April 19, 2026
Bookshops
Guardian - About 422 new indie bookshops opened in 2025, according to the American Booksellers Association, a 31% rise from 2024. Countless independent restaurants, coffee shops, fitness centers, movie theaters, clothing stores and other small businesses also continue to thrive even in this era of ever-bigger retailers, fast-casual restaurants and massive e-commerce platforms.
Donald Trump
MSN - President Donald Trump has crossed from grandiosity into full-blown psychosis, psychologist Dr. John Gartner has warned. Gartner, a former professor at Johns Hopkins University, told The Daily Beast Podcast that the 79-year-old president is engaged in “magical thinking,” as evidenced by his belief—as reported by Dr. Mehmet Oz—that Diet Coke kills cancer cells.
“It’s something that, again, we associate with psychosis. We also associate it with young children. Freud called it ‘primary process.’ It’s kind of the most primitive type of thinking, where if you imagine it, it must be true. But this is just magical thinking. Anything that occurs to him—any stray, crazy thought—is true,” Gartner told host Joanna Coles.
James Tate - A new watchdog report from the Government Accountability Oversight Project alleges that President Donald Trump directed $3 billion in federal funds toward his own properties and political allies. The report claims this was achieved through a series of classified security agreements and no-bid contracts authorized during his final year in office. Investigators suggest that emergency national security designations allowed these properties to receive federal payments at rates significantly higher than market value.
The most substantial allegation involves a $1.2 billion security agreement at Mar-a-Lago, an amount that reportedly exceeds the security budget of any private residence in U.S. history. While the Trump legal team has dismissed these findings as a partisan attack, federal investigators are currently reviewing the data. If verified, this would represent the largest alleged self-dealing scheme by a president in the history of the United States.
Huffington Post - President Donald Trump went on a climate change denial rant at a Turning Point USA event in Arizona on Friday, claiming, without evidence, that the Earth is actually getting cooler, despite March producing record-breaking temperatures for the United States.
“You know the green new scam, one of the greatest scams in history, remember?” Trump said. “Climate change, global warming, all of this, they actually had global warming, remember that wasn’t working because we were actually cooling as a planet. Then they had another one and another one and another one, and they were wrong, and then they just said climate change, because climate change takes care of heat, snow, whatever.”
The irony of the president’s speech taking place in Phoenix, Arizona, one of the hottest cities in the country, apparently escaped Trump — as were recent reports that showed this March was the hottest March on record and the most abnormally hot month in the 132 years of records, according to federal weather data.
April 2025 to March 2026 was also the hottest 12-month period on record for the continental U.S, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Kath Patel
Headline USA - FBI Director Kashyap Patel’s lawyer said Friday that they intend to sue The Atlantic for publishing a story that portrays Patel has a slovenly drunkard. Patel’s lawyer, Jesse Binnall, posted a letter that he sent to The Atlantic before the article’s publication. The letter denied numerous allegations in the report, including that Patel drinks “to the point of apparent intoxication,” that he has difficulty walking when he’s wasted, and that his behavior is threatening public safety.
American life expectancy lags
Institute for New Economic Thinking - For all the talk about American exceptionalism, here’s a shocking truth: when it comes to health and longevity, the U.S. has been losing ground for decades. Not just behind wealthy nations, but behind less affluent countries. Even poor ones. The gap isn’t shrinking; it’s widening.
That’s what public health researcher Steven H. Woolf, professor of family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, has documented. By 2019, just before COVID-19 hit, U.S. life expectancy ranked 40th among the world’s most populous countries, trailing places like Albania and Lebanon. The pandemic only made things worse: by 2020, the U.S. had fallen to 46th, as six more nations overtook it.
Woolf hasn’t just compared the U.S. to wealthy countries like Canada, Germany, or the U.K. He looked at life expectancy across dozens of nations with very different histories and economies, and the results are startling. The U.S. began falling behind as early as the 1950s, with countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East steadily overtaking it.
If you were born in Albania today, you’d have a longer life expectancy than if you were born in the United States — and that’s been true for several years. Let that sink in.
Woolf argues that America’s exceptionalism is not about health but rather how it’s approached. Policy choices, social conditions, and deep inequalities are driving a health disadvantage that hits hardest in the Midwest and South, where life expectancy has stalled or even declined while other nations, and some U.S. states, keep moving.
