Afghan Facts

Via Brad

Polls

 

 CIVIQS - According to a new state-by-state breakdown, Trump's approval ratings remain positive in several Republican-dominated states, with the highest net approvals in Wyoming (+34 percent), West Virginia (+27 percent), Idaho (+23 percent), North Dakota (+18 percent), Montana (+17 percent), and Oklahoma (+17 percent). 

In these states, Trump's base remains strong, continuing the trend seen in earlier periods of his presidency. 

Other states posting positive net ratings include Alabama (+16 percent), South Dakota (+16 percent), Arkansas (+14 percent), Kentucky (+12 percent), and Utah (+12 percent).

Conversely, the president is experiencing significant disapproval in historically Democratic states, according to the polling.

Hawaii reports a net approval of -55 percent, Vermont sits at -50 percent, Maryland at -44 percent, Massachusetts at -42 percent, California and Rhode Island at -40 percent, and Washington and Oregon at -36 percent. 

In populous states such as New York (-32 percent) and Illinois (-29 percent), the figures further reinforce national partisan divides.

Donald Trump participates in a video call with military service members from Mar-a-Lago on November 27, 2025.

The battleground states that determined the 2024 election present a challenging landscape for the administration. 

Trump's net approval stands at -12 percent in Arizona, -13 percent in Pennsylvania, -15 percent in Michigan and Nevada, -14 percent in Georgia, -11 percent in Wisconsin, and -8 percent in North Carolina. 

Florida, Texas, and Ohio are all at -6 percent, maintaining the pattern of net-negative standings in all major swing states.

 

Study Finds -  Eighty-one percent of dog owners genuinely believe it was fate that matched them with their pet, according to a Talker Research survey of 2,000 dog owners conducted in September 2025. The data backs up this feeling. Three out of four pet parents say their dog’s personality mirrors their own, particularly when it comes to energy levels, how they interact socially, and emotional sensitivity.

The connection between owner and dog personalities appears strongest along the introvert-extrovert spectrum. People who identify as extroverts were more than twice as likely to have outgoing dogs compared to introverts (38% versus 19%). Meanwhile, introverts were far more likely to describe their pets as shy, cautious, or quiet.

Extroverted owners were more likely to describe their dogs as friendly, affectionate, and energetic. They were also more than twice as likely to say their dog has an outgoing personality. Introverted owners more often described their pets as stubborn, calm, and easygoing. They were also more likely to characterize their dogs as shy, cautious, or quiet.

 

How capitalism really works

ProudSocialist posted: The average American household owes:

$10,000 in credit card debt
$18,660 in medical debt
$22,612 in auto loans
$58,957 in student loan debt
$241,840 in mortgage debt

If only men voted in our elections

Just wondering

Sam Smith -  When will Donald Trump force the deportation of Mrs. Trump as part of his war on dangerous immigrants?

Making Granola Helps Refugees Learn Job Skills and Find Community

 

Nice News - For most, granola is simply a snack, enjoyed atop a morning bowl of yogurt or when the midday munchies hit. For refugees working with Beautiful Day, though, it’s a pathway to a better life. By teaching these individuals to make and package granola, the Rhode Island-based nonprofit helps equip them with the skills they need to find steady employment.
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Eighty million people are displaced worldwide, according to Beautiful Day. Many U.S. refugees face significant challenges integrating into civilian life: minimal transferable skills, potential trauma from their home countries, and the inability to speak English well.
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Through its Kitchen/Production Program, Beautiful Day pays adults to work in its Providence kitchen for four months, preparing and packaging granola as well as other specialty foods. This helps teach them English along with essential job and life skills, like confidence and teamwork, with resounding success: Over 70% of graduates have found permanent employment. Since Beautiful Day became a nonprofit in 2012, it’s trained more than 400 refugees from 14 countries.
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“Beautiful Day is not an ‘us-them’ endeavor. We’re in it together,” Executive Director Keith Cooper tells Nice News. “We’re providing job training, job skills, and an introduction to the American workplace culture. Our trainees, who are mostly recent arrivals, bring determination and grit, an eagerness to learn, and a critical need to get a job. The result is pretty fun.”

Meanwhile. . .

