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Claim: One of Bloomberg's former state directors is a registered lobbyist for Saudi Arabia. Fact check: True

Crystal Canney

Crystal Canney ran for Maine state Senate in 2018.

Portland Press Herald/Getty Images

On June 15, Crystal Canney filed a short form registration statement with the U.S. Department of Justice as a political consultant to render services to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.

Canney is the former Communications Director for Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and in January was Maine's state director for the Michael Bloomberg campaign.


In November, Saudi Arabia's Washington embassy signed a one-year, $1.5M contract with the Des Moines-based Larson Shannahan Slifka Group.

In her filing, Canney describes her services for Saudi Arabia as providing strategic and government affairs advice including public relations and communications services. She will also engage in outreach and engagement with the public and media groups as well as have oversight of other consultants.


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Somali women and girls prepare for a buraanbur performance at the Tukwila Community Center on Jan. 24, 2026.

Patty Tang

As Immigration Hearings Accelerate, Somali Asylum Seekers Fear Losing Due Process

Across the Seattle region, Somali families are living with a level of fear that few others in our city fully see. This fear is rooted in sudden immigration court changes and in a national climate that feels increasingly unstable for people seeking asylum.

In recent months, immigration attorneys in multiple states, including here in Washington, have reported that Somali asylum hearings were abruptly rescheduled to earlier dates, in some cases moved forward by months or even years. Families who believed they had time to prepare are now scrambling to gather documentation, secure legal representation, and revisit traumatic experiences under compressed timelines.

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America Cannot Function without Experts
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America Cannot Function without Experts

America is facing a preventable national safety crisis because expertise is increasingly sidelined at the highest levels of government. In the first three months of 2026, at least 14 people have died in U.S. immigration detention centers — a surge that has drawn international criticism and underscored how life‑and‑death decisions depend on qualified leadership. When those entrusted with safeguarding the public lack the knowledge or are chosen for loyalty instead of competence, danger rarely announces itself. It arrives quietly, through misjudgments no one is prepared to correct.

That warning is urgent today. With Markwayne Mullin now leading the Department of Homeland Security amid rising scrutiny of immigration enforcement, questions about expertise are no longer abstract. Recent reporting shows a dozen detainee deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody this year, highlighting systemic risks where leadership decisions have life‑and‑death consequences.

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Getty Images

Changing Iran: With Help from Political Geographers on the Ground

INTRODUCTION

This article suggests a different path out of the present excursionist war. This would be a diplomatic effort with ample incentives to MAGA-Israel and the Conservative Shia Theocratic Khamenei Regime (CSTKR) to stop the war. In exchange for the U.S. and Israel stopping the bombing in Iran, this effort would allow the CSTKR to survive and thrive. They could keep and promote their belief that the return of the Muhammad al-Mahdi, the 12th Imam, who disappeared in 874 CE, is key to bringing on the end times to establish peace and justice on earth. While most people would endorse the attainment of peace and justice on earth, they would strongly object to its connection to try to actualize it through violent struggle.

This effort would assist Iran to thrive via the removal of sanctions, substantial technical and economic assistance, help in developing its civilian nuclear program, and letting them keep and maintain a mine-cleared Strait of Hormuz and charge tolls, similar to what Egypt levies for the Suez Canal. Charging tolls provides a strong incentive to keep that waterway open, maintained, and safe. It becomes an additional opportunity cost to keep it closed. The CSTKR and its proxy militias, in turn, must stop their bombing and terror campaigns and, in addition, the CSTKR must let the Strait of Hormuz be quickly opened, give up materials that can be used to build nuclear weapons, and accept the political reconfiguration of Iran as outlined here.

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Michigan, Romulus Challenge Federal Plan for ICE Detention Center in Ongoing Legal Fight

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Michigan, Romulus Challenge Federal Plan for ICE Detention Center in Ongoing Legal Fight

Michigan officials and the city of Romulus have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, escalating a growing legal and political battle over plans to convert a local warehouse into an immigration detention center near Detroit.

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