Immigration – National News Roundup

Year 9, Weeks 46-47 (November 23–December 6)

December 11, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

I’m going to be honest, I found this cycle particularly nightmarish. Granted, I’m a public health professional, and our health system took a real beating this week–but the other stories aren’t a whole lot better. Caveat emptor, and I’m sorry in advance.

Several nouveau and some classic reminders still apply: we may be well into my ninth year of journalism, but I focus on national news within my areas of expertise–which, at this point, includes (1) health news, (2) queer news, (3) news about law and government, (4) news about descent into authoritarianism, and (5) connections between news stories. NNR summaries may still occasionally contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a healthcare subsidy!–but we are moving away from this model in general, as we pioneer a more focused and sustainable format. And, of course, for the law things you read here, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Spills in Aisle 47

_{‘Toddler Supermarket Tantrum,’ taken with permission from Stockcake.com}

Subdued Subsidies. The Senate is ostensibly gearing up to vote on healthcare subsidies, but nobody is particularly optimistic that this will save ACA subsidies as we knew them. The White House quietly circulated a plan behind closed doors that would have accomplished this, with some concessions. But after Republicans balked, they backed down from announcing it pretty quickly, preferring instead to let the GOP duke it out. Now, several different Dem bills are in play, but literally none of them are expected to get the numbers they need to pass. Meanwhile, the things that Republicans are floating are less “health plans” and more “medical debt in flimsy trench coats”–some Republican plans involve $7K deductibles, while others are based on Health Savings Accounts and/or limited to catastrophic coverage. Needless to say, this is not great for Americans, and frankly it’s not great for the GOP either, since Dem narratives about the GOP wrecking affordability are gaining increasing traction with voters. That said, “this is good for nobody and yet here we are” has more-or-less become the MAGA calling card, and so, well…here we are.
Kangaroo Courtside. This was a real banner cycle for court cases. The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case about whether people born here have U.S. citizenship, despite the fact that, you know, the Constitution literally says that all persons born here have U.S. citizenship. For an encore, they heard oral arguments on a case about whether Trump should be able to fire the head of the FTC on account of it’s Tuesday–and shock of shocks, the six conservative justices appeared persuaded even though we have 90 years of precedent otherwise. But in slightly more positive judicial news, at least a court ordered the release of another cache of Epstein documents.

From the Department of Health and Human Sacrifice

_{Image unnamed and in the public domain}

Not Evidence Based (Again, Still). After the last news cycle, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that we’re already seeing vaccines on the chopping block–but somehow, I still am. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices decided a few days ago to nix a thirty-year recommendation of giving infants Hep B vaccination at birth, apparently persuaded by RFK’s pet anti-vax lawyer. Needless to say, people who practice actual medicine are not best pleased, with the American Association of Immunologists urging the CDC head to ignore the recommendations and Senate Health Committee chair Bill Cassidy calling the entire committee “totally discredited.” In response, Trump ordered RFK and acting CDC director Jim O’Neill to axe more childhood vaccinations. Meanwhile, a leaked FDA memo used the very small risk of COVID vaccine-induced myocarditis to argue for stricter regulation of vaccine approvals, despite the fact that, you know, myocarditis is way more common as a long COVID symptom. The memo comes as yet another FDA official walks after only three weeks on the job, citing the new FDA head’s mismanagement of policy as his reason. So all of that is… not great.

Chinga La Migra

_{Image unnamed and licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License}

Immigration Rundown. Immigration, ho boy, where do I start… We really saved the worst for last on this one. Here are the lowlights from this cycle:

Hegseth Horrorshow – News came out this cycle that the order given by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth regarding the strike on a Venezuelan vessel was “kill everybody,” and a second strike was fired at two survivors to comply with that order. This is, unsurprisingly, pretty illegal, and officials are giving garbled explanations while Democrats are calling for a hearing. Trump initially agreed to release a video of the strike, and then walked that back within a week, saying “Whatever Hegseth wants to do is OK with me.”
Grave National Guard Gestalt – Two National Guard members in West Virginia were shot, one of them fatally, at the top of this news cycle. After the shooter turned out to be an Afghan refugee, the Trump administration announced that it would no longer process asylum, citizenship, or green card applications from nineteen different countries. They also dramatically shortened work permit windows for asylum holders and are reportedly considering a travel ban for 30 different countries. Several ideas floated by various MAGA sociopaths are even more extreme, ranging from mass denaturalization to a permanent end of all asylum applications to ending TPS as a concept.
Deportation Pipeline Press – There was, unsurprisingly, also a lot of news about various abuses of the deportation process. Democrats are trying to get standards imposed for who can serve as an immigration judge, since Trump keeps firing judges who actually judge. Federal immigration raids–excuse me, “operations”–are also beginning in New Orleans and Minneapolis, the latter being part of a weird hate-on that Trump has for Somali people. This news comes at the same time as reports that nearly 1,000 migrants arrested in DC–making up about 80% of total arrests during the “crackdown”–had no criminal record whatsoever. The ACLU is alleging that detained Cuban migrants were beaten for refusing removal to Mexico. Finally, there was a baffling story this cycle about this administration bringing a woman to the U.S. to face charges after years of extradition efforts, and then starting deportation proceedings against her on the theory that she was present in the U.S. illegally. It’s like the plot of Brazil, except instead we’re trying to deport people there.

Ways to Weather This

_{Image unnamed and licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License}

Chop Wood, Carry Water. I was recently pointed towards Jess Craven’s Chop Wood, Carry Water by the inimitable Tegan Kehoe, who featured the substack in a recent Links and Things from Tegan (alongside the NNR, which I greatly appreciated!). As Kehoe notes, Craven sends a brief newsletter every weekday with some information about recent national news. That said, I’m featuring Chop Wood, Carry Water here because she also includes tools for taking action about those stories, such as scripts for calling your reps and information about upcoming events. Like me, Craven is a full-time activist and advocate, and so far I have really appreciated her work.

_{‘Discord That’s All Folks’ licensed to the public under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License}

So that’s what I have for you this cycle, a day late but only $0.25 short. For making it through, you deserve this raccoon’s self-care regimen and a less corrupt government. I’m still figuring out sustainability, and I would love feedback in the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me responses to Out: The Community Survey!

Year 9, Weeks 44-45 (November 9-22)

November 25, 2025November 25, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This cycle was a weird one, y’all–even setting aside the weird Epstein file about-face and MTG’s mud-slinging resignation, there’s a lot to unpack here. The news felt a bit like living in 2017, if 2017 involved more overt death threats. Ah, memories.

