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Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged fire along the line of control separating the two countries overnight, three days after separatist gunmen killed 26 people in Indian-ruled Kashmir. The cross-border fire, which Indian military officials accused Pakistan of initiating, came as both countries moved to revoke visas for one another’s citizens, ordering them to leave in the coming days. Also this week, India closed a primary border crossing and terminated a 65-year-old water-sharing treaty with Pakistan. A separatist group known as the Resistance Front took credit for the Tuesday terrorist attack, which India alleged contained “Pakistani elements.” New Delhi has long accused Pakistan of arming militants to carry out terrorist attacks—charges Islamabad denies.
- President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was “not happy” with Russia’s overnight missile and drone barrage on Kyiv, which killed at least 12 people and injured more than 90 others to become the most fatal airstrike on Ukraine’s capital since July 2024. “Vladimir, STOP!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets [sic] get the Peace Deal DONE!” A day earlier, Trump criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his refusal to recognize Russia’s occupation and annexation of the Crimean peninsula, saying his insistence “will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field.’”
- A Russian military court on Thursday sentenced Ivan Popov—a former Russian commander who criticized senior military leaders after he was removed from his post—to five years in a penal colony after finding him guilty of large-scale fraud. After his dismissal in July 2023, Popov sent a voice memo to his troops claiming he had been pushed out for highlighting the military’s poor reconnaissance capabilities and the high number of casualties—remarks that were later made public. Speaking to Russian state media, Popov’s lawyer indicated plans to appeal the ruling, which supporters denounced as politically motivated.
- U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie Gallagher ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration must issue a “good faith request” to the El Salvadoran government for the return of a 20-year-old Venezuelan man, identified only under the pseudonym “Cristian,” who the White House deported to the El Salvador’s megaprison last month over his alleged involvement in the Tren de Aragua gang. Cristian initially entered the U.S. illegally as an unaccompanied minor, and, in 2019, was one of four plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against the government seeking temporary protection from deportation. A settlement reached in 2024 established that all four could not be removed until their asylum applications were processed. The White House argued that Cristian’s alleged gang connection breached the settlement, but Gallagher ruled that the settlement’s text made no such stipulation and that all four were protected from deportation.
- U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled on Thursday that Trump’s executive order on securing election integrity cannot require voters to present documentary proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. “Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the states—not the president—with the authority to regulate federal elections,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a 120-page opinion, adding that “Congress is currently debating legislation that would effect many of the changes the president purports to order,” a reference to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which recently passed the House but reportedly faces an uphill battle in the Senate. Other provisions in Trump’s March 25 executive order on elections, including increasing oversight into the security of electronic voting tabulators and prosecution of election law violations, are allowed to remain in effect.
Trump Asks Supreme Court To Allow Ban On Transgender Service Members From the Military
Rubio’s Renovation
In his first speech from the State Department’s Washington, D.C., headquarters in January, Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the distinguished work of its employees. “This is an extraordinary honor and a privilege to serve in this role,” he said. “To oversee the greatest, the most effective, the most talented, the most experienced diplomatic corps in the history of the world.”
But just three months later, he’s striking an altogether different tone. “We will drain the bloated, bureaucratic swamp, empowering the Department from the ground up,” Rubio wrote on State’s official Substack on Tuesday, announcing plans to overhaul the agency. He outlined a significant consolidation of several departments and bureaus, singling out offices—including the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration—that he accused of “[pushing] through their own agenda.”
“The American people deserve a State Department willing and able to advance their safety, security, and prosperity around the world, one respectful of their tax dollars and the sacred trust of government service,” Rubio concluded.
Reorganizing the State Department is not an unusual step for a new secretary of state to take—most previous secretaries have sought to put their stamp, and the president’s, on their department. But Rubio’s move may be part of the battle taking place behind the scenes of ...
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Today’s Must-Read
It was a long and winding road after losing a primary bid for a U.S. Senate seat from Minnesota in 2012, but Pete Hegseth has (for now at least) leapfrogged back into politics after being denied all those years ago. He’s not alone. Hegseth is only one member of the second Trump administration to have been plucked from the pantheon of electoral duds and given a second lease on political life. From the Cabinet all the way to high-profile White House aides, there are failed candidates for major office who might have otherwise toiled for years in obscurity or, even worse, local politics if not for Trump’s magnanimity. Contrary to the president’s boasted affection for winners, it’s loyalty to Trump, sometimes even in the face of defeat, that remains the most valuable characteristic for a Republican looking to get ahead these days.
