Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Harvard pushes back against Trump administration's demands for changes - The Washington Post
"No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,"...
5 things to know about fluoride and dental health - The Washington Post
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called fluoride 'industrial waste,' but fluoridation of drinking water promotes dental health, experts say...
Trump health nominee called for ‘corrective care’ for trans youth - The Washington Post
Brian Christine, an Alabama urologist, also has repeated conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic...
RFK Jr giving families ‘false hope’ on autism, says outgoing US vaccine official | Robert F Kennedy Jr | The Guardian
Dr Peter Marks, forced to resign by Trump administration, sees no 'possible way' to determine cause by September...
Who Is Curtis Yarvin? (Conspirituality podcast, episode #251)
"If Americans want to change their government, they're going to have to get over their dictator-phobia."
That's neo-reactionary philosopher Curtis Yarvin in 2012, when he outlined a strategy that's eerily similar to how Trump and Musk are now destroying our government. The "dark enlightenment" blogger, long a transgressive darling of the New Right, has in the last two months enjoyed a fresh round of mainstream exposure.
We look at a man who has the ear of those who are reshaping our world at breakneck speed.
Interview:
That's neo-reactionary philosopher Curtis Yarvin in 2012, when he outlined a strategy that's eerily similar to how Trump and Musk are now destroying our government. The "dark enlightenment" blogger, long a transgressive darling of the New Right, has in the last two months enjoyed a fresh round of mainstream exposure.
We look at a man who has the ear of those who are reshaping our world at breakneck speed.
Interview:
“The Bait-and-Switch” (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast) It’s in the Code ep 140
Practitioners of high-control Christianity present the “core” teachings of the tradition as being about God’s unconditional love and acceptance of human beings.
This is the “public-facing” presentation of high-control Christianity. But when we take a deeper look within high-control Christianity, we encounter a bait-and-switch. This accepting, affirming Christian vision is replaced by one focused on obligation structured around emotions like fear and guilt.
How does this take place? And how does this serve the purposes of high-control Christianity? Take a listen to this week’s episode to find out!
DOGE takes control of federal grants website - The Washington Post
A DOGE engineer removed users' access to grants.gov, threatening to further slow the process of awarding thousands of federal grants per year...
DHS emails MA immigration attorney, a citizen, to leave US – NBC Boston
But the 40-year-old is a U.S. citizen, born in Newton and raised in Sharon…
"The language in the email is very threatening," she said. "And it looks kind of like a sketchy spam email. It doesn't look like an official government notice, but it is."…
‘I became like a slave’: why 43 women are suing the secretive Opus Dei Catholic group in Argentina
The first item Opus Dei gave 12-year-old Andrea Martínez was a pink dress. The second was a schedule that detailed every task for every minute of her day. Then, when she was 16, she was given a cilice – a spiked metal chain to wear around her thigh – and a whip…
Monday, April 14, 2025
Weekly Roundup: Like Amazon Prime for Human Beings (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)
Brad and Dan discuss the chaos unleashed by Donald Trump’s recent tariffs and draconian deportation policies. They tie these events to broader themes of Christian nationalism, authoritarianism, and Trump’s governing style.
The episode covers Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies, the economic repercussions, and the administration’s harsh immigration practices, including erasing the social security numbers of migrants and canceling student visas.
Dan & Brad touch on the theological implications, the reaction from right-wing pundits, and the disturbing vision of a dystopian governance model inspired by business efficiencies, culminating in a critique of the Trump administration’s approach to ruling without governing.
Interview:
The episode covers Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies, the economic repercussions, and the administration’s harsh immigration practices, including erasing the social security numbers of migrants and canceling student visas.
Dan & Brad touch on the theological implications, the reaction from right-wing pundits, and the disturbing vision of a dystopian governance model inspired by business efficiencies, culminating in a critique of the Trump administration’s approach to ruling without governing.
Interview:
The Insurrection Act: Martial Law in the United States (Seth Andrews; The Thinking Atheist podcast)
The vaguely-defined Insurrection Act of 1807 is being invoked against "enemies" of the United States. Is martial law on the table?
Interview:
Atul Gawande on Musk’s Destruction of USAID (Al Franken podcast)
Elon Musk and DOGE have been taking a chainsaw to the federal government since Trump was re-elected. It could take us generations to fully recover from the damage inflicted by the careless and cruel nature of these cuts. We're joined by American surgeon, author, and public health advocate Atul Gawande to discuss just how devastating these actions are. During the Biden administration, Gawande was a senior official at USAID. He walks us through many of the great works the program did around the world… and the damaging and deadly road that lies ahead now that it's been gutted.
