1. In an extraordinary public flogging, the Florida State Board of Education repeatedly threatened a school superintendent with criminal prosecution unless he removed a Judy Blume book from all library shelves.

One member called the district librarians "child abusers." 2. The State Board summarily declared that Judy Blume's Forever and 54 other works of literature were "pornography," even though none of the books met the legal definition of pornographic material.

Many of the targeted books are award-winning literature that have been read by students for years.

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1. A United States Congressman has accepted a job with a private firm.

He won't disclose the name of the firm.

But, despite all this, HE WILL REMAIN IN CONGRESS INDEFINITELY

It is an unprecedented situation that creates a severe conflict of interest

Follow along for details 2. "It is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement from Congress," Rep. Mark Green said in a press release. "Recently, I was offered an opportunity in the private sector that was too exciting to pass up."

But he will STAY IN CONGRESS until he gets to vote for the GOP reconciliation bill

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1. When Trump ran for office, he pledged to "restore free speech."

Then, as president, he deployed the military against people protesting his immigration policies.

This wasn't an isolated incident

It is part of an attack on freedom of speech, targeting anyone who does not share Trump’s ideology 2. The Department of Justice announced it will target journalists who "undermine" Trump's agenda

The FCC has targeted media companies over content Trump doesn’t like

The State Department revoked visas of foreign students who participated in pro-Palestine protests

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1. Trump has publicly and privately fantasized about deploying the military on US soil against protesters for years.

In LA, with little justification, he has made those dreams a reality, violating longstanding democratic norms.

He has manufactured a crisis.

Let's review the history.

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2. Trump strongly advocated for using the military to quell racial justice protests in the summer of 2020. He publicly encouraged governors to deploy the National Guard to "dominate" the streets.

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1. President Trump is using various crypto schemes to shamelessly exploit the presidency for personal profit.

So why did 16 Senate Democrats provide crucial votes to advance legislation to make these schemes MORE PROFITABLE FOR TRUMP?

Follow the money. 2. USD1, a "stablecoin" recently created by the Trump-backed crypto firm World Liberty Financial, may be Trump's biggest payday.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to traditional assets. In the case of USD1, one American dollar.

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1. Trump and his Republican allies say their budget cuts are targeted at waste, fraud, and abuse

But Trump's new 1,223-page budget proposal, quietly released on Friday afternoon, reveals the real target:

Poor children 2. The Trump administration is reducing funding that helps pregnant women, children, and breastfeeding mothers who are nutritionally at risk afford fruits and vegetables.

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1. @Verizon's CEO @hansvestberg said the company was "fiercely committed to diversity and inclusion across all spectrums because it makes us and the world better."

THAT WAS A LIE.

The company abruptly ended all its DEI efforts last week in exchange for the Trump administration approving a merger.
2. In a letter to FCC chair Brendan Carr, Verizon said it was "ending its DEI-related policies…effective immediately."

The company said it would eliminate all positions related to DEI, scrub DEI from its website, and end "workplace diversity goals"

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1. The "big beautiful bill" that Republicans advanced late last night is a massive transfer of wealth from the poorest Americans to the richest

The bottom 20% of earners will see their income DECLINE BY 10%

The top 0.1% will get a GIGANTIC WINDFALL 2. BEAUTIFUL for millionaires and billionaires.

UGLY for anyone making $51,000 or less.

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1. In 2018, many CEOs boycotted Saudi Arabia's investment conference in protest of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi

Since then, US intel concluded the murder was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince MBS

Yesterday, many of those SAME CEOs traveled to Saudi Arabia to lunch with Trump and MBS

Let's name names

🧵 2. In 2018, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said: "I'm very troubled by the reports... about Jamal Khashoggi...unless a substantially different set of facts emerges, I won't be attending"

Since then, the facts have gotten worse

Yesterday, Khosrowshahi broke bread w/MBS

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1. Qatar is bribing Trump with a $400 million luxury plane that he can use as Air Force One and take with him after he leaves office

Qatar is not acting out of altruism

It wants policy concessions to bolster its economy and national security

Trump is exploiting those needs to line his pockets

🧵 2. Qatar is the 2nd-largest purchaser of US military equipment

Trump toured the Qatari plane in February

In March, the admin approved the sale of $2 billion in military equipment, including 8 Predator drones

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1. We've been told there's a federal budget crisis that necessitates gutting the social safety net and slashing funding for medical research and national parks

Meanwhile, Trump's budget includes a record $1 TRILLION in military spending

Who benefits?

