Today’s edition of quick hits.
* An impressive display: “Demonstrators turned out in droves in thousands of cities and towns, big and small, across the country today to protest what No Kings organizers call President Donald Trump’s ‘authoritarian power grabs’ — his administration’s policies on everything from the Iran war, immigration, federal law-enforcement crackdowns in cities and the recent deployment of ICE officers to airports.”
* A pending court case: “The Pentagon has flouted a court order blocking it from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters’ access to the Defense Department’s headquarters, a New York Times attorney asserted Monday in urging a federal judge to compel the government’s compliance with the 10-day-old order.”
* A tragic total: “[Thirteen] people who have died in federal immigration custody in the first three months of this year, and one of 46 who have died since President Trump took office last year and began his mass deportation campaign, according to death reports and news releases made public by ICE.”
* Keep an eye on this one: “The FBI on Friday confirmed that hackers targeted the personal emails of Director Kash Patel, hours after an Iranian government-linked hacking group posted documents and images online, claiming to have stolen them from Patel. In a statement, the FBI confirmed the agency was ‘aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information, and we have taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity.’”
* An illustrative acknowledgement: “A U.S. Justice Department lawyer admitted in court Thursday that if Rhode Island hands over unredacted voter rolls, that data will be shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to check citizenship status.” * No wonder Trump has suddenly stopped talking about mortgage rates: “The war in the Middle East continued to weigh on the U.S. housing market, as mortgage rates climbed for the fourth week in a row, squeezing Americans already struggling with high housing costs. The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rate climbed to 6.38 percent, according to the mortgage-financing giant Freddie Mac, up from 6.22 percent the week before and the highest level since the first week of September.” * A big step toward elimination: “The Education Department will relocate from its headquarters to a smaller Washington office as part of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency, officials said Thursday. The agency has seen its ranks thinned by mass layoffs since President Donald Trump took office, and its headquarters building has been 70% vacant, the Education Department said. In its place, the Energy Department will assume the lease in the building.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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