"Empire Of Spirit": William Dalrymple On How Ancient India Influenced World

10/14/25 2:02 PM

Innovations such as chess, the concept of zero, and the idea that the Earth moved around the Sun all came from India, not Greece or Egypt, author William Dalrymple has written in his new book.

"They Disappeared My Hair": Trump On "Super Bad" Pic On Time Magazine Cover

10/14/25 7:47 PM

US President Donald Trump slammed the Time magazine over the photo of his printed on the cover in which his hair seems to have "disappeared".

'Applauded for simply showing up': Ivanka buried over treaty signing star turn

10/14/25 5:09 PM

The decision by Ivanka Trump to dip her toe back into politics by appearing at the Gaza ceasefire treaty signing on Monday — which she had nothing to do with — left one observer cold.The so-called “first daughter” has been out of the political spotlight despite her father having won a second presidential term on a third try, retiring to her $24 million mansion on Miami's Indian Creek Island where she frequently posts exercise, surfing and fitness videos on Instagram.With her husband, Jared Kushner, being one of the chief negotiators in the ceasefire in Gaza that led to the release of Israeli hostages, Donald Trump’s daughter was singled out and featured at the signing ceremony, which led the Independent’s Holly Baxter to ask why.“Ivanka Trump has re-emerged in Israel this week, smiling beatifically as her father’s admirers cheer and cameras click. She’s radiant, modestly dressed — and, by the way, did you know that when she converted to Judaism in 2009, her father didn’t even know she was going to do it?” Baxter wrote late Monday before dryly noting that Trump's eldest daughter's political resume is now limited to “daughter of Donald, wife of Jared.”Pointing to previous relatives of presidents who have taken center stage for one reason or another, she wrote that, “Ivanka’s most relevant experience, by contrast, is having once been photographed near a peace treaty. She’s an ‘advisor,’ according to the White House, though it’s entirely unclear what she could be qualified to advise on.”Recalling an awkward — and widely ridiculed — Ivanka appearance at the G20 conference in 2017, Baxter noted that didn’t stop her from coming out of the shadows once again and onto the world stage.“It’s a little weird watching Ivanka take a bow for international developments she didn’t engineer. But maybe it’s the perfect image for our era: a woman born into power, blessed by privilege, bathed in soft light, and applauded for simply showing up,” she wrote, and then joked, “If America’s founding fathers could see Ivanka now, they might weep. Or perhaps they’d just shrug and say, ‘Ah. So the monarchy’s back. I guess the experiment failed.’”

'Don't worry about China': Trump claims 'President Xi just had a bad moment'

10/12/25 5:00 PM

Donald Trump on Sunday posted a comment about China, telling citizens not to "worry" about the country or his "highly respected" Chinese counterpart.The president took to his own social media site, Truth Social, over the weekend, where he insisted there was nothing to worry about with China, a nation which Trump recently threatened with even more tariffs in an escalating trade dispute."Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!" Trump wrote Sunday. "Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment. He doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!! President DJT."See the post here.

'Everyone else is corrupt': Trump accused of borrowing 'cynical ploy' from Putin playbook

