*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
The Trump administration is escalating its attack on Cuba, cutting off the island’s access to oil in a deliberate attempt to induce famine and mass suffering. This is collective punishment, plain and simple.
In response, we’re releasing a public Call to Conscience, already signed by influential public figures, elected officials, artists, and organizations—including 22 members of the New York City Council, Kal Penn, Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Alice Walker, 50501, Movement for Black Lives, The People’s Forum, IFCO Pastors for Peace, ANSWER Coalition, and many others—demanding an end to this brutal policy.
The letter is open for everyone to sign. Add your name today. Cutting off energy to an island nation is not policy—it is a tactic of starvation.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
VIDEO:
What Cubans Really Think About Trump
By Jeff Seal, May 28, 2026
Mr. Seal is a comedian and a visual journalist.
Born in rural Ohio, Howard Keylor attended a one-room country schoolhouse. He became a member of the National Honor Society when he graduated from Marietta High School.
After enlisting in the U.S. Army, Howard fought in the Pacific Theater in World War Two, during which he participated in the Battle of Okinawa as a Corporal. The 96th U.S. Army Division, which Howard trained with, had casualty rates above 50%. The incompetence and racism of the military command, the destruction of the capital city of Naha and the deliberate killings of tens of thousands of Okinawan civil-ians – a third of the population - made Howard a committed anti-imperialist, anti-militarist and anti-racist for the rest of his life.
Upon returning to the United States, Howard enrolled in the College of the Pacific, but dropped out to support Filipino agricultural workers in the 1948 asparagus strike, working with legendary labor leader Larry Itliong. He became a longshore worker in Stockton in 1953. As a member of the Communist Party, Howard and his wife, Evangeline, were attacked in the HUAC (McCarthy) hearings in San Francisco. Later, Howard transferred to ILWU Local 10. In 1971 he, along with Brothers Herb Mills, Leo Robinson and a ma-jority of Local 10’s members, opposed the proposed 1971 contract which codified the 9.43 steadyman sys-tem. This led to the longshore strike of 1971-1972, which shut down 56 West Coast ports and lasted 130 days. It was the longest strike in the ILWU’s history.
In Local 10 Brother Keylor was a member of the Militant Caucus, a class struggle rank-and-file group which published a regular newsletter, the “Longshore Militant”. He later left the Militant Caucus and pub-lished a separate newsletter on his own, the “Militant Longshoreman.” Howard advocated deliberate defi-ance of the “slave-labor” Taft-Hartley law through illegal secondary boycotts and pickets. Running on an open class-struggle program which called for breaking with the Democratic and Republican Parties, form-ing a worker’s government, expropriating the capitalists without compensation and creating a planned economy, Howard won election to the Executive Board of Local 10 for twelve years.
The Militant Caucus was involved in organizing protests and boycotts of military cargo bound for the military dictatorship in Chile in 1975 and 1978 and again in 1980 to the military dictatorship in El Sal-vador. The Caucus also participated in ILWU Local 6’s strike at KNC Glass in Union City, during which a mass picket line physically defeated police and scabs, winning a contract for a workforce composed pri-marily of Mexican-American immigrants.
In 1984, Brother Keylor made the motion, amended by Brother Leo Robinson, which led to the elev-en-day longshore boycott of South African cargo on the Nedlloyd Kimberley. In 1986, Howard again partici-pated in the Campaign Against Apartheid’s community picket line against the Nedlloyd Kemba. When Nel-son Mandela spoke at the Oakland Coliseum in 1990 after his release from prison, he credited Local 10 with re-igniting the anti-Apartheid movement in the Bay Area.
Other actions Brother Howard initiated, organized or participated in included the 1995-98 struggle of the Liverpool dockworkers; the 1999 coastwide shutdown and march of 25,000 in San Francisco to de-mand freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal; the 2000 Charleston longshore union campaign; the 2008 May Day anti-imperialist war shutdown of all West Coast ports; the shutdown of Northern California ports in pro-test of the murder of Oscar Grant; the blockades of Israeli ships to protest the war on Gaza in 2010 and 2014; the 2011 ILWU struggle against the grain monopolies in Longview; Occupy Oakland’s march of 40,000 to the Port of Oakland, and countless other militant job actions and protests. Throughout his life, Brother Keylor always extended solidarity where it was needed. He fought racist police murders and fas-cist terror, defended abortion clinics, and fought for survivors of psychiatric abuse. Having grown up in Appalachia, he has always been an environmentalist, and helped shut down a Monsanto facility in Davis in 2012, as well as fighting pesticide use and deforestation in the East Bay.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Petition to Force Amazon to Cut ICE Contracts!
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-amazon-end-contracts-with-ice/?source=group-amazon-labor-union&referrer=group-amazon-labor-
Amazon Labor Union
Over 600,000 messages have already been sent directly to Amazon board members demanding one thing: Amazon must stop fueling deportations by ending its contracts with ICE and DHS.
ICE and DHS rely on the data infrastructure provided by Amazon Web Services. Their campaign against immigrants and those who stand with them depends on the logistical, financial, and political support of companies like Amazon.
But workers and communities have real power when we act collectively. That’s why we must expose Amazon’s role in the deportation machine. Help us reach 1 million messages and force Amazon to act by signing our petition with The Labor Force today:
Tell Amazon: End contracts with ICE!
On Cyber Monday 2025, Amazon workers rallied outside of Amazon’s NYC headquarters to demand that Amazon stop fueling mass deportations through Amazon Web Services’ contracts with ICE and DHS.
ICE cannot operate without corporate backing; its campaign against immigrants and those who stand with them depends on the logistical, financial, and political support of companies like Amazon. Mega-corporations may appear untouchable, but they are not. Anti-authoritarian movements have long understood that repression is sustained by a network of institutional enablers and when those enablers are disrupted, state violence weakens. Workers and communities have real power when they act collectively. That is why we must expose Amazon’s role in the deportation machine.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rely on Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its most commonly used cloud platform. DHS and ICE cannot wage their attack on immigrants without the critical data infrastructure that Amazon Web Services provide, allowing the agencies to collect, analyze, and store the massive amounts of data they need to do their dirty work. Without the power of AWS, ICE would not be able to track and target people at its current scale.
ICE and DHS use Amazon Web Services to collect and store massive amounts of purchased data on immigrants and their friends and family–everything from biometric data, DMV data, cellphone records, and more. And through its contracts with Palantir, DHS is able to scour regional, local, state, and federal databases and analyze and store this data on AWS. All of this information is ultimately used to target immigrants and other members of our communities.
No corporation should profit from oppression and abuse. Yet Amazon is raking in tens of millions of dollars to fuel DHS and ICE, while grossly exploiting its own workers. Can you sign our petition today, demanding that Amazon stop fueling deportations by ending its contracts with DHS and ICE, now?
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-amazon-end-contracts-with-ice/?source=group-amazon-labor-union&referrer=group-amazon-labor-
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
End Texas Torture of Revolutionary Elder Xinachtli
Organization Support Letter
Letter to demand the immediate medical treatment and release of Chicano political prisoner Xinachtli (Alvaro Hernandez #00255735)
To the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,
We, the undersigned organizations, write to urge immediate action to protect the life, health, and human rights of Xinachtli (legal name Alvaro Hernandez). Xinachtli is 73-year-old Chicano community organizer from Texas who has spent 23 years in solitary confinement and 30 years incarcerated as part of a 50-year sentence. His health is now in a critical and life-threatening state and requires prompt and comprehensive medical intervention.
Since his conviction in 1997, Xinachtli has spent decades in conditions that have caused significant physical and psychological harm. As an elder in worsening health, these conditions have effectively become a de facto death sentence.
Xinachtli’s current medical condition is severe. His physical, mental, and overall well-being have declined rapidly in recent weeks. He now requires both a wheelchair and a walker, has experienced multiple falls, and is suffering from rapid weight loss. He is currently housed in the McConnell Unit infirmary, where he is receiving only palliative measures and is being denied a medical diagnosis, access to his medical records, and adequate diagnostic testing or treatment.
A virtual clinical visit with licensed medical doctor Dr. Dona Kim Murphey underscores the severity of his condition. In her report of the visit, she wrote: "Given the history of recent neck/back trauma and recurrent urinary tract infections with numbness, weakness, and bowel and bladder incontinence, I am concerned about nerve root or spinal cord injury and/or abscesses that can lead to permanent sensorimotor dysfunction."
Despite his age and visible disabilities, he remains in solitary confinement under the Security Threat Group designation as a 73-year-old. During his time in the infirmary, prison staff threw away all of his belongings and “lost” his commissary card, leaving him completely without basic necessities. He is experiencing hunger, and the lack of consistent nutrition is worsening his medical condition. McConnell Unit staff have also consistently given him incorrect forms, including forms for medical records and medical visitation, creating further barriers to care and communication.
A family visit on November 29 confirmed the seriousness of his condition. Xinachtli, who was once able to walk on his own, can no longer stand without assistance. He struggled to breathe, has lost more than 30 pounds, relied heavily on his wheelchair, and was in severe pain throughout the visit.
In light of these conditions, we, the undersigned organizations, demand that TDCJ take immediate action to save Xinachtli’s life and comply with its legal and ethical obligations.
We urge the immediate implementation of the following actions:
Immediate re-instatement of his access to commissary to buy hygiene, food, and other critical items. Immediate transfer to the TDCJ hospital in Galveston for a full medical evaluation and treatment, including complete access to his medical records and full transparency regarding all procedures. Transfer to a geriatric and medical unit that is fully accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Xinachtli requests placement at the Richard P LeBlanc Unit in Beaumont, Texas. Approval of Medical Recommended Intensive Supervision, the release program for individuals with serious medical conditions and disabilities, in recognition of the severity and progression of his current health issues. Failure to act will result in the continued and foreseeable deterioration of Xinachtli’s health, amounting to state-sanctioned death. We urge TDCJ to take swift and decisive action to meet these requests and to fulfill its responsibility to safeguard his life and well-being.
