Crooked Bough News Round-up

— New Filings: Government Admits It Had No Warrant for Mahmoud Khalil When Agents Took Him

 

at 4/25/25 7:45am

In filings in the case of Mahmoud Khalil submitted to immigration court yesterday and federal court today, the Trump administration admitted he was taken without any kind of warrant and made new, false claims that Mr. Khalil had refused to cooperate with ICE agents and told them he was going to leave the scene to justify the agents’ actions. The government’s new version of events is contradicted by previous descriptions and video taken by his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, who was eight months pregnant at the time. Said Marc Van Der Hout of Van Der Hout, LLP, who is representing Mr. Khalil along with his partner Johnny Sinodis, “In DHS' filing in immigration court this week, we learned for the first time that the DHS agents who arrested Mahmoud lied to him: they wrote in their arrest report that the agents told him that they had an arrest warrant, but DHS has now admitted in their filing that that was a lie and that there was no warrant at all at the time of the arrest. The government's admission is astounding, and it is completely outrageous that they tried to assert to the immigration judge – and the world – in their initial filing of the arrest report that there was an arrest warrant when there was none. This is egregious conduct by DHS that should require under the law termination of these proceedings, and we hope that the immigration court will so rule.”The filings were made in response to an April 23rd deadline set by the judge in Mr. Khalil’s immigration case in Jena, Louisiana. The judge in his federal case in New Jersey asked for copies of the filings to be submitted to him today. Mr. Khalil also submitted an application for asylum that is sealed due to the sensitive nature of the information that could affect his safety in the future.In the federal court, Mr. Khalil’s legal team is continuing to seek bail, an order compelling the government to return him to New Jersey, and a preliminary injunction (PI) that would immediately release him from custody and allow him to reunite with his family in New York while his immigration case proceeds. If granted, the PI would also block President Trump’s policy of arresting and detaining noncitizens who have engaged in First Amendment protected activity in support of Palestinian rights.On March 8, the Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) illegally arrested and detained Mr. Khalil in direct retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights at Columbia University. Shortly after, DHS transferred him 1,400 miles away to a Louisiana detention facility — ripping him away from his wife and legal counsel. His legal team is arguing that his arrest and continued detention violate his constitutional rights, including rights to free speech and due process, and that they go beyond the government’s legal authority.ICE denied Mr. Khalil’s request to be at his wife’s side as she went into labor this past weekend, causing him to miss the birth of their son on Monday, April 21. Mr. Khalil is represented by Dratel & Lewis, the Center for Constitutional Rights, CLEAR, Van Der Hout LLP, Washington Square Legal Services, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the ACLU of New Jersey.The following are quotes from the rest of Mr. Khalil’s legal team: Ramzi Kassem, Co-Director of CLEAR:“The government now finally admits what the whole world already saw and knows: that ICE had no warrant to apprehend Mahmoud Khalil. No one should take seriously the government's patent lie, which it offers for the first time many weeks after the fact, that somehow Mahmoud was anything other than compliant when ICE agents unlawfully abducted him under cover of darkness.”Samah Sisay, staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights:“ICE has admitted it detained Mahmoud illegally and without a warrant– to justify it, they are now flat out lying with an absurd claim that he tried to flee. At every step of the way, the Trump administration has flouted the law.”Veronica Salama, staff attorney at the NYCLU: “The Trump administration's latest motion shows that they are steadfast in smearing Mahmound Khalil to justify his horrific and unconstitutional abduction. We have the receipts: Mr. Khalil was taken from his family with no warrant and in clear retaliation for his protected speech. We will continue to fight for Mr. Khalil's freedom, and defend the right to speak freely about Palestinian rights without fear of detention and deportation.”Sidra Mahfooz, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project: “We now know why ICE could not show Mahmoud the warrant he repeatedly requested upon his arrest. They did not obtain a warrant. In its efforts to unlawfully arrest, detain, and target Mahmoud and others for exercising their First Amendment rights, this administration has shown an utter disregard for the most basic principles of legal authority.”Amy Greer, associate attorney at Dratel & Lewis:“That night, I was on the phone with Mahmoud, Noor, and even the arresting agent. In the face of multiple agents in plain clothes who clearly intended to abduct him, and despite the fact that those agents repeatedly failed to show us a warrant, Mahmoud remained calm and complied with their orders. Today we now know why they never showed Mahmoud that warrant - they didn’t have one. This is clearly yet another desperate attempt by the Trump administration to justify its unlawful arrest and detention of human rights defender Mahmoud Khalil, who is now, by the government’s own tacit admission, a political prisoner of the United States. Our team, and indeed everyone in this nation, should be fighting for Mahmoud’s freedom, and defending our collective rights to advocate for Palestinian human rights, and express opinions generally that do not conform with government policy.”Amol Sinha, Executive Director of the ACLU-NJ:“This latest motion from the government further shows it is determined to persecute Mahmoud Khalil by any means necessary. We know the truth: Mr. Khalil remains unlawfully detained in direct retaliation for his advocacy in support of Palestinian rights. We will continue to defend Mr. Khalil’s freedom in the face of these baseless attacks, and we are confident he will ultimately prevail.”More information about the case can be found here: https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/khalil-v-trump

— Federal Court Grants Preliminary Injunction Against Department of Education’s Unlawful Directive

 

at 4/24/25 3:19pm

In a victory for students, parents, and educators, a federal judge has granted a request for a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) February 14, 2025, “Dear Colleague” letter against the plaintiffs, their members, and any entity that employs, contracts with, or works with one or more of Plaintiffs or Plaintiffs’ member. The court’s ruling blocks ED’s unprecedented and unlawful attempt to restrict discussions and programs on diversity, equity, and inclusion in educational institutions, and its threat to withhold federal funding for engaging in such efforts.The Dear Colleague Letter’s directive contradicts long-standing legal protections for academic freedom and violates the constitutional rights of students and educators by imposing vague and coercive restrictions on curriculums and programs. The preliminary injunction prevents ED from enforcing the directive while litigation continues, ensuring that schools can continue their educational mission without fear of federal retaliation.“Across the country educators do everything in their power to support every student, ensuring each feels safe, seen, and is prepared for the future. Today’s ruling allows educators and schools to continue to be guided by what’s best for students, not by the threat of illegal restrictions and punishment. The fact is that Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Linda McMahon are using politically motivated attacks and harmful and vague directives to stifle speech and erase critical lessons to attack public education, as they work to dismantle public schools. This is why educators, parents, and community leaders are organizing, mobilizing, and using every tool available to protect our students and their futures,” said National Education Association President Becky Pringle.“While this interim agreement does not confirm the Department's motives, we believe it should mark the beginning of a permanent withdrawal from the assault on teaching and learning. The Department’s attempt to punish schools for acknowledging diversity, equity and inclusion is not only unconstitutional, but it’s also extremely dangerous -- and functions as a direct misalignment with what we know to be just and future forward. Today’s decision is a critical step toward protecting the freedom to teach, and the freedom to learn,” said Sharif El-Mekki, Center for Black Educator Development CEO & founder.“Today’s ruling is a victory for students, educators, and the fundamental principles of academic freedom. Every student deserves an education that reflects the full diversity of our society, free from political interference,” said Sarah Hinger, deputy director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program. “The federal government has no authority to dictate what schools can and cannot teach to serve its own agenda, and this ruling is an important step in reaffirming that.”Gilles Bissonnette, legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, said, “The court's ruling today is a victory for academic freedom, the free speech rights of educators, and for New Hampshire students who have a right to an inclusive education free from censorship. Every student, both in the Granite State and across the country, deserves to feel seen, heard, and connected in school - and that can't happen when classroom censorship laws and policies are allowed to stand."On March 5, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of New Hampshire, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the National Education Association (NEA), and the National Education Association–New Hampshire, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire, against ED. Also joining the case as plaintiff is the Center for Black Educator Development.Plaintiffs represented in the lawsuit against ED have said they’ve felt like the “Dear Colleague Letter” instigated a “witch hunt” against them. Teachers who have dedicated their lives to helping every student grow to their full potential have been in fear of losing their jobs and teaching licenses if they do not severely restrict what they and their students say and do in their classrooms.The lawsuit challenges ED’s directive on multiple legal grounds. Specifically, the lawsuit argues that ED has overstepped its authority by imposing unfounded and vague legal restrictions that violate due process and the First Amendment; limiting academic freedom and restricting educators’ ability to teach and students’ right to learn; and unlawfully dictating curriculum and educational programs, exceeding its legal mandate.The case will now proceed as the court considers whether to permanently block the Department’s directive.The court’s decision can be found here.A copy of the lawsuit can be found here.

