Extra! Extra! 6/15
Happy No Kings weekend! ❌👑
Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
And what a happy day it is! Not because everything is going well this week—quite the contrary—but because one big thing did go well: we showed up hugely for No Kings and it was a remarkable, historic event. I tend to be skeptical of the crowd counts that come out right away, but it seems safe to say that at least 4 million people turned out in thousands of different locations across the country. It was an entirely peaceful, joyful, and patriotic day, and I am so grateful to every single one of you for helping to make it happen.
There’s so much to grieve and fear right now, to rage about and to decry. But we did something amazing this weekend, so I want to focus on that, as well as on the other great things that happened both in the country and the world. We are working hard, and the items in this newsletter are our weekly reward. They are proof that when good people keep taking action, persisting, and helping each other, amazing things can and do happen.
We will get through this together. But today enjoy this list of ways that we are “getting through” right now.
I am so, so proud of you, folks. Thanks for being the heroes of this story.
Watch this!
Robert Hubbell posted the link to this video in his Substack last night and I agree, it’s a must-watch. I was in the huge Los Angeles crowd, not far behind the giant blow-up Trump! It was AMAZING!
Celebrate This! 🎉
No Kings Day was a brilliant success! BRAVO YOU GUYS!! ❌👑
Brad Bondi—Pam’s brother—lost his election for DC Bar President by a landslide. He received 9.1% of the vote; his opponent received 90.9%. Whoops! Alicia Long (Ed Martin's deputy) was also overwhelmingly defeated for Treasurer.
The city of Glendale, California announced it was ending its agreement with the federal government to house people detained by ICE.
The state of Washington just became the latest to pass a “right to repair” law for cell phones and other electronics.
Vatican City is now the eighth country in the world to be powered entirely by solar power. Bravo!
The State Department ordered US embassies to resume processing visas for Harvard’s international students.
A federal court certified a class of unaccompanied children and blocked the Trump-Vance administration's unlawful new policies prolonging detention of immigrant children and preventing their release to their parents and family members.
House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-TN) will resign from Congress as soon as the House votes again on the reconciliation bill.
University of California faculty members and researchers filed suit against Trump and several federal agencies in what they hope will become a first-of-its-kind class action challenging the administration’s sweeping cuts to research funding.
Huntington Beach, CA overwhelmingly passed two ballot measures to end book bans and block privatization of their public libraries.
A US federal judge ruled that Trumps administration cannot deport or detain Columbia university student Mahmoud Khalil solely on the claim that he's a threat to US foreign policy.
Solar and wind continue to be Americans’ favorite energy sources, despite declining Republican support for clean energy.
A new Quinnipiac poll finds just 30% of American voters have a favorable opinion of Elon Musk, the world’s richest person. Majorities also hate everything Trump is doing. Like, everything.
Bringing it closer to becoming binding international law, 18 more countries ratified the High Seas Treaty during the U.N. Ocean Conference in France this week — only 11 more need to do so to reach the 60-country threshold.
Five other Ivy League schools and more than 1,200 alumni, including Conan O’Brien, just filed court documents in support of Harvard University in its legal battle against the Trump administration.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is bringing back over 450 CDC employees, including some who work in divisions that handle cruise ship safety, sexually transmitted infection prevention, and global health.
Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia are suing to block the sale of 23andMe personal genetic data without consumer consent.
The Los Angeles City Council approved a new legal defense fund for migrants and support for small businesses downtown near the protests.
After a large protest demanding his release, SEIU President David Huerta was allowed to post bail and go home. (I was at the protest! Wonderful event!)
Williams became the first college to decline federal science grants because of the Trump administration’s DEI language.
As immigration raids continue across the country, so have protests, with at least 25 organized in cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta to rebuke the administration’s aggressive round-up efforts.
After analyzing over 300 climate adaptation investments across 12 countries, the World Resources Institute found that, for every $1 USD equivalent spent on resilience, it yields more than $10 in benefits.
A federal judge temporarily blocked parts of President Trump’s executive order purporting to take over elections, noting that the Constitution does not grant the President that power.
Billionaire Mackenzie Scott has quietly given $181.7 million in grants to help people across the state of Louisiana. Because she’s a shero!
Maine just passed a bill allowing doctors to remove their names from abortion medication labels. This will help protect them from red-state prosecution.
French Polynesia announced the creation of the world’s largest marine protected area, covering nearly 5 million square kilometers, or over 1.9 million square miles.
A 200-year-old law that criminalizes “rough sleeping” in England and Wales is to be scrapped, a move campaigners described as “a landmark moment that will change lives”.
Tens of thousands of Catholics gathered in the stands at Rate Field for a celebration of the election of Pope Leo XIV.
In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu signed an executive order aimed at exposing ICE’s secretive “police tactics” through public record requests.
A federal judge ordered some of the documents in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case to be unsealed.
Another judge blocked 2,000 unjust firings at the State Department.
Trump’s appeal of E. Jean Carroll's $5 million court win against him was denied.1
Montana’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional several laws restricting abortion access, including a ban beyond 20 weeks of gestation.
A Maryland federal judge blocked Trump's firing of three Biden-appointed members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
A Maine court upheld the wording of a ballot question on voter ID and absentee voting restrictions, rejecting a challenge from anti-voting plaintiffs who wanted the language to downplay the suppressive aspects of the measure.
The marching band at Trump’s failed parade played “Fortunate Son,” a Creedence Clearwater Revival song that, according to Wikipedia, “became a Vietnam anti-war movement anthem and an expressive symbol of the counterculture's opposition to executive power grabs.”
A judge blocked New York City’s mayor from letting federal immigration authorities reopen an office at the city’s main jail.
A federal judge said the Trump administration cannot force recipients to stop programs that promote DEI or acknowledge the existence of transgender people as a requirement to receive grant funding.
Malcolm Kenyatta kept his vice-Chair position at the DNC after a second election. Yay! (David Hogg decided not to run again.)
Watch This! 👀
Posted by @_sweet_koko_ on Threads.
Yesterday was my first protest, and it was lovely. I'm looking forward to going to more of them. I wish I had started sooner
And my Alma Mater, Williams College, was the first in the country to refuse federal grants due to the stipulations required due to DEI. So proud to be an Eph!!!https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-college-first-decline-federal-science-grants-because-new-dei-language