Axios: Navajo Code Talkers disappear from military websites after Trump DEI order
Articles about the renowned Native American Code Talkers have disappeared from some military websites, with several broken URLs now labeled “DEI.”
Why it matters: From 1942 to 1945, the Navajo Code Talkers were instrumental in every major Marine Corps operation in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
They were critical to securing America’s victory at Iwo Jima.
Driving the news: Axios identified at least 10 articles mentioning the Code Talkers that had disappeared from the U.S. Army and Department of Defense websites as of Monday.
How it works: The Defense department’s URLs were amended with the letters DEI, suggesting they were removed following President Trump’s executive order ending federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The Internet Archive shows the deleted Army pages were live as recently as November, with many visible until February or March. None are shown with error messages until Trump took office.
The Japan Times: ‘DEI’ purge prompts Pentagon to remove webpage on Iwo Jima flag-raiser
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – March 17, 2025
Two days ago, media outlets noted that the Arlington National Cemetery website had deleted content about Black, female, and Hispanic veterans.
The erasure of Indigenous, Black, Hispanic, and female veterans from our military history is an attempt to elevate white men as the sole actors in our history. It is also an attempt to erase a vision of a nation in which Americans of all backgrounds come together to work—and fight—for the common good.
After World War II, Americans came together in a similar spirit to create a government that works for all of us. It is that government—and the worldview it advances—that the Trump administration is currently dismantling.
NY Times: NASA Eliminates Chief Scientist and Other Jobs at Its Headquarters
About 19 positions will be cut, including those in offices focused on technology policy and diversity, equity and inclusion.
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The cuts affect about 20 employees at NASA, including Katherine Calvin, the chief scientist and a climate science expert.
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That could be a harbinger of deeper cuts to NASA’s science missions and a greater emphasis on human spaceflight, especially to Mars.
Bulwark: MAGA Brocasters Grow Suspicious of the Jews
Joe Rogan and Theo Von, big-league hosts who elevated Trump, now playing footsie with antisemites.
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Kinzinger: The Trump Recession: How One Man’s “Success” is Wrecking America
From economic collapse to global blunders, Trump’s policies are backfiring—bigly.
The law of unintended consequences states that every action can—and most likely will—produce unexpected results. You can see this law in action daily as Donald Trump pursues greatness (for himself) while others, including the nation, pay the price.Trump’s moves have backfired repeatedly, but the most significant and measurable failure is his imposition of tariffs on key trading partners. On February 1, he slapped a 25 percent surcharge on imports from Mexico and Canada. Three days later, he imposed a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods. The result? A disaster.
As Trump should have known, capitalists despise anything that disrupts trade—including tariffs. In just one month, the stock market has cratered, wiping out $4 trillion in value. These aren’t just “paper” losses for the 60 percent of American adults who rely on market investments. They’re watching in dismay, even fear, as their investment and retirement accounts shrink.
How bad is it? Prices continue to rise. Employers have begun laying off workers—more than 172,000 in February alone. Consumer confidence is plummeting. And just last week, a Federal Reserve study predicted the economy will shrink in the first quarter. If this trend continues—and you know it will—we’ll be in a recession. Since it was triggered by him, historians and economists will call it the “Trump Recession.”
Do you remember (wink, wink) Trump’s 2024 Make-America-Great-Again campaign promise? “Skyrocketing wealth. Millions and millions of new jobs. A booming middle class. We are going to boom like we’ve never boomed before.”
Facebook: Mugsy Margarit timeline of Trump’s 2018: “greatest trade agreement in history”
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One thing I’ve learned over the past few weeks, and it’s been a bit of a sobering lesson, is that a lot of Americans I know don’t actually know what’s going on between the US and Canada right now, and just how seriously Canadians are taking this.WSJ: Powell Contends With Double Threat of Economic Chaos and Political Hostility
Federal Reserve is navigating the fog of a trade war from an administration ready to blame officials for any economic slowdown
Michael Strain: ‘Unfathomable’: Aghast economist backtracks support for Trump after ‘rank incompetence’<
Conservative economist Michael Strain, who was initially optimistic about the prospects of President Donald Trump’s second term, has now found himself aghast at what he sees as the president’s remarkable economic mismanagement.
In his latest column posted at Project Syndicate, Strain argues that in prior years “it would have been unfathomable for a president — including Trump during his first term — to inflict so much harm on the economy deliberately” as what Trump has been doing in recent weeks.
Strain singles out two initiatives as particularly alarming: Trump’s antagonistic trade wars with Canada and Mexico, and the chaotic Elon Musk-led efforts to slash and burn the federal workforce.
