AOC Rips “Tyrannical and Un-American” Arrest of Mahmoud Khalil  —  Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex condemned ICE's detainment of Mahmoud Khalil, calling it a “tyrannical” move.  —  “Violating rule of law, actually,” AOC wrote on Monday, responding to an assertion from Katie Miller …

White House downplays economic ‘blips’ as stock market tumbles  —  The sell-off comes amid economic uncertainty and after President Donald Trump declined to rule out the possibility of a recession.  —  President Donald Trump's senior advisers downplayed fresh economic turbulence Monday …

Health Update  —  With a heavy heart, I have to tell you that after a long battle with cancer my husband Kevin Drum passed away on Friday, March 7, 2025.  —  No public memorial services are planned.  —  In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity or political cause of your choice.

Top ‘Washington Post’ columnist resigns, accusing publisher of killing piece  —  A top political columnist for The Washington Post resigned today, accusing Post chief executive and publisher Will Lewis of killing her column that criticized owner Jeff Bezos's drive to overhaul the opinion pages to focus on his libertarian priorities.

Tesla Shares Plunge as Musk's Political Role Grows More Divisive  —  The automaker's shares soared after Election Day as Elon Musk took a high-profile role as a Trump adviser.  Now those gains have evaporated.  —  Tesla shares plunged on Monday, hitting their lowest point since before Election Day …

Firm Targeted by Trump Over Clinton Campaign Work Hires Top Litigators  —  President Trump stripped Perkins Coie of access to federal buildings and personnel, citing its work for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.  The firm hired Williams & Connolly, which is skilled in fighting the government, to represent it.

Mike Johnson's chief of staff slurred speech and had trouble standing during DUI arrest, police say  —  Hayden Haynes, chief of staff to House Speaker Mike Johnson, slurred his speech and was “staggering” when shortly before Capitol Police arrested him after Trump's speech at the Capitol last week …

At SXSW, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber pokes fun at Mark Zuckerberg with Latin phrase T-shirt  —  When Bluesky CEO Jay Graber walked on stage at SXSW 2025 for her keynote discussion, she wore a large black T-shirt with her hair pulled back into a bun.  At first glance, it might appear …

Billionaires at Trump's Swearing-In Have Since Lost $210 Billion … As Donald Trump took the oath of office on Jan. 20, he was flanked by some of the world's wealthiest people.  The billionaires present that day — including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg — had never been richer …

X down: Twitter not working amid major outage  —  Your support helps us to tell the story  —  From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing.  Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC …

Over texts and ‘eyeball to eyeball,’ Republicans succeed in persuading Musk.  But Democrats hit dead ends  —  When a multi-million federal grant program for dairy businesses was shut down earlier this month in line with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency push to downsize the government …

Deleted tweets show top State Department official spread false rumor about Rubio's sexuality, called him ‘low IQ’  —  A top acting State Department official deleted at least half a dozen tweets that ridiculed his now boss, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, including ones calling him “low IQ” …

Without Offering Proof, Kennedy Links Measles Outbreak to Poor Diet and Health  —  In a recent interview, the health secretary also suggested that the measles vaccine had harmed children in West Texas, center of an outbreak.  —  In a sweeping interview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. …

Will Dems Pick Up Their Sword? … (Ed. Note: I go into a lot of detail below.  The bottom line is Democrats have about 48 hours to convince D senators to clip Elon's wings.  It's still totally doable.  But it has to happen in the next 48 hours.)  —  We're now down to the wire with the so-called “continuing resolution” fight.

NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake  —  The order covers more than 40 awards to researchers around the country seeking to understand why vaccine acceptance has declined.  —  The National Institutes of Health will cancel or cut back dozens of grants …

Ukraine Must Cede Territory in Any Peace Deal, Rubio Says  —  The secretary of state, heading to talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia, said future talks with Moscow will be needed to determine what Russia is willing to give up to end the war.  —  Secretary of State Marco Rubio …

Trump's Jan. 6 pardon doesn't cover rioter's plot to kill FBI agents, judge rules  —  A federal judge ruled that Jan. 6 rioter Edward Kelley's actions after his initial arrest were “separated from the defendant's conduct in the D.C. Case by years and miles.”

Musk Blames a ‘Massive Cyberattack’ on X for Series of Outages … Elon Musk blamed widespread disruptions on his social media platform X on a “massive cyberattack,” which he speculated was orchestrated by a “large, coordinated group” or country.  —  Tens of thousands of users globally …

Texas bill would make identifying as transgender a felony punishable by jail  —  The bill, while unlikely to pass, highlights the increasing extremism of legislation targeting trans people, especially in Texas, in recent years.  —  A Texas state bill could charge transgender people with …

Trump's Call to Scrap ‘Horrible’ Chip Program Spreads Panic  —  The president's attack on the key tenet of the Biden administration's industrial policy has set off concerns that he may claw back its funding.  —  As President Trump addressed Congress last week, he veered off script to attack …

The two big questions looming over the shutdown fight: From the Politics Desk  —  Plus, the stock market takes a tumble.  And previewing the Rubio-Zelenskyy summit.  —  By The Politics Desk … The two big questions looming over the shutdown fight  —  Stop me if you've heard this one before …

Former Social Security official describes hostile takeover by Musk team  —  DOGE officials also put millions of taxpayers' private data at risk and refused to say why they needed access to it, the official says.  —  Just now  —  They came in aggressively, a former official …

Trump-appointed judge quits judicial group over warning about threats  —  A prominent conservative U.S. appeals court judge resigned from the largest association of federal judges over its decision to speak out against a rise in criticism, threats and violence directed at the judiciary …

DOGE hunts for ‘wins’ amid tensions with Trump administration, backlash  —  As turmoil spills into public view, Elon Musk's DOGE is racing to finish slashing federal bureaucracy and move on to the more constructive work of building digital tools for the government.

Trans punk star Laura Jane Grace sings at Bernie Sanders rally, infuriating right-wingers  —  Trans punk rock star Laura Jane Grace made a surprise appearance at a Bernie Sanders rally recently, infuriating the usual anti-trans, right-wing brigade who were quick to take to social media to denounce her performance.