Pa 30

No, this is not a firework display. This is Pa 30 — the likely remnant of the historic supernova witnessed in the year 1181, now captured here in unprecedented detail by the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by NSF NOIRLab. This image was captured with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS), and it shows that the remnant’s unmistakable firework-shaped ejecta take on a cascading knot-like structure.

GOP SHIT SHOW.....

GOP ads have yet to overwhelm voters, poll finds

More than 70% of poll respondents who had seen ads said they’d either seen more spots in support of Democrats or an equal amount between the parties over the past week, despite the GOP’s cash advantage.

Calen Razor

Republicans have a massive campaign cash advantage going into the final stretch before Election Day, but a new POLITICO poll shows they aren’t yet capturing voters’ attention.

More than 70% of poll respondents who had seen ads said they’d either seen more spots in support of Democrats or an equal amount between the parties over the past week — including ads on television, social media, or any other platform. Only 24% said they’d seen more ads for Republicans.

The numbers are striking considering Republican-aligned groups had triple the amount of cash on hand compared to their Democratic rivals going into the final months of the campaign. That figure includes the $400 million war chest that President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC reported over the summer, for which Dems have no equivalent.

Republicans have been racing to saturate key battlegrounds — and even some deep-red districts and states — with GOP messages in the final weeks before the midterms to counterbalance the favorable political environment for Democrats.

One reason GOP ad dollars could be getting less bang for their buck may lie in ad rates: direct campaign accounts from prolific individual fundraisers — Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff or Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, for example — can buy ads at cheaper rates.

Timing may be another reason: Trump’s super PAC waited until recent weeks to start buying ads through affiliate groups, when rates were already high close to the election.

“It’s competition that drives [rates] up to these ridiculous amounts, and then when super PACs come in late with these reservations, it’s even more than a two times disadvantage,” Jeff Burton, GOP campaign strategist and president of Maven Advocacy Partners said in an interview.

Burton said Republican candidates will need to rethink spending strategies to catch voters’ attention in the final stretch. Still, having a cash advantage might only take some so far, he said, citing the massive outspending Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed and Texas’ Ken Paxton overcame in their respective primaries.

“I think you’ll see a lot of these campaigns diversifying, paying for grassroots, paying for different mediums to try to reach voters,” Burton said.

The poll was conducted by surveying U.S. adults online between Oct. 3-5 with PF Global.

Crack down on kratom

GOP senators urge Trump administration to crack down on kratom

Lawmakers seek permanent federal restrictions on kratom, citing rising overdose and safety concerns.

Amanda Friedman

Three Republican senators want the Trump administration to tighten federal limits on kratom, a plant with opioid-like effects that’s become a popular ingredient in pain-relief and mood booster products sold in gas stations nationwide.

Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Lee of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine urged Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrance Cole and acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Kyle Diamantas to pursue permanent controls on kratom and its derivatives in a letter sent Wednesday.

“We encourage DEA, in consultation with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to consider scheduling the entire kratom plant,” they wrote.

The FDA and the DEA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The senators pressed the DEA to finalize its July proposed emergency scheduling order for 7-hydroxymitragynine, a chemical compound found in the kratom plant that has been commonly found in the products. The Department of Health and Human Services has linked 7-OH-containing products to a rise in overdose risks and emergency room visits and has pushed for it to be classified as a controlled substance.

“It is imperative that the final emergency scheduling order for 7-OH be expeditiously promulgated,” the lawmakers said.

They also called for the permanent scheduling of MGM-15, MGM-16 and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl — semisynthetic derivatives related to compounds found in kratom that have been found in certain wellness products. The Justice Department temporarily moved the three substances to Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act — the strictest drug classification — in August.

“Permanently placing all levels of these synthetic compounds into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act is an essential and necessary action to ensure the safety of kratom consumers and to keep products with compounds even more dangerous than 7-OH from widespread availability,” they wrote.

The lawmakers cited increasing poison-center reports and thousands of suspected nonfatal overdoses involving kratom or related compounds plus testimonies from “constituents and concerned parents who have lost loved ones” in their letter.

The DEA pitched placing kratom on Schedule I in 2016 but withdrew the proposal after facing significant backlash from scientists and some lawmakers.

