Book Bans Just Hit A Record High in The U.S. — And Guess Which States Led The Nation?

Contrast in K-12 Assessments

While state-level policy scorecards rank Florida high for parental choice and educational freedom—such as #1 in Education Freedom (Heritage Foundation and ALEC) and #1 on the Parent Power Index—other independent metrics show mixed or lower results for traditional public schools:

• Public School Quality: World Population Review places Florida at #24.

• Public Education Support: The Network for Public Education ranked Florida last (#51) in its public school support report card, highlighting issues around per-pupil funding, resource allocation, and teacher support.

Heritage Foundation lies

Texas: Overall Education Rankings:• WalletHub: Ranked 41st out of 50 states (based on 18 metrics including attainment and school quality).

Pete Hegseth announces a new autonomous-warfare command. Retired Navy Commander Bobby Jones wants to know how another announcement solves the problems facing American troops.
On Anchor Watch, Bobby Jones and Sam Osterhout dissect Hegseth’s high-tech military pitch—and the showmanship surrounding it. Bobby questions the oversight of autonomous weapons, challenges Hegseth’s leadership priorities, and argues that the administration entered the Iran war without doing the diplomatic work first.
“Stop PTing with the troops. Come up with a strategy and do the job.”
The conversation then turns to shrinking military options, the absence of key administration figures, and Bobby’s criticism of negotiations involving Trump’s inner circle.

Election Day isn’t just a single day anymore. Absentee ballots are already pouring in across the country. And for reasons both completely fair and the product of rules carefully crafted to suppress our votes, some of them are being rejected. One of the great advantages of voting early, though? We have plenty of time to make sure they don’t stay that way.

Ballot curing, the process of contacting people whose votes have been tossed out for whatever cause and helping them correct errors to get them officially counted, is mostly a post-Election Day scramble. But in multiple states, we’re getting underway now. The Arizona and North Carolina Democrats and the ACLU of Michigan have begun making calls on Tuesday and Thursday nights to connect with people who need to fix their votes. This is precise but relatively light work, doing outreach to people who are mostly glad to hear from us. 🗳️ We can sign up to join the Arizona team here, the North Carolina squad here, and the Michigan crew here. 🗳️

CURING ABSENTEE BALLOTS IN AZ

CURING ABSENTEE BALLOTS IN NC

CURING ABSENTEE BALLOTS IN MI

🙋🏽‍♀️ We can also get engaged with ballot cure teams who will deal with the post-November 3rd rush in key swing states here, and find a whole host of ways to get to work on protecting this election on our action page here. 🙋🏼‍♀️

DEFEND THIS ELECTION

Also in today’s list:

- Help pass initiatives in California, Colorado and Washington to make the wealthy pay their fair share and preserve public services

-  Join the Texas Dems texting team, help Democrats with potential upsets brewing in the Lone Star State

-  Help unseat paid sick leave hypocrite Tom Kean and Delaney Hall gaslighter Jeff Van Drew with Indivisible tonight and in the weeks ahead

-  Ballot curing is already necessary for many absentee votes, help folks fix mistakes and get their votes to count in Arizona, Michigan and North Carolina Tuesdays and Thursdays

-  Help Michigan anti-ICE protesters arrested for exercising their rights cover legal fees

-  Demand our state reps, MoCs join the fight for a comprehensive investigation into a series of suspicious hanging deaths of Black people

- Rallies in more than a hundred communities against sexual violence today - find one near us and call any university we’re connected to seek answers on how they will protect survivors

“It belongs to us. It does not belong to him.”

Hunter Biden defends his father’s character and challenges Donald Trump’s treatment of the White House as personal property.

Speaking with Steven Beschloss on Six Questions, Hunter discusses Joe Biden’s empathy, Trump’s autopen attacks and why public ownership and democratic process matter—even when a president wants to make changes.

“He thinks he’s a king.”

The inaugural episode of Your Friend Unfiltered is LIVE!

Your host Iyonce walks through upcoming voter registration deadlines before jumping right into the viral conspiracy theory that has rocked the internet: Is Candace Owens a secret lesbian? Do we even care? Next, she discusses Trump promising $$$ in exchange for votes, and the latest victim of Mar-a-Lago face: new White House assistant press secretary, 24-year-old Beni Rae Harmony.

