EPA’s Enforcement of Environmental Laws Is Collapsing

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EPA’s Enforcement of Environmental Laws Is Collapsing (Maria)

The author writes, “Enforcement against polluters in the United States plunged in the first year of President Trump’s second term, a far bigger drop than in the same period of his first term, according to a new report from a watchdog group. By analyzing a range of federal court and administrative data, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project found that civil lawsuits filed by the US Department of Justice in cases referred by the Environmental Protection Agency dropped to just 16 in the first 12 months after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025. That is 76% less than in the first year of the Biden administration.”

How the Men in the Epstein Files Defeated #MeToo (Dana)

From The Verge: “He might be dead, but it sure seems like Jeffrey Epstein won. Sure, Epstein was arrested on charges of sex trafficking minors. Sure, he died in jail. (I am not going to wade into the debate about how.) But he subscribed to a racist, misogynist ideology that meant rich white men like him could do whatever they liked. And it seems he took measures to spread it. The latest tranche of Epstein documents made it obvious. Consider all the ‘contrarians’ and ‘anti-woke’ warriors who show up in the latest dump: Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Larry Summers, Steve Bannon, and of course, Donald Trump. With apologies to George Carlin: It’s a big club, and the worst people are in it — because their interests are all aligned. Pushing back on social justice, it turns out, was coordinated.”

I’m the Prime Minister of Spain. This Is Why the West Needs Migrants (Laura)

The prime minister writes, “Imagine you’re the leader of a nation, and you face a dilemma. Half a million or so people who are crucial to everyone’s daily lives inhabit your country. They care for aging parents, work at small and large companies, harvest the food that’s on the table. They are also part of your community. On weekends, they walk in the parks, go to restaurants and play on the local amateur soccer team. But one crucial thing makes these half a million people different from other people in your country: They don’t have the legal documents that allow them to live there. As a result, they don’t have the same rights as your country’s citizens and can’t fulfill the same obligations. They aren’t able to receive a higher education, pay taxes or contribute to Social Security. What should we do with these people? Some leaders have chosen to hunt them down and deport them through operations that are both unlawful and cruel. My government has chosen a different way: a fast and simple path to regularize their immigration status.”

Money Isn’t Enough to Save Incumbents in Wave Elections (Reader Steve)

The author writes, “Fundraising is a critical part of winning reelection, but sometimes incumbents have political problems that money can’t fix. When voter sentiment is against you, outspending your opponent isn’t sufficient to survive an electoral wave. This is important context when analyzing campaign fundraising reports. … Under adverse political conditions, smart members gird themselves for the storm by raising money and leveraging that financial advantage most incumbents enjoy. But sometimes it doesn’t matter. Of the combined 74 House incumbents who didn’t win reelection in 2006 and 2010, 84 percent of them (62 members) outspent their challenger and still lost.”

The Quiet Force Influencing Trump’s and Vance’s Confrontational Europe Policy (Sean)

From Politico: “Andy Baker’s only moment in the spotlight came by accident — when, in March, Vice President JD Vance named him as his point-person in the administration’s infamous leaked group chat about the Houthi strikes in Yemen. His low public profile belies his growing influence. Behind the scenes, the seldom-pictured and extremely private deputy national security adviser has emerged as a key figure in Vance’s orbit, shaping both the vice president’s foreign policy thinking and some of the White House’s most consequential national security decisions — especially its increasingly confrontational stance toward America’s allies in Europe. And while few outside Washington and European capitals are familiar with Baker, he is key to understanding elements of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy that have befuddled Europe – from Munich to the Donbas.”

Can the ‘Sistine Chapel of the New Deal’ Be Saved From Trump? (DonkeyHotey)

From The New Republic: “The Trump White House’s desire that government-funded art ‘remove divisive or partisan narratives,’ to quote a letter sent last August to Smithsonian secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, is nothing new. At the dawn of the Cold War, that same fatuous sentiment was directed against Ben Shahn’s New Deal frescoes The Meaning of Social Security, the most visually arresting of many murals and sculptures decorating the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building in Washington, D.C. Gray Brechin, an architectural historian and founder of the nonprofit Living New Deal, described the Cohen to me as ‘a kind of Sistine Chapel of the New Deal.’ It and all the art inside could soon be rubble.”

How Bad Bunny Rocketed to Global Stardom (Russ)

From the Harvard Gazette: “Songs by Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, were streamed nearly 20 billion times on Spotify in 2025, more than any other artist. The Puerto Rican superstar’s triumphant run continued … when he won three Grammys including album of the year for ‘Debí Tirar Más Fotos (I Should Have Taken More Photos).’ It was the first time an all-Spanish-language album has won the Recording Academy’s top award. To contextualize the success of Bad Bunny — recently dubbed ‘probably the most important musician in the world right now’ by The New Yorker — we spoke with Harvard scholar Alejandro L. Madrid, Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Music.”