Pope Leo lauds journalism in comments about Catholic church abuse; The Hill, June 21, 2025

AMALIA HUOT-MARCHAND , The Hill; Pope Leo lauds journalism in comments about Catholic church abuse

"“Your fight for justice is also the Church’s fight. A faith that does not touch the wounds of the human body and soul has not yet understood the Gospel,” he added.

He also stressed the importance of independent journalism for society.

“In this time of deep institutional and social tensions, defending free and ethical journalism is not only an act of justice, but a duty for all who aspire to a strong and participatory democracy,” he wrote.

Sexual abuse continues to plague the Catholic Church. Although Pope Francis began to take away the taboo of abuse within church walls, victims are seeking more recognition and action from Pope Leo such as a zero-tolerance policy.

Leo has already made the free press a cause for which he is willing to fight.

On May 12, Pope Leo called for the release of unlawfully detained journalists all over the world and defended the importance of free speech and press."

What We Know About the ‘No Kings’ Protests on Saturday; The New York Times, June 13, 2025

Chris Hippensteel , The New York Times; What We Know About the ‘No Kings’ Protests on Saturday

"Planned protests against the Trump administration that are expected to be among the largest since the president’s second term began will be held across the country on Saturday.

The demonstrations will occur in all 50 states, and organizers have estimated roughly 2,000 gatherings — ranging from small groups in more rural communities to larger rallies in major cities including New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Denver. According to a map by organizers, there are some three dozen events scheduled in Indiana alone. Protests are also scheduled in other countries including Britain, Mexico and Germany.

They come as President Trump’s immigration crackdown and decision to deploy the military in Los Angeles have already led to large-scale protests there and additional protests in several other cities.

On the same day as the protests, Mr. Trump has scheduled a military parade in Washington for the Army’s 250th anniversary, which also coincides with his 79th birthday...

One major city is notably absent from the list of planned demonstrations: Washington, D.C., the site of the military parade. The omission was intentional, Ms. Greenberg said.

In remarks earlier this week, Mr. Trump warned that any protesters who rallied against the military parade in Washington would be met with “very big force.”"

Yoga classes resume at San Diego beach as court says they are ‘protected speech’; The Guardian, June 6, 2025

Dani Anguiano and agencies, The Guardian ; Yoga classes resume at San Diego beach as court says they are ‘protected speech’

"oga classes are back on at San Diego beaches this week after a federal appeals court ruled that a city ordinance restricting such activities was unconstitutional and that teaching yoga was “protected speech”.

The three-judge panel of the US ninth circuit court of appeals on Wednesday overruled a San Diego judge and decided in favor of two instructors who had sued over a law that San Diego passed in 2024 banning yoga classes of four or more people at shoreline parks and beaches.

“Because the ordinance targets teaching yoga, it plainly implicates [the instructors’] first amendment right to speak,” the ruling stated, finding that the ordinance violated the instructors’ rights...

Outdoor yoga is a service to those who are disabled or cannot afford yoga classes elsewhere, said Pease.

“It is a popular thing here. We’re a beach community, and it’s a way for people to access yoga that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to,” Pease said."

Trump’s ‘fear factor’: Scientists go silent as funding cuts escalate; Science, May 12, 2025

WARREN CORNWALL, Science; Trump’s ‘fear factor’: Scientists go silent as funding cuts escalate

"In February, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump was inaugurated, Rebekah Tromble launched a program to advise scientists and journalists targeted for intimidation and harassment. But she announced it quietly, fearing the very kind of attacks the initiative was meant to counter. “We were truly concerned that trying to draw too much attention to our work would jeopardize our funding,” says the George Washington University social scientist. “It’s a bit counterintuitive for a program that is actually trying to reach and help people.”

Tromble’s paradoxical situation is emblematic of the fear and self-censorship coursing through the nation’s scientific establishment today. As the Trump administration fires swaths of government researchers, cancels scientific grants, and targets leading universities with punishing funding freezes, scientists who might once have welcomed public attention for their work or spoken up on issues affecting their field are instead opting for silence.

“The lived experience of a scientist right now is terrifying,” said one prominent health researcher who asked not to be named out of concern their funding would be targeted. “We love getting our research in The New York Times and Science. You can imagine how much fear is involved if we are saying ‘no.’”"

Trump signs the Take It Down Act into law; The Verge, May 19, 2025

Lauren Feiner, The Verge ; Trump signs the Take It Down Act into law

"President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law, enacting a bill that will criminalize the distribution of nonconsensual intimate images (NCII) — including AI deepfakes — and require social media platforms to promptly remove them when notified.

