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DOGE is getting audited by the Government Accountability Office

DOGE is getting audited by the Government Accountability Office

Wired reports: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is auditing Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The probe, which has been ongoing since March, covers DOGE’s handling of data at several cabinet-level agencies, including the Departments of Labor, Education, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, the Treasury, and the Social Security Administration, as well as the US DOGE Service (USDS) itself, according to sources and records reviewed by WIRED. Records show that the GAO—an independent auditing, research, and investigative…

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Court tells government to provide evidence justifying deportation of Mahmoud Khalil or case is over

Court tells government to provide evidence justifying deportation of Mahmoud Khalil or case is over

The Associated Press reports: An immigration judge in Louisiana said she would terminate the case against Mahmoud Khalil if the government does not provide evidence this week justifying their attempted deportation of the Columbia University student activist. At a hearing Tuesday in Louisiana, Judge Jamee Comans gave the government 24 hours to provide evidence showing that Khalil, a 30-year-old legal permanent resident, should be expelled from the country for his role in campus protests against Israel and the war in…

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America is at risk of losing a generation of scientists

America is at risk of losing a generation of scientists

Neel V. Patel writes: American science has been a beacon for aspiring researchers since the end of World War II, when a rivalry with the Soviet Union spurred the United States to make huge investments in science and technology research and recruit the most brilliant thinkers from abroad. Scientists saw the United States as a kind of nationwide laboratory for pursuing work under the best conditions possible — a remarkable combination of positive pressure and competition that pushed them to…

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Trump, Musk, and the Christian right are waging war on empathy

Trump, Musk, and the Christian right are waging war on empathy

Julia Carrie Wong writes: Just over an hour into Elon Musk’s last appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the billionaire brought up the latest existential threat to trouble him. “We’ve got civilizational suicidal empathy going on,” Musk said. “And it’s like, I believe in empathy. Like, I think you should care about other people, but you need to have empathy for civilization as a whole and not commit to a civilizational suicide.” The idea that caring about others could end civilization…

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Rightwing group backed by Charles Koch and Leonard Leo sues to stop Trump tariffs

Rightwing group backed by Charles Koch and Leonard Leo sues to stop Trump tariffs

The Guardian reports: A libertarian group that has been funded by Leonard Leo and Charles Koch has mounted a legal challenge against Donald Trump’s tariff regime, in a sign of spreading rightwing opposition to a policy that has sent international markets plummeting. The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a suit against Trump’s imposition of import tariffs on exports from China, arguing that doing so under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) – which the president has invoked to justify…

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Trump is doing ‘exactly the opposite of what Americans voted for’

Trump is doing ‘exactly the opposite of what Americans voted for’

Politico reports: During the first two turbulent months of President Donald Trump’s term, the White House has shrugged off scrutiny of its most controversial policies with a simple assertion: The American people voted for this. Now, Trump allies and GOP voters spooked by the tariff-induced market crash are beginning to respond en masse: No, we didn’t. Trump won in November because many voters saw him as an antidote to their economic malaise; as a candidate, he frequently promised to lower…

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‘Truly a moron’: Elon Musk escalates spat with Trump adviser Peter Navarro over tariffs

‘Truly a moron’: Elon Musk escalates spat with Trump adviser Peter Navarro over tariffs

CNN reports: Elon Musk took another jab at President Donald Trump’s senior trade adviser Peter Navarro Tuesday, calling him a “moron” on social media as the Tesla CEO further splits from the White House’s tariffs plan. Musk’s remarks were in response to a CNBC interview with Navarro on that aired Monday, during which the White House trade adviser discussed how Tesla’s position as a “car assembler” rather than a car manufacturer could be at odds with Trump’s tariff policies. The…

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Wall Street billionaires view Trump’s tariffs as ‘stupidity,’ warning ‘the economy is weakening as we speak’

Wall Street billionaires view Trump’s tariffs as ‘stupidity,’ warning ‘the economy is weakening as we speak’

The New York Times reports: Wall Street billionaires are not used to being on the outside looking in. But that is where they find themselves after President Trump ignored their appeals to call off his tariff plans which they fear could endanger the economy. With the backdrop of rapidly mounting stock market losses, corporate titans have worked every angle — phone calls, social media and even a typically staid shareholder letter — to try to change Mr. Trump’s mind. The…

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Is Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, the anti-Trump?

Is Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, the anti-Trump?

Michelle Goldberg writes: Last year was a bad one for incumbent political parties, as voters worldwide rebelled against representatives of the status quo. It was a bad year for the left, with Donald Trump winning in the United States and reactionary nativism advancing across Europe. And it was a bad year for women in politics; as the BBC reported, in 60 percent of the countries that had elections in 2024, the number of women in legislatures fell. One country, however,…

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‘They’ll kill us all’: Gazans plead for intervention as Israeli attacks intensify

‘They’ll kill us all’: Gazans plead for intervention as Israeli attacks intensify

Ruwaida Amer and Ahmed Ahmed report: Since Israel shattered the ceasefire in Gaza last month, Palestinians have been facing horrors reminiscent of the first days of Israel’s genocidal onslaught. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the Israeli military has killed over 1,300 people and wounded more than 3,000 in the past three weeks, in which time the overall death toll in the enclave has surpassed 50,000. Over 280,000 people have been displaced as Israel corrals Gaza’s population into ever-shrinking “humanitarian zones” which it continues to bomb. Nearly two-thirds of the…

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Globalization is collapsing. Brace yourselves

Globalization is collapsing. Brace yourselves

Tara Zahra writes: Before World War I, globalization was at a high point. Advances in technology, including the steamship and the telegraph, allowed people, goods and news to cross borders with extraordinary speed. Migration boomed. The economist John Maynard Keynes, conjuring an Edwardian version of Amazon, recalled how “the inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, in such quantity as he might see fit, and reasonably expect…

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Bill Ackman and other billionaires and business leaders are turning on Trump because of tariffs

Bill Ackman and other billionaires and business leaders are turning on Trump because of tariffs

CNN reports: Wealthy business leaders are turning on US President Donald Trump over his plan to impose a colossal set of tariffs on America’s trading partners, as losses mount on stock markets around the world. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, warned Sunday that going ahead with the new tariffs was tantamount to launching an “economic nuclear war.” On Wednesday, Trump said he would impose significantly higher “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries that have the…

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Why Trump’s tariff math is a joke

Why Trump’s tariff math is a joke

Brent Neiman writes: My first question, when the White House unveiled its tariff regime, was, “How on earth did they calculate such huge rates?” Reciprocal tariffs, after all, are supposed to treat other countries the way they treat us, and foreign tariffs on American goods are nowhere near these levels. The next day it got personal. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its methodology and cited an academic paper produced by four economists, including me, seemingly in support…

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A different kind of anti-Trump resistance is rising up

A different kind of anti-Trump resistance is rising up

Micah L. Sifry writes: Ever since Donald Trump returned to the White House and turned Elon Musk’s chain saw on longstanding federal programs and agencies, Democratic voters have been asking: Where is the opposition? Democrats are still furious at Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, for helping Mr. Trump keep the government open; many find the public style of Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader in the House, too buttoned-up to meet the moment. And while more Democratic politicians are…

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