Congressional Republicans in both chambers passed a resolution to cut at least $880 billion from the budget through 2034. Because Medicaid accounts for approximately 93% of non-Medicare funding, the program is expected to absorb the overwhelming share of these reductions. The cuts to Medicaid would result in widespread coverage losses, which could lead to 15,400 deaths due to work reporting requirements or roughly 34,200 deaths from reduced federal funding each year. With the GOP, the greedy American oligarchs below are aiding and abetting in what Friedrich Engels called "social murder." Read more
The head of one of the world's biggest hedge funds has condemned President Trump's "nonsensical" trade war and the damage it has wreaked to the United States' brand. Ken Griffin, the billionaire chief executive of Citadel, said: "The United States was more than just a nation. It's a brand. It's a universal brand, whether it's our culture, our financial strength, our military strength. "America rose beyond just being a country. It was like an aspiration for most of the world and we're eroding that brand right now." So the president and the secretary of Treasury and the secretary of commerce need to be very thoughtful that when you have a brand, you need to behave in a way that respects that brand, that strengthens that brand. Because when you tarnish that brand, it can be a lifetime to repair the damage that has been done."
What appeared at first glance to Barnard College employees to be a fake text scheme inquiring whether they were Jewish was confirmed Wednesday by school administrators as a legitimate government text message. The eyebrow-raising text message hit the personal cellphones belonging to numerous current and past employees on Monday with a survey link "that looked, at first, like a scam," according to the New York Times. "The text said it was from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, part of a review of the employment practices of Barnard. A link led to a survey that asked respondents if they were Jewish or Israeli, and if they had been subjected to harassment," the Times said.
President Donald Trump "wanted shock and awe" when he imposed tariffs against countries including China, but because of flawed execution in doing so, he is now being forced to backtrack, political commentator Bill O'Reilly says.
The Justice Department on Wednesday filed federal immigration charges against an illegal migrant in California who is being released from prison early, despite a double manslaughter conviction. Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano was convicted on two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in 2022, after he crashed his car into another vehicle while recklessly speeding and driving while high and drunk. The crash killed the two people, 19-year-olds Anya Varfolomeev and Nicholay Osokin, who were in the other car, per Fox News. Ortega-Anguiano was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crimes, but will now be released in July, the outlet reported. The new release date means he will have served just 3.5 years of the sentence.
Tuesday's bloodshed in Pahalgam - where at least 26 tourists were killed in a hail of gunfire - marks the deadliest militant attack in Kashmir since 2019. The victims weren't soldiers or officials, but civilians on holiday in one of India's most picturesque valleys. That alone makes this strike both brutal and symbolic: a calculated assault not just on lives, but on a fragile sense of normalcy the Indian state has worked hard to project in the disputed region. Read more
Amundi SA says it's seeing a major reallocation as clients pull away from the US and pile into European funds in response to the market upheaval triggered by tariff wars.
A record-breaking tunnel is being built under the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Germany, which will slash travel times and improve Scandinavia's links with the rest of Europe. Running for 18km (11 miles), the Fehmarnbelt will be the world's longest pre-fabricated road and rail tunnel. It's also a remarkable feat of engineering, that will see segments of the tunnel placed on top of the seafloor, and then joined together.
Liberal learns to keep his hands off of other peoples' property in hilarious way. Read more
The wife of a wrongly deported Salvadoran father living in Maryland was moved to a safe house after Donald Trump's administration posted a court document that included her address on social media. In an interview with The Washington Post, Kilmar Abrego Garcia's wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura said she began fearing for her safety and the safety of her three children after the Department of Homeland Security shared a protective order from 2021 that prominently featured her address to the department's 2.4 million followers on X.
Elon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent got into a heated shouting match in earshot of President Trump and other officials in the White House last week during a dispute about the IRS, two witnesses and three sources briefed on the matter tell Axios.
"It was two billionaire, middle-aged men thinking it was WWE in the hall of the West Wing," one witness said of the argument last Thursday. (Bessent's net worth is actually $520 million.)
Three people with knowledge of the talks told the Guardian that Vladimir Putin had signalled a readiness to effectively freeze the frontlines of the conflict in exchange for numerous concessions, including US recognition of Russian control of Crimea and considerable US sanctions relief. The Financial Times first reported Putin's proposal on Tuesday. The vice-president, JD Vance, confirmed on Wednesday that the US would seek to "freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today". Some territory could change hands, he said. Read more
A contract for a sprawling tent city at the Fort Bliss military base in Texas has been terminated, according to a government document reviewed by NBC News.
The clear-cutting across the federal government under President Donald Trump has been dramatic, with mass terminations, the suspension of decades-old programs and the neutering of entire agencies. The staff of a program that helps millions of poor families keep the electricity on, in part so that babies don't die from extreme heat or cold, have all been fired. The federal office that oversees the enforcement of child support payments has been hollowed out. Head Start preschools, which teach toddlers their ABCs and feed them healthy meals, will likely be forced to shut down en masse, some as soon as May 1. And funding for investigating child sexual abuse and internet crimes against children; responding to reports of missing children; and preventing youth violence has been withdrawn indefinitely.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently ordered modifications to a room next to the Pentagon press briefing room to retrofit it with a makeup studio that can be used to prepare for television appearances, multiple sources told CBS News. The price tag for the project was several thousand dollars, according to two of the sources, at a time when the administration is searching for cost-cutting measures.
Nearly half of Americans are now exposed to potentially dangerous levels of air pollution, per a new report. Why it matters: The findings, which predate the current Trump administration, come as the White House is reconsidering EPA rules and regulations meant to curb pollution and promote cleaner air.
