Author: PolitCens

The U.S. Interior Department on Thursday gave final approval to ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine in Nevada, the first domestic source of the battery metal to be permitted by President Joe Biden’s administration and one that will become a key supplier to Ford and other electric vehicle manufacturers. 

Shares of the Australia-based critical minerals miner jumped more than 20% in New York trading on Thursday afternoon before easing down. 

The approval ends a more-than six-year review process during which regulators, ioneer and conservationists tussled over the fate of a rare flower found at the mine site, a tension that exposed the sometimes competing priorities between climate change mitigation efforts and biodiversity protection. 

The permit, which had been expected by the end of the year, comes amid a flurry of recent moves by Biden officials to support critical minerals production and offset China’s market dominance.  

It also unlocks a $700 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as a $490 million equity investment from Sibanye Stillwater to fund the project. 

“This is a science-based decision,” Laura Daniel-Davis, the Interior Department’s acting deputy secretary, told Reuters. “We’re trying to send a signal that there’s no topic with greater importance than addressing climate change.” 

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which is controlled by the Interior Department, on Thursday issued the Rhyolite Ridge project’s record of decision — essentially the mine’s permit — and said the project will “include significant protections for the local ecosystem” and help create hundreds of jobs in the rural region.  

The project, roughly 362 kilometers north of Las Vegas, Nevada, contains enough lithium to power roughly 370,000 electric vehicles each year. Construction is slated to begin next year, with production commencing by 2028, a timeline that would make Rhyolite Ridge one of the largest U.S. lithium producers alongside Albemarle and Lithium Americas. 

The U.S. Geological Survey has labeled lithium a critical mineral vital for the U.S. economy and national security.  

“We’re proud to be the first U.S. lithium mine permitted by the Biden administration,” James Calaway, ioneer’s chairman, told Reuters. 

The project will extract lithium as well as boron, a chemical used to make ceramics and soaps, from a clay-like deposit. The lithium will be processed on site into two main derivatives used to make batteries, and the company said it plans to recycle half of all the water used at the site, higher than the industry average. 

Ford and a joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic have agreed to buy lithium from the mine. 
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Polls show that Americans’ trust in news reporting is at an all-time low. And while the decline has many causes, it reflects both the changing media landscape and the values of media consumers.

Nearly 250 years since the principle was enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, a majority of Americans still agree that a free press is crucial to a democratic society, according to polling by the Pew Research Center. But how they feel about the existing press is a different matter.

The same polls show that only one-third of Americans believes the country’s media report the news objectively. And a September Gallup poll reveals that Americans’ overall trust in mass media has declined to an all-time low of 32%.

Much of the narrative around declining faith in media has been shaped by political partisanship. The last time that America saw such low levels of media confidence was in 2016, when Donald Trump amplified longstanding conservative complaints about liberal media bias by attacking critical coverage of his presidential campaign as “fake news.”

Accordingly, self-identified Republicans report less trust in media, reaching a low of 11% compared with 58% for Democrats.

However, partisan trends don’t capture the whole picture. While partisan divergence in media confidence significantly widened during the presidency of Republican George W. Bush, overall trust in media institutions has been declining for supporters of both parties as well as independents since Gallup first began tracking it in the 1970s.

The rise of partisan cable news networks in the 1990s and digital news, along with social media in the 2000s, has reflected and exacerbated this trend. And dissatisfaction with perceived bias in coverage of conflicts such as the Iraq War or Israel’s invasion of Gaza has also reduced trust in traditional news sources among left-leaning Americans, often driving them toward unreliable alternative sources.

As Americans lose trust in traditional media, they also engage less with it. While over half of adults in the U.S. now report getting their news from social media, audiences and advertising revenue have shrunk when it comes to newspapers and TV news.

In fact, part of the story behind declining trust in media is Americans across the political spectrum becoming less interested in news overall. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are experiencing news fatigue while 38% report that they follow the news closely, compared with 51% in 2016.

Do Americans want independent journalism?

The simultaneous loss of trust and interest in news media has raised questions beyond simple accusations of partisan bias. While criticism of the media often focuses on whether the core principles of independent journalism are being upheld, the principles themselves may not be popular.

A recent study by the Media Insight Project found that common journalistic values such as amplifying marginalized voices, holding power to account or increasing public transparency do not enjoy majority support.

In fact, such values may not be as integral to journalism as is commonly believed. As Columbia University journalism professor Michael Schudson writes, the modern idea of journalism as an independent investigative force and a check on government power has been a fairly recent development.

And amid today’s rapid social, political and technological changes, the role that people expect journalism to play in society may once again be shifting.
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washington — The Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies have new marching orders — to more quickly embrace and deploy artificial intelligence as a matter of national security.

U.S. President Joe Biden signed the directive, part of a new national security memorandum, on Thursday. The goal is to make sure the United States remains a leader in AI technology while also aiming to prevent the country from falling victim to AI tools wielded by adversaries like China.

The memo, which calls AI “an era-defining technology,” also lays out guidelines that the White House says are designed to prevent the use of AI to harm civil liberties or human rights.

The new rules will “ensure that our national security agencies are adopting these technologies in ways that align with our values,” a senior administration official told reporters, speaking about the memo on the condition of anonymity before its official release.

The official added that a failure to more quickly adopt AI “could put us at risk of a strategic surprise by our rivals.”

“Because countries like China recognize similar opportunities to modernize and revolutionize their own military and intelligence capabilities using artificial intelligence, it’s particularly imperative that we accelerate our national security community’s adoption and use of cutting-edge AI,” the official said.

But some civil liberties advocates are raising concerns that the new guidelines lack sufficient safeguards.

“Despite acknowledging the considerable risks of AI, this policy does not go nearly far enough to protect us from dangerous and unaccountable AI systems,” according to a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union’s Patrick Toomey.

“National security agencies must not be left to police themselves as they increasingly subject people in the United States to powerful new technologies,” said Toomey, who serves as deputy director of ACLU’s National Security Project.

The new guidelines build on an executive order issued last year that directed all U.S. government agencies to craft policies for how they intend to use AI.

They also seek to address issues that could hamper Washington’s ability to more quickly incorporate AI into national security systems.

Provisions outlined in the memo call for a range of actions to protect the supply chains that produce advanced computer chips critical for AI systems. It also calls for additional actions to combat economic espionage that would allow U.S. adversaries or non-U.S. companies from stealing critical innovations.

“We have to get this right, because there is probably no other technology that will be more critical to our national security in the years ahead,” said White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, addressing an audience at the National Defense University in Washington on Thursday.

