Thank you all for reading! You’re all giving me so much strength to carry on. What a privilege to have you as interlocutors. Unfortunately, I also have bills to pay, especially in the next few weeks, so I must do a bit of self-promo, even though I really hate it.
My work is entirely powered by you, dear readers! If you want to support my goal of making a living from these comics, the best way is to subscribe at www.patreon.com/assignedmale . It can be for any amount, you can get a yearly discount, and you can cancel anytime. If you wish to show your appreciation for the work I’ve been doing lately, you can send me a coffee at www.ko-fi.com/sophielabelle .
You can also get yourself some nifty gear with my designs on it at https://sophielabelle.dashery.com . Best way to ruin the Holidays, guaranteed!
Another great (and free!) way to support my work is to react to this post and leave a comment to make sure that more people see it.
Either way, keep shining, stay hydrated, and watch your posture. Love you all!! Sophie
California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business.
Federal agents stand guard while blocking a road leading to an agricultural facility in Camarillo, Calif., where federal agents and immigration officers carried out an operation on July 10.Daniel Cole / Reuters file
LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration filed a lawsuit Monday over California’s new laws banning federal agents from wearing masks and requiring them to have identification while conducting operations in the state.
The federal government has argued the laws threaten the safety of officers who are facing “unprecedented” harassment, doxing, and violence and said it will not comply with them.
California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business under a bill that was signed in September by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The law prohibits neck gaiters, ski masks and other facial coverings for local and federal officers, including immigration enforcement agents, while they conduct official business. It makes exceptions for undercover agents, protective equipment like N95 respirators or tactical gear, and it does not apply to state police.
Newsom also signed legislation requiring law enforcement to wear clear identification showing their agency and badge number while on the job. The laws require federal law enforcement agencies to issue a mask policy by July 1, 2026, and a visible identification policy by Jan. 1, 2026.
“California’s anti-law enforcement policies discriminate against the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents. These laws cannot stand,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release.
The lawsuit said there have been multiple incidents where Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were followed and their families threatened. It cites a case of three women in Los Angeles who are being accused of livestreaming while following an ICE agent home and posting the address on Instagram.
“Given the personal threats and violence that agents face, federal law enforcement agencies allow their officers to choose whether to wear masks to protect their identities and provide an extra layer of security,” the lawsuit said.
Newsom has called the practice of masked federal agents arresting people across the state “dystopian.”
Critics have raised concerns about the increased role of federal agents in local policing and often unidentified agents conducting immigration enforcement activities.
“If the Trump administration cared half as much about public safety as it does about pardoning cop-beaters, violating people’s rights, and detaining U.S. citizens and their kids, our communities would be much safer,” a spokesperson for Newsom’s office said in a statement.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a memo in October to law enforcement agencies across the country advising officers to clearly identify themselves in the field. It cited several incidents where masked criminals posed as immigration officers robbed and kidnapped victims.
The federal government also said in its lawsuit that the laws violate the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which prohibits states from regulating the federal government. It said the law banning federal officers from wearing masks discriminates against the federal government because it exempts state police.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said it was reviewing the complaint.
“It’s problematic when Californians can’t tell the difference between a law enforcement officer who is charged with protecting them and a criminal who is attempting to cause them harm,” Bonta’s office said in a statement. “The FBI itself has warned that the practice of ICE agents obscuring their identity has led to a rise in copycats committing crimes, threatening public safety and eroding trust in law enforcement.”
Zohran Mamdani rides an A Train at 190th Street after speaking uptown Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, in Manhattan, New York City. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS)
Zohran Mamdani’s win as the mayor of New York represents a major victory for immigrants, the underprivileged, and the push for independence from billionaires and lobbyists. But his rapid ascent to becoming one of the most influential politicians in the United States should come as no surprise.
His populist economic message — that the few have much while the many struggle with very little — highlights the growing outrage over wealth inequality, greed and poverty. Mamdani’s landslide victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo sent a clear signal: People want a government that works for everyone.
His victory honors the foundation of this nation, strengthening us by embracing the talents, skills and ideas of immigrants rather than succumbing to fear or prejudice. Mamdani achieved a historic win with a record number of votes, including support from Jewish communities, despite facing challenges like Islamophobia and accusations of antisemitism, fostering a much-needed multicultural spirit in these divisive times.
Mamdani fostered a sense of unity with a “we are all in this together” approach, visiting synagogues, temples and community celebrations like Diwali and Eid; joining parades; tackling issues like poverty, housing and disparities in health and education; and working alongside justice organizations and police departments.
He’ll oversee the nation’s largest police force, run the biggest education department, and manage a $115 billion budget with 300,000 employees, all while dealing with potential disruptions from President Donald Trump.
