This week the Seattle City Council passed Mayor Katie Wilson’s “Fair Pricing and Transparency” ordinance in a 7-2 vote, a first-in-the-nation ban on so-called surveillance pricing.
The ordinance takes effect in 2027. The Washington Retail Association warned for months that the bill was rushed, would have significant and negative impact on prices, and that nearly all suggested fixes were ignored.
As approved, retailers must decide whether they can keep offering the tailored discounts and loyalty programs that Seattle families actually use or cancel all the programs and charge more for groceries.
Government should not be price-fixing consumer products.
Banning the use of loyalty cards and programs, fuel rewards, and targeted coupons hurts businesses and consumers alike.
Price controls do not make groceries cheaper. They flatten the tools stores use to compete for customers. When discounts vanish, the shelf price becomes the only price. That is how an “affordability” law raises a customer’s grocery bill. A Greater Seattle Business Association and Seattle Latino Metropolitan Chamber guest column put it plainly: trying to control prices through experimental regulation has never worked, and this ordinance will make an already expensive city more unaffordable.
Jan Himebaugh of the Washington Retail Association offered a household example, nearly $1,000 in grocer loyalty savings this year for her family, the equivalent of more than 185 gallons of gas in a state where fuel is among the nation’s most expensive. Those are not corporate talking points. They are the coupons that keep a cart full.
Thin-margin stores close. When they close, the result is the very “food deserts” Mayor Wilson has spent a campaign and a mayoralty promising to fight. Wilson has said Seattle will not accept food deserts as the cost of doing business, but the “Fair Pricing” policy creates a retail environment that does exactly the opposite.
A pricing ordinance that chases discounts out of the city works against that goal. You cannot subsidize corner markets on Sunday and make their discount model legally hazardous on Tuesday.
If Wilson wants more grocery access, the path is not to micromanage how a retailer prices a gallon of milk. It is to stop piling first-in-the-nation experiments onto businesses already carrying Seattle’s tax and regulatory load.
Personalized discounts are not surveillance. They are how competitive stores keep prices down and stay open. Kill those discounts, and the desert grows.
Indians Panic After Trump Sabotages Tech Firm Green Card Pipeline
On October 8, 2026, Vice President JD Vance and Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling announced that the Department of Labor will not accept any new PERM applications (Permanent Labor Certification) or process any pending applications involving a list of prominent tech firms. The action is being enforced amid ongoing federal investigations into alleged abuse of employment-based immigration programs.
This decision elicited outrage from a myriad of Democrats, but the group most flustered by the situation is undoubtedly Indian migrant workers and representatives. India is by far the greatest beneficiary of America’s H-1B migrant worker program, and it’s not even close.
Over the past ten years alone, over 8.7 million H-1B visas have been given to Indian nationals. Roughly 70% of all H-1B approvals every year go to Indians.
8.7 million non-immigrant visas were issued to Indian nationals from March 2017 to Feb 2026. A non-immigrant visa is temporary permission to come to America for a limited time- to work, study, or visit – and then return home. 8,704,481 of those visas were issued, according to the State Department. How many do you think actually returned home?
There are a number of reasons why this level of targeted immigration is a problem. The first reason is that these visas are often exploited as a stepping stone to gain a green card and permanent residency in the US.
H-1B visas are supposed to last for only a few years at most, but migrant workers can remain in the US for far longer. This is done through the PERM certification process, which allows employers to sponsor migrant workers for a green card, which can then be used to gain full citizenship after a few years. Trump’s suspension of PERM extends to a number of major tech firms including: Microsoft, Adobe, and Capgemini, along with Indian companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, and Cognizant.
The tech industry has been used as a pipeline for third world immigration for decades – Corporations have systematically eliminated hundreds of thousands of American jobs in favor of migrant workers because these workers take 17% to 40% less pay to fill certain rolls.
For example, Vice President JD Cance cites an ongoing investigation into Microsoft. He says that the company is suspected of firing over 6000 American tech workers, then used the visa machine to import over 6300 H-1B recipients along with helping 3000 others receive green cards. The vast majority of these workers are from India.