Several nouveau and some classic reminders still apply: we may be well into my ninth year of journalism, but I focus on national news within my areas of expertise–which, at this point, includes (1) health news, (2) queer news, (3) news about law and government, (4) news about descent into authoritarianism, and (5) connections between news stories. NNR summaries may still occasionally contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an indictment!–but we are moving away from this model in general, as we pioneer a more focused and sustainable format. And, of course, for the law things you read here, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Spills in Aisle 47

_{‘Toddler Supermarket Tantrum,’ taken with permission from Stockcake.com}

The Prosecution Rests (on Nothing). James Comey had a good time this week, and honestly, I love that for him. First on Wednesday, the Justice Department admitted that the grand jury never saw the final version of the indictment they allegedly approved. That’s a prosecutorial no-no and probably grounds for dismissal all by itself (though the judge on the case didn’t agree). But then just today, a different federal judge dismissed the criminal charges against both Comey and Leticia James on the incredible grounds that the lead prosecutor Lindsey Halligan was not a valid U.S. attorney in the first place. It was a dismissal without prejudice, so I’m sure we haven’t heard the end of this, but let’s enjoy dunking on Lindsey Halligan while we can.
Death Threats and Deployments. This story, ye gods. Okay, so, several sitting Democrats with military and intelligence experience made a video last week and posted it on Facebook. The video reminded current military and intelligence personnel that they can, and should, refuse illegal orders. Trump, meanwhile, immediately illustrated why they needed to make said video, by going on Truth social and yelling that making the video was–and I quote here–“punishable by death.” Now several of said reps are requesting a police investigation into our current President, on account of he made unhinged posts threatening to hang them. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is going after another of the six, Senator Mark Kelly, who is the only one still subject to potential court martial as a retired officer. As if underlining the point, while all of this was going on, a D.C judge granted an injunction to make Trump stop deploying the National Guard there because–shock of shocks–it’s probably illegal. And the Coast Guard was in the news for deciding that swastikas and nooses were not hate symbols anymore (though in fairness, the Coast Guard did walk that one back pretty quick after everybody rightfully got in their face about it).

From the Department of Health and Human Sacrifice

_{Image unnamed and in the public domain}

Not Evidence Based. The CDC was back in the news this week for suggesting in its official publications that vaccines can cause autism, despite the giant pile of evidence that says otherwise. Just today, RFK announced that this was done on his direct order, and I know personally I am shocked–just shocked!–by this unforeseeable information. Needless to say, this dramatically undermines what credibility the CDC still had left, and could potentially forecast less access to vaccines in the future. I recommend you hug the public health professionals in your life, friends, because despite being a predictable turn of events, it’s still a deeply disturbing thing to watch unfold.

Chinga La Migra

_{Image unnamed and licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License}

Swept Up in Violence. It was a real banner time for immigration news this cycle. The likely illegal strikes on alleged drug vessels are still ongoing, with 82 people killed in 21 strikes at the time that I type this–and increasing evidence that at least some of those casualties were civilians. The administration also announced that they want to expand penalties faced by immigrants for using life-saving benefits like Medicaid and SNAP. And to cap everything off, raids in Charlotte swept up 370 people over a 5-day period, which naturally included U.S. citizens, because of course it did.

Ways to Weather This

_{Image unnamed and licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License}

OUT: The Community Survey. Some of you have heard me talk about this effort before, but I’m really excited to say more about it here–I’m leading international volunteer work right now that I really believe will help LGBTQIA+ lives long-term. A week and change ago, my organization officially launched a study to get more info on how queer people’s lives have changed since the U.S. Inauguration, and what the current levels of oppression are doing to our health and safety. Right now, and for ten more weeks, we’re hosting an anonymous community survey to measure that.

It’s open to everyone fifteen and older who identifies as LGBTQIA+ or loves someone who does, throughout the entire world. There is no payment or personal benefit of any kind connected to this survey, and we plan to make the results publicly available. It’s rooted in the simple idea that if we know what people need, we know how to advocate and how to meet this moment for our communities. I mention this under the ‘Ways to Weather This’ section because I truly believe that it’s a form of resilience to share what you are going through and to connect with others about your health and emotional safety. But also, we want it to reach as many people as possible, and we’re relying on volunteer partners and word-of-mouth to get the word out.

If you’re reading this, I urge you to share how this moment is affecting you by taking the survey; we’re also still looking to partner with people and groups who have interest in spreading the word. Please feel empowered to forward the link and these materials, and if you have any interest in partnering, give me a quick ping and we’ll make that happen.

So that’s what I have for you this cycle, and boo on this cycle for making me kind of miss 2017. For making it through, you deserve this pupper’s learning journey and a less corrupt government. I’m still figuring out sustainability, and I would love feedback in the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!

Year 9, September-ish (September 14-27)

September 30, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Okay, y’all. I know the NNR has been paused for some time, and for good reason, but if there were ever a time to kick off the rust and run a lightning roundup, it would be now. We are careening towards a full authoritarian state, and have seen a lot of movement especially over the past couple of weeks. I think it’s important that people know that, and know how and why that is the case, because we can’t hope to respond otherwise.

But first, let’s take a moment and acknowledge the elephant in the room. Doing the NNR has become extremely difficult, in part because many major news outlets have become very compromised in the last season or so. I no longer consider it journalistic due diligence to simply multi-source stories with my previously-trusted outlets. Journalism has become the work of the individual pretty much soup-to-nuts–an effort which I cannot do full time for about a million reasons, and I have been a bit paralyzed for the last few months as a result. I don’t know if the NNR is back-back, or if this is a one-off. Long-term, I would like to find a format that works for all of us, including me, because I really believe in the importance of this work.

But what I do know, especially in this moment, is that I would never forgive myself if I didn’t put something out right now while we all stare at the oncoming train. So here I am, and hopefully, here you are. And we’ll see where that takes us, at least for now.

