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The American Bar Association released a statement on Monday reminding lawyers they must stand up for the rule of law.

The statement comes amid a flood of legal battles between the Trump administration and several workers who were fired.

Americans can expect a certain amount of change with a new administration, the group said. However, "Americans also expect that changes will take place in accordance with the rule of law and in an orderly manner that respects the lives of affected individuals and the work they have been asked to perform," said association president William R. Bay.

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He called out "wide-scale affronts to the rule of law itself" under the new administration, specifically attempts to end birthright citizenship and dismantling USAID, which was congressionally created and funded.

"We have seen attempts at wholesale dismantling of departments and entities created by Congress without seeking the required congressional approval to change the law," Bay continued. "There are efforts to dismiss employees with little regard for the law and protections they merit, and social media announcements that disparage and appear to be motivated by a desire to inflame without any stated factual basis."

He called it "chaotic" and acknowledged it might "appeal to a few," but it doesn't make it right. "Most Americans recognize it is wrong. It is also contrary to the rule of law."

He also said that the Bar Association believes everyone should be held accountable under the law, even the government itself.

Bay quoted U.S. District Judge John Coughenour's ruling last week, saying, “Nevertheless, in this courtroom and under my watch, the rule of law is a bright beacon which I intend to follow.”

"These actions do not make America stronger. They make us weaker," wrote Bay.

He warned there are "real-world consequences" to the mass government purge and public targeting of workers.

"Recently hired employees fear they will lose their jobs because of some matter they were assigned to in the Justice Department or some training they attended in their agency. USAID employees assigned to build programs that benefit foreign countries are being doxed, harassed with name-calling and receiving conflicting information about their employment status," he said, warning it should concern every American.

Bay closed by saying, "The ABA does not oppose any administration. Instead, we remain steadfast in our support for the rule of law."

He asked elected officials to stand up with them in support of the rule of law, though the Republican-led House and Senate have been unwilling to fight back against Trump thus far.

"The administration cannot choose which law it will follow or ignore," Bay argued.

He further called on all attorneys to join him in supporting the oath they all took to become lawyers in which they pledged to follow the law.

Read the full letter here.

A former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief warned CNN's Brianna Keilar that the Trump administration is signaling a completely free reign for big banks and other financial institutions to defraud, scam, and rip off working Americans.

Since Trump took office and dismissed Rohit Chopra, the CFPB — the post-financial crisis agency responsible for protecting consumers from financial corporate malfeasance, and an agency Republicans have long wanted to destroy — appears to be completely paralyzed, with Trump-aligned tech billionaire Elon Musk declaring the agency dead.

"As you watch what the Trump administration is doing here, why do you think they're doing it?" asked Keilar.

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"Well, I don't know," said Chopra. "I mean, we need to protect people from some of the biggest powerful corporations in America. And over the past few years, we took action so they would forfeit billions of dollars from people that they cheated. Companies like Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and more. And the truth is, people are really worried about high credit card interest rates, how they're going to pay their mortgage. We don't want to see their pocket picked. And by telling people the investigations are over, no more oversight, it just feels like a free pass to some of these big corporations to do whatever they please."

"There are partisan differences, historically, in — CFPB is pretty new, but there are differences of what CFPB's role should be, opinions on the agency," said Keilar. "Why is this different than just that?"

"Well, you know, I would say that there isn't so much partisan difference when you look at the actual work," said Chopra. "Medical bills, junk fees, protecting our personal data, it really enjoys broad support. The only place it's controversial is in Washington, and especially with the lobbyists representing Wall Street and these big companies. So, you know, here's what's different. This is in some ways a 'Defund the Police' movement that they're pushing when it comes to big corporations. The CFPB is one of the only agencies that is overseeing these very large financial institutions. And increasingly, big tech giants are wanting to control the flow of money and payments. And they, too, have been potentially wanting to interfere with the agency's operations as well."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

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Elon Musk's dismantling of the agency that provides overseas humanitarian aid harms children who rely on it for protection from online exploitation and human trafficking, a new report in Wired alleged.

Musk reportedly slashed the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, from 10,000 employees around the world to fewer than 300.

"Groups identifying victims and providing care for those who have been subject to online exploitation or human trafficking are struggling to support the vulnerable children," reported Matt Burgess for Wired. "Such child safety projects often take place in poorer countries, which can have fewer resources to support victims or investigate crimes."

Jessica Ryckman, the executive director of the nonprofit Lawyers Without Borders, told Wired, "Many of these victims engage with their traffickers through electronic means. It is exploitation that is advanced through digital technology.”

According to the report, the child safety programs saved more than 350 children in the Philippines during the first Trump administration and arrested nearly 100 alleged criminals. "The new cuts also come as record levels of online child sexual abuse imagery are being discovered," Burgess wrote.

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The article quoted an employee of a South American child protection group who said, “Victims and perpetrators alike originate from diverse regions and countries, underscoring the necessity for continued international engagement and coordinated efforts to address these crimes comprehensively. The interruption of these funds inevitably limits the scope and reach of these critical services."

In addition to USAID, global child protection projects have also lost much-needed funding from the U.S. State Department for at least 90 days, following a Trump administration order.

Burgess wrote, "Both government bodies have provided funding to help countries and people around the world. This includes USAID’s vast swath of health care and education programs—their withdrawal is putting millions of lives at risk and limits tackling the climate crisis."