Toeing the Company Line
Déjà Vu
How Trump’s Ukraine peace plan resembles his trade war.
Carpe Diem, Harvard
This moment is what all that money is for.
My Presidential Candidacy
If nominated, I will consent to be elected, but don’t expect me to do much else.
Hard Choices on Medicaid Loom for Lawmakers
To reach its spending cut requirements, the GOP must target a popular social program.
Claims That the FDA Has Approved Ivermectin to Treat COVID-19 Are False
The drug is approved only for treating parasitic diseases.
They Never Believed Any Of It
‘A lot of people in politics don’t believe in anything.’
SCOTUSblog, Welcome to The Dispatch
The Dispatch is well-positioned to become the definitive source for authoritative reporting and analysis of the Supreme Court.
Worth Your Time
- Yesterday, as the world observed Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Times of Israel’s Zev Stub interviewed 99-year-old Michael Smuss, the last known living fighter from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. “On the first day of the uprising, the Jewish resistance caught the Germans completely off guard. ‘We had some Polish Jews who had previously fought in the army against Germany, and they thought of everything,’ Smuss said. ‘They were shooting from the balconies with the Italian Berettas, protected by helmets and beds they had set up as shields. When the Germans spread out over the ghetto, they were sitting ducks. Their leaders had no idea what to do. It was a perfect ambush,’” Stub wrote. “Smuss continues to speak to groups about the horrors he saw during the Holocaust and to serve as an inspiration for others. ‘I’ve dedicated my life to helping to make sure this never happens again,’ he said. ‘I’ve gone to Poland with students many times, and I continue to speak about it.’ … ‘During the Shoah, we didn’t have an army of our own. Today, we have a country with God watching over us and an air force protecting us. I’m very grateful for that.’”
- For Public Books, Harry Stecopoulos profiled America’s literary Mecca: Iowa City, Iowa. “Iowa City is the place where contemporary English literature matters more than anywhere else on earth. The home of arguably the world’s most famous MFA program, Iowa City has authors’ plaques embedded in the sidewalk (yes, our streets are paved in literary gold), over 100 literary readings per year, and roughly 1,000 writers—young and old, town and gown—in a community of 75,000. No surprise, then, that in 2008 Iowa City was named a UNESCO City of Literature,” he wrote. “If we want to keep these communities dynamic, we should work hard to keep them weird. Places like Iowa City often have scandalous reputations, particularly when embedded in red states. Yet that reputation sometimes stems not from bacchanalian excess, but rather from a refusal to accept the status quo. Ensuring that our college towns remain places of real not rote learning, of innovative education not AI simulation, means encouraging their residents, within and without the university, to forge ahead, push the limit, break through.”
Presented Without Comment
New York Times: [Former New York GOP Rep.] George Santos, Facing a Possible 87 Months in Prison, Is Out of Jokes
“Right now, my expectation is I’m going to prison for 87 months,” he said flatly when reached by phone on Wednesday. “I’m totally resigned.”
Gone was the pugnacious rhetoric and quick wit that became part of his mystique as he lied his way to Congress, his deceits leading to criminal fraud and a guilty plea. Instead, Mr. Santos was disconsolate and bitter.
“I came to this world alone. I will deal with it alone, and I will go out alone,” he said.
Also Presented Without Comment
ABC News: DOJ Accidentally Files Document Outlining Flaws With Trump Administration’s Plan To Kill NYC Congestion Pricing
Lawyers with the Department of Justice accidentally filed a document overnight that outlined a series of legal flaws with the Trump administration’s plan to kill New York City’s congestion pricing tolls.
In an 11-page letter to the Department of Transportation, lawyers with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York wrote that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy's attempt to terminate congestion pricing faces “considerable litigation risk” and is “unlikely” to be accepted by the court.
Also Also Presented Without Comment
NBC News: ‘Trump 2028’ Apparel on Sale at the Trump Organization’s Online Store
In the Zeitgeist
Comedian Nathan Fielder’s latest project, HBO’s The Rehearsal, debuted its second season this week. The show’s premise? Stage meticulously planned “rehearsal” scenarios of real-life events, and have real people act them out as practice for the real thing.
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