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Nov 9, 2026

Trump admin sued over 'crushing blow' to science: 'Disservice to the American public'

Some scientists and scientific societies sued President Donald Trump’s administration in the District of Massachusetts on Monday for shutting down the entity that provides nearly two-thirds of federal funding for basic academic research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences.The administration’s effort to eliminate the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) “is a disservice to the American public and a crushing blow to the behavioral and brain sciences,” declared Juliane Baron, executive director of the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS).“When I think about the biggest challenges facing people across our country—advancing health and well-being, providing economic and physical security for our loved ones—these are all inherently human questions,” Baron stressed. “We can’t solve pressing societal challenges without understanding humans.”FABBS partnered with the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP), the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS), and two researchers—University of Massachusetts Amherst lecturer Jenna Croteau and Boston College assistant professor Gregg Sparkman—in the lawsuit, which Democracy Forward filed on their behalf.Over the past century, the complaint explains, “SBE research has driven some of the most groundbreaking innovations in nearly every aspect of modern life—from the way doctors match kidney donors with patients, to how governments approach economic policy, national security, and international relations, to the models behind Google’s search engine.”“SBE research has helped mitigate the opioid crisis, the spread of diseases like Ebola and Covid-19, and evolving threats posed by cyberhackers and terrorist networks in the United States and abroad,” notes the filing. “And it has transformed economics.”As the complaint details:When the Trump-Vance administration took office, it deemed these fields “woke.” In its 2026 budget proposal, the administration urged Congress to cut funding for the SBE Directorate. Congress refused. The congressional report that accompanied NSF’s January 2026 appropriation expressly directed NSF not to reduce SBE’s budget by more than 5%.Three months later, NSF decided to shutter the directorate anyway. On April 3, 2026—without a director, and without consulting the National Science Board, the body Congress required to make such decisions—NSF leadership announced that it would unilaterally “close-out” the SBE Directorate in fiscal year 2027. Since the April 3 decision, the agency has stopped funding opportunities for basic SBE research, released the scientists who work in the directorate on assignment from universities, and reassigned nearly all the directorate’s permanent staff.“The administration’s dismantling of SBE is not only reckless; it is illegal,” emphasized Democracy Forward president and CEO Skye Perryman. “NSF provided no public explanation for its decision to close the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate, and this dangerous dismissal of scientific expertise is a threat to crucial scientific research. We are honored to work with this coalition to challenge the administration’s crusade against science and the unlawful closure of the directorate.”Coalition members highlighted the importance of them prevailing in court, particularly in the current era of rapidly developing artificial intelligence with inadequate safeguards. SANS president Jennifer Kubota said that “understanding how the brain shapes trust, cooperation, emotion, and social behavior is essential to addressing some of society’s most pressing challenges, from social isolation and polarization to the rapid emergence of AI.”“Eliminating NSF SBE funding for this research threatens decades of scientific progress and the next generation of scientists,” Kubota continued. “Research opportunities lost today cannot simply be recovered tomorrow. We risk losing not only critical discoveries, but also the talented researchers who will make them.”Columbia University professor and FABBS board member Jon Freeman delivered a similar warning, arguing that “we cannot allow this administration to shoot America in the foot.”“American behavioral science has transformed everything from the algorithms powering our technology to how we strengthen human connection, overcome social divisions, improve public health, and make better decisions in our everyday lives,” he said. “Dismantling SBE would devastate a vital part of our scientific workforce at precisely the moment we need it most, as AI reshapes society. It’s scientific self-sabotage, and the American public will ultimately pay the price in the discoveries never made and lives never changed for the better.”SESP executive officer Steven J. Stroessner also not only acknowledged the past but looked toward the future: “For decades, federal support for basic research in social psychology has helped us understand how people think, make decisions, and relate to one another. The resulting discoveries have strengthened our nation by improving education, informing public policy, fostering cooperation, and helping us address some of society’s most persistent challenges. Dismantling that support threatens not only the research being conducted today, but the discoveries we have yet to imagine.”

