He Looked for Ways to Stop Mass Violence

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/s...

The Scapegoat Scam Hungarians stopped falling for an authoritarian’s trick.

Orban is a model for what the Republican Party are trying to do in the United States.The Trump administration was so desperate that it sent J. D. Vance to ask Hungarians to “stand for Western civilization”. No vice president has so consistently debased the office.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The HHS secretary "lacks the authority to unilaterally establish standards of care that supersede professionally recognize standards of care for provision of gender-affirming care recognized in the Plaintiff States"

This means that HHS can no longer initiate investigations of gender clinics for trans youth based on the Kennedy declaration or try to terminate federal funding through Medicaid and Medicare.

This is an unequivocal win for the 22 states that brought this suit to protect access.

Page 1 of a legal Judgment document from the United States District Court, District of Oregon for Case No. 6:25-cv-02409-MTK, filed on 04/18/26. The plaintiffs are listed as "STATE OF OREGON, et al.," and the defendants are "ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., in his official capacity as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, et al." The document is from United States District Judge Kasubhai. It outlines that final judgment is entered in favor of the Plaintiffs on Counts I, II, III, and IV. Item 3 states the Court holds unlawful, sets aside, and vacates the "Declaration of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services RE: Safety, Effectiveness and Professional Standards of Care for Sex-Rejecting Procedures on Children and Adolescents".

Page 2 of a legal judgment document for Case 6:25-cv-02409-MTK, filed on April 18, 2026. The text outlines a court order declaring that defendants lack the authority to unilaterally establish standards of care that supersede professionally recognized standards for gender-affirming care in the Plaintiff States. It permanently enjoins defendants and their agents, including the HHS-OIG, from enforcing the "Kennedy Declaration" against providers in those states. The document is dated April 18, 2026, and is signed by United States District Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai.

Huge news: the court has entered final judgement in Oregon v Kennedy (HHS trans youth care ban) and has vacated the Kennedy declaration and permanently enjoined its enforcement to target gender clinics.

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

Rest in Power to a major figure in the AIDS treatment activism in the 1980s, a time when many were indifferent or looking away.

“I was always a laboratory person, & now, interacting w/ people, it was completely different & something I had never done before…” Common w/ AIDS patients then, working w/ researchers w/ no bedside manner. She was special: "But I was a fighter-type person that would fight for somebody’s rights.”

If you don’t know, Iris ran informal “teach-ins” where AID’s activists learned virology, immunology, and trial design. Then she made sure those people led ACT UP’s Treatment and Data Committee, which became one of the most competent patient-advocacy science groups ever created. She was a titan.

Iris Long, Scientific Mentor to AIDS Activists, Dies at 92

Gift link:

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/h...

Iris Long, Scientific Mentor to AIDS Activists, Dies at 92

It’s hard to express how important Iris was to ACT UP’s scientific development. She was the catalyst who started it all. Iris Long, Scientific Mentor to AIDS Activists, Dies at 92 www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/h...

U.S. Installs a Trump Loyalist to Lead ‘Grand Conspiracy’ Case Into Trump Foes

U.S. Installs a Trump Loyalist to Lead ‘Grand Conspiracy’ Case Into Trump Foes

A former Trump campaign lawyer, Joe diGenova, is said to be planning to split time between Miami and Fort Pierce, where a grand jury overseen by a Trump-favored judge sits.

w/ Alan Feuer

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

Aliya Rahman, a disabled Minneapolis resident who was violently arrested and detained by ICE officers in January, explains why she's filing a federal tort claim against the Department of Homeland Security.

Aliya Rahman v. DHS: Disabled Woman Dragged from Car Files Claim over Violent Arrest in Minneapolis Aliya Rahman, a Minneapolis resident who was violently detained by ICE officers in January during “Operation Metro Surge,” filed a federal tort claim against the Department of Homeland Security on Thu...

