Saturday, July 25, 2026

Events, Petitions, and Volunteer Opportunities

Events, Petitions, and Volunteer Opportunities

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Trump Team Admits He’s Been Defunding States That Didn’t Vote for Him

Trump Team Admits He’s Been Defunding States That Didn’t Vote for Him

https://newrepublic.com/post/213526/trump-team-admits-defunding-states-didnt-vote-for-him 


Trump Team Admits He’s Been Defunding States That Didn’t Vote for Him

Federal officials acknowledged in a recent lawsuit what we all suspected: Trump is targeting Democratic states.

Donald Trump looking crusty
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

The White House has admitted in court that it deliberately canceled federal grants to states that didn’t vote for President Trump.

In court documents filed last week, and first reported on by The New York Times, Trump administration officials confirmed they terminated $7.5 billion in clean energy grants in October “based solely” on political criteria, focusing on states with Democratic leadership that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024. The admission came in a lawsuit filed by California researchers challenging the cancellation of Biden-era funding in multiple federal agencies.

At the time, the White House said it was slashing the grants, passed during the Biden administration, to prevent tax dollars from being wasted. Office of Management and Budget director and Project 2025 architect Russ Vought called the money “Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda,” and singled out projects in 16 blue states: “CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA.”

Only one month ago, Energy Secretary Chris Wright angrily insisted to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology that the cuts “did not involve politics in the decision-making of our review process,” calling any accusation that the funding cancellations targeted certain states for political reasons “bullshit.”

But last week, a Department of Energy lawyer conceded the obvious.

“With one exception, the 284 terminated grants had a recipient location and/or at least one place of performance in a state that awarded its electoral votes to Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and has two Democratic-caucusing senators,” the attorney wrote in a court filing, confessing that the grants were not terminated “based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction or performance-based factor.”

Similar green energy grants in Republican-led states that voted for Trump in 2024 were left untouched, despite the Department of Energy recommending their cancellation, the government said in the filing. The Trump administration is coming clean now, it said, because it wanted to avoid the government having to participate in the discovery process for the lawsuit.

That process could lead to the government having to hand over much more damaging internal documents to the lawyers representing the researchers. It’s not just about clean energy grants. The Trump administration has also held up other federal funding for states that didn’t support the president, such as FEMA disaster aid and childcare funding. While the court’s decision on this lawsuit is still pending, no matter how the judge rules, Trump is not likely to end his belligerent attempts to use federal funding as punishment.

Republican War Hawks Urge Trump to Finish the Job in Iran

As Trump considers an even larger attack in Iran, his Republican allies in Congress are urging him on.

Senator Roger Wicker stands in front of two mics
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Senator Roger Wicker in 2023

Republicans are urging the president to sidestep negotiations with Tehran and instead pound Iran even harder.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker told The Hill Thursday that he encouraged the president to continue hitting the country through multiple conversations over the course of the week.

“I’ve expressed publicly and privately my approval of finishing the job, and realizing that negotiations were getting us nowhere,” Wicker said. “I’ve made it clear that Iran, in my judgment, has no intention of negotiating in good faith or keeping a promise and that it’s pointless to pretend that they are a trustworthy negotiating party.”

Wicker added that he believed the U.S. could “keep the [Strait of Hormuz] open on our terms” and that the strait is “the key to a successful conclusion of hostilities.”

Texas Representative Ronny Jackson, a close friend of Trump’s who also served as his first-term physician, told The Hill that the military needs to attack Iran “as hard as we possibly can right now.”

“I would do everything I possibly can right now to turn them around. So that’d be my thought,” said Jackson, who has positioned himself to be the next chair of the House Armed Services Committee.

“I just think maximum pressure from the air and maximum security of the strait—anything they have that they could possibly use to cause problems in the strait needs to be destroyed,” Jackson added.

Trump made clear this week that he intends to ramp up the unyielding conflict. In an ominous Truth Social post Thursday, Trump pledged to hold Tehran “responsible” for attacks carried out by Yemen’s Houthis the night before against Saudi Arabian ships. Hours later, Trump told Axios that he was “considering a massive attack.”

“Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” the president told the digital outlet.