Spills in Aisle 47:

As this is a lightning roundup, we are going to focus exclusively on Authoritarian Actions. Here are the main lowlights from the last few weeks to know:

Indictment Rag. Perhaps the most glaring banana in this republic at the moment is the indictment of James Comey, which on paper was for lying and obstruction. It’s kind of hard to buy that this was the real reason, however, when Trump straight-up said the quiet part out loud and publicly pushed Bondi to prosecute a whole host of people, telling the press that “there’ll be others.” And he clearly wasn’t lying about that last part, because Trump fired a U.S. prosecutor for refusing to bring this case and refusing to similarly charge Letiticia James; he placed an obvious target on Christopher Wray this weekend as well. All told, it’s obvious that Comey is the start of a much larger hit list. But as much as I hate to say it, I don’t think the story here is that Trump abused his power to go after people he feels wronged him, which is as predictable as the sun rising. In my opinion, the story is that an indictment was actually handed down–that means that he got prosecutors to put together a grand jury, and a grand jury approved two of the three charges, despite several credible prosecutors refusing to touch the case with a ten-foot pole. A sizable chunk of the country has been primed to want this kind of kangaroo court, which is as relevant as it is terrifying–but more about that below.
General Concerns. Against that backdrop, Pete Hegseth calling in all starred generals so that they can attend the world’s weirdest pep rally tomorrow is a less obvious big deal, but it is a big deal nonetheless. First of all, we don’t usually put 800 generals in one room, because it’s a massive security risk–and the idea that this might be a feature to our current Secretary of Defense has kept me up at night. Second, Trump made it clear today that he plans to attend, which ironically would not be weird if he were a normal President because the President is the Commander-in-Chief, but given that ole’ Bone Spurs has open contempt for our military, it’s kind of strange. Add in the many times this year that this administration has already dunked military morale in the toilet, and the whole thing becomes even stranger. We’ll hopefully know more after the meeting happens tomorrow, but I think we can expect that something is going on here.
Terrifying Terrorism Designations. I’m sure everyone reading this is aware of the death of Charlie Kirk, and much of the resulting First Amendment horrorshow—Jimmy Kimmel‘s suspension saga and subsequent return to most stations was particularly well-covered. What might be less obvious, however, is how much of a turning point the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s death turned out to be for how the administration engages with political enemies. Almost immediately, we started to see the administration issue statements implicating trans people and ‘trans ideology,’ without specifying what that even meant. That eventually broadened to speaking about ‘leftist ideology‘ when it became apparent that the shooting had no direct ties to transgender anything beyond the alleged shooter having a transgender roommate. These messages continued to iterate and deepen, as did anti-trans rhetoric, until reports began emerging that the FBI plans to designate trans people as ‘violent extremists’. In apparent response to the FBI’s plan, the Oversight Project at the Heritage Foundation (you know, the people responsible for making Project 2025 become real policy) issued a frightening directive pushing for a new form of domestic terrorism designation called ‘Trans Ideology-Inspired Violent Extremism,’ which they proposed include things like speech in defense of trans people. Almost immediately, we saw the administration take this ball and start to run with it, first by issuing an executive order that designated Antifa as a domestic terrorism organization. A few days after that, the administration released a memo which stated they would “disband and uproot” nonprofits and institutions that “engage in activities that support domestic terrorism,” including “conspiracies against rights” in that definition. The same day, the administration announced a criminal investigation of George Soros’s human rights foundation Open Society. Dovetail this with Bondi’s recent statements, also in the wake of Kirk’s death, that the DOJ will “go after you. . . if you are targeting anyone with hate speech, anything,” and you start to see a pretty scary picture.
Shutting Down Ahead of Shutdown. In other extremely normal administration news, Trump canceled his own meeting with Democrats about the looming threat of shutdown last Thursday, saying that there was “no meeting” with them “could possibly be productive.” (He did meet with them today, but that meeting ended in Vance announcing that “I think we’re heading into a shutdown.”) As Minority Leader Jeffries has noted, since the GOP controls all three branches of government at the moment, a shutdown would imply that the GOP either is not capable of reaching an accord with itself, or wants a shutdown to happen. I personally think it’s the latter, because the administration also directed agencies to start firing people if the shutdown happens, rather than furloughing them. That said, this might be an intimidation tactic rather than a plan, because this administration was going to RIF people already.

So that’s what I have for you after a few months’ sabbatical, and I’m sorry, there are still no news refunds. I am, however, giving you optional homework–in these uncertain times, I urge you to start thinking about your role in the social change ecosystem, because we desperately need solidarity if we’re going to get through this. (No pressure, but I think it is helpful to know how you’re most suited and positioned to help.) And either way, for making it through, you deserve a glass bowl hat and a less corrupt government. I’m still figuring out the most sustainable way to keep doing this, but I’ll be back in some capacity sometime soon, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me your opinions about social change ecosystems!

Year 9, Weeks 15-17 (April 27–May 17)

May 19, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Between free Qatari planes, self-deportation, and RFK’s medical advice (or lack thereof), it has been quite a chaotic news cycle. Hold onto your hats, y’all, because we’re going for a ride.

Standard and new reminders apply: we may be starting my ninth year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a tariff!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. We’re still playing around with formatting and frequency as I navigate two healing ribs and all of the everything. And, of course, for the law things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Spills in Aisle 47:

To Hell in a ‘Waste’ Basket (cont). Yet more vital services were cut this cycle, as the administration particularly gutted the arts and the military (two great tastes that taste great together). On the military side, Secretary Hegseth moved to cut 20% of four-star military officials as well as 10% of officials more across the board. Prior NSA head Mike Walz, who you may remember from messaging app fame, has been moved to the UN while current Secretary of State Marco Rubio was given the position as his literal third job. Additionally, several more military personnel were forced out when the Supreme Court permitted Trump’s ban of trans military service members to go forward. On the arts side of things, the National Endowment of the Arts withdrew millions in grants shortly before Trump proposed eliminating the endowment entirely. The administration has also removed the head of FEMA as well as several Democrats on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, And, of course, we’re still cutting things in the health sphere, as the National Cancer Institute starts to face cuts and a new report estimates that NIH grant cancelations total more than $1.8B.
Tariff Tug-of-War and Qatari ‘Gifts’.* In economic news, Trump announced that he wants to put tariffs on foreign films while the Senate rejected a bipartisan attempt to say Enough with the Tariffs Already. Then, in a fit of Opposite Day, he announced he wants to tax the rich more (yes, really). He was also in the news over the past cycle for planning to accept a personal Qatari luxury jet, on the stated grounds that only “stupid people” refuse gifts. This flagrant corruption appears to be a step too far even for the GOP, who I’m sure will spend at least five seconds considering a strongly-worded speech in the mirror.