We stand united in calling for immediate and decisive action. Xinachtli’s life depends on it.
Signed, Xinachtli Freedom Campaign and supporting organizations
Endorsing Organizations:
Al-Awda Houston; All African People’s Revolutionary Party; Anakbayan Houston; Anti-Imperialist Solidarity; Artists for Black Lives' Equality; Black Alliance for Peace - Solidarity Network; Columbia University Students for a Democratic Society; Community Liberation Programs; Community Powered ATX; Contra Gentrificación; Diaspora Pa’lante Collective; Down South; DSA Emerge; Entre nos kc; Fighting Racism Workshops; Frontera Water Protectors; GC Harm Reductionists; JERICHO MOVEMENT; Jericho Movement Providence; Montrose Anarchist Collective; NYC Jericho Movement; OC Focus; Palestine Solidarity TX; Partisan Defense Committee; Partido Nacional de la Raza Unida; PDX Anti-Repression; Red Star Texas; Root Cause; San Francisco Solidarity Collective; Shine White Support Team; Sunrise Columbia; UC San Diego Faculty for Justice in Palestine; Viva Palestina, EPTX; Water Justice and Technology Studio; Workshops4Gaza.
Sign the endorsement letter for your organization here:
https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/MiR1f+iLiRBJC7gSTyfhyxJoLIDhThxRafPatxdbMWI/
IMPORTANT LINKS TO MATERIALS FOR XINACHTLI FREEDOM CAMPAIGN:
PHONE BLAST: Your community can sign up for a 15-minute-long call shift here: bit.ly/xphoneblast
FUNDRAISER: Here is the link to Jericho's fundraiser for Xinachtli: http://givebutter.com/jerichomovement
CASE HISTORY: Learn more about Xinachtli and his case through our website: https://freealvaro.net
CONTACT INFO:
Follow us on Instagram: @freexinachtlinow
Email us:
xinachtlifreedomcampaign@protonmail.com
COALITION FOLDER:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/SP3KTC1RK4#KARGiPQVYIvR
In the folder you will find: Two pictures of Xinachtli from 2024; The latest updated graphics for the phone blast; The original TRO emergency motion filing; Maria Salazar's declaration; Dr. Murphy's report from her Dec. 9 medical visit; Letter from Amnesty International declaring Xinachtli's situation a human rights violation; Free Xinachtli zine (which gives background on him and his case); and The most recent press release detailing who Xinachtli is as well as his medical situation.
Write to:
Alvaro Hernandez CID #00255735
TDCJ-W.G. McConnell Unit
PO Box 660400
Dallas, TX 75266-0400
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Self-portrait by Kevin Cooper
Funds for Kevin Cooper
Kevin was transferred out of San Quentin and is now at a healthcare facility in Stockton. He has received some long overdue healthcare. The art program is very different from the one at San Quentin but we are hopeful that Kevin can get back to painting soon.
For 41 years, an innocent man has been on death row in California.
Kevin Cooper was wrongfully convicted of the brutal 1983 murders of the Ryen family and houseguest. The case has a long history of police and prosecutorial misconduct, evidence tampering, and numerous constitutional violations including many incidences of the prosecution withholding evidence of innocence from the defense. You can learn more here .
In December 2018 Gov. Brown ordered limited DNA testing and in February 2019, Gov. Newsom ordered additional DNA testing. Meanwhile, Kevin remains on Death Row at San Quentin Prison.
The funds raised will be used to help Kevin purchase art supplies for his paintings . Additionally, being in prison is expensive, and this money would help Kevin pay for stamps, books, paper, toiletries, supplies, supplementary food, printing materials to educate the public about his case and/or video calls.
Please help ease the daily struggle of an innocent man on death row!
An immediate act of solidarity we can all do right now is to write to Kevin and assure him of our continuing support in his fight for justice. Here’s his address:
Kevin Cooper #C65304
Cell 107, Unit E1C
California Health Care Facility, Stockton (CHCF)
P.O. Box 213040
Stockton, CA 95213
www.freekevincooper.org
Call California Governor Newsom:
1-(916) 445-2841
Press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish,
press 6 to speak with a representative and
wait for someone to answer
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST—12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST)
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Dr. Atler Still Needs Our Help!
Please sign the petition today!
https://www.change.org/p/texas-state-university-give-tom-alter-his-job-back
What you can do to support:
—Donate to help Tom Alter and his family with living and legal expenses: https://gofund.me/27c72f26d
—Sign and share this petition demanding Tom Alter be given his job back: https://www.change.org/p/texas-state-university-give-tom-alter-his-job-back
—Write to and call the President and Provost at Texas State University demanding that Tom Alter be given his job back:
President Kelly Damphousse: president@txstate.edu
President’s Office Phone: 512-245-2121
Provost Pranesh Aswath: xrk25@txstate.edu
Provost Office Phone: 512-245-2205
For more information about the reason for the firing of Dr. Tom Alter, read:
"Fired for Advocating Socialism: Professor Tom Alter Speaks Out"
Ashley Smith Interviews Dr. Tom Alter
—CounterPunch, September 24, 2025
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
 Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity CampaignAn appeal for financial supportMay 12, 2026 Dear Friends of the Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity Campaign, It has been more than two years since Boris Kagarlitsky began serving the five-year sentence meted out to him by a Russian military court as a way of silencing and punishing him for his opposition to Putin’s war on Ukraine. With a multitude of longstanding friends and colleagues throughout the world, Boris is one of the best-known victims of the steadily escalating political repression in Russia. He has borne the gross injustice of his incarceration with characteristic courage, determination and defiance. But there is no denying that Putin’s gulag takes a toll on even the most valiant spirits. The Boris Kagarlitsky Solidarity Campaign has worked continuously these last two years to draw attention to Boris’s plight, and by extension to that of other prisoners unjustly condemned for protesting the ongoing war that has already cost upwards of half a million lives and vastly more maimed, according to estimates. We have sought, through a variety of activities, to bring pressure to bear on the Russian authorities to free Boris. The many people involved in the Campaign are happy to volunteer their time. However, we rely on the generosity of the Campaign’s supporters to cover the periodic expenses we incur. We recently reached out for help to defray costs associated with the participation of Boris’ daughter and tireless advocate for Russian political prisoners, Kseniia Kagarlitskya, in the international antifascist conference in Porto Alegre at the end of March. That trip was a great success. It allowed Kseniia and Mikhail Lobanov, Russian mathematician, political activist, and former associate professor at Moscow State University, to introduce the thousands of conference-goers from Brazil and across the world to the grim realities confronting Russian political dissidents. The Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity Committee has many plans in store for the coming months and especially the fall, including a virtual conference devoted to the global manifestations of political repression. We are appealing to you for a little financial help to carry out our projects and support the day-to-day ongoing work of the committee. We would be deeply appreciative of any assistance you can provide. Because the members of the Campaign coordinating committee are scattered across Europe, North America and beyond, it has been a little complicated to set up a campaign bank account, although we are making progress on that front. For the time being we are asking that you send any contributions you can manage directly to our de facto treasurer Suzi Weissman who is located in Los Angeles, California. The details of her account are: Bank: Wells Fargo Swift/Bic: PNBPUS6L Account holder: Susan Claudia Weissman Account number: 0657205076 International wire transfers: WFBIUS6S wise.com personal account: @susanclaudiaw We thank you in anticipation of any contribution you can make to help keep the Campaign running. Yours in solidarity, Dick Nichols Russia Confirms Jailing of Antiwar Leader Boris Kagarlitsky In a secret trial on June 5, 2024, the Russian Supreme Court’s Military Chamber confirmed a sentence of five years in a penal colony for left-wing sociologist and online journalist Boris Kagarlitsky. His crime? “Justifying terrorism” — a sham charge used to silence opponents of Putin’s war on Ukraine. The court disregarded a plea for freedom sent by thirty-seven international luminaries. Kagarlitsky, a leading Marxist thinker in Russia’s post-Soviet period, recently addressed socialists who won’t criticize Putin: “To my Western colleagues, who…call for an understanding of Putin and his regime, I would like to ask a very simple question. [Would] you want to live in a country where there is no free press or independent courts? In a country where the police have the right to break into your house without a warrant? …In a country which…broadcasts appeals on TV to destroy Paris, London, Warsaw, with a nuclear strike?” Thousands of antiwar critics have been forced to flee Russia or are behind bars, swept up in Putin’s vicious crackdown on dissidents. Opposition to the war is consistently highest among the poorest workers. Recently, RusNews journalists Roman Ivanov and Maria Ponomarenko were sentenced to seven, and six years respectively, for reporting the military’s brutal assault on Ukraine. A massive global solidarity campaign that garnered support from thousands was launched at Kagarlitsky’s arrest. Now, it has been revived. This internationalism will bolster the repressed Russian left and Ukrainian resistance to Putin’s imperialism. To sign the online petition at freeboris.info —Freedom Socialist Party, August 2024 https://socialism.com/fs-article/russia-jails-prominent-antiwar-leader-boris-kagarlitsky/#:~:text=In%20a%20secret%20trial%20on,of%20Putin's%20war%20on%20Ukraine. Petition in Support of Boris KagarlitskyWe, the undersigned, were deeply shocked to learn that on February 13 the leading Russian socialist intellectual and antiwar activist Dr. Boris Kagarlitsky (65) was sentenced to five years in prison. Dr. Kagarlitsky was arrested on the absurd charge of 'justifying terrorism' in July last year. After a global campaign reflecting his worldwide reputation as a writer and critic of capitalism and imperialism, his trial ended on December 12 with a guilty verdict and a fine of 609,000 roubles. The prosecution then appealed against the fine as 'unjust due to its excessive leniency' and claimed falsely that Dr. Kagarlitsky was unable to pay the fine and had failed to cooperate with the court. In fact, he had paid the fine in full and provided the court with everything it requested. On February 13 a military court of appeal sent him to prison for five years and banned him from running a website for two years after his release. The reversal of the original court decision is a deliberate insult to the many thousands of activists, academics, and artists around the world who respect Dr. Kagarlitsky and took part in the global campaign for his release. The section of Russian law used against Dr. Kagarlitsky effectively prohibits free expression. The decision to replace the fine with imprisonment was made under a completely trumped-up pretext. Undoubtedly, the court's action represents an attempt to silence criticism in the Russian Federation of the government's war in Ukraine, which is turning the country into a prison. The sham trial of Dr. Kagarlitsky is the latest in a wave of brutal repression against the left-wing movements in Russia. Organizations that have consistently criticized imperialism, Western and otherwise, are now under direct attack, many of them banned. Dozens of activists are already serving long terms simply because they disagree with the policies of the Russian government and have the courage to speak up. Many of them are tortured and subjected to life-threatening conditions in Russian penal colonies, deprived of basic medical care. Left-wing politicians are forced to flee Russia, facing criminal charges. International trade unions such as IndustriALL and the International Transport Federation are banned and any contact with them will result in long prison sentences. There is a clear reason for this crackdown on the Russian left. The heavy toll of the war gives rise to growing discontent among the mass of working people. The poor pay for this massacre with their lives and wellbeing, and opposition to war is consistently highest among the poorest. The left has the message and resolve to expose the connection between imperialist war and human suffering. Dr. Kagarlitsky has responded to the court's outrageous decision with calm and dignity: “We just need to live a little longer and survive this dark period for our country,” he said. Russia is nearing a period of radical change and upheaval, and freedom for Dr. Kagarlitsky and other activists is a condition for these changes to take a progressive course. We demand that Boris Kagarlitsky and all other antiwar prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally. We also call on the auth *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* |
Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent!
