The Trump administration continues to erode the power of Congress, trampling on its constitutional prerogatives in ways large and small. Through it all, Republicans in charge have mostly shrugged — and in some cases, outright applauded — as their powers, once jealously guarded, diminish in ways that will be difficult to reverse.
Trump Tramples Congress’s Power, With Little Challenge From G.O.P. (New York Times)
Asked Tuesday if the US would consider strikes on Venezuelan soil against the Maduro regime, Secretary of State Marco Rubio didn’t count out the possibility.
“This is a counter-drug operation,” Rubio said. “We are going to take on drug cartels wherever they are, wherever they are operating against the interests of the US.”
Rubio added more detail to the boat strike on Wednesday, saying, “Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up. And it’ll happen again. Maybe it’s happening right now,” Rubio added.
But the study’s authors cautioned that the finding did not mean that acetaminophen was causing autism: The women who took acetaminophen during pregnancy may also have differed in important ways from the women who did not.
“We cannot answer the question about causation — that is very important to clarify,” said Dr. Diddier Prada, an epidemiologist at Mt. Sinai who conducted the study.
Debate Flares Over an Unproven Link Between Tylenol and Autism (New York Times)
When last month’s jobs report showed unexpected weakness in the labor market, President Trump fired the head of the agency that produces the data and named a loyalist to run the department that produces those numbers.
Is the Jobs Data Still Reliable? Yes, at Least for Now. (New York Times)
He has dismantled broad swaths of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, because its mission of defending against foreign and domestic cyberattacks included securing election systems. He even ordered the Justice Department to investigate the agency’s chief during the 2020 elections, for his declaration that it was one of the most secure in history, contradicting his insistence that it was rigged to elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The Return of the ‘War Department’ Is More Than Nostalgia. It’s a Message. (New York Times)
But in the seven months since he was sworn in, Mr. Kennedy has delivered a lukewarm endorsement of the measles vaccine; dismantled a panel of experts who make vaccine recommendations to the government; taken steps that will effectively restrict access to Covid-19 vaccines; canceled $500 million of grants and contracts for the development of mRNA vaccines; and, just last week, forced out the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because she disagreed with him on vaccine policy.
President Trump memorably said he would let Mr. Kennedy “go wild on health.”
A Defiant Kennedy Defends Vaccine Changes and C.D.C. Shake-Up (New York Times)
The general testified at length, for example, about a mission, code-named Operation Excalibur, in which federal immigration agents on foot and on horseback marched through MacArthur Park, a Los Angeles landmark in a neighborhood now largely home to immigrant families with low incomes.
General Sherman said that he had objected when the administration initially wanted to conduct the mission on Father’s Day and to stage troops and military equipment in the middle of the park in a “show of presence.” The placement of troops, he said, seemed to inappropriately involve the military in what appeared to be a risky and low-value operation.
Only after federal officials planned to reposition the troops outside the park did he recommend approval. But when he expressed his concerns, he said, Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol chief who is overseeing the federal immigration crackdown in Southern California, questioned his loyalty to the country.
Judge Says Trump’s Use of Troops in L.A. Is Illegal (New York Times)
