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Judge Orders Tech CEOs to Testify in Case Using Algorithmic Design Rules as a New Avenue for Indirect Online Censorship Pressure

Three of the tech industry’s most recognizable leaders, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Evan Spiegel of Snap, and Adam Mosseri of Instagram, will be required to testify in court early next year.

The order came from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl, who ruled that their participation is essential in a lawsuit alleging that social media platforms were deliberately designed to harm young users’ mental health.

Attorneys for the companies had tried to prevent the CEOs from appearing, arguing that earlier depositions and other executive testimonies already provided sufficient information.

Judge Kuhl disagreed, stating, “The testimony of a CEO is uniquely relevant, as that officer’s knowledge of harms, and failure to take available steps to avoid such harms could establish negligence or ratification of negligent conduct.”

She also noted that their testimony would be “unique,” since the claims center on design features built to “be addictive” and “drive compulsive” use among minors.

Meta argued that compelling both Zuckerberg and Mosseri to testify would disrupt their ability to manage the business and “set a precedent” for future cases. Snap’s lawyers said the decision to call Spiegel to the stand was an “abuse of discretion.”

Judge Kuhl rejected both arguments, saying that those in charge must directly answer questions about their companies’ conduct instead of delegating that responsibility.

After the ruling, Meta declined to comment.

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3I/ATLAS is Leaving a Mysterious “Hidden” Trail of Particles in Its Wake—Now Scientists Have a Plan to Intercept It

While comet 3I/ATLAS and its dusty tail remain far out of the reach of Earthly spacecraft, astronomers say the unusual interstellar object has produced a secondary “hidden” trail of charged particles marking its path through our solar system.

Now, a pair of scientists with the European Space Agency (ESA) has proposed a bold idea: it may be possible to sail a pair of NASA and ESA spacecraft through the mysterious visitor’s “ion tail.”

The idea was advanced by a pair of researchers in a new paper, which argues that the trajectory of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera spacecraft could allow them to pass directly through the trail of ions left in 3I/ATLAS’s wake.

Doing so might offer astronomers a rare opportunity to collect samples of material from other worlds, which the odd interstellar comet has ejected during its unprecedented visit.

Mission Into an Interstellar Object’s Odd “Ion Tail”

Between October 30 and November 6, 2025, the trajectories of the Europa Clipper and Hera space missions may briefly align with the ion trail left by 3I/ATLAS, allowing their instruments to collect information through detections of charged particles carried outward from the object by the solar wind.

“During the period 30 October – 6 November 2025, it is predicted that Europa Clipper will potentially be immersed within the ion tail of 3I/ATLAS, providing the opportunity to detect the signatures of an interstellar comet’s ion tail, write authors Samuel Grant and Geraint Jones in their paper, which appeared on the preprint arXiv.org server on October 15, 2025.

“Characteristic changes to the solar wind are also expected to be observed,” the authors say, which will likely include what they characterize as “a magnetic draping structure” potentially emanating from the comet.

Even prior to Europa Clipper’s potential passage through the mysterious ion tail of 3I/ATLAS, Grant and Jones believe that the ESA’s Hera spacecraft “will possibly be immersed within the ion tail of 3I/ATLAS during the period 25 October – 1 November 2025.”

Neither spacecraft will be endangered during their potential transit of the interstellar comet’s tail of charged particles, although the implications of doing so could end up being profound, in that they may offer the first opportunity to make indirect observations of material samples from another star system.

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‘I am melting, help me’: The 30-year-old drug website that transformed psychedelic research

Thirty years ago, drug users flocked to a website called Erowid to describe experiences on everything from Advil to LSD. Today it’s become a goldmine for researchers and governments.

“I am melting, help me.” This is not only an unusual plea for assistance. It’s also the title of a “trip report”: one person’s experience with the powerful dissociative drug phencyclidine (known as PCP). And it’s just one of many thousands of mind-bending anecdotes filed to Erowid, a website that, since the early days of the internet, has built one of the world’s most influential records of drug use and its effects.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the scrappy, grassroots project, which hosts data on everything from caffeine to cannabis to paracetamol (also known as Tylenol) to heroin, like a Wikipedia on all things pharmaceutical. Users post information about purifying street drugs, rolling joints and the health implications of drug misuse. Visitors to the site can find information about drug toxicology and interactions between chemicals. They can even wade through the archives of Albert Hoffman, the Swiss chemist who first synthesised lysergic acid diethylamide – or LSD.

