Weekend Mix

HEADLINES: 

• Trump and Zelenskiy meet one-on-one in Vatican basilica to seek Ukraine peace (Reuters)

• A Ticking Clock on American Freedom — It’s later than you think, but it’s not too late. (Atlantic)

• FBI arrested Wisconsin judge, Trump immigration enforcement effort escalates (CNBC)

• Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate online political fundraising platforms with the intent of targeting Democratic Party fundraising platform ActBlue. It is his clearest effort yet to use the power of the presidency to destabilize and hobble his political opposition. [HuffPost]

• As immigrant arrests surge, complaints of abuse mount at America’s oldest detention center (AP)

• Trump says Xi called him, lays out trade and other deal plans in Time interview (Reuters)

• Hegseth’s chief of staff exits amid Pentagon turmoil (WP)

• Pentagon leadership vacuum overwhelms Hegseth’s office: ‘It’s a free-for-all’ (Politico)

• What Elon Musk Didn’t Budget For: Firing Workers Costs Money, Too (NYT)

• Elon Musk leaves legacy of self-destruction at DOGE (Axios)

• Top CEOs Sound Alarm on Trump’s Unpredictable Trade Policies (WSJ)

• Retail sales see biggest rise for nearly four years (BBC)

• Consumer sentiment plunges 8% (CNN)

• Trump administration reverses abrupt terminations of foreign students’ U.S. visa registrations (Politico)

• What happens if Trump doesn’t obey court orders? New spotlight on U.S. marshals (LAT)

• RFK Jr.’s absurd statistic on the spike in chronic diseases in the U.S. (WP)

• Parents of kids with cancer fear GOP budget cuts could slash Medicaid (NBC)

• Hungary Says It Will Offer Free Fertility Treatments To Counter Population Decline (NPR)

• Could a $5,000 "baby bonus" convince Americans to have more kids? Here's what the data shows. (CBS)

• They say they want Americans to have more babies. What's beneath the surface? (NPR)

• George Santos sentenced to over 7 years in prison for fraud and identity theft (AP)

• A developing political scandal in Florida has Gov. Ron DeSantis on the defensive (NPR)

• Oklahoma Is Asking the Supreme Court to Ignore History (Atlantic)

• UN food agency says its food stocks in Gaza have run out under Israel’s blockade (AP)

• OpenAI seeks to make its upcoming ‘open’ AI model best-in-class (TechCrunch)

• If A.I. Systems Become Conscious, Should They Have Rights? (NYT)

• NASA Announces Moon Will Be Leaving Earth’s Orbit To Take On New Position With Bigger Planet (The Onion)

Tracking the Plan

To a remarkable degree, the moves Trump has made to date have followed the blueprint laid out in the notorious Project 2025. You can read analyses of this plan by the BBC, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, and the American Prospect by clicking on these links:

Project 2025: The right-wing wish list for Trump's second term (BBC)

Project 2025: The Far-Right Playbook for American Authoritarianism (GPAHE)

Project 2025: Exposing the Far-Right Assault on America (American Prospect)

So what comes next?Reporting in the Atlantic, David A. Graham predicts two of the next areas of focus for the Trump administration, based on a close reading of Project 2025:

(1) Eliminating all climate change policy to free up fossil fuel exploitation on federal lands, or in Trump parlance, “Drill, baby, drill!” — “Already, the Defense Department has canceled climate work, NASA has fired its chief scientist, NOAA has laid off hundreds of workers, and the EPA has plans to fire hundreds more, but even these steep cuts are likely only the start. Earlier this month, Politico reported on an Office of Management and Budget memo proposing an evisceration of NOAA that closely mirrors Project 2025’s proposals. Unlike some on the right, Project 2025 doesn’t treat climate change as a hoax, but it does view these programs as an impediment to the unfettered exploitation of fossil fuels, especially on federal land, that they want.”

