CORRUPTION IS STILL A FAMILY BUSINESS, WHEREVER – We wonder why Trump objects to the maintenance of political power as a family business  -- he thinks it is “unacceptable” that the son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Khamenei should succeed his father. How does Don Jr. feel about that? Trump’s inside-outside game -- where huge parts of his policy objectives and machinations in areas like crypto, real estate deals and generally corrupt gains enabled by deregulation and no-bid contracts enrich his family empire -- fits right into politics as a family business. What could go wrong? In this game of “Succession,” as it turns out, a Middle East war is required to create the vacancy, and plenty could go wrong. Lessons unlearned, one more time.

We remaining VVAW members (fewer and fewer) mourn the death of Country Joe McDonald, whose “Fixin’ to Die Rag” set the tone for our resistance.

And yes, the News You Can Use, as progressive Marylanders, happens in Maryland mostly -- the general assembly is approaching a month to go till sine die, and still lots to do. Make sure it is done on your behalf; check this week's memo for avenues to ensure that. And all over the state citizens are fighting ICE and its plan to house detainees in warehouses (seriously -- that's how DHS feels about anyone they collar). And as we scuffle over these issues, the Chesapeake Bay is shrinking the state, acre by acre, because, well, the land is sinking as the water rises. So much to do. It's News You Can Use.

HERE IN MARYLAND

Summaries from Maryland Reporter

Continuing Structural Deficit Threatens Any 'Fiscal Responsibility:' Gov. Wes Moore is touting his “fiscal responsibility” along with a balanced budget proposal, which some lawmakers and economists say ignores Maryland’s most pressing issue ahead: billions of dollars in structural debt. The Department of Legislative Services projects a nearly $3 billion structural deficit in fiscal year 2028, growing to roughly $4 billion by fiscal year 2. Baltimore Sun.

House, Senate Still Working To Create Energy Package: With soaring energy bills a prime concern for voters in an election year, House and Senate leadership want to unite around a single energy package. But when they’ll do so, and what the package will look like, remains a mystery more than halfway through the 2026 legislative session. Maryland Matters.

Nurses Seek Accountability For Social Services In Foster Cases: Pediatric emergency department nurse Melanie Lee has seen foster youth remain for months after they’re ready for discharge, living in tiny, windowless rooms awaiting a home or facility that will take them. With the kids’ mental health deteriorating by the day, Lee said nurses will quiz social services workers on what exactly they’ve done to find somewhere for them to go.“We wanted a list of what they had tried, to hold them accountable,” said Lee, who was among those who testified last week in favor of a bill that proponents say would do just that. Baltimore Sun.

How Much Gambling Is Too Much? After years of expanding gambling in Maryland — including making sports betting available on phones — the General Assembly is confronting the next frontier: whether to let voters decide if online casino games like blackjack, roulette, and slots should be legalized. Lawmakers are posing the question: “How much is too much?” Baltimore Sun.

Reparations Commission To Be Restructured Under New Plan: Lawmakers are scheduled to take up a bill this week that would move two Reparations Commission appointments from the governor to legislative leaders, who would also gain the authority to name an additional five members to the commission between them. The bill would also add a representative from the Maryland Commission for African American History and Culture to the panel. Maryland Matters.

Salisbury U Postpones College GOP's White Nationalist Speaker: Salisbury University has announced the postponement of a Maryland Federation of College Republicans-hosted event featuring controversial speaker and self-described “white advocate” Jared Taylor due to security concerns. WBOC.

Three State Agencies Express Concern To DHS Over Impact of ICE Facility: Three Maryland departments – Natural Resources, Environment and Transportation – wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security last week expressing concern over the proposed ICE detention facility in Williamsport in western Maryland. The agencies are concerned about the impact the facility would have on local sewer lines, as it would house 1,500 people and produce more than 187,000 gallons of wastewater a day. WYPR-FM.

ICE Awarded $113m Contract To PA Firm To Build Out MD Facility: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has entered a contract with a Gettysburg, Pennsylvania-based defense contractor to use a warehouse in Williamsport as a detention center.All funds have been paid for the contract as of Friday. The facility is located near Hagerstown and is for detention, compliance and deportation operations for ICE. KVG regularly contracts with the federal government for Department of Defense needs. Cheval Pryce/The Baltimore Sun. >>As the Trump administration embarks on a $38 billion plan to convert industrial warehouses into a new breed of large-scale holding centers, it is turning to a crop of relatively untested businesses to rapidly build and operate the facilities.WaPo

B'more Furniture Dealer Gets $25.8m Deal With Ice: Price Modern, a more than century-old furniture dealer in Baltimore’s Remington neighborhood, inked a $25.8 million deal in early February to supply office furniture to federal ICE agents. That didn’t sit well with Fells Point resident Amalia Delony, who felt compelled to call up Price Modern to express disappointment. Others have since followed her lead. Baltimore Sun.