The Latest Spring Fashy:

Inhumane Immigration Actions (cont). I know I keep saying “this is an awful time for immigration,” but it just keeps being true. This cycle’s deportation horror shows included 1) offering to pay people to self-deport; 2) trying to deport Asian immigrants to Libya for God-only-knows what reason; 3) prepping to end deportation protections for folks from Afghanistan; and 4) yet more illegally moving detainees so that they can be deported more easily. Speaking of illegally moving detainees, an appeals court also ordered the transfer of Rumeysa Ozturk back to Vermont, where she was ordered released. They also ordered that dozens of Afrikaners be treated as refugees, at a time when almost no one is being treated as refugees, Most concerningly, the administration also made noises this cycle about suspending writs of habeas corpus, which would allow them to skip the due process part before deporting people, because they are blocked from using the Alien Enemies Act — but more on that below.
From the Department of Health and Human Sacrifices (cont). If you’re like me, you spent a lot of this cycle carefully tracking the reconciliation budget saga, because the proposed bill would make pretty catastrophic cuts to Medicaid (even by our 2025 standards) if passed. Thankfully, the past week ended in a fit of gleeful schadenfreude, as five GOP members of the House Budget Committee tanked their own resolution after the House leader watered down the Medicaid cuts. I doubt this is the last we will hear about it, but the more extreme the final version coming out of the House is, the more likely that the more moderate Senate will balk at it–and both houses need to agree on the same resolution for it to pass. In other crappy health news, our illustrious Health Secretary stated that Americans shouldn’t take his health advice this week (well, at least he knows it). He said this shortly after announcing he is reinstating placebo tests for vaccine adjustment trials–a wildly unethical order when testing existing vaccines. And, of course, that announcement was shortly after he announced (and then partially walked back) that he wants to create an autism registry.

Silver Linings:

Recent Judicial Resilience. As is becoming the norm, we had several favorable court cases this cycle as well. As mentioned above, one of Trump’s own District Court appointees held that he can’t use the Alien Enemies Act to deport people without due process. A different District Court judge, meanwhile, granted a temporary restraining order saying the administration needed to pause its firing seven zillion more government workers. (It will expire in a few weeks, but the Trump administration is appealing anyway.)

So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this legal weasel and a less corrupt government. I’ll be back next time with more and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me new types of herbal tea!

Year 9, Weeks 12-14 (April 6-26)

April 29, 2025April 29, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

The theme of this cycle was “second verse, worse than the first”–a lot of themes in the previous cycle were repeated, but ramped up. Needless to say, this doesn’t lend itself to awesome news, although we do have some bright spots. Hang in there, y’all.

Spills in Aisle 47:

As we speed down the Descent to Fascism Highway, I think it’s important to draw a distinction between authoritarianism and Inept Governance. We’re going to start with the latter, as it’s a bit less scary to contemplate (though only a bit):

To Hell in a ‘Waste’ Basket (cont). We continue to see absurd cuts to various governmental departments and funds, as well as all kinds of disorganized chaos. This time, there were cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, particularly among their environmental justice staff. We also saw the Secretary of State announce sweeping cuts to the Department of State literally one day after he claimed a document outlining said cuts was “fake news.” Conversely, we were told the Women’s Health Initiative was being scrapped, only for the administration to walk that one back a few days later. About the only good news on this front is that Musk said he plans to leave DOGE, on account of Tesla has been freefalling and nobody likes him.
Mr. Trump’s Wild Tariff Ride (cont).* As foretold by prophecy, the market started to calm down after Trump walked back reciprocal tariffs and expressed willingness to lower the ridiculous tariffs he has imposed on China. But things are still very volatile, because Trump went right back to playing hopscotch with the economy by coming for head of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell. And although he eventually cooled it with the Powell thing, he immediately turned around and threatened to reinstate the reciprocal tariffs. Unsurprisingly, the country is not impressed, and most of us are expecting our savings to go the way of the dodo bird in the coming months.
Hegseth’s Mixed Signal. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was in the news again this cycle for again sharing classified information on Signal. This time, it was apparently on purpose, as it was sent to his wife and brother. In the resulting hubbub, it also came out that he has Signal installed on his computer at the Pentagon. Hegseth is responding by criticizing “leakers” on Fox News, because of course he is, and the DNC is calling for his removal.

The Latest Spring Fashy:

Inhumane Immigration Actions. This has been an awful cycle for America’s descent into fascism, and nowhere is that more clear that in the immigration arena. There were a lot more stories about unconstitutional (and frankly scary) deportation, including: 1) Trump floating the idea of deporting U.S. birthright citizens convicted of crimes to his gulag in El Salvador; 2) Trump straight-up deporting young citizen children with complex medical needs despite an injunction prohibiting him from doing that; 3) the arrest of a lawful permanent resident at his citizenship interview because of his protest of the war in Palestine; and 4) the DOJ claiming that Trump doesn’t have to listen to the SCOTUS order to facilitate returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man ‘mistakenly’ deported to the aforementioned El Salvadoran gulag because… I don’t know, reasons. (Several House Democrats and one Senator traveled to El Salvador this week, incidentally, to attempt to aid with Garcia’s release.) According to a Washington Post article this week, these illegal deportations keep happening in part because the administration set a goal of deporting 1 million people this year. That figure, however, does not account for the FBI arresting a Wisconsin judge on claims that she was “obstructing” ICE from her bench, nor the FBI director posting her arrest on social media (which is against DOJ policy). The White House also falsely marked 6,000 immigrants as dead in federal databases so that they didn’t have to pay them benefits.
From the Department of Health and Human Sacrifices (cont). The fascism news on health is pretty bad this cycle as well. RFK announced a plan to “study” autism by reviewing thousands of private health records and creating a registry, which sounds an awful lot like laying groundwork for eugenics. (He also falsely claimed yet again that autism is caused by environmental exposure, which it definitely isn’t, but that sure does twist the knife about this administration canceling grants on environmental toxins.) Meanwhile, a leaked HHS document outlining a proposed budget for FY2026 featured even more aggressive cuts than we saw last cycle, with a further 40% reduction of funding for NIH and the removal of four more departments. And since DOGE now controls federal grant systems, many more grant payments have been (probably illegally) frozen or delayed.
White House Fascism Potpourri. In addition to the immigration and health issues outlined above, the White House had a grab bag of other acts of fascism this cycle: 1) The administration issued an executive order that walks back the part of the Civil Rights Act that deals with disparate impact liability, rolling back important equal rights protections; 2) the White House removed their wired press slot from the press pool, effectively re-barring the Associated Press from access immediately after an injunction said they can’t do that under the First Amendment; and 3) Trump issued a memo ordering the investigation of ActBlue, the fundraising arm of the Democratic Party, which is a pretty blatant (and as far as I can tell unfounded) attack on political opposition.

