Guardian: Musk’s Doge gains access to federal payroll system despite staff warnings
With this access, the Doge employees now have visibility into sensitive employee information, like social security numbers, and are able to more easily hire and fire federal workers, according to the Times, citing the two people with knowledge who spoke with the newspaper on condition of anonymity due to fear of retribution.
Meanwhile, Tyler Hassan, the recently named interior department’s acting assistant secretary of policy, management and budget and a former Doge employee, reportedly placed two of the IT officials who had resisted the Doge employees on administrative leave and under investigation for their “workplace behavior”, according to the two sources.
Wikipedia: 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election
The 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election will be held on April 1, 2025, to elect a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a ten-year term. The incumbent justice, Ann Walsh Bradley, is retiring after 30 years on the court. Wisconsin Supreme Court justices are nonpartisan, but the outcome of this election will decide the ideological majority of the court for at least the next year. The election pits Brad Schimel, a circuit court judge in Waukesha County, against Susan Crawford, a circuit court judge in Dane County. The race will be held concurrently with the superintendent election in the state.
By early March, the election had already become the single most expensive judicial race in United States history. Total spending is projected to reach $100 million by election day.
NYT: Jason Furman: Trump’s Tariffs Make Absolutely No Sense
My local bookstore has been taking advantage of me for years. I have run a trade deficit, giving it money with nothing but books in return. At the same time I have been taking advantage of my employer, running a trade surplus with it as it gives me a salary with nothing but educational services in exchange.
Thinking that way about the kinds of exchanges we all engage in is obviously absurd. But that’s precisely the reasoning behind the “reciprocal tariffs” President Trump is expected to announce this week. The details have not yet come into view, but if he does follow through, it’s clear the plan would add to what are already the nation’s highest tariffs since the 1940s. Their effect will be lower economic growth, higher inflation, higher unemployment, the destruction of wealth and a tax increase on American families. It will deal a blow to the rules underlying the global trading system and further empower China.
WashPo: Trump administration targets billions in funding to Harvard
An antisemitism task force will review $8.7 billion in multiyear grants and $255 million in contracts with the university and its affiliates.
Last Updated: 31.Mar.2025 20:12 EDT
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