Top Items:

Trump is halfway to making America a police state — The president's refusal to accept a Supreme Court ruling on illegal deportation is a turning point — At around noon on April 14 2025, America ceased to have a law-abiding government. Some would argue that had already happened on January 20, when Donald Trump was inaugurated.
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Trump's immigration agenda is not popular — To start this post, I am going to ask you a key question about immigration policy. But first, I need to establish a few facts based on recent news: — On Monday, April 14, 2025, Donald Trump met with the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, in the Oval Office.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Raw Story, Daily Kos, RVM News, NPR and ProPublica

The Supreme Court Got It Badly Wrong — Today, the Trump administration made it clear: they will have to be forced to comply with the law. They will not do it voluntarily. It's just that simple, and that complicated. Worst of all, it's completely unsurprising that we've come to this juncture.
Discussion:
Letters from an American, The Guardian, The Fucking News, Daily Kos and PennLive

Trump Tests the True Limits of Presidential Power — Greetings and welcome to this week's midair performance of the Carnival of Fools! Like a prestige subscription-service drama, our story resumes from a potent cliff-hanger: Last week, Donald Trump had invoked the laws of cartoon physics …

Trump told us the horrifying reason why Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not back in the U.S. — We are approaching one month since the United States illegally sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the CECOT “terrorism” prison in El Salvador on the third March 15 flight that took people to the prison.
Discussion:
HuffPost, MeidasTouch News, The Message Box, CNBC, Politico, Breitbart, New Republic, The Hill, Raw Story, New York Daily News, Techdirt, Reason, CBS News, Slate, New York Times and Rolling Stone

A whistleblower's disclosure details how DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data — In the first days of March, a team of advisers from President Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency initiative arrived at the Southeast Washington, D.C., headquarters of the National Labor Relations Board.
Discussion:
New Republic, Alternet.org and Raw Story
Roger Parloff / Default:
Abrego Garcia and MS-13: What Do We Know? — The allegation seems to stem from double hearsay in a document authored by a later suspended police detective. — Meet The Authors … In multiple filings, the government has conceded that it wrongfully removed Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia …
Discussion:
emptywheel, The Atlantic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Baltimore Sun, The Hill, American Greatness and The Gateway Pundit
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Trump Admin's New Defense For Accidentally Sending Abrego Garcia To Salvadoran Torture Camp: We Meant To Do That
Discussion:
Department of Homeland …, Mediaite and emptywheel, more at Mediagazer »
New York Times:
‘Alien Enemies’ or Innocent Men? Inside Trump's Rushed Effort to Deport 238 Migrants
‘Alien Enemies’ or Innocent Men? Inside Trump's Rushed Effort to Deport 238 Migrants
Discussion:
Alternet.org, Reuters, The Nation and New York Times
Caroline Foreback / CBS News:
Maryland senator requests meeting with Salvadoran president to discuss deported Maryland man
Maryland senator requests meeting with Salvadoran president to discuss deported Maryland man
Ruth Marcus / New Yorker:
Will the Supreme Court Stop Donald Trump?
Will the Supreme Court Stop Donald Trump?
Discussion:
Default, To the Contrary and Blaze Media

State Terror — Yesterday the president defied a Supreme Court ruling to return a man who was mistakenly sent to a gulag in another country, celebrated the suffering of this innocent person, and spoke of sending Americans to foreign concentration camps. — This is the beginning …
Discussion:
Mediaite
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Bring. Him. Home. — Reminder: I'll be talking with Paul Krugman on Substack today, live at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. — 1. Five Questions — We're going to give elected leaders in the Democratic party a charge and then talk about how the public can rally. But first, I have some questions to consider.
Discussion:
Reason and OutsideTheBeltway

Trump threatens to remove Harvard's tax-exempt status — The proposal follows the Ivy League school's decision to defy a list of demands from the White House. — President Donald Trump threatened to eliminate Harvard University's tax-exempt status, following the Ivy League school's refusal …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Fox News, ABC News, USA Today, The Hill, Townhall, New York Post, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Independent, Washington Times, The Guardian and Semafor
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This Tax Day, an IRS in Crisis
Discussion:
The Hill, Reuters, Iowa Starting Line, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, 19FortyFive and Fox News
Paul Krugman:
Happy Tax Evasion Day!
Happy Tax Evasion Day!
Discussion:
USA Today, FedSmith.com, The Hill, Fox News, Staten Island Advance and New York Post
U.S. Department of Education:
Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism Statement Regarding Harvard University — Today, the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism released the following statement: — “Harvard's statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Politico, The Washington Free Beacon, USA Today, CNN, CNBC, The Daily Wire, IJR, The Independent, Fox News, RedState, PinkNews, The Western Journal, Blaze Media, The Post Millennial, The Daily Caller, Townhall, The Hill, Raw Story, Ars Technica, UPI, Washington Examiner, The Guardian and Semafor
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William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Two Dictators Walk Into a Bar...
Two Dictators Walk Into a Bar...
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Post and NPR

