Thank you
, , and many others for tuning in on Substack Live! Gonna simulcast on here from now on!
US/World News
(quotes from linked articles in italics)
FASCISM WATCH
Identification of Enemies of the State
Chicago Under Attack:
Armed Border Patrol agents patrol downtown Chicago
United States Border Patrol agents, wearing bulletproof vests and carrying rifles, were observed patrolling in downtown Chicago on Sunday afternoon.
Agents have been patrolling the Chicago River on boats in recent days, and Sunday were seen walking down one of the city’s busiest streets as increased federal intervention continues in the city.
Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling
Armed federal agents in military fatigues busted down their doors overnight, pulling men, women and children from their apartments, some of them naked, residents and witnesses said. Agents approached or entered nearly every apartment in the five-story building, and U.S. citizens were among those detained for hours.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem leads Elgin raid; 1 U.S. citizen among 6 detained
Low-flying helicopters, bright lights and smoke bombs were used in a raid Tuesday. Joe Botello, 37, and five roommates were led out of a home in the 900 block of Chippewa Drive. Kristi Noem was among the ICE agents who wore camouflage and used military trucks.
Trump freezes $2.1B for Chicago projects, Red Line extension in shutdown fight with Dems
The White House on Friday said it is withholding $2.1 billion in funding for Chicago infrastructure projects, including the CTA’s Red Line extension, as President Donald Trump escalates his fight with the city and follows through on his threat to punish Democrats over the government shutdown.
White House budget director Russ Vought wrote on social media that he was specifically targeting the Red Line South Side project as well as the Red and Purple Line modernization project, “to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.”
Pritzker says Trump administration intends to federalize 300 Illinois National Guard members
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement on Saturday that the Trump administration intends to federalize 300 Illinois National Guard members after he was offered an ultimatum on troop deployment.
“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” he said. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
The White House later confirmed the plans.
…and Portland
The White House is continuing to pressure Portland, surging federal law enforcement and floating plans to go after the city’s pocketbook on Friday as protests continue over President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard.
The administration will review cutting federal funding to Portland, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing, citing what she said was elected officials’ refusal to work with the White House to crack down on street crime and immigration enforcement.
activates 200 National Guard troops to Portland
The White House is continuing to pressure Portland, surging federal law enforcement and floating plans to go after the city’s pocketbook on Friday as protests continue over President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard.
The administration will review cutting federal funding to Portland, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing, citing what she said was elected officials’ refusal to work with the White House to crack down on street crime and immigration enforcement.
Judge temporarily blocks use of National Guard in Portland
U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut, an appointee of President Donald Trump, issued a temporary restraining order after Oregon and Portland sued. The order expires on Oct. 18 but could be extended.
Immergut wrote in her ruling that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to call forth troops — the “militia” in the founding document — to execute laws, suppress an insurrection or repel an invasion. She wrote that Trump’s attempt to federalize the National Guard absent constitutional authority undermines the sovereign interests of Oregon.
Justice Department sues Minnesota over sanctuary policies
The Justice Department said on Monday it has sued Minnesota and state officials over its immigration sanctuary policies, the latest move in a legal campaign by Republican President Donald Trump’s administration against jurisdictions run by Democrats.
The department said the state was carrying out policies that are illegal under federal law.
Supreme Court again allows Trump to strip protections from Venezuelan immigrants
The Supreme Court has again cleared the way for the Trump administration to strip legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants, despite lower-court rulings that found the administration’s move illegal.
It’s the second time in five months that the high court has, on its emergency docket, green-lit Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s effort to terminate “temporary *+6**-protected status” from the Venezuelans living in the United States.
Prosecuting Political Opponents
James Comey case jeopardizes Americans’ free speech rights, retired judges warn
The Trump administration’s case against former FBI Director James Comey should be a warning sign to Americans, 42 retired judges wrote in an open letter first obtained by NBC News.
In their letter, the former federal and state judges warned that the “rights and liberties of every American are in grave danger today, as President Donald Trump continues to corruptly abuse the power of his office by directing the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to target his critics and his perceived political enemies for investigation and criminal prosecution.”
“All Americans have an obligation as citizens of this great country to speak out against this unprecedented attack on our freedom of speech and to demand that Donald Trump’s attacks on our right to speak freely without fear of being persecuted and prosecuted by our government must stop now,” they added.
FBI agent suspended over refusal to ‘perp walk’ former director
An FBI agent has reportedly been suspended because they refused to participate in a “perp walk” of the bureau’s former director James Comey, US media reports.
The agent was suspended for insubordination, according to the BBC’s news partner CBS, after the agent found the plan to be inappropriate.
Control of Mass Media
Bari Weiss taking over CBS newsroom, staffers ‘literally freaking out’
The imminent arrival of anti-woke and stridently pro-Israel “heterodox” pundit Bari Weiss as the editor-in-chief of CBS News has left the newsroom’s staff “literally freaking out,” with sources telling The Independent that the Tiffany Network is “not a good place right now.”