We also discuss the state of our healthcare system and the popularity of Medicaid expansion. The Affordable Care Act has improved the lives of millions of Americans, but Donald Trump and the Republicans threatened to take it away from Americans in his first term. Does he dare try again?
To hear more from Atul, check out his recent piece in The New Yorker about the chaotic attempt to freeze federal assistance: https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/behind-the-chaotic-attempt-to-freeze-federal-assistance
Interview:
We also discuss the state of our healthcare system and the popularity of Medicaid expansion. The Affordable Care Act has improved the lives of millions of Americans, but Donald Trump and the Republicans threatened to take it away from Americans in his first term. Does he dare try again?
To hear more from Atul, check out his recent piece in The New Yorker about the chaotic attempt to freeze federal assistance: https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/behind-the-chaotic-attempt-to-freeze-federal-assistance
Interview:
Blindingly Naive and Oblivious (feat. Steve Vladeck) (Andrew McCabe and Allison Gill; Unjustified podcast)
The Supreme Court has ruled that individuals being deported under the alien enemies act proclamation are afforded due process, and that the courts can ask the government to facilitate the return of wrongfully deported detainees.
The Department of Justice is seeking to drop the charges against the alleged MS-13 leader they held a press conference about arresting.
FBI Director Kash Patel has been quietly removed as the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives after he stopped showing up to work.
The Department of Justice lawyer who argued on behalf of the government in the Abrego Garcia case has been benched because he expressed frustration with his clients during a hearing. His supervisor has also been sidelined.
The DC Office of Disciplinary Counsel has declined to launch a probe of Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney, over an alleged ethics violation he committed when he sought to dismiss the criminal case of a January 6th defendant whom he previously represented.
Donald Trump signs an executive order opening investigations into Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor.
Plus listener questions…
Interview:
The Department of Justice is seeking to drop the charges against the alleged MS-13 leader they held a press conference about arresting.
FBI Director Kash Patel has been quietly removed as the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives after he stopped showing up to work.
The Department of Justice lawyer who argued on behalf of the government in the Abrego Garcia case has been benched because he expressed frustration with his clients during a hearing. His supervisor has also been sidelined.
The DC Office of Disciplinary Counsel has declined to launch a probe of Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney, over an alleged ethics violation he committed when he sought to dismiss the criminal case of a January 6th defendant whom he previously represented.
Donald Trump signs an executive order opening investigations into Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor.
Plus listener questions…
Interview:
The rise of end times fascism (The Guardian)
Not so long ago, it was primarily religious fundamentalists who greeted signs of apocalypse with gleeful excitement about the long-awaited Rapture. Trump has handed critical posts to people who subscribe to that fiery orthodoxy, including several Christian Zionists who see Israel's use of annihilatory violence to expand its territorial footprint not as illegal atrocities but as felicitous evidence that the Holy Land is getting closer to the conditions under which the Messiah will return, and the faithful will get their celestial kingdom.
Mike Huckabee, Trump's newly confirmed ambassador to Israel, has strong ties to Christian Zionism, as does Pete Hegseth, his secretary of defense. Noem and Russell Vought, the Project 2025 architect who now leads the office of budget and management, are both staunch advocates for Christian nationalism. Even Thiel, who is gay and notorious for his party lifestyle, has been heard musing about the arrival of the antichrist of late (spoiler: he thinks it's Greta Thunberg, more on that soon)…
To have a hope of combating the end times fascists, with their ever-constricting and asphyxiating concentric circles of "ordered love", we will need to build an unruly open-hearted movement of the Earth-loving faithful: faithful to this planet, its people, its creatures and to the possibility of a livable future for us all. Faithful to here...
…Interestingly, at a time when previously secular Silicon Valley elites are suddenly finding Jesus, it is noteworthy that both of these visions – the priority-pass corporate state and the mass-market bunker nation – share a great deal in common with the Christian fundamentalist interpretation of the biblical Rapture, when the faithful will supposedly be lifted up to a golden city in heaven, while the damned are left to endure an apocalyptic final battle down here on earth...