The unending Iran war has deeply frustrated Trump, according to administration officials who spoke with The Wall Street Journal late Thursday. Trump has tried to find an off-ramp from the conflict in the months since he threatened to obliterate Iran’s “entire civilization,” but he has been repeatedly unsuccessful in doing so.

But while MAGA war hawks urge him on, some of Trump’s advisers are reportedly concerned that the ongoing hostilities could harm Republican election odds in November, a failure that could transform his final two years in office. Trump pursued war against Iran following an unusual Situation Room meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump then went to war without congressional approval, and without formally addressing the American public regarding his intent.

Americans, meanwhile, have suffered. The war has killed at least 18 U.S. service members, and taken an enormous toll on daily life in the U.S., inflaming the cost of practically everything as shipping companies contend with rising oil costs.

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Alaska Removes Citizens From Voter Rolls Just Before Midterms

Alaska has removed thousands of people from its voter rolls, claiming they might not be citizens.

People stand in line to vote. Voting signs and Do Not Enter tape are hung up.
Hasan Akbas/Anadolu/Getty Images

Alaska’s effort to appease President Trump’s claims that noncitizens are voting has ended up punishing U.S. citizens.

The Alaska Beacon reported Thursday that the state removed 3,048 people from its active voter list, including many citizens who were accidentally flagged by the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles and now have to provide extra identification to be able to vote. The director of the Alaska Division of Elections, Carol Beecher, told state legislators on Wednesday that “old data” was the reason for the mistake and that she wasn’t sure why so many Alaska residents were labeled as noncitizens.

When Alaskans apply for a driver’s license, they are asked whether they want to register to vote and if they are a U.S. citizen. State election officials cross-check the DMV’s records with voter rolls each year, and according to Beecher, “more like 200 names” are typically tagged for extra scrutiny.

The latest check found “a lot more names than we were expecting,” Beecher said.

“We believe that when we did the match, that a lot of old data was picked up somehow. So we’re still ferreting through that,” Beecher said, adding that although the number of flagged names was “very concerning,” the state has to take them seriously.

“It is not disenfranchising the individual from being able to vote, but it’s a measure the division has to take to make sure that we only have citizens voting.”

Beecher said that those who were flagged will receive a letter asking if they are citizens, and that they merely need to contact the state Division of Elections by email, phone, or regular mail, and state they are a citizen. “We don’t require paperwork. We’re not requiring documentation. Nothing like that,” she added.

Eligible U.S. citizens who were removed from the voter rolls disagree.

Chris Waigl, who got her driver’s license in 2019 and became a U.S. citizen in 2025, was alarmed to check her registration status last weekend and find that she was listed as “inactive—non citizen.”

“They were able to correct it there and then after I sent in copies of my naturalization certificate with a date before my voter registration date,” she told the Beacon via email. “It’s just ridiculous.”

Waigl said she reached out to four others who became citizens at the same time as her, and three of them were removed from the voter rolls. One of them told the Beacon by phone that they were removed despite registering in person at a DMV office and presenting citizenship information.

Some people told the Beacon that they haven’t been able to reach the Division of Elections by phone, and that mailboxes are full.

Alaska’s primary elections are less than a month away on August 18, and the general election is less than two months away in November. The state’s lieutenant governor, Nancy Dahlstrom, is in charge of the elections office and has told state officials to comply with the Trump administration’s requests to turn over copies of Alaska’s voter rolls for a national voter database.

But that national database, run by the Department of Homeland Security, has been found to be full of errors, mistakenly flagging U.S. citizens. One month ago, U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan struck it down, saying that the government “haphazardly” created a database of millions of Americans it knew was “inaccurate.”

“States have partnered with the federal government to access the database and are actively removing United States citizens from voter rolls based on inaccurate information,” Soonam wrote in a 75-page ruling. “All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote.”

Between the Trump administration and zealous state governments like Alaska’s, thousands of U.S. citizens may not be able to vote in this year’s midterms.

Read The TNR Blue Book, our new newsletter on the Democratic Party:

Trump Tries to Blow Up Canada Bridge Deal After Opening Ceremony Drama

Trump is once again trying to change the terms of an already finalized agreement.

