Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Shocked, shocked to learn this administration is shutting down effective public programs and forcing us to go through regulatory rentiers instead. Crony capitalism 2.0.
👀 Scoop: IRS Direct File, the free government-backed program that let you file your taxes for free, is dead.
IRS wrote to state tax agencies saying it would not be operational this coming tax season, per records I've obtained.
IRS Direct File: 2023-2025.
(Story from when the pilot launched.)
IRS wrote to state tax agencies saying it would not be operational this coming tax season, per records I've obtained.
IRS Direct File: 2023-2025.
(Story from when the pilot launched.)
IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax-prep giants
The tax agency has quietly built its own prototype system for filing tax returns digitally and free of charge, according to current and former officials.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Shocked, shocked to learn this administration is shutting down effective public programs and forcing us to go through regulatory rentiers instead. Crony capitalism 2.0.
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Automakers urge Trump not to impose tariffs on factory robots, machinery reut.rs/4o3Q5s7
Automakers urge Trump not to impose tariffs on factory robots, machinery
A group representing nearly all major automakers on Wednesday urged the administration of President Donald Trump not to impose tariffs on factory robots and machinery.
reut.rs
October 22, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Automakers urge Trump not to impose tariffs on factory robots, machinery reut.rs/4o3Q5s7
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Gold inches down as dollar firms, focus on US inflation data reut.rs/47DQJXi
Gold inches down as dollar firms, focus on US inflation data
Gold prices edged lower on Thursday, weighed down by a firmer dollar as investors looked forward to key U.S. inflation data due later this week for more cues on the interest rate path.
reut.rs
October 23, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Gold inches down as dollar firms, focus on US inflation data reut.rs/47DQJXi
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Basically all US policy is at this point about indulging Trump’s irrational obsessions, petty grudges, and corrupt grifts, and then taking secondary and tertiary measures to mask the consequences of those policies.
lol, great, so we're now subsidizing Argentine ranchers at the expense of American ranchers. Seems politically sustainable, no questions from me.
*US SEEKS TO QUADRUPLE BEEF PURCHASES FROM ARGENTINA: POLITICO
*US SEEKS TO QUADRUPLE BEEF PURCHASES FROM ARGENTINA: POLITICO
October 22, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Basically all US policy is at this point about indulging Trump’s irrational obsessions, petty grudges, and corrupt grifts, and then taking secondary and tertiary measures to mask the consequences of those policies.
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Mike Johnson doesn't know sh*t
October 22, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Mike Johnson doesn't know sh*t
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
The changing face of the ninth circuit really on display in all the senior judges who joined the dissent
NEW: The Ninth Circuit votes AGAINST an en banc rehearing of the case on the deployment of the California National Guard to LA, leaving the panel decision permitting the deployment intact. Eleven judges file a dissent. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
October 23, 2025 at 2:13 AM
The changing face of the ninth circuit really on display in all the senior judges who joined the dissent
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
These videos of shocked and shattered people contenting with what their healthcare costs would be without the subsidy are moving and enraging www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMHHSVFb/
Carla and Bartley are retirees in Eugene, Oregon. Their insurance company notified them that their health insurance premiums are going from $443 per month to $2224 per month because Republicans have f...
TikTok video by Ron Wyden
www.tiktok.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:05 AM
These videos of shocked and shattered people contenting with what their healthcare costs would be without the subsidy are moving and enraging www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMHHSVFb/
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Even if the Trump administration pledged tomorrow to stop strangling the goose that lays the golden eggs (the American higher education system, which has been the envy of the world since the mid-20th century), the reverberations of the damage they have already done will be felt for decades.
October 21, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Even if the Trump administration pledged tomorrow to stop strangling the goose that lays the golden eggs (the American higher education system, which has been the envy of the world since the mid-20th century), the reverberations of the damage they have already done will be felt for decades.
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Second and more important, read Paragraph 8.
The gov't agrees, for now (until it sours on UVA and cancels the agreement), to "treat UVA as eligible for grants, funding, contracts, and awards on the same basis as other universities, and no less favorable than hose available to any other university"
The gov't agrees, for now (until it sours on UVA and cancels the agreement), to "treat UVA as eligible for grants, funding, contracts, and awards on the same basis as other universities, and no less favorable than hose available to any other university"
October 23, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Second and more important, read Paragraph 8.
The gov't agrees, for now (until it sours on UVA and cancels the agreement), to "treat UVA as eligible for grants, funding, contracts, and awards on the same basis as other universities, and no less favorable than hose available to any other university"
The gov't agrees, for now (until it sours on UVA and cancels the agreement), to "treat UVA as eligible for grants, funding, contracts, and awards on the same basis as other universities, and no less favorable than hose available to any other university"
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
So, all that is terrible. Where's my glimmer of hope?
In two places.
First, what's not here. Compared to Columbia or Brown, UVA is paying nothing. $0. That's small progress, but I think it's progress: the government's demands in its campaign against universities seem to be shrinking, not growing.
In two places.
First, what's not here. Compared to Columbia or Brown, UVA is paying nothing. $0. That's small progress, but I think it's progress: the government's demands in its campaign against universities seem to be shrinking, not growing.
