Good morning. Sunny and breezy today with highs around 61. The Nationals are still in Pittsburgh. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @kmcorliss.19 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
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A great book on my nightstand:
“Wallflower at the Orgy” by Nora Ephron. Before Sally Albright worked at the news, so did her creator. “The image of the journalist as wallflower at the orgy has been replaced by the journalist as the life of the party,” Ephron muses in the foreward of this collection, which compiles some of the iconic magazine articles that defined her pre-film industry career. Among her selected works: A takedown of fashion magazine Women’s Wear Daily that she was later sued for, a personal essay detailing her experience getting a professional makeover, and a profile of former Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Helen Gurley Brown, who apparently used to receive free boxes of Woolite because she wrote the company’s president to tell him she enjoyed washing her hair with it. (The latter article once inspired me to email a particular Vermont-based ice cream manufacturer about how much I like one of their particular flavors, in the hopes that they would send me some coupons—but they did not, so basically I just wrote a paragraph about how good I think chocolate tastes and launched it into the abyss.)
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Nontransparency breeds contempt: During a hearing yesterday, lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia asked US District Judge Paula Xinis to hold the Trump administration in contempt for its failure to cooperate with her earlier order to “facilitate” the mistakenly deported Maryland man’s return. Meanwhile, Justice Department lawyers argued that they are complying, because if Abrego Garcia happened to show up at a port of entry, agents would let him back into the US and take him into custody here. Xinis ruled that administration officials have two weeks to supply the court with evidence of their compliance—if they don’t do that, she says Abrego Garcia’s attorneys “are free to seek separate sanctions on an expedited basis.” (NBC News) Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen is, as he promised earlier this week, heading to El Salvador today in an effort to visit Abrego Garcia and check on his conditions. (The Guardian)
Snoop DOGE: It appears that DOGE is accessing protected personal data at yet another federal agency to support the administration’s mass deportation efforts. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is working on a rule that would ban mixed-status households from public housing—DOGE is working to find out where these immigrants live, work, and study. (Washington Post) This, amid an ongoing legal battle over DOGE’s access to data systems at the Social Security Administration; just last week, representatives barged into Social Security offices in Woodlawn, Maryland, to label more than 6,000 immigrants as dead. (Washington Post) At a hearing in Baltimore yesterday focused on DOGE’s access to Social Security information, union leaders and other citizens gathered outside the courthouse to protest: “This billionaire has no right to access my data or anyone else’s data. It is illegal, and [Judge Ellen Hollander] needs to know that we feel that way. That is the law,” said one retiree with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. (CBS)
And DOGE stop there: Just about every staff member at the Pentagon’s Defense Digital Service, which works on tech development for the Department of Defense, will resign over the course of the next month, effectively shuttering the decade-old program. Departing employees say they’re leaving because, although they expected to be included in DOGE’s efforts to automate and AI-ify Pentagon operations, they’ve only been steamrolled so far. (Politico)
Take it or Leavitt: The White House has introduced a new media policy that would block the Associated Press and other wire services from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other small spaces that offer up-close-and-personal access to the president. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt will have the last word on which outlets are allowed to join the press pool. This change, conveniently, comes on the heels of a federal judge’s ruling that the White House can’t ban the AP from press events just because it wouldn’t rechristen the Gulf of Mexico in its coverage. (AP)
Administration perambulation: The State Department is toying with the idea of closing up to 10 of America’s embassies, plus 17 consulates. (NYT) A federal judge has blocked most of Trump’s sanctions against law firm Susman Godfrey, which officials went after last week—the administration never really explained why they were so mad at Susman Godfrey, but we do know the firm represented Dominion Voting Systems post-2020 election. (Washington Post) 👊🇺🇸❌: Signalgate messages have been deleted from CIA Director John Ratcliffe‘s phone. (NYT) Dan Caldwell, a close adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has been placed on leave amid the investigation. (NYT) In his first speech since leaving office, Joe Biden criticized Trump’s administration for treating the federal government like Silicon Valley: “They’re shooting first and aiming later,” he said at the national conference of Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled in Chicago. (The Guardian) The IRS is on pace to lose about a third of its staff this year—more than 20,000 employees just hopped on Trump’s latest resignation offer. (NYT) Trump’s biggest donors would stand to profit if the administration snagged control of Greenland. (The Guardian) Two protestors at a Marjorie Taylor Greene town hall near Atlanta were stun-gunned by police. (NYT)
One album you should hear, by Rob Brunner:
Formed in Arlington in the early ’80s, the great indie rock band Unrest recently put out a 30th anniversary reissue of its classic 1993 album, Perfect Teeth (yes, they’re a couple of years late). An expanded version is available with a bunch of necessary extra material, which I’ve been streaming endlessly ever since it came out. Hopefully they’ll repress the already sold-out two-LP vinyl version?
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
- Noah Kahan, Lucy Dacus, and Doechii will headline this year’s All Things Go music fest. Plus: Kesha, Clairo, and so many more.
- Get to know James Boasberg, the judge overseeing Meta’s federal antitrust trial.
- It’s Jazz in the Garden o’clock and we suspect the sangria will be doing some extra heavy lifting this year.
- I’m at the vintage boutique, I’m at the used bookstore, I’m at the plant shop. I’m at the combination vintage boutique, used bookstore, and plant shop that just opened in Takoma Park!
- Easter specials around the DC area.
Local news links:
- DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced some spending cuts yesterday, given the House’s failure to act on passing our budget fix before flouncing off for recess. The reductions include a citywide freeze on hiring, pay raises, overtime, and non-personnel expenditures. City Administrator Kevin Donahue will present a plan outlining more specifics on worker furloughs and facility closures (not to include schools, hospitals, or shelters) by April 25. (Axios D.C.) Will this light a fire under Congress’s you-know-what? We sure hope so.
- A federal judge has dismissed a firearm charge against 24-year-old Henrry Villatoro Santos, a Salvadoran immigrant living in Virginia, so the Trump administration can carry out plans to deport him. (Washington Post)
- Rainbow History Project is inviting local LGBTQ+ community members and allies to join a reenactment of a 1965 gay rights protest on the sidewalk in front of the White House this Thursday, April 17, at 4 PM. DC-area activist Paul Kuntzler, the last known surviving participant of the original demonstration, will be there. (Washington Blade)
- From now on, the Kennedy Center’s exterior lights will glow red, white, and blue at night. (Kennedy Center)
- Maryland has officially designated the Orange Crush its official state cocktail. Ocean City, you will always be famous. (WTOP)
- Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has died at 79. (Washington Post)
Wednesday’s event picks:
- Dance, drink, and collage at April’s NMWA Nights Earth Day celebration—bring empty lipstick containers, toothpaste tubes, and more to recycle.
- Enjoy a Day of Play at RFK with volleyball, frisbee, and food truck bites.
- R&B group Jagged Edge plays Warner Theatre tonight.
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Did you miss our 100 Very Best Restaurants List? It’s here.
