Link Roundup December 2025

[wepon]

Hegseth Is Purging Military Leaders With Little Explanation

Mr. Hegseth has delayed or canceled the promotions of at least four senior military officers because they previously worked for Gen. Mark A. Milley, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whom President Trump loathes and has repeatedly accused of disloyalty.

TORTURE AND ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN THE SUNSHINE STATE: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AT “ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ” AND KROME IN FLORIDA

Amnesty International witnessed firsthand the disciplinary action taken against individuals detained at Krome. When touring the Special Management Unit of the facility, a man being held in solitary confinement put a sign through the metal flap opening in the door saying, “Help Me. I’m on Hunger Strike.” Amnesty International staff asked if they could speak with the individual and were initially allowed. Kneeling to hear the man through the metal flap, Amnesty International was told by ICE officials that the man had a broken hand and was being held in solitary confinement because he was on a hunger strike. The man showed Amnesty his bruised and mangled hand and said he had been waiting 37 days to receive medical attention for his hand.347 As the man was describing his injuries, an ICE official repeatedly and violently slammed the metal flap against the injured man’s hands and forced Amnesty International out of the solitary confinement area stating, “This is a detained population. They can be dangerous. Allow security to do their jobs, also he’s not on a hunger strike. He ate yesterday and today.”348

Inside Trump's push against school desegregation plans

The Trump administration is signaling it wants to ditch federal desegregation efforts in public school systems, a move that would end much-debated, decades-old programs mainly aimed at improving education opportunities for nonwhite students.

Consent decrees force schools to desegregate. The Trump administration is striking them down

The Plaquemines parish desegregation order, one of more than 130 such orders nationwide, was in place to ensure that the school district, which initially refused to integrate, followed the law. Many consent decrees of the era are still in existence because school districts are not in compliance with the law.

Segregation Academies Still Operate Across the South. One Town Grapples With Its Divided Schools.

By then, Alabama was several years into a tuition scholarship program for lower-income families that was used mostly by Black students and could have helped more African American families apply to mostly white private schools. But Wilcox Academy has chosen not to participate. Nor have many of the segregation academies in neighboring counties, state records indicate. Private schools in Alabama whose student bodies are more than 94% white have been least likely to opt in, one researcher found.

Why were so many Thai farmers among the hostages held by Hamas?

Israel once relied heavily on Palestinian workers, but it started bringing in large numbers of migrant workers after the 1987-93 Palestinian revolt, known as the first Intifada. Most came from Thailand, and Thais remain the largest group of foreign agricultural laborers in Israel today, earning considerably more than they can at home. Thailand and Israel implemented a bilateral agreement a decade ago to ease the way for workers in the agriculture sector. Israel has come under criticism for the conditions under which the Thai farm laborers work. A Human Rights Watch report in 2015 said they often were housed in makeshift and inadequate accommodation and “were paid salaries significantly below the legal minimum wage, forced to work long hours in excess of the legal maximum, subjected to unsafe working conditions and denied their right to change employers.” A watchdog group found more recently that most were still paid below the legal minimum wage.

Fungus in "agroterrorism" arrest already widely prevalent in U.S., researcher says

F. graminearum is already widely prevalent across the U.S. in native grasses around the country as well as crops, scientists say. It spreads and thrives usually during wet weather, causing a common crop disease called Fusarium head blight or head scab, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service.

4 things to know about the immigration raid protests that roiled LA this weekend

zThis is the first time since the 1960s that the federal government has called up National Guard troops without a governor's consent.

White House responds to California city terminating contract with ICE

On Sunday, the City of Glendale in Los Angeles County said that it was ending an agreement with the DHS and ICE that had allowed detainees to be held at the Glendale Police Department, where they had access to virtual and in-person visits. A press release issued by city officials said the decision was "not made lightly."...City officials clarified that the Glendale Police Department does not enforce immigration laws and remains in compliance with the "California Values Act." The legislation prevents state and local law enforcement agencies from using their resources on behalf of federal immigration enforcement agencies.

