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The Dictatorship

Chappell Roan’s controversial remarks on parenthood contain more than a kernel of truth

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Chappell Roan’s controversial remarks on parenthood contain more than a kernel of truth

I was too busy wiping mustard-colored feces off my 3-month-old’s delightfully chubby legs and screaming at my 6-year-old to stop throwing rocks at his 10-year-old brother, to give my full attention to Chappell Roan’s remarks on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that all her friends who are mothers are miserable.

I was too busy wiping feces off my 3-month-old’s legs to give my full attention to Chappell Roan’s remarks that all her friends who are mothers are miserable.

The 27-year-old pop star told host Alex Cooper that she’s not sure she wants to be a mother because “All of my friends who have kids are in hell.”  She continued: “I don’t know anyone, I actually don’t know anyone, who is happy and has children at this age. Like, a 1-year-old, like 3-year old — 4 and under, 5 and under. I literally have not met anyone who is happy, anyone who has, like, light in their eyes. Anyone who has slept.”

I became aware of  Roan’s comments in the dead of night, while I was doom scrolling and breastfeeding my daughter for what felt like the gazillionth time. My doom scrolling gave way to me reading responses from moms angry at Roan. “Having children is a blessing, not a burden,” Evie Magazine posted on Instagramand the comments from mothers who disagreed with Roan ranged from “I don’t know what she’s talking about” to “having kids is absolute bliss” to various iterations of “she’s not a mom, so what does she know?”

Mothers are not a monolith, and I cannot speak for every procreating parent with kids under 10 attached to their legs. But as I sit here having not showered in three days, wearing sweats covered with spit-up, attempting to write this column while my daughter uses my nipple as a chew toy, I can confidently say: Roan’s right. Most moms are miserable.

We’re sleep deprived and stressed and dead-eyed not just because raising another human being is hard work, but also because of where we are raising our children — in a country that only pays lip service to mothers and nothing more. Some of us live in states, like Roan’s native Missouri, that are especially hostile to women and mothers.

There’s no wonder why Roan would see young mothers in her home state struggling. Missouri, like many so-called “red states,” ranks as one of the worst states in the country for women’s health and reproductive care.

Regardless of which state we live in, we’re generally raising our children without mandated parental leave or universal free lunch or even the simple promise that motherhood will remain a choice and not a punishment mandated by the government.

In 33 states, day care costs more than college tuition. In 17 states and the District of Columbia, child care costs more than rent. Congress has shut down universal pre-K and universal child care initiatives, and the Trump administration has frozen funds for Head Start programs and fired many of the employees responsible for keeping early education programs afloat.

Many of us are forced to return to work just two weeks after giving birth to jobs that pay us less than what our male counterparts get.

Many of us are forced to return to work just two weeks after giving birth to jobs that pay us less than what our male counterparts get — because in this country, employers treat fatherhood as proof a man’s responsible and treat motherhood as proof a woman will be distracted. Others are simply forced to quit their jobs entirely, forgoing their own dreams and career goals for the sake of their families. In 2023, a survey of 3,000 working mothers with children under 4 found that 1 in 10 moms walked away from their jobs and that twice as many moms at least considered it.

We moms with school-age children are trying to find time to help our kids catch up in math, science, reading and writing while they’re enthusiastically detailing their latest active shooter drill.

We’re doing all of this while still handling the majority of the household responsibilities and shouldering most of the unpaid emotional labor of parenthood. But if we speak candidly about how hard any of this is, we’re told we’re ungrateful, inadequate parents who had no business having a child.

Look: Children are demanding by design. The majority of parents with kids under 5 say parenting is stressful most of the time. Yet to say this out loud is a faux pas, precisely because expressing our misery exposes the awful job our country does supporting mothers.

Now, this is usually the part where I say that despite it all, I love being a mother and I love my children — the necessary caveat meant to shield all moms from the very backlash Roan has received. But what if we all assume that it’s a given that mothers love their children, and focus on the fact that no matter how loving they are, they’re still miserable.

