/2025

Judge frees Columbia student activist whom Trump administration wants to deport
▻https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/30/judge-frees-columbia-student-activist-whom-trump-administration-wants-to-d

BURLINGTON, Vermont — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the immediate release of a Columbia University student who was detained by immigration authorities and targeted for deportation over his involvement in pro-Palestinian protests.

Je note ce commentaire de Scott Horton :
▻https://bsky.app/profile/robertscotthorton.bsky.social/post/3lo24zqkckc2i

En ordonnant la présence de l’étudiant de Columbia dans sa salle d’audience et en ordonnant sa libération sur-le-champ, un juge fédéral a privé Trump et son équipe de la possibilité de défier son ordonnance, qui a été immédiatement exécutée par les agents du tribunal.

Pentagon’s ‘SWAT team of nerds’ resigns en masse - POLITICO
▻https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/15/pentagons-digital-resignations-00290930
▻https://static.politico.com/59/47/ca6eb8bb4ac48a497914c951661b/https-delivery-gettyimages.com/downloads/2206719323

State tells employees to report on one another for ‘anti-Christian bias’
▻https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/11/state-report-anti-christian-bias-033535

The Trump administration has ordered State Department employees to report on any instances of coworkers displaying “anti-Christian bias” as part of its effort to implement a sweeping new executive order on supporting employees of Christian faith working in the federal government.

The department, according to a copy of an internal cable obtained by POLITICO, will work with an administration-wide task force to collect information “involving anti-religious bias during the last presidential administration” and will collect examples of anti-Christian bias through anonymous employee report forms.

The cable was sent out to embassies around the world under Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s name. The instructions also were released in a department-wide notice.

#under_his_eye

Trump’s new executive order victim: Your shower
▻https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/09/trump-shower-water-pressure-executive-order-00283036

“In my case I like to take a nice shower, to take care of my beautiful hair,” Trump told reporters while signing the order in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “I have to stand under the shower for 15 minutes till it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.”

#le_gorafi_tout_ça

Trump, Hegseth promise record $1 trillion Pentagon budget
▻https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/07/hegseth-trump-1-trillion-defense-budget-00007147

The number would be a significant increase from the $892 billion funding Congress allocated for national #defense programs this year, which includes the Pentagon, nuclear weapons development and security programs at other agencies. It also comes as the armed services seeks to cut 8 percent of their individual budgets and reinvest the money in modernization efforts.

Hegseth is also planning to slash tens of thousands of department civilian employees across the globe as the Pentagon starts work on what is expected to include consolidation of domestic and overseas bases.

Comment le Danemark est devenu le poste d’écoute de la NSA en Europe [article de mai 2021]
▻https://www.france24.com/fr/%C3%A9co-tech/20210531-comment-le-danemark-est-devenu-le-poste-d-%C3%A9coute-de-la-nsa-e

Les révélations, dimanche, de l’aide apportée par les espions danois à la NSA américaine pour surveiller des dirigeants européens soulignent le rôle de premier plan que ce pays scandinave joue pour les services américains de renseignement. Une collaboration qui n’a fait que s’accentuer au fil des ans.

Le Danemark a servi de base arrière aux agents de la NSA pour espionner la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel et d’autres politiciens outre-Rhin, des personnalités françaises, norvégiennes ou encore suédoises entre 2012 et 2014 au moins.

Et pour remercier le Danemark…

Trump is bombarding the Ivy League. This college just hired a staunch ally as its top lawyer.
▻https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/19/trump-is-bombarding-the-ivy-league-this-college-just-hired-a-staunch-ally-

Dartmouth College announced this week that it has tapped Matt Raymer, the former chief counsel at the Republican National Committee, to serve as the college’s top lawyer and senior vice president. Raymer will not only run the general counsel’s office, but also serve on Dartmouth President Sian Leah Beilock’s leadership team and advise the college on “legal and strategic matters.” Raymer, who in January publicly backed President Donald Trump’s push to end birthright citizenship, will also oversee the school’s Office of Visa and Immigration Services.