The bill sailed through both chambers of Congress with several tech companies, parent and youth advocates, and first lady Melania Trump championing the issue. But critics — including a group that’s made it its mission to combat the distribution of such images — warn that its approach could backfire and harm the very survivors it seeks to protect. 

The law makes publishing NCII, whether real or AI-generated, criminally punishable by up to three years in prison, plus fines. It also requires social media platforms to have processes to remove NCII within 48 hours of being notified and “make reasonable efforts” to remove any copies. The Federal Trade Commission is tasked with enforcing the law, and companies have a year to comply...

The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), which advocates for legislation combating image-based abuse, has long pushed for the criminalization of nonconsensual distribution of intimate images (NDII). But the CCRI said it could not support the Take It Down Act because it may ultimately provide survivors with “false hope.” On Bluesky, CCRI President Mary Anne Franks called the takedown provision a “poison pill … that will likely end up hurting victims more than it helps.”"

Trump presidential orders target law firms. Here's how some lawyers say that threatens the rule of law.; CBS News, May 4, 2025

Scott Pelley, CBS News; Trump presidential orders target law firms. Here's how some lawyers say that threatens the rule of law.

[Kip Currier: The Trump Executive Orders against select law firms violate the spirit and substance of foundational democratic beliefs and rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. 

The right to legal counsel is a fundamental precept of America's justice system and democracy.  Trump's Executive Orders imperil the right to legal counsel.

It is a conservative principle that finds its roots in the rebellion of the Thirteen Original Colonies against the human rights-starved tyranny of colonial England under King George III (1760-1820).

It is a tenet that has set the U.S. apart from authoritarian regimes.

The right to legal counsel is in jeopardy under the current administration.

The courageous, democratically-principled lawyers, law firms, judges, and legal organizations that are standing up and speaking out against these baseless unconstitutional actions deserve our admiration, support, and gratitude.]

[Excerpt]

"It was nearly impossible to get anyone on camera for this story because of the fear now running through our system of justice. In recent weeks, President Trump has signed orders against several law firms — orders with the power to destroy them. That matters because lawsuits have been a check on the president's power. Many firms and attorneys have been targeted, among them Marc Elias, a long time opponent of Trump who is the only lawyer the president has named who was willing to appear on 60 Minutes. Elias, and others, are warning that Trump's assault on the legal profession threatens the rule of law itself. Elias says that for him, it began with the president's personal grudge...

In a shock to the legal community, nine major firms went to the White House to make a deal. Some say they were pressured, not by a written order, but by a message from the White House threatening an order...

Marc Elias: It is trying to intimidate them the way in which a mob boss intimidates people in the neighborhood that he is seeking to either exact protection money from or engage in other nefarious conduct. I mean, the fact is that these law firms are being told, "If you don't play ball with us, maybe somethin' really bad will happen to you." 

The nine firms did not admit wrongdoing but, altogether, they agreed to give nearly $1 billion in legal services to causes that the firms and Trump support. 

Donald Ayer: Our whole system of government is at stake.

Attorney Donald Ayer should know. He argued before the Supreme Court for the Reagan administration. He was deputy attorney general for George H. W. Bush. Today, he teaches at Georgetown Law...

Four firms are standing up and fighting in court. Judges protected them with temporary restraining orders. Law professor Donald Ayer says, in his view, Trump's orders violate the constitutional rights to free speech, due process and the right to counsel."

Trump’s Order Targeting Law Firm Perkins Coie Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules; The New York Times, May 2, 2025

Zach Montague , The New York Times; Trump’s Order Targeting Law Firm Perkins Coie Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules

"A federal judge ruled on Friday that an executive order President Trump signed in March targeting the law firm Perkins Coie was unconstitutional and directed the government not to enforce its terms, which had threatened to upend the firm’s business.

The ruling was the first time a court had stepped in to permanently bar Mr. Trump from trying to punish a law firm he opposes politically.

Skipping a trial and moving directly to a final ruling, Judge Beryl A. Howell of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that attempts to bring the firm to heel under the threat of retaliation amounted to unlawful coercion, and imperiled its lawyers’ ability to freely practice law.

“No American president has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue,” she wrote, adding, “In purpose and effect, this action draws from a playbook as old as Shakespeare, who penned the phrase: ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.’”"

