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‘It’s scary’: Dem candidate speaks out after Trump admin’s ‘surreal’ prosecution of her
Progressive Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh spoke out against President Donald Trump's administration for prosecuting her after she participated in a protest against an immigration raid in her home state of Illinois.
The indictment, which was filed on Oct. 23, accuses Abughazaleh of one count of conspiracy and one count of forcibly impeding an officer. Abughazaleh told NBC News that she plans to self-surrender to authorities next Wednesday and described the incident as "political prosecution."
Abughazaleh joined Jon Lovett, a former Obama administration staffer, on a new episode of the "Pod Save America" podcast on Thursday, and further discussed the prosecution.
"It's scary. It's surreal, and it's also totally expected," she said. "This is what this administration does. They go after people who disagree with them, and this case is an attempt to criminalize protest, to criminalize freedom of speech, and to criminalize freedom of association."
"This is what authoritarians do," she added. "They try to find any excuse to punish their political enemies, to punish populations they deem as enemies. We've seen that a lot in how ICE is functioning."
Abughazaleh noted that the Trump administration has admitted to catching very few criminals during its immigration raids. She suggested that reveals something more sinister about the raids.
"That is one of the best examples to show that this has never been about crime," she said. "This has never even been about immigration. This is about securing and cementing power for the Trump administration."
Ex-GOP spokesperson rails that red states are suffering due to Trump’s cuts
Former Republican Tim Miller, who hosts a podcast for the conservative anti-Trump news outlet The Bulwark, discussed with MSNBC host and former Republican Nicolle Wallace that the GOP is stiffing its own voters with slashes to food stamp benefits.
"I know food stamps is like a 90s era right-wing racist smear, but SNAP, which is sort of the new EBT — this is food assistance. [It] knows no partisan affiliation. If anything, it disproportionately benefits households in Trump voting counties and districts," said Wallace. "And it feeds a whole lot of kids who don't have any responsibility for any of the political decisions that adults make."
Miller noted that the GOP's rhetoric has clearly shifted from the days of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Mitt Romney (R-UT).
"But the policies are harmful to them. And this ... the expiration of SNAP — or the fact that they're not going to continue funding SNAP during this shutdown, beginning this weekend, I think is the most acute example of this, where, you know, if the party had fully switched to being a multiracial, multiethnic, working class party like they pay lip service to, this would be an emergency right now," said Miller.
The situation would involve Republican lawmakers fearful "our own voters are literally going to go hungry beginning this weekend. You know, we need to serve to service them. And meanwhile, Donald Trump's in China or in Korea getting a, you know, Burger King happy meal crown from the head of South Korea. And Congress isn't even in session, right? Like they're not doing anything."
He called it a catastrophe and a tragedy if the problem isn't fixed in the coming days.
"But it's also a very stark demonstration of just how this kind of MAGA populism is a lot of lip service and not a lot of action," Miller continued. "And you're seeing it in real time also in the states where, you know, in Colorado, Jared Polis and some other states, governors, mostly Democratic governors, are working to try to patch this right now. And in some of the red states, it's not going to get patched."
‘Strange moment’: Fox News host’s promised Trump-Epstein report ‘never came’
Media reporter Brian Stelter recounted "a strange moment on Fox" when the Murdoch-owned entity failed to deliver on its promised coverage of the major Wall Street Journal scoop regarding President Donald Trump.
On Thursday night, the WSJ dropped a bombshell about Trump's participation in a "bawdy" 50th birthday greeting for sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The letter is "framed by the outline of a naked woman," with Trump's signature made to mimic "pubic hair," WSJ reported.
Stelter gave credit to WSJ on social media, writing, "At a time when other media outlets are hesitating and capitulating, Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal just stood up to President Trump and scooped one of the biggest political stories of the summer."
He added, "And yet... Murdoch's Fox News has not mentioned the story once."
In his "Reliable Sources" newsletter, Stelter quoted CNN media reporter Andrew Kirell, who wrote, "Halfway through her 7 p.m. hour last night, Fox's Laura Ingraham seemed poised to cover the bombshell reporting from from a fellow Murdoch-owned outlet. 'We have new news coming on about this as well from The Wall Street Journal. A new report tonight, next,' she said."
Kirell continued, "But that 'new report' never came. Ingraham did not mention the Journal story at all during the rest of her hour; Neither did the rest of the Fox primetime lineup."
Kirell noted that right-wing outlet "Newsmax ignored the WSJ story, too."
On Friday morning, Trump threatened to put Murdoch on the stand, writing on Truth Social, "I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!"
Trump’s MAGA misstep has taken him into ‘dangerous political territory’: analyst
During an appearance on MSNBC, longtime political observer John Heilemann suggested that, as bad as the firestorm over the Jeffrey Epstein files has been, the president has a bigger battle ahead of him.