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Nov 9, 2026

MAGA-loving Russell Brand sentenced to over a decade behind bars for rape

Actor and comedian Russell Brand, who later became an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, has been sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison after being convicted of rape and sexual assault.The sentence comes days after a London jury found Brand, 51, guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, according to Variety. Jurors cleared him of two additional rape charges and an attempted indecent assault charge. Brand had denied all of the allegations.Under British law, rape carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, while sexual assault carries up to 10 years.According to Variety, the judge declined to grant Brand conditional bail after the verdict, and he was taken into custody. Brand showed no visible reaction as the verdicts were read. On his way to the holding cells, he gave his lawyers a thumbs-up and mouthed “I’m OK” and “I’m good,” Sky News reported. His wife, Laura Brand, quickly left the courtroom.The case covered alleged attacks between 1999 and 2009. Prosecutors brought three rape counts, including one of oral rape, along with a 2001 attempted indecent assault charge tied to MTV’s U.K. offices and sexual assault counts dating from 2004 to 2009.According to Variety, Brand could face more charges. London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed after the trial that it is investigating new rape allegations from two other women. Brand has been questioned but not charged in those cases.

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Nov 9, 2026

Nvidia opens investigation after report CEO Jensen Huang was target of foreign intelligence

CEO reportedly ‌had close relationship ‌with a Chinese businesswoman who passed information to ‌BeijingNvidia said ⁠on Sunday it “is initiating an independent investigation in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort”.The New York Times reported in ​October that Donald Trump had been briefed last year on intelligence that Huang ‌had a close relationship ‌with a Chinese businesswoman who passed information to ‌Beijing. Continue reading...

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Nov 9, 2026

'Horrible': Trump sparks outrage with 'wildly disrespectful' claim about troop casualties

President Donald Trump outraged some political analysts on Sunday after he blurted out a false claim about military casualties in the Iran conflict. Speaking to reporters at the airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump claimed no soldiers have been killed in the conflict, a claim that his own Department of Defense has refuted. In October, the Pentagon raised the official death toll in the Iran war to 23, Stars and Stripes reported. "We won in Iran," Trump said. "It's just a matter of closing it out now. Maybe we'll wait. Some of their neighbors would prefer that we keep it the way that it is." "Again, we haven't lost anybody. No soldiers," he added, comparing America's casualties in Iran with larger conflicts like the war of Russian aggression in Ukraine and the Vietnam War. Trump's comments sparked a firestorm of criticism online. Nick Field, a politics writer, described the president's comments as "f------ horrible" in a post on X, reiterating the number of casualties that have been reported. Quentin Ocama, state outreach officer for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, posted on X that Trump's claim was also "wildly disrespectful" to service members. "Wildly disrespectful of the service members who have been killed or injured in this clusterf--- of a conflict," he wrote. "Our crisis with a lack of serious and competent leadership continues…."Journalist Aaron Rupar described Trump's claims in a post on X as "lies." Trump lies that he's "won in Iran" and lies that "we haven't lost anybody. No soldiers." https://t.co/Oiak44fnOx— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 8, 2026

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Nov 8, 2026

Trump walloped after claiming new war strikes 'unlikely': 'Just collapsing on every front'

