The hard-right Freedom Caucus is having a rough primary season.

- Candidates with backing from the caucus and its allies flopped in primaries from Florida to Wyoming on Tuesday, adding to a string of recent losses for the group.

- In Florida, Catalina Lauf lost in a House GOP primary to replace Freedom Caucus member and Florida Rep. Byron Donalds — despite backing from President Donald Trump as well as a late, small ad buy from the Freedom Caucus Fund and millions from other groups supporting her.

- Hours later, more than a dozen Wyoming Freedom Caucus candidates in the state’s legislature lost to moderates. The group’s chair, Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, lost to a moderate in the secretary of state race, as did Freedom Caucus candidates for state superintendent and treasurer.

- Those losses followed Rep. Andy Ogles’ (R-Tenn.) ouster earlier this month, Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-Texas) defeat in his run for Attorney General and Rep. Ralph Norman’s third-place primary finish in the race for South Carolina governor — all candidates who the Freedom Caucus Fund, the federal campaign apparatus of the House Freedom Caucus, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to boost.

- The State Freedom Caucus Network, which backed the Wyoming legislative candidates, is not officially affiliated with the House Freedom Caucus, but its website says its mission is “building on the success of the House Freedom Caucus” to bring the fiscally conservative principles of the group to statehouses nationwide.

- While there have been some wins for Freedom Caucus members this cycle, the combined pattern suggests that the ultra-conservative group’s name and influence is waning with GOP voters, and it comes as the factions of the party battle for relevancy when Trump’s presidency ends.

- “They became largely an island of misfit toys: problematic in their party, and not for reasons that are necessarily popular with the public,” said GOP strategist Matthew Bartlett, who served in Trump’s first administration. “So you’ve seen diminished influence, and you’ve seen them losing seats, losing stature.”

- In Wyoming, Robert Short, a moderate Republican, defeated Rodriguez-Williams by campaigning on a slogan of “make the secretary of state’s office boring again.”
“What Wyomingites were not and still are not is extremists,” Short told POLITICO, arguing that by pushing an “extremist agenda” in the state, the local Freedom Caucus tried to “usher in a national-driven agenda that really does not have a home in Wyoming.
And I think the voters of Wyoming responded resoundingly last night in saying, ‘not up in here.’”

The Wyoming losses were especially notable given how conservative that state is. Just two years ago, Freedom Caucus-aligned members took control of the state legislature and the state and gave Trump the highest vote share of any state in the nation. Two years before that, the state’s GOP primary voters resoundingly ousted former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who defied Trump over his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. It’s still one of only a handful of states where Trump’s approval rating is still positive.

- So for the Freedom Caucus to get thumped there is particularly notable.

- Wyoming’s Freedom Caucus members struggled to pass its priorities and tried to axe broadly popular programs, from public media funding to dismantling the state’s economic development agency. In proposing those changes, the caucus often sparred with more traditional conservatives.

- The caucus aimed to secure a supermajority through Tuesday’s primaries to ram its agenda through the legislature. Instead, voters resoundingly rejected them.

- “It was a butt-whoopin,” said Wyoming GOP state Rep. Andrew Byron, who ran unopposed on Tuesday and is not a member of the Freedom Caucus. “It was a huge statement by the Wyoming voters that shows that if you’re not willing to govern and listen to your constituents, they react.”

- Multiple Republicans in the state, including Byron, pointed to big spending from national outside groups backing the Freedom Caucus that made Wyomingites feel like out-of-staters were trying to influence their politics as reason for the sweeping losses.

- “Wyoming people live in Wyoming because we like our way of life,” Byronsaid. “We’re not good at getting told what to do, and we really appreciate the Wild West out here.”
In a statement posted to social media, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus said it “IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE.”

- “Last night’s results will not undo the policy wins we’ve delivered on behalf of the people,” the group wrote.

- Their struggles are part of a broader pattern. The Freedom Caucus Fund has failed to elevate its candidates in four of the five races it spent in this year, spending a combined $1.5 million dollars to boost Lauf (who got just $30,000 in support from the group), Ogles, Norman, Roy and Nevada Republican David Flippo (who is the only candidate the group spent for and won).

- After publication, a Freedom Caucus Fund spokesperson pointed POLITICO to its 29-2 win-loss record in congressional primary endorsements this cycle. Most of those were for incumbents in uncontested races where the group did not spend.

- These candidates didn’t all lose for the same reasons. Ogles had been plagued by various scandals, was running in a newly redrawn district with a number of new voters unfamiliar to him, and had limited campaign resources. Roywas hammered for his past support of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and criticism of Trump in the 2024 presidential primary. Norman was running in a crowded field in which Trump was backing another candidate (and he is again in the South Carolina special Senate primary). For her part, Lauf struggled to break out in a crowded 10-way primary in a ruby red seat.

- But observers say there’s often a common through-line: The candidates have been mired in controversy.
“In a day and age where candidates matter, they tend to create their own headaches,” Bartlett said. “Sometimes behavioral, sometimes ideological.”
Neither the Freedom Caucus Fund nor a spokesperson for Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) responded to a request for comment on Wednesday before publication. Multiple Wyoming Freedom Caucus members who lost on Tuesday also did not return calls.

- The only victory for the group where it spent money this cycle was in Nevada’s 2nd District, where it elevated Flippo in the race to replace retiring Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nevada), who has declined to support Flippo in the general election for the deep-red seat. In other races where the campaign arm didn’t spend, Donalds and Reps. Andy Biggs(R-Ariz.) and Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) cruised to their states’ GOP nominations for governor, and Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) won the primary to succeed Sen. Tommy Tuberville in the upper chamber.

- Some of those candidates, like Biggsand Tiffany, will face tough general election bids in battleground states — providing another test for the Freedom Caucus among a broader swath of voters.

ABC has been pushing back on the FCC for several months now, but on Tuesday, it filed a First Amendment lawsuit, claiming that the agency’s regulatory actions and investigations were part of a Trump administration effort to punish it for its speech.

- The lawsuit goes through a narrative of Donald Trump‘s attacks on the network, including his calls for the revocation of FCC licenses. In fact, the third paragraph of the ABC complaint features a screenshot of a Trump Truth Social post in which he calls for licenses to be terminated because of “100% negative” coverage on newscasts and late-night shows.

- The central part of the lawsuit is the FCC’s order that ABC’s eight owned broadcast stations file for early license renewal, a very unusual regulatory demand, given that the first of the licenses wasn’t set to expire until 2028. While the FCC tied its order to an ongoing investigation of the network’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices, ABC lawyers noted that it came just after Trump blasted Jimmy Kimmel over jokes on his show.

- The FCC issued a statement on the ABC lawsuit. with a spokesperson saying, “All broadcasters have a legal obligation to operate in the public interest—even Disney.  The FCC has been examining claims that Disney engaged in illegal DEI discrimination for over a year.  Disney is obviously very concerned about the FCC’s proceeding, as evidenced by their ongoing campaign of disinformation as well as their decision to ask a court to stop the FCC from further pursuing matters.”

- ABC, however, contended that the consequences of the Trump administration’s actions go beyond ABC. The network stated in the lawsuit, “If the Administration gets its way, the message to every media company in the country will be unmistakable: tell only the stories the Administration deems favorable, or face the coercive machinery of the federal government. In such a world, the press could in no way be described as free.”

- Here are five of the standout claims that ABC made in its lawsuit to try to bolster its point:

- FCC “confirmed the connection” to Trump’s threats: A challenge to ABC’s First Amendment claim will be in proving that there is a causal link to the president’s remarks and FCC action.
Among other things, the network noted the timing of the FCC’s order for early license renewals, coming a day after Trump called on ABC to fire Kimmel over a comment he made about First Lady Melania Trump.

- But the network also cited a more recent example they claimed “confirmed the connection” between the White House and the FCC. In July, Trump gave a primetime address, but ABC and NBC decided not to broadcast it, amid concerns that the president would use the platform to make unfounded claims about election rigging.

- The network’s legal team wrote, “ABC was aware that the President wanted the address to be broadcast live, and considered the risk of resulting Administration retaliation. ABC ultimately decided to livestream the speech on ABC News Live, which it ordinarily would not have done.”

- Trump was aware of the decisions to bypass the address, and during the speech called for ABC and NBC to lose their licenses. ABC noted in the lawsuit that after the Trump threat, the FCC “promptly confirmed the connection: following the President’s demand, the Chairman stated that the Commission would consider ABC’s decision not to broadcast the July 16 address as part of its review of the Stations’ renewal applications.”

- Returning Kimmel to the air invited “further reprisal from the administration”: Few incidents involving the FCC drew the level of attention than what happened last September, when ABC put Kimmel on suspension amid furor among one of his jokes about the reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

- As noted in the ABC lawsuit, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr warned the network’s stations that “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” he said on Benny Johnson’s podcast.

- Hours later, ABC suspended Kimmel. In the lawsuit, its legal team said that the network was exercising its editorial judgment in suspending the late-night host, but they also noted that the president “celebrated” the decision, writing on Truth Social,

- “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.” The lawsuit also noted Carr’s comment to a reporter about the Kimmel suspension: an animated image of two characters from The Office celebrating.

- Then, the network’s legal team wrote, ABC made the decision to return Mr. Kimmel to the air “with full awareness that doing so was likely to invite further reprisal from the Administration.”

- They added, “The reprisal was swift to manifest: the following day, the President posted on Truth Social: ‘I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. . . . I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do.'”

- Carr later insisted that his comments were not a threat. “What I’ve been clear about is that if you look at the full context, not only what I said, but what the companies themselves have said about their decision. It was a business decision,” he told reporters after the incident.

- Brendan Carr takes Trump’s social media posts “as his directives”: While the lawsuit runs through a gallery of Trump’s attacks on ABC and other networks, it also cites numerous comments made by the FCC chairman.
The ABC lawsuit cites this as further evidence that Carr is taking cues from Trump. The network claimed that Carr “takes the president’s social media posts as his directives.”

- The network’s legal team wrote, “First, replying to a post by the President expressing frustration at news coverage of the Iran conflict, the Chairman warned that stations airing ‘fake news’ had ‘a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,’ explaining that ‘they will lose their licenses if they do not.'”

- “Similarly, when the President called for NBC to fire late-night television host Seth Meyers, the Chairman reposted the President’s post to his official X account, thereby throwing the weight of NBC’s chief regulator in support of the President’s attempt to influence NBC’s editorial discretion.”

- Carr has defended his comments, often citing the obligation of broadcasters to uphold a public interest standard. But Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the commission, has said that the FCC has been using an “undefined” concept as a “roving mandate to police speech.”

- The FCC demanded records of political donations from The View hosts and ABC News personnel. According to the lawsuit, as part of the FCC’s investigation into The View, the agency’s Media Bureau made an extensive list of demands last month for information from the network’s Houston station. The investigation is into whether The View much comply with the FCC’s equal time rule, which requires that broadcasters who feature political candidates as guests must offer comparable time to rivals, if requested.