09/26/25 4:23 PM

President Donald Trump has corrupted the Department of Justice to target his political enemies as part of a "cynical ploy" borrowed from Vladimir Putin, according to a former federal prosecutor.A federal grand jury indicted former FBI Director James Comey for making alleged false statements to Congress and obstruction of justice, both based on his denial that he had authorized leaks to the media about the 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails, and former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade published a column for Bloomberg examining the case on its merits."The indictment came a week after Trump posted a demand to Attorney General Pam Bondi to charge Comey and other perceived enemies, calling them 'guilty as hell,'" McQuade wrote. "Perhaps cognizant that the five-year statute of limitations would be expiring within days, Trump added, 'We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility.'"That social media post made plain the DOJ was acting on Trump's orders, but he made that even more obvious by replacing the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia who questioned the case's strength with a former personal attorney of his who has never prosecuted a single case before presenting the Comey evidence to a grand jury."By directing his DOJ to charge Comey, Trump appears to be borrowing a tactic from the playbook of Vladimir Putin," McQuade wrote. "According to Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser, Putin doesn’t try to convince the Russian people that he is honest. Instead, he works to persuade them that everyone else is corrupt.""It’s a cynical ploy meant to condition people to tolerate corruption," she added. "If voters believe that all public officials are crooks, then they will overlook the crooked leader who professes to share their values."Trump, of course, is the only president who has ever been convicted of a felony – all 34 counts against him in the only criminal case out of four in which he faced trial – and McQuade suspects his vindictive prosecution of Comey, and the others he's threatened, shows he's playing the same game as the Russian president he admires."If Trump can make people believe that indictments like the one targeting Comey are meaningless, then the indictments against him can be dismissed just as easily," McQuade wrote. "Indeed, following the Comey indictment, New York Democratic Representative Dan Goldman said, 'The problem is how are you ever going to know whether an investigation by the FBI, an investigation by the Department of Justice, is legitimate or is corrupt.'""Exactly," she added. "When everyone is corrupt, then no one is."

'First time ever': Trump makes vague comments about 'greatness in the Middle East'

09/28/25 1:03 PM

Donald Trump on Sunday made a vague statement about "greatness in the Middle East."The president took to his own social media site, Truth Social, at a time when Israel and Hamas are continuing to fight over the remaining hostages.Without stating anything specific, Trump wrote, "We have a real chance for GREATNESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST.""ALL ARE ON BOARD FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL, FIRST TIME EVER," the president then added. "WE WILL GET IT DONE!!! President DJT"Read the post here.