Silver Linings:

Recent Judicial Resilience. On the plus side, we did see a lot of judicial resilience this cycle. SCOTUS told Trump not to deport a group of Venezuelan people under the Alien Enemies Act, broadening a prior holding that said people need to have meaningful due process. Federal courts also held that Trump can’t order the withholding of school funds due to DEI initiatives in schools, and that he also can’t require proof of citizenship to vote. It’s an ongoing tug-of-war between the courts and the executive branch, but at least the courts are still tugging.

So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this racer therapy rabbit and a less corrupt government. I’ll be back next time with more and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!

Year 9, Weeks 10-11 (March 23–April 5)

April 10, 2025April 10, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This week was off the rails even by our contemporary low, low standards. It also involved a lot of economic nonsense, which I will freely admit is not my area – but I’m going to try to tackle it anyway, just because it has so many implications. Bear (market) with me, y’all, and feel free to use the feedback link to suggest corrections.

Spills in Aisle 47:

I continue to struggle with how to even divide things up into buckets, because it all feels like one fetid mass of Authoritarian Actions. Here are the main lowlights from the last few weeks to know:

To Hell in a ‘Waste’ Basket (DHHS Edition). There were some stories here and there about federal layoffs in a variety of departments that have or will be hit by the DOGE chainsaw – namely, sluggish response to an earthquake in Myanmar without USAID in place; more illegal NSC firings; threats to cut funding to FEMA. Musk also had a soundbite in the news about why he’s dismantling everything–namely, to give everything possible to private businesses instead. But the majority of attention was rightfully on the Department of Health and Human Services, where 10,000 people were let go in a chaotic flood of RIFs set loose by RFK. The changes appear to have been designed to do as much damage to health agencies as possible – they pretty much gutted the CDC and chucked out leadership at the FDA and NIH as well. (Fun fact, they offered some of those leaders opportunities to work in Alaska or with the Indian Health Service instead of leaving, which is honestly more insulting than just firing them.) Though the cuts were ostensibly to “restructure,” in many instances entire offices or divisions were closed instead of moved–and many of those let go served critical public health functions, such as preventing lead poisoning, conducting biomedical research, running tobacco cessation quitlines and mental health hotlines, inspecting food, and updating the public on disease outbreaks. Many shuttered divisions and programs also worked with populations the administration doesn’t like, such as disabled Americans, people with systemic health disparities, and people living with HIV. And unsurprisingly, they eliminated FOIA offices so that nobody can get details on the train wreck that is sure to follow.
Mr. Trump’s Wild Tariff Ride.* This news cycle’s “how am I not making this up” award goes to Trump deciding to tank world trade because he took economic advice from ChatGPT. More specifically, he enacted the highest tariffs in modern history, with a ten percent tariff on every country and reciprocal tariffs on specific countries using a bunch of lies and what staffers have described as the “not giving a fuck” method. Needless to say, the market started to drop, and then it kept dropping for nearly a week. The policy has made Trump a lot of enemies, even in his own party, though notably not Russia, as Trump never imposed tariffs against them. Finally, as we were nearing a bear market earlier today, Trump announced that he’s pausing all ‘reciprocal’ tariffs except those against China. It seems likely that the markets will calm down a bit from here, but I suppose we’ll have to see what happens.

The Latest Spring Fashy:

Inhumane Immigration Actions. This was a truly awful cycle for immigration stories, even against our lowered expectations. The Trump administration kicked things off by stating that they had made an ‘administrative error’ when sending a Salvadoran asylee to a supermax prison in El Salvador, despite his credible claim that he feared for his life if returned. They then followed that up by saying that they couldn’t return him because…I don’t know, reasons? Then they suspended their own lawyer for saying it was a mistake in court, despite the party line from the administration being that it was… a mistake. Then after that, a student on a visa in my town was abducted near her home because of an op-ed she wrote a year ago urging her school administrators to honor a student senate vote regarding Palestine. This kicked off a larger effort to revoke over 300 visas of random students who publicly said things about Palestine, and Rubio ordered social media searches of people who apply for visas. Then just for funsies, the Supreme Court issued an emergency docket opinion that will make it harder to bring cases when ICE abducts people–which really isn’t great when we already know that the administration is detaining and deporting citizens. And to cap all of this off, today the administration announced that the IRS will start giving ICE data gathered when undocumented people file taxes, which I’m sure won’t have a chilling effect on people paying their taxes at all. Several IRS leaders are quitting over the decision to comply.
You’re Not My Real Law Dad (again). This news cycle saw a lot of advancements of what I’m tentatively calling Trump’s war against the law, which is basically anything this administration does to dismantle the rule of law or our civic structures directly. For one thing, he’s talking again about serving a third term as President, which is definitely not constitutional no matter what he says to the contrary. He’s also started to go after law firms that either challenged his illegal actions or represented people he doesn’t like, and put out an executive order which would require proof of citizenship as part of voter registration–another authority, by the way, that he probably doesn’t have. Perhaps unsurprisingly, stories continue to come out about Justice Department attorneys who are quitting en masse.
From the Department of Health and Human Sacrifices (cont). I’ve covered a lot of the massive gutting of HHS above, but there are a number of other awful health stories to track as well. There has been a second child death from measles in Texas, where over 500 cases have been reported since January. So many cases in unvaccinated kids have been reported, in fact, that the U.S. is at risk of losing elimination status regarding the disease. Meanwhile, local doctors are reporting that children are getting Vitamin A toxicity because everybody’s trying to use a fat-soluble vitamin to try to prevent or treat measles. RFK still refuses to directly state that vaccines are good, actually, probably because he’s too busy telling the CDC to stop recommending fluoride in the water. The administration has also ordered NIH to eliminate $2.6B in federal grants, and we’re still likely looking at Medicaid cuts–a possibility made even more likely by confirming talk show doctor and jackass Mehmet Oz as head of CMS.

Silver Linings:

Recent Political Resilience. We did see some political resilience this cycle as well. Cory Booker made history with a 25-hour-long speech about everything that’s wrong with the current administration, overturning Strom Thurmond’s previous record of a full day of racism. In Wisconsin, voters thoroughly rejected a Musk-backed candidate for the state Supreme Court. And across the country and the world, an estimated one million protesters turned out for over 1,400 protests about the current administration.

So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this rainy pool session and a less corrupt government. I’ll be back next time with more and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!

Year 9, Weeks 8-9 (March 9-22)

March 25, 2025April 29, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

I won’t lie, I was tempted to just use last cycle’s intro again this time–but if I said “This news cycle, ho boy” every time it was true, I would never write a new intro ever again. Suffice to say, this cycle is not better than the last.