About 46 million people remain under winter weather alerts, as two weather systems threaten to disrupt post-Thanksgiving travel with chilly temperatures, heavy snow and dangerous driving conditions.

Donald Trump

The Guardian - Trump says he plans to cancel most of Biden’s executive orders

Photos of newsrooms

 

Trump regime halts visas for Afghan nationals

The Hill -  The State Department has paused visas for Afghan nationals after two National Guard members from West Virginia were shot close to the White House.

“The Department of State has IMMEDIATELY paused visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports. The Department is taking all necessary steps to protect U.S. national security and public safety,” the State Department said in a post on the social platform X Friday evening.

ICE Terrorizing Chicago’s Working Class

In These Times -  When federal immigration agents thread through her Chicago neighborhood and circle above her home in a helicopter, Araceli hides with her husband. ?“You hear the whistles,” she says through an interpreter. ?“You hear the people yelling, ?‘Don’t go out! Stay inside! There’s immigration here!’ ” 

Sometimes they are forced to hide for days. 

“It’s alarming, it’s not normal, it’s like being in a crisis,” explains Araceli, who is 55 and originally from Mexico City, though she has lived in Chicago for 30 years. That means Araceli often misses work as an apartment cleaner and her husband misses work in construction.

When it’s not safe to leave, she and her husband rely on their two adult children to bring them food. And then, when missed work means missed pay, they rely on their children to help with the rent.

“What harm have we caused in this country?” asks Araceli, who is using a pseudonym to protect her safety, tears streaming down her face. ?“Do we really deserve this?”

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

NBC News  -  The Trump administration’s plan to redefine what constitutes a professional degree would exclude nursing and limit access to student loans — outraging national health care groups and leaving nursing students questioning how they will pay for graduate degrees.

Previously, graduate students could borrow federal loans up to the cost of their degree, but under the new proposal, there would be caps on loans based on whether students are enrolled in a program that is considered professional or not.

The change stems from President Donald Trump’s “one big beautiful bill,” the U.S. Department of Education said in a Nov. 6 news release. Students in graduate programs will now be capped at $20,500 per year with a lifetime limit of $100,000.

For students seeking a professional degree, loan limits are higher, at $50,000 per year, with a lifetime limit of $200,000, the news release states. The Education Department’s list of professional degrees includes pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry and theology.

Undergraduate students will not be affected by the new lending limits. 

Climate change

Texas Workers Keep Dying in the Heat

Inside Climate News -  An Inside Climate News investigation has identified more than a dozen journalists who have faced retaliation for reporting on environmental destruction and human rights abuses tied to China’s ventures in African countries, likely a stark undercount. Many of those cases involve projects under Beijing’s $1.3 trillion Belt and Road Initiative, a massive investment effort into mines, ports, railways, pipelines and other infrastructure in mostly poor countries.

When a project carries political weight for both the Chinese government and local authorities, that’s often when repression happens, according to Sarah Cook, author of the UnderReported China newsletter who has studied the country’s media influence operations for more than 15 years. 

“If there are muckraking journalists or whistleblowers who might expose environmental issues, it could potentially be in the interest of both the local actors and the Chinese-linked ones to put a stop to that,” Cook said.

That suppression hides or sanitizes environmental and human rights abuses, even as Chinese President Xi Jinping promotes the Belt and Road Initiative as a model of “green” development and positions China as a global climate leader.

China’s media influence campaign targets a continent crucial to the planet’s climate and ecological balance. Africa is home to the world’s second-largest rainforest, vast carbon-rich peatlands and a quarter of all mammal species, including endangered mountain gorillas, pangolins and chimpanzees. Its degradation threatens not only 1.5 billion Africans, but also Earth itself.

The problem is not just Trump

Sam Smith – Our problem is not just that Trump is our president but also a lying, manipulating, self-absorbed convicted felon. Part of our problem is how did this happen?

There are a few factors we don’t deal with enough. The first being the role of various media in creating our presumed realty. A recent report by Pew Research Center found that 56% of American adults get their news mainly from digital devices. Only 32% use TV and 11% radio. And the once major source  of news – i.e. newspapers and magazines – only get 7% of the public’s attention.

Given the vast difference in standards between, say, a biased internet news site and the New York Times it is not hard to see how the effect of news has changed with time.