(2) ‘The second is a more organized campaign to promote conservative gender norms, traditional families, and Christian morality. Trump has already moved to limit transgender rights, but the Project 2025 agenda is much wider, aiming to return the United States to a country of married families with male breadwinners and female caregivers…They want to revoke federal approval for abortion drugs and criminalize mailing them, and they envision wide-ranging federal surveillance of abortion at the state level. To bolster traditional families, they want to pay caregivers to remain at home, nudge single fathers toward marriage, and restructure welfare programs to reward married couples. Taken together, these moves will try to replicate an idealized vision of pre–Roe v. Wade America.“

Links for action:

Contact your Congressional representatives about Project 2025 in the House or the Senate.

HEADLINES: 

• The Project 2025 Presidency — The blueprint for Trump 2.0 predicted much of what we’ve seen so far—and much of what’s to come. (Atlantic)

• Judge blocks parts of Trump’s overhaul of US elections, including proof-of-citizenship requirement (AP)

• Who will stop Donald Trump’s drive for unchecked power? (Economist)

• Trump Is Attempting to Use Wartime Powers in the United States (Atlantic)

• In Trump’s legal world, the president is always right (CNN)

• Trump Is a Weak and Failing President. Treat Him that Way. (TNR)

• Trump’s Approval Rating Has Been Falling Steadily, Polling Average Shows (NYT)

• Mexico moves to ban Noem ads on illegal migration (WP)

• The Supreme Court’s ‘Selective Proceduralism’ Would Suffocate the Constitution (Atlantic)

• Russian general killed in car blast just outside Moscow ahead of Witkoff-Putin meeting (CNN)

• In rare criticism of Putin, Trump urges the Russian leader to ‘STOP!’ after a deadly attack on Kyiv (AP)

• Trump’s Plan to Sell Out Ukraine to Russia (Atlantic)

• It's not just Abrego Garcia. Another judge ordered another man's return from El Salvador. (MSNBC)

• Trump orders changes to civil rights rules, college accreditation (WP)

• Pakistan suspends visas for Indians after deadly Kashmir attack on tourists (BBC)

• China stands firm in trade war: There are no talks, U.S. should move first (Axios)

• As Trump softens his tone on the trade war, China refuses to budge (WP)

• Google broke the law. It’s time to break up the company (Guardian)

• Mark Zuckerberg Says Social Media Is Over (New Yorker)

• Nearly 100 days into what Trump and Elon Musk have called a mission to make the federal bureaucracy more efficient, Reuters found 20 instances where the staff and funding cuts led to purchasing bottlenecks and increased costs; longer public wait times; higher-paid civil servants filling in menial jobs, and a brain drain of scientific and technological talent. (Reuters)

• More members of President Donald Trump's cabinet will likely move to rein in Department of Government Efficiency employees after Musk takes a step back. [HuffPost]

• Musk had a White House shouting match with the nation’s top financial official. It came ahead of Musk’s decision to scale back his government work. (WP)

• Musk forced back to the boardroom as Doge ‘blowback’ pummels Tesla (Financial Times)

• Steve Bannon Rips DOGE's Accounting—'None of This Makes Sense' (Newsweek)

• Airlines’ Muddy Outlook Sparks Anxiety Across Travel Industry (WSJ)

• California economy now the world’s fourth-largest, overtaking Japan (LAT)

• “Periodic table of machine learning” could fuel AI discovery (MIT)

• Google AI is now hallucinating idioms — these are the 5 most hilarious we found (Tom’s Guide)

• Financial Experts Recommend Diversifying Portfolio With Multiple Harebrained Schemes (The Onion)

 

New Election Meddling

Almost lost in the coverage of his other predations, Donald Trump continues to mess with the U.S. electoral process. As reported by the AP, Trump is by executive order pressuring an obscure federal agency to force new proof-of-citizenship rules on the states.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission was created by a bipartisan coalition in Congress following the disputed 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

What this appears to be is a blatant attempt by Trump to suppress the vote in communities that traditionally vote Democratic. It would therefore be a partisan political maneuver that will ultimately have to be decided by the courts.