JD Vance: My message to Europe America doesn't want a vassal continent — “It's not good for Europe to be the permanent security vassal of the United States.” So says JD Vance during a phone conversation with UnHerd on Monday, his first major interview with a European outlet since taking office as Vice President.
Discussion:
Politico, Breitbart, New York Times, UPI, The Gateway Pundit, Bloomberg, The i Paper, The Independent, PinkNews, The Kyiv Independent, Semafor and CBS News

Tariff carve-outs underscore weak US position in China trade war: ‘This is going to get really ugly’ — With its electronics exceptions, the United States has demonstrated that it is more willing to bend than the Chinese. — The White House says it has the upper hand in its trade war with China.
Discussion:
fmprc.gov.cn, The Hill, Raw Story, Xinhua and The Daily Wire
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The Vibe Shifts Against the Right — Alex Kaschuta's podcast, “Subversive,” used to be a node in the network between weird right-wing internet subcultures and mainstream conservatism. She hosted men's rights activists and purveyors of “scientific” racism, neo-reactionary online personalities …
Discussion:
Raw Story and Alternet.org

US Economy to Lose Billions as Foreign Tourists Stay Away … The US economy is set to lose billions of dollars in revenue in 2025 from a pullback in foreign tourism and boycotts of American products, adding to a growing list of headwinds keeping recession risk elevated.
Discussion:
Raw Story and The Guardian

Inside Trump's Plan to Halt Hundreds of Regulations … At the Department of Health and Human Services, Trump administration officials want to reverse a regulation that has required nursing homes to have more medical staff on duty. — At the Mine Safety and Health Administration …
Discussion:
Alternet.org

Levin and Martinez express support for Harvard amid funding fight with Trump administration — University president Jonathan Levin '94 and Provost Jenny Martinez expressed support for Harvard after its president Alan Garber M.D. '83 — a Stanford Medicine professor emeritus …
Discussion:
Raw Story, KRDO, Scripps News and New York Times

Why President Trump isn't signing many laws … Trump and Republican congressional leaders often claim his new administration has been the most productive in recent memory. — Except when it comes to passing laws. — Trump has signed fewer bills into law at this point in his presidency …

Cuomo, front-runner in the New York mayor's race, denied millions in matching funds — The former governor's campaign failed to file the proper paperwork to receive the tranche of cash. — NEW YORK — New York City's campaign finance regulators rejected mayoral front-runner Andrew Cuomo's request …
Discussion:
The City, New York Daily News and New York Post
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Laura Nahmias / Bloomberg:
Ackman Donates $250,000 to Cuomo's New York City Mayoral Run
Ackman Donates $250,000 to Cuomo's New York City Mayoral Run
Discussion:
New York Post and Politico

China orders its airlines to stop accepting deliveries of Boeing jets, report says — The Chinese government has told the country's domestic airlines to stop accepting deliveries of Boeing jets as a trade war between the world's two largest economies escalates, Bloomberg News reports.
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Kamala Harris for governor? Poll shows how California voters feel about the idea. — California's Democratic voters cheer the potential of Harris for governor, but warning signs are lurking. — Political influencers in California are greeting Kamala Harris' potential bid for governor with a shrug …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Fox News and Los Angeles Times

As Trump pursues mass deportation, his businesses again seek foreign workers — While President Donald Trump and his administration reiterate the need to “hire American” and crack down on both documented and undocumented immigrants alike, his company is again seeking seasonal foreign workers …
Discussion:
Raw Story

US Derails G-7 Condemnation of Russian Missile Strike on Ukraine — The US has told Group of Seven allies it won't endorse a statement condemning Russia's deadliest attack on Ukraine this year because it wants to keep negotiations with Moscow on track. — Russia fired two short-range …
Discussion:
CBS News, New York Times, Euromaidan Press, New Jersey Online, The Kyiv Independent, Associated Press, Raw Story, Al Jazeera, BBC, Politico, Reuters, WSVN-TV and The Defense Post

DOGE is collecting federal data to remove immigrants from housing, jobs — The administration is pushing agencies to turn over information on where people work, study and live. The data is normally protected from dissemination.

North Carolina Supreme Court throws out hundreds of ballots based on flawed data — This is a special collaboration between Popular Information and Anderson Alerts, a newsletter about North Carolina politics. — Josiah Young was born and raised in North Carolina.
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Fox News, Associated Press, Anderson Alerts and USA Today

Jeffries backs stock trading ban after Greene buys market dip — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Monday backed a stock trading ban for sitting members of Congress, after ripping Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for reportedly profiting off market fluctuations during President Trump's tariff roller-coaster.

She was chatting with friends in a Lyft. Then someone texted her what they said — Ride-sharing company says incident was not part of audio recording pilot it's testing in some U.S. cities — Anvi Ahuja noticed a “freaky” new text message from a number she didn't know right after getting …
Discussion:
Boing Boing