April 7, 2025 at 6:01 AM EDT
The real reason we're in a national emergency

t's hard to remember that only 10 weeks ago, the American economy was quite good, our foreign relations were on the whole positive, we were on the way to dealing with climate change with subsidies for wind and solar energy, and we still lived in a democracy. Today, all that is disappearing. The economy is in acute danger, our relationships with traditional allies are collapsing, we're subsidizing fossil fuel polluters, and we're turning into a dictatorship.

April 6, 2025 at 10:20 AM EDT
Someone just paid $2,138 for a reservation at a French Quarter restaurant

People are buying and selling table reservations at iconic New Orleans eateries for eye-popping amounts via third-party websites, often without the restaurant's knowledge. Critics want lawmakers to ban the burgeoning online business they consider a racket, arguing that it undermines the fine-dining experience and could potentially leave restaurants with empty tables. However, proponents of the practice say it benefits both diners and restaurants when done properly.

April 6, 2025 at 10:08 AM EDT
Alarm sounded as 4,100 factory workers laid off amid Trump policy chaos

Congressman Ro Khanna is raising the alarm over mass layoffs in the U.S. economy resulting from the failed economic policies of President Donald Trump, including over 4,000 factory workers who lost their jobs this week due to firings or plant closures. On Thursday, automaker Stellantis, citing conditions created by Trump's tariffs, announced temporary layoffs for 900 workers, represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW). "The affected U.S. employees," reported CNN , "work at five different Midwest plants: the Warren Stamping and Sterling Stamping plants in Michigan, as well as the Indiana Transmission Plant, Kokomo Transmission Plant and Kokomo Casting Plant, all in Kokomo, Indiana."

April 6, 2025 at 9:17 AM EDT
The one Nevadan who more than any other could help bring Trump to heel -- if he wanted to

The one Nevadan who is in the best position to help stop Donald Trump from sabotaging the global economy and shattering the financial stability of Nevada households is Nevada's only Republican in the Republican-controlled Congress, Rep. Mark Amodei. Politico reported Friday that Amodei's fellow House Republican, Don Bacon of Nebraska, plans to introduce a House version of a bipartisan-backed Senate bill empowering Congress to cancel tariffs ordered by a president.

April 6, 2025 at 8:57 AM EDT
Trump voters are pretending like they were duped. Don't believe it.

The Dow dropped 1,700 points on opening this Friday morning. Thursday, it closed after falling to its worst level since the covid era. JP Morgan Chase said it was raising the odds of a recession to 60 percent. This is all in reaction to the decision this week by the president to put an average 22 percent tax on all imports. He called it "Liberation Day."

April 6, 2025 at 8:45 AM EDT
Trump whacks tiny agency that works to make the America's health care safer

Sue Sheridan's baby boy, Cal, suffered brain damage from undetected jaundice in 1995. Helen Haskell's 15-year-old son, Lewis, died after surgery in 2000 because weekend hospital staffers didn't realize he was in shock. The episodes turned both women into advocates for patients and spurred research that made American health care safer. On Tuesday, the Trump administration slashed the organization that supported that research -- the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality -- and fired roughly half of its remaining employees as part of a perplexing reorganization of the federal Health and Human Services Department.

April 5, 2025 at 3:13 PM EDT
'Knuckled under': Conservative wallops DC firms for letting Trump 'dictate' to them

During his second term, President Donald Trump is aggressively attacking major law firms for representing his political foes. Trump's tactic is to remove security clearances for firms he considers adversarial, thus making it harder for them to do their work on behalf of clients. Some major firms are fighting Trump in the courts, including Perkins Coie. Others are making concessions to Trump, including Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Full disclosure: this journalist's mother was employed by Skadden, Arps during the 1980s.

April 5, 2025 at 2:56 PM EDT
Beyond tariffs: Noted economist explains why Trump policies are 'really bad for business'

Late Friday afternoon, April 4, a Reuters headline read, "Trading Day: Trump Tariffs Wipe $5 Trillion Off Wall Street." The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were plummeting in response to steep new tariffs that President Donald Trump is imposing on a long list of countries, and many economists are warning that consumers can expect to pay higher prices for everything from fruits and vegetables to computers to vacuum cleaners to clothes to cars.

April 5, 2025 at 12:46 PM EDT
Chaos as Montana GOP kicks 9 senators out of the Republican Party

The Montana Republican Party has censured nine state senators and will no longer consider them to be Republicans -- but the senators say they hold firm to the conservative mantle and the party should not insert itself into legislative business. In a press release sent April 4, the party's executive committee announced it had censured the nine senators for their "repeated alignment with Senate Democrats" this legislative session and for "undermining Republican priorities and leadership."

April 5, 2025 at 12:10 PM EDT
How Trump may be causing 'irreparable' damage to 'relationships with our closest allies'

After President Donald Trump detailed his plans for steep new tariffs on Wednesday, April 2, sharp criticism came from everyone from liberals economists like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich to the Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board. Much of the criticism is focusing on the price hikes the tariffs will cause. But when Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell made a Saturday, April 5 appearance on MSNBC, she cited another negative effect the tariffs will have: damaging valuable relationships with longtime U.S. allies.

April 5, 2025 at 12:08 PM EDT
'There will be blood': JPMorgan hikes odds of Trump-triggered recession to 60%

Alarm over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs continues to grow, with stocks plummeting and JPMorgan warning that "the risk of recession in the global economy this year is raised to 60%, up from 40%." After China announced new 34% tariffs on all American goods beginning next week, The Associated Press reported Friday that "the S&P 500 was down 4.8% in afternoon trading, after earlier dropping more than 5%, following its worst day since Covid wrecked the global economy in 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,719 points, or 4.3%, as of 1:08 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 4.9% lower."

April 5, 2025 at 12:02 PM EDT
North Carolina GOP is 'one step closer to stealing an election': critics

Allison Riggs, a Democratic associate justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court, vowed to continue a legal battle over her narrow November victory after a state appeals panel on Friday took a major step toward invalidating more than 60,000 votes. Riggs' GOP challenger, Judge Jefferson Griffin, lost by 734 votes""but rather than conceding, he has sought to have select ballots thrown out. In Friday's 2-1 decision, Republican Judges Fred Gore and John Tyson gave the targeted citizens 15 days to provide documentation to election workers confirming their eligibility to vote. If they don't do so, their votes could be discarded.