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Mike Ludwig of Truthout: Trump postponed a speech on bringing down prescription drug prices this week after promising to roll out a set of sweeping policy proposals.
Critics warn Trump's threat to torpedo the deal puts the US and Iran on a direct path to war.
Donald and Melania Trump walk out to the North Portico to greet French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron as the Trumps host a state dinner at the White House on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in Washington, DC. (Photo: Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Unlike the highly publicized battle over Trumpcare, the Republican attack on Medicaid is happening one state at a time, with minimal scrutiny. Last week, two state legislative bodies passed bills that would make Medicaid available only to people who meet stringent work requirements, bringing the total number of states pursuing work requirements to 12. Now, activists across the country are challenging "welfare 2.0," which threatens to leave people who are already struggling without health insurance.
Thousands of workers whom BP hired to clean up the spill that polluted the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 have claimed that exposure to oil and the dispersant has made them sick. The cleanup workers, who have not yet had their day in court, are calling for federal judge Carl Barbier to reverse his decision to delay hearing the remaining cases of cleanup workers indefinitely. On April 20, they delivered a petition with 25,000 signatories supporting their struggle for justice.
Today, two courts will have to decide whether to uphold our country's system of checks and balances, limiting the damage the Trump administration has done and will do to the thousands of people facing deportation, in detention or being refused entry to the US. Will the courts defend the Constitution even in the face of an executive branch determined to ignore it?