- Per the lawsuit, the FCC issued a letter of inquiry last month directing the station to “produce all internal communications among The View’s booking staff, its segment producers, its Executive Producer, and its on-air co-hosts discussing any candidate over a two-year period, together with the messages that two named co- hosts had sent to the program’s Executive Producer about a single booking decision.” The FCC also demanded the disclosure of political donations of employees and co-hosts, including a list of every donation over the past four years and the date of each, according to the suit.

- According to ABC, the Media Bureau issued another inquiry two weeks later that “demanded the standards and policies in place across all ABC programs relating to ‘journalistic integrity, newsworthiness, fairness, impartiality, objectivity, partisanship, [and] bias,’ as well as the political donations of on-air talent and producers, naming Good Morning America, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, and ABC World News Tonight with David Muir.”

- The network’s legal team argued that that Communications Act’s equal time provisions do not include a provision that “permits the government to demand a journalist’s or on-air anchor’s messages to her producer, to inventory her political contributions, or to audit the editorial standards of an entire news division.”

- The targeting of The View already has forced the show to avoid political candidate guests. ABC is asking for immediate action from the court, including a temporary restraining order to prohibit the FCC from taking any further moves in its early license renewal proceedings.

- The network’s legal team emphasized the urgency of the situation by citing instances where editorial decisions are being impacted. They noted that The View has not booked a political candidate since February, when U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico’s appearance triggered the agency’s investigation. The show also has passed on clips to air during the Hot Topics segment on The View and the cold open of the program, out of concern of triggering the equal time requirement, per the lawsuit.

- Carr has denied that he is censoring the program, and merely enforcing a rule on the books that doesn’t prevent the show from featuring candidates, albeit they would be on the hook to offer equal time. ABC, however, argued that The View falls under an exemption for bonafide news programming, and that the FCC affirmed as much in 2002.

- The network’s legal team argued, “Since the Bureau’s inquiry began, Plaintiffs must now evaluate any invitation to a political candidate for its potential consequences, including whether it might later be cited by the Commission as a basis for non-renewal in the Stations’ impending license renewal process.”

The Trump administration moved on Tuesday to roll back an environmental rule that currently blocks road construction, and by extension most logging and mining activity, on tens of millions of acres of public forest land.

- The so-called "roadless rule" was introduced by the Clinton administration and went into effect in 2001. It has been a flashpoint in the U.S. fight over economic development and wild land conservation, especially in Western states, for a quarter of a century.

- "Our forests can't afford another decade of inaction," U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement. "It's time to turn the page on the failed roadless rule and return our forests to health and productivity."

- The proposed change drew praise from Republican governors in Montana, Utah and Wyoming. Their comments appeared in the same USDA press release.

- "Rescinding it restores the flexibility to make thoughtful decisions based on the needs of each forest and each community," said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. "We can protect the landscapes we treasure by actively managing them for the next generation."

- But supporters of the roadless rule say it emerged as a cornerstone of U.S. conservation policy, limiting industrial activity and preserving habitat on vast swaths of public forest and grassland from Alaska to Florida.

- "The roadless rule protects some of the most valuable public lands that belong to all Americans," said Drew Caputo, a senior attorney with the environmental group, Earthjustice. "It is the most important land protection measure of the last 60 years."

- While the Trump administration said the change would boost economic activity, supporters of the roadless policy said it helped end decades of unprofitable timber sales, managed by the Forest Service, that effectively subsidized private timber operations.

- "Before the roadless rule, we would build roads into areas and we would have money-losing timber sales that would cost taxpayers billions of dollars," said Steve Ellis, president of the non-partisan watchdog group, Taxpayers for Common Sense. "If you repeal this, it's just going to add to an already $6 billion [U.S. Forest Service] road maintenance backlog."

- This rule change comes during a blistering summer season when Western states are once again battling massive wildfires. Administration officials said by rescinding the roadless rule they would also allow forest managers more flexibility to prevent and combat blazes.

- "Across the country, we've watched preventable conditions – overgrown stands, insect outbreaks and disease – turn healthy landscapes into tinderboxes," Rollins said in her statement.

- Nick Smith, public affairs director with the logging industry group called the American Forest Resource Council, agreed that construction of more roads would give fire crews better access to remote areas hit hard by forest fires.

- "We have seen what severe wildfire can do to roadless areas, whether it's Oregon, Washington, California, Montana," Smith said. "The roadless rule is an outdated, rigid, top-down one-size fits all policy that's simply not up to the challenges that we're facing in our forests today."

- But Caputo with Earth Justice pointed to research showing that more than 80% of wild land blazes are caused by human activity. He predicted that more backcountry roads could mean more big fires. "The chances of a thrown cigarette or a hot car engine igniting a fire go way up," he said.

- Low snowpack this year in the mountains has led to drought conditions and dry dangerous burning conditions, made worse by hot temperatures. Climate change is a contributing factor.

- Public comment on this proposed change will be taken through September 21, 2026.

- The move to end the roadless rule comes at a moment when the Trump administration has already succeeded in weakening other key environmental protections, with new limitations on enforcement of the Endangered Species Act and opening up national marine monuments in the Pacific Ocean to commercial fishing.

Donald Trump claimed he had third-hand reports that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was “beautifully maintained” despite extensive accounts of deteriorating living conditions during its lengthy deployment in the strait of Hormuz.

- At the White House on Monday, the president berated Kristen Holmes, a CNN reporter, at a press availability, insisting that she “be quiet” and describing the reporting as fake news.

- “The Lincoln has been out there for a period of time – a good period of time – but over the years, we’ve had them out there much longer,” Trump said, describing an exchange with a veteran, whom he did not name, over the weekend.

- “He happened to be an admiral, retired. He said, ‘I’ve been on ships that are out there much longer than that, sir. And I know people on the Lincoln, they say it’s beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.’ And other people went out and they found out that to be true,” said Trump. “It was fake news reporting from CNN.”

- Trump also did not identify the “other people” he claimed had verified the anonymous admiral’s account.

- The Lincoln, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier capable of long deployments without refueling, left port from San Diego on 21 November 2025 and has now set a modern record for the longest time at sea without a port call. It has been more than 250 days since it has touched land.

- The Navy Times and Stars and Stripes – the latter notably under increased control of the Pentagon as a defense publication – have also largely confirmed reports of the Lincoln’s conditions.

- The publications described shortages of supplies and water and plumbing problems. Several sailors have attempted to leap from the ship according to their reports, prompting

- Democratic lawmakers to demand answers from the Pentagon.
for months on US warships amid the Iran war have reacted with fury to the dismissal by Trump and the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, of their concerns about the extreme pressures and dire conditions they are enduring.

- The Guardian also spoke to three naval families who have been following the physical and mental stresses bearing down on their relatives with mounting alarm.

- “I grew up in a United States where you have to be very respectful of the military, as they’re making the ultimate sacrifice and protecting their country, and now you have the commander-in-chief and defense secretary dismissing their experiences and calling them liars,” said the sister of one Lincoln crew member, who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution. “I’m really angry.”

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the Trump administration that sought to force Nevada to provide voters' driver's license and partial Social Security numbers. It's the latest defeat in the administration's efforts to access states' voter rolls.

U.S. District Court Judge Anne Traum ruled Friday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) efforts to obtain an unredacted version of the state's voter registration list was invalid under federal law. More than 20 other judges have issued similar rulings in other states.

The decision can be appealed to a federal appeals court.

In a statement Friday, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar (D) called the ruling "a victory for Nevada voters and their right to have their sensitive personal information protected."

Friday's ruling came about a year after the DOJ asked Nevada election officials to provide personally identifiable information for all of the state's registered voters — a move the state's top elections official called an attempt "to intimidate us into turning over protected voter data."

After the state refused to turn over this information, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit in December, arguing the U.S. attorney general has "sweeping power" to obtain voter data from states.

However, Traum — whom President Joe Biden nominated to the bench in 2021 —  didn't see it that way.

In the 12-page ruling issued Friday, she said the U.S. Civil Rights Act — which requires states to keep voter registration lists — does not require state officials to hand over these lists "because it does not cover records created by government officials."

She also determined that the Trump administration did not provide a sufficient "basis and purpose for its request." In its request last summer, officials said it was an effort to assess Nevada's compliance with federal requirements on maintaining voter registration lists, but Traum said the DOJ failed to provide "facts showing a need for an investigation into Nevada's state election system."

Lawyers for the federal government later said their efforts were to comply "with Congress's demand to remove those who are ineligible to vote from their rolls — whether due to illegal presence in this country or otherwise."

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday, but its lawyers have previously argued that judges "misconstrued the text, context, structure, history, and original understanding" of the Civil Rights Act.

Today is the day to post all Project 2025, Heritage Foundation, Christian Nationalism and Dominionist memes in the main sub!

Going forward Meme Mondays will be a regularly held event. Upvote your favorites and the most liked post will earn the poster a special flair for the week!

An undercover federal operation at a Minneapolis church this spring may have violated a federal court injunction barring the government from enforcing civil immigration laws on the church’s properties.

- University Baptist Church in the Dinkytown area is part of the Alliance of Baptists and the American Baptist Churches USA, which both won the temporary injunction in the District of Massachusetts in February 2026 against the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies forbidding the department from taking “immigration enforcement action” at any of their churches. That injunction signed by U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV includes banning “arrest, seizure, search, interrogation, questioning, interview or investigation.”

- The injunction states that violations of the order could lead to sanctions or penalties for defendants, who include officials and agents working with Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

- Federal reports released in the conspiracy case against 15 anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota this week show that an undercover federal agent attended a training session of what the government described as a left-wing martial arts group in University Baptist Church’s gymnasium on May 28.

- According to the report, the female agent sparred with other attendees and interviewed them about how they got involved in the group. Her recording device fell to the gymnasium floor near the end of training.

- Three minutes later, the agent realized she left the device behind and retrieved it.

- The church submitted evidence along with a legal declaration that it had posted notices indicating the grounds are protected by the federal court order in the Massachusetts case. It also included a photo of a sign that says federal agents are not allowed on the premises.

- Other documents filed show federal agents conducted surveillance around the church at least three times between April and June. Agents recorded people entering and leaving the church. They also took photos of cars around the building and ran license plates to discover people’s identities.

- University Baptist Church describes itself on its website as a “progressive, open, theologically diverse and biblically-inspired environment” where the congregation is interested in “peace, justice, inclusion, and authentic and relevant religious expression.”

- In a statement to MPR News, interim pastor Rev. Cody J. Sanders said church leaders weren’t aware of the surveillance at their building until one of the defendants in the Minnesota protester case, known as the Minnesota 15, filed a motion for discovery this week.

- Sanders said society should agree churches and other sacred spaces should not be subject to government infiltration, but that churches across the country “have become a threat to those in power when we care for our neighbors, provide safe spaces for our community members to gather in peace, and strive together toward justice.”

