onfocus

France’s research minister said a French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration.

I guess the US is a medieval city now where you can be rejected at the gate if the guard hears you badmouthing the king. This is not how adults behave. Is everyone in this weird cult?

These billionaires, Duran argued, “are fully in control of Trump’s MAGA party,” but their ambitions go beyond that. “The Republican Party is simply a host organism for the parasite of tech fascism,” Duran wrote, but “it’s not just the Republican Party that’s lost its soul. The tech authoritarians are also moving to co-opt leaders in the Democratic Party.”

Some rare mainstream analysis of the American oligarchy. We should be creating, using, and promoting alternative networks and services when we can. Having a thriving distributed infrastructure is more resilient than a handful of centralized points of failure.

Federal officials told the university it must immediately place its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under “academic receivership for a minimum of five years.” The demand was among several described as conditions for receiving federal funding, including $400 million already pulled over allegations of antisemitism.

The federal government telling a university which specific academic programs they have to give up control of is disturbing. This response from scholars at Columbia Law explains why this is an unconstitutional request: A Title VI Demand Letter That Itself Violates Title VI (and the Constitution).

“Just to see Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk, I think is a huge slap in the face. And I think there is a wide sense of betrayal if things proceed as currently planned.”

Yep, feeling betrayed by the party. I have really been appreciating AOC who seems like the only person representing my views.

Amid the aid freeze, FEWS NET has no funding to pay staff in Washington or those working on the ground. The website is down. And its treasure trove of data that underpinned global analysis on food security – used by researchers around the world – has been pulled offline.

Republicans want to maximize suffering. Please vote against them in the future.

Other data have also sounded alarms on the economy. Jobless claims were up last week as cuts by DOGE rippled through the labor market, pending home sales hit a record low, and consumer confidence indicators sank on rising fears of tariff-fueled inflation.

From a strong, growing economy to a garbage economy in one month. Please remember who caused this when you vote.

Even as Donald Trump has made his fealty to Putin clear, even as his Director of National Intelligence parrots Russian disinformation (protected now by the FBI), Elon Musk has been vacuuming up all the data of all the government. And every claim that he’s been modernizing networks or searching for fraud have fallen apart.

I’m not sure how direct sabotage would be different from what we’re seeing.

“TASS was not on the approved list of media for today’s pool,” a White House official told CNN in a statement. “As soon as it came to the attention of press office staff that he was in the Oval, he was escorted out by the Press Secretary.”

Sure, Jan.

The billionaire wrote on his social media platform X that 18F and TTS had been “deleted” weeks ago, re-posting another account that called the 18F a “far left government computer office” and pointed to its work on the  IRS’ free tax filing system, Direct File.

Anything that saves people time or money is considered far left by Republicans. I invite you to join the far left where people believe it should be easier to file your taxes. This is destruction of a government that serves the people.

The Trump administration has publicly and privately signaled that it does not believe Russia represents a cyber threat against US national security or critical infrastructure, marking a radical departure from longstanding intelligence assessments.

US Republicans have betrayed their country. They are now the Russian party. Americans need to resist and vote for people who will protect the country, not lower its defenses for takeover.

The cuts, which are said to affect between 560 and 1,830 workers at the agency, were planned for at least a week, contingent upon the confirmation of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who oversees the agency. NOAA reported a permanent workforce of 11,758 in fiscal 2023, meaning the cuts could affect more than 10 percent of employees. One source who asked to speak on background told The Hill the firings began Thursday and will continue Friday.

I like getting a heads up on bad weather headed my way. It sure seems like Republicans don't want anyone to have a heads up on bad weather for some reason.

Good commentary on this from climate scientist Daniel Swain on Mastodon.

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Tuesday that the Trump administration would start handpicking which media outlets were allowed to participate in the presidential pool, the small, rotating group of journalists who relay the president’s day-to-day activities to the public.

Media outlets didn't stand with the AP as they were pushed out. And now they're being pushed out anyway. There's power in numbers and they're coming for you anyway, why not band together and refuse to cover these propaganda events?