The rising frustration among the network’s journalists has also been compounded by the fact that David Ellison, the chief executive of the newly merged Paramount Skydance, is preparing to implement brutal layoffs and slash up to 10 percent of CBS News’ staff – all while paying Weiss up to $150 million to acquire her digital media outlet The Free Press.
Following a politically tainted $8.4 billion merger between Ellison’s Skydance Media and Paramount Global, which saw Paramount agree to pay Donald Trump $16 million to settle a “meritless” lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, the new leadership team has made several moves to seemingly appease the right and the president.
Weiss, a former New York Times opinion columnist who famously quit The Grey Lady in 2020 over what she cited as the paper’s left-leaning editorial policies and “illiberal environment,” is expected to report to Ellison directly. Tom Cibrowski will remain as president of CBS News and work alongside Weiss, according to The New York Times.
The Free Press, which Weiss launched in 2021 alongside her wife, will be purchased for a price tag of roughly $150 million, paid out in a combination of cash and stock. The site, which is hosted on Substack, has 1.5 million subscribers – with roughly 10 percent of those paid. According to Puck, the “heterodox” site’s valuation sits at around $100 million.
YouTube agrees to pay $24.5 million to settle Trump lawsuit: Court filing
YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump and other plaintiffs after he was suspended from the platform in 2021, according to a court filing.
According to the filing, $22 million will be used to support Trump’s construction of a White House State Ballroom and will be held in a tax-exempt entity called the Trust for the National Mall.
Another $2.5 million will go to the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit -- including the American Conservative Union, Andrew Baggiani, Austen Fletcher, Maryse Veronica Jean-Louis, Frank Valentine, Kelly Victory and Naomi Wolf -- according to the filing.
YouTube suspended Trump’s account following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying at the time that an uploaded video violated its policy for inciting violence. It restored Trump’s channel more than two years later, citing that voters could “hear equally from major national candidates in the run-up to an election.”
Trump’s lawsuit alleged that YouTube prevented him from “exercising his constitutional right of free speech” by banning him indefinitely from the platform.
Journalists grabbed, shoved by ICE agents in New York immigration court
Control of Arts/Education
Trump asks 9 colleges to commit to his political agenda for better access to federal money
The White House is asking nine major universities to commit to President Donald Trump’s political priorities in exchange for more favorable access to federal money.
A document sent to the universities encourages them to adopt the White House’s vision for America’s campuses, with commitments to accept the government’s priorities on admissions, women’s sports, free speech, student discipline and college affordability, among other topics.
Signing on would give universities “multiple positive benefits,” including “substantial and meaningful federal grants” and “increased overhead payments where feasible,” according to a letter sent to universities alongside the compact. The letter calls it a proactive effort as the administration continues to investigate alleged civil rights violations at U.S. campuses.
Here, “civil rights violations” means “made white people feel uncomfortable.”
IT’S THE GUNS
Nine people dead and scores injured over weekend of mass US shootings
The weekend’s carnage began in the early hours of Saturday morning when multiple shots were fired in separate incidents in Alexandria, Louisiana, and in Raleigh, North Carolina. At least four people were injured on Highway 71 South in Alexandria.
At about the same time, 4am local time, four people were shot and injured on Millbrook Road in Raleigh. Three of the hurt individuals were found at the scene of the gunfire, and a fourth presented later at hospital.
Saturday’s third mass shooting broke out at about 9.30pm when a gunman armed with a semi-automatic, short-barreled rifle opened fire from a boat on a waterfront bar in Southport, North Carolina. The shooting left three people dead and eight injured.
Then, just before midnight on Saturday, a 34-year-old gunman opened fire at Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino along the border with Mexico in Texas. The gambling spot was packed at the time with customers at a raffle event.
The weekend’s devastating run of mass shootings carried into Sunday. At about 2.22am, shots rang out when a fight appeared to break out on Bourbon Street, the famous tourist destination in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Four people were struck, including a woman who died at the scene, police said.
4 dead, 8 injured in Michigan church shooting and fire set by gunman
Michigan church shooting suspect went on anti-LDS tirade, political candidate said
[Burton,MI City Council candidate Kris Johns] said [suspect Thomas Jacob] Sanford began asking him open-ended questions about Mormonism, first asking how Johns felt about the religion. And the more questions Sanford asked on the topic, the more pointed they became, Johns said. He said Sanford asked him about the Mormon bible, the role Jesus plays in the religion, the history of the LDS church and Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of Mormonism and the LDS movement.
“I just didn’t know what the next question was going to be,” Johns said.
But Johns said everything Sanford asked him about Mormonism led to Sanford declaring the religion as “the antichrist.”
Their conversation never delved into politics or current events, Johns said — “there was no mention of anything right or left, blue or red.”
Mass Shootings in NC, Michigan Involved Iraq War Veterans
The two incidents are not necessarily emblematic of a trend among military veterans [...] He notes that about 23% of all public mass shootings (defined by four or more victims) are committed by individuals with some military service, though not necessarily combat experience.
