechanism behind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unlawful.Attorneys for the administration claimed in a court filing that the agency “anticipates exhausting its currently available funds in early 2026”, setting the stage for it to be dismantled.The CFPB is legally barred from seeking additional funds from the Federal Reserve, its typical source of funding, the attorneys suggested.Donald Trump’s officials have tried persistently to close the agency, attempting to fire the vast majority of its workforce. These efforts sparked months of legal wrangling.The CFPB has returned more than $21bn to US consumers since it was set up, in the wake of the financial crisis, to shore up oversight of consumer financial firms.The justice department’s office of legal counsel issued an opinion claiming the CFPB cannot draw money from the Fed currently, claiming the “combined earnings of the Federal Reserve System” refers to profits of the Fed, which has operated at a loss since 2022.The USS Gerald R Ford, the defense department’s largest aircraft carrier, entered the Latin America region on Tuesday, according to the Navy’s Fourth fleet. The area, known as the US Southern Command (Southcom), is seeing a sizable increase in military presence amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on drug cartels.“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” said the department’s chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell. “These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations.”The Pentagon has carried out at least 19 strikes against suspected drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean and off the Pacific coasts of Latin America, killing at least 76 people.It also comes amid acrimony with Venezuela, and its leader Nicolas Maduro – who claims the military escalation is a move to oust him from power. For his part, Trump told CBS News recently that Maduro’s days are “numbered”, but downplayed the possibility of a war.Donald Trump made a surprise appearance on the Pat McAfee show, broadcast on ESPN, where he expressed confidence in the final passage of the Senate bill to reopen the federal government. “So the House is going to vote, and I think they’re going to vote positively. I think most people want to see it open,” he told the host. “Only people that hate our country want to see it not open, because our country is doing so well.”The US Department of Justice plans to investigate the University of California, Berkeley following altercations that occurred during a protest on Monday, outside a Turning Point USA campus event.The influential rightwing college group founded by Charlie Kirk made the final stop of its American Comeback tour at the San Francisco Bay Area university, which was met with large and sometimes rowdy protests.Demonstrators gathered outside the hall where the event was being held, chanting and carrying signs with slogans such as “We won the war, why are there still Nazis” and “No safe space for fascist scum”. Dozens of police officers were staged around the campus, blocking entrances and clearing a path for those with tickets to the event.The protest was marked by tense moments and sometimes violent confrontations, including scuffles between demonstrators and counter-demonstrators and some people who allegedly threw things at police officers. A UC Berkeley spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times that four people were arrested, including two people who fought. Photographs from the event showed a Charlie Kirk supporter with a bloodied face.Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights division at the justice department, shared video online posted by rightwing influencers who alleged “Antifa” turned the campus into a war zone. Dhillon said she saw “issues of serious concern regarding campus and local security and Antifa’s ability to operate with impunity in CA” and that campus and the city can expect to receive correspondence from the department.“In America, we do not allow citizens to be attacked by violent thugs and shrug and turn our backs. Been there, done that, not on our watch,” she wrote.The first step – before the Senate-passed bill to reopen the government heads to the House floor – will require the Rules committee to schedule a vote on the legislation. Politico is reporting, citing two people with knowledge of the matter, that this will take place at around 6pm ET today.The hope is then for an official vote in the lower chamber on Wednesday afternoon.Jodey Arrington, the Republican congressman from Texas who also serves as chair of the House budget committee, announced that he will not seek re-election in 2026. He is now the first GOP House member to announce his decision to leave Congress at the end of his current term, ahead of the midterm elections.Arrington was one of the key architects of the president’s sweeping domestic policy bill in Congress, and called it the most “consequential piece of legislation in modern history” in his video announcement.