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The Club PUBlication  12/15/2025

12/15/2025

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Scientists are told: 
​‘Come to Canada’

$1 billion effort aims to attract researchers, including from the U.S.
By MATINA STEVIS-GRIDNEFF The New York Times

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CANADIAN PARLIMENT IN SESSION

​
TORONTO - Canada is making an aggressive effort to attract highly skilled researchers from around the world, including H-1B visa holders in the United States who are coming under growing pressure because of the Trump administration's restrictive immigration policies and cuts to research funding.

The Canadian government said Tuesday it would spend more than $1 billion over the next few years to attract and retain scientists from around the world, including those at major hospitals and universities.
It also said that in coming months it would create an "accelerated pathway" for U.S. H-1B visa holders. H-1B visas are issued to highly skilled people working for American companies and are concentrated in major industries that compete for global talent, such as technology and medicine.

"As other countries constrain academic freedoms and undermine cutting-edge research, Canada is investing, and doubling down, on science," Mélanie Joly, Canada's industry minister, said in written comments to the press, without explicitly mentioning the United States.

In an interview with the Times on Tuesday, Joly said that the new money would create 100 new research chairs, by funding not just individual senior researchers at the top of those efforts, but their entire teams and labs.

She said her top priority was to lure back Canadian researchers.
"For decades, Canada has had a brain drain issue, and now we are in a brain gain mode," Joly said. "My message to Canadians around the world is: It's time to come home."

But she added that the push to attract top global researchers was also about creating a stable environment for those wanting to move to Canada.

"If you want to live in the best country on the Earth, that is also the safest, and the one that will actually respect your work and offer you the right environment to flourish, well, come to Canada," she said.
The question of H-1B visa holders, on whom the U.S. tech industry, in particular, relies, has opened a fault line within President Donald Trump's base and unsettled planning in the tech, pharmaceutical and other highly competitive industries.

Influential figures in the tech world, such as Elon Musk, fiercely support maintaining the pathway for high-skilled immigrants, while others from the so-called MAGA movement demand that the number of H-1B visas be slashed alongside all other types of immigration into the United States.
​
The questions around the long-term prospects of highly skilled immigrants in the United States create an opportunity for Canada and other developed economies to attract some top scientists concerned about their status in the U.S. or affected by the Trump administration's cuts to research funding.

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The Club PUBlication  12/08/2025

12/8/2025

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​Trump’s new strategy slams European allies
He praises right-wing populists, appears to echo Putin on NATO.

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR, JEANNA SMIALEK and LARA JAKES The New York Times

​LONDON - The Trump administration said Friday that Europe is facing the "stark prospect of civilizational erasure" and pledged that the United States will support likeminded "patriotic" parties across the continent to prevent a future in which "certain NATO members will become majority non-European."

The dark assessment of Europe's future was released overnight as part of an annual update to the United States' national security strategy around the world.

Without naming them directly, the document says the United States should be "cultivating resistance" across Europe by supporting political parties that fight against migration and promote nationalism.

That describes several rightwing populist parties such as Reform U.K. in Britain and the Alternative for Germany, known as the AfD, which has been classified as an extremist party by German intelligence services.

"In everything we do, we are putting America First," President Donald Trump wrote in a foreword to the document, which he called a "road map to ensure that America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history."

In a section called "Promoting European Greatness," the document offers a searing critique of the United States' closest allies.

It warns that Europe is on a path to becoming "unrecognizable" because of migration policies that it claims are undermining the national identities of European countries. And it says the policy of the United States should be to help Europe "correct its current trajectory" over the course of the next several decades.

"We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self confidence, and to abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation," the 33-page document says.

Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the political leadership in Europe, and he has repeatedly pressured those leaders to bend to his will on funding for NATO, trade and tariffs. Vice President JD Vance issued a broad critique of Europe's mainstream political parties in a speech in Munich in February, and urged them to end the isolation of far-right parties across the continent.

But the document released overnight is the clearest statement yet of how the president wants his "America First" foreign policy to be a clarion call for other nationalist politicians to overhaul their political systems.

And it echoes some of the language of the Great Replacement Theory, a nationalist conspiracy theory embraced by some of his top aides that warns of a deliberate effort to replace white people with nonwhite immigrants.

The document accuses the European Union and other "transnational bodies" of undermining liberty and sovereignty, censoring free speech and trampling on basic principles of democracy to suppress political opposition.

"The growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism," the document says.

"Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory."

Within hours of its release, the document was already provoking sharp retorts from across Europe.

