David Cook Martín

MAGA Loses It After Donald Falls In Love With A Muslim Man The funniest picture of the year.

This holiday season, on Lifetime, it’s A Christmas Crush.

Saddened to learn of Richard Alba’s passing. He touched many hearts and minds including mine. His voice lives on in print and in the many discussions of which he will still be a part. You will be missed Richard.

An ICE spokesperson confirmed to the Herald on Wednesday that ICE and its law enforcement partners were arresting people who qualified for expedited removals. “An immigration judge has reviewed DHS’s motion to dismiss proceedings and agreed that dismissal is appropriate in these cases,” the spokesperson said. “All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if removable by final order, removed from the United States. Those who were arrested are going into ICE custody pending removal from the United States.”

Dozens of people were reportedly taken into custody at immigration courts around the country. Many of them were for people who were hoping to file asylum applications.

ICE's admitted goal for this? Place these people through "expedited removal" - no judge, order them deported on the spot.

3/4

Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund

Exclusive: National Science Foundation staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced.

You guys, a conclave of old cardinals can decide on a POPE faster than an academic search committee can decide on the four people we're bringing to campus for an assistant professor search.

Contributor: Californians must refuse to abandon the immigrants among us What's happening to immigrants is testing how far our government can go in punishing, surveilling and silencing everyone.

Timely piece by @jodyav.bsky.social at a time when "progressives" and "dems" are happy to throw immigrants under the bus, forgetting their own family stories and how they daily benefit from immigrant labor.

The depths of insanity…

And Chris Rufo on @pbsnews.org So disappointing that they’re stooping so low

So sorry

'It is time for you to leave': DHS mistakenly sends notices to U.S. citizens — Los Angeles Times Homeland Security sent an email to a Los Angeles attorney, warning: 'Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you.'

Cruel incompetence is probably one of the most apt descriptions of the current regime’s policies in most domains:

apple.news/AKvl4u-XSQrW...

Foreign policy experts offer views on Trump administration's student activist crackdown According to attorneys, over 1,000 student visas have been revoked in the Trump administration’s crackdown. Part of that effort has been a State Department argument that some students’ actions threate...

Sad to see @pbsnews.org descending into both-siderism by including Chad Wolf's extremist views on cancelled student visas. He insinuated that if we knew more about these students, we'd see the justification for this extreme measure and lack of due process. Nick Shifrin: really?!

Pope Francis, Advocate for Economic and Social Justice, Dies at 88 — The Wall Street Journal Pontiff urged grassroots activists around the world to bridge the gap between rich and poor

QEPD.

apple.news/Axmv8TL2lSgm...

Puro flow in this visualization so far as I can tell

Opinion | To Understand Global Migration, You Have to See It First These estimates, drawn from the location data of three billion Facebook users, provide a view of human migration in extraordinary detail.

Well, if meta shows it….

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

You could fund "science" lots of other way, but our university system has its own benefits. One of the benefits of that system is, of course, protest and dissent. Try that in a world where Tesla, Google, Pfizer, and NASA and the NSA do all research.

Line graph of the ratio of US R&D spending from various sources to GDP, 1953-2021. The federal percent ranges from about 0.6% of GDP to 1.8%, with the peak in the 1960s, and the low point at the very beginning and over the last 20 years.

Federally funded R&D (not all of which is spent at universities) as a fraction of GDP is as low as it's been since we started tracking.

Which is a different way of looking at it than "line go up." 4/x ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf2332...

The disclaimer is especially relevant to the nationalist libertarians of our day: “I have nothing to do with the crimes I’ve committed”

This framing of "dependence" is fucking propaganda. The whole point of the federal government is to build and maintain national institutions that promote public health, education, scientific advancement, etc. The implication here is that those functions are a matter of private not public concern.

@profgalloway.com has a snappy take on this massive inside trading scheme: bsky.app/profile/prof...

