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Trump's chief of staff bans international travel for Cabinet members unless approved by the White House: report

Thursday 23 April 2026 14:17 EDT President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is limiting the amount of overseas travel that Cabinet members can take heading into the midterms, according to insiders. Wiles reportedly told staff in February that they should only be leaving the country when absolutely necessary, according to three people with knowledge of the meeting who spoke to Politico. The changes come ahead of what some — including Trump himself — predict will be a brutal midterm y ...

BumRushDaShow

Met Opera's Multimillion-Dollar Deal With Saudis Falls Through

April 23, 2026, 4:00 p.m. ET In a major blow to the Metropolitan Opera, the Saudi Arabian government has backed out of a deal that would have provided significant relief to the nation's premier opera company as it struggles to recover from the most acute financial crisis in its history, Met officials announced on Thursday. Peter Gelb, the Met's general manager, said the Saudis cited damage to the country's economy caused by the war in Iran and the blockading of oil passing through the Strait ...

BumRushDaShow

Trump's correspondents' dinner appearance sparks boycotts and petition: 'You're having dinner with him?'

Thursday 23 April 2026 13:09 EDT President Donald Trump's expected attendance at the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner this weekend has brought renewed scrutiny to the event that honors the press. The administration's animus toward journalists has been a fixture of Trump's second term, from berating individual reporters, fighting organizations like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Associated Press in court to restricting press access to the Pentagon. It's anothe ...

BumRushDaShow

US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400,000 on Maduro raid

Updated Apr 23, 2026, 6:14 PM ET PUBLISHED Apr 23, 2026, 5:35 PM ET A US special forces soldier involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was arrested and charged for allegedly betting on that operation, netting him $400,000 in profits. The outsized trade involved with Operation Absolute Resolve caught the attention of law enforcement almost immediately. According to an indictment unsealed Thursday, Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke opened an account in late December ...

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RFK Jr. draws backlash for ripping Medicaid programs that pay people to care for relatives

April 23, 2026, 11:41 AM EDT Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparked outrage among disability rights advocates with recent comments alleging widespread fraud in Medicaid programs that pay people to care for elderly or disabled family members — a system millions of Americans rely on to survive. During testimony before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee last week, Kennedy criticized Medicaid-funded programs that pay relatives to serve as caregivers, alleging they ...

mahatmakanejeeves

James Comer Is Effectively Killing the Epstein Investigation

(New Republic) Republicans have found a new way to conduct the Epstein investigation. Democrats insist it’s just another attempt to sweep the whole scandal under the rug. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee flamed House Oversight Chair James Comer in a congressional memo for “running scared,” accusing the Kentucky Republican of changing the Epstein investigation proceedings into informal “roundtables” that lack any rules.

BumRushDaShow

Senate defeats Democrats' 5th attempt to limit Trump's war powers in Iran

(CBS News) The Senate rejected another attempt to rein in President Trump's ability to use further military force against Iran on Wednesday, marking Democrats' fifth effort to do so since the war began eight weeks ago. In a 46 to 51 vote, a motion to discharge the measure from committee failed. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted with Republicans against it, while GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted with Democrats in favor.

Dulcinea

Senate passes budget plan for ICE and Border Patrol in bid to reopen Homeland Security Department

(AP) The Senate took the first steps in a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security early Thursday, voting to adopt a budget plan that would fund ICE and Border Patrol over Democratic objections and sending it to the House. The entire department has been shut down since mid-February as Democrats have demanded policy changes in the wake of fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents. Republicans are now trying to fund the two immigration enforcement agencies through the complicated, time-consuming process called budget reconciliation.

mahatmakanejeeves

How Trump Accidentally Handed Dems Their Big Win in Virginia

(New Republic) In the “vote yes” campaign’s final days, 100 percent of the ads that aired in Northern Virginia markets heavily emphasized or featured very prominent imagery of Trump, a source familiar with ad buy information tells me. “Trump’s mug was all over the communications that voters were receiving, specifically among the lion’s share of the voters we needed,” the source says. “Trump’s name and face were plastered all over the mess he made.”

BumRushDaShow

Trump Started A Redistricting War. Democrats Are Winning It.

(Huff Post) Nine months after President Donald Trump and Republicans launched an unprecedented effort to redraw the lines of congressional districts mid-decade and tilt them in their favor, Democrats appear more likely to benefit from the effort. Following a Tuesday vote in Virginia in which voters approved a new map that would likely eliminate four of five Republican districts in November, Democrats are now set to gain up to 10 seats nationally. Republicans will consider themselves lucky to flip eight.

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DeSantis plots end run of Florida law to create more GOP House seats

16 min ago - 1h Florida bans lawmakers from intentionally creating congressional seats to give their party an advantage. But Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly has launched a three-tiered power play to evade the ban — and create more GOP-friendly seats — in Nov ... (msn/Axios)

Businesses dole out up to $4M to cross Panama Canal during Strait of Hormuz chokehold

47 min ago - April 24, 2026, 1:05 AM PANAMA CITY -- Businesses have doled out up as much as $4 million to move boats through the Panama Canal with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, according to the Panama Canal Authority, in a move that has created a seism ... (ABC News/AP)

Nato says US cannot suspend Spain from alliance, after reported Pentagon email

1 hr ago - Nato says there is no provision for member states to be suspended or expelled from the military alliance after a report said the US could seek to suspend Spain over its Iran war stance. Reuters quoted a US official who said an internal Pentagon email ... (BBC)

E.U. approves a $106 billion loan package to help Ukraine after Hungary lifts its veto

