Donald Trump and maga Republicans causing a brain drain of students who are academic refugees in Europe

Politico: The first American ‘scientific refugees’ arrive in France: Aix-Marseille University is wooing researchers who feel targeted by the Trump administration.

From afar, American students in France feel the shockwaves of Trump By Audrey Parmentier Published in Le Monde.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/campus/article/2026/03/24/from-afar-american-students-in-france-feel-the-shockwaves-of-trump_6751786_11.html

While academic freedom declines in the US, some young people are choosing France to pursue master's and doctoral degrees. 

Yet, between delayed scholarships, intrusive questions and stereotypes, their experience remains shaken by the latest developments in their country.

Sitting on the banks of the Saône, phone in hand, Luke, age 20, scrolled through the nonstop flow of news. At the University of Oregon, where he is studying for a degree in history and political science, some of his classmates had been arrested. "They were protesting against Donald Trump's immigration policy. I wish I could have been with them." He himself had demonstrated, in 2025, against the war in Gaza.

Since January, the Boston native – who did not give his last name, like all people cited by their first name in this article – has been taking part in an exchange program at Sciences Po Lyon. From afar, he has watched his country tip into turmoil: aggressive raids by immigration police, calls to boycott the media, military strikes in Iran. "I am worried about the new war in the Middle East, it wasn't necessary," he said quietly. These events have only strengthened his desire to one day enter politics in the United States. Until he returns, scheduled for June, he does not miss a single article on the cultural heritage of the European Union in The New York Times, reading between classes.

In 2024-2025, France welcomed 6,381 American students, according to Campus France (the French government agency promoting higher education abroad), representing a 5% drop compared to 2022. Meanwhile, their presence elsewhere in Europe increased by 6.2% over the same period. "Since 2020, the number of Americans at our university has clearly decreased, and French is being taught less and less in American universities," lamented Lucie De Carvalho, coordinator of the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) in Lille, France.

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must end illegal deportations going against court orders- Trump pledged to evict ciminals NOT students

College freshman is deported flying home for Thanksgiving surprise, despite court order- AP by Holly Ramer (Associated Press)

Echo published in the Houston Chronicle in Texas: Why is the US deporting college students❓ | Opinion

College student deported:  Concord, N.H. (AP) — A college freshman trying to fly from Boston to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving was instead deported to Honduras in violation of a court order, according to her attorney.  Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, 19, had already passed through security at Boston Logan International Airport on Nov. 20 when she was told there was an issue with her boarding pass, said attorney Todd Pomerleau. The Babson College student was then detained by immigration officials and within two days, sent to Texas and then Honduras, the country she left at age 7.
Regarding “College freshman is deported flying home for Thanksgiving surprise, despite court order,”(Nov. 28): When will the madness stop? A college student in Boston coming to Austin for Thanksgiving is handcuffed and shackled by immigration officials at the airport and immediately deported to Honduras, a country she hasn't been in since she was seven.

I thought criminals and felons were the targets❓❗ People, please rise up and help our politicians get the courage to stop the unlawful treatment of our people who are supposedly not the target for deportation.

From Ahronda James, in Cypress, Texas

Hands Off! Successfully peaceful anti-Trump rallies estimated 5.2 plus million protestors in 1,200 U.S. localities

Highlights published in The New York Magazine Intelligencer

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/hands-off-mass-protests-against-trump-musk-photos-videos.html

Local people peacefully demonstrating!  Thank you!  

HANDS OFF ❗- In towns and cities in all 50 states, protesters took to the streets to express their opposition to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the never-ending transgressions of the second Trump administration — as well as show their support for federal workers, immigrants, trans people, and numerous other groups and causes now being targeted by the government. 

A protestor gives the finger to a passing truck of Trump supporters in Columbia, South Carolina Getty Images

Taken together, the “Hands Off❗” protests were the largest act of defiance yet against Trump’s second presidency and came after a particularly tumultuous week in which Trump single-handedly destabilized the U.S. economy with his new sweeping tariff policies. Below, in alphabetical order, are scenes (and some of the signs) from dozens of Saturday’s protests.

