Last Sunday, the head of the Lutheran social services outfit in the Northwest woke to find his phone had been blowing up.
“I had texts and calls that had come in overnight from people all over the country, some of them extremely alarmed,” says David Duea, CEO of Lutheran Community Services Northwest in Tacoma.
Danny Westneat, The Seattle Times

Governor Ferguson and Steve Starr have the same idea. Steve, Grant County chair and ARC expert, will talk to us tomorrow about what is happening in north central Washington. He was going to touch on the employment effects of data centers in Quincy. Bob thinks Steve is on the right track.
Don Schwerin, Chair, Ag & Rural Caucus

This April 19th marks the 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, which began the American Revolution and its war against monarchial power. It comes at a time when those who oppose President Trump’s exercise of powers that go well beyond those the Constitution allots to presidents are stunned by the speed and scope of his actions, and uncertain about how they can even begin to counter them.
Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect

Musk’s rats continue to burrow into sensitive government payment systems. According to the best source I’ve found on this (Nathan Tankus’s Crises Notes), Musk and his rats have now gained unrestricted access to your Social Security number, your confidential bank information, your confidential medical information, and much more.
Robert Reich, Substack

Yesterday afternoon, about seventy people showed up at the Spokane office US Representative Michael Baumgartner (R-CD5). Baumgartner wasn’t there, but surely his staff relayed the message that his constituents were upset.
Jerry LeClaire, Indivisible

The mood around Department of Energy offices in Richland is grim as Elon Musk reportedly plans to eliminate half of the federal jobs across the nation as part of his Department of Government Efficiency work for President Trump.
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald

As of 5 pm ET today, Trump will halt tens of billions of dollars in federal spending. This isn't about cutting the size of government. It's about further concentrating power in Trump's hands.
Robert Reich, Substack

On Thursday, agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the back of a small business in Newark, NJ, without a warrant and arrested three undocumented workers. They also detained and questioned employees who are U.S. citizens, one of them a military veteran.
Paul Krugman, Substack

Some thoughts about the first week of Trump II: The New York Times describes Trump as leading “a global wave of hard-line conservative populism.” Rubbish.
Robert Reich, Substack

I would have thought it would be a cold day in hell when I would have anything good to say about Senator McConnell, who is arguably the reason the Trump circus got to DC in 2016.
Martin Edic, The Witness Chronicles

He sees himself as a wartime president.
Jonathan Last, The Bulwark

President Donald Trump was in office for only 24 hours before the state of Washington sued his administration.
David Gutman, The Seattle Times

When Donald Trump assumes office Monday, as the 47th president of the United States, he will mark the solemn occasion with an inaugural address.
David Adler, The Alturas Institute

President Joe Biden sat down with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell for an unedited conversation that lasted almost the entire length of O’Donnell’s show.
Sarah Jones & Jason Easley, TCinLA

Our topic for this evening is how we keep rural health care viable. How we keep rural hospitals alive.
Don Schwerin, Ag & Rural Caucus

Bob Ferguson will be sworn in later today as Washington’s 24th Governor. He’ll take over the helm from one of the longest-serving governors in the state’s history, at a time when Washingtonians are voicing concern about the future of the state.
Paris Jackson, Cascade PBS

Special counsel Jack Smith’s final report, released shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday, offers a robust defense of his two-year, ultimately stymied effort to prosecute Donald Trump for his alleged attempts to subvert the results of the 2020 election.
Perry Stein and Jeremy Roebuck, The Washinton Post

Imagine a Congress where politicians of different ideologies work together to pass legislation reflecting what most Americans want. This isn’t hypothetical; it’s how Congress worked for much of the 20th century.
Jess Wegman and Lee Drutman, The New York Times