A 27-year-old childless pop star can see it. Our unfiltered mom group chats reveal it. Countless studies quantify it. Our politicians undoubtedly know it. Any mirror I look at proves it.

So why don’t we all stop getting mad at the people who acknowledge how hard it is, and start demanding those in power do something to make it easier?

Danielle Campoamor

Danielle Campoamor is a freelance journalist who has been published in Teen Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, BLN Opinion, Playboy, Newsweek, BuzzFeed and Marie Claire, among others.

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The Dictatorship

Federal court rules against new global tariffs Trump imposed

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Federal court rules against new global tariffs Trump imposed

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court ruled Thursday against the new global tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed after a stinging loss at the Supreme Court.

A split three-judge panel of the Court of International Trade in New York found the 10% global tariffs were illegal after small businesses sued.

The court ruled 2-1 that Trump overstepped the tariff power that Congress had allowed the president under the law. The tariffs are “invalid″ and “unauthorized by law,” the majority wrote.

The third judge on the panel found the law allows the president more leeway on tariffs.

If the administration appeals Thursday’s decision, as expected, it would first turn to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, based in Washington, and then, potentially, the Supreme Court.

At issue are temporary 10% worldwide tariffs the Trump administration imposed after the Supreme Court in February struck down even broader double-digit tariffs the president had imposed last year on almost every country on Earth. The new tariffs, invoked under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, were set to expire July 24.

The court’s decision directly blocked the collection of tariffs from three plaintiffs — the state of Washington and two businesses, spice company Burlap & Barrel and toy company Basic Fun! “It’s not clear’’ whether other businesses would have to continue to pay the tariffs, said Jeffrey Schwab, director of litigation at the libertarian Liberty Justice Center, which represented the two companies.

“We fought back today and we won, and we’re extremely excited,” Jay Foreman, CEO of Basic Fun!, told reporters Thursday.

The ruling marked another legal setback for the Trump administration, which has attempted to shield the U.S. economy behind a wall of import taxes. Last year, Trump invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to declare the nation’s longstanding trade deficit a national emergency, justifying sweeping global tariffs.

The Supreme Court ruled Feb. 28 that IEEPA did not authorize the tariffs. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to establish taxes, including tariffs, though lawmakers can delegate tariff power to the president.

Dave Townsend, a trade lawyer at Dorsey & Whitney, said the ruling will open the door for more companies to request that the tariffs be thrown out and that any payments they’ve made be refunded.

“Other importers likely will now ask for a broader remedy that applies to more companies,” Townsend said, though he cautioned the case could also reach the Supreme Court.

Trump is already taking steps to replace the tariffs that were struck down by the Supreme Court in January. The administration is conducting two investigations that could end in more tariffs.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is looking into whether 16 U.S. trading partners — including China, the European Union and Japan — are overproducing goods, driving down prices and putting U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage. It is also investigating whether 60 economies — from Nigeria to Norway and accounting for 99% of U.S. imports — do enough to prohibit the trade in products created by forced labor.

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The Dictatorship

Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve trade deal

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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve trade deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said in a Thursday social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year’s trade framework by July 4.

The announcement appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25% tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a “great call” with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Still, the U.S. president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.

“A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!” Trump posted. “I agreed to give her until our Country’s 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels.”

It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.

His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.

Under the original terms of the framework, the U.S. would charge a 15% tax on most goods imported from the EU.

But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10% tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.

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The Dictatorship

In the wake of the Virginia ruling, where does the national redistricting arms race stand?

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In the wake of the Virginia ruling, where does the national redistricting arms race stand?

In Virginia, a majority of the House of Delegates voted to approve a new congressional district map that was designed to help Democrats add as many as four seats in the U.S. House. A majority of the state Senate agreed, as did the commonwealth’s popularly elected governor. The issue then went to the people of Virginia, and a majority of voters backed the redistricting initiative, too.

