Top Items:
Michael Tomasky / New Republic:
It's Happened: The United States of America Is No Longer a Democracy — If you haven't had time yet to soak in the details of the stunning Tom Homan story that Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian of MSNBC broke over the weekend, hold on to your hats. I'd say you won't believe what you're about to read, but of course, you will.
Discussion:
Mediaite, CBS News, Straight Arrow News, The Week and Washington Examiner
RELATED:
Jose Pagliery / NOTUS:
The Justice Department Had 36 Lawyers Fighting Corruption Full-Time. Under Trump, It's Down to Two. — The Public Integrity Section is the latest casualty in the administration's attacks on Nixon-era good-government reforms. — Copy — When Donald Trump took office eight months ago …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Raw Story
Washington Post:
Trump's new demands on Justice Department raise alarm among prosecutors
Trump's new demands on Justice Department raise alarm among prosecutors
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Above the Law and Wall Street Journal
Farrah Tomazin / The Daily Beast:
Tulsi Gabbard Breaks With Trump in MAGA Free Speech Rebellion — CARR SMASHED — Political observers viewed the comments as an implicit rebuke to the administration's punitive steps attacking dissent — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has broken ranks with the Trump administration …
Discussion:
The Hill and Hartford Courant
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Paul Waldman / Public Notice:
Turns out Republicans don't care about free speech after all — PN is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 🚨🚨 Subscribe to PN 🚨🚨 — We have some shocking news: The Trump administration and the American right may not be quite …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and The Contrarian
Svante Myrick / The Hill:
Trump is breaking his most important promises and keeping the worst
Discussion:
New York Times
Tom Jones / Poynter:
Trump's escalating war on speech raises a chilling question: Where does it end?
Trump's escalating war on speech raises a chilling question: Where does it end?
Discussion:
The Guardian, CNN and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
A lot of powerful people just don't realize how unpopular Trump is — Last week, ABC/Disney canceled Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show after the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of television stations that carry the program.
Discussion:
Semafor
Ethan Stark-Miller / AM New York:
EXCLUSIVE | Mamdani pulls planned ABC town hall event after network suspended Jimmy Kimmel's show — Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani announced Monday that he is cancelling a televised town hall with WABC News planned for Sept. 25 in the wake of the network suspending comedian …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Tangle, MeidasTouch News, New York Sun, Rolling Stone, Mediaite, The Wrap, Newsweek, Variety, Raw Story and NewsMax.com, more at Mediagazer »
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Adam Edelman / NBC News:
Zohran Mamdani pulls out of local ABC town hall over Jimmy Kimmel suspension
Zohran Mamdani pulls out of local ABC town hall over Jimmy Kimmel suspension
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Hill, Business Insider and The Hollywood Reporter
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
Tables turn for Democrats as they use shutdown for leverage … It's Republicans who are pushing a “clean” seven-week continuing resolution, which they say will buy time for more negotiations on full-year spending bills and possibly an extension of expiring health insurance subsidies.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Punchbowl News, Raw Story and Florida Politics
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Brian Beutler / Off Message:
Meme-ify Trump's Failures
Discussion:
RedState, ABC News and PoliticusUSA
Steven Levy / Wired:
I Thought I Knew Silicon Valley. I Was Wrong — Tech got what it wanted by electing Trump. A year later, it looks more like a suicide pact. — For decades, Mark Lemley's life as an intellectual property lawyer was orderly enough. He's a professor at Stanford University and has consulted for Amazon, Google, and Meta.
Financial Times:
US offers financial lifeline to Argentina's Javier Milei — Scott Bessent proposes support package during market volatility — US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said “all options” are on the table for the Trump administration to support Argentina through a bout of severe market volatility …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, New York Sun, Washington Times, Reuters, Lawyers, Guns & Money and NewsMax.com
Sam Judy / The Barbed Wire:
She Survived 141 Days in ICE Custody Thanks to a ‘Beautiful Sisterhood.’ Now She's Fighting for Those Still Inside. — On the evening of Feb. 11, 22-year-old Ward Sakeik sat on a plane from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Miami. She and her husband, Taahir Shaikh, were returning from their honeymoon, but he was sitting a few rows away.
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Kylie Cheung / Teen Vogue:
How ICE Raids Are Making It Easier for Civilian Men to Assault Immigrant Women
How ICE Raids Are Making It Easier for Civilian Men to Assault Immigrant Women
Discussion:
Daily Caller News Foundation
New Republic:
Transcript: Trump Boat Bombings Get Worse as Damning Info Emerges — The following is a lightly edited transcript of the September 22 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here. — (Editor's note: After we recorded, Trump bombed a third vessel in similarly lawless fashion.)
Discussion:
Washington Examiner and Just Security
Ben Terris / New York Magazine:
Top Goon — Kristi Noem is the face of Trump's police state. Corey Lewandowski is the muscle. Who really runs DHS? — On the morning of May 7, before making his way to Capitol Hill to testify in front of Congress, Cameron Hamilton, then the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, packed up his office.
