On June 13, at Qatar’s World Cup match in Santa Clara, California, Dr. Nas Mohamed — a physician and the first openly gay Qatari to seek asylum in the U.S. after fleeing state persecution –– stood in the stands alongside California State Sen. Scott Wiener. That day, the two posted a joint statement to Instagram, calling on FIFA and sponsors to “stop looking away” from the persecution of LGBTQ…
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Texas and across the country have increasingly targeted people who are not already in law enforcement custody, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of federal data. In Houston, where the killing of an immigrant by an ICE agent has garnered national attention, the monthly number of ICE arrests outside of detention facilities has more than…
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PROVO, Utah — There were three of them that first day, milling about outside Utah’s Fourth District Courthouse, after failing to secure one of the 14 seats reserved inside for the public. I had taken to calling them the Freedom Ladies; named for their shirts and other merch emblazoned with the word freedom, like the one conservative activist Charlie Kirk had been wearing when he was killed last September at a debate event.
We agreed to stick to first names as they didn’t trust the mainstream media and said they didn’t know how I’d spin what they would tell me. The Freedom Ladies — Brandy, Jamie, and Hayley, Utahns in their 40s — had each been in the crowd at Utah Valley University, watching Kirk speak when he was shot.
“We’re trauma sisters,” Brandy told me, wrapping her arm around Jamie.They had driven to Provo this week for the preliminary hearing of Tyler Robinson, the 23-year-old the state has charged with Kirk’s murder. They were there, Jamie told me, looking for answers. The government’s story just didn’t sit right with them: that Robinson found Kirk’s right-wing politics hateful, and so drove 250 miles with his grandfather’s WWII-era rifle and a bunch of bullets etched with internet memes, climbed onto a campus rooftop and shot Kirk in the neck.Prosecutors would spend the week laying out that case in a small fourth-floor courtroom, using DNA evidence, surveillance video, and several confessions the state alleges Robinson made, to ask a judge to send the case to trial. Robinson has yet to enter a plea.
Outside, the Freedom Ladies — part of a small, passionate crowd of
Normally, we’d already be finished talking about Graham Platner.
The Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine would have dropped out within a day of being credibly accused of rape and losing establishment and progressive support across the board.
Former backers called the accusations against him “troubling,” “deeply serious” and “damning” as they raced to withdraw their endorsements. (He has denied the allegations.)
The two days since the most serious allegations broke have been filled with nasty exchanges between state party leaders and Platner, as well as speculation about when he’ll step aside and who will take his place on the ticket.
Regardless of who that is, how the Maine Democratic Party replaces him seems likely to be just as important to winning the race for a party clinging to hope of flipping the Senate.
The state party can be forgiven for not having a plan ready to go. While there is a law that designates timing for replacing a statewide candidate, party leaders have indicated there was no established internal process for it.
But it’s possible whatever process they settle on to choose the next candidate will become a proxy fight for the questions around establishment politics and transparency.
On an all-hands call Wednesday evening, Maine Democratic Party Chair Charlie Dingman told state committee members that party leaders want to hold a nominating convention, two members on the call told MS NOW.
Under Dingman’s proposal, county committees would convene this weekend to choose a total of 500-600 delegates, according to the people on the call, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Later, the party put out a statement signed by Dingman and two other party leaders saying the roughly
On June 10, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya appeared on a screen before Israel’s Supreme Court via video link. He looked gaunt, visibly emaciated, and his hands and feet were bound. It was one of the few times the public had seen the doctor since Israeli soldiers took him from Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza nearly 18 months ago, where he had served as Director. He has been held without charge for…
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As Donald Trump’s administration came to power in 2025, immigrant justice groups were immediately tasked with rapidly adapting to the intensification of immigration enforcement. Neighborhoods around the country began self-organizing, creating rapid response networks to prepare for impending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. In many of these places, immigration justice organizing was…
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