Trump Regime
Joyce Vance - The Justice Department has moved to drop the last remaining January 6 insurrection criminal matters: the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys seditious conspiracy cases....On the first day of his second term, Trump issued full pardons to more than 1500 people who overran the Capitol on January 6. Then he commuted the sentences of 14 of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers defendants, the people convicted of the most serious January 6-related offense, seditious conspiracy. Getting clemency got them out of prison, but it didn’t erase their convictions.
So earlier this week, Trump’s U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, moved to vacate the convictions of prominent insurrectionists including Stewart Rhodes and Ethan Nordean. She wrote that doing so was “in the interests of justice.”
So earlier this week, Trump’s U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, moved to vacate the convictions of prominent insurrectionists including Stewart Rhodes and Ethan Nordean. She wrote that doing so was “in the interests of justice.”
Meanwhile. . .
AP - A federal judge dismissed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch on Monday over a story on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles in Florida wrote in the order that Trump had failed to make the argument that the article was published with the intent to be malicious, but gave the president a chance to file an amended complaint.
Trump regime vs a free press
Under the Trump administration, getting access to the military has become increasingly challenging. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put heavy restrictions on reporters. Journalists were required to sign a document that warned they could lose their Pentagon press credentials for "soliciting" even unclassified information that had not been approved for release.
My colleague, NPR Pentagon Correspondent Tom Bowman, who had a Pentagon press pass for 28 years, gave it up rather than sign that document, as did reporters from every other reputable news organization.
The New York Times later filed a lawsuit against the policy, and a federal judge recently ruled it unconstitutional. The Pentagon has vowed to appeal.
Policies like that have had a major chilling effect on service members’ willingness to speak to journalists, according to free speech advocates and constitutional experts.
Despite these challenges, Tom and I have noticed that when we do hear from people, we are increasingly hearing about a growing disquiet in the ranks.
I first started hearing murmurings while reporting on Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to several U.S. cities last year. I flew to Ohio to meet with several guard members who had started an encrypted group chat to talk about how unsettled they were feeling about the Guard deployments.
NPR - Over the months, I compared what I was hearing with Tom, as we chatted in the newsroom. He’d been hearing many of the same sentiments — concern over the legality of U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean or the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the military.
When the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran at the end of February, and thousands of additional American troops were deployed to the Middle East, we started checking back in with service members and groups who work with them. Those we spoke with told us that some service members were deeply concerned and demoralized, and many were looking for ways to leave. The Pentagon pushed back on claims about retention being a problem.
My colleague, NPR Pentagon Correspondent Tom Bowman, who had a Pentagon press pass for 28 years, gave it up rather than sign that document, as did reporters from every other reputable news organization.
The New York Times later filed a lawsuit against the policy, and a federal judge recently ruled it unconstitutional. The Pentagon has vowed to appeal.
Policies like that have had a major chilling effect on service members’ willingness to speak to journalists, according to free speech advocates and constitutional experts.
Despite these challenges, Tom and I have noticed that when we do hear from people, we are increasingly hearing about a growing disquiet in the ranks.
I first started hearing murmurings while reporting on Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to several U.S. cities last year. I flew to Ohio to meet with several guard members who had started an encrypted group chat to talk about how unsettled they were feeling about the Guard deployments.
NPR - Over the months, I compared what I was hearing with Tom, as we chatted in the newsroom. He’d been hearing many of the same sentiments — concern over the legality of U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean or the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the military.
When the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran at the end of February, and thousands of additional American troops were deployed to the Middle East, we started checking back in with service members and groups who work with them. Those we spoke with told us that some service members were deeply concerned and demoralized, and many were looking for ways to leave. The Pentagon pushed back on claims about retention being a problem.
Workers
Washington Post - Connecticut lawmakers are considering a bill that would impose new limits on how grocery stores use self-checkout systems. Micromanagers in Hartford are seeking to cap the number of machines in each store and force nonunion stores to adopt union policies to purportedly improve customer service and worker protections. But the proposed crackdown on automation could lead to rising costs for stores and limited services for shoppers.
The bill would restrict self-checkout stations to eight per store, require one staffed checkout lane for every two automated stations and mandate one employee for every two machines. Connecticut would be among the first jurisdictions in the country to implement such strict rules governing retail checkout operations, despite self-checkout technology being used by grocery stores for more than 25 years.