Another major factor that hardly gets discussed is the relationship of community in our society.  If you examine the culture of media, education, and business there is little doubt that priority is given to individual achievement and power over what we can do together. We are trained, publicized and taught by standards that emphasize individual skills, while what we can learn and do about community, joint action and common goals is quietly ignored.

It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, I was just wrestling with this matter when I got an email from a school one of my sons had gone to and enjoyed. The front page headline said “THE POWER OF COMMUNITY. MARET ANNUAL FUND.” and I realized I had never seen a pitch for a school fund that had emphasized community.

When I look back over my life, I realize I was blessed with learning that whatever skills or wisdom came my way they were to be shared and learned with others. With five siblings around you, going to a Quaker high school, serving as a white activist in a majority black city, playing in a jazz band where you had solos but most of the time were backing someone up, serving on a Coast Guard cutter where everyone depended on everyone else, and helping to start groups that could turn personal ideas into something with some collective power …. With all this I learned to be part of a community and to respect and admire the power of joint effort.

These are just two examples of how our culture – with its emphasis on individual publicity and power  – has not only failed to serve us as well as  been often claimed but has created the likes of Donald Trump.

Murder rates per 100,000

Trump Tracker: Notice anything?

 

Quebec to ban public prayer in sweeping new secularism law

The Guardian -  Quebec says it will intensify its crackdown on public displays of religion in a sweeping new law that critics say pushes Canadian provinces into private spaces and disproportionately affects Muslims.

Bill 9, introduced by the governing Coalition Avenir Québec on Thursday, bans prayer in public institutions, including in colleges and universities. It also bans communal prayer on public roads and in parks, with the threat of fines of C$1,125 for groups in contravention of the prohibition. Short public events with prior approval are exempt.

Donald Trump

Politico - A federal appeals court has upheld a penalty of nearly $1 million against President Donald Trump and attorney Alina Habba, concluding they committed “sanctionable conduct” by filing a frivolous lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey.

“Many of Trump’s and Habba’s legal arguments were indeed frivolous,” 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge William Pryor Jr. wrote for a unanimous, three-judge panel, including Trump appointee Andrew Brasher and Biden appointee Embry Kidd.

Peter Baker - Trump and his administration have targeted at least 470 people, organizations and institutions for retribution since he took office, according to a Reuters tally – an average of more than one a day.

Nearly 500 Earthquakes Strike Alaska Over Past Week

Meanwhile. ..

Music may ease surgical pain and accelerate recovery, researchers in India found (read more)

 

Child safety organization warns against giving AI toys to kids.

NPR - The nonprofit children's safety organization Fairplay is urging gift-givers to refrain from purchasing AI toys for kids this holiday season. In an advisory, Fairplay and other child and consumer advocacy groups highlight the potential dangers of toys such as interactive dolls and children's robots designed to mimic human behavior and engage with kids as if they are friends. The advisory points out that these toys exploit children's trust and can disrupt human relationships, among other negative effects.

Potential Democratic contenders for 2028 run

Polls

 Newsweek -  A new Economist/YouGov poll shows that more Americans now favor reducing the number of legal immigrants entering the United States, but immigration continues to rank low on the list of national priorities—even as President Donald Trump doubles down on the issue in his second term.

According to the poll, conducted November 21–24, 35 percent of U.S. adults said the number of legal immigrants accepted annually should be either "decreased" (26 percent) or "reduced to zero" (9 percent). 

By comparison, 23 percent favored increasing legal immigration, and 26 percent supported keeping levels the same. The data underscore a modest but noticeable shift in sentiment amid a political climate increasingly shaped by Trump's hardline policies.

Newsweek - According to The Economist/YouGov polling, the proportion of people earning less than $50,000 a year who approve of Trump's job performance is 34 percent, while 62 percent of people disapprove.

Newsmax - A new Rasmussen Reports and Heartland Institute poll found that a slim majority of likely voters ages 18 to 39 want a democratic socialist to win the 2028 presidential election.

The survey of 1,496 likely voters showed 51% favored a democratic socialist victory, while 36% said they opposed that outcome and 17% were unsure.

Axios - Nearly two-thirds of registered voters believe a college degree isn't worth the cost — a stunning shift in sentiment from just one decade ago, according to an NBC News poll out this morning. 