October 23, 2025 at 3:53 AM
So, all that is terrible. Where's my glimmer of hope?
In two places.
First, what's not here. Compared to Columbia or Brown, UVA is paying nothing. $0. That's small progress, but I think it's progress: the government's demands in its campaign against universities seem to be shrinking, not growing.
In two places.
First, what's not here. Compared to Columbia or Brown, UVA is paying nothing. $0. That's small progress, but I think it's progress: the government's demands in its campaign against universities seem to be shrinking, not growing.
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
NEW: Joyce Meyer, President Trump’s nominee for the next commerce undersecretary to oversee the Census Bureau, avoids directly answering whether non-US citizens can be excluded from what 14th Amendment says must include "whole number of persons in each state"
www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...
www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...
October 9, 2025 at 9:47 PM
NEW: Joyce Meyer, President Trump’s nominee for the next commerce undersecretary to oversee the Census Bureau, avoids directly answering whether non-US citizens can be excluded from what 14th Amendment says must include "whole number of persons in each state"
www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...
www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
🚨 NEW: The Trump DOJ has filed its friend-of-the-court brief in the Louisiana case challenging the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act.
www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
September 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM
🚨 NEW: The Trump DOJ has filed its friend-of-the-court brief in the Louisiana case challenging the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act.
www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Certiorari "before judgment" is how #SCOTUS takes up a full appeal *before* the intermediate federal courts have heard it.
It used to be exceedingly rare. For instance, there wasn't a *single* grant of such expedited review b/w August 2004 & February 2019.
This is the *23rd* such grant since then.
It used to be exceedingly rare. For instance, there wasn't a *single* grant of such expedited review b/w August 2004 & February 2019.
This is the *23rd* such grant since then.
#BREAKING: Over dissents from Justices Sotomayor, Kagan & Jackson, #SCOTUS grants a stay in the Slaughter case (allowing President Trump to remove the last Dem member of the FTC), *and* grants certiorari "before judgment" to decide whether to formally overrule its 1935 ruling in Humphrey's Executor.
September 22, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Certiorari "before judgment" is how #SCOTUS takes up a full appeal *before* the intermediate federal courts have heard it.
It used to be exceedingly rare. For instance, there wasn't a *single* grant of such expedited review b/w August 2004 & February 2019.
This is the *23rd* such grant since then.
It used to be exceedingly rare. For instance, there wasn't a *single* grant of such expedited review b/w August 2004 & February 2019.
This is the *23rd* such grant since then.
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
#BREAKING: Over dissents from Justices Sotomayor, Kagan & Jackson, #SCOTUS grants a stay in the Slaughter case (allowing President Trump to remove the last Dem member of the FTC), *and* grants certiorari "before judgment" to decide whether to formally overrule its 1935 ruling in Humphrey's Executor.
September 22, 2025 at 7:15 PM
#BREAKING: Over dissents from Justices Sotomayor, Kagan & Jackson, #SCOTUS grants a stay in the Slaughter case (allowing President Trump to remove the last Dem member of the FTC), *and* grants certiorari "before judgment" to decide whether to formally overrule its 1935 ruling in Humphrey's Executor.
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Phang: Part of the reason the FBI has been showing this level of dysfunction is evidenced by the lawsuit filed yesterday by former FBI officials—what it shows is that the FBI has basically been hollowed out…
September 11, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Phang: Part of the reason the FBI has been showing this level of dysfunction is evidenced by the lawsuit filed yesterday by former FBI officials—what it shows is that the FBI has basically been hollowed out…
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Black US colleges restrict campus activity after threats reut.rs/4phIpmT
Black US colleges restrict campus activity after threats
Some U.S. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) went into lockdown on Thursday after they received reports of threats against them that were probed by authorities, the educational institutions said.
reut.rs
September 11, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Black US colleges restrict campus activity after threats reut.rs/4phIpmT
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Retired generals agree: our military shouldn’t be used for domestic law enforcement or as political pawns. Thank you to the leaders at @vetvoicefoundation.bsky.social for speaking up and to the @statesunited.org team for an excellent brief.
statesunited.org/resources/ne...
statesunited.org/resources/ne...
Newsom v. Trump — Federalization of the National Guard (CA) - States United Democracy Center
statesunited.org
September 10, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Retired generals agree: our military shouldn’t be used for domestic law enforcement or as political pawns. Thank you to the leaders at @vetvoicefoundation.bsky.social for speaking up and to the @statesunited.org team for an excellent brief.
statesunited.org/resources/ne...
statesunited.org/resources/ne...
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Hot Mic Zuck: “I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with!”
Zuckerberg saying Meta intends to spend at least 600 billion in the US
Zuckerberg at the end caught on a hot mic
Zuckerberg at the end caught on a hot mic
September 5, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Hot Mic Zuck: “I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with!”
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Every accusation is a confession www.reuters.com/world/us/bil...