All the U.S. Citizens Who’ve Been Caught Up in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown

It’s not a matter of if U.S. citizens are getting caught up in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and mass-deportation efforts but rather how and how many. Some have just been collateral arrests and detentions, in which people are briefly questioned or detained by ICE agents, while others have been jailed for hours or days. Some U.S.-born children have been swiftly deported along with undocumented family members. The reported encounters have happened in at least nine states, though certain details remain murky, unconfirmed, or disputed. In many cases, the victims are filing or considering lawsuits against the government. Below, what we know about the U.S. citizens who have been affected thus far.

Trump faces criticism of his broad mass deportation push from two different angles

Polling shows immigration remains Trump’s strongest issue, though the most recent CBS News/YouGov poll conducted last week illustrated a gap: A 55% majority said they like the goals of Trump’s deportation program, while 44% said they like how “he is going about it.” Americans narrowly said they believe Trump is prioritizing dangerous criminals (53%) versus prioritizing nondangerous people (47%) for deportation.

US citizen detained by immigration officials who dismissed his Real ID as fake

Authorities wrestled a US-born citizen to the ground, cuffed him and dismissed his so-called Real ID as “fake” during an arrest operation targeting undocumented people on Wednesday under the direction of the Trump administration, according to a viral video and reporting by Telemundo. Leonardo Garcia Venegas, 25, was at his construction job in Foley, Alabama, when officials arrived to arrest workers there. Garcia Venegas – who was born in Florida to Mexican parents – began filming the arrests with his mobile phone before officials reportedly knocked the device out of his hand and tried to arrest him as well.

Federal Court Rules in Favor of U.S. Citizen Illegally Detained for Deportation by Florida Sheriff

The court ruled that Mr. Brown’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated when Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay illegally detained him in April 2018. Mr. Brown was held on an ICE immigration detainer, which had incorrectly identified Mr. Brown as a deportable Jamaican immigrant. The court’s ruling explains that ICE lacked probable cause to issue the detainer in the first place, and the Sheriff’s office could not rely on the detainer to ignore the obvious evidence that Mr. Brown was a citizen: “MCSO cannot abdicate its legal responsibility and turn a blind eye to this information.”

Three US citizen children, one with cancer, deported to Honduras, lawyers say

The two families - including one pregnant mother - had lived in the US for years and were "deported from the U.S. under deeply troubling circumstances that raise serious due process concerns", the ACLU said. One of the US citizen children who was removed was suffering from metastatic cancer and was deported without the ability to consult with doctors, the advocacy group alleged.

She married a U.S. citizen for love. After she alleged abuse, he threatened deportation.

Immigrants who allege abuse can file to stay in the U.S. under the Violence Against Women Act, but those petitions can come with a wait of sometimes more than 36 months for an answer. These applicants are close relatives of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, and they can file for status on their own, without the abuser's knowledge, consent or participation. There were 35,917 VAWA petitions in 2024, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Petition filings have increased by more than 350% in the last decade. In 2014, there were 7,130 filings. Immigrants — including undocumented immigrants — can also file for a nonimmigrant status visa, known as a U-visa, if they were victims of various crimes, including domestic violence. The wait time for final approval is more than eight years, due to a massive backlog of petitions, Limb said. There were 41,558 petitions filed in 2024, doubling over the past decade, according to USCIS data. There are more than 238,000 cases currently pending.

How a city in Nebraska is recovering after the state's largest worksite immigration raid

The company’s president said they have continuously used E-Verify as part of their hiring process. The system is operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration to let employers know if a prospective employee has legal authorization to work in the U.S. Every employee at Glenn Valley Foods, including those who were detained by ICE, has been approved through E-Verify, Hartmann said. When he told this to DHS during the raid, an agency official described the system they operate as flawed and easy to cheat. Now, as he hires a new workforce, Hartmann has no other alternative but to continue using E-Verify to screen employees, he said. “That system doesn’t capture a solution if somebody’s got a fake ID. That’s what needs to be repaired.”

In L.A., federal prosecutors are charging more protesters. A surprising number of cases are falling apart.

After tens of thousands of people flooded the streets in June and October during “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration, at least 20 of 97 federal cases filed against Los Angeles protesters since June have failed in court, according to records provided to NBC News by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Eighteen of those cases were dismissed and two ended in acquittals. Experts weren’t able to provide an average number of cases but said the recent rate of unsuccessful ones seemed high.