A majority of the Virginia Supreme Court, however, rejected the plan anyway. MS NOW reported:

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved congressional redistricting plan, ruling that Democrats violated constitutional procedures when placing the referendum on the ballot for last month’s special election. […]

In its 4-3 decision, the court on Friday found that the process used to place the amendment on the ballot did not comply with Virginia’s constitutional rules governing how such proposals must be approved by the legislature before being presented to voters. As a result, the justices upheld a lower court ruling that blocks the amendment from being certified and implemented.

For Democratic efforts on the national level, the ruling is an unexpected gut punch, especially given the fact that after Virginia voters approved the overhauled map last month, it appeared that Democrats would be able to keep pace with the GOP as part of the broader redistricting fight.

What’s more, the state Supreme Court ruling comes on the heels of a similarly brutal blow after Republican-appointed U.S. Supreme Court justices gutted the Voting Rights Act, which opened the door even further to an intensified Republican effort to erase majority-Black congressional districts in the South.

Given all of this, it’s easy to imagine many Americans responding to the head-spinning developments with a simple question: “So where do things stand now?”

Before we dig in on that, it’s worth pausing to acknowledge the absurdity of the circumstances. For generations, states redrew congressional district lines after the decennial census. There were limited exceptions, but in nearly all of those instances, mid-decade redistricting only happened when courts told states that their maps were unlawful and needed to be redone.

The idea that politicians would simply choose to start redrawing maps, in the middle of a decade, in pursuit of partisan advantages, was practically unheard of.

Last year, however, Donald Trump, fearing the results of the 2026 midterm elections and the possible accountability that would result from Democratic victories, decided that the American model needed to be discarded. It was time, the president said, to pursue what one White House official described as a campaign of “maximum warfare” in which Republican officials in key states would embrace gerrymandering without regard for fairness, norms, traditions or propriety.

The goal was simple: Deliver Republican victories in congressional races long before Americans had a chance to cast their ballots.

The result was an arms race that’s still going on — and here’s where things stand.

A map of the United States highlighting states that have redrawn their congressional maps
As of May 8, 2026. *Virginia’s voter-approved congressional redistricting plan was struck down by the Virginia Supreme Court Ben King / MS NOW; Source: MaddowBlog election analysis

Texas: Republicans in the Lone Star State got the ball rolling last summer, acting at Trump’s behest and approving a map designed to give Republicans five additional U.S. House seats. It touched off the national arms race.

California: Responding to Texas, Democratic officials in the Golden State, as well as the state’s voters, approved a map of their own designed to give Democrats five additional U.S. House seats.

Missouri: In September, state Republicans approved a map designed to give the GOP one additional seat.

North Carolina: In October, state Republicans approved a map designed to give Republicans one additional seat.

Ohio: While the redistricting effort in the Buckeye State wasn’t as brazen as it was elsewhere, Ohio’s new map diluted two Democratic-held districts, creating GOP pickup opportunities.

Utah: A state court approved a new map that will likely give Democrats one additional seat.

Florida: Just this week, Republicans completed the process on a new map designed to give Republicans as many as four additional seats.

Tennessee: Also this week, Republicans approved a new map designed to give Republicans one additional seat, taking advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling.

Louisiana: While the newly redrawn map in the Pelican State hasn’t been formally unveiled, it will reportedly add one additional Republican seat.

Alabama: Republicans are currently moving forward with plans for a map that would give Republicans two more seats.

It’s important to emphasize that some of these maps are currently facing legal challenges, while others are still taking shape. Most of these maps would take effect during this year’s election cycle, but there’s still some uncertainty surrounding the implementation date in some states.

Nevertheless, the Virginia map that enjoyed popular public support was prepared to help mitigate an unprecedented Republican abuse. The state Supreme Court in the commonwealth appears to have removed that option.

After Virginia voters had their say, many GOP officials questioned whether the entire gerrymandering gambit had been a waste of time and effort. In the aftermath of two highly controversial court rulings, Republicans are suddenly feeling a lot better about the whole scheme.

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