Thomas Jacob Sanford is alleged to have crashed a vehicle into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, during Sunday services before opening fire on hundreds of worshipers and setting the building ablaze. The 40-year-old former Marine was killed in a shootout with law enforcement.
Nigel Edge was arrested Sunday for allegedly carrying out a mass shooting in Southport, North Carolina, from the water while driving his boat up to a dock-front bar and opening fire on diners.
Edge, who reportedly changed his name from Sean Debevoise, is a decorated combat veteran who served in Iraq in 2005. In 2006, he was awarded a Purple Heart, according to NPR. Edge is said to have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Roughly 13.4% of U.S. men are reported to have served in the armed forces in some capacity, compared to just 1.4% of women, data shows.
POTENTIAL BREAKTHROUGH IN GAZA
What to know after Hamas welcomes US peace plan for Gaza
Both Israel and now Hamas have signaled support for the new U.S. plan to end the war in Gaza and release all remaining hostages there. President Donald Trump says he thinks Hamas is ready for a “lasting peace” and has told Israel to stop bombing the territory, but he warns that “all bets will be off” if Hamas doesn’t move quickly. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he hopes to announce the release of all hostages “in the coming days.”
Many uncertainties remain around the plan ahead of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Egypt on Monday. Already, Netanyahu says there will not be a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Tuesday marks two years since the war began.
The plan’s essentials
All hostilities would immediately end. Within 72 hours, Hamas would release all hostages it holds, living or dead. The militants still have 48 hostages. Israel believes 20 of them are alive.
Israel would free 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in its prisons and 1,700 people detained from Gaza since the war began, including all women and children. Israel also would hand over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for each body of a hostage handed over.
Israeli troops would withdraw from Gaza after Hamas disarms, and an international security force would deploy. The territory would be placed under international governance, with Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it.
It’s not clear Hamas officials can agree among themselves on the plan. One official, Osama Hamdan, told Al Araby television that Hamas would refuse foreign administration of the Gaza Strip and that the entry of foreign forces would be “unacceptable.”
An interim administration of Palestinian technocrats would run day-to-day affairs. Hamas would have no part in administering Gaza, and all its military infrastructure, including tunnels, would be dismantled. Members who pledge to live peacefully would be granted amnesty. Those who wish to leave Gaza can.
Palestinians will not be expelled from Gaza. Large amounts of humanitarian aid would be allowed and would be run by “neutral international bodies,” including the U.N. and the Red Crescent.
Israel says it has deported 137 flotilla activists to Turkey amid large protests
US GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
US federal government shuts down after Senate fails to pass funding plans
President Donald Trump wants Democrats to support the Republican plan to restore government funding. So far, the Senate leadership has been unable to get the 60 votes needed to pass the bill,
Senate Democrats, who are demanding a permanent extension of federal subsidies to help people afford health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, have voted down the funding bill four times. Republicans say that issue should be dealt with separately.
Pay has been suspended for roughly 2 million federal workers, with roughly 750,000 ordered not to work and others, such as troops and air traffic control workers, are required to work without pay.
The Social Security Administration will continue to issue retirement and disability benefits, but will furlough 12% of its staff and pause marketing campaigns, according to the agency’s shutdown plan. Payments will likewise continue under the Medicare and Medicaid health programs.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest food aid program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, will continue operations during a shutdown as funds allow
The U.S. Postal Service will be unaffected because it does not depend on Congress for funding, USPS said in a statement. Post offices will be open.
More than 13,000 air traffic controllers will continue working without pay until the shutdown ends, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Most TSA employees will continue working, according to a statement from the agency.
The 2 million U.S. military personnel will remain at their posts without pay until the shutdown ends,
Can undocumented immigrants get ‘free health care’ or Medicaid?
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told CNBC on the morning of the Oct. 1 shutdown that Democrats “want to restore taxpayer funded benefits, American taxpayer funded benefits to illegal aliens.”
Democrats say they’re fighting to restore Medicaid benefits that were cut in President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful” tax and budget bill, which he signed into law in July.
All told, the new law leaves 10 million more Americans uninsured [...] by rolling back a Medicaid expansion and making changes to the Affordable Care Act marketplace. An additional 4 million people may no longer be able to afford insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchanges when tax credits expire at the end of the year.
The law also restricts payments to states for medical assistance – including emergency care – furnished to anyone who isn’t a citizen or lawful permanent resident. In 1986, Congress passed a law requiring that anyone in need of emergency care receive it, regardless of who they are or their ability to pay.
Do ‘illegal’ immigrants get free health care?
Undocumented immigrants are largely ineligible for federal health benefits, said Leo Cuello, research professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.
They don’t qualify for comprehensive Medicaid coverage, Medicare or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. And they can’t purchase federally subsidized health plans on exchanges backed by the Affordable Care Act.
There are immigrants on Medicaid in the United States. So-called “noncitizen enrollees” in Medicaid accounted for 6% of the total, according to KFF, a nonprofit that conducts research and polling on health policy.
Not being a citizen isn’t the same as residing in the United States illegally; there are many ways to live here as a legal resident, without full U.S. citizenship. This is where the political argument gets messy.
