Eric Barker

The USDA sent an email to grocery stores telling them they are prohibited from offering special discounts to customers affected by the SNAP funding lapse.
I'm aware of at least 2 stores that had offered struggling customers a discount, then withdrew it after receiving this email

Two Spokane Police officers resign amid investigation for on-duty sexual acts with domestic violence victims Two Spokane police officers have resigned within the past year amid internal affairs investigations into allegations that they had used their badge to seduce women who were victims of domestic violenc...

BREAKING: Two Spokane Police officers resigned this year amid an investigation into allegations they were seducing victims of domestic violence, hundreds of documents show.

MORE: www.spokesman.com/stories/2025...

During a press conference this week in Gary, Indiana, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem brazenly claimed no US citizens have been detained or arrested by ICE, and labeled any reporting to the contrary is “simply not true”. But Noem is ignoring the facts.

This Little-Known Appeal Could Force Your Insurer to Pay for Lifesaving Care. Here’s How to File It. When a health insurer refuses to pay for your treatment, you may have the right to have the denial reviewed — and potentially overturned — by an independent provider. Here are six steps experts sugges...

Few patients appeal a health insurance denial, but a little-known process that requires insurers and plans to seek an independent opinion can force insurers to pay for what can be lifesaving treatment.

Here’s what experts say you need to know.

By @deldeib.bsky.social

The Absurd Prosecution of a Man Who Posted a Charlie Kirk Meme Larry Bushart Jr. posted trolling memes on a Facebook thread about a vigil for Kirk. He’s been in a Tennessee jail ever since.

"Provincial officials allied with the Trump regime have jailed a political dissident for over a month after he made comments on social media critical of the authoritarian leader and a recently slain political ally who founded an influential group to radicalize America's 'White' ethnic majority."

"No planning. No proposals to the National Capital Planning Commission. No opportunity for notice and comment from the public. Just Trump’s whim—and a beloved national symbol tumbles to dust. It’s obscene."

@monacharen.bsky.social on Trump's White House demolition www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-mar-...

"What the fuck? How is this real? This is a nightmare"

Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation.

Journalism, he said, is how we know what's happening in troubled lands. "These extraordinary eyewitness accounts are the culmination of the daily efforts of countless people who work to ensure that information isn't manipulated for ends contrary to truth and human dignity“
apnews.com/article/pope...

John Roberts’ Constitution: The federal government protecting people’s right to vote or giving them health care violates the sacred principle of state sovereignty but if the deranged POTUS and his bloodthirsty advisers want to use the military to invade other states for being too liberal that’s fine

“The [US] supreme court hasn’t wanted to be Churchill.” Levitsky said. “John Roberts has been Chamberlain. I think that is incredible destructive behavior.”

I’m a US citizen and a veteran. ICE arrested me for no reason. Jailed for three days without an explanation or ability to notify anyone, George Retes argues the only path to healing starts with the government taking accountability for its actions.

"[A]gents engulfed my car in tear gas, smashed my driver-side window, and pepper-sprayed my face.... I spent three nights and three days in federal custody. No explanation. No charges. No apology. One day, I was just told, 'you’re free to go.'" #KavanaughStop

American taxpayers are paying people to post Bible verses on a US government account.

Alan Dershowitz is the distinguished guest speaker for a University of Idaho College of Law lecture on October 17 in Boise, Idaho

Deeply disappointed in my alma mater for this

Thanks Carl!

Federal officer blasts chemical spray into vocal but nonviolent Portland protester, video shows

The interaction illustrates how federal law enforcement officers do use aggressive tactics against protesters who yell and needle officers but don’t appear to present clear physical threats.

Supreme Court Lets Trump Revoke Deportation Protections for Venezuelans

“This is perhaps the most extreme sign that the Supreme Court has abandoned law for politics,” he said in a statement. “There is no way under law to make sense of the vast new power the court has taken for itself.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...

ICE agent sprays a woman criticizing them with mace, nothing more threatening on her part www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMrAF3Mg/

Some are more measured
Interior: Because of the federal government shutdown, www.doi.gov is not being updated and will not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

Homeland Security: Home land security
Due to a lapse in funding, this website will not be actively managed.

Treasury:
The radical left has chosen to shut down the United States government in the name of reckless spending and obstructionism. As a result, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s websites will only be sporadically updated until this shutdown concludes.

AG The Radical Left Democrats shutdown the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people

Some federal agency and department websites are posting unusually partisan messages on their websites blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.

OpenAI employees are very excited about how well their new AI tool can create fake videos of people doing crimes and have definitely thought through all the implications of this

Transcript: Gregory Bovino says arrestees in downtown Chicago chosen partly based on ‘how they look’ WBEZ reporter Chip Mitchell spoke with U.S. Border Patrol commander about a deportation blitz downtown and in the upscale River North neighborhood. Here is the transcript and unedited audio interview.

Gregory Bovino, commander-at-large of the U.S. #BorderPatrol, claims a @wbez.org/@chicago.suntimes.com report about his comments Sunday in downtown #Chicago was "grossly inaccurate" and taken out of context. So we've posted the interview's unedited AUDIO and TRANSCRIPT:
www.wbez.org/immigration/...

Heartbreaking. Their disregard for human life knows no bounds.

Opinion | Democrats Are in Crisis. Eat-the-Rich Populism Is the Only Answer. A blistering assault on economic elites, a moderate stance on cultural issues and a rejection of politics as usual. That’s how to remake the Democratic Party.

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“A strategy for remaking the Democratic Party is coming together — a coalition of moderates and progressives leaning into economic populism while leaving room to maneuver in the culture war,” writes Tim Shenk.

What the Public Memory of Charlie Kirk Revealed

For those who were directly targeted by Charlie Kirk’s rhetoric, bipartisan tributes to him as a champion of free speech signal the mainstreaming of formerly extremist views, Nikole Hannah-Jones writes in an essay for The New York Times Magazine.

The Tinker Bugs prescribed fire was associated with a timber sale, on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest and was part of preparation for replanting.

UPDATED AT 4:16 P.M.: Idaho firefighter dies after being hit by fallin... Firefighter from Minnesota was on prescribed fire related to timber sale

An Idaho Department of Lands firefighter died Friday after being struck by a tree on a prescribed fire east of Kooskia.
www.lmtribune.com/local-news/i...

I'm not a big MLS fan, but I see the Portland Timbers are playing all their games and even doing pretty well, despite playing in a war ravaged city.

And Powell's Books, the world's largest independent bookstore, is holding book readings pretty much every night.

Impressive. Like London 1940.

As a resident of #Portland it is impossible to capture how unhinged this is. We are a low crime city and the ICE protest "siege" consists of one auxiliary ICE office that normally has at most a dozen weirdos debating what performance art they should use to block a single driveway