Detainees at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facing ‘harrowing human right violations’, new report alleges; The Guardian, December 4, 2025

 Richard Luscombe, The Guardian; Detainees at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facing ‘harrowing human right violations’, new report alleges

"Detainees at the notorious Florida immigration jail known as “Alligator Alcatraz” were shackled inside a 2ft high metal cage and left outside without water for up to a day at a time, a shocking report published on Thursday by Amnesty International alleges.

The human rights group said migrants held at the state-run Everglades facility, and at Miami’s Krome immigration processing center operated by a private company on behalf of the Trump administration, continue to be exposed to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” rising in some cases to torture.

The cage, known to detainees as “the box”, is used by guards for the arbitrary punishment of trivial or non-existent offenses, according to the report compiled from interviews with detainees and advocacy groups, and a site visit to Krome made by Amnesty workers in September."

Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome in Florida; Amnesty International, December 4, 2025

 Amnesty International; Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome in Florida

"This report presents Amnesty International’s findings from a research trip to southern Florida in September 2025 to document:

• Human rights impacts of federal and state migration and asylum policies on mass detention and deportation
• Access to due process and
• Detention conditions since President Trump took office on January 20, 2025.

In particular, it focuses on detention conditions at the Krome North Service Processing Center (Krome) and the Everglades Detention Facility, also known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Krome is an ICE detention facility located in Miami-Dade County on the edge of the Everglades. In 2025, the facility has faced heightened scrutiny after reports of severe overcrowding and several deaths. Amnesty International documented delays in intake procedures, overcrowding in temporary processing areas, inadequate and inaccessible medical care, alarming disciplinary practices including the use of prolonged solitary confinement, and challenges in access to legal representation and due process at Krome.

“Alligator Alcatraz” opened in July 2025 with the capacity to detain around 3,000 people. Amnesty International’s research concludes that people arbitrarily detained in “Alligator Alcatraz” are being held in inhuman and unsanitary conditions, including overflowing toilets with fecal matter seeping into where people are sleeping, limited access to showers, exposure to insects without protective measures, lights on 24 hours a day, poor quality food and water, and lack of privacy.

Amnesty International considers that detention conditions at both facilities amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The use of prolonged solitary confinement at Krome and the use of the ‘box’ at “Alligator Alcatraz” amount to torture or other ill-treatment.

Amnesty International calls on the Government of the United States to:

• End its cruel mass immigration detention and deportation machine
• Stop the criminalization of migration
• Bar the use of state-owned facilities for immigration custody detention
• Ensure thorough investigations into all deaths, abuses, and allegations of torture in custody, and
• Comply with international human rights law and standards."

New York Times Sues Pentagon Over First Amendment Rights; The New York Times, December 4, 2025

 Erik Wemple, The New York Times ; New York Times Sues Pentagon Over First Amendment Rights

"The New York Times accused the Pentagon in a lawsuit on Thursday of infringing on the constitutional rights of journalists by imposing a set of new restrictions on reporting about the military.

In the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, The Times argued that the Defense Department’s new policy violated the First Amendment and “seeks to restrict journalists’ ability to do what journalists have always done — ask questions of government employees and gather information to report stories that take the public beyond official pronouncements.”

The rules, which went into effect in October, are a stark departure from the previous ones, in both length and scope. They require reporters to sign a 21-page form that sets restrictions on journalistic activities, including requests for story tips and inquiries to Pentagon sources. Reporters who don’t comply could lose their press passes, and the Pentagon has accorded itself “unbridled discretion” to enforce the policy as it sees fit, according to the lawsuit."

US Institute of Peace renamed for Trump after his administration gutted it earlier this year; CNN, December 3, 2025

Jennifer Hansler, CNN ; US Institute of Peace renamed for Trump after his administration gutted it earlier this year

"President Donald Trump’s name has been installed on the building and signage around the US Institute of Peace (USIP) – an independent agency that the administration gutted earlier this year.

The president’s moniker appeared on the Washington, DC, headquarters ahead of a peace agreement signing ceremony between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) due to take place there on Thursday.

“Welcome to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. The best is yet to come,” the State Department posted on X Wednesday, announcing it had renamed the institute “to reflect the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history.”

The Trump administration has essentially shuttered the institute, which works to resolve conflict and was created by Congress in 1984. The administration’s budget request for the next fiscal year called for the elimination of federal funding for USIP."