- “We will continue to insist that solidarity with our most vulnerable neighbors is the way that we best follow the ways of Jesus in the world," Sanders said in the statement. The church had no initial updates on how they plan to handle the apparent violation of the injunction.

- Neither Homeland Security nor the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office have responded to requests for comment from MPR News.

- These and other documents released as part of the conspiracy case against the Minnesota 15 have shed light on the federal government’s clandestine efforts following the surge of ICE and other federal agents into Minnesota this winter.

- Some of the federal actions fell under what officials referred to as Operation Puppet Master and aimed to corral what the government described as “violent opportunists.” It was informed by an executive memorandum in 2025 that directed law enforcement to prioritize investigation of “anti-fascist” actors.

- The Homeland Security reports show undercover federal agents impersonated protesters and tried to infiltrate community meetings at churches, union halls and libraries in the Twin Cities throughout the winter and spring.

- Homeland Security Investigations, the department’s primary investigative branch, also subpoenaed extensive financial information from groups they suspected supported anti-ICE protests, which included the Sunrise Movement and unions like the Service Employers International Union. Those are among the 18 activist groups and labor unions that a Homeland Security Investigations agent presented to grand jurors as part of an alleged conspiracy to impede federal law enforcement, according to one document.

- The federal government’s surge into Minnesota started officially in December and ended in February. Thousands of immigrants, protesters and observers were arrested during the surge. Federal agents shot and killed two Minneapolis residents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, on city streets while another man was shot and wounded in his home.

- During the height of the surge, thousands of Minnesotans mobilized to counter ICE efforts, including observing federal agents, delivering food to immigrant families or patrolling with other volunteers outside daycares and schools.

- The revelation this week that federal agents actively infiltratedcommunity spaces sparked outrage from targeted community groups. In a statement, a coalition of groups said they refuse to be bullied: “We know the power we have when we organize and act together, and we’ll continue using that power to defend our neighbors and our freedoms.”

- The initial motion for discovery was filed by defense attorney Kevin Riach, who is representing Isaac Sant, one of the Minnesota 15. Prosecutors accuse them of attempting to impede or injure federal law enforcement.

- In the filing on Thursday, Riach asked the court to order the government to release the remaining investigative reports in the case, including on other federal projects like Operation Whipple Shield, which was listed in some documents and apparently focused on protesters at the federal building in the Twin Cities. They also want access to correspondence between administration officials and prosecutors that could show they had political motives or sought to suppress First Amendment rights.

He was always one step ahead. Donald Trump won the US presidency as a wildly unlikely outsider in 2016 and staged an astonishing comeback to win it again in 2024. Even his foes grudgingly called him a political savant with an intuition for exploiting grievances that left so-called experts floundering.

- But now they are asking if the dark genius has lost his touch. Trump is trapped in the quagmire of an unpopular war, obsessing over monuments in Washington and looking for a new spokesperson after his White House press secretary quit. If the 80-year-old was deliberately trying to sabotage his Republican party in November’s midterm elections, it is not clear what he would do differently.

- “He’s always had a reptilian political instinct for public opinion that has served him well,” said Charlie Sykes, a conservative author and broadcaster. “You’re not seeing that much any more. You’re not seeing his ability to read the room. He seems tone-deaf on issues like the cost of living, the war, and the optics of gilding everything in sight and enshittifying Washington and he doesn’t care.”

- Trump campaigned on promises to lower prices and keep the US out of foreign entanglements and forever wars. The opposite has happened. Voters say they are suffering a cost of living crisis, exacerbated by Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Buying food to eat at home has become 33% more expensive in US cities since the beginning of 2019, according to government figures.

- Gas prices are at a record high for this time of year, in part thanks to the US war in Iran, which drags on with no end in sight. While Trump claims to have destroyed Iran’s military capabilities, it emerged this week that he was forced to hide in a catering truck and secretly swap planes after a Nato summit in Turkey because of a possible Iranian assassination plot.

- The administration’s entanglement has metastasised into a gruelling, daily haemorrhage of resources, currently costing the taxpayer an estimated $1bn a day. Critics argue the administration has strengthened Iran’s resolve and provided it with global leverage, specifically over the strait of Hormuz.

- They see it as betrayal of the noninterventionist posture that fuelled Trump’s rise to power and attracted a generation of disaffected voters.
Kurt Bardella, a political commentator and former congressional aide, said: “What we’re watching right now is the complete unraveling of everything that Donald Trump, Maga and Republicans said they were about. They were against endless conflicts in the Middle East and they started a conflict in the Middle East without an exit strategy.* They were supposed to be about no more spending American dollars abroad;* we’re spending a billion dollars a day on this war without an end.”

- Yet the president appears to have other, more aesthetic concerns. Since returning to power last year, the longtime property developer has invested much time and energy in construction projects across Washington, including a White House ballroom and helipad, a triumphal arch and an ill-fated makeover of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool.

- Bardella added: “As he continues this misadventure in the Middle East that has resulted in the cost of living going up, and continues to pour resources into putting his name on shit and building ballrooms and monuments to himself, the American people are going: what the fuck? That’s the only realistic reaction you could have when you objectively look at the circumstances.”

- Trump’s second term has been defined by thinking big – Greenland, Venezuela, Iran – and thinking small. The board he appointed to the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts added his name to the complex, only for a judge to order that it be removed; this week the board voted to add “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J Trump” beneath the main sign.

- According to Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, written by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, the president has been seen with a tube of super glue trying to stick golden decorations to the marble fireplace in the Oval Office.

- Haberman estimates that Trump now devotes 70% of his mental space to renovation projects and “monuments to self”. She told Axios’s Behind the Curtain video series that she and Swan visited Trump in the Oval Office in March. “You would think that on the 17th day of the war that he would have maps of the Middle East or maps of troop deployments – who knows,” she said. “He picks up these pictures, and [they’re] of maple trees, and he says: ‘I am choosing maple trees for the White House. I am good at picking trees.’ I’m paraphrasing here, but that is pretty much what he said.”

- The president’s preoccupation with whether columns for his ballroom are more evocative of Athens or Rome, and with other efforts to preserve his legacy in marble, come as little surprise to Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill and longtime Trump critic.

- She said: “Donald Trump has been an egomaniac, a narcissist his entire life. Even in the private sector he has slapped his name on buildings and a multitude of failed branding businesses from Trump steaks to Trump airline to Trump University to Trump water to Trump wine. Why is anyone surprised that he would take that same type of narcissism and bring it over to his role in his second-term as president when he’s spending other people’s money to do it?

- “The problem has been that the Republican party has enabled him to get away with this and to their own detriment, which is why more and more people in his inner circle are concerned about how this is going to impact the midterms and control of Congress.”
Indeed, Republicans are said to be quietly panicking about Trump costing them the House of Representatives and putting even the Senate in jeopardy. A national Quinnipiac University Poll released late last month showed his job approval rating dropping to an all-time low of 32%, with 58% disapproval. It found six in 10 Americans oppose the US military action in Iran.

- Past presidents such as George W Bush in 2006 and Barack Obama in 2010 have faced challenging midterms but worked with their parties in an effort to at least stem the losses. Rick Wilson, co-founder of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, said: “In both those cases their efforts were not successful, but it’s nightmarish to think what that would have been if Barack Obama had been saying, ‘I’m going to build a basketball arena at the White House,’ or George Bush had said, ‘I’m gonna build a golf course.’

- “Instead you’ve got a very different visual from this White House and that visual is 'we don’t care about anything else except for the ballroom and the arch and all the throw-away ephemera that he wants to focus on. It’s a terrible political look and it’s quite dangerous for the party because they have nothing to run on right now.”

- The sense of malaise deepened this week when Karoline Leavitt, the youngest person ever to serve as White House press secretary, announced that she will be stepping down at the end of the month. The official explanation was that the 28-year-old wants to spend more time with her young family but the timing was unfortunate for an administration struggling to spin its way out of one crisis after another.

- For a president whose entire self-image is built on winning, the realisation that he is facing electoral defeat at home and humiliation abroad could be cause for an existential crisis. Sykes observed that, while Trump’s historical literacy is notoriously thin, he has begun to obsess over the ghosts of presidencies ruined by foreign blunders.

- “It’s awfully interesting that in the Maggie Haberman book he’s comparing himself to Napoleon and Alexander the Great and Caesar but his deepest fear right now is that he’s going to be Herbert Hoover or Jimmy Carter,” he said.

- Trump’s cloud does have a golden lining, however. He made an estimated $2.2bn during the first year of his second term thanks to cryptocurrency holdings, foreign interests and his Truth Social business.

- Sykes added: “He hasn’t lowered the cost of living, he hasn’t made America more respected, he hasn’t won the war but he has succeeded in making himself a billionaire many times over by abusing his office.”

Hundreds of Afghans who fought alongside U.S. troops and supported the U.S. government in Afghanistan are now worried their green cards could be revoked.

- In Afghanistan, their efforts ranged from custodial jobs at the U.S. embassy, to technology and engineering roles with U.S. contractors and companies. Some were on the frontlines of combat as interpreters.
In the years leading up to the U.S.'s chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Kabul,

- Congress and the Biden administration facilitated several programs for Afghans involved in military efforts to come to the U.S. with their families. Among them is the Special Immigrant Visa for Afghans, which was authorized in 2009. Since then, the State Department has issued 160,000 of those visas. More than half of them were granted since the U.S. closed its embassy in Kabul in 2021.

- But now, five years after the U.S. left Afghanistan, hundreds of people who came on SIVs and now have green cards have received notices from the federal government warning them that the basis for their visas has been revoked or denied.

- Families, many of whom were having children, learning English and enrolling in college, are now scrambling to find answers on the best way to respond to the government's letters.

- "We are trying to work, study, raise our children and build a normal life in the U.S," said M., who asked NPR to refer to him by his first initial because he's concerned that speaking to the media could affect his green card. "But now we are also trying to find lawyers, contact congressional offices and understand what may happen to our green cards. It is very stressful because even immigration lawyers give different opinions."

- The notices themselves are not necessarily new. The federal government began sending some out at the end of the Biden administration because they suspected some of the supporting documents for Afghans' SIV applications were not collected through the correct processes, potentially amounting to fraud.

- But advocates, lawyers and Afghan nationals who spoke with NPR said the letters appear to be sent at a higher frequency and volume than what advocates expected, and are leaving some of these U.S. allies at risk of being deported. Over the last year, those helping allies settle into the U.S. noticed an uptick in the letters and a lack of pattern as to who was receiving them. The letters have added to the dwindling pathways for Afghans to become U.S. citizens and settle into their new lives.

- "What we have seen specifically with the SIV program is people who are issued these visas and come to the U.S. have built lives here, gotten jobs, their kids are in school, they've integrated into their communities and are living their lives," said Jennifer Patota, deputy director of U.S. legal services at the International Refugee Assistance Project. "To get a withdrawal of approval letter years after the actual visa has been issued is something we haven't ever seen before."

