In new book, Kamala Harris says it was reckless to let Biden make reelection decision on his own

Source: CNN

“In retrospect,” Kamala Harris writes of letting Joe and Jill Biden decide on their own whether the then-president should have tried to run for re-election, “I think it was recklessness.”

That is the assessment that the former vice president makes in her forthcoming memoir of her abbreviated 2024 run, in a significant break from the dutiful stance she took toward her old boss throughout their time in office and since.

“‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized,” Harris writes in the first excerpt of “107 Days” published Wednesday morning by The Atlantic. “The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”

Part of the problem, Harris writes, was a Biden team so committed to not helping her that she says it ultimately came at his own, and the country’s expense.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/politics/kamala-harris-book-107-days-biden

Top Florida official says 'Alligator Alcatraz' will likely be empty within days, email shows

Source: Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A top Florida official says the controversial state-run immigration detention facility in the Everglades will likely be empty in a matter of days, even as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration and the federal government fight a judge’s order to shutter the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by late October. That’s according to an email exchange shared with The Associated Press.

In a message sent to South Florida Rabbi Mario Rojzman on Aug. 22 related to providing chaplaincy services at the facility, Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie said “we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days.” Rojzman, and the executive assistant who sent the original email to Guthrie, both confirmed the veracity of the messages to the AP.

A spokesperson for Guthrie, whose agency has overseen the construction and operation of the site, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

News that the last detainee at “Alligator Alcatraz” could leave the facility within days came less than a week after a federal judge in Miami ordered the detention center to wind down operations, with the last detainee needing to be out within 60 days. The state of Florida appealed the decision, and the federal government asked U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams to put her order on hold pending the appeal, saying that the Everglades facility’s thousands of beds were badly needed since detention facilities in Florida were overcrowded.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/florida-immigration-detention-center-desantis-alligator-alcatraz-f36fd04c18635eb7938a9ec26a31e92e?taid=68af37e234952200019238d2&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter

DOJ fires sandwich thrower after he's charged with assaulting officer in Washington, D.C.

Source: CNBC

The man facing a felony federal assault charge for allegedly chucking a Subway sandwich at a U.S.

Customs and Border Protection agent in Washington, D.C., was an employee at the Department of Justice, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday.

The man, identified in court documents as Sean Charles Dunn, has been fired, she said.

Dunn worked in the DOJ criminal division’s international affairs section.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/14/sandwich-washington-doj-subway-bondi-.html

UCLA to pay $6.45 million to settle suit by Jewish students over pro-Palestinian protests

Source: LA Times

UCLA has agreed to pay $6.45 million to settle a lawsuit brought by three Jewish students and a medical school professor who alleged the university violated their civil rights and enabled antisemitic actions during a pro-Palestinian campus encampment hit with violence in spring 2024.

Each plaintiff will receive $50,000. About $2.3 million will be donated to eight groups that work with Jewish communities or issues. Another $230,000 will be directed to a UCLA initiative to combat antisemitism, and the rest of the funds will go toward the legal fees.

As part the deal, UCLA has also agreed that it is “prohibited from knowingly allowing or facilitating the exclusion of Jewish students, faculty, and/or staff from ordinarily available portions of UCLA’s programs, activities, and/or campus areas.” This provision extends to any actions taken on campus, including measures to de-escalate tensions during a protest, for instance, and it includes “exclusion ... based on religious beliefs concerning the Jewish state of Israel.”

That agreement, which would be in effect for 15 years, is awaiting approval from U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi, who is overseeing the case.

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-07-29/ucla-settles-lawsuit-jewish-students

Texas Sen. Angela Paxton files for divorce from Attorney General Ken Paxton, court records show

Source: CBS News

State Sen. Angela Paxton, the wife of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, has filed for divorce from her husband, according to Collin County court records.

The couple has been married for 38 years, including during Paxton's 2023 impeachment trial.

