The American Prospect

Lawmakers Debate Bill to Blackmail Sanctuary Cities H.R. 7640 would require state and local police departments to help federal agents carry out their mass deportation drive. Democrats used a states' rights argument to say why that’s bogus. 

Not only would the bill essentially hold local jurisdictions hostage, Democratic lawmakers said, it also violates states’ rights.  buff.ly/2zZXnp5

War With Iran Is Turning the Energy Affordability Crisis Into a Calamity Whether it’s pain at the pump or highway robbery in your mailbox, American consumers have little recourse when the conflict-driven surge in energy prices hits the home front.

Escalating military confrontation with Iran while touting energy affordability at home highlights Trump's policy contradiction, as heightened geopolitical risk tends to inject volatility into global oil and gas markets. buff.ly/F5w0vAi

Too Afraid to Leave Home: ICE’s Toll on Latino HIV Care In Minneapolis, heightened immigration enforcement is disrupting HIV care for Latino communities, a group already disproportionately affected by the virus.

The commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health said HIV testing among Latino populations has “dropped dramatically” and that “although grantee staff continue to go into the community to promote and provide testing, people are not showing up.” buff.ly/RHmJ5Gw

Time to End the American-Israeli Alliance Alliances are built on shared interests. Those do not exist here.

Pick your foreign relations school of thought: hard-nosed realpolitik, liberal internationalism, socialist humanitarianism, or straight up brute selfishness; this “alliance” makes no sense.

A Sign of the Times in Texas? - The American Prospect Democrats weary of the hyper-partisan chaos on Capitol Hill opt for a mild-mannered white state representative over a bold Black House member.

Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a white former public-school teacher prevailed with his more familiar brand of white male charisma.

Hollow Promises in Ohio’s Silicon Heartland As tech companies gain more ground, residents pay the price for the state’s data center boom.

Ultimately, residential ratepayers pay for data centers’ voracious electricity consumption. In Ohio’s “Silicon Heartland,” tech companies enjoy the benefits of lax regulation and tax exemptions while community members see increasingly unaffordable energy prices.

A Sign of the Times in Texas? Democrats weary of the hyper-partisan chaos on Capitol Hill opt for a mild-mannered white state representative over a bold Black House member.

The bold demeanor in Congress that made the charismatic Rep. Jasmine Crockett a formidable figure in the hyperpolarized political cesspool that is Capitol Hill did not translate well back home.

Time to End the American-Israeli Alliance Alliances are built on shared interests. Those do not exist here.

Israel collects tens of billions in American subsidies, treats the trillion-dollar American military as its personal plaything, and contemptuously ignores U.N. resolutions to halt annexations of Palestinian land. In return, America gets its international reputation tarnished.

Spring Training for the Election Canceler Trump moves to preempt Texas Republicans’ upcoming Senate primary.

If Trump can pick the new ruler of Venezuela and is planning to pick the new leader of Iran, why can’t he pick the Republican nominee for Senate in Texas? buff.ly/jLs2zKV

Time to End the American-Israeli Alliance Alliances are built on shared interests. Those do not exist here.

Pick your foreign relations school of thought: hard-nosed realpolitik, liberal internationalism, socialist humanitarianism, or straight up brute selfishness; this “alliance” makes no sense. buff.ly/YM8c1Ly

Hollow Promises in Ohio’s Silicon Heartland As tech companies gain more ground, residents pay the price for the state’s data center boom.

In Ohio’s “Silicon Heartland,” tech companies enjoy lax regulation and tax exemptions while communities see increasingly unaffordable energy prices and environmental harms. buff.ly/jp0dMsb

Can Congress Stop Mad King Trump’s Mad War on Iran? With Republicans in charge, probably not.

After George W. Bush’s war on terror and the manifold abuses of the Obama administration, many thought, or hoped, that Congress would reassert its constitutional powers over the right to wage war. So far, it hasn’t.

EPA’s Endangerment Finding Repeal Stands on Shaky Foundations Lee Zeldin has vowed to drive “a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion.” Too bad he only has a butter knife.

If EPA administrator Lee Zeldin is right, rolling back the endangerment finding will restore consumer choice and bring regulatory relief to whole sectors of the economy. But gutting the backbone of federal emissions regulations may not be as business-friendly as it seems.

A Running Count of How Many People ICE Has Killed and Injured ICE is not required to report any use-of-force incidents against the public. So The American Prospect created our own running tally.

ICE and CBP agents continue to injure and kill people. The most recent death on our running tally is Nurul Amin Shah Alam, who was nearly blind, spoke no English, and was found dead on the street days after he was taken into custody for a non-immigration-related charge.

Whatever It Takes Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu has gone to great lengths to cling to power.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has waged war against the institutions that he believes tried to bring him down. As a defendant, he has pursued a campaign to transform Israel into an ultranationalist theocracy that doesn’t recognize the value of the rule of law.