Johann Wadephul, the foreign minister for Germany, responded Friday by saying Germany did not "believe that we need to get advice here from any country or party."

He told journalists in Berlin that the United States was Germany's most important ally in NATO but that "questions like freedom of expression, freedom of opinion and how we organize our liberal society here in the Federal Republic of Germany are not part of that."

"It's a frontal attack on the European Union," said Brando Benifei, an Italian member of the European Parliament who chairs the delegation for relations with the United States. He called the document "totally unacceptable," full of "extreme, shocking phrases," and said some of its statements amounted to direct calls for election interference.

The administration's approach to Europe, as described in the strategy document, was in stark contrast to the way it said it would treat some countries in other parts of the world.

A section of the document titled
"The Middle East: Shift Burdens, Build Peace"

​argues that while the United States should "continue to encourage" the countries in the region to combat radicalism, it should not overly meddle in their internal concerns.

It calls for "dropping America's misguided experiment with hectoring these nations — especially the Gulf monarchies — into abandoning their traditions and historic forms of government," adding: "We should encourage and applaud reform when and where it emerges organically, without trying to impose it from without."

The document adds that what is crucial to a successful Middle East policy is "accepting the region, its leaders and its nations as they are" and makes no mention of human rights issues like the treatment of women or the killing of a Washington Post columnist, which the CIA believes was approved by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.

In addition to calling for a new political trajectory in Europe, the document is also likely to raise fresh concerns about Trump's relationship with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and the United States' approach to ending the war in Ukraine.

The document criticizes "European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition."

And it appears to echo Putin's language by insisting that the United States should be "ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance."

Ian Lesser, who heads the Brussels office of the German Marshall Fund, a research group, said the document would reinforce Europe's existing concerns about the state of the transatlantic relationship and the U.S. position toward Russia, and that it might further embolden the far right in Europe.

"The piece treats Europe as a sort of other, one that is a model of what not to do," he said, adding that it underscores that the United States is not isolationist, but rather "unilateralist."

"It really reinforces existing concerns and puts a sharper edge on them," he said.

Carlo Calenda, a center-left pro-European senator in Italy, said Friday that the document shows that Trump is an "enemy of Europe," and "an enemy of democracy." He said that efforts by European politicians to try to flatter Trump had not worked to promote their own interests.
"He's a bully, and you cannot face a bully by being warm and kind," he added. "It's not the way in which you can manage him."

By contrast, one of Trump's top supporters in Europe, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, criticized the E.U.'s support for Ukraine while praising the U.S. and Russian presidents' negotiations to end the war.
Orban did not directly address the new U.S. strategy during an interview on the state-funded Kossuth Radio, but broadly echoed its tone.

"Those who have power, act; those who don't only speak," Orban said.

​ "This is why strong players like Russia and the United States negotiate and make deals, while weak Europe is left out of shaping its own future and chooses to talk instead."

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The Club PUBlication  12/01/2025

12/1/2025

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CDC’s new No. 2 leader was vaccine skeptic in Louisiana
Ralph Abraham halted promoting vaccinations such as flu shots.
By LENA H. SUN The Washington Post

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Dr. Ralph Abraham

A Louisiana health official who ordered his health department to stop promoting mass vaccinations this past winter during a surge in influenza cases has been tapped to serve as the new No. 2 leader at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ralph Abraham, who is Louisiana's surgeon general, has been hired to be the principal deputy director at the CDC, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, who confirmed the appointment. It is not clear when Abraham begins in the position. He is listed in the CDC's internal directory as principal deputy director; a CDC email listed for him does not work.

The nation's top public health agency currently has no permanent director, and Abraham would essentially be running the agency. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted CDC Director Susan Monarez this summer after she resisted his requests to agree to vaccine recommendations he wanted an influential CDC advisory committee to make. HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill is serving as acting CDC director.

Abraham adds to the vaccine critics working at the CDC under Kennedy, a prominent antivaccine activist before becoming the country's top health official. Kennedy fired all of the CDC's federal vaccine advisers and replaced them with people who have criticized coronavirus and other shots.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, who took office in 2024, appointed Abraham as his top health official as a medical freedom movement grew in the state to oppose vaccine mandates.

Abraham drew intense criticism in office for instructing health officials to stop promoting vaccines including flu shots and instead emphasize personal choice and consulting with doctors. In a December legislative hearing, Abraham said he regularly sees patients injured by coronavirus vaccines and alleged adverse reactions were being covered up, NPR reported. He has also supported research into an extensively debunked connection between vaccines and autism.