1 hr ago - April 24, 2026, 4:50 AM EDT BRUSSELS — The European Union on Thursday approved a 90-billion-euro ($106-billion) loan package to help Ukraine meet its economic and military needs for two years after oil began flowing through a key pipeline to Hun ... (NBC News/AP)

U.S. Has 'Burned Through' Eye-Popping Amount of Munitions During Trump's Iran War: Report

1 hr ago - Apr 23rd, 2026, 9:02 pm The United States has used a staggering amount of its weapons cache in the war with Iran, spending millions and blowing through a large chunk of its stockpile in the two months since the conflict began. The ongoing conflict w ... (MEDIAite)

Former federal prosecutors see legal flaws in DOJ's SPLC indictment

2 hrs ago - 12h The Justice Department's indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center may contain serious legal defects that could lead to a full or partial dismissal because it struggles to articulate the elements of the alleged crimes, former federal pr ... (msn/CBS News)

'Anorexic' reconciliation bill could mean Planned Parenthood gets re-funded

2 hrs ago - 04/23/2026 05:00 PM EDT Republicans’ push for a narrow party-line bill focused solely on immigration enforcement funding is running into opposition from anti-abortion activists and lawmakers who fear it will trigger the return of hundreds of mil ... (Politico)

Warren draws 'parallels' between AI 'bubble' and financial crisis

3 hrs ago - 04/23/26 8:51 PM ET Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned on Thursday that investments in artificial intelligence could trigger a potential economic crash, drawing parallels to the 2008 financial crisis caused by a collapse in the housing bubble. & ... (The Hill)

White House expected to extend Jones Act waiver up to 90 days, sources say

3 hrs ago - April 23, 2026 4:18 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago April 23 (Reuters) - The White House is expected to extend the Jones Act waiver for ‌up to 90 days as early as Friday to help blunt fuel price pressures tied to the Iran conflict, acc ... (Reuters)

National Park Service faces free speech lawsuit over anti-Trump signs

3 hrs ago - Updated April 23, 2026, 4:16 p.m. ET The American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington, DC, chapter sued the National Park Service on April 23, alleging that the agency violated the First Amendment by threatening to revoke a protest permit over si ... (USA Today)

10th Circuit orders second look at challenge to Colorado 'ghost gun' law

4 hrs ago - 04/23/2026 | updated 12 hours ago The Denver-based federal appeals court issued a mixed decision on Thursday, finding that a group of plaintiffs could not challenge certain aspects of Colorado’s “ghost gun” prohibition, could challenge ... (Colorado Politics)

Shipping Waiver Prompts US Oil Flow From Texas to East Coast

4 hrs ago - April 23, 2026 at 12:19 PM EDT Updated on April 23, 2026 at 3:32 PM EDT Phillips 66 is shipping oil from Texas to an East Coast refiner, the first cargo of US crude on that route using a foreign vessel since President Donald Trump waived a 100-year-o ... (Bloomberg)

Trump takes aim at Prince Harry over Ukraine war remarks

4 hrs ago - U.S. President Donald Trump said that Prince Harry "is not speaking for the U.K." after the British royal urged the United States to play a larger role in supporting Ukraine. Trump made the remarks during an event at the White House on April 23, wher ... (Kyiv Independent)

Lutnick says Trump's 'Gold Card' visa program has just 1 approval, hundreds await review

4 hrs ago - Posted 3:12 PM, Apr 23, 2026 U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that only one person has been approved under President Donald Trump’s “Gold Card” visa program, but hundreds of others are awaiting review for the pay-to ... (Scripps News)

Congress members join protest against 'oligarch's dinner' for Trump thrown by Ellisons

10 hrs ago - Paramount Skydance CEO fetes administration as it weighs $110bn merger with CNN parent WarnerBros Discovery Dozens of protesters, including members of Congress, gathered along the National Mall on Thursday to protest an "intimate" dinner being held b ... (The Guardian (who else?))

ICE is cutting back on cuffing immigrants in courthouses and warrantless arrests: report

11 hrs ago - Thursday 23 April 2026 12:14 EDT Donald Trump’s administration has reportedly instructed immigration enforcement officers to cut back on arrests inside courthouses and to no longer enter homes without a warrant, backing off two controversial pol ... (The Independent)

Texas Tech Issues Ban On Students Writing On LGBTQ+ Topics

11 hrs ago - Texas Tech Issues Ban On Students Writing On LGBTQ+ Topics The ban applies to theses and dissertations, and is expected to begin going into effect on a rolling basis. Erin Reed Apr 23, 2026 Texas Tech University Erin In The Morning is a reader-suppor ... (Erin in the Morning)

Lawmakers rip Republican plan to make DC 'square again'

11 hrs ago - April 23, 2026 WASHINGTON (CN) — Democratic lawmakers from Virginia and Washington, D.C., are rolling their eyes at a Republican-led bill that would return some land east of the Potomac River to the nation’s capital, saying the measure woul ... (Courthouse News Service)

Microsoft and Meta announce large staff reductions as they spend big on AI

11 hrs ago - Meta and Microsoft are trimming their workforces by thousands as they make heavy investments in AI and executives claim that the technology is meeting their companies’ productivity needs. Meta told staff on Thursday that on 20 May it would cut s ... (The Guardian)

Senate rejects measures meant to lower the cost of gas, groceries

12 hrs ago - Updated April 23, 2026, 11:34 a.m. ET WASHINGTON – In a flurry of rapid-fire votes, most Senate Republicans spurned a group of measures Democrats said would lower everyday costs for Americans while separately moving to approve $70 billion for im ... (USA Today)