'Freaky Friday': How 'insane' Trump plan to 'bribe' kids mobilized fight

10/14/25 11:49 AM

When tips started coming on Oct. 2, warning that the Trump administration was planning to offer financial incentives for unaccompanied immigrant children as young as 14 to self-deport, hundreds of immigration lawyers and advocates gathered on a call.Their aim was to figure out how to protect vulnerable children from "Freaky Friday" — a rumored U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) mission set for Oct. 3. Named for a popular kids’ film, the operation would present children in the U.S. illegally with the option to voluntarily return to their home countries, rather than pursuing asylum or other forms of relief, even though many such children are fleeing abuse, trafficking or violence, advocates told Raw Story. “The first time I heard it, I was like ‘This has to be a joke,’” said Ala Amoachi, an immigration attorney in East Islip, N.Y., who has represented hundreds of unaccompanied alien children (UACs).But then she got word from the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which said information about the mission “was coming from credible sources and that they are not rumors.”Another immigration advocate who declined to be named due to fear of retaliation said they learned about “Freaky Friday” from a government whistleblower.On the morning of Oct. 3, Charles Kuck, an immigration attorney and adjunct Emory University law professor, posted a message on X.There is a darkness and evil that is taking over ICE, led by the dark lord Miller. ICE is launching a nationwide operation today, Friday 10/3, reportedly named “Freaky Friday” that will target unaccompanied children aged 14 and older of all nationalities. Here is what we know:…— Charles Kuck (@ckuck) October 3, 2025 “There is a darkness and evil that is taking over ICE, led by the dark lord Miller,” Kuck wrote, referencing Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff.“ICE is launching a nationwide operation today … reportedly named ‘Freaky Friday’ that will target unaccompanied children aged 14 and older of all nationalities.”Kuck described details of the plan, from a “really reliable source.”Unaccompanied children would receive a “threat” letter from ICE when they turned 18 if they didn’t waive their applications for relief under laws like the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, Kuck wrote. They would be offered $2,500 to return to their home countries. Otherwise, any family members in the U.S. would face threat of arrest, Kuck posted.An Oct. 3 email shared with Raw Story confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) planned to offer a one-time resettlement stipend up to $2,500 to UACs aged 14 and older, in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), who wanted to self-deport.DHS answered Kuck with an X post of its own, denying the “Freaky Friday” mission name but confirming a “voluntary” self-deportation payment.“CHUCK KUCK IS WRONG!” the post said. (In fact, Kuck’s name is pronounced “Cook.”)CHUCK KUCK IS WRONG!The anti-ICE activists have made up a ridiculous term, “Freaky Friday,” to instill fear and spread misinformation that drives the increased violence occurring against federal law enforcement. Cartels trafficked countless unaccompanied children into the… https://t.co/dZR0FIsLAz— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) October 3, 2025 “The anti-ICE activists have made up a ridiculous term, ‘Freaky Friday,’ to instill fear and spread misinformation that drives the increased violence occurring against federal law enforcement,” the government post said.The post also said cartels “trafficked countless unaccompanied children into the United States during the Biden Administration.”It said DHS and HHS, whose Office of Refugee Resettlement cares for unaccompanied children without a U.S. legal guardian, were “working diligently to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those children.” “Many of these UACs had no choice when they were dangerously smuggled into this country,” the post said. “ICE and the Office of Refugee and Resettlement at HHS are offering a strictly voluntary option to return home to their families. This voluntary option gives UACs a choice and allows them to make an informed decision about their future. Any payment to support a return home would be provided after an immigration judge grants the request and the individual arrives in their country of origin. Access to financial support when returning home would assist should they choose that option.”In response to a series of questions, an ICE spokesperson sent the same statement to Raw Story.‘Threaten the lives of children’Speaking to Raw Story, Kuck did not name the source that tipped him off to the “Freaky Friday" mission but said “there's no doubt that was the name. That is a typical DHS name under Trump.”ICE has launched enforcement missions including Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago and Operation Tidal Wave in Florida. DHS has given immigration detention facilities alliterative names, including Alligator Alcatraz, Speedway Slammer and Cornhusker Clink.Kuck called DHS’s response to his post “hilarious.”“‘Chuck Kuck is wrong’ and yet in the very same tweet they admitted I was right. They didn't like the name — you know, they didn't object to Stephen Miller being called the dark lord, so that must still be true.”Also on Oct. 3, the National Immigrant Justice Center and Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights released a statement about a widely circulated email that referenced “Freaky Friday” and the program targeting unaccompanied children 14 to 18 years old but with the potential to affect children as young as 10.“I think somebody needed to shine a spotlight on this,” Kuck said.An ICE official said the self-deportation stipend is first being offered to 17-year-old UACs. It is currently unclear if the program will eventually extend to UACs 14 or younger.The immigration advocate who requested anonymity said: “By the time that we got to Friday, it was like, ‘Okay, did they change their mind? Did they reverse course? Was this just like a stunt? Are they leaking this information to catch the leakers?” ‘Trauma upon trauma’While he couldn’t attend due to travel, Kuck said the Oct. 2 call mobilizing immigration attorneys was “a reaction to a program that comes out of nowhere with no warning, that would literally potentially threaten the lives of children.”