Kareem: Why the World is Boycotting American Products & Utah Bans Fluoride for No Good Reason but Lots of Bad Reasoning
- Kareem’s Daily Quote: Anne Frank’s cheerful optimism is inspiring, but there’s a hitch to this quote.
- I feel utter anger’: From Canada to Europe, a movement to boycott US goods is spreading: Our friends are rightfully angry that we’re deliberately harming them. Wouldn’t you be?
- Trump Plays Tesla Car Salesman as Musk’s Net Worth Tanks: Trump demeans his office by hawking expensive cars for his buddy using the White House as a sales prop.
- Trump Golf Weekends’ Cost To Taxpayers Hits $18.2 Million: While Musk cuts thousands of jobs whose work was deemed lazy, Trump spends millions taking a surprising number of vacations.
- Kareem the Science Guy: Utah becomes first state to ban fluoride in water, sparking national health debate: Fluoride is the misdirection—the real issue is encouraging people to ignore science and facts.
MSN: Apple CEO Cook exposes critical logical flaw in tariff policy
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“There’s a confusion about China. The popular conception is that companies come to China because of low labor costs. I’m not sure what part of China they go to, but the truth is, China stopped being a low-labor-cost country many years ago,” Cook said in a video circulating on social media.“The reason (for moving jobs to China) is because of the skill. The quantity of skill in one location and the type of skill” Chinese workers possess, according to Cook.
While Cook’s comments might not be true for every sector, he insists that this skilled-talent imbalance is the case for large tech companies like Apple.
“The products [Apple makes] require really advanced tooling. The precision you have to have in tooling and working with the materials we do are state-of-the-art. And the tooling skill is very deep” in China, he said.
The bench for the U.S. roster isn’t nearly as deep, according to Cook.
“In the U.S., you could have a meeting of tooling engineers, and I’m not sure we could fill the room. In China, you could fill multiple football fields. Vocational expertise is very, very deep here,” he said.
MSN: ‘Really concerned’: Cracks form as right-wing Heritage Foundation frets over Trump policy
An economic fellow at the far-right Heritage Foundation who previously worked for Donald Trump admitted Tuesday that the economic situation isn’t strong in the president’s second term.
“I am really concerned about consumer confidence. That’s a bad sign. It means people are going to stop spending,” Stephen Moore told CNN.
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ABC: DNC to make first major post-election investment into Wisconsin Supreme Court race
The election is the most expensive ever for a state supreme court race.
A conservative group linked to Musk, Building America’s Future, has spent more than $1.6 million on television ads in the race, while another, Musk’s super PAC America PAC, has spent over $6 million on get-out-the-vote efforts and digital media, according to state campaign finance records.
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NY Times: Kennedy’s Alarming Prescription for Bird Flu on Poultry Farms
The health secretary has suggested allowing the virus to spread, so as to identify birds that may be immune. Such an experiment would be disastrous, scientists say.
Veterinarians with experience containing bird flu said letting the virus sweep through poultry flocks unchecked would be inhumane and dangerous, and have enormous economic consequences.
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He has repeated the idea in other interviews on the channel.Mr. Kennedy does not have jurisdiction over farms. But Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, also has voiced support for the notion.
“There are some farmers that are out there that are willing to really try this on a pilot as we build the safe perimeter around them to see if there is a way forward with immunity,” Ms. Rollins told Fox News last month.
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BBC: Top US Supreme Court justice rebukes Trump’s call to impeach judge
The chief justice of the US Supreme Court has released a rare statement in response to President Donald Trump’s call to impeach a judge who ruled against his administration over migrant deportations.“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement.
He added that the “normal appellate review process exists for that purpose”.
Trump earlier referred to US District Judge James Boasberg as a “troublemaker and agitator” after he ordered the administration to halt deportations of accused gang members to El Salvador.
The Atlantic: What John Roberts’s Rebuke of Trump Left Out
In pushing back against Trump’s attack on a federal judge, the chief justice neglected to mention the substantive dispute of the case.
Robert Reich: Trump’s further descent into dictatorship
Robert Reich: More of Trump’s descent into dictatorship
NY Times: Trump Fires Democrats on Federal Trade Commission
The decision to fire the two members of the traditionally independent regulatory body is likely to face a legal challenge.
This morning, he issued a bellicose post against a federal judge who’s trying to constrain him. It’s part of an increasing attempt by Trump and Musk to threaten judges with violence.WSJ: Trump, Deportations and the Law
He campaigned on deporting gang members, but he can’t defy court orders.
