[image: image.png] opening thoughts:On Wednesday, Trump’s Office of Personnel Management ordered <chcoc.gov/sites/default/files/OPM%20Return%20to%20Office%20Guidance%20Memorandum%201-22-25.pdf> all federal departments and agencies to issue full-time Return to Office orders by tomorrow (Friday), stipulating that those orders had to be fully in effect for all employees within the next 30 days. The order requires those departments and agencies to unilaterally abrogate contractual agreements with unionized employees that allowed for periods of work from home, but hey, since when do contracts with workers have to be honored?The order notes that “President Trump was elected with the mandate to increase the efficiency and accountability of the federal workforce.” As I noted in my commentary on another Trump executive order, which requires federal employees to inform on any of their fellow workers who they think are surreptitiously refusing to dismantle DEI policies or are working in DEI positions, and which actually threatens federal employees if they don’t rat out those fellow workers, Trump believes that nothing will increase the efficiency of the federal workforce like having some workers spy on and seek to terminate their fellow workers. Or spy on and seek to terminate fellow workers not themselves involved in DEI but who haven’t informed on fellow workers who are.So getting everyone back into the office creates a critical mass of workers sufficient to split that office into Trump flunkies and everybody else, and thus creates a pathway to getting rid of everybody else. What better way to purge our government of the unduly conscientious or those besotted by empiricism? *–Harold Meyerson. * rethink the week: talkers: *Stephen Pimpare *is Professor of Public Policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School.
*Lincoln Mitchell* teaches political science and public policy at Columbia University.
*Bill Curry * was a Connecticut state senator, comptroller and two time Democratic nominee for governor who served as Counselor to the President in the Clinton White House. .topics: *Trump 2.0: Bans, Purges and Retribution* Trump Pardons Anti-Abortion Activists Who Blockaded Clinic The move came ahead of the March for Life, the annual anti-abortion rally in Washington where Vice President JD Vance is expected to address attendees *Theoharis and Hartung, Turning the Tide* Many of us are now asking ourselves, how did we end up here? Part of the answer is simple enough: the status quo, regardless of which party has been in power, simply hasn’t been working for all too many Americans. Research compiled by our colleague Shailly Gupta Barnes of the Kairos Center indicates that some 140 million of us <kairoscenter.org/kairos-center-policy-briefing-11-the-140-million-is-a-theory-of-change/> live either in poverty or one financial emergency away from joining the ranks of the poor. One out of six children in this country now lives below the official poverty line and the families of nearly half <www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/nearly-half-american-children-living-near-poverty-line> of all kids are in a state of economic precarity or food insecurity. Meanwhile, the average life span of white American males is actually declining <www.verywellhealth.com/how-to-live-longer-for-men-2223908>, while more than 20 million <www.cnn.com/2024/04/12/politics/medicaid-coverage-health-insurance/index.html> people lost their access to health care in 2024 alone.
All of this is, of course, a far cry from the conventional wisdom that America’s economy is doing well, based on statistics like the unemployment rate or the rate of economic growth as a whole, none of which capture the lived experience of so many of us.
The Real Goal of Trump’s Emails Ordering Federal Employees to Narc on DEI Sympathizers.
Why Trump’s Attempt to End Birthright Citizenship Will Backfire at the Supreme Court
“Excluding Indians”: Trump admin questions Native Americans’ birthright citizenship in court The Trump admin is leaning on a pre-14th Amendment law in its fight to redefine birthright citizenship.
The Money GameThe Democratic Party had more money than God this election. At what cost?
