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What's next for Waltz and Hegseth — With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine — Good Thursday morning. This is Jack Blanchard, already excited for my first cup of tea with Marjorie Taylor Greene. — More importantly ... This is my first Opening Day and the forecast looks great.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, New Jersey Online, Raw Story, The Hill, Mediaite and Axios
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Bondi Indicates Signal Chat Episode Will Not Be Criminally Investigated — The attorney general said the focus should be on the success of the U.S. military strike in Yemen, not that military information was shared in advance in a group text among top officials.
Discussion:
NBC News, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, New Jersey Online, Daring Fireball, Forbes, UPI and Variety


Private Data and Passwords of Senior U.S. Security Officials Found Online — Donald Trump's most important security advisers used Signal to discuss an imminent military strike. Now, reporting by DER SPIEGEL has found that the contact data of some of those officials, including mobile phone numbers …


Trump changes his tune on Signalgate: ‘I always thought it was Mike’
Discussion:
Axios, Fox News, 19FortyFive, The Independent, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Hill, Washington Examiner, PoliticusUSA, Washington Times, CBS News, ABC News and The Gateway Pundit

Signalgate scrambles MAGA's messaging machine
Discussion:
The Independent, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, ABC17NEWS and HuffPost

What the lack of consequences for the Signal scandal means
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, New York Daily News and Democrats

Signalgate: A crack in the facade?
Discussion:
The Guardian and The Hill

‘Somebody has to go down’: Trump allies take aim at Michael Waltz
Discussion:
The Bulwark, New Republic, 77 WABC, LewRockwell, New York Times, CBS News, Vanity Fair, Politico and 19FortyFive

Experts Call Use of Signal ‘Unbelievably Poor’ Security Practice
Discussion:
KTVZ-TV, TechCrunch, The Floridian, Washington Examiner, Forbes, Breitbart, Deseret News, Washington Times, RTÉ, Baltimore Sun, PBS NewsHour, The Hill, The Independent, NBC News, Bloomberg, HuffPost and USA Today, more at Techmeme »

The Five Scandals (and One Fascinating Political Insight) of Signalgate
Discussion:
Glamour, 19FortyFive, The Guardian, Raw Story, Salon, Business Insider, Wired and The Independent, more at Techmeme »

Trump officials downplay the Signal leak. Some military members see a double standard
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Hill and The Guardian


RFK Jr. Plans 10,000 Job Cuts in Major Restructuring of Health Department — Changes would reshape the nation's health agencies and close regional offices — WASHINGTON—Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to significantly cut the size of the department he leads …
Discussion:
CNBC, CBS News, Axios, Associated Press, Business Insider, The Guardian, New Republic, STAT, Washington Post, Semafor, Forbes and KTVZ-TV
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RFK Jr. announces big cuts to Department of Health and Human Services — In all, the agency will cut 20,000 positions, half of them through layoffs. — The Department of Health and Human Services is cutting nearly a quarter of its workforce and consolidating several of its departments …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, New York Post and Los Angeles Times


HHS cuts 10,000 employees in major overhaul of health agencies
Discussion:
NPR, Fox News, ABC News, UPI, The Hill, Townhall, One America News Network, Forbes, Associated Press and IJR

10,000 Federal Health Dept. Workers to Be Laid Off
Discussion:
Reuters, New York Times, Associated Press, Politico, Roll Call, USA Today, Bloomberg, Scripps News, The National Pulse, Baltimore Sun and STAT


UA student reportedly detained by ICE — Senior send-off: Sarah Ashlee Barker's storied college career coming to an end — Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn ejected in 9-2 loss over Tennessee — City Council approves business alcohol license despite concerns
Discussion:
CBS News, The Hill, New York Times, New York Post, UPI, Raw Story and al.com
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Turkish student at Tufts University detained, video shows masked people handcuffing her
Discussion:
The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Slate, The Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, The Independent, Fox News, CBS News, Not the Bee, Mediaite, ABC17NEWS, masslive.com, Wall Street Journal, Twitchy, Rolling Stone, JURIST, The Guardian, Drezner's World, Al Jazeera, WBUR, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Long Nineteenth Century, Boston Herald, USA Today, fix your hearts or die, New York Times, Axios, New Republic, The Handbasket, New York Daily News, We're all fine here now and GBH

US immigration officials detain doctoral student at University of Alabama
Discussion:
CNN, The Independent and Reuters


Airline Demand Between Canada & United States Collapses, Down 70%+ — Recently, I wrote about how we're seeing a general softening of demand for travel to the United States, for a variety of reasons. There's no denying that the most contentious situation is between Canada and the United States …
Discussion:
Flight Database & Statistics
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Flight bookings between Canada and US down 70% amid Trump tariff war — Airline capacity between two countries reduced through October 2025 as high-profile incidents of Ice arrests on rise — Airline travel between Canada and the US is “collapsing” amid Donald Trump's tariff war …
Discussion:
Fortune