Bernie Sanders rally in LA draws thousands to protest Trump: ‘We can’t just let this happen’
US Vermont senator's tour with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been drawing record-breaking crowds since February…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/12/bernie-sanders-rally-los-angeles
Sunday, April 13, 2025
Trump Is Disappearing People + Oklahoma Sues to Impose God on School Children + (Andrew Seidel; One Nation Indivisible, Episode #007)
In this episode, Andrew Seidel discusses Christian Nationalist Ryan Walters' absurd lawsuit against the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) for upholding the separation of church and state in Oklahoma schools. The episode also covers the alarming actions of the Trump administration, which have led to the deportation of individuals without due process. Andrew criticizes the poor quality of Walters' lawsuit and emphasizes the importance of due process in protecting constitutional rights against authoritarian power.
Link to the Oklahoma complaint against FFRF: https://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/walters-lawsuit-ffrf-67eb02422f07f.pdf
Poem: What I would tell Eve, by Meghen McAuliffe O'Leary in Full Belly: Poems by Maegen McAuliffe O’Leary, available from TheFinishedProject.org.
Link to the Oklahoma complaint against FFRF: https://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/walters-lawsuit-ffrf-67eb02422f07f.pdf
Poem: What I would tell Eve, by Meghen McAuliffe O'Leary in Full Belly: Poems by Maegen McAuliffe O’Leary, available from TheFinishedProject.org.
Interview:
Barack Obama and Kamala Harris publicly rebuke Trump’s second term actions | CNN Politics
"Imagine if I had done any of this," Obama said, later adding: "It's unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me, or a whole bunch of my predecessors."...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/04/politics/obama-harris-rebuke-trump/index.html
‘This Could Get Much Uglier’: The Fatal Flaw in Trump’s Trade War - POLITICO
In the meantime, the domestic manufacturing sector is shrinking amid corporate paralysis. "
Manufacturers are putting these decisions on hold," said Jay Timmons, head of the National Association of Manufacturers, in a CNBC interview ahead of the tariff announcement. "They're waiting to see whether they should invest and hire. And that's not good for the economy."...
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/04/03/trump-tariffs-manufacturing-confusion-00267945
Saturday, April 12, 2025
The News Roundup – Domestic and International (The 1A) 2025-04-11
Domestic
The Supreme Court told the Trump administration Thursday that it must “facilitate” the release and retrieval of a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to a prison in El Salvador.After announcing tariffs on almost every country in the world last week, President Donald Trump announced this week that he was pausing reciprocal tariffs for 90 days. Except for those on China.
Federal judges in Texas and New York have ruled the Trump administration can no longer cite the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as reason to deport Venezuelan migrants.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. traveled to Texas after a second death linked to a measles outbreak in the state was reported. He also endorsed the use of the MMR vaccine meant to fight the disease, angering many of his supporters.
Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky passed the torch to a new record-breaker.
Interview:
International
Donald Trump paused all his reciprocal tariffs this week except for those on China. Now, Beijing has promised to fight the taxes with everything it’s got. That’s escalating concerns about a trade war with a major global economic partner.Ukraine says Chinese soldiers are now waging war alongside Russian soldiers. China denies the accusation.
On Tuesday, Japan signaled that it would be interested in joining NATO’s support of Ukraine as it continues to fight off the Russian invasion.
And what hope for a new nuclear deal with Iran? Talks are expected to start this weekend.
Interview:
Justice Department scraps deal over Alabama county’s sewage woes - The Washington Post
Friday's decision comes nearly two years after the Biden administration finalized an agreement with local health officials and the Alabama Department of Public Health, based on findings that residents in rural Lowndes County had long suffered inadequate access to sanitation systems, faced burdensome fines and liens, and had serious health risks plaguing their community ignored...
Why You Should Also Worry About Whooping Cough Amid Measles Outbreak — ProPublica
"My concern is that there is going to be a large outbreak of not just measles, but other vaccine-preventable diseases as well, that's going to end up causing a lot of harm, and possibly deaths in children and young adults," said Dr. Anna Durbin, a professor in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who has spent her career studying vaccines. "And it's completely preventable."
https://www.propublica.org/article/whooping-cough-measles-outbreak-vaccine-hesitancy-trump
Ro Khanna takes on lobbyist power with anti-corruption ‘Drain the Swamp Act’
The "Drain the Swamp Act" – shared exclusively with the Guardian and deliberately invoking Trump's own 2016 campaign slogan – would convert into permanent law the ethics requirements previously established by executive order, including bans on lobbyist gifts and "revolving door" restrictions.