FREE HIM NOW!
Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
SCI Mahanoy
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Join the Fight for Mumia's Life
Since September, Mumia Abu-Jamal's health has been declining at a concerning rate. He has lost weight, is anemic, has high blood pressure and an extreme flair up of his psoriasis, and his hair has fallen out. In April 2021 Mumia underwent open heart surgery. Since then, he has been denied cardiac rehabilitation care including a healthy diet and exercise.
He still needs more complicated treatment from a retinal specialist for his right eye if his eyesight is to be saved:
Donate to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Emergency Legal and Medical
Defense Fund
Mumia has instructed PrisonRadio to set up this fund. Gifts donated here are designated for the Mumia Abu-Jamal Medical and Legal Defense Fund. If you are writing a check or making a donation in another way, note this in the memo line.
Send to:
Mumia Medical and Legal Fund c/o Prison Radio
P.O. Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94103
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
https://www.nlg.org/federalrepressionresources/
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests.
The NLG National Office is releasing this resource page for activists who are resisting federal repression. It includes a link to our emergency hotline numbers, as well as our library of Know-Your-Rights materials, our recent federal repression webinar, and a list of some of our recommended resources for activists. We will continue to update this page.
Please visit the NLG Mass Defense Program page for general protest-related legal support hotlines run by NLG chapters.
Emergency Hotlines
If you are contacted by federal law enforcement, you should exercise all of your rights. It is always advisable to speak to an attorney before responding to federal authorities.
State and Local Hotlines
If you have been contacted by the FBI or other federal law enforcement, in one of the following areas, you may be able to get help or information from one of these local NLG hotlines for:
Portland, Oregon: (833) 680-1312
San Francisco, California: (415) 285-1041 or fbi_hotline@nlgsf.org
Seattle, Washington: (206) 658-7963
National Hotline
If you are located in an area with no hotline, you can call the following number:
National NLG Federal Defense Hotline: (212) 679-2811
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Articles
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
1) Agitation in Dementia Can Be Helped by Medical Cannabis, Study Suggests
A combination of THC and CBD eased symptoms in an especially frail population: patients with advanced dementia near the end of their lives.
By Pam Belluck, Pam Belluck covers brain health., July 14, 2026
Emilio Gonzalez, left, participated in a clinical trial of a cannabinoid treatment for agitation in people with advanced dementia. His son, Dennys Gonzalez, right, said it eased his father’s distress and frustration. Eva Marie Uzcategui for The New York Times
Dennys Gonzalez was skeptical when doctors told him his father could participate in a clinical trial exploring whether medical cannabis could treat agitation in people with advanced dementia.
But Mr. Gonzalez, who helps care for his 87-year-old father, Emilio, said not only were his fears unfounded, but the treatment — a combination of two common components of medical cannabis: THC and CBD — greatly eased his father’s distress and frustration.
Before the trial, Mr. Gonzalez said, “my dad would actually get aggressive if you would try to help him with something.”
But “while he was on this treatment, all that changed,” he said.
The preliminary results of the trial involving 120 patients with advanced dementia near the end of their lives, presented Tuesday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London, found that most of the patients receiving the THC/CBD treatment experienced similar benefits. After 12 weeks, agitation eased for nearly 90 percent of those participants, while less than a quarter of those who received a placebo exhibited less agitation.
Medical experts said the results suggest that a carefully formulated and administered cannabinoid treatment might help address agitation, a common and unsettling symptom of dementia. The study has not yet been peer reviewed or published.
“I was thrilled to see that because there’s a lot of suffering that’s happening,” said Elizabeth Edgerly, a licensed clinical psychologist and the Alzheimer’s Association’s vice president of care and support. She said while the findings require confirmation from larger trials, the results “look really promising that it could be something that could help people with advanced dementia.”
Agitation affects nearly half of people with advanced dementia who are nearing the end of their lives, experts say. It is often difficult to manage and upsetting for patients, family members and caregivers, and can include vocal outbursts, hostility, moaning, groaning, repetitive movements or phrases, throwing things, and hitting, scratching or pushing other people.
Currently, many such patients are treated with antipsychotics, anti-anxiety drugs or opioids, medications that often do not help and can cause risky side effects. Dr. Edgerly said some of those medications can induce confusion and sedation, and they can cause people to die sooner. “Anything that represents something that’s both effective and safer is a huge improvement over what the standard of care has been,” she said.
Some previous studies have suggested that cannabinoids might help agitation, but others have not, said Dr. Kevin Hill, the director of addiction psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He was not involved in the new study and he noted that it used a formulation of the treatment that was developed for the clinical trial and hasn’t been submitted for Food and Drug Administration approval.
Dr. Hill was a co-author of one of several analyses that found little evidence that cannabinoids were effective for many of the other conditions for which they were being tried and that they carried risks of side effects, including cannabis use disorder.
Nonetheless, Dr. Hill said, he has prescribed dronabinol, an F.D.A.-approved THC cannabinoid, to patients with dementia and found it “very helpful in some of those cases.” He said the new study, which was primarily funded by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, seemed carefully conducted and had produced “a very robust finding.”
The main thing, he and others said, is that such medications should be prescribed and overseen by experienced health care providers.
“It’s exciting that this presents another option to treat agitation, but it doesn’t mean that people should be giving their parents medical marijuana because cannabinoids have their own risks,” Dr. Hill said. “Treatment of agitation should be overseen by a medical professional.”
Mr. Gonzalez, a real estate agent in Miami, said he had wondered if the treatment might have unwanted side effects. “When they tell you they’re going to put your dad on something that is based on marijuana, does that mean that my dad is going to be high all the time and he’s going to fall?” he said.
The researchers reassured him that would not happen because the compound included too low a dose of THC to produce a high. Mr. Gonzalez said that almost immediately after his father began receiving the treatment, “his behavior improved, his level of tolerance dealing with other people improved and he would allow you to help him better in tasks like putting on his shoes.”
The F.D.A. recently gave approval for Auvelity, a drug previously designated for major depression, to be used for agitation in Alzheimer’s, a decision the Alzheimer’s Association welcomed because it was the first non-antipsychotic medication approved for that purpose. Dr. Edgerly said the cannabinoid study involved a different patient population: Participants had various types of dementia, not just Alzheimer’s, and were either in hospice or medically eligible for hospice care. Experts praised the study for demonstrating that it was possible to conduct a randomized trial with such a frail population.
Hospice designations are typically for patients expected to die within six months, but Dr. Edgerly said the definition can be more elastic for dementia patients, given the unpredictability of their life expectancy.
The study’s lead researcher, Dr. Jacobo Mintzer, a professor in the department of health sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, said it was named the LIBBY trial after a woman who suffered from agitation that did not respond well to drugs like Valium or morphine. He said he realized that with “this most common human experience, we need to have ways for people to die with calmness, dignity and grace.”
Researchers took steps to be sensitive to patients’ circumstances while maintaining scientific rigor, he said. Instead of requiring clinic visits, the participants, whose average age was 81, were treated wherever they lived: at home, where three-quarters of them resided, or in nursing homes or other institutions.
The participants, who were often in hospice for conditions other than dementia, could keep taking their other medications. The treatment was formulated as a digestible oil, so patients did not have to chew it. For those unable to swallow, drops were placed on the tongue or in patients’ feeding tubes, Dr. Mintzer said.
The study — a Phase 2 trial, which is smaller than the Phase 3 trials considered to provide the most convincing evidence — was conducted at 10 locations around the country. Just over half the 120 participants were women; 54 were Hispanic and 18 were Black.
Researchers commissioned a Canadian pharmaceutical cannabinoid company to develop the oil, which contained 2 milligrams of THC and 100 milligrams of CBD per milliliter. Half the participants received a placebo oil. The others received 1 milliliter twice daily for a week, then double that dose for 11 weeks. THC is a psychoactive; CBD is nonintoxicating.