“The stakes are high,” he said. “If we don’t act more intentionally to seize our advantages, if we don’t deploy AI more quickly and more comprehensively to strengthen our national security, we risk squandering our hard-earned lead.

“We could have the best team but lose because we didn’t put it on the field,” he added.

Although the memo prioritizes the implementation of AI technologies to safeguard U.S. interests, it also directs officials to work with allies and others to create a stable framework for use of AI technologies across the globe.

“A big part of the national security memorandum is actually setting out some basic principles,” Sullivan said, citing ongoing talks with the G-7 and AI-related resolutions at the United Nations.

“We need to ensure that people around the world are able to seize the benefits and mitigate the risks,” he said.
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SEATTLE — Boeing factory workers voted to reject a contract offer and continue a more than five-week strike on Wednesday, in a blow to new CEO Kelly Ortberg’s plan to shore up the finances of the struggling planemaker.

The vote was 64% in opposition to the deal, which offered a 35% rise in wages over four years, in a major setback for Ortberg who took the top job in August on a pledge to work more closely with factory workers than his predecessors.

The rejection of Boeing’s offer, which comes after 95% of workers voted against a first contract last month, reflects years of resentment from workers who felt cheated by the company in talks a decade ago and deepens a financial crisis.

After the vote, union leaders said they were ready to immediately resume negotiations with Boeing on the first major negotiation since 2014, when the company used the threat of moving production of the new version of the 777 out of the region to push through a deal that ended traditional pensions.

The union has been seeking a 40% pay rise and the return of the defined-benefit pension.

Boeing factory workers were also venting frustration after a decade when their wages have lagged inflation and critics have complained that the planemaker spent tens of billions of dollars on share buybacks and paid out record executive bonuses.

“This membership has gone through a lot … there are some deep wounds,” the union’s lead contract negotiator Jon Holden told reporters after the vote.

“I want to get back to the table. Boeing needs to come to the table as well. Hopefully, we can have some fruitful discussions with the company, and Mr. Ortberg, to try and resolve this.”

Boeing declined comment on the vote.

Some 33,000 machinists downed tools in Boeing’s West Coast factories on Sept. 13, halting production of the best-selling 737 MAX as well as 767 and 777 wide-body programs.

Time is running out for Boeing, historically the largest U.S. exporter, and its biggest union to reach a deal before the busy political period surrounding the presidential election on Nov. 5.

With Boeing and IAM at a stalemate earlier this month, acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su had helped get the latest offer presented for a vote after attending in-person talks with both parties in Seattle last week.

Holden said after the union vote that he would reach out to the White House to see if the union could get more assistance negotiating with Boeing.

“After the first contract offer was rejected, the honeymoon was over on the labor reset. This further validates that,” said Scott Hamilton, an aviation consultant.

“It’s bad news for everybody – Boeing, labor, suppliers, customers, even the national economy.”

Boeing is the largest customer for a U.S. aerospace supply chain already facing critical financial pressure.

Fuselage supplier Spirit AeroSystems warned that if the strike continued beyond the end of November, there would be layoffs and more drastic furloughs.

The company, which is in the process of being taken over by Boeing, has already announced a 21-day furlough for 700 workers.

‘Defining moment’

Boeing has announced plans to cut 17,000 jobs and is closing in on a plan to raise up to $15 billion from investors to help preserve its investment grade credit rating, while some airlines have had to trim schedules due to aircraft delivery delays.

Ortberg warned on Wednesday there was no quick fix for the ailing planemaker.

In a quarterly earnings call, Boeing forecast it would burn cash through 2025. Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said after the vote that the decision to prolong the strike could worsen the expected drain on cash.

The specter of a quality crisis from a January mid-air panel blowout hangs over Boeing.

Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, said this was now the “defining moment” of Ortberg’s short tenure and he needed to get a deal across the line soon.

“There’s a feeling that he hasn’t handled this as well as he might have,” Aboulafia said. “They’ve (Boeing) got to get this done, and they’re in a position of weakness.”

The rejection from workers on Wednesday was the second in a formal vote after the offer of a 25% pay rise over four years was rejected last month, leading to the strike.

Many comments on social media and from workers outside voting stations had cast doubt on a deal.

“We’re ready to go back on strike until we get a better deal,” Irina Briones, 25, said after the vote.

“They took a bunch of numbers and moved them around to make them look like they’re giving us more than they were,” said Josh Hajek, 42, who has worked six years at Boeing on wing assembly.

Voting figures showed the two sides getting closer to a deal but still a solid majority in favor of prolonging the strike.

Before the vote, Terrin Spotwood, a 20-year-old machinist in 737 wing assembly, said he planned to approve the contract because the offer was “good, but not great.” He said several coworkers planned the same because they “can’t really afford to say no to this contract. They have to go back to work.”

Even so, many workers are still angry about the last deal signed a decade ago.

“We’re going to get what we want this time. We have better legs to stand on this time than Boeing,” said Donovan Evans, 30, who works in the 767 jet factory outside Seattle.
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WASHINGTON — There is new evidence China, Iran and Russia are aggressively expanding their efforts to influence American voters to potentially sway the result of the upcoming U.S. elections.

Two threat intelligence reports Wednesday, one from software giant Microsoft and the other from the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, detail growing activity by cyber actors linked to each country — all aiming to impact U.S. public perceptions with less than two weeks before voters go to the polls.

The biggest change, according to Microsoft, comes from Chinese-linked actors known to researchers as Spamouflage or Taizi Flood.

“Chinese influence operations have recently taken a new turn, shifting focus to several down-ballot candidates and members of Congress,” Microsoft said, noting that starting in September, China has targeted at least four prominent Republican lawmakers, all of whom are known critics of the government in Beijing.

Most recently, the Chinese-linked accounts targeted Texas Republican Michael McCaul, accusing the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of “abusing power for personal gain.” 

Late last month, other Spamouflage began going after Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, Microsoft said. And earlier this month, the same effort began promoting Blackburn’s opponent in the November 5 election.

Other targets include Alabama Republican Representative Barry Moore, who was subjected to content criticizing his support for Israel, and the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Marco Rubio, who was accused of corruption.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington rejected the allegations in the Microsoft report.

“The presidential elections are the United States’ domestic affairs,” embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu told VOA Wednesday, echoing previous Chinese denials. 

“Such allegations are full of malicious speculations against China, which China firmly opposes,” he added.

U.S. lawmakers, however, said they were not surprised by the uptick in malign activity.

“The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] cannot stand anyone who supports and gives a voice to those they oppress; their response is to sanction and attack,” McCaul said in a statement to VOA. 