"He campaigned on draining the swamp, and yet he gets in there and he says, no, lobbyists can give gifts to White House officials," Khanna said. "What I'm saying is that we need to ban lobbyists from giving gifts to White House officials, not just this administration, but for all administrations going forward."…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/10/ro-khanna-trump-drain-the-swamp-act
Trump weakens US defenses against foreign interference as risks rise
Senate finds efforts by Saudi Arabia and others to meddle in US policy growing in ‘scope, sophistication and reach’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/11/trump-foreign-influence-saudi-arabia-golf
Elon Musk boosting influencer who platforms far-right Putin allies
"Russian propaganda frequently uses figures that it claims to represent authentic sentiment in the US in support of its foreign policy claims", Goode said about Nawfal. "For Russia's purposes, these kinds of interviews not only provide a platform for recirculating propaganda claims about Russia as a defender of normal states, against western imperialism, globalists in Washington, Nazis in Ukraine, etc … but also provide access to wider audiences in the US and elsewhere through their social media channels."…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/10/mario-nawfal-putin-interview-elon-musk
Trump’s about-face on tariffs reveals chaos at the core of his presidency
The depiction of a carefully plotted strategy going perfectly to plan was undermined by Trump himself…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/10/trump-tariffs-retreat-analysis
Friday, April 11, 2025
Ice director wants to run deportations like ‘Amazon Prime for human beings’
"To seek to automate deportations at Amazon-like speed only furthers that harm," she added "These policies are cruel, reckless and driven by white supremacy and greed – not safety."…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/ice-todd-lyons-deporation-amazon
Exclusive: US NIH reverses conference travel ban for scientists | Reuters
"We may not attend a conference even if we pay our own way and use personal leave. Even if we don't use our (NIH) affiliation. What one does on their own time is not anyone else's business," said one currently employed NIH scientist who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal…
Trump directs agencies to quietly repeal regulations — without public notice - POLITICO
The memo appears to rely on a misinterpretation of a recent Supreme Court ruling…
Trump wants to send U.S. citizens to foreign prisons. Experts say there’s no legal way. - The Washington Post
Chin pointed out that "there are serious arguments that it is illegal, in the sense of not being an authorized punishment under law, and unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment as a cruel and unusual punishment" to send incarcerated U.S. citizens to Salvadoran prisons...
Trump orders agencies to ‘sunset’ environmental protections
He ordered agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Energy Department, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and Fish and Wildlife Service to amend regulations so that they expire by October 2026...
EPA Plans to End Greenhouse Gas Reporting for Most Polluters — ProPublica
Climate experts expressed shock and dismay at the move. "It would be a bit like unplugging the equipment that monitors the vital signs of a patient that is critically ill," one said...
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-epa-greenhouse-gas-reporting-climate-crisis
Opinion | Trump’s anti-DEI ultimatum to public schools is a flagrant power grab - The Washington Post
During her confirmation hearing to become education secretary, Linda McMahon promised she would work to "send education back to the states." Already, she is doing the opposite.
Last week, McMahon's department issued an ultimatum to state education officials: Certify within 10 days that their school districts have eliminated all diversity, equity and inclusion programs or lose education funding from Washington. This is a straightforward assault on the federalist nature of the U.S. education system...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/10/dei-education-trump-mcmahon-school-funding/
Elon Musk’s xAI powering its facility in Memphis with ‘illegal’ generators
Elon Musk's xAI powering its facility in Memphis with 'illegal' generators
Thursday, April 10, 2025
GOP's false promise of deficit reduction exposed by budget bill
Last week, every House Republican but one and every Republican senator but two voted to vastly increase the deficit. House Republicans voted for a budget that cut spending by $2 trillion while instructing House committees to cut taxes by $4.8 trillion. Basic arithmetic tells us that this bill would increase the deficit by $2.8 trillion over the 10-year budget window.
So House Republicans, who would like to wear the mantle of deficit reduction, actually voted to increase the deficit by $2.8 trillion...
https://thehill.com/opinion/5239467-republicans-hiding-deficit/
Why did Israel's military kill 15 Palestinian aid workers in Gaza? The IDF's story keeps changing | CBC News
"Why did you destroy the ambulances after killing them? Why did you try to dig deep [in the sand] and hide the ambulances? Why did you hide the bodies?" ... The IDF could not explain why the ambulances were also buried…
Palestinian American teen shot dead by Israeli settler, officials say | West Bank | The Guardian
Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids on Bedouin villages and encampments, has intensified since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023.
