SmartNews

Liberal justice gives ominous answer when asked 'What keeps you up at night?'

Liberal Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gave an ominous answer when asked at an Indianapolis Bar Association event on Thursday, "What keeps you up at night?"

According to CNN, Jackson responded, "I would say the state of our democracy," adding, "I am really very interested in getting people to focus and to invest and to pay attention to what is happening in our country and in our government.”

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'Repulsive': GOP committee rips MAGA AG Ken Paxton after wife files for divorce

The official campaign committee for Republicans in the Senate blasted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a GOP candidate for U.S. Senate, after his wife announced that she was filing for divorce "on biblical grounds."

In a Thursday post on X, Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton (R) announced the divorce filing.

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Baseball coach nearly 'cuffed' for confronting ICE agents questioning  kids

Youman Wilder has coached baseball on Manhattan's West Side for 20 years, but during a practice last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up.

Wilder told the West Side Rag, a local New York City website, that his group is primarily made up of middle school and high school students, whom he meets at the batting cages.

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'Do not go out': Mayor broadcasts warning to stay indoors over ICE agents

A mayor in California broadcast a public service announcement advising residents to stay indoors after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were spotted in the area.

In a short message this week, Perris Mayor Michael Vargas said he had "received reports of ongoing ICE operations within the area."

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FBI and DOJ staff allege firings for vague reasons — including email signatures

Several employees at the FBI and the Justice Department allege they were abruptly fired without explanation, and often over minor issues like using pronouns in email signatures.

“One Justice Department lawyer was suspected of being fired because he used ‘he/him’ pronouns in his email signature,” wrote DOJ reporter Perry Stein for The Washington Post on Thursday.

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Columbia activist freed after months in ICE detention sues Trump admin for $20M

A 30-year-old Columbia University grad student is suing the Trump administration for $20 million in damages after he was detained by ICE for months, according to USA Today.

Attorneys for Mahmoud Khalil filed the claim on Thursday, alleging that Khalil was "falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted, and smeared as an antisemite, while the government sought to deport him over his prominent role in campus protests."

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'Gonna fold': Reporter scoffs at deficit hawk's budget revolt

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) was ridiculed Thursday on MSNBC over his budget bluster that ultimately falters as he falls in line with the party.

The bill before the Senate on Thursday deals with the funding for NASA and the new FBI headquarters. The Commerce, Justice, Science Committee devolved into chaos after Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) filed an amendment that would mandate that the headquarters be put in Maryland, which was decided after an exhaustive bidding process. Trump's administration then decided that the agents would all be sent to the Reagan Building, which had previously housed USAID, a program that Trump had already cut.

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‘Entitlement or not’: Rand Paul wants to slash Social Security and Medicare

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) floated a new plan to cut all government programs — including Medicare and Social Security — by 6%.

The senator explained his proposal on Real America's Voice on Thursday.

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'Biblical grounds': Wife of MAGA AG Ken Paxton shocks with divorce announcement

Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, wife of far-right state Attorney General Ken Paxton, announced on Thursday in a post to X that she was filing for divorce "on biblical grounds."

"I believe marriage is a sacred covenant and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation. But in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage," she wrote. "I move forward with complete confidence that God is always working everything together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose."

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'Plunged into chaos': Senate committee melts down over funding mess

Samantha Handler with Punchbowl News live-tweeted as the Senate Appropriations Committee "plunged into chaos" Thursday over budget markups on the Commerce, Justice, Science bill that includes funding for NASA and the new FBI headquarters.

In an article on the debacle, Handler, John Bresnahan, and Laura Weiss wrote, "The Senate Appropriations Committee often passes each of its 12 annual spending bills on a bipartisan basis. This is what makes the Senate the Senate — and not the House.

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ICE official scolded for cluelessness in high-profile Abrego Garcia case

Judge Paula Xinis called for a hearing where she could question a Department of Homeland Security staff member about the Kilmar Ábrego García case and details around his deportation to a brutal prison in El Salvador.

The proceedings were forced to pause after Ábrego Garcia's lawyers found that the DOJ had used several documents to help aid the witness from ICE called to testify.

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ICE offers federal workers fired by Trump 'elite positions' as investigators

Flush with new funding included in the GOP-authored megabill signed by Donald Trump on July 4, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is encouraging federal workers who lost their jobs to apply for the DOGE cuts.

On Thursday, ICE posted on X, "Join ICE Homeland Security Investigations’ dynamic team as a criminal investigator," and added that former workers who served in other departments that underwent purges would be given extra consideration.

The post stated, "This elite position is open to the public. Priority will be given to former federal workers whose jobs were eliminated."

RELATED: 'It's miserable:' ICE 'morale in crapper' as agents forced to 'arrest gardeners'

The job posting for a "Criminal Investigator GL-1811-13" comes the day after the Supreme Court gave a thumbs-up to Trump's administration to go forward with massive government job cuts in multiple agencies, presumably creating a larger pool of job candidates among those not resentful after losing their existing jobs.

Responding to the X post from ICE, one critic replied, "It’s like joining the Nazis except you don’t even need a high school diploma and you get to beat up Latino grandmas instead of Jews.'

You can see the original X post here.

'Guy's an animal': Access Hollywood host reported Trump years before leaked tape

Former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush revealed that he told NBC that President Donald Trump tried to sleep with his co-host nearly a decade before a leaked tape almost ended the then-candidate's 2016 campaign.

During a conversation on Rob Lowe's podcast this week, Bush recalled riding on the bus in 2005 when Trump made his infamous "grab 'em by the p—" remarks.

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