*dances*

JUST IN: Kari Lake has withdrawn the cancelation of Radio Free Europe’s grant, seeking to end a legal standoff.

JUST IN: The D.C. Circuit tells the Pentagon not to take action against any transgender servicemembers while a judge's order blocking Trump/Hegseth's ban is appealed.

Wilmer Hale stands up for democracy.

BREAKING: A second federal judge has barred the military from enforcing its ban on transgender service members. Details TK storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Opinion | Don’t Like What Trump Is Doing? You Have More Power Than You Think. Church-led campaigns against businesses for retreating from D.E.I. promises are a form of pastoral ministry for those who feel ignored or forgotten.

People forget that boycotts have worked in the past. They will work again.

An opinion piece, not news, but let’s all be helpers.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/o...

Hope.

Opinion | Democrats Can Stop Trump and Save America The Democratic Party can’t stop America’s spiral into autocracy and oligarchy unless it casts off its stale talking points and reimagines what it stands for.

If you read one thing today, read this one.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/o...

This is an incredible piece and a reminder that progress is uneven, history repeats itself, and that the arc of these United States is bigger than this small moment in time.

This is extremely reassuring.

A major win. Trans members of our armed forces can continue to serve.

Trump has a plan to remake the economy. But he’s not explaining it very well. President Trump has claimed his economic plan could cause brief pain while the nation advances to a new “Golden Age.” But officials have been less clear about what that destination will look like.

This ridiculously pandering headline is getting all the attention, but the article is a list of one right wing economist after another calling the Trump Administration incompetent.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

If the Marshals Go Rogue, Courts Have Other Ways to Enforce their Orders Opinion | Even a rogue marshal’s service is not an insurmountable obstacle to courts enforcing the rule of law.

The courts have several tools that are not subject to executive authority: civil contempt (rather than criminal) and deputization of people to serve in lieu of US Marshalls.

www.democracydocket.com/opinion/if-t...

Maps: Where Trump Voter Jobs Will Be Hit by Tariffs Nearly 8 million Americans work in industries targeted by the levies and the majority are Trump voters, a New York Times analysis shows

Retaliatory tariffs are surgical, aiming for Trump voters.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Not a news item, but he’s right.

NEW: A federal judge — Trump appointee Dabney Friedrich — became the first to reject efforts by DOJ to expand the reach of Trump’s Jan. 6 pardon to cover crimes that had nothing to do with the Capitol attack

w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

BREAKING: A federal judge has ordered a stop to mass firings in federal agencies (except Pentagon, OPM and NARA) saying the so-called “reductions in force (RIFs)” broke the law.

“Employees purportedly terminated … are returned to government employ.”

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Trump swing voters in Michigan focus group have buyers' remorse "Erratic," "frightening," "disruptive" and "dictator" were among the words they used to describe their concerns.

www.axios.com/2025/03/14/t...

Focus groups have buyer’s remorse, say Trump is acting like a dictator, are concerned about economy.

Major win for fired civil servants!

Axios: White House to pull CDC director nomination

GOOD NEWS: The White House has withdrawn the nomination of Dave Weldon to be the director of the CDC.

Weldon has opposed vaccines throughout his political career.

Thank you to everyone who called their Senators. Advocacy works!

Nice.

Reps. Jayapal, Raskin and Scanlon are circulating the following letter about Mahmoud Khalil (leaked to me) among congressional colleagues, source says. Draft unambiguously condemns the arrest, saying it's based on an "obsolete Cold War-era" law

HAPPENING NOW: Judge Reyes has kicked off a crucial hearing President Trump's effort to ban transgender people from serving in the military. She is beginning by pressing DOJ lawyer on the changes in military policy toward transgender people beginning in 2017.

Also, Williams & Connelly is an extremely high-powered law firm.

The fourteen attorneys on the case each signed the brief personally, an unusual step, which said loudly, “We are not afraid.”

March 11, 2025 The stock market continued to fall today.

It’s been harder and harder to find good news. Here’s some mixed news, wherein the external pressure on Musk and Trump grows to extreme levels, from @hcrichardson.bsky.social.

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

Has “Polarization” Become Polarized? Also: conservatives speak on climate, and science funding shouldn’t depend on keyword searches. – BCB #138

Today in the Better Conflict Bulletin, conservative messaging to fight climate change

open.substack.com/pub/betterco...

Inside the Explosive Meeting Where Trump Officials Clashed With Elon Musk Simmering anger at the billionaire’s unchecked power spilled out in a remarkable Cabinet Room meeting. The president quickly moved to rein in Mr. Musk.

Conflict between Elon Musk and Marco Rubio and Sean Duffy cauesd Trump to take DOGE's chainsaw away. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/u...