The senator said she filed for divorce on "biblical grounds," according a post on her X account. She filed on Thursday, court records show.

"I believe marriage is a sacred covenant and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation," she wrote on social media. "But in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage. I move forward with complete confidence that God is always working everything together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/texas-sen-angela-paxton-divorce-ag-ken-paxton/

Supreme Court Clears Way for Mass Firings at Federal Agencies

Source: New York Times

The Trump administration can move forward with plans to slash the federal work force and dismantle federal agencies, the Supreme Court announced on Tuesday. The decision could result in job losses for tens of thousands of employees at agencies including the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, State and Treasury.

The order, which lifted a lower court’s ruling that had blocked mass layoffs, was unsigned and did not include a vote count. That is typical in such emergency applications. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a public dissent.

The case represents a key test of the extent of President Trump’s power to reorganize the government without input from Congress. The justices’ order is technically only temporary, guiding how the administration can proceed while the challenge to Mr. Trump’s plans continues. But in practice, it means he is free to pursue his restructuring plans, even if judges later determine that they exceed presidential power.

In a two-paragraph order, the justices wrote that they had concluded that “the government is likely to succeed on its argument” that President Trump’s executive order announcing plans to downsize the government was legal. The justices added that they had not expressed a view on the legality of specific layoffs or reorganizations by the Trump administration.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/us/politics/supreme-court-federal-workers-layoffs.html

Trump announces Israel and Iran have agreed on a ceasefire

Source: CBS News

President Trump announced Monday that Israel and Iran have agreed on a "Complete and Total" ceasefire, a move he said would end a more than week-long conflict between the two countries.

The ceasefire will start in about six hours, and after 12 hours, the "War will be considered, ENDED," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, indicating that the ceasefire would begin at midnight ET.

"Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World," the president said.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-israel-iran-ceasefire/

Trump Voter Screams as Husband is Arrested by ICE

David Hogg will not run for DNC post again after party orders redo of vice chair elections

Source: NBC News

Progressive activist David Hogg said he won’t seek to continue his role as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, after the DNC called for a redo of the February election that elevated him to the post.

Shortly after the DNC announced it would hold hold new elections Thursday for two vice chair positions currently held by Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta as a result of a procedural challenge, Hogg announced he would not be a candidate.

The decision comes amid a public spat with the DNC and its chairman, Ken Martin, over Hogg’s decision to support primary challenges to Democratic incumbents, a spat that loomed over the vote even though it was not directly related to the challenge that ultimately led to the party to call for a new election.

Hogg made the announcement in a lengthy statement that criticized the Democratic Party for a lack of vision and a refusal to pass the torch to the next generation. But his discussion the DNC and the vice-chair specifically was more muted.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/david-hogg-dnc-vice-chair-vote-malcolm-kenyatta-rcna212023

Rep. Mikie Sherrill wins Democratic nomination for NJ governor

Source: Politico

Democrats chose Rep. Mikie Sherrill as their nominee for governor of New Jersey, as the party attempts to defy odds by holding onto the governorship for a third term in a row.

The Associated Press called the race just under an hour after polls closed. The four-term member of Congress prevailed in the crowded Democratic primary field on Tuesday to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy. She’ll face Republican Jack Ciattarelli, setting up a high-stakes battle of two party establishment favorites.

Both sides acknowledge that November’s election will be competitive. Although the electorate does favor Democrats, it’s been decades since Democrats have won the governorship three terms in a row in the Garden State. But in recent history, the candidate of the party opposite of the one that controls the White House typically wins the race for governor.

Still, Republicans are emboldened by President Donald Trump’s closer-than-expected loss in New Jersey last November, as well as the gains they’ve made to cut into Democrats’ voter registration advantage. And Republicans argue it helps that they have a candidate with high name ID: Ciattarelli ran for governor two times prior and narrowly lost to Murphy in 2021.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/10/mikie-sherrill-democratic-nomination-for-governor-00398832