by Evan Greer | Jul 24, 2026 | culture, Opinion, Science
Earlier this month, an investigative journalist revealed that buried in a trove of hacked documents from Madison Square Garden, there was a three-page dossier about … me.
It was in a folder titled “Facial Recognition Activists,” and time-stamped screenshots made it clear that someone had been keeping close tabs on me.
As a public-facing activist, this isn’t my first time being targeted by powerful people I’m trying to hold to account. But the incident should raise alarm bells, even for those who don’t spend their days tussling with CEOs and lobbyists.
Madison Square Garden’s surveillance capabilities rival those of some small countries — but there are far fewer rules governing how they can be used.
In recent weeks, several outlets have reported on Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan’s unapologetic use of high-tech surveillance, including a detailed report from Wired that his company uses the technology to track critics who visit the venue, monitor activists and celebrities, and in some cases ban attorneys from firms who have sued him or his organizations.
Seemingly undeterred by a lawsuit filed by Madison Square Garden over an earlier report that said MSG used technology to track LGBTQ+ celebrities. (The venue alleges that the outlet published “false and defamatory statements and implications”; Katie Drummond, the magazine’s global editorial director, has called the lawsuit “baseless and ridiculous.”) Wired this week published a piece reporting that MSG temporarily turned off its controversial facial recognition system during the star-studded wedding of Taylor Swift over the Fourth of July weekend. Swift did not comment on the report. When contacted for comment, a representative from Madison Square Garden said the venue is unable to comment on
by Zeeshan Aleem | Jul 24, 2026 | Business, Opinion, White House, World
The Strait of Hormuz remains at a virtual standstill because of President Donald Trump’s foolish war, and now, in what represents a new global energy price nightmare, Houthi militants in Yemen have begun to block a separate corridor that is critical for global oil shipping. On Thursday, oil surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since May in response to the news that the war with Iran is on the brink of expanding to a new front. And Trump’s promise to bomb the Houthis should they continue is unlikely to improve the situation.
Those Houthi militants, who are allied with and supported by Iran, announced Monday that they would were enacting a blockade in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait against Saudi Arabia. The Houthis said their blockade is retaliation for airstrikes against a Yemeni airport intended to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing. (Yemen’s Saudi-backed government claimed credit for the attack.) On Thursday, the Houthis said they had attacked two Saudi oil tankers and successfully warned 10 more to turn back. (Saudi Arabia’s official news agency confirmed at least one tanker was hit.)
Should the Houthis continue to attack ships, Trump ought to be concerned; his record fighting the scrappy militia is not impressive.
The Houthis’ blockade is a huge deal. Before the Iran war, about a fifth of the world’s oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz. Now it’s effectively closed. Saudi Arabia, which had transported the bulk of its oil through the Strait of Hormuz, started moving oil west through a pipeline. From there, Saudi Arabia was sending its oil out through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea
by Hayes Brown | Jul 24, 2026 | culture, Opinion
Even as Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” rakes in ticket sales and critical praise, Elon Musk has petulantly insisted he could do a better job — or at least throw money at someone to make a film that better fits Musk’s aesthetic preferences.
Musk suggested on X this week that Grok Imagine, the latest generative version of his racist pet artificial intelligence chatbot, would produce a “full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.” Musk also responded positively to an X user’s pitch to “give Mel Gibson $100 million to film an Odyssey adaptation with painstakingly accurate ships, armor, weapons, and casting, with all dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek.”
The notion that a “historically accurate” version of “The Odyssey” is required to counter Nolan’s is nonsensical.
Let’s set aside Gibson’s overly simplified forays into historical epic dramas. Criticism of “The Odyssey,” particularly on the right, is well documented. So is Musk’s history of making grand declarations that never come to fruition. The notion that a “historically accurate” version of “The Odyssey” is required to counter Nolan’s is nonsensical. Such a film would likely be the Greek mythology equivalent of DW Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation” in its white supremacist overtones and failure to grapple with nuance and human nature. In a word: unwatchable.
“The Odyssey” is a timeless tale not just for its title character’s tricks and triumphs amid gods and monsters. At its core, the story deals in the struggle between fate and free will and the things that we mortals owe each other, in life and in
by Ja'han Jones | Jul 24, 2026 | Civil Rights, Congress, Opinion
It’s past time to place private prison firm GEO Group under a microscope.