Middle East
MS NOW - Although the U.S. and Iran dispute who exactly controls the Strait of Hormuz, a shaky ceasefire seems to be holding for now. Trump’s broader objectives, meanwhile, have at times appeared inconsistent, sometimes emphasizing regime change and at other times focusing on preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Retired Vice Admiral Robert S. Harward argues Trump cannot afford to lose sight of the threat posed by Iran’s current leadership. Without a change in regime, the former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command writes, there can be no pathway to lasting peace. Read more.
Housing
NPR -A group of current and former employees of the Department of Housing and Urban Development is accusing the Trump administration of blocking enforcement of federal fair housing laws. Last fall, two HUD civil rights lawyers were fired after going to Congress with concerns that the agency was unlawfully restricting fair housing enforcement. One of the lawyers, Paul Osadebe, says "it's still happening" six months later. "We're not being allowed to help the people that we're supposed to be serving," he tells NPR
“They’re just having trouble affording housing in general, and that just makes the prospect of owning a home feel unachievable for them,” Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather told The Hill Wednesday, referring to young adults.
A report released this week by the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) found that homeownership rates declined for every five-year age group from 21-25 to 66-70 from 2000 to 2023. That includes a 5.1-percent drop for ages 31-35 and a 5.4-percent decline for ages 36-40.
Polls
NBC News - Overall, 37% of adults approve of Trump's performance as president, while 63% disapprove — including 50% who said they disapprove strongly — putting his job rating at the lowest point of his second term in NBC News Decision Desk polling. Two-thirds of respondents also disapproved of Trump's handling of the economy and the Iran conflict.
April 18, 2026
Black staffer suing Trump regime, claiming it was because of race
New Republic - A Black former federal employee is suing the Trump administration, claiming he was fired because of his race. Alvin Brown, a Democratic member of the National Transportation Safety Board nominated by President Biden, was fired from his post in May 2025. In his lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Brown said that political differences couldn’t have been the main reason for his firing from the NTSB. Brown’s lawyers, who work for the Democracy Forward Foundation, also claim that 75 percent of Black officials at independent agencies have been fired under Trump.
... The lawsuit also points to people of color being dismissed at agencies including the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal Reserve, and the Library of Congress. The lawsuit cited Trump’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and the fact that Brown’s replacement, John DeLeeuw, is white.
Climate
Climate Crisis - The United States is in the midst of one of its worst droughts in years. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 60% of land area in the Lower 48 are reporting a moderate drought or worse – the largest share since November 2022. With the summer months rapidly approaching, dangerously dry conditions across the country are setting the stage for a potentially devastating wildfire season. In the last decade, wildfires have directly resulted in 383 fatalities and another 638 injuries in the United States, according to the National Weather Service.
Financial Times - The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported last week that the month of March was the warmest for the contiguous US in its 132 year record. The April 2025–March 2026 period now stands as the warmest 12-month span recorded since 1895.
The heat is worsening the country’s drought, which has spread to 60 per cent of the US, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center — or the widest extent of drought in early April since the center began monitoring in 2000.
Home foreclosures surging
Occupy Democrats - Home foreclosures surge 26% as Trump tries to sell false narrative of a “booming economy.”
....A new report from ATTOM, one of the nation's leading property data firms, reveals that 118,727 American families received a foreclosure filing in just the first three months of 2026 — up 26 percent from a year ago and up 6 percent from just last quarter. Foreclosure starts are up 20 percent year over year. And in the most alarming number in the entire report, bank repossessions — meaning families who have already lost their homes entirely — are up 45 percent compared to this time last year.
That’s forty-five percent in one year under the administration that promised to make America affordable again.....
In Indiana, one in every 739 homes has a foreclosure filing — the worst rate in the nation. In South Carolina and Florida, the numbers are nearly as grim. In Lakeland, Florida, one in every 409 homes is in foreclosure. In Colorado, bank repossessions nearly tripled year over year — jumping from 99 to 321. In Georgia, foreclosures are up 78 percent from last year. In Idaho, 76 percent. In Arkansas, 65 percent.
Polls
Harris: 24% (+4)
Newsom: 12% (-5)
AOC: 9% (=)
Buttigieg: 9% (+1)
Sanders: 7% (=)
Axios - Older Republicans and white evangelicals are the last groups to hold majority favorable views of Israel, according to new Pew polling. For every other group, Israel's favorability has collapsed since 2022:
- ⬇️ Down 31 points among older Democrats (ages 50+).
- ⬇️ Down 22 points among both younger Republicans/GOP leaners and younger Dems/Dem leaners.
