NEW: The Michigan Senate matchup is poised to be one of the most closely watched races in November. As such, Trump wasted no time in spreading false claims of mail voter fraud, laying the groundwork of a voting conspiracy to lean on if his election-denying candidate of choice loses.

Trump, MAGA already pushing conspiracies about Michigan mail voting

It’s no surprise the president and prominent election deniers are already planting the seeds of a voting conspiracy to lean on if El-Sayed beats GOP candidate Mike Rogers.

democracydocket.com

“What if we treated all our kids like they were ALL our kids” is a really great line.

El-Sayed: "My commitment to Jewish safety is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters. Because if there is one question of political philosophy that ought to animate us all, it's what would we do if we treated all our kids like they were all of our kids?"

NEW: Meta reviewed, approved, and ran more than 50 ads containing AI-generated child sexual abuse material across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads. They ran for nine months. Some were live this week. After WIRED asked about them, researchers found ~30 more

Meta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery

More than 50 offending image and video ads were published across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Threads, according to Meta’s ad library data. Some ran as recently as this week.

wired.com

What a surprise, the alleged abuser was jacking himself up on testosterone.

NEW: Over the last few months, Meta has run dozens of paid ads that included AI-generated CSAM. The ads, some of which were linking out to “nudify” apps, targeted men in the US, UK, and a dozen European countries. Some were running in the last few days

Meta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery

More than 50 offending image and video ads were published across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Threads, according to Meta’s ad library data. Some ran as recently as this week.

wired.com

There are a few ways to read this, but FWIW, this is one* of several analyses I've heard for a while. I.e., Talarico is getting a lot of attention, but a big tell will be if/how money gets spent against him — both by the Republican Party and, crucially (albeit not mentioned here), PAC money.

Sahil Kapur@sahilkapur.bsky.social · 4h ago

Asked Jasmine Crockett last night in St. Louis if she thinks James Talarico can turn Texas blue this fall. “I don't know,” she said. She doesn’t buy the polls. “I watch money… When I look at the money, if Republicans start spending money in Texas, then I'll be convinced.” MORE:

"So he can feel a bit more manly by making an AI video" is a direct callback to this image that deserves a second life in this campaign

Headquarters@headquartersnews.bsky.social · 5h ago

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed: Mike Rogers is a guy who wants to put a data center in your backyard so he can feel a bit more manly by making an AI video. If you want a senator who's gonna lick some boots, go vote for Rogers. But if you want a senator who's going to stand up to Trump, you've got your option.

Here's the Polling USA Senate Model For August 2, 2026 Democrats are at 52 seats (+2) Republicans are at 48 seats (-2)

Bolts staff writer Alex Burness explains how Southern states ignored a Reconstruction-era law and manipulated the criminal legal system to prevent Black people from voting. This year, that has finally caught up with one state: Virginia.

I wrote about how weird and bad it is to have a future AG going around claiming he'll make Dobbs "permanent in every single state"—unless he understands Dobbs to be a national abortion ban, and thinks his job is to force states to comply

Todd Blanche Is Claiming That He Can Ban Abortion In Any State

As he fights to be confirmed as attorney general, Blanche is trying to appease Christian-right groups with wild legal theories about restricting abortion.

newrepublic.com

Homeland Security told immigrants that leaving the US would wipe out fines it claims they owe. Now it wants private investigators to find them in their home countries and collect. www.wired.com/story/dhs-is...

DHS Is Hiring Bounty Hunters to Find and Photograph Deported People’s Homes Abroad

Homeland Security told immigrants that leaving the US would wipe out fines it claims they owe. Now it wants private investigators to find them in their home countries and collect.

wired.com

Virginia health officials announced the state’s first documented case of locally acquired dengue, saying a resident who had not traveled outside Virginia was probably infected after being bitten by a mosquito that had previously bit an infected traveler.

Virginia reports its first locally acquired dengue case

There is no evidence of continued transmission and no additional reports of locally acquired dengue cases at this time, officials say

washingtonpost.com

Elon Musk, the wealthiest man alive, pays the same amount of taxes into Social Security as someone who makes $184,000 a year. Americans across party lines and pretty much all walks of life think that doesn't make a lot of sense. @sanders.senate.gov

The New Republic’s Matt Ford on Trump selling early looks at his social posts, which often move markets: “The scheme is functionally no different than if he asked for giant burlap sacks of cash from Wall Street executives in exchange for reading his executive orders the day before they are issued.”

Is Trump the GOAT of Presidential Corruption?

