Pentagon officials told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that they estimated the cost of the war against Iran had exceeded $11.3 billion — in the first six days alone, according to three people familiar with the briefing.
I have houseplants that would have done a better job of keeping us out of an unnecessary war that caused prices to rise.
As this war deepens, I suggest you read what I wrote about Donald Trump's plan to use his attack on Iran to justify a power grab over voting in the 2026 midterms. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/trum...
The FBI says it is investigating an attack at a synagogue near Detroit as a "targeted act of violence against the Jewish community."
Obligation
"Mary Trump Exposes Donald's Family Nightmare" full video | youtu.be/QDhfBCVoa0Q
In a new filing, voting technology company Smartmatic accused the DOJ of launching a politically motivated prosecution against it to promote Trump’s 2020 election lies and punish it for defending election integrity.
The company asked a federal court to dismiss a criminal indictment against it.
If this is enacted, Florida will be sued.
"Florida lawmakers are poised to approve sweeping new restrictions that would require voters to prove their citizenship status, as well as remove student ID as an acceptable form of voter identification." www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Your.talking.about.this.while.in..a.fucking.war???
Here we go.
Asymmetrical warfar. Extremists, as predicted, using the growing conflict for more recruitment.
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
Maasdam: What we’re doing overseas — spending billions of dollars a day. In two weeks, we probably spent $25 billion. We had an Ayatollah Khomeini to start, and now we have a new Ayatollah Khomeini. And how is this making things in my district more affordable for people? It’s not
According to Ticktin, others involved with the effort surrounding the draft order include Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI before receiving a sweeping pardon from Trump in December 2020; Patrick Byrne, the former Overstock.com CEO and prominent election skeptic; and Stefanie Lambert, an attorney who is awaiting trial in Michigan over allegations that she illegally accessed voting tabulators in an attempt to prove that the 2020 election was stolen. Both Flynn and Byrne have repeatedly and publicly advocated for Trump to declare a national emergency ahead of the upcoming election.
Ticktin said others involved with the effort surrounding the proposed elections executive order include Michael Flynn, Patrick Byrne, and Stefanie Lambert.
One of them is Ticktin, a Florida lawyer who has known Trump since the two attended the New York Military Academy as teenagers. Ticktin represented his former classmate in a 2022 civil suit accusing Hillary Clinton and others of conspiring to smear Trump with claims that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. A federal judge later dismissed the suit and sanctioned Trump's attorneys-including Ticktin-finding that the suit amounted to the "deliberate use of the judicial system to pursue a political agenda." Ticktin currently represents Tina Peters, the former Colorado elections clerk who was sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in a 2021 breach of her office's voting machines. In an interview, Ticktin told us he wrote what he described as a "precursor" to the 17-page draft executive order that has been circulating since April of last year. "I'm not sure exactly who prepared this one," he said of the version dated April 12, which he provided to Democracy Docket last month. But Ticktin said he believed the April 12 version of the draft order was "really well done" — well done enough that he emailed it to the president. Ticktin said his outreach to government officials about the draft executive order also extended to Kurt Olsen, the White House director of "election security and integrity." Olsen, an attorney, represented Texas in its unsuccessful post-2020 suit to overturn Trump's loss. He was later sanctioned by a federal judge for advancing "false, misleading and unsupported factual assertions" in Kari Lake's failed bid to challenge her 2022 gubernatorial loss in Arizona. Now, as a White House official, Olsen has reportedly been tasked with leading a probe to reexamine the 2020 race. Last month, an unsealed FBI search warrant affidavit revealed that a criminal inquiry into election irregularities in Fulton County began with a referral from Olsen.
Peter Ticktin, a friend of Trump's since they were teenagers, told us that he emailed the 17-page proposed order to the president.
He said his outreach to government officials about the draft executive order also extended to Kurt Olsen, the White House director of "election security and integrity."
NEW: Right-wing activists are circulating a draft executive order that purports to give Trump sweeping power over federal elections.
@mollyroberts.bsky.social and I got new details on the activists, lawyers, and conspiracy theorists behind the proposed order:
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/in-c...
BREAKING: The Florida Senate passed a version of the SAVE America Act requiring proof of citizenship to register and remain on the state's voter rolls.
The amended bill, which would go into effect in 2027, now returns to the House for a vote before heading to Gov. Ron DeSantis for a signature.
Text on white — The attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan is horrifying. My thoughts are with the congregation and all who are shaken by this act of antisemitic violence. I am continuing to closely monitor the situation. Out of an abundance of caution, the NYPD will continue to deploy high-visibility patrols to Jewish religious and cultural institutions across the five boroughs.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said Trump could have better spent his time at a rally in Northern Kentucky justifying his war with Iran instead of focusing on politics.