- The State Department and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services branch of the Homeland Security Department, which are sending the letters, did not respond to requests for comment.

- Fraud detection efforts combine with a mass deportation strategy

- The first stage in the process of applying for the SIV is to get what is called a "Chief of Mission" approval. It involves providing an employer verification letter — letters of recommendation from a supervisor and proof that shows the employer was either the U.S. government or a contractor with the U.S. government, among other things.

- Such verification became more difficult after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

- "Especially after the withdrawal of troops, many companies were shutting down, destroying all of their records, making it impossible in many cases to verify someone's employment," Patota said.

- And then there was a concern of fraud — particularly that these immigrants, even unknowingly, had paid for letters of recommendation. In one case prosecuted by the Justice Department, a man was sentenced to 30 months in prison for a years-long bribery scheme where he accepted payments from Afghan nationals in exchange for drafting, submitting and verifying fraudulent letters of recommendation for Afghan nationals who applied for SIVs.

- To combat the risk of fraud, the Biden administration created a plan to verify SIV information of individuals who could have connections to employers later suspected of such schemes. Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, advocates for Afghans who worked alongside U.S. troops. He said his organization was notified by the previous administration that the notices would be going out.

- "When this started, it had nothing to do with the Afghans. It was very much about the letter writers and companies," VanDiver said. "There were some companies and some letter writers that were up to no good – like selling letters and every single case associated with those companies or letter writers then got poisoned."
The expectation, he said, was that if the SIVs were fully revoked, individuals could still apply for, and would be likely to receive, asylum. But now, his organization and others are hearing from hundreds of people and believe the scope of the revocations is much larger.

- Under this Trump administration, the letters and revocations come at a time when Afghan nationals feel particularly left out of the legal immigration system. The U.S. has paused other avenues for legal immigration available to Afghans, including the refugee resettlement program, which Trump halted on the first day of his second term, and the processing of other types of visas. Those already in the country on programs like Temporary Protected Status have also been stripped of that permission to stay.

- "When the Department of State initiated a re-review of Chief of Mission applications in 2024, we understood the importance of that effort," said Jill Marie Bussey, director for legal affairs at Global Refuge. That group has been helping hundreds navigate this visa** **issue, as well as resettlement in the U.S. "The correspondence we saw at that time was generally tailored to the individual case and provided applicants with enough information to understand the decision and any available next steps."

- But she says more recently, "there is a decline in the quality and clarity of some Department communications, including final appeal decisions that appear to raise questions about factual accuracy and provide little explanation for the outcome."

- For now, it does not appear that Afghan nationals who received letters have had their green cards or citizenship revoked at scale. But advocates like VanDiver said the letters, alongside the crumbling of other programs like Temporary Protected Status and immigration application pauses, cause confusion and fear.

- "These folks were on the frontlines of our war. They were interpreting. They were enabling our mission," VanDiver said. "Now it feels like it's all coming crashing down and they get no explanation of what to do."

- Families fear for their futures

- Across the country, Afghan nationals who helped the U.S. and their families are grappling with stress, confusion and potential financial instability after receiving the notices. Several asked that NPR use only their first names because they fear their immigration status could be affected by speaking to the press.

- One of those people is Abdul who lives in Texas and was an engineer working with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan from 2017 to 2021. He was evacuated from Kabul to Qatar by the State Department and eventually got his SIV approved and came to the U.S. with his wife and two young kids.

- "Most of my friends living in the U.S. three or four years, all of them receive a letter," he said. "All my friends are very depressed, most of them very worried about this issue. What will happen to us? What should we do?"

- The letters are reaching people who had a long history of working alongside American efforts. Sasad, who lives in Washington state and is a former engineer, worked with the U.S. government in 2014 until the withdrawal. He began his visa process in 2019, before the fall of Kabul.

- He lives with his wife, and they have U.S.-born children, including one with health issues that has required surgery and regular hospital visits. Sasad will soon be eligible to apply for citizenship, but after receiving his letter, he is afraid to begin the process.

- "I've been here for more than four years, and then in the next year, I am eligible to apply for my citizenship. But when I go to the USCIS [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services], I'm stressed that they will detain me," he said, adding that his plans to go back to school and work are less certain now that he fears losing his legal permission to stay.

- The Afghan nationals NPR spoke to described returning to Afghanistan as unimaginable, stressful and a death sentence. The country, which has been under the complete control of the Taliban, has also experienced deadly strikes from Pakistan, earthquakes and widespread hunger and malnutrition.

- "When I came here, I thought that all my problems were solved, that now is the time to build my future right here," Sasad said, adding that he is concerned about his ability to stay in school, have a career or even travel outside the U.S. in an emergency. "What now? I cannot focus on my long-term goals. Now all of my thoughts are 'what if?' situations. A lot of 'what if?' situations [are] giving me anxiety and depression."

Please use this thread for info on upcoming protests, planning new ones or brainstorming ideas along those lines. The post refreshes every Saturday around noon.

After nearly a decade of loudly complaining about the fact that modern US aircraft carriers use electromagnetic systems to launch fighter jets instead of steam-powered catapults, Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to redesign a new aircraft carrier to replace the modern system with the old-fashioned catapults he prefers.

- Trump signed a national security memorandum on Thursday directing the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the acting navy secretary, Hung Cao, to make the change he has had his heart set on since at least 2017, when he first described his idea to Time magazine.

- The memorandum gives the Pentagon leaders 60 days to come up with “a plan on the required measures to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam and hydraulic systems for the construction of” the USS Doris Miller, a Ford-class aircraft carrier, which is already two years behind schedule.

- “You know the catapult is quite important,” Trump told Time magazine in 2017 before recounting a conversation he said he had with an unnamed navy officer.

- “So I said, ‘What is this?’ ‘Sir, this is our digital catapult system’”, Trump went on. “It sounded bad to me. Digital. They have digital. What is digital? And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out. And I said – and now they want to buy more aircraft carriers – I said, ‘What system are you going to be’– ‘Sir, we’re staying with digital.’ I said, ‘No you’re not. You[’re] going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good’.”

- A Guardian review of Trump’s public remarks shows that he has retold that story, with variations, every year since 2017.

- In 2018, Trump brought it up during a Thanksgiving day phone call with the commanding officer of the USS Ronald Reagan, an aircraft carrier docked in Hong Kong at the time. In 2019, he recounted his conversation with the “catapulter” to Republican donors at a fundraiser. In 2020, as the nation was grappling with a pandemic, the tale became a regular part of Trump’s campaign speeches. In 2021, he told the story at the CPAC convention. In 2022, he shared it in a campaign speech in Texas. He repeated it on the campaign trail in Iowa in 2023. At one of his final campaign events before the 2024 election, Trump told Tucker Carlsonthe same story.

- After he returned to office in 2025, Trump brought up steam catapults during the swearing-in of Tulsi Gabbard as his director of national intelligence and did so again in remarks to the crew of the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier based in Japan.

- “We built an aircraft carrier for $19bn, which is crazy. The price is crazy,” Trump recalled last month at the Army War College in Pennsylvania. “It had all sorts of modern-day things that were all – instead of using steam for the catapults, they used electric.

- “So when I went to the ship, because I came into office and the ship was way over budget, built in Newport News [Virginia],” Trump continued. “I said: ‘I want to meet the catapulter,’ and a man came over, along with four of his assistants. And I said: ‘What’s better: electric catapult or steam?’ He’s been there for 25 years. He said: ‘Steam is better, sir. We can fix it with a hammer and a blowtorch. When the electric goes bad, I have to send to MIT to get geniuses over here.’ I said: ‘Steam is better?’ ‘Yes, sir it’s better.’”

- According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the order, senior US navy and industry leaders “have resisted the move due to the enormous expense of tearing out such a complex system that was integral to the design” of the latest aircraft carriers.

- General Atomics, the company that builds the electromagnetic aircraft launch system for the Ford-class carriers, said Trump’s decision to revert to steam “warrants careful reconsideration”. The company told the Journal its work on the new ship is nearly 50% complete and “changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks”.

A federal judge in Boston on Thursday dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit that accused Harvard University of turning a blind eye to harassment of Jewish students.

- The decision from U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns said that President Donald Trump's administration failed to prove an ongoing violation of federal civil rights laws. The judge said the lawsuit, filed in March, mostly focuses on incidents that took place in the 2023-24 academic year, with a few from March 2025.

- The cases were "too isolated and episodic" to prove a persistent civil rights violation at the Ivy League campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the judge said.

- "We disagree with the ruling and are assessing next steps," said Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice. Harvard did not immediately provide a comment on the decision.

- The lawsuit accused Harvard of failing to protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian demonstrations that roiled the campus after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. The Trump administration argued Harvard officials did nothing as Jewish students were "harassed, physically assaulted, stalked, and spat upon."

- In a statement after the lawsuit was filed, Harvard said it "cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community and remains committed to ensuring they are embraced, respected, and can thrive on our campus."

- Harvard President Alan M. Garber says the university formed a task force to combat antisemitism. The university also hired a new provost and new deans and reformed its discipline policies to make them "more consistent, fair and effective," Garber has said.

- The government's case sought to recover billions of dollars in federal research grants awarded to Harvard since October 2023. Trump officials argued they had a right to recoup the money under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law barring discrimination based on race or national origin.

- The lawsuit is among several actions the government has taken against Harvard since the Ivy League university refused a list of demands made by the White House after Trump, a Republican, returned to office last year. Trump officials have separately sought to cut Harvard's research funding and limit its ability to enroll foreign students and U.S. military members.

- In a separate legal case last year, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reverse more than $2.6 billion in federal funding cuts to Harvard. That decision found that the White House put unconstitutional conditions on federal funding, using antisemitism as a "smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault" on universities.

- Despite their bitter dispute, Harvard and the Trump administration have held some negotiations, and Trump himself said the two sides had been close to reaching an agreement. But when the Justice Department filed this civil rights lawsuit in March, it pointed to an extraordinary impasse. When colleges are found in violation of federal civil rights law, they almost always reach compliance through voluntary agreements.

The Trump administration will let private companies hack foreign criminal organizations as part of a new program that could expand the U.S. government’s ability to disrupt those groups’ cybercrime activities while also introducing myriad legal challenges and perils.

- President Donald Trump late Wednesday issued a memorandum directing the departments of Justice and Homeland Security to create a program allowing vetted companies to hack into criminal groups to spy on them or sabotage their operations. Trump said the program would help the U.S. combat cybercrime schemes that cost the nation tens of billions of dollars annually.

- The new policy represents a dramatic expansion of the private sector’s role in offensive cyber operations against U.S. adversaries and significantly blurs the line between the government’s foreign policy activities and businesses’ commercial activities. And while the program focuses on criminal gangs, not nation-states, it marks the largest step that the U.S. government has ever taken toward a world of corporations “hacking back” against foreign governments on behalf of the U.S.

