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Firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner moves us into banana republic territory

Firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner moves us into banana republic territory

The Friends of the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a statement following Commissioner McEntarfer’s removal: Today, President Trump called into question the integrity of the Employment Situation report that the BLS released this morning. He accused BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer of deliberately reporting false numbers to reflect poorly on this administration. This baseless, damaging claim undermines the valuable work and dedication of BLS staff who produce the reports each month. This escalates the President’s unprecedented attacks on the independence and…

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Laura Loomer has emerged as a blunt enforcer of allegiance to Trump

Laura Loomer has emerged as a blunt enforcer of allegiance to Trump

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s second term White House has been marked by far less palace intrigue and personnel drama at the senior staff and Cabinet level than his first. And yet, the firings are piling up. More than a dozen high ranking officials across the administration have been forced to leave their jobs or had their nominations or promotions derailed in the first six months of Trump’s return to Washington. Nearly all of the ousters have come after individuals…

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The silence of DOJ’s inspector general concealed a crucial whistle-blower complaint concerning Bove

The silence of DOJ’s inspector general concealed a crucial whistle-blower complaint concerning Bove

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department’s internal watchdog lost a crucial account from a whistle-blower detailing wrongdoing by political appointees for more than two months, prompting criticism that the agency’s inspector general has been inactive and silent during a time of deep turmoil. The complaint, submitted in early May, accused top Justice Department officials like Emil Bove III of overseeing an effort to mislead judges and skirt or ignore court orders, according to people familiar with the filing….

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Federal judges say the White House needs to tone down attacks

Federal judges say the White House needs to tone down attacks

Politico reports: A group of federal judges decried a series of politically charged attacks from the White House Thursday, saying the broadsides are emboldening bad actors and leading to death threats and political intimidation. “Now, it’s at a level that I have to honestly say is different. We’re seeing things coming out from the top down, from White House spokespeople, calling us crazy, leftist, unconstitutional judges,” Esther Salas, a U.S. District Court judge in New Jersey, said at a judicial…

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The controlled demolition of American science

The controlled demolition of American science

Ross Andersen writes: Roald Sagdeev has already watched one scientific empire rot from the inside. When Sagdeev began his career, in 1955, science in the Soviet Union was nearing its apex. At the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow, he studied the thermonuclear reactions that occur inside of stars. A few lab tables away, Andrei Sakharov was developing the hydrogen bomb. The Soviet space program would soon astonish the world by lofting the first satellite, and then the first human being, into…

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The starvation of Gaza is shameful. Crippling sanctions on Israel are needed, say Israeli public figures

The starvation of Gaza is shameful. Crippling sanctions on Israel are needed, say Israeli public figures

The Guardian reports: A group of high-profile Israeli public figures, including academics, artists and public intellectuals, has called for “crippling sanctions” to be imposed by the international community on Israel, amid mounting horror over its starvation of Gaza. The 31 signatories of a letter to the Guardian include an Academy award recipient, Yuval Abraham; a former Israeli attorney general, Michael Ben-Yair; Avraham Burg, a former speaker of Israel’s parliament and former head of the Jewish Agency; and a number of…

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France and Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state won’t end Israel’s onslaught

France and Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state won’t end Israel’s onslaught

Hussein Agha and Robert Malley write: Almost two years into a conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives, amid an Israeli military campaign and humanitarian blockade that have reached apocalyptic proportions, and faced with their own powerlessness as they bear witness to what growing numbers of experts call a genocide, Emmanuel Macron has announced France’s dramatic next step: it will recognize a Palestinian state in September. Keir Starmer quickly followed suit, stating that the UK would do likewise…

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The Columbia deal with Trump is a blueprint. All of higher education should fear what comes next

The Columbia deal with Trump is a blueprint. All of higher education should fear what comes next

Vox reports: One by one, elite universities are signing away some of their autonomy to the Trump administration after it has accused them of civil rights violations and withheld federal funding. The University of Pennsylvania banned transgender women from participating in women’s college sports as part of an agreement with the Trump administration earlier this month. Columbia University agreed last week to pay $200 million in penalties and fulfill a laundry list of other demands, from slashing diversity, equity, and…

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How Trump’s crackdown on law firms is undermining legal defenses for the vulnerable

How Trump’s crackdown on law firms is undermining legal defenses for the vulnerable

Reuters reports: When the Texas Civil Rights Project needed lawyers to help dozens of people arrested during U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, legal director Dustin Rynders turned to a familiar strategy. He contacted major law firms that for decades had provided free legal services to nonprofits like his. On that April day in Houston, he called his usual contacts, many at firms that had previously handled challenges to Trump’s immigration policies. Before Trump’s return to the White House, they…

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Trump is turning the White House into Mar-a-Lago with a private $200 million ballroom

Trump is turning the White House into Mar-a-Lago with a private $200 million ballroom

The New Republic reports: Donald Trump is finally getting his wish to turn the White House into the gaudy resort he calls home by adding a $200 million ballroom. The White House announced that it would begin construction in September on a 90,000 square foot ballroom that can seat 650 people. Yes, Trump is laser focused on the issues that matter most to Americans: Replacing the “large and unsightly” tent that typically hosts guests just 100 yards away from the…

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What does a cell know of itself? Much more than you think

What does a cell know of itself? Much more than you think

Claire L. Evans writes: In 1983, the octogenarian geneticist Barbara McClintock stood at the lectern of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. She was famously publicity averse — nearly a hermit — but it’s customary for people to speak when they’re awarded a Nobel Prize, so she delivered a halting account of the experiments that had led to her discovery, in the early 1950s, of how DNA sequences can relocate across the genome. Near the end of the speech, blinking through…

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For Israel’s warfare-based economy, peace isn’t an option

For Israel’s warfare-based economy, peace isn’t an option

The Financial Times reports: Since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, the best-performing major stock market in the world is … Israel. After taking an initial hit, the market recovered fully in four weeks, and since then is up around 80 per cent in dollar terms. This ascent continued through the recent 12-day war with Iran, when most geopolitical experts thought their worst fears of a wider conflict were coming to pass. The stock market, in contrast, kept signalling…

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Emil Bove’s confirmation was only possible because of the cowardice of Democrats

Emil Bove’s confirmation was only possible because of the cowardice of Democrats

Jay Willis writes: On Tuesday evening, the Senate voted to confirm Emil Bove, President Donald Trump’s criminal defense attorney-turned-Justice Department hatchetman, to a life-tenured judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Bove first made headlines for firing dozens of January 6 prosecutors shortly after Trump took office, parroting the president’s description of these cases as a “grave national injustice.” According to multiple whistleblowers, in March, Bove told his Justice Department subordinates that they might need to say “fuck you” to judges who were…

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Venezuelan men sent to CECOT on what they endured and reuniting with their families

Venezuelan men sent to CECOT on what they endured and reuniting with their families

By Perla Trevizo, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, Melissa Sanchez and Mica Rosenberg, ProPublica, Ronna Rísquez, Alianza Rebelde Investiga, and Adrián González, Cazadores de Fake News, photography and additional reporting by Adriana Loureiro Fernández for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune This story was originally published by ProPublica Now that he’s free, Leonardo José Colmenares Solórzano, a 31-year-old Venezuelan, wants the world to know that he was tortured over four months in a Salvadoran prison. He said guards stomped on his…

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