From 6-22 February, the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy will feature not just the world’s top winter athletes but also some of the most advanced sports technologies today. At the first Cortina Olympics in 1956, the Swiss company Omega—based in Biel/Bienne—introduced electronic ski starting gates and launched the first automated timing tech of its kind.

At this year’s Olympics, Swiss Timing, sister company to Omega under the parent Swatch Group, unveils a new generation of motion analysis and computer vision technology. The new technologies on offer include photofinish cameras that capture up to 40,000 images per second.

“We work very closely with athletes,” says Alain Zobrist, CEO of Swiss Timing, Omega’s sister company within the Swatch Group, who has overseen Olympic timekeeping since the winter games of 2006 in Torino “They are the primary customers of our technology and services, and they need to understand how our systems work in order to trust them.”

Using high-resolution cameras and AI algorithms tuned to skaters’ routines, Milan-Cortina Olympic officials expect new figure skating tech to be a key highlight of the games. Omega

Figure Skating Tech Completes the Rotation

Figure skating, the Winter Olympics’ biggest TV draw, is receiving a substantial upgrade at Milano Cortina 2026.

Fourteen 8K resolution cameras positioned around the rink will capture every skater’s movement. “We use proprietary software to interpret the images and visualize athlete movement in a 3D model,” says Zobrist. “AI processes the data so we can track trajectory, position, and movement across all three axes—X, Y, and Z”.

The system measures jump heights, air times, and landing speeds in real time, producing heat maps and graphic overlays that break down each program—all instantaneously. “The time it takes for us to measure the data, until we show a matrix on TV with a graphic, this whole chain needs to take less than 1/10 of a second,” Zobrist says.

A range of different AI models helps the broadcasters and commentators process each skater’s every move on the ice.

“There is an AI that helps our computer vision system do pose estimation,” he says. “So we have a camera that is filming what is happening, and an AI that helps the camera understand what it’s looking at. And then there is a second type of AI, which is more similar to a large language model that makes sense of the data that we collect”.

Among the features Swiss Timing’s new systems provide is blade angle detection, which gives judges precise technical data to augment their technical and aesthetic decisions. Zobrist says future versions will also determine whether a given rotation is complete, so that “If the rotation is 355 degrees, there is going to be a deduction,” he says.

This builds on technology Omega unveiled at the 2024 Paris Olympics for diving, where cameras measured distances between a diver’s head and the board to help judges assess points and penalties to be awarded.

At the 2026 Winter Olympics, ski jumping will feature both camera-based and sensor-based technologies to make the aerial experience more immediate and real-time. Omega

Ski Jumping Tech Finds Make-or-Break Moments

Unlike figure skating’s camera-based approach, ski jumping also relies on physical sensors.

“In ski jumping, we use a small, lightweight sensor attached to each ski, one sensor per ski, not on the athlete’s body,” Zobrist says. The sensors are lightweight and broadcast data on a skier’s speed, acceleration, and positioning in the air. The technology also correlates performance data with wind conditions, revealing environmental factors’ influence on each jump.

High-speed cameras also track each ski jumper. Then, a stroboscopic camera provides body position time-lapses throughout the jump.

“The first 20 to 30 meters after takeoff are crucial as athletes move into a V position and lean forward,” Zobrist says. “And both the timing and precision of this movement strongly influence performance.”

The system reveals biomechanical characteristics in real time, he adds, showing how athletes position their bodies during every moment of the takeoff process. The most common mistake in flight position, over-rotation or under-rotation, can now be detailed and diagnosed with precision on every jump.

Bobsleigh: Pushing the Line on the Photo Finish

This year’s Olympics will also feature a “virtual photo finish,” providing comparison images of when different sleds cross the finish line over previous runs.

Omega’s cameras will provide virtual photo finishes at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Omega

“We virtually build a photo finish that shows different sleds from different runs on a single visual reference,” says Zobrist.

After each run, composite images show the margins separating performances. However, more tried-and-true technology still generates official results. A Swiss Timing score, he says, still comes courtesy of photoelectric cells, devices that emit light beams across the finish line and stop the clock when broken. The company offers its virtual photo finish, by contrast, as a visualization tool for spectators and commentators.

In bobsleigh, as in every timed Winter Olympic event, the line between triumph and heartbreak is sometimes measured in milliseconds or even shorter time intervals still. Such precision will, Zobrist says, stem from Omega’s Quantum Timer.

“We can measure time to the millionth of a second, so 6 digits after the comma, with a deviation of about 23 nanoseconds over 24 hours,” Zobrist explained. “These devices are constantly calibrated and used across all timed sports.”

MVK Chari, a pioneer in finite element field computation, died on 3 December. The IEEE Life Fellow was 97.

Chari developed a finite element method (FEM) for analyzing nonlinear electromagnetic fields—which is crucial for the design of electric machines. The technique is used to obtain approximate solutions to complex engineering and mathematical problems. It involves dividing a complicated object or system into smaller, more manageable parts, known as finite elements, according to Fictiv.

As an engineer and technical leader at General Electric in Niskayuna, N.Y., Chari used the tool to analyze large turbogenerators for end region analysis, starting with 2D and expanding its use over time to quasi-2D and 3D.

During his 25 years at GE, he established a team that was developing finite element analysis (FEA) tools for a variety of applications across the company. They ranged from small motors to large MRI magnets.

Chari received the 1993 IEEE Nikola Tesla Award for “pioneering contributions to finite element computations of nonlinear electromagnetic fields for design and analysis of electric machinery.”