“I consider it a badge of honor when the CCP — a leading abuser of human rights, censor of free speech, and oppressor of its own people — takes issue with my work,” he said. 

Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called for the Chinese influence efforts to “be taken very seriously.”

“China is becoming increasingly more aggressive,” Rubio said in a statement to VOA. “China’s goal is to shape American opinion on critical issues and target specific candidates, especially those they view as anti-China.”

Growing threats

The reports from Microsoft and Recorded Future warn Beijing is not alone.

Specifically, the reports caution the Russian-linked cyber actors, known to researchers as Storm-1679 or Operation Overload, have increased their pace of operations over the past month and a half and are showing signs that more influence operations are on the way.

“Operation Overload is very likely to ramp up its activities,” said the Recorded Future report.

Recorded Future said many of the Russian efforts, of late, have sought to provoke anger toward the LGBTQ+ community “using disinformation to perpetuate discriminatory beliefs around transgender individuals, perceived behavioral issues, gender transition and reassignment surgeries, and pharmaceutical treatments.”

Other influence operations, the report said, are making use of AI-generated voiceovers to emulate the style of U.S. broadcast journalists.

Microsoft said the Russian cyber actors also have found ways to reach additional U.S. voters by shifting much of the content from the Telegram social media platform to X.

“Storm-1679 videos posted to X received higher levels of engagement,” Microsoft said.

Microsoft researchers also warned there are signs Iran is also ramping up its election interference efforts.

The Microsoft report says that in one instance, less than two weeks ago, “an online persona operated by Iran began falsely posing as an American and called on Americans to boycott the elections due to both candidates’ support for Israel’s military operations.”

Russia and Iran, like China, have repeatedly denied any involvement in efforts to meddle with the U.S. election.

But the new findings from Microsoft and Recorded Future align with assessments from U.S. intelligence officials.

“Foreign actors — particularly Russia, Iran and China — remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the U.S. democratic system consistent with what they perceive to be in their interests,” according to a declassified assessment issued Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

U.S. intelligence officials have previously said Russia has been working to boost the chances of former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump, while Iran has been working to hurt Trump’s reelection bid and instead buoy the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

And while there is little evidence to suggest China has sought to affect the U.S. presidential race, intelligence officials have said Beijing has been focusing its efforts on congressional and state and local candidates perceived to be promoting policies detrimental to Beijing’s interests.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department has sent a letter to Elon Musk’s super PAC warning that the billionaire Tesla CEO’s $1 million giveaways may violate federal law, several media organizations reported on Wednesday, citing people briefed on the matter.

A letter from the department’s public integrity section, which investigates potential election-related law violations, went to the PAC.

The Justice Department and Musk’s America PAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

South African-born Musk, who has thrown his support behind Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump ahead of the November 5 election, announced on Saturday while speaking before a crowd in Pennsylvania that he was giving away $1 million each day until Election Day to someone who signs his online petition supporting the U.S. Constitution.

He handed $1 million checks to two separate people over the weekend — one to a man in Harrisburg on Saturday and another to a woman in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Musk, ranked by Forbes as the world’s richest person, so far has supplied at least $75 million to America PAC, according to federal disclosures, making the group a crucial part of Trump’s bid to regain the White House.
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islamabad — The latest U.S.-imposed restrictions on entities supporting Pakistan’s defense programs may hinder Islamabad’s future efforts to acquire sensitive defense technologies and its collaboration with China but are unlikely to affect Pakistan’s weapons development for now, experts say.

Sixteen Pakistani firms were among 26 international companies added this week to a U.S, “entities list,” making them ineligible to acquire U.S. items and technology without government authorization.

Companies or individuals can be placed on the list if they are “involved or pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States,” according to a U.S. Commerce Department statement.

Nine of the 16 Pakistani companies added to the blacklist this week were accused of being front companies for a previously sanctioned company, Advanced Engineering Research Organization, deemed responsible for the country’s cruise missile and strategic drone programs.

The remaining seven entities were added for contributions to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program, the Commerce Department statement said. Other companies added to the list this week were accused of procuring U.S.-made items with military applications for China, Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Defense analysts told VOA that addition to the list is unlikely to slow Pakistan’s missile program, which has continued despite multiple rounds of U.S. curbs on entities supporting it.

“It will not make a difference to Pakistan,” said Pakistani defense analyst Salman Javed, who acknowledged that the country relies on the United States for other defense technology needs. “I believe Pakistan’s missile program is in an advanced stage, and U.S. restrictions will have no impact on it.”

Former Pakistani army General Talat Masood said Pakistan has looked more to China than the United States for “the expertise and technology” needed to advance its drone program. But he said the new curbs might affect Pakistan’s future collaboration with China in the field of drones and their sale to other countries.

Pakistan has not officially responded to the latest restrictions but objected last month when Washington blacklisted four companies, three Chinese and one Pakistani, for “knowingly” transferring prohibited equipment to Pakistan. Islamabad said the sanctions were imposed “without any evidence whatsoever.”

Syed Irfan Ashraf, an assistant professor at the University of Peshawar in Pakistan, said the United States has long prevented arms technology sales in black markets to protect its interests. “However, the timing and scrutiny of entities supporting Pakistan right now is crucial” because of the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

In September, the U.S. State Department acted against five entities and one individual — all but one Chinese — that were involved in the proliferation of ballistic missiles and controlled missile equipment and technology to Pakistan.

Salman Ali, a Pakistani scholar at the School of Politics at the Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, said the recent wave of U.S. sanctions represents a distinct shift from the usual regulatory measures observed since Pakistan’s de facto nuclearization and are aimed more at pressuring China.

“Over the past six rounds of U.S. curbs, it’s clear that the focus has been on the technical exchanges between China and Pakistan. These sanctions are not only intended to curb the rapid advancement of missile and drone programs but are also seen as a strategy to pressure China,” Ali told VOA.

Pakistan and Iran are both members of the China-led regional alliance Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which opposed the unilateral sanctions in its recently concluded summit October 16 in Islamabad.

This story originated in VOA’s Deewa Service. Iftikhar Hussain reported from Washington.
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Washington — Donald Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff is warning that the Republican presidential nominee meets the definition of a fascist and that while in office, Trump suggested that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “did some good things.” 

The comments from John Kelly, the retired Marine general who worked for Trump in the White House from 2017 to 2019, came in interviews published Tuesday in The New York Times and The Atlantic. They build on past warnings from former top Trump officials as the election enters its final two weeks. 

Kelly has long been critical of Trump and previously accused him of calling veterans killed in combat “suckers” and “losers.” His new warnings emerged as Trump seeks a second term vowing to dramatically expand his use of the military at home and suggesting he would use force to go after Americans he considers “enemies from within.” 