US Naval Academy canceled author’s lecture that would have criticized book bans; CNN, April 19, 2025

Natasha Bertrand , CNN; US Naval Academy canceled author’s lecture that would have criticized book bans

"The US Naval Academy canceled a lecture that author Ryan Holiday was scheduled to give to students there last week after he refused to remove slides from his planned presentation that criticized the academy’s decision to remove nearly 400 books from its main library.

Holiday, a writer and philosopher who has lectured at the US Naval Academy more than half a dozen times since 2019, told CNN on Saturday that he was invited by the academy in November to give a lecture about wisdom to midshipmen on April 14. He had previously spoken to students there, including during the first Trump administration, as part of a series on stoicism and the pursuit of virtue and excellence.

But an hour before he was scheduled to give his talk last week, as he was getting ready in his hotel room in Annapolis, Holiday says he received a call from the school asking him if he could refrain from mentioning the academy’s decision earlier this month to remove 381 books from the shelves of its Nimitz Library.

“I said I couldn’t do that,” Holiday recalled. “I couldn’t have spoken in front of these midshipmen about courage and about doing the right thing, and then remove, I think, a very reasonable objection to a very egregious concept."...

“I actually agree that the Academy should be apolitical,” Holiday told CNN. “That’s what makes this political meddling in their access to books so troubling. And then to suppress criticism of that obvious mistake, is to model even poorer moral leadership to the midshipman.”"

Emerging From a Collective Silence, Universities Organize to Fight Trump; The New York Times, April 27, 2025

 Stephanie Saul and Alan Blinder, The New York Times; Emerging From a Collective Silence, Universities Organize to Fight Trump

"The Trump administration’s swift initial rollout of orders seeking more control over universities left schools thunderstruck. Fearing retribution from a president known to retaliate against his enemies, most leaders in higher education responded in February with silence.

But after weeks of witnessing the administration freeze billions in federal funding, demand changes to policies and begin investigations, a broad coalition of university leaders publicly opposing those moves is taking root. The most visible evidence yet was a statement last week signed by more than 400 campus leaders opposing what they saw as the administration’s assault on academia.

Although organizations of colleges and administrators regularly conduct meetings on a wide range of issues, the statement by the American Association of Colleges and Universities was an unusual show of unity considering the wide cross-section of interests it included: Ivy League institutions and community colleges, public flagship schools and Jesuit universities, regional schools and historically Black colleges.

“We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the statement said."

US universities’ faculty unite to defend academic freedom after Trump’s attacks; The Guardian, April 16, 2025

Maya Yang, The Guardian; US universities’ faculty unite to defend academic freedom after Trump’s attacks

"Faculty members from US universities – including public ones which do not receive endowments – are banding together in attempts to resist the Donald Trump administration’s attacks on academic freedoms.

This month, Indiana University’s Bloomington faculty council followed in the footsteps of Rutgers University in passing a resolution to establish a pact with all 18 universities under the Big 10 academic alliance to defend academic freedoms.

The resolution comes as a result of “recent and escalating politically motivated actions by governmental bodies [which] pose a significant threat to the foundational principles of American higher education including the autonomy of university governance, the integrity of scientific research, and the protection of free speech”.

The 18 universities part of the Big 10 academic alliance include the University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, University of Oregon, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The resolution says the “preservation of one institution’s integrity is the concern of all and an infringement against one member university of the Big Ten shall be considered an infringement against all”."

Judge blocks most of Trump order against Susman Godfrey, laments law firms 'capitulating'; Reuters, April 15, 2025

Mike Scarcella and David Thomas, Reuters; Judge blocks most of Trump order against Susman Godfrey, laments law firms 'capitulating'

"A federal judge on Tuesday blocked most of Donald Trump's executive order targeting law firm Susman Godfrey, part of the Republican U.S. president's campaign against the legal industry, and lamented that other firms have been "capitulating" to what she called his coercion and abuse of power.

Washington-based U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan issued a temporary restraining order halting provisions of Trump's directive that threatened to cancel federal contracts held by Susman Godfrey's clients and restricted access by its lawyers to government buildings and officials.

"The government is purely trying to control what private lawyers may do, which I do not think will withstand constitutional scrutiny," the judge said at a hearing.\

Susman Godfrey sued the administration on Friday, arguing that Trump's order violated the firm's rights to free speech, due process and other protections under the U.S. Constitution.

Nine firms, including Paul Weiss, Skadden Arps and Simpson Thacher, have cut deals with the White House since Trump began targeting law firms he disfavors in February. Four firms have filed lawsuits challenging Trump."