- ⬇️ Down 14 points among Protestants, 23 among Catholics and 20 among the religiously unaffiliated.
Even white evangelical support, which was at 80% in 2022, has slid by 15 points.
Pew Research -Seven-in-ten Americans say President Donald Trump is not too or not at all religious, up from 62% in fall 2024, according to a survey conducted April 6-12. At the same time, many Republicans and White evangelical Protestants say Trump stands up for people with religious beliefs like theirs.
The health of America’s democracy declined in 2025, according to new evaluations from three organizations that have long tracked how democracies around the world are functioning. Nearly seven-in-ten Americans, including majorities in both parties, say the U.S. used to be a good example of democracy but hasn’t been in recent years.
Health
NBC News - Rotavirus, a highly contagious, fast-moving virus that is especially dangerous for babies and young children, has been rising across the U.S. since January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. With infection rates higher now than this time last year, doctors have fresh concerns that declining vaccinations could lead to more severe illness and a higher surge in the coming years
Donald Trump
Congressional Insider - President Trump unleashed a scathing attack on four prominent conservative media figures who helped propel him to power, branding them “losers” and “troublemakers” in a nearly 500-word Truth Social tirade that reveals a deepening fracture within the America First movement.
Trump publicly attacked Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones on Truth Social, calling them “stupid people” with “low IQs” running “Third Rate Podcasts”
The April post accuses former allies of opposing him over Iran policy, claiming they support Iranian nuclear weapons amid ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict
....The public feud exposes growing divisions within conservative ranks over foreign policy and what constitutes authentic MAGA principles
The Hill - The feud between President Trump and Pope Leo XIV this week marked yet another unprecedented moment in history, with the president becoming the first U.S. leader to publicly lock horns with the head of the Roman Catholic church in modern times. Leo’s status as the first American pope makes the episode even more unique.
For weeks the pontiff had voiced veiled criticism of Trump’s immigration policies, but it was the pope’s criticism of the U.S. war in Iran that drew the president’s ire leading to a Truth Social post that criticized Leo for being “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy.”
ts agree Trump’s comments criticizing the pope likely won’t directly impact Republicans running in midterms, but they likely won’t help them either.
Iran
NY Times - Iran’s Military Says It Has Reimposed ‘Strict Control’ of Strait of Hormuz The military said it would keep the vital waterway under its control until the U.S. ended its blockade of Iranian ports. The statement added to the uncertainty over access to the strait.
April 17, 2026
Growing number of US singles
NY Times - The growing number of U.S. singles indicates she’s in good company. As of 2023, the last data available from Pew Research Center, there were about 111 million single adults ages 18 and up in the United States. That was a sizable increase from 70 million in 1990. More
The mental effect of GLP-1 drugs
Washington Post - Korrie Stevenson had been feeling off for months. She would look at a gorgeous birthday cake or walk outside to a pink-and-purple streaked sunset, but not really enjoy them. The 51-year-old mother of two had similar feelings about sports, something she had loved since she was a child....
“Like you’re trying to be excited about a moment but can’t fully connect to it,” she said.
Then one day, she was driving near her home in Winter Park, Florida, when the thought came to her: Was it a side effect of her GLP-1 medication?
Doctors say they’ve begun hearing similar accounts: a kind of emotional flattening, a dulled response not just to food but to other sources of joy such as reading, listening to music, dancing, gardening — or even sex. Some users also blamed the medications for falling out of love. Online, the phenomenon has taken on a name — anhedonia — and, more colloquially, “Ozempic personality.”
.... The new class of GLP-1 drugs — built around compounds that mimic hormones involved in appetite and blood-sugar regulation — are generally considered safe. Their metabolic effects have been scrutinized in studies, but their psychological impact is far less understood.
Polls
Interactive Polls -
Black Dems
Harris: 48% (+14)
Newsom: 4% (-13)
——
White Dems
Harris: 22% (+8)
Newsom: 18% (=)
——
Hispanic Dems
Harris: 31% (+8)
Newsom: 19% (-3)
Independent, UK - A new Gallup poll released Thursday shows more young men in the U.S. say religion is “very important” in their lives compared to young women — the first time young men have surpassed young women on this measure of religiosity going back 25 years.
Gallup's latest data shows that 42% of men in the U.S. ages 18-29 said religion is very important to them, a notable increase from 28% in 2022-2023. Over the same time, young women's attachment to religion has stayed low, at about 30%.
