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Category: Politics

Justice Department lawyers work for justice and the Constitution – not the White House

Justice Department lawyers work for justice and the Constitution – not the White House

The U.S. flag flies above Department of Justice headquarters on Jan. 20, 2024, in Washington. J. David Ake/Getty Images By Cassandra Burke Robertson, Case Western Reserve University In the 1970s, President Richard Nixon tried to fire the Department of Justice prosecutor leading an investigation into the president’s involvement in wiretapping the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters. Since then, the DOJ has generally been run as an impartial law enforcement agency, separated from the executive office and partisan politics. Those guardrails are…

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Jake Tapper tears into CBS owner, Shari Redstone, for cynically bending the knee to Trump

Jake Tapper tears into CBS owner, Shari Redstone, for cynically bending the knee to Trump

  HuffPost: CNN host Jake Tapper slammed the chair of Paramount Global ― which owns CBS’s parent company ― saying she is “likely to bend the knee” to President Donald Trump on Tuesday after the exit of “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens. Tapper laid out the circumstances around Owens’ departure, noting that Paramount’s Shari Redstone “stands to make a fortune” as she looks to merge her company with Skydance Media, a multibillion-dollar deal that requires the approval of a…

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Dow headed for worst April since 1932 as investors send ‘no confidence’ signal

Dow headed for worst April since 1932 as investors send ‘no confidence’ signal

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Trump rout is taking on historic dimensions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed almost 1,000 points on Monday and is headed for its worst April performance since 1932, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The S&P 500’s performance since Inauguration Day is now the worst for any president up to this point in data going back to 1928, according to Bespoke Investment Group. Worries about trade restrictions and the prospect of President Trump firing…

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Trump’s trade war will hit U.S. prosperity hard, IMF warns

Trump’s trade war will hit U.S. prosperity hard, IMF warns

CNN reports: President Donald Trump’s unpredictable tariff policy and countermeasures by America’s trading partners will likely deal a heavy blow to economies worldwide, with US prosperity hit particularly hard, the International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday. Global economic growth will slow to 2.8% this year, from 3.3% last year and significantly below the historical average, the IMF forecast in its World Economic Outlook report. The slowdown expected in the United States is even steeper, with its economy likely to grow only…

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Before Trump’s tariffs there were Hitler’s tariffs

Before Trump’s tariffs there were Hitler’s tariffs

Timothy W. Ryback writes: The Hitler tariffs, announced on Friday, February 10, 1933, stunned observers. “The dimension of the tariff increases have in fact exceeded all expectations,” the Vossische Zeitung wrote disapprovingly, proclaiming the moment a “fork in the road” for the German economy. It appeared that Europe’s largest and most industrialized nation would suddenly be returning “to the furrow and the plow.” The New York Times saw this for what it was: “a trade war” against its European neighbors….

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Airstrike details Hegseth shared on Signal came from top general’s secure messages

Airstrike details Hegseth shared on Signal came from top general’s secure messages

NBC News reports: Minutes before U.S. fighter jets took off to begin strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen last month, Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, who leads U.S. Central Command, used a secure U.S. government system to send detailed information about the operation to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The material Kurilla sent included details about when U.S. fighters would take off and when they would hit their targets — details that could, if they fell into the wrong hands,…

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Elon Musk says he will spend less time in Washington as Tesla’s profit falls by 71%

Elon Musk says he will spend less time in Washington as Tesla’s profit falls by 71%

The New York Times reports: Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, said on Tuesday that he would spend less time in Washington working for President Trump after the automaker reported a profit drop of 71 percent in the first three months of the year. Mr. Musk told Wall Street analysts in a conference call that he would continue to spend “a day or two per week” on Washington matters, probably for the duration of Mr. Trump’s presidency. The billionaire executive is…

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‘He’s pure evil’: Former Tesla engineer says Musk threatened to deport her team for pointing out brakes problem

‘He’s pure evil’: Former Tesla engineer says Musk threatened to deport her team for pointing out brakes problem