“There is a time and season for everything, and this season is coming to a close,” he said. “I will be passing the torch to the next West Texan. Because I believe, as our founding fathers did, in citizen leadership, temporary service, not a career.”The lawmaker’s district, which mainly covers the Lubbock area, is a GOP safe-seat.Donald Trump has, for years, used legal threats and lawsuits to pressure news companies who put out coverage he does not like. After his return to power, a string of US broadcasters and tech firms have paid tens of millions of dollars to settle such cases.The president has now gone global with this campaign, crossing the pond to threaten the BBC with a $1bn lawsuit over an episode of the Panorama documentary program that aired more than a year ago.The saga is only the latest chapter in a campaign meant to keep media institutions that cover Trump on their toes. Often, legal letters sent to media companies on his behalf have not actually led to lawsuits – though many journalists say they have contributed to a chilling effect on coverage.But Trump has also followed through on several lawsuits, and since his re-election one year ago, a series of media and tech companies have chosen to take the easy way out by agreeing to significant settlements. Several of those companies have business before his administration.In July, Paramount, parent company of CBS News, chose to settle a case that Trump had filed in the state of Texas arguing that the company had violated consumer protection laws by misleadingly editing a 60 Minutes interview of then vice-president Kamala Harris. Many legal experts viewed the case as easily winnable for Paramount, considering the unrelated statute he sued under – and that Trump could not credibly claim to have been harmed by the segment since he defeated Harris in the election.But company leadership viewed the lawsuit as an unnecessary distraction, particularly as it sought the federal government’s approval of a merger with Skydance Media. Paramount ultimately paid $16m.Trump also won a settlement last year from ABC, owned by Disney, which he had sued over comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos. ABC agreed to pay $15m.When combining Trump’s settlements with ABC, CBS and cases against both Facebook parent company Meta and YouTube, which is owned by Google, he has racked up over $80m in agreements.Now the BBC is in his sights. Unlike CBS, owned by Paramount Skydance, and ABC, owned by Disney, the BBC is not part of a complicated corporate empire: it is independent, although its unique structure as a publicly funded organization invites intense scrutiny.But if Trump chooses to sue, Mark Stephens, an international media lawyer at the firm Howard Kennedy, said the case would bring renewed attention to Trump’s comments, and any role he might have played in fomenting the violence of January 6. (Trump claims he did no such thing.)
    If he sues, he opens a Pandora’s box, and in that Pandora’s box is every damning quote he’s ever uttered about January 6.
    So this isn’t the hill to die on, in my view. It’s a legal cliff edge, and if he jumps, there’s a high chance he’ll fall.
    As House Republican leaders move to hold a vote on legislation to reopen the government, top Democrats vowed today to oppose the bill for not addressing their demand for more healthcare funding.Democrats have for weeks demanded that any measure to fund the government include an extension of tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans, which were created under Joe Biden and due to expire at the end of the year, sending premiums for enrollees higher.With Donald Trump’s encouragement, Congress’s Republican leaders refused, sparking a spending standoff that resulted in the longest government shutdown in US history. But the Democrats’ resolve cracked earlier this week, when a splinter group in the Senate joined with the GOP to craft a compromise bill that reauthorizes government funding through January, without extending the tax credits.The Senate passed that legislation yesterday evening, and the House is expected consider it beginning Wednesday afternoon. The chamber’s top Democrats oppose it, with minority leader Hakeem Jeffries yesterday calling it a “partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people”.Today, the House’s largest ideological caucus, the centrist New Democrat Coalition, announced their opposition to the measure.“While New Dems always seek common ground, our coalition remains united in opposition to legislation that sacrifices the wellbeing of the constituents we’re sworn to serve,” chair Brad Schneider said. “Unfortunately, the Senate-passed bill fails to address our constituents’ top priorities, doing nothing to protect their access to healthcare, lower their costs, or curb the administration’s extreme agenda.”The sentiment appears much the same in the congressional progressive caucus, where chair Greg Casar called the measure “a betrayal of millions of Americans counting on Democrats to fight for them”.The Democratic opposition threatens to make for a tight vote for speaker Mike Johnson, who has kept the House out of session for more than 50 days in a bid to pressure Senate Democrats into caving to the GOP’s demands.With a 219-member majority with full attendance, he can only afford to lose two votes on the bill, and Kentucky representative Thomas Massie is likely to vote no.But Democrats may have their own defectors. Maine’s Jared Golden, who last week announced he would not seek another term representing a district that voted for Trump last year, was the only Democrat in September to vote for a Republican funding bill that did not extend the tax credit. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, whose Washington state district is similarly friendly to the president, also expressed her support for that bill. More

