Inside Trump’s Effort to “Take Over” the Midterm Elections

Barr was one of many federal officials — most of them Trump appointees — who refused to bend to the president’s demands, which only intensified after Barr was gone. Although rioters inspired by Trump managed to delay the certification of his defeat by storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, ultimately the institutional guardrails of American democracy held — barely.

ProPublica

Tax season was supposed to bring big refunds. So far they’re less than expected

“There’s a bit of a disappointment in how much those refunds are,” said Tom O’Saben, the director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals. “People are quietly, perhaps, happy but not to the extent where I would call it significant.”

NPR

Trump’s clash with the pope reenacts a 1,000-year-old question: What happens when sacred and secular power collide?

From its earliest centuries, Christianity was bound up with politics, with frequent tensions between government power and religious authority.

Religion News Service

What to do when law enforcement demands ballots? Election officials are in the dark

When a California sheriff seized 650,000 ballots from last year’s redistricting referendum, it raised an alarming question about what was previously almost a nightmare scenario: What must election officials do if law enforcement orders them to hand over ballots? 

Democracy Docket

Democrats Must Learn to Talk About National Defense

American power brings with it an awesome responsibility.

Liberal Currents

Oregon judge blasts RFK Jr., striking down declaration restricting gender-affirming care for youth

“Secretary Kennedy’s unlawful declaration harmed children,” Kasubhai wrote. “This case illustrates that when a leader acts without authority and in the absence of the rule of law, he acts with cruelty.”

Oregon Live

America’s Next Moon Mission Depends on Elon Musk, for Better or Worse

The government, unwisely, has “concentrated immense power in the hands of a single individual.”

Mother Jones

Caught in the Crackdown: As Arrests at Anti-ICE Protests Piled Up, Prosecutions Crumbled

Cuauhtémoc Ortega, the chief federal defender for the Central District of California, who personally represented Orellana and other protesters. “We’ve never had a situation where it seems like you arrest first and then try to justify the reasons for the arrests later.”

ProPublica

Never Mind Mamdani: Wall Street Doubles Down on NYC

Record jobs and fat real estate leases make finance the No. 1 industry again.

The City

The FBI Director Is MIA

Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

The Atlantic

Gun Manufacturers Won the Ultimate Legal Shield. Big Oil Wants That, Too.

Putting any industry above the law — especially one responsible for creating many of the greenhouse gas emissions that have helped fuel climate-related destruction of homes, businesses and whole communities — would be beyond dangerous. If Big Oil gets its wish, it would be an injustice with lasting and cascading harm.

The New York Times

House passes rare bipartisan bill to protect Haitians from deportation

The bill is now heading to the Senate, and President Donald Trump announced he would veto it if it reached his desk.

Religion News Service

Break Up the Big Court

The federal court suffers simultaneously from lawless leadership and chronic understaffing. Let’s fix both problems at once.

Liberal Currents

Trump’s ‘no tax on tips’ Vegas act reeks of divine desperation

The president’s tax relief scheme looks like a godsend for working families — until you read the fine print.

The Nevada Independent

Why nearly every farmer who grows these chile peppers is a woman

That’s true not only for the thousands of chile farmers but for all farmers in the region. “More than 70% of agricultural activities in this region have always been carried out by women farmers,” says Vallal Kannan, a program coordinator for Krishi Vigyan Kendra, a government-run agricultural center. He says that’s because men prefer to take on the agricultural jobs that involve finances, such as supervising and selling, leaving the menial, labor intensive jobs to the women.

NPR

How Iranians View the War: ‘We Are All Exhausted’

The future is uncertain for Iranians caught in the middle of a conflict between forces that seem indifferent about their welfare

Rolling Stone

Chinese Electrotech is the Big Winner in the Iran War

An energy-hungry world is being pushed away by America and into China’s arms

Paul Krugman

New Footage Shows Wanted Kinahan Cartel Kingpins Post-Sanctions

Kinahan cartel leaders Daniel and Christy Kinahan have been photographed in Dubai, marking the most recent sighting of the wanted crime bosses since the US government put multi-million dollar bounties on their heads.

Bellingcat

Photos: How overfishing in Southeast Asia is an ecological and human crisis

The seas of Southeast Asia — home to some of the richest in biodiversity in the world — have long been in decline. Since the 1950s, the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that 70-95% of fish stocks have been depleted and are at risk of collapse, perpetuated by the rise of industrial-scale fishing, much of which is illegal. Legal overfishing is another factor, and both are propped up by weak regulations, insufficient monitoring and insatiable demand. Approximately half of the world’s global marine fish catch comes from the seas of Southeast Asia, according to the U.N., and it comes at a calamitous cost.

NPR

Palestinians Battle the Algorithms of Israeli Censorship and Surveillance

Palestinian digital autonomy has been constrained by settler colonialism bolstered by neoliberal privatization.

Truthout

Pope Leo XIV arrives in Angola, where oil wealth and mass poverty collide

The pontiff’s visit to oil-rich Angola is expected to address inequality, youth unemployment and the church’s role in a country still shaped by war and Catholic colonialism.

Religion News Service

Was the Attack on an Iranian Primary School a War Crime?

U.S. leaders have said they would not intentionally strike a school. But if recklessness led to the Minab attack, it may still be criminal.

Lawfare

Bangladesh’s gig workers are stuck in gas lines as Iran-U.S. war strains fuel supply

The country gets 95% of its fuel from abroad.

Rest of World

Caracas’ iconic macaws threatened by vanishing palm trees

Blue and gold macaws are not native to Caracas. But over the past two decades their numbers in Venezuela’s capital have skyrocketed, with hundreds of these birds now flying freely across the city, and dazzling locals with their colorful feathers and peculiar calls.

NPR