A career spanning industry and academia

Chari attended Imperial College London to pursue a master’s degree in electrical engineering. There he met Peter P. Silvester, a visiting professor of electrical engineering. Silvester, a professor at McGill University in Montreal, was a pioneer in understanding numerical analysis of electromagnetic fields.

After Chari graduated in 1968, he joined Silvester at McGill as a doctoral student, applying FEM to solve electromagnetic field problems. Silvester applied the method to waveguides, while Chari applied it to saturated magnetic fields.

Chari joined GE in 1970 after earning his Ph.D. in electrical engineering. He climbed the leadership ladder and was a manager of the company’s electromagnetics division when he left in 1995. He joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., as a visiting research and adjunct professor in its electrical, computer, and systems engineering department. Chari taught graduate and undergraduate classes in electric power engineering and mentored many master’s and doctoral students. His strength was nurturing young engineers.

He also conducted research on electric machines and transformers for the Electric Power Research Institute and the U.S. Department of Energy.

In 2008 Chari joined Magsoft Corp., in Clifton Park, N.Y., and conducted advanced work on specialized software for the U.S. Navy until his retirement in 2016.

Remembering a friend

Chari successfully nominated one of us (Hoole) to be elevated to IEEE Fellow at the age of 40. He helped launch Haran’s career when Chari sent his résumé to GE hiring managers for a position in its applied superconductivity lab.

Chari’s commitment to people came from his family background. His father—M.A. Ayyangar—was known throughout India as a freedom fighter, mathematician, and eventually the speaker of the Indian Parliament’s lower house under Prime Minister Nehru. Chari’s wife, Padma, was a physician in New York.

From Chari’s illustrious family, he was at the peak of South India (Tamil) society.

Chari would fondly and cheerfully tell us the story behind his name. Around the time of his birth, it was common in Tamil society not to have formal names. He went by the informal “house name” Kannah (a term of endearment for Krishna). When it was time for Chari to start school, an auspicious uncle enrolled him. But Chari had no formal name, so the uncle took it upon himself to give him one. He asked Chari if he would like a long or short name, to which he said long. So the uncle named him Madabushi Venkadamachari.

When Chari moved to North America, he shortened his name to Madabushi V.K.

He could also laugh at himself.

A stellar scientist, he also was a role model, guide, and friend to many of us. We thank God for him.

Don Lemon is getting charged under a bill meant to restrain the Klan in perhaps the year’s best example (so far) of “Every Republican accusation is a confession.”

Lemon’s arrest is another line that the current administration has crossed on the road to totalitarianism, one that people should be paying attention to. The administration hates journalists and has been attacking them in civil court, excluding them from briefings due to their coverage, insulting them to their faces, and threatening their employers’ business deals to get them fired. But now it’s using the criminal justice system to attack a journalist, literally for committing acts of journalism.

Related

The media is mocking Trump’s dishonest attempts to destroy the free press

And they chose to cross this line in a situation that involves a conservative Christian church and a gay journalist. This is not an accident.

Lemon went to the scene of a protest last month at St. Paul, Minnesota’s Cities Church, a mostly-white, conservative Christian church where one of the pastors works for ICE. The protest was organized by local Black Lives Matter groups. Like many protests that have taken place in churches, this one was co-organized by at least one Christian preacher guided by her faith.

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Lemon covered the protest as a journalist. Even the criminal indictment agrees. He is facing one count of “Conspiracy Against Right of Religious Freedom at Place of Worship,” that he intimidated people who were trying to attend a church service, and here is exactly what the indictment says Lemon did to “injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate” people in the church (these are all quotes from the indictment):

• LEMON began livestreaming his internet-based show, “The Don Lemon Show,” where he explained to his audience that he was in Minnesota with an organization that was gearing up for a “resistance” operation against the Federal Government’s immigration policies
• LEMON observed that the congregants’ reactions were understandable because the experience was “traumatic and uncomfortable,” which he said was the purpose
• LEMON [and other defendants] approached the pastor and largely surrounded him, stood in close proximity to the pastor in an attempt to oppress and intimidate him, and physically obstructed his freedom of movement while LEMON peppered him with questions to promote the operation’s message
• LEMON stood so close to the pastor that LEMON caused the pastor’s right hand to graze LEMON, who then admonished the pastor, “Please don’t push me.”
• [After being told to leave] LEMON and the other defendants ignored the pastor’s request and did not immediately leave the Church
• LEMON posted himself at the main door of the Church, where he confronted some congregants and physically obstructed them as they tried to exit the Church building to challenge them with “facts” about U.S. immigration policy

That’s it. He asked people questions and livestreamed the protest. He made observations about what was going on. He interviewed congregants and let them express themselves on air. All of this is on YouTube. Congregants don’t seem intimidated by him as they’re standing next to him, being interviewed.

He didn’t threaten anyone with violence. He didn’t hit anyone. The only physical contact he had with any member of the church was when the pastor touched him.

Lemon is facing charges for broadcasting an event, asking people questions, and making observations based on what he saw. Those are all acts of journalism. Even if Lemon himself is liberal.

(Yes, there is the question of whether he was trespassing, which is actually not that obvious since the church was a space that is open to people coming in, even non-members, and he wasn’t told he was trespassing. But trespassing is a local issue, and he is facing federal charges based on the supposed intimidation.)

And the administration is making this specifically about religion, portraying it as an attack on Christians.

