Trans people in Kansas are reporting that they have received letters from the Division of Vehicles saying they must surrender their driver's licenses immediately. This is as a result of House Substitute for Senate Bill 244, which says ID must now reflect the credential holder's "sex at birth." The letter warns that upon the law's publication today, Feb. 26, current credentials will "no longer be valid." Per the letter, there is no grace period and anyone operating a vehicle without a valid credential may be subject to "additional penalties." In the state of Kanas, anyone caught driving without a valid license could face a class B misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail. Here's Erin Reed's report.
Trans people in Kansas are reporting that they have received letters from the Division of Vehicles saying they must surrender their driver's licenses immediately. This is as a result of House Substitute for Senate Bill 244, which says ID must now reflect the credential holder's "sex at birth." The letter warns that upon the law's publication today, Feb. 26, current credentials will "no longer be valid." Per the letter, there is no grace period and anyone operating a vehicle without a valid credential may be subject to "additional penalties." In the state of Kanas, anyone caught driving without a valid license could face a class B misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail. Here's Erin Reed's report.
"Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump."
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5723968/epstein-files-trump-accusation-maxwell
The missing files are about accusations that Trump sexually assaulted a child and hit her in the head. The FBI interviewed the accuser four times and the DOJ has not released the interview notes.
All allegations of Trump wrongdoing are worth watching. But this one is special because it has three properties:
1. It's serious.
2. It's well-documented. (Thanks to #NPR.)
3. It's one that many #MAGA voters and politicians take seriously.
Hundreds of Trump scandals have the first two properties. Almost none has the third.
This creates the prospect of actual accountability.
"Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump."
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5723968/epstein-files-trump-accusation-maxwell
The missing files are about accusations that Trump sexually assaulted a child and hit her in the head. The FBI interviewed the accuser four times and the DOJ has not released the interview notes.
All allegations of Trump wrongdoing are worth watching. But this one is special because it has three properties:
1. It's serious.
2. It's well-documented. (Thanks to #NPR.)
3. It's one that many #MAGA voters and politicians take seriously.
Hundreds of Trump scandals have the first two properties. Almost none has the third.
This creates the prospect of actual accountability.
Update. The #EPA endangerment finding is gone.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/12/trump-epa-rollback-pollution-regulation-endangerment-finding
"The Trump administration has revoked the bedrock scientific determination which gives the government the ability to regulate climate-heating pollution. The move was described as a gift to 'billionaire polluters' at the expense of Americans’ health…Environmental advocates have condemned the move as illegal. A slew of green groups have promised to take EPA to court over the rollback."
#Climate #DefendResearch #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics
Update. The litigation to restore the endangerment finding has begun.
https://www.edf.org/media/epa-sued-over-illegal-repeal-climate-protections
"A broad coalition of health and environmental groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( #EPA) today [Feb 18] over its illegal determination that it is not responsible for protecting us from climate pollution."
Here's the official complaint:
https://library.edf.org/AssetLink/h3f286t8xt043h8k2404vfvva3866bh5.pdf
Here's the impressive list of plaintiff orgs:
American Public Health Association, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, American Lung Association, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, Clean Air Council, Clean Wisconsin, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Public Citizen, Rio Grande International Study Center, Sierra Club, and Union of Concerned Scientists.
#Climate #Environment #DefendResearch #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics
Update. It's happening. Tomorrow the #Trump #EPA will repeal the 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health. That "endangerment" finding allowed the EPA to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act. Its repeal will pave the way for the repeal of those regulations.
https://www.euronews.com/green/2026/02/11/one-of-the-most-damaging-decisions-in-modern-history-trump-epa-to-repeal-key-climate-findi
Update. The repeal of the endangerment finding is based on a recommendation from Trump's Climate Working Group. Less than two weeks ago, a federal judge ruled that the group violated federal law by failing to represent a balance of viewpoints (all five members were hand-picked skeptics) and failing to hold public hearings.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/climate/energy-department-climate-ruling.html
Clearly "the decision to change the policy was made ahead of assembling scientific evidence to support that decision."
https://blog.ucs.org/science-blogger/internal-doe-documents-confirm-climate-report-was-created-to-justify-administration-policy/
PS: There will be legal challenges to the EPA repeal of the endangerment finding, and those challenges will cite the procedural violations in the operation of the Climate Working Group. But it's not yet clear how far those violations will undermine the EPA action.
