Without scientists, who will grasp the complexities of environmental crises, advocate for evidence-based decisions, or even recognize the dangers in the first place?
But hey, who needs science when we can rely on gut feelings, political whims, or perhaps return to reading tea leaves?
And when disaster inevitably strikes, we can all feign surprise and pin the blame on a rogue scientist or, better yet, a convenient witch.
"The authoritarian playbook exploits the machinery of democracy against itself. It uses democratic processes to undermine democratic substance. It leverages judicial independence to capture courts. It uses free speech to spread disinformation. It uses elections to install leaders who then methodically dismantle the guardrails that might constrain them.
And it works because not enough people care enough to stop it.
This isn't fatalism. It's an warning bell, and it's being rung by journalists, writers, academics, activists, and believers everywhere."
#USpolitics
https://www.theindex.media/the-parchment-barrier/?ref=daily-newsletter
The US assault on free speech is not going to end with #MahmoudKhalil
from #TheGuardian #Guardian
Arwa Mahdawi - Opinion
Sat 15 Mar 2025 09.00 EDT
"It should be clear by now that America is not exceptional; the constitution is not a magical document that will protect our freedoms simply by existing. We are sliding towards an authoritarian future at alarming speed and #Khalil’s detention is an important reminder that we can’t fight for our rights in isolation. All of our freedoms are intertwined."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/15/mahmoud-khalil-free-speech-civil-liberties?CMP=share_btn_url
#DefendAcademicFreedom
#repression
#DefendFreeSpeech
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#EndTheOccupation #SettlersOut
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine
#StopArmingIsrael
#BDS #DivestFromIsrael
#USA #US #USPolitics #Trump
#media #news #press @palestine
'Today, we celebrate': Judge says National Park Service must reinstate all fired employees
"Kent State had proven something ugly. The government was willing to shoot its own children to keep them in line.
Flash forward to today, and Trump has threatened to imprison student protesters and cut funding to any college that allows students to exercise their First Amendment rights.
Guess what happens when you tell young people not to do something?
That's where the next chapter begins."
#USPolitics
https://carlynbeccia.medium.com/allison-krause-believed-flowers-were-better-than-bullets-kent-state-proved-otherwise-bd6a5f06c6b8
LAST DAY for public comments on anti-trans passport rules
Today (Monday) is the LAST DAY to public-commentc-protest Trump/Musk anti-trans passport rules.
You’ve got ’til 9PM CASCADIAN/PACIFIC or Midnight EASTERN time to make public comments against Musk and Trump’s hate.
There are THREE open public comment sections. If you use the ACLU’s site, it’ll cover all three. But if you want to do it directly, you can. Just do it all three places.
Here’s the ACLU’s comment relay site. It also links directly to the individual comments sections.
You've got 'til 9PM CASCADIAN/PACIFIC or Midnight EASTERN time to sign public comments against Musk and Trump's anti-trans passport rules.
There are THREE open comments sections. If you use the ACLU's site, it'll cover all three. But if you want to do it directly, you can. just do it all three places.
https://action.aclu.org/reg-action/hands-off-our-passports-stop-attacking-transgender-americans
Judge in Alien Enemies Act case chides DOJ lawyer over refusal to answer key questions about deportations
The court fight focuses on the Trump administration's use of a 1798 law to deport people it claims are part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline #GOP #Politics #uspolitics #uspol #Breaking #BreakingNews
Harvard is joining other elite institutions (MIT, Pennsylvania and Caltech) who are responding to SCOTUS's ban on affirmative action by making tuition free for low-income students.
Harvard is providing free tuition to students whose family income is less than $200,000 per year, and are providing additional services (food, housing, etc.) for families making less than $100,000.
These do not directly target diversity, but help ensure equity.
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/17/harvard-financial-aid-expansion-tuition
Stanley Milgram conducted an Electric Shock Experiment at Yale in 1961. Although 64 years old, the findings of the study are as relevant today as they were then ...
"Key Takeaways
Aim: The experiment studied obedience to authority, exploring whether individuals would obey instructions to harm another person because an authority figure told them to.
Method: Participants were instructed by an authority figure to administer increasingly intense electric shocks to a “learner” (an actor), who feigned pain and distress.
Results: A significant percentage of participants obeyed the authority figure and administered the maximum level of shocks, despite their apparent discomfort.
Conclusion: The study demonstrated that ordinary people are surprisingly likely to obey authority figures, even when those orders conflict with their own moral beliefs."
With the atrocities ordered by #Putin & #Netanyahu, and now seeing #Trump2 blatantly ignoring the laws of the land undoing decades of democratic progress, it's interesting that the following article on this study was published again only a few days ago ...
Trump Removing Civil Rights
ICE stripped, interrogated N.H. green card holder without explanation: family
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline #GOP #Politics #uspolitics #uspol #Breaking #BreakingNews #ICE #DOGE
One of the most infuriating things about living in the Terrible Times is that everything is coming at you with this Great Urgency often accompanied with the message, "We need to do something!"
Ok, so I do something. I make phone calls. I donate to the right places. I sign up to the right organizations. And and and...
Nothing seems to work. The Terrible Times just keep getting more terrible.
The Anti-DEI Agenda Is Reprogramming America
President Trump’s anti-DEI playbook doesn’t just affect the makeup of America’s workplaces. It also impacts cultural production. Just ask Netflix’s former head of diversity.
https://www.wired.com/story/anti-dei-agenda-reprogramming-america/
No Democrat is winning them over by going soft. No Democrat is winning them over by pandering to their grievances.
They're [MAGA] not looking for a compromise.
They want a rumble. And that's what Democrats should be giving them. Not because the left should sink to their level but because leadership means standing for something. It means knowing where you draw the line and refusing to budge. It means taking the fight to the people who have been lying to the working class for decades, the people who have convinced millions of Americans to cheer for their own exploitation.
#USPolitics
https://www.theindex.media/this-is-the-dumbest-time-to-buy-into-maga/?ref=daily-newsletter
Outgoing Broadband Chief Issues Stark Warning Against Elon Musk
“Stranding all or part of rural America with worse internet so that we can make the world’s richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,” wrote Evan Feinman
Paywall Free: http://archive.today/Bgtc6
A very good point is made elsethread, that the #DonaldJTrump Administration is *already* ignoring the 4th Amendment when it comes to seizure of bank accounts by people that had contracts with the federal government.
In normal times, the lack of Miranda warning would be the really damaging problem for prosecutors. But the United States *now* has federal prosecutors like Ed Martin willing to bring blatant politically-motivated prosecutions under colour of law.
