Rich Harvard VS Deadbeat Trump - The Wednesday AM Quickie 4/16/25
Greetings to the ethereal baby colossal squid, the first of its kind ever caught on film. This is it from me till next week. Passing the conch shell to Corey. - Whitney
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THE BIG NEWS
World’s Richest University Says FU to Trump, A Guy Who’s Gone Bankrupt Six Times
Harvard became the first university to reject Trump’s illegal demands this week, calling them “unmoored from the law” and an attempt to regulate “intellectual conditions.” The Trump administration responded by telling the school it would freeze $2.2 billion in grants and a $60 million contract, the Associated Press and The New York Times reported. Trump also threatened to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status.
“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Harvard president Alan Garber wrote in a letter posted to the university website. “No government – regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
Trump’s demands include that Harvard “audit” the viewpoints of students, faculty, and staff, with the goal of identifying those committing thought crimes and “reducing their power.” He also demanded changes to the school’s hiring, governance, and admissions policies and that it stop recognizing certain clubs.
Harvard is the richest university in the world and knows a thing or two about long-term survival. Its endowment was more than $53 billion as of the end of last year – bigger than the gross domestic product of almost 100 countries. In the investment world, it is considered one of the savviest money managers around. Big institutions of all kinds look to it for guidance because its officials and investment staff know how to turn a profit and stay afloat in all kinds of conditions. So if Harvard says the best strategy is to fight, others will join. Some already have: Brown University, California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and the University of Illinois sued the Trump administration Monday over research funding cuts.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
Rights Orgs Sue Trump for Pulling Funds to End Child Labor
Multiple labor groups sued the Trump administration yesterday for illegally cutting congressionally authorized international programs to end child labor and other abuses, The Guardian reported. The programs not only protect people overseas, they also protect US businesses from unfair competition, said the Solidarity Center, which brought the suit with Global March Against Child Labour and the American Institutes for Research to stop the cuts. “It’s critical to the American economy that American workers not be forced to compete with extremely exploited workers in other countries, up to and including forced and child labor in supply chains,” said the organization’s executive director, Shawna Bader-Blau. Trump’s cuts slashed the Solidarity Center’s budget by 20 percent, on top of a 30 percent reduction from USAID cuts.
Judge Orders ‘Intense’ Inquiry into Trump Inaction on Maryland Dad
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered an “all hands on deck” inquiry into Trump’s refusal to do anything at all to bring home illegally deported Maryland father Kilmar Armando Abrego García, who has been stuck in El Salvador’s supermax prison since last month. “To date, what the record shows is that nothing has been done. Nothing,” Xinis said Tuesday at a court hearing, Politico reported. Her order comes a day after Trump and fellow dictator Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president, ridiculed the idea of freeing Abrego García despite the Supreme Court’s order that the government facilitate his return home.
“We’re going to move. There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding,” Xinis said. “There are no business hours while we do this. … Cancel vacations, cancel other appointments. I’m usually pretty good about things like that in my court, but not this time. So, I expect all hands on deck.”
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- Musk’s Fake Agency Using Confidential Info to Hunt Immigrants Fake federal agency “Department of Government Efficiency” staff are illegally demanding real agencies hand over protected personal data so they can use it to hunt immigrants and kick them out of their homes and jobs. via The Washington Post.
- Trump Wages Doomed Popularity Contest With China Ex-hedge fund guy Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, wants trading partners to snub China in exchange for lower tariffs, as if he doesn’t see how globally despised the United States is at the mo. via The Wall Street Journal.
- It’s Hard to Find Jurors Neutral on Notorious Convicted Rapist Rapist Harvey Weinstein is on trial again, and the defense had trouble finding jurors yesterday because, as one dismissed juror put it, “I don’t like the guy; he is a really bad guy.” via Vulture.
- Thousands of Ants in Their Pants A magistrate in Nairobi charged a pair of Belgian teens with wildlife piracy yesterday after authorities found they had collected 5,000 ants to sell - part of a larger trafficking shift “from iconic large mammals to lesser-known yet ecologically critical species.” via the Associated Press.
SOME NUMBER
$90 billion
That’s how much the US economy stands to lose this year because foreign tourists don’t want to buy products from or vacation in a fascist USA.
ON THE SHOW TODAY
4/15: It's Hump Day! The first guest will be Anna Bower, senior editor at Lawfare. She's been covering the Abrego García deportation case and will fill us in on the latest developments and what lies ahead.
We'll also have members of NYC Alamo United, who just ended their strike after management agreed to reinstate all laid-off staffers. They couldn't make it yesterday, but God willing, they'll be here today!
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
Billionaires Cry Too
Wah.
Stephen Miller’s Unhinged Meltdown STUNS Fox Host
Time for a pantomime "interview."
PARTING WORDS
“We didn’t use to have to decide if our students were human, they were all people.”
-- Eric Maag, a teacher at Southwestern College, a California community college battling the nationwide scourge of bot students. Fraudsters enroll in classes long enough for financial aid distributions to go out and mainly target community colleges because they accept all applicants. The state chancellor’s office said a quarter of college applicants last year were bots. “We’re having to have these conversations with students, like, ‘Are you real? Is your work real?’” Maag said.
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