Current Events - 7/1
Indiana University to End More Than 100 Academic Degree Programs – 7/1/25
Indiana University-Bloomington is ending more than 100 of its academic degree programs. This comes after the state passed a budget bill where one of the budget bill’s provision inserted by the Republican majority established a minimum average number of graduates that degree programs at Indiana’s public colleges and universities must produce over a three-year period.
Undergraduate degree programs being eliminated or suspended include Art History, American Studies, Atmospheric Science, Cognitive Science, Comparative Literature, Dance, Earth Science, French, Geography, East Asian Studies, Gender Studies, German Studies, Italian, Music/Ballet, Religious Studies, Spanish, and Statistics.
Master’s being discontinued include African Studies, Comparative Literature, Communications and Culture, Journalism, Latin American Studies, Statistics, Theatre and Drama and several foreign languages.
Doctoral programs being phased out include African American and African Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Art History, Astrophysics, Chemical Physics, Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, Astrophysics, French, Japanese, Gender Studies, Italian, Public Policy, and Theatre and Drama.
Etsy Listing “Alligator Alcatraz” Merchandise – 7/1/25
In addition to listing numerous shirts, jackets, and hats which would allow purchasers to pretend to be ICE agents, Etsy has started listing merchandise which glorifies “Alligator Alcatraz”, the recent concentration camp which was quickly set up in the Florida Everglades.
One of the companies which is manufacturing many of these items is Printful. Printful’s CEO is Alex Saltonstall, and the address of Printful's main headquarters is 11025 Westlake Dr, Charlotte, North Carolina 28273, USA. They also have fulfillment centers in several other locations, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Latvia, and Spain.
Many are calling for a boycott of Etsy and any other companies selling this merchandise.
Zuckerberg Crashed Classified Oval Office Meeting on Stealth Plane Earlier This Year – 7/2/25
NBC reported that earlier this year Air Force generals were going over the details of a new stealth fighter jet, which Trump has called the most advanced, capable and lethal combat aircraft platform ever built, when they were startled by the appearance of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg popping into the Oval Office.
According to NBC, White House officials became concerned that Zuckerberg lacked the security clearance required to be present for talks about such a sensitive national security matter.
Zuckerberg was politely asked to step out of the Oval while the conversation continued, though other Trump aides wandered in and out to show the president information on computer screens while his mobile phone rang intermittently.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia Details his Torture in Lawsuit – 7/2/25
Kilmar Abrego Garcia has detailed his torture and abuse in his lawsuit against the Trump administration.
Abrego Garcia's lawyers have previously described his more than three-week stint at El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, as "torture."
But Wednesday's court filing offers new details.
He says he lost 31 pounds during his time in prison.
When he arrived at the prison, the prison staff forced him to strip and change into a uniform, kicked him to make him hurry up, shaved his head and marched him to a cell while hitting him with batons — leaving him with "visible bruises and lumps all over his body."
He said he was kept in a crowded, windowless cell with metal bunks and lights that remained on for 24 hours a day. In one case, he and his cellmates were allegedly forced to kneel for nine hours, and were struck if they fell down.
After more than three weeks, Abrego Garcia says he was transferred to a different area and was "photographed with mattresses and better food" in what he believed to be staged images.
He was eventually transferred to a different prison in early April, but he says he was still denied contact with his attorneys or family members.
Abrego also said that prison staff sorted a group of inmates based on whether they had gang tattoos but they told him, "Your tattoos are fine." The Trump administration has alleged in the past that Abrego Garcia has tattoos linking him to the gang MS-13, which his lawyers have strongly denied.