Foxes in the hen house. That always ends well

TIMELINE ABREGO GARCIA GANG ALLEGATIONS - SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION. 2011-2019: Entry and Early Life: Kilmar Abrego Garcia flees El Salvador to the US at age 16, after M-18 gang members extort his family and threaten to kill him and rape his sisters if they didn’t keep paying. He moves in with his US citizen brother in Maryland and lives there without trouble for years. March 28, 2019: PGPD Arrest. Kilmar is arrested for loitering outside Home Depot while looking for day labor. A Prince Georges County PD detective grills him about whether he’s a gang member. He denies any involvement. Four hours later, he is transferred to ICE custody, without PGPD charging him for any offense. April 2019: ICE Allegations: At a bond hearing, ICE claims Kilmar is part of MS-13. They submit one piece of evidence: a “Gang Field Interview Sheet” (GFIS) filled out by the PGPD detective that claims Kilmar is part of MS-13. The GFIS says (1) he was wearing Chicago Bulls gear, and (2) a “confidential informant” allegedly claimed that Kilmar was a ranking member of the “Westerns” clique, which is in Long Island, a place he has never lived in.

Summer 2019: Investigation: Kilmar’s lawyers reach out to PGPD to investigate these claims. They find out that (1) the police did not even file an incident report about his arrest, and (2) the detective that filled out the GFIS has been suspended for an unknown reason. August 2019: IJ Decision: At his final bond hearing, ICE declines to offer any evidence of gang membership other than what’s in the GFIS. The IJ denies bond, finding that the GFIS is sufficient proof of membership at this time, despite noting its obvious flaws. Kilmar appeals this decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals. October 2019: Withholding Win: The immigration judge rules that Kilmar is ineligible for asylum because he filed the application too late. But the judge does grant “withholding of removal,” finding that it was “more likely than not” that he would be subject to persecution if deported to El Salvador. A removal order is issued, but with a restriction that the one country he cannot be deported to is El Salvador.

December 2019: BIA Decision: Kilmar appeals the bond decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals. The appeals board declines to find “clear error” in the immigration judge’s decision to rely on the GFIS document. However, he is released anyway because he had won withholding of removal. 2019-2025: Normal Life: Kilmar lives a normal life in Maryland with his U.S. citizen wife, their biological son, and his two stepchildren. With his work permit, he gets a job as a sheet metal worker, joins a union, and raises his family in a DC suburb. He doesn’t get into any trouble with the law. March 2025: Sent to CECOT: On March 12, 2025, ICE comes to Kilmar’s home and arrests him in front of his children. Three days later he’s transferred to Texas, where, thanks to an “administrative error,” he is put on a plane to El Salvador and sent to CECOT

Since the Trump admin continues to claim Mr. Abrego Garcia is a gang member, I thought I'd take the time to put together a timeline, based on all the documents filed in court, which lays out all the "evidence" the government has ever offered.

As you'll find out, there's very little "there" there!

Judge slams U.S. contentions in case of wrongly deported Salvadoran man In a decision released Sunday, a federal judge takes the Trump administration to task, saying it has “no evidence” the wrongly deported man from Maryland is a gang member.

NEW Judge says in a written decision Sunday there's "no evidence" man mistakenly deported to El Salvador is a gang member, contrary to Trump administration claims.

And the judge finds that the US can bring the man back.

Waiting for a decision on appeal.

www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Today, across the country and around the world, tens of thousands of people turned out for what organizers say has been the single biggest day of protests against President Trump and his second-term policies and actions.

Dear Fellow College Presidents: We Need to Do More Than Wait This One Out Why civil society needs university leaders to speak up.

And here's the source: slate.com/life/2025/02...

From the ancient archives of last week:

NEW: As Americans increasingly get their news from online shows and streamers, our analysis found that this expanding media ecosystem is overwhelmingly right-leaning.

Columbia must stand up to the Trump administration in the second round The <a href="https://president.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/content/03.21.2025%20Columbia%20-%20FINAL.pdf">letter</a> that the University submitted in response to the Trump administration’s demand...

Two excellent takes on the Columbia debacle:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Now this is a good, accurate headline

Palestinian deaths in Gaza rise above 50,000 as Israel expands its military campaign The death toll reached the milestone just days after Israel resumed its military campaign in Gaza, breaking a ceasefire with Hamas.

Gaza death toll breaks 50,000 mark

www.npr.org/2025/03/23/n...

From 2010 to 2016 (latest data I have ), NIH research contributed to EVERY drug approved by the FDA