#Climate #DefendResearch #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics
"Minnesota prosecutors formally demand evidence from Trump administration over the killing of Renee Good"
#Minnesota #ReneeGood #ReneeNicoleGood #USPOL #USPOLITICS #USLaw #ICE #FuckICE #ICEMUSTBEDESTROYED
"Minnesota prosecutors formally demand evidence from Trump administration over the killing of Renee Good"
#Minnesota #ReneeGood #ReneeNicoleGood #USPOL #USPOLITICS #USLaw #ICE #FuckICE #ICEMUSTBEDESTROYED
4/ Historical footnote. In 2002 the UK Office of Fair Trading ( #OFT) reviewed complaints about #BigDeals and other #anticompetitive practices in academic #publishing. It found market distortions but decided 𝘯𝘰𝘵 to act — because of the then-recent rise of #OpenAccess. "It is too early to assess what will be the impact of this [digital publishing & access] but there is a possibility that it will be a powerful restraint on exploiting positional advantage in the STM journals market."
http://web.archive.org/web/20051025123345/www.oft.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/A56C7602-C0BD-428D-BED2-36784363243B/0/oft396.pdf
5/ A US federal district judge just dismissed the #antitrust case against six academic #publishers (Jan 30, 2026).
https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/myvmqlljdvr/24-cv-06409-HG%20Uddin%20v.%20Elsevier%20B.V.%20et%20al.pdf
Article about the dismissal:
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/academic-publishers-defeat-lawsuit-over-peer-review-pay-other-restrictions-2026-01-30/
"The four scholars, scientists and professors who filed the lawsuit in 2024 had not shown sufficient evidence of a conspiracy involving publishers Elsevier, John Wiley & Sons, Sage Publications, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis and Wolters Kluwer."
Key indicator of what's happening to US higher ed:
"Despite Harvard's victory [in court, against the Trump admin], more schools agreed to deals."
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/29/nx-s1-5559293/trump-settlements-colleges-universities
#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics
Update. The Trump admin is demanding a list of Jewish faculty, staff, and students at #UPenn.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/13/upenn-trump-jews-list
Trump's #EEOC asked for the list last July. Penn refused, and the EEOC sued the university in November. What's new is that several groups just filed a motion in federal court to intervene in the lawsuit on the side of the university -- the American Association of University Professors (#AAUP, national and UPenn chapters), the American Academy of Jewish Research, the UPenn Jewish Law Students Association, the UPenn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty.
From #StevenWeitzman, UPenn prof of religious studies and past member of its antisemitism taskforce: “Part of what sets off alarm bells for people like me is a history of people using Jewish lists against Jews. The Nazi campaign against Jews depended on institutions like universities handing over information about their Jewish members to the authorities.”
#Academia #AcademicMastodon #Antisemitism #Trump #Universities #USPol #USPolitics
Update. Yesterday #UPenn filed a 163-page brief in federal court condemning the #Trump admin demand for a list of #Jews at the institution as “extraordinary and unconstitutional".
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/us/university-of-pennsylvania-trump-jewish-staff.html
"The #EEOC insists that Penn produce this information without the consent — and indeed, over the objections — of the employees impacted while entirely disregarding the frightening and well-documented history of governmental entities that undertook efforts to identify and assemble information regarding persons of Jewish ancestry. The government’s demand implicates Penn’s substantial interest in protecting its employees’ privacy, safety and First Amendment rights."
#Academia #AcademicMastodon #Antisemitism #Universities #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics
According to @CBSNews, the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, alleging a conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents.
#USNews #USPolitics #DepartmentOfJustice #USLaw #Minnesota #Minneapolis #TimWalz #JacobFrey
According to @CBSNews, the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, alleging a conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents.
#USNews #USPolitics #DepartmentOfJustice #USLaw #Minnesota #Minneapolis #TimWalz #JacobFrey
Update. Here are two welcome updates on recording #ICE.
1. "Gov. Tim Walz encourages Minnesotans to film ICE agents for future prosecutions."
https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/01/14/gov-tim-walz-encourages-minnesotans-to-film-ice-agents-for-future-prosecutions/
2. "How One Guy Crowdsourced More Than 500 Dashcams for Minneapolis to Film ICE."
https://archive.is/ZBjKV
Update. In my previous post I linked to June 2020 advice from #AmnestyInternational on how to protect your phone from police searches when you attend a protest.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2020/06/tactics-to-secure-phone-before-a-protest/
For something more recent, see this Nov 2024 advice from @eff.
https://ssd.eff.org/module/attending-protest
Update. Here are two welcome updates on recording #ICE.
1. "Gov. Tim Walz encourages Minnesotans to film ICE agents for future prosecutions."
https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/01/14/gov-tim-walz-encourages-minnesotans-to-film-ice-agents-for-future-prosecutions/
2. "How One Guy Crowdsourced More Than 500 Dashcams for Minneapolis to Film ICE."
https://archive.is/ZBjKV