TODAY'S TOP MADDOWBLOG POSTS
|
|
|
|
What do the last six U.S. election cycles have in common? They’ve featured Russian operations intended to help GOP candidates.
|
|
|
|
|
|
This isn’t how elections are supposed to work in a healthy democracy. Evidently, the Republican president doesn’t care.
|
|
|
|
This isn’t how elections are supposed to work in a healthy democracy. Evidently, the Republican president doesn’t care.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Most recent defense secretaries were not widely known. Hegseth’s public profile is much higher — and not in a good way.
|
|
|
|
Most recent defense secretaries were not widely known. Hegseth’s public profile is much higher — and not in a good way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
In his first term, the president promised to pay off the debt. He delivered the opposite results. In his second term, it’s happening all over again.
|
|
|
|
In his first term, the president promised to pay off the debt. He delivered the opposite results. In his second term, it’s happening all over again.
|
|
|
|
WHAT'S ON RACHEL'S BLUESKY RADAR?
|
- Georgia: 40% increase in first-day turnout compared with the 2022 midterms, and more than double the first-day participation seen during the 2018 midterms. "Early ballots in North Carolina and Maine are up 38% from the last midterms, while Iowa has seen a 61% increase"
(KARK)
- “When I was getting pulled out of my truck by federal agents, I asked them, ‘Hey, is this about the songs?’ And they told me, ‘No, it’s about resisting ICE’.”
“I told them, ‘Well, you’re going to have to arrest all of Minneapolis if you want to hit me for that'...”
(Stateline)
- yep.
"... also an influx in corporate clients looking for advice on how to prepare for potential investigations... companies that donated to Trump’s projects or did business with the government or the Trump family could be swept up in the probes..."
The Race Is On for Trump Staffers to Hire Lawyers in Case Democrats Win Midterms
(Wall Street Journal)
- "A world in which the White House is allied to the Kremlin was, until now, the stuff of paranoid fiction. Manchurian candidates and red presidents were fantasies, dark tales Americans told themselves like ghost stories...
"But this alliance now exists."
(The Atlantic)
- "A majority of Americans view the president’s administration as uniquely corrupt..."
(NBC News)
- the challenge all my fellow mini-golf stans have been waiting for 🙌:
"Golf course architecture experts also disagree with the notion that Trump's renovation would restore its historic character. East Potomac was opened as a municipal course designed to provide affordable and accessible play to local residents. It did not have artificial water features, as the rendering Trump posted shows. The plan also does not contain the existing mini golf course, the oldest continuously operating facility in the US."
|
(Rachel shares Bloomberg and threads hcl sharing Save East Po)
- "The design appears to eliminate Ohio Drive, which loops around Hains Point, a century-old grove of cherry trees and a historic mini golf course. The space is used not only by golfers, but thousands of cyclists, runners, walkers, anglers, birdwatchers..."
(Washington Post)
- "In other words, the complaint contends: Freedom Fuel gas is cheap because it’s stolen..."
"The man registered no surprise — aware of the Trump promotions, he declared this White House 'the most crooked-ass shit I’ve seen in my gangster motherfucking life'...”
(Politico)
- Essex County, New Jersey...
‘The Community is Watching’: Montclair Organizes Amid Uptick in ICE Detentions in Essex County
(Montclair Local)
- "The Republican polling firm Fabrizio Ward found Medicaid cuts to be one of the most 'resonating negatives' in recent surveys of rural Republicans.
'One out of two Republicans either are, have been or have a family member that is or has been on Medicaid'..."
(Washington Sun)
- "In Arizona, a Trump Administration immigration judge ordered a 1-year-old baby appearing without a lawyer to file an asylum application, according to court filings..."
(New York Times)
Hi newsletter readers, As you can imagine, this weekend's No Kings rallies were definitely on Rachel's Bluesky radar. But for the sake of the sanity of your faithful newsletter guy, and also to try to get today's newsletter out while it's still today, we're going to skip Rachel's reshares and encourage you to click through to see the many, many gatherings, large and small that caught Rachel's attention this weekend.
- 4 Takeaways From a Voting-Focused ‘No Kings’ Day
(New York Times)
- See the nationwide No Kings protests amid early voting midterms push
(USA Today)
- Berkshire residents champion early midterm ballots at 'No Kings: Vote Early' events
(The Berkshire Eagle)
- No Kings Rallies Across U.S. Urge Voters To Cast Ballots Early Ahead Of Midterms
(Huffpost)
- No Kings October 2026
(News from the States)
- "Meta has sabatoged Instagram account for No Kings"
(Jen Rubin shares video from Ezra)
- huh. what could this posssssssssibly mean.
the US media willful professed ignorance on this stuff is increasingly embarrassing.
