Monthly Archives: May 2025

LA Times: Authorities arrest over 100 people on Tennessee roads in support of Trump’s deportation plan

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More than 100 people have been taken into custody by federal immigration officials in a joint operation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, leaving many in Nashville’s immigrant community uncertain and worried.

“None of us have ever seen anything like this,” Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said Friday.

…

But immigrant rights supporters contend that the patrols have focused on parts of the city where the majority of residents are people of color.

“All signs point to this being racial profiling intended to terrorize the heart of the immigrant and refugee community,” Sherman Luna said. “What we’ve heard is that THP is flagging people down for things like a broken taillight or tinted windows.”

Sherman Luna believes some of those being detained would be allowed to stay in the country if they were able to receive competent legal representation at an immigration hearing. Instead, she has heard that people are agreeing to be deported out of fear that they could spend months or years in immigration detention.

Authorities arrest over 100 people on Tennessee roads in support of Trump’s deportation plan
More than 100 people have been taken into custody by federal immigration officials in a joint operation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, leaving many in Nashville’s immigrant community uncertain and worried.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-05-11/authorities-arrest-over-100-people-on-tennessee-roads-in-support-of-trumps-deportation-plan

Newsweek: Trump Administration Accused of Declaring ‘Fake’ Emergency By 15 States

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A coalition of attorneys general across 15 states is suing the Trump administration over declaring a “national emergency” on the first day of Donald Trump‘s presidency.

On January 20, President Trump declared a “national energy emergency” via executive order, over what he claimed to be “our Nation’s inadequate energy supply.”

The attorneys general from Washington and California say this is not true, and that US energy production is actually at “an all time high.”

“Washington state filed suit today alongside 14 other states to challenge the president’s fake “energy emergency,” declared to line the pockets of Big Oil by handing out free passes to pollute our environment,” said Washington Attorney General Nick Brown on May 9.

Trump administration accused of declaring ‘fake’ emergency by 15 states
The president has been accused of creating a “fake” energy emergency in order to “line the pockets of Big Oil,” according to 15 states.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-administration-fake-energy-emergency-15-states-2070864

New York Times: Trump Installs Top Justice Dept. Official at Library of Congress, Prompting a Standoff

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The president named Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, as the acting librarian. But staff members refused access to two department officials he chose for key roles at Congress’s main research arm.

President Trump on Monday named the No. 2 official at the Justice Department and his former personal lawyer to serve as the acting librarian of Congress, initiating a shake-up at the main research library of the legislative branch that prompted an instant revolt among the staff.

Mr. Trump named Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general who was his lead defense lawyer in his criminal trial in Manhattan last year, to take over from Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress whom the president abruptly fired late last week.

But staff members at the Library of Congress pushed back, insisting that Congress must have input and refusing to give two other top Justice Department officials whom Mr. Blanche chose for senior positions there access to the agency’s headquarters on Capitol Hill, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The lockout led to a brief standoff across from the Capitol and became the latest flashpoint in a battle over where Congress’s authority ends and the White House’s begins.

trump-library-of-congress.html

Esquire: The White House Just Casually Floated a Move That Would Be Traitorous to the Very Idea of America

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Despite what Trump advisor Stephen “Goebbels” Miller may believe, habeas corpus is a core legal right—not a revocable privilege.

The Constitution is clear and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus could be suspended in time of invasion,” said Stephen “Goebbels” Miller, White House aide, and now a confirmed traitor to the American idea. “So that’s an option we’re actively looking at.”

Unless every other elected official in this country stands up against even the consideration of this extremist pipe dream, there is no point of being a citizen of this country any more. It would be as empty a title as that of the sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Despite whatever is rattling around Miller’s febrile cabeza, habeas corpus is not a revocable privilege. It is a right guaranteed to everyone incarcerated. In calling it a “privilege” that “could be suspended” to suit the whims of his boss, “Goebbels” Miller proves himself to be a traitor not only to the American idea but also to the freaking Magna Carta (!), the 39th clause of which states, “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned … except by the lawful judgment of his equals and by the law of the land.” “Goebbels” Miller is proposing to reverse all English-speaking jurisprudence since 1215. I think if you find yourself on the wrong side of human rights from John Lackland, it’s time for us to be quite done with you.