A large ribbon reading "Gordie Howe International Bridge" hangs over the empty bridge.
Cole Burston/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The Gordie Howe International Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, on July 24

President Donald Trump is suddenly reneging on the terms of the Gordie Howe Bridge project after he claimed Ottawa “disinvited” U.S. officials from the Michigan–Ontario crossing’s grand opening.

“Canada disinvited the United States of America to the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge, which is fine, considering they are paying substantial TARIFFS to the United States, but the original Deal on the Bridge, which was terribly negotiated by a previous Administration, no longer stands,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday. “We changed the terms of the Deal so that the United States of America now gets 50 percent of the Profit.”

The Gordie Howe Bridge was the creation of a very different period in U.S.-Canadian relations. The international bridge was first proposed in the early 2000s and agreed upon by the two nations in 2012. Under the terms of that agreement, Canada would fully pay for the bridge to get the project moving forward and only share toll revenue once it had recovered its initial costs.

At the time, President Barack Obama was revered by America’s northern neighbors, and diplomatic relations between the two countries were good. But Trump has worked hard to undo that long-standing goodwill. Over the last year and a half, the U.S. president has repeatedly attacked Canada, punishing its people with enormous tariffs, baselessly accosting its government, and even threatening to invade its land to make another U.S. state.

The latest insult came earlier this week, when Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on a wide range of Canadian products worth $20 billion. Canada rescinded its invitations to U.S. officials for the bridge’s grand opening ceremony shortly thereafter, and moved the ribbon-cutting ceremony from the international border line at the center of the bridge to a nearby inspection plaza.

“In light of trade action threatened by the United States earlier this week, it would be inappropriate to proceed with a celebratory event between the two countries,” the office of Canada’s infrastructure minister said, in a statement obtained by The New York Times. “The Gordie Howe International Bridge remains a vital infrastructure project that reflects years of hard work and will be a major economic driver.”

Now Trump is threatening the bridge by claiming that the two countries will split the revenue 50-50, which was not what was agreed upon nearly 15 years ago.

It’s not the first time that Trump has meddled with the bridge. In February, Trump promised that he would block the grand opening unless Canada “fully compensated” the U.S. “for everything” and give him “at least half” ownership of the bridge.

It was not clear, even then, what Canada needed to compensate Washington for. Canada footed the bill for the Gordie Howe International Bridge. The project created new American labor and was constructed with U.S. supplies to boot.

Trump’s take was an unexpected backtrack from how he felt about the bridge during his first term: Trump seemed to wholeheartedly support the endeavor in a joint statement issued in 2017 by himself and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, claiming at the time that the bridge would “serve as a vital economic link” between the two countries.

RFK Jr. Now Responsible for 35-Year Record High in Measles

Add that to the salmonella risk, the flesh-eating parasite infesting cattle, and the explosive diarrhea outbreak.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Measles cases in the U.S. have surpassed last year’s totals to reach a new 35-year high, and we’re only in July.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that there have been 2,318 measles cases in 2026 so far, more than the 2,289 cases reported in 2025 and many more than the 283 cases reported in 2024. The last time the numbers were this high was in 1991, and the past 18 months have seen more measles cases than the last 25 years combined.

The vast majority of infected people—93 percent—were unvaccinated, according to the CDC. The number is expected to only grow higher, as new outbreaks have been reported in Wyoming, Delaware, and Arizona. It doesn’t help that the CDC hasn’t had a permanent director for most of President Trump’s second term, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is skeptical of all vaccines, has a history of dismissing measles, even though it can be fatal.

In 2000, the U.S. had declared measles eradicated in the country, but the Pan American Health Organization will review that status later this year. Meanwhile, Kennedy’s HHS isn’t openly supporting vaccination, with the secretary suggesting that vitamin A is an effective treatment for measles.

Kennedy remains on the job, even though he has reportedly checked out of his responsibilities as a Cabinet secretary with the White House stepping in to manage HHS in March. Meanwhile, the country is dealing with an explosive diarrhea outbreak caused by a one-celled parasite linked to tainted lettuce, a flesh-eating parasite infesting cattle, and a new salmonella risk for millions of America’s eggs.

Americans have little, if any, confidence that government officials like Kennedy are up to the task of solving these public health crises. With all of the budget cuts to government regulators, the U.S. probably hasn’t seen the last disease outbreak of Trump’s presidency.