— Groups Sue Secretary Noem, DHS for Shuttering of Civil Rights Offices

 

at 4/24/25 3:17pm

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Southern Border Communities Coalition, and Urban Justice Center – represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group and Democracy Forward – filed a lawsuit today against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to challenge the Trump administration’s decision last month to close DHS’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman Office, and Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. The lawsuit is demanding the restoration of these key DHS oversight offices.In March, the Trump administration directed employees to immediately cease doing their jobs, including any efforts to wind down operations or transfer any complaints or ongoing investigations to other departments. According to a DHS spokesperson at the time, the offices were closed because they “obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining DHS’s mission.”Congress created the three offices to protect the privacy interests and civil rights of individuals, and to report to Congress and the public about the complaints that the offices received and resolved. The Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Office was established by Congress to investigate complaints involving constitutional rights, such as privacy invasions or excessive force used by Border Patrol agents, or facial recognition technology used at airports. The CIS Ombudsman’s Office helps immigrants who have problems obtaining work permits or applying for green cards. And the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman monitors conditions in detention facilities and handles complaints involving excessive force, sexual abuse, and inadequate medical care, among other issues.“Eliminating these three offices both undermines the ability of individuals to rein in the overreach of DHS, and violates the constitutional principle of separation of powers, flouting Congress’s express determination that these offices must exist,” said Karla Gilbride, deputy director of Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel on the case. “The Department of Homeland Security is required by law to review and assess information alleging abuses of civil rights and civil liberties. The decision to shutter these offices is an illegal attempt to undermine key civil rights protections and remove vital accountability mechanisms within DHS at a time when they are sorely needed.” “The decimation of these offices does not make anyone’s lives better or safer – what it does is target the innocent and those who have been placed in vulnerable circumstances. The closure of these offices is part of the Trump administration’s targeting of immigrants in this country and weakening of protections and resources afforded to them,” said Skye Perryman, President & CEO of Democracy Forward. “We will continue to use every legal tool we have to protect people and our democracy.”"RFK Human Rights has filed complaints with CRCL and OIDO for hundreds of people abused in immigration detention centers across the country, urging investigations into systemic sexual abuse, medical neglect, and deliberate infliction of severe pain amounting to torture,” said Anthony Enriquez, VP of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation, RFK Human Rights. “Congress created and funded oversight agencies to prevent these abuses and no president has the power to single-handedly rewrite those laws."“Border communities have been calling for real accountability as we endure racial profiling, excessive use of force, arbitrary searches and other abuses by border agents, and the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was one of the few paths for us to seek justice for these gross violations of human rights,” said Lilian Serrano, Director of Southern Border Communities Coalition. “Shutting down these oversight offices within DHS is a blatant attempt by the Trump Administration to shield the department, including CBP—the nation’s largest law enforcement agency—from accountability. The administration cannot erase accountability by dismantling an office Congress created to protect our rights.”"By gutting and closing these offices, the administration has effectively placed survivors of domestic violence in an untenably dangerous position,” said Alessandra Rosales, supervising attorney of immigration law at Urban Justice Center. “The humanitarian remedies created by Congress for immigrant survivors are a crucial tool in their healing and rebuilding. Removing the mechanism for oversight and enforcement of these legal protections will permit agencies to violate with impunity the civil rights of vulnerable people who have already endured unspeakable trauma and tragedy."The full complaint can be found here. For additional information on the case, or to request an interview with the litigation team or our plaintiffs, contact Patrick Davis, pdavis@citizen.org.

— Groups Sue Secretary Noem, DHS, for Shuttering of Civil Rights Offices

 

at 4/24/25 3:17pm

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Southern Border Communities Coalition, and Urban Justice Center – represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group and Democracy Forward – filed a lawsuit today against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to challenge the Trump administration’s decision last month to close DHS’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman Office, and Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. The lawsuit is demanding the restoration of these key DHS oversight offices.In March, the Trump administration directed employees to immediately cease doing their jobs, including any efforts to wind down operations or transfer any complaints or ongoing investigations to other departments. According to a DHS spokesperson at the time, the offices were closed because they “obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining DHS’s mission.”Congress created the three offices to protect the privacy interests and civil rights of individuals, and to report to Congress and the public about the complaints that the offices received and resolved. The Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Office was established by Congress to investigate complaints involving constitutional rights, such as privacy invasions or excessive force used by Border Patrol agents, or facial recognition technology used at airports. The CIS Ombudsman’s Office helps immigrants who have problems obtaining work permits or applying for green cards. And the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman monitors conditions in detention facilities and handles complaints involving excessive force, sexual abuse, and inadequate medical care, among other issues.“Eliminating these three offices both undermines the ability of individuals to rein in the overreach of DHS, and violates the constitutional principle of separation of powers, flouting Congress’s express determination that these offices must exist,” said Karla Gilbride, deputy director of Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel on the case. “The Department of Homeland Security is required by law to review and assess information alleging abuses of civil rights and civil liberties. The decision to shutter these offices is an illegal attempt to undermine key civil rights protections and remove vital accountability mechanisms within DHS at a time when they are sorely needed.” “The decimation of these offices does not make anyone’s lives better or safer – what it does is target the innocent and those who have been placed in vulnerable circumstances. The closure of these offices is part of the Trump administration’s targeting of immigrants in this country and weakening of protections and resources afforded to them,” said Skye Perryman, President & CEO of Democracy Forward. “We will continue to use every legal tool we have to protect people and our democracy.”"RFK Human Rights has filed complaints with CRCL and OIDO for hundreds of people abused in immigration detention centers across the country, urging investigations into systemic sexual abuse, medical neglect, and deliberate infliction of severe pain amounting to torture,” said Anthony Enriquez, VP of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation, RFK Human Rights. “Congress created and funded oversight agencies to prevent these abuses and no president has the power to single-handedly rewrite those laws."“Border communities have been calling for real accountability as we endure racial profiling, excessive use of force, arbitrary searches and other abuses by border agents, and the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was one of the few paths for us to seek justice for these gross violations of human rights,” said Lilian Serrano, Director of Southern Border Communities Coalition. “Shutting down these oversight offices within DHS is a blatant attempt by the Trump Administration to shield the department, including CBP—the nation’s largest law enforcement agency—from accountability. The administration cannot erase accountability by dismantling an office Congress created to protect our rights.”"By gutting and closing these offices, the administration has effectively placed survivors of domestic violence in an untenably dangerous position,” said Alessandra Rosales, supervising attorney of immigration law at Urban Justice Center. “The humanitarian remedies created by Congress for immigrant survivors are a crucial tool in their healing and rebuilding. Removing the mechanism for oversight and enforcement of these legal protections will permit agencies to violate with impunity the civil rights of vulnerable people who have already endured unspeakable trauma and tragedy."The full complaint can be found here. For additional information on the case, or to request an interview with the litigation team or our plaintiffs, contact Patrick Davis, pdavis@citizen.org.

— New Survey:  Overwhelming Majority of Progressives Back Primary Challenges to Status Quo Democrats

 

at 4/23/25 10:18am

As Donald Trump and far-right forces escalate their attacks on working families, civil rights, and the rule of law, a new survey conducted by Our Revolution, the nation’s largest progressive political organizing group, reveals a deep crisis of confidence in the Democratic Party establishment, and overwhelming support for primary challenges to incumbents who are failing to meet the moment. Grassroots Democrats are demanding bold action, saying many current leaders have failed to inspire confidence, mobilize energy, or confront Trumpism with the urgency it demands.Fielded from April 18–20, the poll surveyed more than 4,100 politically active progressive and Democratic-leaning voters. The results show deep frustration with Democratic Party leadership and growing momentum to transform the party from within—by electing bold, grassroots challengers who reject corporate PAC money and are ready to take the fight directly to Trump and his enablers. “The voters we organize with are sounding the alarm: they want fighters, not placeholders,” said Joseph Geevarghese, Executive Director of Our Revolution. “If the party establishment continues to sleepwalk through this crisis, they’ll be replaced by a new generation of leaders who aren’t afraid to take on the fight of our lives.” Key Findings:92% support primarying establishment Democrats who lack grassroots energy or urgency87% say the Democratic Party has lost its way—up from 76% just months ago88% say the DSCC and DCCC should stop automatically protecting incumbents96% support Our Revolution’s efforts to transform the party by electing progressives at every level82% want the Democratic Party to stop accepting Big Money from billionaires and corporations70% say they are not confident Democratic leaders will do what’s necessary to stop Trump 72% support abandoning a cautious, centrist approach in confronting Trump and the far right The results come days after DNC Vice Chair David Hogg announced a $20 million effort to support younger progressive candidates, including primary challengers to incumbents, through his PAC, Leaders We Deserve. While the announcement sparked fierce backlash from party insiders, Our Revolution polling shows Hogg’s sentiment is shared by a large majority of engaged progressive voters. Geevarghese added, “This is not about division—it’s about transformation. The time to protect the status quo has long passed. Our response to Trump’s assault on our democracy and billionaire takeout of our government is to make the party reflect the people it claims to serve.

