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My heart belongs at sea. You can find me on Mastodon at @lightlovephoto.

[Democracy Docket @DemocracyDocket]

NEW: The American Postal Workers Union is “deeply alarmed” about the new USPS rule carrying out Trump's attack on mail-in voting. The union says it “rejects the premise” that the USPS needs to comply with Trump’s orders. 
https://t.co/tZvAPVTIuU

[Ted Lieu @tedlieu]

Dear @DAGToddBlanche: So what illegal actions by trump would compel you to think a future Administration would hold trump accountable?

Please do share.

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

OVERLOOKED:

Trump says he wants Bill Pulte to release more classified documents related to issues like the 2020 election.

Asked what kind of documents Pulte should consider releasing, Trump said, "I would say everything—he should look at everything and make a determination."

[Maine @TheMaineWonk]

‼️ Sen. Susan Collins failed to report up to $395,000 in stock trades.

- 24 transactions in Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase & CVS from 2013-2018 weren’t disclosed violating the STOCK Act she helped pass.

- Even a Pfizer purchase earlier this year missed the deadline.

[Ted Lieu @tedlieu]

Dear @WhiteHouse: The inability of trump to stay awake on the job has made him a laughing stock and an embarrassment to the United States of America.

But I really did this tweet to show you that @GovPressOffice has much better social media content than you do.

Cheers!

[Wajahat Ali @WajahatAli]

Yup.

[Democracy Docket @DemocracyDocket]

In an escalation in the fight over Florida's 2026 congressional map, pro-voting groups asked the Florida Supreme Court to block the new GOP gerrymander.

The groups argued the map was drawn in defiance of the state constitution and asked for relief before congressional qualifying begins on June 8.
https://t.co/NIdUafBz1w

[Adam Schiff @SenAdamSchiff]

Senate Republicans just voted to send ICE $72 BILLION without any reforms.

Now ICE is hiding data on the condition of their detention facilities, their treatment of detainees, and the deaths that have resulted.

Republicans chose to bankroll this cruelty and lack of transparency.

[Democracy Docket @DemocracyDocket]

🚨NEW: The Trump administration has approved a plan to build a federal voter citizenship verification system and says it could be operational by June 30.

The move marks a major step toward implementing Trump's controversial anti-voting executive order.
https://t.co/O0MOTSeYm1

[Jessica Tarlov @JessicaTarlov]

Democrats are making something clear: if concerns about a candidate are legitimate, they should be addressed. But we are not going to be lectured by the party of Donald Trump, Ken Paxton, or other Republicans who have been accused of things like putting boiling water on their wives during a fight.

Dismissing the allegations against Platner is a mistake. But the NYT left the door wide open to the argument that Platner’s ex girlfriend is politically motivated. Heritage Foundation, Independent Women, Ladies for Kavanaugh.

Ultimately, what we think in NYC and DC doesn’t matter. Maine voters aren’t terminally online. They like his platform - it may be enough!

[Adam Schiff @SenAdamSchiff]

This is exactly why temporary appointments to avoid the scrutiny of a confirmation hearing are so dangerous.

You can do a lot of damage in 200 days.

And he is not stopped, he will.
https://t.co/ajWWxeoWV8

[Scott MacFarlane @MacFarlaneNews]

Cameras await the removal of Trump’s name from Kennedy Center

https://t.co/j9KMKS9wVl

[Democracy Docket @DemocracyDocket]

ICYMI: Republicans introduced a new bill that could help revive pieces of the SAVE America Act after it stalled in the Senate.

But lawmakers are framing the new measure as a federal grant program to bypass a Democratic filibuster.
https://t.co/3YtLVHMxQv

[Senate Democrats @MoSenDems]

As Republicans spend YOUR tax dollars on a Billion Dollar Ballroom, they are also doing this:

[austerity is theft @wideofthepost]

The NYT interviewed half a dozen other ex girlfriends who've seen Platner with his shirt off, and none of them confirmed the story by Fifield about the tattoo other than the cofounder of "Ladies for Kavanaugh," who texted in August that she'd "personally go campaign for Collins"?

