Oct 10 (Reuters) - Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth on Friday said she "cannot support" a memo that the White House sent to nine elite U.S. universities last week detailing policies they should follow to get preferential consideration for federal funding.

In an open letter to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Kornbluth said some of the policies would restrict MIT's independence and freedom of expression

"The premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone," Kornbluth said in her letter, which was posted to an MIT website.

Some of the policies included in the memo were capping international undergraduate enrollment at 15%, banning the use of race or sex in hiring and admissions and defining genders based on biology. Schools that pursue "models and values" beyond those outlined in the memo could "forgo federal benefits," the memo reads, while institutions that comply could be rewarded.

MIT was the first university to refuse to support the White House memo, which followed Republican President Donald Trump's efforts to use financial pressure to force some of the country's top institutions of higher learning to submit to unprecedented control over who and what they teach.

That said, Trump is only in the first year of his second term, and there’s no reason he can’t start a new campaign for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. If he’s serious about the goal, however, I have some tips the president might want to consider.

1. Abandon authoritarianism: The committee’s members have traditionally looked favorably on those who support democracy over authoritarianism, so if Trump were to abandon his anti-democratic agenda, it would almost certainly improve his odds.

2. Stop extrajudicial killings: Using the military to execute deadly strikes against civilian boats in international waters tends to be frowned upon by those who choose the Nobel Peace Prize.

3. Stop threatening Venezuela: Trump’s recent saber-rattling toward Caracas didn’t exactly scream “peacemaker.”

4. Stop trying to annex countries that don’t belong to the United States: Over the course of the year, the president has expressed unnerving interest in acquiring Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal and the Gaza Strip. When authoritarian leaders start talking about annexing foreign countries and properties for no reason, it tends to get the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s attention, and not in a good way.

5. Stop praising and aligning the White House with dictatorial regimes: The more Trump cozies up to foreign tyrants and despots, the less he looks like a Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

6. Stop lying: It’s unrealistic to think the Republican will turn over a new leaf regarding the importance of honesty, but the Norwegian Nobel Committee knows full well that the American president didn’t resolve eight wars in nine months, so there’s little value to him pretending otherwise.

7. Stop militarizing American cities: No one has ever won a Nobel Peace Prize after sending armed troops into his or her own country’s civilian streets without a good reason. (While he’s at it, dropping the “Department of War” nonsense might help, too.)

8. Stop the trade war: Trump is destabilizing economies, disrupting markets, hurting farmers and shifting alliances. Undoing what he has done on trade would very likely impress the Norwegian panelists.

9. Reverse course on USAID: Trump’s cuts to the program have been deadly and brutal. Restoring the United States’ role as the pre-eminent global leader on foreign aid would dramatically improve Trump’s odds of winning a Nobel Peace Prize. (Conversely, his decision to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development made him a pariah in many parts of the world.)

10. Stop begging: Honestly, it’s unseemly to see the chief executive of a global superpower pleading in pitiful ways for an award. It’s likely the Norwegian Nobel Committee doesn’t want to be seen as caving to pressure, so Trump’s chances would likely be better if he just shut up about it.

Two weeks ago, when an unqualified Trump loyalist secured an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, it was widely characterized as the most obvious example in history of a politically motivated DOJ prosecution. Fourteen days later, we were reminded that it was really just the most obvious example of a politically motivated DOJ prosecution so far. MSNBC reported:

A Virginia grand jury on Thursday indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James on bank fraud charges following intense pressure from President Donald Trump to bring the case. ... James was charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution, according to the indictment.

The parallels between the James and Comey cases are striking.

In the latter, Trump spent months targeting the former FBI director and pressuring his team to bring criminal charges against his perceived foe. When the Trump-nominated U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia balked, and career prosecutors explained in detail and in writing that the evidence didn’t support charging Comey, the president expressed indifference to the rule of law......

As we’ve discussed, Trump and his confederates aren’t hiding their weaponization of the criminal justice system, they’re flaunting it. They want everyone to notice. They need other White House critics to be afraid, and other federal prosecutors to understand that they’ll soon be unemployed unless they play ball the way Halligan did.

The corruption is the point.

There might be half-hearted denials, issued with winks and nods, but by design, everyone should already be painfully aware of what is plainly true: The authoritarian crisis has arrived. We now live in a country where the president’s political opponents are prosecuted at his command.