— Look Ma I'm A Warfighter Leading the Warfighters

 

at 4/23/25 1:13am

Less than astonishingly, grossly unqualified, historically untrustworthy, sexually assaulting, manic Secretary of Drunkenness and Defense Pete Hegseth evidently screwed up again, this time giddily spewing war plans in real time on his phone to his besties just minutes after a general sent them. Meanwhile, as insiders describe "total chaos" at the Pentagon - screaming, infighting, distrust - "G.I. Joke" says blame the media, deep state, "leakers" (pot/kettle) 'cause he's so good at his job there's no trans folks in sight.In the latest revelations, reported by NBC News, within 10 minutes of receiving detailed plans about last month's U.S. strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on a secure channel from Army Gen. Michael Kurilla, who leads U.S. Central Command, former loose-lipped weekend Fox News host Hegseth spewed his cool intel on an unsecured Signal group chat to about a dozen people - his for-now-third-wife, his brother, his attorney, and for all we know his fave bartender, his Nazi buddies and the loser who makes his gunky hair gel. The guy with the white nationalist tattoos and history of leaking shared those plans about two hours before the airstrikes hit, even though an aide had specifically warned him not to use Signal to share sensitive information, which he'd already done with an Atlantic editor mistakenly included on another chat. Quickly confronted by his carelessness and stupidity by Dems calling for his ouster, Whiskey Pete did what was right, acknowledged his egregious error in judgment, and humbly resigned. Just kidding. Like any good MAGA, he defiantly lied, deflected, sputtered at the unfairness. Online, he retorted to critics, "Your agenda is illegals, trans & DEI - no longer allowed at the Defense Department." Totally relevant. Then he went to the White House Easter Egg Roll, where his kids cringed behind him as he loudly trashed Fake News "hoaxsters": "This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources, disgruntled former employees and they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations....It’s not going to work with me, because we’re changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of war fighters."Then he went on Fox News, his safe place, where he used to work and show up drunk but they still feel for him and suggest his gross incompetence is just part of a "learning curve." Brian Kilmeade, bending low in deference - "Mr. Secretary, you take this job, you come in with war experience and all your great background" - asked if "deep state forces" are working against him. "They've come after me from day one," Pete whined, though he added it's nothing compared to his master the anti-Christ: "What he has endured is superhuman." "It's not hard for me to do this job. I know exactly why I am here," he said. "To bring war fighting and the war fighting ethos back to the Pentagon." Eagerly, Kilmeade chimed in, "I know the warfighters are happy to have a warfighter up top." A little intel-dropping is no biggie, boasted Hegseth: "I look at war plans every day," and besides, leakers gonna leak. — (@) The newest national insecurity scandal comes amidst multiple oustings of Hegseth advisers who question his judgment and say "the Pentagon focus is no longer on warfighting, but on endless drama.” After he fired his former press secretary John Ullyot and three others last week, Ullyot charged in Politico "unnamed" officials "have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door." "We have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with," he said. "The last month has been a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon." In another story, the New York Times describes "a run of chaos that is unmatched in the recent history of the Defense Department, with sustained infighting, "screaming matches," paranoia about leaks and blame-games over the questionable success of the Houthi campaign.Outside the Pentagon, military officials blast an unprecedented Defense Secretary "willfully divulging operational plans against a hostile military force in real time," especially bafflingly, to his wife and bro. It's more than what's called the occasional "spill," says one long-timer "Here he's knowingly using an insecure communication device and he's knowingly giving classified information to people who are not security clearance holders. It really gets more to the sort of willfulness that is typically prosecuted by the Department of Justice." Which is why Air National Gruardsman Jack Teixeira was sentenced to 15 years in prison for disclosing sensitive military information to impress his friends on Discord, unlike Secretary Pete "flag hankie" Hegseth who did pretty much the same thing to impresses his peeps on SIGNAL like it was a super-cool-lookit-me Happy Birthday greeting.Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell has repeatedly claimed, "No classified material was ever shared via Signal," charging all the hoopla is just "an attempt to sabotage" Trump and Hegseth, though try telling that to the families of the guys in the air possibly put in danger. Hegseth himself lamely called the leak "informal, unclassified coordinations for media coordination, other things." Harumph, says retired Marine Lt. Col. Mick Wagoner, a longtime military lawyer who deployed to four war zone. "There is just no-way, no-how, that an American military operation starting off is going to not be classified," he retorts. "For Lord's sake." And just lookit this frantic, strung-out, high-on-something guy: Do all the "warfighters" in the Pentagon really see and hear him and think, yup, that's really a guy we wanna follow into battle 'cause wow he sure seems to know what he's doing. Umm... “Do you think ... there's some type of deep state forces that want to make sure you don't stay there?" www.mediamatters.org To date, GOP Rep. Don Bacon, a retired Air Force General.on the House Armed Services Committee, is the only Republican member of Congress to say out loud, albeit mildly, that Hegseth should resign. "I had concerns from the get-go because (he) didn’t have a lot of experience," he said. "I liked him on Fox, but does he have the experience to lead one of the largest organizations in the world? That’s a concern." (You think?) Otherwise, MAGA officially still stands with him, with several suspects saying there's "no talk right now" of removing him. At least until the big fat guy sings: At the Easter Egg Roll, Trump insisted, as usual with zero evidence, "Pete's doing a great job, everybody's happy with him." Then he laughably added, because he's definitely the one to know this sort of thing, "There's no dysfunction.”Other MAGA-ites have been fiery in their support. "This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change you are trying to implement," seethed Barbie Press Secretary. Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin outdid her. "I will lead the breach. I will lay down cover fire. I will take the high ground. I’ll expose myself to enemy fire," he screeched. "We must bring back integrity, focus, and put the Warfighter first...I stand with Pete Hegseth." Sighed Josh Marshall: "They're just thirsty as fuck." Many noted in response that Mullin is a plumber. "YOU'RE A FUCKING PLUMBER. YOU'VE NEVER SERVED," wrote one. "You could have but you didn't. We had the longest war in US history and you sat that shit out (but) now you want to be a big tough guy for the idiot who can't keep a secret. Go clear a drain of your own bullshit." So it went after WaPo ran a story, Hegseth Amps Up Criticism of 'Leakers' After More Scrutiny of Signal Usage. Responses ranged from skepticism to fury, with many ripping the notion that the problem isn't Hegseth being an inept, unstable disaster of a leaker but that a "leaker" is telling us about it. "Hegseth is a true Trumpist: never take responsibility," said one. "His whining is getting really old, like a kid telling a teacher for the 20th time, 'My dog ate my homework.'" Also: "Teenage girls are more reliable with secrets than Hegseth," "He's embarrassing on a global level," "Tough guy auditioning for a role," "He's posting war plans on Signal, doesn't that make him a leaker? What an utterly ridiculous man," "Clearly, Trump thinks 'diversity' means we need more clowns," "Whiskey Pete will be gone in the Friday news dump," and, "Leaker loses his shirt over leakers. Film at eleven." Bring popcorn. Protester at recent anti-Trump rallyBlueSky

— Trump Administration Lays Off EPA Environmental Justice Workers

 

at 4/22/25 2:50pm

Employees in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR) and regional environmental justice divisions were notified last night that they will be laid off or reorganized effective July 31, in a move that will all but ensure the most polluted communities remain disproportionately harmed, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Below is a statement by Chitra Kumar, the managing director of the Climate and Energy Program at UCS and a former official with EPA’s OEJECR.“The layoff notice sent to employees claimed their dismissal would ‘better advance the Agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment,’ which is the height of hypocrisy given that these staffers are working to reduce pollution and toxins in the communities suffering the most harm. Scientific data shows that, due to historic and ongoing injustices, communities overburdened by polluting industries, smog-forming traffic, and contaminated waterways and soil are predominantly low-income, Black, Brown and Indigenous. Exposure to consistently higher levels of pollution increases the risk of asthma, heart and lung ailments, cancer and even death.“Yet Zeldin and the Trump administration continue to focus on propping up the profits of coal, oil and gas companies and other big polluters who take advantage of every loophole available at the expense of public health. This is about all of us, our children, and grandchildren.“If Administrator Zeldin goes forward with this destructive move, he will be responsible for ending decades of work intended to help set right the harmful legacy of pollution in overburdened communities in a handout to big polluters. This is also part of the Trump administration’s larger ongoing strategy to dismantle EPA and its core functions and undermine its very mission, which is to help keep all people in America safe. In the time ahead, Zeldin is expected to launch a repeal, or ‘no enforce’ order, for a host of science-backed environmental regulations and engage in a wholesale ‘reorganization’ of the agency, including gutting the Research and Development Office that produces science undergirding EPA decisions.“Happy Earth Day, from the Trump administration.”

— Pending Trump Trade Agreement with India Likely Another Corporate Deal at Expense of Working People

 

at 4/22/25 12:47pm

Vice President JD Vance and US Trade Representative Jameieson Greer announced reaching agreed-upon terms of reference for a roadmap toward a Bilateral Trade Agreement between the United States and India. These terms have not been made public. The Trump administration continues to claim that other deals with Japan, South Korea, and other countries are advancing rapidly.In response, Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen, issued the following statement:“Trump continues to con American workers, claiming that he’s upending our unfair trading system, while actually doubling down on secretive and rushed ‘negotiations’ that will only lead to more of the same corporate-dominated trade deals at the expense of working people.“He’s not using trade and tariff policy to protect workers – he’s wielding reckless and unstrategic tariff threats as a cudgel to push more antidemocratic deals that benefit his corporate cronies. Look no further than Big Tech’s hit list of other countries’ privacy, anti-monopoly and online safety laws that he waved around when he announced so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’.“Without transparency and public and Congressional participation in the content of these trade negotiations, it is virtually certain that these ‘deals’ will be nothing more than another authoritarian power grab, as other countries and corporations bend the knee to Trump, benefiting billionaires at the expense of the rest of us.”

