Nov 24
2025
Stepped up government surveillance
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The U.S. Border Patrol is no longer just policing the border at entry points such as the Peace Bridge in Buffalo and the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls.
An investigation by the Associated Press has found the agency “is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.”
Once limited to policing the nation’s boundaries, the Border Patrol has built a surveillance system stretching into the country’s interior that can monitor ordinary Americans’ daily actions and connections for anomalies instead of simply targeting wanted suspects. Started about a decade ago to fight illegal border-related activities and the trafficking of both drugs and people, it has expanded over the past five years…
The predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents in turn may then flag local law enforcement.
Suddenly, drivers find themselves pulled over — often for reasons cited such as speeding, failure to signal, the wrong window tint or even a dangling air freshener blocking the view. They are then aggressively questioned and searched, with no inkling that the roads they drove put them on law enforcement’s radar.
Last month, our J. Dale Shoemaker reported on stepped up efforts to surveil travelers entering the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security has reassigned agents to bolster Trump’s push to arrest undocumented immigrants at the expense of efforts to combat terrorism, child exploitation, sex trafficking and human smuggling. “The Trump administration has remade the agency into a veritable Department of Deportation,” writes The New York Times.
The head of a right wing group at the University at Buffalo – he really likes ICE – had his guns taken away after he threatened to shoot up the school.
A visitor center at Canalside? OK. A $14.3 million visitor center at Canalside? I don’t know about that. Meanwhile, the northern half of the site remains a hole in the ground, 16 years after the Aud’s demolition.
Research by our friends at Little Sis finds polluters are spending a lot of time and money trying to bring Gov. Kathy Hochul around to their point of view. Author Rob Galbraith writes that Hochul “has stalled and backtracked on New York’s climate mandates” and said lobbying and fundraising efforts “may be the reason.” His report is exhaustively researched.
Ken Kruly handicaps upcoming state elections in his Politics and Other Stuff. Kathy Hochul and Elise Stefanik are the main event, of course.
It pays to be a retired New York City cop. Recent “full career” retirees are enjoying pensions that average nearly $104,000 a year, according to an analysis by the Empire Center. Among retirees as a whole, 28 NYC cops are receiving pension topping $300,000 a year, while 389 are getting at least $200,000.
This won’t last: Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump had a good first date. “I’ll be cheering for him,” Trump said.
I never thought I’d say this, but I’m going to miss Marjorie Taylor Green. NPR explores why she is stepping down.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomYouTube and Facebook are far and away the most popular social media sites. Instagram isn’t doing bad either. Although its use lags, Twitter’s following hasn’t changed that much despite Elon Musk.
Speaking of which, Musk’s chatbot informs users he is the greatest person in the history of mankind. Seriously.
Attention, Gmail users: Your email provider has pulled a fast one on you, violating your privacy in the process. Here’s what you can do about it.
Speaking of Google, I’ve noticed its YouTube has been flooded with fake AI videos. If only Elvis and John Lennon had jammed together.
The Palestinian West Bank is the new Gaza, according to a New York Times op-ed.
Since the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, over 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers; one in every five dead was a child. In the same period, over 3,000 Palestinians say they have been displaced from their homes and lands largely because of Israeli settler violence. An estimated 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the northern West Bank by Israel Defense Forces operations. In the past two years, Israel has erected nearly 1,000 barriers and makeshift checkpoints across the West Bank, suffocating Palestinians’ ability to move and work freely.
Ken Burns’ latest project, this on the American revolution, began airing last week on PBS. Good stuff. My takeaway from the first installment: the Minutemen were not to be messed with. The entire series is available here.