Military contractors like @elonmusk

Let's dig in 2. Trump is proposing a $1.01 trillion military budget — $119 billion more than this year — alongside a $259 billion cut to non-military spending.

Starve the poor, feed the Pentagon.

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1. Trump says imposing tariffs on nearly every nation on earth is essential to force companies to make investments in the US instead of abroad

But since January, the Trump Organization has announced new multi-billion $ development deals in the UAE, Qatar, India, and Vietnam

And NONE in the US 2. In Qatar, the Trump Organization is partnering directly with the government. This violates Trump's own, extremely weak, ethics agreement he released before returning to the White House.

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1. Next school year, thousands of high school students in Oklahoma will be required to learn about Trump's debunked claims that the 2020 election was tainted by fraud.

The lesson will not be part of a course on conspiracy theories, but an official component of the new social studies curriculum. 2. The new curriculum requires students to "analyze contemporary turning points of 21st-century American society. One task: "Identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information."

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1. Clay Jackson, a Texas lawyer, provided basic legal advice to an immigrant family fearing deportation

Then, two officers visited him at his home, accusing him of "obstructing an ongoing immigration investigation"

Then, after speaking publicly, he was fired from his job at a Fortune 500 company

🧵 2. A gas station attendant asked Jackson to talk to an immigrant family fearing deportation. He agreed and met w/them for an hour

Two days later, two plain-clothes officers came to his home and accused him of obstructing an immigration investigation

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1. Jose Hermosillo is US citizen who was wrongly jailed in an immigration detention facility for 10 days

The administration says he "turned himself in" to the Border Patrol and told them he was a Mexican who crossed the border illegally.

I interviewed Hermosillo.

He says the government is lying. 2. @DHSgov said, "Hermosillo's arrest and detention were a direct result of his own actions"

DHS also released what purports to be a transcript of Hermosillo's conversation w/Border Patrol

Hermosillo said this conversation was fabricated.

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1. There has been a lot of attention, rightly, on the Trump administration disappearing immigrants to El Salvador

But something that has gotten much less attention is the Trump administration WRONGFULLY DETAINING US CITIZENS they "suspect" are undocumented immigrants. 2. 19-year-old Jose Hermosillo, a US citizen, was visiting Tucson when he passed by the Border Patrol headquarters, and "an agent arrested him for illegally entering the country."

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1. Truth Social, Trump's social platform, announced an audacious scheme yesterday to profit from Trump's tariffs

It will offer actively-managed INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS composed of stocks in companies that benefit from Trump's policies

It's a jaw-dropping conflict of interest 2. Trump's tariff announcements have had massive impacts on stock prices.

His reciprocal tariffs tanked the market. When he paused them, the market rebounded.

Carving out an exemption for consumer electronics imported from China boosted Apple stock

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1. The North Carolina Supreme Court just TOSSED 260 BALLOTS in a razor-close election for a seat on the same court

The ballots were invalidated based on a claim by the Republican candidate that all of the voters were "never residents" of North Carolina

But that claim is false

We have receipts

🧾🧾🧾 2. Josiah Young was born & raised in North Carolina

The 20-year-old attended college in NC and runs a photography business in the state.

His ballot was invalidated based on the false claim he has never lived in NC

"My residence is in Jackson County. It's really not that hard to figure that out"

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1. The Trump administration claims that a program to protect rural Alabamans from raw sewage is racist so it is canceling the program as part of its crackdown on "DEI"

According to a press release, this is about treating "every individual with dignity and respect."

🤔 2. In 2021, the DOJ launched an investigation into the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH). The investigation found that the ADPH "engaged in a consistent pattern of inaction and/or neglect concerning the health risks associated with raw sewage" in Lowndes County.

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1. We contacted the 100 largest American companies and asked a simple question:

Do you support the tariffs announced by President Trump on April 2?

These are tariffs that have already destroyed trillions of shareholder value

NOT ONE COMPANY WOULD ANSWER THE QUESTION 2. Microsoft said it had "nothing to share." NVIDIA "decline[d] to comment." Citi “decline[d] to comment.” Eli Lilly and Gilead referred us "to PhARMA for industry perspective." The rest of the companies did not respond at all.

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1. An internal Trump doc claims that having a Michael Jordan "Jumpman" tattoo and wearing "high-end urban street wear" makes you a likely member of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang.

This kind of "evidence" is used to justify summary deportations to a Salvadoran prison 2. The "ALIEN ENEMY VALIDATION GUIDE" creates a point system to determine whether a Venezuelan over 14 years of age is a TDA member. Anyone scoring eight points or higher "are validated as members of TDA."

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