Should the city of Houston, which proudly bills itself as "Space City," have a prized Space Shuttle orbiter on public display?

More than a decade ago, arguably, the answer was yes. After all, the Space Shuttle program was managed from Johnson Space Center, in southeastern Houston. All the astronauts who flew on the shuttle trained there. And the vehicle was operated out of Mission Control at the Houston-based facility.

But when the final decisions were being made to distribute the shuttles 15 years ago, the Houston community dragged its feet on putting together a competitive proposal. There were also questions about the ability of Space Center Houston to raise funding to house the shuttle within a new display area, which magnified concerns that the historical vehicle, like a Saturn V rocket before it, would be left outside in the region's humid environment. Finally, other cities offered better proposals for displaying the shuttles to the public.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has commented on the statement made by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, who said the key to a peace deal revolves around "five territories".

Source: Interfax-Ukraine, citing Zelenskyy’s remarks at a press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Odesa, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: "Ukraine is a sovereign state, and only the Ukrainian people can speak about its territories.

All territories belong to the unitary state of Ukraine. Once again – only the Ukrainian people can speak about our territories. And you know what our red lines are – we will never recognise any temporarily occupied territories as Russian.

Therefore, these individuals are discussing matters beyond their mandate."

Background:

Witkoff stated on Fox News that a peace deal would involve settling the issue of "so-called five territories", though he did not specify which ones. Previously, in a high-profile interview with Tucker Carlson, Witkoff claimed that the biggest issue in this conflict was the "so-called four regions", but then listed five: "Donbas, Crimea, Luhansk, and two more". Following these remarks, Reuters reported that some of Witkoff’s statements and actions regarding Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine have drawn criticism in the White House and among Republicans.

The Russian government is planning to open a political education workshop for youth that will be analogous to the Soviet-era Higher Komsomol School, which indoctrinated young Communist Party members, the Russian pro-state news agency RBK reported on April 15.

The Komsomol was a youth division (ages 14 to 28) of the Communist Party during the Soviet Union. The Higher Komsomol School trained future leaders, teachers, and party workers, offering degrees in "communist education."

Russia will launch a new program called the Digoria Political Education Workshop to train personnel who work with youth, a source in the Kremlin told RBK.

The source likened the program directly to the Higher Komsomol School.

"It will be its modern analog for young specialists in the socio-political sphere and youth policy administrators," he said.

Participants "will receive both ideological training and special knowledge on the management of youth organizations and participation in political processes."

Russia's state Youth Affairs Agency, Rosmolodezh, is expected to be the school's primary customer. By the end of the year, the school aims to conduct 12-13 educational programs for 100 people per course.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously drawn inspiration from the Soviet era when enacting modern-day Kremlin policy. In 2023, the government launched the state youth group Movement of the First, which Putin suggested naming the "Pioneers" — a callback to the Soviet-era organization for children.

Moscow's policy of "military and patriotic education" relies on schools, youth organizations, and camps to heavily militarize children, instilling loyalty among the younger generation towards Putin's expansionist ideology.

The Trump administration has just claimed an astounding new power: the ability to deport lawful permanent residents based on their “expected beliefs” (including perfectly “lawful” expected beliefs). This isn’t speculation or hyperbole — it’s the explicit thought-police justification Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave in immigration court documents for trying to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student and green card holder. This attempted expansion of government authority to police thought should alarm anyone who cares about civil liberties, due process, or the rule of law.

As a reminder, Khalil is a lawful permanent resident (green card holder) in the US and a student at Columbia University in New York. While he was involved in some pro-Palestinian demonstrations, MAGA world has falsely labeled him a “Hamas supporter.” I’ve yet to see any evidence that actually supports that claim, but MAGA isn’t exactly known for accuracy in their accusations. Even worse, when ICE showed up at his student housing to arrest him (in front of his pregnant, US citizen wife), they told him his “visa” was being revoked.

Except he doesn’t have a visa. He holds a green card, which makes him a completely lawful permanent resident in the US. ICE then told him his green card was also revoked, which isn’t something they could actually do. Since then, there’s been a lot of obnoxious game playing by Homeland Security playing “hide the guy we kidnapped,” before dumping him in Louisiana and seeking to deport him.

There are multiple legal proceedings going on with respect to Khalil’s future in the US, with the main one taking place in a federal court in New Jersey. But down in Louisiana there’s a separate legal process in front of an “immigration judge,” which is not an Article III judge or a part of the judiciary at all. Rather it’s someone who works for the DOJ reviewing immigration issues.

For a brief moment last week, it looked like even this DOJ employee was perplexed as to why Khalil had been taken and why the US was trying to deport him. Immigration Judge Jamee Comans ordered DHS to give some reason for why Khalil was detained and why they were trying to deport him.

At a hearing, Judge Jamee Comans gave the federal government 24 hours to turn over its evidence against Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident and prominent pro-Palestinian activist, said Marc Van Der Hout, one of Khalil’s attorneys, who attended the hearing.

“The government has not produced a single shred of evidence to date to support any of its allegations or charges in this case including its outrageous position that Mahmoud’s mere presence and activities in this country have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences,” Van Der Hout said.

The next day, the government finally produced the “evidence” and to say it is underwhelming is quite the understatement. They released a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio with a bunch of vague claims, including that he could single-handedly kick green card holders out of the country based on their “expected beliefs” even if they are perfectly “lawful.”