Trump Renames Institute of Peace for Himself; The New York Times, December 3, 2025

 Aishvarya Kavi, The New York Times; Trump Renames Institute of Peace for Himself

[Kip Currier: In February 2025, 2.0, Trump 2.0 Executive Order 14217 (see highlighted section below) created the conditions that resulted in the gutting of the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), a nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1984 and signed into law by Pres. Ronald Reagan. 

Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1 . Purpose. It is the policy of my Administration to dramatically reduce the size of the Federal Government, while increasing its accountability to the American people. This order commences a reduction in the elements of the Federal bureaucracy that the President has determined are unnecessary. Reducing the size of the Federal Government will minimize Government waste and abuse, reduce inflation, and promote American freedom and innovation.

Sec. 2 . Reducing the Scope of the Federal Bureaucracy. (a) The non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law:

(i) the Presidio Trust;

(ii) the Inter-American Foundation;

(iii) the United States African Development Foundation; and

(iv) the United States Institute of Peace.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/02/25/2025-03133/commencing-the-reduction-of-the-federal-bureaucracy 

The USIP employed approximately 300 persons and is credited with having trained more than 65,000 professionals.

On December 3, 2025 Trump renamed the USIP after himself.]

[Excerpt]

"A dormant government building in the nation’s capital may seem like an unlikely setting for the signing of a peace deal. But nearly nine months after the Trump administration seized control of the U.S. Institute of Peace headquarters in an extraordinary public showdown and all but shuttered it, the center has re-emerged, newly named for President Trump.

The morning before Mr. Trump was scheduled to host a signing ceremony at the institute with the presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, workers arrived at the building on the National Mall to install Mr. Trump’s name in large, silver letters to two sides of the exterior of the building, positioning his name to the left of where the institute’s name was already engraved into the facade.

The result was a re-dubbing of the building as the “Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace.”"

Es Devlin’s Towering Beachfront Library Illuminates Miami Art Week; artnet, December 2, 2025

 Sarah Cascone, artnet ; Es Devlin’s Towering Beachfront Library Illuminates Miami Art Week

"Es Devlin’s The Library of Us has emerged as one of Miami Art Week’s most dramatic spectacles. The 20-foot-tall rotating bookshelf housing 2,500 books invites visitors to read and reflect in a quiet counterpoint to the frenzy of Art Basel. By day, it towers over the sands of Miami Beach, a triangular wedge of a bookshelf set within a circular pool of water, slowly rotating in the Florida sun. By night, it glows like a beacon, offering a mesmerizing tribute to the power of the written word.

Designed to serve as sculpture, library, and public gathering space, the work invites visitors to step onto a circular platform that rotates them into shifting proximity with strangers. As the interior circle spins, viewers will face different people on the outside, creating a social experience. Set just feet from the Atlantic, the piece doubles as a meditation on fragility—of culture, of knowledge, and the environment.

“What would the resonance of 4,000 books with differing points of view revolving together without disagreement be in this place in Miami. What would happen if encircling that library were water, rising waters?,” Devlin told guests at the opening for the ambitious work.

The artist’s nearly 20-foot-tall bookshelf represents a remarkable vision. Sure, everyone loves to bring a beach read down to the shore, but there’s something poignantly fragile about seeing an entire library within a stone’s throw of the ocean waves, pages and spines open to the salty breeze. But this apparent vulnerability seems fitting for this city on a tiny strip of land, the colorful hotels and vibrant restaurants increasingly at risk of flooding due to climate change and intensifying storms...

The 2,500 titles included are those she considers formative to her philosophy, life, and practice.

Where libraries are traditionally places of reverent silence, Devlin has created an audio track to accompany her monumental sculpture. She reads various quotes from the many titles included in the display—some of which have been banned by Florida schools, according to the artist. She’ll donate all the books to Miami public schools and libraries after the installation ends."

‘The biggest decision yet’; The Guardian, December 2, 2025

 Robert Booth , The Guardian; ‘The biggest decision yet’

"Humanity will have to decide by 2030 whether to take the “ultimate risk” of letting artificial intelligence systems train themselves to become more powerful, one of the world’s leading AI scientists has said.

Jared Kaplan, the chief scientist and co-owner of the $180bn (£135bn) US startup Anthropic, said a choice was looming about how much autonomy the systems should be given to evolve.

The move could trigger a beneficial “intelligence explosion” – or be the moment humans end up losing control...

He is not alone at Anthropic in voicing concerns. One of his co-founders, Jack Clark, said in October he was both an optimist and “deeply afraid” about the trajectory of AI, which he called “a real and mysterious creature, not a simple and predictable machine”.

