02b U.S. Politics – Progressive

Homeland Security’s New Task Force Website Sanitizes Trump’s Deportation Agenda – Mother Jones– www.motherjones.com

pgnewser April 20, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

The Department of Homeland Security just rolled out a new website for its city-occupying task forces that looks, more than anything, like a vibe-coded pitch deck. Launched on Friday, HSTF.gov was first announced on the FBI’s X account.

We don’t negotiate. We dismantle. The site’s slogan is displayed in the same sans-serif font stylings as direct-to-consumer deodorant companies and AI-powered lease abstraction platforms. The main page is largely consumed by a macho image, presumably AI-generated, of gas-masked officers with AR-15 style weapons advancing in formation through a cloud of tear gas.

Trump Threatens War Crimes in Iran Again – Mother Jones– www.motherjones.com

pgnewser April 20, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

President Donald Trump departs after speaking with reporters about the war in Iran during a news conference in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Monday, April 6, 2026.Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

In a Truth Social tirade on Sunday morning, President Donald Trump claimed that Iran violated their ceasefire agreement with the US by firing shots at ships in the Strait of Hormuz and again threatened to commit war crimes by taking out the country’s energy infrastructure.

“Many of [the bullets] were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom,” Trump contended about Iran’s targeting of the ships, without evidence. “That wasn’t nice, was it?”

MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell Smears RFK Jr. as ‘Sick Racist’– www.newsbusters.org

pgnewser April 20, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

On Thursday’s The Last Word, MS NOW host Lawrence O’Donnell used a selectively edited clip to portray HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a “deeply perverted racist madman” who wants to remove all black children from their parents and have them “reparented” by the government. In fact, the HHS secretary said no such thing.

The MS NOW host began his dishonest segment by claiming that Kennedy wants to forcibly remove all black children from their parents:

Donald Trump’s Human Services secretary, who was convicted of the felony of heroin possession during the 14 years that he admits to having been a heroin addict, is the first cabinet secretary in history — indeed, the only administration official in the administration of any President in history — who wants to rip every black child in America out of the arms of that child’s mother and that child’s father. Every single black child.

O’Donnell worked in the word “Nazi” as he continued:

Robert Kennedy Jr believes that every black child in America has bad parents, and that every black child in America needs to be reparented. That is his personal Nazi word for it. “Reparented.” He did not say that some black children need to be reparented by him. He did not say that thousands of black children need to be reparented. He said, quote, “every black kid” needs to be reparented by the federal government and institutions run by him.

Behind Trump’s “Unstable, Insulting” Strategy To End The Iran War– www.ndtv.com

pgnewser April 20, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

US President Donald Trump seems to have lost his appetite for war as the two-week ceasefire with Iran nears an end. He is oscillating between ominous and propitiatory approaches while asking Iran to make a permanent peace deal. Behind the scenes, he’s grappling with fear that the situation can turn into something similar to the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis –one of the biggest foreign policy failures of recent times, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Trump’s impulsive style has never before been tested during a sustained military conflict, and according to the report, his top aides are limiting the flow of information t

ABC News Uses Trump Pope Leo XIV Clash to Target Catholic Voters in 2026– www.newsbusters.org

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

The Elitist Media continue to treat the exchanges between President Trump and Pope Leo XIV as an opportunity to try to drive Catholics from the President’s coalition ahead of the midterms. And absolutely no one is more ham-handed about it than ABC News.

Watch Rachel Scott’s report rehashing the controversy, with a sprinkling of Vice President JD Vance’s remarks at a Turning Point USA Event in Georgia, as aired on ABC’s World News Tonight on Wednesday, April 15th, 2026 (click “expand” to view transcript):

Massive Coinky Dink: Trump Administration Cancels Catholic Charities Contract– crooksandliars.com

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

The Trump administration abruptly canceled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami to shelter and care for migrant children who enter the U.S. alone, ending a relationship between the Catholic Church and the U.S. government dating back more than 60 years to the first arrivals of Cuban exiles in South Florida.

Gee, do you think this has anything to do with Pope Leo not kissing his ass like the evangelical fundies do?

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, has paid Catholic Charities in Miami for several years to house immigrant children who enter the U.S. without parents or adult supervision. The non-profit operates the equivalent of a federally funded foster care system, separate and apart from state agencies that have custody of abused and neglected children. The federal government reached out to the charity in late March about the cancellation of the funding.

