Contributing Writers

Dick Cheney, the former vice president and one of the key architects of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, died Monday at age 84. Cheney served six terms in Congress as Wyoming’s lone representative before serving as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush, when he oversaw the first Gulf War and the bloody U.S. invasion of Panama that deposed former U.S. ally Manuel Noriega. From 1995 to 2000, Cheney served as chair and CEO of the oil services company Halliburton, before George W.

Voters in the United States are casting ballots in several closely watched elections on Tuesday, including mayoral races in New York, Seattle and Minneapolis, and gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia. The Nation’s executive editor John Nichols says Zohran Mamdani’s campaign in New York, in particular, has “captured the imagination of the country.

We speak to Wole Soyinka, the 91-year-old celebrated Nigerian writer and first African Nobel laureate, who recently had his U.S. visa revoked after he made comments critical of Trump. As Trump threatens U.S. military action against Nigeria over claims of a “Christian genocide” in the country, Soyinka says, “when religious differences began to be invoked as a means of political power, and even social and economic powers, we’ve had unquestionably the issue of impunity.

President Trump is threatening to bomb Nigeria, alleging the country is failing to protect Christians from persecution, even as many victims of the fundamentalist insurgent group Boko Haram are Muslims. “This theme of persecution of Christians is a very politically charged, and actually religiously charged, theme for evangelicals across the world,” says Anthea Butler, the author of White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America.

Democracy Now!’s Anjali Kamat reports on working-class South Asian support for New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. South Asian voter turnout increased by 40% during the Democratic primary, contributing to Mamdani’s upset victory against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is now running as an independent candidate. “We’ve had several South Asian or Indo-Caribbean candidates, and none of them elicit this response.

President Trump held a lavish Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago Friday, just hours before an estimated 42 million people lost SNAP benefits across the country. Kirk Curnutt, the executive director of the international F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, says that while ”Gatsby is famous for its lavish party scenes, [what] people often miss is that the entire thrust of the book is to critique that conspicuous consumption and the wastage that goes on in these sorts of events.

As the U.S. federal government shutdown enters its second month, over 40 million people are now struggling to feed themselves and their families after SNAP food assistance was cut off over the weekend. “We are headed for a major public health and economic crisis,” says child hunger expert Mariana Chilton. She adds that by refusing to disburse SNAP benefits, “the Trump administration is breaking the law.

Omar Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants and a democratic socialist, is a leading candidate in the mayoral race in Minneapolis and seeking to unseat incumbent Jacob Frey. Fateh made history in 2020 by becoming the first Muslim and first Somali American to be elected to Minnesota’s state Senate. Fateh has run for mayor on a platform advocating for rent stabilization, raising the minimum wage and reforming how the city handles public safety.

A retired U.S. colonel who investigated the death of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has gone public to accuse the Biden administration of “inaction” and a possible “cover-up.” Steve Gabavics says the U.S. government soft-pedaled the finding that Israeli forces intentionally killed her to appease the Israeli government.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is calling for federal agents to pause immigration enforcement in the Chicago area until after Halloween, amid widespread condemnation of violent arrests and confrontations with residents. Meanwhile, the person at the center of much of Chicago’s enforcement, Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, did a five-hour deposition Thursday in a case challenging federal agents’ treatment of protesters, journalists, children and immigrants.

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba for the 33rd consecutive year, with just seven opposed, including the United States, Israel and Ukraine. The vote came as Cuba was battered by Hurricane Melissa, causing widespread damage.
We get an update from the eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba with Liz Oliva Fernández, a reporter with Belly of the Beast, who says the U.S.

Omar Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants and a democratic socialist, is a leading candidate in the mayoral race in Minneapolis and seeking to unseat incumbent Jacob Frey. Fateh made history in 2020 by becoming the first Muslim and first Somali American to be elected to Minnesota’s state Senate. Fateh has run for mayor on a platform advocating for rent stabilization, raising the minimum wage and reforming how the city handles public safety.

A retired U.S. colonel who investigated the death of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has gone public to accuse the Biden administration of “inaction” and a possible “cover-up.” Steve Gabavics says the U.S. government soft-pedaled the finding that Israeli forces intentionally killed her to appease the Israeli government.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is calling for federal agents to pause immigration enforcement in the Chicago area until after Halloween, amid widespread condemnation of violent arrests and confrontations with residents. Meanwhile, the person at the center of much of Chicago’s enforcement, Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, did a five-hour deposition Thursday in a case challenging federal agents’ treatment of protesters, journalists, children and immigrants.

