Author: Sky York Journal

Sky York Journal This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published by The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. The Italian prime minister and leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, Giorgia Meloni, has made fostering ties with foreign leaders a central part of her political strategy. A few years before winning Italy’s 2022 general elections, she started cultivating ties with the U.S. and European conservative world as part of a broader political rebranding effort aimed at projecting a more moderate image at home and gaining legitimacy abroad. She subsequently became…

Sky York Journal In yet another loss for president Trump and his floundering gerrymandering blitz, Virginia voters approved a Democratic-led redistricting measure on Tuesday that will likely give Democrats four additional congressional seats and a chance to take control of the U.S. House this year.   With 97% of the vote in, the measure had passed with 51.5% approving and 48.5% voting against it. State and national Democrats celebrated Tuesday’s win, which still has to face a number of hurdles as legal challenges to the proposal continue to play out in court.  “Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they approved a…

Sky York Journal For the publisher of a book that is both derided as racist drivel and lauded as deeply influential among Trump administration immigration restrictionists, there’s nothing more valuable than being able to claim you’ve been cancelled. In this case, far-right activists are alleging censorship after Amazon briefly delisted a paperback version of the Camp of the Saints. It’s an influential anti-immigration tome; the edition whose paperback version disappeared from Amazon had an introduction penned by a fellow at a think tank that helped devise Project 2025. The reason for and extent of that delisting remains unclear. It doesn’t…

Sky York Journal This story was originally reported by Grace Panetta of The 19th. Meet Grace and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is the latest member of Congress to resign, effectively avoiding a vote to expel her.  The Florida Democrat announced her resignation just before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote Tuesday afternoon on whether she should face expulsion after she was found guilty of over two dozen ethics violations last month.  “After careful reflection and prayer, I have concluded that it is in the best interest of my constituents…

Sky York Journal President Donald Trump’s own words were repeatedly used against him Tuesday during a bumpy confirmation hearing for Trump’s Federal Reserve Chair nominee Kevin Warsh. During a two-and-a-half hour Senate Banking Committee hearing, the risk poised by the president to Federal Reserve independence loomed large as Democratic and Republican senators pressed Warsh on Trump’s own statements about pressuring his next Fed Chair to embrace politically influenced monetary policy. At stake is the credibility of Warsh and the Federal Reserve at large, the stability of the entire global financial system, and the cost of living for people in the…

Sky York Journal This story was originally published by ProPublica,  a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. March unfolded like a stress test for U.S. counterterrorism authorities. The month opened with a gunman in an Iranian-flag shirt killing three people at a bar in Texas. Then, an attack with homemade explosives outside the mayor’s mansion in New York City. Next came a deadly shooting March 12 on a Virginia college campus and, the same afternoon, a car-ramming at a Michigan synagogue. Days later, agents arrested a man charged with…

Sky York Journal Two of Michigan’s top officials, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, both Democrats, fired back at the Justice Department after the DOJ expanded its baseless investigation of past elections into Michigan.  Last week, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon — who is also reportedly eyeing the open attorney general gig — sent a letter to Wayne County Clerk, Cathy Garrett, claiming there “have been a number of recorded allegations and convictions in Wayne County of election fraud.” She then demanded that Garrett hand over 2024 ballots, including absentee and provisional ballots,…

Sky York Journal After facing a series of setbacks and outright dismissals in its legal battle to try to seize sensitive voter data from multiple states throughout the country, the Justice Department is asking courts in 13 states for permission for a  redo.  For months now the Justice Department has been engaging in an overreach campaign, demanding sensitive voter information — including drivers licenses and social security numbers — from at least 44 states and Washington D.C. be turned over to the Trump DOJ. As justification for this unprecedented demand, the Justice Department has been citing provisions from the Help…

Sky York Journal Despite his central role in the Trump administration, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought had not appeared before Congress to answer questions since last June. That changed this week. And members of Congress had a lot of them. Pressed by senators Thursday on the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine Congress and its constitutional power of the purse, Vought repeatedly insisted the administration had done no such thing. He shook his head “no” on many occasions as members of the Senate Budget Committee accused him of breaking the law by refusing to spend money in the…

Sky York Journal GRAPEVINE, TX – On a cold spring morning in this tony Dallas suburb, dozens of activists had heard the call. They had read the posts; they understood the stakes: America was in crisis, facing a threat from within. It was time for action, and time to take a 5 a.m. bus to the state capital to protest Sharia law.  The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the group that organized the trip, the True Texas Project, part of the “antidemocratic hard right.” Its leaders have expressed fears of white genocide; the woman who funded the trip runs a right-wing-themed…