Amid his one-way feud with the pope, Trump has abruptly canceled funding for Catholic Charities of Miami to provide housing and foster families for unaccompanied immigrant children, ending a 60-year partnership and possibly forcing hundreds of children to be relocated.
-Keith Boykin

— Audrey (@parickards.bsky.social) 2026-04-15T17:15:47.031Z

Republicans could lose House and Senate majorities—and they know it– www.dailykos.com

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

Republicans have expressed fears both publicly and privately that their congressional majorities are in serious danger in November, as voters angry with President Donald Trump’s war in Iran and the fact that it’s making life even more unaffordable in the United States threaten to punish the GOP at the ballot box.

But now they have moved on from merely talking about those fears to taking concrete steps that make it clear they know their prospects are dire and that they are on track to lose control of not just the House but the Senate, too.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is taking steps to ensure that Republicans will be ready to replace Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito should he choose to retire this summer, giving a little hint-hint to the 76-year-old with a lifetime appointment who was recently hospitalized with an unspecified illness.

Pappas holds cash advantage over GOP rivals in New Hampshire– www.politico.com

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) holds a sizable cash advantage over his GOP rivals in the race for New Hampshire’s open Senate seat.

The Democrat raked in $3.3 million to his campaign account over the first quarter of the year as he vies to succeed retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Pappas, who faces only nominal opposition for his party’s nomination, entered April with $4.2 million in his war chest, according to his Federal Election Commission filing.

Pappas’ leading GOP competitor, former Sen. John E. Sununu, raised $1.1 million directly to his campaign account and had nearly $1.9 million in cash on hand. He spent just $349,000, per his filing — a significantly lower burn rate than Pappas, who spent $2.3 million over the last three months.

Sununu’s primary rival, former Sen. Scott Brown, lagged even further behind. Brown raised a modest $321,000 and entered the second quarter with $783,000 in his campaign coffers. He spent more money than he brought in, according to his filing.

Trump’s ICE crackdown is hurting America’s armed forces – thehill.com

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

Trump’s ICE crackdown is hurting America’s armed forces – thehill.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

Immigrants and the children of immigrants are a crucial source of personnel for the U.S. military. Given events in the Middle East, it’s an odd time to go out of the way to alienate them, but that’s what the White House, congressional Republicans and Republican governors and legislators in numerous states seem intent on doing.

Democrats’ new affordability nemesis: FIFA– www.politico.com

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

Democrats are adding a new target to their affordability agenda, joining groceries, utilities and landlords — FIFA, the soccer governing body responsible for staging the World Cup.

In New York and New Jersey, which are hosting eight tournament matches this summer at MetLife Stadium, a populist pile-on is being fueled by news that transit officials will close part of the nation’s busiest train station for the exclusive use of ticketholders and charge them more than $100 to get to matches.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat who was elected last fall talking about cost of living concerns, is now catching flak for planning to jack up train fares and also proposing a special tax for World Cup visitors. But she blames FIFA, a commercially minded Zurich-based nonprofit, for raking in $11 billion from the games and leaving local governments to pay for transporting fans.

“They should be paying for rides but if they don’t, I’m not going to let New Jersey get taken for one,” she said in a statement Wednesday.

Inside That Weird Anti-Science Conference Where Trump’s EPA Chief Delivered the Keynote – Mother Jones– www.motherjones.com

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

As scientists confirmed that March was the United States’ most abnormally hot month in recorded history, dozens of climate deniers gathered to promote misinformation and tout their newfound influence on federal policy.

At a conference hosted by the prominent science-denying think tank the Heartland Institute last week, a crowd of mostly middle-aged men in suits claimed the world is finally waking up to the idea that the climate crisis does not exist. “I feel wonderful,” James Taylor, president of the Heartland Institute, said in an interview. “The truth is winning out.”

The clearest sign of the crowd’s rising power was the gathering’s keynote speaker: Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), whom President Donald Trump is also reportedly considering for attorney general. “It is a day to celebrate vindication,” Zeldin said on Wednesday morning.

 

Ossoff builds massive cash edge as Georgia GOP field remains unsettled– www.politico.com

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff holds a massive fundraising advantage over the Republicans hoping to unseat him in November, giving him a head start as the GOP field remains fractured.

Ossoff, considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents of the cycle, raised $14 million during the first quarter of the year and ended with more than $31 million cash on hand — a significant war chest that dwarfs the combined totals of his Republican challengers, according to filings from the Federal Elections Commission.

On the GOP side, Rep. Mike Collins led in first-quarter fundraising, raising just over $1 million and entering the second quarter with $2.1 million in cash on hand. Collins has been a front-runner in public polling of the race, but with a large share of voters still undecided ahead of the May primary, the contest appears increasingly likely to head to a June runoff.

Donald Trump’s Blockade Is Headed for a Bust– www.truthdig.com

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

As soon as the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran ended without an agreement, President Donald Trump fired a volley of angry social media posts venting his frustration. As a concrete step to force Iranian concessions, he announced a blockade of Iranian ports along the Persian Gulf.

