Monday, May 12th
Last update07:29:14 AM GMT
Political Glance
Every night at midnight, Will Trim sits down to the piano in his Boston apartment and waits for lights out in the Louisiana ICE detention center where his best friend is being held.
His cellphone rings. On the other end, Kseniia Petrova is silent. She leans against a brick wall in a freezing ward with 101 other women, cradling one of six working phones to her ear. She listens.
A federal judge in San Francisco has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's sweeping overhaul of the federal government.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, a Clinton appointee, came after a hearing Friday in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions, nonprofits and local governments.
The plaintiffs argue in their complaint that President Trump's efforts to "radically restructure and dismantle the federal government" without any authorization from Congress violate the Constitution.
Illston agreed with the plaintiffs, asserting in the hearing that Supreme Court precedent makes clear that while the president does have the authority to seek changes at agencies, he must do so in lawful ways.
The National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 declared that the humanities are essential for enhancing America’s global leadership “in the realm of ideas and of the spirit,” and for supporting U.S. democracy, which “demands wisdom and vision in its citizens.”
The National Endowment for the Humanities was born from these declarations. It is the only federal agency dedicated to the humanities, encompassing history, literature, linguistics, law, philosophy, archaeology, language, comparative religion and ethics. Its companion agency, the National Endowment for the Arts, is the largest federal funder of the arts and arts education in the country, supporting communities to engage with and practice such creative work as painting, sculpture, music and dance.
The 1965 founding legislation captures the government’s original belief that the humanities are vital for the greater good of society, enabling citizens to flourish both as individuals and in their civic lives. The humanities embodied then — and still embody now — the high value Americans should place on preserving the nation’s cultural heritage and fostering respect for the diverse beliefs and values that define our nation.
Exasperated by the turmoil that has dogged Pete Hegseth’s office in recent weeks, the White House will block the US defense secretary’s choice of chief of staff and select a candidate of its own, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Hegseth had suggested giving the chief of staff position to Marine Col Ricky Buria after the first person in the role, Joe Kasper, left last month in the wake of a contentious leak investigation that brought the ouster of three other senior aides.
But the White House has made clear to Hegseth that Buria will not be elevated to become his most senior aide at the Pentagon, the people said, casting Buria as a liability on account of his limited experience as a junior military assistant and his recurring role in internal office drama.
During a press appearance on Friday, Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller detailed another possible prong of the White House’s attempts to target unauthorized immigrants: suspending habeas corpus.
“The Constitution is clear — and that of course is the supreme law of the land — that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion,” Miller said. “So it’s an option that we’re actively looking at.”
Habeas corpus – as enshrined in the Constitution – helps shield people from unlawful detention, and ensures that they’re able to contest their incarceration in court. It translates to “you should have the body” in Latin and guarantees that individuals are able to physically appear in front of a judge if they are detained.
Any suspension of habeas corpus would further undercut due process protections for individuals who are detained by the Trump administration as the White House seeks to ramp up immigrant deportations.
TVNL Comment: This is the most frightening move yet. Habeas Corpus is the cornerstone of any democracy. Be scared. Be very scared.
Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on the social platform X that Baraka committed trespass and ignored warnings from Homeland Security personnel to leave Delaney Hall, a detention facility run by private prison operator GEO Group.
The mayor has been protesting the opening of the facility throughout this week, saying its operators did not get proper permits.
In her social media post, Habba said Baraka had “chosen to disregard the law.” She added that he was taken into custody.
Witnesses said the arrest came after Baraka attempted to join a scheduled tour of the facility with three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
A Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship is helping launch an initiative to assist other immigrants facing deportation in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody.
Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on 30 April. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals, but the judge ruled that he has raised a “substantial claim” that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees.
Immigration authorities have detained college students from around the country since the first days of the Trump administration. Many of them participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians. Mahdawi was among the first to win his freedom after challenging his arrest.
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