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Kristi Noem Fast-Tracked Millions in Disaster Aid to Florida Tourist Attraction After Campaign Donor Intervened

Hurricane damaged home in Florida

For months, the complaints have rolled in from parts of the country hit by natural disasters: The Federal Emergency Management Agency was moving far too slowly in sending aid to communities ravaged by floods and hurricanes, including in central Texas and North Carolina. Many officials were blaming Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, whose agency oversees FEMA.

But records obtained by ProPublica show how one locality found a way to get FEMA aid more quickly: It asked one of Noem’s political donors for help.

When All Protest Is Terrorism

Crush Ice sign at a protest

The United States government doesn’t ban political organizations outright, but it does have a legal apparatus, put in place almost a quarter-century ago, for transmogrifying protesters into prosecutable terrorists. “Nearly half of all Americans now live in a state where it’s harder to protest than it was eight years ago,” said Elly Page, an attorney who runs the US Protest Law Tracker at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law. Some of the bills mandated extreme punishments for those who slow-march in roadways and block motorists. If 25 or more people impede traffic in Florida, they can be charged with “rioting” and face 15 years.

Senate Republicans Trigger ‘Nuclear Option,’ Changing Rules To Speed Up Trump Nominees

Nuclear "mushroom cloud"

Republicans triggered the “nuclear option” to change the rules of the Senate on a party-line basis Thursday, a move that will allow them to speed up confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nominees for key executive branch positions.

The vote was 53-45 to establish a new rule that allows the Senate to confirm an unlimited number of nominees en bloc, rather than process each one individually.

DNC targets Anna Paulina Luna in New ‘Release the Files’ Ad

Anna Paulina Luna

The DNC digital ad includes a photo of Trump and Epstein together, with the “certain things in common” quote printed over it. At the bottom, the ad issues a call to action to voters to “Call Rep. Anna Paulina Luna” and, in all caps, “demand they release the files,” a reference to the infamous Epstein files that Trump himself once said should be released. 

Privatizing the VA

Privatizing the VA

Collins, a chaplain in the Air Force Reserve, also explained that his mandate from President Trump is to make it “easier for veterans to get their health care when and where it’s most convenient for them,” by giving them greater choice between in-house and outsourced care. To do this, he planned to lean on the network of 1.7 million private-sector providers who are part of the Veterans Community Care Program (VCCP), created by the VA MISSION Act of 2018. Annual reimbursement of these non-VHA doctors, therapists, hospitals, and clinics now costs the federal government more than $30 billion per year, nearly one-third of the VA’s entire direct care budget.

Judge Finds Trump Is Illegally Using the Military As a ‘National Police Force’

Military and civilian police joint training

Northern District of California Judge Charles Breyer ruled that the Trump administration “violated the Posse Comitatus Act,” which prohibits the use of the military as a mechanism of civilian law enforcement, when it deployed hundreds of members of the National Guard, and later U.S. Marines, to Los Angeles in response to protests against raids and arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Federal judge halts operations at Everglades Detention Camp

Everglades Concentration Camp

DeSantis plans to open a second detention camp, which will be located at the Baker Correctional Institution. ICE Air will operate from the Lake City Gateway Airport, about 13 miles from the new camp. For the record, both locations are within easy driving distance of Leon County. It is highly probable (though this is speculation on your editor’s part….) that people currently held at the Everglades Detention Center will be moved either to this new camp or to Krome Detention Center in Miami, prior to being removed via ICE Air (see our article about Avelo Airlines, which operates ICE flights from several Florida airports). Note that this lawsuit hinged on environmental protections for the Everglades, NOT on due process for the people being held in the camp under horrific conditions. Expect the deplorable treatment of our fellow human beings at the hands of Florida fascists to continue at the new facility.

Donald Trump Wants to Take Your Social Security to Give Even More Money to Wall Street

Cutting Social Security

Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary, let the cat out of the bag when he said that their new “Trump Accounts” are intended as a backdoor way to privatize Social Security. Their idea is to get people to put money in these accounts beyond the $1,000 the government will give each newborn, so that they will be able to phase out or scrap Social Security. Your “Trump Account” will serve as a replacement. You would be charged thousands of dollars per year to manage these ‘Trump Accounts”, making you poorer and Wall Street richer.

The CLARITY Act is Coming Up for a Senate Vote in September

Cryptocurrency

The CLARITY act has passed the House and the Senate intends to take it up in September. It is a confusing bill, full of financial jargon that makes it difficult to understand exactly what this bill is about, besides making political elites – including Donald Trump – richer, at the expense of the rest of us. Take a deep dive into what the CLARITY bill does – and does not do – to understand why a vote for the bill in its current form is a vote to enable the crypto-grift to continue apace with little to no protection for ordinary people.

Rick Scott Defends Congressional Stock Trades

Rick Scott

Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott was called out after he—a politician worth hundreds of millions of dollars—defended his position that members of Congress should be allowed to trade stocks despite clear conflict of interest concerns, saying it’s okay because he doesn’t “want to be poor.”