NYT has now independently corroborated all the major allegations against Susan Collins in the ProPublica report, including that investigators were prepared to move against her and then Trump intervened to shut it down. This put Trump in a position of exceptional and extortionate leverage over her.

F.B.I. Shut Down Inquiry Into Top Ally of Senator Susan Collins

The inquiry was closed last year because senior bureau officials questioned the veracity of a campaign donor’s account, according to current and former officials.

nytimes.com

Just a remarkable choice, this headline. No other leader of any other country in the history of the UN would get that headline after giving an address with that quote.

so i may be out of my depth here but hes at 30% approval, you elites can stop capitulating now

this country will not survive if democrats cannot find tough leadership capable of standing up to oligarchs, media consolidation, and propaganda it simply won't

this wasn't just a failure for Democrats on antitrust, it was a failure in terms of them showing they recognize (or actually care about) the right wing propaganda threat, which documentably shifts electoral outcomes

Few patients appeal a health insurance denial, but a little-known process that requires insurers and plans to seek an independent opinion can force insurers to pay for what can be lifesaving treatment. Here’s what experts say you need to know.

This Little-Known Appeal Could Force Your Insurer to Pay for Lifesaving Care. Here’s How to File It.

When a health insurer refuses to pay for your treatment, you may have the right to have the denial reviewed — and potentially overturned — by an independent provider. Here are six steps experts sugges...

propublica.org

Sen. Susan Collins helped steer millions in federal defense contracts to Navatek, whose CEO illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign. The FBI sought to launch a probe and was eyeing Collins and other lawmakers. Then Trump gutted the unit in charge. THREAD 🧵

There just isn't a legitimate solution to this which doesn't result in thousands of people currently working in the Federal government going to prison for many years

Gillian Brockell@gillianbrockell.com · 2d ago

This will make it nearly impossible to file habeas petitions, because attorneys won’t even know what federal district their client has been moved to to stage for their removal. Something like a third of all people in ICE custody. apnews.com/article/ice-...

NEW: JD Vance says Watergate would be a “12-hour news story” today. He may have a point — but only because conservatives spent decades fighting the reforms Watergate produced, rebuilding presidential power, and recasting Nixon as a victim rather than a warning. Jared Jacang Maher explains ⬇️

NEW: @apnews.com confirms that ICE has begun electronically "disappearing" people in the agency's custody who have final orders of removal. As of last week, anyone jailed by ICE with a final order of removal will NOT appear in the ICE Online Detainee Locator System, making them effectively vanish.

AP Exclusive: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding most detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, in a move that has made it harder for lawyers an...

apnews.com

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2d ago

Stay tuned for more on this from mainstream reporting hopefully later today, but Bob's got the gist of it; last week, it appears that ICE began disappearing people from the Online Detainee Locator System the moment they get a final order of removal. Yes, this is as deeply screwed up as it sounds.

The State AGs were on pace to kill the Paramount/Warner Bros by litigation and delay until Gavin Newsom stepped in and turned the tide. Now the Trump loyalist Ellisons will control CNN and HBO. Don't ever, ever forget that Newsom stabbed us in the back www.wsj.com/business/med...

Exclusive | Newsom Expresses Concerns About State Antitrust Suit Against Paramount

The California governor has told people involved in the suit that blocking the $81 billion deal could harm Hollywood jobs.

wsj.com

Newsom is now the nation’s most prominent Trump Democrat — a governor aggressively using his power to empower & enrich Trump’s billionaires. If a Dem candidate successfully spotlights this in the 2028 presidential primary, they will have a shot to defeat him & win the nomination

The government moving or hiding jailed people to avoid review by courts isn't some loophole in our habeas corpus rights. This government behavior has been considered a violation of the people's habeas corpus rights since at least the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_...

Gillian Brockell@gillianbrockell.com · 2d ago

This will make it nearly impossible to file habeas petitions, because attorneys won’t even know what federal district their client has been moved to to stage for their removal. Something like a third of all people in ICE custody. apnews.com/article/ice-...

imagine if the WH press corp had banded together 18 fucking months ago

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d ago

LMFAO -- Trump is holding an event at the White House right now but there's no audio because the press pool isn't there. The Newsmax host notes that this is an example of Trump's attacks on the press "backfiring just a little bit"

for your future voting knowledge, Gavin Newsom was central in pressuring the AGs to settle their antitrust lawsuit against Paramount:

Done! Paramount Settles Antitrust Suit, Set To Seal Deal For Warner Bros. Discovery

Paramount agreed to settle an antitrust suit by a dozen State Attorneys General led by California's Rob Bonta, the last obstacle to its merger with WBD.

deadline.com

aside from general antitrust concerns, this was an opportunity for dems to take aim at the right wing propaganda and information warfare project, and as usual, they failed pathetically