— “A Bright Spot Amidst the Chaos” - From New York to Minnesota, the Rights of Nature are Growing

 

at 4/22/25 12:43pm

About half of all waters in the United States are too polluted for swimming, fishing, or drinking. That, according to advocates, is why we need the Great Lakes and State Waters Bill of Rights, a new law which was introduced into the New York legislature by Assemblyman Patrick Burke (District 142) on March 19th.The bill, AO5156A, if passed, would be the first ever state-level “rights of nature” law in the United States. It would recognize “unalienable and fundamental rights to exist, persist, flourish, naturally evolve, regenerate and be restored” for the Great Lakes and other watersheds and ecosystems throughout the state.Under the current system of law in almost every country, nature is considered to be property. Thus, those who “own” wetlands, forestland, and other ecosystems and natural communities, are largely permitted to use them however they wish, even if that includes destroying or polluting them..According to the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which kickstarted the rights of nature movement in the United States, rights of nature means recognizing that ecosystems and natural communities are not merely property that can be owned. Rather, they are entities that have an inherent and inalienable right to exist and flourish.“We must be bold”Today, April 22nd (Earth Day), advocates for the New York bill have been invited to the United Nations to address a high-level meeting on harmony with nature. Alongside New York State Assemblyman Patrick Burke, who introduced the bill last month, and other rights of nature supporters and advocates such as Movement Rights, Ben Price, Education Director for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), which drafted the bill, has also been invited to speak. The invitation was extended by the Plurinational State of Bolivia, which includes some protections for nature in its national constitution.Besides playing a key role in drafting the New York bill, Price was instrumental to a 2006 rights of nature law passed in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, which was the first time rights of nature were recognized in any western legal system. “Tamaqua didn’t even get statewide media attention, let alone national or international press,” Price says. “Yet it lit a fire and helped to inform Ecuador’s constitutional amendment of the rights of Pachamama (Mother Earth).”Since 2006, more than 400 rights of nature initiatives have been introduced around the globe, with Latin America accounting for more than any other region.Here in the United States, rights of nature has been an uphill battle, as courts have ruled previous laws illegal and even pursued financial penalties against communities and lawyers for pursuing it. According to CELDF Executive Director Kai Huschke, the political moment we find ourselves in calls for a willingness to be bold and challenge systems of law and power that aren’t working.“Rights of nature would not be where it is today had people and communities followed unjust rules,” Huschke says. “We’ve made progress because of people taking risks, being disobedient, and taking action. That’s what we’re trying to facilitate with our current rights of nature work.”“Making sure future generations inherit more than just our mistakes”It’s hard to swim against the current inside institutions — like government — that reward sticking with the status quo. But Assemblyman Patrick Burke, who represents South Buffalo, the City of Lackawanna, and the towns of West Seneca, Ellicott, and Orchard Park, is willing to push these boundaries — especially given the dire state of our waterways.“When I passed one of the nation’s first microplastic bans as an Erie County legislator, it was because our communities demanded more than environmental regulation, they demanded accountability,” Burke says. “I carry that same responsibility into my role as Chair of the Great Lakes Taskforce [in the New York State Assembly]. The Great Lakes & State Waters Bill of Rights is about restoring balance between people and the ecosystems we depend on, making sure future generations inherit more than just our mistakes.”Communities lift their voices in support of rights of natureAcross the region, support is growing for the New York bill.“It’s a paradigm shift,” says Paul Winnie, a member of Tonawanda Seneca Nation who has been active in issues relating to tribal sovereignty, food, and environmental protection for many years. Winnie says that the bill represents an attempt to create a different way of relating to the natural world beyond extraction and exploitation. It’s something “that could combat the existing system to balance out corporate rights,” he says. “It’s trying to reignite that connection to nature.”Anna Castonguay, Chair of the Western New York Environmental Alliance, also says that this bill would help bring some balance.“We give legal personhood to corporations,” Castonguay says, “but have limited protections for the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land where we grow our food and live our lives on. The Great Lakes Bill of Rights would make it so that the health and vitality of the Earth and our communities is not an afterthought.”“Allowing communities to keep polluters out”Dr. Kirk Scirto, a primary care physician and public health specialist based in Buffalo, says that the bill is really about self-protection.“Since we depend entirely on Nature for our survival, by destroying it throughout New York, we’re actually hurting ourselves,” Dr. Scirto says. “Striking at Nature is self-injury. This bill would allow communities to protect their rivers, creeks, lakes, and other ecosystems. It would allow each community to protect its water in its own way, without being overridden by state and federal government. Whether it’s a chemical company or a loud crypto mining center, it could allow communities to keep these polluters out if they choose. And it could be used to make corporations restore waters they’ve already polluted! So, it expands both community rights and Nature’s.”Talking Rivers, an organization based in the St. Lawrence River / Kaniatarowanénhne and Adirondack Watersheds, wrote a memorandum of support for the bill, stating:“At this critical juncture as it becomes apparent that the federal government is going to scale back, if not outright abandon, efforts to protect our environment, in particular our waters, it is vitally important that state and local governments step up in a major way. The Great Lakes and State Waters Bill of Rights is that major step forward.”Pope Francis: “Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves”Carol De Angelo, the Director of the Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation at the Sisters of Charity New York, a Catholic religious organization, is another supporter of the bill.“I am grateful that Representative Burke has introduced this bill,” De Angelo says. “Over the years as a Sister of Charity of New York and a longtime member of ROAR (Religious Organizations Along the River), my awareness and advocacy of the Hudson River and all God’s Creation have strengthened as I become more aware of the interconnectedness of all life.”De Angelo’s belief in the importance of protecting the environment was reinforced by the late Pope Francis, who was the first Pope to address rights of nature and who passed away on April 20th.“The 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’ confirmed my belief and commitment,” De Angelo says. “In Laudato Si’ #139, Pope Francis says, ‘When we speak of the environment, what we really mean is a relationship existing between nature and the society which lives in it. Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it.’ This Bill, in recognizing the rights of nature, calls us to accountability and responsibility in creating a flourishing Earth Community for today’s children and future generations.”Rights of Manoomin (Wild Rice) in MinnesotaMeanwhile, in Minnesota, an effort to protect a sacred and ecologically important plant — manoomin, more commonly known as wild rice — using a rights-based approach is underway. The Wild Rice Act was introduced by Senator Mary Kunesh, the first Indigenous woman to serve in the state senate, in February.Leanna Goose, an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and co-author of the bill, says it is an attempt to recognize the inherent rights of non-human life forms.“The issue at the core of the bill is the need to recognize and honor the living beings we share this Earth with,” Goose says. “They have an inherent right — separate from any right ‘assigned’ by humans — to exist and thrive, just as we do. In Anishinaabe culture, we understand that without all living beings we will cease to exist; our survival would not be possible. We show respect to our plant and animal kin, along with gratitude for this. This is what it means to recognize the inherent right of a living being. It is an invitation into a generational relationship of mutuality and whether we acknowledge it or not, that right exists. Recognizing it is a powerful first step toward fostering a deep respect for the Earth and all the living beings that call it home.”Next StepsThe New York bill, like the Wild Rice Act in Minnesota, faces serious challenges going forward. In other rights of nature campaigns, even laws that have passed have faced legal challenges arguing they are unconstitutional. Ben Price, who says he was invited to the United Nations after Bolivian officials saw the New York bill and recognized it as a counterweight to anti-environmental federal policies, says that these efforts are all part of a larger process of culture change.“Good things come in small packages,” he says. “Like Tamaqua, the likelihood of this bill having national or global effect may not be obvious. But given the current political atmosphere, people are looking for answers. Climate funding has been canceled. References to environmental harm removed from government websites. Under these circumstances, people rising up and passing laws like this at the local and state level is essential. These efforts are a voice in the wilderness and a bright spot amidst the chaos.”How to supportWith growing threats to water nationwide — including rapid growth in data centers, power plants, nuclear energy, industrial agriculture, and beyond — communities are looking for ways to protect the rivers, lakes, streams, and aquifers. Tish O’Dell, one of the CELDF organizers behind this bill, encourages people to reach out to her. She says that with the growing media coverage of this effort, people in several states have already expressed interest in bringing rights of nature to their areas. O’Dell also said that individuals, organizations, and businesses can sign on to a list of supporters to make their voice heard and start making connections to form coalitions.Huschke, the CELDF Executive Director, also reminds supporters that they can donate to support the organization’s rights of nature work, including in New York.

— Oceana Celebrates Historic Bills to Permanently Protect U.S. Coastlines from New Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling

 

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A set of bills introduced in April would codify permanent coastal protections for millions of acres of U.S. oceans. These laws would prevent future offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and drilling off coastlines across the United States. The package of legislation, proposed in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, includes: The COAST Anti-Drilling Act, introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), which would permanently protect the entire East Coast, from Maine to Florida, from offshore drilling exploration, development, and production; The West Coast Ocean Protection Act, introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), which would permanently protect the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington from offshore drilling exploration, development, and production; The Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act, introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), which would permanently protect the Arctic Ocean from offshore drilling exploration, development, and production; The Florida Coastal Protection Act, introduced by Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), and Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL), which would permanently protect the coast of Florida and eastern Gulf of Mexico from offshore drilling exploration, development, and production; The Defend Our Coast Act, introduced by Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC), which would permanently protect the Mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf from offshore drilling exploration, development, and production; The New England Coastal Protection Act, introduced by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI), which would permanently protect the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, along with portions of the North Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, from offshore drilling exploration, development, and production; and Multiple bills to protect California’s coastline from offshore drilling. The bills would exclude all noted areas of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf from future offshore oil and gas drilling by preventing their inclusion in the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. Also called the Five-Year Plan, this program determines where the federal government will sell leases for offshore drilling over the next half-decade. The legislation would also prevent these areas from being included in new lease sales mandated by Congress. These bills would also prevent seismic airgun blasting, the harmful precursor to drilling. Seismic airguns, when used to search for oil and gas, create one of the loudest human-caused sounds in the ocean, and these blasts can injure and kill marine mammals. “It's time to end the threat of expanded drilling off America’s coasts forever,” said Oceana Campaign Director Joseph Gordon. “Oceana applauds these Congressional leaders for reintroducing pivotal legislation that would establish permanent protections from offshore oil and gas drilling for millions of acres of ocean. Earth Day is an important reminder that every coastal community deserves healthy oceans and oil-free beaches. This legislation is part of a national movement to safeguard our multi-billion-dollar coastal economies from dirty and dangerous offshore drilling. Congress must swiftly pass these bills into law and reject any expansion of drilling to protect our coasts." Presidents of both parties have used their authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to withdraw vast areas of the coast from offshore drilling. These bills would permanently codify protections spanning the entire Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, eastern Gulf of Mexico, and parts of Alaska. Over the past decade, more than 390 municipalities, 60,000 businesses and 500,000 fishing families – as well as 2,200 elected officials from both parties – have opposed offshore drilling activities off their waters. For more information on Oceana’s campaign to prevent the expansion of offshore drilling, please click here. Background A poll released by Oceana in July 2024 revealed that two-thirds of American voters (64%) support their elected officials protecting U.S. coastlines from new offshore drilling, with similar support among registered voters in coastal states (66%). The poll also found this support grew among youth voters 18 to 29 years of age (70%). A 2021 analysis by Oceana found that ending new leasing could prevent more than $720 billion in damage to people, property, and the environment. The oil industry currently holds more than 2,000 leases, according to a 2023 Oceana report, with 75% of that ocean acreage currently unused.

