benfreund.bsky.social

EL-SAYED: I get that the President takes personal offense to my first name. He doesn't mind as much when it's the Saudis who are funding his son-in-law's private equity. Doesn't seem to mind as much when it's the Qataris who are giving them a $400 million private jet…

Still teaching I see

ICYMI — CBS News(Max) deleted a tweet after @angieforfl.bsky.social called them out for mischaracterizing what she said about Cuba 🤔

OBAMA: "Trump is focused on enriching himself & his family/friends. A Venezuelan billionaire wanted a pardon, so he paid a Trump lawyers $50 million — and lo & behold! The pardon falls out of the sky... We’ve never seen a president straight-up grifting on your dime like this."

Grok fact-checks its master 👇🏽 👀

Humiliating and dangerous: Trump has now finally just made America an ally of the Kremlin and is aiding Putin in his war against an American friend and partner. Shameful betrayal of a US friend, and pathetic submission to a US enemy. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...

Fair Q

Before Citizens United, the top 15 political contributors spent just $15 million on the midterm election. Now, the top 15 have spent $962 MILLION. That's up 6,400%. THIS is why our system is so rigged. We really, really have to end Citizens United and tax the rich.

"My money is on the hookers and urination having actually occurred." #PutinsPeePeePuppet 🇷🇺 shorturl.at/K0fJF

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla paid just 4.9% of their profits in federal corporate taxes in 2025. They've seen their collective tax bill drop by $95B thanks to two rounds of Trump tax cuts. Meanwhile, tech layoffs in 2026 have already surpassed 2025. Trickle-down economics was always a scam.

Remember when Howard Dean was considered too nuts to be president?

TELEGRAPH: Trump & Musk conspired to throttle Starlink and make Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian attacks — then Musk tried to blame only Trump. Putin wins again, as usual. Russia was never a hoax. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

The oligarchs are all corrupt and insane.

Trump on global warming: "That didn't work out because the planet got cooler. In fact, you know the ice that was melting? It right now just set a record. It's the biggest ice cube that's ever been in the history of the world ... they're doing the scam with data centers, by the way."

keep thinking about "personalised" books/art made by AI and remembering James Baldwin's quote "you think your pain and heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read" these AI bros are deliberately doing a psyop on themselves to cauterise their capacity for empathy

The Trump administration has moved to cripple Title IX protections against sexual assault and harassment on the same day New York prosecutors reopened the investigation into heinous allegations of a fraternity gang rape at Cornell University. trib.al/QewniBV

UPDATE: Judge in the League of Women Voters of Mass. case lifted the injunction there blocking the mail voting part of the EO — for now — but makes clear there could (and, imho, likely will) be a new injunction once the plaintiffs file their amended complaint addressing the final USPS rule.

“You are all that matters to me… I want to bring you joy…” If an aide was writing stuff like this to Biden (or, gasp, Obama) Republicans would never talk about anything else. And they know it. And @ossoff knows they know it. #Natalie

Michele Tafoya on Fox Business refers to Minnesota, the state where she is a Republican US Senate candidate, as a “provincial state” where people are more concerned about fraud than the economy

Phang: The fish rots from the head down. Todd Blanche, conspicuously absent from court today, and he continues to send in other lawyers from the DOJ to be in the firing line when judge Sullivan wants to have accountability on the fact that his orders are being ignored.

Phang: Well, the FBI handwritten notes implicate Donald Trump. And I don't think it's a secret why they're doing this dance at the DOJ, to not release them

Legal documents released today show federal law enforcement officials extensively surveilled public meetings and activists during the ICE surge, and created dossiers on political enemies. I've been busy, but will post some takeaways on this thread soon: (1) www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

Today Hasan said he will explore legal action, and he absolutely should. That Jennings said this on Salem Media’s airwaves, known to be an Israel propaganda project run by Trump’s ex campaign manager, makes it even more worth doing.

Minnesota Senate nominee Michele Tayofa on the Iran war: "Maybe you take one less trip to Starbucks and so that gas goes a little further. Until this thing is over and these gas prices come back down again, let's just try to be patriots about this."

"Wah, wah, 'I don't want to be bait for a missile strike.' They're always making it about themselves."

Let's not bicker and argue about who tried to kill who.

I need to know more

After Alabama redrew its congressional maps in May, voters in several districts saw their primaries pushed to August. Now, it's time to vote and there are concerns confusion will dampen voter turnout. n.pr/4zi2w9R

Yes, this article is real. www.bbc.com/news/world-u...

holy shit Trump is OUT

Trump: "At one year, you should have 5 separate visits for vaccines rather than getting them all in the same day. I've seen proof of where they have a vaccination thing that looks like the size of a bottle of soda and pour it into a little child's body."

You, a genius: "If the US had popular support for a ground invasion, the Iran war would be very different." Me, an idiot: "God that's a lot of big hills are you quite sure?"

NEW: Reports of Trump's catering-truck transfer in Turkey raise big questions about the recent NYT subpoenas. “So, you’re saying there wasn’t a security threat?” a reporter asked on July 8. Trump told her no. Two days later, DOJ went after the reporters who looked into the story.

Pete Hegseth wipes his nose, then runs his hand through his hair

thinking about what one trillion dollars of investment in clean energy would look like and getting so mad i need to lie down with the lights off

The Washington Post is now trying to sell individual op-eds for $2. What they don't understand is that people don't want to read their stuff. If you want to support independent, pro-democracy media, subscribe to Democracy Docket instead. demdock.com/4w6emld

Read this 👇

Trump: The leaks are untrue but the leakers should be locked up 🤔

El-Sayed on Trump posting image of him & his wife in a restaurant w/ caption "2 DIFFERENT Americas": "He's right. One in which your overlords are 2 people who don't like each other joined in the interest in making billions off of you, or 2 people who genuinely love each other enjoying pancakes ... "

Maria, you've really got your finger on the pulse of America. Go you.🤦🏻‍♀️

El-Sayed: "Imagine if instead of paying that to your health insurance company, whose CEO makes $20m a year, you paid a little bit more in taxes for healthcare you wouldn't lose. I think all of us would a lot more interested in that system if we knew our healthcare would be free at point of care"

WELKER: You're saying you would not support sending aid to Israel, which was attacked by Hamas, but you've also said you would support sending aid to Ukraine which was attacked by Russia EL-SAYED: It's about conditions. I believe we have a responsibility to uphold int'l law and to support Ukraine

LEFT: Dignified and belongs in Washington, DC. RIGHT: Tacky as sh*t and belongs in Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas.

By UNANIMOUS consent, the Senate adjourned for recess until Monday, September 14 without passing the SAVE America Act. Nobody objected to the request, or asked for a roll call vote.

Eerily similar to the verbiage on the Access Hollywood tape, except instead of bragging about assaulting women he’s talking about pilfering historical artifacts, most of which we will likely never see again.

Ken Paxton's own party impeached him for bribery and corruption. Paxton is the only Texas official to be impeached by his own party in nearly 50 years.

Trump crashes out about ballroom ruling: “This decision, made after much of the work has been done and paid for, is a National Security Threat at the highest level. It is also a National Disgrace”

A Senate candidate talking about the Powell memo???? Pinch me, am I dreaming????