A diverse coalition of voters powered his historic victory, supported by noncitizens who, despite being unable to vote, felt represented and contributed through canvassing and donations.
It’s crucial to emphasize what made Mamdani’s victory so remarkable.
He presented a compelling vision for New York, a stark contrast with Cuomo’s message.
Thirty-seven percent of New York’s population, around 3 million people, are immigrants. This vibrant community hails from Europe, the Caribbean, China, South Asia, the Middle East, Mexico, and beyond, greatly enriching the city’s economy and culture, with some neighborhoods having half their residents as immigrants.
Mamdani wasn’t defined by his Muslim identity, despite being part of the largest minority religion in New York and the United States.
What truly stood out was his background as the son of filmmaker Mira Nair, his upbringing as a social democrat, his work as a community organizer, and his rise as a council member. Additionally, his father, Mahood Mamdani, is a prominent professor at Columbia, known for his writings on colonialism and post-colonialism. Among his many books, “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim” is taught at several universities.
Mamdani’s political views are shaped by a family history rooted in anti-colonial and pro-Palestinian activism. His middle name, “Kwame,” highlights his pan-African heritage, a legacy from his father. It pays tribute to Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and a prominent leader in the anti-colonial and pan-African liberation movements.
Building on his free juice pledge for students when he ran for vice president of his high school class, Mamdani now promises bold initiatives for New Yorkers — free buses, free child care, a rent freeze and city-run grocery stores. Mamdani’s proposals rattled the business elite, real estate moguls, and the capitalist establishment, enduring millions of dollars in attack ads labeling him as antisemitic and a socialist extremist.
Mamdani has promised to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he comes to New York City, site of the United Nations. According to a recent poll, a third of voters support Mamdani’s commitment to uphold the International Criminal Court warrant against the Israeli prime minister.
Mamdani stood firm on his stance despite criticism, even speaking directly to Jewish voters: “I believe our city should comply with international law,” he said at a town hall in May put on by UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council . “If someone asked me the same question about Vladimir Putin, my response would be the same. It’s about showing the leadership I believe is missing both in our city and our country.”
Mamdani co-founded the Bowdoin College chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, supports Black Lives Matter and is actively involved with Within Our Lifetime, a grassroots pro-Palestinian organization. These connections link him to global activism and align him against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other lobbying groups that support Israel.
Mamdani faces criticism for his progressive views, activism and comments about Israel. Nevertheless, he enjoys strong support from younger activists, including some Jewish allies (exit polls indicate about a third of New York City’s Jewish population voted for him), while encountering opposition from the older Democratic Party establishment and influential pro-Israel lobbies.
Is Mamdani’s victory the wave of the future?
This is a contributed opinion column. Mohammed Khaku is past president of Al Ahad Islamic Center in Allentown. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author(s), and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication. For more details on commentaries, read our guide to guest opinions at themorningcall.com/opinions.
CHICAGO (AP) — Baltazar Enriquez starts most mornings with street patrols, leaving his home in Chicago’s Little Village on foot or by car to find immigration agents that have repeatedly targeted his largely Mexican neighborhood.
Wearing an orange whistle around his neck, the activist broadcasts his plans on Facebook.
“We don’t know if they’re going to come back. All we know is we’ve got to get ready,” he tells thousands of followers. “Give us any tips if you see any suspicious cars.”
Moments later, his phone buzzes.
As an unprecedented immigration crackdown enters a third month, a growing number of Chicago residents are fighting back against what they deem a racist and aggressive overreach of the federal government. The Democratic stronghold’s response has tapped established activists and everyday residents from wealthy suburbs to working class neighborhoods.
They say their efforts — community patrols, rapid responders, school escorts, vendor buyouts, honking horns and blowing whistles — are a uniquely Chicago response that other cities President Donald Trump has targeted for federal intervention want to model.
“The strategy here is to make us afraid. The response from Chicago is a bunch of obscenities and ‘no,’” said Anna Zolkowski Sobor, whose North Side neighborhood saw agents throw tear gas and tackle an elderly man. “We are all Chicagoans who deserve to be here. Leave us alone.”
Baltazar Enriquez, president of the Little Village Community Council, walks with a Chicago Public School’s student walkout in protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents around Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Talia Sprague)
The sound of resistance
Perhaps the clearest indicator of Chicago’s growing resistance is the sound of whistles.
Enriquez is credited with being among the first to introduce the concept. For months Little Village residents have used them to broadcast the persistent presence of immigration agents.
Furious blasts both warn and attract observers who record video or criticize agents. Arrests, often referred to as kidnappings because many agents cover their faces, draw increasingly agitated crowds. Immigration agents have responded aggressively.