“The difference between us and Joe that sells marijuana across the street is that we actually have a purified, biologically active compound, and we did a scientifically valid experiment with this compound at a certain dose at a certain frequency and for a specific indication,” Dr. Mintzer said.
After two weeks, those receiving the treatment scored significantly lower on a standard agitation scale than those receiving the placebo. Independent clinicians found that 84 percent of those receiving the treatment showed improvement, compared with 31 percent of the placebo group.
After 12 weeks, the difference in scores was even greater, and clinicians found improvement for 87 percent of the treatment group, compared with 24 percent of the placebo group.
There were no serious safety problems linked to the treatment, Dr. Mintzer said. He reported that 23 percent of the treatment group and 12 percent of the placebo group experienced “serious adverse events,” but said those events “were consistent with those expected in this patient population and included infections, worsening dementia symptoms and death.” Eight people in the treatment group and three in the placebo group passed away during the study, he said.
Ryan Vandrey, a professor in the psychiatry and behavioral sciences department at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the results support those of a smaller and shorter trial he and colleagues published recently, in which Alzheimer’s patients with agitation were given either a placebo or dronabinol, the THC treatment. He called the new study “a significant advancement” that should prompt more research geared to getting a cannabinoid therapy approved for agitation.
Dr. Vandrey said THC tends to have a calming effect at the low doses used in his trial and the new study. He said CBD has a different pharmacological mechanism and that adding it, as the new trial did, “may be particularly valuable” by enhancing anxiety-reducing effects and possibly reducing some unwanted side effects.
He said medical cannabis is “never a first-line therapy” and should be tried “when the existing treatments are either ineffective or cause unacceptable side effects.” Patients shouldn’t obtain it unprescribed or from unregulated sources because it might contain harmful contaminants, he said.
Mr. Gonzalez said that since the clinical trial ended, his father, who also has Parkinson’s, “is somewhat back to his old behavior,” sometimes yelling in frustration and not sleeping as well as he did with the cannabinoid treatment. Mr. Gonzalez fears his father might fall when sleeplessness causes him to wander the house at night.
“It’s a shame they don’t still have that available,” Mr. Gonzalez said. “It actually worked.”
As a Cannabis Clinician for 10 years, I have seen noteworthy results. In NY assisted living facilities, nursing refuses to administer these products. They will only work with blister packaging, which is not available in NY State medical dispensaries. Families, or an aid become necessary for administration. When will our focus return to true medical needs?
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
2) What We Know About the ICE Shooting in Maine
A federal immigration agent shot and killed a man in a car on Monday morning in Biddeford, Maine. It was the second fatal encounter in a week involving an agent and a person in a vehicle.
By Madaleine Rubin, Published July 13, 2026, Updated July 14, 2026
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a man in a vehicle on Monday morning in Biddeford, Maine. It was the second fatal episode in a week, as the Trump administration continues its immigration crackdown, and the latest in a string of encounters between agents and people in cars.
The man was identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, according to Matthew Felling, a spokesman for Senator Angus King of Maine.
The Homeland Security Department said in a statement on Monday that ICE agents had been monitoring what they believed to be the residence of someone who was in the country illegally and for whom they had a removal order.
It was unclear from the department’s statement whether Mr. Guerrero was the person agents had been seeking.
Video recorded early on Monday and posted to social media showed agents surrounding a body next to a car with bullet holes in the windshield.
“I heard agony,” said Mary Hayes, a local resident, who said she saw a screaming woman on her knees, next to a young girl. “I heard a howl that came from your soul, that your whole life had just changed and it was never going to be the same.”
Here’s what we know:
Witnesses heard gunfire early Monday morning.
On Monday morning, agents tried to stop a vehicle that had departed from the residence they were monitoring, D.H.S. said in its statement, which came nearly 12 hours after the shooting.
“The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,” the statement continued. The driver was struck and died from his injuries.
In a separate communication received by some members of Congress, the department used more pointed language, saying the driver had “weaponized his vehicle toward law enforcement.”
As of Monday evening, no video evidence confirming the government’s version of events had emerged.
People who live nearby reported hearing gunfire at an intersection at around 7:15 a.m. Several reported seeing a body on the ground next to a car.
Biddeford’s congresswoman, Chellie Pingree, a Democrat, said in a phone interview on Monday that “we have gotten reports that ICE officers shot through a car window, and the individual in the car was killed.”
Immigration officials have said little about the victim.
Though Mr. King’s office named Mr. Guerrero as the victim, the D.H.S. statement did not.
Three advocacy groups released information about the victim in the shooting but did not name Mr. Guerrero. In a joint statement, the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine, identified him as a 26-year-old Colombian man. A third group said he had a partner and a young child. The source of the advocates’ information was unclear, and could not be immediately confirmed with the authorities.
The embassy of Colombia said in a statement on Monday that it was assisting the family of a Colombian national who had died in Biddeford. The embassy said it was also requesting information from D.H.S. “regarding the circumstances surrounding this lamentable death.”
Mr. King, an independent, said on Monday that he had spoken with Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary. Mr. King said that Mr. Mullin had told him that the man had been the target of an arrest warrant “based upon his immigration status.”
But Mr. Felling, the senator’s spokesman, said later that Mr. Mullin called the senator again and told him the driver had not been the target of any warrant. “He said they were looking for someone, essentially, and the person they shot was not the person they were looking for,” Mr. Felling said.
Officials are demanding a full investigation.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said in a statement that the State Police and other agencies were consulting with federal officials to “determine the facts of what occurred this morning.”
Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, called for a “full and impartial investigation.”
“We will get answers, but we do not have them yet,” said Liam LaFountain, the mayor of Biddeford, who also pushed for an investigation.
This is the second death in a week involving an ICE agent firing into a vehicle.
Amid a national surge in immigration enforcement, a federal agent last week shot and killed another individual in a vehicle: Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican man who died after a traffic stop in Houston.
Mr. Salgado Araujo, a construction worker and father of three who had lived in the country for more than 30 years without legal status, was not the initial target of the officers who pursued his vehicle, according to immigration officials.
The Houston and Maine killings add to a growing list of encounters between immigration agents and people in vehicles.
About 20 people have been shot at in their cars, some of them fatally. Federal officials have in several cases claimed that the agents’ actions were justified because their lives had been endangered by “weaponized” vehicles. Witnesses of the Houston shooting said that Mr. Salgado Araujo had not used his vehicle as a weapon.
As in the shooting of Mr. Salgado Araujo, it appeared that federal agents were not wearing body cameras on Monday, Mr. King said. So “we have no video evidence of what occurred in this case,” he added.
Immigration arrests are on the rise nationwide.
Daily arrests of immigrants in the United States doubled in the last week of June and have continued to increase, signaling a reinvigoration of the president’s crackdown after a spring slowdown.
Immigrants make up about 5 percent of Maine’s population and have helped prop up the state’s economy, hampered by its aging population. Over the years, Maine has welcomed waves of refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East and several African countries.
In January, ICE detained hundreds of immigrants in the state during an enforcement surge the agency called “Operation Catch of the Day” — a reference to Maine’s commercial seafood industry.
Now, locals say agents have returned, making frequent appearances in Biddeford in recent months. Biddeford, a working-class city of roughly 22,000, contains a growing community of Latin American immigrants.
Talla Fall, who is originally from Senegal, lives near where the shooting took place on Monday. ICE agents have been in the neighborhood “every day, every week,” he said.
Reporting was contributed by Jacey Fortin, Heather Beasley Doyle, Miriam Jordan, Hamed Aleaziz, Christina Morales, Aric Toler, Allison McCann, Soumya Karlamangla and Murray Carpenter.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
3) Videos Detail Moments Surrounding Fatal Maine ICE Shooting
Footage obtained by The New York Times shows ICE agents in the moments before and after the killing of Joan Sebastian Guerrero. The circumstances of the shooting remain unclear.
By Allison McCann, Devon Lum, Tim Ouillette, Aric Toler and Leanne Abraham, July 14, 2026
The partially visible body of Mr. Guerrero and his vehicle with four visible bullet holes after a fatal shooting on Monday morning. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald, via Getty Images
Shortly after 7 a.m. on Monday in the small city of Biddeford, Maine, federal immigration agents fatally shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero in his car.
Agents fired five times. No video footage has emerged that shows the events leading up to the shooting, or the killing itself, and many questions remain unanswered, such as whether more than one agent fired a weapon. But several videos provide new detail of Mr. Guerrero’s encounter with the agents, including that he was shot before his vehicle rolled into an intersection.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Tuesday that Mr. Guerrero, a Colombian national, had been shot after he had attempted to flee in his car from federal immigration agents, and that an agent had fired at him “fearing for public safety.” In a separate communication to Congressional members, the department claimed that Mr. Guerrero had “weaponized his vehicle toward law enforcement.”
In other recent incidents, Immigration and Custom Enforcements officials have also claimed that motorists have “weaponized” their vehicles, which has sometimes been contradicted by video analysis and witness accounts.
In a surveillance video obtained by The New York Times, yelling and then five gunshots can be heard. Voices are heard saying, “Move it, let’s go,” and “Back, Back!” just before the shots ring out. Neither Mr. Guerrero nor the federal immigration agents are visible.
Seconds later, surveillance footage captured by a pawnshop shows a white Kia slowly moving into an intersection, with two federal immigration agents on foot surrounding the car. The vehicle then turns and moves at low speed in a series of circular loops.
The ICE agents try to open the door on the driver’s side of the vehicle, but are unable to.
After the vehicle’s third loop, an agent runs up the road. The footage then shows an ICE agent arriving in an S.U.V. and attempting to block the Kia with the second vehicle, eventually stopping it.
