Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of March 31

National Security Advisor Waltz and his staff have been using personal Gmail accounts for government communications. Gift link to WaPo

A senior Waltz aide used the commercial email service for highly technical conversations with colleagues at other government agencies involving sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems relating to an ongoing conflict, according to emails reviewed by The Post. While the NSC official used his Gmail account, his interagency colleagues used government-issued accounts, headers from the email correspondence show.

Waltz has had less sensitive, but potentially exploitable information sent to his Gmail, such as his schedule and other work documents, said officials, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe what they viewed as problematic handling of information. The officials said Waltz would sometimes copy and paste from his schedule into Signal to coordinate meetings and discussions.

Cory Booker's anti-Trump speech on the Senate floor passes record 24-hour mark
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/01/nx-s1-5347318/cory-booker-senate-speech

A proud New Jersey-ian here today. Even though largely nothing will come out of this, I think, it's important that at least someone has a spine in the Dem party, I voted for this guy too and I'm happy that I did.

Trump makes history by pardoning a corporation

Of course it’s a crypto company that is used for money laundering.

Congressional committee asks University of Illinois for information on Chinese international students

A similar letter was sent to five other universities, from the House Committee on the Chinese Communist Party

America’s student visa system has become a Trojan horse for Beijing, providing unrestricted access to our top research institutions and posing a direct threat to our national security,” wrote committee chair John Moolenar, a Republican House representative from Michigan. “If left unaddressed, this trend will continue to displace American talent, compromise research integrity, and fuel China’s technological ambitions at our expense.”

The letter cites a study that shows only a fourth of of Chinese grad students intend to immigrate to the United States or another Western country after they complete their degree.

But ironically, if you tell the US government you plan to try to stay past your student visa that's a red flag. Plus if they tell their government they're trying to stay that can be a red flag.

An anonymous student added:

In the wake of the letter from the congressional committee, she said she worries about Chinese students being seen as spies or dangerous to U.S. research.

“We are not seen as autonomous individuals who have our own feelings and our own stories. We are seen as a part of the game,” she said.

Alabama can’t prosecute groups who help women travel to get an abortion, federal judge says

This is good, but I'm not sure if this will end up at the Supreme Court and what will come of it there. Depends on what Alabama tries and whether there've been other rulings in different courts.

Boston judge holds ICE agent in contempt after man detained mid-trial

The man on trial was detained, the ICE agent had a warrant issued for him and the judge is trying to figure out if the prosecutors knew and dismissed the whole case as prosecutorial misconduct. The DA's office denies knowing ICE would show up mid-trial but at least one prosecutor communicated with ICE.

Judges do not like people fucking around in their courtrooms. I swear one side of the three legged stool is trying to hold the whole thing up.

The Coming Recession Will Be Self-Inflicted

this will arguably be the only recession directly caused by White House policy