There’s been renewed attention to kratom after federal prosecutors announced criminal charges earlier this month against smoke shop employees following the suspected overdose deaths of two University of Mississippi students. Investigators reported finding pills that were either kratom or synthetic kratom at both crime scenes.

Although the Trump administration has sought to rein in 7-OH and other kratom-related compounds, reporting from media outlets has chronicled a supportive relationship between the kratom industry and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement.

This year, the kratom supplement company Botanic Tonics donated $1 million to MAHA PAC, a political action committee tied to the Kennedy-backed coalition.

The kratom industry quickly criticized the senators’ letter. Mac Haddow, a senior fellow on public policy at the American Kratom Association — an advocacy group seeking to preserve legal access to certain kratom products — told POLITICO on Wednesday that the letter should be “retracted and clarified.”

“We do have a big hill to climb here to educate Congress,” Haddow said. “This letter undermines accuracy, good science and the right public policy.”

The lawmakers requested a response by Oct. 15.

He will be able to spend more time watching gay porn...

Mike Johnson voices uncertainty about his future if GOP loses control

“If we lose this majority or whatever, I don’t know what my next chapter of life is,” the speaker said.

By Elleiana Green and Mia McCarthy

Speaker Mike Johnson suggested that he could leave Congress if Democrats regain control — the furthest he has gone in acknowledging what he would do in a GOP House minority.

“Heaven forbid, if we lose this majority or whatever, I don’t know what my next chapter of life is,” Johnson said in an interview with Fox News posted this week. “If God moves on our hearts and says we should, you know, go back to my hometown of Shreveport and start a lawn business, I’ll do that with equal fervor.”

In the past, the Louisiana Republican has steered clear of the hypothetical.

Johnson also did not rule out a run at minority leader, instead telling Fox News that House Republicans will hold onto the majority and he will stay speaker.

“I’m going to be the speaker in the next Congress,” Johnson said, when asked if he would run. “I’m not going to talk about the scenario where we don’t win the House, because I am laser-focused on winning the House.”

With the midterms less than a month away, Republicans are doing everything they can to salvage their chances of maintaining their majority in an unfavorable political environment.

As some Republicans privately worry about their chances of holding onto the House, many believe jockeying for a GOP minority leader race is already underway.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan are potential names floating around to take over. House Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) had also been named as an option, though he could also run to stay as whip.

All three House Republicans have been campaigning across the country in the lead-up to the election. If Republicans lose the House, GOP members will begin the race for minority leader almost immediately when they return to Washington.

Not funny

 

Mideast turmoil

Voters have ‘had enough’ of Mideast turmoil. But the Houthi conflict is just getting started.

One U.S. senator is calling the Yemen and Iran conflicts a “full blown regional war.”

By Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing and Nahal Toosi

Saudi Arabia has no plans to consider a ceasefire with the Houthis until it regains recently lost territory in Yemen — making it likely the fight will escalate ahead of midterm elections in which Middle East conflict and oil prices are on the ballot.

The Saudis don’t want to look weak, and they worry the Yemeni militant group would use any pause to seize more territory, according to half a dozen people tuned into Riyadh’s thinking, including regional officials. Some were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters.

The Iranian-backed Houthis have been in a fight with Yemen’s government for more than a decade and control a substantial part of the country, including the capital city of Sana’a. Though a 2022 ceasefire tamped down fighting, the conflict has intensified in recent months. The Houthis seized strategic land along the Red Sea in September, and the Yemen-aligned Saudis launched an offensive this week to reclaim that territory and wrest back control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — a key transit point for Saudi oil.

Continued fighting means it will be risky for ships to cross the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea for the foreseeable future — adding to the pressure on global oil and other commerce already strained from the U.S.-Iran standoff over the Strait of Hormuz. And that’s bad news for GOP candidates or anyone else hoping for economic turmoil to ease before November.

Even if U.S. voters don’t know the intricacies of the Houthi conflict, they will respond to the ensuing market reaction, said Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett. The Houthis had already instituted a naval blockade against Saudi ships and knocked a crucial Saudi oil pipeline offline before the latest round of strikes.

“A lot of people are like, ‘Whose side are we on here? I don’t care. I’ve had enough of it. I care about affordability and the price of gas,’” said Bartlett, a former appointee to the State Department in the first Trump administration. President Donald Trump’s popularity has nosedived as a result of his handling of the Iran war and the surging gasoline prices that have followed.

