Tax Day 2026: The Average Taxpayer Paid $4,049 for War and Weapons - Institute for Policy Studies Tax Day 2026: The Average Taxpayer Paid $4,049 for War and Weapons

"The average taxpayer in 2025 paid: $4,049 for weapons and war, vs. $2,492 for Medicaid, which provided health insurance to 68.5 million Americans in 2025 — about one in five Americans."

Montana Supreme Court Rules Its Constitution Entirely Protects Trans Citizens In Landmark Ruling The ruling will have enormous impacts for transgender residents in the state.

1. In a landmark ruling, the Montana Supreme Court has declared that the constitution, one of the most progressive in the nation, entirely protects transgender people.

The ruling is even insulated from SCOTUS decisions, due to how state constitutions work.

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Opinion | Don’t Use A.I. to Do This

Apex Hides the Hurt, and A.I. finds the butt. Thanks, @colsonwhitehead.com! By whatever means necessary, hope you'll make it to our reunion in June.

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

A Weakened IRS Has Significant Consequences

DOGE turbocharged the deficit, achieving no savings. The IRS reductions from funding and layoffs have likely resulted in about $861 bn in decreased revenue. The layoffs from actions like DOGE alone have likely resulted in $597.8 bn in decreased revenue over the 2026-2035.

For decades, birthday party clowns folded balloons and played games. John Wayne Gacy is taking a different approach.

The shadows from the inset on each side look to me like the outline of his hairpiece on a stick.

Tonight Jews begin the celebration of Passover. It is a story of liberation that has inspired countless movements for justice.

As darkness grows across the globe, the lessons of community, compassion, and freedom are more necessary than ever. Chag Pesach Sameach!

Would you insist on my mobility service dog laying on your feet in the bulkhead row, instead of switching seats with me? I book flights months in advance, but airlines often switch my schedule and seats. Yogi and I would prefer to sit next to you, of course. You might not like his snoring, though.

It's Transgender Day of Visibility.

From HRC:
Now more than ever, our transgender and non-binary community members need to feel seen, supported, and safe as they go through their daily lives. It may not always be easy to know how to best show up as an ally.

Learn more: www.hrc.org/resources/be...

Let’s call this what it is: Congressional Republicans would rather fund forever wars in the Middle East than keep their constituents healthy. #NoForeverWars

“Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object,” a young representative named Abraham Lincoln wrote in 1848. This was “understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.” This quote, incidentally, is immortalized on the House’s website, if any members of Congress are looking for it.

In fairness it’s not like the consequences of having a mad king unilaterally take the country to war on a whim were so incredibly obvious that you could see it coming from the 18th and 19th centuries www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

No Kings March 28th · No Kings on Mobilize What began in 2025 as a single day of defiance has become a sustained national resistance to tyranny, spreading from small towns to city centers and across every community determined to defend democra...

Trump wants you to believe he’s more powerful than he is - and that you have less power than you do.

Tomorrow, millions of Americans will gather to remind one another where power actually resides in this democracy: with us, the people.

We're forgetting the lessons of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire States have been gradually rolling back the protections that activists like Pauline Newman and Clara Lemlich bravely fought for

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 115 years ago tomorrow, galvanized a century's worth of workplace safety laws that are now getting shredded.

I'm receiving reports from airports all over the country about ICE sightings. I'll be sharing updates here as I get them. ⬇️

If there is one thing I’ve learned is that if a project is struggling, adding a bunch of new trainees always helps, especially if they’re being paid and you’re not, and they’re the reason you’re not being paid

Knowing I wasn't going to be able to sleep last night (pain + steroids kicking in) I made a great reading choice. "Murder at 30,000 Feet" by @susanwalter.bsky.social might be her best mystery novel yet!

Jews are targeted in shuls & online.

Brown & Black people are abducted and sent to concentration camps.

Muslims are openly targeted by politicians.

Activists & journalists are targeted by the FBI.

Trans & queer people are being outlawed.

We are in this together. This is why solidarity matters.

Maybe Trump always buys his minions sizes too large because his staff lies to him about his own shoe size. Maybe Trump thinks his own shoes are 2 sizes larger than the reality.

Arsonists to explore whether we didn't start the fire

Here, serial attempted killer. He didn't succeed the other time that we know of.

This local Wolfdog joined an Olympic ski event and triggered the finish-line camera. This is Nazgul. He snuck into a cross-country skiing sprint this morning and raced the homestretch with some competitors before being escorted home. 14/10 someone get him a medal

Just as ICE and CBP have no legitimate role in "election security" neither does the head of DHS. The mere existence of this press conference should be a scandal, much less this tone-deaf comment.

We still have all of these spokes roads. Once they hit the county line, the names each change to Lexington Rd (or Pike). Until the county line, they're named for the next town. I live 2 blocks from Richmond Rd.

Not to be confused with "The Real Love Boat", a recent-ish dating show on Princess Cruises.

Top Goldman Sachs lawyer Kathy Ruemmler to resign over Epstein links Attorney to depart Wall Street bank on June 30 after new documents revealed extent of her ties to the sex offender

Former Obama WH Counsel Kathy Ruemmler is resigning from Goldman Sachs due to her relationship/communications with Jeffrey Epstein.

Another case in which a woman who is not accused of participating in/enabling criminal conduct is taking a bigger hit than the men who actually did engage in/enable it

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA MARK KELLY, Plaintiff, Civil Case No. 26-81 (RJL) V. PETE HEGSETH, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION February 12, 2026 [Dkt. #2] United States Senator Mark Kelly, a retired naval officer, has been censured by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for voicing certain opinions on military actions and policy. In addition, he has been subjected to proceedings to possibly reduce his retirement rank and pay and threatened with criminal prosecution if he continues to speak out on these issues. Secretary Hegseth relies on the well-established doctrine that military servicemembers enjoy less vigorous First Amendment protections given the fundamental obligation for obedience and discipline in the armed forces. Unfortunately for Secretary Hegseth, no court has ever extended those principles to retired servicemembers, much less a retired servicemember serving in Congress and exercising oversight responsibility over the military. This Court will not be the first to do so!

Worse still, Secretary Hegseth contends that this Court is not yet competent to decide the issues in this case. He and his fellow Defendants argue that military personnel 1 Case 1:26-cv-00081-RJL Document 37 Filed 02/12/26 Page 2 of 29 decisions are exempt from judicial review and, in any event, that Senator Kelly should first be required to go through the military appeals process so the military can have the first crack at adjudicating his First Amendment rights. I disagree. This Court has all it needs to conclude that Defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly's First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees. After all, as Bob Dylan famously said, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." To say the least, our retired veterans deserve more respect from their Government, and our Constitution demands they receive it! Senator Kelly's First Amendment claim is not only justiciable; he is likely to succeed on the merits. He has also shown irreparable harm, and the balance of the equities fall decidedly in his favor. As such, his motion for a preliminary injunction on his First Amendment claim is hereby GRANTED.

BREAKING: Judge blocks Hegseth effort to punish Sen. Kelly.

"This Court has all it needs to conclude that Defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly's First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees."

Background: www.lawdork.com/p/breaking-k...

George HW Bush in 1992: "Message: I care"

Trump Tirade Over Bridge to Canada Backfires, Handing Dems 2026 Weapon His corrupt threat to block the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge is about to become a big albatross around the necks of GOP candidates in pivotal Michigan.

Blocking the new Detroit-Windsor bridge — as Trump is threatening — would be yet another act of economic self-sabotage

Michigan has the most to lose, something Democrats will be reminding voters in key midterm races here

@gregsargent.bsky.social lays out the stakes newrepublic.com/article/2064...