Kaplan said he was very optimistic about the alignment of AI systems with the interests of humanity up to the level of human intelligence, but was concerned about the consequences if and when they exceed that threshold."

Bannon, top conservatives urge White House to reject Big Tech’s ‘fair use’ push to justify AI copyright theft: ‘Un-American and absurd’; New York Post, December 1, 2025

 Thomas Barrabi , New York Post; Bannon, top conservatives urge White House to reject Big Tech’s ‘fair use’ push to justify AI copyright theft: ‘Un-American and absurd’

"Prominent conservatives including Steve Bannon are urging the Trump administration to reject an increasingly popular argument that tech giants are using to rip off copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence.

So-called “fair use” doctrine – which argues that the use of copyrighted content without permission is legally justified if it is done in the public interest – has become a common defense for AI firms like Google, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and Microsoft who have been accused of ripping off work.

The argument’s biggest backers also include White House AI czar David Sacks, who has warned that Silicon Valley firms “would be crippled” in a crucial race against AI firms in China unless they can rely on fair use protection...

Bannon and his allies threw cold water on such claims in a Monday letter addressed to US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Michael Kratsios, who heads the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

“This is un-American and absurd,” the conservatives argued in the letter, which was exclusively obtained by The Post. “We must compete and win the global AI race the American way — by ensuring we protect creators, children, conservatives, and communities.”...

The conservatives point to clear economic incentives to back copyright-protected industries, which contribute more than $2 trillion to the US GDP, carry an average annual wage of more than $140,000 and account for a $37 billion trade surplus, according to the letter...

The letter notes that money is no object for the companies leading the AI boom, which “enjoy virtually unlimited access to financing” and are each valued at hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars.

“In a free market, businesses pay for the inputs they need,” the letter said. “Imagine if AI CEOs claimed they needed free access to semiconductors, energy, researchers, and developers to build their products. They would be laughed out of their boardrooms.”...

The letter is the latest salvo in a heated policy divide as AI models gobble up data from the web. Critics accuse companies like Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Meta of essentially seeking a “license to steal” from news outlets, artists, authors and others that produce original work."

A sickening moral slum of an administration; The Washington Post, December 2, 2025

 George F. Will, The Washington Post; A sickening moral slum of an administration

"The killing of the survivors by this moral slum of an administration should nauseate Americans. A nation incapable of shame is dangerous, not least to itself. As the recent “peace plan” for Ukraine demonstrated.

Marco Rubio, who is secretary of state and Trump’s national security adviser, seemed to be neither when the president released his 28-point plan for Ukraine’s dismemberment. The plan was cobbled together by Trump administration and Russian officials, with no Ukrainians participating. It reads like a wish-list letter from Vladimir Putin to Santa Claus: Ukraine to cede land that Russia has failed to capture in almost four years of aggression; Russia to have a veto over NATO’s composition, peacekeeping forces in Ukraine and the size of Ukraine’s armed forces. And more."

Court seems dubious of billion-dollar judgment for copyright infringement; SCOTUSblog, December 2, 2025

Ronald Mann, SCOTUSblog; Court seems dubious of billion-dollar judgment for copyright infringement

 "My basic reaction to the argument is that the justices would be uncomfortable with accepting the broadest version of the arguments that Cox has presented to it (that the ISP is protected absent an affirmative act of malfeasance), but Sony’s position seems so unpalatable to them that a majority is most unlikely to coalesce around anything that is not a firm rejection of the lower court’s ruling against Cox. I wouldn’t expect that ruling to come soon, but I don’t think there is much doubt about what it will say."

Trump’s Pardon for Cocaine Juan: A jury found Honduras’s former President guilty. Why set him free?; The Wall Street Journal, December 2, 2025

 The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal; Trump’s Pardon for Cocaine Juan: A jury found Honduras’s former President guilty. Why set him free?

"President Trump, like other politicians, sometimes does something unpopular to please his base. But what is the audience for Mr. Trump’s pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández?"

‘Your Country Will Ultimately Get This Right’: Rachel Maddow on How the U.S. Will Move On From the Trump Era; Time, December 1, 2025

 Philip Elliott, Time ; ‘Your Country Will Ultimately Get This Right’: Rachel Maddow on How the U.S. Will Move On From the Trump Era

"TIME spoke by phone last week with Maddow from her home in Western Massachusetts about her latest project, the MSNBC reboot, and how history can inform—but not save—the Resistance...