“Nobody is above the law. Especially not today’s klansmen — like Don Lemon — who storm churches and terrorize Christians,” said a post shared by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon. He is facing charges under a Reconstruction Era law that was intended to protect Black people’s rights to, among other things, attend church without interference from the Klan.

Attorney General Pam Bondi accused Lemon of “performing an attack-style infiltration of a church,” as if church-goers were in physical danger, as if the goal of the protest was to hurt Christians for being Christians and not protest ICE for terrorizing the city and arresting people of color in the street.

This is despite the fact that it was co-organized by Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer who also preaches at Minneapolis’s First Covenant Church. Her message was religious, one Christian expressing her faith to other Christians by asking at the protest: “How dare you claim to be a pastor of God and you are involved in evil in our community?”

Lemon himself, like many LGBTQ+ people, was raised in the church and still considers his faith important to him, so important that he even wrote a whole book about his “search for God.”

Even though this was a protest among Christians, the administration is portraying it as anti-Christian because one side is conservative white Christians, the only kind of Christians that Republicans recognize as legitimate. To conservative Christians, progressive Christians are suspect, and LGBTQ+ people, no matter their faith, are the enemy of religiosity itself.

Lemon will likely be fine here. He is established enough and connected enough – and the judge seems skeptical enough – that he will likely get the charges dismissed.

But this was intended to be an act of intimidation to other journalists, and some people in this profession, especially those without the resources Lemon has, will likely ask themselves if a story is worth going to prison over. And that’s the goal – the administration has not taken kindly to information disseminating that does not show it in a positive light.

It has also become really clear in the past year that the president doesn’t see himself as the president of the whole country. It’s not like past presidents, even Republicans, who acted like they were elected to a real political office whose constituents included people who didn’t vote for them.

For this president, it’s like he thinks he’s the leader of a group of thugs, and he somehow got his hands on the levers of power. He has no sense of justice or responsibility, not even the warped, biased sense of justice and responsibility that, say, George W. Bush had.

For the current president, power is to be used to benefit himself personally and then the people he perceives as a part of his coalition. And Lemon, as an educated Black gay journalist, is clearly not a part of that coalition.

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In recent months Intel Linux engineers have been quite active in preparing for next-gen Nova Lake processors. That work has included initial Xe3P graphics support and enabling display support and related display/graphics functionality. The newest now is enabling Nova Lake P including the Xe3P_LPG graphics support...

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The two murders by immigration officers during Trump’s vengeful “surge” in Minneapolis, Minnesota have grabbed most of the headlines recently. And deservedly so. The violent rhetoric used by nearly every administration official — combined with a lack of training and the explicit understanding no one will be punished by Trump for whatever’s done in Trump’s name — has delivered a day-to-day purge of minorities that this government and its supporters continue to pretend is nothing more than good, solid (immigration) law enforcement.

But before those shootings turned the nation’s attention to Minnesota, hundreds of federal officers had been turned loose in other “Democrat” states. Because officers were encouraged — by arrest quotas and the administration’s portrayal of anyone from other countries as inherently dangerous — to succeed by any means necessary, they did… even if it meant filling people with bullet holes for being on the wrong side of Trump’s version of history.

In January, two Venezuelans were shot by ICE officers. The DHS immediately claimed this was a good shoot, considering how potentially violent these recipients of bullets were.

Yesterday, two suspected Tren de Aragua gang associates—let loose on American streets by Joe Biden—weaponized their vehicle against Border Patrol in Portland. The agent took immediate action to defend himself and others, shooting them. 

After fleeing, the suspects drove nearly five miles to an apartment complex and called emergency medical services. They were transported to separate hospitals. Luis David Nino-Moncada sustained an injury to the arm while Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras was hit in the chest. Nino-Moncada is now in FBI custody. These individuals are not married.  

I’ve highlighted two things from this January DHS press release. Sure, it’s all bullshit but these two sentences need to be called out.

First, just because someone managed to cross the border doesn’t mean they were “let loose on American streets” by a presidential administration.

Second, what the fuck even is this? “These individuals are not married.” Who gives a shit? What bearing does this have on anything? Or are we so far down the white Christian nationalist rabbit hole that simply co-habitating a moving vehicle is justification enough for being shot by federal officers?

Any normal administration would never have included those two sentences, even if it wanted to push the narrative that the people who were shot were dangerous enough to justify the violent reaction. Throwing this shit into the mix is just how the Trump administration does business: like two kids piggy-backed in a trenchcoat, pretending to be a full-grown adult.

And that’s enough to let everyone know very little of what is being said is true. It’s a dog whistle for racism, sexism, and making-a-bunch-of-shit-upism that is meant to appease the Bigot in Chief and make MAGA’s collective panties so wet they should be asking FEMA for flood relief grants. (I’m paraphrasing Shoresy here.)

While that may look good on the permanent DHS press release record, it doesn’t look nearly as bully-smart (I’m coining that) as the people spewing it thinks it does when it runs up against the part of the government that isn’t so easily swayed by bigoted gibberish that’s interspersed with partisan attacks and non sequiturs.

Now that these shootings are being handled in court, the narrative (and I’m being extremely gracious here in treating this froth as the equivalent of an actual narrative) is disintegrating. It turns out prosecutors and investigators can’t actually back up these wild-ass DHS claims. Forced to rely on facts, the DOJ is finding out it doesn’t have many to work with.