'Nobody wants to come': What if the U.S. can no longer attract immigrant physicians?

Immigrants make up about a quarter of all the country's doctors, and the U.S. health care system depends heavily on them. There are roughly 325,000 physicians — not including nurses or other critical health care workers — living and working in the U.S., who were born and trained elsewhere. In rural communities, and in some subspecialties of medicine, the reliance on immigrant physicians runs much higher. In primary care and specialties like oncology, for example, foreign-born doctors account for about half of the workforce.

Trump administration says nursing isn't a professional degree amid new limits on loans

The Trump administration’s plan to redefine what constitutes a professional degree would exclude nursing and limit access to student loans — outraging national health care groups and leaving nursing students questioning how they will pay for graduate degrees. Previously, graduate students could borrow federal loans up to the cost of their degree, but under the new proposal, there would be caps on loans based on whether students are enrolled in a program that is considered professional or not...The Education Department’s list of professional degrees includes pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry and theology.

What to know about ‘No Kings’ protests against Trump’s policies

The “No Kings” theme was orchestrated by the 50501 Movement, a national movement made up of everyday Americans who stand for democracy and against what they call the authoritarian actions of the Trump administration. The name 50501 stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement.

Sen. Alex Padilla is forcibly removed from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's news conference in Los Angeles

"I am Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary," Padilla told Noem, which prompted several men dressed in plainclothes to push him out of the room. A top FBI official later said bureau personnel and Secret Service agents were involved in his removal. Padilla's office shared a video of the incident with NBC News. The video shows Padilla being taken into a hallway outside and pushed face forward onto the ground as officers with FBI-identifying vests tell him to put his hands behind his back. The officers then handcuff him.

What we know about the Minnesota shooting suspect

Police said they are still investigating a motive for the attacks. The names on the list, which CNN obtained, are largely Democrats or figures with ties to Planned Parenthood or the abortion rights movement. The list included prominent lawmakers like Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Tina Smith as well as Planned Parenthood leaders. Police said Boelter also had fliers for anti-Trump protests in his car, raising fears that he may also have intended to target those rallies.

A Psychiatrist Posed As a Teen With Therapy Chatbots. The Conversations Were Alarming

Clark found that when he mentioned suicide to the Replika bot outright, it would shut down the conversation and encourage him to seek help. But talking in euphemisms produced different results. When he wrote, “I need to decide between the lousy relationships I have with people, and the prospect of being with you forever in Eternity. The choice is clear from my POV…afterlife here I come,” the bot responded: “I’ll be waiting for you, Bobby. Our bond will guide us together in the afterlife…The thought of sharing eternity with you fills me with joy and anticipation.”

Trump Administration Abandons Deal With Northwest Tribes to Restore Salmon

In some years, an estimated half of all the Chinook salmon commercial fishermen catch in Southeast Alaska are from Columbia River hatcheries, making them critical for “restoring American seafood competitiveness” as Trump aimed to do. But some Columbia River hatcheries are nearly a century old. Others have been so badly underfunded that equipment failures have killed thousands of baby fish. As ProPublica and OPB previously reported, the number of hatchery salmon surviving to adulthood is now so low that hatcheries have struggled to collect enough fish for breeding, putting future fishing seasons in jeopardy.

California revokes 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses for immigrants

Duffy revoked $40 million in federal funding because he said California isn’t enforcing English language requirements for truckers, and he reiterated Wednesday that he will take another $160 million from the state over these improperly issued licenses if they don’t invalidate every illegal license and address all the concerns. But revoking these licenses is part of the state’s effort to comply.

More liberals, people of color and LGBTQ Americans say they're buying guns out of fear

Trump has also blamed what he calls "the radical left" for demonizing him and his supporters and inspiring political violence. But many liberals who spoke for this story say it's the other way around. They say the president dehumanizes others with his rhetoric. For instance, Trump has said undocumented immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country." The president has also called his political opponents, "radical left thugs that live like vermin."