Three ICE agents then surround the car, with one pointing his weapon at the driver’s-side window. The footage does not show any shots being fired.
The agents open the car door and pull out Mr. Guerrero, who falls to the ground.
Four bullet holes are visible in the front windshield of Mr. Guerrero’s car.
A video published by The Bangor Daily News shows that immigration agents handcuffed Mr. Guerrero while he was lying on the ground. He does not appear to move, and it is unclear if he was alive at the time.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about the circumstances around the shooting. In a statement, the department said that Mr. Guerrero was an “illegal alien,” and that ICE had been surveilling the last known address of a person with a deportation order on Monday morning. But it was unclear if Mr. Guerrero was the intended target of the operation. The department said they would investigate the shooting.
Mr. Guerrero’s killing was the second fatal ICE shooting in a week; on July 7, ICE agents shot and killed a man named Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston during a traffic stop. On Tuesday, the Trump administration ordered ICE to halt most vehicle stops while carrying out its operations across the country, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Ainara Tiefenthäler and Dmitriy Khavin contributed video editing.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
4) Colombian Immigrant Killed by ICE in Maine Had Legal Status, Father Says
The father of Joan Sebastian Guerrero, the man fatally shot by a federal immigration agent on Monday, said his son had been working two jobs to support his wife and daughter.
By Christina MoralesJ, enna Russell and Jacey Fortin, Published July 14, 2026, Updated July 15, 2026
Christina Morales and Jenna Russell reported from Biddeford, Maine.
A memorial for Joan Sebastian Guerrero at the intersection where he was shot by ICE in Biddeford, Maine. Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times
The father of a Colombian immigrant shot and killed by a federal agent in Maine on Monday described him as “a good person raised with strong values,” who worked two jobs to support his wife and 3-year-old daughter.
“He had a great vision for getting ahead, so many dreams to fulfill,” Omar Duran, the father of Joan Sebastian Guerrero, told Noticias Caracol, a Colombian news outlet, on Tuesday, speaking in Spanish. “My son is a wonderful son — I don’t know why they did that to him.”
Mr. Guerrero, 25, lived in Biddeford, a small city south of Portland, where he worked as a food delivery driver and a late-night cleaner at a veterinary clinic. Mr. Duran said his son was in the United States legally.
In the hours after Mr. Guerrero was killed on the block where he lived, details emerged to suggest that immigration agents may have mistaken him for another person. A spokesman for Senator Angus King of Maine said on Monday that Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, had told the senator that the agents had been looking for someone else.
The Department of Homeland Security said that ICE had been “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal,” but it did not identify the person ICE was seeking. In its statement, Homeland Security referred to Mr. Guerrero as an “illegal alien” who “attempted to flee the scene” but did not name him, and provided no further information about his immigration status.
Mr. Guerrero was from Bucaramanga, a mountainside city of about 615,000 people in north-central Colombia. In Biddeford, he lived in a weathered three-story apartment building next to a coin-operated laundromat, which sits at the intersection where he was shot.
He and his wife and daughter would often exchange greetings with other neighborhood residents.
“They were always so happy and so polite,” Don Gregoire, 69, a hairstylist, said of Mr. Guerrero and his wife. “I’d be watering my flowers in front of the house, and they would stop and say, ‘Very nice flowers.’ And their little girl would wave.”
Mr. Guerrero had been a deliveryman for DoorDash, the company confirmed. In a statement, it said that he had not been working on the morning of his death.
The killing prompted furious protests in Biddeford and in nearby Scarborough, site of an ICE facility.
Maine’s congressional delegation called for an urgent investigation of the shooting in a letter sent Tuesday to Joseph V. Cuffari, inspector general of the Homeland Security Department.
“The facts surrounding this tragedy remain a matter of significant local concern and necessitate a thorough, objective accounting,” Mr. King, an independent, Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, and Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, both Democrats, wrote in the letter. “Given the gravity of the situation and the understandable anxiety within the Biddeford community, we urge you to prioritize this investigation.”
The Trump administration has ordered ICE officers to halt most vehicle stops. Ms. Collins said in a statement on Tuesday that she had urged Mr. Mullin to take the action in the wake of Mr. Guerrero’s killing, the second fatal shooting in two weeks by federal agents making traffic stops.
But Tom Homan, the White House border czar, downplayed the order on Tuesday, saying it was a temporary action, and President Trump said on social media on Wednesday that giving up traffic stops “won’t happen on my watch.”
Last week, an ICE agent fatally shot a Mexican immigrant, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, during a traffic stop in Houston. The Homeland Security Department later said that Mr. Araujo was not the operation’s intended target.
An online fund-raiser established by friends of the Guerrero family had raised $150,000 by Tuesday afternoon to help “cover legal expenses, funeral costs, and the repatriation of his body to Colombia, where his parents are waiting to lay him to rest,” it said.
Some of Mr. Guerrero’s neighbors shared jarring details of a violent and chaotic scene on Monday morning: the sound of multiple gunshots and the sight of a white car, pierced by bullet holes, making slow circles around an intersection with Mr. Guerrero still in the driver’s seat.
Shortly after the immigration agents pulled him from the car, some saw Mr. Guerrero’s wife, Karo Rojas, kneeling and wailing near her husband in the street as their daughter looked on.
On Tuesday, Ms. Rojas shared photos of the three of them, smiling, on social media.
“I will love you all of the days of my life,” she wrote.
Heather Beasley Doyle, Murray Carpenter and Bayliss Wagner contributed reporting.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
5) U.S. War Against Iran Enters a New Phase
As President Trump resumes his war, the focus is now on the Strait of Hormuz. But it remains unclear how far the U.S. military will go to exert control.
By Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger, Published July 14, 2026, Updated July 15, 2026
The reporters have been covering the Trump administration’s war against Iran.
The Trump administration has lurched back into a war against Iran that had never really ended.
When the war started more than four months ago, U.S. forces targeted Iranian military bases, missile launchers, ships and naval facilities. Israel, fighting alongside the United States, hit leadership targets, hoping to bring down Iran’s hard-line government.
Their record of success has been mixed, at best. Israel killed the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but the leaders who succeeded him were even more hard-line. U.S. forces struck thousands of targets, but did not destroy Iran’s ability to control the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil typically flows.
For roughly 90 days beginning in April, an on-again-off-again cease-fire prevailed. And then it was over.
The United States now appears to be entering Round 2 of its military campaign. This round has a new focus — but not necessarily a clearer strategy.
Iran’s ability to control the strait, despite the pummeling its navy took, is by far the most important lesson of the first phase of the war. So it is no surprise that the Trump administration is focused on trying to loosen Iran’s grip on it.
Last Tuesday, in retaliation for attacks on tankers, President Trump ordered airstrikes on dozens of targets in Iran, including coastal radars, anti-ship missile launchers and a fleet of small Iranian attack boats.
After a short lull, the United States hit 140 military targets in the first of three consecutive days of heavy bombing this week.
U.S. forces carried out new rounds of attacks on Iran throughout Tuesday and resumed a naval blockade of Iranian ports, a strategy that showed some success in the earlier phase.
The strikes are intended to open the waterway to shipping. The purpose of the naval blockade is to put economic pressure on Iran by choking off its trade and to flex American military might.
Mr. Trump was quick to declare success.
“The Strait of Hormuz is open to ALL Ship traffic except for Iran — and that is because of their lying, violent, malicious leadership, which is taking them down the path of TOTAL DESTRUCTION,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday morning.
But exactly what the U.S. military will do to enforce the blockade, and how far it will go to exert control of the strait, is not clear.
Round 1 of the war came at a high cost. Tehran has estimated that at least 3,500 Iranians have died in the war, including 175 at an elementary school. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed. And the war has cost tens of billions of dollars already, and the new round could drive those financial costs up substantially.
A critical question for the next phase is whether Mr. Trump will consider an operation to take Kharg Island, a key export hub for Iran’s oil in the northern Persian Gulf.
Mr. Trump publicly mused about ordering the Marines to take control of the island during the first phase of the war, but ultimately abandoned those plans for fear of high U.S. casualties.
Such an operation would be a far bigger escalation than Mr. Trump has undertaken so far. But it would be difficult, and lives could be lost in either taking or holding the island.
The United States continues to have a fearsome arsenal in the region, including two aircraft carriers, and dozens of carrier- and land-based attack and surveillance planes.
“There are currently more than 20 U.S. Navy warships and hundreds of military aircraft operating across the Middle East," Central Command said in a statement announcing the resumption of the blockade. “American forces remain vigilant, lethal, and ready.”
In the strikes last week, U.S. forces hit more than 170 Iranian military targets. In three consecutive days of heavy bombing this week, the United States has hit 140 military targets.
Analysts said the Trump administration was sending a pointed message to the government in Tehran that the United States was willing to broaden its mission again and hit sites that have both military and civilian uses.
But senior U.S. officials said the real focus of the current phase is undoubtedly the strait.
The U.S. military has hit some targets far from the strait, but they are also connected to the central mission. For example, U.S. forces last week appeared to hit a railway bridge in northeastern Iran more than 700 miles from the strait. Online video verified by The New York Times showed several people inspecting a crater at the site.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for Central Command, said in a phone interview that those targets included Iranian military logistics infrastructure targets that enabled Iran to direct weapons, munitions and other military supplies to the most contested area of the conflict.
So far, Mr. Trump had not ordered resumption of such an all-out conflict, in part because that could prompt Iran to target not only U.S. military bases in Gulf countries like Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but also energy infrastructure in those nations.
Attacks on those facilities could send oil and natural gas prices skyrocketing even higher.
Senior officials said the goal of the new military campaign is to force Iran to allow tankers and other commercial cargo ships to pass freely through the strait, and ultimately to return to the bargaining table to resume nascent talks on more difficult, long-term issues like the fate of Iran’s highly enriched uranium.