JD Vance is TORCHING Microsoft for abusing the H1B visa program: “Last year, Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers. At the same time, the company benefited from 6,300 H1B visas. You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.” https://t.co/3lWAtIb68m
India’s foreign ministry pushed back on the announcement. They said the U.S. action “does not advance the shared ambitions of both countries.” They specifically called Vance’s description of foreign workers as “indentured servants” unwarranted and “deeply offensive.”
Politicians in the US with an Indian background were also angered by the block of PERM, perhaps because these representatives have a habit of using their positions to also barter H-1B and green card access for their compatriots.
Statement on Trump Suspending Microsoft from the PERM Program: This is a crucial issue for me as the top Democrat on the Immigration Subcommittee, the only member of Congress to have actually had an H-1B visa, and the Representative for tens of thousands of Microsoft workers. The administration has been consistently working to take away legal pathways for immigrants to contribute their talents to our country, and this is yet another of those attacks. The PERM program is the first step toward an employment-based green card for countless workers who want to contribute to this country, and it lays out a clear process with steps to ensure that this is a net benefit to our economy and does not harm American jobs. Our economy, our communities, and our families depend on immigrants in many sectors, including the tech sector, and heavy-handed attacks like this only hurt efforts to build a strong, stable, and diverse base of workers who have legal pathways to come and be in the United States while also protecting U.S. workers from unscrupulous employers. You don’t fix a broken immigration system by taking a hammer to legal immigration. Microsoft has been a leader in advocating for comprehensive immigration reforms that modernize an antiquated immigration system and provide more — not fewer — legal pathways for immigrants from all over the world to work here and be with their families. Targeting Microsoft or the PERM program in this way simply undermines legal immigration and weakens America’s ability to innovate.
The panic on social media was palpable, with Indian accounts raging over the potential loss of US economic access. Their primary argument? That the US tech industry is dead in the water without them because the US doesn’t have enough “brilliant” tech engineers to fill the necessary job roles. They claim that their “service” to the US economy earns them the right to permanent residency, but that’s not how these things work.
These people agree to get paid to do a job, they are not entitled to citizenship just because they are willing to work for less. And let’s consider their logic for a moment: If Indian tech workers are so highly skilled and bring so much value, why isn’t India one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world? Why don’t these workers bring any added value to their own economy? Why is India 150th in the world per capita?
Probably because the “high IQ” Indian tech worker narrative is a scam.
Their only value on the global market is their willingness to work for low wages. But why do Indians work for so much less? It’s important to understand that US companies are offering a commodity on top of the otherwise low pay – And that commodity is permanent US residency. These companies are essentially selling access to US citizenship in exchange for cheap labor.
It’s quite the deal for tech firms if you think about it. They get thousands of cheap laborers, and they get to use a commodity that requires minimal cost. Microsoft might pay around $4000 on average in attorney’s fees to apply for a migrant worker to get PERM status, but they save tens-of-thousands on every migrant worker salary. The people who suffer most are American workers who get replaced.
Indian tech workers make a yearly salary of around $12,000 to $20,000 in their home country. A job in the US makes them significantly more, even with the pay cut. This money is often wired from the US back to India where US dollars have far greater buying power than the Rupee. Access to the US economy is a gold mine for third world migrants.
India’s economy also benefits indirectly from H-1B immigration. India is the largest beneficiary of remittances in the world. The country received approximately $40 billion in cash transfers from the US every year, which is larger than the majority of India’s budget for subsidized programs like welfare. It is 7% of the government’s entire annual budget. That’s massive.
So, it makes sense why there is a complex fraud network on both sides of the ocean to make Indian immigration happen. Indian workers are notorious for using fake degrees to get H-1B approval, but many US companies look the other way because they want the low wage labor. The Indian government backs the fraud because they get billions of dollars in cash flow into their economy on the back end. And the migrants happily participate because they get a much higher chance of gaining US citizenship, which is one of the most valuable commodities in the world.
It’s one of the biggest economic rackets on the globe. It’s also a key vehicle for the multicultural invasion of the US. There is no benefit to the American people to import millions of third world migrants, and it’s about time that someone did something to stop the chain of abuse.
A White Baltimore arts executive was recently fired in September from the Baltimore Rock Opera Society. The reason was not that Kelly Carnes was chronically absent or failed to perform her duties as the new executive director. Rather, it was the hairstyle that she briefly adopted on vacation. You see, Carnes is white, and co-workers were apparently triggered by her getting cornrows while attending the Burning Man festival.