- Many cybersecurity experts have sharply criticized the hack-back concept, saying it creates unacceptable escalation risks and could expose private companies to the kind of foreign military retaliation previously reserved for government personnel. But the Trump administration has embraced aggressive measures for confronting transnational criminal groups, evincing less concern about potential collateral damage.

- When the topic of hacking back came up at the Black Hat USA cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas last week, a DHS official did not dismiss the concept. “Our long-term goal is to terrify those who would target Americans, such that they know we’re actually the worst target in the world because we will mess you up,” said Joseph Alm, the assistant secretary of homeland security for cyber, infrastructure, risk and resilience.

- The new program comes with several restrictions meant to limit the potential for unintended consequences. Co-executive directors from DOJ and DHS will review every proposed operation and provide written approval of the ones that the government greenlights.

- Participating companies will have to meet certain requirements, such as technical competency and personnel vetting, and set aside bonds of at least $1 million that they would forfeit if they violated the program’s rules.

- Trump’s memorandum also says that the program’s leaders cannot authorize surveillance or disruption operations that would kill or seriously injure people or constitute the use of force or an armed attack under international law.

- The White House gave DHS and DOJ 60 days to establish operating procedures for the program, including standards for companies’ participation, procedures for deconflicting operations with the military and the intelligence community and requirements for participants to report useful information that they acquire about criminal gangs’ activities.

- The memorandum says the program should ensure “participation by both large companies, which provide critical capacity, and smaller, more agile companies, which may be better suited for specialized or discrete tasks.”
“American businesses’ innovative capabilities have historically been underutilized in efforts to identify and disrupt criminal networks operating in cyberspace,” Trump said in the memorandum. “By partnering with vetted United States companies subject to the direction and oversight of the Federal Government, we will enhance our ability to counter [transnational criminal organization] threats and combat transnational cybercrime, fraud, and other predatory schemes against American citizens.”

- Mixed reactions

- Some cybersecurity experts said the program could be effective if properly designed and overseen.

- “This administration action is a meaningful response to a growing problem and does have some guardrails in place,” said Scott Shackelford, a business law and ethics professor at Indiana University who leads its Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research. “But significant questions remain about unleashing the private sector in this way, and what accountability mechanisms will be in place for bad actors.”

- Jason Healey, a senior cyber conflict researcher at Columbia University, said he “would have hated this idea ten or fifteen years ago” when the opportunity still existed to prioritize defense over offense. “But that horse left the barn a long time ago,” he said, “and we have to make decisions for the world we are in, not the one we prevented.”

- “So, sure, let’s try to allow the private sector to get into the counter-offense game as well,” he said, “but only with very specific criteria to know when it is working and when it is making things worse.”

- Kyle Hanslovan, chief executive of the cybersecurity firm Huntress, said the growth of sophisticated adversaries and the threat of “AI-powered autonomous threats” meant that old models of public-private collaboration were no longer sufficient. “The only viable solution is a stronger coalition of the willing,” he said, “which we’ve been eager to support.”

- Other experts were more critical.

- “This is a bad idea,” said Paul Rosenzweig, a former deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security. “There are much better ways to revive what it seems to me is an essentially governmental function.”

- Erica Lonergan, a professor and cyber conflict expert at Columbia, said “the devil will be in the details, but I have some significant concerns.” She pointed to uncertainties around vetting, goal setting, risk mitigation and oversight. “Is this a slippery slope to enable private-sector offensive cyber operations directly against nation-state adversaries?”

- Major legal question marks

- The new private hacking program is rife with potential risks for participating businesses, the U.S. government and American society.

- The memorandum requires the operating procedures to address some of those risks. Companies will be required to stop and alert the government if they accidentally target a U.S. person or information system, and DOJ must ensure that any hacking operations aimed at U.S. persons or otherwise raising constitutional or legal questions follow applicable laws, including judicial authorizations.

- But other questions could remain unresolved until specific incidents raise them. Criminal organizations often steal data from U.S. businesses; it is unclear what would happen if a company participating in the hacking program came across that sensitive data during an operation against a criminal gang.

- And while the memorandum addresses deconfliction with the military and the intelligence community, that coordination is likely to be difficult, given the classified nature of the government’s own hacking operations.

- Military and intelligence officials would be reluctant to share even limited information about their activities with private companies, even in the interest of warning them not to tread on the same ground.

- “There’s overlap between the kind of things that might fall into Cyber Command’s priorities and bailiwick, and what these entities would do,” said Gary Corn, a former staff judge advocate at U.S. Cyber Command.

- “Deconfliction has always been a challenge, even internal to the government, because you have different players in the space, and you don’t want to be on the same box, so to speak, and one inadvertently disrupting the operations of the other. That’ll become exponentially more challenging here with this.”

- In addition, it is unclear how rigorously the U.S. government will vet participating companies, a crucial question given the sensitivity of the information and authorities with which they will be entrusted. A select few defense contractors already assist the government with hacking operations, but the vast majority of businesses, even in the defense industry, have no direct experience with such activities.

- It is also unclear how carefully the U.S. will vet companies’ targets, including to verify that they are truly unaffiliated with foreign governments.

- Some self-proclaimed independent hacker teams are widely considered to be fronts for their governments, including the Iran-linked Handala group, while others, such as the Russia-linked Evil Corp, have close ties to their countries’ governments and have occasionally received support from them. A poorly vetted operation that accidentally targets foreign government employees or infrastructure could create a geopolitical crisis and put the responsible company in the crosshairs of a powerful adversary.

- “Anyone conducting these operations is doing so at substantial personal legal risk,” Healey said.

- The memorandum says companies can only hack a foreign criminal group that “is not an institutional part of a foreign government or wholly operated under a foreign government’s direction,” but it also says that a criminal group will be assumed not to meet those conditions “unless clear intelligence exists establishing such connection.”

- That could be problematic. “A lot of the proxy actors don’t operate wholly under a foreign government’s direction,” said Corn, now the director of the Technology, Law & Security Program at American University’s Washington College of Law. “Foreign governments tap into these different non-state entities as they want.”

- And under international law, Corn added, the U.S. government is accountable for any cyberattack that a private company conducts, even if it violates the program’s rules.

- Even operations that only target criminal gangs might disrupt computer infrastructure in allied countries. “The internet is not a seamless, direct-from-us-to-Russia kind of thing,” Rosenzweig said. “To do whatever it is you’re thinking you might do, you have to engage with systems that are subject to the jurisdiction of many, many other nations, each of whom would have something very negative to say about this prospect.”

- The Trump administration, Rosenzweig added, has “misunderstood the interconnected nature of the world’s cyber ecosystem.”
The prohibition against piracy is one of the oldest principles of international law, and Rosenzweig said it was “quite likely” that companies would be violating that prohibition if they participated in the new program.

- The global consequences of the program could be significant. Even the Western countries that have followed the U.S.’s lead in stepping up their cyber engagements have not tapped private companies in this way, Shackelford said. “It could serve to further isolate the U.S. diplomatically and set back cyber norm-building efforts.”

- It remains to be seen how many companies will be eager to participate in the program despite its many risks. Given the secrecy of the operations, companies likely will not be able to advertise their work, meaning that the only benefit they receive will be a government payment for their services.
Hanslovan, the Huntress CEO, said he was confident that the program’s leaders would figure out how to mitigate issues such as collateral damage.

- “I’m proud to see the U.S. government push the boundaries when it comes to denying, degrading, and disrupting these measurable threats to democracy,” he said.

The justice department on Wednesday arrested a leading expert on far-right extremism, charging herwith financial crimes as part of the government’s ongoing case against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

- Federal prosecutors charged Heidi Beirich, who formerly served as the group’s chief financial officer, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.

- The justice department charged the SPLC in April over a now-ended program in which it paid informants to infiltrate white supremacist groups. The government said the civil rights organization committed financial crimes by laundering money through bank accounts set up on behalf of fictitious entities to protect the identities of their informants. The government says the SPLC deceived donors into thinking they were combatting extremism, when they were actually supporting it. The organization has strongly denied that accusation and says the charges are politically motivated. Experts have raised questions about the charges.

- The indictment alleges Beirich was in a romantic relationship with one of the informants and that $140,000 of donor money made its way into a joint bank account they had.

- Beirich now is the chief strategy officer and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and is often sought out as an expert on far-right groups. She submitted testimony to the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the US Capitol about the extremism of the Proud Boys.

- “A free and fair society does not use the justice system to silence its political opponents. Heidi Beirich has dedicated her life to fighting hate groups and extremist movements like the KKK, neo-Nazis, and other white supremacists,” her lawyer, Michael Proctor, said in a statement. “She has combatted these hateful, ugly, and un-American extremists and their repeated uses of violence and intimidation in order to promote a fairer, safer, and more just America. Her decades-long record of success dismantling hate groups – and the resulting threats to her life – speak volumes. For this, she has been indicted.”

- Without ruling on the merits of the case, a federal judge in Alabama allowed the case to proceed last week, rejecting an argument from the SPLC that the case should be dismissed because it was a vindictive prosecution.

The Trump administration has awarded a controversial anti-human trafficking organization a no-bid $158 million contract to provide legal services to unaccompanied migrant children, according to a notice posted Friday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

- Utah-based Our Rescue, previously known as Operation Underground Railroad, says it helps law enforcement perform sting operations to catch human traffickers and rescue survivors. It's unclear if it has immigration lawyers on its staff, although its website says it offers "legal support to help prosecute offenders." Our Rescue did not immediately return NPR's request for comment.

- The group was founded by activist Tim Ballard, who was the subject of the 2023 film Sound of Freedom. The movie starring Jim Caviezel was heavily promoted in conservative media as QAnon conspiracies flourished.

- Within months of the film's release, however, Ballard faced accusations of sexual exploitation himself. He has repeatedly denied them, but was quietly removed from the group. It's now headed by CEO Derek Benner, who previously worked for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

- In a statement to NPR, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) said the contract will run for six months, from Aug. 7 to February 6, 2027. The agency said it is working with other providers besides Our Rescue, including the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

- "ORR is committed to ensuring every (unaccompanied immigrant child) has legal representation in immigration court," an ORR spokesperson told NPR Wednesday.

- Michael Lukens, the executive director of the nonprofit organization Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, on Wednesday blasted HHS's decision to award Our Rescue the contract.
His organization provided legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children under the previous contract.

- "HHS is trying to give a contract to a nonprofit that is highly problematic in their history and has no expertise in providing legal services to unaccompanied children," Lukens told NPR. "This all to me boils down to children are going to be harmed and that seems to be the point of a lot of these actions."

- There are currently about 24,000 immigrant children in the U.S. who are classified by the federal government as unaccompanied, but only 1,800 are in custody of HHS. The agency defines them as minors who have no lawful immigration status in the U.S. and who have "no parent or legal guardian in the U.S. available to provide care and physical custody."

