Trump’s $1.8 billion settlement fund sparks alarm inside White House

Trump’s $1.8 billion settlement fund sparks alarm inside White House

The Wall Street Journal reports: President Trump’s top aides have discussed whether he should kill the administration’s nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund in exchange for getting immigration enforcement funding passed next month, according to people familiar with the matter. More than a dozen Republican senators have privately urged top Trump aides to drop the fund since its creation last week, said people familiar with the outreach, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is usually supportive of the president’s…

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Could Anti-Weaponization Fund payments be False Claims Act violations with treble damages?

Could Anti-Weaponization Fund payments be False Claims Act violations with treble damages?

The Associated Press reports: David Johnston was a licensed attorney when he illegally entered the Capitol with a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. More than five years later, the South Carolina man is offering to help fellow “J6ers” apply for payouts from the Trump administration’s nearly $1.8 billion new fund for people claiming to be victims of a weaponized government. He’ll do it for a 10% cut of any award, capped at $5,000 apiece. “I…

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ICE may use massive troves of data collected by advertisers for surveilling everyone in America

ICE may use massive troves of data collected by advertisers for surveilling everyone in America

Politico reports: The trillion-dollar industry that amasses and shares troves of Americans’ information is confronting a new ethical quandary — the Trump administration’s interest in wielding this data to potentially further its sweeping immigration agenda. Immigration and Customs Enforcement published a request for information in January seeking input on how “commercial Big Data and Ad Tech providers can directly support investigations,” a request that came as the administration was pursuing efforts to expand the United States’ immigration enforcement capabilities. It…

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Why $1bn in Balkans energy contracts are going to an obscure company connected to Donald Trump

Why $1bn in Balkans energy contracts are going to an obscure company connected to Donald Trump

The Guardian reports: On a graffitied Sarajevo backstreet, a path leads past an overgrown patch of garden to a white door. Beyond is the registered office of a company that is on the brink of winning contracts worth more than $1bn. AAFS Infrastructure and Energy is close to securing a concession to build and operate a pipeline across the Balkans to allow fossil gas shipped from the US to replace supplies that come from Russia. “This could be the most…

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Rock-bottom immigration rates may cause longterm harm to the U.S. economy

Rock-bottom immigration rates may cause longterm harm to the U.S. economy

Axios reports: President Trump’s immigration crackdown is causing one of the sharpest slowdowns in U.S. population growth in decades. Economists are beginning to tally the effects, with some warning that the damage will stick around. Why it matters: The policy-driven immigration reversal underway has few modern parallels. The immediate result is evident in monthly employment figures, with the economy cranking out fewer jobs. But over time, fewer immigrants could be a productivity drag lasting well into the second half of this…

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Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is pushing back against ‘climate hushing’

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is pushing back against ‘climate hushing’

Elizabeth Kolbert interviews Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: For the last 15 years, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, has been Congress’s most outspoken member on climate change. In 2012, he had a sign made up that showed the Earth as seen from space. “Time to Wake Up,” it said. The sign became a prop for a series of speeches the senator delivered on the urgency of the climate crisis. Not long ago, Whitehouse gave his 307th “Time to Wake Up”…

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It’s not just high gas prices – inflation is now spreading through the economy

It’s not just high gas prices – inflation is now spreading through the economy

As the cost of gas stays high due to Middle East tensions, it’s spilling over into U.S. consumer spending more broadly and creating a conundrum for the Federal Reserve. AP Photo/David Zalubowski By D. Brian Blank, Mississippi State University and Brandy Hadley, Appalachian State University Americans don’t need a press release to know that inflation is rising. Gasoline is above $4 per gallon amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the…

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Trump clears way for companies to dodge taxes in havens like Malta, Bermuda, and Cyprus

Trump clears way for companies to dodge taxes in havens like Malta, Bermuda, and Cyprus

The New York Times reports: A year ago, the Trump administration withdrew from a global effort to curb offshore tax-dodging by multinational companies. That decision has been a huge gift to corporate America, enabling companies to avoid at least $40 billion in income taxes since the beginning of 2025. A New York Times review of securities filings from nearly 500 companies showed that they avoided taxes by attributing hundreds of billions of dollars in earnings to low- or no-tax foreign…

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The UAE’s secret role in the war involved dozens of strikes on Iran

The UAE’s secret role in the war involved dozens of strikes on Iran

The Wall Street Journal reports: The United Arab Emirates carried out dozens of airstrikes against Iran beginning in the early days of the war and continuing through the day after the April cease-fire was announced, people familiar with the matter said, a deeper involvement than was previously known in the air campaign led by the U.S. and Israel. The extent of the strikes is further evidence of the country’s growing willingness to protect what it sees as its strategic interests,…

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Sen. Andy Kim: Nothing’s improved since Minnesota — except private prison profits

Sen. Andy Kim: Nothing’s improved since Minnesota — except private prison profits

Mother Jones reports: “I certainly didn’t see anything at Delaney Hall that gives me a sense that things have changed since Minnesota,” Andy Kim told me. The New Jersey senator, a first-term Democrat, drew headlines Monday after he and other protesters were pepper-sprayed by ICE agents during a rally outside Delaney Hall, a private prison in Newark, New Jersey that ICE has repurposed to detain immigrants—nearly 900 as of early April, according to agency data reviewed by NBC News. Kim…

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‘It’s over’: Staffers reveal how Bari Weiss is gutting 60 Minutes

‘It’s over’: Staffers reveal how Bari Weiss is gutting 60 Minutes

The New Republic reports: CBS News chief Bari Weiss has hacked up 60 Minutes to the point that even show staffers have lost faith in the famed magazine show. Weiss’s recent shakeup at 60 Minutes has involved the exit of several of the show’s major personalities, including correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi (who criticized Weiss’s decision to delay her report on a notoriously brutal CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador), correspondent Cecilia Vega, executive producer Tanya Simon, and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich. Correspondent…

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Arctic ocean passes ‘irreversible’ chemical tipping point

Arctic ocean passes ‘irreversible’ chemical tipping point

Oceanographic reports: A new study spanning two decades reveals that the loss of sea ice has triggered an irreversible chemical shift in the Arctic Ocean. By exposing shallow coastal waters to intense sunlight, the melting ice has accelerated a process that destroys nitrate, the foundational fertiliser required for marine life to survive. The study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, suggests the Arctic passed a critical ecological tipping point in 2009. The resulting nutrient famine is already affecting the whole…

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Judge orders removal of Trump graffiti from Kennedy Center

Judge orders removal of Trump graffiti from Kennedy Center

Reuters reports: A judge on Friday ordered the removal of President ​Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center for the Performing ‌Arts, ruling that the iconic Washington venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington directed the Trump administration ​to take down all physical signage bearing Trump’s name and ​to eliminate any references to a “Trump Kennedy Center” from official ⁠materials within 14 days. “The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear…

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Netanyahu orders Israeli army to seize ‘70% of Gaza Strip’, violating ceasefire deal

Netanyahu orders Israeli army to seize ‘70% of Gaza Strip’, violating ceasefire deal

The Guardian reports: Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has given orders to the Israeli army to seize control of 70% of the Gaza Strip in a move that threatens to torpedo an already fragile ceasefire and create catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the already devastated territory. Under the US-brokered ceasefire in October, the Israeli army withdrew to a demarcation line which gave Israel direct control of 53% of the occupied territory. Since then, Israeli forces have steadily advanced their positions westward…

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