It was not deemed a fun hairstyle choice adopted on a vacation but rather a despicable case of cultural appropriation that warranted her termination.
Carnes was hired on Sept. 8 and was heralded for her more than 21 years of experience in arts leadership, nonprofit strategy, communications, fundraising, and operations.
She said that she adopted cornrows as a ‘protective style’ while attending Burning Man.
We have previously discussed cultural appropriation controversies where people were triggered by cornrows, dreadlocks (and here), food (and here), costumes, big hoop earrings, yoga (and here), songs, opera, or dance styles. Businesses and universities have yielded to these attacks, curtailing a wide array of different forms of free expression in the name of cultural tolerance.
Activists have even targeted artist Bo Derek for wearing cornrows in her Movie “10.” These critics ignore that many hairstyles, like music and dance styles, began with particular cultural groups before becoming popular with general populations.
The Baltimore Rock Opera publicly stated that it knew its new executive director was spotted with cornrows and that it would immediately conduct a full investigation.
The Opera has now triggered a possible hair-raising case in which Carnes could allege racial discrimination. It would also make a novel and potentially important free speech case.
At issue may be Maryland’s CROWN Act, which protects minority employees from discrimination based on traits associated with race, such as hair texture, afro hairstyles, and protective hairstyles. The law must apply equally to all races, including hairstyles adopted by Caucasian employees.
Under the state’s discrimination laws, cornrows are clearly not a matter that would “reasonably preclude the performance of the employment.” It is an objection to the appearance of employees based on racial bias or intolerance.
In my view, this is clearly racial discrimination as well as an abridgment of free expression. This is even clearer after Maryland enacted the CROWN Act, which defines race for anti-discrimination protections to include “traits associated with race,” such as hair texture, Afro hairstyles, and protective hairstyles.
The fact that this was passed with reference to protect African American employees is not determinative. Carnes was fired because of her race and the adoption of a rule barring hairstyles on a racial basis.
Maryland said that it wanted to protect hairstyles. This may not be the litigant that they had in mind, but it is the same form of racial discrimination.
For the left, the Carnes case could be a discomforting moment of having to face racial discrimination done in the name of racial harmony or equity. At one point, the left relished hairstyle freedom as a form of free expression. That was captured in the popular musical Hair, which became a virtual national anthem for the left in the 1970s.
“Hair (hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair)
Grow it, show it
Long as I can grow it
My hair
I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy
Snaggy, shaggy, ratsy, matsy
Oily, greasy, fleecy
Shining, gleaming
Flaxen, waxen
While the Supreme Court has only addressed hair regulations a few times (often in the context of allowable hair regulations for military or prison settings), hairstyles are (in my view) a form of free expression.
A few lower courts have supported that view. In Breen v. Kahl, the Seventh Circuit found in 1969 that “The right to wear one’s hair at any length or in any desired manner is an ingredient of a personal freedom protected by the United States Constitution.” While the appellate court was equivocal on where this right rested between the First and Ninth Amendments, it concluded that “it clearly exists and applies to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
There can also be religious-clause protections for hairstyles, though that is not the case here. However, there remains good-faith debate over the extent to which hairstyles are protected in comparison to free speech.
That is why this case is more likely to be resolved on the grounds of racial discrimination. Baltimore Rock Opera’s firing of Carnes because of her race appears incontrovertible. If she were an African American, she would still be the executive director wearing cornrows. The Opera is telling employees that their hairstyles will be monitored on the basis of their race.
As Chief Justice John Roberts famously wrote, “It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.” While he may have been thinking more about college admissions than hairstyles, it is still true that “The way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
Carnes could make a lasting contribution to constitutional law by standing firm against this discriminatory action. Of course, it is not easy to suddenly find yourself the target of a woke mob. She no doubt feels, as observed in Richard III, that “My hair doth stand on end to hear [these] curses.” However, we are all cursed if the mob is allowed to control how we appear in public.
Riyadh’s International Airport Suspends All Operations After Mass Casualty Houthi Missile Barrage
On Saturday Yemen’s Houthis have once again pummeled Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid International Airport in Ryiadh with a volley of ballistic missiles. A major emergency response has ensued with dozens of ambulances at the scene, and a total evacuation of the major flight hub.