On Democracy: You’re paying for the torture of innocents
Donald Trump’s DOJ confirms most of the Venezuelans sent to El Salvador are not TdA gang members or criminals at all and they don’t care
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Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin: Why the Mahmoud Khalil case is making Jews crazy
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Daily Beast: Trump Gave Israel the Go-Ahead for Shock New Bombing
CEASING THE CEASEFIRE
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed to Fox News that the Israelis spoke with the White House before launching their surprise attack.
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MSN: Musk’s DOGE Goon Accidentally Triggered Secret Service Alert in White House Complex
A DOGE employee working for Elon Musk found himself in a standoff with the Secret Service on the roof of the Eisenhower Executive Building while scouting locations for installing Starlink, The New York Times reports.
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Texas Tribune: After COVID, Texas is less prepared for the next pandemic
Five years after Texas’ first COVID death, the state spends less on public health, vaccination rates have dropped and a distrust of authority has taken hold.
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Fast Company: Trump is attacking libraries and museums in every state. Here are 3 things you can do to help communities fight back
An executive order slashes much-needed federal funding for these services, but you can aid the effort to save them by signing a petition or joining a protest.
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The Handbasket: Trump to declare fentanyl “Weapon of Mass Destruction,” per draft EO
The heads of the US Departments of Commerce, Defense, Justice and State received a copy of a draft executive order (EO) likely sometime last week stating that President Trump would be designating fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, The Handbasket is first to report.
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Politico: Judge blocks Trump’s effort to ban transgender troops
The Pentagon cannot enforce President Donald Trump’s order banning transgender people from serving in the military, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, saying it is “soaked in animus” and unconstitutionally discriminates on the basis of sex.
“The cruel irony is that thousands of transgender servicemembers have sacrificed — some risking their lives — to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the Military Ban seeks to deny them,” U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes wrote in a 79-page opinion.
Reyes ruled that the Trump administration had mischaracterized medical studies in its effort to justify the ban, which Trump enacted in an executive order on the first day of his second term. The administration, she wrote, had misquoted research on transgender people while ignoring data that supported military service by transgender individuals.
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Poplular Information: Trump promised to protect access to abortion pills. Things have changed.
During a presidential debate on June 27, 2024, Trump was asked whether, as president, he would restrict access to abortion pills. Trump said unequivocally that he would not.CNN’S DANA BASH: [T]he federal government still plays a role in whether or not women have access to abortion pills. They’re used in about two-thirds of all abortions. As president, would you block abortion medication?
TRUMP: First of all, the Supreme Court just approved the abortion pill, and I agree with their decision to have done that, and I will not block it.
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During his confirmation hearing, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, said Trump wanted him to study mifepristone for “safety issues.” “President Trump has asked me to study the safety of mifepristone”
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Daily Beast: Karoline Leavitt Walks Back Trump’s Rant on Biden Pardons
BEGGING THE QUESTION
Trump went off-the-rails early Monday morning, declaring on Truth Social that the pardons were void.
President Donald Trump’s early morning rant declaring Joe Biden’s pardons as void has seen the White House walk back the unconstitutional claim.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to save face Monday afternoon, claiming that the president was just “begging the question.”
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TNR: Trump Goes on Crazed Rant Over Journalists Saying He’s Not a King
Donald Trump called out two reporters at The Atlantic by name in his latest tirade against media outlets that are willing to report fairly on him.
In what is becoming a more regular occurrence, the president posted yet another meltdown directed at the press on his Truth Social Monday. This time, he targeted specific journalists by name, Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, seemingly over an article they published earlier this month about his dreams of despotism.
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TNR: Elon Musk’s DOGE Uses Police to Seize Independent Nonprofit
The U.S. Institute of Peace is not a federal agency or located in a federal building. That didn’t stop DOGE from taking over.
Crooks & Liars: Why Did DOGE Break Into The U.S. Institute Of Peace?
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Closer to the Edge: Justin Eichorn Arrested for Soliciting a Minor Hours After Pushing ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ Bill
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But karma works fast. By sundown, the bill’s loudest cheerleader, Senator Justin Eichorn, was being marched into a Bloomington jail cell after allegedly soliciting a minor for prostitution.
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Democracy Docket: DOGE’s USAID Takeover Likely Violated the Constitution, Judge Says
Billionaire Elon Musk overseeing the Trump administration’s attempted takeover of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) “likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways,” a federal judge in Maryland determined Tuesday.
