Happy Friday! The U.S. Postal Service unveiled a new batch of stamps commemorating the 250th anniversaries of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, previewing next year’s World Stamp Show, and honoring a certain public intellectual born in 1925: William F. Buckley, Jr. This could be just the boost the lost art of letter writing needed.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was considering whether to revoke the Temporary Protected Status of the approximately 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the United States after the Russian invasion of their homeland. “There were some people that think that’s appropriate, and some people don’t, and I’ll be making the decision pretty soon,” Trump said Thursday, following a Reuters report indicating that the administration may move to reverse the protections as soon as April. In February, the Department of Homeland Security rolled back the temporary legal status for Venezuelans and Haitians who had sought refuge in the U.S. amid violence and instability in their home countries, leaving them vulnerable to deportation.
- European leaders on Thursday approved a statement supporting the relaxing of budget restrictions to allow European Union (EU) countries to boost their military spending. The European Commission will now develop more detailed plans to free up funds. The bloc also expressed support for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal to increase the EU’s military spending by $841 billion.
- A South Korean court on Friday ordered the release of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been in detention since January in connection to his short-lived declaration of martial law in late last year. Yoon, who is facing insurrection charges, can now stand his criminal trial without being physically detained. A separate case before the Constitutional Court will decide whether Yoon will be dismissed or reinstated as president in the coming weeks.
- President Trump signed executive orders on Thursday partially suspending the 25 percent tariffs on most goods from Canada and Mexico—America’s two largest trading partners—that he had imposed earlier this week. The orders, which exempted goods covered by the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA) from the tariffs for one month, followed Trump’s phone call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday morning. He cited their conversation in explaining the shift, saying the exemptions were made out of respect for Sheinbaum.
- President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday suspending the security clearances held by the employees of Perkins Coie—a Seattle-based law firm involved in the commissioning of the since-discredited Steele Dossier—and limiting their access to government buildings. The move followed Trump’s presidential memorandum last month revoking the security clearances of some lawyers at Covington & Burling, a prominent law firm that provided pro bono services to Jack Smith, the former special counsel who oversaw investigations into Trump. Perkins Coie, which has long worked with the Democratic National Committee and Democratic politicians, described Trump’s Thursday order as “patently unlawful” and indicated plans to challenge it.
- U.S. District Judge Amir Ali issued a directive Thursday ordering the Trump administration to make some payments to foreign aid contractors for work that has already been completed by 6 p.m. ET Monday. The ruling came a day after the Supreme Court narrowly upheld Ali’s previous order requiring the Trump administration to continue the disbursement of $2 billion in outstanding payments. But Thursday’s order was significantly pared back, applying only to payments not received by the plaintiffs that introduced the challenge to the administration’s aid freeze.
A Deadly Measles Outbreak Spreads
The United States passed a grim milestone last week: Amid an ongoing outbreak in West Texas, an unvaccinated six-year-old died after being hospitalized with the measles—the first reported death from the respiratory virus in a decade. Then, on Thursday, health officials in New Mexico announced the death of an unvaccinated adult with measles, though they have not yet confirmed the virus as the cause.
The deadly outbreak comes 25 years after health officials declared measles to be eliminated in the United States following an effective vaccination program. But immunization rates have been gradually dropping in recent years, accelerated further by the revival of anti-vax sentiment—largely directed at the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine—in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a vocal vaccine skeptic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., leading the federal response to the virus’ resurgence as health secretary, local public health officials hoping to stop the spread of a once-vanquished disease are now battling mixed messages from Washington.
According to state and local authorities, the latest outbreak began sometime in late January, with the first reported cases emerging from Gaines County, a rural area in West Texas. The virus quickly spread among the Mennonites, a relatively insular Christian denomination, living in the area. At least 159 cases, 22 hospitalizations, and one death have been reported in Texas so far. Just over the border, in Lea County, New Mexico, at least 10 people have tested positive for the virus. Children and teenagers make up the majority of cases.
Amid low immunization rates, public health officials are now worried …
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Today’s Must-Read
Will Trump Actually Balance the Budget?
Toeing the Company Line
Foreigners Have Feelings Too
Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme?
Russia’s Long Record of Broken Pledges and Treaty Violations
Worth Your Time
- Writing for Foreign Affairs, former Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk charted the country’s path forward amid threats by the Trump administration to withdraw American support. “Even as the U.S. pauses military aid, Ukraine’s war effort will not suddenly collapse despite the significant challenges a prolonged freeze would impose,” he wrote. “As long as strong European support continues, which seems even more likely after this week’s gathering of leaders from the continent in London, Putin will be able to achieve some tactical breakthroughs but will not reach his maximalist objectives. A U.S. government aligning with Russia in ways that actively undermine Ukraine’s fight would be a truly shocking development—one that would shatter trust in the United States and irreparably fracture the Western alliance. But Ukrainians, who know the awful cost of this war better than anyone, have no choice but to fight for their country’s survival.”
- Artificial intelligence is undermining college students’ critical thinking skills, and the damage may be irreversible, Troy Jollimore warned in The Walrus. “To judge by the number of papers I read last semester that were clearly AI generated, a lot of students are enthusiastic about this latest innovation. It turns out, too, this enthusiasm is hardly dampened by, say, a clear statement in one’s syllabus prohibiting the use of AI. Or by frequent reminders of this policy, accompanied by heartfelt pleas that students author the work they submit,” he wrote. “It turns out that if there is anything more implausible than the idea that they might need to write as part of their jobs, it is the idea that they might have to write, or want to write, in some part of their lives other than their jobs. Or, more generally, the idea that education might be valuable not because it gets you a bigger paycheque but because, in a fundamental way, it gives you access to a more rewarding life. My students have been shaped by a culture that has long doubted the value of being able to think and write for oneself—and that is increasingly convinced of the power of a machine to do both for us.”
Presented Without Comment
Washington Post: Trump Tells Cabinet That They, Not Musk, Should ‘Go First’ in Cutting Workers
Also Presented Without Comment
Associated Press: War Heroes and Military Firsts Are Among 26,000 Images Flagged for Removal in Pentagon’s DEI Purge
References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press.
In the Zeitgeist
Funk jazz legend Roy Ayers died on Tuesday at the age of 84. The vibraphonist, often referred to as the “Godfather of Neo Soul,” was known for hits like Everybody Loves the Sunshine.
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