Trump Waives Sanctions Against Russia Just Before New Law Takes Effect — Move draws criticism from lawmakers, including some Trump allies, for easing pressure on Putin to end war in Ukraine
(Wall Street Journal)
- "Under Trump, the Public Integrity Section has been gutted, with scores of experienced prosecutors being pushed out or fired.
Only a small number of attorneys remains in the division, and they've largely been cut out of sensitive political investigations..."
How the pre-election search of Rep. Ilhan Omar's home breaks Justice Dept. norms
(Washington Post)
- Prosecutor Weighs Charges Against an ICE Agent Who Struck a Man With His Car — The Texas prosecutor says the hit appeared to be intentional.
(Washington Sun)
- “It looks dangerously like the construction of an internal spying agency...”
"It’s also a weapon that the government will likely use against not only undocumented immigrants, but everyone else, too. That includes political enemies, intelligence experts said...
ICE Planning $100 Million ‘Nightmare’ Domestic Spy Program — Under ERO ONE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to hire 142 intelligence contractors with top secret clearances and deploy them in cities across the country.
(The American Prospect)
- "The candidate no longer labels herself “ULTRA MAGA” on social media.
She removed a “Trump Endorsed” banner from her website and took down a photo of herself and Trump.
Her yard signs no longer proclaim Trump’s endorsement or mention her party affiliation..."
(Texas Tribune)
- Election timing: Congress sets the date of federal elections. Trump cannot unilaterally delay the midterms.
Counting and voting systems: States choose their voting systems and determine how votes are counted, subject to federal law. Trump cannot mandate a nationwide hand recount or order machines replaced.
Emergency and martial law authority: Emergency powers do not allow Trump to override state election laws or constitutional restrictions. Martial law would not give Trump authority to seize control of election materials or override federal and state election laws.
Trump's MAGA allies openly discuss martial law
(Axios)
- A disgruntled boss filed theft charges against her. When she went to court, ICE arrested her. — BREW EXCLUSIVE: A $12.08 dispute over a McDonald’s meal leads to the arrest of a 25-year-old by ICE agents in the Carroll County District courthouse
(Baltimore Brew)
- “Using an advanced surveillance capability such as a cell-site simulator against members of the free press for reporting stories that are unfavorable to the president is an appalling attack on the First Amendment...”
Feds Got Warrants to Use Fake Cell Towers to Hunt Down Don Lemon’s Producer — Investigators also sought permission to use an invasive surveillance tool called a cell-site simulators against journalist Georgia Fort and a Minnesota state Senate candidate.
(Wired)
- "In appearing to target Democrats with negative content, the Doppelgänger push is just the latest effort by Russia to harm the party and support President Trump since his first run for office in 2016..."
Russia Appears to Step Up Efforts to Influence U.S. Voters
(New York Times)
- "While Bo Hines was leading the White House push to pass the Genius Act, Tether—the company with the most at stake in the bill—was steering millions of dollars to a business he co-owned, according to internal documents and records reviewed by The Wall Street Journal..."
(Wall Street Journal)
- "Here’s Arendt again: “Mass cancellation of naturalizations, such as the one introduced by Nazi Germany in 1933 against all naturalized Germans of Jewish origin, usually preceded denationalization of citizens by birth in similar categories.” If there’s one lesson of the last decade, it’s never believe it can’t happen here."
(New York Times)
- "Officers were responding to a shoplifting call alleging that Wiley’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and Latoya Ferrell had stolen a pack of diapers. The women exited the store with the child as officers arrived, entered their vehicle and began to leave the parking lot. Officers drew their weapons, and Vellesiya Wiley lifted her son up to show the officers that a child was in the car. One officer fired into the vehicle, killing the baby as she held him. A bullet also wounded Ferrell."
Police Shooting of 1-Year-Old Kohen Wiley ‘Was Justified,’ Mississippi Attorney General Says
(Mississippi Free Press)
Follow Rachel on Bluesky here.
|
NEW YORK CITY ADDED TO THE 'SOLD OUT' LIST
|
|
|
|
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
|
|
|
|
|
