Hi and welcome, thanks again for checking this out. This is a brief update for the morning of Thursday, March 19^th.

1. Wednesday, Republican Senators – minus Rand Paul, but plus Democrat John Fetterman – blocked a measure to force a war-powers vote on ongoing U.S. attacks against Iran, as the devastation continues – and after the administration’s Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, admitted Iran has not tried to rebuild its nuclear program, as Trump falsely claimed in attempting to justify the unprovoked war.

2. At a hearing Wednesday, FBI director Kash Patel admitted in response to a question from Oregan Democrat senator Ron Wyden that the agency buys Americans’ location data from private vendors.

3. In response to questions submitted last fall by Democratic Senator Patty Murray, the Trump administration admitted Wednesday that so far, it has deported over 350 pregnant, postpartum, and nursing people – with over 15 miscarriages reported, and over 100 such people still being detained by ICE as of last month.

4. A report out Wednesday from the Women’s Refugee Commission and Physicians for Human Rights finds that ICE, in violation of its own requirements, is quickly deporting parents without providing them the chance to make arrangements for their children to potentially come with them.

5. Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that, as a legal challenge over third country removals plays out, the Trump administration can continue deporting people to countries where they have no ties.

6. Wednesday, Defense for Children International-Palestine said that, among the thousands of Palestinian people Israel is indefinitely detaining without charge or trial, over 150 of them are children.

7. United Farm Workers said Tuesday that it will not participate in annual celebratory events for Cesar Chavez this month, after Dolores Huerta and other women came forward saying they had been sexually assaulted by the late labor leader, with Huerta saying in a statement that his actions do not “diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people.”

8. Monday, three girls filed the latest lawsuit involving Elon Musk-founded xAI – arguing its Grok tool was used to generate child sexual abuse material from their photos.

9. A survey out Thursday by KFF finds nearly one out of ten people who’d been enrolled in the ACA Marketplace in 2025 dropped their coverage this year due to rising healthcare costs, after Congress let tax credits which helped lower premiums for over 20 million people expire at the end of last year.

10. Tuesday, the head of the Postal Service told lawmakers the agency will run out of money and be unable to deliver mail in less than a year, unless Congress allows it to borrow more – and charge more for postage.