The Republican candidate for governor has ties to the Koch family, one of the country’s most powerful pro-industry forces.
Will MAHA Candidate Zach Lahn Stand Up to Big Ag in Iowa?
The Republican candidate for governor has ties to the Koch family, one of the country’s most powerful pro-industry forces.
civileats.com
Meanwhile in Hungary www.euronews.com/my-europe/20...
How Péter Magyar dismantled Viktor Orbán's built-to-last regime
Since Péter Magyar's Tisza Party won a landslide in April, Hungary's president, top prosecutor and state media chiefs have all been removed, as the new government moves swiftly to unwind 16 years of Viktor Orbán's rule. #EuropeNews
euronews.com
📈 The summer increase in COVID-19 cases has started 💉 Adults 65+ years are recommended to receive 2️⃣ doses of COVID-19 vaccine 6 months apart ✅ This means if you are 65+ years and your last COVID-19 vaccine dose was last fall, you can get another dose now to protect you during the summer surge
Once upon a time, you could've lived next to a data center and never known it. For decades, they quietly powered Netflix, cloud storage, and the internet itself, tucked away near cheap power and fiber connections. www.wired.com/story/how-da...
How Data Centers Broke American Politics
What the Unabomber, Steve Bannon’s tech guy, and Bernie Sanders taught me about the great data center backlash of 2026.
wired.com
Billions of taxpayer dollars to stand around intimidating the locals: where are the GOP budget hawks? www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Trump’s National Guard deployment in D.C. set to cost additional $1.4 billion
The estimate, provided to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, covers the period from Oct. 1, 2026, through the end of the president’s term.
washingtonpost.com
This hasn’t gotten much attention, but it should. While everyone was focused on Schedule F, the administration created something even broader. On July 30, a new OPM rule took effect that creates a second way to fire federal employees outside the normal civil service process.
“In recent months, ICE has deployed a round-the-clock digital dragnet to scour the public internet—from Facebook to Instagram to X—for speech that could endanger the agency’s mission.” Speech. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
How ICE Is Weaponizing Social Media Against its Critics
Agency says its surveillance program searches for threats to agents, but critics see free-speech infringements.
wsj.com
Attn. People of Faith: Together with @sojo.net, we've created the Faith Companion Action Guide 2026 — a nonpartisan toolkit equipping faith leaders & communities to safeguard democracy. Free, fair, and safe elections depend on communities ready to protect every eligible voter. Get the guide ⬇️
Protect Democracy
Free, fair, safe, and accessible elections depend on more than what happens at the ballot box. They require communities that are prepared to protect every eligible voter’s freedom to participate, supp...
sojo.net
New @ms.now: Five anonymous federal workers filed a class-action lawsuit in DC federal court this morning challenging the Trump administration’s policy to prohibit federal employees’ health insurance from covering gender-affirming care.
Federal workers sue over rule barring gender-affirming care coverage
The lawsuit argues the rule amounts to sex-based discrimination and is causing “significant financial hardship” for impacted federal workers and their families.
ms.now
See the primary calendar for this year's governor races, as well as who voters have decided as their party nominees.
Here's a look at the 36 races for governor this year
See the primary calendar for this year's governor races, as well as who voters have decided as their party nominees.
n.pr
New from @pgeddington.bsky.social: Documents reveal that the deployment of the National Guard in DC based on a fake “crime emergency” is part of an unnerving series of moves by Trump and Hegseth related to the use of military forces in domestic law enforcement: www.cato.org/blog/northco...
NORTHCOM CONPLAN 3900: A Prelude to Insurrection Act Invocation?
A Congress dedicated to actual oversight of the executive branch and the protection of constitutional rights would’ve been asking these questions, holding hearings, and demanding answers months ago.
cato.org
Their long-term plans are? www.wired.com/story/ice-dn...
ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young Children
Internal documents show ICE's DNA collection has skyrocketed in the second Trump administration. Now hundreds of thousands of people never convicted of a crime are in an FBI criminal database forever.
wired.com
Meanwhile in Malaysia and Myanmar
Human Rights Watch@hrw.org · 2d agoMalaysia has for many years hosted refugees from Myanmar who have fled oppression and atrocities by the Myanmar military. But the Malaysian government recently announced the planned return of 5,000 Rohingya to Myanmar, where they face persecution and violence. New from HRW: https://bit.ly/3TAwpBR
It's turning into a legal arms race. DOJ is going to run out of competent lawyers.
ACLU@aclu.org · 2d ago“Without accountability, you know this is just going to continue, and continue, and continue,” said Norma, @aclu-nj.org's client who ICE assaulted outside Delaney Hall. Norma's right. That's why our affiliates filed 54 claims demanding accountability on behalf of people harmed by federal agents.
We’ve been saying this for a while now many of the people being targeted are just fishermen. Evidence now supports that the United States has killed individuals who were not involved in drug trafficking during its “counternarcotics interdiction operations” in the Caribbean and Pacific.
kaine.senate.gov
John Oliver might be the closest thing to openly anti police and anti carceral on such a large, official platform in our country
Police Surveillance Technology: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
youtu.be
DOD is not letting trans service members attend their own separation hearings unless they conform with Whiskey Pete's notion of their gender. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u...
Exactly 3 months from today is the most important midterm election in our lifetime. Our opportunity to hold him accountable. Register to vote here: Iwillvote.com The stakes have never been higher. Show the world the majority of Americans are good, decent, honest people. #VoteBlue🗳️ #RejectMAGA 👎
Them belly full www.npr.org/2026/08/03/n...
Over 4 million people are no longer receiving food aid amid sweeping changes to SNAP
SNAP, also known as food stamps, has seen a rapid and consistent participation decline since last July. The drop comes as the program faces historic cuts and changes.
npr.org
"Drain the swamp"? The muck just gets deeper.
ProPublica@propublica.org · 3d agoNEW: Two government watchdog groups have demanded an investigation into whether FCC officials violated ethics requirements by accepting luxury gala tickets from Paramount as it sought federal approval for its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros.
Welcome to the panopticon
London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk · 3d ago‘Palantir was willing to spend more on securing political access than almost all of its British and Continental competitors. It made donations to London think tanks and hosted parties at Davos.’ @petergeoghegan.bsky.social and @lucasamin.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Coverage for gender-affirming care is no longer covered by federal plans, and workers must pay out of pocket
Trump administration sued for blocking insurance coverage of gender-affirming healthcare
theguardian.com
Meanwhile in Myanmar apnews.com/article/myan...
Myanmar's detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has rare meeting with International Red Cross
Myanmar’s military government says detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met with the International Committee of the Red Cross’ representative in the capital on Monday in a rare moment of contac...
apnews.com
Meanwhile in India www.cfr.org/articles/ind...
India’s Cockroach Party Protests Have a Powerful Precedent—and It Isn’t the Arab Spring | Council on Foreign Relations
Global media have likened India’s Cockroach Janta Party movement to the Arab Spring and to the uprisings that toppled governments in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A more instructive comparison is I...
cfr.org
