Evening Roundup, October 28
Featuring Rep. Chellie Pingree; Tom Joscelyn, Susan Corke, & Norm Eisen; Lynn Sweet; Jill Lawrence; Mike Lee; Meredith Blake; Lorraine Forte; Austin Sarat & Steve Kramer; & The Contrarian Podcast
No SNAP, No Food: Rep. Pingree slams MAGA GOP for cutting off food
SNAP benefits expire this week, and yet the Trump Administration is declining to tap into emergency funds to feed millions of Americans. Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) joins Jen from Washington, D.C. where, unlike most Republicans, she is working for her constituents.
Sen. Schmitt’s hearing on political violence is a sham
Since the murder of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, the Trump administration and its allies on the Hill have relentlessly pushed a dishonest narrative—namely, that the American left is chiefly if not solely responsible for political violence in America. Political violence is committed by those all along the political spectrum, and, indeed, all data shows that…
ICE Escalation in Chicago: Looped In with Lynn Sweet
Children teargassed during Halloween celebrations. Women thrown to the ground and arrested. Journalists targeted and obstructed from doing their jobs. ICE has transformed their original role — investigating and executing lawful immigration warrants — into a chaotic, dangerous, and potentially illegal operation against civilians.
The New York City mayor’s race is an ethics test
Trump, Adams, and Cuomo have made it a choice between corruption and Mamdani.
Firewall for Freedom: ACLU Executive Director Mike Lee on Pennsylvania Elections and State Protection
Pennsylvania ACLU Executive Director Mike Lee
The judicial branch shouldn’t hold the same vested interest as the other branches of government….and yet, partisan money is trying to infiltrate the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court elections.
A minimalist documentary with maximum impact
Turn on any true crime documentary these days—whether it’s about a serial killer, a scammer, or a cult leader—and you’re likely to see a slew of familiar storytelling devices...
Dispatch from Chicago: Countdown to SNAP cuts
On Saturday, food assistance will run out for roughly 41.7 million Americans because the Republican-led Congress refuses to do its job and resolve the federal government shutdown, headed into its second month with no end in sight.
The White House is not a palace for a president who acts like a king
By Austin Sarat and Steve Kramer
The destruction of the People's House is a mirror of Trump's selfish desire to bulldoze our constitutional republic and replace it with his will.
Equal Voting Rights are under attack in the courts and in North Carolina
The legitimacy of our court system hangs by a thread. If the Voting Rights Act is axed by the Supreme Court, it will set off a wave of destruction within American society — particularly for Black Americans.
For a special Halloween installment, we’re compiling a collection of pets in costumes. Paid subscribers, please send photos of your decked-out dogs and costumed cats (and any other pet!) to submit@contrariannews.org by noon ET on 10/31. Please put “Halloween pet” in the subject line.
Not a subscriber yet? Please join our growing community while helping support independent media and litigation against Trump’s chaos:
So why aren't Democratic congress members screaming from the rooftops, doing every TV and newspaper interview they can do everywhere they can do it to tell people that the SNAP stoppage is blackmail to force Democrats to fold on the rising insurance costs and end the shutdown?
MURDER ON THE HIGH SEAS
Trump Rides the Waves Above the Law
Per ChatGPT: “Since early September 2025, the U.S. ‘War Department’ has carried out at least 13 high-seas strikes on boats it says were drug-running, killing at least 57 people. The strikes have occurred in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean—including waters near Venezuela/Dominican Republic in the southern Caribbean and the Pacific approaches off South America, with the most recent wave reported in the eastern Pacific.”
Trump has obviously taken lessons from some of the most notorious pirates over the centuries who hijacked sailing vessels and killed their crews and passengers.
The pirates were after the gold, a very tempting prize indeed for Trump. But Trump has been using his War Department to summarily blow up boats on the high seas and killing their occupants upon suspicion, and even evidence, that they were trafficking in drugs, without first boarding the ships to investigate or determine whether women or children were on board or taking them into custody.
His practice of summarily executing suspected drug traffickers on the high seas differs dramatically from the precepts of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws which require, among other substantive and procedural safeguards, due process of law, notice of the charges, right to counsel, the right against unlawful searches and seizures, right to a jury trial etc, etc etc.
In addition, under federal law, drug trafficking by itself, without the attending commission of a homicide, is not a capital offense.
Per ChatGPT: Under federal law: “Death can be sought when a killing occurs in the course of a large-scale drug enterprise—e.g., murder “in furtherance of” a continuing criminal enterprise under 21 U.S.C. § 848(e). This is a drug-related capital offense, but it requires an intentional killing; TRAFFICKING ALONE ISN’T ENOUGH” [emphasis added]
In addition, the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
Again, per ChatGPT: “Cruel and unusual punishments: This clause prohibits punishments that are considered inhumane, barbaric, or grossly disproportionate to the crime. The Supreme Court has interpreted the ‘cruel and unusual punishments’ clause as a protection against not only barbaric methods (like torture) but also punishments that are excessive compared to the offense, or that violate society’s evolving standards of decency.”
It must be be obvious to all that Trump and his newly minted War Department, who are acting as murderous pirates on the high seas, are in violation of every fundamental precept of our Constitution and laws because they feel that they are both outside and above the law.
Trump, in particular, feels emboldened to commit any crime that might sprout from his deranged brain given the expansive immunity from prosecution that has been conferred upon him by his 6 cohorts on the U.S. Supreme Court. And given his proclamation that “I rule the country and the world”, we can expect even more heinous criminality to satiate his craving for power and for inflicting pain.
There is virtually no crime that Trump could commit under a professed color of law that would not be covered by this broad blanket of immunity that he has been shrouded with by his ardent admirers and supporters on our high court.
This is all very sickening.