EXCLUSIVE: Epstein 'Suicide' Noose Likely Never Had DNA Taken to Investigate Potential Homicide via @jordanchariton.bsky.social
www.statuscoupsubstack.com/p/exclusive-...
"It’s a frightening reality of the Trump regime that, as he's descended into utter incoherence & is now nothing more than an assortment of adolescent (& frequently violent) urges, the govt has been remade into a tool for the immediate satisfaction of his desires no matter how nihilistic they may be"
🎯
+1
Agree 💯% with you regarding former CIA Director @johnbrennan.bsky.social He continues to walk with a giant step. All these sleazy, grifting & corrupt combined can't begin to walk in his shoes, as none of them have his:
#ConscienceCompetenceCourageCHARACTER ⚖️🗽🙏🏼
God bless him & see him thru this
Amid Trump's continued efforts to weaponize the justice system and punish his political enemies, top DOJ officials are reportedly ramping up the pressure to criminally charge former CIA Director John Brennan.
Authorship of the April 12 draft is difficult to pin down, but several figures connected to the election- denial movement say they had a hand in shaping it. A key figure is Juan O. Savin, the nom de plume of Wayne Willott, a private investigator turned QAnon influencer who has cultivated a significant following in far-right conspiracy circles. Savin is perhaps best known among QAnon followers as the subject of a theory that he is actually John F. Kennedy Jr.— who died in a plane crash in 1999-living under an assumed identity. Beyond his QAnon celebrity, however, Savin has formed notable political connections: In 2021, he co-founded the America First Secretary of State Coalition, which worked to place election-denying candidates in charge of state elections in key swing states. The coalition received significant funding from The America Project, the organization co- founded by Flynn and Byrne. In a recent appearance on the right-wing program Nino's Corner, Savin said he reviewed an early version of the executive order during Trump's re-election campaign in the summer of 2024. Finding that version "inadequate," he assembled a coalition of "legal minds" and "election experts" to formulate a new version of the proposed order. According to Savin, the group met for several days in Washington, D.C. shortly after the inauguration. Over the following months, he said, the coalition produced approximately 13 drafts before arriving at the 17-page version circulated that spring. The page count may not be coincidental: Within QAnon lore, the number 17 carries symbolic meaning, because "Q" is the 17th letter of the alphabet, and believers often treat the number as a coded signal.
A key figure is "Juan O. Savin," AKA Wayne Willott, a QAnon influencer who is the subject of a conspiracy theory that he is actually JFK Jr. living under an assumed identity.
Savin has said he convened a coalition of legal minds and election experts to draft the 17-page proposed executive order.
it’s completely fucking insane that the *treasury secretary* is out here pretending to give military briefings, and in a normal administration, he’d get fired for this
Right? This president loves TV ratings more than anything else, and he should know this would set records.
i would watch the shit out of that
The Trump administration could really restore confidence by getting the entire Cabinet to ride a tanker through the Straits of Hormuz to show everyone how safe and easy it is now.
They could bring along a lot of MAGA influencers and Fox News hosts to broadcast it all live!
Some who say they were part of Savin's coalition have since claimed credit for helping draft the proposed order. Among them is Tim Canova, a professor of law and public finance at Nova Southeastern University's Shepard Broad College of Law, who said he researched statutory authorities for the proposed order alongside Garland Favorito, an information technology consultant who runs a Georgia-based election integrity non-profit called VoterGA. In an interview, Canova described Favorito as playing a "more significant role than anyone" in coordinating the coalition's efforts to draft the proposed order. Asked for comment, Favorito did not address the accuracy of that description. He declined to discuss the draft order, saying he hadn't read it. "You are basically asking me to comment on something I haven't read based on hearsay and speculation about currently non-existent actions the president could theoretically take," he said. Others who have suggested that they played a role in the process include Mark Cook, a Colorado election skeptic who has traveled the country to advocate for hand-marked paper ballots; Matt Meck, a board member of an organization called Fight Voter Fraud, Inc.; and Laura Scharr of South Carolina Safe Elections.
We spoke to Tim Canova, a law professor who said he helped draft the proposed order.
Canova said Garland Favorito, who runs an election integrity non-profit called VoterGA, played a “more significant role than anyone” in coordinating efforts around the proposed order.
The GOP is aggressively becoming more Nazi every day, literally sharing talking points, conspiracy theories, and supporting people who love Hitler, but we keep treating them like a normal party, and you have some Democrats who still preach civility and bipartisanship.
Amazing.
US stocks sink 1.5% as crude oil hits $100 a barrel with no end in sight for the war with Iran.
"What books would you have read that would have informed your decision on what grants to cancel based on DEI?"
"There were no books."
