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☆ Supreme Court Dismisses Case on Pandemic-Era Immigration Measure
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an attempt by Republican-led states to maintain the pandemic-era immigration measure known as Title 42. The court’s brief order was one sentence long, instructing an appeals court to dismiss the states’ motion to intervene in the case as moot. The move was almost surely prompted by the end of the health emergency that had been used to justify Title 42. Title 42 had allowed migrants who might otherwise have qualified for asylum to be swiftly expelled at the border with Mexico. The policy, introduced by the Trump administration in March 2020, has been used to expel migrants — including many asylum seekers — about 2.5 million times.

May 17 (Reuters) - A group of Republican-led U.S. states has asked a federal judge in Texas to strike down a Biden administration rule allowing socially conscious investing by retirement plans, saying it will imperil Americans' retirement savings. The rule, which took effect Jan. 30, sets guidelines for ESG investing including requiring that socially conscious investments are still financially sound. The states sued in January and in February had asked the judge to temporarily block the rule pending the outcome of the case. The judge has not yet ruled on that bid, and in Tuesday's filing, the states asked the judge to rule on the merits of their lawsuit. Kacsmaryk in March refused to transfer the challenge to the ESG investing rule to another court.

☆ Biden's Education Department just released its 'strongest-ever' plan to ensure student-loan borrowers don't graduate with unaffordable debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Education Department released its new proposal for a strengthened gainful employment rule. The rule would place safeguards for borrowers to ensure they don't take on more student debt than they can afford. "Ever since the Trump Administration illegally repealed the 2014 Gainful Employment rule, students have been left unprotected from predatory higher ed profiteers," Ament said. The gainful employment rule has drawn criticism from for-profit schools in the past who have argued that they were being targeted by the strengthened regulations. Democratic lawmakers have previously pushed for a strengthened gainful employment rule.

☆ Exclusive: Special Counsel investigating Trump set to receive 16 records showing he knew process to properly declassify documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jamie Gangel Zachary Cohen Evan Perez Paula Reid | Jamie Gangel | Zachary Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Trump and his allies have insisted that as president, Trump did not have to follow a specific process to declassify documents. The 16 records may help federal investigators overcome a significant obstacle to a potential prosecution of the former president. The special counsel was also given access to other records not challenged by the Trump team. Ultimately, the special counsel identified the 16 records in question as relevant to the grand jury investigation. “You have the Presidential Records Act.

☆ American jailed for spying by China rubbed shoulders with senior Chinese officials, CNN reporting shows, CNN reporting shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“He’s a very famous person, known by many overseas Chinese in the southern US,” Tang said. Reports published by Chinese-language media in Texas and China’s state media show Leung’s long-running access to senior Chinese officials. In 2014, he met with the director of Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Chinese Affairs Office during a visit to Nanjing, the provincial capital. This photo shows John Leung with Wang Hua, the former director of Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. It also comes as American and Chinese officials are resuming high-level engagements since a dispute over a suspected Chinese spy balloon shattered efforts to mend ties earlier this year.

Rudy Giuliani had been at the forefront of the Trump administration's response to controversies. Giuliani was once praised for leading the country through national tragedy. Now the former federal prosecutor — like Trump — has been accused of sexual assault. Top editors give you the stories you want — delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Now — like the former president he once served — Giuliani has also been accused of sexual assault.

"I believe it was a series of unprecedented events that all came together in the fastest bank run in history," Becker told the Senate Banking Committee. "I was the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, I take responsibility for what ultimately happened," Becker said. Executives from Signature Bank also testified alongside Becker on Tuesday, pushing back on assertions from lawmakers that the bank had weak corporate governance. "I don't believe that there was mismanagement at the bank," said Eric Howell, the former president of Signature Bank. The bank tried to cover the loss by raising capital, but in announcing the transaction helped fuel a bank run.

☆ Who is Sam Altman? The man behind ChatGPT is about to have his moment on Capitol Hill
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

New York CNN —For a few months in 2017, there were rumors that Sam Altman was planning to run for governor of California. Altman, the CEO and co-founder of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind viral chatbot ChatGPT and image generator Dall-E, is set to testify before Congress on Tuesday. Maybe I’m wrong?’ Thank God someone with so much power has so much humility.”Others want Altman and OpenAI to move more cautiously. OpenAI co-founder & CEO Sam Altman speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2019 at Moscone Convention Center on October 03, 2019 in San Francisco, California. Similar generative AI technology is quickly finding its way into productivity and search tools used by billions of people.

☆ Hillary Clinton: Durham interviewed former Secretary of State on alleged plan to tie Trump to Russia, found no 'provable criminal offense'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Evan Perez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The special counsel was looking into whether any crimes occurred in the handling of an uncorroborated piece of US intelligence indicating Russia knew of a Clinton campaign plan to vilify her opponent, Trump, by tying him to the country. During the Trump administration, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe released some of Brennan’s notes about the intelligence used in his briefing of former President Barack Obama. Ratcliffe publicly said that the intelligence community never corroborated the Russian claims of a “Clinton Plan” to frame Trump, and didn’t know whether it was fabricated. In her interview with Durham’s investigators, Clinton expressed sympathy for Durham’s hunt. Durham concludes that it would be impossible to prosecute anyone for their handling of the intelligence.

