Charlotte Clymer: Authorities Detain and Execute Non-Citizen

JUDEA — Today, local authorities executed a non-citizen just outside the walls of Jerusalem on the vague charge of treason against Caesar.

(Charlotte Clymer more…)

• NY Post: Suspected FSU shooter promoted ‘white supremacist’ views, spewed racist vitriol against black people

  
  
  
  Alleged Florida State University shooter Phoenix Ikner touted vile “white supremacist” views, according to his classmates — including that “Rosa Parks was in the wrong” and that black people were destroying his community.

  Ikner, who allegedly killed two people and wounded six others when he opened fire on campus Thursday, horrified other students with his “gross” racial rhetoric.
  (NY Post more…)

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• NY Times: Trump Officials Blame Mistake for Setting Off Confrontation With Harvard

  An official on the administration’s antisemitism task force told the university that a letter of demands had been sent without authorization.
  

  
  
  
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  The letter arrived when Harvard officials believed they could still avert a confrontation with President Trump. Over the previous two weeks, Harvard and the task force had engaged in a dialogue. But the letter’s demands were so extreme that Harvard concluded that a deal would ultimately be impossible.
  (NY Times more…)

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• Al Jazeera: US judge rules Rumeysa Ozturk must be transferred from Louisiana to Vermont

  Court says detained pro-Palestine student has shown ‘significant evidence’ violations to her constitutional rights.
  

  
  
  
  (Al Jazeera more…)

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• NY Times: Maryland Deportee Told Senator He Had Been in Isolation in El Salvador Prison

  
  
  
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  At the airport following his return, Mr. Van Hollen said that the administration’s efforts to demonize Mr. Abrego Garcia were an attempt to distract from its refusal to adhere to the rule of law, and from the principle that everyone living in the United States — even those who are not citizens or who are accused of crimes — should have constitutional rights.

  “This case is not only about one man, as important as that is,” Mr. Van Hollen said. “It is about protecting fundamental freedoms and the foundational principle of due process that the Constitution guarantees to everyone who resides in the United States.”
  (NY Times more…)

  TNR: JD Vance Accidentally Wrecks Trump’s Vile Scam on Abrego Garcia Case

  NY Times: Defying the Law and the Courts, Trump Seeks to Shift the Focus

  The president is trying to rewrite the narrative of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s wrongful deportation as a dispute about illegal immigration rather than the rule of law.
  …
  The president’s goal in recent days has been to present Mr. Abrego Garcia as such a dangerous man that it does not matter if the government’s deportation was illegal, in effect arguing that the ends justify the means. Never mind that Mr. Abrego Garcia has never been convicted of a crime, the White House now portrays him as a singular threat to public safety without bothering to prove anything in a court of law.
  (NY Times more…)

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• Fox News: Supreme Court blocks new deportations of Venezuelans in Texas under 18th century Alien Enemies Act

  Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented

  The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling early Saturday morning blocking, at least for now, the deportations of any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th century wartime law.
  (Fox News more…)

  Steve Vladeck: The Supreme Court’s Late-Night Alien Enemy Act Intervention

  Just before 1:00 a.m., the justices (aggressively) stepped back into the Alien Enemy Act litigation—in a decision suggesting that a majority understands that these are no longer normal circumstances.
  (Steve Vladeck more…)

  Jennifer Rubin: The Supreme Court bestirs itself

  Leaving the Trump regime room to maneuver is always a mistake.

  NY Times: An Urgent Supreme Court Order Protecting Migrants Was Built for Speed

  In an overnight ruling blocking the Trump administration from deporting a group of Venezuelans, the justices ignored some of their protocols.

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• Timothy Snyder: The Next Terrorist Attack

  And What Comes After
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  As I will try to show, the present government invites a terror attack. Most of the people directing the relevant agencies are incompetent; the next few layers down have been purged in culture wars; much the remaining personnel have resigned, been fired, or are demoralized; resources have been diverted away from terror prevention; Americans has been distracted by fiction and chaos; and potential attackers have been encouraged.

  And so we have to think — now — about what would follow such an attack. Musk, Trump, Vance, and the rest would try to exploit the moment to undo remaining American freedoms.
  (Timothy Snyder more…)

  MediaITE: ‘There Is a Complete Meltdown in the Building’: Pentagon Reportedly in ‘Chaos’ as Hegseth Loses Four Staffers in One Day

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• Closer to the Edge: The 12 Monkesy Administration: Trump Replaces COVID Facts with State Propaganda

  The virus killed millions. Now the truth’s on the run.
  

  
  
  
  (Closer to the Edge more…)

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• Conversation: Beggar thy neighbor, harm thyself: Tariffs like Trump’s come with pitfalls, history shows

  
  
  
  (Conversation more…)

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• AP: Most of AmeriCorps staff members have been placed on leave after DOGE cuts
  

  
  
  
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  The agency oversees a number of volunteering programs and dispatches 200,000 volunteers across the country to work with schoolchildren, veterans and older adults, among other things, according to its website. AmeriCorps NCCC, which completed its 30th year last year, employs more than 2,000 people ages 18 to 26 participating for a roughly 10-month service term, according to the program’s website.
  (AP more…)

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• WSJ: Trump Is Taking On America’s Institutions but Resistance Is Building

  Courts and universities try to preserve guardrails on presidential authority in the face of administration’s assertions of power

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• Guardian: US philanthropists warn against capitulating to Trump: ‘We need to step up’

  Foundation leaders say charitable organisations could be next in the firing line – but must ‘stand together’ to resist

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• Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – April 18, 2025

  …On July 4, 1776, they declared the people had the right to be treated equally before the law, and they had the right to govern themselves.

  Someone asked me once if the men who hung the lanterns in the tower knew what they were doing. She meant, did they know that by that act they would begin the steps to a war that would create a new nation and change the world.

  The answer is no. None of us knows what the future will deliver.
  (Heather Cox Richardson more…)

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• Daily: A Red Pennsylvania County That Trump Won By 39 Points Turns Out To Protest

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• Daily Kos: Another week, another batch of MAGA faithful finding out the hard way

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• FPWellman: RFK Jr. is a monster

  He manages to find a new low everytime he opens his mouth. This week was the outrageous press conference that was supposed to be about the release of a CDC study showing the most recent data on the increased diagnosis of autism. Instead Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. used it to spread lies about the disorder, its causes, and the Americans who have struggled to find acceptance in society.

  He set the effort to fight stigma back decades in a few minutes of lies, smears, and conspiracy theories.
  (FPWellman more…)

  E&C Democrats Investigate HHS Hiring of Anti-Science Conspiracy Theorist David Geier

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  Mr. Geier’s work has drawn criticism and rejection from across the legal, scientific, and Autism advocacy communities. The Maryland State Board of Physicians found Mr. Geier liable in 2012 for practicing medicine at his father’s clinic without a license, which was later affirmed by the Circuit Court for Montgomery County and upheld by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.

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• MetaFilter: Where Discoveries Began

  The National Science Foundation has updated it’s priorities. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) was established in 1950 to promote the progress of science, advance the national health, prosperity and welfare, and secure the national defense. In response to the new administration they have updated their priorities. It’s not good.

  Included in the updates are:

  Awards that are not aligned with NSF’s priorities have been terminated, including but not limited to those on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

  and

  Investigators wishing to expand participation in STEM for women and underrepresented groups, must ensure that all outreach, recruitment, or participatory activities in NSF projects are open and available to all Americans. So, not underrepresented groups.

  and

  NSF will not support research with the goal of combating “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “malinformation”.

  If this makes you mad, you know who to call.

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  Project 2025 Tracker