This marks the first time young men have overtaken women by a big margin on this measure, which goes back to 2000. Gallup reports aggregate findings every two years to ensure the estimates are stable.
YouGov Poll: 2028 Democratic Primary
ICE
BBC - A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer has been charged with assault for allegedly pointing a gun at a vehicle while on duty, Minneapolis prosecutors said on Thursday. It is the first case in which a federal agent has been criminally charged for their actions during the Trump administration's 10-week immigration crackdown in Minnesota, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, officials said.
Gregory Donnell Morgan, Jr is accused of pointing a gun at motorists who tried to slow him down while he was driving illegally on the shoulder of a state highway in February, prosecutors said. There is a nationwide warrant for Morgan's arrest as he faces two second-degree assault charges.
Middle East
Newsweek - Air Canada will suspend service to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport this summer as soaring jet fuel prices tied to the war in Iran force airlines to rein in less profitable routes. Canada’s flag carrier said Friday that flights from Toronto and Montreal to JFK will end June 1 and resume October 25. Service to the New York area’s other major airports, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty International, will continue.
Patriotwise - Russia is offering to physically take Iran’s near-weapons-grade uranium off the table—yet Washington is signaling it may not trust Moscow to be the custodian of a problem that could trigger the next Middle East escalation.The Kremlin says it is ready to remove and process Iran’s highly enriched uranium as part of a potential nuclear deal tied to ceasefire diplomacy.
....President Trump rejected a similar idea raised by Vladimir Putin in a phone call, reflecting deep mistrust and hard bargaining over verification. Talks remain stuck on Iran’s demand to retain enrichment rights under international oversight versus the U.S. “red line” on enrichment.
Headline USA - The U.S. military has widened its efforts beyond the blockade of Iran’s ports to allow its forces around the world to stop any ship tied to Tehran or those suspected of carrying supplies that could help its government, from weapons to oil, metals and electronics.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, specifically pointed to operations in the Pacific, saying the U.S. would be targeting vessels that left before the blockade began earlier this week outside the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for energy and other shipments.
U.S. forces in other areas of responsibility “will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran,” he told reporters at the Pentagon.
NBC News - New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the U.S. war with Iran on Wednesday, saying it has inflated costs in New York City that were already high. “While this war has exacerbated a cost-of-living crisis, that is a crisis that existed from even before the time I was running for mayor, and it’s reflected in the fact that we are the most expensive city in the United States of America,” the mayor told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in an interview clip released Thursday.
The ongoing military operation against Iran should “not just be opposed on political grounds, on moral grounds, but even just on economic grounds,” Mamdani said, pointing to the billions of dollars already spent on the war that he said could be spent on “working-class Americans across this country” instead.
NPR - A 10-day ceasefire to pause fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon begins today. President Trump announced the deal yesterday on social media after he had separate phone calls with leaders of Israel and Lebanon. Hezbollah was not involved in the ceasefire discussions. Israel has vowed to keep its forces in southern Lebanon, saying it would attack if threatened by Hezbollah. The current two-week ceasefire between the U.S., Israel and Iran is set to expire in a few days. Iran has said it would not negotiate peace with the U.S. unless Israel entered a ceasefire in Lebanon.
NPR's Kat Londsorf is in Beirut, where she says things have been relatively quiet since the ceasefire began at midnight. She says there is a little hope among people here. "A ceasefire is always welcome in war," she says. "But people also realize this is temporary, so it's a cautious optimism." About a fifth of Lebanon's population has been displaced by the violence. Both Israel and Hezbollah have told people it's still too dangerous to return home.
As the end of the two-week ceasefire between the U.S., Israel and Iran looms, U.S. defense officials say the naval blockade on Iranian ports is firmly in place. The U.S. is blocking ships from exiting or entering Iranian ports — strangling Iran's economy. Meanwhile, Iran has control of the Strait of Hormuz until U.S., European or Asian minesweepers can clear it and possibly escort ships safely through. NPR's Quil Lawrence says that blockades are an act of war, but in this case, it could be part of negotiations
The Guardian -The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, has described the ceasefire with Israel as a “gateway to proceeding with negotiations”, saying he will prioritise the withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied territories in southern Lebanon.
Donald Trump
Trump’s White House Faith Office advisor Paula White: “To say no to President Trump would be saying no to God.”