During the border patrol stop, the driver, Luis Niño-Moncada, “weaponized their vehicle against” officers, DHS said, prompting an agent “to defend himself and others” by shooting the occupants. Zambrano-Contreras was hit in the chest, Niño-Moncada was hit in the arm and both were hospitalized, then taken into federal custody, DHS noted. The agents were uninjured.

But court records obtained by the Guardian reveal a Department of Justice prosecutor later directly contradicted DHS’s Tren de Aragua statements in court, telling a judge: “We’re not suggesting … [Niño-Moncada] is a gang member.” An FBI affidavit issued following the incident also suggests that in the previous shooting cited by DHS, Zambrano-Contreras was not a suspect, but rather a reported victim of a sexual assault and robbery. Neither Niño-Moncada or Zambrano-Contreras have prior criminal convictions, their lawyers have said.

This is just as sloppy as the quasi-gang database the DHS has been using as an excuse to send Venezuelans to El Salvador’s CECOT hell hole. There’s no investigation going on here. There’s just the DHS claiming that any Venezuelan it shoots or otherwise brutalizes is probably a Tren de Aragua gang member.

No doubt some prosecutors are going to get shit-canned for daring to oppose the DHS’s self-serving narrative in their sworn statements to judges. Given that the DOJ really can’t afford to lose many more of these, one wonders why this administration can’t simply provide a “no comment,” rather than immediately push narratives that it has to know will be contradicted once the facts arrive at the scene.

I mean, just stating what happened in whatever exonerative form you want to use (“officer-involved shooting”), followed by the assertion that the shooting is currently under investigation would be far better than what this administration chooses to do EVERY CHANCE IT GETS.

Whatever dubious charm these statements might have held during Trump’s blustery return to office has long worn off. I suspect even many of the MAGA faithful are getting a little tired of every incident being greeted by government statements that are long on hyperbole but short on facts. Sure, there are still a number of people so fully-cooked that they can’t achieve an erection without being lied to for paragraphs at a time, but given this constant onslaught of pure garbage in response to government violence, I have to believe some of the people who very definitely voted for this are rolling their eyes every time DHS front-mouth Tricia McLaughlin opens her mouth.

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Over the past week, two federal judges have issued rulings on immigration cases that aren’t just legally significant—they’re genuinely extraordinary documents. One includes a photo of a five-year-old in a Spiderman backpack, biblical citations, and closes with Ben Franklin’s warning about keeping the republic. The other spends 83 pages methodically dismantling a cabinet secretary’s decision, includes screenshots of her social media posts, and concludes that she “pounds X (f/k/a Twitter)” instead of following the law. Both judges reached back to the Founders to make their points. Both dropped any pretense of the typical judicial deference afforded to the executive branch. And both made crystal clear that they see what’s happening for exactly what it is.

Let’s start with the shorter one. Judge Fred Biery in the Western District of Texas issued a brief but devastating opinion granting habeas corpus to Adrian Conejo Arias and his five-year-old son, Liam—the child whose photo went viral wearing a blue hat with ears and a Spiderman backpack when he was kidnapped by federal agents in Minnesota and shipped to a detention center in Texas. Judge Biery didn’t mince words:

The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children. This Court and others regularly send undocumented people to prison and orders them deported but do so by proper legal procedures.

He then offered what he called a “civics lesson to the government,” including reminding them of some key parts that were in the Declaration we signed 250 years ago to be free from a monarch:

Apparent also is the government’s ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence. Thirty-three-year-old ThomasJefferson enumerated grievances against a would-be authoritarian king over our nascent nation. Among others were:

1. “He has sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People.”
2. “He has excited domestic Insurrection among us.”
3. “For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us.”
4. “He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our Legislatures.”

“We the people” are hearing echos of that history.

And then there is that pesky inconvenience called the Fourth Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and persons or things to be seized.

U.S. CONST. amend. IV.

And the startling conclusion to the civics lesson the US federal government got from a judge.

Civics lesson to the government: Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster. That is called the fox guarding the henhouse. The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer.

And in case anyone missed the point, Biery closed with a reference you don’t often see in federal court opinions: “Philadelphia, September 17, 1787: ‘Well, Dr. Franklin, what do we have?’ ‘A republic, if you can keep it.'” Followed by: “With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike, It is so ORDERED.”

The ruling includes the photo of the five-year-old child, and two biblical citations. The first to “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'” and the second to… “Jesus wept.”

If Judge Biery’s ruling was a shot across the bow—short, sharp, impossible to miss—then Judge Ana Reyes’s 83-page ruling in the Haitian TPS (Temporary Protected Status) case is a full broadside. Where Biery reached for the Declaration and the Bible, Reyes brings receipts—83 pages of them—that lay bare just how far federal judges have moved from customary deference to open incredulity.

The ruling opens with a letter from George Washington in 1783 declaring that “America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions.”

Then it gets to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s position on immigration:

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has a different take.

The ruling then includes a screenshot of Noem’s X post declaring “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE. THEY ARE ALL KILLERS, LEECHES, AND ENTITLEMENT JUNKIES. WE DONT WANT THEM HERE.”

Judge Reyes notes dryly: “So says the official responsible for overseeing the TPS program.”

The plaintiffs in the case are five Haitian TPS holders whom Judge Reyes takes pains to introduce:

They are not, it emerges, killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies. They are instead: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscientist researching Alzheimer’s disease; Rudolph Civil, a software engineer at a national bank; Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant in a toxicology department; Marica Merline Laguerre, a college economics major; and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a full-time registered nurse.