According to the AP, “Trump’s executive order has prompted lawsuits by voting rights groups, the Democratic Party and Democratic elected officials in 21 states. They say the president is exceeding his authority under the Constitution.”

The election commission is set to meet today for the first time since Trump’s executive order.

HEADLINES: 

• A little-known federal agency is at the center of Trump's executive order to overhaul US elections (AP)

• The Mexican President Who’s Facing Off with Trump (New Yorker)

• Trump says Zelenskyy is prolonging war in Ukraine by resisting calls to cede Crimea to Russia (AP)

• White House Considers Slashing China Tariffs to De-Escalate Trade War (WSJ)

• Top aides urged Trump to dial back attacks on Fed chief after markets slid (WP)

• Trump U-Turns on Powell, China Follow Dire Economic Warnings (Bloomberg)

• Americans sour on Trump's handling of the economy (Reuters)

• Trump’s inner circle mulls a divisive GOP issue: More taxes on millionaires (WP)

• Tesla’s Remarkably Bad Quarter Is Even Worse Than It Looks (Atlantic)

• When the Supreme Court Spoke With One Voice (NYT)

• Former Pentagon official on Hegseth turmoil: 'It looks like they actually broke the law' (NPR)

• Fears grow that Signal leaks make Pete Hegseth top espionage target (Guardian)

• Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting University Accreditors (WSJ)

• Harvard’s fight with the Trump administration is just getting started. The cost is already high (CNN)

• Can Harvard Withstand Trump’s Financial Attack? (NYT)

• Boeing Will Stop Making Jets for China if Airlines Won’t Accept Planes, CEO Says (WSJ)

• Good Job, MAHA (Atlantic)

• Trump cuts threaten free vaccine program for kids amid measles outbreak (Reuters)

• Top GOP Senator Asks RFK Jr. To Reverse Cuts At Miner Safety Agency (HuffPost)

• HHS Plans to Cut the National Suicide Hotline’s Program for LGBTQ Youth (Mother Jones)

• ‘60 Minutes’ chief producer resigns, citing loss of journalistic freedom (WP)

• Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Dismantle Voice of America (NYT)

• Trump Laid Off Nearly All the Federal Workers Who Investigate Firefighter Deaths (ProPublica)

• Global coral bleaching has now hit 84% of ocean’s reefs (AP)

• Wild chimps indulge in booze-fueled feasts, rare video shows (WP)

• The false climate solution that just won’t die (Vox)

• Trump’s Christian Nationalist Twenty-First Century Inquisition (Daily Kos)

• At Meta’s Landmark Trial, a Stroll Through a Graveyard of Dead Apps (NYT)

• Microsoft just launched powerful AI ‘agents’ that could completely transform your workday — and challenge Google’s workplace dominance (VentureBeat)

• Bear Season Begins (Durango Local News Network)

• Trump Opens Up Nation’s Aquariums To Commercial Fishing (The Onion)

 

Money Still Talks

When it comes to chaos, even Trump has his limits.

One operative headline in the Wall Street Journal yesterday read like a sports report, “Tesla Profit Sinks, Hurt by Backlash Over Elon Musk’s Political Role.” The dropdeck told the rest: “CEO says he will spend significantly less time on DOGE starting in May; electric-vehicle maker’s net income falls 71%.”

For weeks, rumors coming out of the White House have had Musk cutting back on his role in the Trump administration; yesterday Musk finally confirmed it.

The main issue troubling Musk is Trump’s tariff policy. He’s been open in opposing it from the start and has been dismissive of the main policy architect, Peter Navarro, calling him a “moron.” 

Another big story yesterday, as reported by CNBC, “Trump says he has ‘no intention’ of firing Fed Chair Powell.” That had the effect of calming the traumatized stock and bond markets. 

In combination, these stories represent a major retreat for Trump. His tariff policy is largely on hold, Musk’s advisory role is diminishing, and the Fed will remain independent, for now.

So the money has spoken and Trump had to listen. For now.