Doing the right thing doesn't always pay off in the short run, but your country will ultimately get this right. The good guys will be rewarded and the bad guys will be punished or forgotten. Having faith in those kinds of moral outcomes is really a nice guiding light to have in dark times like these...

How has your thinking about your specific role in the media environment changed since Trump 1.0? Has it changed? 

I was waving a lot of warning flags in Trump 1.0 about what could be going on and how we should see the risk of the kind of government Trump was trying to impose. 

Now, we're there. There's no use in warning anymore. We've got masked, totally unaccountable secret police grabbing women out of daycares and building prison camps everywhere. In less than a year, the President has stuffed multiple billions of dollars into his own pockets, into those of his family. He has literally torn down the White House. We're no longer at the point where we need to be warned about what's coming. We're now at a point where what we need is understanding what's going on, knowing what our options are in terms of how to preserve our democracy, to make sure that we're not going to be the generation that lost the republic."

Scouts ‘surprised and deeply saddened’ by Hegseth’s proposal to cut ties; The Hill, November 25, 2025

 ELLEN MITCHELL , The Hill; Scouts ‘surprised and deeply saddened’ by Hegseth’s proposal to cut ties

"Scouting America responded on Tuesday to a reported memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seeking to cut ties with the organization, saying it was “surprised and disappointed” by the potential policy change, as the military has given its support to the Scouts since 1937. 

“The Scouting movement has had a strong relationship with our nation’s military going back more than a century,” according to the group. “From the tremendous support of the West Virginia National Guard at our National Jamborees to Scout troops that provide stability for the children of military families deployed around the globe, our nation’s military has walked side-by-side with Scouts for generations.”

It also noted that “an enormous percentage of those in our military academies are Scouts and Eagle Scouts.”

Hegseth is reportedly upset with the group for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. His memo, first reported by NPR, accuses Scouting America — formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America — of attacking boy-friendly spaces and for being “genderless.” The memo has yet to be sent to Congress.

“The organization once endorsed by President Theodore Roosevelt no longer supports the future of American boys,” Hegseth wrote in the memo."

Former President of Honduras Is Freed From Prison After Trump Pardon; The New York Times, December 2, 2025

 William K. Rashbaum, Maggie Haberman, Kenneth P. Vogel and Jonah E. Bromwich, The New York Times; Former President of Honduras Is Freed From Prison After Trump Pardon

"President Trump formally pardoned former President Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras on Monday evening, fulfilling a vow he had made days before to free an ex-president who was at the center of what the authorities had characterized as “one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world.”"

The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine; The New York Times, November 29, 2025

 Santul NerkarAnnie Correal and Colin Moynihan , The New York Times; The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine

[Kip Currier: For any wondering how and why this individual could or would be pardoned by Donald Trump right now, read the full New York Times article and especially the excerpts below...

Corruption, Conspiracy Theories, and Self-Projection.]

[Excerpt]

"He once boasted that he would “stuff the drugs up the gringos’ noses.” He accepted a $1 million bribe from El Chapo to allow cocaine shipments to pass through Honduras. A man was killed in prison to protect him.

At the federal trial of Juan Orlando Hernández in New York, testimony and evidence showed how the former president maintained Honduras as a bastion of the global drug trade. He orchestrated a vast trafficking conspiracy that prosecutors said raked in millions for cartels while keeping Honduras one of Central America’s poorest, most violent and most corrupt countries.

Last year, Mr. Hernández was convicted on drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. It was one of the most sweeping drug-trafficking cases to come before a U.S. court since the trial of the Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega three decades before.

But on Friday, President Trump announced that he would pardonMr. Hernandez, 57, who he said was a victim of political persecution, though Mr. Trump offered no evidence to support that claim. It would be a head-spinning resolution to a case that for prosecutors was a pinnacle, striking at the heart of a narcostate...

When he was sentenced in 2024, Mr. Hernández spoke for almost an hour in court, airing conspiracy theories and grievances as he portrayed himself as the victim of “political persecution.” In a lengthy letter, Mr. Hernández quoted Edmund Burke, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Bible...

For many Hondurans, his conviction was a rare taste of justice. A woman in a crowd outside the courthouse celebrating his punishment had held a sign that read “No clemency for narcopolitics.”

But on Saturday, Mr. Trump said in a statement to The New York Times that “many friends” had asked him to pardon Mr. Hernández: “They gave him 45 years because he was the President of the Country — you could do this to any President.”"