Officers fatally shot one man during a traffic stop, while other agents use tear gas, rubber bullets and physical force. In early November, Chicago police were called to investigate shots fired at agents. No one was injured.
Activists say they discourage violence.
“We don’t have guns. All we have is a whistle,” Enriquez said. “That has become a method that has saved people from being kidnapped and unlawful arrest.”
By October, neighborhoods citywide were hosting so-called “Whistlemania” events to pack the brightly colored devices for distribution through businesses and free book hutches.
“They want that orange whistle,” said Gabe Gonzalez, an activist. “They want to nod to each other in the street and know they are part of this movement.”
Midwestern sensibilities and organizing roots
Even with its 2.7 million people, Chicago residents like to say the nation’s third-largest city operates as a collection of small towns with Midwest sensibilities.
People generally know their neighbors and offer help. Word spreads quickly.
When immigration agents began targeting food vendors, Rick Rosales, enlisted his bicycle advocacy group Cycling x Solidarity. He hosted rides to visit street vendors, buying out their inventory to lower their risk while supporting their business.
Irais Sosa, co-founder of the apparel store Sin Titulo, started a neighbor program with grocery runs and rideshare gift cards for families afraid of venturing out.
“That neighborhood feel and support is part of the core of Chicago,” she said.
Enriquez’s organization, Little Village Community Council, saw its volunteer walking group which escorts children to school, grow from 13 to 32 students.
Many also credit the grassroots nature of the resistance to Chicago’s long history of community and union organizing.
Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan said Chicago area residents were so familiar with their rights that making arrests during a different operation this year was difficult.
So when hundreds of federal agents arrived in September, activists poured energy into an emergency hotline that dispatches response teams to gather intel, including names of those detained. Volunteers would also circulate videos online, warn of reoccurring license plates or follow agents’ cars while honking horns.
Protests have also cropped up quickly. Recently, high school students have launched walkouts.
Delilah Hernandez, 16, was among dozens from Farragut Career Academy who protested on a school day.She held a sign with the Constitution’s preamble as she walked in Little Village. She knows many people with detained relatives.
“There is so much going on,” she said. “You feel it.”
A difficult environment
More than 3,200 people suspected of violating immigration laws have been arrested during the so-called “ Operation Midway Blitz.” Dozens of U.S. citizens and protesters have been arrested with charges ranging from resisting arrest to conspiring to impede an officer.
The Department of Homeland Security defends the operation, alleging officers face hostile crowds as they pursue violent criminals.
Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander who’s brought controversial tactics from operations in Los Angeles, called Chicago a “very non permissive environment.” He blamed sanctuary protections and elected leaders and defended agents’ actions, which are the subject of lawsuits.
DHS, which oversees CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has said operations won’t end in Chicago.
Interest nationwide
Alonso Zaragoza, with a neighborhood organization in the heavily immigrant Belmont Cragin, has printed hundreds of “No ICE” posters for businesses. Organizers in Oregon and Missouri have asked for advice.
“It’s become a model for other cities,” Zaragoza said. “We’re building leaders in our community who are teaching others.”
The turnout for virtual know-your-rights trainings offered by the pro-democracy group, States at the Core, doubled from 500 to 1,000 over a recent month, drawing participants from New Jersey and Tennessee.
“We train and we let go, and the people of Chicago are the ones who run with it,” said organizer Jill Garvey.
Awaiting the aftermath
Enriquez completes up to three patrol shifts daily. Beyond the physical exertion, the work takes a toll.
Federal agents visited his home and questioned family members. A U.S. citizen relative was handcuffed by agents. His car horn no longer works, which he attributes to overuse.
“This has been very traumatizing,” he said. “It is very scary because you will remember this for the rest of your life.”
Heather Scott [photo] last appeared here in January 2025 when the Idaho House advanced her resolution which would have launched a formal state lawsuit against Obergefell.
She appeared here in February 2024 for her bill to ban the composting of human remains because people might dig up the bodies and eat them. (Yes, really.)
Scott first appeared here in 2020 when she called Idaho’s Republican governor “Little Hitler” over COVID lockdowns, which she compared to concentration camps.
She appeared here in 2022 when she held a talk on “the war of perversion against our children” by the LGBTQ community and invited a militia group to the stage.
Scott first made national news in 2017 when she defended white nationalism in a Facebook post.
Later that year she was stripped of her committee posts when she said that women only get Idaho leadership posts if they “spread their legs.”
Photos show Scott, an Oath Keepers supporter, brandishing the Confederate battle flag at her campaign events.
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2025. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The election may be over in New York City, but Mayor Eric Adams isn’t done fighting against Zohran Mamdani.
