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The Democratic strategist accused Maher of lending ‘legitimacy and credence’ to Trump’s behavior

Political strategist James Carville has branded Bill Maher “supremely naive” after the comedian dined with President Donald Trump and praised him as an “effective politician.”

Carville, who helped get Bill Clinton elected to the presidency, hit out at Maher and accused him of giving Trump “legitimacy.”

The criticism comes after Maher, a longtime critic of the president, had a private dinner at the White House with Trump at the end of March. He made the surprise admission that, actually, he found Trump “gracious and measured” despite railing against him regularly on TV.

Summary

The Supreme Court on Monday will hear arguments in Kennedy v. Braidwood, “a case that could strip away insurance coverage for preventive services like cancer screenings, HIV prevention and diabetes medication for millions of Americans.”

Braidwood Management claims covering PrEP “violated its rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”

The justices will weigh whether the United States Preventive Services Task Force “has the authority to recommend preventive services like PrEP be covered.”

A loss could mean “millions of Americans will be deprived of access to free, effective preventive care,” with “dire” impacts on marginalized groups and public health at large.

Summary

Shortly after midnight early Saturday morning, the Supreme Court handed down a brief order forbidding the Trump administration from removing a group of Venezuelan immigrants from the United States without due process.

The ACLU claims “dozens or hundreds” were allegedly given an English-language document, despite the fact that many of them only speak Spanish.

The Supreme Court ruled the government must give any immigrant “notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal.”

The Court’s one-paragraph order states that “the Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order.”

Though it is just one order, Saturday’s post-midnight order suggests that the Court may no longer tolerate procedural shenanigans intended to evade meaningful judicial review.

Order is latest example of the courts challenging the Trump administration’s overhaul of the immigration system

The US supreme court has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily halt the deportation of Venezuelan men in immigration custody, after their lawyers said they were at imminent risk of removal without the judicial review previously mandated by the justices.

“The government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court,” the justices said early on Saturday.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two of the court’s leading conservatives, dissented.

Foundation leaders say charitable organisations could be next in the firing line – but must ‘stand together’ to resist

John Palfrey will not be obeying in advance.

At a moment when leaders of tech companies, law firms, media corporations and academic institutions have bent the knee to Donald Trump, the president of the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation insists that charitable organisations choose resistance over capitulation.

“We have an opportunity to unite and advance,” Palfrey said last week. “There’s a chance here for us to stand together on a series of very important bedrock principles, and do so with linked arms, and do so in such a way that allows us to serve every community in America in a way that will ensure a strong republic for years to come.”

Kremlin proclaimed a temporary ceasefire, but Russian artillery fire is continuing, according to Ukrainian president

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russian artillery fire is continuing in Ukraine despite the Kremlin’s proclamation of an Easter ceasefire.

“As of now, according to the commander-in-chief reports, Russian assault operations continue on several frontline sectors, and Russian artillery fire has not subsided,” the Ukrainian president posted on X. “Therefore, there is no trust in words coming from Moscow.”

He recalled that Russia had last month rejected a US-proposed full 30-day ceasefire and said that if Moscow agreed to “truly engage in a format of full and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act accordingly – mirroring Russia’s actions”.

Organizers call for 11 million people to march and rally in this weekend’s effort to ‘protect democracy’

Protesters poured into the streets of cities and towns across the United States again on Saturday, in the second wave of protests this month, as organizers seek to turn discontent with Donald Trump’s presidency into a mass movement that will eventually translate into action at the ballot box.

By early afternoon, large protests were under way in Washington, New York and Chicago, with images of crowds cascading across social networks showing additional demonstrations in Rhode Island, Maryland, Wisconsin, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, California and Pennsylvania, among others. Americans abroad also signaled their opposition to the Trump agenda in Dublin, Ireland, and other cities.

More than 400 rallies were planned, most loosely organized by the group 50501, which stands for 50 protests in 50 states, one movement.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen held a news conference a day after Salvadoran officials agreed to let him meet with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., revealed new details about his meeting this week with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, including that he had been traumatized by his imprisonment in El Salvador.

Van Hollen met with Abrego Garcia — a Maryland man who the Trump administration says was mistakenly deported last month — on Thursday after his previous efforts to meet with him were denied by Salvadoran officials.

The Maryland senator held a news conference at Washington Dulles International Airport on Friday upon his return from El Salvador, where he told reporters that he met with Abrego Garcia for more than 30 minutes and informed him of the national attention on his case, which the senator said Abrego Garcia was unaware of.

While the president brags about his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran and throttling its oil exports, its weapons sales to Russia get a pass.

While Donald Trump brags about his “maximum pressure” campaign to impoverish Iran and force its leaders to give up its nuclear program, there remains one source of revenue that the president appears to be OK with: Iran’s sale to Russia of deadly drones, missiles and technical expertise to help slaughter Ukrainian civilians.

Iran has earned at least tens of millions of dollars, perhaps many hundreds of millions, from its agreement to supply weapons to Russia over the past two years. And while that deal drew new sanctions against both countries under former President Joe Biden, it appears to have received no pushback from Trump.

“Not sure why specifically the Trump administration is not making this an issue with Russia,” said Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in its early years after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Organizers have called for 11 million people across country to participate this weekend in effort to ‘protect democracy’

The US will witness its second wave of protests in a fortnight on Saturday as organizers seek to turn discontent with Donald Trump’s presidency into a mass movement that will eventually translate into action at the ballot box.

More than 400 rallies are anticipated across the nation loosely organized by the group 50501, which stands for 50 protests in 50 states, one movement.

It is the fourth protest event to be staged by the group since Trump was inaugurated on 20 January. Previous events included a “No Kings Day” on President’s Day, 17 February, a theme adopted before Trump referred to himself as a king in a social media post days later.

Trump said he could stop war in 24 hours, but team appears daunted by negotiation with ‘a lot of detail attached to it’

Diplomacy, it turns out, is hard. The 24 hours that Donald Trump promised he would need to halt the fighting in Ukraine have long since passed. And the administration has done little of the hard diplomatic work that was required to secure landmark deals like the Dayton agreement or the Camp David accords in the past.

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Rubio clearly wished to vent frustration on Friday, a day after Trump had said in the White House that he was waiting for Russia’s response to the proposed framework for a peace deal and expected to have it this week. The White House appears to be increasingly frustrated with Moscow, something that both European and Ukrainian officials had hoped would take place.

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There was always an expertise gap in the difficult negotiations over a ceasefire to the Russian war in Ukraine. Now the administration appears to have a patience gap and has signaled it is ready to walk away. Ukraine does not have that option.

A Colombian national is facing up to 20 years in prison after allegedly breaking an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer's nose during an attempted arrest in Roselle, New Jersey back in February during an enforcement operation.

The 27-year-old man, identified as Hector Villegas-Alvarez, was approached by ICE agents who had determined he was unlawfully present in the United States and subject to deportation.

According to an official statement by the New Jersey Attorney's Office, Villegas-Alvarez exited his vehicle when ordered to do so but physically resisted arrest, locking his arms and tensing his body when officers attempted to apply handcuffs.