Who is considered a legal immigrant?
The Trump administration and many Republicans have taken the view this year that certain immigrants once considered “legal” should no longer be.
For example, the Department of Homeland Security this year canceled humanitarian parole under the Biden-era Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans program, or CHNV. DHS also revoked the Temporary Protected Status of some Venezuelans, Haitians and others, though the revocations are tied up in federal court.
Indiana News
(quotes from linked articles in italics)
HOW SHUTDOWN AFFECTS INDIANA
Braun talks federal shutdown impact in Indiana
Hours after Congress failed to advance a stopgap measure to prevent a government shutdown, Gov. Mike Braun minimized the potential impact on Hoosiers, saying Indiana “isn’t as dependent on federal government largess.”
Indiana is the third-most reliant state when it comes to federal dollars.
“We will get through it,” said Braun at a public safety event Wednesday. “If Indiana does lose some benefits in the short run, if it’s essential, we would look at maybe doing something to keep (them) in place.”
A short-lived shutdown will likely have a minimal impact on the day-to-day lives of Hoosiers, with the exception of Indiana’s 24,000 federal employees. Some of those will stop being paid or could even be laid off following threats from President Donald Trump.
Indiana lawmakers comment on government shutdown, impact on Hoosiers
Congressman Jim Baird (R-IN04)
“Democrats blocked it,” Baird said. “Democrats are shutting down the government to spend YOUR hard-earned tax dollars on benefits for illegal immigrants and radical programs that increase the debt by $1.5 trillion.”
Congresswoman Victoria Spartz (R-IN05)
On Sept. 19, Spartz voted against the majority of Republicans to fund a continuing resolution to fund the government through mid-November, stating at the time that she could not “support one that ends funding right before a major holiday to jam us with an Omnibus.”
Congressman Jefferson Shreve (R-IN06)
In a post on Tuesday, Shreve stated that he will not take a paycheck during the government shutdown, stating that he will donate that pay to the Johnson County Boys & Girls Club in Franklin.
Congressman Andre Carson (D-IN07)
In a photo posted to his social media on Tuesday from the House floor, Carson emphasized that the Democratic side was filled and the Republican side was empty, stating that “Republicans didn’t even show up to work.”
“I think it’s clear that Democrats simply won’t rubber-stamp a spending package that leaves Americans without health care,” Carson said. “Anyone who has had a health scare knows that health insurance isn’t optional. We absolutely need it for our survival. And if people can’t afford to go to a doctor’s visit, they essentially won’t go. And that leads to problems that could worsen if gone untreated.”
Congresswoman Erin Houchin (R-IN09)
“Democrats would rather hand out free health care to illegal immigrants than take care of America’s veterans,” she said.
AROUND THE CORN
Crime & Punishment
Mark Sanchez arrested in Indianapolis altercation that led to stabbing.
Former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez was charged early Sunday morning by Marion County prosecutors for his alleged role in a stabbing that left him seriously injured early Saturday in downtown Indianapolis.
Sanchez faces misdemeanor criminal charges of Battery Resulting in Injury, Public Intoxication, and Unlawful Entry of a Motor Vehicle for his alleged role in the altercation.
Braun allows Oct 10 execution to proceed
Gov. Mike Braun denied clemency to death row inmate Roy Lee Ward in an announcement early Monday morning.
“After carefully reviewing the unanimous recommendation from the State Parole Board, I have decided to allow the execution of Roy Lee Ward to proceed as planned for October 10,” he said.
Criminal charges not filed in 38% of child abuse and neglect deaths, new DCS data reveals
The Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) released new data in a report to the Interim Study Committee on Child Services on Thursday.
DCS revealed that, in 2023, county prosecutors did not file criminal charges in 38% of child abuse and neglect deaths.
In 25% of child abuse and neglect deaths, prosecutors filed charges, but the cases are still pending.
Prosecutors filed charges, and the perpetrators were convicted in 29% of 2023 child abuse and neglect deaths.
Alleged perpetrators died by suicide in 9% of cases reviewed by DCS for 2023.
This data - in its dry, distant, removed way - obfuscates countless stories of human tragedy, often cascading traumas affecting the same family repeatedly.
Redistricting
Group files public records request for White House communication about Indiana redistricting
An Indiana group filed a public records request Monday seeking all redistricting discussion between Gov. Mike Braun’s administration and White House employees from August first onward — as national Republicans continue to pressure the Hoosier State to act.
Hoosiers voice redistricting concerns at packed town hall
House Democratic Caucus Chair Carey Hamilton (D-District 87), State Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-District 86), and State Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn (D-District 32) hosted the town hall at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church.
Civil Rights & Discrimination
ICE detainees start to arrive at Miami Correctional Facility
Detainees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement have begun arriving at Miami Correctional Facility, located between Indianapolis and South Bend. Fifteen ICE detainees arrived at the facility on Wednesday and 25 more are expected to arrive Thursday.
