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Russell Payne

Russell Payne is a staff reporter for Salon. His reporting has previously appeared in The New York Sun and the Finger Lakes Times.

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Democratic candidates Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico, who are competing for their party’s nomination in the Texas U.S. Senate primary ahead of the 2026 general election. (Photo illustration by Salon / Getty Images / John Medina / Richard Rodriguez)

How the Texas primary could rewrite the Democrat’s campaign playbook

Russell Payne
President Donald Trump speaks with members of the Joint Chiefs of staff before delivering his State of the Union address on February 24, 2026 amid a U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf threatening Iran. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Why Congress tried to dodge a vote on war with Iran

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a visit to Sierra Space in Louisville, Colorado on Monday, February 23, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Hegseth threatens Anthropic over killer AI limits

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Attorney General Pam Bondi attends a press briefing held at the White House February 20, 2026 in Washington. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)

Pam Bondi’s brother keeps on winning. But why?

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(Photo illustration by Salon / Getty Images / Davidoff Studios / Boris Zhitkov / artisteer)

Trump admin seeks to strike Epstein connections from record

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Residents of Lemont, Illinois, pay tribute to Charlie Kirk during a vigil on September 11, 2025. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Why Republicans are so eager to create a Charlie Kirk holiday

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Minneapolis residents continue to pay tribute to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both victims of fatal shootings by federal agents, and show their anger and demand that ICE leave their city. On February 9, 2026. (Photo by Jerome Gilles/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Minneapolis showed how to fight ICE and win

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(Courtesy Hamawy for New Jersey)

A Gaza doctor seeks to carry on a New Jersey progressive’s legacy

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Laura Loomer shows her support for former President Donald Trump outside a campaign event for Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at The Vault on October 05, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Facing midterm wipeout, Arizona Republicans revive sharia law panic

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(Photo illustration by Salon / Getty Images / Win McNamee / Justin Sullivan / National Archives)

Trump’s cannabis rescheduling order was just smoke

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President Donald Trump speaks during a bill signing in the Oval Office of the White House on February 03, 2026 in Washington, DC. The House passed legislation today that ends the partial government shutdown while lawmakers negotiate over Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy and funding for the Department of Homeland Security. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Democrats’ ICE demands play into Trump’s hands

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Analilia Mejia, Co-Executive Director of Center for Popular Democracy, speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on April 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In NJ special election, it’s not the left that’s divided

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Federal agents target protesters with "less lethal" weapons at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on October 18, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

ICE’s “less lethal” crowd-control weapons can still be deadly

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US Border Patrol agents stand guard at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 8, 2026. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images)

Could the military further militarize Minneapolis?

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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S. â" JANUARY 15: People take part in an anti-ICE protest outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 15, 2026. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Most Americans say ICE has gone “too far,” poll finds

Russell Payne
March 1965: American civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968) and his wife Coretta Scott King lead a black voting rights march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital in Montgomery; among those pictured are, front row, politician and civil rights activist John Lewis (1940 – 2020), Reverend Ralph Abernathy (1926 - 1990), Ruth Harris Bunche (1906 - 1988), Nobel Prize-winning political scientist and diplomat Ralph Bunche (1904 - 1971), activist Hosea Williams (1926 – 2000 right carrying child). (Photo by William Lovelace/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Conservatives are flipping civil rights principles on their head

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WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 08: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks as U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) looks on during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on January 08, 2026 in Washington, DC. Schumer and Jeffries spoke to reporters on the recent ICE shooting, limiting President Trump’s war powers in the wake of the Venezuela raid and upcoming floor legislation including the extension of “Obamacare” subsidies. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Democratic leaders resist call of voters to abolish ICE

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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - JANUARY 07: An onlooker holds a sign that reads "Shame" as members of law enforcement work the scene following a suspected shooting by an ICE agent during federal law enforcement operations on January 07, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to federal officials, the agent, “fearing for his life” killed a woman during a confrontation in south Minneapolis. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

“It’s going to happen again”: Residents say ICE is treating Minneapolis as a “war zone”

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(Photo illustration by Salon / Getty Images / Hannah Beier / Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto )

Postmark changes could cause midterm election chaos

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(Photo illustration by Salon / Getty Images / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / Nestea06)

Nicotine’s comeback is the latest wellness scam

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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - JANUARY 07: A bullet hole is seen in the windshield of a vehicle involved in a shooting by an ICE agent during federal law enforcement operations on January 07, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to federal officials, the agent, "fearing for his life" killed a woman during a confrontation in south Minneapolis. ((Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images))

“Propaganda machine”: Trump and DHS embrace conspiracy theories tied to ICE killing

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(Photo illustration by Salon / Getty Images / Tom Williams / hapabapa / HHS / United States Congress)

“The only thing she practices is grift”: Meet Trump’s nominee for Surgeon General

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President Donald Trump's supporters gather outside the Capitol building in Washington D.C. on January 06, 2021. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

We learned nothing from Jan. 6

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VERNON, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 20: An aerial view of a 33 megawatt data center (LOWER L) with closed-loop cooling system, amid warehouses on October 20, 2025 in Vernon, California. A surge in demand for AI infrastructure is fueling a boom in data centers across the country and around the globe. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The double-edged sword of AI data centers

Russell Payne
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