Happy Wednesday! It’s the YIMBY story you’ve probably never heard of: As one particularly mischievous pileated woodpecker descends on Rockport, Massachusetts, residents of the town have taken to using trash bags and towels to shield their cars from its destructive tendencies. But they’re not looking to expel the avian invader anytime soon.
“Everybody’s having a good laugh about it,” one local told the Associated Press. “Nobody wants harm to the bird. He’s always welcome back.”
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order seeking to ease the effects of forthcoming auto tariffs on U.S. automakers. The order, which came four days before the White House’s 25 percent levies on imported cars and car parts were set to take effect, will exempt domestic automakers from tariff “stacking,” meaning that 25 percent auto tariffs cannot be coupled with additional tariffs on materials, such as steel and aluminum. Trump also extended tariff-rate discounts to manufacturers that finish assembling their vehicles in the United States. Under the new scheme, the government will reimburse those companies 3.75 percent of the value of each car manufactured before May 1, 2026, or 2.5 percent for vehicles completed after that date but before April 30, 2027. Those reimbursements will fully expire after two years.
- The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)—a nonprofit created by Congress in 1967 that provides federal funding to PBS, NPR, and local television and radio stations nationwide—sued the Trump administration Tuesday for terminating three of its five board of directors the day prior. On Monday, the White House informed Vice Chair Laura Ross and members Thomas Rothman and Diane Kaplan that their positions were “terminated effective immediately,” a move the CPB argued President Trump has no authority to make. Because Congress formed the nonprofit as a private enterprise rather than a government agency, the CPB’s lawsuit asserted, its board members are not government employees and cannot be removed by the president. Responding to the lawsuit, White House assistant press secretary Taylor Rogers said, “[The] Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority.”
- President Trump called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Tuesday, following news that the e-commerce giant planned to display tariff-associated costs for each product for sale on its website—reporting that Amazon later said was not fully accurate. “Jeff Bezos was very nice,” Trump said on Tuesday, adding, “he solved the problem very quickly.” On Tuesday morning, Punchbowl News reported that the shopping site would begin showing how much of an item’s cost comes from tariffs, but an Amazon spokesman later said the change was being considered only for the company’s low-cost shopping service, Amazon Haul, and was ultimately “never approved and is not going to happen.”
- President Trump on Tuesday moved to dismiss several board members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum who had been appointed by former President Joe Biden, including former Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff. The other dismissals targeted individuals who previously held senior roles in the Biden administration, including Biden’s former chief of staff, Ron Klain, as well as advisers Susan Rice and Tom Perez. Anthony Bernal, a former senior adviser to first lady Jill Biden, was also removed. All of the former government officials were appointed to the council in January, and appointees typically serve five-year terms.
- Harvard University on Tuesday released two separate reports that it commissioned to probe antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias on campus. Antisemitic bias, the report found, had severely escalated following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, though it noted that anti-Jewish bigotry was an issue before the war’s start. Meanwhile, the report on Islamophobia found that many Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students, faculty, and staff had felt “abandoned and silenced” while on campus. The reports were published one day after Harvard—which is currently suing the Trump administration for revoking more than $2 billion in federal grants amid its investigation into antisemitism at the university—renamed its Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging to the Community and Campus Life office.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday announced plans to end the Pentagon’s Women, Peace and Security program, describing the body that was signed into law by President Trump in 2017 as a “Biden initiative.” In a post on X, Hegseth said he planned to eliminate the program to “the minimum … required by statute,” adding that he would fight to see it completely shuttered for the department’s next budget. The initiative, which was championed by Ivanka Trump, seeks to further women’s participation in security teams and peacebuilding efforts at the Pentagon. Shortly after his announcement, Hegseth said the Biden administration “distorted & weaponized the straight-forward & security-focused program.”
Supreme Court To Consider Bid For First Religious Charter School
Canada: No More Mr. Nice Country
When then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation in January, his Liberal Party trailed the Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, by 29 points. Canada was poised to swing right, joining a worldwide shift away from left-leaning incumbents, and the Liberals—after nine consecutive years in power—were preparing for an electoral future without their longtime leader.
“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process. Last night, I asked the president of the Liberal Party to begin that process,” Trudeau said in a speech. “This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.”
But nearly four months later, the Liberals remain in power—barely. Led by a novice politician who replaced Trudeau as prime minister in February, the mild-mannered former central banker Mark Carney, the Liberals eked out ...
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Today’s Must-Read
Fans of the old Superman comics no doubt remember Bizarro World, the cuboid planet where everything is backward. Denizens of this parallel world are distorted replicas of their Earth-based counterparts, and they live by a Bizarro Code which dictates that being good or doing the right thing is a crime. Apparently, the phenomenon is not confined to fiction. Ever since Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day appointment of Brendan Carr to chair the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the agency that licenses broadcast stations has become a Bizarro World version of its former incarnation. And there is some reason to suspect Carr himself has somehow been replaced by his Bizarro doppelganger.
Toeing the Company Line
The Ugly American
Discrediting right-wing governance, one nation at a time.
Dinner With Donald
Trump is, unfortunately, a fellow human.
There’s Nothing Conservative About Donald Trump’s Trade Philosophy
It’s actually the essence of left-wing economic thought.
What We Got Wrong in April
A list of corrections issued by The Dispatch this month.
Video: Dispatch Live Featuring SCOTUSblog
Learn more about our recent acquisition of SCOTUSblog.
Flood the Zone With German
Everything sounds scarier in German.
Worth Your Time
- On the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Michelle Giuda reflected on her own family’s story of tragedy and triumph for the Wall Street Journal. “Black April was more than a historical marker; it’s the root of my family’s story. My Vietnamese mother fled South Vietnam seven days before the communists took over. My maternal grandmother escaped on one of the last C-130 aircrafts six days later. My father was a member of the Navy Seabees stationed in Da Nang before the Tet Offensive,” she wrote. “The fall of Saigon was a tragedy—lives lost, a country fractured, families like mine clinging to helicopters or braving the seas. Their exodus reminds us of the lengths people will go to escape the scourge of communism and build something from nothing. … Young Americans today have known peace for decades. But from Saigon to Kabul, we’ve seen how freedom’s promise can vanish in an instant. With distance comes danger: the fading of memory. On this anniversary, we must remember that the gifts of the U.S. are fragile, precious and worth defending.”
Presented Without Comment
ABC News: Trump Says ‘I Could’ Get Abrego Garcia Back From El Salvador
In an exclusive interview with ABC News to mark his 100th day in office, President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he “could” secure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man his administration said in court was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
…
The president then said that Abrego Garcia is a member of the criminal MS-13 gang and “is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland.” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have maintained he’s not MS-13 and has not been charged with or convicted of a crime.
Also Presented Without Comment
NewsNation: U.S. Space Force Working To Develop Space ‘Aircraft Carrier’
In the Zeitgeist
Nothing riles up sports fans quite like music. The Virginia Tech Hokies have their “Enter Sandman” entrance, the Chicago Bulls arrive to their theme song “Sirius,” and the Los Angeles Kings kick off to the tunes of the iconic Koreatown Senior and Community Center harmonica group.
On game days when the harmonica musical group has brought their talents to the Kings’ ice rink, the team has gone undefeated.
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