DN Speak Daily

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Now, President Donald Trump’s administration is poised to penalize people like Burton simply for living in the same home as their families, according to four federal officials, internal emails and a federal regulatory listing. The administration is working on a rule change that would deduct the value of a disabled adult’s bedroom from their SSI allotment, even if the family members they live with are poor enough to qualify for food stamps. This would mean slashing the benefits of some of the most low-income SSI recipients by up to a third — about $330 a month in Burton’s case — or ending their support altogether...

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-social-security-ssi-disability-benefits-cuts-parents-children

GOP-led Florida House tanks AI, medical freedom proposals pushed by DeSantis -

“I understand the governor’s concern of wanting to protect children. We want to protect children, too. He is not wrong for wanting that. I agree with him, with that sentiment,” Perez said Tuesday. “

But we have seen very clearly, the president of the United States issued an executive order stating that the federal government should take handle of the AI policies of this country, that this is a national security concern, that this is bigger than just one state or one part of the country.”…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/28/florida-house-gop-ai-vaccines-special-session-00895379

Florida Rep. Daniel Webster announces retirement - Live Updates - POLITICO

Webster joins a growing number of Republican lawmakers not seeking reelection this cycle...

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/04/28/congress/florida-daniel-webster-retiring-00895723

State Department to release limited edition ‘America250’ passports with Trump’s face - POLITICO

Previews of the commemorative passport show Trump’s portrait overlaid on the Declaration of Independence on the inside cover with his signature in gold, as well as a page with an image of the founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence...

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/28/trump-passports-state-department-00896221

Carr throws ABC licenses into jeopardy in clash with Disney - POLITICO

The FCC has broad leeway to consider Disney’s character and whether it is operating in the public interest, but policy veterans worry Carr is violating the First Amendment by using government power to squelch speech disfavored by the president...

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/28/carr-throws-abc-licenses-into-jeopardy-in-clash-with-disney-00896133

RFK Jr. is holding up $600M in vaccines for poor countries - POLITICO

Advocates for Gavi say the withholding of funds will cost children’s lives. They also say the vaccines the group uses are safe and are better-suited to the challenges of immunizing people in the developing world, where refrigeration is spotty and it’s harder to get people boosters, than the vaccines used in the U.S. and other wealthy countries...

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/28/rfk-vaccines-gavi-thimerosal-00893645

Government Accountability Office to investigate Justice Department’s handling of Epstein files - POLITICO

“This horrific scandal is one where powerful, wealthy men groomed, abused, and raped young women, men, and children,” the March letter from the lawmakers states. “It is critical to understand what led to DOJ’s failure to redact the victims’ information and re-victimize those individuals while violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act in its redactions of information related to their alleged abusers.”…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/28/gao-epstein-files-investigation-00895594

Appeals court rules against ICE’s mandatory detention policy - POLITICO

In a 3-0 ruling, a panel of the New York-based 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals found that ICE’s policy was based on a flawed, implausible and unprecedented interpretation of decades-old laws. But more fundamentally, the panel said the Trump administration’s position would raise acute constitutional concerns by instituting “the broadest mass detention-without-bond mandate in our Nation’s history for millions of noncitizens.”…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/28/ice-mandatory-detention-appeals-court-ruling-00895115

Michigan tests expanding free ‘pre-K for all’ to home child-care providers

“Home-based providers are an untapped resource,” states a state policy document outlining the challenges and opportunities for the state to expand Pre-K...

https://www.michiganpublic.org/education/2026-04-28/michigan-tests-expanding-free-pre-k-for-all-to-home-child-care-providers

Retired immigration judge says immigration courts are "beyond saving"

“The adjudication that people receive at the asylum office is actually, in my view, at this point, a higher quality than what you get at many immigration courts,” he said…

https://www.michiganpublic.org/criminal-justice-legal-system/2026-04-28/retired-immigration-judge-says-immigration-courts-are-beyond-saving

Justice Department accuses former Fauci adviser of concealing communications related to COVID research | PBS News

The indictment reflects Republicans' long-held belief that the federal government covered up key information about COVID-19 as the pandemic unfolded. Despite numerous probes, the origins of COVID have never been proven. Scientists are unsure whether the virus jumped from an animal, as many other viruses have, or came from a laboratory accident. A U.S. intelligence analysis released in 2023 said there is insufficient evidence to prove either theory...