While the U.S. is aiding the Saudis behind the scenes, Trump has declined to order U.S. airstrikes against the Houthi rebels.

As long as the Houthis are “holding this territory along the Bab el-Mandeb, and they’re firing rockets and drones towards Saudi Arabia, I think the Saudis can’t even talk about deescalating,” Michael Ratney, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said in an interview while in Riyadh this week.

A person familiar with United Nations negotiations on Yemen voiced the same sentiment: “It’s impossible to say when this is going to end.”

Even though the White House isn’t directly engaged, voters are likely to lump the Yemen conflict together with the unpopular Iran war, argued GOP strategist Alex Conant. And given years-old military ties between Iran and the Houthis, the odds are rising that the two wars will grow more entangled.

“They’re going to own it, whether they like it or not,” Conant said of Republicans going into the midterms. While Trump has tried to lower prices through other means, such as pressuring the G7 to release stockpiles of oil, there’s ultimately not much the White House can do to deflect, Conant added.

Saudi Arabia’s reluctance to pursue a quick diplomatic end to the conflict is all but guaranteed to worsen the global energy market, according to Brett Erickson, managing principal of the consulting firm Obsidian Risk Advisors.

It’s “a remarkably dangerous gamble” on the Saudi’s part, Erickson said, adding that “Saudi Arabia has demonstrated remarkably little ability to prevent the Houthis from striking critical energy infrastructure across the kingdom.”

Riyadh’s oil exports have already taken a hit because of the naval blockade the Houthis declared against Saudi Arabia in July. According to maritime intelligence firm Windward, Saudi-flagged ships have stopped crossing the strait almost entirely since July, and tanker transits dropped by more than a quarter.

But the Houthis have used prior ceasefires to rebuild their arsenal.

A regional official, granted anonymity to disclose sensitive thinking, said “negotiations that merely give the Houthis time to regroup, rearm and prepare their next escalation are not peace.”

Any future peace agreement must include “credible guarantees,” “clear obligations” and effective enforcement mechanisms, the official added. Even if Riyadh were inclined to take a diplomatic route, those goals could be hard to achieve quickly.

A Houthi official did not reply to a request for comment. The Saudi Embassy in Washington declined to comment.

The United States is providing intelligence to the Saudis, including targeting information on Houthi locations, and air refueling for Saudi planes on defensive patrols, two U.S. officials familiar with the situation confirmed. More than 200 U.S. intelligence and military analysts are part of the effort.

But the U.S. has not carried out its own strikes against the Houthis. Trump appears wary of breaking a truce with the Houthis that he reached last year after a major U.S. military operation against the group had limited impact. The Houthis have promised not to fire on American ships in the region amid their latest offensive against Saudi Arabia.

Still, Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted this week that the U.S. “has a defense and security agreement with Saudi Arabia and we intend to live by it.”

The White House declined to comment on its plans on the Houthi conflict.

It’s an awkward balance for Washington, which must weigh its defense commitments to Saudi allies against the repercussions of getting dragged into yet another military conflict — especially while the Iran war remains unresolved.

The Saudis have, in the meantime, activated a recently formed defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey known as the Mecca Alliance. In a vague joint statement on Monday, the group suggested that Turkish and Pakistani troops might join the Saudi effort, though it was not clear in exactly what capacity.

The Houthis claim they abandoned the 2022 truce because Saudi Arabia did not live up to its agreement to lift a blockade on Yemen. The rebel movement, inspired by the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam, also says it is angry over Saudi airstrikes against the Sana’a airport in July, which came as an Iranian plane was about to land.

But current and former U.S. and foreign officials dismiss some of the Houthi grievances, saying, for instance, that the Saudis had significantly eased the blockade in recent years. The big difference today is that the Iran war has badly damaged Saudi ability to export oil, making the kingdom appear vulnerable and the Houthis believing they had leverage.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a vocal critic of Trump’s foreign policy, met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh this week. He told reporters afterward that not only is Riyadh trying to take back territory the Houthis snatched, but the Saudis could be looking to push farther.

“It just creates a risk that this is going to be another long military engagement inside Yemen with massive consequences,” Murphy said. In a social media post Tuesday, Murphy called the overall situation a “full blown regional war.”