In this fresh instance, which comes after multiple attacks on the kingdom’s civilian aviation hubs stretching back at least a week, there appears to be mass casualties as a result.
Result of the prior October 8 attack on Riyadh’s international airport, social media via Reuters
Arrivals have been canceled across the board for much of Saturday, according to flight tracker Flightradar24, with passengers that were already in the air having been diverted to other cities.
“Terminal 3 of the King Khalid International Airport suffered a direct hit from missiles and has been evacuated, with at least some injuries, Saudi officials said,” reports The Wall Street Journal. Eyewitnesses reported hearing loud explosions rock the airport.
ALL OPERATION SUSPENDED
“Several ambulances and a few helicopters were sent to collect the wounded and take them to King Fahad hospital in Riyadh, one of the officials said,” the report continues. “A video the official said was authentic showed blood smeared on the floor.”
⚡️JUST IN: The Floor of Saudi Riyadh International Airport is covered in Blood following Houthi Missile Strikes Dozens of Ambulances are rushing toward the Airport https://t.co/Bh2SqXbQLZ
🇾🇪🇸🇦⚡️- Apocalyptic scenes from Terminal 3 of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after it was struck by Ansarullah ballistic missiles. https://t.co/74Sl314dDN
— Rerum Novarum // Intel, Breaking News, and Alerts (@officialrnintel) October 10, 2026
Various countries have increasingly warned their citizens against flying in and out of Riyadh, including the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Ireland, and others.
These travel alerts have especially increased in the wake of Thursday’s deadly missile attack on the airport, which saw one or more parked plane destroyed and three people killed, including a pilot. Mass casualties are being reported via Reuters/CNN:
Many people were wounded in a blast at Riyadh’s international airport on Saturday, according to two eyewitnesses and two people briefed on the matter, and travelers were evacuated from parts of the facility.
One of the eyewitnesses reported seeing an explosion and then seeing multiple people lying injured on the ground inside the airport. More than a dozen ambulances were seen rushing to the airport.
Saudi authorities have been slow to acknowledge or officially comment on these attacks, or give much in the way of details. Clearly, anti-air defenses are failing to intercept all inbound missiles from Yemen, and Thursday’s attack also saw missile debris fall on a medical center in the capital.
The WSJ report further underscores a major area of sensitivity for the royal family: “The continued missile attacks on airports in Riyadh and a number of southern Saudi cities threaten to choke off business travel and tourism just as the busy conference and travel season gets going,” it writes.
Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport being EVACUATED, following a reported Yemeni ATTACK earlier today — Clash Witnesses describing panic and injuries, as flights are diverted or canceled, with smoke visible near one of the terminals https://t.co/I7mAQHS1Hq
“A major test will come with the kingdom’s flagship Future Investment Initiative summit, which is expected to draw thousands of global executives and investors to Riyadh at the end of this month,” the publication also notes.
“Conference officials said before the Saturday attack that safety is their top priority and that comprehensive safety measures will be in place,” it adds.
No confirmed numbers yet, but Reuters is reporting “many” wounded at Riyadh’s int’l airport, according to eyewitnesses. @flightradar24 currently has King Khalid International Airport as the #2 most disrupted airport, showing 305 flights canceled and 226 flights delayed. https://t.co/aGuHX7Rigc
The conference which gathers leaders from across the world is set for October 26 to 29, 2026 at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh. So far there’s been no indication that authorities will either cancel or change the venue. The Houthis in neighboring Yemen are expected to keep up the pressure, also as Aramco sites get targeted, amid the ground war and fight for Red Sea coastal areas.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Oct. 7 ordered daily checks of voter registrations processed through the state Motor Vehicle Commission after a review found about 1,090 additional registrations that were improperly handled.
Sherrill ordered the review after disclosing in July that a software error had registered about 6,600 people who said they were not U.S. citizens when they applied for driver’s licenses and state IDs between June 2023 and June 2024.
She said fewer than 400 of them voted.
Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that neither of the new problems involved noncitizens.
About 750 of the records came from the same error in a system run by IDEMIA, the agency’s vendor, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
Those people answered “no” when asked whether they were old enough to vote, but their registrations went through anyway, her office said.
Sherrill’s administration said their birth dates showed they were old enough and that many appeared to have pressed the wrong button on the keypad.
