“Mark Twain once quipped, ‘No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.’ In the 1800s, his wit was aimed at lawmakers — but if he were alive today, he’d likely reserve his sharpest criticism for unelected bureaucrats, who often wield more power than those we elect. Unlike legislators, these regulators don’t take recesses. They’re ‘in session’ 40 hours a week, every week, quietly issuing rules that extend into nearly every corner of American life. Most Americans are aware that federal agencies — the infamous ‘alphabet soup’ in Washington — have overstepped. But the problem is just as pervasive, and perhaps more dangerous, in all 50 state capitals. The truth is simple: in today’s America, the regulatory state isn’t solving problems — it is the problem.” (04/21/25)
“Venezuelan migrants will seek to bolster their protections against deportation under a wartime law this week, after the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting a group of migrants with an emergency ruling over the weekend. At a court hearing scheduled for Monday, two Venezuelan men in immigration custody in Denver, Colorado are expected to ask U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney to extend her order preventing them and other Venezuelans within her jurisdiction from being deported under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. It is the first of several similar hearings at courthouses across the country scheduled for this week as the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Venezuelan migrants, seeks to require Republican President Donald Trump’s administration to provide migrants with 30 days’ notice of their looming deportations under the law and the opportunity to challenge their removals in court.” (04/21/25)
“Just a few days after being found liable of monopolizing digital advertising markets, Google will soon find out its penalty for monopolizing online search markets. On Monday, the remedy phase began of a trial that found that Google illegally muscled out competition in search by purchasing default space on devices and browsers. ‘This is the time to tell Google and all other monopolists watching (and they are watching) that there are consequences when you break the antitrust laws,’ said David Dahlquist, the attorney representing the Justice Department, in opening arguments. This is the first major monopolization case in 25 years, successfully argued by Joe Biden’s Justice Department antitrust division. Now Donald Trump’s antitrust division must argue the remedy phase, where they are calling for a partial breakup of Google. The hearing before Judge Amit Mehta in D.C. district court is scheduled to last three weeks.” (04/21/25)
“Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse was stolen with thousands in cash on Sunday night at a restaurant in Washington D.C., multiple sources from the agency confirmed to Fox News Digital. The purse was taken by a [w]hite man wearing a mask, and the bag contained $3,000 in cash as well as personal documents including her passport, keys, driver’s license and a DHS badge, an agency spokesperson confirmed. ‘Her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren – she was using the withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities, and Easter gifts,’ the spokesperson said. Crime in the capital city continues to be a major issue, including theft. When it comes to violent crime, it hit a 30-year low last year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office at the time.” [editor’s note: Not sure how wise it was to carry that much cash to dinner, but … – SAT] (04/21/25)
“As we approach Earth Day this Tuesday, it’s tempting to believe that the world is on the brink of environmental collapse. We are constantly inundated by dire predictions of climate catastrophe and warnings about the planet’s imminent destruction. But this is misleading. Rather than spiraling into panic, we should take a moment to appreciate the remarkable progress we’ve made in improving the environment, and acknowledge that a key factor is prosperity. When Earth Day was first marked 55 years ago, the world faced some grim environmental challenges. Rivers were catching fire and cities were choked with smog. Air and water pollution were rampant, especially in the industrialized West. Today, outdoor air pollution has declined dramatically in rich countries. Over the past three decades, death risk from air pollution has spectacularly declined by over 70%, while waterways have become cleaner and nations reforested.” (04/20/25)
“Four Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives landed in the capital of El Salvador on Monday morning, kicking off a trip aimed at pressuring the Trump administration to comply with a recent Supreme Court ruling and facilitate the retrieval of a man who federal officials have admitted was wrongly sent to a Salvadoran megaprison in mid-March. ‘Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being held illegally in El Salvador after being wrongfully deported,’ said Rep. Robert Garcia of California, one of the lawmakers in El Salvador, in a Monday statement. … Garcia, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, and Maxine Dexter of Oregon are traveling to El Salvador days after Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland traveled there and successfully met with Abrego Garcia.” (04/21/25)
“Google is confronting an existential threat as the U.S. government tries to break up the company as punishment for [supposedly, but not even close to actually] turning its revolutionary search engine into an illegal monopoly. The drama began to unfold Monday in a Washington courtroom as three weeks of hearings kicked off to determine how the company should be penalized for operating a monopoly in search. In its opening arguments, federal antitrust enforcers also urged the court to impose forward-looking remedies to prevent Google from using artificial intelligence to further its dominance. ‘This is a moment in time, we’re at an inflection point, will we abandon the search market and surrender them to control of the monopolists or will we let competition prevail and give choice to future generations,’ said Justice Department attorney David Dahlquist.” (04/21/25)
“Not all coups change a country in an instant. Some are a slow-boil process of subversion that nonetheless leaves the institutions they affect unrecognizable. Journalist Talia Lavin has spent her career looking at the violent and bigoted politics of the United States’ rightward turn, and, as she chronicles in her recent book, Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over America, the Christian nationalist movement currently remaking U.S. society was one such long revolution. From the Christian Right’s early mobilization in the 1970s, as they fought desegregation by embracing private schools and homeschooling, to the culture wars seeking to undo myriad progressive reforms, Lavin finds that most of the movement’s political projects emerged from an authoritarian evangelical culture centered in the home.” (04/21/25)
“If any Mideast country has a big heart these days, it would be Iraq. A country that has suffered so much from war and terrorist attacks made a magnanimous gesture this week toward its neighbor Syria, which itself is now emerging from years of conflict. The gesture was to invite Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, to Baghdad for an Arab summit in May. The magnanimity lies in its measure of forgiveness: Mr. Sharaa was once a leader of Al Qaeda based in Iraq and was jailed for years after the 2003 American-led invasion. He left Al Qaeda in 2016 and formed a more moderate Islamist group that overthrew Syria’s dictator this past December. He now appears to be a reformist leader guiding Syria toward an inclusive democracy. There’s another aspect to Iraq’s generosity. The country’s majority Shiite Muslims have steadily learned to work toward a common good with the minority Sunnis and others.” (04/18/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Israel assassinated a photojournalist in Gaza in an airstrike targeting her family’s home on Wednesday, the day after it was announced that a documentary she appears in would premier in Cannes next month. Her name was Fatima Hassouna. Nine members of her family were also reportedly killed in the bombing. She was going to get married in a few days. The documentary is titled Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, and it’s about Israel’s crimes in Gaza. In an Instagram post from August of last year, Hassouna wrote the following: ‘If I die, I want a loud death. I don’t want to be just breaking news, or a number in a group; I want a death that the world will hear, an impact that will remain through time, and a timeless image that cannot be buried by time or place.'” (04/19/25)