List of Books Removed from USNA Library; America's Navy, April 4, 2025

America's Navy; List of Books Removed from USNA Library

[Kip Currier: The freedoms to read, speak, and think are fundamental American values enshrined by our Constitution. Libraries should and must have books and resources that represent a wide range of information, views, and lived experiences. Whether or not we as individuals or members of groups agree or disagree with every book in a library is immaterial and contrary to our freedoms. As the late Robert Croneberger, Director of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (1986-1998), aptly observed, a library is not doing its job if it doesn't have at least one book that offends every person.

Military service members have served, fought, and died to preserve our freedoms and core values. Enlisted persons and their families should and must have access to a broad continuum of ideas and information. Anything less is blatant censorship that is antithetical to the American way of life.]

[Excerpts from list]

     "How to be an antiracist / Ibram X. Kendi.

Uncomfortable conversations with a black man / Emmanuel Acho.

Why didn't we riot? : a Black man in Trumpland / Issac J. Bailey.

Long time coming : reckoning with race in America / Michael Eric Dyson.

State of emergency : how we win in the country we built / Tamika D. Mallory as told to Ashley A. Coleman ; [forewords, Angela Y. Davis and Cardi B].

How we can win : race, history and changing the money game that's rigged / Kimberly Jones.

My vanishing country : a memoir / Bakari Sellers.

The gangs of Zion : a Black cop's crusade in Mormon country / Ron Stallworth, with Sofia Quintero.

American hate : survivors speak out / edited by Arjun Singh Sethi.

The rage of innocence : how America criminalizes Black youth /
Kristin Henning.

Our time is now : power, purpose, and the fight for a fair America /
Stacey Abrams.

What's your pronoun? : beyond he & she / Dennis Baron.

Rainbow milk : a novel / Paul Mendez.

The genesis of misery / Neon Yang.

The last white man / Mohsin Hamid.

Light from uncommon stars / Ryka Aoki.

Everywhere you don't belong : a novel / by Gabriel Bump.

Evil eye : a novel / Etaf Rum.

Lies my teacher told me : everything your American history
textbook got wrong / James W. Loewen.

Gender queer : a memoir / by Maia Kobabe ; colors by Phoebe
Kobabe.

The third person / Emma Grove."

Trump targets libraries and state-funded media organizations amid Voice of America’s staff cut; The Independent, March 15, 2025

Gustaf Kilander, The Independent; Trump targets libraries and state-funded media organizations amid Voice of America’s staff cut

"The Trump administration continued its gutting of the federal government on Saturday as it began making significant cuts to Voice of America and other state-operated programming supportive of democratic ideals. 

As Congress passed government funding on Friday night, Trump ordered the administration to cut back the functions of a number of agencies as much as possible in accordance with the law. One of the affected institutions was the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia, as well as Radio Marti, which broadcasts news in Spanish in Cuba. 

In an executive order signed late on Friday, Trump eviscerated a number of smaller offices and agencies that do everything from battling homelessness to funding libraries.

The order stated that the agencies and offices will see their federal grants reviewed. The grants will be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”...

The advocacy group said it “condemns this decision as a departure from the U.S.’s historic role as a defender of free information and calls on the U.S. government to restore VOA and urges Congress and the international community to take action against this unprecedented move.”...

The latest reductions are especially provocative because the Agency for Global Media is an independent agency chartered by Congress, which passed a law in 2020 limiting the power of the agency’s presidentially appointed executives. Trump has already taken several moves to gut congressionally-mandated programs, setting up a potential Supreme Court showdown over the limits of presidential power.

Trump also took aim at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an agency that supports libraries, archives, and museums in all U.S. states."

Three billionaires: America’s oligarchy is now fully exposed; The Guardian, February 27, 2025

Robert Reich, The Guardian; Three billionaires: America’s oligarchy is now fully exposed

"One of the unacknowledged advantages of the horrendous era we’ve entered is that it is revealing the putrid connections between great wealth and great power for all to see.

Oligarchs are fully exposed and they are defiant. It’s like hitting the “reveal codes” key on older computers that let you see everything.

On Wednesday, Jeff Bezos, the third-richest person in America, who bought the Washington Post in 2013, announced that the paper’s opinion section would henceforth focus on defending “personal liberties and free markets”.

Anything inconsistent with this view would not be published, according to his statement. “Viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”

The Post’s opinion editor, David Shipley, promptly resigned, as he should have...

Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, bought Twitter in 2022, laid off everyone who was filtering out hateful crap on the platform, renamed it X and turned it into a cesspool of lies in support of Trump.