I wrote about the regrets of a Trump supporter whose fiancée was abducted by ICE, the ways these stories reinforce the exact spirit of supremacist exceptionalism that caused them in the first place, and the better, more honest, stories we might tell instead. www.the-reframe.com/this-is-us/

This is Us

Moving from "I'm one of the Good Ones" to actually becoming good.

the-reframe.com

Republicans know that too, but they also know this is something they can make Dems flinch and equivocate about, which makes them look overall weak and indecisive. They did it with immigration last cycle, they did it with gay marriage 20 years ago. The only way to win is to tell them to eat shit

John Cluverius@johncluverius.bsky.social · 3d ago

I have to keep saying this. Trans rights are very unpopular on face but extremely sensitive to persuasion and question wording. In other words very few people care deeply about them, one way or another. Electorally, there is no advantage or penalty for Democrats to take one way or another.

It’s amazing how the media cooperates to make some issues salient and completely ignores others. We went from North Carolina being protested against for an anti-trans bathroom bill in 2016 to now every politician being asked their position on a dozen or so athletes in ALL of K-16.

Imani Gandy@angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 4d ago

I just honestly can't get over that Save Women Sports, an anti-trans group could only find five trans athletes competing K through 12. Five. The NCAA president testified a year and a half ago or so that there were less than 10 college level trans athletes. What the fuck are we doing, people

It's strange how Democratic Socialists - who are being denounced by both parties - turned major deficits into balanced budgets in both New York and Seattle.

Amy Sundberg@amysundberg.bsky.social · 5d ago

BREAKING: In Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson's new proposed city budget being released Tuesday, there is no projected deficit through 2030. Given the state of the projected deficit over the past many years, this is quite an achievement.

a lot of people act like there's a trade being offered where we give up trans athletes in sports and in exchange fascism is defeated forever

As a pragmatic centrist, I read the Niemöller poem differently. After each group mentioned I pencil in what percentage of the population they are, and if it’s a small number I cross off their names as disposable. Poetry is fine but math wins elections!!

Concessions don’t work. That’s why the State AGs need to take their case to trial. They've got the Ellisons on the ropes. Protect consumers and workers. Block the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Sign the Petition! noparamountconcessions.com

#BlockTheMerger

Twelve state attorneys general sued to block Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Concessions don’t protect workers, consumers or creators. Tell the AGs to hold strong and take it to trial. SIGN THE P...

noparamountconcessions.com

👇🎯 The thing that should have gotten front page coverage, from the very beginning, is that threatening 🇬🇱 & 🇨🇦 was an egregious violation of our NATO treaty commitments & should have immediately ended his presidency.

Nils Gilman@nilsgilman.bsky.social · 5d ago

The credulous coverage of Trump’s claimed “historic deal” in Greenland — which changes nothing of substance about the existing security agreement — is yet another embarrassing instance of the media “treating the kayfabe as real.” Why would a self-respecting reporter participate in this nonsense?

It’s very simple and it’s been said over and over but I guess it needs saying continuously: if you deem one group too small to have equal rights you are enabling fascism, not fighting it. The people saying Dems are GREAT on trans rights are not paying attention and/or saying stuff like this.

This guy who assaulted a sitting member of Congress got 28 years and 10 months less jail time than a Texas resident who transported a box of zines that contained constitutionally protected content opposing ICE reason.com/2026/06/25/t...

Texas man gets 30 years in prison for transporting 'anti-government' pamphlets

The case stems from a violent anti-ICE protest, but critics say the government's prosecution threatens First Amendment rights.

reason.com

Reuters Legal@legal.reuters.com · 6d ago

A Minnesota man who squirted vinegar on Democratic U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar was sentenced to one year and two months in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to assaulting a federal official.

Welp, now we know who their other clients are. As I've been saying, the tech fascists are buying up Democratic consultants by the bushel. They have enough money to *BUY BOTH SIDES* Time to burn out the rot and build a party that serves the people, not the billionaires.

Politico@politico.com · 6d ago

Democratic advisers are warning their candidates not to go too hard at AI

New — I wrote about this weird thing where people within the Republican party keep being exposed as Nazis and the party then tries to claim each one is an aberration. The facts, as I lay out here, indicate otherwise:

Republicans don’t have a Nazi problem—they are the Nazi problem

A spate of recent revelations have shown the ideologies and their adherents are one and the same.

thehandbasket.co

If we are serious about a vengeance tour, every person who appeared in court, making this happen should lose their law license for good

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie@audrelawdamercy.blacksky.app · 7d ago

according to politico, since Jan. 2025, Trump admin has deported 170+ people “in violation of court orders,” “in defiance of legally mandated due process protections,” or “to countries from which they had sought or received protection from torture and persecution” ballsandstrikes.org/ethics-accou...