Administration officials acknowledge that the military strategy is not without risks. Iran has shown it has an asymmetric advantage. Iranian forces do not have to hit every ship passing through the strait, or sink any of them. They only have to cause enough damage and issue enough threats to scare shipping companies and insurers.
This week, Iranian missiles struck two crude oil carriers that were transiting the southern part of the strait. The attack killed an Indian crew member. Another tanker, carrying liquefied natural gas, was also hit and caught fire near the Omani coast.
Senior U.S. officials said time remains on the American side as Iran’s economy collapses.
During the uneasy peace, Iran was able to get many of its tankers out, and to empty storage tanks that were overflowing with oil.
The resumed blockade will cause that oil to back up once more, and the money Iran has made from its oil exports will begin to dry up.
But the real question is: Can Iran’s hard-line leadership outlast Mr. Trump’s anxiety over rising oil prices?
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
6) Oil, Shipping, Flights: Disruptions Are Back as U.S.-Iran War Reignites
Higher prices for energy, food and air travel are likely to persist as the two sides escalate their clash over the Strait of Hormuz and launch airstrikes in the Middle East.
By Francesca Regalado, July 15, 2026
Ships at the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal, in the United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Global oil markets, shipping and air travel are again facing disruptions as the United States and Iran ramp up hostilities in the Middle East.
American warplanes have struck hundreds of targets in Iran over the past week, according to U.S. Central Command, while Iran has resumed attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and on U.S. allies in the region. President Trump this week reinstated a naval blockade on Iranian ports, which analysts say could cause more damage to markets than the first such blockade in April.
As fears grow of a return to full-scale war, here’s what to know about the renewed disruptions in three key sectors:
Oil
The price of Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose as high as $87 a barrel on Tuesday after Mr. Trump said the blockade on Iranian ports would resume.
He also proposed, and later scrapped, a plan for the United States to charge a 20 percent fee on cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for military protection. That reversal only added to the uncertainty, including concerns among shipping experts that other nations would try to monetize waterways, undermining the freedom of navigation that has underpinned global trade by sea for decades.
Roughly a fifth of global oil shipments passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the war. To avoid depending on the strait, oil-exporting countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have sought to expand pipelines or develop new ones, approaches that are costly and would take time.
U.S. oil reserves are now at their lowest levels since 1983, and commercial inventories have also been depleted. China, the world’s largest oil importer, has slashed imports of crude in recent months, which helped keep oil prices from soaring even higher. But if it eventually decides to start buying more oil, it could put upward pressure on prices.
Shipping
The Strait of Hormuz isn’t just a conduit for oil: Fertilizer, bulk goods and plenty of other cargo typically transit the waterway. Before he walked it back, Mr. Trump’s plan to charge fees in the strait would have doubled shipping costs, analysts said.
Logistics companies have reported higher freight rates than a year ago, while shipping companies have taken on additional costs to transport goods such as furniture, electronics and food to Persian Gulf countries by rail and truck, instead of through the strait. With the disruptions set to continue, those higher costs could be passed on to consumers, according to experts and industry officials.
The International Monetary Fund said last week that global inflation would rise to 4.7 percent in 2026, up from 4.1 percent last year, because of higher prices for energy, metals, fertilizer and food. Those calculations were made while the United States and Iran were observing a cease-fire, when oil prices had returned to near their prewar levels.
Flights
Airlines have operated fewer flights and raised fares after months of war caused jet fuel prices to nearly double. With airstrikes flying across the Middle East again, the skies over the region, once a major hub for international travel, are threatened anew.
On Tuesday, the European Union’s Aviation Safety Agency issued a bulletin telling airlines not to operate within the airspace of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — countries in the Persian Gulf that host U.S. military installations and have been attacked by Iran. Before hostilities resumed this week, the European authorities had allowed flight restrictions it instituted in the region earlier in the war to expire.
European airlines only operated a few dozen flights to the four affected countries in July, according to Cirium, an aviation data provider. But the new bulletin also applies to non-European airlines that operate thousands of flights between Europe and major connecting airports in the Gulf states.
Jenny Gross and Niraj Chokshi contributed reporting.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
7) Trump Pressures ICE to Resume Traffic Stops After Agency Pulls Back
Immigration and Customs Enforcement ordered its officers on Tuesday to halt most vehicle stops across the country after they shot two people over the past week.
By Madeleine Ngo, Reporting from Washington, July 15, 2026
In a post on social media on Wednesday, President Trump defended the traffic stops and urged ICE to “go back and do your very important job.” Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
President Trump on Wednesday criticized his administration’s directive to halt Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from conducting most vehicle stops after two fatal shootings, immediately throwing the policy into question a day after it went into effect.
In a post on social media, Mr. Trump defended the traffic stops and urged ICE to “go back and do your very important job.”
“We CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Mr. Trump wrote. “Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands.”
The temporary pause on vehicle stops came on Tuesday, after ICE agents shot and killed one person in Houston and another in Biddeford, Maine, over the past week as part of a recent surge in immigration arrests. Both people were killed after officers tried to stop their cars, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr. Trump’s post.
Tom Homan, the White House border czar, tried to downplay the potential impact of the pause on Tuesday, saying it was a temporary measure to “make sure we’re doing the right thing.” But many arrests occur after ICE officers pull over people in their cars, and the pause threatened to hamper the agency’s ability to increase arrests at a time when the White House and Mr. Trump’s conservative supporters are pressuring it to ramp up deportations.
Some influential lawmakers had urged Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, to impose the pause, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican seeking re-election this year.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
8) Top Science Panel Backs Research Linking Extreme Weather to Climate Change
Attribution science is advancing quickly, researchers said. That could support lawsuits seeking damages for severe events worsened by global warming.
By Raymond Zhong, July 16, 2026
A firefighting helicopter at a wildfire burning in the Forest of Fontainebleau near Paris on Monday. Stephane Mahe/Reuters
The nation’s top scientific advisory body issued a report on Thursday backing a growing field of science that could help governments hold oil, gas and coal companies responsible for the damage caused by extreme weather.
The field, known as extreme event attribution, seeks to answer an increasingly common question: How much was the latest heat wave, downpour, drought or wildfire worsened by climate change?
Scientists have long understood that global warming, driven by greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, is making certain kinds of extreme weather more intense and more likely. But only in the past two decades have they developed the tools for estimating precisely how much worldwide warming is shaping particular weather events in particular places.
The new report, published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, doesn’t make recommendations on how attribution science should be used in policy and the law, though it notes that attribution findings could be relevant in several types of legal cases. In a $50 billion lawsuit against oil companies, Multnomah County in Oregon cited an attribution study that concluded that a record-shattering 2021 summer heat wave in the Pacific Northwest would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.
As more states and localities file such lawsuits, allies of the fossil-fuel industry have attacked scientists who conduct attribution analyses as being activists against oil producers. This week, Energy in Depth, a project of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, a lobbying group, suggested that the National Academies report should be seen as “the latest deliverable in a well-funded litigation campaign.”
The National Academies report finds that researchers’ methods for extreme event attribution have advanced “considerably” in recent years. Scientists are using more sophisticated techniques and better data, the report says. That is helping them assess with greater confidence how much the searing temperatures during a particular hot spell, for instance, can be attributed to human activity as opposed to routine randomness in the atmosphere.
Pinpointing the influence of human-caused warming remains a challenge for some kinds of unruly weather, the report notes, including tornadoes and hail storms. And many developing nations lack the long-term weather records that would help scientists make confident attributions about events there, the report says.
“Attribution science is still relatively new, and I think we have made a lot of progress,” said Jim Hurrell, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University who helped prepare the report. “I think there’s room for accelerating that progress even further.”
When asked about accusations of bias against fossil fuels, Dr. Hurrell noted that the National Academies checks the authors of its reports for potential conflicts of interest and that its reports are reviewed by another set of experts before being issued. “I think it’s a very objective assessment,” he said.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine is a nongovernmental institution that advises American society on matters of science and technology. Its recent reports on climate science have not moved in step with the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle climate research, erase climate regulation and halt offshore wind energy projects.
Last fall, as the administration was working to rescind a scientific determination underpinning the federal government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, a report by the academies defended the finding’s accuracy: It is “beyond scientific dispute,” the report said, that such emissions are harming human health and well-being. The administration revoked the finding anyway.
After President Trump canceled a first-of-its-kind assessment on the health of nature in the United States, the authors compiled the report independently, and the National Academies reviewed it. The final report is slated for release this fall.
The new report on extreme event attribution was prepared by a committee of 14 scholars representing meteorology, law, sociology, civil engineering and other disciplines. It is an update to a previous National Academies report that examined attribution science in 2016, when it was still a nascent field.
The committee’s work was sponsored by the National Science Foundation; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the Bezos Earth Fund, an initiative founded by Jeff Bezos; and the Heising-Simons Foundation, which funds research in climate science.
Scientists have several methods for evaluating how much human-caused warming contributed to a particular weather event. Using computer models of the climate, they can estimate the likelihood of similar events in a hypothetical world that industrialized nations hadn’t warmed by emitting heat-trapping gases. They can scour historical records for past instances in which atmospheric patterns lined up a certain way, then examine how much hotter or rainier the weather was when those same patterns appear today.
Some researchers are trying to go further. They want to estimate not just how much hotter a given heat wave was because of climate change, but how much deadlier. Not just how much more rain a hurricane delivered, but how much more damage to homes and infrastructure it caused.
Evaluating loss and damage is the “big, big, big way forward” for attribution science, said Davide Faranda, a climate physicist at France’s National Center for Scientific Research.
