Politico: RFK Jr. says Deep State ‘is real,’ called FDA employees ‘sock puppet’ of industry
The HHS secretary’s remarks shocked staffers at the Food and Drug Administration, prompting some to walk out.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s visit to the FDA Friday was supposed to introduce him as a trusted leader to agency employees. It did anything but.
Over the course of 40 minutes, Kennedy, in largely off-the-cuff remarks, asserted that the “Deep State” is real, referenced past CIA experiments on human mind control and accused the employees he was speaking to of becoming a “sock puppet” of the industries they regulate.
(Politico more…)
BBC: Deadly measles outbreak does little to counter vaccine scepticism in Texas
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Engadget: The Social Security Administration is reportedly moving all official communication to X
The government apparently thinks your grandparents need to make X accounts.
(Engadget more…)
U.S. Embassy: New Entry Requirements for U.S. Citizen Tourists Entering Namibia – Effective April 1, 2025
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AFP: Trump replaces Obama portrait with painting of… himself
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Sofia Kinzinger: A Conversation With My 28 Year Old Self-Just Before the Trump White House in 2017
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Politico: State tells employees to report on one another for ‘anti-Christian bias’
“It’s very ‘Handmaid’s Tale’-esque,” one official said.
The Trump administration has ordered State Department employees to report on any instances of coworkers displaying “anti-Christian bias” as part of its effort to implement a sweeping new executive order on supporting employees of Christian faith working in the federal government.The department, according to a copy of an internal cable obtained by POLITICO, will work with an administration-wide task force to collect information “involving anti-religious bias during the last presidential administration” and will collect examples of anti-Christian bias through anonymous employee report forms.
(Politico more…)Ken Klippenstein: Crusade Against “Anti-Christian Bias” is Donald’s DEI
Report on your colleagues, State Department says
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Guardian: Loathe thy neighbor: Elon Musk and the Christian right are waging war on empathy
Trump’s actions are irreconcilable with Christian compassion. But an unholy alliance seeks to cast empathy as a parasitic plague
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NY Times: Trump Directive Calls to Turn Border Land Into ‘Military Installation’
The plan would put a strip along the southern border under Pentagon control, allowing the military to detain migrants for trespassing on a military base until Border Patrol agents could arrest them.
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TNR: Trump’s Horrifying Removal of Man in “Error” Takes an Even Darker Turn
The Trump administration could allow Kilmar Abrego Garcia back into the U.S. and try to deport him through proper channels. So why won’t it even do that?
(TNR more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – April 11, 2025
On April 4, Trump fired head of U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) and director of the National Security Agency (NSA) General Timothy Haugh, apparently on the recommendation of right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who is pitching her new opposition research firm to “vet” candidates for jobs in Trump’s administration.
Former secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall wrote in Newsweek yesterday that the position Haugh held is “one of the most sensitive and powerful jobs in America.”…
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The politicization of data is also indisputable. Billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) claims to be saving Americans money, but the Wall Street Journal reported today that effort has been largely a failure (despite today’s announcement of devastating cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that monitors our weather). But what DOGE is really doing is burrowing into Americans’ data.
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… the administration’s attempt to automate deportation is riddled with errors. Last night the government sent threatening emails to U.S. citizens, green card holders, and even a Canadian (in Canada) terminating “your parole” and giving them seven days to leave the U.S.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Public Notice: Tom Suozzi on fighting MAGA in a district Trump won
“We can’t take our eye off the prize. The big issue is, how are the things they’re doing going to affect people’s lives?”
Tom Suozzi replaced the disgraced George Santos in Congress early last year. He went on to become one of just 13 House Democrats to win in a district that Trump carried. The co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus is a consummate frontline member of Congress.
(Public Notice more…)
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Daily: Trump’s Fake Strongman Act Has Completely Crumbled
The weakest president in history came into office pretending to be a strongman but his collapse on the trade war revealed who and what Donald Trump really is.
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Rachel Maddow, one of the biggest alarm sounders about the threat to democracy, has been using a different word to describe Trump and his administration. Maddow has been devoting more and more of her airtime to discussing Trump and his administration’s incompetence.
(Daily more…)Bloomberg: Apple, Nvidia score reprieve from Trump tariffs with exemptions
Telegraph: Trump’s tariff team is beset by chaos and betrayal
BBC: ‘I can’t keep up’ – Trump’s changing tariffs leave shoppers feeling paralysed
BBC Mundo: Cómo el comercio global ha beneficiado a Estados Unidos pese a su enorme déficit
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Aunque a primera vista el déficit comercial se puede interpretar como una señal de debilidad, economistas consultados por BBC Mundo sostienen que responde a la posición dominante de EE.UU. en el sistema financiero internacional.
(BBC Mundo more…)NY Times: Trump’s Tariff Pause Is Less Than Meets the Eye
Presidents who make big changes in government policy usually lay their plans with care. …
President Trump prefers to shoot before aiming. Declaring that he intends to reboot America’s relations with the rest of the world, he has imposed tariffs on imports with abandon, demonstrating a disregard for the details or the collateral damage. …
The latest version isn’t much better. Mr. Trump is imposing a 10 percent tariff on imports from most nations, along with higher rates on imports from America’s three largest trading partners: Canada, Mexico and China. …And while the stated purpose of all the tariffs is to expand American manufacturing, putting them in place immediately doesn’t give companies time to build factories. It will cause pain without any benefit.
(NY Times more…)Mockler HQ: Canada Silently Killed Trump With A Bond Villain Playbook
Let’s talk about the exact moment Donald Trump blinked.
It wasn’t loud. No unhinged (un)truthstorms. No frothing-at-the-mouth rally rants. One minute he was chest-thumping over a global trade war, slapping 125% tariffs on China, 25% on Canada’s autos, threatening the world like a cornered bully—and the next, he hit the brakes.
A 90-day pause. A retreat. A white flag disguised as “strategy.”
But this wasn’t Trump playing 4D chess. This was Trump getting checkmated.
(Mockler HQ more …)
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Wired: The US Is Turning a Blind Eye to Crypto Crimes
Under the Trump administration, federal authorities are declining to charge crypto firms with a range of offenses, raising questions about which rules apply—and who will enforce them.
(Wired more…)
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Steven Beschloss: Whose America Is This Anyway?
A Saturday Prompt
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Egberto Off The Record: Republican & Democratic analysts: MAGA will suffer more from cuts to Medicaid, SSA, & Medicare
