FirstCircle

Trade deals many had hoped would quickly emerge after President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on some of the United States’ biggest agricultural customers haven’t come. A farm bailout is no sure thing on Capitol Hill. And farmers — many of whom voted for Trump — say time is running out.

“It just seems like things have stalled all summer long,” said Brian Warpup, who grows corn and soybeans on his 3,900-acre farm in northeastern Indiana. “We’re always hopeful that those negotiations are moving forward, but yet with harvest here, patience may be running thin.”

Across the US, farmers describe increasingly dire circumstances stemming from a confluence of factors — trade wars, Trump’s immigration crackdown, inflation and high interest rates.

Though the challenges vary in different parts of the country, farmers in some cases, particularly on the West Coast, are struggling to find labor to pick their harvest. Others, especially in the Midwest, said they can’t sell what they’ve produced. And many are scrambling to find storage.

“This is not your ordinary farm crisis. We call it ‘farmageddon,’ and it’s really a tough time,”

With cancellations surging, many subscribers reported technical issues. On Reddit’s r/Fauxmoi, one post read, “The page to cancel your Hulu/Disney+ subscription keeps crashing.”

Another added, “Already cancelled my Disney subscription,” while others said they faced looping logins and stalled forms. These firsthand accounts suggest Disney’s systems struggled under the unusual traffic volume.

Many political figures and media outlets have repeated the claim, even though public documents show the crews have firefighting classifications and were assigned to key frontline roles battling the blaze.

“Everybody in the profession sees through it, but the public doesn’t and that’s concerning,” said Riva Duncan, a former wildland fire chief who served more than 30 years with the U.S. Forest Service. “It’s a lie. Everybody I’ve talked to is very upset about it. It does not just those two crews a disservice, but it does all firefighters a disservice.”

Political figures have also repeated the claim from DHS. State Rep. Jim Walsh, chair of the Washington State Republican Party, shared another user’s post on Facebook blasting the media for failing to report the truth. The crews, Walsh wrote in his own comments, were “NOT firefighters.” The post has been shared hundreds of times.

“Facts matter,” Walsh wrote. “But the Left doesn’t let facts get in the way of its ignorant sanctimony and virtue signaling.”

But the facts clearly show that the crews were firefighters. In planning documents drafted by the management team overseeing the fire and posted to a public federal database, the crew from contracting company ASI Arden Solutions, Inc., is listed as a “CR2I” crew. That’s shorthand for a Type II Initial Attack wildland firefighting crew.

“They’re just one level below a hotshot crew,” Duncan said. “[Saying they’re not firefighters] is incredibly insulting to them.”

The other crew, from contracting company Table Rock Forestry, Inc., is listed as a “CRW2,” short for a Type II wildland firefighting hand crew. That means both crews were certified under National Wildfire Coordinating Group standards as firefighters who met rigorous qualifications and held “red cards” verifying their status to fight fire.

Additionally, the documents show that both crews were assigned to active firefighting roles in the days leading up to the raid. The crews were tasked with securing the fire edge, protecting structures, constructing fire lines and addressing hazards caused by the initial suppression work.

Many wildfire veterans who have served in similar roles privately expressed anger that the crew’s status was called into question because they had been assigned to cut firewood on the day of the raid. That frustration is heightened by the widespread belief, shared by many fire professionals, that the crews were given that assignment under false pretenses to lead them into contact with federal immigration agents.

Wildfire veterans say it’s nearly unprecedented for federal agents to conduct immigration enforcement near the front lines of an active wildfire. Some fear the raid could reverberate throughout the wildland fire community, making it more difficult to fully staff the crews putting out blazes at the peak of fire season in the West.

“There’s a lot of brown bodies out there on the fire line,” said Bobbie Scopa, who had a 45-year career as a firefighter and now serves as executive secretary with Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of wildfire professionals.

“They were told they were going to cut firewood,” said Scott Polhamus, secretary of the Organization of Fire Contractors and Affiliates, a nonprofit industry group. “The people that were supposed to meet them never showed up, and eventually immigration showed up instead.”

Many contract crews rely heavily on immigrant labor.

“[Immigrants] make up a huge portion of forestry and fire, they’re an integral part of this industry,” Polhamus said.

Now, wildland fire veterans fear that the immigrants who have been protecting communities from fires could make fire camps a target for immigration officials who are trying to meet deportation quotas. And more high-profile raids on fire crews could cause many in the workforce to reconsider their profession.