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/justice-department-accuses-former-fauci-adviser-of-concealing-communications-related-to-covid-research

Justice Department indicts former FBI director James Comey for a second time : NPR

This indictment is seen as the latest move by the Justice Department to use its vast powers to go after Trump's perceived political enemies...

https://www.npr.org/2026/04/28/nx-s1-5803167/james-comey-indictment

Trump & RFK are BETRAYING MAHA

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z6V4iXOqqZs

Operation Ghost Rider is in effect in Michigan -- here’s what that means...

Stopping distracted drivers…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1WPGogeU3A

Middle East crisis could cost world $1tn while oil firms make ‘obscene’ profit, analysis finds

Climate group calls for urgent windfall tax on excess fossil fuel profits, as delegates tell Colombia conference their nations are suffering…

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/28/middle-east-crisis-oil-firms-profit-colombia-conference

Lebanon accuses Israel of committing ‘ecocide’ in country since 2023

Claim by environment minister opens new report into profound ecological damage allegedly done by IDF forces…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/28/lebanon-accuses-israel-ecocide

Jimmy Kimmel defends Melania ‘widow’ joke after the Trumps call for him to be fired

Kimmel pointed out he made the joke three days before the alleged assassination attempt. “Obviously, it was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together,” he said. “It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not – by any stretch of the definition – a call to assassination. And they know that. I’ve been very vocal for many years, speaking out against gun violence, in particular.”

“But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house,” he continued. “And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it. Donald Trumpis allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I. Because under the First Amendment, we have, as Americans, a right to free speech.”…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/27/melania-trump-jimmy-kimmel-abc-spat

US activists plan May Day economic blackout: ‘No school, no work, no shopping’

…in protest of government policies they say put billionaires’ needs above those of workers…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/28/may-day-economic-blackout

Humanoid robots to become baggage handlers in Japan airport experiment

Japan Airlines will introduce the robots for trial run at a Tokyo airport amid country’s surge in inbound tourism and worsening labour shortages…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/28/humanoid-robots-baggage-handlers-japan-airports

Trump fires independent board overseeing National Science Foundation

It could “eviscerate investments in fundamental research and in the training of the next generation of scientists and engineers for our nation”, Stassun said...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/28/trump-fires-national-science-foundation-board

Falsely charged with a crime, no way to fight it: inside Oregon’s court crisis

An attorney shortage has left thousands trapped in criminal cases without lawyers. One wrongfully accused woman had no choice but to wait…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/28/oregon-public-defender-crisis-courts

A Tennessee woman needed an abortion to save her life. She then joined a lawsuit against the state’s ban

“What the state is trying to do by this delay is prevent these women from telling their story in court,” Goldstein said. “The state wants to convince the people of Tennessee that the abortion ban is working and that women who need medically necessary abortion care are getting it. And what women in our case prove, and what the state is very afraid of coming to light, is that it’s not working. Women are being denied care, they’re getting infected, they’re going septic, and this is all because doctors are terrified to provide standard medical treatment that they used to provide to their patients before the ban went into effect.”…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/27/tennessee-abortion-lawsuit-halted

‘I don’t want to be part of a dictatorship’: the Americans queueing up to renounce their citizenship

The renunciation experience varies. Sinclair said the US vice consul was “maybe a little snippy … there was an air of contempt. Like, ‘Oh you idiot, why are you doing this? Why would anyone renounce their US citizenship?’” Mary couldn’t get an appointment in her home city of Toronto so booked Halifax, Nova Scotia, and “did what they call a ‘vacation renunciation’”. She describes it as the purest anticlimax: “I was all set, I had my cute outfit on and all my lines memorised. I walked into this consulate that looks like the third floor of a department store, it didn’t look governmental at all.” Michael, 57, was similarly struck by the shabbiness of the consulate in Amsterdam – the noise, the chaos, the fact that nothing worked, “the feeling of instantly being back in America”...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/28/americans-queueing-up-renounce-citizenship-dictatorship

No One Believes You | Paula Poundstone

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Uy0esnY9d5I

New LEGO Video For Americans | Americans Please Wake Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUBalH54QDU