A sea of signs on the Boston Common. Photo: Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

An anti-tariff sign in Chicago. Photo: Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images for Community Change Action

No More Kings protests grass roots organized in record time by 50501 with more to follow

50501- All 50 states on one day: A grass roots activist group organized to protest the illegal anti-democratic Trumpziisms.
This group organized via social media without any money!

 ‘No kings on Presidents Day’ rings out from protests against Trump and Musk. Echo report by the Associated Press by Michael Casey*.

BOSTON (AP) — Protesters against President Donald Trump and his policies braved frigid temperatures in parts of the U.S. Monday, shouting “No kings on Presidents Day” in East Coast cities and attempting to enter the Arizona Statehouse to oppose a bill that would bolster fast-changing federal immigration enforcement.

In Florida and California, local media outlets reported on hundreds of protesters carrying out “Not my Presidents Day” protests. The “No Kings” theme was orchestrated by the 50501 Movement, and marked the second set of protests criss-crossing the nation in less than two weeks. A similar nationwide event on Feb. 5 drew participants in dozens of cities. Both sets of rallies denounced Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, a government organization designed to slash federal spending.

Nearly 1,000 people marched in the snow from the Statehouse in Boston to City Hall, chanting “Elon Musk has got to go” and other slogans. The temperature was below freezing, with wind chills in the teens.

Boston protesters, some dressed in Revolutionary War-style clothing, carried signs saying such things as “This is a Coup” and “Cowards Bow to Trump, Patriots Stand Up.” One sign had a depiction of Uncle Sam saying “I Want You to Resist.”

“I thought it was important to be here on Presidents Day to demonstrate for what America stands for,” said Emily Manning, 55, a Boston engineer who came to the rally with her two teenage sons. “American values are not the values of the plutocracy or the limited few rich people.”

Organizers of Monday’s "No Kings Day" protests, which were focused on state capitals and major cities including Washington, D.C.; Orlando, Florida; and Seattle, said they were targeting “anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.”

One sign at the rally that attracted hundreds in the nation’s capital said, “Deport Musk Dethrone Trump.”

Many demonstrations were slated for cities where temperatures were well below freezing as a polar vortex worked its way across the country.

The rallies followed a series of Trump evil executive orders and came just days after layoffs across federal agencies as part of an effort to reduce the government workforce.

In Phoenix, hundreds of protestors gathered in front of the Capitol carrying signs reading “No Kings” and “Resist Fascism.” Security barred protesters from entering the building after a few tried to get inside. Demonstrators were seeking access to a state Senate committee hearing on legislation that would require law enforcement officers across the state to support federal immigration policy.

Protest organizer December Archer said her goal was to keep the event civil. She quickly came between someone trying to enter the Statehouse and a security guard who pushed the protestor back through the doorway.

“We’re trying to make sure everything stays civil and stays respectable because again, we’re here to make a statement not be the statement,” Archer said.

*Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; and Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Secrets to a Happy Life from The Christian Science Monitor

Enjoyed this article published in The Christian Science Monitor

The secret to a happy life? It's not what you think.
A study of Boston men over nearly 80 years reaffirms traditional beliefs about the value of friends and family.
By Husna Haq, Correspondent

Happiness is related to positive and suportive relationships

What's the secret to a happy life? It's not wealth, fame, or even your preferred presidential candidate's standing in the polls. The single most important factor for a good life, according to a nearly 80-year-long study from Harvard, is good relationships.

"Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period," said Robert Waldinger, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, in a recent TED Talk.

Dr. Waldinger is the current director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, a research project that has tracked the lives of more than 700 men

to explore which factors might determine whether a person is likely to age happily and healthily, or not

Since 1938, researchers at Harvard have studied the lives of two different groups of men in Boston: 268 Harvard undergraduates, and 456 young men from some of Boston's poorest neighborhoods. Over the course of 78 years, researchers have collected data on various aspects of the study participants' lives at regular intervals. The men, the survivors of whom are now in their 90s, came from all walks of life. Some went on to become doctors, lawyers, and even a US president. Others succumbed to alcoholism and other illnesses.

