Supreme Court to hear case of American Muslims placed on no-fly list for refusing to spy
October 1st, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, October 6, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of Tanvir v. Tanzin. Tanvir v. Tanzin is a lawsuit filed on behalf of American Muslim men who were added to the no-fly list by the FBI in retaliation for refusing to spy on their religious...
U.S. intelligence reports warn of extremist threat around election
September 29th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. (REUTERS) — U.S. security officials are warning that violent domestic extremists pose a threat to the presidential election next month, amid what one official called a “witch’s brew” of rising political tensions, civil unrest and foreign disinformation campaigns. FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security...
Scams flourish while economic desperation rises amid pandemic
September 27th, 20200 With the rise in unemployment and general economic insecurity brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and state authorities have been tracking increased instances of consumer scams. Adding to an already tragic situation, scammers prey on the desperation of those whose means of living are halted by mass economic shut-downs all...
As Trump names his next Supreme Court nominee, focus shifts toward Senate
September 26th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. (REUTERS) — On Saturday, President Trump plans to name conservative appellate judge Amy Coney Barrett as his third U.S. Supreme Court appointment, setting off a scramble in the Republican-led Senate to confirm her before Election Day in 5-1/2 weeks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made confirming...
Anti-racism protests in Louisville resume amid tensions over Breonna Taylor ruling
September 25th, 20200 LOUISVILLE (REUTERS) — Louisville braced for a second night of unrest on Thursday after two policemen were shot and wounded during protests over a grand jury’s decision not to bring homicide charges against any of the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. Police Chief Robert Schroeder, whose department has been...
Whitmer and NY Governor Cuomo call for congressional investigation into Trump’s pandemic response
September 24th, 20200 LANSING — Governor Whitmer has joined New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in calling for a Congressional oversight investigation into the Trump administration’s politicization of the U.S. government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pair say the administration has impeded the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The...
How do Democrats and Republicans differ on Palestine and Israel?
September 23rd, 20200 The polarized nature of American politics often makes it difficult to address fundamental differences between the country’s two main political rivals, Republicans and Democrats. As each side is intent on discrediting the other at every opportunity, unbiased information regarding the two parties’ actual stances on internal and...
Kentucky grand jury finds use of force in Breonna Taylor’s death justified
September 23rd, 20200 LOUISVILLE (REUTERS) — Two White police officers who fired into the apartment of Breonna Taylor, a Black medical worker, will face no charges for her death because their use of force was justified, but a third will be charged with the wanton endangerment of her neighbors, the state attorney general said on Wednesday. Attorney...
Young Arab American gets fired after stopping purse snatcher who stole from elderly woman
September 22nd, 20200 VERMONT — Amir Shedyak, 20, a four-year employee of an Essex supermarket, stopped a thief who was stealing a woman’s purse. His reward: Being fired by his employer. Shedyak is a volunteer firefighter and was once the Hannaford Supermarket’s employee-of-the-month. He was beginning his shift when a man approached him and said an...
U.S. surpasses grim milestone of 200,000 COVID-19 deaths
September 22nd, 20200 (REUTERS) — The death toll from the spread of the coronavirus in the United States exceeded 200,000 on Tuesday, by the far the highest number of any nation. The United States, on a weekly average, is now losing about 800 lives each day to the virus, according to a Reuters tally. That is down from a peak of 2,806 daily deaths...
Trump says he will announce U.S. Supreme Court nominee Friday or Saturday
September 21st, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump said on Monday he is looking at four or five jurists to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court and he will announce his nominee on Friday or Saturday. Trump pushed ahead with plans for his third U.S. Supreme Court nomination, which would cement a 6-3 conservative majority,...
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passes away at 87
September 18th, 20200 WASHINGTON DC — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday at 87-years-old from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, the Supreme Court announced. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in a statement that she will always be remembered. “Our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature,” he said. “We at the...
Local activists react to U.S backed normalization treaties struck between UAE, Bahrain and Israel
September 18th, 20200 DEARBORN — So-called “peace agreements” between two Arab countries, the UAE and Bahrain, with Israel were signed on Tuesday, in a ceremony at the White House hosted by President Trump. The normalization efforts between governments of the two Arab countries and Israel carried little consent from the people of those nations and...