Read The TNR Blue Book, our new newsletter on the Democratic Party:

 

Friday, July 24, 2026

the 40 days of trumpmas - a surreal serial poem

the 40 days of trumpmas - a surreal serial poem


Remember, remember! The fifth of trumpvember

 the 40 days of trumpmas - a serial poem

 

for 40 days the trumpeter reigns,

his lies and hate on whom he disdains,

but election day will come so soon,

we'll no longer hear the orange baboon;

 

in 39 days full of world wide problems.

we could elect him to get rid of the muslims,

but as he'll rant on trivialities of his presidential life,

what could be worse? - you could be his wife;

 

in 38 days just what will you do?

the donald has said he likes lgbtq,

but as he bullies his women and all his men too,

if youre questioning, what stops him from bullying you?

 

in just 37 days, some people are saying,

(or pleading or hoping or some even praying)

the duke of prunes will dye his forelock purple my friend,

and thus make america grape again,

 

our days are down to just 36,

before our problems the don will fix,

he will on day one do what hes said - true,

he'll wall out our enemies - and fat women too!

 

on the 35th day of trumpmas

yes just seven weeks remain!

will the polls and tallies deliver us

donald with his golden mane?

 

34 days and the vice-pipers have piped,

though pence didnt say why donalds suit shouldnt be striped,

he wouldnt defend his master's string pulling,

to make america great? - who do they think they're fooling?

 

just 33 days till the macho tornado,

unless its blown away by hurricane machado,

with women and voters he has so much to loose.

keep your mouth shut donald (unless youre changing your shoes)

 

32 days and we’ve been hit by the big blowhard,

donald spoke here in fla (oh, we had a hurricane too)

this administration gives us playing the race card, a weak economy, and unemployment

but if you want a job you could be donald’s campaign manager (unless youre a jew)

 

31 days, just a month, remains;

will the donald say hes sorry, and his baser impulses restrain?

or keep blaming bill clinton for our moral demise;

when trump speaks to us, our NO votes must be our replies!

 

election comes this time (in 30 days) each 4 years,

time for praise and tears and fears;

as polls will open in many states,

vote early, please dont vote late!

 

down to 29, just a leap february,

and theres still the donald quite

contrary;

donald donald, how does your garden grow?

quoth the master debater, "with pretty maids groped in a row"

 

just 28 days - later or soon,

and the zombies will rise, led by the big goon;

unless everyone gets a reality inoculation,

i might have to move to canada for a well deserved vacation; 

 

now just 27, less than 4 weeks,

no time for you to say 'yikes!' or 'eeeks!'

obama wants to go to mars and colonize it for man,

lets send trump tomorrow! and colonize it for orangutan!

 

26 days are all that remain,

will our democracy and economy go down the drain?

if we all keep listening to the blustering oaf,

will he give jobs and prosperity? - or just half a loaf

 

25 days - will more women speak?,

of the antics of donald who the presidency seeks,

dating 14 year old girls or groping their mothers,

how did the gop pick him over the others?,

 

24 days - were down to two dozen,

the next woman who speaks just might be your cousin,

or mother or sister, aunt, niece, even daughter,

describing the circumstance in which donald caught her,

 

23 days left and trump doesnt yet have as many accusers,

as cosby, but he assures us that they are all really losers,

sent by bankers or hillary with secret agendas,

to disrupt our election of him - our defender!,

 

22 days and we know charity begins at home,

but donalds attention is so prone to roam,

his gift that disappeared to 911 survivors from his foundation?,

oops! maybe donald spent it on a vacation,

 

21 days and trump says the election may be rig-ly,

if hes not the winner and his total's not big-ly,

tremendously higher than hillary gets,

he warns his supporters may all lose their wits,

 

20 days left and while george zimmerman still walks free,

the man who shot at HIM got 20 years - while trayvon got eternity,

trump wants us to support our cops and maintain law and order,

he'll put all the inner city dwellers in jail, and send the immigrant criminals far across the border,

 

19 days left till we all go to pretend,

to elect someone to lead us, as if on it our lives depend,

but wise man, donald trump, already really knows,

who we really voted for - a wolf in president's clothes?,

 