President Donald Trump was brutally mocked Sunday after he revealed what some analysts saw as a sign that he's "collapsing on every front."During an interview with CNN, Trump said it was "highly unlikely" that his administration would launch further strikes against the Iranian regime as long as negotiations about the country's nuclear program and reopening the Strait of Hormuz continue to progress. Trump's comments marked a departure from his repeated threats to wipe out the Iranian civilization because of the regime's reluctance to negotiate. The president's comments sparked a wave of mockery on social media. Josh Marshall, founder of Talking Points Memo, wrote in a post on X that Trump's comments were quite revealing. "Just collapsing on every front now," Marshall posted. Democratic strategist Leslie Marshall noted that Trump appeared to be trying to reinstate the conditions that existed before the war began. "You mean like we had before?" Marshall posted on X. Maryam Jamshidi, a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute, remarked that Trump's comments didn't reflect the reality on the ground in the Middle East. "The longer this goes, the more likely it is, in my view, that there will be no significant strikes," Jamshidi posted on X. "That being said, the U.S. is still carrying out limited strikes, its blockade is in place, and now it’s claiming to expand it to land routes - so the war is ongoing [and] still illegal."

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Nov 8, 2026

Trump officials brushed off Rubio's warning about Nvidia CEO's ties to alleged spy: report

Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Trump administration officials about one of their biggest corporate allies' ties to an alleged spy this spring, and was met with silence, according to a new report. The New York Times reported Sunday that Rubio told Trump administration officials about Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's ties to an alleged Chinese spy, Alice Huang, about a year ago, citing "multiple people briefed on the matter." The report was published the same day as Nvidia's board of directors had opened an independent investigation into Huang's ties to the alleged spy. Jensen and Alice Huang are not related. However, Rubio's warnings seemed to fall on deaf ears inside the administration, the New York Times reported. For instance, it said President Donald Trump waved off concerns about Huang because he views the company as central to America's competitive advantage over China in artificial intelligence and a key player in the recent stock market rally. The report also raises questions about some of the policies Huang, whom the report describes as "a pivotal figure in the explosive growth of A.I., remained an influential voice with Mr. Trump over policy on the issue," has lobbied for. "Mr. Huang has opposed calls for more tightly regulating the export of the most advanced A.I. chips and has pushed to be able to sell all but the most recently developed technology to China, the main competitor to the United States in the global rush for A.I. supremacy," according to the report.

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Nov 8, 2026

Uyghurs facing deportation by Thailand say they will be ‘like slaves’ in China

Activists fear Bangkok will give in to pressure from Beijing despite reports of torture and human rights abuses against the mostly muslim ethnic minorityThe deportation of two more Uyghurs to China from Thailand would put their lives in grave danger, activists have said, with one of the men saying he would be “like a slave” if he was sent back.Last year, Thai authorities forcibly deported 40 Uyghur men to China despite pleas from the men themselves and the UN. The US and Canada had reportedly offered to resettle them, but Bangkok appeared to want to avoid upsetting Beijing. The UN has said the returnees’ whereabouts remain unknown. Continue reading...

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Nov 7, 2026

Marco Rubio threatens top aides as Kimberly Guilfoyle fallout continues: report

Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid down a stern warning to his top deputies behind closed doors, according to a new report.Rubio told senior State Department officials in a meeting last week that unethical conduct would get them fired no matter how well connected they were, Reuters reported Saturday, citing four people familiar with the matter. The meeting came after Kimberly Guilfoyle resigned as U.S. ambassador to Greece in mid-October, following news reports that raised concerns she had traded access to Trump administration officials for money, gifts and favors.Guilfoyle has denied those reports and said on social media that she would defend her reputation.According to the people who spoke to Reuters, the meeting included many of the department's roughly two dozen assistant secretaries. Rubio complained that too many officials were pushing their own policy agendas without coordinating, and he told them major decisions needed approval from him or Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.The State Department declined to comment on the meeting.Shortly afterward, policy chief Jeremy Lewin was pushed out of his post, three of the sources told Reuters, partly over concerns that he was working on issues beyond his portfolio. One source said department leadership had grown frustrated with his "freelancing." None of the sources tied his exit to ethical misconduct.Lewin, who came to government through Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, disputed that account in a statement to the outlet."The suggestion that I was fired is false," he said, adding that he left to take a private sector job and plan his wedding.Rubio's office now also has to sign off on all political travel after he grew frustrated with how often political staff were traveling overseas, one of the sources said.The crackdown arrives as Republicans regroup after Tuesday's midterm losses handed Democrats control of Congress. Democrats have vowed to investigate dealings between Trump aides and foreign officials once they take power in January. The Trump administration has denied allegations of self-dealing.Rubio has played down speculation about a 2028 presidential run but has not ruled one out, and Reuters noted his handling of the department could become a campaign issue if he jumps in.