Standard and new reminders apply: we may be starting my ninth year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a Tesla salesperson!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. We’re still playing around with formatting and frequency as I navigate two healing ribs and all of the everything. And, of course, for the law things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Spills in Aisle 47:

To Hell in a ‘Waste’ Basket (Again, Still). This past cycle was somehow even worse than the previous one for dismantling necessary agencies. Though a judge has ruled that DOGE has to stop dismantling USAID, international health work is still paused at best and programs like PEPFAR remain completely nonfunctional. DOGE is now tinkering with the Social Security Administration, and is requiring all recipients to show up to agency offices for services instead of just calling in. (I once spent six straight hours waiting with a client to be seen at an SSA office, and can personally confirm that they are a tenth circle of hell.) That said, DOGE was blocked by a court from slurping up the agency’s tasty, tasty data–which made the acting SSA head promptly throw a temper tantrum and threatened to shut down the agency. In related civil servant news, recent court filings suggest that about 25,000 federal probationary workers who were previously fired have been rehired due to court orders, including many workers at the FDA and NIH–but upon rehiring, these workers were promptly put on administrative leave. Researchers and news outlets alike are also reporting that hundreds of research grants relating to LGBTQI+ health are being terminated by the administration, compounded by chaos at NIH in general. Termination letters frequently insulted the grantees while they were at it, stating that grant awards “do not . . . benefit the American people” or are “unscientific.” At the end of last week, Trump also released an executive order to illegally dismantle the Department of Education (which is extra confusing because the agency is simultaneously haranguing a bunch of colleges for being too inclusive). Similarly, news is trickling in that the administration is considering eliminating or significantly curtailing the HIV Division of the CDC, which will result in massive staff and service losses. AIDS United is coordinating action for public citizens to respond.
News Outlet, Who Dis? From the department of “I cannot believe I am not making this up,” the Trump administration was in the news today because an editor of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, says he was texted their war plans by mistake. Unsurprisingly, said editor made a lot of information public (though thankfully he stopped short of anything truly sensitive). In a characteristic response, the current administration simultaneously confirmed the story and claimed Goldberg was a dirty liar–I guess they should have coordinated their responses on Signal. Meanwhile Hillary Clinton, of But Her Emails Fame, retweeted the story with a justifiable “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Since this administration doesn’t (yet) work in a vacuum, no matter how much they clearly want to, there are some Capitol Hill Dales stories too. Here’s what I have for you:

Budget Blues Finale. Over the last cycle, Congress passed a continuing resolution that will fund the government for another six months, largely due to Schumer’s willingness to play ball with an unrepentant GOP. The continuing resolution does keep the lights on, but it also creates massive opportunities for the administration to cut fundamental services. The cooperation has Democrats in both the progressive wing and the centrist wing rightfully pissed at the Senate minority leader, and the party’s favorability with its base has dropped to a record new low.

The Latest Spring Fashy:

Inhumane Immigration Actions. By now, I hope it wasn’t in doubt for anybody that this administration considers immigrants Target No. 1, but the last few weeks certainly dispelled any lingering question. We increasingly saw stories in the news about ordinary and lawfully-present people being detained and/or removed, such as several different college students, a kidney transplant surgeon, an electrical engineer, a graphic artist, and even the ambassador of South Africa (though in that last case, he was told he had to leave rather than detained). While some of the college students organized or participated in protests on campuses (which, I should note, is not supposed to be illegal), some of those detained simply said things on social media or were just trying to reenter the country. These details are important, because they serve to contextualize the 137 Venezuelan people that the administration deported to an El Salvadoran prison without any due process, despite a court order to return and justified using an 18th century wartime law (when we’re not at war with Venezuela). The administration is still refusing to cooperate with the court order or discovery as I type this, and has already signaled that they won’t meet a court deadline that was set for tomorrow because, to roughly translate the brief I’ve linked, Trump can do whatever the hell he wants and the courts aren’t his real law dad.
You’re Not My Real Law Dad. Though I’ve touched on several of the recent injunctions in other stories, I think it’s important to address the end of the last story directly–we’ve had a massive amount of back-and-forth between Trump and the courts in the last few weeks. (If you are justifiably having difficulty keeping track of all the 100+ lawsuits that have been filed, by the way, I recommend Just Security’s litigation tracker.) The administration does seem to accept or at least begrudgingly partially comply with some court orders, but stories of ignoring or attempting to circumvent orders are becoming distressingly common–we particularly see the administration do this with immigration lawsuits and health-related lawsuits, especially if they involve trans healthcare. And in some instances where the administration doesn’t like the ruling, such as the case described above, Trump has started calling for judges to be impeached. Roberts ended up issuing a statement this week telling Trump to knock it off, but since he doesn’t really get to decide when officials are impeached, we probably haven’t heard the end of this.

Silver Linings:

Recent Economic Resilience. Given everything above, I will say I personally find it edifying to report that Tesla’s sales have tanked in the past few weeks, with many people boycotting and protests in 28 states (and some folks going so far as to vandalize Tesla vehicles). Trump was reduced to showcasing cars on the White House front lawn, sitting inside one and saying he plans to buy it. This is, of course, incredibly corrupt and probably a violation of ethics rules. But also, it technically makes Trump a used car salesman, a fact that I all think we should all be repeating as often as possible.

So that’s what I have for you, and it was definitely more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this happy little dog and a less corrupt government. I’ll be back next time with more and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me coffee because we’re running out!

Year 9, Weeks 5-7 (February 16–March 8)

March 11, 2025March 11, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This news cycle, ho boy. Every advocate I know, including me, needs to nap for about a week–and we haven’t even hit 60 days yet. I’ve done my best to pare down the last few weeks into a manageable amount of material, but the news is still a drink from a filthy firehose. I guess this is our new normal, but this normal is defective; I wish we could all send it back for a refund.