— Sunrise on Earth Day: Earth Day Is a Legacy of Resistance, And We’re Carrying It Forward

 

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In recognition of Earth Day, Sunrise Movement Executive Director Aru Shiney-Ajay released the following statement: “Earth Day is a legacy of resistance, and our generation is carrying it forward. We are ready to fight for our future with everything we’ve got. Our generation will not sit back while Trump and fossil fuel billionaires destroy our home. Earth Day began as a generation of young people who flooded the streets demanding that the government finally stand up to powerful corporations and tell them they could not poison the future for profit. And they won. Today, that progress is under full attack as Donald Trump, backed by fossil fuel billionaires, is waging a full-scale assault on the very life-saving protections that Earth Day was created to demand, blatant corruption that puts millions of lives at risk just to line the pockets of oil and gas billionaires. This Earth Day, we aren’t just commemorating a moment in history; we’re continuing the fight. Like in 1970, when millions of people took to the streets, we are building a movement to meet the scale of the crisis. We will not cooperate with the destruction of our world. Since Trump’s inauguration, Sunrise has trained over 5,000 young people to organize their communities, take bold action, and lead the fight for a Green New Deal. Donald Trump can only carry out his agenda if people, agencies, and workers go along with it. So instead, we will disrupt business as usual. We will resist at every level: in the streets, in our schools, and in the halls of power. We are powerful. We are united. And we are just getting started.”

— Trump’s Inauguration Donor Pool Includes $50 Million in Contributions from Corporations Under Investigation or Facing Federal Enforcement

 

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Corporations facing federal investigations or enforcement lawsuits collectively gave $50 million to Trump’s inauguration – a third of the corporate inauguration donations. Public Citizen cross-referenced new inauguration donor data (as shown below) with corporations listed in our Corporate Enforcement Tracker database, and found 58 corporations which include crypto companies, oil and auto industries, Big Pharma, tech companies, Wall Street hedge funds and more, faced at least 88 federal enforcement actions when Trump took office. Cases against 11 of these corporations have already been dismissed or withdrawn, and six have been halted.Public Citizen Researcher Rick Claypool says these corporation donations may serve as down payments for pardons or decisions to drop enforcement actions.“Corporations facing federal lawsuits and investigations aren’t giving millions to Trump’s inauguration out of the kindness of their hearts,” said Claypool. “They are trying to buy good will. And when you’re a corporation under investigation or facing prosecution, that means the government dropping enforcement actions against you. In some cases, it may even mean receiving pardons in cases in which guilty pleas have already been entered, or retractions of settlements already entered into."

— Public Citizen Leads the Fight Against Trump’s Dangerous Deregulation

 

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As President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office approaches, Public Citizen is leading the fight against his administration’s deregulatory efforts in the courtroom, in the media, and on Capitol Hill.“Make no mistake: Trump’s deregulatory blitz from DOGE’s mass firings to dismantle entire agencies to gutting enforcement against corporate criminals will mean more preventable injuries and illnesses, more needless deaths, more consumer scams and ripoffs, more industrial disasters,” said Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen. “These moves are about as inefficient as you could get. On the other hand, they will help boost CEOs’ compensation packages and further skyrocket corporations’ record profits.”Here are some of the major ways the Trump administration has waged an assault on regulations – and how Public Citizen is fighting back.Executive OrdersPresident Trump’s executive orders on deregulation have made clear his intent: to undertake one of the most radical and extreme attacks on public protections that our country has ever seen, all to the benefit of the wealthiest corporations. On Day One of his administration, Trump rescinded President Biden’s EO 14094 on “Modernizing Regulatory Review,” which reformed the rulemaking process to work in the public interest instead of for corporate special interests. Trump also issued a one-in-ten-out order on regulation. And most recently, he issued an order that directs agencies to repeal rules that are purportedly out of compliance with various Supreme Court decisions, without using the notice-and-comment rulemaking that is required by law.Right from the start, Public Citizen opposed Trump’s dangerous deregulatory blitz, calling the one-in-ten-out EO a stupid, corrupt, illegal Big Business giveaway, and blasted the early EO on rolling back regulations. Meanwhile, Public Citizen is leading the pushback against the EO on Supreme Court decisions.OMB and OIRA LeadershipTrump’s picks to implement his deregulatory agenda are mostly partisan ideologues who will stop at nothing to impose their extreme anti-government agenda, even if it means running roughshod over constitutional limits and checks and balances Trump nominated Russell Vought, staunch deregulation advocate and one of the architects of Project 2025, to head the Office of Management and Budget and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Vought’s Project 2025 blueprint included policy recommendations that were so extreme and toxic that even President Trump disavowed them on the campaign trail.Public Citizen lobbied against and called on the Senate to reject Vought’s nomination. As co-chair of the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, Public Citizen helped build the case against him. And as a result, no Democrats voted to confirm him.In addition, Public Citizen spoke out against Trump’s nominee to lead the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Jeffrey Clark – a central figure in the conspiracy to deny and overturn the 2020 election, which resulted in him being formally disbarred. Public Citizen will monitor and hold OIRA accountable if Clark uses his position to further undermine regulations.Congressional Review ActMost everyday Americans have never heard of the Congressional Review Act (CRA). But you can be sure every well-connected corporate lobbyist knows what it is and exactly how it works. That’s because the point of the law is to give Congress a special shortcut to repeal regulations that protect the public, all to benefit specific corporations and industries that are lobbying against the rules.The CRA allows Congress by a simple majority vote in both chambers with limited debate, no possibility of a filibuster, and the president’s signature to overturn recently issued regulations. The CRA includes a carryover period allowing a new Congress to strike down rules issued in the final months of the previous administration. But now Republicans in Congress have started using the CRA in unprecedented ways, targeting policies that are far beyond the law’s reach.Public Citizen was the first organization to publicly confirm the August 16, 2024 start date for the CRA’s lookback period and first to project that the CRA’s carryover period would likely end in May. Public Citizen also produced one of the first trackers identifying likely CRA targets in the new Congress shortly after the election.The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, co-chaired by Public Citizen, has been spearheading the effort to stop Congress from abusing the CRA to target rules that are beyond its reach. Both the Coalition and Public Citizen are tracking CRA resolutions as they are introduced – helping the public understand the harms of striking down these rules and which industries benefit.Gutting EnforcementThe Trump administration isn’t just rolling back regulations; in many cases they’ve stopped enforcing the law against corporate wrongdoers. In other words, Trump has given corporate America the green light to break the law with impunity by taking agency cops off the beat. The Trump administration has already halted or moved to dismiss enforcement investigations and cases against more than 100 corporations, with more cases against accused corporate criminals being abandoned every week. Public Citizen’s tracker and reports have documented the massive dropoff in enforcement and connected the dots to which corporations, CEOs, and industries have benefited.Attacks on Independent AgenciesTrump has come up with a new way to assault the regulatory system. For the first time in almost a century, the president has fired commissioners at multiple independent agencies, denying them quorums and the ability to perform core agency functions. This breathtaking power grab is a slap in the face to Congress, which deliberately designed these agencies to be independent of the president. Public Citizen is helping the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards track firings and the quorum status at independent agencies, and was part of a coalition letter condemning Trump’s attacks on these agencies. In addition, Public Citizen argued that Trump unlawfully fired the Federal Trade Commission’s two Democratic commissioners. DOGE Dismantling Federal AgenciesRight-wing ideologues and activists have long dreamed of shutting down government agencies wholesale and firing government employees en masse. But this has always been a pipe dream, since Congress has never had the votes to shut down protective agencies that are popular with the public. Now, with the Trump Administration ignoring checks and balances and constitutional limits left and right, the moment has come. The Trump administration has gutted essential federal agencies like USAID, the CFPB, the Departments of Education and Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency in the name of so-called “government efficiency.”Public Citizen sued to stop the dismantling of both USAID and the CFPB, and called on the Office of Government Ethics to direct Elon Musk and his agents to desist from any activity related to the CFPB because of his spectacular conflicts of interest. Public Citizen also led the call for a congressional investigation into DOGE’s lawless takeover and sued to ensure DOGE complies with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.More broadly, Public Citizen put forth an alternative vision for what a government committed to “efficiency” would prioritize instead of deregulation, dismantling agencies, and firing regulators en masse. The report examined the broad record of regulation and showed that major regulations generate overwhelmingly positive economic returns – disproving the notion that DOGE can find social savings through regulatory rollbacks.Anti-Regulatory LegislationNot to be outdone, Republicans in Congress have joined Trump’s deregulatory push by introducing and advancing a wide range of anti-regulatory bills. Public Citizen, as co-chair of the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, helped analyze and lobby against these bills, which include the REINS Act, the Midnight Rules Relief Act, the Separation of Powers Restoration Act, the GOOD Act, and the Reorganizing Government Act, among others. Public Citizen remains committed to ensuring these dangerous bills never become law.