Elon Musk pressured Reddit's CEO on content moderation — Reddit took action after Musk messaged CEO Steve Huffman about users blocking X links and threatening DOGE staffers. … Nearly two months ago, Elon Musk went on a public crusade against Reddit. — On X, he said it was “insane” …


Trump's hopeless tariffs confusion, explained by a historian — “The president seems to believe he can impose prohibitively high tariffs *and* collect revenue, which you can't do.” — ∙ Paid … 📸 — At the White House yesterday, Donald Trump announced he's imposing a 25 percent tariff on all imported cars.
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Exclusive: Trump's “pro-Hamas” purge could block foreign students from colleges — The Trump administration is discussing plans to try to block certain colleges from having any foreign students if it decides too many are “pro-Hamas,” senior Justice and State Department officials tell Axios.
Discussion:
The Independent, Al Jazeera, Quartz, The Forward, LAist and WPR


For many, proving U.S. citizenship to vote could be costly and difficult — A passport might be the most realistic option for the vast majority of Americans to prove citizenship to vote if Trump's executive order were enforced. — Millions of Americans could be prevented from voting …
Discussion:
Bloomberg and The Maine Wire
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Trump Is Taking the Law Into His Own Hands
Discussion:
Radio Iowa, Althouse, The Hill and The Daily Signal

Trump's executive order on elections is a blatant power grab
Discussion:
Fox News, Washington Monthly, Plain Dealer, CBS News, Piñon Post, Chicago Tribune, Fair Fight, New York Times, New Mexico Political Report, The Daily Caller, Baltimore Sun, Israpundit, ABC News, The Federalist, Justin's Political Corner, The Independent, Al Jazeera, Democracy Docket, The Contrarian and Associated Press


Andrew Tate accused of violently attacking girlfriend during sex — Andrew Tate, the right-wing influencer who's accused of rape and sex trafficking in Romania, allegedly attacked one of his girlfriends while they were having sex in Los Angeles earlier this month.
Discussion:
Mediaite, TMZ.com, The US Sun, Lawyer Monthly and The Daily Caller


Kari Lake withdraws cancellation of Radio Free Europe funding — U.S. Agency for Global Media senior adviser Kari Lake withdrew the Trump administration's cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's funding on Wednesday after a court granted the news organization a temporary restraining order.
Discussion:
The Contrarian, The Hill, NPR, New Republic, The Independent, Raw Story, The Kyiv Independent, New York Times and Politico, more at Mediagazer »


Mike Waltz Left His Venmo Friends List Public — A WIRED review shows national security adviser Mike Waltz, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and other top officials left sensitive information exposed via Venmo—until WIRED asked about it. — A Venmo account under the name …
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Elise Stefanik's nomination to be U.N. ambassador in jeopardy, sources say — Washington — Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik's nomination for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is in jeopardy as GOP pressure mounts for her to back away from the position. — Multiple sources told CBS News …
Discussion:
The Hill, USA Today and israelhayom.com


New York County Clerk Blocks Texas Court Filing Against Doctor Over Abortion Pills — The showdown catapults the interstate abortion wars to a new level. — A New York county clerk on Thursday blocked Texas from filing a legal action against a New York doctor for prescribing and sending abortion pills to a Texas woman.


The Worst Thing a MAGA Warrior Can Do — The response to Signalgate reveals a disjuncture between the seriousness with which MAGA treats foreign enemies and perceived domestic ones. — One might think the Trump administration and its supporters would be dismayed to learn …
Discussion:
The Guardian and KTVZ-TV


Top MS-13 leader arrested in Virginia — Authorities made the arrest just south of Washington, DC — U.S. authorities have captured the MS-13 top leader for the U.S. East Coast, the FBI announced on Thursday. — Officials captured the 24-year-old suspect in Woodbridge, Virginia …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Hill, USA Today, HotAir, Washington Examiner, Blaze Media, Baltimore Sun, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, One America News Network, WTTG-TV, KTVZ-TV, The Post Millennial, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Daily Signal, Twitchy, New York Post, Ace of Spades HQ, RedState, WUSA, Daily Mail, The US Sun, IJR, The National Pulse, NewsNation and Not the Bee


The White House Protests on Signal — Steve Witkoff explains his security protocols while in Russia. — The White House won't let bad enough alone when it comes to the Signal app fiasco. This includes blaming the press and trying to suggest that nothing sensitive was on the chat …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner


Consumer Bureau Seeks to Undo Settlement and Repay Mortgage Lender — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to return a $105,000 penalty it collected last fall when it resolved a discrimination lawsuit. — Under President Trump, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau …
Discussion:
The Washington Free Beacon


Transcript: Trump “Frustrated” at Text Fiasco as Hegseth Spin Implodes — The following is a lightly edited transcript of the March 27 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here. — Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR network.
Discussion:
Politico


Exclusive: US suspends financial contributions to WTO, trade sources say — The United States has paused contributions to the World Trade Organization, three trade sources told Reuters, as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration ramps up efforts to cut government spending.