“He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too,'” Kelly recalled to the Times. Kelly said he would usually quash the conversation by saying “nothing (Hitler) did, you could argue, was good,” but that Trump would occasionally bring up the topic again. 

In his interview with the Atlantic, Kelly recalled that when Trump raised the idea of needing “German generals,” Kelly would ask if he meant “Bismarck’s generals,” referring to Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor who oversaw the unification of Germany. “Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals,” Kelly recalled asking Trump. To which the former president responded, “Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.” 

Trump’s campaign denied the accounts Tuesday, with campaign spokesman Steven Cheung saying that Kelly had “beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated.” 

Polls show the race is tight in swing states, and both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are crisscrossing the country making their final pitches to the sliver of undecided voters. Harris’ campaign has spent considerable time reaching out to independent voters, using the support of longtime Republicans such as former Rep. Liz Cheney and comments like Kelly’s to urge past Trump voters to reject his candidacy in November. 

Harris’ campaign held a call with reporters Tuesday to elevate the voices of retired military officials who highlighted how many of the officials who worked with Trump now oppose his campaign. 

“People that know him best are most opposed to him, his presidency,” said retired Army Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson. 

Anderson said he wished Kelly would fully back Harris over Trump, something he has yet to do. But retired Army reserve Col. Kevin Carroll, a former senior counselor to Kelly, said Wednesday that the former top Trump official would “rather chew broken glass than vote for Donald Trump.” 

Before serving as Trump’s chief of staff, Kelly worked as the former president’s secretary of homeland security, where he oversaw Trump’s attempts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Kelly was also at the forefront of the Trump administration’s crackdown in immigration policy that led to the separation of thousands of immigrant parents and their children along the southern border. Those actions made him a villain to many on the left, including Harris. 

Kelly is not the first former top Trump administration official to cast the former president as a threat. 

Retired Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Bob Woodward in his recent book “War” that Trump was “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country.” And retired Gen. Jim Mattis, who worked as secretary of defense under Trump, reportedly later told Woodward that he agreed with Milley’s assessment. 

Throughout Trump’s political rise, the businessman-turned-politician benefited from the support of military veterans. 

AP VoteCast found that about 6 in 10 military veterans said they voted for Trump in 2020, as did just over half of those with a veteran in the household. Among voters in this year’s South Carolina Republican primary, AP VoteCast found that close to two-thirds of military veterans and people in veteran households voted for Trump over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump’s toughest opponent in the 2024 Republican primary.
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San Diego — Arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico fell 7% in September to a more than four-year low, authorities said Tuesday. It was likely the last monthly gauge during a presidential campaign in which Republican nominee Donald Trump has made immigration a signature issue. 

The Border Patrol made 53,858 arrests, down from 58,009 in August and the lowest tally since August 2020, when arrests totaled 47,283, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

Mexicans accounted for nearly half of the arrests, becoming a greater part of the mix. In December, when arrests reached an all-time high of 250,000, Mexicans made up fewer than 1 in 4. Arrests for other major nationalities seen at the border, including Guatemalans, Hondurans, Colombians and Ecuadoreans, have plunged this year. 

San Diego was again the busiest corridor for illegal crossings in September, followed by El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona. 

For the government’s fiscal year that ended on September 30, the Border Patrol made 1.53 million arrests after topping 2 million in each of the previous two years for the first time. 

The White House touted the numbers as proof that severe asylum restrictions introduced in June were having the intended effect, and blamed congressional Republicans for opposing a border security bill that failed in February. Vice President Kamala Harris has used that line of attack against Trump to try to blunt criticism that the Biden administration has been weak on immigration enforcement. 

“The Biden Harris administration has taken effective action, and Republican officials continue to do nothing,” said White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández. 

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a frequent administration critic and advocate for immigration restrictions, attributed recent declines to more enforcement by Mexican officials within their own borders, saying the White House “essentially outsourced U.S. border security to Mexico in advance of the 2024 election — policies that can be reversed at any time that the government of Mexico chooses.” 

Arrests fell sharply after Mexico increased enforcement in December, and took a steeper dive after the U.S. asylum restrictions took effect in June. U.S. officials have not been shy about highlighting Mexico’s role. 

Mexican authorities are encountering more migrants this year while deportations remain relatively low, creating a bottleneck. Panamanian authorities reported an increase in migrants walking through the notorious Darien Gap during September, though numbers are still well below last year. 

Troy Miller, acting CBP commissioner, said last week that the administration is working with Mexico and other countries to jointly address migration. 

“We continue to be concerned about any bottlenecks, we continue to look at those, we continue to address them with our partners,” Miller said at a news conference in San Diego. 

The Biden administration has promoted new and expanded legal pathways to enter the country in an effort to discourage illegal crossings. In September, CBP allowed more than 44,600 people to enter with appointments on an online system called CBP One, bringing the total to 852,000 since it was introduced in January 2023. 

Another Biden policy allows up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela with financial sponsors to enter monthly through airports. More than 531,000 people from those four countries have entered that way up through September. 
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Los Angeles — LeBron and Bronny James made NBA history on Tuesday, becoming the first father-and-son duo to play alongside each other in a regular season fixture as the Los Angeles Lakers opened their campaign against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The duo, who played together briefly in a pre-season game earlier this month, took to the court together late in the second quarter at the Crypto.com Arena with the Lakers leading 51-35.

An enormous roar went up from the home crowd as the James duo were brought onto the court by coach J.J. Redick after the Lakers had surged into a double-digit lead.

In a perfectly scripted moment that was pure Hollywood, the James’ double-act was watched at courtside by Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr, who made baseball history playing for the Seattle Mariners as father and son in 1990-1991.

“We made history; now we get to watch history,” said Griffey Jr., who joined his father to pose for photos with LeBron and Bronny James shortly before Tuesday’s tip-off.

Lakers officials had been coy before Tuesday’s season-opener about where and when LeBron James and Bronny would play their first regular season fixture together.

However, NBA superstar LeBron James, who turns 40 in December, admitted in pre-game remarks that he could scarcely contain his excitement at the prospect of realizing his long-cherished dream of sharing a court with his son.

“Just to run out the tunnel knowing that he’ll be in uniform, run out the tunnel with him, see him warm up, and be out there with the rest of my teammates,” James told reporters during a morning shoot-around on Tuesday.

“This is my 22nd time running out on opening night so I don’t know how many times I’ll have an opportunity, how many times I’ve got left to run out. I won’t take it for granted.”

Anticipation about the James double-act has dominated the Lakers’ preparations for the new season since Bronny James was selected by the franchise with the 55th pick in the draft in June.

