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White House ignored a judge’s order to turn back deportation flights

White House ignored a judge’s order to turn back deportation flights

Axios reports: The president signed the executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act on Friday night, but intentionally did not advertise it. On Saturday morning, word of the order leaked, officials said, prompting a mad scramble to get planes in the air. At 2:31 p.m. Saturday, an immigration activist who tracks deportation flights, posted on X that “TWO HIGHLY UNUSUAL ICE flights” were departing from Texas to El Salvador, which had agreed to accept Venezuelan gang members deported from the U.S. Hours later, during…

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Kidney transplant specialist with valid visa deported in defiance of a court order

Kidney transplant specialist with valid visa deported in defiance of a court order

The New York Times reports: A kidney transplant specialist and professor at Brown University’s medical school has been deported from the United States, even though she had a valid visa and a court order temporarily blocking her expulsion, according to her lawyer and court papers. Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, a Lebanese citizen who had traveled to Lebanon last month to visit relatives, was detained on Thursday when she returned to the United States, according to a court complaint filed by…

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Trump has made ‘a huge gift to America’s enemies’ by silencing pro-democracy media

Trump has made ‘a huge gift to America’s enemies’ by silencing pro-democracy media

Politico reports: U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to stop financing U.S.-funded media including Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is stirring anger and indignation. On Saturday, journalists from VOA, RFE/RL and other U.S.-funded media outlets were put on leave or otherwise told to stop work after Trump moved to effectively freeze funding to media that have correspondents all over the world and provide coverage of regions including Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “These media outlets have…

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If the marshals go rogue, courts still have other ways to enforce their orders

If the marshals go rogue, courts still have other ways to enforce their orders

David Noll writes: One of the most alarming developments in the second Trump administration is agencies’ apparent defiance of court orders barring them from implementing illegal executive orders. As agencies including the State Department have ignored, evaded or slow-walked judicial decrees, courts have issued increasingly stronger warnings that compliance with their orders is not optional, and litigants have urged them to hold the responsible government officials in contempt of court. Yet the prospect of holding executive branch officials in contempt…

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As Bessent swigs MAGA Kool-Aid, Wall Street sees no guard rails for Trump 2.0

As Bessent swigs MAGA Kool-Aid, Wall Street sees no guard rails for Trump 2.0

Politico reports: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a successful hedge fund manager straight out of central casting, has quickly become one of the administration’s strongest advocates for policies that are upending global trade and roiling financial markets. The deliberate, wonkish Wall Street veteran who once called for the gradual implementation of new trade barriers has transformed into a bullhorn for President Donald Trump’s MAGA 2.0 agenda, making it clear that short-term market reactions are secondary to administration priorities such as sweeping…

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For increasing numbers of international tourists, the U.S. no longer looks like a safe destination

For increasing numbers of international tourists, the U.S. no longer looks like a safe destination

The Washington Post reports: International travelers concerned about President Donald Trump’s trade policies and bellicose rhetoric have been canceling trips to the United States, depriving the U.S. tourism industry of billions of dollars at a time when the economy has started to appear wobbly. Canadians are skipping trips to Disney World and music festivals. Europeans are eschewing U.S. national parks, and Chinese travelers are vacationing in Australia instead. International travel to the United States is expected to slide by 5…

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Starvation is not a negotiating tactic

Starvation is not a negotiating tactic

Megan Stack writes: “You do whatever you want,” President Trump said he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Mr. Netanyahu, it seems, took Mr. Trump at his word. Israel has clamped Gaza back under near-total siege, barring desperately needed humanitarian aid and other goods from entering the hungry and bomb-decimated enclave. Food, medicine, tents, fuel — for the past week and a half, supplies have not been permitted into Gaza, where some two million Palestinians are trying to survive in the wreckage….

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Putin makes clear Russia will only play ball with Ukraine by his rules

Putin makes clear Russia will only play ball with Ukraine by his rules

Pjotr Sauer writes: For once, the US president and European leaders were on the same page. Grasping for a familiar metaphor, a chorus of western heads of state declared this week that “the ball was in Russia’s court” after Ukraine agreed in talks with the US on Tuesday to an immediate 30-day ceasefire. Rather than making a play, Vladimir Putin on Thursday picked up the ball, scrawled a fresh set of conditions across it, and lobbed it back – insisting…

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Trump silences Voice of America and other U.S.-funded networks

Trump silences Voice of America and other U.S.-funded networks

NPR reports: Journalists showed up at the Voice of America today to broadcast their programs only to be told they had been locked out: Federal officials had embarked on indefinite mass suspensions. All full-time staffers at the Voice of America and the Office for Cuba Broadcasting, which runs Radio and Television Martí, were affected — more than 1,000 employees. The move followed a late Friday night edict from President Trump that its parent agency, called the U.S. Agency for Global…

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Musk installs one of his most trusted advisers inside the Social Security Administration

Musk installs one of his most trusted advisers inside the Social Security Administration

The New York Times reports: A private equity investor who is one of Elon Musk’s closest confidants has taken a new role in the Social Security Administration, a development that could be politically combustible given the program’s popularity with voters and Mr. Musk’s apparent intent to make major changes at the agency. The investor, Antonio Gracias, who has served on the boards of Mr. Musk’s businesses Tesla and SpaceX, has started a job at the administration as part of the…

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Trump widens assault on prominent law firms

Trump widens assault on prominent law firms

The New York Times reports: President Trump on Friday opened a third attack against a private law firm, restricting the business activities of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison just days after a federal judge ruled such measures appeared to violate the Constitution. The president signed an executive order to suspend security clearances held by people at the firm, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest. The order also seeks to sharply limit Paul,…

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Trump admin forces Asheville to remove ‘DEI’ language to access hurricane relief aid

Trump admin forces Asheville to remove ‘DEI’ language to access hurricane relief aid

Ja’han Jones writes: The Trump administration recently denied a funding request from the city of Asheville, North Carolina, to help its recovery from Hurricane Helene, telling the city it must cut a program meant to aid female and minority contractors. The mayor said the city has cut the reference to the program and now expects the plan to win approval. During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly used the devastation Helene wrought on North Carolina to spread lies and conspiracy theories…

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Outside America, Musk’s X is a foreign influence threat

Outside America, Musk’s X is a foreign influence threat

Tom Uren writes: We have consistently argued for TikTok to be banned in the U.S. as it could be a powerful tool for the Chinese government to interfere with American political discourse. For U.S. allies, a similar argument now applies to X. Commentators in Canada and the United Kingdom have already floated the idea of banning X. Meanwhile, in France, prosecutors have announced they’ve opened an investigation into X over alleged algorithmic bias. The investigation was launched after the prosecutor’s office received complaints about X’s interference in French democratic debate….

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At DOJ, Trump anoints himself as the ‘chief law enforcement officer in our country’

At DOJ, Trump anoints himself as the ‘chief law enforcement officer in our country’

Politico reports: President Donald Trump on Friday walked into the Department of Justice and labeled his courtroom opponents “scum,” judges “corrupt” and the prosecutors who investigated him “deranged.” With the DOJ logo directly behind him, Trump called for his legal tormentors to be sent to prison. “These are people that are bad people, really bad people,” the president said in a rambling speech that lasted more than an hour. “The people who did this to us should go to jail.”…

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