Last week, a federal judge froze Musk's plan to completely gut USAID. According to The New York Times, "The judge was ruling on a lawsuit filed on behalf of the largest union representing federal workers and the union that represents Foreign Service officers." In his decision, the judge said, "The unions had established that the employees affected by the leave and withdrawal orders would suffer 'irreparable harm.'"

Neither USAID nor the State Department provided a comment for the article.

Read the entire Wired article here.

MAGA influencer Steve Bannon, a former strategist for President Donald Trump, will reportedly plead guilty to fraud charges in New York to avoid more jail time.

Law360 first reported on Monday that Bannon would enter a guilty plea.

Bannon's trial for allegedly duping contributors to his "We Build the Wall" charity was scheduled to start on March 4 after being delayed.

"I've been smeared by a political prosecution — persecution — for years, and I need someone who's a little more aggressive," Bannon told a judge after shaking up his legal team last month. "I need every tool in the tool box."

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Last year, Bannon spent four months in federal prison after being found guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before the Jan. 6 Committee.

Reporter Elle Reeve, known for her deep dive into issues of white supremacy for Vice and CNN, wrote in a new article Monday that her childhood experience with a stalker armed her to handle fascists in today's political climate.

Reeve's article for Slate detailed how she learned to handle "evil" after years of dealing with her next-door neighbor, an angry man who stalked and harassed her family for years.

"I spent my entire teenage years at war," she wrote. "Not a real war, but a psychological war, followed by a legal one. It did not have a happy ending. At the time, when explaining it to my high school friends, I referred to the situation as “my evil neighbor.” Decades later, I understand what happened: My family had a stalker."

When her family reported how the neighbor burned obscenities into their lawn with weed killer or stared her down as she walked to the school bus each day, the police advised them, “If you don’t get it on video, we can’t do nothing about it.”

That tip, plus learning how to remain calm and cool in the face of cruelty, served her reporting well, she said.

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Reeve said she's able to interview such figures as white nationalist Richard Spencer not because her blonde hair appealed to their racist predilections.

"After my reporting in Charlottesville in 2017, I heard one comment over and over," she wrote. "The only reason I had gotten interviews with white nationalists was because I was a blond woman and those guys wanted to make Aryan babies with me. I know that’s not what everyone thinks, but I heard it a lot, and it p---ed me off, so I wanted to tell the story my way.

"The reason I was able to do it was not my hair. It was because I was forced to learn at a very young age that most bullies are cowards, that confrontation is necessary, that you must get it all on tape," Reeve wrote.

"When I was surrounded by hostile armed lunatics in Charlottesville — and Oregon, and Michigan, and the United States Capitol — I didn’t tap into my years of experience with shampoo and conditioner. What got me into those crowds, and what got me through them, was spending my adolescence preparing for confrontation with this kind of man."

Read the Slate article here

A new report has come to a disturbing conclusion for Elon Musk's Tesla Cybertruck — the model is far more dangerous than even the infamously "explosive" Ford Pintos of the 1970s.

Automotive site FuelArc compiled the report after gathering "a full year of data for the Cybertruck" and pitting it against a decade worth of statistics for the Pinto, which was produced from 1970-1980.

FuelArc found that the fatality rate per 100,000 units was 14.52 for the Cybertruck and 0.85 for the Pinto, concluding that the Tesla model was "17 times more likely to have a fire fatality than a Ford Pinto."

The Ford Pinto had a troubled safety record. Its rear-mounted fuel tank design made it prone to fires in collisions, resulting in numerous fatalities. The company was accused of prioritizing cost-cutting over safety and faced billions in lawsuits. The Pinto recall and its impact on automotive safety regulations became a landmark case in consumer protection.

The site considered two Cybertruck crashes and one "incident" that happened "in their first full year on American roads." A crash in Piedmont CA killed 3 people, while a crash in Baytown TX killed one person.

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"The authors of the Cybertruck analysis openly acknowledge caveats in their methodology," reported Mother Jones. "First off, Tesla— the car’s manufacturer and one of Musk’s companies — has not confirmed how many Cybertrucks it has sold. FuelArc puts its best guess at 34,438, based on 'a variety of means, including piecing together public reporting.'

"Secondly, the five Cybertruck fatalities include the one that occurred in Las Vegas ... outside Trump International Hotel, when an Army soldier fatally shot himself before the car, packed with fireworks, exploded. Musk claimed in a post on X that the explosion was “unrelated to the vehicle itself.” Thus, the FuelArc analysis acknowledges that this fatality is 'controversial' since the driver’s cause of death was reportedly a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and the burns occurred after his death."

Musk threatened to sue reporters who implied the vehicle's design contributed to the explosion and fire in the Las Vegas incident.

Despite the "caveats," Mother Jones reported that "There are other reasons, beyond the latest analysis, to be skeptical" of the Cybertruck's safety.

For one, "It has reportedly not been crash-tested by the NHTSA or the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, nor has Tesla released its own safety data on the Cybertruck."

Mother Jones concluded, "Musk bragged around the time of its release that it would “be much safer per mile than other trucks.” But his claims of superiority were quickly disproven, given that Tesla recalled the truck seven times last year alone — an astonishingly high amount — including once over a trapped accelerator pedal that could increase the risk of a crash, estimated to affect more than 3,800 units, according to the NHTSA."

Read the Mother Jones article here and the FuelArc report here.