If you can’t read that screenshot, it says:

Under INA section 237(a) (4) (C)(i), an alien is deportable from the United States if the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe that the alien’s presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States. Under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(ii), for cases in which the basis for this determination is the alien’s past, current, or expected beliefs, statements, or associations that are otherwise lawful*, the Secretary of State must personally determine that the alien’s presence or activities would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.*

This document should forever define Marco Rubio’s legacy. As Secretary of State, he has personally put his name on a legal claim that the government can deport lawful residents based on beliefs they might hold in the future — even if those beliefs would be perfectly legal. This isn’t just standard immigration enforcement overreach — it’s an attempt to establish thought-police powers that would make Orwell blush. And Rubio didn’t just sign off on this theory — he’s actively championing it, apparently seeing no problem with claiming the power to exile people based on what he thinks they might someday believe.

For anyone keeping score at home: when MAGA supporters inevitably start ranting about Democrats wanting to police speech and thought, remember that Rubio’s the one who officially claimed the power to deport legal residents based on “expected beliefs.” That should be carved into his political tombstone.

Also: fuck that fascist bullshit.

The other part of the document claims that it was done based on the “policy” of the US to fight antisemitism and to protect Jews, but fuck that as well. It’s clearly bullshit. This is the same administration that has said the Naval Academy library had to remove books about the Holocaust, while leaving Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf on the shelves. This is the same administration that hired into a top position someone with a long history of blatantly antisemitic conspiracy theories popular in neo-Nazi circles. This administration’s claims of fighting antisemitism appear to be pretty antisemitic itself, using false claims of wanting to “protect” Jews to actually make Jews targets of more hatred.

This isn’t about “a compelling foreign policy interest” by the Secretary State. This is about a fucking insecure coward in the form of Marco Rubio, who has been given power by Donald Trump and is using the position to destroy lives because that’s what insecure fascists do.

Tragically, in this case, that was enough for DOJ employee Judge Jamee Comans, who said that was enough of a justification to bless Khalil’s deportation.

An immigration judge in Louisiana found on Friday that the Trump administration could deport Mahmoud Khalil, granting the government an early victory in its efforts to crack down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on U.S. college campuses.

Again, this is only the first stage in a multi-stage process involving separate federal court proceedings in New Jersey as well, and even in front of the immigration judge the situation isn’t over. Khalil’s lawyers can still argue that he shouldn’t be deported to this same judge (leaving aside the constitutional issues that will show up in the New Jersey case).

Here, Comans admitted during the hearing that she was unable to look the larger constitutional issues:

Immigration judges are employees of the executive branch, not the judiciary, and often approve the Homeland Security Department’s deportation efforts. It would be unusual for such a judge, serving the U.S. Attorney General, to grapple with the constitutional questions raised by Mr. Khalil’s case. She would also run the risk of being fired by an administration that has targeted dissenters.

“This court is without jurisdiction to entertain challenges to the validity of this law under the Constitution,” Judge Comans said as she delivered her ruling, apparently reading from a written statement.

She denied Mr. Khalil’s lawyers’ requests that they be allowed to cross-examine or depose Mr. Rubio so that he could elaborate on his claims. “This court is neither inclined or authorized” to compel such testimony, she said.

Khalil himself highlighted the fundamental absurdity of these proceedings in a powerful statement to the court:

“I would like to quote what you said last time, that there’s nothing that’s more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness,” he said. “Clearly, what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process. This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family.”

The contrast could not be starker: A student, dragged 1,000 miles from his family, calmly calling out the mockery of due process, while the Secretary of State claims the power to deport people based on what he thinks they might believe in the future.

This case is about far more than just Mahmoud Khalil. It’s about whether we’ll allow the government to claim the power to police thought itself. Marco Rubio has now officially attached his name to one of the most dangerously authoritarian theories of government power we’ve seen: that the state can exile legal residents based on their “expected beliefs.” That should follow him for the rest of his life. He should never live down this cowardly suck-up in pursuit of power.

We need more people in America like Khalil, willing to speak truth to power even at great personal cost, and fewer power-hungry officials ready to torch fundamental civil liberties just to score political points in pursuit of the fascist destruction of the American constitutional and democratic principles.

Funding is about to run out for the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program – a system used by major companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Intel, and AMD to identify and track publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The program helps engineers identify how bad an exploit is and how to prioritize applying patches or other mitigations.

MITRE, the federally funded organization behind the program, confirmed to The Verge that its contract to “develop, operate, and modernize” CVE will expire on April 16th.

First launched in 1999, the CVE program houses a database where participating organizations can assign IDs to known cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The IDs consist of the letters “CVE” followed by a year and a number, such as CVE-2022-27254, allowing security professionals to monitor details about the vulnerabilities that may impact the devices we use every day and systems that contain information critical to practically everything we do.

Lukasz Olejnik, a security and privacy researcher, said in a post on X that a lack of support for CVE could “cripple” cybersecurity systems around the globe. “The consequence will be a breakdown in coordination between vendors, analysts, and defense systems — no one will be certain they are referring to the same vulnerability,” Olejnik wrote. “Total chaos, and a sudden weakening of cybersecurity across the board.”

“The government continues to make considerable efforts to support MITRE’s role in the program and MITRE remains committed to CVE as a global resource,” Yosry Barsoum, MITRE’s vice president and director at the Center for Securing the Homeland, said in an emailed statement to The Verge. Barsoum also said the change will affect the Common Weakness Enumeration program, which catalogs hardware and software weaknesses.

The news was first spotted in a leaked letter to MITRE board members posted on X and Bluesky. MITRE receives funding from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to “operate and evolve the CVE Program as an independent, objective third party,” according to a video about the program.