Today in our brief news:
Trump's policies are driving America's farmers to desperation. A senator has been briefed on the next war plans against Iran and calls them "insane." In Russia, an independent newspaper is being silenced after 33 years. And in Maine, police are preparing to keep armed federal agents away from polling places.
War plans, political persecution, and fears of interference in free elections. That's the news this Friday.
Trump's Farmers Are Fighting Back: $2.9 Million Against Republicans, $8 Billion in Government Aid to Deal With the Fallout From His Policies
Trump's Farmers Are Fighting Back: $2.9 Million Against Republicans, $8 Billion in Government Aid to Deal With the Fallout From His Policies
The American Meat Producers Association has already spent $2.9 million on campaign advertising. Ashley Hinson, the Republican Senate candidate in Iowa, is taking a particularly hard hit. Around $2.5 million has gone into ads targeting her alone. One farmer in those ads uses language that people in Washington probably don't want to hear: Hinson doesn't give a damn about Iowa's farmers. She'll never personally experience the pain her decisions have caused people like him. Behind the anger is a fight over stricter animal welfare regulations in California and Massachusetts. Hinson supports legislation that would override those rules. Nearly 400 agricultural organizations support the proposal. Other farmers refuse to give up the higher animal welfare standards. Hog farmer Dean Frazer, on the other hand, backs Hinson because converting his operation would come with substantial costs. Iowa's major corn growers' associations and the Iowa Farm Bureau also continue to support her.
Hinson's campaign points to her efforts to allow year-round sales of gasoline with higher ethanol content. In Colorado, Republican Gabe Evans is feeling the anger over Trump's economic policies. An ad accuses him of supporting Trump's tariffs and the Iran war, helping drive prices higher. Evans initially declined to comment. The American Meat Producers Association was only founded in 2025. Its president, Holly Bice, is a Washington lobbyist. She won't reveal who the major donors are. Hog farmer Russ Kremer says around 5,000 farmers are involved. Many of them have donated to the advertising campaign. Verifiable details about the funding remain unavailable. An organization demanding accountability from elected officials is keeping its own donor list under wraps.
Trump's answer to farmers' hardship comes with an $8 billion price tag. With this diesel assistance, government payments to agriculture this year will rise to a total of $55.4 billion. But the money isn't supposed to be paid out until after the congressional elections. The president gets to announce the assistance beforehand, while farmers have to keep waiting for relief. Meanwhile, his approval rating among rural Americans has fallen to 45 percent, the lowest level recorded so far. Trump won Iowa by a wide margin back in 2024. In several races there, Democrats are now tied with Republicans or running ahead. Incidentally, the new organization also supports Republicans who oppose the controversial animal welfare legislation. Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania and Andrew Garbarino in New York received a combined $100,000 in campaign support. On America's farms, there's a lot more at stake now than old party loyalties. Washington can defend its political decisions with grand speeches. The diesel bill still lands on the table every morning.
"Their Plan Is Insane": What Trump Has in Store for Iran After the Elections
„"Some of us have been briefed on the war plan. And while I cannot disclose any details, I can say this: the plan is insane. It will not achieve objectives and will set off a new cycle of escalation."„
Chris Murphy has learned what Donald Trump's administration is planning next in Iran. The Democratic senator from Connecticut was among a group of senators briefed on the military preparations. He spoke about it Wednesday, and his choice of words left little room for misunderstanding. "Their plan is insane." What the administration is preparing would lead to devastating escalation and likely destroy America's commitment to the rule of law. Murphy serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's seen the classified information behind his warning. And he explicitly says the military leadership is carrying out an order from the president. Whether the generals themselves believe the plan will work, Murphy doesn't know.
The next American attack could begin after the November 3 congressional elections. Washington has already warned allies in the Persian Gulf about a possible new military operation. Israeli government officials have discussed further tightening the blockade on Iranian oil exports and bombing petrochemical facilities with the Americans. Those are facilities that people depend on for their jobs and their daily needs. Murphy talks about civilian infrastructure that could be targeted. The military discussions go far beyond another attack on Iran's nuclear program. People heading to work in the morning would have to face the possibility that their factory is on an American target list.
Trump has already fought this war with enormous promises. Iran's nuclear capabilities were supposed to be destroyed. Whether that goal has actually been achieved remains unconfirmed. Instead, new attack plans are on the table, and a senator who has seen them is warning that the war could drag on, with catastrophic consequences for U.S. security. New strikes could kill more Iranian civilians. American soldiers would once again be risking their lives. High fuel prices could persist while Washington debates which facilities to bomb next.
On November 3, Americans will elect a new Congress. Just days later, their government could expand a war whose original stated objective still hasn't been demonstrably achieved. Murphy has seen the plans. His warning is now out in the open. In Iran, people can only hope that the papers sitting on desks in Washington don't turn into new reports of people killed.
To be continued ...
"They Killed Us": After 33 Years, Putin's Russia Forces Novaya Gazeta to Shut Down
On November 9, the lights will go out for the last time in a building on Potapovsky Lane in central Moscow. The servers will be shut down, and the journalists will go home. After nearly 30 years in those offices, the staff of Novaya Gazeta have to move out. On Friday, October 30, the newspaper announced that it was shutting down for good. "They Killed Us" is the headline of its farewell statement. Russian authorities and intelligence agencies, the newspaper says, have forced its staff to stop working. After 33 years, one of Russia's best-known independent newspapers is coming to an end. The very newspaper whose journalists repeatedly exposed state violence, corruption, and crimes committed by Russia's security services.