Raymer’s selection comes as Republicans dramatically escalate their attacks on higher education — training their ire on Ivy League institutions they’ve long accused of fostering liberalism and censoring conservatives. It’s left university leaders balancing a series of competing demands: preserving their relationships with an administration on which most rely for funding, defending free speech on campus and protecting non-citizen student activists Trump campaigned on deporting.

Thread by jcorrales2011 on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App
▻https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1891102665293136221.html

All my life I have studied democratization and autocratization. My 1st field trip was to newly democratic Argentina. I then added autocracies to my portfolio: Cuba, Ven, etc. I think I can recognize the stages of transition to authoritarianism. Here are the boxes checked off.
1. President thinks he is saving the country.
Trump Suggests No Laws Are Broken if He’s ‘Saving His Country’
President Trump shared a quotation on social media, making it clear it was one he wanted people to absorb: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/us/politics/trump-saves-country-quote.html
2. Ruling party acts like a rubber stamp. They like his policies and/or fear his retribution. Either way, they never say never.
How Each Senator Has Voted on Trump’s Nominees So Far
The Senate has confirmed each of President Trump’s cabinet nominees that faced a vote to this point.
▻https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/02/06/us/politics/cabinet-confirmation-votes.html
3. Overuse of executive orders, including declaring national emergencies.
Trump’s 2025 Executive Orders | Holland & Knight
▻https://www.hklaw.com/en/general-pages/trumps-2025-executive-orders-chart
4. Colonize the federal bureaucracy. Fire the staff. Replace them loyalists.
Which agencies have been hit by federal layoffs? What to know about NPS, NIH, IRS, more
Over the last week, thousands of federal employees were fired or laid off as part of President Trump’s cost-cutting plan.
▻https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/15/federal-layoffs-firings-2025/78761259007
5. Defund institutions as a way to force compliance.
Trump’s Attempt to Unilaterally Control State and Local Funding is Dangerous, Dumb, and Undemocratic | ACLU
Donald Trump’s attempts to withhold vital funding to bully and coerce states into compliance is plainly unconstitutional.
▻https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/trumps-attempt-to-unilaterally-control-state-and-local-funding-is-dangerous-du
6. Trash-talk institutions that the govt dislikes. Treat them as guilty actors and harming agents, without conducting reviews or involving court procedures. Justify their purges as efforts to save taxpayers’ money
At USAID, Waste and Abuse Runs Deep
For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the
▻https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/at-usaid-waste-and-abuse-runs-deep
7. Mobilize hate across society. Encourage people to develop intense hate of some out-group (illegal immigrants, trans folks, ethnic minorities, Hollywood celebrities, elite colleges, dissenters).
Trump blames Democrats, DEI for deadly plane crash without evidence
President Trump said the midair collision over the Potomac River was a dark night in our nation’s history during a press conference Thursday before shifting blame without evidence to Democrats as well…
▻https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-blames-democrats-dei-deadly-plane-crash-without-evidence
8. Replace the rule of law with autocratic legalism, which means: for my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law. Autocratic legalism requires you to end the independence of the justice department
▻https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-shakes-justice-department-deeply-conservative-prosecutors-head-exits-
9. Harass the free press. Create a hierarchy: good press (treat me kindly), full access; bad press, no access. Entangle news organization in legal battles
▻https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/14/associated-press-banned-air-force-one-018993
10. Create information blackouts.
Donald Trump is plunging government websites into darkness, with profound consequences for American democracy
Since Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th, his administration has systematically shut down US government websites and deleted information relating to many issues, including diversity initia…
▻https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2025/02/11/donald-trump-is-plunging-government-websites-into-darkness-with-profoun
11. Defy the courts. Make sure you have a conflict with the court, so that you can counterattack them en bloc
Opinion | This Is What the Courts Can Do if Trump Defies Them
How the escalating measures available to courts would work.
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/16/opinion/what-if-trump-defies-courts.html