Discussion:
New Republic
Reuters:
Exclusive: US could hit entire International Criminal Court with sanctions soon — U.S. considers entity-wide sanctions against ICC, sources say — ICC member states to oppose U.S. sanctions at U.N. meeting — ICC holds emergency meetings to prepare for U.S. sanctions
Ted Mann / Bloomberg:
Trump Cancels Trail, Bike-Lane Grants Deemed ‘Hostile’ to Cars — The Trump administration canceled grants for street safety measures, pedestrian trails and bike lanes in communities around the country this month, each time offering a simple rationale for yanking back federal aid: the projects aren't designed for cars.
American Civil Liberties Union:
Join the ACLU and Over 400 Artists to Defend Free Speech — Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after our government threatened a private company with retaliation for Kimmel's remarks. This is a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation. — This is unconstitutional and un-American.
Discussion:
Associated Press, CNN, CNBC, Washington Post, The Hill, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, NPR, New York Post, The Guardian, Mediaite, Politico, Newsweek, The Wrap and Deadline
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
Why Trump's directive to AG Bondi should be seen as an impeachment-level scandal — The president isn't just being accused of trying to weaponize federal law enforcement, he's now publicly flaunting his corrupt and authoritarian efforts. — Imagine a scenario in which an investigative reporter uncovered …
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, Scripps News, NewsNation, UPI, Bloomberg, The Mahablog and The Daily Beast
Matt Egan / CNN:
The US economy has a new problem: Democracy is under siege — The nation's top economic statistician was fired. Central bank independence is being undermined. The federal government is buying chunks of private companies and demanding cuts of revenue streams.
Debra Kamin / New York Times:
Trump Appointees Roll Back Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws — Interviews and internal documents show that signature civil rights protections in housing are being dismissed as ideologically driven and D.E.I. in disguise. — In one email, a Trump appointee at the Department of Housing …
Discussion:
New Republic
Andrew Duehren / New York Times:
Trump's Tax Cut Is Underwater. Can a ‘Refund Boom’ Save It? — Republicans are hoping a new name, along with larger refunds for many Americans next year, can buoy an economic agenda that polls show is unpopular. — Republicans admit there is a problem with the broad tax and health care law they passed this summer.
Dan Alexander / Forbes:
Here's How Much The Trump Kids Have Made Because Of The Presidency — President Trump just had the most lucrative year of his life. But percentage-wise, members of his immediate family, including sons Eric, Don Jr. and Barron, did even better. — President Trump's dad, Fred …
Discussion:
New Republic
Chance Phillips / Liberal Currents:
Trump Must Lose the Second Bank War — Henry Clay understood what was wrong with the unitary executive theory back in the 1830s. — “Eventually, executive power will become completely uncontainable, and our beloved constitutional Republic will be no more,” Supreme Court Justice Ketanji …
Brian Bennett / Time:
Trump Wants to Target Left-Wing Groups. Here's How He Might Do It … There is a long history of political players improperly deploying the IRS for political purposes, says Patrick G. Eddington, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. “The IRS has been misused repeatedly …
Matt Ford / New Republic:
The Roberts Court Is Winning Its War on American Democracy … Twenty years ago, Chief Justice John Roberts took the oath of office and ushered in a new era for the Supreme Court. His 2005 confirmation vote marked the transition from the Rehnquist court—where a narrow majority of conservatives …
Discussion:
One First
Natalie Fertig / Politico:
Why Democrats can't match Trump's gerrymander push … “It's no doubt the case that it's harder for Democrats to do this right now than Republicans,” said All About Redistricting author and researcher Douglas Spencer, an expert in election law at the University of Colorado.
Discussion:
New York Times and The Hill
Emily Hallas / Washington Examiner:
Florida launches ‘violent extremism’ portal for public to report threats — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday that the state is expanding ways for residents to report alleged threats of political violence. — During a press conference at Valencia College in Orlando …
Discussion:
Cape Coral Breeze, Townhall, Orlando Sentinel, The Hill and Florida Politics
Chris Gordon / Air & Space Forces Magazine:
Allvin: First F-47 Sixth-Gen Fighter Already Being Built, Expected to Fly in 2028 — NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—The first F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter will be ready to fly by 2028, and the first airframe is already being built, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin announced during …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Breaking Defense and NewsMax.com
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
RFK Jr's war on vaccines is about shaming women, not helping kids — The MAHA movement regards all childhood ailments as a sign that moms are failing — To understand why Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is attacking the hepatitis B vaccine, look to the rhetoric coming …
Zach Everson / Forbes:
Turning Point USA Raised $389 Million Under Charlie Kirk—Including $13.1 Million From A Texas Foundation Overlooked Until Now — Topline — Turning Point USA raised nearly $400 million under Charlie Kirk, with support from billionaires and secretive donor-advised funds …
Discussion:
Fox News, Michigan Advance and NPR