DOJ is trying to “scare” local Democrats into carrying out Trump’s mass deportations Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said he would not be intimidated into carrying out a “fascist” agenda
The Unchecked Authority of Trump’s Immigration Orders The President is recasting migration as a form of “invasion,” broadening his already expansive powers and making anyone in the U.S. who’s undocumented a potential target
Tennessee Republican proposes amendment to allow Trump to serve third term
Rents for single-family homes 41% higher than prepandemic rents
Trump’s Dark Idea for FEMA Will Make It Harder for States to Get Aid — Listen online at www.wnhnfm.org/live. Listen anytime to the podcast at www.podomatic.com/podcasts/staff74238 <www.podomatic.com/podcasts/staff74238> podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/attitude-with-arnie-arnesen/id1634055179 tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie- <tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie-Arnesen-p1711842/> Arnesen-p1711842/ <tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie-Arnesen-p1711842/> Attitude with Arnie Arnesen, Harold Meyerson, Federal workforce, DEI, Stephen Pimpare, Lincoln Mitchell, Bill Curry, Trump, Biden, Democrats, pardons *KEEPING THE POT STIRRED SO SCUM DOESN’T RISE TO THE TOP* – Anonymous
*Arnie on the Air* Boston, MA-WGBH Under the Radar/Sunday Nights Keene, NH-WKBK Friday Morning with Dan Mitchell
*Lincoln Mitchell* teaches political science and public policy at Columbia University.
*Bill Curry * was a Connecticut state senator, comptroller and two time Democratic nominee for governor who served as Counselor to the President in the Clinton White House. .topics: *Trump 2.0: Bans, Purges and Retribution* Trump Pardons Anti-Abortion Activists Who Blockaded Clinic The move came ahead of the March for Life, the annual anti-abortion rally in Washington where Vice President JD Vance is expected to address attendees *Theoharis and Hartung, Turning the Tide* Many of us are now asking ourselves, how did we end up here? Part of the answer is simple enough: the status quo, regardless of which party has been in power, simply hasn’t been working for all too many Americans. Research compiled by our colleague Shailly Gupta Barnes of the Kairos Center indicates that some 140 million of us <kairoscenter.org/kairos-center-policy-briefing-11-the-140-million-is-a-theory-of-change/> live either in poverty or one financial emergency away from joining the ranks of the poor. One out of six children in this country now lives below the official poverty line and the families of nearly half <www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/nearly-half-american-children-living-near-poverty-line> of all kids are in a state of economic precarity or food insecurity. Meanwhile, the average life span of white American males is actually declining <www.verywellhealth.com/how-to-live-longer-for-men-2223908>, while more than 20 million <www.cnn.com/2024/04/12/politics/medicaid-coverage-health-insurance/index.html> people lost their access to health care in 2024 alone.
All of this is, of course, a far cry from the conventional wisdom that America’s economy is doing well, based on statistics like the unemployment rate or the rate of economic growth as a whole, none of which capture the lived experience of so many of us.
The Real Goal of Trump’s Emails Ordering Federal Employees to Narc on DEI Sympathizers.
Why Trump’s Attempt to End Birthright Citizenship Will Backfire at the Supreme Court
“Excluding Indians”: Trump admin questions Native Americans’ birthright citizenship in court The Trump admin is leaning on a pre-14th Amendment law in its fight to redefine birthright citizenship.
The Money GameThe Democratic Party had more money than God this election. At what cost?
DOJ is trying to “scare” local Democrats into carrying out Trump’s mass deportations Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said he would not be intimidated into carrying out a “fascist” agenda
The Unchecked Authority of Trump’s Immigration Orders The President is recasting migration as a form of “invasion,” broadening his already expansive powers and making anyone in the U.S. who’s undocumented a potential target
Tennessee Republican proposes amendment to allow Trump to serve third term
Rents for single-family homes 41% higher than prepandemic rents
Trump’s Dark Idea for FEMA Will Make It Harder for States to Get Aid — Listen online at www.wnhnfm.org/live. Listen anytime to the podcast at www.podomatic.com/podcasts/staff74238 <www.podomatic.com/podcasts/staff74238> podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/attitude-with-arnie-arnesen/id1634055179 tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie- <tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie-Arnesen-p1711842/> Arnesen-p1711842/ <tunein.com/podcasts/News–Politics-Podcasts/Attitude-with-Arnie-Arnesen-p1711842/> Attitude with Arnie Arnesen, Harold Meyerson, Federal workforce, DEI, Stephen Pimpare, Lincoln Mitchell, Bill Curry, Trump, Biden, Democrats, pardons *KEEPING THE POT STIRRED SO SCUM DOESN’T RISE TO THE TOP* – Anonymous
*Arnie on the Air* Boston, MA-WGBH Under the Radar/Sunday Nights Keene, NH-WKBK Friday Morning with Dan Mitchell