“That's insane. That's literally what we're what we've reduced ourselves to in the immigration enforcement sphere? That’s sad.” The immigration advocate who spoke anonymously said lawyers were “going out of their ways to officially enter into representation with the kids” in case UACs were going to be moved from care facilities run by HHS. That way, “the government wouldn't be able to say, ‘Oh, we didn't know that this kid didn't have a lawyer or something like that.’”The advocate also said that on Labor Day weekend, in early September, the administration attempted to send more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children to their home country.“We're getting calls from the government saying, ‘Wake up the kids … they're being deported, and tell them to pack two lunches,’” the advocate said.Within 30 minutes, government contractors showed up at shelters in Texas and Arizona, the advocate said. Children were boarded on planes and one started taxiing before a judge ordered an emergency halt at 4 a.m on the Sunday.“That's one of the reasons why people were so alarmed and also so ready to take action [on Oct. 3],” the advocate said. “The government tried to disappear kids in the middle of the night when they thought no one was watching during a holiday weekend, and then now we hear that they're gonna call this Operation Freaky Friday and start targeting unaccompanied kids in this other way?“It shows a pattern of this administration going after unaccompanied kids.”UACs at U.S. government facilities are “the most vulnerable" of unaccompanied minors as they typically don’t have legal representation, Kuck said. “Generally, if a child came across the border, it wasn't because they thought it was a really great idea,” Kuck said. “My God, this is who we should be protecting, not offering money so they'll go back to what could potentially be a life-threatening situation in their home country.”Amoachi pushed back on the idea that the self-deportation stipend is “voluntary.”“They have all these special vulnerabilities,” Amoachi said. “They are minors, and even if they're not, they're vulnerable because they often experienced abuse: sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and they're scared. They're scared for their families. They're very traumatized right now with everything that's going on.”Amoachi detailed “really horrifying situations” clients have faced. One 14-year-old “gave herself up to be a victim instead” when a human smuggler was going to rape her sister, she said.Kuck said he represented a 15-year-old sex trafficking victim who was sexually abused when she arrived in the U.S.The advocate who spoke anonymously was appalled by the idea of a child making a “life-or-death decision without a trusted adult.”“A lot of these kids are leaving countries with high amounts of cartel violence, and so a masked man shows up at your house and says, ‘We'll give you X amount of money to carry this across the border, or join our gang,' or whatever, and they're putting you in a life or death situation, and then you come to the United States, and then there's another masked man coming to you, saying, ‘You have to make this decision right now.’ It's just trauma upon trauma.”Amoachi said she had spoken with kindergarten-aged UACs who had seen classmates killed for not joining gangs in places like El Salvador. One 5-year-old was abandoned after his mother killed herself, having been in a forced relationship with a gang member, Amoachi said.“What low have we reached in this country when we're going after unaccompanied minors?” Amoachi said. ‘It's just counter-humanitarian to do these things, particularly because a lot of UACs, they're coming to the U.S. usually to reunite with one or both of their parents, and they're often coming from situations where they were physically abused or psychologically abused or exposed to sexual abuse or gang violence.” ‘Done for show’Unaccompanied, undocumented minors may qualify for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), a form of immigration relief for children abused, neglected or abandoned by one or both of their parents.Two of Amoachi’s clients were deported to El Salvador this year despite pending Special Immigrant Juvenile Status cases. They suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and depression as a result of detention and deportation, Raw Story reported.Nicole Whitaker, an immigration attorney in Towson, Md., said: “This effort is a part of a broader escalation in immigration enforcement under the current administration, signaling a shift from targeting adults with criminal records to targeting children. “It goes against the spirit of the SIJS legislation as it was originally enacted and punishes children and families who have done the right thing by following the proper procedures and ‘waiting in line’ for legal status."Marina Shepelsky, an immigration lawyer in Brooklyn, N.Y., came to the U.S. as an immigrant herself, fleeing the Soviet Union. She said she gets frustrated at family members “cheering” on the Trump administration. Marina Shepelsky during an interview with Raw Story (Screen grab)“I find it to be almost hypocritical when people say, ‘Well, we went through the legal channels,” Shepelsky said. “People will be so happy to go through legal channels if there were legal channels. If it was a real amnesty, millions of people would apply, and they would pay a $100,000 penalty. They would find the money, believe me.“I think it's very cruel, this enforcement the way it’s done. I think that it's just a lot of it is done for show, as a deterrent to people, and I think it's unfair.”Amoachi said children are generally inclined to comply with people in authority, which could compel them to accept a self-deportation offer. UACs might also be tempted to take the $2,500 self-deportation stipend if there’s “implication that their family members could face repercussions,” meaning some children would be “willing to sacrifice themselves for their families," Amoachi said.This summer DHS launched a voluntary departure program through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Home App, offering subsidized travel and a $1,000 “exit bonus.”“None of this is accidental,” Kuck said. “They want to literally deport everybody, so they do the easy ones first.”Shepelsky mainly represents Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war with Russia. Given her clients are usually white, “they are treated differently,” she said, “but I wouldn't say they're treated much, much better than others.” “This is so inhumane and so not aligned with what all of us have always thought was the purpose of the immigration system. “Now, instead of protecting them, especially kids, we are trying to buy them, bribe them, scare them, bully them, really, into leaving.”