The eye-popping shift "comes against the backdrop of several major trends shaping the job market and the education world, from exploding college tuition prices to rapid changes in the modern economy" — namely, AI.
 

63% agreed that it's "not worth the cost because people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off."

Just 33% agreed that a four-year college degree is "worth the cost because people have a better chance to get a good job and earn more money over their lifetime."  In 2013, 53% in a CNBC poll said a degree was worth it. 40% said it wasn't.  More

Senate seats most likely to flip

Immigration

Axios -  President Trump said late Thursday he "will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover."

The big picture: Trump has stepped up his hardline immigration crackdown since authorities identified an Afghan national as the suspect in Wednesday's deadly shooting attack on National Guard members.

    Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries Thursday and fellow West Virginia National Guard member Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, is "fighting for his life," Trump said.

State of play: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services suspended all immigration applications from Afghan nationals with immediate effect on Wednesday night.

Bloomberg  - Donald Trump called for “reverse migration” in the US as he outlined a further crackdown on immigration following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington. Hours after announcing that one of the soldiers had died from her injuries, the president proposed measures such as permanently pausing admissions from “third world” countries and revoking citizenship for some naturalized migrants.

He also increased his hostility toward South Africa, saying he won’t invite the country to next year’s Group of 20 summit, which the president will be hosting at his private golf course in Miami. It may be a breach of protocol for a leader to decide which of the bloc’s members can attend the summit—let alone to host the event at their own hotel—but Trump has demonstrated he cares little for convention or the multilateral order. 

Meanwhile....

Brian Allen - CNN just confirmed the [National Guard] shooter applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved in April of this year under Trump.

Where home values have increased the most

Heavy snow and high winds in many states

Newsweek -  Residents across many states in the U.S. have been given winter storm warnings, with some areas expected to get up to 24 inches of snow and blizzard-like conditions from Thursday through Sunday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). 

Snow and blustery conditions are likely to disrupt travel plans over Thanksgiving and into the weekend, with the NWS issuing warnings that visibility levels may fall to below a quarter of a mile in some affected areas, causing “treacherous” travel and “potentially life-threatening” conditions.”
What To Know

Several states across the U.S. are likely to experience high levels of accumulated snowfall and high winds, including Montana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Illinois. 

Trump regime puts restrictions on housing for immigrants

Newsweek - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has updated its interpretation of immigration verification requirements on Wednesday, introducing changes that immigrants advocates say “effectively deny” immigrants lawfully present in the country access to housing programs.

For Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) Coalition, which unites more than 800 organizations nationwide fighting for the rights of immigrants in the U.S., the consequences of the HUD’s redetermination are likely to extend “well beyond immigrants excluded under the notice,” the group said in a statement shared with Newsweek.

UPS, FedEx’s Cargo Planes To Be Grounded Over Christmas

Newsweek - United Parcel Service's (UPS) and FedEx's fleet of MD-11 cargo aircraft will likely remain grounded for months rather than weeks as had initially been expected, according to an internal memo obtained by Newsweek, potentially increasing pressure on shipping over the Christmas holiday.

The vast grounding of the Boeing-made planes follows the November 4 crash of Flight 2976 in Louisville, Kentucky, which killed 14 people, including all three crew members, and injured at least 23 others.

In the new memo, UPS Airlines president Bill Moore told employees on Wednesday that Boeing’s “ongoing evaluation shows that inspections and potential repairs will be more extensive than initially expected,” and return to service “will take several months instead of weeks.”

Polls

Newsweek -  The likelihood that Vice President JD Vance will become the Republican Party's nominee for the 2028 presidential election is declining, according to polls. According to polling by McLaughlin & Associates, Vance's net lead over President Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr.—in a hypothetical contest between them and other Republican figures—has decreased in recent months.....

.According to the polling, in August Vance had a 20-point lead over Trump Jr., who is in second place, with 36 percent of the vote share to Trump Jr.'s 16 percent. This lead actually increased to 28 points in September.

However, in October, his lead decreased and while Vance still enjoyed 38 percent of the vote share, Trump Jr.'s 20 percent of the share meant that just a few weeks ago Vance had a narrower 18-point lead. And in November, this lead decreased again to 10 points, with Vance on 34 percent and Trump Jr. on 24 percent.