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    US army gynecologist accused of secretly filming patients during exams

    Military officials in Texas have suspended a US army gynecologist over allegations he inappropriately touched and secretly filmed dozens of women during appointments at an on-base medical center.A civil lawsuit filed in Bell county on Monday alleges that Blaine McGraw, a doctor and army major at Fort Hood, repeatedly groped a woman during a series of seven or eight consultations, and took intimate videos and photographs of her that were later found on his phone.The 13-page lawsuit, seen by the Guardian, also alleges that senior officers allowed McGraw to continue to work despite receiving complaints of sexual misconduct against him over several years and at another army medical center in Hawaii.“By doing so, the army gave cover to a predator in uniform,” the lawsuit states.“This case exposes a shocking betrayal committed within the walls of a US army hospital. McGraw … used his position of trust to sexually exploit, manipulate, and secretly record women under his care. What should have been a place of healing became a stage for abuse.”Attorney Andrew Cobos, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiff, the wife of an active duty service member identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe, said he represented at least another 45 women who came forward with similar allegations.A military official told NBC on condition of anonymity that at least 25 women had contacted the army’s criminal investigation division after the images were found on McGraw’s phone.“Upon information and belief, investigators recovered thousands of photographs and videos from his phone, taken over the course of multiple years, depicting scores of female patients, many of whom remain unidentified,” the lawsuit said.It said the first complaints were filed against him “years earlier” when he worked at the Tripler army medical center in Honolulu, Hawaii, but army leadership “laughed off credible allegations”, which allowed his misconduct to “thrive” in his new job in Texas.McGraw was suspended from his position at Fort Hood’s Carl R Darnall army medical center on 17 October, although an army statement announcing the opening of an investigation did not identify him by name – referring to him only as a “medical provider”.In an updated statement released on Monday, the army provided more details of the timeline of its investigation and said it had identified and attempted to contact all patients the suspended doctor saw during his time at Fort Hood.Among them was the plaintiff, who received a call from investigators asking her to come in for an interview. When she did, the lawsuit states, she learned McGraw recorded “nearly the entirety of her final appointment, including both the breast and pelvic examinations, without her knowledge or consent”.She was shown several screenshots from videos recovered from McGraw’s phone from the appointment three days earlier – images the lawsuit states “unmistakably depicted” her body.After the interview with investigators, after which she said she was handed a generic pamphlet with phone numbers for various army departments, the woman sat in her car and cried.She was “disoriented and disarrayed”, the court papers said, with “her sense of safety shattered”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSeveral of McGraw’s alleged victims spoke at a press conference recently outside the gates of Fort Hood, criticizing the army’s response to complaints against him.“It wasn’t the act itself that hurt me, it was the way it was handled afterwards – the indifference, the lack of humanity,” one woman said.Cobos said he also planned to file a separate action under the federal Tort Claims Act to hold the army responsible for what he said was a “culture of silence and indifference” that allowed McGraw to operate.“This lawsuit is the first step in shining a light on this misconduct and restoring justice. The army needs accountability, and that only happens through transparency,” he said.The Guardian contacted Daniel Conway, an attorney representing McGraw, for comment.In a statement to NBC, Conway said his client had been “fully cooperative” with the investigation.“We’ve expressed to the government our concern that plaintiffs’ attorneys are holding press conferences citing inaccurate information apparently learned from government sources,” he said.“At this point it’s best to let the investigation complete before we comment.” More

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    Trump pardons trail runner convicted after taking shortcut during record run

