The Social Security Administration (SSA) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent out mass emails praising President Donald Trump to online account holders just days before the midterm elections, potentially violating federal laws prohibiting the use of official government resources for a campaign. The emails were sent on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with statements from the agencies’…
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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Fresh evidence of Russian brutality: “A day after a Russian glide bomb attack killed at least 31 Ukrainians at a school distributing medicine and food, emergency workers braved armed Russian drones on Tuesday as they searched for dozens of people still missing, officials said.”
* The crisis conditions in federal law enforcement are ongoing: “The Justice Department is intensifying its investigation into the recruitment of an opponent with the same name as a Republican senator in Alaska, sending letters to about 20 Democrats informing them they might be targets, two people with knowledge of the move said. Sending such a notification at the decisive moment in a close race between the incumbent Republican, Dan Sullivan, and his Democratic opponent, Mary Peltola, is highly unusual.”
* It’s probably best to approach this claim with great skepticism: “On the morning of Election Day, Trump said $4 billion in U.S. military aid to Israel would be cut off at the end of the year, though the country would still be able to buy American weapons. … The president said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought up the topic of stopping the aid, and Trump said Netanyahu told him he thought it would be ‘appropriate if we do not receive aid.’”
* The results of a rapid investigation: “Federal authorities charged an Oklahoma City man with sending hundreds of threatening letters, some containing a nontoxic white powdery substance, to lawmakers and election offices across the country ahead of the 2024 and 2026 elections.”
* Measles claims the life of another child: “A 7-month-old, unvaccinated child in New York’s North Country died after contracting
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth broke the law in establishing an advisory committee, co-led by Elon Musk, to guide the “future of warfare,” a new lawsuit says, citing “major conflict of interest concerns.” The lawsuit, filed by watchdogs Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Public Citizen, and Project on Government Oversight (POGO), says that the Pentagon did not go…
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The election isn’t even over, and some people are already trying to lower expectations.
With Democrats favored to win back the House, the familiar warnings are already coming: Senate Republicans will block most of their bills. Trump will veto anything that gets through. And when administration officials refuse to testify, the Justice Department won’t enforce congressional subpoenas.
Those are real obstacles. But some naysayers go further: Since Democrats may not be able to force the administration to cooperate or enact their agenda, they should be wary of investigating it. Voters want their lives to get better, the argument goes, not another “accountability tour.”
In other words, holding the administration accountable for its actions over the past two years won’t work — and Democrats should resign themselves to being powerless before they’ve even taken control.
If voters give them the House, Democrats will have to show what they can accomplish with it.
Come on now. If this is how you approach politics, you should find another line of work.
Back in April, I wrote that Democrats needed to plan what they would do with power if voters gave it back to them. A victory would come with the expectation that they could improve people’s lives. If voters give them the House, Democrats will have to show what they can accomplish with it.
That work would test Hakeem Jeffries as speaker, along with the progressives promising a different approach and the moderates whose victories could make a majority possible. The disagreements that animated contentious primaries would move into caucus meetings, committee rooms and negotiations over which bills get a vote.
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‘You’ve still got to vote!’: MS NOW panel reacts to
On Monday night, the United States conducted a series of strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island, the latest in a number of strikes over the past several weeks that have previously gone unreported. Qeshm Island reportedly houses a large underground missile site and a naval base. It also has a desalination plant, which may be considered a civilian target rather than a military one.
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