2 h. ago ‘Protest can shape the world’: Rebecca Solnit on the fight back against Trump

Demonstrations against the US president have been underplayed and dismissed, but a lifetime of activism has taught me how powerful collective action can beOn 5 April, millions of people rallied against the Trump administration and its campaigns of destruction. In small towns and big cities from Alaska to Florida, red counties and blue (and a handful of European cities), they gathered with homemade signs full of fury and heartbreak and sarcasm. Yet the “Hands Off” protests received minimal media coverage, and the general response was that they didn’t do anything, because they didn’t have immediate and obvious, and most of all quantifiable, consequences. I’ve heard versions of “no one cares”, “no one is doing anything” and “nothing came of it” for all my activist life. These responses are sometimes a sign that the speaker isn’t really looking and sometimes that they don’t recognise impacts that aren’t immediate, direct or obvious. Tracking those indirect and unhurried impacts, trying ...

Politics

4 h. ago Trump administration files emergency appeal to Supreme Court to grant DOGE access to Social Security data

A court recently described DOGE’s data grab as a ‘fishing expedition’

Events

4 h. ago ‘A cocktail for a misinformed world’: why China and Russia are cheering Trump’s attacks on media

Today on World Press Freedom Day, there are warnings that US attempts to withdraw from promoting independent journalism will have far-reaching effectsAs Donald Trump’s executive order in March led to the shuttering of Voice of America (VOA) – the global broadcaster whose roots date back to the fight against Nazi propaganda – he quickly attracted support from figures not used to aligning themselves with any US administration.Trump had ordered the US Agency for Global Media, the federal agency that funds VOA and other groups promoting independent journalism overseas, to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law”. The decision suddenly halted programming in 49 languages to more than 425 million people. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago Trump administration to cut thousands of jobs from CIA and other spy agencies – report

CIA to lose 1,200 while NSA among other agencies reported to face downsizing amid president’s drive to shrink federal workforceThe White House plans to cut staffing at the Central Intelligence Agency by 1,200 positions while other intelligence agencies including the National Security Agency will also shed thousands of jobs, the Washington Post has reported.A person familiar with the plan confirmed the changes to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago Trump administration sues Colorado and Denver for allegedly interfering in immigration enforcement

The Department of Justice is suing Colorado and Denver for allegedly interfering with federal efforts to enforce immigration laws

Politics

12 h. ago EPA announces broad reorganization that includes shuffle of scientific research

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday announced a broad reorganization as part of the Trump administration’s drive to cut costs that some activists worry will harm the agency’s independent scientific research

Science

13 h. ago US reaches agreement to settle lawsuit brought over Ashli Babbitt's shooting during Capitol riot

Lawyers say the Trump administration has reached a preliminary agreement to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt over her shooting by an officer during the U.S. Capitol riot

Events

13 h. ago Texas AG opens investigation into toothpaste companies over fluoride exposure. But, dentists say it’s safe

Despite decades of data, Trump administration leaders are working to change the federal fluoride regulations

Events

13 h. ago Puerto Rico drops climate lawsuit after DoJ sues states to block threats to big oil

Territory’s voluntary move comes as Trump administration makes good on pledge to end lawsuits against oil and gasPuerto Rico has voluntarily dismissed its 2024 climate lawsuit against big oil, a Friday legal filing shows, just two days after the US justice department sued two states over planned litigation against oil companies for their role in the climate crisis.Puerto Rico’s lawsuit, filed in July, alleged that the oil and gas giants had misled the public about the climate dangers associated with their products. It came as part of a wave of litigation filed by dozens of US states, cities and municipalities in recent years. Continue reading...

