In a country with a president who is such a destructive sore loser, politicians who are both helpful and gracious in defeat is a greatly appreciated novelty.
Joanne Freeman
@jbf1755.bsky.social
Historian of early US politics & culture; howl re: democracy—a lot. Last book: The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress & the Road to Civil War. Owned by Newbie the History Bird & Rosie the Resistance Bird. https://www.youtube.com/@joannefreeman1755
The direct line between what happened to Mamie Till Mobley after Emmett was killed and what’s happening to this woman now is becoming a circle. A dot, actually.
Christine Wells Wonsley, the mother of Nolan Wells, has learned that the Mississippi Board of Nursing opened a professional misconduct investigation against her following an anonymous complaint, the family’s lawyer said. www.mississippifreepress.org/nolan-wells-...
What??? An opening scene of countless possible sci-fi movies. You know. The kind where you think to yourself: UH OH. (He was with SpaceX before his NASA gig…)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on rockets crashing into the moon: "It's not a big deal right now. The moon has clearly seen better days."
⚠️ Democrats in array: Schumer, Gillibrand, and Whitmer coalesce behind El-Sayed
Michigan: This is the way. Senate control runs through MI. We cannot afford to lose this seat. All the energy that went into the primary- & into offering #takes on the primary (including this AM)- has to go to the election in November. A MI senate seat is the difference between an R vs D Senate.
El-Sayed: There is so much more that unites us, however much we might disagree with our democratic opponent, there is so much more that unites us than divides us. And so to all of our supporters here tonight watching on TV—tomorrow, we begin to mend fences.
In other Michigan news, the state looks set to elect it's first transgender lawmaker. Joanna Whaley won her Democratic primary and will compete in November for a state house seat, beating a primary opponent who tried and failed to disqualify her for not running under her deadname
What a sad state our country is in when the Senate has to debate whether a President’s former personal lawyer—who has led the burying of the Epstein Files and promised to make Trump immune from tax crimes—should be our nation’s highest law enforcement officer.
Phang: "Capital One said, 'We don't want the business anymore of the 45th president of the United States, his businesses, his failed sons, and his revocable trust.' So you can imagine -- I am just hypothesizing... but it suggests whatever Capital One uncovered was pretty bad. Makes you wonder..."
Gonna echo @nutedawn.bsky.social's glass half full post from last night and say that MIs close results last night show that both halves of the party there need each other to win and that hopefully it means they work together for the general.
Gill: All 100 senators last week passed a non-binding resolution condemning any pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell. They're simultaneously considering confirming the guy who met with her and moved her to a low-security facility as the top cop in the United States. That is so insane to me.
Missouri lawmakers tried to rig democracy. Voters torched the plan. Amendment 4 would’ve forced ballot initiatives to win in all 8 congressional districts, a rigged system designed to kill citizen power. They said no. Hard. Power to the people. Keep the momentum going into November!
Wow. This—combined with the massive number of people who voted in the Michigan primary, and the closeness of the race—shows people assertively stating what they want with their votes. Sometimes, democracy speaks loudly. I hope people listen.
Unfathomable
The extension of the National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. until January 2029 will cost roughly $1.4 billion, according to a Defense Department estimate provided to Congress. https://to.pbs.org/4pVAKf1
National Guard deployment to Washington through 2029 will cost roughly $1.4 billion, estimate shows
The cost estimate is for fiscal years 2027-2029 and came in response to questions from Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
pbs.org
NEW: Voters have rejected Republicans' scheme to unseat the Kansas Supreme Court's Dem-appointed majority and overturn abortion rights. Amendment 1 would have let the GOP replace the system of a nominating commission, gubernatorial appointment, and retention elections with direct partisan elections
Two wins for abortion rights: Voters in Kansas and Missouri easily defeated ballot measures that could have threatened abortion access in their states
“The fight isn’t over yet.” Jeffrey Epstein survivor Danielle Bensky says Todd Blanche’s confirmation effort is “depressing,” but she’s not giving up. Don’t let the Epstein files disappear from the conversation. Survivors deserve justice. ⚖️ #SheShed #VivaHerAlliance
People Are Hungry for Historical Reality | From “What the Heck Just Happened?” with @hcrichardson.bsky.social & award-winning historian and Yale University professor Dr. Joanne Freeman. @jbf1755.bsky.social Watch the full conversation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/PV6gxWpKy48
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 ... "
🔥 Here's Whitehouse's entire remarkable speech opposing Blanche: "What's left of this committee when we don't demand straight answers? How many times has DOJ been asked what became of the $50k that the FBI reported it handed to Homan? ... our R colleagues see no evil, hear no evil, & speak no evil."
Whitehouse on Blanche: "Today is a sad and embarrassing day"
YouTube video by Aaron Rupar
youtu.be
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...
The $1.776b Slush Fund Isn't As Dead As Senators Cornyn And Tillis Seem To Be Willing To Believe
MS NOW’s Mychael Schnell reported Monday morning that “Overnight: A spokesperson for Sen.
open.substack.com
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."
Well…yes. You CAN rein in the president. Try…reading the Constitution and CHECKING the executive. My God.
Cornyn: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"
Stop the false equivalence. No other President sued his own government to secure immunity for himself and his family, created a fund to reward cop beaters, and demanded prosecution of his political enemies. Trump’s weaponization of DOJ is unprecedented and you just endorsed it.
Tillis admits Trump is weaponizing the DOJ during his speech announcing he'll vote for Todd Blanche: "Maybe it's a little bit more intense in this administration than the last one ... I'm going to support Mr Blanche's nomination"
The US military’s strikes on alleged drug boats have likely illegally killed “individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking,” Sen. Tim Kaine told the White House, following “a careful review” of classified information he has seen so far.
‘They are murder victims’: Senator suggests US strikes have killed people who weren’t involved in drug trafficking | CNN Politics
The US military’s strikes on alleged drug boats have likely illegally killed “individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking,” Sen. Tim Kaine told the White House on Monday, following “a careful...
cnn.com
Todd Blanche’s nomination to formally lead the Department of Justice appears to be back on track after two Republican holdouts signed off on a deal giving President Donald Trump and his family immunity from Internal Revenue Service audits. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
GOP senators sign off on corrupt immunity deal from IRS audits for Trump and sons
Todd Blanche appears to be on track to lead the DOJ after Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) agreed to the plan.
democracydocket.com
“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
BREAKING: EXCLUSIVE: Five months ago, we learned that ICE seized drawings and letters from children in the Dilley ICE concentration camp. I sued under the Freedom of Information Act. Today, I got responsive documents. www.muellershewrote.com/p/breaking-e...
BREAKING: EXCLUSIVE: ICE Seized Drawings from Children in Detention. I Sued, and Today I Got Them.
Five months ago, I filed a Freedom of Information Act Request for papers seized from children at the Dilley ICE Detention Center. Today, I got a heartbreaking response.
muellershewrote.com
Welp. I watched “Wicked: For Good.” And…didn’t like it. Mediocre songs. Plot holes. Too long. I’m sure some folks love it. Grande and Erivo were great….😬
Every vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general is a vote to continue the coverup of the Epstein Files.