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Ramzy Baroud Z Network The mountain of evidence that cannot be shouted away about Israel’s systemic use of sexual violence. And other abuses against Palestinians. Whether Israelis will ever comprehend the irreparable damage inflicted upon their country’s reputation by their U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, is a moot point. The damage Israel has done to itself […]

Last month, the Supreme Court issued a number of landmark opinions involving transgender rights, campaign finance, executive power, and immigration. Those decisions were issued in the traditional way many of us recognize: pages and pages of arguments and citations, with each justice on the record voting yea or nay. But over the last decade, the […]

The post Washington Law Says to Alert the Public When Doctors Are Accused of Misconduct. It Can Take Months. appeared first on ProPublica.

A content creator who runs a satirical cat account trolling Vice President JD Vance on Instagram is suing after being banned from one of his events by the Secret Service. Amanda McGonigle, who has nearly two million followers for her massive “CatsonaCouch” Instagram account, was stopped in line at a Maine event for the vice president in May. “They got me. So, while I was in line to go into the event, Secret Service … came up to me and said, ‘Hey Amanda, you can’t come in.’ And I was basically like ‘but I have my registration,’ and they were like ‘well since it’s a private event , you can’t come in,’” McGonigle said on her Instagram account back in May. “I was like … ‘You realize that’s silly, right? I’m a cat account.’” While she was waiting in line, McGonigle was also told by the Secret Service, “We know where you stand.” She insists that the event was advertised as public. “Either it was a public event as advertised and I was denied entry because I think JD Vance is a sentient jar of mayonnaise, or it was a private event and taxpayer dollars were being used to fund JD Vance’s little ‘safe space,’” McGonigle said again after the event. “Either way, it’s giving lawsuit vibes.”McGonigle is suing the U.S. Secret Service and the Executive Office of the President for infringement on her constitutional rights.“The First Amendment protects every person’s right to express their opinions and political views, free from fear of government retaliation or retribution,” ACLU of Maine attorney Anahita Sotoohi said in a statement. “Ms. McGonigle uses her platform to criticize and satirize elected officials, using humor to garner support for causes important to her and inform her followers about political developments. The freedom to mock has been a central tenet of American political discourse since the founding. The First Amendment cannot be revoked just because one of the country’s most powerful people can’t take a joke.”McGonigle created the account in 2024 in the wake of Vance’s comment deriding “childless cat ladies.” It exists with the aim to “have more followers than JD Vance by the time he leaves office and to troll him mercilessly every single day,” according to McGonigle. The White House has yet to comment on McGonigle, although they seem to very aware of—and bothered by—her account’s existence.

A woman who dated Graham Platner said he raped her in her Maine home in 2021, an allegation that follows accounts from at least six other women who described troubling behavior—including infidelity, excessive drinking, and, in one case, physical abuse—by Maine’s Democratic nominee for US Senate. The woman, Jenny Racicot, 41, gave a detailed account […]