az-sl.bsky.social

FIRST ON MSNBC: Sen. Padilla reveals meeting DHS Secretary Kristi Noem after being forcibly removed and cuffed from her DHS press conference. "You'd think she might have started the meeting with an apology for what happened. Of course not."

"They've thrown the entire playbook out," says a retired general on Trump's National Guard deployment.

President Trump has slashed funding for medical research, threatening a longstanding alliance between the federal government and universities that helped make the U.S. the world leader in medical science. Here are the nearly 2,500 grants that have been canceled or delayed. https://trib.al/iBstU2B

"They stood, diplomas in hand, having met every standard of physical endurance, academic excellence, and military discipline. But when the time came for the US Air Force Academy’s class of 2025 to commission as second lieutenants, 3 cadets were quietly held back..." www.advocate.com/news/transge...

Gap expects tariffs to impact second-quarter gross margins reut.rs/4kpviO0

“If Trump and his supporters can defame others,” writes David Frum, “they can dull voters’ awareness of the astounding and horrible uniqueness of Trump’s corruption”: https://theatln.tc/8YM3Hqab

The Russians have made clear that they plan to kill their way out of the Ukraine war. Donald Trump’s response was to send a mean social-media post, Tom Nichols writes in The Atlantic Daily.

“The Trump administration has launched a comprehensive attack on knowledge itself, a war against culture, history, and science,” @adamserwer.bsky.social writes. “If this assault is successful, it will undermine Americans’ ability to comprehend the world around us."

At the Pentagon, personality conflicts persist and inexperience reigns, fueling internal speculation about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s long-term viability in President Trump’s Cabinet.

“China is laughing,” Susan Rice tells @davidfrum.bsky.social. “They understand that in a trade war with the United States, in many ways they have the upper hand.” On “The David Frum Show,” she discusses the disintegration of national-security processes under Trump:

More smog. More asthma. More pollution in our kids’ lungs. The U.S. Senate's vote to overturn California's clean air rules is illegal and defies decades of precedent. We will go to court to fight this unconstitutional attack.

This is an absolutely insane way to run a country

Where's Elon?

In four months, President Trump and a chainsaw-wielding Elon Musk have hacked off chunks of government in the name of efficiency, with tactics rarely seen in public or private industry. Many federal workers said they believe cruelty is part of the plan.

“Putin may well be ready for some kind of cease-fire agreement," @radiofreetom.bsky.social writes. "But if that happens, it won’t be because of Trump’s efforts—and even the president himself seems to know it now.”

This piece is an absolute must read You get to see how the Heritage foundation absolutely scripted everything that the administration is doing right now

The HHS officials under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. take a less extreme approach to vaccine policy than he does. And because of that, they could be more effective than Kennedy at undermining America’s protections against disease, @katherinejwu.com writes:

A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a block on an executive order from President Trump that seeks to strip union rights from federal workers at dozens of agencies and offices.

Trump and DOGE are not just undoing decades of privacy measures: They appear to be ignoring that they were ever written. @ibogost.bsky.social and @cwarzel.bsky.social on the rise of an American panopticon: https://theatln.tc/IEomtuKL

Attorney General Pam Bondi sold $1 million to $5 million worth of shares in President Trump’s media company last month on the same day that he announced expansive tariffs that led to a stock market rout, according to disclosure filings.

Walmart warned that price increases look certain — possibly within weeks — reinforcing that even the world’s biggest retailer is not immune from President Donald Trump’s trade war.

The National Weather Service was working on streamlining itself for the modern era when DOGE reduced the agency’s workforce. Days away from hurricane season, it’s now struggling to keep offices open.

It’s a violation of the constitution readsludge.com/2025/05/12/f...

If it becomes law, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans’ massive bill will reshape much of the federal government — and the U.S. economy. Here’s what’s in the proposal.

This right here......

Tariffs on Chinese goods are making it more expensive to raise children in the United States, driving up prices and threatening shortages of critical baby gear at a time when household budgets are already under strain.

Fact Checker by Glenn Kessler: Much of what Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a billionaire and former Wall Street executive, says is economically incoherent and contradictory. Here’s a guide to Lutnick’s talking points — and what’s wrong about them.

Read "House GOP backing off some Medicaid cuts as report shows millions of people would lose health care" on SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-kSBb7L2/Pa...

Janet Yellen warns Trump tariffs will have ‘tremendously adverse’ impact https://www.ft.com/content/800ee820-4a9b-480a-afac-3321bcbdbd62

General Motors warns of $5bn tariff hit even after Trump’s relief measures https://www.ft.com/content/5b8e9e5b-8f85-4f72-8fc4-3f93e03f09ae

Breaking news: New civil rights division chief said more than 100 attorneys have left their jobs, in many cases because they disagreed with the office’s new focus on combating anti-Christian bias, transgender athletes in women’s sports, and “woke ideology.”

TELSEY begins tracking price increases over the past week. Some highlights: * Abercrombie jeans: up 33% * Amazon Echo: up 38.5% * Target / Barbie doll: up 42.9%

“What stage of authoritarianism is it when the government starts arresting judges? Because that’s the one we’re at.” @atrupar.com

every word of this kfor.com/news/local/w...

"think hard about whether you want to be responsible for enabling the descent of America into fascism" - a question that should be asked of everyone involved

“Everything is stuck and no one knows what to do.” We spoke with American business owners who said they have been facing a reckoning because of President Trump’s barrage of tariffs. They are reassessing their product lines and supply chains and even putting their operations on hold.

A federal judge in Washington blocked President Trump from ending collective bargaining with unions representing federal workers.

There is no going back to the way America was 100 days ago. Only 1,361 days left. economist.com/leaders/2025...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s personal phone number was easily accessible on WhatsApp, Facebook and a fantasy sports site as recently as March, potentially exposing national security secrets to foreign adversaries.

CEOs are struggling to make corporate plans as President Trump’s trade policies upend the economy

"The Partnership for Public Service, which studies the federal workforce, has used budget figures to produce a rough estimate that Trump's firings, re-hirings, lost productivity and paid leave of thousands of workers will cost upward of $135 billion this fiscal year." www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/u...

This is correct from @joeweisenthal.bsky.social

100s of foreign students in the U.S. had their visas suddenly cancelled and were asked to self-deport, supposedly due to convictions and arrests. We found many of these students had no criminal records however. www.npr.org/2025/04/22/n...

This is straight authoritarianism!

Trump is the worst economic manager in the history of the US presidency. Only rivals are Andrew Jackson (for closing the Bank of the United States) and Herbert Hoover (for not reflating in 1931).

Breaking news: The global economy will slow sharply this year, weighed down by Trump’s imposition of the highest import taxes in more than a century and the cloud of uncertainty that has billowed in their wake, the International Monetary Fund said.

Breaking news: The IMF has warned that the US is confronting an increased risk of recession as Donald Trump’s trade war pushes the global economy into a ‘significant slowdown’. The fund’s top economists have defended the US Federal Reserve’s policy on interest rates. www.ft.com/content/d472...

In just three months in office, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has produced a run of chaos that is unmatched in the Pentagon's recent history. His inner circle — military veterans who, like him, had little experience running large, complex organizations — is in shambles.