At Saturday’s event, attended by a few hundred — with perhaps as many protesters waving signs and shouting beyond a fence line — Feucht led a band in Christian rock songs, interspersed with speeches about saving Seattle.

Outside the rally — which was sparsely attended compared with the large park space that had been fenced off for it — protesters blew airhorns and kazoos and chanted through bullhorns that the rally’s conservative Christian message was not welcome in Seattle.

Some waved pride flags and carried signs saying “conversion therapy for transphobes,” “protect trans youth” and “Jesus taught love, not hate.”

A couple also held up signs at the rear of the concert crowd accusing Feucht of profiteering off his rallies. Whistleblowers who used to work for his ministries have publicly accused him of mismanaging finances and hiding how he has spent millions of dollars, according to Christianity Today.

Public records show he is currently in ICE Custody at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.

Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry, or “Zahid” to those who know him, is originally from Pakistan. He is married to Melissa Chaudhry, a US citizen who ran against Washington Congressman (D-9) Adam Smith last year (The Stranger endorsed Chaudhry in that race). They have two children together.

He sued for his right to remain in the country on the basis of his marriage to an American citizen and his military service qualifying him for expedited naturalization. He sustained disabling injuries in 2003 while training to go to Iraq. He uses a wheelchair and was discharged from the military for medical reasons in 2005. According to Keep Zahid Home, a website dedicated to his fight for citizenship, he won his case in immigration court in 2018. The government appealed the case. In 2019, the USCIS denied the “Earned, Qualified, Expedited Military N-400 application” he submitted in 2013, “despite the fact that he passed the English and government/Civics portion with flying colors.” US Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell wrote a joint letter endorsing his citizenship, as did other federal, state, and local elected officials.

The police surveillance company Flock has built an enormous nationwide license plate tracking system, which streams records of Americans’ comings and goings into a private national database that it makes available to police officers around the country. The system allows police to search the nationwide movement records of any vehicle that comes to their attention. That’s bad enough on its own, but the company is also now apparently analyzing our driving patterns to determine if we’re “suspicious.” That means if your police start using Flock, they could target you just because some algorithm has decided your movement patterns suggest criminality.

Flock appears to offer this capability through a larger “Investigations Manager,” which urges police departments to “Maximize your LPR data to detect patterns of suspicious activity across cities and states.” The company also offers a “Linked Vehicles” or “Convoy Search” allowing police to “uncover vehicles frequently seen together,” putting it squarely in the business of tracking people’s associations, and a “Multiple locations search,” which promises to “Uncover vehicles seen in multiple locations.” All these are variants on the same theme: using the camera network not just to investigate based on suspicion, but to generate suspicion itself.

A trash collector strike in the Boston area is entering its fifth week with no resolution in sight, leading to overflowing dumpsters, exasperated politicians and a string of lawsuits.

More than 400 garbage haulers belonging to a local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have been on strike since July 1 after failing to reach an agreement with their employer, Republic Services Inc., on demands for higher wages and better benefits. The work stoppage is affecting trash collection for residents in 14 Boston-area suburbs from Canton to Gloucester.

Apartment buildings and restaurants, places that generate greater volumes of trash, have been the most affected, with politicians warning teeming piles of garbage are rodent magnets and a public health crisis. Temperatures in downtown Boston are set to reach 97 degrees on Tuesday — which would match the city record for that date set in 1933, according to the National Weather Service — making the situation even stinkier.

Republic has said it’s offered to increase wages for the striking trash haulers by 16% immediately and by 43% over the five years of the proposed contract. The Teamsters have countered that the total value of the compensation agreement, including health insurance and other benefits, is still about $4 less per hour than what competitors Capitol Waste Services and Star Waste Systems offer their employees.

https://archive.ph/13m7v

Note how the local rag first states that the symbol being described "has been used in nonextremist contexts" before grudgingly acknowledging that it's used by white supremacists.

For those unfamiliar with the story, the white supremacist in question, in northern Idaho, intentionally started a wildfire and then, when firefighters arrived, shot them. Two firefighters dead, a third who survived but with serious injuries and probably, from the sound of it, disabled for life.

One crude drawing appears to depict the parking lot where he shot the firefighters, Norris said.

The note, he explained, reads, “ ‘Kill, kill, kill,’ and he’s got what appears to be a shotgun here with blast coming out.”

Roley also traced a symbol on the note he left for his father .