— Civil Rights Organizations Launch Coalition Unity Pact in Response to Government Attacks

 

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Today, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights announced “The Pact: A Civil Rights Coalition Unity Commitment,” a mutual support agreement among America’s leading civil rights organizations in response to escalating threats and actions taken by the White House and federal agencies that target nonprofit organizations that are doing important public service work and that represent millions of people in America. The Pact is the next step in a series of coordinated actions by the coalition, including an open letter to the American people and pledge to take action, in addition to chronicling civil rights mobilizations.“The Pact: A Civil Rights Coalition Unity Commitment” states clearly why this commitment is necessary. “Today we face a campaign by the government to interrupt and intimidate the ability of those who represent the vulnerable, ensure people know their rights, have a voice to make demands of their government, organize unions and speak freely and have their rights protected. We will not be silent, divided or stop serving the public or allow the people we serve to be harmed. The administration has made clear it will attack organizations that speak truth to power, defend the vulnerable, petition and sue the government, preserve and share knowledge, and fight for our freedoms. They want us to fight alone, hoping we’ll stay silent as others are targeted. Not us.”For 75 years, The Leadership Conference coalition has fought for passage of every major piece of federal civil rights legislation signed into law. The coalition has created this pact because of its deep and long-standing relationships and its commitment to ensuring that the laws it’s spent 75 years passing, strengthening, and defending are not misused as tools of authoritarianism.The Pact outlines specific commitments the signatories have made, including: “When any of our organizations are unjustly targeted, we will stand as a unified coalition. An attack on one is an attack on all.”“We will share knowledge, resources, and support with any organization threatened by abuses of power.”“We will not abandon our missions or self-censor out of fear. The people we serve depend on us now more than ever.” As it affirms: “We will not be silenced. We will continue to do the work that puts people over power.”The full text of “The Pact: A Civil Rights Coalition Unity Commitment” is available here.

— Sierra Club Statement on Passing of Pope Francis

 

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Today, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has died at the age of 88. Francis, who led the Catholic Church for 12 years, was an outspoken advocate for addressing climate change. His 2015 encyclical, entitled “Laudato Si’,” called on world leaders to address our planet’s worsening environment with the urgency it deserves and requires, including the replacement of fossil fuels “without delay.” He addressed oil and gas executives at the Vatican in 2018, reminding them that “energy use must not destroy civilization.” Noting the world’s failure to address the climate crisis rapidly enough, Francis updated his 2015 encyclical with 2023’s “Laudate Deum.”In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous released the following statement:“Pope Francis used his role to advance not only the tenets of social and economic justice, but also climate justice. Pope Francis spoke plainly and with clarity about the climate crisis, correctly naming that the burning of fossil fuels only further exacerbates our peril and that the United States has a moral obligation to lead by example as the world’s leading historical emitter. His passing as the world prepares to recognize Earth Day tomorrow leaves us with a fitting reminder of the ways we can best serve our fellow humans—by doing everything in our power to ensure a livable planet for all people.”

— ACLU Advises University General Counsels on Legal Limits on ICE’s Authority

 

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The American Civil Liberties Union this week shared an open letter to general counsels at colleges and universities across the nation outlining their responsibilities and rights when dealing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigations and enforcement actions.Amid the growing retaliatory crackdown against noncitizen students for their First Amendment-protected speech and advocacy, the open letter explains that colleges and universities are not violating the law by providing housing or services to noncitizen students, including students whose visas have been revoked by the government. It further advises institutions that they are legally able to refuse to comply with warrantless searches of non-public areas, like dorm rooms, by ICE agents.The letter also outlines a legal framework for responding to administrative subpoenas from ICE. In consultation with legal counsel, universities generally maintain the right to not respond to administrative subpoenas unless and until ICE obtains an enforcement order from a judge. Universities also have the right to publicize the subpoenas or alert students if their information has been targeted by an ICE subpoena.“Universities must do everything they can to protect their students from intimidation or targeting by ICE, and they have the legal right to do so,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “We reject the federal government’s extreme claim that housing and educating noncitizen students can violate the law. We hope this letter will empower institutions to stand firm in the face of radical bullying tactics.”The letter can be read in full here. Related Documents Open Letter to College and University General Counsels on: 1) 8 U.S.C. § 1324 Harboring Liability, and 2) ICE Administrative Subpoenas

— Over 30 Scholars of Antisemitism, Holocaust Studies, and Jewish History Challenge Trump’s Attack on Free Speech

 

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Over 32 prominent Jewish scholars of antisemitism, Holocaust Studies, and Jewish History today challenged the Trump administration’s authoritarian crackdown on free speech by demonstrating the danger and falsehood of its false claims to care about Jewish safety. The Trump administration uses the guise of fighting antisemitism in order to attack the Palestinian rights movement and enact its broader authoritarian agenda including dismantling higher education and targeting student activists. Trump and his allies use a controversial, dangerous, and discredited IHRA definition of antisemitism, which inaccurately conflates criticism of the State of Israel with antisemitism. The IHRA definition and its associated examples have been criticized and rejected by Jewish, Palestinian, Israeli, civil rights, and human rights organizations for years. The first Trump administration embraced the discredited IHRA definition in a 2019 Executive Order and has reinforced it in another EO from January 2025. Over the last several months, the IHRA definition has been a tool in the Departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services’ broad attacks on universities, including their withholding billions in federal funds from institutions of higher education, and their egregious detainment of student activists. The Trump administration is now pushing universities to adopt this flawed definition of antisemitism, as part of a broader campaign of censorship and ideological control over universities. Many scholars, including Kenneth Stern, the author of the definition, have warned that Trump is using this definition to attack academic freedom and free speech. Raz Segal, Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University: “We take action to expose the absurdity of the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Hundreds of Jewish scholars around the world oppose it, including those who have publicly violated it today in rallies and protests in cities and campuses across the United States. The IHRA definition prohibits experts from talking about well-documented historical and contemporary realities, such as the systemic racism in Israel that is expressed explicitly and in unashamed terms in Israel's own Jewish Nation-State Basic Law. The IHRA definition also requires us to censor truths about Israel’s genocide in Gaza documented by the UN, Amnesty Internation, Human Rights Watch, and a growing number of Holocaust and genocide scholars who describe the killing of more than 50,000 Palestinians, including over 18,000 children, as a genocide. As a Jewish-Israeli scholar of the Holocaust who grew up with four grandparents who had survived the Holocaust, I reject this definition and I am proud to join dozens of Jewish scholars today in violating it and insisting on the value of our expertise and our scholarship.”The intentional violations of the discredited IHRA definition took place across the country as part of a larger “Day of Action” organized by the Coalition for Action in Higher Education, in partnership with the American Association of University Professors, Jewish Voice for Peace, and other organizations.. Scores of other scholars, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace and the Liberatory Jewish Studies Network, engaged in similar violations at rallies across the country and in recorded statements. The flawed IHRA definition outlines several examples of “contemporary antisemitism” that dangerously and falsely conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. For example, the definition asserts that it is antisemitic to “draw.. comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” This provision is an egregious overreach that silences Holocaust scholars and Holocaust survivors who have found it necessary to draw comparisons. At the AAUP-organized New York City rally in Foley Square, Marianne Hirsch, Professor of English and Comparative Literature and a scholar of Holocaust Memory at Columbia University said: “The widespread embrace of the confusing IHRA definition of antisemitism has created a crisis in my field of Genocide and Holocaust Studies. When I teach the history and memory of the Holocaust, I necessarily use historical analogy as a method of knowledge and inquiry. We learn things by comparing, as long as we do it with care. Right now, it is irresponsible to teach the Nazi persecution of Jews – which included ethnic cleansing, population transfer, starvation, expulsion and murder —without referring to the Israeli military’s brutal assault on Gaza. To do so is to violate the terms of the IHRA definition. Not to do so is to capitulate our intellectual integrity as scholars, our moral fiber as human beings and our sense of justice as citizens.”Jonah Rubin, Sr. Manager of Campus Organizing at JVP: “The white supremacists, Christian Nationalists, and far-right authoritarians driving Trump’s so-called antisemitism policy do not care about Jewish safety. They embrace discredited definitions of antisemitism as a tool to attack social movements , rip visa holders away from their families and communities, and dismantle higher education. Today, some of the most prominent scholars of antisemitism, Holocaust Studies, and Jewish history are putting themselves on the line and laying out a challenge for every college and university president: will you continue to bow down to Trump’s demands or believe the experts and reject the IHRA definition and stand up for free speech.”Interviews with scholars including Raz Segal, Marianne Hirsch, and Judith Butler available upon request Participants include: Rabbi Dr. Rebecca T. Alpert, Professor of Religion Emerita at TempleDr. Joel Benin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History, Emeritus at Stanford University. Dr. Bernadette Brooten, Kraft-Hiatt Professor Emerita of Christian Studies and Professor Emerita of Women's and Gender Studies at Brandeis University.Dr. Rachel Ida Buff, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.Dr. Judith Butler, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Berkeley Dr. Hasia Diner, Paul And Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History at New York University.Dr. Jonathan Feingold, Associate Professor of Law, Boston University.Dr. Penny Gold, Burkhardt Distinguished Professor of History, Emerita at Knox College.Dr. Emmaia Gelman, professor in Social Sciences at Sarah Lawrence College and the founding Director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism.Dr. Lisa Heineman, Professor of History, University of IowaDr. Marianne Hirsch, William Peterfield Trent Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature and the Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender at Columbia University. Dr. Nitzan Lebovic, Apter Chair of Holocaust Studies and Ethical Values at Lehigh University.Dr. Bruce Levine, J. G. Randall Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignDr. Mark Levine, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of California, Irvine.Dr. Laura Levitt, Professor of Religion, Jewish Studies and Gender at Temple University.Dr. Zachary Lockman, Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, and History at New York University.Nina Mehta, Co-Director of PARCEO.Dr. Eli Myerhoff, AAUP Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom Fellow.Dr. Donna Nevel, co-director of PARCEO and an expert in antisemitism.Dr. Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict, and Peace Studies at Notre Dame University.Dr. Penny Rosenwasser, City College of San Francisco. Dr. Jonah Rubin, Sr. Manager of Campus Organizing, Jewish Voice for Peace.Dr. Rayaa Rusenko, Independent Scholar, National Coalition of Independent Scholars.Dr. Jennifer Ruth, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Professor of Film at Portland State University.Dr. Daniel Segal, Jean M. Pitzer Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Professor Emeritus of History at Pitzer College.Dr. Raz Segal, Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Stockton University.Dr. Aaron Shakow, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard University.Dr. Victor Silverman, Emeritus Professor of History, Pomona College.Dr. David Slavin, Emory University.Dr. Tamir Sorek, Liberal Arts Professor of Middle East History at Penn State University. Dr. Arlene Stein, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Rutgers UniversityDr. Barry Trachtenberg, Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History at Wake Forest University.Dr. Alan Wald, H. Chandler Davis Collegiate Professor Emeritus at University of Michigan.