Judge Theodore Chuang, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, ordered that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could not take additional steps toward shutting USAID and must restore USAID employees’ access to electronic systems.
Chuang rebuked Musk and DOGE for violating Congress’s constitutional authority to appropriate funds and create or shut down federal agencies. Specifically, the judge said they likely violated the Appointments Clause and the constitutional principle of Separation of Powers.
“These actions harmed not only Plaintiffs, but also the public interest, because they deprived the public’s elected representatives in Congress of their constitutional authority to decide whether, when, and how to close down an agency created by Congress,” the judge wrote.
ProPublica: Trump Halted an Agent Orange Cleanup. That Puts Hundreds of Thousands at Risk for Poisoning
Diplomats in Vietnam warned Washington that halting USAID’s efforts to clean up the massive deposit of postwar pesticides would be a catastrophe for public health and relations with a key strategic partner in Asia.
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Every president since George W. Bush — including Trump — has made good on the American promise to repair relations with Vietnam by cleaning up Agent Orange and helping those sick or disabled from dioxin poisoning. In 2017, Trump landed at Danang Airport, a prior cleanup site, ahead of a free-trade meeting with Asia-Pacific countries. The U.S. now conducts $160 billion in annual commerce with Vietnam, which has also become a key partner against China’s growing influence in the South China Sea. The Pentagon and Vietnamese military now work together as well, including efforts to locate the remains of soldiers missing in action from the war 50 years ago.“All of this is underpinned by the cooperation on Agent Orange,” said Charles Bailey, a former Ford Foundation representative in Vietnam who co-wrote a book on the country’s relations with the U.S. in the wake of the war. “It’s like pulling out one or two legs of the stool.”
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NPR: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty sues Trump administration over canceled contract
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty sued the Trump administration on Tuesday to try to block it from terminating all federal funds for the U.S.-backed broadcaster.In a federal lawsuit, the network argues that the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has violated the Constitution and federal laws by withholding money Congress expressly allocated for the broadcaster. USAGM disburses funds to U.S.-backed international networks, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, that serve foreign lands without a free or robust press.
“This is not the time to cede terrain to the propaganda and censorship of America’s adversaries,” said Stephen Capus, the president and chief executive of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, in a statement. “We believe the law is on our side and that the celebration of our demise by despots around the world is premature.”
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Small Deeds Done: Growing From the Broken Bits: My Favorite Tree
Democracy lessons from the forest
The first time I saw the old tree, I felt sorry for it.
Obviously once a hulking, massive specimen, now it’s buckled and broken and bowed to the ground. If you can imagine a tree with a trunk so wide that it would take two (or more) people with arms outstretched to reach all the way around it, that’s the size of this tree.
Unfortunately, we can’t try to reach our arms all the way around it. Because this tree’s trunk is no longer in one piece.
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Looking from a different perspective, it was obvious.The younger tree was growing out of the fallen one.
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This isn’t the end, friend. We’re just growing strong from the broken bits.Let’s get to work.
WagingNonviolence.org: Trump’s backpedaling shows he’s not invincible
To compel Trump to reverse course, our job is to highlight political missteps, heighten public outrage and raise the political cost of implementing his radical agenda.
WagingNonviolence.org: There’s a new silent majority — and they need to be activated
There is a robust pro-democracy majority in America, but it needs to be more vocal and take action to defend our shared values.WagingNonviolence.org: 198 ways to challenge a dictator
How Gene Sharp’s 198 methods of nonviolent resistance were used during the Arab Spring — and why their impact is still unfolding today.
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The Times of London: Trump’s deals thrive on debt he can’t repay
…And years later, in 2015, launching his bid for the presidency in the lobby of Trump Tower, he referred back to his love affair with negotiation: “We need a leader that wrote The Art of the Deal.”
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There are three problems with citing his authorship of The Art of the Deal as establishing Trump’s credentials as a president. The first is that he didn’t write it. The book was written by his co-author Tony Schwartz, who suggested the title and the basic idea as a way of writing the memoir Trump had accepted a commission to produce. Trump wasn’t able to write a book; he didn’t even read them.Which leads to the second problem: there is very little in The Art of the Deal about the art of deals. What there is Schwartz had to confect.
The third problem about The Art of the Deal is that so many of the triumphant transactions it celebrates either never completed or collapsed after they did. Television City and the tallest building in the world weren’t built, the US Football League folded, the Trump Golden Series Cadillac never got beyond a prototype and, famously, his Atlantic City casino enterprise turned into a nightmare of debt that almost finished him off altogether.