The study's findings were both expected and surprising. The best thing one can do for physical health is to avoid smoking, according to a recent New York Times analysis of the study, which also found that alcohol was the primary cause of divorce among men in the study.

But the study also found that the single most important indicator of long term health and happiness is the strength of a person's relationships with family, friends, and especially spouses.

At midlife, the best predictor of who was going to grow old healthfully wasn't cholesterol levels, Waldinger explained. It was how satisfied they were in relationships. "The people who were most satisfied in relationships at 50 were the healthiest at 80," he said.

The quality, not quantity, of close relationships also matters. Living in conflict-ridden relationships, for example, is bad for health, according to the study, while living in good, warm relationships is protective.

And it turns out good relationships don't just protect our bodies, they protect our minds. If a person is in a relationship in which they feel they can count on their partner, their thinking stays sharper later into life, said Waldinger.

Of course that doesn't mean relationships need to be perfect to be protective.

“Those good relationships don’t have to be smooth all the time,” he explained. “Some of our octogenarian couples could bicker day in and day out. But as long as they felt that they could really count on the other when the going got tough, those arguments didn’t take a toll on their memories.”

In fact, the Harvard study's findings are nothing new.

A 2005 study of longevity around the world found some of the cultures that enjoyed the longest, healthiest lives were those which emphasized family ties and social support.

An Islamic tradition holds that those who keep good relations with family will enjoy extended provisions and life span. Similar teachings also exist in Native American, Chinese, and Aboriginal cultures.

So how do Americans apply these teachings to modern life?
“The possibilities are endless,” Waldinger said in his Ted talk.“Something as simple as replacing screen time with people time, or livening up a stale relationship (I suggest try turning off television!) by doing something new together, long walks or date nights. Reach out to that family member you haven’t spoken to in years."

Boston Marathon Bombing is Among a Cluster - We're Missing Warning Signs

Boston Marathon's bombing on April 15th was an unanticipated assault on innocent people that raises alert signals for potential future heinous incidents. Perhaps knowing this potential reality is why former President George W. Bush was so concerned about the Boston attack.

“I was deeply concerned that this could have been another highly organized attack on the country and it still may be,” Bush said of the Boston Marathon bombing. “Again, I don’t know the facts, but I do know it’s really hard to protect the homeland. Those who want to do harm only have to be right one time, and we have to be right 100 percent of the time.”  

Three people were killed and more than 200 were injured in the Boston bombings on Patriot's Day.  Police arrested Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old college student, following an intense manhunt last Friday. His brother and alleged coconspirator, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed in a shootout with police earlier that day.

The day before the Tsarnaev brothers were captured, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded after a fire, killing at least 14 people and leaving hundreds more injured. In his interview with ABC News, Bush said that the twin tragedies reminded him of his time in the White House.

“It did hearken back to days where you become comforter-in-chief, you try to help heal souls that are hurting,” Bush said.

Moreover, the assumption of a potential coordinated attack was supported by a cluster of incidents that may be unrelated but sure are coincidental.

1.  April 15 - Boston Marathon attack on the city's Boylston Street.
2.  April - Ricin poison laced envelops sent to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker and President Barack Obama - Charges were dropped in the case against Paul Kevin Curtis.  Everett Dutschke has since been arrested.
3.  April 22 - Canadian Broadcasting (CBC) reports of a thwarted bombing plot in Montreal, an Al Qaeda terror attempt targeting a US bound train. (Police say they arrested two men accused of conspiring to carry out an "al-Qaeda supported" attack targeting a Via passenger train in the Greater Toronto Area, following a cross-border investigation that involved Canadian and American law enforcement.)
4. April 14 -horrific West Texas fertilizer explosion kills first responders who rushed in to help victims. At least 14 people were killed, 200 injured and dozens of buildings were damaged in the blast. Investigators have not determined what started the blast or whether it was intentional. At least two lawsuits have been filed against Adair Grain Inc., which operated the West Fertilizer plant.
5.  April 22 - Man escapes by boat after trying to enter a Tennessee nuclear power plant as described in this Associated Press release:


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An East Tennessee nuclear power plant has added security patrols after a weekend incident in which an officer exchanged gunfire with a man who then fled on a boat.