‘It’s been a treat’

Bronny James, 20, is expected to spend most of his rookie season in the developmental G-League rather than the Lakers senior squad.

LeBron James however said Tuesday that he had relished being able to accompany his son on his first steps into professional basketball.

“It’s been a treat and just in preseason, the practices, just every day,” James said. “The plane rides, the bus rides of being with him and showing him the ropes, along with his teammates and coaches. Just what this professional life is all about and how to prepare every day … super-duper cool.”

Bronny James’ ascent to the ranks of the NBA has been made all the more remarkable given that just over a year ago he suffered a cardiac arrest during a workout with his University of Southern California college team-mates.

James Sr. said his son’s swift recovery from that life-threatening episode had convinced him that he would one day play in the NBA.

“To see him play in a college Division I game the same year he had heart surgery … I knew that at that moment that there really was going to be nothing to stop him from anything that he wants to do,” James said.

Bronny said at the Lakers recent media day he was fueled by the words of critics who have suggested he owes his place on the Lakers roster entirely to his superstar father.

“I’m just taking all that stuff, that criticism and backlash that people have given me and turning it into something that can fuel me,” he said.
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Rudy Giuliani must turn over sports memorabilia and other prized possessions to two Georgia election workers who won a $148 million defamation judgment against him, including his New York City apartment, more than two dozen luxury watches and a 1980 Mercedes once owned by movie star Lauren Bacall, a judge ruled Tuesday.

But U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan also said Giuliani does not have to give the election workers three New York Yankees World Series rings or his Florida condominium — for now — noting those assets are tied up in other litigation.

The property Giuliani must relinquish is expected to fetch several million dollars for Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss. They won the $148 million judgment over Giuliani’s false ballot fraud claims against them related to the 2020 presidential election. They said Giuliani pushed Donald Trump’s lies about the election being stolen, which led to death threats that made them fear for their lives.

Under Tuesday’s order, Giuliani must relinquish within seven days his Manhattan apartment, estimated at more than $5 million, as well as his interest in about $2 million that he says Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign owes him for his services.

Also on the list of assets that must be given to Freeman and Moss are a 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL 500 previously owned by Bacall; a shirt and picture signed, respectively, by Yankees legends Joe DiMaggio and Reggie Jackson; a signed Yankee Stadium picture; a diamond ring; costume jewelry and 26 watches including a Rolex, five Shinolas, two Bulovas and a Tiffany & Co.

In court documents filed earlier this year, Giuliani estimated the Mercedes was worth about $25,000, and the watches, World Series rings and costume jewelry at about $30,000. He said the value of his sports memorabilia was unknown.

One of those watches was given to Giuliani by his grandfather and he asked that he be allowed to keep it because of its sentimental value. But Liman rejected the request, saying Giuliani could have had it exempted if he had proven it was worth less than $1,000 — but he did not do so.

“The Court also does not doubt that certain of the items may have sentimental value to Defendant,” the judge added. “But that does not entitle Defendant to continued enjoyment of the assets to the detriment of the Plaintiffs to whom he owes approximately $150 million. It is, after all, the underlying policy of these New York statutes that ‘no man should be permitted to live at the same time in luxury and in debt.'”

Liman wrote that Freeman and Moss would be allowed to sell off the property and “ensure that the liquidation of the transferred assets is accomplished quickly.”

Giuliani had asked the judge to bar Freeman and Moss from selling any of his assets until after his appeal of the judgment is completed. Liman also rejected that request, saying Giuliani could have asked the federal court in Washington, D.C., where Freeman and Moss won their case, to stay any asset sales pending his appeal, but he did not.

Giuliani’s lawyers, Kenneth Caruso and David Labkowski, said in a statement Tuesday night, “Stay tuned. When the judgment is reversed in the Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., these Plaintiffs will be required to return all this property to Mr. Giuliani. We repeat, stay tuned.”

To date, Giuliani has not paid Freeman and Moss anything.

“We are proud that our clients will finally begin to receive some of the compensation to which they are entitled for Giuliani’s actions,” Aaron Nathan, a lawyer for Freeman and Moss, said in a statement. “This outcome should send a powerful message that there is a price to pay for those who choose to intentionally spread disinformation.”

As for the World Series rings, Giuliani’s son, Andrew, filed court documents earlier this month saying he actually is the rightful owner. He said his father gave him four rings — one for each of the Yankees’ championships in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 — as gifts in 2018. Rudy Giuliani received the rings during his tenure as mayor of New York City. The younger Giuliani’s claim is pending in federal court in Manhattan.

Freeman and Moss also asked Liman to order Rudy Giuliani to turn over his condo in Palm Beach, Florida, estimated to be worth more than $3 million. But that property is tied up in other litigation, with Giuliani claiming it should be exempt because it is his primary residence. Freeman and Moss have a lien on the Florida property.

Liman said he would take up the Florida condo at a hearing Oct. 28, and he barred Giuliani from selling the property or taking any action that would diminish its value.

After the $148 million verdict, Giuliani filed for bankruptcy, which froze attempts by Freeman and Moss to collect the award. But a judge in July threw out the case citing repeated “uncooperative conduct,” including a failure to comply with court orders and disclose sources of income.
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One person died and dozens fell ill from E. coli infections linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers in 10 states, led by Colorado, where 26 people were sickened, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said on Tuesday.

The E. coli outbreak, linked to one of McDonald’s most popular menu items, has sickened 49 people and sent 10 to the hospital, officials say.

The strain involved, E. coli O157:H7, can cause serious illness and was the source of a 1993 outbreak that killed four children who ate undercooked hamburgers at Jack in the Box restaurants.

Shares of the world’s largest fast-food chain were down about 6% in extended trading. A livestock trader said the outbreak also could pressure U.S. cattle futures on Wednesday by threatening demand for beef.

Everyone interviewed as part of an investigation into the outbreak has reported eating at McDonald’s before their illness started, and most mentioned eating a Quarter Pounder hamburger, according to the CDC.

The specific ingredient linked to the illness has not been identified but investigators are focused on fresh, slivered onions and fresh beef patties, the CDC said.

Most of the illnesses were reported in Colorado and Nebraska.

“The initial findings from the investigation indicate that a subset of illnesses may be linked to slivered onions used in the Quarter Pounder and sourced by a single supplier that serves three distribution centers,” McDonald’s North America Chief Supply Chain Officer Cesar Piña said in a statement.

McDonald’s has proactively removed the slivered onions and beef patties used for the Quarter Pounder hamburgers from stores in the affected states while the investigation continues, the company informed the CDC.