Because they answered no, the registrations weren’t legally valid, according to the administration.
About 380 of those people had no other registration and didn’t vote, and their records are being deleted, according to the governor’s office.
About 320 voted and had other potentially valid registrations, and their cases are going to county election officials, the governor’s press release stated.
About 50 were registered only because of the error and voted. Their records are being deleted and also sent to the counties. The other 340 records came from voter sign-ups at agency events for people leaving prison, dating back to 2016, Sherrill’s office added.
The administration said some people at those events wrongly said they were eligible while still serving a sentence for an indictable offense, New Jersey’s equivalent of a felony.
County officials will review those records one by one.
Separately, about 60 people were found to be currently incarcerated, and their names were sent to the counties for routine removal.
Under the new process, the agency will compare registration records each day against what customers actually entered, including citizenship, age, and whether they chose to register.
Records that don’t match will be staff-reviewed before going to election officials.
The agency is also adding a keypad question at re-entry events asking people to confirm they aren’t currently incarcerated for an indictable offense, and offering registration questions in five languages.
Sherrill said she promised a thorough review so that no ineligible person stays on the rolls and every eligible voter is heard.
“In just two and a half months, we conducted this review and are taking sweeping action,” she said.
She criticized President Donald Trump, saying he has complained about the issue for a decade without fixing it.
State Senate Republican Leader Anthony Bucco said in a statement that the updates are “creating more questions than answers.”
He said the public still hasn’t seen the report on the original 6,600 registrations, and that with Election Day less than a month away, voters deserve to see the analysis behind the administration’s conclusions.
Every Senate Republican has signed on to a resolution that would create a special Senate committee to investigate.
Bucco and state Sen. Kristin Corrado also introduced a bill that would end automatic voter registration at the agency, require voter ID, and set biannual independent audits of the voter rolls.
Mass Casualties In New Houthi Missile Barrage On Riyadh’s International Airport
On Saturday Yemen’s Houthis have once again pummeled Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid International Airport in Ryiadh with a volley of ballistic missiles. A major emergency response has ensued with dozens of ambulances at the scene, and a total evacuation of the major flight hub.
In this fresh instance, which comes after multiple attacks on the kingdom’s civilian aviation hubs stretching back at least a week, there appears to be mass casualties as a result.
Result of the prior October 8 attack on Riyadh’s international airport, social media via Reuters
Arrivals have been canceled across the board for much of Saturday, according to flight tracker Flightradar24, with passengers that were already in the air having been diverted to other cities.
“Terminal 3 of the King Khalid International Airport suffered a direct hit from missiles and has been evacuated, with at least some injuries, Saudi officials said,” reports The Wall Street Journal. Eyewitnesses reported hearing loud explosions rock the airport.
“Several ambulances and a few helicopters were sent to collect the wounded and take them to King Fahad hospital in Riyadh, one of the officials said,” the report continues. “A video the official said was authentic showed blood smeared on the floor.”
⚡️JUST IN: The Floor of Saudi Riyadh International Airport is covered in Blood following Houthi Missile Strikes Dozens of Ambulances are rushing toward the Airport https://t.co/Bh2SqXbQLZ
Various countries have increasingly warned their citizens against flying in and out of Riyadh, including the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Ireland, and others.
These travel alerts have especially increased in the wake of Thursday’s deadly missile attack on the airport, which saw one or more parked plane destroyed and three people killed, including a pilot. Mass casualties are being reported via Reuters/CNN:
Many people were wounded in a blast at Riyadh’s international airport on Saturday, according to two eyewitnesses and two people briefed on the matter, and travelers were evacuated from parts of the facility.
One of the eyewitnesses reported seeing an explosion and then seeing multiple people lying injured on the ground inside the airport. More than a dozen ambulances were seen rushing to the airport.
Saudi authorities have been slow to acknowledge or officially comment on these attacks, or give much in the way of details. Clearly, anti-air defenses are failing to intercept all inbound missiles from Yemen, and Thursday’s attack also saw missile debris fall on a medical center in the capital.
The WSJ report further underscores a major area of sensitivity for the royal family: “The continued missile attacks on airports in Riyadh and a number of southern Saudi cities threaten to choke off business travel and tourism just as the busy conference and travel season gets going,” it writes.
Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport being EVACUATED, following a reported Yemeni ATTACK earlier today — Clash Witnesses describing panic and injuries, as flights are diverted or canceled, with smoke visible near one of the terminals https://t.co/I7mAQHS1Hq
“A major test will come with the kingdom’s flagship Future Investment Initiative summit, which is expected to draw thousands of global executives and investors to Riyadh at the end of this month,” the publication also notes.
“Conference officials said before the Saturday attack that safety is their top priority and that comprehensive safety measures will be in place,” it adds.
No confirmed numbers yet, but Reuters is reporting “many” wounded at Riyadh’s int’l airport, according to eyewitnesses. @flightradar24 currently has King Khalid International Airport as the #2 most disrupted airport, showing 305 flights canceled and 226 flights delayed. https://t.co/aGuHX7Rigc
The conference which gathers leaders from across the world is set for October 26 to 29, 2026 at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh. So far there’s been no indication that authorities will either cancel or change the venue. The Houthis in neighboring Yemen are expected to keep up the pressure, also as Aramco sites get targeted, amid the ground war and fight for Red Sea coastal areas.
President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Oct. 9 to revive his dismissed civil lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and others.
The president alleges they conspired to create and spread a false story that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.
Lower courts rejected the case and ordered Trump and one of his attorneys, Alina Habba, to pay almost $1 million in sanctions. The trial judge and the appeals court called the lawsuit “frivolous,” saying it had no legal merit and appeared aimed at political grievance rather than a valid claim.
Trump is now asking the nation’s highest court to review the appeals court’s decision upholding both the dismissal and the sanctions.
While he was out of office after losing the 2020 election, Trump initiated the lawsuit in federal court in Florida in March 2022, under a federal racketeering law known as civil RICO. That law allows private individuals to seek damages when they claim someone engaged in a pattern of illegal activities, such as fraud or conspiracy.
The lawsuit targeted Clinton, the DNC, former British spy Christopher Steele, former FBI Director James Comey, and more than two dozen other people. It centered on the so-called Steele dossier, which was opposition research funded by Clinton’s campaign that alleged the Russian government had compromising material on Trump.
Trump’s lawsuit touches on topics covered by two earlier government investigations. Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. Former special counsel John Durham’s 2023 report criticized the FBI’s handling of its 2016 counterintelligence investigation – codenamed Crossfire Hurricane – into possible Trump campaign contacts with Russia. Durham said the FBI relied too much on uncorroborated tips, including material connected to the Clinton campaign.
Those government reports dealt with criminal and counterintelligence questions. By contrast, Trump’s civil lawsuit is a private damages case governed by different rules. The lower courts held that Trump waited too long to file it under the RICO Act’s time limit.
Dossier Source Scrutiny
Steele’s dossier included claims that the Russian government possessed a salacious video of Trump at a hotel in Moscow. His main source was later revealed to be Igor Danchenko, who was based in the United States and has been investigated by federal agents over possible ties to Russian intelligence.
Attorneys for Trump and Habba wrote in the new petition that Supreme Court review of the case is necessary to protect the institution of the presidency. They said that the decisions by the lower courts reflect “a deeply troubling trend of federal courts using sanctions and disciplinary threats to punish the president and his lawyers for legitimate legal positions that those courts (erroneously) reject.”
“Treating contested advocacy as misconduct corrodes our legal culture, deters representation of controversial clients, and makes constitutional adjudication depend on counsel’s willingness to risk personal liability,” they said.
They alleged in the lawsuit that in the months leading up to the 2016 election, Clinton conspired with allies to discredit him with a “false narrative” that he and his campaign engaged in collusion with Russia, according to the petition. The suit alleged several claims, including racketeering and a “conspiracy to commit injurious falsehood.”
Trump defeated Clinton in 2016 and went on to serve in the presidency from January 2017 to January 2021. Trump later regained the presidency by defeating Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, the sitting vice president, in 2024.
In September 2022, U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks threw out Trump’s lawsuit against Clinton on multiple grounds, including that Trump waited too long to pursue some of the claims. Middlebrooks compared Trump’s lawsuit to a “two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him.” The judge later imposed sanctions on Trump and Habba for filing a case he said was calculated “to dishonestly advance a political narrative,” and for misusing the courts.
