Thursday, April 17, 2025

I'm collecting links to news that I find noteworthy and am sharing them here periodically. You can also subscribe to receive these posts via email as they are published. I hope you find it helpful, and please feel free to let me know what you think.

I have a lot of interests, political and otherwise, but it all takes a backseat to our national slide into authoritarianism. Sorry if that bums you out--it bums me out too--but it's more important than all the rest right now.

Trump Administration's Conflict with the Courts Rapidly Nears a Breaking Point

If you read one thing from this update, make it Chris Geidner's excellent explanation of how the Trump administration directly defied a court order when it sent detainees to the El Salvadoran concentration camp, how individuals in the Trump administration are likely looking at criminal prosecution for contempt as a result, and how it doesn't matter that the court's order itself was reversed on appeal after it had already been violated. I'm not going to summarize it myself because (1) I have a day job and (2) Geidner himself explains things quite well already. (You don't have to sign up to read; just click the "x" in the upper right corner of the box that prompts you to sign in. Or sign up! It's free, and Geidner is worth following in general.)

This is likely the clearest and most direct conflict between Trump and the courts thus far. Trump has an opportunity to avoid this conflict by backing down and bringing the persons he trafficked to El Salvador home. If and when he refuses to back down, the Chief Judge Boasberg will almost certainly refer the case for criminal prosecution, with the option of appointing an independent prosecutor if Trump's DOJ wants to screw around.

One wrinkle: While I'm not certain and haven't yet seen what actual experts on the subject have to say, this is likely something that could be cut short by pardons.

A Stolen Election in North Carolina?

Since November, Republicans in North Carolina have been trying to steal an election for state Supreme Court Justice. The Democratic candidate won by just 734 votes, which has been confirmed by two recounts. The Republican candidate sued, trying to invalidate votes on several different grounds, and the current Republican-majority North Carolina Supreme Court is allowing parts of the challenge to go forward. The opinion is here, and Slate, Vox, and The New Republic have write-ups.

One part of the challenge attacks the ballots of military and overseas voters. These voters did not supply identification information in connection with their votes. However, even the Republican majority acknowledges this is the fault of the Board of Elections, which did not ask for or even provide any way for military and overseas voters to supply the required documentation.

Another part of the lawsuit challenges the votes of persons who have never lived in or expressed an intent to live in North Carolina. Admittedly, it does seem odd to allow such people to vote, but they are allowed to do so by a statute that passed the state legislature unanimously 13 years ago and that has applied in over 40 elections since. The lawsuit seeks to declare that statute unconstitutional now only after the election is over and the results are known, effectively seeking a do-over under a new set of rules.

Even worse, the ruling applies only to a few Democratic-leaning counties rather than all counties in North Carolina, meaning ballots in those Democratic strongholds will be subject to more stringent rules than all other ballots in the state. This sort of piecemeal post-election recount is exactly what the US Supreme Court said was not allowed in Bush v. Gore, which itself was a comically corrupt opinion. The Democratic candidate has filed suit in federal court to end the Republican challenge, and it remains to be seen whether Bush v. Gore applies universally or only when it will benefit Republicans.

At stake is, among other things, the Congressional districting map. In 2020, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the state couldn't intentionally gerrymander the districts to confer partisan advantage, and the resulting maps were reasonably fair, such that the proportion of Congressional seats would roughly reflect the portion of the vote. But Republicans won 2 state Supreme Court seats in 2022, and the North Carolina Supreme Court, with its new Republican justices, then reversed itself and allowed the sort of partisan gerrymander it had just said violated the state constitution. As a result, today a 50-50 congressional vote would have North Carolina send 11 Republicans but only 3 Democrats to the House of Representatives.

Oligarchy Update, Elon Musk Edition

Tesla is being sued for allegedly manipulating its odometers to make it appear that its vehicles have driven more miles than they actually have. Tesla's warranties are apparently tied to mileage, and higher mileage readings would cause the warranties to expire sooner, saving Tesla money.

The Trump administration has called Tesla-related vandalism "domestic terrorism," has brought federal charges against multiple persons accused of vandalizing Tesla property, and will create a special FBI task force to investigate such incidents. It's no surprise that folks carrying out such vandalism would face criminal charges, but it's unusual for such matters to be charged federally, let alone get a dedicated FBI team put on the case. By giving obscene amounts of money to elect Donald Trump, Elon Musk appears to have bought the right to have the FBI and DOJ pursue his own personal interests.

Oh, and Elon Musk is a total fucking creep and weirdo about birthrates and eugenics and has way too much say over our lives. Among other things, he has contacted women he has never met in person via direct messages on Twitter to ask to impregnate them. It sure makes this gross tweet about Taylor Swift even grosser than it already was:

The Economy

Fund managers worry that Trump may not have a tariff strategy and "might be insane."

Assorted Corruption, Abuses of Power, and Ways Your Life Is Getting Worse So Rich People Can Get Richer

Two different wildly partisan prosecutors appointed by Trump have leveled threats against Democratic elected officials.

The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice dismissed what appears to be an extremely clear-cut anti-black racial discrimination civil case. This appears to be part of a more general shift by the Civil Rights Division away from actually enforcing the civil rights of minorities.

After losing in court and being ordered to stop denying the Associated Press access because it uses the "Gulf of Mexico" rather than "Gulf of America," the Whitehouse is changing its media policies to shut out all wire services, not just the AP, in favor of greater access for sycophantic outlets.

Trump's IRS is preparing to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status because Trump is mad at them. I hate to hand it to Harvard, but you gotta hand it to Harvard: As Trump tries to unconstitutionally abuse his powers to force Harvard to bend to his demands, Harvard remade its website to show the value of the research Trump is jeopardizing. Seems like a good strategy, one that can be replicated by others.

The EPA exempts nearly 70 coal power plants from Biden-era requirements intended to keep you safe from toxic pollutants.

A Trump-appointed judge threw out a Biden-era rule that would have capped credit card late fees after the Trump administration changed the federal government's position in the case to side with credit card companies that want to charge you exorbitant late fees.

"The Trump administration plans to eliminate the IRS’ Direct File program, an electronic system for filing tax returns directly to the agency for free . . . . The program developed during Joe Biden’s presidency was credited by users with making tax filing easy, fast and economical." Commercial tax preparation companies, who don't make money when taxpayers use Direct File, lobbied for the change.

Non-Authoritarian Miscellanea

What goes into an influencer making a short video.