Murphy — alongside Senate Democrats more generally — has opposed adding U.S. airstrikes to the Saudi campaign against the Houthis, but several other lawmakers have said they’re at least open to the idea.

“I don’t think you rule out options,” Republican North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven told POLITICO last week. “We don’t want them choking off trade in the Red Sea,” he said of the Houthis.

The person familiar with the U.N. negotiations on Yemen said the Saudis had wanted to wait for the Iran conflict to stabilize or come to a resolution before pursuing more in-depth talks with the Houthis about the future of Yemen. But the Houthis escalated instead.

Kristin Smith Diwan, a Middle East analyst who is in regular touch with Gulf Arab officials, said even if there are no negotiations anytime soon, there are almost always backchannel contacts between the various players in the Yemen conflict.

“It’s a bit of a continuum,” Diwan said. But overall, the situation is “dangerous because these things can always escalate in unpredictable ways.”

Among those most in danger are millions of Yemeni civilians. They have endured brutal hardships, including widespread displacement and hunger, since the war’s origins in 2014. According to U.N. humanitarian officials, cases of cholera are on the rise and 21,000 people have been displaced in the past week alone.

Do you really believe him?????

‘Not great, not terrible’: Why nobody trusts Russia to tell the truth about plague

Moscow’s historical lack of transparency feeds concerns about the incident in Irkutsk.

By Claudia Chiappa

As whispers circulate of plague in faraway Siberia, it’s worth remembering that Russian obfuscation is so ingrained that it’s become a meme.

In HBO’s dramatized 2019 series about the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, a Russian atomic scientist scoffs at a radiation reading that suggests a major calamity is taking place. 

“Not great, not terrible,” says the fictionalized version of Anatoly Dyatlov, the real-life deputy chief engineer at Chernobyl in April 1986, as he looks at a dosimeter noting 3.6 roentgen per hour, just below a critical radiation level. 

Except that reading was not accurate. Not even close. The nuclear reactor had already exploded and unleashed catastrophic levels of radiation that would go on to cause thousands of cancer-related deaths in the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history.

While dramatized, the scene is emblematic of a long-standing Soviet and Russian desire to downplay critical incidents — and even cover them up. That pattern has flared this week, with senior world health officials, the European Union and U.S. President Donald Trump demanding that Moscow be more transparent about a suspected outbreak of plague in far eastern Russia.

In dark comedic twist in the face of the potential plague, Dyatlov’s dismissive remark is now ubiquitous. Not great, not terrible. 

Into the unknown

The death of a 28-year-old employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East last week triggered unease across the globe due to her laboratory work — and a local Russian official linking her death to a case of plague.

Russia was quick to clamp down. Rospotrebnadzor, the country’s national public health agency, said that the employee died from “pneumonia of unknown etiology” and that no microorganisms associated with her work were identified in the patient sample.

Still, Russian health authorities placed nearly 200 people under supervision and local media reported that several hospitals were placed under quarantine. Rospotrebnadzor said Thursday these measures were taken due to “the patient's professional activities.”

The World Health Organization, which leads global response to international health threats, got in touch with Russian health authorities on Oct. 3. It requested more information using one of the tools laid out in the International Health Regulations, which Russia is signed up to. Under the IHR, countries have 24 hours to respond to the WHO — though Russia sent its response on Oct. 6.

Russian authorities said that “no case of plague had recently been registered in Irkutsk” and “no pathogens of dangerous infectious diseases were detected among any of the contacts.”

As of Thursday, Russian health authorities maintain that there is no “epidemic risk” in the region. Rospotrebnadzor said that it had concluded health inspections and found “no emergency situations involving pathogenic microorganisms.” It had also completed monitoring of 90% of the contacts, without identifying any infections, the agency added. Simultaneously, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov slammed media reports about the case as false and said Russia has been communicating with global health authorities.

Yet the WHO insists there’s still much left unknown about the events inside Russia.

“We don’t know exactly how this person died,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic management, during a press briefing Wednesday. “We know that she had pneumonia. We know it was a fatal case. We understand that some laboratory tests have been done. They haven’t found the causative agent. This is why we need more information.”