In a February letter explaining his perspective on vaccines, Abraham argued that government agencies should avoid promoting "pharmaceutical products" when the manufacturers are protected against lawsuits for harm.

"It is understood that the products pushed will benefit some and cause harm to others, but public health pushes them anyway with a one-size-fits-all, collectivist mentality whose main objective is maximal compliance," Abraham wrote.

He accused the CDC and other public health agencies of overreaching in response to the COVID pandemic and damaging public trust.
​
"Vaccination against any disease should remain a personal choice ," he said.

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The Club PUBlication  11/24/2025

11/24/2025

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CDC links measles outbreaks across U.S. states
Country’s elimination status threatened by sustained transmission.
By APOORVA MANDAVILLI and TEDDY ROSENBLUTH The New York Times

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Health officials l inked for the first time the measles outbreak that began in Texas with another in Utah and Arizona, a finding that could end the United States' status as a nation that has eliminated measles.
The news came in a phone call Monday, a recording of which was obtained by the New York Times, among officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments.

The chain of transmission began in January, in a conservative Mennonite group on the western edge of Texas, and spread to Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Countries lose their elimination status after 12 months of sustained transmission. If the outbreak cannot be extinguished by January, the anniversary of the first cases in Texas, the United States will lose what is known as "elimination status" as determined by the World Health Organization, which it has had for 25 years.

"I wouldn't call the code yet, but I think the patient's not looking real good," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Canada lost its status last week, ending a 27-year run, after failing to control an outbreak that began at a Mennonite gathering in October 2024.

Losing elimination status may not lead to tangible changes, such as travel restrictions.

But experts have called the possibility "deeply embarrassing" for a wealthy country with the medical resources of the United States.

"CDC and state and local health agencies continue to work together to assess transmission patterns and ensure an effective public health response — which is what led to the Texas outbreak being declared over," Andrew Nixon, a representative from the Department of Health and Human Services, wrote in a statement.

This month, the CDC presented its outbreak information to the Pan American Health Organization.

As of Nov. 13, the CDC had confirmed 1,723 measles cases nationwide, 87% of which were associated with a record 45 outbreaks this year. By contrast, 16 outbreaks were reported in 2024.

About 92% of the reported cases this year are among people who are either unvaccinated or of unknown vaccination status.

Another large outbreak in two schools in South Carolina is close to being contained.

Rockland County, N.Y., has four reported cases, the first since a massive outbreak in 2018 that lasted 10 months.

That outbreak raced through Orthodox Jewish communities, some of which had vaccination rates below 70%.

“I wouldn’t call the code yet, but I think the patient’s not looking real good.”
​
Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota

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The Club PUBlication  11/17/2025

11/17/2025

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After Trump rupture, Epstein said he could ‘take him down’
By DAVID ENRICH, NICHOLAS CONFESSORE, JESSICA SILVER- GREENBERG and STEVE EDER
The New York Times

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​President Donald Trump's long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein came to an apparent end in the mid-2000s. But Epstein remained intently focused on Trump for years afterward, seeking to exploit the remnants of their relationship up until his arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges in 2019.

In more than 20,000 pages of Epstein's typo-strewn emails and other messages released by a congressional committee on Wednesday, Epstein insulted Trump and hinted that he had damaging information on him.

By turns gossipy, scathing and scheming, the messages show influential people pressing Epstein for insight into Trump, and Epstein casting himself as the ultimate Trump translator, someone who knew him intimately and was "the one able to take him down."

The release of the messages instantly pushed the two men's much-scrutinized relationship back into the public eye, re-energizing Democratic attacks on Trump and his Justice Department for failing to publicly disclose more information from the investigation of Epstein.

The emails date to at least 2011, when Trump was a reality TV star toying with a long-shot presidential run and Epstein was trying to rehabilitate his image after his conviction and incarceration for soliciting prostitution from a minor. The messages continue through the spring of 2019, when Trump was president and his Justice Department was building a criminal case against Epstein.

The messages hint that Epstein or his advisers believed they had inside — and potentially damaging — knowledge of Trump's far-flung properties and business dealings.

Some suggest that Epstein thought Trump knew more about his personal conduct than the president has publicly acknowledged.

The trove doesn't appear to include messages from Trump or anyone purporting to speak on his behalf. The president responded on social media Wednesday, writing that "the Democrats are using the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax to try and deflect from their massive failures, in particular, their most recent one — THE SHUTDOWN!"