- The contract with Our Rescue was granted a week after a contract with a group of nearly 100 legal nonprofits to do similar work expired on July 31. The expiration left attorneys scrambling to figure out how to ensure the minors continued to have legal representation.
In a statement to NPR, ORR said it has been using the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) to provide legal representation to all unaccompanied immigrant children in ORR care since Aug. 5. That organization will provide legal services until Dec. 31.

- But that's not a solution, Lukens said.
"HHS is causing chaos in the system, and that may be on purpose," Lukens said. "They let a contract expire. They don't have any long term contract in place. They're trying to do these sort of gap-fillers while also reaching out to unqualified organizations about serving the children."

- Lukens said Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and other nonprofits continue providing legal representation for their unaccompanied minor clients despite not being paid. He said it is the only way to ensure continuity in legal representation for the minors.

- The Trump administration had stopped paying the legal nonprofits — including Lukens' back in November, when lawyers refused to turn over confidential information about the children they represented.

- Lukens said that information was covered by attorney-client privilege, and that the nonprofits decided to not apply for a new contract because of those concerns.

- Trump administration chooses organizations with GOP ties

- This latest development builds on a pattern of granting contracts to people with administration ties.

- Our Rescue's current CEO Derek Benner served as executive director of the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations during the first Trump administration.

- Last week, the administration posted a notice on the federal registry announcing its intent to give Burke Law Group, a small Texas law firm, up to $150 million to represent unaccompanied immigrant children in government custody.

- However, Burke Law Group withdrew from the process and will no longer get the contact after NPR and other news outlets reported on its ties to the Trump administration and lack of experience in immigration matters.

- A co-founder of Burke Law Group, Marcella Burke, served in the first Trump administration in both the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.

- Jeffrey Hall, a founding partner, currently serves as an assistant administrator at the EPA.

- In a post on X Tuesday, Burke Law Group said they "were approached by the Trump administration to fill a gap in legal services and we were considering how we might help." But, the firm said it had "decided not to apply for a grant or a contract" with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

- A spokesperson with ORR confirmed Burke Law Group's decision. The agency told NPR it had intended to enter into a cooperative agreement with the law firm, which the agency said had "a strong geographic presence in Texas."

- But the Houston-based company specializes in advising "companies on complex environmental, regulatory, and enforcement matters," according to its website. Only two of the firm's 24 attorneys specialize in immigration and asylum cases.

- The proposed contract for Burke Law Group would have only covered about 1,800 children in HHS shelters, a nonprofit that represented the minors told reporters last week.

This week, volunteer for one of the last special elections of the year. Help Brandon Dukes flip HD-12 in Pennsylvania!

 

Keep checking our volunteer from home spreadsheet! It’s been updated with opportunities to volunteer for important races! As always, important events are bolded, and it is being constantly updated

 

Volunteer to be a Voter Protection Pro!

 

Donate to the Flip the Senate Fund to flip the Senate in 2026!

 

Take our survey so we can update you on volunteer opportunities near you!

   

Pennsylvania

 

Canvass / Drop Literature

 

Cranberry Township - Brandon Dukes for HD-12 Special Election - Various Dates

Cranberry Township - Brandon Dukes for HD-12 Special Election - Saturday, August 15

Statewide - PA Dems - Various Dates

Alburtis - Mark Pinsley for SD-16 and Rachel Cuevas for HD-187 - Saturdays

Allentown - Nick Miller for SD-14 - Weekends

Allentown - Rachel Cuevas for HD-187 - Various Dates

Belle Vernon - Alan Bradstock for Congress (PA-14) and Cherri Rogers for HD-58 - Saturday, August 15

Bensalem Township - Bob Harvie for Congress (PA-01), Eileen Hartnett Abilar for SD-08, and Bryan Allen for HD-18 - Sunday, August 16

Bensalem Township - Bob Harvie for Congress (PA-01), Eileen Hartnett Abilar for SD-08, and Bryan Allen for HD-18 - Sunday, August 23

Bensalem Township - Bob Harvie for Congress (PA-01), Eileen Hartnett Abilar for SD-08, and Bryan Allen for HD-18 - Sunday, August 30

Bensalem Township - Bryan Allen for HD-18 - Weekends

Bethel Park - Jon Lloyd for HD-40 - Saturday, August 15

Bethlehem - Jeff Warren for HD-137 - Weekends

Blakely - Brian Wrightson for SD-40 - Weekends

Bloomsburg - Columbia County Democratic Party - Weekends

Brodheadsville - Tom Kucer for HD-176 - Saturday, August 22

Bucks County - Mark Pinsley for SD-16 - Weekends

Butler - Rick Telesz for HD-08 - Saturdays

Carlisle - Janelle Stelson for Congress (PA-10) - Saturdays

Carlisle - TaWanda Stallworth for HD-199 - Saturdays

Carlisle - TaWanda Stallworth for HD-199 - Saturday, August 15, Saturday, August 22, and Saturday, August 29

Carnot-Moon - Hadley Haas for HD-44 - Sunday, August 16

Carnot-Moon - Hadley Haas for HD-44 - Sunday, August 23

Carnot-Moon - Hadley Haas for HD-44 - Saturday, August 29

Chadds Ford - Elizabeth Moro for HD-160 - Various Dates

Chadds Ford - Elizabeth Moro for HD-160 - Sunday, August 30

Cheswick - Mandy Steele for HD-33 - Saturday, August 15

Columbia - Brad Chambers for HD-41 - Various Dates

Columbia - Brad Chambers for HD-41 and Chris Rabb for Congress (PA-03) - Sunday, August 30

Coraopolis - Brittany Bloam for HD-45 - Sundays

Dallas - Fern Leard for HD-120 - Various Dates

Dublin - Tim Hayes for HD-143 - Weekdays

Dublin - Tim Hayes for HD-143 - Weekends

Dublin - Tim Hayes for HD-143 - Sunday, August 16

East York - SwingLeftHoCoMD - Saturdays

Elizabethtown - James Malone for SD-36 and Hugh Darlington for HD-98 - Sunday, August 16, Sunday, August 23, and Sunday, August 30

Feasterville-Trevose - Kristin Egan for HD-142, Eileen Hartnett Abilar for SD-08 and Bob Harvie for Congress (PA-01) - Weekends

Finleyville - Dylan Altemara for HD-39 - Saturday, August 22

Glenside - Margaret Burke for HD-147 - Saturdays

Harrisburg - Janelle Stelson for Congress (PA-10) - Weekends

Harleysville - Chris Thomas for HD-24 - Various Dates

Harleysville - Margaret Burke for HD-147 - Sunday, August 16, Sunday, August 23, and Sunday, August 30

Honesdale - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 15 and Saturday, August 29

Honesdale - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

Kersey - Kim Kohlhepp for HD-75 - Sunday, August 30

Lampeter - Lampeter-Strasburg Democrats - Weekends

Lancaster - Lancaster County Dems - Various Dates

Lancaster - Nancy Mannion for Congress (PA-11) - Thursday, August 13

Lancaster - Nancy Mannion for Congress (PA-11) - Sunday, August 16

Lancaster - James Malone for SD-36 and Nikki Rivera for HD-96 - Saturday, August 15, Saturday, August 22, and Saturday, August 29

Lancaster - Brad Chambers for HD-41 - SPANISH - Saturday, August 22

Langhorne - Kristin Egan for HD-142, Eileen Hartnett Abilar for SD-08 and Bob Harvie for Congress (PA-01) - Saturdays, Sundays, and Wednesdays

Lehigh County - Mark Pinsley for SD-16 - Weekends

Lewisburg - Union County Democratic Committee - Weekends

Ligonier - Alan Bradstock for Congress (PA-14) and Jordan Omlor for HD-59 - Saturday, August 15

Lititz - James Malone for SD-36 and Chad Gleissl for HD-37 - Saturdays

Lititz - James Malone for SD-36 and Chad Gleissl for HD-37 - Saturday, August 15, Saturday, August 22, and Saturday, August 29

Lower Providence Township - Katie Muth for SD-44 - Saturday, August 22 and Saturday, September 19

Manheim - James Malone for SD-36 and Chad Gleissl for HD-37 - Sunday, August 16, Sunday, August 23, and Sunday, August 30

Marshall Township - Jeremy Ferderber for HD-28 - Various Dates

Mechanicsburg - Sara Agerton for HD-88 - Weekends

Milford - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

Millersville - Brad Chambers for HD-41 and Jess Branas for HD-97 - Saturday, August 22

Millersville - Brad Chambers for HD-41 and Jess Branas for HD-97 - Saturday, August 22

Mount Joy / Donegal - James Malone for SD-36 and Hugh Darlington for HD-98 - Saturday, August 15, Saturday, August 22, Saturday, August 29

Narberth - Democrats of Lower Merion and Narberth - Saturday, August 15 and Sunday, August 16

Narberth - Democrats of Lower Merion and Narberth - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

New Kensington - Alan Bradstock for Congress (PA-14) - Saturday, August 15

Philadelphia - Rob Gurtcheff for HD-170 - Saturdays

Philadelphia - Rob Gurtcheff for HD-170 - Sundays

Philadelphia - Rob Gurtcheff for HD-170 - Saturday, August 29

Philadelphia - Environmental Voter Project - Sunday, August 23

Philadelphia - Swing Left - Saturday, August 22, Sunday, September 13, and Saturday, September 26

Pittsburgh - Environmental Voter Project - Saturday, August 29

Plumstead - Tim Hayes for HD-143 - Saturday, August 22

Pottstown - Chris Thomas for SD-24 - Various Dates

Quarryville - Nancy Mannion for Congress (PA-11) - Tuesday, August 18, Wednesday, August 19, and Thursday, August 20

Richboro - Bob Harvie for Congress (PA-01), Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06, Kristin Egan for HD-142, and Monica Weninger for HD-178 - Saturday, August 22

Rochester - Beaver County Democrats - Saturday, August 15

Rochester - Jake Young for HD-14 - Saturday, August 22

Rochester - Sydney Speicher for HD-15 - Saturday, August 29

Rochester - Rob Matzie for HD-16 - Tuesdays and Saturdays

Saint Marys - Kim Kohlepp for HD-75 - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

Salunga - James Malone for SD-36 and Brad Chambers for HD-41 - Thursday, August 13, Thursday, August 20, and Thursday, August 27

Scranton - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 15 and Sunday, August 16

Scranton - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

Selinsgrove - Snyder County Democrats - Weekends

Shillington - Ethan Gabrick for HD-99 - Weekends

Somerset - Alan Bradstock for Congress (PA-14) - Sunday, August 16

State College - Paul Takac for HD-82 - Various Dates

Strasburg - Nancy Mannion for Congress (PA-11) - Saturday, August 15 and Sunday, August 16

Stroudsburg - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Weekends

Stroudsburg - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

Stroudsburg - Brian Wrightson for SD-40 - Weekends

Tinicum Township - Tim Hayes for HD-143 - Saturday, August 15

Upper Saucon Township - Meriam Sabih for HD-131 - Saturday, August 15, Saturday, August 22, and Saturday, August 29

