"Benches are where optimistic visions of civic life meet reality. To remove them, or to curate who gets to sit, is to abandon the work of defining a civic ideal and determining, together, how to live up to it."
NEW: Why benches are slowly disappearing from public spaces — and why we need them back:
I fucking hate him.
How Trump set the stage for a long, drawn-out negotiation with Iran
The U.S. and Israel killed off the people who would’ve made this process work more effectively.
What is on democracy's docket today:
Active Voting Rights Cases: 159
Active Redistricting Cases: 43
Active Anti-Voting Cases: 85
Active Pro-Voting Cases: 72
Active DOJ Lawsuits: 30
Subscribe to Democracy Docket now!
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Experts say it’s highly unusual for the White House to tell agents to give up custody of potential evidence in an investigation, as it did with the Tates.
“I’ve never heard of anything like that in my 30 years working,” an ex-DHS official said.
Trump’s morning posts:
— Let’s kill Iranians who don’t want a deal
— I’m ordering the Navy to shoot any boat putting mines in the Strait
— We actually have full control over the Strait
— I don’t need a deal
The president's son, who was never involved in this industry before his father became president, should not be getting contracts from the Pentagon. This is absurd corruption that Republicans in congress will say nothing about and do no oversight. bsky.app/profile/atru...
Popok: That's all that Donald Trump has been trying to do, is take away your right to vote.
Impunity.
They’re Trying to Do 2020 All Over Again, This Time in Virginia
By @mspopok.bsky.social
substack.com/@legalaf/not...
By the DOJ's own account, the SPLC's informant program was cheap and effective.
For a fraction of their annual budget, SPLC penetrated the nation's worst hate groups and published their secrets with info from their turncoats.
The DOJ's case assumes donors felt defrauded by this. buff.ly/cwTnYg6
No proof yet, but I truly believe that this is hinting at the truth.
Hakeem Jeffries finally gets a signature win
Allies say the House Democratic leader's redistricting counteroffensive showed he's worthy of stepping into Nancy Pelosi's shoes.
GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr. represents New Jersey’s most competitive district this November — but nobody, even his GOP colleagues, can say where he’s been for the past month.
Kean’s team says he’s facing unspecified health issues. He hasn’t voted since March 5th and has missed almost 50 roll call votes.
Now that Virginians have greenlit a new redistricting plan, Democrats have potentially picked up 10 seats in Congress.
But Republicans could add two to five more seats to their tally if the Florida legislature passes a new map this month.
"Trump has said nothing about the latest allegations against the FBI director. In fact, the president has been conspicuously quiet about Patel of late, failing to say his name out loud or online in roughly a month.
"No wonder Patel is feeling antsy about his standing..."
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
MILITARY PURGE: Navy Secretary John Phelan has been FIRED, effective immediately.
Hung Cao will take over as Acting Secretary. Prior reports raised questions about his claims of being “blown up” in combat, with his Navy record lacking a Purple Heart or Combat Action Ribbon.
Senator Chris Murphy goes through the timeline of Donald Trump's war in Iran for the past two weeks.
(Had to split it all up into 3 videos, but totally worth the watch)
🧵
PabloReports: What do you make of Stephen Miller and Tom Homan asking for all this money but then refusing to show up to the hearing today?
Frost: That’s what happens when you have a lapdog as speaker.
In 2021, Trump Media (Truth Social) told investors that by 2026 they could have 81 million users and $3.6 billion in revenue.
Instead:
2023: lost $58m
2024: lost $400m
2025: lost $712m
Who knows maybe this will be the year they turn it around! lololol
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
holy shit this is a helluva ad. this is what i want to see more of from the democrats.
According to a new analysis, Trump has talked about his ballroom vanity project on a third of the days in 2026 — about as much as he has discussed health insurance and “affordability.”
Since he's so determined to bring it up all the time, let's take a look at how corrupt this project really is.
See full statement from AG Jones below:
"the rule of law, checks and balances and the peaceful transition of power..."
www.scientificamerican.com/article/ex-n...
Screenshot of an Aaron Rupar tweet quoting Rep. Robert Garcia announcing that Democratic members would not participate in a congressional roundtable, calling it a fake hearing "set up to appear like one," and noting that Attorney General Pam Bondi had skipped a legally required deposition the prior week. The embedded video shows Garcia speaking at a hearing table with a nameplate reading "Mr. Garcia, Ranking Member."
Pam Bondi must appear under oath to testify. If they made Hillary Clinton show up, who has nothing to do with Epstein, then Bondi must testify given all she's done to cover up the crimes.
BREAKING: A GOP-appointed Virginia judge has struck down the Democratic-backed redistricting amendment in full, ruling it unconstitutional and “void from the start.”
AG Jay Jones says he will immediately file an appeal.
Trump's latest budget is the culmination of 40 years of increasing social control in America.
Remember that over half of defense spending flows to private contractors, like the drone manufacturers Trump's sons are now major investors in.
All of this is absurd.
NEW: Democrats are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s latest anti-voting executive order with a new bill that aims to safeguard mail voting. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
This would neutralize the current congressional rider that prohibits D.C. from legalizing recreational marijuana sales, as the Congressional Research Service explained two years ago, because the rider is pegged to Schedule I substances, not weed specifically. www.congress.gov/crs-product/...
Here’s the very simple truth. We should ban all Gerrymandering.
Until then, to unilaterally disarm is political suicide and malpractice.
