USA News and Discussions

[firestar464]

Justice Department says it will resume practice of obtaining reporters’ records in leak inquiries

https://apnews.com/article/justice-depa ... 9e08536b9d

[firestar464]

Judge halts parts of Trump’s overhaul of US elections, including proof-of-citizenship requirement

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/ju ... r-AA1DygSL

[weatheriscool]

Trump admin brainstorms aggressive tactics to clear homeless camps in cities and forcibly hospitalize people, report

Source: The Independent

Saturday 26 April 2025 21:14 BST

Officials from the Justice Department who manage grant distributions are brainstorming ways to clear homeless encampments and increase the involuntary hospitalization of individuals with mental illnesses, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post. This represents the latest indication that the Trump administration is following through on commitments to aggressively remove homeless people from public spaces, as President Donald Trump spoke of during the 2024 campaign.

Just last month, the president issued an executive order aimed at making the District of Columbia “safe and beautiful,” which instructed the National Park Service to remove all homeless encampments from federal land in the capital. In the past, he has spoken of housing the homeless in tent cities on inexpensive land on the outskirts of cities and jailing those who refuse “treatment.”

The email was sent on Thursday evening to employees in the Office of Justice Programs and included eight questions asking for input on how best to direct resources to issues concerning homelessness and mental illness. Recipients have until Wednesday to submit their responses.

“What can DOJ do to more efficiently shift chronic vagrants away from the public square and into a more concentrated space so that order can be restored and resources and services can be deployed more effectively?” one of the questions read. The email stated that the White House had directed the department and other agencies to provide legislative, funding, and other solutions for issues related to homelessness, mental health, and more.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 40126.html

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Schumer bats down impeachment talk: ‘Too far away to even judge’

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/27/poli ... ment-talks

Common Schumer L

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[firestar464]

Hundreds more NSF grants terminated after agency director resigns

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01312-8

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Hundreds more NSF grants terminated after agency director resigns

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01312-8

This is one hell of a gift to china. This will destroy our ability to compete and leave us becoming weaker as they become stronger. I couldn't imagine a more destructive mindset then that of Trump.

Idiocy.

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

A Bomb Threat Targeted Student Protesters. So Why Did They Get Blamed for It?

https://theintercept.com/2025/04/24/bar ... mb-threat/

[firestar464]

Texas lawmakers want to exempt police from deadly conduct charges

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/28 ... ct-exempt/

[firestar464]

US government expands grounds for canceling international students' legal status

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/science/ ... r-AA1DSCjR

[firestar464]

[weatheriscool]

Trump administration plans major downsizing at U.S. spy agencies

Source: Washington Post

The CIA plans to cut 1,200 positions, along with thousands more from other parts of the U.S. intelligence community.

The Trump administration is planning significant personnel cuts at the Central Intelligence Agency and other major U.S. spy units, downsizing the government's most sensitive national security agencies, according to people familiar with the plans.

The administration recently informed lawmakers on Capitol Hill that it intends to reduce the CIA's workforce by about 1,200 personnel over several years and cut thousands more from other parts of the U.S. intelligence community, including at the National Security Agency, a highly secretive service that specializes in cryptology and global electronic espionage, a person familiar with the matter said. The person, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The specifics of the planned cuts have not been previously reported.

The CIA does not publicly disclose the size of its workforce, but it is believed to be about 22,000. It is unclear which parts of the spy agency would be most affected. The downsizing is happening even as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has pledged to target more agency resources on China and on cartels smuggling fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into the United States.

Read more: https://wapo.st/4djvtrr

[weatheriscool]

Trump proposes eliminating the NEA and NEH as arts grants are canceled

Source: Washington Post

President Donald Trump’s budget proposal would eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, reviving his failed first-term attempts to scrap the grantmaking agencies as he moves to reshape the nation’s artistic and cultural landscape.

The proposed cuts come even after the NEH slashed its workforce and the NEA canceled grants in compliance with Trump’s directives to reduce the federal workforce and shut down diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The tentative budget plan also targets the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as part of $163 billion in proposed cuts across much of the federal government.

-snip-

Last month, after the administration eyed plans to make NEH cuts, at least 1,200 NEH grants were canceled, according to the National Humanities Alliance. Many NEH employees also received reduction-in-force notices about a week later.

Then, NEH acting chair Michael McDonald told the National Council of Humanities that some funds from the NEH and NEA would be repurposed to pay for the National Garden of American Heroes and next year’s Declaration of Independence celebrations.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/20 ... eliminate/

[firestar464]

US consumer watchdog asks court to scrap medical debt regulation

https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 025-05-01/

Scientific American- Science Isn’t about Domination. It’s about Democracy

https://archive.ph/23ifV

[firestar464]

Nymag- All By Himself: John Fetterman insists he is in good health. But staffers past and present say they no longer recognize the man they once knew.

https://archive.ph/RnMhu

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[firestar464]

Just saw this video of CNN interviewing a member of the Sinaloa Cartel.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/05/world/vi ... igvid-vrtc

Yet another example of "poverty breeds desperation, and desperation leads to desperate (and wrong) actions"

[firestar464]