Karen Palmer

Today's Supreme Court decision is a direct assault on the promise of the Voting Rights Act. It risks disenfranchising millions of Americans along racial lines and weakening the very foundation of our democracy. Democracy is not self-sustaining. We must build, preserve, and defend it together. Here in New York City, we will always lead a government of, by, and for the people — all of the people.

Latest audio column from me: Columbia cancelled my course on race and journalism. I'm going to teach it anyway. substack-proxy.glitch.me/articles/karen…

Update: The House just passed the Republican voter suppression measure that threatens voting access for millions of Americans, including 69 million women whose married names don't match their birth certificates. Make sure your senators know you expect them to stand against it.

SCOOP: President Trump personally selected the now widely-mocked formula for determining country-specific tariffs from a menu of options, multiple sources say Numerous Trump aides - at NEC; CEA; Commerce; USTR - had for weeks been at work crafting country-specific tariffs that took into account a broad range of tariff & non-tariff barriers. Several sources said more sophisticated approaches had been developed. I can't confirm precisely who authored the one Trump picked, but it bears striking similarities to methods previously backed publicly by Peter Navarro, the ultra trade hawk The definitive story of Trump's whirlwind trade decision --> washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/…

BREAKING here - U.S. team in quake zone told they are fired, per source. The 3-person disaster assessment team sent to Myanmar for the U.S. received termination notices while staying/sleeping outside — US AID workers were told on an all hands call today, per a source familiar.

NBC News: A federal judge just issued a final judgement and permanent injunction against the Trump admin — ruling that the National Institutes of Health must continue funding research grants at their original, full amounts.  @MSNBC

Florida A&M University’s pharmacy school is fighting for funding after a $16.3 million grant was terminated amid the latest string of federal funding cuts tallahassee.com/story/news/loc…

Elon Musk says that no one has died because he slashed humanitarian aid. I went to South Sudan to check if that's true. It's not. Within an hour of starting interviews, I had the names of a 10-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl who had died because of decisions by wealthy men in Washington. The visit that moved me the most was to a remote area that used to have no health care, where women routinely died in childbirth. Then a US-funded maternity clinic opened through @UNFPA in December, and not one woman has died since. I showed up, and people mistakenly thought I was responsible for the clinic. One new mom wanted to name her baby for me, and the village elders thanked me and hailed America's generosity. What they didn't know was that Trump/Musk had cut all funding for UNFPA and that as a result the maternity clinic will close this month, and women will once again be bleeding to death in the dust. Here's a giftlink to my report from ground level about what the shutdown of USAID means: nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Here’s how I think the Social Security attack plan works: 🧵

Celebrating Santigold: A singular voice that helped define the 2000s npr.org/2025/02/26/123…

SCOOP --> Trump's State Department quietly terminated a contract that was in the process of transferring evidence of Russian abductions of Ukrainian kids to European law enforcement, two sources familiar with the situation tell me. Details here: newrepublic.com/article/192790…

CONFIRMED: @BaltimoreBanner breaks the news⬇️

Wow--this story is just unbelievable. The conditions Trump is demanding are authoritarian in the extreme and meant to keep faculty silent and keep students white. Trump demands admissions overhaul and control of academic department at Columbia University pbs.org/newshour/educa…

"I just expected more fight," said one House Democrat of Chuck Schumer's decision to vote with House GOP over House Democrats on the shut down, which House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries supported, in opposition to Schumer. cnn.com/2025/03/13/pol…

This is fascism…this is Becky Burke she was on a back packing tour of North America and crashed into Trumps immigration pogroms. Her father writes “Our daughter Becky, a 28-year-old British tourist, has been caught up in the recent immigration crackdown in the US. What was meant to be a life-changing four-month backpacking trip across North America has turned into a nightmare. Despite being a tourist with no criminal record, she was handcuffed and taken to a detention facility in Tacoma, Washington. Becky’s current conditions are deeply concerning. She is sharing a cell, surviving on a diet of cold rice, potatoes, and beans (she is vegan), and has limited access to phone calls. Visitors are restricted to speaking through a glass screen via telephone. All her possessions have been confiscated, and she feels isolated and desperate to come home. We are doing everything we can. We are in touch with the British Consulate in London and San Francisco. An American friend is helping by sending funds to her inmate account so she can buy basic necessities like tea. But progress has been slow, and we urgently need more support. We are asking for your help. Please share Becky’s story widely through your networks. We hope to connect with experts, legal professionals, or anyone who can offer advice or assistance. Becky is a kind, adventurous young woman who simply wants to return home to her family.”

6.2% of your paycheck goes into social security. plus an additional 6.2% is paid into social security by your employer on your behalf. 12.4% of every dollar you've ever earned has been paid into social security. it's YOUR MONEY.

Postscript and a good catch from @Fritschner. This is how you legislatively mandate the ball gag.

7. It cuts rent subsidies for low-income folks. Which means a whole lot of landlords are going to find themselves forced to evict some ~32,000 families. If you think your community needs more homelessness, that’s a good idea. Otherwise… really f’ing dumb.

I don’t know whether the GOP will get the votes on their disaster of a bill this week. But I do know that majorities of Republicans voted against similar bills for all of the last 2 years. So what is making them strap on the ball gag and climb into Trump’s dungeon now?

Ongoing rappler.com/philippines/ro…