Society

14 h. ago Trump administration reaches settlement with Jan 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt’s family

Family filed $30 million wrongful death lawsuit over fatal shooting of Capitol rioter

Politics

15 h. ago Trump administration reaches settlement with Ashli Babbitt’s family

Family filed wrongful death lawsuit over fatal shooting of January 6 rioter

Politics

15 h. ago Stephen Miller ‘top contender’ to become new National Security Adviser

Stephen Miller, the architect behind some of the Trump administration’s most aggressive immigration policies, is in line to replace ousted Mike Waltz

Events

16 h. ago Stephen Miller ‘top contender’ to become new head of National Security Agency

Stephen Miller, the architect behind some of the Trump administration’s most aggressive immigration policies, is in line to replace ousted Mike Waltz

Events

16 h. ago Scientific societies say they'll do national climate assessment after Trump dismissed report authors

Two major scientific societies say they will fill the void from the Trump administration’s dismissal of scientists writing a cornerstone federal report on what climate change is doing to the United States

Politics

21 h. ago US economy beats expectations with 177,000 jobs added in April

Figures indicate labour market resilience despite Trump administration’s deep cuts to federal workforce

Politics

23 h. ago Revealed: Forecasts of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels soar in Trump’s first 100 days

Tariff chaos hampers Trump’s pledge to ‘drill, baby, drill’, but analysis still shows surge in planet-heating emissions‘A ruthless agenda’: charting 100 days of Trump’s onslaught on the environmentDonald Trump’s ambitions for the US to “drill, baby, drill” for more fossil fuels have ironically been hampered by the economic chaos unleashed by his own tariffs, but the US is still on track to increase oil and gas extraction, causing a surge in planet-heating emissions, a new analysis shows.The US was already the world’s leading oil and gas power, producing more of the fossil fuels than any country in history during Joe Biden’s administration. But Trump has sought to escalate this further, declaring an “energy emergency” to open up more land and ocean for drilling and launching an unprecedented assault on environmental regulations in his first 100 days back in the White House. Continue reading...

Politics

23 h. ago The way universities can survive the Trump era? Band together in an alliance | David Kirp

Nato for higher education – a mutual defense pact is a long-shot approach, but it might just convince the bully in the White House to back offHigher education is under attack from the person who inhabits the White House. Universities are being threatened with an array of punishments, including the cutoff of their federal contracts and grants, the loss of their nonprofit status and a tax on their endowment. The Trump administration is demanding a say in whom they admit, whom they hire and even what courses they teach.It’s a grim message – abandon your fundamental values, or else. The idea of an “existential moment” has become a cliche, but this situation warrants that grim description. Academic freedom, the lifeblood of higher education, is being threatened.David Kirp is professor emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley and the author of The College Dropout Scandal Continue reading...

Politics

24 h. ago Trump 100 days: White House action plan makes Project 2025 look mild

Donald Trump tried to distance himself from the radical rightwing blueprint for government during the campaign but its prescriptions are all over the administration’s agendaTrump’s whirlwind start to his second presidencyWhen Donald Trump chose a Project 2025 author to lead a key federal agency that would carry out the underpinnings of the conservative manifesto’s aims, he solidified the project’s role in his second term.Shortly after he won re-election, the US president nominated Russ Vought to lead the office of management and budget. Vought wrote a chapter for Project 2025 about consolidating power in the executive branch and advances a theory that allows the president to withhold funds from agencies, even if Congress has allocated them. Consolidating power, in part through firing a supposed “deep state” and hiring loyalists, is a major plank of the project – and of Trump’s first 100 days. Continue reading...

Politics

29 h. ago Trump administration investigating Illinois school district for discrimination over ‘privilege walks’ and diversity training

Allegations were subject of civil rights complaint from same teacher under first Trump administration

Events

29 h. ago Militarily cosying up to Trump in Yemen cannot end well for the UK | Paul Rogers

US foreign policy is turning it into a global pariah – yet Labour’s strike on the Houthis represents a new level of supportPaul Rogers is emeritus professor of peace studies at Bradford UniversityThis week’s RAF attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen was the first to be approved by the Labour government. It joined a major US military operation that started in March and has involved 45 days of airstrikes. Operation Rough Rider is a demonstration by the Trump administration that it will prosecute a vigorous war that is more intense than under Joe Biden, and has, according to the US, already seen more than 1,000 targets hit.The RAF operation reportedly targeted a plant manufacturing armed drones used in Houthi attacks on shipping transiting the Red Sea, and demonstrated that Keir Starmer has decided to be Donald Trump’s closest military ally.Paul Rogers is emeritus professor of peace studies at Bradford University Continue reading...

Events