A federal court has ruled that Indiana may now require biological sexes to be listed on birth certificates, denying the ACLU’s request to stop an executive order stripping transgender Hoosiers of the ability to update their gender markers on official documents.
Local Media
Indiana public media see layoffs, program cuts as federal money dries up
Indiana was one of the hardest-hit states after it lost both federal and state support earlier this year. Only four states —West Virginia, Alaska, New Mexico and Montana — had a greater reliance on public money.
Utilities & Data Centers
What started as a 390-acre rezoning in Morgan County is growing even larger. On Monday, Sept. 29, the plan commission gave a green light to expand the proposed data center by 158 acres, despite heated opposition.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Credit rating agencies flag property tax bill for creating “uncertainty” for local bonds
Experts warn that Indiana’s cities, towns and counties could take a hit to their credit rating through no fault of their own, but rather due to continued fallout from the state’s effort to curb property tax growth.
S&P Global Ratings, which provides independent credit ratings and research, warned that the new law enacted earlier this year “creates uncertainty” for local income tax-backed debt, according to a recent story in industry publication The Bond Buyer.
“At this point, we believe it’s too soon to assess how these changes will influence our ratings,” S&P Associate Director John Sauter told The Bond Buyer.
But a report co-authored by Sauter flags concerns with new provisions of the wide-ranging bill, which limited local tax growth and has left some municipalities scrambling to continue providing government services.
Senate Bill 1 went through several versions before landing on a compromise that would save homeowners a collective $1.2 billion in property taxes over three calendar years — money that would come out of the pockets of local units of government, including libraries and schools.
And while S&P previously worried about smaller tax bases and falling revenues, both of which would impact a locality’s final rating, experts flagged concerns about another provision.
In an effort to grant counties and cities a reprieve, state lawmakers opted to revisit local income taxes. Previously, such levies were an option only available to counties and capped at 3.75%. The new law lowers the cap to 2.9% but allows municipalities to impose their own rate up to 1.2% within that tax.
However, those taxes must be recertified annually, which S&P says creates uncertainty for debt tied to those taxes.
Here’s why Indy schools and libraries are set to lose $16 million
Indianapolis schools, libraries and local governments are set to lose about $16 million in property tax revenue as the county’s top health agency maneuvers to make up for steep state budget cuts.
That projection comes from a Sept. 17 budget presentation from the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, which operates the county public health department and Eskenazi Health.
For more than a decade, state lawmakers gave the municipal corporation $38 million each year to help cover the cost of providing medical care to low-income and uninsured patients at Eskenazi Health, Indy’s public hospital system.
In exchange, the amount in property taxes HHC could collect from Marion County residents was reduced by $35 million each year.
But now, that deal is over.
During HHC’s budget presentation, CFO James Simpson estimated a 1% reduction in property tax revenue for other local taxing bodies. Those include township trustees, schools, libraries, public transportation and the city of Indianapolis.
EDUCATION
K-12
What happened after Indiana officials called for investigations into teachers’ social media posts?
After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed, Indiana officials issued a clear warning: Any teacher making negative comments about his death could face serious consequences.
Two weeks later, the full impact of the calls by Gov. Mike Braun and Attorney General Todd Rokita to investigate and document teachers’ social media posts — and possibly result in their firing or licensure revocation — remains unclear. No cases to revoke a teacher’s license have been filed, and school board meetings where teachers’ statements were in the spotlight have remained mostly tame.
The Indianapolis Public Schools board on Friday opposed any plan to create a future all-charter school system in a letter to the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance that listed seven requests for the group to consider as it rethinks the city’s school system.
The letter to the ILEA from the seven-member school board is among a litany of requests the ILEA has received in recent months. The letter, signed by all seven board members, is the first public list of requests the board has made to the group.
The group — created by state lawmakers and composed of Mayor Joe Hogsett, Superintendent Aleesia Johnson, and mayoral and district appointees — is tasked with providing recommendations for more efficient transportation and facility agreements across the city’s fractured charter and IPS school sectors. But the group could also submit other recommendations to lawmakers, such as a new governance structure for all school types.
Yes - democratically-elected school boards instead of for-profit executive boards!
Higher Ed
Purdue
Trump admin cancels $35 million Purdue college prep program in DEI crackdown
Purdue University will abruptly end a statewide initiative to help more than 13,000 low-income Indiana students go to college after it was targeted in the Trump administration’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion.
The Trump administration canceled a $34.9 million federal grant to Purdue University for GEAR UP, a federally funded program to boost college readiness and access. It provides after-school, mentoring and college-prep programs in 10 districts across the state. It will shut down Tuesday.
The grant was awarded last year and expected to continue through 2031, according to a 2024 press release from Purdue’s College of Education. It was the sixth-largest federal grant in university history, the release said.
Purdue student newspaper parts ways with international students
Purdue University’s longstanding independent student newspaper, The Purdue Exponent, will no longer employ international students.
“We presume, I guess, that it was an unintended consequence of Purdue’s decision over the summer, and one that we feel is honestly pretty unfortunate,” [Kyle Charters, the Exponent’s publisher] said.