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Nov 7, 2026

'WTF????': Piers Morgan stunned as CENTCOM seeks intel on Iran's nukes from social media

Trump’s military wants help finding Iran’s nuclear program via social media, and critics can’t help pointing out that the president said he “obliterated” it.U.S. Central Command posted on X Friday that the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program “is offering a reward of up to $20 million and possible relocation for information about Iran’s nuclear program.” The post said that includes “its facilities, equipment, and associated personnel, such as those in the scientific community, or the movement of any of the above.”The post had drawn nearly 5 million views as of early morning Saturday, along with a flood of mockery. Many critics brought up President Donald Trump’s claim that U.S. strikes in June 2025 had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear sites.The offer comes as the U.S. war with Iran drags into its ninth month. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both acknowledged the war’s unpopularity was a leading reason Republicans lost both chambers of Congress on Tuesday.“WTF????” wrote broadcaster Piers Morgan. His post alone had drawn more than 2 million views.MeidasTouch co-founder Brett Meiselas asked CENTCOM directly: “Aren’t you embarrassed?”His brother, MeidasTouch founder Ben Meiselas, went further.“If an adversary hacked the CENTCOM account and started making posts it wouldn’t be as damaging or embarrassing as what CENTCOM has been doing,” he wrote.“The Mossad outsourced, Centcom crowdsourced, and comedy ensued,” wrote Max Blumenthal, editor of The Grayzone.Tehran-based academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a frequent defender of the Iranian government, called the post a sign of a “dying Zionist empire: weak, ignorant, and pathetic.”Other users kept returning to the same question: How can the administration need help finding a program the president says it already destroyed?“Wasn’t it totally wiped out forever a year and a half ago?” one user asked. Another wrote: “Paying $20 million for a nuclear site that Trump already destroyed.”Another user pointed out that the post went up on a Friday night: “Are they rly asking X on a Friday night for Iran’s nuclear information.”

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Nov 6, 2026

Hollywood star turned right-wing podcaster Russell Brand faces new schoolgirl rape probe

Russell Brand, the comedian and Hollywood star turned right-wing podcaster, faces an investigation into the alleged rape of a 16-year-old schoolgirl after his rape conviction, and police warn more women may come forward.Brand, 51, is under investigation over the alleged rapes of two more women, The Independent reported, after a London jury on Thursday convicted him of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others.One of the women says she was 16 when Brand sent a car to collect her from school for sexual encounters, according to the report.Police have questioned Brand as a suspect over both allegations and sent files to prosecutors, who decide whether to bring charges, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said.Brand has acknowledged having sex with a 16-year-old when he was 30, but he has insisted since 2023 that his relationships were consensual. A woman with a similar account first spoke out in 2023 in Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary “Russell Brand: In Plain Sight.” She said she was 16 and Brand was 30 when their three-month relationship began in 2006, and that he became controlling and abusive, Deadline reported.She also told The Times of London that Brand raped her, NBC News reported.“Russell engaged in the behaviours of a groomer, looking back, but I didn’t even know what that was then, or what that looked like,” she told the paper.In a video posted the day before the documentary aired, Brand denied the allegations and said his relationships at the time had always been consensual.In April, Brand addressed the 16-year-old allegation when conservative commentator Megyn Kelly pressed him on her show, Rolling Stone reported. He thanked Kelly for letting him address her anger, which he called “entirely legitimate,” Variety reported.“I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30. When I was 30, I was a very different person,” Brand said.He said the age of consent in Britain is 16 and that consensual sex with “a strong power differential,” like the one fame gave him, “involves exploitation.”Kelly is now disputing the jury’s verdict.“Utterly charming guy, sweet, interesting, funny, and I had a very difficult time believing that he was capable of rape, as I do right now,” Kelly said on her show after the verdict, The Daily Beast reported. She called the conviction a “travesty” and said the woman Brand was convicted of raping “pursued him aggressively.”The new files follow two earlier rounds of charges: Brand was first charged in April 2025 over allegations from four women. Charges involving two more women were added that December, the Met said at the time.“When you achieve a conviction in something and it receives a level of publicity as well, it gives people the courage to come forward,” Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who led the three-year investigation, told The Independent. “So in the Russell Brand case, I think it’s a possibility there are more victims out there,” he added.Prosecutors previously reviewed two other allegations against Brand but found they did not meet the evidence standard needed to bring charges, The Independent reported.The Met asked anyone who wants to speak to detectives or make a report to contact its investigation team.Brand, who denied all the charges, was cleared of two other rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault, NPR reported. He will be sentenced Monday, and the judge has warned the sentence will likely be “significant.”