Trump: "United States and Italy have been friends since the time of Ancient Rome, Yeah since Romans."
6 days after: Trump : Italy wasn’t there for us, we won’t be there for them.
“His vocabulary has shrunk, he’s resorted to profanity and threats, totally impulsive– suggestive of the absence of any frontal lobe controls,” Cobb said.
Government finances
Washington Post - Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson suggested the US government should prepare a backup plan in order to avert a potential collapse in demand for Treasuries—an event he warned would have “vicious” effects.
“We need an emergency break-the-glass plan, which is targeted and short-term, on the shelf, so it’s ready to go when when we hit the wall,” Paulson said during an interview for Bloomberg Television’s Wall Street Week with David Westin. With regard to any breakdown in the $31 trillion market for US government debt, Paulson said that would pose a different case from the financial crisis two decades ago.
“As bad as it was,” the government had fiscal firepower to address the credit meltdown, he said. “You can come in and clean up the mess.” But in the event of a US public debt crisis, “you’re trying to issue Treasuries and the Fed is the only buyer and the prices of the Treasuries are going down and interest rates are up, that’s a dangerous thing.”
Environment
Newsweek - People were advised to stay off the roads in the southeast portion of Wisconsin on Wednesday night, as flooding trapped drivers and prompted a highway shutdown. With flooding all across Milwaukee County, people are getting stuck in their vehicles. Full freeway closures are also underway now .
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), portions of the state faced a flash flood warning, severe thunderstorm watch and flood watch. In the warning on Wednesday, the agency said: "Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding."
Washington Post - Throughout March in the West, temperatures surged to unprecedented levels for this time of year, due to a remarkable heat dome. Then in April, that record-breaking heat shifted east. In D.C., temperatures reached 92 degrees on Thursday, based on temperatures recorded at Dulles International Airport, and the 90s in Baltimore, Philadelphia and near New York.
Inside Climate News - Environmental groups are suing the Trump administration over its decision to exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from complying with the Endangered Species Act, a move they say threatens both the coastline region and the law designed to protect threatened plants and animals.
....Six lawsuits have been filed against the decision so far, with both the Defenders of Wildlife and a coalition led by the National Wildlife Federation and the National Parks Conservation Association suing this week.
The Trump administration’s decision on March 31 marked the first time in decades the panel nicknamed the “God Squad”—stemming from its ability to decide if a development is worth the potential cost of an endangered species—has met. It followed a request from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that potential litigation in the Gulf of Mexico against oil and gas drilling presented a “national security threat.”
Endangered species litigation in the Gulf, he wrote, “creates uncertainty and instability that is beginning to chill oil and gas development” in the region and could have “disastrous consequences for our national security” while the country wages war with Iran.
The Guardian - Our coral reefs are under severe stress. The planet has just experienced the most widespread coral bleaching event ever recorded, lasting 33 months into 2025. Scientists warn that at 1.5C of global warming, up to 90% of coral reefs could be lost. Ninety per cent....
Even if the world somehow hits its climate targets, reefs are still getting pummeled by plastic pollution, coastal development, agricultural runoff and overfishing. They’re so fragile. And when reefs weaken, coastlines get hit harder by storms and rising seas. Homes and jobs become exposed. Cultures and sacred places are put at risk. And the incredible range of underwater life found only in reefs – once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.
The hazards of congressional term limits
Thom Hartmann - In just the past 48 hours I’ve heard three different commentators on MSNOW and CNN speak of them as if term limits are the “solution” to “elderly” legislators or to the naked corruption that’s so rampant in DC.
This is the wrong issue for Democrats to be promoting now: term limits actually do more damage than good, which is why Republicans and the Heritage Foundation have been pushing them for decades. For example, they’d get rid of good, effective, high-quality legislators like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, and Pramila Jayapal, among others.
But the problem with term limits goes far deeper than that. More
Pete Hegseff
House Democrats have filed six articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of launching an unauthorized war against Iran without congressional approval while U.S. troops remain in harm’s way.
- Rep. Yassamin Ansari leads impeachment effort citing unauthorized Iran strikes, war crimes, and security breaches
- Six articles charge Hegseth with bombing a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, and mishandling classified information in “Signalgate” incident
- Pentagon dismisses charges as partisan “charade,” claiming military operations successfully fulfilled Trump’s objectives
- Impeachment unlikely to advance in Republican-controlled Congress but signals Democratic strategy to challenge Trump administration
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