(Thanks to Leslie for help with today’s roster of headlines.)

Leslie’s Links:

• U.S. proposes recognizing Crimea as Russian ahead of new round of talks (WP)

• The Market Is Discovering Trump May Be Crazy (Bulwark)

• The Force That Holds Trump's Coalition Together (Atlantic)

• Gov. Ferguson signs bill restricting out-of-state military forces in Washington (KATU)

• The Art of the F*ckup (Bulwark)

• Judge orders Trump administration to restore Voice of America (The Hill)

• Clinics begin closing as Trump admin continues freeze on family planning funds (Politico)

• Politically Connected Firms Benefit From Trump Tariff Exemptions Amid Secrecy, Confusion (ProPublica)

• US FDA suspends milk quality tests amid workforce cuts (Reuters)

• Dow Headed for Worst April Since 1932 as Investors Send ‘No Confidence’ Signal (WSJ)

• Al Gore draws parallels between Trump 2.0 and early Nazi Germany in speech (Guardian)

• Pete Hegseth's Pentagon Crisis Is So Much Worse Than You Think (Daily Beast)

• Under Hegseth, Chaos Prevails at the Pentagon (NYT)

• Woodward: Hegseth ‘radiates unseriousness’ (The Hill)

• Te Hegseth Pentagon Chronicles (WSJ)

David’s Links:

• A Ticking Clock on American Freedom (Atlantic)

• Hegseth lashes out at alleged Pentagon leakers he claims want to 'sabotage' Trump's agenda (ABC)

• Pete Hegseth, isolated and defiant, has Trump’s backing for now (WP)

• Transcript: Don Jr. and MAGA Erupt as GOPers Start Turning on Hegseth (TNR)

• Supreme Court weighs who should decide public school curriculum: Judges or school boards? (NPR)

• If Trump wants rate cuts, he would likely need to replace the Fed’s full board along with Powell (CNBC)

• Rubio unveils sweeping reorganization of State Department (WP)

• The Rise and Fall of Great-Power Competition (Foreign Affairs)

• Who Really Runs America? (Atlantic)

• Trump's public approval rating edged down to its lowest level since his return to the White House, as Americans showed signs of wariness over his efforts to broaden his power, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. We look at how Trump moved swiftly to punish perceived foes in his first 100 days. (Reuters)

• India vows ‘very loud response’ to deadly Kashmir attack (Financial Times)

• Vance visit: What’s at stake for India-US trade amid Trump tariff threat? (Al Jazeera)

• Did the Supreme Court Just Grow a Spine? (The Nation)

• More Democratic lawmakers are visiting El Salvador on Abrego Garcia’s behalf (AP)

• Europeans outlined non-negotiable issues to US for Ukraine-Russia peace deal, French minister says (Reuters)

• China rolls out plan to promote its own payment system as US trade war simmers (South China Morning Post)

• Francis’s legacy could be shaped by his successor (WP)

• An old Italian saying warns: "He who enters a conclave as a pope, leaves it as a cardinal". Here are some candidateswho are being talked about. (Reuters)

• Draft executive order outlines plan to integrate AI into K-12 schools (WP)

• OpenAI Is Secretly Building a Social Network (Futurism)

• AI has grown beyond human knowledge, says Google's DeepMind unit (ZDNet)

• A columnist suggested dumping your AI lover. We asked AI to respond. (WP)

• Unpopular Pete Hegseth Forced To Drink Lunch Alone (The Onion)

MUSIC LINK: 

Vince Gill & Patty Loveless — My Kind of Woman/My Kind of Man — Live | 2024

The Tyrant Stumbles

In his first three moths in office, Trump has moved quickly on multiple fronts, issuing wave upon wave of executive orders and pursuing his War on Everybody.

He’s attempted to implement mass deportations of migrants, dismantle most agencies of the federal government, defund leading universities, attack Wokeism everywhere, and start a trade war with China, among many other initiatives.

And for a while there he seemed to be getting away with it.

