1/ On Tuesday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., read our reporting into the congressional record during a committee hearing on Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general.
Chaos
@homeagain.bsky.social
Make good trouble, speak truth to power, end the despots, spread truth and love to community
An Explosion of Misery: "absolutely donald trump's fault" paulkrugman.substack.com/p/an-explosi...
An Explosion of Misery
Making American hungry and uninsured again
paulkrugman.substack.com
BOOKER: Let me make this easy. Be a man. Yes or no -- did Joe Biden win the 2020 election? CANDEUB: ... the Congress certifie-- BOOKER: There you go. Stop! Can you please tell me yes or no, did President Biden win the 2020 election? CANDEUB: The Congress certified-- B: You are showing cowardice.
This Is the Real Story of Trump’s Presidency—If Democrats Will Tell It newrepublic.com/article/2139... via @newrepublic.com
The state said it needs the records to investigate allegations of abuse at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch.
New Mexico Sues Blanche, DOJ For ‘Withholding’ Epstein Files
The state said it needs the records to investigate allegations of abuse at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch.
forbes.com
The Heritage Foundation asserts that women never needed sports in the first place. To prove that Title IX has become a tool of “feminist social engineering.” To demonstrate that women don’t need sports and that “clubs, intramurals, and exercise classes” is enough. open.substack.com/pub/jesspipe...
Give Them an Inch...
And they'll take away women's sports...
open.substack.com
Trump’s OSHA is rolling back rules that mandate rest breaks and access to water and shade to protect workers from extreme heat on the job. Remember: Trump doesn’t care about workers. He never has and never will.
How Trump’s Agenda Could Kill You
After an abysmal jobs report, Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.And Trump’s Labor Department just a
youtube.com
Democracy Can be Saved - Heather Cox Richardson and Scott MacFarlane | American Conversations macfarlanenews.substack.com/p/democracy-...
Democracy Can be Saved - Heather Cox Richardson and Scott MacFarlane | American Conversations
The self-dealing, the vanity projects and the sinking approval ratings all come with political consequences
macfarlanenews.substack.com
🚨 HAPPENING NOW 🚨 Women's Marchers have been arrested in the Capitol for standing vigil for the people killed by ICE. #AbolishICE llustrations by @channeldraw
Grotesque rascists ALL. The world needs to be rid of THESE.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 12h agoJD Vance: "We don't want the next administration, whoever -- god forbid you're gonna have President El-Sayed in three years ... "
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/u...
Suspected Iran Cyberattacks on U.S. Water Supply Follow Years of Warnings and Neglect (Gift Article)
Federal and state officials are racing to address an assault on the nation’s water supply that they believe is the work of Iranian hackers.
nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/video/opinio...
Video: Opinion | It’s Time to See Elon Musk for What He Is
Elon Musk has developed a troubling obsession: the film “Citizen Vigilante.” For the Opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie, Musk’s latest fixation reveals a broader embrace of far-right ideas. He argues tha...
nytimes.com
Democrats Expand Battleground for 2026 Midterms into Redder States open.substack.com/pub/macfarla...
Democrats Expand Battleground for 2026 Midterms into Redder States
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Widens its Targets into Florida, Arkansas, Indiana
open.substack.com
Cornyn and Tillis fold and reward the guy covering for Epstein; the U.S. runs dangerously low on precision missiles; a House GOP abuse scandal keeps getting worse; and more. Your midday update is here:
Tuesday Afternoon News Updates: Blanche Moves Ahead, U.S. Munitions Run Out – 8/4/26
Important midday update
meidasplus.com
NEWS: For nearly 20 years, Epstein moved over $1B through the major banks. The banks looked away. Sen. Wyden’s 3-year probe exposes it all. But most damning? How Trump and the GOP tried to bury it.
Follow the Money: How Wall Street Bankrolled Epstein, and How the Trump Administration and CBS are Blocking The Truth
For nearly two decades, Jeffrey Epstein moved more than a billion dollars through some of the biggest banks in America. He withdrew millions in unexplained
meidasnews.com
Schiff: "This is someone who has violated his code of ethics blatantly, misled this committee, supported establishment of a fund for cop beaters, covered up docs implicating president in the Epstein files, use DOJ to enrich the president. Is this who we're prepared to confirm as AG? It appears so."
MacFarlane: We are near the new gold-plated statues the Trump administration unveiled near Memorial Circle, Memorial Bridge, and the Lincoln Memorial. It’s really, really gold.…
While American families are getting flattened by skyrocketing costs, Donald Trump is spending $1.4 billion to keep troops on the streets in Washington for years on end. The National Guard are not pawns, and taxpayer dollars are not a piggy bank for Trump’s political stunts.
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · yesterdayThe Pentagon’s deployment of National Guard troops to D.C. is set to cost an additional $1.4 billion through the end of the Trump administration, according to information reviewed by The Post. The estimate encompasses October 2026 through January 2029.
Schiff: "He waited until he became president. Why did he wait to bring this $10b lawsuit? He waited so he would have the power of the presidency to leverage the IRS and DOJ to make him more money!"
It appears Elon Musk is following Trump's lead by stiffing the contractors who built Colossus and Colossus II out of half a billion dollars. The richest man in the world can't be bothered to pay his bills and this is why billionaires shouldn't exist. They can never have enough.
Contractor who built Colossus and Colossus II says Elon Musk owes him colossal amount of money
YouTube video by Action News 5
youtube.com
Schiff: "The president is entitled to his own views about me or anybody else. He is not entitled, however, to use the DOJ to go after his political opponents. The day we say that's ok and the day we confirm an AG who says that's ok is the day the rule of law becomes merely an unenforceable idea."
No link between MMR vaccination before age 2 and autism, large US study suggests: over 2.5 millions children. www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va... via @missmeghanmack.bsky.social
No link between MMR vaccination before age 2 and autism, large US study suggests
The findings reinforce existing evidence of the safety of MMR vaccination, the authors say.
cidrap.umn.edu
Durbin: "Mr Blanche has aided and abetted the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States ... Blanche's willingness to casually lie under oath about he statement he made in a room full of witnesses shows the lengths he will go to to avoid offending President Trump."
Sen Adam Schiff (D-CA) is final speaker before the vote Here’s Schiff’s statement about Todd Blanche: “He’s sought to compensate cop-beaters with your money”
Whitehouse: "Next we get to this crooked slush fund Trump family tax amnesty scam. We've got these two new pieces of paper. One signed only by Blanche, one not signed by anybody. Neither of which has any legal effect whatsoever. They are decorative. Can you trust Todd Blanche? I do not."
Klobuchar: "More than six months after Renee and Alex's deaths when I asked Acting AG Blanche if the department would finally fully cooperate with state law enforcement in these investigations, he said 'it depends on what full cooperation means'...Minnesotans deserve transparency and accountability"
Blumenthal on Blanche's "walk back" of Trump's slush fund: "Commentators have talked about 'loop holes.' There are no loop holes here. This document itself is a sham ... tomorrow Donald Trump's counsel can go to court and seek to establish that thug fund if he chooses to do so."
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 ... "
600+ structures gone. Thousands displaced. Three relentless wildfires are devastating Spokane County right now. While no lives have been lost, the scale of this climate-fueled disaster is staggering. Frontline crews are fighting for us—now it's our turn to act. Take action now.