— Home Growns Are Next

 

at 4/17/25 10:42pm

In a "breathtaking departure from the rule of law" - and facing multiple legal routs - Trump and his fascist flunkies continue to lie, stall and gaslight on their right to disappear a Maryland sheet metal worker and other brown-skinned migrants to an El Salvador gulag with zero evidence of wrongdoing, even as ICE Gestapo still run rampant - Smashed Windshields 'R Us - and oh yeah U.S. citizens may be next. Take note, says historian Timothy Snyder: "This is the beginning of an American policy of state terror."The escalating legal standoff over the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia has in turn become a "political flashpoint" on an already fiercely divided Capitol Hill. To most of us, the case symbolizes a racist crackdown that threatens the basic rights of us all, while the regime's increasingly flagrant violations of court orders threaten the very rule of law. Dug into an alternate reality, the regime argues it's nobly fighting for "the safety of American citizens" against raping, murdering "illegal aliens," "foreign criminals," and "terrorists" like Garcia, who came here from El Salvador without papers at 16, has never been charged with a crime, was granted protection under a 2019 court order due to a "credible fear" of violence from gangs back home, is now a union member and father of three married to a U.S. citizen, and is alleged to be a member of the MS-13 gang because he wore a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie "indicative" of gang membership, and a detective - since suspended for being a lying scum bag - said he was. Despite what one judge politely calls their "flimsy" evidence, the cabal of miscreants is so desperate to prove their racist, rapey case they launched a propaganda campaign of smears and lies against Garcia. This week, it culminated in a sordid set piece that saw the self-proclaimed "world's coolest dictator," El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, and America's mob boss and "deteriorating carnival clown" happily "bond over human-rights abuses" in an Oval Office now transformed into a gaudy, blinged-out "Golden Office for the Golden Age" awash in tacky faux-gold gimcracks - on fireplace, mantle, reportedly doorway - evidently bought online from China's Guangzhou Homemax Decorative Company as part of their "High-density Home Decoration Polyurethane Appliques Ornament" line. FYI, one enterprising journalist found, they're still available, cheap. From Guangzhou: "Hello Sir. Yes we have this model. Do you need gold color, please?” Maybe with hacksaws? In the squalid pageantry of the meeting, "a microcosm of everything bad about Trump ll," Bukele eagerly brown-nosed the mad king: "What you're doing with the border is incredible!" Then, in exchange for a hefty chunk of blood money, he offered to use his "iron fist" tactics against America's alleged criminals just like for his own, three-year war against gangs, in which tens of thousands of his people have been disappeared into brutal prisons "without even the illusion of due process." Bukele achieved this goal by declaring a "State of Exception" that was supposed to last 30 days but which has been extended 37 times. Historically, it's a key strategem of Soviet and Nazi fascists, who accurately reason that if they can convince their populace these are exceptional times, they will be more inclined to accept the growing lawlessness. For Trump, a vengeful, aspiring autocrat who's never had any use for due process and only seeks to escape, not follow the law, it's a perfect, ghastly model; it's also state terror. Before the presser but with cameras rolling, Trump pulled his new fascist bestie aside to happily confide, "Home-growns are next...You're gonna need to build about five more places." Contented grins all around. His suggestion that his next target will be American citizens he doesn't like was, like so much that's come before, both shocking and unsurprising. He's previously said his pretend A.G. Pam Bondi was "studying the laws" to see if they can get away with deporting "really bad people" who also happen to be citizens. "If it's a homegrown criminal, I have no problem with it," he's said. "If we can do that, that's good." In his confab with Bukele, he again blithely confirmed "I'd like to go a step further." Asked if that means he's okay with rounding up Americans who might disagree with him, in this case about half the country, to a gulag in El Salvador, he babbled, "If they are criminals and they hit people with baseball bats over the head (or) rape 87-year-old women, yeah, that includes them."The exchange was just one of many during a hair-raising shitshow in which the regime's assembled ghouls and flunkies dutifully snickered, groveled, showboated and lied; inexplicably, video of the grisly spectacle appeared on a split screen with ads for obscure products like Angelpaste Miracle Cream: "Experience the miracle at angelpaste.com." Bondi's stonefaced, talking-points pablum on state-sponsored disappearances: "It's a legal question the president is looking into...He has given us a directive to make America safe again." The issue of Garcia's life or death is "foreign policy" and out of their hands, intoned Marco Rubio, who just announced the closure of the State Dept.'s agency for fighting disinformation, though he called it “Protecting and Championing Free Speech." Sternly nodding along was Barbie Dress-up Noem, who's spending $200 million on glam photo-ops, including her $9 million war-crime appearance at CECOT, funded by the now-shuttered DHS Office for Civil Rights, to tell migrants to "Leave now."Naturally, Bukele joined the tawdry Oval Office pageant. Asked if he plans to return Garcia, he scoffed, "How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I'm not going to do it. We're not fond of smuggling terrorists into our country. The question is preposterous." Cue Trump nodding, smirking, twisting the question into another ugly WTF attack on the assembled press: "Well, they'd love to have a criminal released here. They would love it. These are sick people." (Pot/kettle). In another exchange, he suggested the press doesn't "want to put out good figures because I think they hate our country actually." Besides, Trump added, those torture porn videos of hunched-over prisoners at CECOT are just what's needed: "People eat it up, that’s what people want to see.” Bukele, author of the brutality, nodding sagely: "Mr President, you have 350 million people to liberate. But to liberate 350 million people, you have to imprison some."The grotesque twisting of language into an Orwellian, up-is-down reality - justifying Garcia's exile under a wartime rule to say he's part of Venezuelan gangs "invading" us though they're not, nor is he Venezuelan or a gangster, crushing free speech and academic discourse in the name of fighting anti-Semitism - is integral to their dystopian mission. On Tyranny''s Timothy Snyder notes that for a state to commit "criminal terror" against its people," it must dehumanize victims by inverting meanings - Stalin called his targets "criminals" and "terrorists, Hitler, "vermin" and "traitors," all clearly unworthy of protection. MAGA's language continues to warp and spiral: Wingnut "counterterrorism" flunky Sebastian Gorka now claims a regime that illegally expels masses of people without due process "loves" America - "We have people who love America, the president, his Cabinet" - and "then there (those) on the side of the cartel members, the illegal aliens, the terrorists, and you have to ask yourself, are they technically aiding and abetting them?"The evil overlord of depraved language is mountingly hysterical Stephen Goebbels. In the Bukele meeting, he ranted reporters "want foreign terrorists in the country who kidnap women and children." On Fox News later, he melted down, shrieking at host Bill Hemmer he had it "all wrong," and actually "we won the Supreme Court case" (lost, 9-0), to return Garcia "would be "kidnapping" and "an unimaginable invasion of El Salvador," the lawyer who said his removal was "an error" (as did several White House officials) was "a saboteur, a Democrat" who has been suspended and then fired cause that's how Stalin rolls. "Nobody was mistakenly deported anywhere," he screamed, his voice higher and higher. No mistake was made...He’s an illegal alien from El Salvador! This was the right person sent to the right place!" Then, he furiously bellowed at Hemmer, “So Bill, you tell me what country should we deport him to? Tell me!" To this, fact-checker Daniel Dale declared his claim of "some lefty saboteur at the DOJ" was "nonsense." On regime actions lawyers have almost universally deemed "pretty obviously illegal and unconstitutional,” the courts have echoed him. That goes from the unanimous (brazenly defied) Supreme Court ruling the government must “facilitate Garcia’s return, to a lower court ruling blasting his deportation as illegal, to Wednesday's bombshell ruling by Judge James Boasberg - who Trump obviously wants to impeach - finding probable cause to hold the administration in criminal contempt for ignoring everything he's told them to do. "The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders - especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it," wrote the long-stonewalled Boasberg, mildly noting the government has "defied the Court's order deliberately and gleefully.” Once again, he gave them some slack, time and options they didn't deserve; once again, they appealed, but briefly because c'mon we all know they have zilch in the way of new facts or arguments to offer.As a result of these manifold atrocities, argues Thom Hartmann, "The old American order is dead. It ended on April 14, 2025, when a Latin American strongman sat in the Oval Office and discussed sending U.S. citizens to foreign concentration camps with the American president while they jointly defied the Supreme Court." As sorry proof, he cites all the basic tenets of U.S. constitutional law defiled - habeas corpus, due process, right to trial and counsel, no cruel or unusual punishment - that echo Jefferson's critiques of King George, a "history of repeated injuries and usurpations...submitted to a candid world." That mad king "refused his assent" to laws for the public good, obstructed justice, made judges dependent "on his will alone," transported us "beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses," thus rendering him "a Tyrant...unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” Today, he says, "Everyone who is not part of the authoritarian regime is a member of the dissident movement now. The sooner they realize it, the better."That truth is especially urgent, argues Jonathan Last, given the savage spectre of CECOT, where 90% of inmates have never been convicted of a crime, 75% haven't even been arrested, and none will likely get out. "This is not incarceration; it is liquidation," he writes of an "arbitrary, opaque" political act where, "There is only power." Democrats should be "on the ground every day until Garcia is brought home," and before more innocents land there, in the fierce mode of Poland's Solidarity or Navalny’s People’s Alliance. Maryland's Dem Sen. Chris Van Hollen tried. He flew to El Salvador to meet with Garcia, his constituent; he was initially turned away but finally did, without offering any updates, though Bukele posted a "death camps" jibe. In contrast, West Virginia GOP Rep. Riley Moore was both allowed into CECOT and got to join the MAGA torture porn trend by posting selfies - inane thumbs up! - before caged "brutal criminals" who made him "even more determined to support (Trump's) efforts to secure our homeland." One local headline: "Moore Gives CECOT Two Thumbs Up."MAGA thugs have stubbornly clung to their talking points: Tom Homan called Dem demands for due process "disgusting," and Barbie Press Secretary sneered that, judging from their "sensationalism, you'd think we deported a candidate for Father of the Year." Still, it's becoming clear, per one pundit, that, "Disappearing innocent immigrants into foreign slave-labor gulags - and then promising to do the same to American citizens - is a losing issue for Republicans." At rowdy town halls, Iowa's Chuck Grassley drew jeers and angry queries like, "You going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?", and Klan Mom MTG faced a barrage of hostile questions she responded to by sneering, lying, and sending thugs to remove or tase several constituents. MAGA also lost bigly in court on their appeal of a judge's order to "facilitate" Garcia's return, with a Reagan-appointed Court of Appeals judge issuing a scathing rebuke of their shocking," "extraordinary" defiance and failure to "perceive the rule of law as vital to American ethos."Meanwhile, the state terror goes on. Two weeks ago, Elsy Noemi Berrios, a 52-year-old Salvadoran mother of four with a work permit, pending asylum application and no criminal record, was taken into custody in Maryland as she and 18-year-old daughter were driving to work; federal agents in tactical gear stopped their car, refused to provide a search warrant when she asked, and instead smashed her driver's side car window before handcuffing her behind her back as her daughter Cruz screamed, “Mommy, no. Mommy.” She is still being held at a Pennsylvania prison, but her lawyer says DHS has yet to offer any evidence or even arrest warrant. Her daughter says her mom works hard to support her and her siblings, and "has done everything right." A DHS lackey says Berrios "has been identified as an associate of the vicious MS-13 gang, Americans can rest assured she is off our streets and locked up, and the media (should) stop doing the bidding of gangs that murder, maim, rape, and terrorize Americans."In March in Massachusetts, ICE "enhanced enforcement operations” detained 370 "criminal aliens"; in New Bedford, they included three workers at the Minit Man Car Wash, one at Bob’s Tires, and two men inside their house after agents battered down the door and pointed their guns at children eating breakfast before school. Monday, agents also arrested Juan Francisco Méndez, 29, a Guatemalan with no criminal record in the final stage of his asylum case; his wife Marilu and their 9-year-old son have protected status. Mendez was detained after three carloads of agents in bulletproof vests blocked the car he and Mariu were driving in; as Marilu began recording, he called their lawyer Ondine Galvez Sniffin, who told them to stay put until she arrived. Marilu asked to see a warrant; an agent stared dumbly. Then he shattered their rear window with a pick axe - Marilu gasps - and dragged them out. When Sniffin got there, agents had bustled Mendez to prison. Marilu said they kept calling Juan "Antonio," the name of another man who lives in their building: Your government at work. "My clients were within their rights, and they were met with brutality,” Sniffin said. "I'm ashamed of what this country is becoming." She is not alone. - YouTube www.youtube.com