The president’s gluttony for graft is the only truly remarkable thing about his political career.

newrepublic.com

this should go over well i the general

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4h ago

Every single Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota (including Mike Lindell!) makes clear that if Trump tried another Operation Metro Surge in the Twin Cities, they would support his efforts to brutalize residents

An at-risk teenager "...fell into a filter bubble where his account was recommended a repetitive amount of content surrounding Suicide & Self Harm & depressive topics, particularly leading up to the date of his suicide..." The TikTok revelations keep coming. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

TikTok Withheld a Safety Feature From Millions. One Died by Suicide

A confidential document says an algorithm adjustment was kept from many users “by design,” as part of an experiment to measure engagement.

bloomberg.com

Jarrod Watt@jaywatt.bsky.social · 7h ago

An at-risk teenager "...fell into a filter bubble where his account was recommended a repetitive amount of content surrounding Suicide & Self Harm & depressive topics, particularly leading up to the date of his suicide..." The TikTok revelations keep coming. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Sen. Tammy Baldwin pushes Pentagon to release probe of Iranian attack that killed 6 U.S. troops in Kuwait www.cbsnews.com/news/tammy-b...

Sen. Tammy Baldwin pushes Pentagon to release probe of Iranian attack that killed 6 U.S. troops in Kuwait

A CBS News investigation found troops had flagged military leaders about the lack of defenses and insufficient medical supplies ahead of the attack in Kuwait at the beginning of the war with Iran.

cbsnews.com

Really don't understand the end game of all the billionaires building their climate change apocalypse bunkers. You need society to function. You can't farm. You can't cook. You can't even clean. You think you won't be the first thing on the menu for all the underground servants?

I'd like a statement from all Democrats who accept AIPAC money. Would you rather have AIPAC money or control of the Senate? It cannot be both. BTW, this would have been true if Haley Stevens won instead. They aren't going to spend against themselves!

Leah McElrath@leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 4h ago

⚠️ AIPAC out with a statement: “Our members remain determined to ensure that voters reject Dr. El-Sayed and his radical anti-Israel agenda in November.”

AIPAC saying, out loud, that they'll be supporting a right wing Republican.

Leah McElrath@leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 4h ago

⚠️ AIPAC out with a statement: “Our members remain determined to ensure that voters reject Dr. El-Sayed and his radical anti-Israel agenda in November.”

⚠️ AIPAC out with a statement: “Our members remain determined to ensure that voters reject Dr. El-Sayed and his radical anti-Israel agenda in November.”

Here's a quick recap about last night in Michigan, expectations settting, how a disappointing trifecta set the stage for progressive wins, and why having different paths to victory is good for Democrats, actually. prospect.org/2026/08/05/p...

Progressives Make Major Gains in Michigan - The American Prospect

Though Abdul El-Sayed didn’t win by as much as anticipated, it was a strong night. Now the proposition about progressives in swing seats will be tested.

prospect.org

Congratulations to Donavan McKinney on winning his congressional primary, unseating a millionaire AIPAC stooge! Donavan is a former union member fighting to get money out of politics, a green new deal, and union jobs. @donavanmckinney.bsky.social @detroitdsa.bsky.social

HMM…THERE ISN’T ENOUGH VIABLE REPORTING ON THIS. #PINKS www.yahoo.com/news/us/arti...

Cyclosporiasis outbreak has affected about 1 in every 1,000 people in Michigan and killed two

Some US states are facing a large and growing outbreak of diarrhea caused by cyclospora, a microscopic parasite that can contaminate fresh food or water.

yahoo.com

After having a terrible time processing the death of one of my closest friends, I decided to finally try to write about all that grief. It takes the form of an essay about Metallica. What can I say, my brain is weird: leahsottile.substack.com/p/74-letters...

74. Letters I Write to Metallica

Prayers to James, Kirk, Lars, Cliff and someone I loved.

leahsottile.substack.com

Republicans call Democrats communists the way toddlers call every vegetable broccoli.

📍 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐀: Ex-ICE detainee says elderly, pregnant and sick individuals were treated like “animals in a zoo” while in immigration custody. “There were people that had cancer. They did their first chemo before they were in, and they were not allowed to get their second chemo.” #AbuseofPowerWatch

Ex-ICE detainee says elderly, pregnant women, and breast cancer patient were mistreated in Broward

Claudia Carolina Rodriguez Caglianone, who has been living in South Florida since 2017, said she and other U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees were treated like animals.

local10.com

as noted yesterday, Trump has now come around to treating an Iranian toll system covering the Strait of Hormuz as a given. Hard to overstate the level of strategic failure. US started the war purely as a war of choice and ends up dramatically empowering Iran and given the Iranian govt big wins.

Bill Grueskin@bgrueskin.bsky.social · 5h ago

Reuters: Iran wants fees of 5%-7% of the price of cargo from ships using the strait; Oman wants 3%. "Making fees voluntary, at least nominally, could be a way out of the impasse, although an implied threat of Iranian attacks could mean shippers would be ​unlikely to risk transit without paying."