'Hurting farmers': Trump admin just made an 'unusual acknowledgement' about its policies

10/11/25 9:29 PM

Donald Trump's administration just made an "unusual acknowledgement" about its immigration policies, according to a new report Saturday.In a weekend article called "Trump administration says immigration enforcement threatens higher food prices," the Washington Post reported, "In an unusual acknowledgement, the Labor Department said that tougher immigration enforcement is hurting farmers and the food supply.""The Trump administration said that its immigration crackdown is hurting farmers and risking higher food prices for Americans by cutting off agriculture’s labor supply," according to the Post. "The Labor Department warned in an obscure document filed with the Federal Register last week that 'the near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens' is threatening 'the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S. consumers.'"“Unless the Department acts immediately to provide a source of stable and lawful labor, this threat will grow,” the official document reportedly states. “The Department concludes that qualified and eligible U.S. workers will not make themselves available in sufficient numbers."According to the report, "The American Prospect first reported on the Labor Department’s comments that immigration policies are endangering the food supply and that American workers are unwilling to take agricultural jobs.""The Labor Department’s comments appear to be the first time that the Trump administration has publicly acknowledged that its hallmark immigration policy — sealing the border and deporting undocumented immigrants — threatens labor shortages and higher food prices," according to the outlet's reporting. "However, economists have been sounding the alarm since Trump campaigned on the issue during last year’s presidential election."Read the full piece here.

'It's a talent tax': AI CEOs fear demise as they accuse Trump of launching 'labor war'