In the last two weeks, Adams has made – or flirted with – maneuvers that could cause some political headaches for mayor-elect Mamdani and even stall his affordability agenda. The moves have implications for Mamdani’s pledge to freeze the rent for stabilized tenants, maintain funding for the NYPD and build more housing to address the city’s affordability crisis.
Political experts say Adams is following a tried and true tradition.
“There’s a history of mayors making decisions in the final days of their mayoralty,” said Chris Coffey, a political strategist who worked for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “Whether it’s for messing with the next mayor, or getting the things they want before their term is up, only a psychiatrist could tell you.”
Late last month, Adams began weighing whether to pack the Rent Guidelines Board with members opposed to Mamdani’s plan to freeze the rent on the city’s 1 million regulated apartments. Those appointees would remain in place when Mamdani took office, potentially setting up an unprecedented legal battle over whether the new mayor could fire them.
Adams has not yet announced any new appointees. Eleonora Srugo, a real estate agent and star of a Netflix reality show, “Selling the City,” told the New York Times she had declined Adams’ job offer.
Days later, Adams announced additional funding to hire 5,000 police officers. Mamdani has said he would keep the police headcount at its current level of 35,000 officers — a headcount the NYPD has failed to reach under Adams due to struggles with recruitment.
Once Mamdani takes office, he will have to decide whether to rescind the $316 million Adams allocated to hire the additional officers. The move would be largely symbolic since the city can’t meet its currently budgeted staffing levels.
During the primary, Mamdani distanced himself from his previous calls to reduce police spending.
“I am not defunding the police. I am not running to defund the police,” he said in July. He described himself as a person who “learns and one that leads, and part of that means admitting as I have grown.”
The latest example of Adams’ maneuvering came on Wednesday, when Gothamist exclusively reported that the administration had designated Elizabeth Street Garden as parkland. The move was the latest development in the years-long saga over whether the city could build an affordable housing development for seniors on the site in Nolita.
Mayor Adams has said he’s committed to a smooth transition. But he’s implemented policies that go against Zohran Mamdani’s agenda.
Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office
On Thursday, Mamdani accused Adams of “using his final weeks and months to cement a legacy of dysfunction and inconsistency.”
But he also said that the administration’s actions “make it nearly impossible to follow through with” building housing on the garden.
Adams is far from the first mayor to complicate his successor’s plans.
Former Mayor David Dinkins ignored his successor Rudy Giuliani’s criticisms of a deal to keep the U.S. Open in Queens by building Arthur Ashe Stadium.
During the final month of his second term, Giuliani, a baseball fan, signed deals for new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees. Bloomberg canceled them not long after he took over City Hall.
Adams has publicly said he’d ensure a smooth transition. On Thursday, he rejected Mamdani’s criticism of his move to preserve Elizabeth Street Garden.
“It’s not about a legacy of dysfunction,” Adams told reporters. “It’s about protecting a legacy in the promises we made.”
He also said, “I’m the mayor until December 31st.”
With the Elizabeth Street Garden, Adams may have actually done Mamdani a favor. The proposed development has devolved into a nasty fight pitting housing advocates against the garden’s well-heeled supporters, who include Patti Smith, Robert DeNiro, Martin Scorsese and others.
“These are political sh– sandwiches,” Coffey said, referring to the garden. “I’m sure the mayor- elect would want that off the table.”
During a live podcast with the news site Hell Gate last month, Mamdani said he would evict the garden’s operators in his first year as mayor. But at least one key member of his inner circle may be pleased with Adams’ move to make the Elizabeth Street Garden a park — filmmaker Mira Nair.
“My mother really disagrees with me,” Mamdani said.
The president of Boston University College Republicans wrote on X he called the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requesting it detain employees at Allston Car Wash, the site of a Nov. 4 raid where nine employees were arrested.
Boston University College Republicans President Zac Segal being interviewed at a club meeting. Segal posted on X that he called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to investigate the Allston Car Wash that was raided last week. (AVA RUBIN)
“I’ve been calling ICE for months on end. This week they finally responded to my request to detain these criminals,” BUCR President Zac Segal posted Nov. 7 above a Boston.com article about the ICE raid.
Segal declined to comment Thursday morning.
“As someone who lives in the neighborhood, I’ve seen how American jobs are being given away to those with no right to be here. Pump up the numbers!” Segal’s post concludes.
BUCR did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
The nine detained employees all had work permits, Allston Car Wash Manager Jose Barrera told Boston.com.
Barrera said around 22 federal agents arrived at the Cambridge Street car wash holding subpoenas, but agents began arresting employees before they could retrieve their documents from the locker room, Barrera told Boston.com.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more information.
Scottie's Playtime 