U.S. food safety attorney Bill Marler, who represented a victim in the Jack in the Box outbreak, said more cases of illness could surface. Onions have been linked to prior E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks, he said.

According to Marler, a founder of Marler Clark in Seattle, beef contamination is less common due to food safety measures. “You’d have to have multiple restaurants under-cooking the meat,” he said.

McDonald’s is temporarily removing the Quarter Pounder from restaurants in the impacted areas, including Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming, it said in a statement, adding it was working with suppliers to replenish supply in the coming week.

Symptoms for E. coli include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting. Most people who suffer an infection will start feeling sick three to four days after eating or drinking something that contains the bacteria, Colorado’s public health department said. However, illnesses can start anywhere from one to 10 days after exposure, the department added.

In 2015, burrito chain Chipotle saw its sales battered and reputation hit due to E.coli outbreaks in several states. That outbreak was linked to a different strain of E. coli that typically causes less severe illness than E. coli O157:H7.

In addition to Colorado, the CDC said small clusters of a few people fell ill after eating a Quarter Pounder in Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming. Kansas, Missouri, Oregon, Iowa, Wisconsin and Montana had one illness apiece.
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The war in Ukraine is reshaping the strategic landscape of Europe. While Western and Eastern European nations within the NATO alliance recognize the Russian threat, each day, NATO nations bordering Belarus and Russia feel the immediacy of the threat.

In an exclusive interview with VOA’s Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze, Lieutenant General Charles Costanza, commander of the U.S. Army’s V Corps (also known as the Fifth Corps) in Poland, discusses how NATO adapts to Russia’s evolving tactics while defending its members’ borders.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: Can you explain the different threat assessments from Eastern and Western European partners of NATO regarding Russia?

Charles Costanza, commanding general of the U.S. Army’s V Corps: Clearly, in the eastern flank of Europe, the threat is real. They’re on the border with Belarus and Russia, and so, they see that threat every day differently. You see recent open-source reporting on the Russian UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones] coming over Romanian territory and Lithuanian territory. Those incursions have increased. You see the sabotage operations going on throughout eastern flank countries and Eastern European countries. So, Russia is increasing that, short of … challenges and interference [that would trigger the NATO mutual defense clause].

VOA: Do you think Russia is doing it deliberately?

Costanza: Of course, they are. They weaponize immigration — I say “weaponize” deliberately. This weaponized immigration is happening in Poland, it’s all been driven from Russia to interfere in Eastern Europe. Moldova is a near-term example with their elections. Russia is actively interfering in those elections to try and shape them in a pro-Russian way. So, all that is going on right now. So, that’s part of this threat assessment piece that isn’t necessarily impacting the Western European countries as much as Eastern Europe.

VOA: How threatening is Russia’s military?

Costanza: I think there’s a view that Russia is going to take three to 10 years to reconstitute, and I think that we need to look at that a little differently. Russian armed forces, ground forces right now, are actually bigger than they were before the war with Ukraine started 2½ years ago, despite the losses of open-source reporting [of] 600,000 casualties that they’ve incurred during the course of the war.

They may not be as well trained, but they’re bigger. Their industrial base is on a wartime footing. Their mobilization base is on a wartime footing. They know they’re fighting a Western-trained, West-equipped country with Ukraine. They’re learning how to defeat those capabilities and those systems over the last 2½ years. So, they’re modernizing their force based on the lessons that they’re learning, and I think that’s something we should be concerned about. They’re modernizing their equipment. They’re changing the way that they fight based on learning how to fight against Western-trained forces in Ukraine. And I think that should be a concern for all of us. It clearly is to our Eastern European allies.

VOA: How are you preparing to defend and deter?

Costanza: First of all, to maintain a high stance on readiness from a U.S. forces standpoint but also the NATO standpoint. At the Fifth Corps, one of the key things we do as partners with our multinational corps and multinational divisions across the eastern flank of Europe [is] just to help build their war-fighting capability as they field new capabilities. HIMARS [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System], for example. Apaches [helicopters] — with Poland just purchasing 96 Apaches from the United States. So, we help them to employ those things, those capabilities. But how you employ them at the corps level, and how you employ them at the division level, we can help, and we do.

VOA: General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former commander in chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and now ambassador to the United Kingdom, recently gave a speech at Chatham House in London in which he talked about the technological advancements of this war, and how this is a different war than NATO was prepared to fight. How would you assess NATO’s capabilities today?

Costanza: I think you’re exactly right. And those are some of the comments that were made by our NATO partners in this event. I think that the United States is kind of setting the standard on that with a new program that our chief of staff of the Army [General Randy George] has talked about, which is transformation in contact. So, for the U.S. forces that are rotating over here to Europe, we’re modernizing them with equipment that’s available right now. So, instead of going through our normal four-year acquisition process to get new equipment, we’re taking things that are available based on what we’re watching happen in Ukraine. … So maybe that can be a model for our partners and allies.

VOA: We talked about NATO capabilities. Now I want to go back to Russian capabilities. How advanced do you think they are right now?

Costanza: I think the biggest concern is what I said before: They know they’re fighting Western-trained and -equipped forces. And so, as they modernize based on the lessons that they’re learning — not just their equipment, but how they fight — they’re really sharpening their ability to fight us in the future. And I think that’s something we need to be concerned about.

So, those things I just talked about that we’re trying to rapidly introduce into our brigade to execute the transformation, contact — the UAS [Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or drones], the border, ammunition, the counter UAS, the EW [electronic warfare] capability. And how do you synchronize all of that capability so that you can really, rapidly strike and kill targets? They’ve learned how to do that. And so, we need to be able to do that and do it better than they do.

VOA: Russia is gaining support from China and North Korea right now. Are we ready to face this threat?

Costanza: The lessons that I was talking about, the reasons we should be concerned about Russia — they’re sharing those lessons with China, with Iran, and vice versa, the capabilities that Iran and China are providing. And now you see the North Koreans, as well. North Korea is now providing, I think it’s an initial batch [of] open-source reporting, of 4,000 North Korean soldiers. I think that could potentially just be a starting point for what they provide in terms of manpower to Russia. And I think that’s a problem near-term here in Eastern Europe, because as we talked about before we started, the challenge for Ukrainians is people. It’s the amount of people that they have to put into this fight. And Russia doesn’t care how many losses it takes. I mean, 600,000 [casualties], and they’re still throwing more manpower at it and don’t even blink. Ukrainians can’t afford to take those losses. I think that’s going to be the limiting factor for that as we move forward, watch this war continue into this third period.

VOA: There are different assessments of threats between, let’s say, the political part of the NATO alliance and the military part of the alliance. How are you finding that common ground?