Mark Zuckerberg, the second-richest person, has followed suit, allowing Facebook to emit lies, hate and bigotry in support of Trump’s lies, hate and bigotry.

All three of these men were in the first row at Trump’s inauguration. They, and other billionaires, have now exposed themselves for what they are.

They are the oligarchy. They continue to siphon off the wealth of the nation. They are supporting a tyrant who is promising them tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks that will make them even richer.

They are destroying democracy so they won’t have to worry about “parasites” (as Musk calls people who depend on government assistance) demanding anything more from them.

When billionaires take control of our communication channels, it’s not a win for free speech. It’s a win for their billionaire babble."

Jeff Bezos is muzzling the Washington Post’s opinion section. That’s a death knell; The Guardian, February 26, 2025

Margaret Sullivan, The Guardian ; Jeff Bezos is muzzling the Washington Post’s opinion section. That’s a death knell

"Owners and publishers of news organizations often exert their will on opinion sections. It would be naive to think otherwise.

But a draconian announcement this week by Jeff Bezos, the Washington Postowner, goes far beyond the norm.

The billionaire declared that only opinions that support “personal liberties” and “free markets” will be welcome in the opinion pages of the Post.

“Viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others,” he added.

The paper’s top opinion editor, David Shipley, couldn’t get on board with those restrictions. He immediately – and appropriately – resigned.

Especially in the light of the billionaire’s other blatant efforts to cozy up to Donald Trump, Bezos’s move is more than a gut punch; it’s more like a death knell for the once-great news organization he bought in 2013...

What is clear is that Bezos no longer wants to own an independent news organization. He wants a megaphone and a political tool that will benefit his own commercial interests.

It’s appalling. And, if you care about the role of the press in America’s democracy, it’s tragic.

“What Bezos is doing today runs counter to what he said, and actually practiced, during my tenure at the Post,” Martin Baron, the paper’s executive editor until 2021 and the author of the 2023 memoir Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos and the Washington Post, told me in an email Wednesday.

“I have always been grateful for how he stood up for the Post and an independent press against Trump’s constant threats to his business interest,” Baron said. “Now, I couldn’t be more sad and disgusted.”...

This outrageous move will enrage them. I foresee a mass subscriber defection from an outlet already deep in red ink; that must be something businessman Bezos is willing to live with.

He must also be willing to live with hypocrisy.

“Bezos argues for personal liberties. But his news organization now will forbid views other than his own in its opinion section,” Baron pointed out, recalling that it was only weeks ago when the Post described itself in an internal mission statement as intended for “all of America”.

“Now,” Baron noted, “its opinion pages will be open to only some of America, those who think exactly as he does.”

It’s all about getting on board with Trump, to whose inauguration Bezos – through Amazon, the company he co-founded – contributed a million dollars. That allowed him a prime seat, along with others of his oligarchical ilk."

Scoop: Why Trump targets AP; Axios, February 17, 2025

 

• Marc Caputo, Axios; Scoop: Why Trump targets AP

"One of the big reasons President Trump is limiting AP reporters' White House access is to protest what aides see as years of liberal word choices that the wire service's influential stylebook spread across mainstream media, according to top White House officials.

Why it matters: The trigger was the announcement by The Associated Press that it would continue using the 400-year-old "Gulf of Mexico" rather than switch to "Gulf of America," as declared by Trump in a Day 1 executive order. But it turns out that broader underlying grievances made AP a target.

The big picture: By spotlighting AP, Trump is amplifying Republican and conservative criticisms that the AP Stylebook, a first reference for most U.S. news organizations, shapes political dialogue by favoring liberal words and phrases concerning gender, immigration, raceand law enforcement.

• "This isn't just about the Gulf of America," White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich told Axios. "This is about AP weaponizing language through their stylebook to push a partisan worldview in contrast with the traditional and deeply held beliefs of many Americans and many people around the world."
• The dispute with AP is part of Trump's broader effort to discredit legacy media outlets and the public's trust in the press — already at a record low.

The other side: AP — which has long been considered the gold standard of neutrality — rejects any accusation of bias. Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications, told Axios that AP "is a global, fact-based, nonpartisan news organization with thousands of customers around the world who span the political spectrum."

• "If AP journalism wasn't factual and nonpartisan, this wouldn't be the case," she said.
• Easton said AP provides "guidance on issues brought to us by members and customers, and it is up to them what they choose to use. Again, this is guidance. It's not surprising that political parties, organizations or even individuals may disagree with some entries. The Stylebook doesn't align with any particular agenda.""