The ruling systematically dismantles every single aspect of Secretary Noem’s decision to terminate Haiti’s TPS designation. But the section on DHS’s supposed “consultation with appropriate agencies” is particularly brutal.

The TPS statute requires the Secretary to consult with appropriate agencies before making a termination decision. Here’s what that “consultation” actually looked like:

On Friday, September 5, 2025—that is, the same day that the NTPSA court set aside the Partial Vacatur of Haiti’s TPS designation—a DHS staffer emailed a State staffer at 4:55 p.m.: “Due to the litigation, we are re-reviewing country conditions in Haiti based on the original TPS deadline. Can you advise on State’s views on the matter?” The State staffer responded within 53 minutes: “State believes that there would be no foreign policy concerns with respect to a change in the TPS statue of Haiti.”

This was it. The full extent of the supposed consultation with appropriate agencies.

The judge notes that she believe she “must be missing something” and included a bit of the transcript from the hearing:

Court: So in the Federal Register notice, the Secretary wrote, “After reviewing country conditions and consulting with appropriate U.S. Government agencies, the Secretary determined that Haiti no longer meets the conditions for the designating as TPS”; right?

Government Counsel: Yes.

Court: What were the appropriate agencies that the Secretary consulted? . . .

Government Counsel: So, Your Honor, it’s the Department of State email found at 409 and 410. That is what we have. . . .

Court: No other agency was consulted?

Government Counsel: No other agency was consulted. . . .

Court: And the extent of the Department of State consultation was the email exchange at 409 and 410.

Government Counsel: That is my understanding

The judge’s response to this 53-minute email exchange being presented as statutory “consultation” is unsparing:

Congress did not vest the Secretary with Humpty Dumpty-like power to make the word “consultation” mean “just what [she] chooses it to mean—neither more nor less.”

It gets worse. The court notes that the State Department’s own Travel Advisory for Haiti—the document that literally says “Do not travel to Haiti for any reason”—was updated after Noem’s first termination attempt. The updated version, warning of worsened conditions, doesn’t even appear in the administrative record. The Secretary responsible for making this determination simply didn’t look at her own government’s assessment of the country’s safety.

Then there’s the pattern. As of this ruling, Secretary Noem has terminated TPS designations for every single country that has come up for review since taking office. Twelve countries. Twelve terminations. The ruling includes a handy chart:

Twelve for twelve. Judge Reyes notes this is “unprecedented in the thirty-five years since the establishment of the TPS program for a DHS Secretary to terminate every TPS designation that crosses her desk for review.”

The ruling then gets into the substance of Noem’s reasoning—or lack thereof. The Secretary claims there are parts of Haiti “suitable to return to” but never identifies a single safe location. Indeed, the Court gave the government a chance to explain exactly where these “parts” of Haiti that were safe were, and was not impressed by the answer:

According to Secretary Noem, “data surrounding internal relocation does indicate parts of the country are suitable to return to.” But the Secretary cited no data to support this proposition and failed to identify a single safe location. In response to an inquiry from the Court, the Government cited an October 29, 2025, USCIS memo in the administrative record as the supporting analysis. “The memo,” it noted, “reflects that individuals have been internally displaced, thereby indicating that Haitian residents found certain areas in Haiti that could be suitable for return.” But the memo also fails to identify a single safe location by name or even geographic area. And the fact that, as the memo notes, 1.3 million Haitians—around twelve percent of the population—have been “internally displaced due to escalating violence” says nothing about whether they escaped to suitable areas. If anything, those areas are presumptively now less suitable for return, having been inundated with internal refugees.

Meanwhile, the administrative record is full of statements like these:

“Haiti’s crisis has reached catastrophic levels” — Human Rights Watch, January 2025

“The violence has increased dramatically in 2024” — Doctors Without Borders, January 2025

“Haiti is paralyzed” — Crisis Group, February 2025

“Top United Nations Officials Urge Swift Global Action as Haiti Nears Collapse” — UN Security Council, July 2025

“The people of Haiti are in a perfect storm of suffering” — UN Secretary-General Guterres, August 2025

Against all of this, Secretary Noem concluded that “there are no extraordinary and temporary conditions in Haiti that prevent Haitian TPS holders from returning [to] safety.” Judge Reyes is incredulous that the Secretary’s analysis relies on “emerging signals of hope” rather than actual changed conditions:

Unable to identify present conditions supporting her conclusion, Secretary Noem turns instead to speculation about future improvement. Each source she cited speaks to how Haiti might improve in the future. She quoted a UN article referencing Secretary-General António Guterres’s statement that despite ongoing violence in Haiti, “‘there are emerging signals of hope.’’’ He cautioned that “these fragile gains” depend on “more decisive international support.” Emerging signals of hope, of course, are not actual change. Secretary-General Guterres’s full remarks to the UNSC underscore this point. They do not describe a nation on the brink of recovery. Rather, they describe a nation in crisis, whose future hinges on internal “unity” and “resolve from [the UNSC].”