    Donald Trump has pardoned a trail runner who briefly took a closed trail on his way to a record time on the tallest peak in the Teton Range of western Wyoming.The pardon for Michelino Sunseri, unlike recent ones for Trump allies, appeared apolitical.“Michelino is pleased, of course, but nobody expects a pardon,” Sunseri’s attorney, Michael Poon, told Outside. “He shouldn’t have had to go through this ordeal to begin with. It’s not a case that should have ever been brought to trial.”Poon said the Pacific Legal Foundation had lobbied White House officials on Sunseri’s behalf but had not met with Trump directly.Sunseri ran up and down Grand Teton, the 13,775ft centerpiece of the Teton Range, in two hours, 50 minutes and 50 seconds in 2024. It was an epic feat: The 33-year-old’s run covered 13.3 miles, gaining 7,000ft in elevation, then back down again in Grand Teton National Park.But on the way down, Sunseri left a switchback to avoid hikers. Going off-trail in a national park is generally forbidden because it can cause erosion to sensitive environments.Sunseri, who admitted taking the two-minute detour after it was revealed by his GPS tracker, received a misdemeanor conviction from a judge in September. Fastest Known Time, which oversees trail running records, also voided his time because of his shortcut.Sunseri received widespread online support after his conviction and appeared on various podcasts telling his story. The hashtag “Free Michelino” also became prominent among the trail running community on social media.“There’s been a lot of media around this case,” Poon said. “I suspect that it caught the eye of the officials in charge of the pardon process.”Before the pardon, prosecutors agreed to seek dismissal if Sunseri completed 60 hours of community service and a course on wilderness stewardship, according to Sunseri’s attorneys. He had originally faced a fine of $5,000 and a lifetime ban from Grand Teton National Park. More

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    Trump administration moves again to dismantle top US consumer watchdog

    The Trump administration has launched its most direct attempt yet to shut down the top US consumer watchdog, arguing the current funding mechanism behind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unlawful.Attorneys for the administration claimed in a court filing that the agency “anticipates exhausting its currently available funds in early 2026”, setting the stage for it to be dismantled.The CFPB is legally barred from seeking additional funds from the Federal Reserve, its typical source of funding, the attorneys suggested.Donald Trump’s officials have tried persistently to close the agency, attempting to fire the vast majority of its workforce. These efforts sparked months of legal wrangling.The CFPB has returned more than $21bn to US consumers since it was set up, in the wake of the financial crisis, to shore up oversight of consumer financial firms.The justice department’s office of legal counsel issued an opinion claiming the CFPB cannot draw money from the Fed currently, claiming the “combined earnings of the Federal Reserve System” refers to profits of the Fed, which has operated at a loss since 2022.Several federal judges have previously rejected that argument used by companies attempting to dismiss lawsuits brought by the agency, reported Politico.Russell Vought, the White House office of management and budget director, said in October that he plans to shut down the agency, and that this would take up to three months.The claim was criticized by Democrats, given previous contrary statements from the administration, and court decisions blocking the agency from being shut down.“These comments are particularly concerning given that a federal court has specifically blocked you from illegally shutting down the agency,” wrote Senate banking committee Democrats in a letter to Vought. “Your continued attempts to shutter the CFPB are illegal, and American families stand to pay the price.”Vought has already suspended most of the agency’s work, as the full DC circuit court of appeals is deciding whether to take the case as a lower court order blocked the firings of about 90% of the agency’s staff.The CFPB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. More

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    The Guardian view on Fifa’s new ‘peace prize’: Gianni Infantino should concentrate on the day job | Editorial