The emails, the latest batch of Epstein-related documents, were obtained from the Epstein estate in response to a subpoena from a congressional committee. They offer a clear window into his day-to-day communications with friends and associates.

But they are unlikely to quell the furor around the Trump-Epstein relationship.

A core part of Trump's base believes the mother lode of documents, audio files and video related to Epstein are in the possession of the FBI and the Justice Department. A slice of those documents has been released only in small, curated batches.

The basic contours of their relationship have long been known. Trump and Epstein were friends in the 1980s and 1990s, attending social events in New York or Florida together. One of Epstein's former girlfriends has accused Trump of groping her, an allegation that Trump has denied.

Trump has said that he cut ties with Epstein after his associates recruited teenage girls from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

But the new emails show that Epstein was closely following Trump's business decisions and political fortunes.

In April 2011, Epstein wrote to his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was later convicted of helping orchestrate Epstein's sex-traffi cking operation, that Trump was the "dog that hasn't barked."

One of Epstein's victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, had recently gone public about her experiences with Epstein — telling a British tabloid that he had abused her and trafficked her to other men, and providing the outlet with a now famous photo of herself, Prince Andrew and Maxwell.

Epstein's email said that Giuffre had "spent hours at my house with him" — Trump — yet Trump "has never once been mentioned." Giuffre said in a 2016 deposition that Trump never had sex with her or even flirted with her.

In 2012, Epstein emailed one of his lawyers, Reid Weingarten, and suggested that he get someone to dig into Trump's finances, including the mortgage on Mar-a-Lago and a $30 million loan Epstein said that Trump had received. Reached on Wednesday, Weingarten declined to comment, saying he was limited by attorney-client privilege.

In March 2016, Epstein was bracing for the publication of a book, "Filthy Rich," that detailed allegations against him. Journalist Michael Wolff, who had a long-standing relationship with Epstein, told him that he needed to serve up a "counter narrative" to the forthcoming book.
"I believe Trump offers an ideal opportunity," Wolff wrote. "It's a chance to make the story about something other than you." It is unclear whether Epstein responded to the message and acted on Wolff 's advice.

A couple of months later, Wolff told Epstein that he would be interviewing Trump.

"Anything you think I should ask?" he wrote.

Epstein replied with a list of "provocative" questions, including about the Trump Shuttle airline, a casino bankruptcy and his debts. "otherwise you can just throw easys," Epstein wrote.

Wolff did not respond to a request for comment.

Epstein repeatedly insulted Trump. In a January 2018 email to Wolff, Epstein referred to the president as "dopey donald" and "demented donald," saying that his finances were "all a sham."

Later that year, Epstein emailed with Lawrence Summers, the former treasury secretary and Harvard University president, about Trump.
Epstein called him "borderline insane."

Summers declined to comment and referred to previous statements in which he acknowledged "regretting my past associations with Mr. Epstein."

By late 2018, authorities were closing in on Epstein. A series of articles in The Miami Herald showed that Trump's labor secretary had signed off on Epstein's 2008 plea deal.

The Herald series prompted the Justice Department to open a wide-ranging criminal investigation into Epstein.

That December, Epstein was texting with an unidentified acquaintance, who wrote that "they're really just trying to take down Trump and doing whatever they can to do that...!" "its wild," Epstein replied. "because i am the one able to take him down."
​
The next month, Epstein wrote to Wolff about Trump and Mar-a-Lago. "Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever," Epstein wrote. "of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop." Trump has said that he cut ties with Epstein after he "stole" Giuffre from Mar-a- Lago, where she had worked as a spa attendant.

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The Club PUBlication  11/10/2025

11/10/2025

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​​These are perilous times for health coverage

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To listen to what’s said in Congress — and feel the threat — you’d think people actually don’t want health insurance.
By LAURA HERMER

​We are at a dangerous moment for health coverage — and with it, our ability to get health care.

If you looked only at the congressional battle over funding the federal government, you'd think that Americans were deeply opposed over health coverage.

The Democrats are fighting to save enhanced subsidies for the 24 million Americans who get their coverage through Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces.

Trump insists that "[t]he cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus it's not good Healthcare," and most Republicans, who control Congress, are taking their cues from him.

But in key respects, Americans are not opposed on health care. A new poll of 1,319 people who voted in 2024 found that overwhelming bipartisan majorities agree that health care is not affordable. They believe that health insurance should protect them from medical debt. A majority of Republicans and Democrats agree that insurers should not be able to deny coverage based on a person's medical history and that sick people shouldn't have to pay more than healthy people for coverage. In fact, a majority in both parties support keeping the very enhanced subsidies that our representatives and senators are fighting over.