"I was held overnight in Capitol Police headquarters, they essentially uncuffed me from the wall, discharged me, I ate three slices of bread, and I came into your studio to talk to you in the same outfit I was in the night before." www.democracynow.org/2026/4/17/minneapolis_la...

bugs bunny and daffy duck are standing next to a sign that says duck rabbit on it ALT: bugs bunny and daffy duck are standing next to a sign that says duck rabbit on it

strait of hormuz update

7/7. It's worth dwelling on this point. It’s hard for Americans to process that their hard right politics is in large measure a Russian and Hungarian import — intellectually and also financially. We should take advantage of the defeat of Orbán to let this basic fact sink in.
bsky.app/profile/empt...

1/7. We Americans have a hard time seeing ourselves in the world, and so even when we want to criticize our fascist oligarchs we fail to see the international networks of which they are nodes.

A federal judge in Illinois today ruled that the Trump administration improperly coerced Facebook and Apple to remove ICE-tracking apps in violation of the First Amendment. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

At Patel's direction, FBI employees are polygraphed in an effort to identify leakers. One former official told me that bureau employees have been asked in these sessions for opinions about Patel's perceived "enemies," as well as whether they have ever said anything disparaging about the director or the president.

Uh, what!?

Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job The FBI director has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

This is a big one. Stellar reporting from Sarah Fitzpatrick. To call it a must-read is an understatement: www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

And what a thread!

Everyone’s laughing at Pete Hegseth’s Bible verse but there are a lot of quotes that can only be found in the Caucasian Translation of Bible

A thread:

Become a TPM Member Talking Points Memo (TPM) is an independent news organization that publishes reporting and analysis about American politics, public policy and political culture.

I've been a reader and member of @talkingpointsmemo.com for literally decades and it's one of the most impressive independent media operations in the country. Amazing how long it's been going, producing great reporting and analysis. Indispensable.

talkingpointsmemo.com/memberships

Why these Irish cartel bosses are still free YouTube video by Search Party

You can watch a video on all of our work investigating the crime trio here www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj0G...

Last month, Sean McGovern, one of the most senior figures of the cartel, pleaded guilty in Irish court to directing a criminal gang. He had been extradited from the UAE ​t​o Ireland in May 2025.

The Government of Dubai​'s media ​office ​s​aid Kinahan's arrest followed receipt of a judicial file from Irish authorities detailing ​h​is alleged crimes. "Based on the file, Dubai Public Prosecution issued an arrest warrant to initiate legal procedures ahead of his extradition​," it said.

New Footage Shows Wanted Kinahan Cartel Kingpins Post-Sanctions - bellingcat Daniel and Christy Kinahan have been photographed in Dubai, marking the most recent sighting of the wanted crime bosses since the US levied sanctions against the cartel.

Breaking: Kinahan cartel leader Daniel Kinahan has been arrested in Dubai. It follows a Bellingcat investigation last month that traced him to an MMA event in Dubai - providing the first proof that the cartel's leadership was still in hiding in the UAE. www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03...

Work for us NOTUS is a unique place: Every year, ten fellows from the Allbritton Journalism Institute come and work in our newsroom as reporters alongside some of the most accomplished journalists working in Wash...

The DC-based NOTUS politics news website is to expand into sports to fill a void left by the Washington Post and will rebrand as The Star, which was the name of a Washington newspaper that traced its roots back to 1852 and went bankrupt in 1981. www.notus.org/about-us/jobs

Jordan Center/Ipsos poll finds that online platforms and personalities, especially those on the right, have overtaken television and traditional print outlets as regular news sources among people who voted in the previous U.S. presidential election. newslab.org/school/jorda...

Opinion | Don’t Use A.I. to Do This

"I believe in an old-fashioned virtue called Doing the Freakin’ Work.

Read the book, not the summary.

Write the piece, not the prompt.

Suffer like the artist you are. It ain’t easy, but if it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing."

—Colson Whitehead

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/o...

What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center I spent 10 months working at the institution because I thought I could help protect it. What I observed there is far worse than the public knows.

Good lord in heaven

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...