Citizen Jeeves

Voting began about 45 minutes ago in Israel, where it’s 7:45 AM and will continue until 10 PM. The first television exit polls are expected at 10 PM local time, which is 1 PM Pacific time and 4 PM Eastern time. This is Israel’s first national election since Nov. 1, 2022.

Another story impossible to imagine in any other administration: the president's son goes hunting with a Russian criminal who is part of Putin's security entourage

USPS workers’ greatest concern about Trump’s mail voting plan was a requirement that they reject ballots for an array of reasons. “That’s not what we do. We deliver mail. We don’t decide what goes and what doesn’t.”

Just insane. Possible clinching WNBA game of championships starts at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time on a weekday — in competition with soap operas and “Caillou” — because teams keep planning on their own players not making the Finals. (And when they DO succeed a regular season MNBA game takes priority.)

NEW: In a newly drawn congressional district including Memphis, Black voters may get a representative who spent years stripping away local control. by @wendicthomas.bsky.social @mlk50.com

arm wrestling match, ocean city, maryland, 1985

“Americans deserve a Congress that works for them, not for special interests or personal portfolios,” the Florida Republican said in 2025. Then the federal contracts started rolling in.

It is rare that I have no complaints about NYT political reporting. Really good piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/25/us/politics/trumps-election-alaska.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LlE.NNZW.ODe4eC2i57Ui&smid=url-share

WSJ's Alex Ward points to obvious logical incoherence in Elon Musk's claims. Keeps making me think of the two WSJ stories on Elon Musk's severe Ketamine addiction.

This is who we've become. We're not celebrating our immigrant heritage. We're watching it being forced to disappear: Asbury Park, NJ, cancels its Day of the Dead celebration because of fears of ICE action. www.nj.com/news/2026/10...

Writers Guild speaks out about tech platforms squashing the @alexgibneyfilm doc about Elon Musk: “A small handful of billionaires now own virtually every major media company, news outlet, social media platform and are demonstrating how this unchecked concentration threatens democratic discourse.”

"The director won’t protect even our most respected analysts when they tell hard truths, so they stopped telling them and learned to avoid topics the White House didn’t want to hear,” newly retired CIA official tells @shaneharris.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

This horror is less than a mile from where I grew up. Don’t let this happen to your community.

NEW: The EPA is quietly killing its web archive. Tens of thousands of documents on contamination, clean power, and Trump’s climate deletions are now scheduled to disappear. www.motherjones.com/environment/...

As Texas’ top legal official, Ken Paxton has defended some of the country’s most restrictive abortion laws — under which several pregnant women died because they couldn’t get the care they needed. He could soon join federal anti-abortion efforts.

ICE said Antonio Moreida jumped onto the hood of their vehicle. Now a local police investigation concludes that an ICE agent struck him with his SUV. The routine lying by ICE is the result of the example set by leadership of the Department of Homeland Security.

Kiah = the Mutombonator

The Ramaswamy campaign not only tried to capitalize on a child rape victim, they did it by using an old homeless woman who—while vile—is in no mental shape to adequately understand the stakes. And did they pay her? Either answer is bad.

Donald Trump literally making us sicker www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/c...

A wild story: the CEO of a US energy company whose plans were discussed during the Witkoff-Kushner-Putin negotiations resigns. Why? He learned that his company's main investor is a sanctioned Russian company, not the UAE www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u...

Spooky season, SF edition 👻

What am I supposed to do with this?

Lights are reflected off a bulletproof screen as President Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina. More photos of the week: reut.rs/4yGkBNh 📷 Evan Vucci

This is 👀 “Kushner’s counsel, however, said Kushner did not make any agreements or arrangements with leaders or officials in foreign countries that were not agreed to by the President of the United States and in the best interests of the United States.”

🚨“Had poultry been infected, the playbook would have been clear: The strain is so virulent that if a single chicken tests positive, the US govt requires farmers to kill the whole flock to protect other farms as well as public health...But there are no federal rules for how to deal with sick mink.”🚨

When I need my blood pressure to drop, I visit Berkeley's Elmwood neighborhood. A+ scent, bird and knitting stores. The best orzo salad. And a Top 5 Bay Area cinema and Top 3 bookstore within a baseball throw of each other. Gift link for Stars Hollow fans 🎁 ❤️ www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf/arti...

"We cannot let private individuals make foreign and defense policy," he wrote.

The map from a story about how Trump's cuts to USPS may disenfranchise rural voters. Aside from urban voting locations, I actually think MOST of the voter suppression will hurt Trump voters more this year. www.propublica.org/article/mail...

In Venezuela last September, I found people hoping for change, but shocked and surprised by US policy, especially opaque oil deals with former regime cronies. The system looks, one economist told me, like “a coalition of two kleptocracies" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

NEW: ProPublica sued the federal government for records that show which schools are facing civil rights investigations — data that was public before Trump’s second term. Now you can use our database to find cases.

Ramaswamy has produced an attack ad weaponizing the rape of his opponent, Amy Acton, when she was 12 years old. It features Acton’s mother, who abandoned Acton after she was raped by her step-father, fleeing the state with her husband. Here is the corporate money helping fund that ad.

NEW: Nearly 200 people granted pardons or other clemency by President Trump for Jan. 6 riot prosecutions are suing so far for millions in US payouts. More than a quarter were convicted of assaulting or interfering with police, court records show. Deep dive: buff.ly/keDq09P

This is sad. General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s historic World War II globe was broken when Pete Hegseth’s team dropped it while trying to move it into his office.

A federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop interrogating people they have identified as potentially fraudulent voters using databases that have been proven unreliable.

This is what we were posting about earlier. Please take your time and double-check your selections before submitting your ballot.

Powerful, by @jamellebouie.net Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/21/o...

Now, does this sound like a responsible contractor?

C.D.C. Ignored Request From States to Validate a New Measles Test The agency replied two months later, saying it had “competing priorities,” officials from a coalition of Western states said. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/21/h...

Two weeks ago, @jimacosta.bsky.social broke the story about DHS potentially using a military-grade “heat ray.” I joined him to discuss the risks. Today, CNN reports the Pentagon authorized DHS to test it. Having worked at DHS and the Pentagon, I find this horrific and deeply concerning.

We are documenting takes from some of the worst people imaginable over at mediamatters.org

Michael de Adder:

Not the point, but I’m dying at the idea that Trump has “turned into a politician like the rest of them” when he is truly sui generis in his corruption, incoherence and lawlessness. If only he were just a median Republican.