The ruling also destroys the government’s “national interest” analysis, which focuses on immigrants attempting to enter the US illegally and those who overstay visas. The problem? TPS holders are already here. Legally:

Secretary Noem’s analysis also focused on those who “overstay their visas” and so remain in the country unlawfully. Id. She claimed that these overstayers “may be harder to locate and monitor,” increasing vulnerabilities in immigration enforcement systems. See id. She also said they “place an added strain on local communities by increasing demand for public resources, contributing to housing and healthcare pressures, and competing in an already limited job market.” Id. But Haitian TPS holders are not in this cohort either. They are in the U.S. lawfully. See Jan. 6 P.M. Hr’g Tr. at 85:15–87:12. Indeed, TPS holders are easy to locate because they regularly update their address information with DHS to maintain that status and their work authorization. See id. at 94:25–95:6. And Secretary Noem provides no data to support the overgeneralization that those who overstay their visas are a strain on their local communities. See Dkt. 122. They may well cause a strain, but terminating Haiti’s TPS termination not alleviate it because, again, Haitian TPS holders do not fall into this cohort.

Regarding that confusion of TPS visitors being here legally, meaning they literally cannot overstay their visas, the judge notes in a footnote how absurd part of the government’s argument is:

With respect, this borders on the absurd. The latter has zero relation to the former or reality.

When asked where in the record the Court could find data on TPS holders represented in “overstay” rates (based on those who maybe overstayed visas prior to getting TPS status), the government comes up empty. See if you sense where the judge loses patience:

The Government responds by speculating that maybe some Haitians overstayed their visas before obtaining TPS status. Maybe. Who knows? Not Secretary Noem. The Court asked the Government: “[w]here in the [CAR] can the Court find the percentage of TPS holders represented in the overstay rates?” The response: “The [CAR] does not contain data that is this finely dissected.” Which is to say, not enough people to even bother counting.

The equal protection analysis is where things get really pointed. Judge Reyes catalogs President Trump’s statements about Haitians and other nonwhite immigrants:

President Trump has made—freely, at times even boastfully—several derogatory statements about Haitians and other nonwhite foreigners. To start, he has repeatedly invoked racist tropes of national purity, declaring that “illegal immigrants”—a category he wrongly assigns to Haitian TPS holders—are “poisoning the blood” of America. He has, Plaintiffs allege, complained that recently admitted nonwhite Africans would “never ‘go back to their huts’ in Africa.” He has complained further that nonwhite immigration is an “invasion,” creating a “dumping ground” that is “destroying our country.” He has described immigrants as “not people,” “snakes,” and “garbage,” who have “bad genes.” He has also stated that he prefers immigrants from “nice”—predominantly white—countries like Norway, Sweden, and Denmark over immigrants from “shithole countries”

President Trump has referred to Haiti as a “shithole country,” suggested Haitians “probably have AIDS,” and complained that Haitian immigration is “like a death wish for our country.” He has also promoted the false conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants were “eating the pets of the people” in Springfield, Ohio. Even after that (ridiculous) claim was debunked, he claimed they were eating “other things too that they’re not supposed to be.” About two weeks after the Termination, he again described Haiti as a “filthy, dirty, [and] disgusting” “shithole country.” He stated: “I have also announced a permanent pause on Third World migration, including from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries.” Then continued, “Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right? Why cannot we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few, let us have a few, from Denmark.” It is not a coincidence that Haiti’s population is ninety-five percent black while Norway’s is over ninety percent white.

The ruling notes that Trump’s statements came close in time to Noem’s decisions, and that Noem herself has made her own views clear, as noted in the screenshot, calling Haitians “leeches, entitlement junkies, and foreign invaders” just three days after making the Termination decision.

And then we get to the conclusion. It’s worth quoting at length because you really don’t see this kind of language from the bench:

There is an old adage among lawyers. If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither, pound the table. Secretary Noem, the record to-date shows, does not have the facts on her side—or at least has ignored them. Does not have the law on her side—or at least has ignored it. Having neither and bringing the adage into the 21st century, she pounds X (f/k/a Twitter).

And then the kicker:

Kristi Noem has a First Amendment right to call immigrants killers, leeches, entitlement junkies, and any other inapt name she wants. Secretary Noem, however, is constrained by both our Constitution and the APA to apply faithfully the facts to the law in implementing the TPS program. The record to-date shows she has yet to do that.

These rulings represent something we’ve been watching develop for months now: federal judges completely abandoning the traditional deference typically afforded to government positions, because the government has made clear it doesn’t deserve it. The DOJ’s credibility has been in freefall, and judges are no longer pretending otherwise. They’re reaching back to Franklin and Washington as genuine warnings about what happens when executive power operates unchecked by law or facts.

Some people will dismiss this as “activist judges.” But what we’re seeing is something different: judges trying to do their actual jobs—reviewing whether the government followed the law—and finding that the government isn’t even pretending to follow it anymore.

The administration is ignoring statutory requirements entirely, fabricating rationales after the fact, and treating judicial review as an inconvenience to be steamrolled rather than a constitutional check to be respected. We’re not talking about simple judicial disagreements of interpretation of the law. These opinions read more like desperate signals from the bench that something has gone very, very wrong.

I’ve seen some complaints—in particular about the first short ruling—that it doesn’t read in a very judicial manner. The lack of citations is a bit startling, and probably bodes ill if the government appeals. But that’s almost the point. When a judge includes a photo of a child in a Spiderman backpack, cites “Jesus wept,” and closes with Ben Franklin’s warning about keeping the republic—or when another judge spends 83 pages documenting that the Secretary of DHS ignored her own agencies, ignored the evidence, ignored the law, and instead “pounds X”—they’re writing for more than an appeals court. They’re writing for history. They’re writing for the public. They’re sick of the lies and the gaslighting, and the simple fascism of it all in a supposed constitutional democracy. And they want to make damn sure that someone, somewhere, is paying attention.