☆ Opinion | Immigrants Keep Loving America, Even When America Doesn’t Love Them Back
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Karla Cornejo Villavicencio | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I know all too well how some Americans feel about immigrants: I was undocumented for 25 years, and I am a child of immigrants who remain undocumented. I also wrote a book about the daily lives of migrants during the Trump years. At the time, the Trump administration seemed to be the worst possible administration for immigrants and their advocates. All the while, Republicans have been steadily marching toward authoritarianism, book ban by book ban and voter suppression tactic by voter suppression tactic. I was a child in Ecuador in the 1990s, a time when Latin America was reeling from the effects of decades of coups, dictatorships and political repression.

☆ Opinion | Whose Version of Christian Nationalism Will Win in 2024?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Michelle Goldberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Last week the ReAwaken America Tour, a Christian nationalist roadshow co-founded by the former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, rolled up to the Trump National Doral Miami resort. (“Hitler was actually fighting the same people that we’re trying to take down today,” said McKay, not inaccurately.) But as of this writing, the tour’s website still includes McKay and Ward, along with Eric Trump, as featured speakers at an upcoming extravaganza in Las Vegas. ReAwaken America’s association with anti-Semites did not stop Donald Trump from calling into the rally to offer his support. Now he’s become, in addition to an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and QAnon adherent, one of the country’s most prominent Christian nationalists.

☆ Drivers are delivering food orders to migrants stuck at the Mexican border near San Diego, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some have resorted to placing food delivery orders to eat, Rest of World reported. One woman told Rest of World she paid $100 for a whole chicken because the Uber Eats driver didn't have change. Jesús Vargas, a delivery driver based in Tijuana, told Rest of World he's delivered Taiwanese food to some migrants. Immigration advocates previously told Insider that migrants who failed to use the app were being penalized. Border patrol agents were stopping volunteers on the US side of the border from providing charging stations, per the outlet.

☆ Yellen hopeful of a solution to 'more difficult' debt ceiling showdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, insists Congress has a constitutional duty to raise the limit without conditions to fund previously approved spending. POLARISATIONYellen said the first major standoff over the debt ceiling since 2011 reflected continuing U.S. polarisation after the presidency of Donald Trump. "Maybe this time is more difficult, but I'm hopeful that...we will find a solution." Despite the debt ceiling fight, Yellen said she remained convinced that the Biden administration had re-established U.S. leadership in the world and other G7 leaders were grateful they had turned "the dial 180 degrees relative to the Trump administration". "We should be talking about raising the debt ceiling.

☆ The app designed to help asylum-seekers has inadvertently separated families as Title 42 expires, advocates say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Azmi Haroun | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

On Friday, restrictive immigration policy Title 42 expired after being imposed in March 2020. Asylum seekers have been asked to make appointments to apply for asylum through a new app. But the slots are limited, the app is glitchy, and it is causing family separations, advocates say. Friday marked the official end of Title 42, a public health measure imposed by the Trump administration in March 2020. "It has forced families to make really hard choices when the whole group can't get the appointment together," Gonzalez told Insider.

☆ The Biden administration built a 'digital wall' by requiring asylum-seekers to use a glitchy app in the aftermath of Title 42, immigration experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Azmi Haroun | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

That's because the Biden administration is handling almost all asylum claims through a glitchy app. Friday marked the official end of Title 42, a public health measure imposed by the Trump administration in March 2020. The catch, immigration advocates said, is that the app is borderline unusable for many migrants who have reached the border. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)Advocates working at the border told Insider that on the day Title 42 expired, the app was not working. The Biden administration did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

☆ U.S. House passes Republican bill tightening border security
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved Republican legislation intended to stop immigrants and illegal drugs crossing the nation's southwestern border with Mexico, leaving it to the Senate to attempt a broader, bipartisan immigration bill. It also would resume construction of a wall along the border and expand federal law enforcement efforts. The House voted 219-213 to pass the bill, with no Democrats in favor and one Republican opposed. Officials at the southwestern border were seeing large influxes of immigrants in the final days of Title 42 expiration. House Republican leaders at the last minute had to modify provisions of their bill for the U.S. agriculture industry to comply with "E-Verify" requirements for confirming U.S. employment eligibility.

☆ Vivek Ramaswamy's firm courts GOP officials as he pushes businesses to stay out of politics
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Scott Olson | Getty ImagesRepublican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy built his White House bid around urging companies to stay out of politics. The messages show Ramaswamy's firm actively engaged with GOP state leaders who have defended the fossil fuel industry and criticized environmentally conscious investment standards. Ramaswamy on Thursday defended the firm's engagement with GOP officials, saying bigger firms BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street have conducted similar practices with state officials across the country. Strive has become one of the more vocal opponents of ESG investing and has gained enough notoriety to challenge the likes of fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil . Ron DeSantis, have often attacked ESG investing standards and corporations that support social causes — an increasingly common refrain within the GOP.