Protecting the ACA will help achieve these goals. The ACA requires most insurance plans to cover the services most people need, makes standard plans available to nearly all Americans, and helps people pay for coverage that they otherwise couldn't afford. It also provides ways to remain covered if you lose your coverage.

Some powerful Republicans, however, want to weaken the ACA with the goal of ultimately eliminating it and returning to the bad old days before it was enacted. House Speaker Mike Johnson recently called the ACA's creation "sinister" and said it was "created to implode upon itself." Others simply want to "repeal all of Obamacare."

This will not reduce costs. The problem is that the cost of health insurance is fundamentally tied to the price of health care. When prices go up, or when more covered health care services are provided per person, so does the cost of insurance.

Consider how health insurance — or any insurance — works.
An insurer collects money, or premiums, from each member of a group, or risk pool, in exchange for covering all or part of a specific set of services that members of the group might need. The total amount of premiums must cover the cost of all the covered services that group members need, plus marketing, administration and profit.

When covered services are very expensive, the insurance covering them will also be costly. Rising health care costs from increased usage of GLP-1 drugs and other pharmaceuticals, private equity investment in and consolidation of hospitals and physician practices, and tariff costs and uncertainties all translate to higher premiums.

The answer to this is not to shift costs from employers, insurers and the government to you and me. We've tried that and it doesn't work.
Just insuring sick people also doesn't work. First, it means that health insurance premiums are extraordinarily expensive, for the reason discussed earlier.

Second,
you want to catch health problems earlier rather than later. Studies show that uninsured and underinsured people are diagnosed later and have worse health outcomes than insured people.
In fact, nearly everyone actually wants health insurance — even relatively young and healthy people, who signed up for coverage in droves once it became affordable. Your life isn't like your house or car.
When disaster strikes — and it inevitably will, if given enough time — you can't save your money and buy another body.

And if you don't have good health insurance when disaster strikes, you'll be out of luck.

So remember this as congressional Republicans dither on the issue of extending Obamacare subsidies. Remember it when they talk about "concepts of a plan" for having employers partially fund premiums for individual coverage, or letting people buy short-term, limited duration policies that exclude pre-existing conditions and might exclude coverage for prescription drugs, maternity care and other services.

They don't have real health care solutions. We need to preserve Obamacare for now while we take a hard look under different leadership at how best to provide and fund health care for all of us.
​
Laura Hermer is the James E. Kelley Professor of Law at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul.

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The Club PUBlication 11/10/2025

11/10/2025

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Chicago judge curbs agents’ use of force, says they lied about threats
By CHRISTINE FERNANDO and SOPHIA TAREEN
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The Associated Press
CHICAGO

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​A federal judge in Chicago on Thursday issued an extensive injunction restricting federal agents' use of force, saying Thursday that a top Border Patrol official leading an immigration crackdown repeatedly lied about threats posed by protesters and reporters.

The preliminary injunction came in response to a lawsuit filed by news outlets and protesters who allege federal agents have used excessive force during the operation that has netted more than 3,000 arrests and led to heated clashes across the nation's third-largest city and its many suburbs.

"I see little reason for the use of force that the federal agents are currently using," said U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis. "I don't find defendants' version of events credible."

The order restricts agents from using certain riot control weapons, such as tear gas and pepper balls, "unless such force is objectively necessary" to prevent "an immediate threat." It also bars agents from using physical force, including shoving protesters and journalists to the ground, and it says agents must give two warnings before using riot control weapons.

A Department of Homeland Security official said in a statement that DHS plans to appeal the ruling, calling it "an extreme act by an activist judge that risks the lives and livelihoods of law enforcement officers."

The Chicago area crackdown, part of the Trump administration's growing intervention in Democratic strongholds, has triggered a litany of court action, including forcing improvements at a federal immigration facility activists say is a de facto detention center and blocking a National Guard deployment.

Thursday's ruling largely mirrors an earlier o rder that required agents to wear badges and banned the use of certain riot-control techniques, such as tear gas, against peaceful protesters and journalists. After repeatedly chastising federal officials for not following her previous orders, she added a requirement for body cameras.

In delivering the injunction, Ellis quoted presidents including George Washington and a famous poem about Chicago by Carl Sandburg. She described protesters and advocates facing tear gas, having guns pointed at them and being thrown to the ground, saying "that would cause a reasonable person to think twice about exercising their fundamental rights."

