Author: rpnadmin

Washington — A federal appeals court on Thursday halted a lower court ruling that required Florida and the Trump administration to dismantle parts of “Alligator Alcatraz,” a controversial immigration detention site in the Everglades.The 2-1 ruling by a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit will effectively allow Alligator Alcatraz to stay open while a lawsuit challenging the detention center on environmental grounds works its way through the court system.The Department of Homeland Security began moving detainees out of the site late last month. But the state has said Alligator Alcatraz will ramp back…

A view of the Pentagon on Dec. 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C. President Trump has said he would like to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War. Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images President Trump will sign an executive order on Friday to give the Department of Defense a new name: the Department of War. The change would return the department to a name that it carried for much of its history, until it became the Department of Defense in the wake of World War II. The executive order was…

Washington — The Defense Department is considering authorizing up to 600 military attorneys to serve as temporary immigration judges, a defense official confirmed.Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that at the request of the Justice Department, the Defense Department is in the process of “identifying qualified Judge Advocates and civilian attorneys for details to serve as Temporary Immigration Judges.”Parnell said the Defense Department attorneys would help with the backlog of cases “by presiding over immigration hearings.” The Associated Press first reported the Pentagon’s plans.The immigration courts are struggling with a backlog of more than 3.4 million cases. But…

Jon Wiener: From The Nation magazine, this is Start Making Sense. I’m Jon Wiener. Later in the show: Trump seems to pose a unique danger to democracy, but historian Eric Foner explains that history shows many earlier threats to “our fragile freedoms.”  That’s the title of his new book of essays. But first: Bill McKibben is suddenly hopeful about our chances for slowing climate change. he’ll explain why – in a minute.[BREAK]Now it’s time for some good news – really good news – from Bill McKibben, the climate writer and activist. He’s the founder of Third Act, which organizes people…

U.S. warships head to Venezuela U.S. warships head to Venezuela to combat drug cartel threats 03:35 Two armed Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over the USS Jason Dunham on Thursday, according to multiple Defense Department officials who described the action as a “show of force.” The Dunham, an Aegis guided-missile destroyer, is among a flotilla of U.S. warships dispatched to the region in recent weeks that the Pentagon says have been deployed to target criminal organizations and narco-terrorism. CBS News was unable to determine what actions the USS Jason Dunham took, if any, in response to the flyover.The U.S. Navy vessels were…

A federal jury has ordered Google to pay $425.7 million for improperly snooping on people’s smartphones during a nearly decade-long period of intrusions.The verdict reached Wednesday in San Francisco federal court followed a more than two-week trial in a class-action case covering about 98 million smartphones operating in the United States between July 1, 2016, through Sept. 23, 2024. That means the total damages awarded in the five-year-old case works out to about $4 per device.Google had denied that it was improperly tracking the online activity of people who thought they had shielded themselves with privacy controls. The company maintained…

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives to testify before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 4, 2025 in Washington, DC. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Andrew Harnik/Getty Images In a contentious Senate hearing marked by raised voices and heated exchanges, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced calls to resign from Democrats and unexpected criticism from Republicans. Several Republican senators brought up the legacy of President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, which sent a safe COVID vaccine to the public in record time, helping save…

Washington — The commander of the D.C. National Guard has extended the Guard’s deployment to Nov. 30, according to two National Guard officials and a social media post from the D.C. National Guard. The order applies only to the members of the D.C. National Guard who were deployed last month to enhance security in the nation’s capital. The order does not apply to National Guard members from other states. ABC News first reported the extension.”I’ve made the decision to extend the encampment, as we continue to work to ensure that everyone that walks through these city streets is safe,” Brig. Gen.…

Politics / September 4, 2025 A new monthly column from The Nation takes on the plutocrats wielding their wealth and power at the expense of the rest of us. Contact: Caitlin Graf, The Nation, press [at] thenation.com, 212-209-5400 New York, NY—The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture, today announced the launch of “Oligarch Watch,” a new monthly column that is a natural continuation of the magazine’s long and proud tradition of speaking truth to power to build a more just society. In our 160th anniversary year and in this unprecedented era of rising inequality, advocating for a…

American businesses could be owed tens of billions of dollars in refunds for tariffs they paid on foreign goods.U.S. Customs and Border Protection has collected more than $200 billion in tariff revenue from American businesses of all sizes from October through August 24, according to agency data. Of that, more than $70 billion comes from payments of country-based tariffs that a federal appeals court recently ruled President Trump lacked the authority to impose. Industry-specific tariffs, such as steel and aluminum levies, are unaffected by Friday’s ruling. The court on Friday ruled that President Trump unlawfully invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA,…