United States | News & Politics

The White House had not intended to send its revised — and more aggressive — set of demands to Harvard on April 11, according to a report by the New York Times published Friday evening.

Trump administration officials claimed that the demands — which were seen as excessive and illegal to Harvard’s administrators — should not have been sent and were “unauthorized,” according to the Times, which cited two unnamed sources.

The April 11 letter was signed by Josh Gruenbaum, the commissioner of the General Services Administration, Sean R. Kevney, the acting general counsel of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and Thomas E. Wheeler, the acting general counsel of the U.S. Department of Education.

A Harvard spokesperson slammed the government’s response as “breathtakingly intrusive” in a statement to The Crimson.

As Trump imposes tariffs, tool libraries can serve as a sustainable alternative to consuming more products.

In March, after blowing up Democrats’ unified opposition to the GOP’s government funding bill, which handed President Trump and Elon Musk expanded powers over federal spending, Chuck Schumer appeared on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes to defend his vote. In the interview, the Senate minority leader said he didn’t yet think that our democracy was at risk but made clear what his red line would be: “If Trump doesn’t obey the Supreme Court.” That, he stated, would be “different than anything else. It’s a quantum leap different, because our democracy is then—248 years of American democracy, the Magna Carta is out the window, and we will all have to take extraordinary action.”

This “quantum leap” did not take long to arrive. Last Friday, the Supreme Court unanimously ordered the Trump administration to help bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador. Abrego Garcia is an immigrant married to a U.S. citizen, with three U.S. citizen children, who has lived in this country for 14 years without being charged with any crimes—just an unsubstantiated claim of gang affiliation. A federal court ruled in 2019 that Abrego Garcia could not be deported to El Salvador, as he faced a risk of death there. The Trump administration brazenly violated this order in March, putting Abrego Garcia on a plane to what is effectively a concentration camp. This act was so “illegal,” in the Supreme Court’s words, that all nine justices agreed the administration must “facilitate” the release of Abrego Garcia and “ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”

But Trump won’t do it. The administration argues that only El Salvador has the ability to send Abrego Garcia back. “DHS does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation,” Joseph Mazzara, acting general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a court filing on Monday. El Salvador’s president, who visited Trump on Monday, also claimed powerlessness. “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” he told reporters, cruelly mischaracterizing Abrego Garcia. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.” (This is all laughable given the recent repatriation of alleged rapists and MAGA diehards Andrew and Tristan Tate from Romania.)

[...]

It’s been a shameful abdication of leadership by Democratic elites. But there was still an opportunity for redemption. Schumer said that if Trump defied a Supreme Court order, then there’d be no choice but to “take extraordinary action.” Presumably he has been preparing for this possibility—not doing so would be almost inconceivable Democratic malpractice.

But when I reached out to Schumer’s office late Monday, the senator hadn’t even posted a response to the news yet. Eventually his office put out a boilerplate statement, which they emailed to me: “The law is clear, due process was grossly violated, and the Supreme Court has clearly spoken that the Trump administration must facilitate and effectuate the return of Abrego Garcia. He should be returned to the U.S. immediately. Due process and the rule of law are cornerstones of American society for citizens and noncitizens alike and not to follow that is dangerous and outrageous. A threat to one is a threat to all.” In reply, I referenced Schumer’s statement that “we will all have to take extraordinary action” if Trump defied the court, and asked if he had any additional comments about the kind of action needed right now. His office has not responded.

This failure of leadership is particularly maddening from the leader of the opposition party in the Senate, because the upper chamber remains an institution that, as Mitch McConnell demonstrated, provides incredibly powerful tools to the minority party. We know what Senate Democrats could be doing if they decided “to take extraordinary action.” Just a few weeks ago we saw just one senator, Cory Booker, grind the chamber to a standstill for over 24 hours—an impressive effort, though arbitrary and undirected. Can you imagine how much more powerful it would be if Senate Democrats came together to organize a filibuster relay team that could continuously gum up the Senate until Trump agreed to follow the Supreme Court’s order?

DOGE has tapped into some of the most sensitive and valuable data in the world. Now it’s starting to put it to work.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20250418173155/https://www.wired.com/story/doge-is-just-getting-warmed-up-data-immigration/

https://archive.is/2025.03.22-150052/https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/03/texas-measles-outbreak-death-family/681985/

https://archive.ph/dcfcj

I stumbled across this man laying out the current situation with such clarity, I just had to share it.

Students in Lamar can no longer learn about the state of Virginia on their online research database due to the ban

As part of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a former Tesla employee has been installed as a senior adviser to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, records shared with The Intercept show.

Tarak Makecha, who previously worked at Elon Musk’s electric car company, now has roles at both the FBI and the Justice Department’s Justice Management Division, according to staff lists.

At the FBI, the records show Makecha is a “senior advisor” to the agency’s executive assistant director for human resources. At the Justice Management Division, he is listed as an “advisor” to the office of the chief information officer, which oversees IT and cybersecurity for the department.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/4628992

• Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren was in Washington earlier in April to watch President Donald Trump sign an order aimed at revitalizing the coal industry.

• Coal mines and coal-fired power plants were once steady income sources for the Navajo Nation, but the money dried up with the closure of a key plant and the mines that supplied it.

• Some Navajo organizers say Nygren's support for coal ignores the effects of fossil fuels on the climate and on human health. One expert said Nygren exaggerated the importance of coal.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren traveled to Washington, D.C., earlier in April to watch President Donald Trump sign an executive order aimed at deregulating coal production on federal lands and revitalizing the mining industry, signaling what appears to be the tribal leader's support for coal.

In the executive order, Trump asserted that coal is vital to the nation’s economic and national security. He declared that removing federal regulatory barriers to coal production is a national priority and encouraged the use of coal to help meet the country’s growing energy needs.

"Today marks a pivotal moment for energy policy in the United States," Nygren said of the president's action. "As President Trump signs an executive order aimed at revitalizing the coal industry, I want to emphasize the importance of including tribal nations like the Navajo Nation in this national conversation."

Full Article

archived (Wayback Machine)

A top housing official in the Trump administration has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate New York Attorney General Letitia James over a real estate transaction

Van Hollen spoke in Washington upon his return from El Salvador to discuss his trip, including his meeting with Abrego Garcia.

The couple was arrested after police found evidence of the sexual assault on Skyler Klassen’s phone

President announces more employees under ‘Schedule F’ can be hired or fired based on their allegiance to him

The medical journal CHEST received a letter seeking information about how it handles "controversial viewpoints."

The government-run website covid.gov used to host information about COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and treatment. Now, under President Trump’s purview, the page redirects to a White House website espousing the unproven theory that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese laboratory.