☆ Fact Check-Five Donald Trump statements examined after CNN town hall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Former U.S. President Donald Trump took questions from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and audience members during a televised town hall on Wednesday, with the 2024 Republican front-runner pressing for a second White House term. Trump received 74.2 million votes in the 2020 presidential election, surpassing former President Barack Obama’s record number of votes for an incumbent candidate. State governments, courts and members of Trump’s administration have repeatedly rejected claims made by the former president that the 2020 election was stolen (here). CLAIM“We were energy independent” during the Trump administration. For more details on the U.S. border wall during the Trump administration, see (here).

☆ Fact-checking Trump’s CNN town hall in New Hampshire
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +26 min

CNN —CNN hosted a town hall with 2024 Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump on Wednesday night in New Hampshire. 2020 ElectionJust minutes after the town hall began, Trump claimed the 2020 election was “rigged.”Facts First: This is Trump’s regular lie. Trump claimed Wednesday that he got gas prices down to $1.87 – and “even lower” – but they increased to $7, $8 or even $9 under Biden. The Presidential Records Act says that the moment a president leaves office, the National Archives and Records Administration gets legal custody and control of all presidential records from his administration. First, there’s no provision for negotiating over Presidential records at the end of a term.

☆ DeSantis signed a bill into law that creates new hurdles for undocumented workers and patients in Florida. It provides $12 million to relocate migrants to blue states
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

DeSantis signed a bill into law to crack down on undocumented workers in Florida. The legislation includes $12 million to relocate migrants to blue states. Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping bill into law Wednesday that will make it harder for undocumented people to work in Florida, even though the measure fell short of his demands. DeSantis boasted about the stunt during a press conference in Jacksonville, Florida, on Wednesday, saying officials in blue states expected border states to "grin and bear" the care of an influx of migrants. DeSantis signed the immigration measures into law a day before before the federal Title 42 is set to expire.

☆ U.S. Warns Migrants Before End of Pandemic Restrictions That ‘Border Is Not Open’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Aishvarya Kavi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Mr. Mayorkas said that his department is also launching a digital advertising campaign in Central and South America to counter false claims made by smugglers that the end of Title 42 means the border will be open. “Do not believe their lies,” Mr. Mayorkas said in a message to migrants. He also warned that with the end of Title 42, migrants may face criminal charges if they are eventually expelled and try to cross again. “We are finalizing a new rule to encourage individuals to use available, lawful, safe and orderly pathways to enter the United States,” Mr. Mayorkas said. “We are delivering on tougher consequences for unlawful entry,” Mr. Mayorkas said.

☆ Voting technology company Smartmatic subpoenas Trump campaign as part of $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The voting technology company Smartmatic has subpoenaed Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign for a wide array of documents as part of its $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News over its airing of election lies. Once served, the Trump campaign can fight it in court. CNN reached out to Trump’s 2024 campaign for comment and was directed to the 2020 campaign. It was unclear who, if anyone, was still affiliated with the 2020 campaign. A New York judge in 2022 rejected Fox News’ motion to dismiss Smartmatic’s defamation lawsuit, allowing the case to move forward to discovery.

☆ As Covid Emergency Ends, U.S. Response Shifts to ‘Peacetime’ Mode
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Sheryl Gay Stolberg | Noah Weiland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Thursday, three years and 100 days after the Trump administration declared the coronavirus a public health emergency, the Biden administration will allow the emergency declaration to expire, ushering in a new era when the government will treat Covid-19 like any other respiratory ailment. If the coronavirus pandemic was a war, the United States is about to officially enter peacetime. State health officials, tasked with tracking the coronavirus, are burned out, their departments understaffed. President Biden’s coronavirus response team will soon disband. But the officials say they are operating on a tight budget; Congress has refused to give the administration any new money for the pandemic response.

☆ Biden's approval rating at 40%, Americans concerned about immigration: Reuters/Ipsos poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Jason Lange | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's public approval was at 40% in recent days, close to the lowest level of his presidency, with Americans unhappy about his handling of immigration and inflation, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. The Reuters/Ipsos poll found 54% of respondents - including 77% of Republicans and 34% of Democrats - were against raising the number of immigrants allowed into the country every year. read moreThe president is seeking re-election next year and immigration is primed to be an important issue in the contest. Fifty-four percent of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they were opposed to raising the debt ceiling, including 59% of respondents who don't have a college degree. The Reuters/Ipsos poll gathered responses from 1,022 U.S. adults, using a nationally representative sample.

☆ U.S. Loses Key Case on Rights to H.I.V.-Prevention Drugs
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Rebecca Robbins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A federal jury in Delaware on Tuesday found that the federal government did not have an ownership claim to lucrative drugs to prevent H.I.V. The Trump administration brought the lawsuit in 2019 in part because of concern over the high price Gilead was charging. The two versions of the drug — Truvada and the newer Descovy — have generated huge profits for Gilead. Lawyers for the federal government had argued that Gilead had violated three government patents that protected the concept of using Truvada to prevent H.I.V. The patents were granted to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for inventions stemming from experiments they conducted on monkeys in the mid-2000s.

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