Futurism reports: A Tesla engineer has accused Tesla of threatening her team with deportation after bringing up a brake safety issue with CEO Elon Musk in 2014. Balan was fired after informing Musk that she was worried floor carpets could curl up underneath the pedals in Model S vehicles, she says, in a major braking safety hazard. According to Balan, she was simply following Musk’s orders to “talk to me” if staffers thought it was the “fastest way to solve…

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White House quietly looking to replace Pete Hegseth as defense secretary

White House quietly looking to replace Pete Hegseth as defense secretary

NPR reports: The White House has begun the process of looking for a new secretary of defense, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. This comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to find himself mired in controversy. NPR has also confirmed with the same official that Hegseth shared details ahead of last month’s Yemen strikes with his wife and brother in a Signal chat on his personal phone, minutes after being updated by a…

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Former top Pentagon spokesperson recounts ‘month from hell’ inside the Defense Department

Former top Pentagon spokesperson recounts ‘month from hell’ inside the Defense Department

John Ullyot writes: It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership. President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account. Given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer. The latest flashpoint is a near collapse inside the…

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Francis − a pope who cared deeply for the poor and opened up the Catholic Church

Francis − a pope who cared deeply for the poor and opened up the Catholic Church

Pope Francis during the Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s Square on April 2, 2023, in Vatican City. Antonio Masiello/Getty Images By Mathew Schmalz, College of the Holy Cross Pope Francis, the Catholic Church’s first Latin American pontiff, has died, the Vatican announced on April 21, 2025. He was 88. Francis had served as pope for 12 eventful years, after being elected on March 13, 2013 after the surprise resignation of Benedict XVI. Prior to becoming pope, he was Jorge…

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Kansas City, Missouri has long been a federal hub. The pain from DOGE’s cuts is everywhere

Kansas City, Missouri has long been a federal hub. The pain from DOGE’s cuts is everywhere

The Associated Press reports: In her 28 years working for the federal government, Shea Giagnorio provided day care for the children of U.S. soldiers, training for employees and oversight for safety net programs. Public service took her from Germany to Alaska to Kansas City, Missouri, where she moved last year for a long-sought promotion. But when she reported to a downtown federal building for work one day last month, her access card did not work. After a co-worker let her…

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Buick finally had cars Americans wanted to buy – then came Trump’s tariffs

Buick finally had cars Americans wanted to buy – then came Trump’s tariffs

Reuters reports: General Motors’ Buick was on a roll. Sales for the once-stodgy brand were up 39% in the first quarter with a refreshed lineup of compact SUVs including the Envision, Encore GX, and the Envista, its top-selling SUV for under $30,000. Then President Trump’s tariffs hit. Buick’s three most popular models are made outside the U.S. The Envista and Encore GX are both built in South Korea, while the Envision SUV is made in China. That means all three…

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The ACLU is suing the government to get access to DOGE records

The ACLU is suing the government to get access to DOGE records

Wired reports: The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the US Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In its lawsuit, the ACLU accuses the agencies of violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by ignoring the ACLU’s requests and subsequent appeals for information concerning the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) “attempted or actual access” to sensitive federal databases. The ACLU began pursuing documents under the federal transparency law in…

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Adam Schiff: The best antidote to fear is to be courageous

Adam Schiff: The best antidote to fear is to be courageous

Eric Lutz writes: It had been a tough week for democracy when I got Senator Adam Schiff on the phone. Donald Trump—who has spent the first three months of his presidency decimating the federal government and trampling over the separation of powers at the heart of the American system—was now flouting a unanimous Supreme Court decision directing officials to facilitate the return of a Maryland man who’d gotten swept up in the president’s immigration crackdown and deported to a hellish…

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Hegseth said to have leaked attack details in second Signal chat. ‘There is a complete meltdown’ in the Pentagon

Hegseth said to have leaked attack details in second Signal chat. ‘There is a complete meltdown’ in the Pentagon

The New York Times reports: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, according to four people with knowledge of the chat. Some of those people said that the information Mr. Hegseth shared on the Signal chat included the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen — essentially the same attack plans that he shared…

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