In 2025, the 11th Circuit affirmed Middlebrooks, including the sanctions, saying that many of Trump’s and Habba’s legal arguments “were indeed frivolous.”
In the new filing, the attorneys said the time limit for launching the suit should have been extended because Trump opted to delay filing during his first term of office so he could focus on executing his constitutional responsibilities as the nation’s chief executive.
The attorneys argue that the heavy demands of being president justify pausing the normal deadline for filing a private lawsuit while Trump is in office, so he should not have to choose between running the country and defending his own legal rights.
The attorneys also ask the Supreme Court to decide whether a lower court can fine a president and his lawyers close to $1 million merely for making that argument, even if the court rejects it in the end.
“This court’s intervention is necessary to protect the presidency, and to prevent judicial disagreement from becoming a license to punish its advocates,” the petition said.
It is unclear when the Supreme Court will take up the petition.
Vance Casts Doubt On Firing Squad Execution, Balks At Hegseth’s Live Stream Plan
Vice President JD Vance seemed less enthusiastic and more ambivalent compared to other top officials in the US administration when asked about War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement that the Pentagon will livestream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan.
A reporter asked Vance about the unusual development on Friday. Hegseth has been insistent that it will happen. Apparently having been approved by President Trump, the execution is set for December 3rd of this year.
“Well, first of all, I’ve seen these announcements. I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen. Let’s sort of see what – I think it’s going to happen in December when he’s executed,” Vance began.
JD Vance distances himself from Hegseth’s televised execution: “Look, if it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it” https://t.co/PnpmjfNTi0
Vance, who will himself likely run for president after Trump’s term, continued: “But what I try to remind people is, look, this is a guy who committed, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11.”
“The people that he was meant to treat, the army soldiers that he was meant to treat for mental illness and other problems, he took them at their most vulnerable and gunned down these people where they live.”
But then he noted that he is unlikely to watch it: “So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people. Now, that said, I mean, look, if it’s all through livestream, I’m not going to be watching it.”
Hegseth’s announcement has been controversial and received pushback not just among Democrats but Republicans as well. For example, Republican Senator Thom Tillis has argued: “Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting.”
Many on the Right have not been impressed with the whole bizarre livestream aspect…
In 2009, former US Army Major and psychiatrist Nidal Hasan opened fire inside a crowded Readiness Center at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 12 soldiers and one civilian, as well as an unborn child. In the jihadist-inspired terror attack he also wounded 32 others, before being shot by military police and permanently disabled.
Hegseth had boasted to TV outlet Real America’s Voice on Wednesday that “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public.“
Source: Bell County Sheriff’s Department
The tiny handful of countries known for carrying out public executions over the years are Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afghanistan. The last public execution in the US happened in 1936 in Kentucky, when a convicted murder and rapist was hanged amid onlookers.
The Department of War announced $350 million in quantum computing initiatives on Oct. 8 intended to strengthen America’s leadership in quantum computing capabilities and support national security.
The initiatives, announced by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, are part of the Trump administration’s effort to boost quantum computing, which uses the principles of quantum mechanics to solve advanced problems much faster than traditional computers.
President Donald Trump previously issued a pair of executive orders on June 22 that set new development goals for the quantum computing industry to maintain U.S. dominance in the field. The goals included the development of the world’s first quantum computer capable of powering advanced scientific research by 2028.
“Dominance in quantum information science is a critical priority for both President Trump and the Department of War,” Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael said in a statement on Thursday. “Maintaining American leadership in this field is essential to preserving our technological edge, and R&E (Research and Engineering) is uniquely positioned to drive the innovation needed across academia and industry.”
Under the new initiatives, the Pentagon will identify mission-relevant applications of quantum computing as the computers become available. The department said it expects the use of quantum computing in physics, chemistry, and materials science will support the development of next-generation weapons, platforms, and other cost-effective and lethal capabilities.
Additionally, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will coordinate with other agencies to host a series of application workshops giving experts and end users the opportunity to enhance national defense, develop economic opportunities, and boost quantum advantage. The workshops will start before January 2027, the Pentagon said.
On Oct. 7, the agency announced that four companies had been selected to advance to the final stage of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, representing about $200 million in new funding. The initiative aims to determine whether any quantum computing approach’s value can exceed its cost by 2033.
