Judge says xAI must face NAACP lawsuit on data center pollution

Source: Engadget

“A federal judge’s latest ruling has denied xAI’s request to dismiss a lawsuit that alleges its data center campus in Memphis, Tennessee is running turbines without proper permits and violating the Clean Air Act. The decision, from US District Judge Debra M. Brown, allows the lawsuit, which was filed by the NAACP, to move forward. The organization filed its legal action against xAI in April, accusing the company that’s now known as SpaceXSI of using unpermitted methane gas turbines to power data centers in the Memphis area.” (11/01/26)

https://www.engadget.com/2303462/judge-says-xai-must-face-naacp-lawsuit-on-data-center-pollution/

Free Talk Live, 11/01/26

Source: Free Talk Live

“Sarah from New Mexico says there’s going to be 74 polling locations just in her county! :: Dave in CO tells us about a NH Journal journalist kicked out of a NH Democrat meeting, says he should have gotten video :: Psychedelic nose spray beats depression :: Drama on what actress Sophia Bush said on Call Her Daddy :: Sydney Sweeney hot or ugly? :: Did Trump shoot down a private plane? :: NY to regulate how AI chatbots interact with children :: 2026-11-01 :: Hosts: Bonnie, Riley O’Bill, Rich E Rich.” (11/01/26)

https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2026-11-01

Trump Is Using a Trade Law Relic to Illegally Punish Canada

Source: The Dispatch
by Ilya Somin

“Courts have already ruled against two avenues President Donald Trump used to impose his tariff regime. That hasn’t stopped his efforts to attempt to deploy obscure or outdated trade law provisions to justify new import levies. His latest tool is the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, the notorious legislation that gravely exacerbated the Great Depression. … Even if Section 338 is still operative, Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods violate its requirements.” (11/02/26)

https://thedispatch.com/article/trump-canada-tariffs-section-338-lawsuit/

MA: Lindsay Clancy returns to court in bid to dismiss charges

Source: SFGate

“Lindsay Clancy returned to court Monday in a bid to dismiss the charges that she murdered her three young children. The hearing Monday was the second time the Massachusetts mother has been in court since her trial ended with a deadlocked jury in September after jurors were unable to agree on a verdict. Its focus was a motion from the defense to dismiss the charges on double jeopardy grounds. The proceedings grew heated as defense attorney Kevin Reddington urged the judge to investigate the lone holdout juror, questioning his cell phone use during jury deliberations and whether he had been truthful during jury selection. Judge William Sullivan repeatedly intervened as Reddington publicly identified the juror and raised allegations involving potentially confidential information.” (11/02/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/lindsay-clancy-returns-to-court-in-a-bid-to-22506054.php

My Life in a Skull of Ghosts: Confessions of a Traumagenic Tulpamancer

Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid

“Agnes was who I was on the inside before the abuse, before being me became just too painful to consciously bare, and she has haunted me throughout my life, with terrifying flashbacks and a deep sense of guilt over some confusing notion that I had left something or someone behind. For a long time, I didn’t know what she was. I would get repeated waking visions of a little girl in pigtails and a black velvet party dress smashing all the stained-glass windows in my church. I took to calling her the little girl with the hammer, but it was only when I gave her the name Agnes and decided to listen to what she had to say that she began talking back to me …” (11/01/26)

https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/11/my-life-in-skull-of-ghosts-confessions.html

Prison Gastronomy: Vegemite as a Cultural Right

Source: CounterPunch
by Binoy Kampmark

“Should criminals be allowed the softening joys of favourite foods and longed for staples? The overcooked roast, the undercooked dumpling? And, for Australians, a foodstuff (hardly a food) so reprehensible it would draw disapproval from any respectable panel from UNESCO? Last month, Andre McKenchnie, a convicted murderer detained at Victoria’s Barwon Prison, attempted to test the judicial waters that not being allowed to consume the famous yeast spread of Vegemite was a denial of human rights under the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act, specifically the right to ‘enjoy his culture’ as an Australian.” (11/02/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/11/02/prison-gastronomy-vegemite-as-a-cultural-right/

Will “Gina” Break Texas’s Corporate Welfare Consensus?

Source: The American Prospect
by Davide Mamone

“Her full name is Regina Inez Hinojosa, but almost nobody in Texas calls her that. From the people she met on the streets during the final stretch of her campaign to her own staff, Hinojosa is simply ‘Gina’. Her hope, and that of the Democratic Party, is that her nickname will soon become ‘Governor Gina’, as volunteers and supporters chanted while welcoming her to Fort Bend County ahead of a canvassing event this weekend. A civil rights lawyer by training and a former Austin school board president, Hinojosa challenged incumbent Greg Abbott for Texas governor with a message that goes beyond the usual Democratic arguments about Republican extremism. Unlike many of her predecessors, she has explicitly focused her campaign on reining in corporate welfare, while supporting public education and expanding the safety net for middle-class families.” (11/02/26)

https://prospect.org/2026/11/02/texas-gina-hinojosa-greg-abbott-corporate-welfare-consensus/

Somali pirates seize Iranian fishing vessel, raising fears of attacks on cargo ships

Source: ABC News

“Somali pirates have seized an Iranian fishing vessel carrying 23 people, the Maritime Security Center Indian Ocean said, warning that the ship was approaching a commercial shipping lane and could become a floating base for further attacks. The Azini was hijacked Thursday between the coastal towns of Bandar Bayla and Hafun in northeastern Somalia, a maritime security officer with the Puntland Maritime Police Force said Sunday. The officer told The Associated Press that 12 pirates seized the vessel, which was carrying 21 Iranian crew members and two Somali security guards.” (11/01/26)

https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/somali-pirates-seize-iranian-fishing-vessel-raising-fears-137745870