The ‘Race Against Time’ to Save Music Legends’ Decaying Tapes; The New York Times, December 1, 2025

 

Ben Sisario

Visuals by Peter Fisher

, The New York Times; The ‘Race Against Time’ to Save Music Legends’ Decaying Tapes

"IRON MOUNTAIN IS a $25 billion company that specializes in “information management.” With more than 1,200 facilities around the world — including a 315-acre underground complex in a former limestone mine in western Pennsylvania — it offers secure storage for corporate records, as well as for media assets from Hollywood studios, record companies and prestige clients like the Grammys and the Prince estate. Within its vaults lie seemingly endless shelves of film, videotape and audio reels...

Pribble’s colleagues at Iron Mountain say their biggest challenge has been finding a way to scale his time-consuming work of restoring tape. Pribble has a solution for that, too: a new set of machines that would automate his processes, allowing him to establish satellite workshops around the world.

“They’ve always been saying they can’t clone Kelly,” he said. “This is kind of cloning me."

College Students Flock to a New Major: A.I.; The New York Times, December 1, 2025

 Natasha Singer, The New York Times; College Students Flock to a New Major: A.I.

"Artificial intelligence is the hot new college major...

Now interest in understanding, using and learning how to build A.I. technologies is soaring, and schools are racing to meet rising student and industry demand.

Over the last two years, dozens of U.S. universities and colleges have announced new A.I. departments, majors, minors, courses, interdisciplinary concentrations and other programs.

In 2022, for instance, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created a major called “A.I. and decision-making.” Students in the program learn to develop A.I. systems and study how technologies like robots interact with humans and the environment. This year, nearly 330 students are enrolled in the program — making A.I. the second-largest major at M.I.T. after computer science.

“Students who prefer to work with data to address problems find themselves more drawn to an A.I. major,” said Asu Ozdaglar, the deputy dean of academics at the M.I.T. Schwarzman College of Computing. Students interested in applying A.I. in fields like biology and health care are also flocking to the new major, she added."

'Technology isn't neutral': Calgary bishop raises ethical questions around AI; Calgary Herald, November 26, 2025

Devon Dekuyper , Calgary Herald; 'Technology isn't neutral': Calgary bishop raises ethical questions around AI

"We, as human beings, use technology, and we also have to be able to understand it, but also to apply it such that it does not impact negatively the human person, their flourishing (or) society,' said Bishop McGrattan"

Trump’s pardon of Honduras’s ex-president shows counter-drug effort is ‘based on lies and hypocrisy’; The Guardian, December 1, 2025

 Tom Phillips, The Guardian ; Trump’s pardon of Honduras’s ex-president shows counter-drug effort is ‘based on lies and hypocrisy’

"He was a Latin American president accused of colluding with some of the region’s most ruthless narco bosses to flood the United States with cocaine.

“[Let’s] stuff the drugs right up the noses of the gringos,” the double-dealing politician once allegedly bragged as he lined his pockets with millions of dollars in bribes and turned his country into what many called a narco-state.

The description might sound like a sketch of Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, who Donald Trump’s administration has accused of being a “narco-terrorist” kingpin and is trying to topple with a $50m bounty and a huge display of military might off the South American country’s Caribbean coast.

But it is actually a portrait – painted by US prosecutors, no less – of the former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, who Trump last week pledged to pardon, despite the fact that Hernández was sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”."

US Supreme Court wrestles with copyright dispute between Cox and record labels; Reuters, December 1, 2025

 Blake Brittain , Reuters; US Supreme Court wrestles with copyright dispute between Cox and record labels

"The U.S. Supreme Court grappled on Monday with a bid by Cox Communications to avoid financial liability in a major music copyright lawsuit by record labels that accused the internet service provider of enabling its customers to pirate thousands of songs.

The justices appeared skeptical of Cox's assertion that its mere awareness of user piracy could not justify holding it liable for copyright infringement. They also questioned whether holding Cox liable for failing to cut off infringers could impact a wide range of innocent internet users."

Cox Communications v. Sony Music Oral Argument; C-SPAN, December 1, 2025

 C-SPAN ; Cox Communications v. Sony Music Oral Argument

"The Supreme Court heard oral argument in Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment, a case about Sony's lawsuit against internet service provider Cox Communications, and whether such companies may be held liable for their users' copyright infringements. Sony and other record companies and publishers sued Cox, alleging it was liable for its subscribers downloading and distributing copyrighted songs. A federal jury found Cox liable and awarded $1 billion in statutory damages. On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the jury's finding of willful infringement but vacated the damages award. The Trump administration supported Cox in the dispute and, along with attorney Joshua Rosenkranz, argued on behalf of the company. Veteran Supreme Court attorney Paul Clement argued on behalf of the respondent, Sony Music."