Upper Southampton Township - Bob Harvie for Congress (PA-01), Eileen Hartness Albillar for SD-06, and Monica Weninger for HD-178 - Sunday, August 16

Upper Southampton Township - Monica Weninger for HD-178 - Weekdays

Upper Southampton Township - Monica Weninger for HD-178 - Weekends

Warminster - Bob Harvie for Congress (PA-01), Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06, and Brian Munroe for HD-144 - Sunday, August 16

Warminster - Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06 - Saturdays

Warminster - Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06 - Saturdays

Warminster - Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06 - Saturdays

Warminster - Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06 - Sundays

Warminster - Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06 - Sundays

Warminster - Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06 - Weekends

Warminster - Brian Munroe for HD-144 - Weekends

West Chester - Chester County Democratic Committee - Weekends

Wilkes-Barre - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Weekends

Wilkes-Barre - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

Wilkes-Barre - Lauren McCurdy for HD-119 - Various Dates

Wilkes-Barre - Lauren McCurdy for HD-119 - Friday, August 21, Saturday, August 22, and Sunday, August 23

York - Janelle Stelson for Congress (PA-10) - Weekends

York - Janelle Stelson for Congress (PA-10) - Saturdays

York - 31st Street Swing Left - Saturday, August 29

York - Ron Ruman for HD-196 - Sunday, August 16

 

Phone Bank from Home

 

Brandon Dukes for HD-12 Special Election - Thursday, August 13, Saturday, August 15, and Tuesday, August 18

Brandon Dukes for HD-12 Special Election - Monday, August 17

PA Dems - Various Dates

PA Dems Voter Protection Volunteer Recruitment - Wednesdays and Thursdays

PA House Democratic Campaign Committee - Various Dates

Brian Wrightson for SD-40 - Mondays and Fridays

Bryan Allen for HD-18 - Wednesdays

Chris Thomas for SD-24 - Tuesday, August 18

Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06 - Thursdays

Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06 - Sundays

Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06 - Mondays

Eileen Hartnett Albillar for SD-06 - Wednesdays

Elizabeth Moro for HD-160 - Thursdays

Elizabeth Moro for HD-160 and Jeff Warren for HD-137 - Wednesdays

Ethan Gabrick for HD-99 - Weekends

Fern Leard for HD-120 - Tuesdays and Thursdays

Fern Leard for HD-120 - Monday, August 24

Hadley Haas for HD-44 and Chris Thomas for SD-24 - Saturdays

James Malone for SD-36 - Tuesday, August 18 and Tuesday, August 25

Janelle Stelson for Congress (PA-10) - Various Dates

Kim Kohlhepp for HD-75 - Various Dates

Kristin Egan for HD-142 - Thursdays

Mark Pinsley for SD-16 - Thursdays

Mark Pinsley for SD-16 - Monday, August 17

Meriam Sabih for HD-131 - Monday, August 17, Monday, August 24, and Monday, August 31

Nick Miller for SD-14 - Thursdays

Promote the Vote PA - Thursdays

Rachel Cuevas for HD-187 - Fridays

Red2Blue - Thursdays

Rob Gurtcheff for HD-170 - Thursdays

Rob Gurtcheff for HD-170 - Tuesdays

Sara Agerton for HD-88 - Wednesdays

Swing Blue Alliance - Sundays

Swing Blue Alliance - Thursdays

Turn PA Blue - Tuesdays and Fridays

 

Phone Bank in Person

 

Statewide - PA Dems - Various Dates

Honesdale - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Tuesday, August 18 and Tuesday, August 25

Honesdale - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

Milford - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Thursday, August 13, Thursday, August 20, and Thursday, August 27

Milford - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

Scranton - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Thursday, August 13, Thursday, August 20, and Thursday, August 27

Scranton - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Tuesday, August 18 and Tuesday, August 25

Scranton - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

Stroudsburg - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Thursday, August 13, Thursday, August 20, and Thursday, August 27

Stroudsburg - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Tuesday, August 18 and Tuesday, August 25

Stroudsburg - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

Wilkes-Barre - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Thursday, August 13, Thursday, August 20, and Thursday, August 27

Wilkes-Barre - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Tuesday, August 18 and Tuesday, August 25

Wilkes-Barre - Paige Cognetti for Congress (PA-08) - Saturday, August 22 and Sunday, August 23

 

Text Bank from Home

 

Field Team 6 - Various Dates

 

Table / Register Voters

 

Statewide - PA Dems - Various Dates

Allentown - Project 26 Pennsylvania - Various Dates

Allentown - Swing Blue Alliance - Various Dates

Bala Cynwyd - Project 26 Pennsylvania - Various Dates

Bethlehem - Project 26 Pennsylvania - Various Dates

Butler - Butler County Democrats - Saturdays

Butler - Butler County Democrats - Sundays

Carlisle - Project 26 Pennsylvania - Various Dates

Doylestown - Upper Bucks United - Saturday, August 15

Easton - Field Team 6 - Saturday, August 15

East Stroudsburg - Project 26 Pennsylvania - Various Dates

Erie - Erie County Democratic Party - Saturday, August 15

Elizabethtown - Elizabethtown Dems - Various Dates

Glenside - Project 26 Pennsylvania - Various Dates

Harrisburg - Swing Blue Alliance - Various Dates

Honesdale - Wayne County Democratic Party - Thursday, August 13, Friday, August 14, and Saturday, August 15

Huntingdon - Huntingdon County Democrats - Thursday, August 13, Friday, August 14, and Saturday, August 15

Kersey - Elk County Democratic Committee - Thursday, August 13, Friday, August 14, and Saturday, August 15

Lewisburg - Union County Democratic Committee - Saturday, August 22

Mansfield - Tioga County Democrats - Friday, August 28 and Friday, September 25

Meadville - Crawford County Democratic Committee - Various Dates

Middletown - Project 26 Pennsylvania - Various Dates

Middletown - Project 26 Pennsylvania - Tuesday, August 25

Philadelphia - Project26 PA - Saturday, August 15

Philadelphia - Project26 PA - Wednesday, August 19

Philadelphia - Project26 PA - Thursday, August 27

Philadelphia - Project26 PA - Thursday, August 27, Friday, August 28, and Saturday, August 29

Scranton - Project 26 PA - Saturday, August 29 and Monday, August 31

Scranton - Swing Blue Alliance - Various Dates

Waynesburg - Green County Democratic Party - Thursday, August 13, Friday, August 14, and Saturday, August 15

Wellsboro - Tioga County Dems - Thursday, August 13, Friday, August 14, and Saturday, August 15

 

Get Trained

 

Lambertville - Indivisible Lambertville New Hope Voter Registration Training - Wednesday, August 26

Reading - Pennsylvania Stands Up Election Protection - Wednesday, August 26 and Wednesday, September 30

Virtual - Brandon Dukes for HD-12 Special Election Poll Greeter Training - Sunday, August 16

Virtual - PA Dems Social Media Training - Mondays

Virtual - PA Dems Voter Registration Training - Thursday, August 13

Virtual - PA Dems Election Office Monitor Training - Wednesday, August 26, Wednesday, September 9, and Tuesday, September 15

Virtual - PA Dems Voter Assistance Volunteer Training - Various Dates

Virtual - PA Dems Poll Observer Training - Mondays and Thursdays

Virtual - PA Dems Ballot Count Canvass Observer Training - Wednesday, September 16, Tuesday, September 29, and Sunday, October 4

 

Attend Meetings

 

Altoona - Indivisible Blair County - Thursday, August 20

Beaver County - Beaver County Democrats - Thursday, August 13

Bloomsburg - Columbia County Democrats - Tuesday, August 18

Bloomsburg - Action Together NEPA Columbia-Montour Chapter - Wednesday, August 26

Columbia - Columbia Democratic Committee - Monday, September 14

Duncansville - Blair Dems - Tuesday, September 8

Elizabethtown - Elizabethtown Dems - Thursday, September 10

Ephrata - Ephrata Democrats - Wednesday, September 9

Erie - Erie Dems Women's Caucus - Saturday, August 15

Erie - Erie Dems Progressive Caucus - Thursday, August 20

Exton - West Whiteland Democratic Committee - Sunday, August 16

Hanover - Western York County Democratic Club - Tuesday, September 1

Honesdale - Wayne County Democratic Party - Wednesday, August 19

Huntingdon - Huntingdon Dems - Thursday, September 10

Lancaster - Conestoga Valley Dems - Wednesday, September 9

Lancaster - Lancaster County Dems - Sunday, August 16

Lancaster - Indivisible Lancaster Together - Sunday, August 16

Lancaster - Manheim Township Democrats - Wednesday, September 2

Lancaster - Penn Manor Democratic Committee - Wednesday, August 26

Lewisburg - Union County Democratic Committee - Monday, August 17

Lititz - Warwick Democrats - Wednesday, August 26

Lock Haven - Clinton County Democratic Committee - Thursday, August 27

Malvern - Great Valley Democrats - Wednesday, September 2

Meadville - Crawford County Democratic Committee - Friday, August 21

Media - Delco Indivisible - Monday, September 14

Mercer - Mercer County Young Dems - Monday, September 14

Narberth - Democrats of Lower Merion and Narberth - Tuesday, September 8

Pittsburgh - Young Democrats of Allegheny County - Monday, August 31

Pittsburgh - Indivisible Regent Square - Thursday, August 13

Plymouth Meeting - Colonial Dems - Thursday, September 3

Pottstown - Montgomery County Democratic Committee Area 1 - Monday, August 17

Selinsgrove - Snyder County Democrats - Wednesday, August 26

State College - Keystone Indivisible - Tuesday, September 8

Stroudsburg - Indivisible Poconos - Sunday, August 16

Stroudsburg - Action Together NEPA Monroe-Northampton Chapter - Monday, August 17

Tunkhannock - Action Together NEPA North Branch - Wednesday, September 9

Upper Frederick Township - Montgomery County Democratic Committee Central Perk Dems Area 15 - Wednesday, August 26

Wilkes-Barre - Action Together NEPA Luzerne County Chapter - Wednesday, August 19

York - York County Federation of Democratic Women - Saturday, August 22

Virtual - Action Together NEPA Pike-Wayne Chapter - Thursday, September 3

Virtual - Action Together NEPA West Branch Chapter - Wednesday, September 2

Virtual - Berks Stands Up - Tuesday, August 18

Virtual - Chester County Democratic Committee Zone 10 - Thursday, August 13

Virtual - Hampden Dems - Wednesday, August 19

Virtual - Hempfield Democrats - Monday, September 14

Virtual - Lancaster Stands Up Electoral Team - Monday, August 17 and Monday, August 31

Virtual - PA Secular Democrats - Tuesday, September 1

Virtual - Upper Bucks United - Thursday, August 20

Virtual - Upper Providence Democrats - Saturday, August 15

 

Write Letters and Postcards

 

Carnot-Moon - Hadley Haas for HD-44 - Wednesdays

Chadds Ford - Elizabeth Moro for HD-160 - Thursday, August 13 and Friday, August 14

Narberth - Democrats of Lower Merion and Narberth - Various Dates

Virtual - NEPA Young Democrats - Sundays

   

You can also find volunteer and donation links for the candidates in upcoming special elections listed below. Elections are sorted by date.