Standard and new reminders apply: we may be starting my ninth year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a government agency!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. We’re still playing around with formatting and frequency as I navigate two healing ribs and all of the everything. And, of course, for the law things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Spills in Aisle 47:

It still isn’t fully clear how all the different heads of this hydra are working together, though they all seem dedicated to blowing things up as much as possible. That said, after seven weeks, some trends are starting to emerge. DOGE gets to be the HR financiers from hell, while 47 and the MAGA crew do all the things that make the rest of the world hate us. Vance does… insulting Republicans, I guess? Meanwhile, anything that sounds both competent and evil probably came from Vought and the Project 2025 team. With all of that in mind, we’re just going to summarize the whole gestapo gestalt as Authoritarian Actions for now. Here are the main lowlights from the last few weeks to know:

To Hell in a ‘Waste’ Basket. DOGE has continued to force its way into accessing several sensitive governmental systems over the past few weeks, such as the federal child support database and IRS taxpayer databases. It has also continued to cut a swath through a bajillion government programs, using claims of ‘fraud’ and ‘waste’ to fire thousands of necessary personnel–then, in several cases, being forced to rehire them. All told, the department has fired something like 62,000 workers, including 6,000 IRS jobs in the middle of tax season. They’re still planning many more cuts, and also harassing the workers who are still there by demanding weekly emails that justify their work. Half of the time, these hatchet jobs aren’t even saving money, which is the supposed point of all of this, and it’s contributing to a messed-up business sector–but more about that below.
From the Department of Health and Human Sacrifices. There has also been a slew of bad health news, particularly since RFK Jr took over DHHS. The administration initially planned to shut down a free COVID test program, and it also canceled an annual flu advisory meeting used to select the flu strain in the annual flu shot. We also had our first measles death in ten years, in part because the administration isn’t handling the crisis in Texas appropriately. Meanwhile, the National Institute of Health is not properly processing its research grant applications, which may have very long-lasting implications on health research, and a lot of existing grant funding is still being cut despite a court order to resume payments. The administration is similarly cutting funding to a lot of higher ed institutions that do health research, among other things, which is already resulting in smaller research programs and hiring freezes. And all of this is, of course, on top of firing a bunch of health agency staff (some of whom had to be rehired). Just today, we also learned that SCOTUS will hear a conversion therapy ban case this season, which in the current atmosphere is frankly terrifying.

Since this administration doesn’t (yet) work in a vacuum, no matter how much they clearly want to, there are some Capitol Hill Dales stories too. Here’s what I have for you:

Budget Blues. Congress has been negotiating to keep the lights on again, since the current federal funding will run out on March 14, and it’s looking likely that they’ll pass a continuing resolution that will fund day-to-day spending until September. They’re also beginning votes on reconciliation for long-term budgeting, with pretty scary results. (We don’t have all the bill language yet, but it’s pretty much not possible to make the types of budget cuts they are signaling without dramatically cutting Medicaid, and it wouldn’t be great for DC either).
SCOTUS-POTUS. Even without the conversion therapy cert that was granted earlier today, SCOTUS has had a busy few weeks. They did ultimately issue an opinion saying that Trump has to follow court orders when they are issued–and I still can’t believe that sentence is actual news–but the court waited until the order in question was moot to say so. They also issued an opinion basically saying that the Clean Water Act really doesn’t require clean water, actually (although Comey Barrett did side with the liberals and dissent on that one). So, you know, great few weeks for the highest court in the land.

The Latest Fashy:

Ukraine Drain.* One foreign affairs trend we’ve been seeing a lot is fascist expansionism, and it has been a truly wild few weeks to track our relations with Ukraine. I think it’s fair to say the Trump administration has antagonized President Zelenskyy all over the place, from demanding U.S. mineral rights on Ukrainian soil to withholding funding to questioning Zelenskyy’s dress code and blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion. Pretty much the only good thing I can say about the situation is that this spurred Europe to support Ukraine more, because our country clearly isn’t going to.
Tariff A New One.* Trump has also been busy getting into tariff standoffs with our neighboring countries and China over the past few weeks, more-or-less acknowledging that this may cause a recession but not caring because, I don’t know, reasons. Unsurprisingly, this has Wall Street freaking out, with many stocks dropping especially over the last few days. He also established a ‘strategic Bitcoin reserve’ this week that will be overseen by a Crypto and AI Czar, and how is this real life.

Silver Linings:

Recent Legal Resilience. We have at least had several different court case wins this cycle, with a lot of courts ordering the Trump administration to do or stop doing various things. A suit was also brought on Friday to reverse the firing of government workers, and I really want to see where that one goes. Meanwhile, Dems in the Senate managed to kill a federal trans sports ban bill. It’s particularly encouraging to see Democrats successfully mobilize on something, given how the last few weeks have gone.

So that’s what I have for you, and it was definitely more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this curious kitten and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time with more and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!

Year 9, Rest of Month 1 (January 27-February 15)

February 18, 2025February 18, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Hello, and welcome to my latest NNR/health compromise! Many folks reading this likely already know that I slipped on some black ice and broke two ribs earlier this week (and yes, it’s about as fun as it sounds). But way, way too much is going on for me to do nothing. Thus I present: The Year 9, Month 1 lightning round!

There are a lot of developing stories to keep track of right now, and many of them have common themes. We’re going to spend a few minutes on each story I’m tracking–mostly involving health, civil rights, and dismantling of government–so that it’s easier to see the overall picture. It’s an experiment, so please let me know if it’s useful!

Tracking Threads:

DOGEshift. Over the past few weeks, Elon Musk and his juvenile cronies have been sticking their noses into many, many spaces where their noses do not legally belong and spreading germs all over the government. At first, there were a lot of stories about them seizing assets from and/or access to financial and HR systems within our government–which then led to offering staff buy-outs and straight-up firing thousands of people across numerous agencies. Of note, they’ve basically shut down the CFPB, a semi-independent consumer finance bureau which would be in charge of monitoring all of this. They have also cut massive swaths out of the functionality of many necessary federal agencies, such as billions in NIH research funding, countless Department of Education contracts, and basically all of USAID. (They’re similarly expected to turn their eyes to the IRS in the coming week). By now, Musk is now being pretty upfront about wanting to “delete” whole agencies, and an EO issued this past week instructs all agencies to let Musk gut them–among other things, it requires each agency to “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart.” Many of the targeted cuts personally benefit Musk in one way or another, and the administration has also fired top officials in several different government watchdog groups. Needless to say, none of this is legal at all, but this administration appears to ignore temporary restraining orders with some frequency, and not all judges are ruling on the side of law, so it’s unclear how effective legal challenges will be.
From the Department of Destroying Health. In addition to all of the Week 1 health garbage (which included funding freezes, communication freezes, the dismantling of foreign aid, and the scrubbing of federal data), Robert F Kennedy Jr was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services this past Thursday. Trump celebrated by issuing another batshit health EO which instructs a taskforce to “look into” the validity of children taking psych meds such as antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and stimulants. (I will share for free that this one really gets under my skin.) This EO joins an earlier EO that banned adolescent access to gender-affirming care (which is already paused by judicial order) as well as Musk’s actions to fire thousands at NIH and CDC.
Illegal International/Imprisonment Changes. In the immigration/criminal space, the administration has started moving immigration detainees to Guantanamo Bay and threatened to start holding U.S. prisoners in El Salvador. Conversely, several DOJ staff have resigned this week because they were told to drop corruption charges against NYC mayor Eric Adams due to, I dunno, vibes. (This comes on the tail end of firing a bunch of federal prosecutors because they worked on the January 6 case.) In other international news, Trump said he would “end” the war in Ukraine by negotiating with Putin, which apparently involved demanding half of Ukraine’s mineral rights. He also imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum and additional tariffs on China. Finally, the administration is now using their renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as a litmus test for reporters, and is barring the Associated Press from White House access due to their refusal to use the made-up name.