Speaking with the hosts of "Morning Joe," the journalist claimed Trump's attack on some of his biggest supporters as "stupid" is not something that will be easy for him to come back from.
"This call for the grand jury release is not going to get him anywhere," he began. "And I think, combined with the key thing that changed this week, which is Trump not just moving from saying pay no attention to this, to calling it a hoax and calling his own supporters stupid. I think that is the thing that has really tipped us into dangerous political territory for Trump."
He elaborated, "Because we've never seen that before; where Trump has often treated his base with contempt but he's never openly criticized them, essentially for believing him."
"I think that's a very toxic and very dangerous place for the president," he added.
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‘Lose the Big Macs’: Conservative Rick Wilson issues Trump a health warning
Rick Wilson, conservative pundit and "Never Trumper," offered a warning for President Donald Trump to take steps to turn his health around before it's too late.
On his podcast, "The Elephant in the Room," Wilson addressed Trump directly.
"Mortality comes for us all," Wilson warned. "It's going to come for me, it's going to come for everybody. It's going to come for you, too. They haven't swiftly developed enough miracles in medical science to not make you a guy who ate McDonald's every day for the last 30 years."
"The secret, Donald, is some people age with grace. And some people take care of themselves as they age. You have not."
On Thursday, the White House took the extraordinary step of addressing recent photos of Trump with a large bruise on his hand and swollen ankles. The diagnosis, according to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, is chronic venous insufficiency, which causes blood to pool in the veins.
Leavitt described the condition as "benign" and claimed, "The president remains in excellent health."
Wilson quipped that if Trump wants to let his health go, "a lot of Americans will not object."
He added, "I'd rather you leave office humiliated — head to prison after this is all over in some capacity — than having you die in office, honestly. But you might die in office if you don't start taking care of yourself."
"Donald, you're an old man now. You're almost 80. You're not that guy anymore. You're not that guy with Jeffrey Epstein 30 years ago chasing t--l in New York and Palm Beach. Lose the Big Macs, bro. I would lose them sooner than later. Filet-o-Fish is not your friend now."
‘Grave threat’: Liberal justice unleashes fury over ‘indefensible’ ruling
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor unleashed fury on her conservative colleagues for their decision overruling a lower court and giving the Trump administration the go-ahead to significantly slash the workforce of the Department of Education.
"That decision is indefensible," she wrote on Monday.
"When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it," she continued.
"Two lower courts rose to the occasion, preliminarily enjoining the mass firings while the litigation remains ongoing. Rather than maintain the status quo, however, this Court now intervenes, lifting the injunction and permitting the Government to proceed with dismantling the Department. That decision is indefensible. It hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out. The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is grave. Unable to join in this misuse of our emergency docket, I respectfully dissent."
It was another decision along ideological lines with a 6-3 ruling.
According to Sotomayor, the Department of Education was established by Congress, and thus, only the legislative branch "has the power to abolish the Department.
Texas flood survivors need more than physical help
By Lee Ann Rawlins Williams, Clinical Assistant Professor of Education, Health and Behavior Studies, University of North Dakota.
The devastating losses from the historic flooding in Texas Hill Country on July 4, 2025, are still coming into grim focus, with more than 130 deaths confirmed and more than 160 still missing as of July 14.
As emergency responders focus on clearing debris and searching for victims, a less visible and slower disaster has been unfolding: the need for ongoing mental health support long after headlines fade.
This phase is no less critical than restoring power or rebuilding bridges. Disasters destabilize emotional well-being, leaving distress, prolonged recovery and long-term impacts in their wake long after the event is over.
Without sustained emotional support, people and communities face heightened risks of prolonged trauma and stalled recovery.
As an educator and practitioner focused on disability and rehabilitation, I explore the intersection of disaster recovery and the impact of disasters on mental health. Both my research and that of others underscore the vital importance of support systems that not only help people cope in the immediate aftermath of a disaster but also facilitate long-term healing over the months and years that follow — especially for vulnerable populations like children, older adults and people with disabilities.
Emotional toll of disasters
Natural disasters disrupt routines, displace families and challenge people’s sense of control and security. In the immediate aftermath, survivors often experience shock, grief, anxiety and sleep disturbances. Often these symptoms may evolve into chronic stress, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or a combination of these conditions.
A 2022 study found that Texans who experienced two or more disasters within a five-year span had significantly poorer mental health, as reflected by lower scores on standardized psychological assessments, which highlights the cumulative toll repeated disasters can have on mental well-being.
After Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, nearly a third of survivors continued to experience poor mental health years later.
And reports following Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017 revealed surging rates of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts, especially in areas where services remained unavailable for extended periods of time.