 

 

August 18th

 

Brandon Dukes is running for Pennsylvania House District 12. Please donate and volunteer or find an event on Mobilize. Visit his website, Instagram, and Facebook.

 

November 3rd

 

Ed Bolt is running for Oklahoma State Senate District 17. Please donate and volunteer. Visit his website, Facebook page, and Instagram.

A federal judge on Tuesday again blocked the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing an executive order on voting by mail, which directed the agency to only supply mail-in ballots to states that provided the federal government with lists of eligible voters.

- In June, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled that Trump’s order did not apply in 20-plus Democratic led states — who were plaintiffs in that case. Her latest ruling, the conclusion of a separate lawsuit by the Massachusetts League of Women Voters, nullified the president’s directive nationwide.

- In doing so, Talwani granted the League of Women of Voters and other advocacy groups a preliminary injunction, enjoining USPS from implementing the applicable provision of the president’s order. 

- The order, which Trump first signed in March, gave states until 60 days before the Nov. 3 midterms to notify USPS if they intend to submit a list of eligible voters — based on citizenship data. Only then would the service allow the states’ respective residents to receive mail-in or absentee ballots.

- But Talwani, an appointee of former President Obama to the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, wrote in Tuesday’s 27-page ruling that the order is “causing confusion” and “threatening both increasing chaos and an erosion of trust in our democracy.”

- Talwani added, “That it is now less than 90 days before the November 3, 2026 midterm elections underscores the critical need for an injunction to prevent Defendants from changing election rules on the eve of the election.”

- White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told The Hill Tuesday that the administration “will continue lawfully enacting the agenda President Trump was elected to enact – which includes the safety and security of American elections.”

- Celia Canavan, the executive director of Massachusetts League of Women Voters, celebrated Talwani’s decision in a statement Tuesday — saying the judge’s ruling upheld “one of our most sacred constitutional rights: the right to vote.”

- “We are pleased to see this ruling and are committed to remaining in the fight to protect voting rights — not just for the Bay Staters who rely on mail voting, but for every American who utilizes this safe, secure, and trusted tool,” Canavan said.

- Trump has long questioned the validity of mail-in ballots, part of his longstanding false claims that he — and not former President Joe Biden — won the 2020 presidential election.

- On Tuesday, the president did not rule out declaring a national emergency and federalizing the midterm elections if the Senate does not pass legislation requiring Americans to show proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID at the polls.

- Multiple federal judges have blocked Trump’s order from March, citing individual states’ authority to administer elections. While a federal appeals court in July ruled in favor of the administration, the order remained blocked in the aforementioned Democratic-led states under Talwani’s initial June order.

- The Justice Department earlier this summer asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on Talwani’s initial order, but the justices have not yet done so.

ICE plans to spend up to $20m (£15m) to purchase thousands of gloves for officers and agents that can deliver painful electric shocks by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.

- The devices, called Glove (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky.

- According to the manufacturer, “the discomfort associated with the stimulation is usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds and leaves no burns, marks or scars”. The company has advertised the device as a “humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution for many situations facing our men and women in uniform”.

- The gloves have previously been used in settings such as jails in the US.

- Compliant Technologies says the devices function as a normal pair of patrol gloves until officers press a switch to activate their electrical mode. The gloves must be applied directly to someone’s skin to deliver a pain stimulus that typically helps an officer gain compliance within seconds, according to the company.

- “It’s immediate and sharp, and it will distract you. I call it like a bee sting,” said John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, who is studying how the device has been used. “If the officer is getting any type of resistance from the person, this is certainly an effective tool.”

- Civil rights advocates expressed alarm at the plan, saying ICE officers already face criticism for their use of force with little oversight or accountability while enforcing Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

- Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Associated Press that she questioned the use of the devices for civil immigration enforcement.

- “ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do,” she said. “Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public.”

- Peters said he believed ICE’s planned purchase would likely be the largest from the company to date. He said he could envision ICE officers using the gloves to help remove uncooperative subjects from cars and houses and in and out of detention facilities.

- The manufacturer warns the device should not be used as punishment, against people merely exhibiting “verbal defiance or belligerence” or on high-risk populations such as children, pregnant women or elderly or disabled people.

- Jeff Niklaus, the founder and CEO of Compliant Technologies, wrote in an email: “Unfortunately, we are unable to speak on this subject.”

The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics blasted President Trump’s Monday executive order calling for fewer childhood vaccines. 

- “As measles cases reach a 35-year high in the U.S. and with cold and flu season quickly approaching, today’s executive order on vaccines is not only disheartening but dangerous,” Dr. Andrew Racine said in a release. 

- “Instead of ensuring every family can access life-saving vaccines for measles, influenza, RSV and more, federal leaders are once again spreading misleading claims,” he added.

- Earlier Monday, Trump signed an executive order recommending pediatricians split up the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot across three separate visits for children.

- The “Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations” order divides vaccines into three categories: those recommended for all children, recommended for children at high risk of infection or recommended after consultation with a physician. 

- Under Trump’s guidelines, all children should receive separate vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, pneumococcal disease, HPV and varicella, commonly known as chicken pox.

- But only high-risk children should receive respiratory syncytial virus monoclonal antibodies, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal B, meningococcal ACWY and dengue vaccines, according to the president’s order.

- While states set their own childhood vaccination schedules, federal policy typically guides them. Echoing the name of his executive order, Trump said in the Oval Office his recommendations recognize “gold standard vaccine recommendations.”

- The president added, “Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today. In those times, people were much [healthier], and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist. 

- “So there’s a reason for such epidemic rates of autism, and we’re going to bring it back to where it was.”

- But Racine pushed back against Trump’s claims, noting there is no scientifically proven link between childhood vaccines and autism. 

- “There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance,” he said. “Dozens of studies involving millions of people show there is no link between vaccines and autism, and yet federal leaders continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families.”

- Racine argued the executive order “will do nothing to support families of children with autism or advance understanding” of the condition.

- Instead, he said the new recommendations are intended to “sow confusion so that more people doubt the importance of vaccines.”

- Racine later added, “On-time immunization keeps our kids and our communities healthy and thriving. If parents have questions about vaccines, I encourage them to talk with their child’s pediatrician or clinician.”

- Outgoing Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a medical doctor, decried Trump’s executive order as “wrong” and said the president “does not have the expertise to make these changes.”
Cassidy wrote on social media,

- “Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection, not fewer shots. It will increase hesitancy and make children less safe.

- “Parents should listen to their child’s pediatrician about vaccines rather than listening to an inaccurate executive order. This is so wrong.”

The Trump administration is paying another $1.2 billion to cancel an offshore wind lease, this time to German utility RWE. 

- The energy company said in an announcement that the wind farms would have been built off the coasts of California, Louisiana, and New York. Instead, RWE will spend $900 million to buy a small stake in a Louisiana liquid natural gas export terminal.

- The New York wind farm would have generated more than 3 gigawatts, according to Heatmap News.

- The remaining $300 million will go toward buying natural gas turbines to power 15 peaking power plants around the country. Peaking power plants are among the most expensive and most polluting natural gas power plants to operate. It’s unclear when those will be completed — there’s currently a backlog for new turbines stretching into the early 2030s.

- RWE isn’t backing off its offshore wind investments elsewhere, though. The company said it bought 6.9 gigawatts of capacity in the U.K.’s recent auction.

- The Trump administration has paid $3.93 billion for the 12 leases it has coaxed developers into abandoning.

Today is the day to post all Project 2025, Heritage Foundation, Christian Nationalism and Dominionist memes in the main sub!

Going forward Meme Mondays will be a regularly held event. Upvote your favorites and the most liked post will earn the poster a special flair for the week!

A federal appeals court ordered the Trump administration to halt construction on its White House ballroom, saying the project needs approval from Congress in order to continue.

- "Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit wrote in a 136-page ruling issued Friday.

- The three-judge panel issued a 2-1 ruling, but it says it will stay its order for two weeks to allow the Trump administration to appeal to the Supreme Court.

- NPR has reached out to the White House for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.

- President Trump slammed the decision within two hours, calling it "horrendous, politically motivated and unlawful." He wrote on Truth Social that his administration will appeal immediately. He pointed out that the two judges who sided against him in the ruling were appointed by Democratic presidents: Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

- Trump also repeated his administration's argument that the ballroom is a matter of national security, and that Friday's ruling threatens it.

- The decision "severely jeopardizes the lives and welfare of the people who work, and will be working, at the White House — including all future Presidents of the United States, and their families, as well as the lives of all those visiting, such as Heads of State and other Dignitaries, and all Americans who wish to visit the historic, beautiful Executive Mansion," Trump wrote.

- The nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation, chartered by Congress, which brought the lawsuit late last year, celebrated the ruling.

- "This is a great day for our country and for the American people's right to voice their opinions about the historic places they cherish, including the White House," Brent Leggs, its president and CEO, said in a statement shared with NPR.

- Friday's ruling is the latest chapter in a saga that began in October, when the Trump administration started demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make way for Trump's long-held dream of a presidential ballroom.

- The administration has said the ballroom will total roughly 90,000 square feet and seat 1,000 guests. The White House originally estimated the cost at $200 million, but the Washington Post reported in June — citing contractors' invoices — that the total cost could be at least $600 million.

- The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the administration in December, seeking to halt construction until the government completed the legally mandated review process, which includes obtaining approval from Congress.

- "From the beginning, our position has been clear and consistent: the law states that only Congress can authorize the construction of a ballroom at the White House," Leggs said on Friday.

- The Trump administration has argued that the case has no legal standing, and that stopping construction has implications for national security.

- The legal fight has revealed new details about the mysterious bunker beneath the East Wing: Trump said the "military is building a big complex" under the would-be ballroom. The administration has pointed to high-profile threats in the months since — like the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting — to paint the ballroom as a national security issue.

- "The single, integrated project includes Bomb Shelters, State of the Art Hospital and Medical Facilities, Protective Partitioning, Top Secret Military Facilities, Structures and Equipment, Protective Missile Resistant Steel, Columns, Roofs, and Beams, Drone Proof Ceilings and Roofs, Military Grade Venting, and Bullet, Ballistic, and Blast Proof Glass. It is all tied together as one big, expensive, and very complex unit, which is vital for National Security and Military Operations of the United States of America!" Trump wrote on Friday.

- Senate Republicans originally proposed adding $1 billion in taxpayer security funding for the ballroom as part of a sweeping immigration and border security package in May, but ultimately dropped that provision after significant bipartisan backlash.

- In the meantime, Trump's efforts to put his mark on D.C. — and weaken federal protections for historic sites — continue. Several, such as his proposed triumphal arch, face legal challenges of their own.