As we’ve discussed, Trump and his confederates aren’t hiding their weaponization of the criminal justice system, they’re flaunting it. They want everyone to notice. They need other White House critics to be afraid, and other federal prosecutors to understand that they’ll soon be unemployed unless they play ball the way Halligan did.

Alan Rozenshtein, a former department official who now teaches at the University of Minnesota Law School, told The New York Times, “What we are seeing is the almost wholesale collapse of the Justice Department as an organization based on the rule of la[w/b].”

A Presbyterian minister in Chicago is suing Donald Trump’s administration after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were captured in viral video firing pepper balls at his head during protests against the president’s anti-immigration agenda.

The Rev. David Black joined a lawsuit with Chicago reporters and protesters accusing the administration of unconstitutional threats to their First Amendment rights and religious freedoms with “a pattern of extreme brutality” designed to “silence the press and civilians.”

Last month, Black — dressed in black and wearing a clerical collar while standing with demonstrators — was hit with chemical agents while praying in front of an ICE facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb that has emerged as a flashpoint for protests against the administration as the president deploys National Guard troops to Illinois.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black told Religion News Service. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

Black is not alone, according to the lawsuit. Agents “dressed in full combat gear” have “indiscriminately” tossed flash grenades and tear gas and fired guns loaded with chemical irritants and rubber bullets against demonstrators in the Chicago area, the complaint says.

Over recent months, we have watched with increasing alarm as the foundations of our nation’s public health system have been undermined. Science and expertise have taken a back seat to ideology and misinformation. Morale has plummeted in our health agencies, and talent is fleeing at a time when we face rising threats — from resurgent infectious diseases to worsening chronic illnesses.

Repairing this damage requires a leader who respects scientific integrity and transparency, listens to experts and can restore trust to the federal health apparatus. Instead, Kennedy has become a driving force behind this crisis......

By contrast, Kennedy has spent decades advancing dangerous and discredited claims about vaccines — most notoriously, the thoroughly discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism. He has promoted misinformation about the HPV vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer, and he has repeatedly misrepresented the risks of mRNA technology and coronavirus vaccines, despite their lifesaving impact during the pandemic......

More recently, Kennedy removed every member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, replacing its scientific experts with individuals who often lacked basic qualifications, some of whom are vaccine conspiracy theorists. The new committee has already begun casting doubt on the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns, despite decades of data affirming its effectiveness and strong safety profile.

Discrediting vaccines undermines one of the most important public health tools in American history. Thanks to widespread immunization, we eradicated smallpox, eliminated polio in the U.S. and prevented an estimated 1.1 million deaths and 508 million infections among children born between 1994 and 2023. Operation Warp Speed, initiated under President Donald Trump, brought lifesaving mRNA vaccines to the world in record time......

Secretary Kennedy is entitled to his views. But he is not entitled to put people’s health at risk. He has rejected science, misled the public and compromised the health of Americans. The nation deserves a health and human services secretary who is committed to scientific integrity and can restore morale and trust in our public health agencies. Having served at senior levels in government, we know that politics are complicated. But this is bigger than politics. It’s about putting the health of Americans first.

Over recent months, we have watched with increasing alarm as the foundations of our nation’s public health system have been undermined. Science and expertise have taken a back seat to ideology and misinformation. Morale has plummeted in our health agencies, and talent is fleeing at a time when we face rising threats — from resurgent infectious diseases to worsening chronic illnesses.

Repairing this damage requires a leader who respects scientific integrity and transparency, listens to experts and can restore trust to the federal health apparatus. Instead, Kennedy has become a driving force behind this crisis......

By contrast, Kennedy has spent decades advancing dangerous and discredited claims about vaccines — most notoriously, the thoroughly discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism. He has promoted misinformation about the HPV vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer, and he has repeatedly misrepresented the risks of mRNA technology and coronavirus vaccines, despite their lifesaving impact during the pandemic......

More recently, Kennedy removed every member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, replacing its scientific experts with individuals who often lacked basic qualifications, some of whom are vaccine conspiracy theorists. The new committee has already begun casting doubt on the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns, despite decades of data affirming its effectiveness and strong safety profile.