    To general bemusement, Gianni Infantino, the president of world football’s governing body, Fifa, was pictured congratulating Donald Trump last month at the Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, having been personally invited by the US president. Mr Infantino did not hold back in lauding the president’s peace-making prowess, commenting: “Now we can really write some new pages. Pages of togetherness, of peace, in a region which really, really needs it.”News that Fifa is to launch its own annual peace prize, with the inaugural award to take place in Washington next month, would therefore seem to point to only one outcome. To use a metaphor from another sport, it surely looks like a slam dunk for the man Fifa’s president describes as a “winner” and “close friend”. As Mr Infantino told an American business forum on the day he announced the prize: “We should all support what [Mr Trump is] doing because I think it’s looking good.”The rest of us can be excused for wishing that Mr Infantino was spending less time on inappropriate Maga networking and self-aggrandising stunts, and more on addressing criticism of how he is performing in his day job. Ahead of this summer’s men’s World Cup, the sports academic and Guardian US columnist Leander Schaerlaeckens has justly accused Fifa of being “fully focused on monetizing the sport, no matter the collateral damage”. Recently unveiled ticketing arrangements for the tournament, which will take place in the US, Canada and Mexico, more than bear that judgment out.Apeing the superlative-laden bombastic style of his new best friend in politics, Mr Infantino has predicted “the biggest, best and most inclusive World Cup ever”. The first of those claims is literally true, since Fifa’s desire to maximise receipts has led it to increase the number of participating teams from 32 to an unwieldy 48. The second is unknowable until the games are played. The third – at least for fans actually wishing to attend some matches – is cobblers.Fifa’s decision to adopt dynamic pricing for tickets means that the price of a family day out at a game could run into thousands of dollars. Supposedly discounted tickets for group stage games are vanishingly thin on the ground, and the decision to remove a cap on resale value saw a $2,030 ticket for the World Cup final relisted the next day for $25,000. Fifa, naturally, takes a cut from sanctioned mark-ups.Under Mr Infantino, Fifa has become the eager ally of super-rich sportswashing states such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the latter given a clear run at the 2034 World Cup. The relentless quest for new sources of income has also led to the overloading of the football calendar with the overblown Club World Cup. This summer promises to be a Trump-endorsed masterclass in monetisation, allowing the US market to let rip and accelerating the uber-gentrification of the world’s most popular sport.In September, New York’s Arsenal-supporting mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, launched a “Game over greed” petition, condemning the ticketing strategy as an “affront to the game”. He also lamented the fact that – unlike at the last three World Cups – no tickets are being set aside for local residents. A noble intervention, but sadly a doomed one. Just like his idol in the White House, Mr Infantino only starts listening when money is doing the talking. More

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    I’m an American relying on food stamps. This country has turned us into lab rats

