Gayle Turner

Keep the two distinct in your head.

The Trump administration has pushed Harvard to cut an even costlier deal, and the New York Times reported last Monday that the University is considering a settlement with a price tag of half a billion dollars. But Garber, in a conversation with one faculty member, said that the suggestion that Harvard was open to paying $500 million is “false” and claimed that the figure was apparently leaked to the press by White House officials, according to the three faculty familiar with the conversation.

2/ Here's the Harvard Crimson story:

"...a deal with the Trump administration is not imminent and denied that the University is considering a $500 million settlement"

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Harvard President Garber Tells Faculty He Is Not Considering a $500 Million Deal With Trump

Harvard Is Said to Be Open to Spending Up to $500 Million to Resolve Trump Dispute The sum sought by the government is more than twice as much as the $200 million fine that Columbia University said it would pay when it settled its clash with the White House last week.

Reporting by college journalists sure makes it look like the @nytimes.com went with a Trump admin lie on Harvard. Yikes.

Garber said "the suggestion that Harvard was open to paying $500 million is “false” and claimed that the figure was apparently leaked to the press by White House officials" 1/

Moodys Chief Economist Mark Zandi: “The (US) economy is on the precipice of recession…Consumer spending has flatlined, construction and manufacturing are contracting, and employment is set to fall. And with inflation on the rise, it is tough for the Fed to come to the rescue.”

the author calling Ghislaine “madam maxwell” makes clear how widely understood all of this was

The Orange County Mayor, which encompasses Orlando, signed an agreement to cooperate with ICE as he, along with the entire board of county commissioners, were threatened with removal from office if they didn't.

They should've forced DeSantis to do it and not take the cowardly way out.

this is a must-read. and it's not great that zero democratic politicians/candidates have been willing to speak up about this level of corruption over the last decade. no wonder consultants are so terrified zohran

‘They roll right over’: Many Democrats call their party weak and ineffective, AP-NORC poll finds A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that many Democrats see their political party as “weak” or “ineffective.”

This shouldn’t be surprising. The only way to fight back is to… actually fight back.

If Democrats want to improve their approval rating (or far more importantly, make actual change), we need real leadership to put up real resistance to authoritarianism.
apnews.com/article/ap-p...

Economist Amartya Sen won a Nobel in part for asking: Why did India avoid the mass famines that killed tens of millions in China? His answer: a free press. Journalists could expose suffering and shame governments into action. Silence and avoidance, by contrast, can be deadly.

The revisions are hard evidence that job growth is slowing. That’s what we should be talking about, not discrediting a stats agency.

@hcrichardson.bsky.social letter includes a history of the recent gerrymanders by Republicans, with the reminder it was inspired by the desire to stop then Pres. Obama from passing through Congress any of his campaign promises and electoral mandates. I saw it happen in NC yet I needed the reminder!

Now That They’re Free, Venezuelan Men Want the World to Know What They Endured in CECOT Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration say they endured months of physical and mental abuse inside a Salvadoran prison. Though happy to be home, they say the fact that they were released…

Leonardo José Colmenares Solórzano, a 31-year-old Venezuelan, wants the world to know that he was tortured over four months in a Salvadoran prison.

He said guards stomped on his hands, poured filthy water into his ears and threatened to beat him.

I sometimes wonder whether the global fascist turn (yes it’s been building for years) would have accelerated as it has been now without the pandemic making it ‘acceptable’ for both individuals and collectives to be not only content but gleeful about deciding that disabled/older pops were expendable

Would one White House reporter be willing to do this kind of basic economics homework before Trump again claims that the BLS tried to rig the election?

⤵️

Meet the Press put together a supercut of Trump being for the BLS jobs numbers before he turned against them

Trump-supporting police chiefs are pissed that DHS is recruiting with huge signing bonuses and loan forgiveness as bait, because they’re about to lose their best and brightest to ICE.

Basically, ICE is defunding the police.

Jackson Shuts Off Water to Apartment Complexes for Unpaid Bills Renters are searching for new housing as JXN Water shuts off water at apartment complexes with unpaid water bills.

Tracking down and collecting on delinquent water bills is part of a concerted effort by JXN Water to raise funds to continue operating the city’s long-neglected water and sewer systems.

No it doesn’t.
www.pbump.net/o/allow-me-t...

Department of Homeland Security Memo Here’s the text of a memo obtained by The New Republic, written by Philip Hegseth, senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and DHS liason to the Department of Defense.

Text of the terrifying memo, written by Pete Hegseth’s little brother, with some redactions due to the agreement Sargent had with those he obtained it from. newrepublic.com/article/1986...

All of this is true

Pity, then, that his boss is the one corrupting it.

August 2, 2025 Republicans in the Texas legislature are working to redistrict the state before the 2026 midterm elections.

“Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.” That's maximum warfare against democracy in America, to be clear.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-2-2...

What It Will Take to Get U.S. Citizens to Work the Farm — According to Dolores Huerta The longtime farm labor activist gets candid about the fallout from Trump’s deportation efforts.

Momma Dolores is a force to be reckoned with and shows no signs of slowing down.

At 95 years old she tells it like it is and has no problem bringing the heat. I was with @tiffmc1013.bsky.social and got to see her speak. She had the room on their feet🙌🏾

www.politico.com/news/magazin...

A Fight Over a West Point Job Reveals Two Visions of America Under Trump

A conflict between two Americans: one, a West Point grad, combat vet, Rhodes Scholar, expert and academic. The other… a woman banned from Uber because she was too abusive to Muslim drivers.

Guess who wins.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/u...

Roles reversed: A veteran Gaza aid worker pleads for survival An aid worker in northern Gaza tells NPR that people are starving, water is scarce and basic supplies are out of reach. He warns thousands could die in the coming days if nothing changes.

An aid worker in northern Gaza tells NPR that people are starving, water is scarce and basic supplies are out of reach. He warns thousands could die in the coming days if nothing changes.

“The memo is alarming, because it speaks to the intent to use the military within the United States at a level not seen since Japanese internment,” Carrie Lee, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund,said.

“We’ll Smash the Fucking Window Out and Drag Him Out” We’ve documented nearly 50 incidents of immigration officers shattering car windows to make arrests — a tactic experts say was rarely used before Trump took office. ICE claims its officers use a…

The surge in smashed windows may be only the beginning.

Speaking about Trump’s signature spending bill, which triples the size of ICE, border czar Tom Homan told a conservative Christian conference: “You think we’re arresting people now? You wait.”

By @nicolefoy.bsky.social & @mckenziefunk.com

Yup.

A BLS story from 9 days ago:

bsky.app/profile/torr...

The Boy Genius Who Killed 14 Million Poor People What is the moral weight of responsibility for the men who carried out DOGE’s work?

"How would you describe the moral culpability of a man who casually destroys a program that will result in the deaths of millions *without even achieving his stated aims of saving money*?"