10/06/25 11:02 AM

Flanked by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted a White House dinner with some of the richest and most powerful leaders of the world’s tech giants.To Fraser Patterson, CEO and founder of Skillit, an AI-powered construction hiring platform, it was no coincidence that after the meeting last month of more than 30 Silicon Valley power players and Trump advisers, the administration unveiled a plan to charge $100,000 one-time application fees for H-1B visas, which tech companies typically use to employ highly skilled foreign workers.“It can appear as though, rather than it being an improvement to immigration policy, it feels a little more like a labor war strategy,” Patterson said.“Isn't one of the great tenets of the American way of life and Constitution the separation of church and state? Wouldn't that extend to business, too, between business and state?”Patterson’s New York-based company employs eight — an infinitesimal fraction of the workforce at giants like Amazon, with more than a million employees and nearly 15,000 H-1B visa holders.“The largest technology companies are going to be able to hoard the best global talent, and I think it's easy to be able to draw a straight line between that and shutting out the smaller startups and the smaller firms that can’t enforce that price tag,” Patterson said. “I think it scales back the competitiveness of the technology industry, broadly speaking.”‘Global war on talent’The Trump administration says the current H-1B visa program allows employers “to hire foreign workers at a significant discount to American workers,” and the program has been “abused.”Last week Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) reintroduced bipartisan legislation, The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, to close loopholes in programs they say tech giants have used while laying off Americans.But, Patterson said, limiting H-1B visas will effectively end up “closing the door on skilled workers” and “gift Europe the best possible opportunity to label itself as the tech talent hub. “The general consensus is this is going to narrow the pool,” Patterson said. “There's going to be just fewer nationalities represented, fewer ideas. The U.S. becomes less of a magnet.”Rich Pleeth, CEO and founder of Finmile, an AI-powered logistics and delivery software, agreed that the fee might tilt the scales of tech dominance away from the U.S., where places like San Francisco and New York have long been considered global hubs for innovation.“The global war on talent is real,” Pleeth said. “Europe has a golden opportunity … Canada, Singapore, Berlin, they're all going to benefit.” Rich Pleeth (provided photo)Finmile employs 15 people in the U.K., seven in Romania and two in the U.S.“It's very challenging for smaller companies like us,” Pleeth said. “Talent is everything, and if the U.S. makes it harder to bring in the world's best talent, where do you set up headquarters?”While the Trump administration says the new H1-B fee will help American workers, particularly recent college graduates seeking IT jobs, Patterson said it would have the opposite effect, likely leading to “greater offshoring.”Thanks to Trump’s array of trade tariffs, which he says will bring jobs back to the U.S., many American small businesses are already struggling to survive as they face increased costs.“In reality, it's probably going to lead to labor shortages,” Patterson said. “You can't just turn on a faucet overnight to really highly skilled local workers.”Nicole Whitaker, an immigration attorney in Towson, Md., said the proposed $100,000 fee sends the message to foreign workers seeking job opportunities in the U.S. that "our doors are closed ... find another country.""This is a part of a bigger and broader push by this administration — even if things don't go into effect— to make it look like we are shutting down our borders. We are not open, and we're not welcoming toward immigrants," Whitaker said.‘The next Googles’ Pleeth, a former marketing manager at Google, pointed to tech leaders including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who were born in India but came to the U.S. for college and to work.“If you suddenly make it hard for talented people to come in, the next Googles are not going to be built in the U.S.,” Pleeth said. “Talent is the oxygen for the tech industry. For decades the U.S. had an open pipeline … we don't expect the $100K toll to hit the tech companies who are the ones who can afford it the most.”Skillit currently does not have any employees sponsored through the H-1B visa program but Patterson said he had used it when the fees were more reasonable, around $2,500.Patterson, who was born in Scotland, came to the U.S. on an O-1 visa for foreign workers of “extraordinary talent.” He is now close to becoming a U.S. citizen. Fraser Patterson (provided photo)“Very onerous, nerve-racking, even to get here … but I would say it wasn't disproportional to the value of coming here,” he said.Pleeth wants to move from the U.K. to the U.S. with his wife, two daughters and dog, a process he expects some challenges with but is hopeful will “eventually move forward.”“It's just going to become a lot harder for junior people who can share cultures, can come in with new ideas,” Pleeth said. “It's a talent tax.”

'Make himself richer': Jared Kushner said to have 'played' Trump to grease his own pockets

10/11/25 7:54 PM

Donald Trump's son-in-law just "played the president," according to a controversial writer.Michael Wolff, a journalist who has written four books about Trump, claimed on a recent episode of the podcast "Inside Trump's Head" that Jared Kushner may have recently "played" the president in connection with their efforts to secure a Middle Eastern peace deal.In a piece called "How Jared Played Trump to Grease Own Pocket: Wolff," The Daily Beast quotes the writer in asserting "Kushner’s business connections and Trump manipulation may have cleared the way for a Gaza peace deal."The outlet further notes, "Donald Trump’s (so-far) successful plan to end the conflict in Gaza was orchestrated by Jared Kushner in a bid to make himself richer, according to Trump biographer Michael Wolff. Speaking on the Inside Trump’s Head podcast, Wolff outlined how Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, played Qatar and the president in order to further his own business interests."The article quotes Wolff as saying Kushner "craves influence in the Middle East. He craves business opportunities in the Middle East. He craves further, deeper relationships with the powerful people in the Middle East, all of which is helped by peace. So peace becomes a byproduct of business."The Beast continues:"Wolff believes Kushner, along with real estate developer and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, pressed their business connections with Middle Eastern royal families to broker the Israel and Hamas deal. On Friday, The New York Times reported on the extent of the pair’s involvement, which earned bipartisan praise."“The Qataris basically say... we will come down hard on Hamas,” added Wolff. “And remember, Israel attacked the Hamas negotiators, essentially the top Hamas leadership in Qatar. So they were completely freaked out about this. And I think they realized, this is not in our interest."Wolff himself has also been the source of some controversy. High-profile people like Tony Blair and Sean Hannity have denied quotes published by Wolff in his books.Read the full article here (subscription required).