A day earlier, attorneys for both sides repeatedly clashed in court over accounts of several tense incidents since the immigration crackdown began in September. Several involved Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol commander who has led the crackdown, including an incident where he threw a canister of gas a crowd after alleging he was hit by a rock.
Ellis said Bovino walked back the claim about the rock after video evidence didn't show it to be true. "Bovino admitted that he lied," she said.

Bovino, who led a similar operation in Los Angeles, has been forced to sit for hours of closed-door depositions related to growing legal challenges stemming from "Operation Midway Blitz." Clips of the private interviews, where Bovino is dressed in his green Border Patrol uniform and is at times evasive, were played in court, along with body camera footage.
​
Bovino has repeatedly defended agents' use of force, while also dodging questions about Border Patrol agents' tactics. He oversees nearly 230 agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection that have been in the Chicago area.

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The Club PUBlication  10/27/2025

10/27/2025

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​Federal cuts diminish state’s food shelves
1 million pounds of food erased from the supply.

By KYELAND JACKSON, CHRISTOPHER VONDRACEK and JP LAWRENCE The Minnesota Star Tribune

​Each month, thousands of people wait for food at a north Minneapolis church.

Hundreds trek to Gethsemane Lutheran Church every day, traveling from as far as Champlin, Richfield and Anoka. Some are old.
Many are young with toddlers.
Most come from poverty and depend on the church's food shelf to get by.

But the pantry is at risk of going bare.
Federal cuts to the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) slashed more than a million pounds of food headed to Minnesota food shelves this summer, forcing places like Gethsemane to winnow staff, hours and the amount of food they provide.

That's left more people going hungry, and officials say at this rate, things are likely to get worse.

"The forward trajectory of these cuts is that families that are making steps towards a brighter future now fall back into dark times," the Rev. Jeff Nehrbass said.

Hunger-relief programs could soon face even higher demand with officials warning there won't be enough funds to pay Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to those in need if the federal shutdown continues into next month.

"Food stability is so important for violence prevention, for household stability, that not having those resources throws all of that up in the air," Nehrbass said.

More than a million pounds of food gone
Minnesota is home to one of the nation's largest food networks, funneling state and local resources between food banks and food shelves across counties.

Federal funds from TEFAP support much of that network.
However, earlier this year the U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended $500 million in food deliveries previously allocated under TEFAP as part of efforts by President Donald Trump's administration to reduce federal spending. The funding was first provided to help food networks struggling through the pandemic.

Kate Weeks, an assistant commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, said her department received 674 full truckloads of food from the program last year. The department was prepared for the program to cut funds this winter, but federal officials gutted those funds months early, halting 34 truckloads of milk, eggs, chicken and other food.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture obtained by ProPublica, the reduction translated to cancellations for 94 million pounds of food across the U.S. The Minnesota Star Tribune requested and analyzed that data for Minnesota, finding that more than 1 million pounds of food valued at more than $2 million was pulled from the state this year.

"These are critical investments and food needed for the entire food network," Weeks said.  Food shelves forced to adapt
At the Gethsemane Lutheran Church, which is also known as the Camden Promise Food Shelf, staffers were forced this June to reduce the amount of food that residents could take from 20 items to seven. Some are turned away without food, returning the next day to draw a lottery number marked on more than 100 wooden Jenga blocks.

"We've done as much as we can to stay open ... but where we're at now is if the numbers and if TEFAP food continues on this path, we have to cut hours and days," Nehrbass said, adding that it would mark the first change in the food shelf's hours in more than a decade.
Mary Thomas, a volunteer of seven years, formerly waited in line for the church's food.

Reducing the days the food shelf is open would have a large impact, especially on those who are homeless, she said.

"They look forward to getting this food," Thomas said.
In greater Minnesota, food shelves have had to cut down on how often shoppers can visit. At the St. Peter Area Food Shelf, a dozen miles north of Mankato, shoppers formerly visited twice a month, but now can only go once.

"Quite frankly, we don't have the food or the funds to keep up with the increase in clients that we are seeing," said Jodi Donley, coordinator at the St. Peter Area Food Shelf.

This spring, the food shelf lacked the oranges, pineapples or asparagus they had in previous years. And in the summer, shipments of bad corn and cabbage meant that for two months about 30% of the fresh items that came in had to be thrown out, Donley said.

Mel Santa Brigida, a 65-yearold retiree who said he depends on the St. Peter Area Food Shelf, said he's noticed fewer options over the summer.

He couldn't find soy sauce anymore, and there were fewer vegetables, which meant he couldn't make stir fry, one of his favorite dishes. At times, he also had to use canned milk instead of fresh.

