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Category: Politics

Universities that fail to mount a united opposition are ‘about to cost us our democracy’

Universities that fail to mount a united opposition are ‘about to cost us our democracy’

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration has turned campaign promises to target universities into devastating action, pulling hundreds of millions in federal funds from Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. On Monday, the Trump administration went after Harvard, the world’s wealthiest university, announcing that it would review about $9 billion in contracts and multiyear grants. It accused the university of failing to protect Jewish students and promoting “divisive ideologies over free inquiry.” Harvard had been bracing for…

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Don’t think it can happen here? It’s already happening

Don’t think it can happen here? It’s already happening

Christopher Mathias writes: Before neo-Nazi Anders Breivik massacred 77 people in Norway in 2011, he emailed a 1,518-page document, a compendium of his own writing and other far-right texts, to over 1,000 people. The deranged screed warned that Muslim immigration to Europe amounted to an “invasion” of people — whose culture was “incompatible with Western society — that would lead to the “cultural and demographic suicide” of the continent. Earlier this month, the vice president of the United States went…

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Hundreds of scientists accuse Trump of censorship

Hundreds of scientists accuse Trump of censorship

The Verge reports: More than 1,900 scientists and engineers have signed a letter saying they “see real danger in this moment” as the Trump administration slashes federal support for scientific research. “Wise investments by the US government have built up the nation’s research enterprise, making it the envy of the world,” says the open letter published on Monday. “Astoundingly, the Trump administration is destabilizing this enterprise by gutting funding for research, firing thousands of scientists, removing public access to scientific…

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DOGE’s cost cutting at the IRS will likely result in billions in lost tax revenue

DOGE’s cost cutting at the IRS will likely result in billions in lost tax revenue

Lora Kelley writes: Tax season is always a busy time at the IRS. This year has been especially eventful. In February, the agency was told to start firing up to 7,000 workers—before judges ordered that such firings needed to be paused. Some 5,000 more workers have signed up for the government’s deferred-resignation offer, and various departments have been slashed or targeted for cuts. About 50 IT workers were put on administrative leave Friday. Overall, The Washington Post reported, the agency will end May with about 18 percent fewer employees than it had…

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After RFK Jr.’s ‘radical transparency’ pledge, HHS shutters much of its communications, FOIA operations

After RFK Jr.’s ‘radical transparency’ pledge, HHS shutters much of its communications, FOIA operations

STAT reports: The Department of Health and Human Services made major cuts to teams across its agencies that handle communications, media relations, and Freedom of Information Act requests as part of mass layoffs Tuesday, a move that workers say will impair the department’s ability to relay critical health information to the public and run counter to secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vow to promote “radical transparency.” At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the majority of the media relations…

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The Great Grovel: How Trump is forcing elite institutions to bend to his will

The Great Grovel: How Trump is forcing elite institutions to bend to his will

Politico reports: One after another, a parade of the wealthiest and most elite institutions in American life since last November have found themselves confronted by unprecedented demands from President Donald Trump and his team of retribution-seekers. One after another, these establishment pillars have met these demands with the same response: capitulation and compliance. The details are varied but two themes are consistent. The first is an effort — far more organized and disciplined than any precedent from Trump’s first term…

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As Trump allies see Hegseth’s growing pile of mistakes, U.S. military pilots say their lives are at risk

As Trump allies see Hegseth’s growing pile of mistakes, U.S. military pilots say their lives are at risk

Politico reports: The White House is publicly defending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after he texted sensitive military information in a Signal chat. But behind the scenes, administration insiders are starting to express doubts about the Pentagon chief’s judgment. Officials agree national security adviser Mike Waltz, who accidentally invited a journalist to a group chat with senior leaders, could more easily take the fall for a scandal that has embarrassed the administration — which may end up sparing Hegseth his job….

