The Rest Is Politics

Hasan Piker, the left-wing political streamer, is drawing attention for his influence on the 2025 US elections despite remaining unknown to most Americans. Reporting by The Guardian highlights how his audience says his commentary is shaping the political conversation and possibly election outcomes, sparking debate over how much power online commentators now hold over mainstream politics.

A newly shared interview titled 'Democracy, Israeli Style' is drawing attention to claims that Benjamin Netanyahu had advance knowledge of Hamas's October 7 attack. The discussion weighs the various allegations, noting that some are seen as election-driven political attacks while others rest on considerable evidence, amid ongoing public debate over Israeli intelligence failures and their political consequences.

California will ask voters to approve a $7.5 billion bond measure to fund an independent state science agency designed to operate free from federal political influence under President Trump. The plan would bankroll scientific research in the state regardless of decisions in Washington. Supporters frame it as a safeguard for research funding, while its fate now rests with California's electorate.

The US Department of Justice has decided not to reopen an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell concerning the cost overruns in the Fed's headquarters renovation. The decision effectively closes the chapter on a controversy that drew political criticism of the central bank's leadership. Observers see it as removing a legal overhang from Powell, though debate over the renovation's price tag may continue in Congress.

California has enacted a new law aimed at preventing offshore oil drilling along its coast, a direct challenge to the Trump administration's push to expand drilling leases in federal waters. The measure tests the limits of state authority over coastal waters, where licensing decisions largely rest with the federal government, setting up a likely legal fight.

An internal watchdog at the US Federal Reserve has concluded there was no criminal wrongdoing in the cost overruns tied to the headquarters renovation carried out during Jerome Powell's tenure as Fed chair. The review puts to rest allegations that the expensive building project involved misconduct. The findings may ease political pressure over the project, though criticism of the renovation's cost is likely to continue.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the divide between ordinary wealthy households and the ultra-rich is growing, with gains at the very top increasingly outpacing the rest of the affluent tier. The piece examines how assets like stocks and private businesses are concentrating wealth among a small group, even as broader measures of inequality between rich and middle-class households receive more attention.

A passage asserting that women's rights are guaranteed through equal access to work, equal pay, rest, social insurance, education, paid pregnancy leave and state protection of mothers and children is circulating widely. Commenters are sharing the text amid ongoing disputes over women's workplace rights and social protections.

A Bozeman Daily Chronicle opinion piece argues that courts should remain free of political influence, making the case that judicial decisions should rest on law rather than partisan pressure. The piece weighs in on ongoing debates in the United States over the politicisation of the judiciary and public trust in legal institutions.