On a visit to St. Peter in October, the shelves were full of fresh produce, in part due to a program that finds food about to be thrown away, said manager Cynthia Favre.

The food shelf has also turned to regional Second Harvest Heartland food bank to supplement its produce. But now it can be harder to anticipate shipments.
​
"It used to be that we would kind of know what we were going to get, when we were going to get it, when there would be change," Favre said.  "But right now, that's kind of off the table."

Zach Rodvold of Second Harvest Heartland said many of their more than 1,000 partner food shelves and hunger-relief programs across the state are scrounging for supplies amid increasing demand.

Many have pivoted to donations from community members or rescuing food that grocers would trash, but Rodvold says that's not sustainable.

"There's only so many rocks we can look under for additional resources or ways to get food out of the system," Rodvold said, "and I think we're close to having maximized that."

A growing need for food shelves
Last year, Minnesota food shelves saw a record of nearly 9 million visits.  Food shelves have continued to see high demand this year as living costs have remained high.

"Families are feeling a lot of different pressure points," said Weeks of the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families. "You have increasing food prices, you have changes to health care and health care costs, you have changes in our labor economy, you have changes in rising housing prices.  With these fluctuations, it does have a ripple effect across communities."

Food bank leaders said they believe conditions will worsen if the federal government reduces SNAP benefits. In an average month, about 440,000 Minnesotans receive SNAP benefits, which awards funds to lowincome households to use for groceries at authorized stores and markets.

The ongoing government shutdown already forced state officials to pause SNAP applications this month, and federal officials warned they will not have money to fund SNAP if the shutdown continues into November.

"We don't have another big lever ... to pull to increase the food available. We need help," said Virginia Witherspoon, executive director of Channel One Regional Food Bank in Rochester. "Right now a hurricane, a flood and a tornado is happening at the same time across the U.S. as far as the increase in need."

Hope in community
Nehrbass of Gethsemane Lutheran Church said TEFAP cuts have strained relationships among food shelves, forcing many organizers and clients to compete with each other for food.

To help offset the food shortage, Nehrbass suggested residents can help by donating food, money or time at food shelves or other organizations.

"[Food insecurity] needs to be addressed by well-meaning, wonderful Twin Citians who want to reach out in love to support those who are less fortunate than them."

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The Club PUBlicationmm10/20/2025

10/20/2025

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​China-built flying cars shown off in Dubai
Transport option has drawn 600 preorders.
By EMAN ABOUHASSIRA and OMAR EL CHMOURI 

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Bloomberg News​

In a city that's no stranger to jaw-dropping sights, the Chinese-made flying car hovering over one of Dubai's glitziest beach resorts still turned heads.

Demonstrating a manned flight of its new Land Aircraft Carrier to a select crowd in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, Guangzhou-based Aridge was making its latest pitch to become a transport option of choice for the Gulf's super-rich.
​
Released from the trunk of a robust, wheeled mother ship — essentially, an outsized, futuristic-looking people carrier — the electric aircraft can take off and land vertically like a conventional helicopter. It has already attracted 600 preorders, including from UAE based Ali & Sons Group and Qatar's Almana Group, according to Aridge.

Aridge's flying car, which is controlled by a joystick and has an automated flight mode, will cost under $270,000 in the Chinese market. No price has yet been announced for the UAE.

"It is designed to be accessible and able to be flown by ordinary people, everyone — you don't need to be a professional pilot," Michael Chao Du, Aridge's chief financial officer and vice president, said in an interview.

Aridge, a unit of XPENG Motors, which rebranded from XPENG AEROHT, is part of a growing trend in the energyrich UAE — a nation famed for skyscrapers and ostentatious displays of technology and wealth. The company suffered a setback last month when one of its aircraft caught fire at a Chinese air show.

Advances in battery technology have led to dozens of flying taxi companies taking to the skies around the world. But with billions of dollars already spent on research and manufacturing, it's not clear whether the industry has a viable future beyond the superwealthy.

Even some of the best-known startups in the sector have struggled to get funding and the mass market for the aircraft is unproven.

Joby Aviation, a Santa Cruzbased operator of so-called electrical vertical takeoff and landing craft, also plans to introduce an air taxi service to Dubai.

The first public manned flight of Aridge's Land Aircraft Carrier at Dubai's Palm Jumeirah on Sunday came after Aridge in September secured a special flight permit for an overseas manned aircraft from the UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority. It will need other authorizations to operate and sell following this test phase.