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This week Jonathan chats with Olaf Andreas Schulte and Lars Kiesow about Opencast, the video management system for education. What does Opencast let a school or university accomplish, how has that changed over the last decade, and what exciting new things are coming? Watch to find out!

• https://explore.opencast.org/
• https://opencast.org/
• https://opencast.org/2025/12/19/opencast-apereo-update/

Did you know you can watch the live recording of the show right on our YouTube Channel? Have someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know, or have the guest contact us! Take a look at the schedule here.

Direct Download in DRM-free MP3.

If you’d rather read along, here’s the transcript for this week’s episode.

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Theme music: “Newer Wave” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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Former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy says it’s not for him to know whether his series of landmark rulings on LGBTQ+ rights will remain in place.

“We’ll see,” he told ABC News in an interview promoting his new memoir. “That’s for the next generation to decide.”

Related

Amy Coney Barrett discusses possibility of Supreme Court overturning marriage equality

Kennedy is perhaps best known for authoring the Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized marriage equality nationwide. One piece of his ruling, in particular, is often quoted:

“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideal of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family.  In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.  As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death.  It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded form one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law.  The Constitution grants them that right.”

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Kennedy also voted in the majority for Romer v. Evans, which upheld that the Equal Protection Clause does not allow states to deny gay people the same legal protections that straight people have.

And in 2003, he voted with the majority in the landmark case of Lawrence v. Texas, which ruled that a Texas law criminalizing consensual same-sex relations was unconstitutional.

But right now, it is marriage equality that is facing the biggest threat.

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that the same legal reasoning could also be used to overturn marriage equality. Anti-LGBTQ+ Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has also been outspoken about his hatred of the Obergefell decision, though he recently claimed the precedent set by the court’s ruling is “entitled to respect.”

As the court becomes more and more conservative, Republican-led states across the country have also passed resolutions asking the justices to overturn marriage equality.

In his interview with ABC, Kennedy emphasized a major reason he believes Obergefell should remain in place.

“Stare decisis, the rule that a precedent should be given great weight, in part, depends on reliance,” he said. “There’s been so much reliance on the marriage opinion that if it were to reverse, people who had had what they thought were decent, honorable lives all of a sudden would be adrift again.”

Reliance is a legal term defined as “the dependence by one person on another person’s or entity’s statements or actions, particularly where the person acts upon such dependence.” That is, people make life decisions based on what the law is, so ruling that a law means something different has to take that “reliance” into account. Such reliance must be considered “reasonable.”

Kennedy, who is Catholic, explained that his views on gay people evolved as he learned about the prevalence of children who had been adopted by queer couples.

“There were thousands of children that were adopted by gay parents,” he said, “and for them to know that their parents were not recognized by society, but the law, as real parents, as something that was marginally illegal, could create a profound sadness for thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of children.”

He added that he “began to learn about the hurt and the anguish and the desire these people had to live a wonderful life and contribute to our country.”

The fact that “the law protects us all,” he explained, “seemed to be a good lesson to teach.”

In the Obergefell opinion, Kennedy outlined the costs of not allowing couples with children to legally marry: “Without the recognition, stability, and predictability marriage offers, their children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser. They also suffer the significant material costs of being raised by unmarried parents, relegated through no fault of their own to a more difficult and uncertain family life.”

He wrote that the fact that so many children are already being raised in queer households “provides powerful confirmation from the law itself that gays and lesbians can create loving, supportive families.”

Kennedy has spoken about the significance of reliance before. In October 2025, he told CNN about hundreds of thousands of adopted children that motivated his opinion in the Obergefell case.

These families, he said, now have a “substantial reliance” on the decision, which has granted them stability. If the decision were overturned, Kennedy said it “would be a tremendous reliance problem.”

During his conversation with ABC, he also emphasized his belief in equal rights for trans people.

“I don’t think we can have a peaceful world unless all sides agree that whatever we think of your ambitions, or your beliefs, we will treat you with dignity, and we will discuss it in a thoughtful, rational, productive, decent way, respecting your dignity,” he said. “You believe in X. We believe in Y. We can recognize that both of those have some merit to them.”

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#5798 Updated Three Kingdoms Mushouden: Deluxe Edition v2.4.8 + 3 DLCs

Genres/Tags: Strategy, Top, 2D
Companies: Paleo, NanBei Studio
Languages: RUS/ENG/MULTI10
Original Size: 5.2 GB
Repack Size: 1.9 GB

Download Mirrors (Direct Links)

• Filehoster: DataNodes (Speed & Usability) [Use IDM]
  Click to show direct links

  Three_Kingdoms_Mushouden_–_fitgirl-repacks.site_–_.part1.rar
  Three_Kingdoms_Mushouden_–_fitgirl-repacks.site_–_.part2.rar
  Three_Kingdoms_Mushouden_–_fitgirl-repacks.site_–_.part3.rar
  Three_Kingdoms_Mushouden_–_fitgirl-repacks.site_–_.part4.rar
  
• Filehoster: FuckingFast (REALLY Fucking Fast )
  
  Click to show direct links

  Three_Kingdoms_Mushouden_–_fitgirl-repacks.site_–_.part1.rar
  Three_Kingdoms_Mushouden_–_fitgirl-repacks.site_–_.part2.rar
  Three_Kingdoms_Mushouden_–_fitgirl-repacks.site_–_.part3.rar
  Three_Kingdoms_Mushouden_–_fitgirl-repacks.site_–_.part4.rar
• Filehoster: MultiUpload (10+ hosters, interchangeable) [Use JDownloader2]

