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Most G.O.P. lawmakers had little to say about the president's claims of election vulnerabilities, and he did not appear to move the needle on the voting restriction bill he championed.
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Hundreds of community members gathered in Houston on Thursday evening for a public viewing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the 52-year-old Mexican man shot and killed by an ICE agent on July 7. His sons stood by their father's casket for hours greeting mourners who wore blue, Salgado Araujo's favorite color. A mariachi band played, and several altars adorned the chapel: One table held Salgado Araujo's construction tools and hard hats, while another displayed two of his Mexico soccer jerseys. Photos and videos of some of the family's most joyful moments were projected in the background.
Democracy Now!'s María Inés Taracena spoke to some of the attendees outside of the funeral home. "Looking back at history, it brought back memories of Emmett Till, when his mom also let the community grieve with them," said Cesar Espinosa, a local immigrant rights activist. "She wanted to show the world what they had done to her son, and I think today, this family also wanted to show the world what they had done to them."
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Voting-rights activists said the changes are a blatant attempt by G.O.P. leaders to make it harder for Black voters and students, who tend to vote for Democrats, to cast ballots this fall.
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Hollywood's blockbuster adaptation of the ancient Greek epic The Odyssey premieres around the world today amid growing calls for a boycott. Human rights campaigners are criticizing director Christopher Nolan over his decision to film part of the film in Western Sahara, a vast territory in northwestern Africa that Morocco has occupied for the past half-century.
"This occupying force is practicing cultural genocide against the Sahrawi people, ethnic cleansing," says María Carrión, the executive director of the Western Sahara International Film Festival. "By staying silent for one year and then using this footage, Nolan has basically become an accomplice to Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara."
Abidin Mohamed Hamudi, a Sahrawi filmmaker speaking to Democracy Now! from Algeria, says he cannot return to his home in Western Sahara, but Nolan "can just go there and film and be complicit in the occupation of my homeland." He calls it "a metaphor of how the Western world uses human rights, democracy narratives whenever they want, and then ignore it in other parts of the world."
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio and top White House adviser Stephen Miller are pushing for a global crackdown on leftist organizations. The State Department on Thursday hosted a summit "on the resurgence of political terrorism," where Miller described the left as "enemies of civilization" and described efforts to "disrupt, identify, defund, debank, arrest and prosecute these political terrorists that are operating in our country." Rubio announced the U.S. would soon designate more left-wing groups as terrorist organizations. Also on Thursday, the State Department announced new visa restrictions targeting what it calls "members of Far-Left Terrorist and other aligned groups."
"They're putting political groups in the United States and abroad on the same footing as groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS," says independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, who has been closely following the Trump administration's designation of left-wing activism as terrorism.
"This effort to designate left-wing groups as foreign terrorists using these broad terms like 'antifa' will allow them to go after people who are not committing violence but who are simply engaging in the political process," adds former FBI special agent Mike German.
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Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a key vote on confirmation, had demanded the acting attorney general meet with victims.
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A House panel approved the measure. But Republicans are divided over its size, cost and policy provisions, and many are concerned about the timing before the midterm elections.
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A White House teleprompter operator has been placed on unpaid leave after his online prediction market activity, which showed he was placing wagers related to President Donald Trump's public remarks, was flagged to federal regulators.
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As we continue our conversation with Congressmember Pramila Jayapal, we turn to recent developments involving the United States military. On Wednesday, Jayapal was one of over half of all House Democrats to vote in favor eliminating over $3 billion in military aid to Israel. Although the proposed amendment was ultimately shot down, the final tally with over 100 members voting yes is still a "sea change" in U.S. political support for Israel, says Jayapal. Following Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, "it is the horror of what has unfolded that has finally allowed us to confront the fact that we should not be using taxpayer dollars to send to Israel to perpetrate this kind of violence."
Jayapal also responds to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's new order mandating testosterone testing and offering testosterone replacement therapy for servicemembers aged 30 and over. "Providing testosterone is actually gender affirming care," Jayapal remarks. Last year, Hegseth ordered a halt to all gender-affirming medical procedures for military servicemembers and banned openly trans people from service. These actions are "intrusive behavior," says Jayapal, "where the government is getting involved in prescribing what medication you do or don't take, without your consent."
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Congress must push back against our inhumane immigration tactics.
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