    It is 10 November, and my refrigerator is almost empty.I am, in fact, hungry as I write this. It is not that I do not have food at all; it is that I do not have the inclination to eat a can of tuna for breakfast, nor do I have the time to cook the winter squash my neighbor gave me.I am one of 41 million Americans who rely on Snap to make ends meet. When I offered to write about my experience during the government shutdown, it looked like we were not going to get any food assistance at all. And then we were. And then we weren’t.For weeks, the administration has been using our precarious survival as a bargaining block. Will they eat, or won’t they?This is what life is in Mapleton, Oregon, population 527. One white-spired church, one general store, one diner, one bar, one food bank where people line up two hours before the doors open.Roughly one in six Oregonians rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) to buy groceries, but it it worse here in the sticks. Our 22% poverty rate is double the state average, and even higher for young families: 44% of the kids in this school district live below the poverty level.I am not writing this with self pity. I do not have kids and my rent is very low, due to the generosity of friends. I understand that my version of poverty – the kind where you are down to canned tuna and raisins – is not the same as starvation. I feel fortunate to live in one of the states with a governor who has stood up to the federal government. That was heartening – especially after weeks of stress.But it still seems to me that we, America’s low-income people, have been treated like lab animals in a sick political experiment. Oh good, they’re giving us food! Oh wait, they’re not.When I say “giving us food”, it makes it sound like we do not work or do for ourselves. That is simply not true. Even with a regular allotment of Snap benefits and a handout from the food bank, it takes true ingenuity to get through the month. And while we are cooking beans from scratch, we are also working or hustling to find work.Take for instance, my cousin’s daughter Alissa, 24, who pays $1,000 a month to live in what she describes as “a roach-infested” slum in a nearby town, where it is slightly easier to find work.Her partner was a fisher but now works at a fishing supply store in order to spend more time with his family. Alissa used to be a full-time barista, but her $13.50 an hour did not make sense if it all went to daycare. She still hustles jobs in the so-called gig economy, but it is not enough. After taxes and rent, there is barely enough to cover their bills. She is reliant on Snap for their food.When I talked to her a week ago, she was stressed.“I’m really worried,” she said. “Not just about my family but the whole town. There’s not a lot of food banks to begin with and their funding was already cut earlier in the year.”The problem is that most people who get Snap benefits are like me: we were already running low on food before the end of October. We have been scrambling for weeks. And out here in rural Oregon, we make do with what is in front of us. “It’s hunting season so he’s out in his spare time,” Alissa said of her partner. They also forage for wild food.All this hunting, foraging and cooking from scratch might sound romantic, but less so when you consider she is living in a crap apartment and breaking Instacart rules by bringing her daughter on the job.“There’s too many people that simply don’t have the insight into what life is really like for the majority of us,” she said.For decades, I survived without relying on the government safety net that our tax dollars fund. But in recent years, everything has been getting harder. AI ate up most of my contract work. Competition is stiff so I cannot raise my rates – I make the same amount per hour that I did five years ago, but it has about half the buying power. I began racking up credit card debt to pay my bills.Last fall, I was awarded $250 in Snap benefits. It was not enough to survive the month. Then my Snap benefits were reduced, first because I found meager part-time work and then again for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, grocery prices soared.I quit being choosy at the food bank, and started picking up stuff I would not normally eat – AKA stockpiling food. Off-brand mac and cheese, a can of peaches. The thing about food insecurity is that you are always worrying. You are always doing mental math, figuring out how to substitute key ingredients or spruce up the pot of lentils you have been eating all week.And then there’s shame. At first, I refused to go to the food bank because I worried I would run into someone I knew. Now I realize the fallacy of that: if I run into someone at the food bank, it’s because we’re in the same boat – or they are there to help. I don’t feel shame any more. I feel solidarity and anger.I am angry there are so many of us. That I cannot make a living from hard work at a job I am good at. That I have been writing about my own food insecurity for 15 years.I am angry that I have worked so hard to get here, and I am angry for all the people who have had it worse. The furloughed workers who have not been paid. My friend Kevin who is unable to work because an insurance agency has denied him back surgery for an injury he got on the job. My friend Mel, who has been working for a hotel chain for seven years, and lost her Snap and healthcare assistance because she got a minuscule raise. All the people with toothaches they cannot treat, all of us with overdue electric bills.Every month the lines are longer at our food bank while rich people scheme ways to avoid taxes and blame us for the problems their policies create. Now it looks like some Democrats at the federal level are willing to play nice with the Republicans for political gain – at the expense of essential healthcare subsidies for the working poor and middle class? That doesn’t strike me as moral, either.I am not alone in my anger. I am part of a rising tide.“The amount of propaganda and gaslighting the government has been doing is sickening,” Alissa said. “Any amount of either is a sign of a failed system in my book. I mean truly imagine having to trick someone into agreeing with you because you knew they’d be against your policies if you were upfront.”She is part of a family group chat where they discuss health, parenting, and politics. “My Maga grandma definitely thinks I’m a dumb liberal, even though I’m not a liberal,” she said with a laugh. “What more people need to understand is it’s never me versus you, Democrat versus Republican, or Maga versus lib. It’s the people versus exploitation.”Here is your report from rural America: the stress, frustration and disgust are off the charts. Conspiracy theories swirl and some don’t sound that crazy to me. Two I heard this week: either they want to push people to rebel so they can invoke the Insurrection Act, or they want us all so broken that we do not have the energy to defend our rights, or even be there for one other.It’s hard to speak up when your teeth hurt. It’s hard to stand up when you are hungry. It’s hard to show up when you can’t afford gas. More

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    How US senators voted on the shutdown-ending budget bill

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    With his threat of a $1bn lawsuit against BBC, Trump’s assault on the media goes global