The FBI and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are investigating the shooting that occurred around 2 a.m. Sunday at Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Watts Bar nuclear power plant near Spring City, Tenn., about 60 miles southwest of Knoxville.

Officials say no recent threats were made against the plant or its staff, but TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said security at the plant remains heightened and more security patrols are being performed there.

The incident began when a security officer was driving a routine patrol around the grounds and spotted a person on the bank of the Tennessee River, which lies on the eastern border of the facility.

Hopson said the man was on the perimeter of the TVA property and several hundred yards from the site's protected area where the reactor and power production facilities are. The plant has two nuclear units, but one is operating and the other is currently under construction.

Boaters are allowed in the river near the facility, but are not allowed on the banks, Hopson explained. He said the officer was by his vehicle up above the bank and was talking with the man to determine why he was there when the man shot at the officer multiple times.

The above incidents are a cluster of seemingly unrelated incidents. Nevertheless, they are connected to one another because of their correlation to real or perceived terrorism.

Tragically, no country on earth is immune from terrorist attacks, but the cluster of incidents is concerning. Diligence is essential because the occurrences, reported only a few days apart, in our homeland or targeted to America, are ominous harbingers of more lurking dangers.  

It's not only Al Qaeda we should be terrified about, either.  

Farah Stockman reports in the Boston Globe how we must be diligent about home grown terrorism. She reports about  Marc Sageman, a forensic psychiatrist who once worked for the CIA, who made a bold prediction: Al Qaeda’s glory days were over. The greatest threat now was not a plot hatched and paid for by a mastermind in Afghanistan, but rather the ideas of countless “homegrown wannabes” in Europe and the United States.  “The threat is no longer ‘foreign fanatics,’ but people who grew up in the West,” he wrote in his book “Leaderless Jihad.”

Frankly, the future of terrorism and the mayhem it intentionally distributes like poisonous dust, is with us now.  It's not an organized enemy.

But the cluster of events President Bush reacted to by his concern is a well timed warning.  We must study the nature of terrorism and figure out how to eradicate its root causes, before more cluster incidents turn out to eventually become a repeat of the terror of September 11, 2001.

United in Perpetual Mourning

Although Americans are startlingly divided along partisan political divides, we're increasingly united in grief. It seems we're united in compassion for victims of violence, while skirting around the circumstances that causes our perpetual state of national mourning, brought on by preventable incidents of death and destruction. 

Although terrorism, like what happened in Boston, is difficult to predict, the incident's subsequent events might have been  prevented if the perpetrators didn't have guns.

Our ability to be professional national mourners even makes headlines.  "The Hill" reports:  "Congressional Republicans this weekend took a break from their attacks on President Obama to mourn the casualties suffered in the Boston Marathon bombings and vow swift justice for those who would harm Americans." 

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/295121-gop-drops-politics-vows-solidarity-after-boston-bombings#ixzz2R00qWmI4 

Socialists might ask how it is that many Americans are experts at grieving while entrenched in repressively divisive politics.

This is especially curious when united mourners are asked about how to prevent future grief causing incidents.  It seems simple to say "guns cause preventable death", but the rationale doesn't trump the perpetual mourning.  Grieving unites us while finding a resolution to gun violence causes division.

There's no question that Americans can prevent virtually all gun related deaths by eliminating the cause of these deaths. Nevertheless, Americans are completely polarized about how to prevent gun violence.  

When infections cause thousands of deaths, we demand a cure. Although we can't see infection causing bacteria and viruses, the guns that cause preventable deaths are visibly pandemic in our society.  It's like the Hans Christian Anderson cliche story about the parading delusional Emperor who wore no cloths. Many simply won't see guns as the cause of thousands of preventable American deaths a year.

This week's event in Boston Massachusetts fixated our national attention on the developments of a terrorist attack during a spirited 116 year old Patriot's Day traditional running marathon.  

It turned out, the Tsarnaev brothers, the suspected perpetrators of the heinous attack and murder of innocent people, had access to weapons they used to assassinate a 26 year old police officer.  Their access to weapons caused a week of preventable mayhem, because, the terrorism bombs notwithstanding, the perpetrators continued their carnage with guns.