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Nov 6, 2026

Kenyan doomsday sect leader jailed for 200 years for murder of 190 children

Paul Mackenzie convicted over deaths of children and one adult after followers were ordered to starve themselves and their familiesThe leader of a Kenyan doomsday sect has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murders of 190 children and one adult in one of the world’s worst cult disasters in recent history.The sentence, comprising 100 years for murder by starvation and 100 years by direct homicide, came two weeks after the court in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa found the cult leader guilty of the crimes. Continue reading...

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Nov 6, 2026

Trump’s fight with Pope Leo blew up in spectacular fashion on election night: analysis

President Donald Trump's feud with Pope Leo XIV came back to bite Republicans in a big way, according to a new analysis.Catholic voters backed Democrats for Congress 50 percent to 49 percent in Tuesday's midterm elections, according to the NBC News exit poll, Christopher Hale wrote Thursday in his Substack newsletter, Letters from Leo.Two years earlier, the same poll had Catholics favoring Republicans 59 percent to 39 percent, Hale noted, citing Religion News Service. The 21-point swing in the margin arrived in the first midterm since the Chicago native was elected pope.Catholics accounted for about one in five ballots, according to Hale, who wrote that Democrats won the national House vote by roughly 13 points and recaptured the Senate.Hale tied the shift to the GOP's open hostility toward the pontiff. In April, Trump branded Leo "weak" on crime and "terrible" on foreign policy, Vice President JD Vance warned him to be careful opining on theology and House Speaker Mike Johnson lectured him on "something called the just war doctrine," Hale wrote."Seven months later, Catholic voters had their say," he wrote.Trump's standing with the group had already cratered by October, when his approval among Catholics sat at 30 percent, down from 47 percent when he returned to office, according to Hale.Younger and nonwhite Catholics powered much of the change. Citing Will Martino's reporting in America magazine, Hale wrote that Democrats won 65 percent of Hispanic Catholics and 65 percent of Catholics under 29, along with 87 percent of Black Catholics. Catholic women also favored Democrats, while white Catholics and Catholic men still tilted Republican.Vance, a Catholic convert, blamed the Republican collapse on the war in Iran, Hale wrote, while Washington University political scientist Ryan Burge told America the economy was the culprit. Hale argued both were describing the same break, pointing out that Leo spent the year urging Americans to end the war while the White House waved him off.Hale cautioned that exit polls are early estimates and the Catholic figure could shift by a point or two once voter-file studies come in. But he argued no such adjustment would wipe out a move of that size.He ended with a rallying cry. "Just as God raised up a pope from behind the Iron Curtain to help defeat communism, God has raised up a pope from the Americas to defeat MAGA authoritarianism," Hale wrote. "Over the next two years, our task is to send MAGA to the dustbin of history."

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