Exclusive: Bill Pulte accused Fed Governor Lisa Cook of fraud. His relatives filed housing claims similar to hers
Close relatives of the federal official who has accused a Federal Reserve governor of improperly claiming primary residence on two properties have declared the same status on two homes in two different states, public records show.
www.reuters.com
September 5, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Every accusation is a confession www.reuters.com/world/us/bil...
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Everything's on the table.
Republicans are using every method they can, whether it's cheating or breaking the law.
We've got to do everything we can to stand up and fight back — we're not sitting around and complaining from the sidelines when we have the ability to stop them.
Republicans are using every method they can, whether it's cheating or breaking the law.
We've got to do everything we can to stand up and fight back — we're not sitting around and complaining from the sidelines when we have the ability to stop them.
@govpritzker.illinois.gov: "Democrats can't live by the old rules... We've got to put everything on the table... Governors across the country who have the ability (maybe it's the ones where we've got trifectas) we've got to do everything we can to stand up to what Trump and Abbott are trying to do."
August 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Everything's on the table.
Republicans are using every method they can, whether it's cheating or breaking the law.
We've got to do everything we can to stand up and fight back — we're not sitting around and complaining from the sidelines when we have the ability to stop them.
Republicans are using every method they can, whether it's cheating or breaking the law.
We've got to do everything we can to stand up and fight back — we're not sitting around and complaining from the sidelines when we have the ability to stop them.
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
"This is like two football teams coming out of the locker room at halftime, and the team that's ahead says they want to change the rules in the second half to make sure they stay ahead. It's cheating plain and simple." @jamestalarico.bsky.social talks Texas redistricting with @samsteindc.bsky.social
August 4, 2025 at 7:30 PM
"This is like two football teams coming out of the locker room at halftime, and the team that's ahead says they want to change the rules in the second half to make sure they stay ahead. It's cheating plain and simple." @jamestalarico.bsky.social talks Texas redistricting with @samsteindc.bsky.social
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Russia is escalating its efforts to curtail online freedom, taking new steps toward a draconian state-controlled internet. The authorities are cracking down on workarounds that Russians have been using for access to foreign apps and banned content.
Putin Widens Effort to Control Russia’s Internet
The introduction of a state-approved messaging app has raised fears that Russia could be preparing to block WhatsApp and Telegram.
nyti.ms
August 3, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Russia is escalating its efforts to curtail online freedom, taking new steps toward a draconian state-controlled internet. The authorities are cracking down on workarounds that Russians have been using for access to foreign apps and banned content.
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
Harmeet Dhillon, a senior DOJ official, reposted a TV clip in which Stephen Miller accuses James Comey of lying to Congress and conspiring to cover up the “Russia collusion hoax.”
Another example of a DOJ official publicly promoting claims about uncharged individuals under active investigation.
Another example of a DOJ official publicly promoting claims about uncharged individuals under active investigation.
August 3, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Harmeet Dhillon, a senior DOJ official, reposted a TV clip in which Stephen Miller accuses James Comey of lying to Congress and conspiring to cover up the “Russia collusion hoax.”
Another example of a DOJ official publicly promoting claims about uncharged individuals under active investigation.
Another example of a DOJ official publicly promoting claims about uncharged individuals under active investigation.
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
More on Trump’s nominee to lead the office investigating Jack Smith:
➡️ He said that the descendants of slaves should pay reparations to the descendants of slave owners
➡️ He urged Congress to make J6 a national holiday
➡️ He called for Trump’s birthday to be made a national holiday (“MAGA Day”)
➡️ He said that the descendants of slaves should pay reparations to the descendants of slave owners
➡️ He urged Congress to make J6 a national holiday
➡️ He called for Trump’s birthday to be made a national holiday (“MAGA Day”)
August 3, 2025 at 12:10 AM
More on Trump’s nominee to lead the office investigating Jack Smith:
➡️ He said that the descendants of slaves should pay reparations to the descendants of slave owners
➡️ He urged Congress to make J6 a national holiday
➡️ He called for Trump’s birthday to be made a national holiday (“MAGA Day”)
➡️ He said that the descendants of slaves should pay reparations to the descendants of slave owners
➡️ He urged Congress to make J6 a national holiday
➡️ He called for Trump’s birthday to be made a national holiday (“MAGA Day”)
Reposted by Ranjana Natarajan
the voting rights act is, in its entirety, obviously constitutional under the 15th amendment, which gives congress broad and proactive authority to stop racial discrimination in voting. and you know it is obviously constitutional because roberts has had to invent entire new doctrines to gut it.
The Supreme Court knocked down one of the two pillars of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 in the Shelby County case. It has now gone out of its way to consider whether it should knock down the other, by rescheduling arguments in a case it could have resolved in June under existing precedent.
****Breaking:**** Supreme Court, in Order Asking for Additional Briefing in Louisiana Voting Case, Appears to Put the Constitutionality of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act into Question electionlawblog.org?p=151301
August 2, 2025 at 6:07 PM
the voting rights act is, in its entirety, obviously constitutional under the 15th amendment, which gives congress broad and proactive authority to stop racial discrimination in voting. and you know it is obviously constitutional because roberts has had to invent entire new doctrines to gut it.