Cut off Tehran’s oil exports, the logic goes, and the regime will have no choice but to bend to Trump’s will.

This thought process is being echoed and amplified by influential Washington voices who should know better. Take Dennis Ross, a former Middle East peace negotiator, who argued that “the blockade always made more sense than seizing Kharg Island. It stops Iran’s exports, its revenues, is a counterpoint to their closing the Straits [of Hormuz].” He also thinks that the measure will “put pressure on China to pressure Iran.”

Filled with excuses, Trump admits failure in his plot to rig midterms– www.dailykos.com

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

In a Fox interview that aired on Wednesday, President Donald Trump effectively admitted that the ongoing Republican campaign to rig electoral maps in their favor to avert a wipeout in this year’s midterm elections has been a spectacular failure.

Speaking to his longtime booster and Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Trump made a perfunctory statement that Republicans would “do good” in the election but then began speaking as if the party had already lost.

“When somebody gets elected president, that party always loses the midterms, I don’t know why. I don’t know why, nobody can explain it,” Trump said.

A California sheriff seized ballots, testing the limits of local power over elections– www.dailykos.com

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

Over the past few weeks, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco — who is also a Republican candidate for governor of California — has taken the unusual step of seizing ballots from a recent election, launching his own recount, and opening a criminal investigation into how the election was run.

“This investigation is simple: Physically count the ballots and compare that result with the total votes reported,” Bianco said during a press conference after he and his deputies seized the ballots last month.

The premise of Bianco’s investigation is sharply disputed. Bianco has pointed to the claims of a conservative citizens’ activist group that says it found an apparent discrepancy of tens of thousands of ballots — a figure election officials and independent experts say stems from a misreading of preliminary vote data, not an actual gap between ballots cast and ballots counted.

Pam Bondi still on the hook for Epstein testimony, Oversight panel says– www.politico.com

pgnewser April 15, 2026 0

Blurb:

House Republicans indicated Wednesday they will continue to seek sworn testimony from Pam Bondi on the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, even after her ousting as attorney general.

The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Bondi for an April 14 deposition, but that date was never confirmed by Bondi, and the panel said in a statement that it will continue to seek a date for her testimony.

“The Department of Justice has stated Pam Bondi will not appear on April 14 for a deposition since she is no longer Attorney General and was subpoenaed in her capacity as Attorney General,” a spokeswoman for Oversight Republicans said in a statement. “The Committee will contact Pam Bondi’s personal counsel to discuss next steps regarding scheduling her deposition.”

Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) issued a subpoena to Bondi last month after five Republican lawmakers on the panel joined with Democrats to compel her testimony. The campaign to force Bondi to sit for questioning was championed by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who brought the motion during a hearing.

Trump DOJ Dumps January 6 Sedition Convictions – Mother Jones– www.motherjones.com

pgnewser April 15, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, from left, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 21, 2025.J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

In 2023, after Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress, the Justice Department noted the stiff sentence reflected the court’s conclusion that Rhodes’ “conduct was terrorism.”

“The Oath Keepers plotted for months to violently disrupt the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next,” then–Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “The Justice Department will continue to do everything in our power to hold accountable those criminally responsible for the January 6th attack on our democracy.”

Sexual abuse allegations are spurring calls for a broader reckoning in Congress– abcnews.com

pgnewser April 15, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

Resignations came quickly this week from two congressmen accused of sexual misconduct toward staff members. Yet for many of the women of Capitol Hill, the moment of accountability was years in the making — and far from enough.

Reps. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, both announced within hours of each other Monday that they were leaving Congress. Their decisions came the day before the House returned to Washington and as both faced the prospect of being expelled from the chamber by their colleagues.

It was a reckoning of sorts for Capitol Hill, the most striking since the careers of roughly a dozen male politicians were toppled during the heights of the #MeToo movement. Yet some congresswomen said that the pair of resignations took too long and proved what they’ve long been saying: that more must be done to rid Capitol Hill of sexual predation.

ABC News Downplays Iran Blockade Success and Rising US Gas Prices in Report– www.newsbusters.org

pgnewser April 15, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

You know that the Elitist Media have a hard time reporting on the military operation in Iran when a supposed war roundup gets a couple of sentences on the war and then two minutes of seemingly everything else. That’s exactly what happened at ABC when it came time to report on the ongoing U.S. naval blockade against Iran.

Watch the report in its entirety, as aired on ABC World News Tonight on Tuesday, April 14th, 2026:

DAVID MUIR: There are also breaking developments in the war in Iran. President Trump’s high-stakes U.S. naval blockade with the cost of gas $4.10 a gallon here in the U.S., up $1.16 since the start of the war. Tonight, the President says new talks with Iran could come in days. And President Trump tonight lashing out at Pope Leo again, and what he’s saying now. Ian Pannell from the region again tonight.

