TV News LIES

Americans anxious about their country’s slide into authoritarianism found some solace in the past week over what appears to be growing pushback by American universities against Donald Trump’s assault on higher education.

After a barrage of orders, demands and the freezing of billions in federal funds for research had elicited a mostly demure response from university leaders, some are starting to mount a more muscular defense of academic freedom.

A statement denouncing the Trump administration’s “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” was signed by more than 400 university presidents, and the list is growing. Another, signed by more than 100 former university heads, called for a coalition of local leaders, students, labor unions and communities, across party affiliation, to “work against authoritarianism”.

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“50 PROTESTS – 50 STATES – 1 DAY,” the user who goes by Evolved Fungi wrote, kicking off a movement that has since drawn hundreds of thousands to the streets in protests against Donald Trump across the country.

The movement – pronounced “fifty-fifty-one”, meaning 50 protests, 50 states, one movement – first called for a day of action on 5 February, a date chosen seemingly at random. Local organizers would lead protests in their cities and towns, but the movement would not have a leader, and it would not be centralized.

President Donald Trump's nominee for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, was arrested on fraud charges in 2010 and faced lawsuits in two states for writing $2 million in bad checks to casinos, according to government records and court filings.

Isaacman is a billionaire pilot and astronaut who founded the Shift4 Payments company as a teenager and commanded the first civilian space crew in 2021 aboard a SpaceX capsule.

In a February 22, 2010, press release titled, "Nevada Fugitive Captured at Canadian Border," U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it arrested Isaacman on a warrant for alleged fraud at the Washington state line. He was taken to a county jail for extradition to Nevada, where Clark County, home to Las Vegas, had issued the felony warrant. No further detail on the alleged fraud was provided.

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A federal judge issued an injunction late Friday temporarily blocking the Trump administration from stripping collective bargaining rights from hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

Judge Paul L. Friedman, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, wrote in his brief order that the White House’s policy meant to weaken unions is “unlawful.” Friedman said the court would offer its reasoning for that determination in a forthcoming opinion.

In late March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order carving a long list of agencies out of federal labor law protections in the name of “national security.” But many of the affected employees, including nurses, biologists and park rangers, don’t do any national security work.

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is restoring more than 1,500 foreign students’ visa registrations after multiple recent lawsuits.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter said in a Friday court filing that ICE told him was going to restore student records to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a reporting system that gives information about international students to the Department of Homeland Security.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is restoring more than 1,500 foreign students’ visa registrations after multiple recent lawsuits.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter said in a Friday court filing that ICE told him was going to restore student records to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a reporting system that gives information about international students to the Department of Homeland Security.

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President Trump in an interview published Friday was adamant that he is serious about his talk of adding Canada as the 51st state, something Canadian leaders have outright rejected.

The president sat down for an interview with Time magazine, during which a reporter suggested Trump may have been “trolling a little bit” with his repeated comments that Canada should be absorbed into the United States.

“Actually, no, I’m not,” Trump said in the interview, which was conducted Tuesday.

“I think Canada, what you said that, ‘Well, that one, I might be trolling.’ But I’m really not trolling,” Trump added. “Canada is an interesting case.”

The president repeated his frequent claims that the U.S. is losing money to Canada because of trade deficits and that there is no need for America to import Canadian products.

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