“It was February in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Maria Gonzalez was leaving her hotel cleaning job. Thirty minutes later, a co-worker uploaded a video in their group chat that showed ICE agents storming the hotel and searching for Latino people as part of Operation Metro Surge. They eventually grabbed three of her colleagues and took them away; she believes that, had she still been at work, she likely would have been detained. … The hotel business tends to be weak in winter months, she said, but it nosedived starting in December as the surge began, which meant she was called in to work less. Then a week after the hotel incident, ICE showed up at her own door while she was at home with her husband and two teenage children, pounding and kicking it, demanding to be let in.” (06/10/26)
“A backlash is growing in Japan over US President Donald Trump’s use of popular anime and manga characters in his posts on social media. Upset has been brewing since March, when fans started noticing the president using images of – and in some cases depicting himself as – iconic Japanese animation characters like Pikachu, Naruto and Yu-Gi-Oh!. Almost 20,000 people have now signed an online petition, arguing he does not share the values of the characters, and that using them for political reasons could infringe the creators’ rights. Pokémon Company International has condemned Trump’s use of its imagery. The BBC has contacted other rights holders and the White House for comment. The petition calling for Trump and the White House to respect Japanese manga was first launched in March, when a couple of posts caught the attention of some fans.” (06/10/26)
“The Apostle Paul once wrote that leadership requires ‘a good conscience.’ Whether one approaches that idea through faith, philosophy, or simple common sense, the principle remains timeless: public officials carry a moral obligation to protect the people entrusted to their care. That responsibility should come before ideology, political image, or partisan loyalty. Too often in Illinois, it does not. My daughter, Katie Abraham, was killed in Urbana, Illinois, by an intoxicated illegal [sic] immigrant with a troubling background and serious health issues; circumstances that, in my view, were enabled by reckless sanctuary policies that lacked meaningful vetting and prioritized ideology over public safety. But what permanently divided me from many Illinois leaders was not only the policy failure itself. It was the response afterward.” (06/10/26)
“A Sudanese asylum seeker accused of blinding a Belfast man in one eye during a stabbing attack appeared in court Wednesday as anti-immigrant unrest spread across Northern Ireland. Hadi Alodid, 30, was ordered to be held in jail after appearing by video in Belfast Magistrates’ Court, where prosecutors accused him of blinding Stephen Ogilvie in his left eye during Monday’s attack. Alodid was charged with attempted murder, threatening to kill a radiographer and possessing a knife. He declined legal representation through an Arabic interpreter and did not enter a plea. The attack, which occurred shortly after 10:30 p.m. Monday in north Belfast and was captured in graphic video footage that quickly spread online, sparked outrage and fueled demonstrations that turned violent overnight. Police said Ogilvie, a man in his 40s, suffered serious injuries to his face, neck, back and eyes, and officers recovered what they believe was a kitchen knife from the scene.” (06/10/26)
“Police in South Africa have launched a manhunt after 12 people were killed in a mass shooting at an informal settlement in Johannesburg. At least 10 suspects, heavily armed with rifles, entered the Jumpers Informal Settlement in the suburb of Cleveland late on Tuesday night and opened fire before fleeing in a white vehicle, police said. The motive for what police called a ‘heartless’ and ‘barbaric’ attack, in which another nine people were injured, is still being investigated. Members of the Jumper’s community believe the shooting may be linked to a turf war between groups of illegal miners living in the area. Illegal mining has been on the increase in South Africa, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world.” (06/10/26)
“Bill de Blasio appeared on NewsNation on June 2 and was asked to comment on Spencer Pratt’s campaign. De Blasio smugly described Pratt’s ads as ‘inappropriate’ and wondered, ‘Who is behind them?’ If de Blasio hadn’t actively participated in the decline of New York City during his disastrous eight years as its mayor, his arrogance might just be dismissed as unwarranted and clueless. But de Blasio is part of a machine that profits from urban decline. Behind his arrogance is a grasping, cynical hypocrite delighted that the machine on the West Coast is as potent as the one that elevated his own mayoral tenure and now supports Zohran Mamdani. And so way out west, the machine has struck again.” (06/10/26)
“While teaching and conducting research can be wonderful experiences, working conditions in higher education have become increasingly horrible. In the United States, massive state disinvestment coinciding with 50 years of neoliberalism has resulted in both soaring tuition costs for students and large-scale budget cuts to universities. As a result, faculty teaching loads have increased while wages have stagnated. Meanwhile, university administrators across the country have replaced full-time and permanent faculty with insecure, part-time positions, and rarely replaced faculty who retired or moved. Whereas in the 1970s, more than half of U.S. faculty were tenured or on the tenure-track, today that figure stands at just over one quarter. Students suffer because their professors have far less availability and are far more stressed. Faculty are forced to hustle, often taking on additional jobs, and are left with less time for teaching and research, thereby undermining the mission of universities.” (06/09/26)
“This week, the nation watched as California grappled again with the ordinarily straightforward task of counting votes in an election. While large states such as Florida declare election winners within 24 hours, California may take up to two weeks to count all the votes. Even Los Angeles cannot count its votes in the time of large states despite giving the Clerk an annual budget of $336 million and a $448,179 a year salary with the help of 1,100 budgeted positions. In most states, voters would be outraged by the incompetence, waste and inefficiency. However, in the Golden State, voters shrug, as if they can demand no more from their elected officials than subpar performance. Call it the Politics of Low Expectations, and California is the model for the nation.” (06/09/26)
“Though smaller than most U.S. states, the landlocked nation of Armenia plays a key geopolitical role at the continental crossroads of Eurasia. With few natural resources, it is aiming to recalibrate regional and global relations and become a hub for international tech, finance, and transport services. So, its parliamentary elections Sunday have been of interest not just to next-door Azerbaijan and Turkey, but also to Iran, Russia, Europe, and the distant United States. The ruling Civil Contract party garnered 49.8% of the vote, Reuters reported, while the two main opposition parties together took in 33.1%. The degree to which both sides can find some common ground will determine how fast and how far this former Soviet republic can move out of history’s long shadow of ethnic conflict and external interference into an era of regional cooperation and progress.” (06/08/26)
“Nearly 1,200 people registered to vote at a homeless shelter on Skid Row with 132 beds. 185 people registered at a homeless drop-in center — with no beds at all. That is likely illegal, and it is likely a key to the story of how socialist City Councilmember Nithya Raman overtook Palisades Fire victim Spencer Pratt for second place in the LA mayoral race. Under California law, homeless people can register to vote, even though they do not have a fixed residence. They can use their last fixed address as their voting domicile; they can even specify a geographic location, as long as it is where they live, or where they intend to return. If they do not return there within a year, it is no longer their voting domicile.” (06/09/26)