The Exponent, which pays students for their work, lost vendor status when Purdue took actions to distance itself from the publication this summer.
These included not renewing a decades-long vendor contract, revoking staff parking passes, and ending university assistance with newspaper distribution on campus. The university also asked the publication to remove the word “Purdue” from its website.
“We are not hiring international students in the interest of their safety and to avoid jeopardizing their legal status in the United States – not because we don’t want them,” said Editor in Chief Olivia Mapes in an editorial Thursday.
IU
Indy researchers speak out on Trump’s science cuts
The researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine submitted a grant proposal to the National Institutes of Health to study and treat childhood urinary tract infections, which may be a precursor to one of the deadliest diseases in Indiana. Their project scored well in the competitive application process.
More than one in seven American adults have chronic kidney disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And in Indiana, about 14,500 residents have reached the end stage of kidney failure, which requires regular dialysis or transplants to survive.
“Any other year this would be a no-brainer,” Hains told Mirror Indy. “A slam dunk funded grant.”
But it’s 2025, and President Donald Trump’s administration has made sweeping changes at the NIH, the world’s largest public funder of medical research. Those include slashing grants and eliminating projects that focus on the health of racial minorities, women and LGBTQ+ people. Pediatric cancer research also took a hit.
Dismantling of U.S. cancer research has IU impacts
Indiana University’s Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center supports nearly 250 researchers conducting all phases of the cancer spectrum. In 2018, the Simon Center managed 380 clinical trials, including 104 investigator-initiated trials, designed and implemented by IU researchers.
In 2023, the IU School of Medicine received more than $243 million from the National Institutes of Health, ranking 13th in the nation for NIH funding among public medical schools and 29th overall, according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research.
For medical researchers at Indiana, Purdue and Notre Dame universities, this dismantling at the NIH has meant an abrupt loss of $24.5 million in funding for 2025 as of September. No planning occurred; this came out of the blue.
CORRUPTION
IEDC forensic analysis highlights lackluster oversight and questionable spending
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation released a lengthy forensic analysis after a legal review Thursday, part of an ongoing effort by Gov. Mike Braun to reform the embattled, quasi-public state agency to restore public trust.
In particular, the private company tasked with reviewing the entity flagged eye-popping spending by its nonprofit — which is funded by an opaque system of donors — on international trips.
The final, 127-page report reviews past practices and provides recommendations for future action, emphasizing both transparency and identifying areas where governance and oversight must be strengthened.
In addition to the IEDC and its foundation, the audit also focused on Elevate Ventures, the Applied Research Institute and the Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace District — otherwise known as LEAP, which has become a controversial Boone County economic development project.
The Indiana Economic Development Foundation was set up in 2005 as a nonprofit organization to raise and manage private contributions and help fund the state’s economic development priorities.
Administrations in the past have refused to disclose who the major funders are for the entity, which largely paid for international travel for the governor and other economic development officials.
Former Gov. Eric Holcomb traveled extensively on the foundation’s dime, including 27 international trips during his eight-plus years in office.
The review ran from Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2024, and identified 107 entities that donated $6 million. Sixteen donors made up 78% of the total. They included NIPSCO, Duke Energy, CenterPoint Energy, AES Indiana, Indiana Michigan Power, Rolls-Royce, Hoosier Energy and Old National Bank.
Of the 107 entities that made donations to the foundation, 46 were identified as having received $238 million in either payments or tax credits from the IEDC during the review period.
$6M in “donations” for $238 in payments and credits? That’s like a 3900% ROI - pretty good! This much corruption in only those three years? What about the rest?
Morales tops statewide official travel spending
State officials logged roughly $97,000 in state expenses for trips across Indiana and the nation, according to new reports filed Wednesday.
That count includes Gov. Mike Braun, his cabinet secretaries and all statewide officeholders during the 2025 fiscal year, which ran from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. Of the 19 reports reviewed by the Indiana Capital Chronicle, many officials had only been in office for part of the fiscal year.
A new state law mandates reporting every Oct. 1 on travel expenses for trips “taken in an official capacity,” including whether state funding was used to cover costs.
The legislature passed the bill on the heels of controversy, when Secretary of State Diego Morales left the country for an international trip without disclosing who paid for his travel. He attended the National Association of Software and Service Companies Global Conference.
Following pushback, Morales said he reimbursed expenses for the trip to India using personal funds. He reported another trip to Vancouver in September for a securities conference but said no state funds were used.
Morales’ report didn’t include a May trip to Hungary, which he repeatedly emphasized was a personal visit in various social media posts. He also said the trip was paid for by a conservative group.
He documented another 19 trips out of state, including an association conference for secretaries of state in Puerto Rico. Nine of those trips were to Chicago, mostly to meet with foreign dignitaries. The San Juan trip cost $4,241 and was the most expensive claim, coming out of his office’s general fund.
Of the nearly $33,000 Morales reported spending, roughly a third was devoted to monthly fuel costs. The widely traveled state official previously boasted about his in-state travel, saying he completed the 92-county circuit faster than other statewide officeholders upon taking office.