So that’s the lightning news, and I’m sorry, there are still no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this science ferret and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time, hopefully with the full news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me a speedy recovery time!

Year 9, Week 1 (January 21-26)

January 28, 2025January 28, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

I’ve heard a lot of people describe the past week as an intentional shock doctrine campaign, and frankly, that’s a good framing for what just happened. We had such a barrage of the everything that I want to give people some grounding and context–while I definitely won’t be able to put out the NNR weekly, we’re doing back-to-back summaries for Week 1. Frankly, this week needs it.

Standard standing reminders still apply: we may be starting my ninth year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a federal employee!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Spills in Aisle 47:

Things are chaotic and scary enough that for the foreseeable future, we’re going to give Presidential Project 2025 actions their own section. Expect this category to cover everything implementing Project 2025 from executive orders to memoranda to, y’know, general cheeto overflow.

From the Department of Destroying Health. Boy howdy, was this week a weird time to work in national healthcare. The administration ordered a communication freeze, which is just a fancy way of saying “you’re not allowed to talk to anybody about anything,” for the Center for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, and National Institutes of Health through February 1. At NIH, reports began trickling in that this included NIH study sessions, which is how the NIH reviews grant applications, as well as advisory committees. People and outlets also described NIH conferences that ended mid-conference and restrictions on travel and hiring. Guidance was eventually issued that said that clinical trials could continue but the NIH still wasn’t allowed to talk about them, and people remained confused about their funding. Meanwhile, the CDC can’t issue health alerts, which is not great when we currently have an outbreak of bird flu in several states (side note–apparently it is killing bald eagles, which feels like quite an apt metaphor at the moment). The CDC was also directed today to stop working with the World Health Organization immediately, which precludes a controlled withdrawal and likely isn’t legal. The FDA has scrubbed lots of clinical data that relates to diversity in clinical trials as well, though we’ll talk more about that below. Trump rounded out the week by threatening to pull FEMA funding as a first step for destroying the agency, and he did indeed order on Friday that FEMA be “assessed”. Looking ahead, RFK’s hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, and now is a great time to call your Senator to demand they quash his HHS nomination.
Immigration Roundups. A huge amount has happened on the immigration front, which isn’t surprising when it was such a flagship issue for 47 but is still plenty disturbing. Trump did indeed issue an executive order that illegally revoked birthright citizenship, which he then argued in court applied to Indigenous peoples–and reports began trickling in of Navajo Nation citizens being detained by ICE. In apparent response on Tuesday, Bishop Mariann Budde gave an inaugural service sermon to Trump urging him not to be horrible to immigrants, which naturally was so offensive that Trump questioned her credentials and demanded an apology. This served to set something of a tone for the rest of the week, as for an encore he canceled entrance for thousands of approved refugees–which, for those of you playing the home game, definitionally involves people who are legally entering the United States due to credible risk of torture or death if they stay where they are. This was followed by revoking the Sensitive Location doctrine, which is a rule from 2011 stating that ICE can’t invade churches and schools, and this is already leading to massive raids. And just today he instated abhorrent quotas requiring ICE to arrest a thousand immigrants per day–a massive increase, as ICE detained 11,000 people total last year. When combined with a recent law by Congress that permits deportation due to arrest for crimes like minor theft, the capacity for abuse is massive. Now is a great time to donate to immigration advocacy groups, print red cards for community use, and share Know Your Rights documents generally.
License to Discriminate. By far, the executive documents I have spent the most quality time with this week are the orders, as foretold by prophecy, which suppress all federal DEI efforts and revoke recognition of transgender people existing. The anti-trans order features a lot of bizarro junk science and a reference to fetal personhood, but nonetheless has very real implications for trans and gender diverse people living in the United States. It’s particularly dangerous for incarcerated trans people, but people are also already reporting their passport applications getting pulled if they requested an X marker or a gender marker change. Meanwhile, all DEI-related staff are being fired by January 31, equity-related data is getting scrubbed, and federal employees are being told to rat out their coworkers if they suspect them of engaging in DEI activities, lest employees face “adverse consequences” for failing to snitch. He also revoked sixty-year-old protections that prohibited discrimination in federal contracts, extending these rules to the private sector and higher education. Both of these orders, incidentally, are part of the Project 2025 agenda–so that’s fun. On a related note, the Justice Department has frozen civil rights work, which likely indicates less, shall we say, robust enforcement under the new regime. Now’s a great time to support trans resource groups.

The Latest Fashy:

Orange is the New Bleak. We also saw a bunch of stuff this week that is violent or advancing fascism but not, like, in a Project 2025 kind of way. I’m sure most folks have heard by now that Trump has pardoned all of the January 6 insurrectionists, some of whom were frankly very scary people. What’s less well-known is that he’s also now investigating the Jan 6 prosecutors–a move that’s particularly concerning when he also fired fifteen independent inspectors general in the middle of the night this week. It also comes at the same time that he is ending telework for federal employees, removing employee protections from firing, installing loyalty measures, and just generally made career federal employees’ lives miserable. We’ll want to keep an eye on all of these things, though I don’t have any immediate suggestions for action on them.

Silver Linings:

Recent Judicial Resilience. At least we’re already starting to see inroads through litigation – in one of the many lawsuits brought on the subject, a federal judge has already blocked the birthright citizenship order. (Said judge called it ‘blatantly unconstitutional,‘ which is absolutely correct, but it’s nice to see a Reagan-appointed judge willing to say it.) And just today, a group of Quakers brought a lawsuit challenging the removal of the sensitive locations doctrine. Hopefully an injunction will be granted in that case, as well. And finally, a trans woman in federal prison is suing the administration over the blatantly dangerous provisions of the anti-trans executive order. Newsweek, of all places, has a good summary of all the litigation popping up against Trump this week, and it’s worth taking a look.

So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are still no news refunds.
For making it through, you deserve these beach buddies and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time with more and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!