Download Mirrors (Torrent)

• 1337x | [magnet] [.torrent file only]
  
• RuTor [magnet]
• Tapochek.net

Discussion and (possible) future updates on CS.RIN.RU thread

Screenshots (Click to enlarge)

Repack Features

• Based on Three.Kingdoms.Mushouden.v2.4.8-TENOKE ISO release: tenoke-three.kingdoms.mushouden.v2.4.8.iso (5,606,883,328 bytes)
• Game version: v2.4.8; 3 DLCs (Digital Deluxe Edition Upgrade, GUANYU & LIAO) are included and activated
• 100% Lossless & MD5 Perfect: all files are identical to originals after installation
• NOTHING ripped, NOTHING re-encoded
• Significantly smaller archive size (compressed from 5.2 to 1.9 GB)
• Installation takes 3-8 minutes (depending on your system)
• After-install integrity check so you could make sure that everything installed properly
• HDD space after installation: 5.2 GB
• Language can be changed in game settings
• Repack uses XTool library by Razor12911
• At least 2 GB of free RAM (inc. virtual) required for installing this repack

Backwards Compatibility

This repack IS NOT backwards compatible with my previous TKM repack.

The post Three Kingdoms Mushouden: Deluxe Edition, v2.4.8 + 3 DLCs appeared first on FitGirl Repacks.

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The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has taken the next step in litigation over denial of gender-affirming care coverage to federal employees by filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Billie Eilish is facing right-wing backlash for comments she made criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Grammys.

While accepting the award for Song of the Year at Sunday night’s 68th Annual Grammy Awards, Eilish called on opponents of federal agents’ brutal enforcement tactics — which have already led to the deaths of at least eight people, including Renee Good and Alex Pretti — to “keep fighting and speaking up and protesting.”

Related

Grammys 2026: Queer winners and LGBTQ+ allies blast ICE

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In her speech, Eilish also asserted that “no one is illegal on stolen land,” likely a reference to the acquisition of Indigenous land by early settlers across the U.S.

In the days since the Grammys, critics on social media have seized on the comment, accusing Eilish of hypocrisy.

“Ok, Billie. Your $14,000,000 mansion in LA is built where the Tongva tribes once lived,” the End Wokeness X account posted Sunday. “Any plans on returning it?”

In a Monday post responding to Eilish’s speech, British journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer described the pop star as “a blithering idiot,” adding that if Eilish were serious about her comments, “then she’ll happily hand over her multi-million pound Malibu beachfront home to illegal migrants… Which she won’t, because it’s all just silly celeb posturing.”

Similarly, right-wing media personality Eric Daugherty claimed in a Monday X post that “Americans are calling on Hollywood elitist Billie Eilish to RETURN her $14M LA mansion to the Tongva tribe,” adding that she “could also graciously host illegal aliens in her mansion.”

Speaking to Fox News host Jesse Watters, conservative commentator Sage Steele described Eilish’s comments as “comical” and advised the pop star to “shut up and sing, because you’re super talented, but you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

British right-wing news outlet GB News went so far as to send a correspondent to try to gain entrance to Eilish’s LA home. “Let us in please, Billie,” reporter Ben Leo said during the stunt. “We are here because this is stolen land, Billie, and we think we should be given access to your quite lovely $3 million mansion.”

Perhaps most bizarrely, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) brought up Eilish’s comments during a seemingly unrelated Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, while questioning Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery executive Bruce Campbell on the two companies’ proposed merger.

Cruz asked Sarandos whether they were all on “stolen land,” and both Sarandos and Campbell responded that they were unaware of the history of the land they were on. Cruz suggested that the fact that neither exec. was willing to say “Hell no” indicated that “the entertainment world is deeply corrupt” and that Hollywood censors conservative voices.

Amid all this, a spokesperson for the Tongva Nation of the Greater Los Angeles Basin confirmed to The Daily Mail that Eilish’s LA home is on the tribe’s ancestral land. While Eilish has not contacted the tribe directly, they said, “We do value the instance when Public Figures provide visibility to the true history of this country.” The spokesperson added that the tribe has reached out to Eilish’s team to express their “appreciation for her comments.”

“It is our hope that in future discussions, the tribe can explicitly be referenced to ensure the public understands that the greater Los Angeles basin remains Gabrieleno Tongva territory,” the tribe’s spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, as The Blast notes, Eilish supporters have pointed out that the Grammy-winner has pledged to donate $11.5 million in profits from her recent Hit Me Hard and Soft tour to organizations and projects that support food equity, climate justice, reducing carbon pollution, and combating the climate crisis. While accepting the Wall Street Journal Magazine’s Music Innovator of the Year award in October, Eilish urged the billionaires in the room to “give your money away,” according to Rolling Stone.

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Une vague de haine sur les réseaux sociaux a suivi la publication de notre entretien avec la nouvelle présidente de l’Observatoire des Camps de Réfugiés (O-CR). L’association réagit.

This is just a notice for my subscribers about freshly updated Three Kingdoms Mushouden repack. Now it’s updated to Deluxe Edition v2.4.8 and includes 3 DLCs.

The post Three Kingdoms Mushouden Repack Updated appeared first on FitGirl Repacks.

Eric Engestrom is out with another on-time Mesa release. Mesa 26.0-rc3 provides the latest week's worth of bug fixes as we work toward the stable Mesa 26.0 release as soon as next week...