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September 23, 2025
Unease grows at the Justice Department as Trump's threats get even more blunt
(NPR) President Trump is openly directing the Justice Department to go after his political adversaries, adding to a sense of unease inside the department about job security and ethical obligations. The Justice Department has traditionally operated with some measure of distance from the White House on criminal investigations. But that distance seems to have closed this year in a way that feels different to longtime observers. During the presidency of Richard Nixon, public servants at the DOJ felt squeezed between what the president wanted and what the law required. But even Nixon was not as clear and open as Trump is now about what he wanted to happen.
Go to discussionWhite House quickly changes its story after Tom Homan bribery revelations
(Raw Story) The White House is changing its story around "border czar" Tom Homan accepting a $50,000 bribe as Donald Trump's administration was coming into office. Reporting for MSNBC, Ken Dilanian and Carol Leonnig wrote over the weekend that Homan, whose official title is the executive associate director for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), was caught by special agents in Texas soliciting bribes. The undercover operation had agents posing as business executives trying to influence government contracts. Homan accepted $50,000 in cash and indicated he would help them get the contract, according to the report.
Go to discussionTuesday's special election in Arizona set to deliver a decisive US House vote for Epstein files release
(CNN) A special election in Arizona on Tuesday is expected to deliver the decisive signature to the push for a vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein case files. The race in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District will determine who will fill the seat vacated by the late Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva, who died from cancer in March. Grijalva’s daughter, Adelita Grijalva, is looking to follow in her father’s footsteps. She is heavily favored against Republican Daniel Butierez, who ran for the seat against the elder Grijalva in 2024, losing the race by 26 points.
Go to discussion'We've regressed so horribly': Autism groups respond to Trump administration's Tylenol claims
(USA Today) The oversimplification of a complex developmental difference that exists on a spectrum of many different abilities and experiences is dehumanizing at best and dangerous at its worst, autism experts, advocacy groups and members of the community told USA TODAY. "The claim that Tylenol causes autism has been shown to be false by actual scientific research ... Autism is a very complex neurodevelopmental condition," said Dr. Sara Rodrigues, Executive Director of Balanced Learning Center, a nonprofit providing services, coaching, advocacy and therapy for autistic and neurodivergent people.
Go to discussionUK Tells Patients 'Don't Pay Attention' to Trump
(Political Wire) “UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting told British patients to ignore Donald Trump’s call for pregnant women to avoid Tylenol, known in Britain as paracetamol, in a rare instance of a British minister overtly criticizing the US president,” Bloomberg reports.
Go to discussionThe Sleeping Giant Is Awakening
(Robert Reich) Maybe I’m being too optimistic, but I’ve seen a lot. I know the signs. The sleeping giant always remains asleep until some venality becomes so noxious, some action so disrespectful of the common good, some brutality so noisy, that he has no choice but to awaken. And when he does, the good sense of the American people causes him to put an end to whatever it was that awakened him.
Go to discussionZohran Mamdani agrees to ABC town hall after Kimmel reinstated
(The Guardian) Zohran Mamdani, the New York Democratic mayoral candidate, said on Monday evening he was willing to appear at a town hall hosted by a local ABC station after the national network said it would reinstate Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show. Mamdani had announced his withdrawal from the televised town hall hosted by a local ABC station in protest of the network’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s talkshow.
Go to discussionSinclair Won't Air Jimmy Kimmel's Return on Its 38 ABC Stations
(Hollywood Reporter) Jimmy Kimmel may be returning to ABC Tuesday night, but his show will remain dark in a large swath of the U.S., with Sinclair Broadcast Group saying that it will preempt the show. “Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming,” the company said in a statement Monday. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.” The Walt Disney Co. said Monday that Kimmel would return to the air after his nearly week-long suspension.
Go to discussionICE agents held 5-year-old girl outside Leominster home to get father to surrender
(NBC 10 Boston) A Guatemalan family from Leominster, Massachusetts, says federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained their 5-year-old daughter outside their home to pressure her father to surrender. In a recording obtained by Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra, the family's anguished screams can be heard as they try to recover the girl. "They took my daughter, she's 5 years old. She has autism spectrum," the woman says in the video. "Give me my daughter back."
Go to discussionA Criminal Conspiracy: Elena Kagan Tears Into Supreme Court for Letting Trump Run Amok
(The New Republic) Justice Elena Kagan slammed the Supreme Court’s conservative majority Monday for handing “full control” of independent agencies to... Donald Trump by allowing him to fire anyone he wants “for any reason or no reason at all.” The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling along ideological lines approving Trump’s emergency request to remove Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission. The court also announced that it would hear arguments for the case in December.
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