The eviction notice for the newsroom arrived Thursday. At the same time, banks and private payment service providers have effectively cut off almost every way for the newspaper to accept donations from its readers. They cite supposed internal corporate policies as the reason. The newsroom believes Russian intelligence agencies are behind the pressure. Back in March 2022, shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the newspaper had to stop publishing its print edition. Russia's media regulator had issued repeated warnings. In September of that same year, a court revoked its official media registration. Still, the journalists kept working, under increasingly difficult conditions. Now they're also losing the place where they've spent almost three decades investigating, writing, and putting their newspaper together.
The Anna Politkovskaya Museum will also disappear from the building along with the newsroom. It's located in her former office. The journalist was shot dead in Moscow on October 7, 2006, after spending years reporting on human rights abuses and crimes committed during the war in Chechnya. Her former workplace was preserved while the newsroom continued its work despite threats and political persecution. Now that reminder of her is being forced out of the building as well. Founded in 1993, the newspaper survived the murders of several of its journalists. In the end, it's the authorities forcing it out of its offices and cutting off its funding that finally bring it down.
In their final statement, the journalists address those responsible in unusually harsh terms. "Stop saying that this isn't Stalin's 1937 and that the repression is somehow 'digital' in nature. This is state repression. And it's people, not numbers, who are dying in prison cells. Period." They accuse the security services, the Justice Ministry, and the Prosecutor General's Office of having seized control of the state. They still intend to publish their final prepared edition. After that, the newsroom will be cleared out. The Russian government has silenced another independent newspaper. At least its journalists were still able to put into writing who was responsible.
Investigative newsrooms around the world are fighting for survival. Governments put pressure on journalists, censorship strips them of their freedom, and a lack of financial support threatens their very existence and their projects. And then there are social media platforms, which now also help decide which investigations even reach people anymore. Years of investigative work can disappear within hours among pointless videos and silly pictures, while algorithms decide what gets seen and independent newsrooms become increasingly dependent on platforms whose decisions they have absolutely no control over. Almost every day, we watch colleagues give up, even after spending years fighting to get their investigations out into the open. Whether this is the right way to treat those who expose abuses of power and injustice is more than questionable. We fight this battle every single day, too. You really have to love this work of uncovering forbidden truths to keep delivering outstanding journalism and human rights work under these conditions. And despite everything, we keep going, because we know what's at stake when independent journalism falls silent.
Trump Sends Election Monitors to Maine: State Prepares Police to Keep Armed Federal Agents Away From Polling Places
In Maine, police officers now have to learn how to stop armed federal agents from entering polling places. Four days before America's congressional elections, this isn't some theoretical exercise. Donald Trump's administration is sending election monitors to the state while right-wing activists publicly accuse people of Somali descent of voter fraud. There's no evidence of widespread fraud. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has therefore expanded her security preparations and specifically added federal laws prohibiting armed federal officers from being stationed at polling places to law enforcement training materials. For the first time, she says, officials have to prepare for possible interference in an election by their own federal government. The federal government now seems to be acting as an adversary to the states.
In Lewiston in particular, voter intimidation has already taken on a very real face. Jon Fetherston, a reporter for a right-wing website, followed people outside and near a polling place at City Hall and aggressively questioned them. Black voters were particularly targeted. The website receives financial backing from conservative megadonor Leonard Leo and has spent months spreading allegations against the Somali American community. Its editor-in-chief, Steve Robinson, called Somali voters "jobless Somali bums" and questioned why they were receiving assistance from interpreters when voting. The Maine People's Alliance says some people are now wondering whether they should even bother going to vote because of encounters like these. Authorities have received complaints about intrusive filming and harassment. Bellows insists that every citizen must be able to vote without being followed or questioned because of their skin color.
The U.S. Justice Department plans to deploy around 1,000 election monitors nationwide on November 3. In Maine, monitors are expected in Lewiston, Portland, and now South Portland as well. The federal government insists its personnel will only observe, report possible violations of the law, and refrain from interfering with anyone's right to vote. Federal election monitors aren't unusual in themselves. But the fact that a state is also explicitly preparing its local police to keep armed federal agents away from polling places says quite a bit about the current relationship between Washington and election officials. In New York, voters have also been reminded that federal agents aren't allowed to police polling places.
The political stakes in Maine are enormous. Republican Senator Susan Collins is facing Democratic challenger Troy Jackson. In the state's 2nd Congressional District, Democrat Matt Dunlap is running against former Republican Governor Paul LePage. Both races could affect which party controls Congress. Collins seized on allegations of improper voting assistance even though she had no concrete evidence. Only American citizens should be allowed to vote, she said. Nobody disputes that. But assistance from authorized interpreters doesn't automatically amount to voter fraud. While Trump talks about supposedly illegal voters, Maine has to make sure people can cast their ballots without being harassed by political activists outside polling places. Voting takes place Tuesday. By now, the police also know who they may have to defend voting rights against.