Discrediting vaccines undermines one of the most important public health tools in American history. Thanks to widespread immunization, we eradicated smallpox, eliminated polio in the U.S. and prevented an estimated 1.1 million deaths and 508 million infections among children born between 1994 and 2023. Operation Warp Speed, initiated under President Donald Trump, brought lifesaving mRNA vaccines to the world in record time......

Secretary Kennedy is entitled to his views. But he is not entitled to put people’s health at risk. He has rejected science, misled the public and compromised the health of Americans. The nation deserves a health and human services secretary who is committed to scientific integrity and can restore morale and trust in our public health agencies. Having served at senior levels in government, we know that politics are complicated. But this is bigger than politics. It’s about putting the health of Americans first.

It served as a timely reminder that too often in GOP circles, religion is treated as something that must be celebrated, protected and respected — just so long as the faith community is telling the party what it wants to hear.....

More recently, however, the underlying issue took a dramatic turn. The Religion News Service reported this week on developments in Chicago, where a variety of faith leaders are opposed to the administration’s immigration agenda. The report specifically highlighted what transpired when the Rev. David Black, wearing a clerical collar, stood in front of an ICE facility, with empty arms raised, and invited armed agents to repent. From the RNS report:

When Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black added.

The same Religion News Service report noted that the Rev. Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist pastor who leads United Church of Rogers Park in Chicago, has also protested at the local ICE facility, and she too said she has been shot multiple times with pepper bullets, “including while she was praying with her eyes closed and hands lifted, wearing a clerical collar.”.....

Six months later, as Christian leaders are actually abused by Trump administration officials, the political world is overdue for a conversation about the severity and frequency of the clashes between Team Trump and the faith community.

A day later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt went a little further down the same path. Politico reported:

The Trump administration is planning to deploy millions of dollars in tariff revenue to tide over a critical nutrition program for low-income moms and babies during the ongoing government shutdown. ... The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children was expected to run out of federal funding later this week. While the program, which funds infant formula, fruits and vegetables, has dipped into contingency funds during previous shutdowns, states have never had to triage participants or turn them away.

It is certainly true that the program, generally known as WIC, is facing a budget shortfall. Now, evidently, Team Trump intends to address that shortfall by redirecting tariff revenue.

“It’s not clear exactly how much money the White House intends to spend, how the process will unfold or if it is legal,” Politico’s report added.

It’s the “or if it is legal” part of the sentence that stands out for me.....

The Appropriations Clause of the Constitution helps give lawmakers what’s known as the “power of the purse.” When Trump effectively responds, “I now have my own purse,” there’s a problem.

Am I saying that struggling WIC beneficiaries should simply go without? No. I’m saying that officials should follow the law and prevent an authoritarian president from treating Congress like a doormat (again) and moving around federal funds however he pleases.

On Monday, a group of congressional Republicans claimed that the FBI analyzed the personal cellphone data of nine GOP lawmakers as part of the probe into the Jan. 6 attack. NBC News reported:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, shared a one-page, unclassified document that he said shows that the cellphone ‘tolling data’ of Republican lawmakers was sought and obtained in 2023 as part of the FBI’s ‘Arctic Frost’ investigation — a precursor of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts by President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results.

.....The New York Times reported, “The analysis of phone toll records is a common investigative tactic. ... Such toll record information does not include the contents of conversations, which would require a court-approved wiretap.”

A related analysis from CNN explained that there’s nothing especially surprising about any of this.

We already knew that the phone records of some lawmakers were seized in Smith’s probe, because the Justice Department had to overcome legal hurdles posed by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. And it’s difficult to understand how Smith ever could have conducted such a probe without obtaining some phone records of lawmakers. That’s because Trump’s pressure on lawmakers was a key part of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. ... It would seem very difficult to piece together a case without understanding who was talking to whom, and when.

MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian emphasized a related point, noting that the former special counsel’s final report, released earlier this year, made note of these same toll records.

Plenty of other independent observers drew a similar conclusion. “It actually seems sort of obvious that if you’re investigating a former president of the United States for trying to subvert an election, you’d probe some of contacts he and alleged co-conspirators had with people he was trying to enlist/pressure to overturn the results,” Politico’s Kyle Cheney noted.