One Big Thing - Trump’s MAGA Military & War on “The Enemy Within”
(quotes from linked articles in italics)
Trump and Hegseth’s plan for a MAGA military
President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed using American cities as training grounds for the armed forces and spoke of needing U.S. military might to combat what he called the “invasion from within.”
Addressing an audience of military brass abruptly summoned to Virginia, Trump outlined a muscular and at times norm-shattering view of the military’s role in domestic affairs. He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who declared an end to “woke” culture and announced new directives for troops that include “gender-neutral” or “male-level” standards for physical fitness.
“We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” Trump said. He noted at another point: “We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.”
After calling hundreds of military leaders and their top advisers from around the world to the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Hegseth largely focused on long-used talking points that painted a picture of a military hamstrung by “woke” policies. He said military leaders should “do the honorable thing and resign” if they don’t like his new approach.
In keeping with the nonpartisan tradition of the armed services, the military leaders sat mostly stone-faced through Trump’s politicized remarks, a contrast from when rank-and-file soldiers cheered during Trump’s speech at Fort Bragg this summer.
Trump encouraged the audience at the outset of his speech to applaud as they wished. He then added, “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room — of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future.” Some laughed.
Trump has already tested the limits of a nearly 150-year-old federal law, the Posse Comitatus Act, that restricts the military’s role in law enforcement.
He has sent National Guard and active duty Marines to Los Angeles, threatened to do the same to combat crime and illegal immigration in other Democratic-led cities, and surged troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.
National Guard members are generally exempt from the law because they’re under state control. But the law does apply when they’re “federalized” and put under the president’s control, as happened in LA over the Democratic governor’s objections.
The Posse Comitatus Act Explained
What does the term “posse comitatus” mean?
In British and American law, a posse comitatus is a group of people who are mobilized by the sheriff to suppress lawlessness in the county. In any classic Western film, when a lawman gathers a “posse” to pursue the outlaws, they are forming a posse comitatus. The Posse Comitatus Act is so named because one of the things it prohibits is using soldiers rather than civilians as a posse comitatus.
What are the origins of the Posse Comitatus Act?
The Posse Comitatus Act was passed in 1878, after the end of Reconstruction and the return of white supremacists to political power in both southern states and Congress. Through the law, Congress sought to ensure that the federal military would not be used to intervene in the establishment of Jim Crow in the former Confederacy.
Despite the ignominious origins of the law itself, the broader principle that the military should not be allowed to interfere in the affairs of civilian government is a core American value. It finds expression in the Constitution’s division of power over the military between Congress and the president, and in the guarantees of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments, which were in part reactions to abuses committed by the British army against American colonists.
Are all members of the military covered by the Posse Comitatus Act?
No, only federal military personnel are covered. The Coast Guard, though part of the federal armed forces, has express statutory authority to perform law enforcement and is not bound by the Posse Comitatus Act.
Members of the National Guard are rarely covered by the Posse Comitatus Act because they usually report to their state or territory’s governor. That means they are free to participate in law enforcement if doing so is consistent with state law. However, when Guard personnel are called into federal service, or “federalized,” they become part of the federal armed forces, which means they are bound by the Posse Comitatus Act until they are returned to state control.
What are the main statutory exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act?
There are many statutory exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act, but the most important one is the Insurrection Act. Under this law, in response to a state government’s request, the president may deploy the military to suppress an insurrection in that state. In addition, the Insurrection Act allows the president — with or without the state government’s consent — to use the military to enforce federal law or suppress a rebellion against federal authority in a state, or to protect a group of people’s civil rights when the state government is unable or unwilling to do so.
Understanding the Differences between Active Duty, National Guard and Reserves
Active Duty: The First Line of Defense
Active-duty personnel are the nation’s first line of defense and the largest component of the U.S. military. It is comprised of six branches: Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Space Force. The Army is the oldest branch of the U.S. military, while the Space Force is the newest addition. Each branch of the armed forces, except the Coast Guard, falls under one of three departments: the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. The Coast Guard only falls under the Department of the Navy in times of war by order of the President or by an act of Congress. In peacetime, the Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security.
A person serving on active duty works for the military full-time. Active-duty personnel fall directly under the federal government’s orders and can be deployed at any time, for any length of time. These service members work in their respective careers on a federal military installation full-time, and most live on base.
The Reserve Component: The Second Line of Defense
The reserves are the nation’s second line of defense. The reserve component is made of two elements: the National Guard and the reserves. The component is made up of both part-time and full-time service members and civilian Title 5 employees. Currently, all branches have a reserve component except for the Space Force. However, there is currently a congressional proposal to create a reserve component for the Space Force. All reserve forces maintain trained units and qualified personnel to support or augment their active-duty counterparts in times of war, national emergencies and threats to national security, both stateside and overseas.
Traditional service members of the reserves and National Guard are required to drill once a month and complete two weeks of training annually. In addition to the ability to serve part-time, reservists may also select their duty station, unlike with active duty. As a primarily part-time force, the average reservist has a full-time civilian job outside of the military.