The same symbol was etched into the side of the Mossberg Maverick 88 shotgun that Norris said Roley had legally purchased.

That symbol, a diamond shape with legs, is known as an othala rune, which has been used in nonextremist contexts. It also has been used as a hate symbol by white supremacists in the U.S. and Europe, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

In recent years, after being impressed by a few local nonprofit BigORG branches (branches of national BigORGs) and finding that they claim to need/want volunteers (even to the point of desperation if you take their appeals seriously), I've approached them to find out about volunteering. As expected, they want to do a background check (almost certainly through the state police - it's cheap and easy here) and want you to release them of liability for physical injury and all that sort of thing. Neither are a big deal to me. But what IS a big deal is my privacy, and I've found a few of these orgs have volunteer waivers such as

"PHOTOGRAPH PERMISSION: I give permission for the BigORG to use, without limitation or obligation, photographs or other media that may include my image or voice to promote or interpret BigORG programs."

and

I hereby grant and convey unto BigORG2 all right, title and interest in any and all photographs and video/audio/electronic recordings of me, including as to my name, image and voice, made by or on behalf of BigORG2 during my Activities with BigORG2, including, but not limited to, the right to use such materials for any purpose and to any royalties, proceeds or other benefits derived from them. I understand that I will not have any ownership interest in or to such photographs, images and/or recordings, I have not been provided or promised any compensation to me, and I hereby waive any rights, privileges or claims based on any right of publicity, privacy, ownership or any other rights arising, relating to or resulting from the photographs, images and/or recordings.

This is highly infuriating. It's mindblowing to me that BigORGs think that for the "privilege" of providing free labor in order to assist them in carrying out their charitable "mission", that volunteers should also allow large quantities of their PII to be captured by the BigORG and exposed to the public in any manner the BigORG may choose, for as long as it may choose, and further, without recourse or compensation of any kind.

In the cases of the two BigORGs I've quoted above, I've tried to negotiate with them, have asked "how about we just strike that one paragraph, the rest of the waiver is fine, and we'll be good to go". The response is a big fat "No" and they show me, a perfectly capable, reliable and generous volunteer, to the door. Only spineless volunteers are needed apparently, ones who will give anything to volunteer at BigORG and won't make even the slightest pro-privacy waves when doing so.

SmallORGs I've volunteered with have not yet reached this level of entitlement, at least not here. Sure they may want to take some pics for social media posts from time to time, but so far have just warned us in advance to get out of the picture (which I have done) and it's all been fine. I don't know how long they will remain well-behaved with regard to PII and public disclosure thereof. I'm not paying for the "opportunity" to volunteer, either with cash or with personal info to be used for marketing, and the more these orgs demand it the less I'll be volunteering.

(I might add that I'm not talking about any kind of community-service mandatory volunteering, though these BigORGs may take that kind of volunteer as well from time to time.)

Federal agents on Tuesday morning arrested and searched the homes of multiple people who took part in a June 11 mass protest against immigration enforcement in Spokane.

Among those arrested is former Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart, who was indicted by a federal grand jury and is expected to be charged with conspiracy to interfere with law enforcement, according to local attorney Jeffry Finer.

Stuckart sparked the protest that swelled to hundreds of people that day by posting a call to action on Facebook after Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents detained two young men who had appeared at ICE offices for a check-in.

The two were legal immigrants residing in the United States through a humanitarian parole program and were going through the asylum process.

Also arrested Tuesday morning was Bajun Mavalwalla as he and his girlfriend were moving out of their shared home into another house Tuesday when the FBI knocked on their door at 6 a.m., said Mavalwalla’s father, Bajun Mavalwalla Sr.

“I demanded a warrant, they refused and wouldn’t show it until everyone left the home. My son was protesting on June 11, they said he assaulted officers,” Mavalwalla Sr. said. “My son worked in cybersecurity and was deployed to Afghanistan. He has no problems with the law.”

Mavalwalla Sr. said to his knowledge, officers never read his son his rights at the time of his arrest.

The arrests were condemned by Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown.

“This politically motivated action is a perversion of our justice system,” she said in a statement Tuesday morning. “The Trump Administration’s weaponization of ICE and the DOJ is trampling on the U.S. Constitution and creating widespread fear across our community.”

Also arrested was Justice Forral, an organizer for Spokane County Against Racism. Forral faces local felony charges of unlawful imprisonment and third-degree assault on an officer stemming from the protest.