Lawmakers warn Hegseth may have committed war crimes following second-strike report; Politico, November 30, 2025

 JACOB WENDLER, Politico; Lawmakers warn Hegseth may have committed war crimes following second-strike report

"Lawmakers from both parties raised alarms Sunday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may have committed a war crime following a report that he ordered a follow-on attack to kill survivors of a boat strike in September.

The Washington Post reported last week that Hegseth authorized a highly unusual strike to kill all survivors of one of the Trump administration’s attacks in recent months on boats allegedly carrying drugs in international waters. POLITICO has not independently verified the Post’s reporting."

Chicago’s faith leaders on front lines of resistance against ICE crackdown; The Guardian, November 28, 2025

 Siri Chilukuri, The Guardian ; Chicago’s faith leaders on front lines of resistance against ICE crackdown

"For weeks, Chicago has been at the center of the Trump administration’s brutal immigration crackdown. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security officials have arrested 800 people as of 1 October, while also using violent tactics such as body-slamming and deploying teargas in residential areas.

Amid the raids and arrests, which have created a pervasive sense of fear, faith leaders have stepped up, putting themselves on the front lines of resistance.

“Faith leaders bring a very powerful prophetic and moral compass into the space,” said the Rev Ciera Bates-Chamberlain, executive director of Live Free Illinois, a group that mobilizes Black churches around social justice issues in Chicago. “While many others may be able to argue the economic impact, or argue the law, faith leaders are typically the ones who are arguing and standing on the side of humanity and for people.”

Supreme Court to Hear Copyright Battle Over Online Music Piracy; The New York Times, December 1, 2025

 Ann E. Marimow , The New York Times; Supreme Court to Hear Copyright Battle Over Online Music Piracy

"The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday in a closely watched copyright clash testing whether internet providers can be held liable for the piracy of thousands of songs online.

Leading music labels and publishers who represent artists ranging from Bob Dylan to Beyoncé sued Cox Communications in 2018, saying it had failed to terminate the internet connections of subscribers who had been repeatedly flagged for illegally downloading and distributing copyrighted music.

At issue is whether providers like Cox can be held legally responsible and be required to pay steep damages — a billion dollars or more — if it knows that customers are pirating the music but does not take sufficient steps to terminate their internet access."

‘I’ve Been Doing This Work for 25 Years and I’ve Never Seen Such Fear’; The New York Times, November 30, 2025

 David French, The New York Times; ‘I’ve Been Doing This Work for 25 Years and I’ve Never Seen Such Fear’

[Kip Currier: Amidst appalling stories of brutality by masked ICE agents against migrants, detainees, immigrants, and even allied clergy members, examples of people helping and loving their neighbors, as described in David French's 11/30/25 New York Times piece, are heartening and inspiring.

Yesterday's 11/30/25 liturgical reading Romans 13:11-14 sees the apostle Paul's letter exhorting followers of Christ to "lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light". It's a particularly timely and pertinent reminder in conjunction with French's statement about present-day darkness and light:

The story of America is far from perfect, but if there is one constant in our history it’s that American darkness is always answered by American light.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/opinion/chicago-ice-new-life-centers.html 

What can each of us do to promote American light -- to put on the armor of light -- over the works of darkness?

To show compassion and generosity over hate and cruelty?

To see ourselves and those we love in the eyes of a stranger or migrant?]

 

[Excerpt]

"In the book of Leviticus, God says to his people, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

Providing care for immigrants is one of scripture’s clearest commands. It is one of the great tragedies of our time that millions of Christians are cheering and applauding the administration’s brutal crackdown on immigrants.

But not all Christians. There are believers, Catholic and Protestant alike, who are rallying to treat migrants with dignity, compassion and respect. New Life gets government funding for parts of its work, but DeMateo told me that when it began to support immigrant families during Operation Midway Blitz, it did so entirely on its own...

The story of America is far from perfect, but if there is one constant in our history it’s that American darkness is always answered by American light.

The masked agents of ICE make headlines with their aggression. But it’s important to answer those headlines with a different story, of volunteers who fulfill God’s command to love their neighbor — with their time, their money and their friendship."