Costanza: Yeah, I think it’s just constant dialogue, right? And so, I know we do that at different levels. So, the combatant commander, the U.S. combat commander, has those discussions at the national levels with our NATO partners and allies. We all live in Eastern Europe, including myself — in Poland. We all see that threat the same way. It can be near term.

VOA: What do you mean by the near term?

Costanza: I think, one year, two years, three years.

VOA: And you’re trying to be ready for that?

Costanza: U.S. forces are ready, and I can tell you, our NATO partners and allies are ready. And we’re just continuing to build capabilities.
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WASHINGTON — As the United States presidential election enters its final phase, more and more voters are expressing support for their favored candidate by wearing election merchandise.

What they may not realize is that the “Make America Great Again” Trump hat or “Childless Cat Lady for Harris” T-shirt they’re wearing quite possibly was made in China.

With the help of e-commerce platforms, Chinese traders are flooding the market for U.S. election merchandise with cheap goods. Anecdotal evidence suggests U.S. makers of these products are struggling to compete.

“I think the amount of stuff on Amazon and Etsy that’s coming from China and other countries in cargo ships and unloaded on American shores is drastically impacting American manufacturers’, like myself, ability to compete and grow our own business. I think it’s dramatic,” said Ben Waxman, founder and co-owner of American Roots, an American apparel company.

Waxman wouldn’t share production or profit figures with VOA Mandarin Service because of privacy concerns, but he did say his U.S.-made campaign T-shirts, for example, sell for about $15 each, while those on Chinese online retailer Temu can sell for as little as $3.

“It’s more expensive when you pay higher wages, living wages, and abide by environmental standards,” Waxman said, referring to long-standing criticisms of China’s manufacturing practices.

His unionized company has been producing campaign merchandise for presidential candidates since 2016, mainly T-shirts and sweatshirts, with all raw materials and production sourced within the U.S.

Flooding the market

VOA Mandarin Service was unable to find total sales figures for made-in-America election merchandise versus made-in-China ones. But the massive number of Chinese-made election products for sale on e-commerce platforms, including Amazon and eBay, show they are flooding the market.

On Temu alone, tens of thousands of election-themed items have been sold at a fraction of the price of the official campaigns’ versions.

Among them, a “Make America Great Again” hat costs less than $4, while the official Trump campaign store website, which boasts “All Products Made in the USA,” sells them for 10 times that price at $40 each.

Likewise, Temu’s “Kamala Harris 2024” hats can sell for less than $3 each, while the official Kamala Harris campaign store website sells “Kamala” hats for $47 each.

The Harris campaign also vowed to only sell products made in the U.S. on its official websites.

VOA asked both campaigns for comment but didn’t receive a response by the time of publication.

The stark contrast in prices highlights the challenges the U.S. faces in reducing its dependence on Chinese products and closing a trade loophole, known as the de minimis loophole, that allows Chinese companies to ship goods worth less than $800 to the U.S. without paying import duties.

Kim Glas, president and CEO of the National Council of Textile Organizations, a labor union-aligned organization, said abuse of the de minimis loophole is rampant, adding that her group “lost 21 manufacturing operations over the last 18 months.”

Glas said some of NCTO’s member manufacturers found sales of campaign products are slower this year than in any previous U.S. election cycle.

VOA Mandarin reached out to Amazon and eBay for comments on the volume of presidential campaign merchandise imported from China on their websites and their regulations of the Chinese vendors but didn’t receive a response by the time of publication.

Temu didn’t comment on election product sales in the U.S., but the company’s spokesperson replied in an email to VOA Mandarin, “Temu’s growth isn’t dependent on the de minimis policy. The primary drivers behind our rapid expansion and market acceptance are the supply-chain efficiencies and operational proficiencies we’ve cultivated over the years.”

The spokesperson added, “We are open to and supportive of any policy adjustments made by legislators that align with consumer interests.”

U.S. textile industry representatives note the irony of the two U.S. presidential candidates talking tough on trade with China while their own followers are buying China-made products to show their support for them.

“If someone is supporting a candidate because of that candidate’s economic policy and their position toward improving our economy and improving our environment and improving our labor conditions, and doing so by increasing the amount of domestic manufacturing, and then they’re supporting a candidate by buying a product that’s made in a country that stands for the opposite of that, they’re actually doing themselves and the candidate and the economy a disservice,” said Mitch Cahn, president of Unionwear, a New York-based apparel company that has supplied more than 300,000 baseball caps to Harris’ campaign.

‘Anybody can make the product’

Cahn notes that anyone can produce campaign products because the campaigns don’t control their intellectual property. They think “it’s more valuable for them to have a person wear the campaign’s name on their head than it is to make money from selling the merchandise.”

“When anybody can make the product and sell it, a lot of the products are going to end up being made in China because there’s just not a lot of manufacturers here,” he told VOA Mandarin.

The Associated Press reported on October 18 that thousands of Donald Trump’s “God Bless America” Bibles were printed in China. The AP also noted that most Bibles, not just the Trump-backed one, are made in China.

Critics note Trump’s promotion of Made in the USA products could be undermined by the revelation.

“In past [election] years, this would’ve been a scandal,” says Marc Zdanow, a political consultant and CEO of Engage Voters U.S. “I think Trump voters just don’t care. … I guess the question is whether or not this rises to the top for those voters who are still undecided. This issue is certainly one that could be enough to push this group away from Trump.”

Chris Tang, a business administration and global management professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, told VOA Mandarin the impact of merchandise made in China on the U.S. economy is not simply about one-sided manufacturing job losses. Consumers also get these products at low prices.

“While there are job losses in manufacturing, it creates opportunities for small businesses to import small quantities quickly using [online Chinese sellers like] Alibaba to find suppliers to produce election merchandise quickly and sell them online quickly.”

Tang said the U.S. should develop a manufacturing sector that focuses on high-value products, not cheap ones such as U.S. election merchandise.
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WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating the public disclosure of a pair of highly classified intelligence documents describing Israel’s preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran, the bureau said on Tuesday. 

“The FBI is investigating the alleged leak of classified documents and working closely with our partners in the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community,” it said in a statement. 

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that it has not been determined whether the disclosure was a hack or a leak. President Joe Biden was watching the results of the investigation closely, he added. 

“We’re not exactly sure how these documents found their way into the public domain,” Kirby told reporters. 

“The president remains deeply concerned about any leakage of classified information into the public domain. That is not supposed to happen, and it’s unacceptable when it does,” he said. 

The documents appear to have been prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, describing U.S. interpretations of Israeli Air Force and Navy planning based on satellite imagery from Oct. 15-16. 

