Source: Politico
“U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s effort to investigate possible criminal contempt by Kristi Noem and other senior Trump administration officials in connection with deportation flights last year has been blocked — for the second time — by a bitterly divided appeals court panel. In a 2-1 ruling Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Boasberg, the chief federal district court judge in Washington, had overstepped his authority by continuing to pursue possible contempt charges against administration officials who signed off on deportations to El Salvador despite the judge’s effort to halt them.” (04/14/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/14/james-boasberg-contempt-deportations-ruling-00871317
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Lawrence W Reed
“When Liberty International in collaboration with Libertarianism.org engaged me a year ago to apply the insights of Leonard E. Read’s famous 1958 essay, ‘I, Pencil,’ to the smartphone, I eagerly accepted the challenge. All of us involved in the project believed that it was time to ‘update’ the essay by adapting its message to a product everybody uses today. Why? Because, we thought, pencils are fading into memory, overtaken by a growing number of competing writing implements. Then I ran across some information that surprised me. Global pencil production is actually setting records year after year.” (04/14/26)
https://fee.org/articles/from-pencils-to-smartphones/
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Benjamin Karney
“To build public support for rolling back marriage rights, new campaigns have been repeating the claims that legal recognition of same-sex marriages may harm children or even the stability of different-sex marriages. These are some of the same concerns that were raised in the years prior to the Obergefell decision. They were groundless then, and, more than 10 years later, the data confirm these fears to be unfounded.” (04/14/26)
https://archive.is/aucmu
Source: CounterPunch
by Sarah Anderson
“Donald Trump loathes mail-in voting — except, of course, when he uses this method to cast his own ballot, as he did in a recent Florida special election. Frustrated by Congressional inaction, Trump issued an executive order last week to restrict what he likes to call ‘mail-in cheating.’ Actual proven cases of mail voting fraud? Those amount to a whopping 0.000043 percent of total mail ballots, according to Brookings experts. Trump’s real fear: that vote by mail gives Democrats an edge. In reality, broad, cross-partisan swaths of our electorate benefit from access to this convenient means of exercising our most basic democratic right.” (04/14/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/14/attacks-on-mail-in-voting-are-attacks-on-the-working-class/
Source: Politico
“Swalwell fallout scrambles California governor’s race.” (04/14/26)
https://traffic.megaphone.fm/POLL5440219129.mp3
Source: SFGate
“Los Angeles schools avoided a strike that would have impacted nearly 400,000 students in Southern California as the school district and the union representing support staff reached a tentative deal early Tuesday. Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union announced on social media that it won a tentative agreement with ‘major gains’ including raises and more hours. The district announced that an agreement in principle had been reached with SEIU Local 99 allowing schools to be open Tuesday and they would work to finalize the details of a tentative agreement. SEIU Local 99 said the tentative deal also included protections against subcontracting, stopped IT layoffs and increased staffing. SEIU Local 99 told members to report to work as usual on Tuesday and thanked its fellow unions and the Los Angeles community, saying the ‘victory belongs to ALL of us.'” (04/14/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/los-angeles-schools-avoid-a-strike-as-a-22205414.php
Source: New York Times
“Two Resignations in Congress, and the Pope’s Back-and-Forth With Trump.” (04/14/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RFou3VsQjc
Source: The American Conservative
by W James Antle III
“There is simply nothing that has happened in American politics between Trump’s epic 2024 political comeback and the Democrats’ romp in last year’s off-year elections running on an affordability mantra that would suggest voters prioritize a foreign war over higher prices. A thousand clips of Trump expressing his distaste for the ayatollahs or a hundred polls showing rank-and-file Republicans still support him do not prove otherwise. … Salvaging the Republicans’ midterm election prospects is going to require extricating the U.S. from the war in Iran while keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, whether GOP lawmakers know it (or are willing to publicly admit it) or not.” (04/14/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/this-is-the-basic-political-problem-for-republicans/
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Nearly 700 civilians have reportedly been killed in drone strikes in Sudan since January, the United Nations aid chief said Tuesday, decrying that three years of civil war had created the ‘world’s largest humanitarian crisis.’ Now entering a fourth year, the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million, and thrust several areas into hunger and famine.” (04/14/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20260414-sudan-drone-strikes-kill-nearly-700-in-three-months-as-civil-war-reaches-grim-milestone
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Larry Johnson: Are Russia, China and Iran the Big Winners of Trump and Netanyahu’s War?” (04/13/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-guest-larry-johnson-are-russia-china-and-iran-the-big-winners-of-trump-and-netanyahus-war/
