New Fox poll finds Trump 9 points underwater *in Texas.* Half of Texas independents have a *strongly* unfavorable view of Trump. Talarico +3. Those are crazy numbers for Texas. On the pod, @sawyerhackett.bsky.social is good on the possibilities this opens for Dems: newrepublic.com/article/2139...

Trump Hit by Fox Poll Shocker That Undercuts His Latest Midterm Tirade

As Fox News polling shows serious slippage for Trump in unexpected places, a Democratic strategist ponders whether his party can pull off miracles in Texas and other red states.

newrepublic.com

Incredible nonsense from John Cornyn. True, the harm to Epstein’s victims can’t be remedied by a “no” vote. But why should Blanche’s corrupt cover-up of the Epstein files—in violation of a Congressional mandate(!)—be rewarded by “yes”? Can’t get any more craven than this.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Cornyn justifies his support for Blanche: "That's one of those things that can't be remedied by a 'no' vote"

🚨BREAKING: A pro-democracy legal group sued Tuesday for access to public records that could shed light on a federal immigration agency’s involvement in President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine the 2026 midterm elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Lawsuit seeks evidence of federal immigration agency’s role in Trump’s voter purge plans

Democracy Forward went to court after USCIS failed to disclose the public records, despite multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests about the agency’s involvement in Trump’s unprecedented a...

democracydocket.com

Judge Burroughs speeds up her consideration of Somali TPS termination but not before taking a swipe at DHS General Counsel James Percival and what she calls "shameful cruelty" of refusing to give people a short window to prepare for deportation. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

"Today's vote to advance Todd Blanche is a slap in the face to the rule of law ... the senators with concerns about the slush fund & the Epstein files asked for a legally binding commitment & settled for a pinky promise." Our full @democracydefendersaction.org statement👇 -TN

Judiciary Committee Vote Advancing Blanche’s Nomination Is Deeply Troubling for Rule of Law | Democracy Defenders Action

Following is a statement from Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), on the Judiciary Committee’s vote today advancing Todd Blanche’s nomination to attorney general.

democracydefendersaction.org

Pretty great juxtaposition against CBS owner David Ellison’s NYT op-ed today about why he’s actually the perfect guy to run CNN and how everybody is wrong to suspect he has political allegiances

Senator Ron Wyden@wyden.senate.gov · yesterday

One more interesting point: this spring I sat down with Sharyn Alfonsi of 60 Minutes for an extensive interview about my Epstein investigation. Subsequently, CBS pulled the segment and fired the reporter. The MAGA buyout of media has unquestionably aided the Trump administration’s cover up here.

Trump is rolling out yet another key plank of Project 2025: privatizing airport security. History has shown us time and again this makes both workers and passengers less safe. Everything is for sale under Trump.

TSA Privatization Returns Airport Security to a Dangerous Past - The American Prospect

The Trump administration wants airport screening to revert to the way it was before 9/11, when private security companie

prospect.org

Could this be an example of “Hollywood Accounting” where a movie can lose money even with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue?

Taegan Goddard@politicalwire.com · 24h ago

UFC Lost $30 Million On Event at the White House https://politicalwire.com/2026/08/04/ufc-lost-30-million-on-event-at-the-white-house/

“.. Fox News only covered the dispute once on Monday, for under a minute ..” @cnn.com @brianstelter.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/m...

I think there is a First Amendment argument to be made here

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d ago

President Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v

Hegseth is forcing soldiers to undergo testosterone tests in the future. Behind this lies a conception of men's health that is not only ethically questionable, but also medical quackery. It also bears remarkable overlap with experiments undertaken by the Nazis to advance the Aryan physique.

(S+) Meinung: Testosterontests im US-Militär: »Kriegsminister« Hegseth und die Vermessung der Männlichkeit

US-Minister Pete Hegseth will Soldaten künftig zu Testosterontests verpflichten. Dahinter steckt eine Vorstellung von Männergesundheit, die nicht nur ethisch fragwürdig, sondern auch medizinisch heike...

spiegel.de

"Don't mention the use of Flock in your report." Police are being explicitly told to hide the fact they're using Flock to pull people over and arrest them. If the tech is completely legal and acceptable, like law enforcement say, why hide it? Because most use is unlawful.

‘DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE’: How Cops Are Trying to Hide Their Use of Flock

“DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE TO THE OCCUPANTS OF THE VEHICLE. DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT."

404media.co

The awesome predictive power of the arson-for-profit industry

Jacob Gellman@jacobgellman.com · yesterday

There is no way that betting on wildfires should be legal. www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/20...

CBS confirms that Jeanine Pirro's big white box has all the evidence that the reflecting pool was Trump's contractor's fault. Which will be of interest for @normeisen.bsky.social, just so he can make sure he gets it all. 🤣 www.cbsnews.com/news/pirro-b...

Pirro brought box of evidence to show Trump what caused Reflecting Pool damage

U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro was seen with a large box as she left the White House Monday after her meeting with President Trump.

cbsnews.com

Strongmen are always looking out for number one: themselves. That’s why they create inner sanctums around themselves, surrounding themselves with family members who do not give them objective feedback. We should all be concerned when leaders surround themselves with only sycophants.