European countries and the previous US administration under Joe Biden imposed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, though the White House under Donald Trump removed these sanctions.
The Israeli military has also in recent months carried what it called a "large-scale military operation" in the West Bank to root out militants...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/06/palestinian-teen-citizen-killed-israeli-settler
Americans die earlier at all wealth levels, even if wealth buys more years of life in the US than in Europe
European countries have found ways to reduce health disparities without dramatically increasing health spending. By distributing health-promoting resources more equally across wealth groups, these nations may have created environments where longevity is less dependent on individual wealth...
Kash Patel loses ATF gig as Trump kills gun safety measures
Bondi also intends to roll back Biden-era checks on people who use stabilizing braces to turn pistols into rifles and a regulation that made gun sellers adhere to stringent licensing and background check requirements.
Biden signed the first major federal gun safety bill in decades in the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Meanwhile, Trump, who opposes gun safety regulations and laws, has been bankrolled by the far-right, scandal-plagued National Rifle Association for years...
Experts fear rise in diseases as layoffs halt health research: ‘Incredibly bizarre gaslighting’
Mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) portend a future with more infectious disease outbreaks, chronic conditions and a widening gulf in health between the most affluent and vulnerable, experts told the Guardian.
Further, they said, the Trump administration's multi-pronged attacks on American science represent a generation-defining experience, a new chapter in the "boom and bust" cycle of health funding, and a masterclass in branding, as Donald Trump and secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr dismantle institutions in the name of improving them...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/health-layoff-future-science-disease
Judge orders Trump White House to lift access restrictions on Associated Press
"Under the First Amendment, if the government opens its doors to some journalists – be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere – it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints," McFadden wrote. "The Constitution requires no less."…
Due process for me, not for thee - The Atlantic
Donald Trump has benefited greatly from America's constitutional protections, but he seeks to deprive others of them...
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/04/trump-due-process-hypocrisy/682360/
RFK Jr. says he’s ‘not familiar’ with $11b cuts to state and local health departments
Health and human services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he was unaware that his agency is trying to rescind more than $11 billion from state and local health departments…
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5240663-health-human-services-secretary-cuts-grants/
White House insists iPhones will be US-made – but Apple calls it a non-starter | Trump administration | The Guardian
Cook told Fortune in 2017 that companies like his relied on countries such as China not for cheap labor, but the quality of trained employees.
"The reason is because of the skill and the quantity of skill in one location, and the type of skill," he said.
"[Our] products require really advanced tooling. The precision that you have to have in tooling, and working with the materials that we do, are state-of-the-art, and the tooling skill is very deep here.
"In the US you could have a meeting of tooling engineers, and I'm not sure we could fill the room. In China you could fill multiple football fields."…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/trump-apple-iphones-made-in-usa
US’s biggest egg producer’s profits triple as prices soar | US news | The Guardian
The US's largest egg producer has reported soaring profits as consumer prices hit record highs thanks to avian flu – and alleged price-fixing which is being investigated by the Department of Justice.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/doj-egg-prices-rise-cal-maine-profits
Fact check: are US tariffs really bringing in $2bn a day as Trump claims? | Trump tariffs | The Guardian
Trump did not give any evidence for his $2bn claim, which is tough to substantiate and raises big questions about how his tariff plans are supposed to fit with his broader economic and fiscal policy.
As seismic as his tariff plans are, it is highly unlikely that $2bn a day is being raised, or ever could be...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/fact-check-donald-trump-tariffs-revenue
Trump signs orders targeting two ex-officials who criticized him | Reuters
In response, Taylor said via text message: "I said this would happen. Dissent isn't unlawful. It certainly isn't treasonous. America is headed down a dark path."
Krebs had questioned Trump's claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election in which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden...
Trump to reportedly cut grant for key US steel project in Vance’s home town
Donald Trump is looking to slash a $500m grant from the Biden administration that was slated for Cleveland-Cliffs, a steel manufacturing giant in America's rust belt, according to reporting from CNN. The grant was intended to help the company upgrade its ageing blast furnaces, so they would be powered by hydrogen, natural gas and electricity instead of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/08/trump-steel-manufacturer-cuts
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