The WHO said it requested further details on what laboratory tests were conducted, which pathogens were evaluated, which further analyses are being done to determine the patient’s cause of death — if not plague — along with more details on any potential lab incident and the 200 contacts.

Until those questions are answered, it’s impossible for the WHO to conduct a risk assessment.

“We don't yet have the full picture of this event, and we are not able to conduct a full risk assessment,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organization’s director-general. “Timely, complete, and transparent information sharing under the international regulations is essential to clarify conflicting reports and enable an accurate assessment of potential public health risks.”

Omertà in Russian

It might be that the cause of death of the 28-year-old lab worker is not, in fact, plague. 

But Russia’s incomplete, late and hazy communication about the case is fomenting fears and uncertainty from Geneva to Brussels to Washington. It would also not be the first time the Kremlin has downplayed or attempted to cover up public health threats.  

That goes beyond the Soviet-era Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, in what is now northern Ukraine, where the Kremlin was slow to take action and effectively denied the cause of the incident.

In 1979, according to an investigation by U.S. scientists, the Soviet Union covered up a deadly anthrax outbreak in the city of Sverdlovsk, now Yekaterinburg, which killed at least 66 people. Officials said the victims had fallen ill from eating contaminated meat, when in reality they had been exposed to anthrax because of an accident at a secret biological weapons lab.

Russia was also accused of covering up a mysterious 1988 alopecia outbreak in Chernivtsi region, in which more than 175 children lost their hair. Soviet authorities said the children suffered from thallium food poisoning, but later studies raised questions about that, with some suggesting the cause was hydrazine, or acid rain.

Over the years, the Kremlin has also dismissed, downplayed and underreported HIV cases, even while in the middle of a deadly epidemic. And, more recently, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia was accused of downplaying coronavirus deaths, particularly at the beginning. 

The tradition extends beyond public health. The 1999 apartment block bombings, the 2000 sinking of the Kursk submarine and the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 by Kremlin-backed separatists all raised questions over Russia's public messaging and commitment to transparency.

Talks with Putin

The EU and the U.S. are monitoring the Irkutsk situation closely, with both seemingly growing impatient with Russia’s communication. 

“The whole world is waiting for the information from Russia,” said European Commission spokesperson Eva Hrncirova on Thursday.

“Russia should make information about the plague available as soon as possible,” she told reporters. “We need information from Russia. It’s linked to the Russian membership in the WHO Europe, sharing timely, precise, exact information so that the experts can assess the situation, because [it] can have cross-border implications.”

The European Commission’s directorate-general for health and food safety is planning to send a technical letter to Russia asking for more information, a Commission spokesperson confirmed.

In the meantime, Russia’s “patchy” communication is dangerous, said a Commission official, granted anonymity to speak candidly on the matter.

“This fuels speculation into all directions. It also renders preventive [and] precautionary action difficult, if not even meaningless,” the official said. These types of events happen all the time, but there is usually an exchange with the WHO and health authorities, the person added. “The lack of precise [and] reliable info is logically reducing adequate good preparedness.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday urged Russia to share more information, adding that it would be “irresponsible” to speculate until then. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the U.S. sent a formal diplomatic message to Russia requesting more information about the woman’s death and reminding the Kremlin that it has obligations under international law to share information about disease outbreaks in a timely manner.

U.S. President Donald Trump even said Tuesday he had a "call scheduled" with Russian President Vladimir Putin "very soon" to discuss the situation. 

But, by Thursday, the two leaders were yet to talk, with Trump noting that Russia was “not saying much.” 

He still planned to talk to Putin soon, he added.

Visa crackdown risks driving talent abroad

Tech industry warns Trump’s visa crackdown risks driving talent abroad

A move to suspend Microsoft, Adobe and other tech firms from a key permanent residency program could threaten America’s ability to retain top workers, according to four industry representatives.

By Katherine Long

The Trump administration’s push to suspend eight technology companies from a key green-card program that allows skilled workers to obtain permanent residency could undermine its own push to make the U.S. a global leader in innovation, four tech industry representatives have warned.

The companies, including Microsoft, Adobe and six IT services firms, can no longer use the Labor Department’s Permanent Labor Certification, or PERM, program to sponsor workers for permanent residency. Vice President JD Vance, speaking at a press conference on Thursday alongside Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling and other administration officials, accused Microsoft of abusing the program by prioritizing foreign workers over Americans.