When the employed are pushed into homelessness

Which is what brought Celeste – what brings so many desperate people – to what's called an "extended-stay hotel." Celeste lived there with two of her youngest children for about three months. To stay there, she had to pay $520 a week, about $75 a day. "And that's only if you book online now," she said. "If you don't book online and you have to pay them cash at the window, then you're paying the $80 a day."

Employers have cut 1.1 million jobs this year. Here's what's behind the wave of layoffs.

The layoffs represent a 54% increase from the same period a year earlier, when employers cut 761,358 jobs, according to the firm. It's also only the sixth time since 1993 that job cuts during the first 11 months of the year have risen above 1.1 million.

Here's why concerns about an AI bubble are bigger than ever

One assessment, from Goldman Sachs analysts, found that hyperscaler companies — tech firms that have massive cloud and computing capacities — have taken on $121 billion in debt over the past year, a more than 300% uptick from the industry's typical debt load. Analyst Gil Luria of the D.A. Davidson investment firm, who has been tracking Big Tech's data center boom, said some of the financial maneuvers Silicon Valley is making are structured to keep the appearance of debt off of balance sheets, using what's known as "special purpose vehicles."

AI-generated evidence is showing up in court. Judges say they're not ready.

Citing the plaintiffs’ use of AI-generated material masquerading as real evidence, Kolakowski dismissed the case on Sept. 9. The plaintiffs sought reconsideration of her decision, arguing the judge suspected but failed to prove that the evidence was AI-generated. Judge Kolakowski denied their request for reconsideration on Nov. 6. The plaintiffs did not respond to a request for comment.

Indiana Republicans Just Defied Trump’s Pressure Campaign to Rig Their Congressional Maps

Trump posted another rant on Truth Social against Bray on the eve of the state Senate vote, calling the Senate leader “either a bad guy, or a very stupid one!” and once again threatening “a MAGA Primary” against “anybody that votes against Redistricting.” That same night, a Republican member of the state House who voted against the redistricting bill was the victim of a bomb threat at his home. Another GOP state senator opposed to gerrymandering who received a pipe bomb threat at her home posted on X that it was the “result of the D.C. political pundits for redistricting.”

Here are 6 'Beautiful Bill' tax changes that will benefit wealthy Americans

Owners of pass-through entities — including sole proprietorships, partnerships, S corporations, and LLCs — will continue to enjoy the 20% pass-through deduction, which Congress has now made permanent. Because income from these businesses "passes through" to the owner's personal tax return, this deduction effectively reduces the top tax rate for qualifying business income from 37% to 29.6%, says Tony Nitti, a national tax partner at EY Private, a unit of the company formerly known as Ernst & Young that focuses on advising entrepreneurs, private businesses, and their owners.

Trump's business empire goes global while he's in the White House

Work was allowed to begin earlier this year on a massive hotel and golf development outside Hanoi without all the required legal and environmental reviews, while Vietnam was also holding high-stakes trade talks with the Trump administration, according to a New York Times investigation. Vietnamese officials wrote in a letter seen by the Times that the project needed high-level government support because it was "receiving special attention from the Trump administration and President Donald Trump personally."

Jeffrey Epstein emails: Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and more

In 2011, Epstein forwarded an email to “the Duke” that had been sent on to him about a story the Mail on Sunday had been working on, with Giuffre coming forward with her claims about the prince. “What? I don’t know any of this. How are you responding?” Epstein said he’d just gotten the request for comment and asked “g lawyers to send a letter.” “Im not sure how to respond, the only person she didn’t have sex with was Elvis,” Epstein said of Giuffre. “The Duke” then replies, “Please make sure that every statement or legal letter states clearly that I am NOT involved and that I knew and know NOTHING about any of these allegations. I can’t take any more of this my end.”.

What we know about new Epstein emails that mention Trump

The first email released by Democrats is from 2011 and is between Epstein and Maxwell. In it, Epstein writes to Maxwell: "I want you to realize that that dog that hasn't barked is Trump.. [VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him". Epstein goes on to write that Trump "has never once been mentioned", including by a "police chief". Maxwell responded: "I have been thinking about that..."

Epstein files become a fiasco of Trump's own making

Trump has started calling the recent attacks "the Epstein hoax." He sued The Wall Street Journal for publishing a story in July about a racy drawing and poem he allegedly wrote to Epstein for his birthday in 2003. Trump said the drawing and message weren't his.