They began circulating last week on the Telegram messaging app. Israel has been planning a response to a ballistic-missile barrage carried out by Iran on Oct. 1, Tehran’s second direct attack on Israel in six months. Israel has intensified its offensive in Gaza and Lebanon, days after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. 

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday said an investigation was under way.
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NEW YORK — Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries and two other men have been arrested on sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges, a spokesperson for federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Details of the criminal charges weren’t immediately available. They come after years of sexual misconduct allegations, made in civil lawsuits and the media, from young people who said Jeffries lured them with promises of modeling work and then pressed them into sex acts.

A message seeking comment was left for Brian Bieber, an attorney who has represented Jeffries. Information on attorneys for the other defendants wasn’t immediately available.

Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Breon Peace and FBI and police officials were set to hold a news conference later Monday.

Jeffries left New Albany, Ohio-based Abercrombie & Fitch in 2014.

One civil lawsuit filed in New York last year accused Abercrombie of allowing Jeffries to run a sex-trafficking organization during his 22-year tenure. It said that Jeffries had modeling scouts scouring the internet for victims, and that some prospective models became sex-trafficking victims.

Abercrombie last year said it had hired an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation after a report on similar allegations was aired by the BBC.

The BBC investigation included a dozen men who described being at events involving sex acts they said were staged by Jeffries and his partner, Matthew Smith, often at his home in New York and hotels in London, Paris and elsewhere.

When the civil lawsuit was filed in New York last year, Bieber declined to comment on the allegations.
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Dissent is thriving this fall at American colleges, and not just among student activists. With student protests limited by new restrictions, faculty have taken up the cause.  

To faculty, new protest rules threaten freedom of speech — and the freedom to think, both central to university life. This semester, some of the most visible demonstrations have involved professors speaking up for the right to protest itself.  

Last spring, pro-Palestinian tent encampments crowded schools and disrupted commencement plans, drawing accusations of antisemitism and prompting new limits.  

At Indiana University, an “expressive activity policy” rolled out in August prohibits protests after 11 p.m., bans camping on campus, and requires pre-approval for signs. In defiance, each Sunday a group of faculty members, students and community members gather on campus for candlelight vigils that extend past the 11 p.m. deadline.  

Russ Skiba, a professor emeritus who has attended the vigils, said the new restrictions are part of a larger movement to limit academic freedom on campuses.  

In Indiana, the Republican governor in March signed a law increasing state oversight of public universities. The law, sponsored by a lawmaker who said colleges suffer from “monolithic thinking,” subjects faculty to post-tenure reviews over whether they are fostering diversity of thought and keeping their political views out of the classroom. Skiba and other Indiana professors widely opposed the bill, which they criticized as vague and subject to interpretation.  

“Universities are bastions of free speech, but when you have a movement that is anti-democratic, one of the places that is most attacked is freedom of speech,” Skiba said.  

Faculty members at colleges elsewhere around the country have pushed back on the new rules with protests, vigils and demands for explanation.  

A group of Harvard University professors held a “study-in” at a campus library on Oct. 16 in support of pro-Palestinian students who were temporarily banned from the library for holding a similar demonstration. In September, a group representing University of California faculty filed a complaint alleging the system sought to chill their academic freedom and keep from teaching about the Israel-Hamas war “in a way that does not align with the University’s own position.”  

To some professors, the protest restrictions are also a labor issue.  

Colleges have been granting tenure to fewer professors, and facing pressure in some areas to do away with it altogether. Legislatures in several states have taken an interest in how topics around race, gender and history are taught. Protest guidelines handed down by administrators are another way the faculty’s say in university affairs is being diminished, some professors say.  

“We have to, as faculty, organize and demand the sort of shared governance that gives us a right to review and challenge these policies,” said Todd Wolfson, a journalism and media studies professor at Rutgers University and the president of the American Association of University Professors. “They’re not made by people coming out of the academic arm of our institutions.” 

Tensions on campuses nationwide have been high since the war began over a year ago, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters.

Colleges have been under tremendous pressure, including from Republicans in Congress, to protect students from discrimination while upholding free speech. Demonstrations last spring blocked foot traffic in parts of some campuses and included instances of antisemitic imagery and rhetoric. Some Jewish faculty members and students have said the protests made them feel unsafe.  

In a message announcing new guidelines at the start of the semester, Northwestern University President Michael Schill said it needs to make sure everyone on campus feels safe and supported.  

“Activities that lead to intimidation and impede an environment where dialogue and education can flourish cannot occur again,” he said.  

Shirin Vossoughi, a Northwestern professor, was among 52 faculty members who signed an open letter opposing the school’s new demonstration policy as caving to political pressure to silence certain types of activism. She said the rules crack down not just on free speech, but pro-Palestinian voices in particular.  

During the protests last spring, some faculty members joined ranks with demonstrators. Others acted as mediators for students they see as under their care and protection. Faculty voted no confidence against leaders of schools including Columbia University, the University of Massachusetts, Brandeis University, and Cal Poly Humboldt over their handling of the protests.  

At Northwestern University, Steven Thrasher was among three faculty members charged by university police for obstructing law enforcement during last spring’s protests. He was suspended and removed from teaching this fall while under investigation by the university.

“The way that I saw my role was as a protector of the students’ safety and of their ability to express themselves,” Thrasher said this fall. “I knew as soon as I started seeing violence happening towards students that I would do what I could.”  

While schools say the rules are meant to limit disruptions, faculty members say they have the effect of neutralizing dissent.  

“The whole point of a protest is to be seen and heard,” said Michael Thaddeus, a mathematics professor at Columbia University, where new rules require advance notice and prevent demonstrations that “substantially inhibit the primary purposes” of an area of campus. “Free speech rights aren’t served if you can only speak into the void and not have anybody hear you, and that includes the right to be seen and heard by people who don’t like what you have to say.”  

Professors also drew a connection to the growing percentage of lecturers, adjuncts and professors who do not have tenure protections. Professors increasingly see the issue of speech and academic freedom as a labor issue as a result of the crackdowns, said Risa Lieberwitz, AAUP’s general counsel.

“We’re seeing unionization growing and increasing,” she said. “I think to some extent it’s because it’s so important to organize, to claim democratic rights.”  

Wolfson said professors must stand up for students’ rights to demonstrate and speak freely.  

“Their freedom of speech rights are the lifeblood of the university,” Wolfson said. “We cannot have a university based on critical thinking and exploring questions if we’re going to clamp down on students’ rights to protest something they think is a massive problem, and if they see a way for the university to actually engage in it productively.”
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