THE REGION AND THE OTHER 49

Study offers best picture yet of sinking land in the Chesapeake Bay region: Scientists have known for years that water levels are rising faster in the Chesapeake Bay region than just about anywhere else in the world — because water is only part of the problem here. The land is also sinking. Bay Journal

Virginia’s vote on REDISTRICTING: As early voting begins for Virginia’s redistricting referendum, Democratic leaders pushed back against claims that the proposal would open the door to future partisan map-drawing, arguing instead that the measure represents a temporary defensive response to what they describe as a national Republican redistricting effort encouraged by President Donald Trump, according to the Virginia Mercury. (via Pluribus)

And another vote: Virginia likely to rejoin Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) After years of lawsuits, rallies and legislative debates, Virginia is set to return to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. RGGI is an 11-state partnership that imposes fees on power plants if they exceed their greenhouse gas emission limits, which Virginia left (illegally, as it turns out) under former Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Bay Journal

HEALTH CARE: Lawmakers in at least 10 Republican-led states are considering bills to restrict access to mifepristone and misoprostol, the two-drug regimen that accounts for more than half of abortions in the United States. The bills draw on model legislation approved in Texas and Louisiana over the last two years. Some would allow citizens to sue manufacturers or providers for monetary damages. (Pluribus News) [paywalled]

>>Pluribus News also reports that Utah’s legislature has approved a 4.7% tax on digital advertising revenue earned by social media giants. Utah would become the second state after Maryland to levy a tax specifically on digital advertising. That law has been mired in litigation for five years, though Maryland continues to collect the tax.

Towns, local governments lack legal power against ICE and DHS; seek public support Towns across the country fighting potential ICE detention centers are finding they have limited legal authority to stop the federal government, so officials are turning instead to the court of public opinion. Stateline Daily via Maryland Matters

Pluribus by the numbers: 19%: The share of federal campaign contributions that came from 300 billionaires and their immediate family members in the 2024 elections. That equals about $3 billion given to candidates and political action committees. (New York Times) AND 64%: The share of Americans who want to end the semi-annual clock changes between standard time and daylight saving time. Americans prefer permanent daylight saving time over permanent standard time by a 43% to 28% margin. (YouGov) via Pluribus

GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND THE FEDS

Here’s the weekly roundup on national politics and D.C. shenanigans from Megan E, federal affairs director for Progressive Maryland’s national affiliate, People’s Action.

Hi People's Action,

Oil prices surged over the weekend to well over $100 a barrel (from somewhere around $75 a barrel) as Israel hit Iranian oil depots and Iran blocks 20% of oil supplies from leaving the Persian Gulf. This unnecessary war and predictable surge in oil prices have destabilized global stock markets. The Federal Reserve, which was on a path to a lower interest rate, will now rethink that plan in an effort to curb inflation driven by rising oil prices. Trump was previously hell bent on lowering interest rates but he seems unable to stick to an agenda that lowers costs for people. 

[See Progressive Maryland’s stance against war on Iran]

Hundreds of people have been killed in the Middle East, including hundreds of children who were killed by U.S. Tomahawk missiles at a school. Seven U.S. service members have now been killed.  Tehran is covered in a hellish black cloud from burning oil depots that make it unsafe to go outside. 

If you’re interested in a deeper dive on the war, Ezra Klein interviewed Ben Rhodes on why the war is a bad idea. Conservative columnist Ross Douthat interviewed Curt Mills, the executive director of The American Conservative, a magazine that champions foreign policy restraint, on why Trump has strayed from his campaign promises that the U.S. should stay out of foreign costly wars. The TLDR (or listen) is that Israel drove this war, Trump for some reason couldn’t say no. How did a week of war go? The NYT put a platoon of reporters on this solid account. There is no plan to end the war, or to support regime change. Even in “the best case scenario” where the war is short and relatively painless for Americans, the lesson for Iran will be to get nuclear weapons, because we bombed them in the middle of negotiations and we don’t really mess with North Korea. 

Mills says that Trump actually has a hard time saying no to people and that the MAGA base does not support military intervention despite the initial polls. I agree that once the price of gas has set in and more service members die, support for the war will decline across the board.  

Last week, Congress voted against a resolution to limit Trump's war in Iran. Now Republicans will have to pay for this war. The White House will send over a request for billions in supplemental funding for the Pentagon. Big spending, even for the Pentagon, is divisive within the Republican coalition with deficit hawks not liking to spend any money unless there is “pay-for” (that is always a spending cut and never a tax hike on the rich). The House has a very slim majority so three Republicans voting with all Democrats can tank a deal and the Senate will require a 60 vote threshold unless Republicans do it through a budget reconciliation bill. 

Right now, Republicans are considering whether to attach wildfire aid and $15 billion in tariff relief for farmers in a supplemental funding package for the war. Republicans are hopeful that this could court some Democrats to vote for the package so folks in ag states and California should consider shoring up Democrats against the package. 

The Department of Homeland Security is still not funded and I don’t expect much movement on that this week. Republicans are failing to reclaim the narrative and the news cycle is likely to stick on the Iran war. Though we may see more impacts of the shutdown as TSA workers who are not getting paid may begin to call in sick. Democrats are willing to pass a partial funding bill that funds the Coast Guard, TSA and FEMA. 

The House is out and Republicans are at a retreat in Florida. As if they don’t have a war and a DHS shutdown, and skyrocketing oil prices to deal with, their favorite President told them he won’t sign any bills until the Save America Act passes. Does that include funding for his war? 

His Truth Social post said that it can’t be watered down: “GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY — ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL.” This bill can’t pass the Senate so this post is actually rather meaningless unless he’s willing to force an end to the filibuster, which Senate Republican leadership does not want to do. It does show that Trump is acting ever more chaotic. 

Unless something significant shifts, Markwayne Mullen is likely to be Senate-confirmed as the ousted Kristi Noem’s successor as Secretary of Homeland Security; most of the usual suspects who sometimes buck Trump’s will have already said positive things about his nomination. There is only a 50 vote threshold for confirmation. Senators are less likely to vote against other Senators in confirmation hearings; ask Marco Rubio.

In solidarity, 

Megan