Top Items:


Republicans reel as Dem over-performances hit a swing state and MAGA country — Democrats clinched a landslide victory in Wisconsin and made inroads in two deep-red Florida districts, spelling trouble for Republicans. — Republicans emerged from Tuesday's elections on shaky footing.
Discussion:
Democracy Docket, NBC News, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Louder With Crowder, Twitchy, Raw Story and NOTUS
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A Wakeup Call in Wisconsin — Democrats have done well in special elections since Donald Trump's inauguration, but until this week we hadn't had any statewide contests to really assess how the administration's radical reshaping of U.S. government was landing with the public.
Discussion:
Fox News, New York Magazine, Bloomberg, Christian Science Monitor and Politico


The MAGA Backlash Arrives — Republicans hold two Florida House seats despite a sharp swing to the Democrats, but Democrats easily keep their Wisconsin Supreme Court majority. — Democrats solidified their 4-3 progressive majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday, and the ramifications are nationwide.
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Hill, New Jersey Online, Mediaite, Raw Story, Mercury News, The Independent, USA Today, The National Pulse, Fox News, NBC News, Daily Kos and CBS News


Liberal Wins Wisconsin Court Race, Despite Musk's Millions — Susan Crawford defeated Brad Schimel for a State Supreme Court seat in a race that shattered spending records and maintained a liberal majority on the court. — Susan Crawford, the liberal candidate for a pivotal seat …
Discussion:
CNN, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Musk Watch, Associated Press, The Hill, The Message Box, Washington Times, Fox News, GZERO, The Downballot, The Guardian, The Federalist, Blaze Media, Twitchy, Semafor, Roll Call, The Independent, Wausau, Axios, Twin Cities, RedState, The Post Millennial, Mediaite, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, USA Today, The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali, WisPolitics and The Daily Wire

Musk said Wisconsin would decide the fate of Western civilization. Now he says he ‘expected to lose.’
Discussion:
New Republic, Newsweek, New Jersey Online, Al Jazeera, Portal, Twin Cities and WisPolitics

Bice: Elon Musk group removes video from $1M winner after she says she got money to ‘vote’
Discussion:
Associated Press, emptywheel and Forbes

Wisconsin supreme court race: liberal Susan Crawford beats Musk-backed candidate
Discussion:
The Hill, NPR, The 19th, The Independent, USA Today, The Law and Policy Blog, Twitchy, UPI, PinkNews, Deadline, NOTUS, Vox, New York Times, Raw Story and Axios

A message to Musk — With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine — Embed:
Discussion:
National Review and NOTUS


Stop Looking for Methods in the Madness — From Apocalypse Now: … Today, according to Trump and co., is Liberation Day — the day Trump will announce big new tariffs on top of the substantial tariffs he's already slapped on steel, aluminum and autos. — Nobody knows much about the details …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal
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Trump Tariff Plans Still in Limbo Ahead of Rose Garden Event — President Donald Trump's deliberations over his plans to impose reciprocal tariffs are coming down to the wire, with his team said to be still finalizing the level and scope of new import taxes he is slated to unveil on Wednesday afternoon.
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, The Hill, Forbes, Fortune, Washington Post, CBS News, Townhall, ABC News, NewsNation, New York Post, Fox News, Washington Times, Chicago Tribune, GZERO, Semafor and Politico


Trump to escalate global trade tensions with new reciprocal tariffs on US trading partners
Discussion:
Axios, Bloomberg, The Guardian, American Prospect, CNN, Associated Press, PolitiFact, New York Times, USA Today, Wausau, Slate, “Relentless” Newsletter, El País, NPR, d2176, CBS News and Quartz


Val Kilmer, Film Star Who Played Batman and Jim Morrison, Dies at 65 — A wide-ranging leading man who earned critical praise, he was known to be charismatic but unpredictable. At one point he dropped out of Hollywood for a decade. — Val Kilmer, a homegrown Hollywood actor …
Discussion:
Associated Press, CBS News, Variety, The Colorado Sun, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair, Us Weekly, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, Consequence, The Wrap, Daily Mail, WKRG News 5, The Post Millennial, Gizmodo, Hollywood in Toto, Hollywood Life, Fox News, Rolling Stone, KTVZ-TV, El País, IndieWire, GQ, TVLine, Breitbart and Wausau


Frank Luntz: Booker marathon speech ‘may have changed the course of political history’ — Longtime GOP pollster Frank Luntz said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) “may have changed the course of political history” with his marathon speech breaking the Senate's record for the longest floor speech in its history.
Discussion:
USA Today, The Guardian, Senate Democratic Leadership, Raw Story, Bloomberg and PoliticusUSA
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April 1, 2025 — Today Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) made history.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Letters from God, Al Jazeera, Roll Call, The Independent and CBS News

Cory Booker's 25-Hour Speech Was a Stunt. It Worked.
Discussion:
New York Times, Scripps News, Deadline, Time, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Guardian, Hollywood Life, Twitchy, ABC News, TMZ.com, Washington Examiner, Axios, Vox, CBS News, Semafor and New York Post


Costa Rican former President Oscar Arias says US revoked his visa — Former Costa Rican President and Nobel Prize winner Oscar Arias said on Tuesday that the U.S. had revoked his visa to enter the country, weeks after he criticized U.S. President Donald Trump on social media saying he was behaving like “a Roman emperor.”
Discussion:
New York Times and Axios


Hunter Biden tax informant set to control IRS criminal division — The Trump administration has placed a political appointee in charge of tax investigations, in a break with longtime precedent. — Just now — The Trump administration is amassing influence over criminal investigations at the IRS …
Discussion:
Tax Notes


