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Will America’s national parks — ‘the best idea we ever had’ — survive Trump?

Will America’s national parks — ‘the best idea we ever had’ — survive Trump?

Ted Kerasote writes: Like a cinnamon river overflowing its banks, thousands of elk have been making their way across Jackson Hole, Wyo., to their summer range below the high, jagged peaks of Grand Teton National Park. This is one of the world’s most spectacular migrations, protected by the creation and expansion over the last half century of what is now a 485-square-mile park. As the weather has warmed, cars and vans carrying tourists from far and wide have been lining…

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‘The Sheriffs of this country feel betrayed,’ NSA tells DHS after it posted list of ‘sanctuary’ cities

‘The Sheriffs of this country feel betrayed,’ NSA tells DHS after it posted list of ‘sanctuary’ cities

Reuters reports: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security removed a list of “sanctuary” states, cities and counties from its website following sharp criticism from a sheriffs’ association that said a list of “non-compliant” sheriffs could severely damage the relationship between the Trump administration and law enforcement. DHS on Thursday published a list of what it called “sanctuary” jurisdictions that allegedly limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The list prompted a response from the National Sheriffs’ Association, which represents more than…

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Mountain chickadee chatter: Scientists are decoding the songbird’s complex calls

Mountain chickadee chatter: Scientists are decoding the songbird’s complex calls

Mountain chickadees are unusual in having more complex calls than songs. Vladimir Pravosudov By Sofia Marie Haley, University of Nevada, Reno I approach a flock of mountain chickadees feasting on pine nuts. A cacophony of sounds, coming from the many different bird species that rely on the Sierra Nevada’s diverse pine cone crop, fill the crisp mountain air. The strong “chick-a-dee” call sticks out among the bird vocalizations. The chickadees are communicating to each other about food sources – and…

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The GOP’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ contains a provision that would kneecap judicial power

The GOP’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ contains a provision that would kneecap judicial power

Austin Sarat writes: In his farewell address to the nation more than 200 years ago, President George Washington warned the branches of government to “confine themselves within their respective Constitutional spheres.” Encroachment on other branches, he wrote, “tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.” Today’s Republican Party never heard that advice. GOP majorities in the House and Senate have stood by as President Donald…

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Trump, attacking the Federalist Society, asserts autonomy on judge picks

Trump, attacking the Federalist Society, asserts autonomy on judge picks

The New York Times reports: President Trump appears to be declaring independence from outside constraints on how he nominates judges, signaling that he is looking for loyalists who will uphold his agenda and denouncing the conservative legal network that helped him remake the federal judiciary in his first term. Late Thursday, after a ruling struck down his tariffs on most imported goods, Mr. Trump attacked the Federalist Society, leaders of which heavily influenced his selection of judges during his first…

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Trump administration to prioritize sycophants for federal jobs

Trump administration to prioritize sycophants for federal jobs

Politico reports: As President Donald Trump moves to slash the size of the federal workforce, his administration unveiled a plan to ensure that any new hires are “patriotic Americans” who vow to advance the president’s policy priorities. The White House and the agency that serves as the government’s human resources arm Thursday released directives for departments to use when recruiting employees in a memo that represents a dramatic shift in federal hiring procedures. The administration’s “merit hiring plan” comes after…

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Trump defies Laura Loomer, ditches Musk’s ally as nominee for NASA administrator

Trump defies Laura Loomer, ditches Musk’s ally as nominee for NASA administrator

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Deep State operatives are trying to derail President Trump’s NASA Administrator pick @rookisaacman Jared Isaacman before his Senate confirmation vote this week. A well-placed source tells me Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be the next Administrator of @NASA was set… https://t.co/FnJWyzFx73 — Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) May 31, 2025 The New York Times reports: President Trump plans to withdraw his nomination of Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and close associate of Elon Musk’s, who was on track to be the…

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Trump nominates official with ties to antisemitic extremists to lead ethics agency

Trump nominates official with ties to antisemitic extremists to lead ethics agency

NPR reports: President Trump has nominated 30-year-old conservative lawyer Paul Ingrassia, to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a government ethics office, despite Ingrassia’s ties to multiple antisemitic extremists. If confirmed by the Senate, Ingrassia would oversee the agency that enforces the Hatch Act, which limits government employees from engaging in certain partisan political activities, and provides protections to whistleblowers. (The agency is separate and distinct from special counsels appointed by the Department of Justice, such as Robert Mueller…

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Universities quietly negotiating with White House aide to try to avoid Harvard’s fate, source says

Universities quietly negotiating with White House aide to try to avoid Harvard’s fate, source says

CNN reports: College and university leaders have been privately negotiating with a deputy to top Trump aide Stephen Miller in hopes of avoiding the same aggressive targeting of Harvard University, a person familiar with the matter said, as the administration looks to escalate its attacks on the Ivy League institution and other schools. The higher education leaders, who have had granular conversations with senior White House policy strategist May Mailman in recent weeks, are asking what signals they need to…

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‘If things continue as they are, American science is ruined,’ scientist warns

‘If things continue as they are, American science is ruined,’ scientist warns

The New York Times reports: For decades, Bangalore, India, has been an incubator for scientific talent, sending newly minted Ph.D.s around the world to do groundbreaking research. In an ordinary year, many aim their sights at labs in the United States. “These are our students, and we want them to go and do something amazing,” said a professor at the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, Raj Ladher. But this is not an ordinary year. When Professor Ladher queried…

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Jewish organizers increasingly confront Trump: ‘The repression is growing, but so is the resistance’

Jewish organizers increasingly confront Trump: ‘The repression is growing, but so is the resistance’

The Guardian reports: On the morning of Columbia University’s commencement last week, an intergenerational group of Jewish alumni gathered in the rain outside the Manhattan campus’s heavily policed gates, wearing keffiyehs and shirts emblazoned with the words “not in our name”. Two had graduated more than 60 years earlier, and one spoke of having fled the Nazis to the US as a child. Others recalled participating in Columbia protests of the past, including those that led the university to divest…

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Has Israel brought famine to Gaza by design?

Has Israel brought famine to Gaza by design?

Middle East Eye reports: The markets are empty. The make-shift hospitals are bare. The water is contaminated. The aid trucks are nowhere in sight. Gaza is being starved, and rights groups say, deliberately. At least 57 children have starved to death since 2 March, and 71,000 children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished over the next eleven months. In the ongoing war on Gaza, which genocide scholars and international human rights organisations have unanimously called…

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Economic fears mount as Trump tariffs get snarled in court

Economic fears mount as Trump tariffs get snarled in court

Politico reports: With President Donald Trump’s tariffs entangled in the courts, industry leaders are warning that continued confusion over his trade agenda could drag down an economy that was already in danger of slumping. They are urging Trump to abandon an aggressive policy that has been marked by chaos and reversals, and instead focus on delivering tangible, lasting deals that will allow businesses to plan ahead. A federal court on Wednesday froze the tariffs, but an appeals court on Thursday…

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The president isn’t a king. He doesn’t have the power to impose tariffs whenever he feels like it

The president isn’t a king. He doesn’t have the power to impose tariffs whenever he feels like it

Ilya Somin writes: Wednesday’s unanimous ruling against President Donald Trump’s expansive “Liberation Day” tariffs by the United States Court of International Trade wasn’t merely a victory for the businesses and consumers opposed to the policy. The decision was much more than that: a victory for the constitutional system of separation of powers—and, even more broadly, for the rule of law in America. The decision came in a case filed by the Liberty Justice Center and me on behalf of five…

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