Progressive search for action

14+ min ago (422+ words) Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, may be positioning herself for a presidential pardon after receiving what critics describe as preferential treatment in federal prison. Maxwell was recently transferred to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas following an unusual interview with the Justice Department in which she reportedly sought to distance President Donald Trump from Epstein's crimes. The move has raised eyebrows among legal observers and advocates for Epstein's victims, particularly as no administration officials have ruled out the possibility of a sentence commutation or pardon.Speaking with MSNBC's Ali Velshi, Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie Brown said Maxwell appears to be calculating her next steps carefully. Brown suggested Maxwell is acutely aware of the sensitive information she possesses about Epstein's network and those who enabled his crimes. If a pardon does…...

23+ min ago (595+ words) On November 26, 2025, in a quiet northern suburb of Hong Kong, an aggressive fire broke out in the middle of the day. The fire was unusual in its intensity and duration, consuming 7 of 8 high rise towers in a residential complex. Despite the quick response of well-equipped fire trucks, the blaze spread quickly and burned for more than 43 hours. Although the death toll is not final, at least 160 people suffered the most horrific deaths imaginable, with dozens so charred they may never be identified. The ferocity of the fire has been blamed on a private contractor's use of highly flammable materials including polystyrene foam boards placed over windows, along with substandard scaffolding netting that failed to meet fire-retardant codes. The buildings were undergoing renovations when the fire hit, and numerous fire alarms also failed to warn. The fire could have been prevented…...

26+ min ago (330+ words) What if the best use of AI is restarting the world's idea machine? America, you have spoken loud and clear: You do not like AI. A weekly dose of stories chronicling progress around the world. Our contradictory feelings are captured in the chart of the year from the Dallas Fed forecasting how AI might affect the economy in the future: Red line: AI singularity and near-infinite money. Purple line: AI-driven total human extinction and, uh, zero money. One major problem here, ironically, is that scientists have to wade through too much science. They're increasing drowning in data and literature that they lack the time to parse, let alone use in actual scientific work. But those are exactly the bottlenecks AI is well-suited to attack, which is why researchers are coming around to the idea of "AI as a co-scientist." If…...

33+ min ago (900+ words) Former President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida in July 2023 (Gage Skidmore) Amnesty International's new report on the U.S. detention sites Alligator Alcatraz and Krome is a warning flare for every American who believes in the Constitution, the rule of law, and the basic dignity of human beings. We've seen governmental cruelty before in our history, but these facilities mark a new level of calculated dehumanization on U.S. soil, and Amnesty is calling it what it is: torture, enforced disappearance, and a deliberate system designed to break people. What makes this report so chilling isn't just the details, although they're horrifying enough. It's that the government has begun giving these places cute, theme-park-style nicknames like "Alligator Alcatraz" and "Cornhusker Clink," as if they're attractions instead of concentration-camp-style black sites. Authoritarian regimes always begin by softening the language, making the abuses sound like…...

39+ min ago (498+ words) Donald Trump faces mounting obstacles in his strategy to place loyalists in U.S. Attorney positions without Senate approval, prompting the normally stubborn and confrontational president to explore alternative approaches.According to reporting from Politico's Erica Orden, the resignation of Trump appointee Alina Habba signals that the administration recognizes its legal position has weakened and may be reluctant to pursue the matter before the Supreme Court.Habba, a former personal attorney to the president who represented him when he lost two defamation lawsuits filed by writer E. Jean Carroll, stepped down this week following a court ruling that deemed her appointment unlawful. In her statement, she explained, "As a result of the Third Circuit's ruling, and to protect the stability and integrity of the office which I love, I have decided to step down in my role as the U.S. Attorney for the District…...

40+ min ago (319+ words) Colorado officials are bracing themselves for an all-out "battle" against President Donald Trump as they seek to get ahead of the president's pledge to pardon Tina Peters, a former county clerk who was jailed in connection with the efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, The New York Times reported Saturday. "This is so far beyond the pale," said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, the Times reported Saturday. "No one has thought to do this because it is so clearly against our constitutional system of government." Peters was convicted on several felony charges after ordering the surveillance cameras monitoring voting machines in Mesa County, Colorado, to be turned off, and allowing Conan Hayes " an entrepreneur, former professional surfer and fierce supporter of Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was "stolen" " to have unauthorized access to voting machines....

56+ min ago (613+ words) The latest episode of Trial Balloon is live for members. Donald Trump injects himself into a mega media deal as Republicans lose control of the House. "Republicans suffered through a recurring nightmare this week: their inability to replace or at least unwind the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's signature healthcare program," the Wall Street Journal" "The U.S. military is moving more weapons and units into the Caribbean that give President Trump powerful new options to escalate his pressure campaign on Venezuelan leader Nicol's Maduro and" "A federal judge ruled Friday that the Justice Department unlawfully accessed evidence central to its case against former FBI director James Comey, delivering what could be a death blow to" "The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to abruptly eliminate as many as 35,000 health care positions this month, mostly unfilled jobs including doctors, nurses and support…...

56+ min ago (569+ words) An Ohio woman has a message for Northsteppe Realty: Stop entering the home she is currently leasing. Her video recounting the realty company's aggressive tactics has generated 102,000 views since Dec. 10, with many viewers asking, "Isn't this illegal?" @garbitchtruck suddenly woke up to a leasing manager entering her apartment without her consent. "I literally, I'm gonna freak out. So my leasing manager decided it was a really cute, fun game to send a tour. Of the people I've never met who want to apparently lease this apartment after me," she said. "Their employee opens my [expletive] door" I'm up immediately walking down my stairs and I'm upset 'cause I'm tired. I don't know why the [expletive] someone's walking in my house." She quickly confronted a man, alongside three other potential residents, who were entering her home. "I go down to my…...

57+ min ago (686+ words) Many of us have long suspected or even predicted that Donald Trump would betray America, gut our democracy in favor of a police state, and align us with Russia. You know, the country that the Financial Times reported this week tried to launch multiple terrorist attacks against the United States and Europe over the past year. It's the most under-reported story of the year, perhaps of the century: under Trump, the United States is abandoning advocacy of democracy (shutting down Voice of America, etc), abandoning our democratic allies in Europe, and for the past year has abandoned Ukraine to the tender mercies of the Butcher of Moscow. At the same time, Trump's building ties to Middle Eastern dictatorships, adopting Russia's explicit worldview, trashing civil and human rights at home, and now handing to China our most valuable military-potential technology. In…...

59+ min ago (338+ words) President Donald Trump raged in a dead-of-night social media post at Republicans who defied him on a plan that would have given the GOP more seats in Congress. The Indiana State Senate'voted down'a redistricting plan Trump'pushed hard to give Republicans two more congressional seats, defeating it by a 31-19 margin " including a majority of Republicans. When Trump was asked about the vote just after it happened, he downplayed his role in supporting the plan: PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I wasn't working on it very hard. Would have been nice, I think we would have picked up two seats, if we did that. You had one gentleman, the head of the Senate, I guess, Bray, whatever his name is, I heard he was against it. He'll probably lose his next primary, whenever that is. I hope he does, because he's done a tremendous…...