18 days and we bad hombres demand a rebate,

on the ill feelings left since the comments of one candidate,

the debaters have met in their final grudge match,

but only donald can say from whose hands victory will be snatched,

 

17 days and our government is corrupt with quid pro quo,

did you take latin at wharton? is that how you know?,

donald wants us to fire at them all - the bureaucrats lined up in rows,

and believe me, corruption is a subject. that donald really knows,

 

16 days - lets set term limits on all our office holders,

and put all our women in binders - or maybe in folders,

donalds endless complaints are becoming a sour whine,

have a little cheese with that, from wisconsin, where 

hillary's doing fine,

 

15 days and on stocking covered thighs did linger,

two miniature hands with two thumbs and eight tiny fingers,

they belonged to the donald who believed that he owned,

any thing that he wanted - or anyone he got alone,

 

14 days yes only two weeks,

till the duke of orange assends to the throne he seeks?,

to rule all americans, the strong and the weak?,

and dominate the globe with power that's peak?,

 

the 13th day to go - does that seem unlucky?,

not for donald whos lately been appearing quite plucky,

claiming media, polls, and parties are against him,

and rallying his multitudes with wit waxing dim,

 

on the 12th day of trumpmas donald awoke with a jerk,

promptly fired his latest campaign manager (who considered that a perk),

if youre "AAAfroAAAmurikan" and unemployed i can put you to work,

barked donald the businessman from behind his sly smirk,

 

it's the 11th and engineer casey trump is in the caboose,

i hear some of you saying oh no! what's the use,

our campaign will probably just go off the tracks,

but donald says its ok - cause he's got "the blacks",

 

just ten days left yes only one-zero,

til donald is hoping that he'll be your hero,

as new hillary emails come under investigation,

donald hopes to rename camp david to camp donald for

his vacations,

 

like a cat has nine lives we're left with only 9 days,

till we're subject to donald? and his old wicked ways,

on foreign affairs he says he'll save us from isis,

but his domestic affairs are misogyny and crisis,

 

our days are numbered - yes only eight,

till once again we make america great,

by getting rid of candidates who have nothing to add,

goodbye donald you wont make america sad,

 

just one week to go - its day minus seven,

till america's lifted above - to trumpty dump heaven?,

where for rich folks like donald opportunity abounds,

and we keep the working poor with a wall that surrounds,

 

how the time it does fly its already day 6,

till americans problems the donald will fix,

his solutions begin on trumpday number one,

dont you like them? they'll come at the barrel of a gun,

 

Five days to go, baby, One in five,

No one here gets out alive, now,

david dukes not opposed to all jews,

he backs trump - who are you going to choose?,

 

only 4 days left till the armaged-don,

he'll seize power by the horns once he has won,

and donnie will be what he longs for - a winner,

using the FBI to wreak havoc on hillary the sinner,

 

only three left, just a triad of days,

and the donald his supporters continues to amaze,

with hoopla and folderoll made up in his head,

his winning temperament will leave us all dead,

 

just a pair of days - 2 - till trump paradise,

since these words you're reading please heed my advice,

the creatures that surround us are beginning to bite,

'blacks for trump' fear the Illuminati so lets turn out their light,

 

just a single day left till our thanksgiving,

deliver us from donald and preserve the living,

forget sanity and disgard your misgivings,

but pray hard to your gods that they'll be forgiving,

since we've got the nukes why can't we use'em?,

on the road to 2016 why couldn't we lose HIM?,

 

and trumpmas now has finally come,

the tallies will count up to a winning sum,

unless the earth is struck soon by a cataclysmic comet,

to elect a candidate who just makes you want to vomit?,

we wish you a merry trumpmas at this time each 4 years,

if you have'nt voted you've lost the chance to mitigate your fears,

cause donald duck is ready to lead, forget your crocodile tears,

so you'd better get the vaseline and lubricate your rears!

 

 

stay informed 6

stay informed 6 

https://livenewschat.eu/msnbc-live-stream/  

https://www.democracynow.org/

https://www.fsnradionews.com/FSNNews/FSNWorldNews.mp3 

https://www.ms.now/  

freespeech.org 

https://thom.tv/p/the-thom-hartmann-program-4242026?r=275t9c 

https://www.infowars.com/ 

https://theonion.com/