[Ryan Grim @ryangrim]

It's kind of wild to find out that the Republican in the NYT story that says she had a toxic relationship with Graham Platner is Lyndsey Fifield. Having been in DC for too long, I know a decent number of people who know her quite well. For a long time she was the co-host of a podcast with her best friend Bethany Mandel, called Ladybrains, though she has also worked for multiple super PACs, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Heritage Foundation.

Some background, presented without judgment: In 2014, Fifield began work as digital director for American Action Network, a Republican Super PAC that oversees House races. The next year she became social media manager for the Heritage Foundation, where she stayed for the next seven years.

In 2022, she joined the Super PAC backing Nikki Haley for president, switching to the official campaign side the next year, and staying until the campaign flamed out. She now lists herself as a visiting fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum, a prominent dark money group that is best known for helping usher Brett Kavanaugh on to the Supreme Court and giving Susan Collins the talking points she needed to make her decisive speech in his favor.

The NYT breezed past all this, saying she was "a Virginia conservative who has worked for right-leaning groups and Republican campaigns."

In an interview for a news outlet called Red Alert Politics that named her to a “30 under 30” list back in 2016, she said that she wanted to “emulate the late conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart’s approach to online activism.” Breitbart, known for pushing the boundaries when it came to political combat, is perhaps best remembered for having exposed Anthony Weiner’s penchant for sending nudes to young girls, and for his work elevating James O’Keefe.

That she worked for Independent Women's Forum recently is even wilder since IWF played a critical role in Kavanaugh's confirmation and in persuading Collins to support it.

Heather Higgins, chair of IWF, laid out the group’s role in a talk several years ago. “We wrote a memo. It was used by a lot of members of the Senate and the House, Fox News, and elsewhere. Most important, Susan Collins told me that without that memo, she would not see how to support him,” Higgins said. “And if you look at the speech she gave on the Senate floor, it’s entirely the playing out and architecture of how we said to structure the argument — what to say and how to say it, which is just so gratifying. We’re watching TV and we’re like, ‘That’s ours! That’s ours!’”

Meanwhile, the timeline Fifield gives of their relationship is confusing, because during at least some of that time she was actually dating a different person, her longterm boyfriend who became her fiancee before she called off the wedding in 2018. We all know this because she and Mandel did a podcast episode on it that went mega-viral in Republican circles back then. Apparently this is the kind of thing the NYT thinks is important now, so I guess it requires more reporting. I'll report back.

Here is Heather Higgins celebrating IWF's role in getting Susan Collins to confirm Kavanaugh:

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

For all you mouth breathers insisting that the SAVE Act would not require a passport, and you think a driver's license would be enough, educate yourselves.

Go to https://t.co/SlyAJUPtw5, it's right there in black and white.

For the record, I already have my passport, birth certificate, all that stuff. But you know, statistically, who DOESN'T? MAGA.

It is already against the law for undocumented immigrants to vote.

There has only been .0003 incidents of voter fraud since 2003, and that's according to the Heritage Foundation.

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

Good morning and Happy Friday to everyone who KNOWS that "80% of Americans support the SAVE Act" is total bullshit. WHY?

Because when you asked those 80% of Americans if they support Voter ID, you didn't ask if they support having to get a PASSPORT.

They thought you meant DRIVER'S LICENSE.
Keep killing that bullshit bill.

[EU says Elon should not lie abt my blue check @emptywheel]

Poor @Tyler2ONeil faceplanted when he tried to read the superseding. Didn't even notice where DOJ confessed they misrepresented SPLC's motive.

And now he's WAILING bc he needs this prosecution for personal profit.

Sad that people believe this propagandist.

[Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney]

In appeals court fight over the White House ballroom, DOJ says the federal government could quickly bulldoze the statute of liberty and no one would have standing to sue over the changes once the demolition is done.