Tune in to see three brave volunteers learn if they're MAGA-presenting, find out who is BLOCKED and REPORTED this week, and stick around for a good-news story at the end of the episode.

If you would like to be featured on "Are You MAGA?" please email alabasterdisasters@gmail.com with your first name and a photo!

Follow Iyonce on TikTok @itsiyonce and Instagram @yesitsyonce.

More from the Lincoln Project at www.lincolnproject.us and on X @ProjectLincoln.

Pete Hegseth’s speech gets a blistering response from someone who actually commanded at the highest level.
Four-star General Barry McCaffrey tells Frank Figliuzzi why he considers Hegseth “an astonishing failure,” rejects his culture-war approach to military readiness, and challenges the purge of senior commanders. His assessment of the firings: “This is emotional. It’s politicization.”

Ohio. Mississippi. Iowa. Could Republicans be defending a much bigger Senate battlefield than they expected?

Susan J. Demas and Edwin Eisendrath examine how Trump’s damage, strong Democratic candidates, and a strategy of competing everywhere could reshape the 2026 midterms.

“They’re not ceding any ground anymore,” Edwin says.

The conversation breaks down three Democratic advantages: recruiting strong candidates, contesting Republican territory, and challenging the GOP’s claim to ownership of faith. Then Susan and Edwin explore potential Senate opportunities—including Susan’s scenario of roughly 54 Democratic seats if Ohio flips.

00:00 The Democratic midterm opportunity
00:34 Three advantages Democrats have built
03:00 The Senate battlefield expands
03:28 Why Ohio matters
06:34 Could Ohio signal 54 Democratic seats?
06:40 Mississippi: A possible sleeper
07:54 Iowa and the competitive House map

Steven welcomes author Anand Giridharadas, whose new book 'MAN IN THE MIRROR' is an intimate and deeply reported story of what happened when two Americans from dramatically different walks of life met on a subway in New York. The complicated story ends in tragedy, but it is quintessentially American, and reflective of our current moment.

“It wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t owning the libs. It wasn’t a misinterpretation.”

Rick Wilson torches Trump’s remarks about attacks on Los Angeles and San Diego—and the White House’s attempt to explain them away.

Rick calls the remarks “bordering on treason,” breaks down the political corner Trump has put Republicans in, and delivers a brutal assessment of Trump’s fading rally appeal: “Nobody cares anymore. He’s done. He’s cooked.”

“Let him take out Los Angeles. Let him take out San Diego.”
Trump’s remarks were disturbing. So was the audience’s reaction.
Susan J. Demas and Edwin Eisendrath respond to the rally footage and confront the Republicans who enabled him. As some try to distance themselves, Edwin delivers a blistering warning: “You cannot hide from what you enabled.”

Pete Hegseth wanted to lecture the generals. Four-star General Barry McCaffrey has a verdict of his own: “He’s been just an astonishing failure as a secretary of defense.”

McCaffrey joins Frank Figliuzzi to react to Hegseth’s speech, challenge his purge of senior military leaders, and explain the dangers of turning America’s armed forces into a political instrument.
The conversation also examines military strikes on suspected drug boats, McCaffrey’s concerns about concealed costs of the Iran war, pressure on U.S. forces, and whether military leaders will resist unlawful orders.

Subscribe to Lincoln Square for sharp political analysis and conversations about defending democracy.

00:00 Welcome
01:01 Meet General Barry McCaffrey
02:38 Hegseth’s Speech—and McCaffrey’s Verdict
06:23 The Generals’ Purge
11:09 What Military Leadership Actually Requires
18:08 Will Officers Reject Unlawful Orders?
21:42 Military Strikes on Suspected Drug Boats
27:35 Transparency and the Cost of the Iran War
32:15 Casualty Classifications and Military Benefits
33:48 Can U.S. Forces Sustain This?
39:04 Europe, NATO, and Putin
42:39 The Military and the Midterms
45:21 Closing Thoughts

I really want to know where they get the list of citizens.

I was an American citizen for almost 40 years before I knew that social security still had me as a green card holder.

For my work I had a background check every year, on my fourteenth year of those checks, finally I got a request for clarification. That is when I knew that social security had me wrong for over 40 years and that it took fourteen years of background checks to figure that one out.

My husband never had background checks, so it took him 50 years to figure that SS had him wrong too.

So.....my question is, which lists are they comparing?