National Guard
The National Guard is the second arm of the reserve component and consists of both the Army and Air Force. Similar to the reserves, members of the National Guard, or guardsmen, are trained and ready to defend the nation during times of war, threats to national security and national emergencies. However, the National Guard is also called up for state emergencies. Because of this, and contrary to the reserves, the National Guard reports to both the state and federal government.
The National Guard serves at the behest of a state governor and the president of the United States. During local emergencies, the governor can activate the National Guard on state orders, without prior presidential approval. However, in some instances, the president can mobilize a state’s National Guard without prior consent of the governor. For example, the president can order governors to activate guardsmen to help communities affected by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, floods and tornadoes. Most recently, guardsmen nationwide were activated to help local communities and hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. When a governor activates the National Guard, those orders fall under a specific subset of Title 32.
Trump’s NSPM-7 Labels Common Beliefs As Terrorism “Indicators”
With the mainstream media distracted by the made-for-TV drama of James Comey’s indictment, Trump has signed a little-noticed national security directive identifying “anti-Christian” and “anti-American” views as indicators of radical left violence. Called National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, it’s being referred to as “NSPM-7” by administration insiders.
To the extent that the major media noticed the directive at all, they (even C-SPAN!) incorrectly labeled it an “executive order,” like this week’s designation of “Antifa” as a domestic terrorist organization.
It’s hard to overstate how much different NSPM-7 is from the over 200 executive orders Trump has frantically signed since coming back into office.
An executive order publicly lays out the course of day-to-day federal government operations; whereas a national security directive is a sweeping policy decree for the defense, foreign policy, intelligence, and law enforcement apparatus. National security directives are often secret, but in this case the Trump administration chose to publish NSPM-7
In NSPM-7, “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” President Trump directs the Justice Department, the FBI, and other national security agencies and departments to fight his version of political violence in America, retooling a network of Joint Terrorism Task Forces to focus on “leftist” political violence in America. This vast counterterrorism army, made up of federal, state, and local agents would, as Trump aide Stephen Miller said, form “the central hub of that effort.”
NSPM-7 directs a new national strategy to “disrupt” any individual or groups “that foment political violence,” including “before they result in violent political acts.”
In other words, they’re targeting pre-crime, to reference Minority Report.
The Trump administration isn’t only targeting organizations or groups but even individuals and “entities” whom NSPM-7 says can be identified by any of the following “indicia” (indicators) of violence:
anti-Americanism
Anti-capitalism
anti-Christianity
support for the overthrow of the United States Government
extremism on migration
extremism on race
extremism on gender
hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family
hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and
hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.
Troops surveyed understand duty to disobey illegal orders
When a sitting commander in chief authorizes acts like these, which many assert are clear violations of the law, men and women in uniform face an ethical dilemma: How should they respond to an order they believe is illegal?
The question may already be affecting troop morale. “The moral injuries of this operation, I think, will be enduring,” a National Guard member who had been deployed to quell public unrest over immigration arrests in Los Angeles told The New York Times. “This is not what the military of our country was designed to do, at all.”
Troops who are ordered to do something illegal are put in a bind — so much so that some argue that troops themselves are harmed when given such orders. They are not trained in legal nuances, and they are conditioned to obey. Yet if they obey “manifestly unlawful” orders, they can be prosecuted. Some analysts fear that U.S. troops are ill-equipped to recognize this threshold.
U.S. service members take an oath to uphold the Constitution. In addition, under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the U.S. Manual for Courts-Martial, service members must obey lawful orders and disobey unlawful orders. Unlawful orders are those that clearly violate the U.S. Constitution, international human rights standards or the Geneva Conventions.
Service members who follow an illegal order can be held liable and court-martialed or subject to prosecution by international tribunals. Following orders from a superior is no defense.
[Military Times’] poll, fielded between June 13 and June 30, 2025, shows that service members understand these rules. Of the 818 active-duty troops we surveyed, just 9% stated that they would “obey any order.” Only 9% “didn’t know,” and only 2% had “no comment.”
But the open-ended answers pointed to another struggle troops face: Some no longer trust U.S. law as useful guidance.
Writing in their own words about how they would know an illegal order when they saw it, more troops emphasized international law as a standard of illegality than emphasized U.S. law.
Others implied that acts that are illegal under international law might become legal in the U.S.
Should we be rooting for the military remove Trump from the Presidency?
This is a thought exercise. We explicitly state that we are not advocating or condoning the overthrow of the US government. As Tucker Carlson would say, “I’m just asking questions.”
1. Trump has rejected the terms of the Presidency.
A. Trump has stated that “he is a King”:
B. Trump refuses to accept the Constitutional restrictions of the Presidency and to respect the rule of law.
2. Trump appears to be a Russian puppet, undermining the national defense of the United States.
3. Trump is mentally deranged.
4. Trump is systematically destroying American institutions.
5. Is there a reasonable alternative to having the military remove Trump from power?
6. Is Trump self-destructing, mitigating the need for this harsh action?
7. If the military acted, what could happen?