But perhaps most intriguing of all are the 45,000-plus trip reports in the “Experience Vault”. These hallucinatory tales, with titles such as “Tripping Alone on 1.5 Grams From Hell”, “The Weekend At The Edge Of The Universe” and “The Thumbprint”, where an unfortunate soul loses their mind on a drug related to LSD called AL-LAD, do not just make for idle internet fodder. They have become vital for academic research, especially for esoteric and illegal substances where clinical data does not exist or is challenging to obtain.

“People publishing their personal experiences and experimenting outside of the legal and academic bubble has led to the science, in many ways,” says David Luke, associate professor of psychology at the University of Greenwich in the UK who studies psychedelics and has conducted clinical trials using microdoses of LSD. “There was so little published academic research and so few resources for exploring the use of psychoactive drugs that Erowid was invaluable for research, and to understand issues around safety and experiences.” 

Today, the social stigma around some types of drug use has softened to the point that Ayahuasca ceremonies, mushrooms and ketamine have even become a fixture in some corners of the business world. While these substances are still illegal in many countries, a growing number of places are choosing to decriminalise drugs that were previously subject to extensive crack downs. In recent years, psychedelics have also gathered renewed interest from the scientific community as a potential approach for treating conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Their use, however, remains controversial and in some places unregulated therapeutic use of these drugs has led to tragedy.

Back in 1995, when Erowid was founded, psychedelics were very much of the underground. This was a hostile time for drug reform, just over a decade since US president Ronald Reagan had expanded the war on drugs. 

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Ukraine, US finalizing deal for 25 Patriot systems, Zelensky says

Ukraine and the U.S. are finalizing a deal for Kyiv to secure 25 Patriot air defense systems, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, a push that would boost the Ukrainian military’s ability to defend against Russian aerial attacks. 

“The difficulty lies in the production queue — a line of countries that have signed relevant contracts. We will be receiving these 25 systems over the years, with different quantities each year,” Zelensky said during a meeting with reporters in Kyiv, according to multiple news outlets. 

The Patriot system, which includes launchers, missiles and radar, can cost around $1 billion, and is one of the rare weapons that can intercept Moscow’s ballistic missiles, a necessary component as Russia continues to hammer Ukraine with aerial attacks. 

Ukraine will not receive the systems all at once, as it will have to wait for other nations to get the defense system that is in high demand. 

Zelensky said on Monday that Ukraine is working with the U.S. to “ensure that Ukraine still can receive the necessary number of Patriot systems. This is not an easy task, but it is one of the security guarantees for Ukraine — and it will work in the long term.” 

The long-term arrangement comes days after Zelensky’s trip to Washington, where he met with President Trump. During their meeting, which was reportedly tense at times, the two leaders discussed ways to end the Russia-Ukraine war. While in the U.S., Zelensky met with top U.S. defense contractors, including Raytheon, which produces the Patriot systems. 

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State Department Employee Arrested For Stealing Thousands of Pages of “Top Secret” Classified Documents Released to Home Confinement

As previously reported, State Department contractor stole thousands of pages of “TOP SECRET” classified documents and met with Beijing officials.

Ashley Tellis, an expert on India and South Asian affairs, removed the top secret documents from secure locations and met with Chinese officials.

The classified documents were located in Tellis’s Virginia home during a raid.

“On Sept. 25, he allegedly printed U.S. Air Force documents concerning military aircraft capabilities. Federal prosecutors allege that he met with Chinese government officials multiple times over the past several years,” Fox News reported.

Prosecutors said in September 2022 that Tellis brought a manila envelope with him when he met with Chinese officials in a Virginia restaurant.

Tellis has been in jail since October 11.

He was charged with one count of retaining national defense information.

Tellis’ attorneys insist their client did not disclose any classified information to a foreign government and claimed government investigators are interpreting his “routine professional duties” as something sinister.

“Regrettably, investigators appeared to interpret his routine professional duties, such as liaison work and international travel, as clandestine activity, reading something sinister into what were standard think-tank and scholarly foreign policy engagements,” Tellis’ attorneys wrote in a court filing, according to The Washington Post.

Newly sworn in US Attorney Lindsey Halligan charged Tellis.

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U.S. ranchers oppose Trump’s plan to import more Argentine beef, experts doubt it will lower prices

President Donald Trump’s plan to cut record beef prices by importing more meat from Argentina is running into heated opposition from U.S. ranchers who are enjoying some rare profitable years and skepticism from experts who say the president’s move probably wouldn’t lead to cheaper prices at grocery stores.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association along with the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America and other farming groups – who are normally some of the president’s biggest supporters – all criticized Trump’s idea because of what it could do to American ranchers and feedlot operators. And agricultural economists say Argentine beef accounts for such a small slice of beef imports – only about 2% – that even doubling that wouldn’t change prices much.