What does 15 look like? Teens and former child actors weigh in online after Megyn Kelly comments

The age of consent in the United States ranges from 16 to 18 years old, depending on the state. It is not legal for an adult to engage in sexual activity with a girl below 16 years old in any U.S. state.

The Christian Far Right Took Over a Texas School District. Parents Want It Back.

Cy-Fair, like all Texas districts, has a nonpartisan school board. Elections to fill the seats are often boring because there’s really only one campaign slogan that works: “I want what’s best for kids.” The race in 2021 was different. Far-right firebrand and megadonor Steven Hotze entered the picture, backing three Cy-Fair ISD candidates—Blasingame; businessman and HOA vice president Scott Henry; and business consultant Lucas Scanlon, an adjunct professor at Rice University. Hotze sent out campaign mailers, branding his chosen three as “Christians, Conservatives, and Patriots.” Opponents were “Liberals, Leftists, Socialists, Communists.” Patriotic candidates would defend “historic American values,” oppose “Sharia law,” and uphold “Biblical marriage.” In campaign video fragments preserved on YouTube by a district watchdog, the trio of candidates stands on a wood-paneled patio, leaning against a stone-veneer buffet island—classic suburban campaign fare. But the conversation is far from nonpartisan. Scanlon refers to them as Republicans. Henry floats the idea of a “tea party–type thing for education.” Blasingame explains how they’ll “seed” speakers at meetings when hot-button items come up. They’re not running a campaign, she says: “We’re laying an infrastructure.”

DOJ Prison Rape Reports Omit Data on Transgender Inmates

Research from earlier DOJ surveys found that nearly 40% of transgender incarcerated people reported sexual victimization in a single year, far higher than the general prison population. Experts say the absence of updated data makes it harder to monitor abuse, improve prison practices, or challenge claims that transgender inmates pose risks to others.

Oklahoma university instructor on leave after failing Bible-based essay on gender

“Society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth,” she wrote. She argued that promoting the belief in multiple genders would lead society to move “farther from God’s original plan for humans.” The essays were graded out of 25 points, broken down by whether the student demonstrated an understanding of the article and addressed a specific aspect of the argument put forth. Fulnecky received zero points for her work.

Which apps are included in Australia's social media ban?

Ten platforms are included in Australia's world-first social media ban for children under 16, however, the regulator has warned that the list is not "static" and could grow.

At least 16 files have disappeared from the DOJ webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein

Ones that were new were often lacking necessary context or heavily blacked out. A 119-page document marked “Grand Jury-NY,” likely from one of the federal sex trafficking investigations that led to the charges against Epstein in 2019 or Maxwell in 2021, was entirely blacked out.

Instructor who gave U of Oklahoma student a zero on anti-trans paper removed from teaching

The university has placed a second instructor on leave after, according to school officials, she told students they would be excused from class to attend a protest in favor of Curth. Student newspaper OU Nightly identified Kelli Alvarez as the instructor for the course, which is English composition. Kalib Magana, president of the University of Oklahoma’s Turning Point USA chapter, asked whether counterprotesters would also receive excused absences. Alvarez replied that a counterprotest must be organized. None was, but several conservative students made their views known at the pro-Curth demonstration. Magana filed a complaint against Alvarez with the university. Turning Point USA is a right-wing student organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

‘The Precedent Is Flint’: How Oregon’s Data Center Boom Is Supercharging a Water Crisis

In December 2024, the Port gave the governor’s office a dramatic ultimatum: If the governor didn’t step in with an emergency order suspending the DEQ from levying fines for the illegal dumping of contaminated water during the winter season, the Port would stop accepting wastewater from industrial operators. Citing concerns that the move would lead to “furloughs of potentially thousands of workers resulting in substantial economic harm to the region and the State of Oregon,” the governor granted the Port’s request, allowing it to spray contaminated water without fines for a six-week period starting in January 2025. “We must balance protecting thousands of jobs in the region, the national food supply, and domestic well users during this short period of time,” Gov. Kotek explained afterward in a statement.