IAN PANNELL: Tonight, that high-stakes U.S. naval blockade of all Iranian ports is holding. U.S. Central Command saying no ships got past the blockade in the first 24 hours, and six merchant vessels were turned around. The U.S. hoping to choke Iran’s oil income to force concessions in peace talks. And tonight, President Trump signaling a second round of negotiations could be happening soon, along with a deal. The President telling our Jon Karl, quote: “I think you’re going to be watching an amazing two days ahead.”

The President’s made similar predictions at other points during this war. And the President also tonight lashing out at Pope Leo again to an Italian newspaper saying the Pope has no idea what’s going on with Iran. Trump ally Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni slamming the President’s criticism of the Pontiff as, quote, “unacceptable.” And she’s joined other U.S. allies that have refused to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The President blasting Meloni, telling that Italian newspaper “I’m shocked by her. I thought she had courage, I was wrong.” Trump also criticizing NATO allies for not helping with the war effort as he looks increasingly isolated. Another of his key allies, Viktor Orban of Hungary, who was close with Vladimir Putin, now voted out of office, some voters saying it’s a return to democratic values.

And the Lebanese and Israeli governments holding the first direct talks in decades in Washington, both agreeing to more talks.

MARCO RUBIO: This is more than just one day. This will take time, but we believe it is worth this endeavor.

PANNELL: David, this blockade squeezing Iran’s economy. But U.S. gas prices still high at $4.10 a gallon. That’s up $1.16 since the start of the war. And that means pressure on The White House, too, to get a deal done and get that oil flowing again.

MUIR: Ian Pannell from the region again. Ian, thank you.

Farmers Voted For Trump And Now They Are Being Destroyed– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser April 15, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

During Trump’s first term, he launched a trade war with China that caused a crisis in the farming community. However, farmers didn’t learn their lesson. By the time the 2024 election rolled around, farmers had some sort of collective amnesia because they did it all to themselves again. Only this time, it is even worse.

Trump already hit farmers with his tariffs and trade wars. Trump got nearly 78% of the vote from farming communities in 2024, and the president thanked them by shutting down USAID and cutting SNAP.

A new survey of farmers for the American Farm Bureau Federation shows that things are about to get much worse for the nation’s farmers:

Conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation April 3-11, the survey shows 70% of respondents say fertilizer is so expensive that they will not be able to buy all the fertilizer they need.

More than 5,700 farmers, both Farm Bureau members and non-members, from every state and Puerto Rico took the survey. Farm Bureau economists analyzed the results in the latest Market Intel.

The analysis reveals that almost 8 in 10 farmers in the southern U.S. say they can’t afford all needed supplies this year, followed by the Northeast and West at 69% and 66%, respectively, compared to 48% of the farmers in the Midwest.

Just 19% of farmers in the South prebooked fertilizer purchases in advance of planting season. In the Northeast, only 30% of farmers prebooked, followed by 31% in the West, and 67% in the Midwest. Even with higher pre-booking rates, almost one in three Midwestern farmers still report entering the season without securing all of their fertilizer needs.

Newsom sets special election date for Swalwell seat – thehill.com

pgnewser April 15, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) issued a proclamation on Tuesday setting the date for a special election to fill the remainder of former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-Calif.) term for Aug. 18. Swalwell resigned from Congress earlier on Tuesday after a flurry of reporting from The San Francisco Chronicle and CNN late last week alleged that the congressman, once seen as the Democratic frontrunner in the California governor’s race, had sexually…

Iran Can, ‘On Some Level of Truth,’ Maybe Say It Won War– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser April 15, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MS NOW’s “The Last Word,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said that the Iranian regime “can, on some level of truth, say, we just took on America and Israel and fought them to a tie, although maybe even more than a tie.” And argued that “anybody in history would know you cannot bomb an adversary into submission.”

Warner said, “Lawrence, we have spent 100,000 sorties against them. We have bombed them. But anybody in history would know you cannot bomb an adversary into submission.”

He added that “in so many ways, 46 days in, America is less strong. And the Iranian regime, which is, by the way, more radical than it was before, can, on some level of truth, say, we just took on America and Israel and fought them to a tie, although maybe even more than a tie. They have ballistic missile capabilities, they have closed the strait, their regime is more radical. And I can just say, as I mentioned earlier, if we were to go after their enriched uranium, it would take 10,000 soldiers guarding a perimeter for days, and then we are going to send our special operators in, and the Iranians could bomb that.”