Strained recovery systems
Disaster response understandably focuses on immediate needs like rescue operations, providing post-disaster housing and repairing damaged infrastructure. In addition, short-term mental health supports such as mobile health clinics are often provided in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
However, although emergency services are deployed quickly after a disaster, long-term mental health support is often delayed or under-resourced, leaving many people without continued care during the recovery period, especially in remote or rural communities, exposing deep structural gaps in how recovery systems are designed.
One year after Hurricane Harvey devastated parts of Texas in 2017, more than 90% of Gulf Coast residents reported ongoing stress related to housing instability, financial hardship or displacement. Yet less than 10% of people stated that they or someone in their household had used mental health services following the disaster.
Hurricane Helene in 2024 similarly tested the resilience of rural mental health networks in western North Carolina. The storm damaged roads and bridges, schools and even local clinics.
This prompted a news organization, North Carolina Health News, to warn of rising “trauma, stress and isolation” among residents as providers scrambled to offer free counseling despite legal barriers stemming from licensing requirements to provide counseling across state borders.
State health officials activated community crisis centers and helplines, while mobile mental health teams were dispatched from Tennessee to help those impacted by the disaster. However, state representatives stressed that without long-term investment, these critical supports risk being one-off responses.
These events serve as a powerful reminder that while roads and buildings can often be restored quickly, emotional recovery is a slower, more complex process. Truly rebuilding requires treating mental health with the same urgency as physical infrastructure. This requires investing in strong mental health recovery systems, supporting local clinics, sustaining provider networks and integrating emotional care into recovery plans from the start.
Finding mental health support
Lessons learned from previous disasters and an abundance of research show how sustained mental health supports can help people recover and build resilience.
These six lessons are particularly helpful for finding needed mental health support following a disaster:
- If you’re feeling overwhelmed after a disaster, you’re not alone, and help is available. Free and confidential support is offered through resources like the Disaster Distress Helpline (1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746), which connects you to trained counselors 24/7.
- Many communities offer local mental health crisis lines or walk-in centers that remain active well after the disaster passes. Check your county or state health department’s website for updated listings and information.
- Even if physical offices are closed, many clinics now offer virtual counseling or can connect you with therapists and medication refills remotely. If you’ve seen someone before, ask if they’re still available by phone or video.
- After major disasters, states often deploy mobile health clinics that include mental health services to shelters, churches or schools. These temporary services are free and open to the public.
- If someone you care about is struggling, help them connect with resources in the community. Share hotline numbers, offer to help make an appointment or just let them know it’s OK to ask for support. Many people don’t realize that help is available, or they think it’s only for more “serious” problems. It’s not.
- Mental health support doesn’t always arrive right away. Keep an eye on local news, school updates or health department alerts for new services that may become available in the weeks or months after a disaster.
Disasters don’t just damage buildings; they disrupt lives in lasting ways.
While emotional recovery takes time, support is available. Staying informed and sharing resources with others can help ensure that the road to recovery isn’t traveled alone.
‘No means no!’ Andrew Cuomo buried in mockery for refusing to accept loss
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) was routed in a shock upset last month when Democrats rejected him in the primary for mayor of New York City, in favor of the young democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani, who is running on a platform of freezing rent, expanding free bus service, and creating public grocery stores in food deserts.
After weeks of relative silence from Cuomo, however, he announced Monday that he is remaining in the race and will run on a separate party line in the general election, alongside scandal-plagued incumbent mayor Eric Adams and the pro-Trump Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
"Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably knew that the Democratic primary did not go the way I had hoped," said Cuomo in his announcement video posted to X. "To the 440,000 New Yorkers who voted for me, a sincere thank you. Thank you for believing in me, in my agenda, and in my experience. And I am truly sorry that I let you down. But as my grandfather used to say, when you get knocked down, learn the lesson and pick yourself back up and get in that game, and that is what I'm going to do."
Even before Cuomo's video dropped, reports that he would stay in the race had already drawn criticism.
"Andrew Cuomo an un-evolved desperate man searching for meaning in all the wrong places," wrote former New York state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi.
"True to form, Andrew Cuomo once again refuses to accept that no means no," wrote state assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest, referencing allegations of sexual misconduct against the former governor.
As soon as the video dropped, it was overshadowed in likes and shares by Mamdani, who replied to the post with a link to his campaign donation page.
"NO MEANS NO. Go away, you gargoyle faced bully," wrote state Sen. Gustavo Rivera.
"Translation: Cuomo is so desperate to prevent a rent freeze that he actually set foot on the streets of New York. Get this jabroni out of New York politics for good!" wrote the account for the activist network Adbusters.
"Took three weeks to edit out passersby shouting 'Go f--- yourself'" wrote satirical political cartoonist Eli Valley.
"Honestly, what do Democrats say about the purpose and utility of the primary process now?" wrote Bernie Sanders' political adviser and More Perfect Union founder Faiz Shakir. "In New York, we're yielding the entire 'process' over to billionaires' whims. Fight Oligarchy."