“Highly skilled workers are an economic asset,” Daniel Castro, president of tech policy think tank Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said in a statement. “If the United States makes it harder for them to stay, it is not eliminating the competition for their talent — it is handing that talent to countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom, along with the jobs, tax revenue, and innovation those workers generate.”

The suspension is the latest step in Trump’s effort to restrict employment-based immigration, a push that has put the administration at odds with parts of the tech industry even as it courts companies as partners in its push for U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence. In September, the White House attempted to extend a $100,000 fee it imposed on new H-1B visas, though the action is facing multiple legal challenges.

The Trump administration also announced Thursday that it would probe nine universities to evaluate whether they may be committing fraud with a visa program that allows noncitizens to study and conduct research or graduate work on a J-1 visa.

A spokesperson for the vice president’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

A policy specialist at a major tech firm, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, referred to the suspension of firms’ access to PERM as another example of the White House’s “Jekyll and Hyde” approach to tech policy. The decision resembles the administration’s consideration to impose sweeping new tariffs on semiconductors, despite warnings from the industry that it could impede U.S. AI innovation.

“We’re going to see these types of workers, who would have traditionally come to the United States, create something wonderful in other parts of the world,” the person said. “And that’ll be pretty disappointing to the United States.”

One tech industry representative working on K Street, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said such measures would likely hit technology workers who have already worked in the U.S. for a significant period of time, and questioned whether this would make it harder to retain top talent from abroad.

“[W]e’re not just talking about bringing in new workers, we’re talking about people who’ve spent years working in the U.S. building careers, paying taxes, contributing to the economy, and building community with expectation there’s a path to staying permanently,” the person said.

Speaking at the Thursday press conference, Vance singled out Microsoft for its use of the visa program, accusing the company of fraud and pointing to the company’s decision to lay off thousands of employees earlier this year.

A spokesperson for the company said Microsoft would provide the White House with more information on the immigration status of its employees, emphasizing that the company “only files H-1B petitions for those who meet the rigorous standards of this visa category” and visa holders are paid the same as other employees doing “comparable work.”

The administration’s decision came just hours before Trump awarded Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Nadella was one of a handful of leading tech executives who were honored during a White House summit on the “golden age” of technology.

Nadella, who has led Microsoft since 2014, was born in Hyderabad, India, and later moved to the U.S. for graduate school.

“It doesn’t make sense to celebrate the talent and punish the companies that bring it here,” said Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of the left-leaning tech lobby group Chamber of Progress.

People with little dicks should not be in charge...

Dutch PM slams ‘absurd’ US decision to livestream execution

The U.S. military is planning to broadcast a public execution on Dec. 3, but violent content must be moderated by social media platforms under EU law.

By Sonja Rijnen and Eliza Gkritsi

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten sharply criticized Friday the U.S.’s decision to publicly livestream an execution, labeling it “absurd.”

“Personally, I find it truly absurd to broadcast a death penalty execution live,” Jetten told reporters at a press conference in The Hague. “I haven’t discussed this with the U.S. myself recently, but I can imagine that if there is contact with them, for instance, at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we would certainly make our dissatisfaction known,” he added.

The U.S. military plans to carry out a public execution for the first time in recent history, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 3. The Pentagon has said his death will be livestreamed, but has not provided details on which social media platforms would be used, if any.

Jetten said social media platforms in Europe have a responsibility to ensure the execution is not broadcast on the continent.

“As far as I’m concerned, it is really up to the social media platforms in Europe to prevent this from being circulated and broadcast on their channels. But I fear it will be impossible to prevent,” he said.

Jetten added that if the execution does appear on European social media, there will be “a great number of reports filed,” as violent content must be moderated by social media platforms under European law.

“Video-sharing platforms that allow video content displaying scenes of gratuitous violence must use effective age assurance so that children cannot normally see this content,” a spokesperson for the Irish Media Commission told POLITICO. This means platforms can show violent content as long as they ensure it doesn’t reach minors.

The media regulator is currently investigating X over possible breaches in online safety rules for failing to carry out proper age checks.

The UN has said livestreaming an execution would amount to torture. “The livestreaming of an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture,” the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights told AFP.

