politics

This week we are joined by Dr.  Olivier Jutel, a lecturer in the Department of Media, Film & Communication at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. His scholarly focus is in communication studies and media theory, particularly around populism, digital media, political economy, and critical theory.

Selected quotes:

Colorado's law is very clear. Law enforcement does law enforcement. In Colorado, law enforcement doesn't do federal immigration enforcement. The line is when a sheriff's deputy, in this case, actually detain somebody in a vehicle for the purpose of enabling federal immigration enforcement to detain that person.

At that point, you're not operating as a Colorado law enforcement anymore, because there was no Colorado law that was determined to be violated.

...

It's very important to note here, this wasn't about community safety. There was no basis for concern that she had committed any crime, posed any threat to public safety.

When there are people who commit violent crimes, crimes that warrant being deported, Colorado law enforcement routinely will share information, as provided under Colorado law, so that ICE can do their job and deport people who are dangerous. But this was a case of someone who hadn't done anything wrong, didn't pose any threat to public safety.

In that case, Colorado law enforcement shouldn't take it upon an individual to go ahead and start acting as if you're doing federal immigration enforcement solely for purposes of enforcing immigration law, which is totally federal, not for purposes of keeping communities safe. That's what a state's job is.

...

We in Colorado cooperate all the time with federal law enforcement partners. And if someone is here without authorization and they have done harmful, dangerous actions, they should be held to account. But what Colorado law says is, we need our law enforcement focused on law enforcement. We don't have enough law enforcement officers in Colorado.

That's a public policy decision that we're making not to do the federal government's work. It's their job to do that work.

Phil Weiser, Attorney-General of Colorado

Aggressive maneuver comes as the Republicans try to stave off losses in next year’s midterm elections

Republicans have unveiled a new congressional map in Texas that would allow the party to pick up as many as five additional congressional seats, an aggressive maneuver that has already met decisive outcry from Democrats and comes as the GOP tries to stave off losses in next year’s midterm elections.

Republicans already hold 25 of Texas’s 38 congressional seats. But at the urging of Donald Trump, Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, called a special session this month to redraw the state’s congressional districts. After contentious hearings across the state, Republicans unveiled their proposed map on Wednesday.

“We expected them to be greedy,” said Sam Gostomski, executive director of the Texas Democratic party. “The bottom line is, they are going to turn Texas into almost certainly the most gerrymandered state in the country.”

On Wednesday, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer announced that he and the seven Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs are demanding the files, citing “a century-old and little-known” statute known as the “rule of five.”

Under the rule, executive agencies are, upon the request of five members of the Homeland Security Committee, required to submit “any information requested of it relating to any matter within the jurisdiction of the committee.”

The intrigue: The "Rule of Five" law allows any five members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to request federal agencies to provide information about "any matter within the jurisdiction of the committee."

The 33-year-old self-described democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani leads a five-candidate New York City mayoral race by double digits and amasses more than 50 percent of the vote regardless of his opponent, according to a new poll.

Why It Matters

The New York state assemblyman sent political shock waves across New York City when he defeated political stalwart and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary, further advancing a contentious election cycle that has Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams vying for the mayoral seat as independent candidates, alongside former federal prosecutor Jim Walden.

On the Republican side of the race, 71-year-old conservative activist and talk show host Curtis Sliwa is aiming for a major upset.

Disgust at the CEO’s rightwing activism is casting a pall but conservatives are no more likely to buy EVs

US liberals have become so disgusted with Tesla since Elon Musk’s rightward turn that they are now not only far less likely to purchase the car brand but also less willing to buy any type of electric car, new research has found.

The popularity of Tesla among liberal-minded Americans has plummeted since Musk, Tesla’s chief executive and the world’s richest person, allied himself with Donald Trump and helped propel the president to election victory last year.

While liberals reported mostly positive intentions around buying an electric car in August 2023, their overall support for EVs eroded in the wake of a collapse in their opinion of Teslas, according to the new study, which polled Americans on an array of environmental actions.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has privately discussed the idea of running for political office next year in Tennessee, according to two people who have spoken directly with him about it.

If Hegseth were to follow through on the discussions, it would amount to a major leadership shake-up at the department that oversees the American military and millions of federal employees. The Defense Department bars civilian employees from running for political office, meaning Hegseth would have to resign to do so.