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‘It’s scary’: Dem candidate speaks out after Trump admin’s ‘surreal’ prosecution of her
Progressive Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh spoke out against President Donald Trump's administration for prosecuting her after she participated in a protest against an immigration raid in her home state of Illinois.
The indictment, which was filed on Oct. 23, accuses Abughazaleh of one count of conspiracy and one count of forcibly impeding an officer. Abughazaleh told NBC News that she plans to self-surrender to authorities next Wednesday and described the incident as "political prosecution."
Abughazaleh joined Jon Lovett, a former Obama administration staffer, on a new episode of the "Pod Save America" podcast on Thursday, and further discussed the prosecution.
"It's scary. It's surreal, and it's also totally expected," she said. "This is what this administration does. They go after people who disagree with them, and this case is an attempt to criminalize protest, to criminalize freedom of speech, and to criminalize freedom of association."
"This is what authoritarians do," she added. "They try to find any excuse to punish their political enemies, to punish populations they deem as enemies. We've seen that a lot in how ICE is functioning."
Abughazaleh noted that the Trump administration has admitted to catching very few criminals during its immigration raids. She suggested that reveals something more sinister about the raids.
"That is one of the best examples to show that this has never been about crime," she said. "This has never even been about immigration. This is about securing and cementing power for the Trump administration."
Ex-GOP spokesperson rails that red states are suffering due to Trump’s cuts
Former Republican Tim Miller, who hosts a podcast for the conservative anti-Trump news outlet The Bulwark, discussed with MSNBC host and former Republican Nicolle Wallace that the GOP is stiffing its own voters with slashes to food stamp benefits.
"I know food stamps is like a 90s era right-wing racist smear, but SNAP, which is sort of the new EBT — this is food assistance. [It] knows no partisan affiliation. If anything, it disproportionately benefits households in Trump voting counties and districts," said Wallace. "And it feeds a whole lot of kids who don't have any responsibility for any of the political decisions that adults make."
Miller noted that the GOP's rhetoric has clearly shifted from the days of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Mitt Romney (R-UT).
"But the policies are harmful to them. And this ... the expiration of SNAP — or the fact that they're not going to continue funding SNAP during this shutdown, beginning this weekend, I think is the most acute example of this, where, you know, if the party had fully switched to being a multiracial, multiethnic, working class party like they pay lip service to, this would be an emergency right now," said Miller.
The situation would involve Republican lawmakers fearful "our own voters are literally going to go hungry beginning this weekend. You know, we need to serve to service them. And meanwhile, Donald Trump's in China or in Korea getting a, you know, Burger King happy meal crown from the head of South Korea. And Congress isn't even in session, right? Like they're not doing anything."
He called it a catastrophe and a tragedy if the problem isn't fixed in the coming days.
"But it's also a very stark demonstration of just how this kind of MAGA populism is a lot of lip service and not a lot of action," Miller continued. "And you're seeing it in real time also in the states where, you know, in Colorado, Jared Polis and some other states, governors, mostly Democratic governors, are working to try to patch this right now. And in some of the red states, it's not going to get patched."
ICE sent into frenzy to return longtime Trump golf employee mistakenly deported to Mexico
A longtime former employee at one of President Donald Trump's golf clubs was mistakenly deported to Mexico, The New York Times reported — sending U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement into a mad scramble to correct the error and bring him home.
"Alejandro Juarez stepped off a plane in Texas and stood on a bridge over the Rio Grande, staring at the same border that he had crossed illegally from Mexico 22 years earlier," reported Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Hamed Aleaziz. "As U.S. immigration officials unshackled restraints bound to his arms and legs, Mr. Juarez, 39, pleaded with them. He told them he was never given a chance to contest his deportation in front of an immigration judge after being detained in New York City five days before."
As it turned out, the Department of Homeland Security had mistakenly put him on a deportation flight instead of sending him to a detention facility in Arizona ahead of his immigration hearing, to which he was entitled.
"Their actions probably violated federal immigration laws, which entitle most immigrants facing deportation to a hearing before a judge — a hearing Mr. Juarez never had," said the report. "ICE officials raced to decipher his whereabouts, exchanging bewildered emails and contacting detention facilities to pinpoint his location, according to internal ICE documents obtained by The New York Times. It is unclear how many other immigrants like Mr. Juarez have been erroneously removed, in part because ICE has not in the past tracked such cases."
Juarez "had worked for more than a decade at a Trump Organization golf club in New York," noted the report, and suddenly found himself expelled from the United States.
Similar administrative mistakes have happened on other occasions, most notably with Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported from his family in Maryland to the infamous CECOT megaprison in his home country, despite a court order prohibiting his removal there. After months of denying they had jurisdiction to repatriate him, the Trump administration finally did so, but then immediately hit him with flimsy gang charges, and started shopping around for any other country that would accept him, including several in Africa.
