Trump directs the Pentagon to use ‘all available funds’ to ensure troops are paid despite shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that he has directed the Defense Department to use “all available funds” to ensure U.S. troops are paid Wednesday despite the government shutdown, a short-term fix that will not apply to the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have been furloughed. Trump said in a social media post that he was acting because “our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th.” The Republican president’s directive removes one of the pressure points that could have forced…

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‘It’s Never Been This Bad’

Since immigration-enforcement agents began their descent on Chicago, acting with seemingly unprecedented speed and ferocity, Evelyn Vargas and her colleagues at Organized Communities Against Deportation have been in a frenzy. They help run an emergency hotline that refers people who have been detained to immigration lawyers and directs their families to support services such as food pantries, emergency housing, and mental-health care. (On a single day last week, it took 800 calls.) And they oversee a team of 35 “rapid responders” who have been sprinting across the city to film…

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‘Not in Good Faith’: VA. Democratic Party Abusing Law To Protect Spanberger Ahead of Election, Plaintiff Says

After a judge ordered Virginia Democrat governor nominee Abigail Spanberger to give sworn answers in a defamation case against the Virginia Democratic Party, the Democrats hired a new lawyer in what the plaintiff says is a transparent effort to cocoon Spanberger from political peril ahead of the November election. Thomas Speciale, a retired Army intelligence officer and former Republican U.S. Senate candidate, alleges that the party concocted a devious scheme enlisting the House of Delegates speaker to serve as its lawyer, thereby delaying the case and preventing Spanberger from being…

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Defending Our Rights: Holding Trump and Republicans Accountable for Betraying the American People

The Trump administration is continuing to follow the authoritarian playbook by working to criminalize and silence those who are pushing back. While Trump takes away our health care and rips kids away from their families, we answered with historic organizing and protests across the country, with millions making their voices heard. The people showed up en masse to demonstrate where the real power lies. From D.C. to Des Moines, MoveOn members mobilized in their communities, calling out MAGA extremism and demanding dignity for all. When Trump and Republicans made massive…

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Senators struggle to find a way forward as government shutdown enters ninth day

WASHINGTON (AP) — The consequences of a government shutdown setting in, senators labored Thursday to find a way forward but found themselves struggling to overcome a fundamental lack of trust between the two parties. Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday afternoon floated an “off ramp” to the government funding impasse, suggesting that he could hold a later vote on expiring health care subsidies if Democrats would first support a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer quickly dismissed the idea. “It’s nothing new, they…

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