South Dakota rancher Brett Kenzy said he wants American consumers to determine whether beef is too expensive, not the government. And so far there is little sign that consumers are substituting chicken or other proteins for beef on their shopping lists even though the average price of a pound of ground beef hit its highest point ever at $6.32 in the latest report before the government shutdown began.

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Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner admits he got Nazi-linked tattoo while ‘very inebriated’

Graham Platner, a Marine vet who’s running for a US Senate seat in Maine, said he was “very inebriated” when he got a tattoo linked to Nazism while on leave in Croatia nearly 20 years ago and insists he’s “not a secret Nazi.”

The liberal candidate, 41, went out of his way to disclose the controversial skull tattoo on the right side of his chest as he shared an embarrassing video that shows him singing in only briefs at a wedding celebration for his brother.

The Democratic oyster farmer, in an apparent attempt to get ahead of bad press, said he was on leave with fellow Marines in Croatia in 2007 when he got the questionable ink, which appears to resemble the “Totenkopf” — an image adopted as a symbol by Hitler’s Schutzstaffel, or SS.

“We got very inebriated, and we did what Marines on liberty do, and we decided to go get a tattoo,” he explained on the “Pod Save America” show.

“We chose a terrifying-looking skull and crossbones off the wall because we were Marines and, you know, skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing, and we got those tattoos, and we all moved on with our lives,” Platner explained.

“I am not a secret Nazi,” the Bernie Sanders-backed candidate insisted, claiming he was unaware the tattoo had potentially sickening connections to Nazism.

He said the tattoo never raised any red flags, including when he joined the Army National Guard. The Army prohibits ink that is extremist, racist or sexist.

“It never came up until we got wind that in the opposition research somebody was shopping the idea that I was a secret Nazi with a hidden Nazi tattoo,” he told “Pod Save America” host Tommy Vietor.

After a firestorm of backlash, Platner said he was planning to have the offending ink removed.

“It was not until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol,” the embattled candidate told Politico Tuesday.

“I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that — and to insinuate that I did is disgusting. I am already planning to get this removed.”

His former campaign director, however, disputed his claim.

“Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago, and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means,” Genevieve McDonald wrote on Facebook, according to the outlet.

She resigned from Platner’s campaign after his old Reddit posts surfaced, which include labeling all police “bastards,” describing rural white Americans as “actually” stupid and racist — and once calling himself a “communist” around 2021, according to CNN.

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SHOCK: Biden Judge Orders ICE Agent Arrests at Courthouses

Judicial tyranny continues.

A federal judge recently ordered ICE agent arrests at courthouses.

US District Judge Jeffrey Cummings, a Biden appointee, barred ICE agents from arresting illegal aliens at Cook County, Illinois, courthouses if they don’t have a warrant.

Judge Cummings said the ICE agents can be arrested if they violate his court order.

The judge barred ICE agents from making “collateral arrests” – a term that describes the arrest of illegal aliens who happen to be discovered during the arrest of another alien for whom they have a warrant to take into custody.

Breitbart reported:

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered that ICE officers are barred from arresting migrants at courthouses if they don’t have a warrant. He also ordered that federal law enforcement can be arrested if they violate his orders.

The judge’s order aimed to prevent what are called “collateral arrests” of people whom ICE officers discover are illegal on the spot. These are migrants that ICE agents come across by happenstance while looking for someone they have a warrant to apprehend.

Cummings stated that courthouses must be places where witnesses and suspects feel safe.

“The fair administration of justice requires that courts remain open and accessible, and that litigants and witnesses may appear without fear of civil arrest,” he said in his order.

Judge Cummings also cited in his ruling arrests that have been made recently outside county courthouses where ICE has taken “collateral” migrants into custody in the Chicago area.

“One thing seems clear: ICE rousted American citizens from their apartments during the middle of the night and detained them — in zip ties no less — for far longer than the ‘brief’ period authorized by the operative regulation,” the judge wrote.

The DHS defended its practice of arresting illegal aliens at courthouses.

“We aren’t some medieval kingdom; there are no legal sanctuaries where you can hide and avoid the consequences for breaking the law,” DHS said in a statement to CBS News. “Nothing in the Constitution prohibits arresting a lawbreaker where you find them.”