Former model accuses Donald Trump of sexual assault
September 17th, 20200 WASHINGTON DC — Amy Dorris, a former model, has come forward to accuse President Trump of sexual assault. The encounter reportedly happened at the 1997 U.S. Open tennis tournament on Sept. 5, 1997 in New York. Dorris alleged that Trump accosted her outside the bathroom in his VIP box at the event. Dorris, who was 24 years...
Twitter places warning label on Trump tweet about voting by mail
September 17th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. (REUTERS) — On Thursday, Twitter Inc placed a warning label on a tweet by President Trump, saying his post included potentially misleading information about the mail-in voting process. “Because of the new and unprecedented massive amount of unsolicited ballots which will be sent to 'voters', or wherever, this year,......
U.S. blacklists Hezbollah official, Lebanon-based companies
September 17th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, the United States imposed sanctions on a Hezbollah official and two Lebanon-based companies as the country experiences a deep economic crisis, accusing them of being linked to the Hezbollah group. The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it blacklisted Arch Consulting and Meamar Construction,...
Tlaib joins 173 congressmembers urging DHS to investigate allegations of hysterectomies in Georgia facility
September 16th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) is joining 173 members of Congress to call on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General to open an investigation after a whistleblower complaint alleged mass hysterectomies were being performed on women detained at the privately-run Irwin County Detention Center......
Trump visits Michigan, predicts victory, bashes Whitmer, says country has turned corner on COVID
September 11th, 20200 FREELAND – At a rally at an airport outside Saginaw on Thursday, Trump told thousands of supporters that he was confident he would secure Michigan once again, come November. Trump won Michigan by the narrowest margin in Michigan presidential election history in 2016. Michigan is a key battleground state for the November presidential...
As Washington retreats, Eastern Mediterranean conflict further marginalizes NATO
September 11th, 20200 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an alliance in name alone. Recent events notwithstanding, the brewing conflict over territorial waters in the Eastern Mediterranean indicates that the military union between mostly Western countries is faltering. The current Turkish-Greek tension is only one facet of a much larger...
Israel’s friends at the RNC: “Christian Zionists” dictate the agenda of the Republican Party
September 3rd, 20200 It is difficult — and futile — to argue which American president has historically been more pro-Israel. While former President Obama, for example, has pledged more money to Israel than any other U.S. administration in history, Donald Trump has provided Israel with a blank check of seemingly endless political...
Nuclear weapons remain an existential threat
September 3rd, 20200 Seventy-five years ago, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bringing an end to World War II and sounding a warning about the devastating power of nuclear weapons. Remarkably, we have managed to avoid using these weapons in warfare again. But nuclear arms still present an existential threat and it is......
Republican ex-lawmakers back Biden on first day of Trump convention
August 24th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. (REUTERS) — More than two-dozen former Republican U.S. lawmakers, including former Senator Jeff Flake, endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president on Monday, the first day of the Republican National Convention, in the latest rebuke of President Trump by members of his own party. The 27 former members...
Trump administration classifies teachers essential workers during pandemic
August 21st, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. (REUTERS) – On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security classified teachers as essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic as the Trump administration presses schools nationwide to bring students back to class. The move comes as new COVID-19 infections have fallen for four weeks in a row in Texas and......
Tlaib, Dingell lead effort to urge temporary deportation protections for Lebanese nationals after Beirut blast
August 20th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) and Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) are co-leading an effort to put pressure on the Trump administration to use its powers to defer deportation of Lebanese nationals in light of the Aug. 4 Beirut explosion. The relief effort for the people of Lebanon comes after the Beirut...
Five defining features of American foreign policy
August 20th, 20200 American foreign policy goes back to the late 1700s, when Benjamin Franklin lobbied France to support the colonies in their fight for independence from the British. Over 200-plus years, our foreign policy evolved essential features that helped make the United States the world’s indispensable nation. Robert Zoellick, a former World......