The Pentagon said its initiatives will complement other initiatives recently announced by the Department of Energy, such as the Quantum Genesis Priority Applications and the Quantum Genesis Q Competition, as well as initiatives led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation.
The Pentagon said Thursday that developing a strong quantum industrial base was essential for the United States to maintain its leadership in the field, and that winning the quantum leadership race was critical for national security.
In a separate announcement on Thursday, the War Department’s Office of Strategic Capital unveiled a roughly $150 million conditional loan commitment to enhance PsiQuantum’s advanced prototyping and manufacturing capabilities in the United States.
David Lorch, director of the Office of Strategic Capital, said the proposed loan commitment to the Palo Alto, California-based company directly aligned with the president’s mandate to boost quantum computing development and commercialization. Lorch said quantum computing will lead to “transformational capabilities.”
“Funding the development of fault-tolerant quantum computing is a national security imperative,” Peter B. Zuckerman, senior managing director at the War Department’s Office of Strategic Capital, said in a statement.
“We must scale this critical technology to secure our technological edge and deny adversaries a decisive strategic advantage.”
Michael said the Pentagon is “moving at breakneck speed” in response to Trump’s orders.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission published a report last year concluding that while the United States led the world in most quantum research, China had deployed centralized coordination and industrial-scale funding to “seize dominance” in quantum technology.
In March, China included the development of quantum technologies as one of the strategic priorities listed in its 15th Five-Year Plan.
More than 148,000 people remain subject to outstanding arrest warrants in Germany, and only 11.2 percent of them hold exclusively German citizenship, and overall, 87 percent of arrest warrant suspects are foreigners, according to figures the Federal Ministry of the Interior provided in response to a parliamentary inquiry.
Welt newspaper obtained the ministry’s reply to a question from Alternative for Germany (AfD) lawmaker Sebastian Münzenmaier.
Münzenmaier told Welt am Sonntag: “The figures speak for themselves: The overwhelming majority of criminals wanted on arrest warrants do not have a German passport.” He called for a “rigorous change of course” that would include permanent and complete border controls, the immediate termination of the stay of foreign criminals, and the enforcement of prison sentences in the country of origin.
While German citizens form the single largest group, at 16,671, Germany also features a population where 81 percent of people hold exclusively German citizenship. Romanian nationals follow closely with 16,123, then Polish nationals with 12,721, Georgian nationals with 6,869 and Turkish nationals with 6,696.
Alexander Throm, the domestic-policy spokesman for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) parliamentary group, said: “Every open arrest warrant poses a security risk.”
He added that “the high proportion of foreign offenders, including many from other EU countries, shows that action must be taken.”
Throm also noted that border controls introduced in September 2024 have done more than limit illegal migration: “They have not only curbed illegal migration. Since their start in September 2024, over 17,500 people have also been apprehended at our borders with outstanding arrest warrants.”
Heiko Teggatz, chairman of the German Police Union, called the total worrying and said it “of course, represents a security policy problem.” State police forces, he told the paper, rarely have the staffing to mount dedicated searches; most arrests occur as a “chance hit or bycatch.” The union has long cited personnel shortages as a central obstacle to improved public safety.
Marcel Emmerich, the Greens’ domestic-policy spokesman, agreed that the volume of open warrants constitutes a serious problem, “especially when it comes to dangerous persons, extremists, violent or sex offenders.”
However, Emmerich rejected broader border checks, noting: “Instead of hoping for random hits at border controls, targeted searches are needed, especially for dangerous perpetrators of violence, threats and people from the field of politically motivated crime.”
Sebastian Fiedler, the Social Democratic Party’s domestic-policy spokesman in the Bundestag, cautioned against reading the aggregate figure as evidence of 148,000 undetected dangerous offenders still inside the country. “A significant portion of this is due to substitute prison sentences for unpaid fines. In North Rhine-Westphalia, more than half of all outstanding arrest warrants in total were such cases, he said. Warrants can also remain active against people who have already left Germany or been deported, so that any remaining sentence can be enforced if they return.
“For example, they will continue to be put out to tender for a search so that if they re-enter the country, a remaining prison sentence can be enforced,” Fiedler said.
While the crimes may include many petty offenses, the totals are stark. German nationals represent a minuscule share of the open arrest warrants in a country where 81 percent of the country is made up of German nationals.