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Officials confirm Waltz led multiple sensitive national-security conversations on Signal

Officials confirm Waltz led multiple sensitive national-security conversations on Signal

The Wall Street Journal reports: President Trump has decided for now not to fire his national security adviser over the revelation that he included a journalist on a group text chat to discuss and execute a military strike, but the damage to Mike Waltz’s reputation has put him on shaky ground in the White House, senior U.S. officials said. Despite repeated messages of support by Trump, Waltz has lost sway with the president and the backing of senior aides within…

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Trump’s science policies pose long-term risk for the U.S., economists warn

Trump’s science policies pose long-term risk for the U.S., economists warn

The New York Times reports: President Trump’s tariffs could drive up prices. His efforts to reduce the federal work force could increase unemployment. But ask economists which of the administration’s policies they are most concerned about and many point to cuts to federal support for scientific research. The Trump administration in recent weeks has canceled or frozen billions of dollars in federal grants made to researchers through the National Institutes of Health, and has moved to sharply curtail funding for…

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Top officials placed on leave after denying DOGE access to federal payroll systems

Top officials placed on leave after denying DOGE access to federal payroll systems

Wired reports: Top career officials at the Department of the Interior (DOI) were placed on administrative leave late last week after declining to immediately give affiliates of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) levels of access to a payroll system that would in theory allow them to, among other things, stop individual Supreme Court justices’ paychecks. The New York Times has reported that these officials include DOI’s chief information and information security officers; sources tell WIRED they also include…

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The Proud Boys and militias come to Elon Musk’s defense

The Proud Boys and militias come to Elon Musk’s defense

Wired reports: Over the weekend, thousands of people joined the “Tesla Takedown” protest movement at the company’s showrooms across the country. At the same time, a much smaller number of Elon Musk supporters turned out at Tesla locations for a counterprotest movement that some participants dubbed “Tesla Shield.” While the protest movement comprises people angered at Elon Musk’s role in the dismantling of federal government agencies, the counterprotest movement that showed up this weekend was peopled mostly by MAGA supporters….

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Trump ‘running out of patience’ with Putin over Ukraine ceasefire, says Finland’s president

Trump ‘running out of patience’ with Putin over Ukraine ceasefire, says Finland’s president

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump is losing patience with Vladimir Putin’s stalling tactics over the Ukraine ceasefire, the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, said after spending nine hours with the US president – including winning a golf competition with him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday. Stubb, who also spent two days with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, last week in Helsinki suggested in a Guardian interview a plan for a deadline of 20 April, by which time Putin…

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Trump’s latest executive order on elections is a sham — and a warning

Trump’s latest executive order on elections is a sham — and a warning

Marc Elias writes: The greatest threat to Donald Trump’s authoritarian dream is not the courts — it is free and fair elections. While the courts can stand in the way of his twisted vision for America, they can never completely halt it. Trump knows this. Trump operates on the assumption that there will be no political check on his power. His plan to subvert democracy depends on the subservience of a Republican-controlled Congress. His worst nightmare is a scenario in…

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Smithsonian braces for Trump rewrite of American history: ‘It reminds you of a fascist state’

Smithsonian braces for Trump rewrite of American history: ‘It reminds you of a fascist state’

The Guardian reports: In a brightly lit gallery, they see the 66m-year-old skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex. In a darkened room, they study the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem. In a vast aviation hanger, they behold a space shuttle. And in a discreet corner, they file solemnly past the casket of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman in the US south. Visitors have come in their…

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American hypocrisy about Israel’s nuclear weapons must stop

American hypocrisy about Israel’s nuclear weapons must stop

Victor Gilinsky and Leonard Weiss write: An extraordinary three-part series on Israeli television, The Atom and Me, lays out how the country got its nuclear weapons. It takes for granted what anyone who pays attention has known for years. But the series goes well beyond a general discussion about Israel’s nuclear weapons. It shows the country’s single-minded determination to get the bomb no matter what it took, including stealing nuclear explosives and bomb components from the United States and violating…

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Venezuelans sent to El Salvador’s most infamous prison: ‘You’re here because of your tattoos’

Venezuelans sent to El Salvador’s most infamous prison: ‘You’re here because of your tattoos’

Mother Jones reports: On Friday, March 14, Arturo Suárez Trejo called his wife, Nathali Sánchez, from an immigration detention center in Texas. Suárez, a 33-year-old native of Caracas, Venezuela, explained that his deportation flight had been delayed. He told his wife he would be home soon. Suárez did not want to go back to Venezuela. Still, there was at least a silver lining: In December, Sánchez had given birth to their daughter, Nahiara. Suárez would finally have a chance to…

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