Dr. Faranda leads ClimaMeter, a project that produces rapid attribution analyses. He acknowledged that the role of researchers is to provide evidence, not determine how it gets used. Even so, he can’t help but feel disheartened by what he sees as a lack of interest among elected officials in the findings of attribution science, he said.
“It should be the job of the politicians to use all this science that is out there,” Dr. Faranda said. “That’s where we are stuck.”
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
9) Nike Was the Poster Child for Diversity Efforts. That Made It a Trump Target.
A civil-rights investigation, which grew out of a 26-page memo by a political appointee, provides a road map for the White House’s assault on D.E.I.
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Kim Bhasin, July 16, 2026
A Nike Well Collective store in Glendale, Calif. Few major companies had more openly embraced a commitment to diversity than Nike, not only in its advertising campaigns but in its work force. Mario Tama/Getty Images
In May 2024, Andrea Lucas, a commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, sent a 26-page memo to several agency officials, arguing that Nike, the world’s largest sportswear company, had systematically discriminated against white employees and job applicants for years.
Nike had set targets for diversity in its U.S. work force, wrote Ms. Lucas, who was appointed to the commission by President Trump during his first term. She said the company had used internal programs to boost racial representation even as it appeared to have culled white executives through layoffs.
“If the race of candidates has influenced any of Nike’s employment decisions,” including its training programs, Ms. Lucas wrote, then the company violated federal law.
“Time is of the essence to prevent future potential large-scale unlawful discrimination,” Ms. Lucas said in the memo, a copy of which was reviewed by The New York Times. That same day, she filed a charge that started a civil-rights investigation into Nike.
Few major companies had more openly embraced a commitment to diversity than Nike, not only in its advertising campaigns but in its work force. Those efforts landed the company in Ms. Lucas’s sights. As she rose to power at the E.E.O.C. — culminating in her role as the commission’s chair — her pursuit of Nike became a road map for similar investigations.
For decades, the E.E.O.C. investigated employers whose hiring and promotional practices may have been unfair on the basis of race, sex, disability or national origin. The agency also supported employers trying to increase diversity in their hiring pools following years of discrimination where qualified applicants were passed over for roles.
Ms. Lucas has redirected that work. In her six years at the commission, and in particular since becoming chair last year, she has targeted companies whose practices she says have been unfair to white men. Her efforts have been buoyed by backlash to the profusion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
She has said she wants to restore “equal treatment” in the workplace. Her detractors have accused Ms. Lucas of a cynical effort to carry out the policy goals of the Trump White House.
A spokesman for the E.E.O.C. declined to respond to a detailed set of questions for this article, citing ongoing litigation in the Nike investigation.
The investigation was unusual from the outset. The vast majority of the agency’s cases begin with a complaint from an employee. There was none in this case. Even Ms. Lucas’s 26-page memo was atypical: Commissioners don’t usually offer reams of footnoted evidence when they file a charge.
At first, the Nike investigation seemed on course for a discreet, painless resolution. In early January 2025, in the final weeks of the Biden administration, Nike signed a settlement agreement with the E.E.O.C. But shortly after Mr. Trump took office, the agency withdrew the agreement, without explanation.
The investigation became public early this year, when the agency filed a motion in federal court to enforce a subpoena — a move that Nike said was unnecessary given that it had been cooperating with the investigation through “extensive, good-faith participation.”
It was a swift, public escalation. While the court battle is technically still just about a subpoena, the broader questions at hand — about Nike’s obligations as an employer, the powers of the E.E.O.C. and the civil-rights implications of diversity programs — could progress through federal courts, should either side decide to file a lawsuit.
Employment lawyers, along with current and former E.E.O.C. officials of both parties, say Ms. Lucas is most likely setting the stage for a Supreme Court case — one that could dismantle the legal infrastructure for diversity and affirmative action programs in the workplace.
Ms. Lucas has said as much. The agency’s new national enforcement plan, released last month, lists as one of its top priorities “cases having the potential of promoting the development of law,” including the analysis of D.E.I. programs following “recent Supreme Court precedent” in cases that made it easier for employees to bring civil rights claims against their employers, and which ended affirmative action in higher education.
“They are trying to change decades of settled precedent on these areas, and I do think they would like to get to the Supreme Court on a range of these issues,” said Jenny Yang, a Democrat and former chair of the E.E.O.C. “But I also think they are trying to intimidate employers.”
Nike sets goals, and becomes a target
Nike’s efforts to foster diversity at the company began in earnest in 2002, when the company, then run by Phil Knight, its co-founder, established an Office of Global Diversity and said it wanted to “make diversity a competitive advantage.”
In her May 2024 memo laying out the evidence against Nike, Ms. Lucas pointed to a 2018 message from the company’s human resources department.
At the time, women at Nike had complained about sexual harassment and a pervasive “boys club” culture. They polled their colleagues and sent Mark Parker, then the company’s chief executive, a package full of the surveys. The ensuing upheaval led to the resignation of several high-ranking executives.
Monique Matheson, then the chief H.R. officer, told employees that Nike needed to increase representation of women and people of color while nurturing a more inclusive culture.
“Our hiring and promotion decisions are not changing senior-level representation as quickly as we have wanted,” Ms. Matheson wrote to Nike staff.
The company’s stated commitment to diversity in its work force, and its yoking of commercial interests to social justice causes, was boosted by the presence of some high-profile athletes on Nike’s roster. In 2018, the company started an ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, the football star who knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality.
In 2019, Nike established a Serena Williams Design Crew, an incubator for young designers. The program would add a new crop of apprentices each year, with fashion collections sold to the public, and was billed as a way to boost diversity in the design industry.
“I wanted to see more people who looked like me,” Ms. Williams, the tennis star, said at the time.
The following year, the murder of George Floyd set off a public outcry for a racial reckoning that reached boardrooms, which adopted — and promoted — diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Affinity groups, internal training sessions and statements of diversity became part of corporate culture across industries.
At Nike, the efforts appeared to work. In 2023, Bloomberg reported that Nike was “one of the most clear-cut examples” of a broader trend in corporate America in hiring racial minorities in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. Citing E.E.O.C. data, Bloomberg wrote that Nike had “added Black, Hispanic and Asian people across almost every job category,” even as it lost white workers.
In March 2024, the company said it had increased racial and ethnic minority representation in its U.S. corporate work force to 41 percent from 32 percent.
That put Nike in Ms. Lucas’s cross hairs.
After Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election, Ms. Lucas became one of two Republicans on a five-member board controlled by Democrats.
She became known inside the agency for initiating so-called “commissioner charges” — a rare type of investigation without underlying employee complaints, according to current and former agency officials. She and her staff also developed a reputation for hounding local investigative offices about cases she cared about, and having her staff delve into case files, which current and former E.E.O.C. employees said was highly unusual.
When E.E.O.C. commissioners file a discrimination charge, they are required simply to attest, under penalty of perjury, that they have evidence of a civil rights violation.
Ms. Lucas, however, offered a full legal memorandum, with footnotes citing news articles and company records. She did the same for investigations into Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania — also cases she initiated without an employee complaint — according to materials reviewed by The Times.
In her memo about Nike, Ms. Lucas quoted from the company’s own H.R. materials.
“All these programs reportedly focus on increasing minority candidates, potentially to the exclusion of white candidates,” Ms. Lucas wrote. “Given Nike’s focus on numerical target goals for minority recruiting and (as demonstrated below) its success in achieving those numbers, these programs should be examined for both potential disparate treatment and impact.”
A scuttled settlement
The Nike investigation was first assigned to the Seattle field office, which covered the area of Nike’s headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. As is required by law, the inquiry proceeded in secret.
After Mr. Trump won the election that November, there was a push at the E.E.O.C. to finish cases before the next administration took over, as is often the case, people familiar with the agency said.
In December 2024, Annalie Greer, an investigator in the Seattle field office, asked Nike for a narrow set of records: Specifically, she wanted proof that Nike’s programs were open to all employees, and that one of its leadership programs had been discontinued.
Under the agreement — which was to remain sealed and confidential — Nike attested that its training and development opportunities would remain open to all employees and that it would encourage all to participate. The commission, in turn, would end the investigation.
Nike signed the agreement and returned it to Ms. Greer on Jan. 9. Four days later, Ms. Greer responded to Nike’s lawyers, saying she had submitted it for review.
“Please keep us updated and let us know if you need any additional information,” a Nike lawyer responded. All that remained was for the director of the E.E.O.C.’s Seattle field office to sign the agreement. That does not appear to have happened.
A week later, Mr. Trump returned to office. He fired the E.E.O.C.’s chair, a Democrat, and one of two remaining Democratic commissioners. And he named Ms. Lucas the acting chair.
Nike’s case suddenly took a turn.
A month later, an E.E.O.C. investigator in the San Francisco office, Ahlam Abdellatif, called Nike’s labor lawyers. She was taking over the investigation, and the proposed settlement had been withdrawn.
At Nike headquarters, executives were shocked by the abrupt reversal. As far as they were concerned, the case had been closed, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Instead, the agency sent a new, broader request for information, seeking details on “all programs” put in place since January 2022 that aimed to increase diversity in Nike’s U.S. work force; job descriptions for the company’s leadership; details on executive compensation; criteria for layoffs; and demographic and pay data provided to executives.
The request encompassed the Nike program attached to Ms. Williams and at least 15 more company projects, including mentorship programs, education initiatives and internships. It probed an executive leadership academy run by McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm. At Converse, the Nike-owned brand known for its Chuck Taylor sneakers, investigators asked about a design team program and an employee resource group.
“At Nike, we constantly test and learn because we believe the best innovations stem from this approach,” a spokeswoman for Nike said in a statement in response to a question on the status of its diversity programs. “As part of this, we regularly re-evaluate programs and may stop, suspend or change them for many reasons.”