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Wikipedia Enforcement Committee: Site ‘Code of Conduct’ Should Ban Bible Verses Opposing Homosexuality

A Polish Wikipedia editor earlier this year complained about religious discrimination to a committee that enforces the “code of conduct” imposed by the Wikimedia Foundation that owns Wikipedia. The editor expressed opposition to LGBT ideology, citing Bible verses condemning it in his profile on a Discord Wikipedia chat group, prompting mockery and insults from others. Members of the committee rejected his claims and suggested instead the Bible verses were a violation.

Committee members further initiated discussions to delete Wikipedia pages the editor created expressing his Biblical views and opposition to policies and practices prohibiting the voicing of opposition to same-sex marriage. Months after the pages were deleted and his complaint rejected, the editor was banned from Wikipedia partly citing his complaint to the Committee.

The Universal Code of Conduct imposed by the Foundation applies to sites owned by the Foundation, including Wikipedia, along with related events and Foundation staff themselves. Plans for the code of conduct were first announced in 2020, prompting significant concern about intervention in the normally self-governing community. A year earlier, the Foundation’s unprecedented one-year ban of an administrator sparked an editor revolt leading to the ban being referred to a community body, which overturned the decision. While the community objected to the proposed code of conduct for these reasons, as well as perceived left-wing bias and free speech implications, it was ultimately approved by the Foundation.

Following approval of the code of conduct, further discussions followed on enforcement. While generally left to local communities, the Foundation sought to create a body that could handle complaints when it was determined local communities were failing to enforce the code’s provisions. Subsequent community votes regarding proposed enforcement guidelines and revisions based off comments provided during the process, were followed by a committee developing a charter for the proposed top-level enforcement body, which received voter approval early last year. The enforcement body, called the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) began its work following a community election for members last year. Foundation lawyers also serve on the Committee as non-voting members.

Code of Conduct Case

In June of this year, Polish Wikipedia editor “BZPN” posted a case request for the U4C regarding his ban from the Wikimedia Community Discord group where people from various sites owned by the Foundation can discuss Wikipedia and its affiliated sites. The request included a transcript of a conversation BZPN had with others after seeing an LGBT Pride flag being used for the Discord group’s logo during Pride Month. He questioned whether there had been a vote on the matter, but was told bluntly by a group moderator that there hadn’t and wouldn’t be one.

After someone pointed out his Discord profile included a Bible verse and other messages opposing homosexuality, another moderator banned him stating the Discord group was “an inclusive space and behaviour that causes others to feel unwelcome will not be tolerated.” He was told that his comments and profile were “incompatible” with remaining in the group and he was banned. BZPN stated that others in the Discord group had “posted mocking comments and memes, including references to LGBT militias (TQILA, IRPGF), anti-Christian sarcasm, and laughing emojis.” One referenced a “No Queerphobia” essay on Wikipedia, which some admins have invoked when banning editors expressing conservative views.

BZPN complained that prior to the ban he received no warning and was not told of any rule violation with his profile nor did any rule in the group mention profile requirements. He argued the actions violated the code of conduct as he was “mocked and publicly attacked for my religious expression” and “treated differently solely because I expressed a Christian viewpoint, which was equated with hate without any justification.” Further claiming moderators abused their power and acted without civility or collegiality, BZPN argued this warranted committee action as the Discord group was promoted on Wikipedia and functioned as a community space.

Committee member “Ghilt” declined taking the request, stating his citing of the Bible verse was a violation of the code of conduct’s rules on discrimination and complained: “There has been no reflection on that by the filer BZPN.” Another committee member declined stating there is no “right to religious expression on a private platform” where “that expression denies or otherwise objects to the rights of others.” Several more committee members similarly suggested BZPN had violated the code of conduct. One argued another part of BZPN’s profile including an “x” symbol next to gay and transgender flags was a concern.

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Texas flags 2,700+ potential noncitizens registered to vote on state voter rolls

Texas has found thousands of illegal immigrants registered to vote on state voter rolls. Secretary of State Jane Nelson said the potential noncitizens were flagged through a cross-check of the state’s 18 million registered voters against federal citizenship records in the USCIS ‘SAVE’ database, which found over 2,700 possible illegal immigrants registered on its voter rolls.

“The SAVE database has proven to be a critically important data set and one of many that we will continue to use in Texas to ensure that only qualified voters cast a ballot in our elections,” Nelson said in a statement.

That is quite a change from prior administration’s, which always put up red tape and tried to prevent this,” said Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

The findings will now lead to an eligibility review across the state’s 254 counties. Governor Greg Abbott said that since Senate Bill 1 was signed into law in 2021, which introduced new voter roll restrictions, over one million ineligible registrations have been removed.

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