The body said its statement is in line with previous ones it has released about public executions in Afghanistan and Iran.

The European Commission did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.

Curb hybrid car exports

EU and China clinch deal to curb hybrid car exports

Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič says the agreement could prevent millions of Chinese vehicles from entering the European market over the next four years.

By Carlo Martuscelli and Camille Gijs

The European Union and China reached an agreement on Friday that will curb China’s booming hybrid car exports, delivering a breakthrough in negotiations aimed at rebalancing their trade relationship.

The announcement came as Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič wrapped up two days of talks in Beijing, the culmination of a push launched in June to narrow the bloc’s €1 billion-a-day trade deficit with China. 

The deal marks a win for the EU executive, which has been under pressure to secure concessions from Beijing. Going into the talks, France and Germany strengthened Šefčovič’s hand by calling for the EU to take tough action on trade if China failed to curb a growing export glut.

Speaking in Beijing, the commissioner said the two sides had reached an agreement that would help to shield European automakers from low-price Chinese competition. He declined to enter into specifics before EU leaders officially mandate the EU executive to move forward. 

“We have reached a shared understanding to moderate China’s export of hybrids and plug-in hybrids to the European Union. This opens the prospect of cutting China’s exports by more than a half,” Šefčovič told reporters. 

The estimate was based on projections of how Chinese exports would grow over the next four years without the agreement. In practical terms, it would mean that “several millions of car exports from China to the European Union” would be prevented, he explained.

China’s Commerce Ministry highlighted the understanding on hybrids in a parallel 16-point statement, but offered no details on how exports would be restrained. It said the two sides “will continue to strengthen communication and cooperation under the trade monitoring mechanism and further leverage dialogue mechanisms to enhance mutual understanding.” 

Šefčovič declined to elaborate when asked whether the deal would allow the EU to impose safeguards — a mixture of import quotas and tariffs — a step that Brussels has been considering. He said the arrangement would comply with the rules of the World Trade Organization.

First step

Šefčovič said that Beijing had also agreed to lower duties on European goods worth €4 billion, ranging from olive oil to footwear, a move that would save exporters €225 million. 

“It is a crucial first step,” he said. “But only a first step in the process of rebalancing.” 

The Slovak commissioner said he would report back to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, along with EU leaders, when they meet for a summit in Brussels next Thursday.

He had focused on cars as a key deliverable going into meetings in Beijing with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Vice Prime Minister He Lifeng.

Chinese auto exports to Europe have been booming, accounting in August for one in eight cars sold in the bloc — mainly driven by sales of hybrids. Europe’s own automotive industry is feeling the pressure, with Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz recently announcing job cuts and plant closures.

Aside from the deal on hybrids, Beijing said in its statement that it was “willing to continue” fast-tracking licenses to export rare earth elements to the EU. Automakers had been forced to shut down assembly lines after China temporarily restricted exports in response to U.S. tariffs last year. China dominates the production and processing of rare earths.

“We have reached a shared understanding to further facilitate China’s export licensing for rare earths and permanent magnets,” Šefčovič said. 

Road ahead

Brussels sees the agreement on hybrid electric vehicles as a blueprint that could be replicated to shield further EU sectors currently under strain, such as chemicals or machinery. The two sides plan to meet again in March 2027, and will hold a video call in January. 

The agreement on one of the EU’s top negotiating targets significantly reduces the risk of an escalation in trade tensions that could have led to a tit-for-tat round of retaliation. It remains to be seen whether the EU will act swiftly on the Franco-German call to empower Brussels to shut out exports from countries that destabilize its single market.

“Public opinion and the leaders clearly expect very fast action from our side. I am glad to say that the Chinese partners appreciated this very strong political argument, and therefore, we can proceed through the negotiated solution,” said Šefčovič.

Other areas of agreement include exploring easier market access for European medical devices, as well as promises by Beijing to scale back sweeping disease-control measures that have restricted European meat and livestock exports. 

While the deal will cool the most immediate tensions, a wider resolution to the economic imbalances that fueled the conflict remains distant. The EU’s trade deficit with China totaled nearly €360 billion in 2025, and is already up 12 percent so far this year.  

China’s automotive exports to the EU, which totaled €15.1 billion last year, are only a fraction of that.