Gavin Newsom—GAVIN NEWSOM!—Calls Israel ‘Sort of an Apartheid State’ And calls for stopping U.S. military aid to the nation.

The Democrats’ ranking political weather vane has spoken. California Gov. Gavin Newsom ventured onto what was for him new terrain, invoking the A-word—“apartheid”—to describe a nation that had once been the cynosure of American liberals’ eyes. buff.ly/n6Fsz3q

Brad Lander Is Building a United Progressive Front - The American Prospect The former New York City comptroller and councilmember is running for Congress. To unseat incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, he’ll have to consolidate the progressive left.

“He’s not the flashiest guy or the most dynamic orator, but he just does consequential work that makes a real difference in people’s lives.” - Thanks Lincoln Restler and @prospect.org for one of the best profiles a not-so-flashy guy could ask for!

Can Congress Stop Mad King Trump’s Mad War on Iran? With Republicans in charge, probably not.

It would be hard to ask for a better demonstration of why Congress, not the president, is supposed to have power over war. buff.ly/rBe8IRw

Whatever It Takes Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu has gone to great lengths to cling to power.

Netanyahu has waged war against the institutions that he believes conspired to bring him down: the police, the media, the prosecution, and the court system. buff.ly/GhkkwQV

The Blowback From an Unpopular Iran War Trump’s Iran campaign may have the surprising effect of putting foreign policy back into the hands of American voters.

Six out of ten Americans disapprove of U.S. military action against Iran, according to a new CNN survey. The lane is wide open for Congress to do something, even if the American bombs are already falling.

Democrats Already Jostling to Oppose Trump’s War on Iran In North Carolina, primary challenger Nida Allam is betting that the most credible critic of the latest joint Trump-Israel war will win.

If you want the most reliable possible vote against American support for Israel and Trump’s murderous foreign policy, the choice is clear.

Trump’s Senseless Waste in Iran Aircraft carriers and stealth bombers are expensive to use.

Trump quite clearly views the military, as Kurt Vonnegut once said, “like toys a rich kid got for Christmas.” buff.ly/ScPiCmr

The Blowback From an Unpopular Iran War Trump’s Iran campaign may have the surprising effect of putting foreign policy back into the hands of American voters.

The boomerang of Iran—with the potential of more American service members being killed, oil prices skyrocketing, and plenty of unknown unknowns—could be that Americans end up caring a lot about foreign policy. buff.ly/40UD4Np

Democrats Already Jostling to Oppose Trump’s War on Iran In North Carolina, primary challenger Nida Allam is betting that the most credible critic of the latest joint Trump-Israel war will win.

Donald Trump’s abrupt war of aggression against Iran, carried out in concert with Israel, has thrown a metaphorical bomb directly into multiple Democratic Party primaries. buff.ly/MczLYiW

In Memoriam: Britain’s Labour Party Labour’s move away from its working-class roots and to the right cemented its political demise.

What was once a symbol of working-class power and change has now been laid to rest, put out of its misery by a population frustrated with decades of injustice and inaction. buff.ly/kw2rWTt

Iraq, Iran, Irate Devoid of reasons, creatures of impulse, our presidents apparently can’t help themselves from blowing up someplace in the Middle East, no matter how many times it ends in bloody disaster.

Iran is raining missiles and drones on U.S. military facilities, on Israel and the Sunni Arab nations, too. If that rain keeps up, the U.S. will see its war extend beyond four weeks—for all we or anyone else knows, well beyond.

Paramount-Warner Would Create a Hollywood Jobs Apocalypse The deal comes complete with so much debt that it would almost certainly lead to mass job loss. That could prove to be an argument against the deal in court, too.

Perhaps the worst part of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger is how bad a business deal it is. Film and television creators can anticipate fewer slots, fewer bids, and weaker bargaining power.

What You Won’t See at the Live Nation–Ticketmaster Trial A Biden-appointed judge substantially narrowed the government’s bid to break up the music monopoly, and suppressed a few topics we’d really like to see play out on the stand.

While the Trump administration could surely botch its case against Live Nation all on its own, it has gotten some key assists from Judge Arun Subramanian, the Biden appointee presiding over the case.

VA Rolls Out Risky Consolidation Scheme The proposal to reorganize the Veterans Health Administration would centralize power at the top and cause a multitude of problems, critics argue.

Since taking over the helm, Secretary Collins has imported DOGE-like chaos into the veterans' health care system.

Paramount-Warner Would Create a Hollywood Jobs Apocalypse - The American Prospect The deal comes complete with so much debt that it would almost certainly lead to mass job loss. That could prove to be an argument against the deal in court, too.

I'm off this week and I wrote this before we got our war on this weekend.
The Paramount-Warner merger is actually a private equity takeover. The amount of leverage used in the purchase rivals the PE deals for Toys "R" Us and Nabisco. Those ended with mass layoffs, and this will too—by design.