News Day

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he is working on improving the Defense Department’s warfighting capacity and military readiness. Among his latest improvements: construction of a makeup studio for his television appearances. A Defense Department official said Hegseth is doing his own makeup, not paying for a makeup artist. I guess that counts as efficiency, but no amount of makeup can conceal the damage Hegseth already has done to national security.

This “Corruption Watch” post bears the date of April 23, 2025, because I expect more revelations as the next 33 months unfold.

The presidential inauguration fund is a slush fund with no accountability. It is not required to say how much money it spends, or where the left over funds go. The Trump-Vance inaugural committee raised $239 million dollars. 

Let’s start tonight with Minnesota’s strangely stupid Republican officials. (Note: I deliberately write “Republican officials.” Not “Republicans.” I know there are many Republicans who are embarrassed by these clowns and afraid for the future of their party and country.)

So—begin with Tom Emmer, Congressional Representative for Minnesota’s Sixth District and majority whip for Republicans in the House of Representatives. Emmer has embarrassed Minnesota with his lapdog allegiance to Trump. Appearing on CNN, he repeatedly refused to rule out deporting U.S. citizens, despite the fact that this is clearly illegal and unconstitutional. Here’s the MN Reformer reporting:

From taking down all information on vaccines, treatment, and testing for COVID-19 to censoring research to ending research on what could be the next pandemic, the Trump administration has science in its gunsights. While the results are not as immediate and dramatic as a stock market drop, they could be far deadlier.  

The official U.S. government web pages with information about COVID-19 have been replaced by a page labeled “Lab Leak” with an image of Trump in the background. All information on vaccines, treatment, and testing has been removed. The new website features virulent attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci and also attacks anyone who disagrees with the lab leak theory of COVID origins. 

Speaking this weekend on the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s famous ride, Heather Cox Richardson paid tribute to him and also to all the others less remembered by history who played crucial roles in lighting the lanterns in the Old North Church and sounding the alarm across the Massachusetts countryside.

“[D]espite their differences and the hectic routine of their lives, they recognized the vital importance of the right to consent to the government under which they lived. They took time out of their daily lives to resist the new policies of the British government that would establish the right of a king to act without check by the people. They recognized that giving that sort of power to any man would open the way for a tyrant. …

“What Newman and Pulling did was simply to honor their friendships and their principles and to do the next right thing, even if it risked their lives, even if no one ever knew. And that is all anyone can do as we work to preserve the concept of human self-determination. In that heroic struggle, most of us will be lost to history, but we will, nonetheless, move the story forward, even if just a little bit.

“And once in a great while, someone will light a lantern—or even two—that will shine forth for democratic principles that are under siege, and set the world ablaze.”

I give up. I don’t have all the news that I wanted to put in tonight’s post, but I can’t keep up with the changes that come in hourly. One example: The White House threatened Harvard’s nonprofit status. And its ability to enroll international students. And its funding. And then tonight, as summarized by Don Moynihan on BlueSky: 

“White House said it was Harvard’s fault that they did not pick up to verify a letter that the admin said was coming, was on govt letterhead, and signed by three agency officials. Also, the administration stands by the letter. Which was a mistake.

“What a clown show.” 

Yep. 

So—onward. The New York Times accounts of the ongoing Harvard mess are included in tonight’s “Awful news” section below. But first take a look at some of the more hopeful signs:

Okay—the news is still awful. But I find signs of hope in resistance. And you can do some part of that resistance. Three sections in today’s post: hopeful news, awful news, one or two things you can do today. 

Here’s a literal dump of today’s news. I don’t have time or energy to write more commentary, but these are some of the articles I read and noted today.

Good ruling from D.C. Federal District Judge Loren L. AliKhan! On April 16, Judge AliKhan blocked Trump from punishing the Susman Godfrey law firm, calling Trump’s action “a shocking abuse of power.”

Judge AliKahn also said: “Law firms across the country are entering into agreements with the government out of fear that they will be targeted next and that coercion is plain and simple. And while I wish other firms were not capitulating as readily, I admire firms like Susman for standing up and challenging it when it does threaten the very existence of their business.” [More in New York Times]

About 67 million people get Social Security checks every month. The long name for Social Security is  Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance. That means benefits go to workers who are old, to surviving spouses and children of workers who have died, and to people who go through a stringent and lengthy process of certifying disability. 

The Social Security Administration (SSA) was already overburdened and understaffed before Trump took office. Then the Trump/Musk regime took a chainsaw to the system. 

While Elon Musk’s DOGE crew is trying to dismantle the Social Security Administration (SSA), they have a fight on their hands. Because of the strong resistance, the situation changes almost daily. Here’s a brief summary of what has happened and where we stand today, April 11.

A few days ago, a U.S. academic was arrested in Thailand on charges of criticizing the monarch. The U.S. State Department expressed alarm and “longstanding concerns about the use of lèse majesté laws in Thailand.” Lèse-majesté means an offense against the dignity of the king, or of the state, which is embodied by the king.

 We have our own lèse majesté offenses now.