• Supreme Court Case on IEEPA Tariffs: Facts Should Matter

    The Trump administration’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs, but the facts contradict the administration “emergency” argument. The goods trade deficit and most of its alleged negative effects are rooted in domestic policy, not trade. The Supreme Court is now considering the case, and rules of evidence may limit the Court to arguments formally presented, but the justices would do the nation an injustice if they did not consider the facts. 

  • What Really Happened in Portland Before Trump Deployed the National Guard

    President Donald Trump said there was a need to deploy National Guard troops to “War ravaged” Portland to protect “under-siege” ICE agents. The president’s claims were divorced from the reality on the ground. In the two months before Trump’s decision, criminal charges were announced against only three people. On nights when physical conflict did erupt, it often came from police firing on, shoving, pepper-spraying, and tackling protesters.

  • Details of DHS Agreement Reveal Risks of Trump Administration’s Use of Social Security Data for Voter Citizenship Checks

    A recently released agreement gives the Department of Homeland Security access to hundreds of millions of Americans’ Social Security data. It contains alarmingly few provisions to ensure accuracy and privacy, experts say.

  • Trump Killed a Crucial Disaster Database. This Nonprofit Just Saved It.

    Climate Central revived the federal list of billion-dollar disasters, another example of nonprofits providing data the government deletes.

  • CDC in Crisis: Mass Layoffs, Leadership Turmoil, and Vaccine Controversy

    Roughly 3,000 of CDC’s 13,000 staff received RIF (reduction-in-force) notices this year. Officials warn that these layoffs have left the CDC dangerously unprepared to protect Americans’ health and safety.

  • There’s a Right to Record ICE Raids–and There’s No Blanket Immunity for Raiders

    DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin have repeatedly asserted that citizens have no right to photograph or video record ICE raids or identify the officers by name. This is not an accurate description of the state of the law, and it is dangerous to tell ICE agents that they have blanket immunity whatever they do. If the agents are hearing a persistent message from their higher ups of “you’re immune no matter what you do,” it’s up to the rest of us to disabuse them of that error.

  • Trump Plans to Tell Congress About New Drug War, Won't Seek Permission

    Since September, Trump has been using the U.S. military to destroy suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. On Friday, Trump ordered the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the U.S. Southern Command.

  • Can the U.S. Navy Stay Ahead of Russia and China? This Expert Has a Plan

    To put this 5-part plan in action, Northeastern University’s Stephen Flynn is advocating not for a national, top-down process but for a “federated approach” that emphasizes regional strengths.

  • Trump Isn’t Sending Troops to Cities with Highest Crime Rates, Data Shows

    President Donald Trump has argued that he needs to deploy National Guard troops to support overwhelmed local law enforcement in cities he claims are “overrun” by crime. But an analysis of federal crime data shows that Trump’s deployments and proposed deployments have not focused on the nation’s most violent cities. Of the 10 cities with the highest violent-crime-rates, Trump has sent National Guard troops to just one: Memphis, Tennessee. Instead, the administration has focused on larger, Democratic-run cities in Democratic-led states where violent crime rates are lower than in many other major cities.

  • White House’s Video About Supposed “Mess” in Chicago Consists Mostly of Stitched-Together Outdated Video Pieces from Six Other States

    The White House released a video which, it claimed, showed unruly and violent conduct by Chicagoans in confrontations with police and ICE gents, thus justifying Trump’s order to send 300 Texas National Guard troops to deal with “the mess” in Chicago. But most of the released video had nothing to do with Chicago: It consisted of stitched-together pieces of video footage from six other states, with some of the video fragments filmed in 2023 and 2024, when Biden was president.

  • New Pentagon Policy Is an Unprecedented Attempt to Undermine Press Freedom

    Recent changes in a Pentagon policy threaten journalists’ ability to cover the Department of Defense, because it could curb their rights to report information not authorized by the government for release. As a First Amendment expert, I believe the Pentagon policy change represents an unprecedented development in the Trump administration’s offensive against the press and a historic departure from previous administrations’ policies.

  • New Poll Reflects Broad American Distrust in Health Agencies and Their Advice

    The manner in which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has run HHS – the promotion of fringe theories as a substitute for scientific methods; the replacement of scientists in key positions with anti-vaccine activists and conspiracy theorists, and more — has consequences: Americans’ trust in federal health agencies like the CDC and its childhood vaccine recommendations is declining, and more than twice as many people think the administration’s policies have made the country less healthy as those who think they have made the nation healthier.

  • When Government Websites Become Campaign Tools: Blaming the Shutdown on Democrats Has Legal and Political Risks

    Many airports refused to show DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s message to passengers about the shutdown because it wasn’t much more than naked partisan propaganda. Since January 2025, federal communication systems –agency websites, automated emails, and public information portals –have been used not to inform, but to persuade. Each such incident may violate the Hatch Act, but collectively, they amount to a systematic campaign to transform nonpartisan federal agencies into partisan political messengers. And what sets the 2025 messaging apart isn’t just the volume and tone–it’s the scale, the coordination, and the brazenness of its political targeting.

  • Circumcision, Tylenol, and Autism? RFK Jr. Misses the Cut

    When public health officials use their platforms to promote pet theories instead of proven science, it’s not just sloppy—it’s dangerous. These pronouncements shape research priorities, regulatory decisions, and the information the public is allowed to hear. When science gets filtered through political agendas and personal crusades, public health becomes a tool of control rather than a source of trust. HHS officials wield enormous influence over Americans’ medical choices; that power demands humility and restraint—not speculation masquerading as science.

  • China “Targeting” Mississippi River System: FBI

    China’s plan to gain monopolistic control over key global industries extends to the U.S. inland waterways and major ports. Major ports in southern Louisiana serve as the gateway to the rest of the river network and the U.S. interior.