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba for the 33rd consecutive year, with just seven opposed, including the United States, Israel and Ukraine. The vote came as Cuba was battered by Hurricane Melissa, causing widespread damage.
We get an update from the eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba with Liz Oliva Fernández, a reporter with Belly of the Beast, who says the U.S.

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba for the 33rd consecutive year, with just seven opposed, including the United States, Israel and Ukraine. The vote came as Cuba was battered by Hurricane Melissa, causing widespread damage.
We get an update from the eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba with Liz Oliva Fernández, a reporter with Belly of the Beast, who says the U.S.

Omar Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants and a democratic socialist, is a leading candidate in the mayoral race in Minneapolis and seeking to unseat incumbent Jacob Frey. Fateh made history in 2020 by becoming the first Muslim and first Somali American to be elected to Minnesota’s state Senate. Fateh has run for mayor on a platform advocating for rent stabilization, raising the minimum wage and reforming how the city handles public safety.

A retired U.S. colonel who investigated the death of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has gone public to accuse the Biden administration of “inaction” and a possible “cover-up.” Steve Gabavics says the U.S. government soft-pedaled the finding that Israeli forces intentionally killed her to appease the Israeli government.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is calling for federal agents to pause immigration enforcement in the Chicago area until after Halloween, amid widespread condemnation of violent arrests and confrontations with residents. Meanwhile, the person at the center of much of Chicago’s enforcement, Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, did a five-hour deposition Thursday in a case challenging federal agents’ treatment of protesters, journalists, children and immigrants.

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba for the 33rd consecutive year, with just seven opposed, including the United States, Israel and Ukraine. The vote came as Cuba was battered by Hurricane Melissa, causing widespread damage.
We get an update from the eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba with Liz Oliva Fernández, a reporter with Belly of the Beast, who says the U.S.

Sudan’s military is accusing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of killing at least 2,000 people since seizing control of El Fasher in the Darfur region, including some 460 at the Saudi Maternity Hospital. Meanwhile, tens of thousands have fled.
“What’s happening is no less than a … campaign of destruction and annihilation,” says Mathilde Vu, Sudan advocacy manager at the Norwegian Refugee Council, speaking to Democracy Now! from Kenya.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to a one-year trade truce after meeting in South Korea. China will postpone export controls on rare earth minerals, and the U.S. will lower its tariffs on Chinese goods. China also agreed to resume buying American soybeans.

President Trump has directed the Pentagon to resume testing nuclear weapons for the first time since 1992. He made the announcement just before meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss trade relations. Dr. Ira Helfand, former president of Physicians for Social Responsibility and a leading campaigner against nuclear proliferation, says the White House needs to “clarify” Trump’s intentions, and urges countries to recommit to nuclear disarmament.

Coexistence, My Ass! is a new documentary opening Wednesday in New York highlighting Noam Shuster Eliassi, an Israeli comedian and peace activist. Shuster Eliassi hopes for justice and equality for Palestinians and “to make present the elephant in the room” that a lot of artists in Israel “prefer to ignore.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is replacing ICE leadership at 12 of the 25 ICE field offices nationwide with Border Patrol officials who will take over immigration enforcement in those regions as President Trump demands more arrests. Meanwhile, Chicago continues to be a focus of the administration’s immigration crackdown.

Jamaica remains in a state of emergency after being battered by Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest Atlantic cyclones in history. The Category 5 storm slammed into Jamaica on Tuesday with 185-mile-per-hour winds, and the extent of the damage is not yet known because communication remains limited. Mikaela Loach, a Jamaican British climate justice activist, says the hurricane was “caused by the climate crisis,” and says fossil fuel companies are to blame.

Israel launched major airstrikes on Gaza, killing at least 104 people, including 46 children, in the deadliest attacks since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire was announced. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered “powerful strikes” on Gaza Tuesday after Israeli officials accused Hamas of killing an Israeli soldier in Rafah — which Hamas has denied. Netanyahu is trying “everything possible to resume the genocide in Gaza,” says Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza.

We speak with journalist David Sirota about his new book, Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. Co-authored with Jared Jacang Maher, the book is based on their award-winning investigative podcast of the same name for The Lever.