Inside Trump and RFK Jr.'s Health Agency ‘Bloodbath’ — Current and former staffers say that after thousands of people were laid off, the future of agencies like the CDC and FDA are uncertain: ‘Shitshow is an understatement’ — The Trump administration gutted federal health agencies on Tuesday morning …
Discussion:
ABC News
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Adam Schiff places hold on Ed Martin's nomination to be D.C. U.S. attorney — President Trump's controversial choice to be the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., Ed Martin, faces an uncertain future, as a Senate Democrat plans to put an indefinite hold on his nomination.
Discussion:
Senator Schiff, The Hill, Politico, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit
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White House studying cost of Greenland takeover, long in Trump's sights — It's the most concrete effort yet to turn President Donald Trump's desire to acquire the Danish territory into actionable policy, despite widespread international outrage. — Just now
Discussion:
The Hill, Associated Press and HuffPost


No Tariff Exemptions for American Farmers — They voted for the tariffs when they voted for Trump. — American farmers are pleading for exemptions from President Donald Trump's tariffs. Republican members of Congress from farm states are working to deliver the relief farmers want.
Discussion:
Axios, OutsideTheBeltway, Raw Story, Marketplace, The Hill, Scripps News and Heatmap News


Tesla sales plunge: Biggest decline in history — Tesla sales plunged 13% in the first three months of this year, as the company reported the largest drop in deliveries in its history by far, amid backlash against CEO Elon Musk and as growing competition from other automakers' electric vehicles took …
Discussion:
New York Times, Reuters, The Hill, Daily Mail, Fox Business, Quartz, OutsideTheBeltway, TechCrunch, KTVZ-TV and Breitbart


Trump Tells Inner Circle That Musk Will Leave Soon — The president is pleased with Musk but the decision comes as the tech mogul increasingly looks like a political liability. — President Donald Trump has told his inner circle, including members of his Cabinet, that Elon Musk will be stepping …
Discussion:
HuffPost, more at Techmeme »


Can I Teach the First Amendment If I Only Have a Green Card? — Protections on free speech look weaker than they did when I became a permanent resident. — Starting this week, I once again have the privilege of teaching law students about the First Amendment, a subject in which Americans rightly take great pride.
Discussion:
Just Security, In These Times and Fortune
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NYC Mayor Eric Adams corruption case dismissed with prejudice, judge rules — New York City Mayor Eric Adams' historic federal corruption case has been dropped. — Judge Dale Ho has agreed to the U.S. Department of Justice's request to drop the charges against Adams, but he did so “with prejudice.”
Discussion:
CNBC, Fox News, CNN, New York Daily News, NPR, Washington Post, Axios, ABC News, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Reuters, USA Today, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, RedState, Breitbart, New York Times, One America News Network, New York Post, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Mediaite, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Independent, New Republic and The American Conservative
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Judge dismisses Eric Adams case, denying DOJ an opportunity to revive it later
Discussion:
The Hill, CBS News, UPI and New York Magazine


Tesla (TSLA) announces 336,681 deliveries, far worse than expected — Tesla (TSLA) has released its Q1 2025 production and delivery numbers. The automaker confirmed it delivered 336,681 electric vehicles during the first three months of the year — far below expectations.
Discussion:
CNBC, New York Post, The Verge, Wausau and Forbes


How the Trump administration took aim at Maine — Maine has faced investigations and arbitrary reversals of funding, turning it into a test case for the Trump administration's approach to perceived adversaries.


Supreme Court rules FDA properly rejected fruit-flavored vape liquids — Companies sued the Food and Drug Administration, saying the agency unfairly shifted its standards for approving e-cigarette liquids popular with teens. — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Food …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, USA Today, NBC News, Bloomberg, New York Times and Wausau


US officials object to European push to buy weapons locally — U.S. officials have told European allies they want them to keep buying American-made arms, amid recent moves by the European Union to limit U.S. manufacturers' participation in weapons tenders, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Discussion:
Politico and Defense One


Does Higher Turnout Now Help Republicans? A Data-Driven Analysis of Partisan Turnout Dynamics (Part 1) — Data analysis reveals Democrats' problem isn't high turnout—it's losing the mobilization battle — A provocative claim has been echoing through Democratic circles since the 2024 election …
Discussion:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Politico, Split Ticket, WTMJ, Florida Politics and Semafor


In a new book, top Biden aide describes ‘out of it’ president before Trump debate — Ron Klain tells author Chris Whipple then president could not focus and obsessed about foreign leaders ahead of debate that ended his campaign — In a new book, Joe Biden's former White House chief …


Inside Elite Law Firms, Protests and Quitting After Trump Deals — The discontent does not appear to be resonating with leaders at Paul Weiss and Skadden, but it could hamstring their recruitment efforts. — Ever since the elite law firms Paul Weiss and Skadden reached deals with President Trump …
Discussion:
Washington Post and Above the Law


Unmarked Vans. Secret Lists. Public Denunciations. Our Police State Has Arrived. — “It's the unmarked cars,” a friend who grew up under an Argentine dictatorship said. He had watched the video of the Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil's abduction.
Discussion:
Jewish Insider


US Sen. Banks tells fired HHS employee he seems ‘like a clown’ — Indiana senator responds to former HHS employee — WASHINGTON (WISH) — A U.S. senator from Indiana had a message for a former Health and Human Services employee, among up to 10,000 to be fired or laid off.
Discussion:
Fox News, MeidasTouch News, USA Today, RedState, Twitchy, Political Wire and IJR


‘One of the darkest days’: NIH purges agency leadership amid mass layoffs … - Max Kozlov — You can also search for this author in — PubMed Google Scholar — On health economist Jay Bhattacharya's first day as head of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) …