The White House Just Casually Floated a Move That Would Be Traitorous to the Very Idea of America
Despite what Trump advisor Stephen Miller may believe, habeas corpus is a core legal right—not a revocable privilege.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a64745130/stephen-miller-trump-habeas-corpus

NBC News: Trump admin’s threat to suspend core U.S. legal right sparks outcry, alarm

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Stephen “Goebbels” Miller said the president is “actively looking at” suspending the right for people to see a judge if detained in the U.S. Legal scholars say that Congress, not Trump, has that power.

Legal experts and Democrats expressed growing alarm over the weekend that Trump administration officials are openly discussing unilaterally suspending habeas corpus — a bedrock American legal right — without the approval of Congress.

The writ of habeas corpus, which dates back centuries, grants anyone detained in the U.S. the right to see a judge, challenge the government’s evidence against them and present a defense.

But White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen “Goebbels” Miller downplayed its significance on Friday and suggesting that the administration could move to suspend it unilaterally. “That’s an option we’re actively looking at,” “Goebbels” Miller told reporters at the White House.

Trump admin’s threat to suspend core U.S. legal right sparks outcry and alarm
Stephen Miller said the president is “actively looking at” suspending the right for people to see a judge if detained in the U.S. Legal scholars say that Congress, not Trump, has that power.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/legal-experts-habeas-corpus-stephen-miller-rcna206130

Associated Press: Trump administration fires top copyright official days after firing Librarian of Congress

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The Trump administration has fired the nation’s top copyright official, Shira Perlmutter, days after abruptly terminating the head of the Library of Congress, which oversees the U.S. Copyright Office.

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Perlmutter’s office recently released a report examining whether artificial intelligence companies can use copyrighted materials to “train” their AI systems and then compete in the same market as the human-made works they were trained on.

The report, the third part of a lengthy AI study, follows a review that Perlmutter began in 2023 with opinions from thousands of people including AI developers, actors and country singers.

In January, the office clarified its approach as one based on the “centrality of human creativity” in authoring a work that warrants copyright protections. The office receives about half a million copyright applications per year covering millions of creative works.

“Where that creativity is expressed through the use of AI systems, it continues to enjoy protection,” Perlmutter said in January. “Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine … would undermine rather than further the constitutional goals of copyright.”

Trump administration fires top copyright official days after firing Librarian of Congress
The Trump administration has fired the nation’s top copyright official, Shira Perlmutter. The move comes days after the abrupt termination of the head of the Library of Congress, which oversees the U.S.

https://apnews.com/article/copyright-director-firing-government-trump-7ab99992a96131bce7de853b66feec68

Trump fires Copyright Office director after report raises questions about AI training | TechCrunch
President Donald Trump has fired Shira Perlmutter, who leads the U.S. Copyright Office. The firing was reported by CBS News and Politico, and seemingly

Reuters: Judge orders temporary halt to Trump administration’s government overhaul

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President Donald Trump’s administration must temporarily halt its sweeping government overhaul because Congress did not authorize it to carry out large-scale staffing cuts and the restructuring of agencies, a federal judge said on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco sided with a group of unions, non-profits and local governments, and blocked large-scale mass layoffs known as “reductions in force” for 14 days.

“As history demonstrates, the President may broadly restructure federal agencies only when authorized by Congress,” said Illston.