Flying cars are "the future of mobility," Ali Al Blooshi, an official from Dubai's civil aviation authority, said at the event.

"We expect them to become accessible and affordable soon as more companies enter the market."
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Aridge says it has begun mass production at a Chinese facility capable of producing 10,000 units a year. It expects the first consumer sales in 2027.

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The Club Publication  06/13/2025

10/13/2025

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MINI-MEDITATIONS GIVE PEACE OF MIND
By CATHY BUSSEWITZ •
The Associated Press NEW YORK - 

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The idea of meditating can be intimidating. Beginners may imagine sitting uncomfortably in silence while breathing deeply and scrubbing all thoughts from their minds. The prospect of trying those techniques at work may feel embarrassing.

But there are ways to bring short, inconspicuous sessions into the workday if you want to see if meditation can help you deal with challenging customers or reduce anxiety while preparing for a presentation. And experienced practitioners say there's no right or wrong way to do it.

" Meditation is quite easy, as a matter of fact. I think there's a stigma around it, that you have to be in complete silence, and you have to have some room setup, or do some chanting or some serious breathing," said Michelle Beyer, a wellness coach who owns the Brooklyn women's gym Alana Life & Fitness. "There's one-minute meditations you can do to make yourself feel great. Nobody will even know you're doing them."

While there are different meditation techniques, many traditions encourage focusing on breathing to help calm the mind. When thoughts pop up, imagine letting them go. Practitioners say meditating before or at work helps them maintain focus, sit still and reduce stress.

"There is a calm that I am definitely missing when I have forgotten to do it for a few days," said Brianna Healy, who meditates for 10 minutes daily before starting her job as assistant director of strategic initiatives and data solutions at Naropa University, a college in Boulder, Colo., inspired by Buddhist principles. "I can always tell the difference in my demeanor."

If you feel pressed for time, try fitting meditation sessions into breaks. You can set a timer and focus on breathing while sitting at a desk, in a restroom, inside a vehicle or outside, Beyer said.

Here are some easy mini-meditations to try out on the job.

A pre-work pause
Commuters can consider getting to work a little early and taking a pause in their cars or a quiet location to decompress from getting out the door and to your destination, said Kathryn Remati, a meditation teacher and author of "Befriend Yourself."

If you only have a minute or two, that's still enough time to try Remati's instructions for a quick reset.

Close your eyes and take a long, slow, deep breath to fill your tummy and lungs with air, she said. Hold the breath for a second, and then slowly breathe out like you're blowing out a candle.

"You'll immediately feel a shift and you'll feel like a human again," Remati said.

While repeating that process, consider setting a positive intention, or goal, for the day. Instead of focusing on a to-do list, think about how you want behave toward others, she said. Some intention examples are, "Today I'm going to be productive, but I'm also going to a good listener" or "I want to have a positive attitude," she said.

Picture your bliss
Visualization is another technique that experienced meditators use. Picture yourself succeeding at the challenges you'll encounter that day. If there's an upcoming deadline, envision yourself finishing the task 10 minutes early. Jumping for joy. Get specific like a movie director and imagine the colors in the room or the feeling of wind on your face, Remati said.

Throughout the day, "you can bring up that image anytime you need it to refocus," she said.

You can also use visualization to reframe your perspective on colleagues or clients. A technique Remati recommends putting into practice before meetings may seem quirky: Envision a white light over the meeting room's doorway that showers the people entering with brightness. Remati says it may help you imagine them in a better light. "You can even put some sort of pink bubble around people," she added.

Body scan
Another short meditation that can be done almost anywhere involves breathing deeply and mentally scanning your body for sensations, a technique popularized in the U.S. by mindfulness practitioner Jon Kabat-Zinn. Depending on your location and comfort level, you can keep your eyes open or closed.

Inhale through the nose and out through the mouth. Start with your feet and work your way up, noticing any areas with pain, tightness, tingling, warmth or other sensations. Think about relaxing the muscles of any spots where there's tension.

"You're intentionally scanning your body," Beyer said. "You're thinking about, how do your feet feel in your shoes? How do your ankles feel? Knees, hips, ribs, shoulders, neck, head, and by the time you know it, you checked in with every part of your body."

Finger and thumb
Another discreet meditation technique is breathing deeply and joining your pointer finger to your thumb to form a circle. You can do this if you feel your stress level rising. "Say to yourself, whenever I put my finger and thumb together, I will be able to be peaceful and open-minded," Remati said.
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If you're in a meeting and start to feel resentful or left out, you can do it under the table, and no one will know, she added.

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