But the first cracks in his illusion of power are starting to show. The courts are slowing his deportations, Elon Musk and DOGE have utterly failed to uncover the “waste, fraud and abuse” they said existed in federal agencies, Harvard is leading the resistance of universities, China is outwitting Trump on the global stage, and the stock market has virtually collapsed.

The White House is said to be ready to dump the hapless Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense in wake of his two Signalgate scandals; Musk is said to be readying his exit from DOGE, and mass demonstrations against Trump have broken out all across the country.

Al of this makes Trump angry, of course, and all the more dangerous. But his attempt to fight too many battles on too many fronts is beginning to look like a failed strategy.

Links for action:

Contact your Congressional representatives in the House or the Senate.

HEADLINES:

• The White House is looking to replace Pete Hegseth as defense secretary (NPR)

• Harvard sues Trump administration over funding freeze (Axios)

• ‘Full-blown meltdown’ at Pentagon after Hegseth’s second Signal chat revealed (Guardian)

• Trump warns of economic slowdown unless Fed cuts rates, triggering selloff (Reuters)

• Al Gore’s Real-Time Climate Data Just Went Live—Here’s Why It Matters (Forbes)

• Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes (NYT)

• How the deportation of a Salvadoran man has become a hinge point in US history (CNN)

• Venezuelan migrants were set for deportation without judicial review, lawyers tell US Supreme Court (Reuters)

• Trump Makes Fresh Threat Against Harvard as He Tries to Make It Cave (TNR)

• Trump’s Harvard fiasco underscores the White House’s incompetence crisis (MSNBC)

• The Cost of Defunding Harvard (New Yorker)

• The Worst Job in America (Atlantic)

• The federal ‘5 things’ emails have fallen apart, as Elon Musk readies exit (WP)

• Tesla bull calls ‘code red’ saying Musk needs to leave DOGE (Fortune)

• U.S. Asks Judge to Break Up Google (NYT)

• DOJ’s sweeping remedies would harm America’s economy and technological leadership (Google Blog)

• Hitler’s Terrible Tariffs — By seeking to “liberate” Germans from a globalized world order, the Nazi government sent the national economy careening backwards. (Atlantic)

• OpenAI’s Agent Moment; Cursor’s AI Hallucination (The Information)

• Pete Hegseth: ‘There Are No State Secrets In A Healthy Relationship’ (The Onion)

 

And So We Will

                                                                                  Alt- NPS

Nearly every person I know shares a pervasive sense of unease these days. It is not personal enough to be classified as paranoia, yet it is forces us to question our basic fitness to withstand what has become an unending onslaught on our basic sensibilities.

It is like chronic joint pain in that no matter how you position yourself, it just keeps hurting. A dull ache that we know may eventually become much, much worse.

There is dread, of course, about what the madman and his minions will do next. He is certainly a genius at doing things that make us angry. And scared, if not yet directly for our own welfare, at least for the welfare of others.

But that is what democracy is all about — our relationships with each other. So that when one of us is threatened, all are threatened. When one of us loses their freedom, none of us can be free.

So Trump has almost succeeded in taking away our ability to enjoy being alive and to cherish the blessings we have.

But only almost. We can still smile and cry and feel the way we feel. We can still love one another.

And we remain free to fight back, to stand up and say no. To join the nascent resistance.

So we will.

HEADLINES: 

• Pope Francis has died. What happens next? (Catholic News Agency)

• Trump deadline on Insurrection Act looms (WP)

• Alito’s dissent in deportation case says court rushed to block Trump with middle-of-the night order (AP)

• The Trump Billionaires Who Run the Economy and the Things They Say (NYT)

• Sen. Van Hollen says trip to El Salvador was about defending the right of due process, not ‘defending the man’ (CNBC)

• Trump claims unfettered presidential power on immigration (WP)

• Migrants Are Heading South (Atlantic)

• The Trump-Harvard showdown is the latest front in a long conservative war against academia (Guardian)

• Harvard Teaches U.S. Leaders a Valuable Lesson (Time)

