While the country was still reeling on Wednesday from the killing of two Americans by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, the Trump administration undertook one of its most blatantly authoritarian actions yet, deploying the FBI to seize ballots and voting records from the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, a heavily blue area in metro […]
Eight Republican senators joined every Democrat on Thursday to block a government spending bill, as a dispute continues over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.The bill fell short of the 60-vote margin needed to clear debate, 45–55, setting up the possibility of a government shutdown on Saturday. The legislation included $64.4 billion for DHS, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Senate Democrats are reportedly negotiating with the Trump administration on restrictions to ICE and aggressive deportations.“This is a moment of truth,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said just before the vote. “Congress must act to rein in ICE and end the violence.”Democrats are trying to have the DHS funding removed from the bill while they negotiate with the GOP and White House. They’re seeking to ban federal immigration officers from wearing masks, to mandate body cameras and visible identification, to end random immigration sweeps, to require judicial warrants for stops and searches, and to require federal agents to follow the same use-of-force standards as local law enforcement.“No more secret police,” Schumer said. “The Republican majority must step up to the plate. Republicans in Congress cannot allow this violent status quo to continue. They must work with Democrats on legislation—real legislation.”Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly joined the “no” votes for procedural purposes so that if there’s a deal, the bill can be introduced quickly.Here are the Republicans who voted “no”:Ted Budd (North Carolina)Ron Johnson (Wisconsin)Mike Lee (Utah)Ashley Moody (Florida)Rand Paul (Kentucky)Rick Scott (Florida)Tommy Tuberville (Alabama)John Thune (South Dakota)
In the world of cost benefit analysis, if an impact isn’t monetized, it doesn’t exist. A former EPA official explains what’s changing now and why it matters.
“Alex Pretti was one of us,” an NIH worker who asked not to be named told me over the phone. That’s a phrase I’ve been hearing a lot since Saturday, when the 37 year-old Veterans Affairs nurse was assaulted and then fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis. The circumstances of the killing—called an execution […]
This article is adapted from Until the Last Gun Is Silent: A Story of Patriotism, the Vietnam War, and the Fight to Save America’s Soul (published January 2026 by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, all rights reserved). Dwight “Skip” Johnson, 19, returned home from his shift at a General […]