Battles over academic freedom and executive power today’s episode of “DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou.” Texas A&M bans advocacy of “race or gender ideology,” an Indiana professor is suspended after a Trump-allied senator intervenes over a graphic labeling “Make America Great Again” as covert white supremacy, Senator John Fetterman is hospitalized again, a secret 40-page DOJ memo with odd reasoning justifies Trump’s lethal boat strikes, and new DNA analysis of Hitler blood reveals a rare genetic marker linked to delayed puberty, undescended testicles, and possible Kallmann syndrome.
- Texas A&M Censors Professors: Texas A&M System regents unanimously vote to prohibit courses from advocating “race or gender ideology” without presidential pre-approval and ban teaching anything inconsistent with the approved syllabus. This follows months of GOP accusations of liberal indoctrination and comes after a lecturer was fired in September for recognizing more than two genders. Faculty call it a direct assault on academic freedom; administrators insist it merely “clarifies” existing policy.
- Indiana University Censors Professors: Indiana University suspends social-work lecturer Jessica Adams from teaching after U.S. Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) complains about a pyramid graphic labeling “MAGA” as covert white supremacy. The complaint invokes Indiana’s new “intellectual diversity” law, prompting the dean to file the formal grievance against Adams. Adams says the 20-year-old graphic is standard in social-work education and warns of growing censorship driven by Trump-aligned politicians.
- Time To Resign?: Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) is hospitalized after falling during a morning walk, triggering a ventricular fibrillation flare-up that temporarily stops his heart from pumping correctly. Doctors keep him for observation and medication adjustments; the 56-year-old jokes about his bruised face. This marks another serious health episode following his 2022 stroke and 2023 light-headedness hospitalization. He’s already dodging constituents and behaving erratically. Is it time for Pennsylvania to get new representation?
- Secret DOJ Memo Uses Pretzel Logic to Justify Trump Boat Strikes: Echoing the Bush Adminstration’s “torture memo” by John Yoo, a classified 40-page Justice Department memo justifies Trump’s lethal naval strikes that have killed 80 suspected drug smugglers (and fishermen) by declaring the U.S. in armed conflict with “narco-terrorist” cartels—relying almost entirely on unverified White House claims. The memo treats drug boats as lawful military targets and provides immunity defenses against future murder charges. Critics call it legal cover for extrajudicial killings with no congressional authorization.
- Hitler DNA Reveals Rare Gene: New genetic analysis of verified Hitler blood from his 1945 bunker couch reveals a rare PROK2 mutation linked to Kallmann syndrome, delayed puberty, and possible undescended testicles/micropenis. The study definitively debunks Jewish ancestry rumors and finds extraordinarily high polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia, autism, and ADHD. Researchers stress the findings explain nothing about the Holocaust and warn against stigmatizing these conditions.