— USA: Google must move to a rights respecting approach after court declares its Adtech function a monopoly

 

at 4/17/25 1:42pm

Responding to a US court ruling declaring Google’s online advertising monopoly illegal, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said: “A rights respecting break-up of Google’s monopolistic hold could be an important first step towards an online world that respects human rights. By eroding the dominance of a single corporation and weakening Google’s control over our data, it makes space that must be filled by actors committed to upholding human rights.” “As the world’s most used search engine, Google wields enormous power over whether people can navigate the internet with assurance that their rights are protected. Every company has a responsibility to respect human rights, and Google has failed to adequately demonstrate how its model can uphold users’ rights. “It is extremely difficult to go online without having to hand over personal data to Google and other big tech companies, even when you have not signed up for their services or consented to this intrusion and monetization of your private data. “Now that Google’s advertising services have been ruled an illegal monopoly, it is time to move toward a rights-respecting structural break-up of Google.”

— USA: Google must move to a rights respecting approach after court declares it’s Adtech function a monopoly

 

at 4/17/25 1:42pm

Responding to a US court ruling declaring Google’s online advertising monopoly illegal, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said: “A rights respecting break-up of Google’s monopolistic hold could be an important first step towards an online world that respects human rights. By eroding the dominance of a single corporation and weakening Google’s control over our data, it makes space that must be filled by actors committed to upholding human rights.” “As the world’s most used search engine, Google wields enormous power over whether people can navigate the internet with assurance that their rights are protected. Every company has a responsibility to respect human rights, and Google has failed to adequately demonstrate how its model can uphold users’ rights. “It is extremely difficult to go online without having to hand over personal data to Google and other big tech companies, even when you have not signed up for their services or consented to this intrusion and monetization of your private data. “Now that Google’s advertising services have been ruled an illegal monopoly, it is time to move toward a rights-respecting structural break-up of Google.”

— AFT’s Weingarten on Florida State Shooting

 

at 4/17/25 1:41pm

AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after a mass shooting today at Florida State University, following other incidents this week in Dallas and San Antonio. One of the people injured was a member of United Faculty of Florida, which is affiliated nationally with the AFT.“This is the third incident of devastating gun violence in and around schools in as many days—and they’re occurring in states with the loosest gun regulations. Campuses and classrooms must be safe and welcoming places, but they can become unsafe in an instant because of the ever-present threat of gun violence.“We are the only country in the world that regularly deals with this—but we don’t have to live this way. Today, we both pray for the dead and injured and redouble our efforts to advocate for common sense gun laws that could help end this grave public health crisis. We should remove weapons of war from our streets and communities, fund community violence intervention programs, enforce background checks and safe-storage laws, ban high-capacity magazines and pass more risk-protection laws.“The perpetrator of this monstrous act must be held to account. Shooting innocent people is never a solution. And lawmakers must urgently move to thwart these horrific events that result in terrifying and tragic real-world consequences.”

— Google’s Illegal Internet Ad Monopoly Blunts America’s Competitive Edge in Tech

 

at 4/17/25 11:53am

On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that Google maintains an illegal online advertising monopoly. The internet search megacompany faces another court date soon to determine remedies after another federal judge ruled last fall that it broke the law by maintaining an illegal monopoly over online searches. Demand Progress Education Fund previously joined a letter asking the government to probe Google’s online video monopoly and recently asked the government to review Google’s $32 billion dollar deal to acquire Wiz, a leading cloud cybersecurity company.The following is a statement from Emily Peterson-Cassin, corporate power director at Demand Progress Education Fund:“Our nation has grown prosperous and powerful because of competition and Google’s illegal monopolies are blunting our competitive edge in the tech industry. The company’s near-total dominance of the online advertising market hurts media companies, rival search engines, social media companies and anyone who consumes media on the internet. As one of the richest, most powerful companies in the history of humanity, a mere fine or slap on the wrist won’t cut it. For the good of our nation and the health of our tech and media industries the government must force Google to sell its advertising technology division.”

As of 4/25/25 9:19pm. Last new 4/25/25 8:53am.