The firm, whose executives have boasted about the corporate profits the company stands to make from aiding President Donald Trump’s racist anti-immigrant crackdown, added to a growing list of controversies on Wednesday when one of its employees was charged with assault for allegedly shooting a woman in the foot while she was protesting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement at one of its facilities.
As Denver7 news reported:
The 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that DA Brian Mason had charged 42-year-old Brandon Booth with one count each for first-degree assault and attempted first-degree assault in the shooting of 21-year-old Emma Landis and another protester.
Booth was facing several felony charges in connection with the shooting, including two counts of second-degree attempted murder, one count of first-degree assault, one count of unlawful carrying of a concealed weapon, and two counts of felony menacing.
Colorado Public Radio reported an arrest affidavit in which Booth allegedly acknowledged after the shooting that he had “done some dumb sh*t.” Booth is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, CBS news reported.
In an email to The Guardian, the GEO Group said, “We are aware that an off-duty Aurora ICE Processing Center employee was involved in a shooting incident,” and that he “has been placed on unpaid administrative leave, and we will fully cooperate with law enforcement.”
Emma Landis, the shooting victim, spoke out about the reality of violence against protesters during a demonstration on Sunday.
The shooting adds to a growing list of bad publicity for GEO Group. Last year, executives boasted about the “unprecedented opportunities” they expected to
by Nick Akerman | Jul 24, 2026 | Congress, Opinion
While some are focused on whether a couple of lame-duck Republican senators will vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general, all senators should be aware: Blanche’s written responses to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee show how, even as he serves as acting attorney general, he’s still acting as President Donald Trump’s lawyer. He should not be confirmed.
A key factor compromising Blanche’s fitness to be attorney general is his role in attempting to settle President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. Blanche is the only signatory to the May 19 release order, published by the Office of the Attorney General, that went beyond the $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and provided massive benefits, including IRS and other government immunity, to the president, his family, businesses and affiliates.
Do we really want an attorney general who will stand by Trump’s personal interests over a ruling by a federal judge?
Twelve members of the Senate Judiciary Committee posed written questions to Blanche in recent days. The exchanges are illuminating.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., asked, “Is this release order still in effect?” Blanche answered, simply: “Yes.”
That response contradicts the recent order of federal Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who effectively prohibited Trump from relying on the settlement agreement. Williams, who oversaw Trump’s case against the IRS, held that the lawsuit was a manipulation of the federal court: “brought for an improper purpose — to gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a ‘settlement’ that had no viable basis in law or fact.”
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New: 2 GOP senators hit Trump by withholding AG votes, Epstein survivors oppose nomination
July 22, 2026 / 09:46
For Blanche to publicly claim that the
by Ja'han Jones | Jul 23, 2026 | Opinion
A vote for Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers is a vote to shield Elon Musk and his scandal-plagued companies from congressional investigations.
And that’s according to Mike Rogers himself. As President Donald Trump’s policies wreak havoc on the U.S. economy, and amid his near constant dismissal of Americans’ economic pain, the Republican Senate candidate sent out a fundraising email last weekend urging voters to donate to his campaign so that, if elected to the open Senate seat, he can protect the world’s richest man from congressional oversight.
As the Detroit Metro Times reported:
“When you stand with my Senate campaign today, you are directly shielding Elon Musk,” Rogers wrote. He then asked for an “immediate, urgent contribution right now to protect Elon and save America.” The appeal was built around comments from Democratic U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who said Musk should be subpoenaed and held accountable. Rogers described that fairly ordinary exercise of congressional oversight as a “socialist retaliation plot” reminiscent of “Soviet Russia and communist Cuba.”
You can view Rogers’ fundraising email on the Michigan Democratic Party’s website.
Khanna has faced petulant internet attacks and legal threats from Musk after spotlighting the rising death toll associated with cuts Musk and his underlings at the defunct Department of Government Efficiency made to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Nothing the California representative has recommended with regard to investigating Musk has resembled anything “socialist” or “communist” despite Rogers’ attempt to spook his base into donating to his campaign.
It’s also worth noting here that polling over the past year has shown Musk and his actions at DOGE both to be widely unpopular.
But Rogers’ remarks are effectively