    Donald Trump has, for years, used legal threats and lawsuits to pressure news companies who put out coverage he does not like. After his return to power, a string of US broadcasters and tech firms have paid tens of millions of dollars to settle such cases.The president has now gone global with this campaign, crossing the pond to threaten the BBC with a $1bn lawsuit over an episode of the Panorama documentary program that aired more than a year ago.A lawyer representing Trump accused the BBC of “defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” in stitching together Trump’s comments from his January 6 speech in Washington DC to make it sound like he was encouraging his supporters to “fight like hell” at the US Capitol, hours before a deadly insurrection unfolded.Already, two top BBC executives have resigned over the controversy. A lawyer for Trump said the BBC’s broadcast has caused Trump “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” and suggested it violated Florida law – even though BBC iPlayer, the main streaming platform that carries Panorama, and BBC One, the main TV channel that broadcasts it, are not available in the US.The BBC has said it will review the correspondence from Trump’s legal team “and respond directly in due course”.The saga is only the latest chapter in a campaign meant to keep media institutions that cover Trump on their toes. Often, legal letters sent to media companies on his behalf have not actually led to lawsuits – though many journalists say they have contributed to a chilling effect on coverage.But Trump has also followed through on several lawsuits, and since his re-election one year ago, a series of media and tech companies have chosen to take the easy way out by agreeing to significant settlements. Several of those companies have business before his administration.In July, Paramount, parent company of CBS News, chose to settle a case that Trump had filed in the state of Texas arguing that the company had violated consumer protection laws by misleadingly editing a 60 Minutes interview of then vice-president Kamala Harris. Many legal experts viewed the case as easily winnable for Paramount, considering the unrelated statute he sued under – and that Trump could not credibly claim to have been harmed by the segment since he defeated Harris in the election.But company leadership viewed the lawsuit as an unnecessary distraction, particularly as it sought his government’s approval of a merger with Skydance Media. Paramount ultimately paid $16m.Trump also won a settlement last year from ABC, owned by Disney, which he had sued over comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos. ABC agreed to pay $15m.When combining Trump’s settlements with ABC, CBS and cases against both Facebook parent company Meta and YouTube, which is owned by Google, he has racked up over $80m in agreements. Most of this money is slated to go toward the building of Trump’s presidential library, rather than to him personally.Now the BBC in his sights. Unlike CBS, owned by Paramount Skydance, and ABC, owned by Disney, the BBC is not part of a complicated corporate empire: it is independent, although its unique structure as a publicly funded organization invites intense scrutiny.Because of the timing of the Panorama broadcast, one week before the 5 November 2024 presidential election, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of so-called “election interference”, a similar charge to the CBS case. “President Trump will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in lies, deception, and fake news,” they told the Guardian.The legal letter cites the actual malice standard necessary to win defamation cases in the US. To meet that bar, Trump’s team would have to prove that someone with authority at the BBC knew that the edited package falsely portrayed Trump to have encouraged violence, and chose not to act on that knowledge.David A Logan, professor emeritus at the Roger Williams School of Law in Rhode Island, said Trump’s allegations against the BBC closely “track” those he made against CBS – though in that case, CBS had merely used two different parts of the same answer in separate broadcasts, rather than pulling together comments from opposite ends of the Harris interview.“I am reluctant to say which is worse journalism,” Logan said, but he noted that the resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and chief executive of BBC News Deborah Turness “signals that the BBC thinks it’s plenty bad behavior”.Mark Stephens, an international media lawyer at the firm Howard Kennedy, said Trump’s team likely targeted the US to potentially file the case because the statute of limitations – one year from the date of the broadcast, which was 28 October 2024 – has passed in the UK.Still, he said that Trump’s team would face “jurisdictional hurdles” if it filed the lawsuit. Because the program was not easily viewable in Florida, Stephens said it could be challenging to prove that someone in the state had seen it. “The question I would ask myself early on is: How can someone in Florida think the worst of Donald Trump if they haven’t seen the publication?” (The legal letter noted the segment in question has been distributed “through various digital mediums”.)If Trump chooses to sue, Stephens said the case would bring renewed attention to Trump’s comments, and any role he might have played in fomenting the violence of January 6. (Trump claims he did no such thing.)“If he sues, he opens a Pandora’s box, and in that Pandora’s box is every damning quote he’s ever uttered about Jan 6,” said Stephens. “So this isn’t the hill to die on, in my view. It’s a legal cliff edge, and if he jumps, there’s a high chance he’ll fall.” More