• Losing International Students Could Devastate Many Colleges (NYT)

• Ousted Pentagon officials question leak investigation claims (Reuters)

• Republican senator backs Powell over Trump attacks on Fed (Financial Times)

• Midwestern city has long been a federal hub. The pain from DOGE’s cuts is everywhere (ABC)

• Power is being monopolised in Ukraine (Economist)

• Israeli military admits ‘professional failures’ over Gaza paramedic killings (Guardian)

• China's US envoy urges end to trade war, but warns Beijing ready to fight (Reuters)

• Scientists discover surprising predator that could replace toxic pesticides: 'We hope to ... complement other control methods' (Yahoo)

• An AI Customer Service Chatbot Made Up a Company Policy—and Created a Mess (Wired)

• Famed AI researcher launches controversial startup to replace all human workers everywhere (TechCrunch)

• ‘Show Me Where You Make Autism!’ Shouts RFK Jr., Storming Sour Patch Kids Factory (The Onion)

 

Cashing in Memories

 

The other night at about 11:30 I got a text message from another part of the house —it turns out we suddenly had a “tooth fairy situation” on our hands. Did I happen to have any cash? 

I checked my wallet but sometime during the epidemic I had stopped carrying cash. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but everything I bought was online and my credit cards, PayPal, Venmo or Cash App became the only options.

For decades before that I had always kept cash on hand, partly due to the lingering influence of my Scottish grandparents plus my general disdain of credit as a way of financing life’s desires.

In any event, as I rummaged through my possessions. hoping I’d locate a secret stash of dollar bills for the tooth fairy, I came instead upon an old wooden box crafted by my great grandfather in Scotland in the 1880s.

My grandfather had given it to me when I was a boy and I’d used it to save old coins people gave me as payment for their newspaper subscriptions in my years working as a paperboy.

Inside it were nickels with buffalos and dimes with the Statue of Liberty and aluminum pennies from World War Two. There were old fashioned quarters and silver dollars from the 1920s — coins almost never seen now but still common in my youth. They constituted by boyhood treasure.

Then I spied several folded up bills at the bottom of the box. These turned out to be Francs and Reichsmarks from the 1940s. They were collected by my father at the end of the war when he was in Europe for the one and only time in his life.

As I was fingering these old wrinkled bills, I was struck by how often the tiny things we rediscover later in life unlock memories.

Those bills were once my Dad’s. I recall his stories of postwar life in Europe, as well as his old uniform I’d dress up in at a vastly simpler time of my life.

Maybe I even miss the days when the tooth fairy came for me.

Oh yeah — the tooth fairy! I almost forgot. As it turned out, my old money was not needed this time around because some spare change turned up elsewhere in the house, giving this present-day story its own happy ending.

(I first published this last year.)

HEADLINES: 

• Nationwide protests rally against Trump administration’s policies (WP)

• The Supreme Court signals it might be losing patience with Trump (Vox)

• America’s Future Is Hungary (Atlantic)

• RFK Jr. Knows Amazingly Little About Autism (Mother Jones)

• U.S.-Iran nuclear talks held in Rome as Trump backs diplomacy over strike (Axios)

• Iran Says Talks With U.S. to Continue After ‘Positive’ Meeting (WSJ)

• What Is Lost When We Scare Away Foreign Students (NYT)

• Nearly 300 scientists apply for French academic program amid Trump cuts in U.S. (NPR)

• US senator says 'traumatised' man deported to El Salvador moved to new prison (BBC)

• White House Officials Say They Sent Harvard April 11 Demands in Error (Harvard Crimson)

• Pentagon turmoil deepens: Top Hegseth aide leaves post (Politico)

• Google is in more danger than ever of being broken up (Verge)

• OpenAI's new reasoning AI models hallucinate more (TechCrunch)

• U.S. Chipmakers Fear They Are Ceding China’s A.I. Market to Huawei (NYT)

• Underfunded Schools Forced To Cut Past Tense From Language Programs (The Onion)