REVEALED: The Scope of ICE’s Surveillance of Its Online Critics talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

REVEALED: The Scope of ICE’s Surveillance of Its Online Critics

ICE’s Round-the-Clock Digital Dragnet About a month ago, it emerged from upstate...

talkingpointsmemo.com

MO Senator Eric Schmitt, posting on his personal Xitter account, is whining bc his Dem colleagues laid out how Schmitt and his Republican colleagues are endorsing tax crimes and rewarding terrorists and cop beaters.

Before right wingers install the guy immunizing Trump for tax crimes, we should know whether Stan Woodward or any of the OTHER people who were paid by Trump's PAC were the beneficiaries of the suspected wire fraud that Capital One found. emptywheel.net/2026/08/03/d...

Did Stan Woodward Get Paid Via the Proceeds of the Money Laundering that Todd Blanche Immunized? - emptywheel

Were any of the people appointed to high positions in the current administration beneficiaries of the money laundering Blanche is attempting to immunize?

emptywheel.net

David Ellison wants us to know he’s not ideological, and that’s why he put a conservative with no tv experience in charge of CBS

“But [David Ellison’s] first year owning CBS News has been defined by ratings struggles, shakeups and controversies, mostly stemming from his appointment of Weiss as editor-in-chief. …But I don’t hear anyone making the case that CBS News has earned back a whole lot of trust.”

Brian Stelter@brianstelter.bsky.social · yesterday

Today's Reliable Sources lead: A new pledge — and maybe a new proposal — about CNN's independence www.cnn.com/newsletters/...

David Ellison may think we are stupid, but we know who he is. We know what he has done to CBS. We know what he wants to do to CNN. Support independent media.

Deportations to Venezuela are back on for the first time since the earthquake. The flow of deportees seems like to resume at scale.

AILA@aila.org · yesterday

"A plane with 147 Venezuelans landed on Monday in the South American country amid criticism over the deaths of deportees housed in a collapsed building during June’s quakes." https://nyti.ms/3Tw6Q4V

BREAKING: Sen. Dick Durbin accuses Todd Blanche of lying under oath. He says Blanche told him in his office — with witnesses — that the slush fund was a mistake. In his confirmation hearing, Blanche denied that remark.

Tillis and Cornyn have caved to Trump’s $100 million IRS immunity, but that’s just one reason to reject him as AG. Here are many more:

Barb McQuade@barbmcquade.bsky.social · 4d ago

Blanche should be blocked for IRS/slush fund AND - targeting Comey, James, Hearn, Powell, Walz, Frey, MOCs - Epstein - payouts to Flynn, Page, Babbitt, Vaughn - rejecting ethics advice to recuse from Trump cases - “war” on judiciary - “cleaning house” of DOJ personnel who worked on Trump cases

The U.S. threat is now that Iran has to hurry up and finalize a deal with Oman to control the Strait of Hormuz, charging fees, or the U.S. will attack. No, I’m not kidding. The U.S. president demands that Iran achieve exactly the thing he’s repeatedly said the U.S. was fighting to prevent.

Bloomberg News@bloomberg.com · yesterday

US President Donald Trump is pushing Iran to reach a deal with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz as soon as Tuesday, or face devastating air strikes on the country.

Whitehouse: "Today I think is a sad and embarrassing day for this committee as it looks like on a party-line vote we are going to advance out of this committee probably the most discreditable person ever to seek the office of attorney general. Let's start with the Epstein files ... "

What, pray tell, is a "constitutional war"? It's as phony as this casualty justification.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Sen. Rand Paul: "I've had the debate with this administration ... they told me this isn't a war. I said, why isn't it a war? They said, 'Well, a constitutional war has to have significant casualties' ... initiation or declaration of war is *before* the casualties."

I’ve been tracking the slush fund/immunity deal in my newsletter since it happened in May & I’ll stay on it whether it’s in the headlines or not. My analysis is based on 25 years at DOJ & you can read along for free—because I believe our power is shared knowledge. Joycevance.substack.com

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance | Substack

Worried about the state of the republic? Get the legal knowledge & analysis you need to be an advocate for democracy, along with a dose of savvy optimism. Click to read Civil Discourse with Joyce Vanc...

joycevance.substack.com

Joyce White Vance@joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 2d ago

Todd Blanche's last-minute promise won over Senators Cornyn & Tillis, but shouldn't have. The "deal" leaves Trump's tax immunity intact. It confirms what the Senators should have already known about Blanche's lack of fitness to be AG. My analysis: open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

Really, everyone should watch this fucking presser (at which Michael Spence, who signed Davey Hearn's MTD, appeared). And ftr, the first questioner, who knew to ask abt proving damage and so got Pirro on the record lying abt expert testimony, was @ryanjreilly.com. www.c-span.org/program/news...

“Our future may depend in part on American voters deciding to give Congress a spinal transplant. But that requires us to…see the catastrophe coming and act decisively before a terrible war swallows the world.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/o...

Opinion | The War That Could Swallow the World

Whatever is happening in Iran, it isn’t working.

nytimes.com