Ben

👇🏽

AOC: "On this point of tax on tips, as one of the only people in this body who has lived off of tips, I want to tell you a little bit about the scam ... the cap on that is $25,000 while you're jacking up taxes on people who make less than $50,000 across the US ... while kicking them off the ACA."

Does anyone else remember, way back when, when people used to campaign on fighting “pork barrel” spending - specific projects or policies for specific places/people?

"If you saw all this in any other country — soldiers sent to crush dissent, union leaders arrested, opposition politicians threatened — it would be clear that autocracy had arrived."

How now-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem felt about a president potentially federalizing the National Guard one year ago:

Elected Republicans are coalescing around the talking point that CBO's tax cut estimates are complete fiction and that tax cuts pay for themselves.

Well, CBO's 2018 and 2019 revenue estimates - which included the previous year's TCJA - were ... 99.5% accurate. 🧵

Voices: I’m a pediatrician. Without water fluoridation, we lose our best weapon to shield kids from tooth decay. “Fluoridating our water was an easy way to provide children from all backgrounds and socioeconomic status the same standard of care,” writes Dr. Sarmishta Kannan in an op-ed. “Now we need to advocate for other options.”

“Fluoridating our water was an easy way to provide children from all backgrounds and socioeconomic status the same standard of care,” writes Dr. Sarmishta Kannan in an op-ed. “Now we need to advocate for other options.”

Utah lawmakers’ own study found gender-affirming care benefits trans youth. Will they lift the treatment ban? The Utah Legislature's own newly-released study found that gender-affirming care benefits trans youth. Now, will lawmakers lift the treatment ban?

Republicans in Utah commissioned an investigation into gender-affirming care for trans youth after banning it in 2023.

They're now rejecting the findings of that investigation which showed access to care reduced suicides and improved "positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes."

Headline from the independent: Trump gives rambling speech about trophy wives, golf and the 'great late' Al Capone in politically-charged West Point address

Headline from the New York Times: Trump Gives Commencement Address at West Point, Stressing a New Era

Hard to believe they’re talking about the same event.

mikekonczal.substack.com/p/republican...

Starting to wonder if we took one for global civic democracy. Electing Trump basically seems to have knee-capped every revanchist far-right candidate in the world. You're welcome, world.

The Trump admin has decided to permit the sale of devices that enable standard firearms to fire like machine guns — a move that one person familiar with the matter said was "by far the most dangerous thing this administration has done" on gun policy.

Donald Trump's Truth Social account showing "No Truths. When this user composes a Truth, or ReTruths, you will see it here."

I see Truth Social is working just great...

The Supreme Court holds that fascism is bad. Thomas and Alito dissent.

Buttigieg, weighing 2028 bid, says "maybe" it was a mistake for Biden to run in 2024 "Right now, with the benefit of hindsight, I think most people would agree that that's the case," he told reporters.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg confirmed today he's considering a possible 2028 presidential run and weighed on former President Biden's impact on the 2024 election.

Everyone has “cover” now. 🤡

@wsj.com $AAPL
www.wsj.com/tech/apple-i...

It's 2015. President Barack Obama has accepted a "sky palace" jumbo jet from the Qatari government, which he'll own after he leaves office. "Everybody relax," he says in an interview with the New York Times. Everyone does. The networks then televise the military parade in his honor on his birthday.

The GOP wanted to impeach Biden for a fake $5M bribe from Ukraine that was made up by a guy sitting in prison for lying about it, but they’re cool with a $400M plane from Qatar. Do I have that right?

Breadwinning Women Are a Lifeline for Their Families and the Economy A new Center for American Progress analysis shows that large shares of working women—both mothers and married women without cohabitating children—continue to be breadwinners for their families. Policy...

New analysis from @saraestep.bsky.social and me for @americanprogress.bsky.social! Breadwinning mothers and women are literally supporting everyone- from the economy to their families. www.americanprogress.org/article/brea...

Why are Republicans in the House so disinterested in holding Trump to account? In part because even in swing districts moderates have vanished.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Dark Money Hit a Record High of $1.9 Billion in 2024 Federal Races Spending by groups that do not disclose their donors has increased and become harder to trace.

NEW: Dark money spending in the 2024 federal elections hit $1.9 billion — nearly double the previous record.

This is an unprecedented surge in secret political spending.

Here’s the full @brennancenter.bsky.social report with all of the details: www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

During COVID, the prophet of the LDS church (a medical doctor) encouraged vaccination for everyone’s safety, and some right-wing/Trumpist Mormons cried “woke” and left the church over it. So…yeah. Fascinating is one word for the right-wing brainworm.

Slightly more seriously. It's crazy how the entire supposed constitutional theory of Trump 2.0 is that all power is vested in this single individual, down to every last tiny detail and whenever you ask him he's like "I have no idea; ask the lawyers"

Farm radio is talking about tariffs and farm impacts.

There are fewer places to bury your head from the facts.

You know that Twilight Zone episode where the kid has amazing psychic powers and can make people disappear with his mind and the entire town is hostage to him and has to cater to his every whim? That’s us right now.

Even *if* you accept Stephen Miller’s (textually, historically, and morally indefensible) claim that undocumented immigrants are not entitled to due process, you’d *still* need due process to ensure that the individuals at issue are, in fact, undocumented.

His argument fails even on its own terms.

BRUSUELAS: “.. Cutting off the U.S. economy from the rest of the world without a plan to replace goods will result in shortages, higher prices and higher unemployment.

“The damage has been done and this week all will observe a large decline in shipping volume into the Port of Los Angeles.” 🇺🇸

Page One in Philly:

@inquirer.com

It'd be nice if editors at major media outlets did a basic refresher on journalistic ethics so they could understand that claims require a factual basis. By any reasonable metric, DOGE has *increased* the spending of the government and *increased* the deficit while reducing the quality of services.

When A President Isn’t A Criminal Propped Up By A Corrupt Supreme Court…