Judge orders temporary halt to Trump administration’s government overhaul
Dozens of lawsuits have challenged DOGE’s work on various grounds including violating privacy laws and exceeding its authority, with mixed results. This ruling is one of the broadest yet.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/judge-orders-temporary-halt-trump-administrations-mass-layoff-plans-2025-05-10

The Register: DOGE worker’s old creds found exposed in infostealer malware dumps

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Developer and journalist Micah Lee reported last Thursday that he found a whopping 51 data breach records and four infostealer log dumps associated with DOGE employee Kyle Schutt on data breach tracking service Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) – which is unnerving as Schutt has access to sensitive government data at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

As Lee pointed out, 51 breach records on HIBP is a lot, but excusable because while Schutt’s info was found in records associated with a 2013 Adobe breach, the 2016 LinkedIn breach, and Gravatar’s 2020 breach, none of those incidents involved Schutt’s personal machines.

What is attributable to a lapse of security hygiene, however, are the four infostealer logs that link to Schutt. Such logs contain usernames and passwords stolen by infostealer malware, suggesting one or more of Schutt’s computers were compromised at some point.

DOGE worker’s old creds found in malware data dumps
Infosec in brief: PLUS: Celsius scammer sent to slammer; Death-by-hacking victim warns you’re never safe; and more

https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/12/doge_cyber_experts_creds_found

MSNBC: Trump is finally getting his parade — and it’s only going to cost taxpayers tens of millions

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President Donald Trump is finally nearing the fulfillment of a dream that he’s had since his first term in office: a lavish military parade that proceeds through the streets of Washington.

NBC News reports the parade will be “to commemorate Flag Day,” and will also mark the Army’s 250th birthday on June 14. As it happens, that’s also the president’s birthday, though Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that the “big, beautiful” parade is “not necessarily” about his birthday. But, he said, “It’s a very important day.”

Regardless of the exact significance of the date, Trump throwing a party for himself with jets and tanks parading down Constitution Avenue will be a wasteful, infrastructure-destroying display of jingoism with authoritarian undertones, as well as a pithy summary of Trump’s presidential vision. That Trump is succeeding in staging this ceremony in his second term instead of his first also seems apropos, given how his second term so far has been defined by more baldly despotic stunts and policies.

In 2018, Trump was bowled over by Bastille Day celebrations during a visit to France. “It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen,” Trump told reporters after the event. “It was two hours on the button, and it was military might.” He also said to French President Emmanuel Macron: “We’re going to have to try to top it.”

Trump is finally getting his parade — and it’s only going to cost taxpayers tens of millions
Trump’s military parade could cost up to $45 million, but for Trump it’s worth it for the imperial symbolism.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-is-finally-getting-his-parade-and-it-s-only-going-to-cost-taxpayers-tens-of-millions/ar-AA1EBAai

Daily Mail: Kristi Noem’s honorary degree event draws scrutiny

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Kristi Noem faced the ultimate humiliation as she accepted an honorary degree on stage in South Dakota on Saturday.

On the other side of the state, a woman from India that she has been trying to deport, Priya Saxena, was on stage at South Dakota Mines in Rapid City receiving her doctorate in chemical and biological engineering and a masters degree.

Saxena was introduced to the crowd as Dr. Priya Saxena, sparking cheers from the audience.

Meanwhile, Noem was heckled by protesters who rallied against her honorary degree in light of her work as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, leading the Trump administration’s efforts to carry out the nation’s largest mass deportation scheme.

‘A doctorate in graft I could understand,’ one sign outside the Dakota State University campus hall read as Noem beamed inside.

Saxena has been a target of Noem and her department for weeks. The department maintains she should have her student visa revoked because in 2021 she was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of failing to move over for flashing yellow lights. 

Flashing yellow lights? And they all moved away on the Group “W” bench!

Kristi Noem’s ultimate humiliation during honorary degree ceremony
Kristi Noem faced the ultimate humiliation as she accepted an honorary degree on stage in South Dakota on Saturday.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14701131/Kristi-Noem-degree-Priya-Saxena-doctorate.html