Nike’s lawyers objected to the withdrawn agreement, and raised questions about “the procedural integrity and continuity of the investigation.”
In June 2025, the E.E.O.C. sent a third broad request for information, this time reaching back to 2018 and including demands for interviews with employees. The commission gave Nike a week to respond. Nike’s lawyers said the demand “reflects an unjustifiably coercive and overreaching approach to this investigation.”
The back and forth continued until Sept. 30, when the top official in the agency’s St. Louis district — the investigation had been moved yet again — served Nike with a subpoena.
In its court filings, Nike has described these moves as irregular and “improper forum shopping.” Current and former E.E.O.C. employees say it is evidence that Ms. Lucas was trying to find investigators who might be more amenable to doing cases her way. The E.E.O.C., in its filings, has defended its choice of St. Louis.
A week after the subpoena, Amanda A. Sonneborn, a lawyer for Nike, asked for it to be revoked. She objected on several grounds, including that Ms. Lucas’s charge tracked closely to a public complaint against Nike that was filed with the E.E.O.C. by America First Legal, a conservative group founded by a top Trump official, Stephen Miller.
“The charge issued by acting chair Lucas closely mirrors A.F.L.’s request and appears to be based substantially on its assertions,” Ms. Sonneborn wrote.
Since its founding in 2021, A.F.L. has filed scores of complaints against companies with the E.E.O.C., and has been involved in several cases that have reached the Supreme Court. The court recently agreed to hear a case, following a petition by A.F.L., that would allow parents to challenge state laws supporting confidentiality for minors seeking gender-affirming treatment.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of a straight woman who twice lost positions to gay workers, saying that lower courts had been wrong to apply heightened standards to prove discrimination because she was a member of a majority group.
A.F.L. wrote an amicus brief in that case, which Justice Clarence Thomas quoted in his concurring opinion. Justice Thomas, who served as the chair of the E.E.O.C. in the 1980s, is a hero to Ms. Lucas; she has called him “the very finest living American.”
Going public
In February, the commission’s three-page charge against Nike became public, when the E.E.O.C. filed a motion in federal court in Missouri to force Nike to cooperate with the September subpoena.
Nike asked for the case to be dismissed or transferred to Oregon. The company has also contended that it had been producing requested documents on a rolling basis for months.
The E.E.O.C. responded that the court “should reject Nike’s effort to delay the EEOC’s investigation, deny its motion, and expediently enforce the subpoena.”
The public move against Nike was one of several E.E.O.C. actions related to D.E.I. programs at prominent companies.
In February, the agency sued a New Hampshire Coca-Cola distributor over a women’s retreat it hosted at a Connecticut casino in 2024, saying it deprived male employees of equal employment opportunities. (Coca-Cola denies wrongdoing and is challenging the suit.)
In March, the E.E.O.C. announced a settlement with Planned Parenthood of Illinois, which would pay $500,000 to resolve claims that the group’s “affinity caucuses” were illegal segregation and that its D.E.I.-related training sessions led to the harassment of white employees.
And in May, the agency filed a federal lawsuit against The New York Times, saying the company had unlawfully discriminated against a white male employee who did not get a sought-after promotion. (The Times has denied wrongdoing and filed a countersuit.)
Nike and the E.E.O.C. are scheduled to appear in court next month; according to a joint motion filed on Wednesday, Nike has continued to produce documents responding to the subpoena.
At Nike, Ms. Williams’s design program ended last year, when the five-year arrangement expired, according to a person familiar with the agreement. Among the final items the designers developed was a sneaker-loafer hybrid called the Air Max Phenomena, which was released last July.
It’s unclear what, if any, changes Nike has made to its other diversity programs since the investigation started. Many projects, including one that selects graduate students for marketing internships, are still running.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
10) ICE Is Out of Control. Here’s What to Do About It.
By Radley Balko, July 16, 2026
Mr. Balko is the author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces” and the criminal justice newsletter The Watch.
Illustration by Shoshana Schultz/The New York Times
In the span of a week, federal immigration enforcement agents took the lives of Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian man shot in Maine, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican man gunned down in Houston. The Trump administration’s response to these shootings has so far mirrored its response to the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis and Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez in Chicago, and a dizzying parade of shootings, beatings and abuse by immigration officers: defiance, deflection and utter indifference to the humanity of the victims.
We’re still learning the details of Mr. Guerrero’s death, but after Mr. Salgado Araujo’s, the Department of Homeland Security put out statements that seemed to be contradicted by both video and eye witnesses. This is part of a pattern we’ve seen before.
The Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency have continued to deploy tactics long known to be dangerous and reckless, even after those tactics produced tragic results. Federal agents have aggressively pursued people in their cars, sometimes by boxing them in, ramming them or forcing them off the road. They’ve put themselves in front of moving vehicles. They’ve masked themselves and made traffic stops in unmarked vehicles. And they’ve fired their weapons into moving cars.
After Mr. Guerrero’s death, the department announced that it had paused the use of most traffic stops as a means of immigration enforcement — only to have President Trump, a day later, insist on reversing that decision.
The dehumanizing, often explicitly racist language this administration has used with respect to immigrants is an unacceptable breach of a free and democratic society. The dangerous policing tactics the White House has encouraged and defended, essentially telling officers that they’re above the law, and continuing to provoke unnecessary harm and death are morally repugnant. Congress must put a stop to it all.
The tragedies we’ve seen were foreseeable, and inevitable. The Trump administration has made clear that its goal isn’t just to deport dangerous people, but to terrorize immigrant communities. In 20 years covering policing, I’ve never seen a government agency thumb its nose at the very concept of justice, rights and the rule of law the way D.H.S. and ICE have over the last 18 months.
In many cases, the administration has shown scant interest in investigating the possibility of wrongdoing by immigration officers — it has shown even less interest in prosecuting them. It has resisted sharing evidence with local police departments and prosecutors attempting to conduct their own investigations. Meanwhile, the administration appears eager to investigate the people who protest these tactics — or the victims themselves.
The largest share of undocumented immigrants detained by this administration have no criminal record, much less a history of violence. Still, administration officials have told the American people and immigration officers again and again that the people they’re apprehending are dangerous criminals.
Mr. Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other members of the administration have propagated vicious lies about immigrants, portraying them as unworthy of basic decency, dignity or fundamental rights.
At the same time, administration leaders have told immigration officers that they have “immunity” from accountability. As the Homeland Security Department has gone on a hiring binge, it has also lowered its standards, recruiting people through nativist, often racist messaging, and curtailed training.
So what can be done? There is one viable path to greater accountability — if politicians have the stomach for it. The Supreme Court has essentially left it to Congress to determine the degree to which federal officials can be liable for constitutional violations. If the Democrats retake the House and the Senate in November, that will set the stage for individuals to sue ICE, Border Patrol and other agencies for constitutional violations and wrongful deaths. There has already been discussion about that. But the Democrats could also take it a step further and create a path to sue policymakers like Stephen Miller, one of the president’s top advisers; Tom Homan, his border czar; and Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary.
That effort would require a political will we rarely see these days. There’s been a general reluctance among courts and Congress to make policymakers liable in civil suits. There’s good reason for that: We want political appointees and advisers to feel free to give advice without fear of legal liability. Eighty years ago, Congress created a (very limited) way for people wronged by federal officials to seek compensation — a law called the Federal Tort Claims Act — which explicitly exempted policymakers.
But Congress retains the power to make a different choice now.
Though, while in office, Mr. Trump would surely try to veto efforts to hold policymakers accountable, the mere act of passing such laws would put both the current leadership and federal law enforcement officers on notice that the rights, safety and lives of the people they serve — including immigrants, documented or otherwise — still matter. It would make clear to them that their actions over the next two-plus years of the Trump administration could bring consequences down the road, and that they serve the public and the Constitution, not one man or one administration.
There are other factors Congress would need to consider. The Constitution prohibits criminal ex post facto laws, which retroactively criminalize actions or behavior. The Supreme Court has ruled that the prohibition does not apply to civil law, but there would be understandable concerns about the fairness and propriety of retroactive civil culpability. There would also be debate about how far back such laws should go. I believe those concerns are dwarfed by the urgency of this moment, but even a law that imposes accountability only going forward would be better than nothing at all.
Most state and local police officers are indemnified from having to pay damages after a jury award or settlement involving police misconduct. But here, too, Congress could use its own judgment. Letting taxpayers foot the bill for the abuse inflicted by this administration doesn’t do much to deter future bad behavior. So Congress could, for example, pass a law that holds individual officials financially accountable until they’re no longer able to pay, then use public funds to ensure that victims are made whole.
In the meantime, there are two ways to hold government officials legally accountable for constitutional violations — criminal and civil.
In Minneapolis, the Hennepin County attorney, Mary Moriarty, is pursuing state criminal charges against federal officers in two cases, and prosecutors in other cities and states are considering similar moves. Ms. Moriarty’s efforts are brave and admirable, but it’s far from clear if they’ll be successful.
The Trump administration will surely try to get such cases removed to federal court, and the charged officers will most likely have the full backing and support of Mr. Trump’s Department of Justice. What’s more, Mr. Trump has reportedly promised a blanket pardon for his entire administration before he leaves office, which would preclude a subsequent administration from pursuing criminal charges in federal court.
That leaves us with civil liability. The Supreme Court has made it difficult to pursue civil damages against federal officers for constitutional violations.
A handful of states — including Maine — have ways to sue federal officers for violations of citizens’ rights under the state and federal constitutions. It remains to be seen if these suits would hold up when the Trump administration inevitably asks federal judges to strike them down. That’s why it’s so important that Congress step up to pass new laws to make this kind of legal accountability possible.
The Trump administration clearly believes that when it comes to immigration enforcement, it acts with complete impunity. Whether or not that’s true will be up to us and the people we elect to Congress this fall.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