Subsequent violence could have been averted:

"A massive police operation in Boston ended Friday night, April 19, with the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, suspected of the twin bombing Monday, April 15, at the Boston Marathon which left three dead and 180 injured and the death of a police officer in a shootout out at MIT during the day Friday. Described as armed and dangerous, he was finally hunted down hiding in a boat in a Watertown backyard and injured before he was captured."

"Many hundreds of town, state and federal officers, with helicopters, held Boston in a lockdown security measure for a day to scour the town door to door. Bostonians came out to cheer the police after hearing their mayor Tom Menino say: 'We got him!'  (Tsarnaev's) capture will enable the investigation to answer questions about the motives behind the acts of terror of which the two brothers of Chechen origin, Tzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan, 26, are suspected, and find out who else was involved. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police at Watertown earlier."

Without a doubt, the Boston terrorist tragedy was costly. Brilliant lives were lost and many millions of resources were spent in the coordinated dragnet response and conclusion.

Boston's tragedy is among a growing list of national mourning incidents.  We must learn to transpose our unifying grief to productive initiatives, that can prevent future preventable tragedies.  

Americans must continue to demand more regulations to curb gun violence and remove all the lawmakers in government who obstruct common sense resolution to a national pandemic.

We must be as united in ending gun violence as we are in mourning for the rapidly growing list of victims.

Boston Marathon Tragedy - Uniting America Where We Began

Boston bombings suddenly puts terrorism back high on the national agenda.  

This horrific wake up call perpetrated in the city adjacent to where our Democracy began with the "shot heard around the world" (in Lexington and Concord), reminds us of who we are as a nation and how we are united.

Former Massachusetts (Boston area) Congressman Barney Frank said on CNN said, (...immense April 15th tragedy notwithstanding)..."Here we saw government...serve people very well...no tax cut would have helped us to recover (from this)." 

In other words, Americans can't let divisive politics continue to rule our agenda, when there's simply too much to loose by feeding wasteful and polarizing politics.

Americans are united in demanding answers to the five "W's" of this evil attack - who did it? what motivated it? when were these devastating bombs planted at busy Copley Square, placed so as to create the most chaos, death and destruction, where was it planned? and why did it happen?

My sincere sympathy to those who were attacked in the senseless assault on innocent people who were appreciating a very long standing annual marathon tradition.  Particularly tragic is the loss of an innocent 8 year old Richard Martin  (this child's name was inversely reported and is correctly Martin Richard). He was at the event to watch his father race. Sadly, his mother and 6-year-old sister suffered serious injuries.  His mother underwent surgery for an injury to her brain and his sister lost a leg in the explosion. Incredibly tragic outcomes.....

This loss of innocents has no rational explanation....it's clearly an act of evil madness.

Our national response to this cowardly attack, regardless of who perpetrated it, is a statement of how we care about our national human condition.  Without regard for political of financial compensation, Boston's emergency and medical response was extraordinarily efficient.

Nevertheless, this shock to our sense of national security is more than a tragedy, it's a serious symbolic reminder that our world will never be completely safe from evil people who are relentlessly intent on killing innocent people.

Evil people eventually fail - they always fail, indeed, they've never succeeded.  Instead, these and all heinous acts, intended to create pandemic fear, only serve to unite good people against whatever obsessive cause the mindless demons are attacking.  

Unfortunately, the initial lack of information about who might be responsible for the evil Boston Marathon attack may signify a new normal for the operations  of gruesome people with destructive intentions.  Rather than boast, these evil doers may have a seditious strategy to keep silent.

It's a terrible terrorism incident, but the Boston Marathon Tragedy is another in a series of deadly reminders about our fleeting time on this beautiful earth. Moreover, it's a time for us to reflect on how important it is for us to support and care for each other.

Americans, and the world of good people are united against evil. We're likewise united in expressing grief for Boston, the Hub, and where our patriotic identity began, in Lexington and Concord.  

Like 1775, when the shot heard around the world served as a clarion call for national independence, the April 15th Boston bombing will have a uniting influence on America's agenda against terrorism, regardless of where its evil intentions are located.