Margot Donald

Fierce international security policy wonk; loves open-wheel racing, original thought and baking from scratch. Social Media Manager @LcHoesGroup Opinions My Own

[Margot Donald @MargotDonald]

Murder, Kidnapping, Rape, Torture… Not OK…Ever, Period! #StandWithUkraine #StandAgainstTerror #StandWithIsrael #WearAMask #DontMakeMeAsk

[Democracy Docket @DemocracyDocket]

UPDATE: USPS just opposed a pro-voting request to enforce the protection of your mail-in ballot.

In 2021, USPS agreed to safeguard mail-in voting.

Now, per Trump's executive order, it's proposing rules that would let it refuse to deliver certain ballots, potentially violating that very agreement. https://t.co/MGUnoWjpz2

[Emoluments Clause @Emolclause]

#BREAKING: Carol Leonnig: “…what we were hearing last night…was that the Ohio Organizing Collaborative…one of its offices in Cleveland was targeted and raided by FBI agents yesterday. In addition to that, what we learned was that a series of FBI agents were fanning out across the state…to interview people and approach them at their homes, who had worked as volunteers registering voters, or as canvassers for the collaborative, and those interviews, if you can call them that, were conducted often WITHOUT warrants…So FBI agents were essentially just going into people’s homes and saying we’d like to ask you a few questions, which is NOT how the FBI normally investigates these kinds of matters…their great concern is that this is part of a larger Trump administration effort to basically target swing states and to target pro democracy organizations who might register Democratic voters, or help them register to vote, and question and sow distrust in those swing states in the integrity of the elections.” 😳

[Chris “Law Dork” Geidner @chrisgeidner]

BREAKING: Judge Angel Kelley blocks Interior Sec. Doug Burgum's “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” Order as "a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization" and orders DOI to "restore and reinstall" removed materials "forthwith."

ORDER: https://t.co/ja7RG2qP7V

[Snøw @sn0wh1mb0]

Y'all realize where this is headed, right?

[Aaron Parnas @AaronParnas]

NEW: Ken Paxton backed the DOGE cuts that weakened screwworm defenses and put Texas cattle at risk. https://t.co/5IwnvPhvSU

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

This is revolting: The Trump administration is preparing to deport brave women fleeing Iranian repression to Central African Republic, an impoverished country in the middle of a civil war. https://t.co/y9pxvK2Odp

[Ben Crump @AttorneyCrump]

Jalil Richardson spent months behind bars after he says AI facial recognition technology wrongly identified him as a suspect in a stolen vehicle case. The charges were dropped, but he reportedly lost his job, his home, and custody of two children. Technology should never replace a thorough investigation, especially when someone's freedom is at stake!

[Morgan J. Freeman @mjfree]

🚨🚨🚨 I'm posting this video every day so we NEVER forget what insurrectionist Donald Trump did on J6

Instead of accepting defeat and honoring the peaceful transfer of power, Trump unleashed a deadly mob on the U.S. Capitol in a last-ditch attempt to stay in power

THIS is what an insurrection looks like 👇👇👇

[Democracy Docket @DemocracyDocket]

The Trump administration wants USPS to reject mail ballots from states that don't hand over voter data to the federal government: https://t.co/6BQtA7iqYn

Want to speak out? Public comments are open now.

Email [email protected], subject "Ballot Mail," by July 2.

[SKI @skiistiredasf]

Master Sgt. Tobias Jackson, stationed in Japan for the past three years, secretly flew back to Birmingham, Alabama, just in time for his son Branden’s graduation at Huffman High School.
Branden thought his dad couldn’t make it and was prepared to watch online. The moment exploded when Tobias appeared on stage right after Branden received his diploma — the shock, the hug, the tears… pure father-son love.
But the surprises didn’t stop there. The very next day, after Branden got his driver’s license, his dad handed him the keys to a brand new car.
This is real fatherhood sacrifice, presence, and showing up big time.
We love to see it! Proud dad vibes forever. 👏🏾👏🏾

[Rep. Mike Levin @RepMikeLevin]

Let’s be clear about what the Trump Administration is trying to do.

There are more than 65,000 TSA officers who keep our airports safe every single day, and they still don't receive the same basic pay, protections, and worker rights as other federal employees. These are the people that worked without a paycheck for 76 days during the government shutdown.

So what is the Trump Administration trying to do? Revoke their union contract and the benefits they fought tooth and nail for.

Federal employees should have the right to organize, to negotiate a livable wage, to access affordable child care, and to earn the sick and medical leave they deserve. I introduced an amendment today to make sure no money is used to strip these officers of theirs.

[Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen]

This is Sad!

For almost 30 years, leaders from both parties have set politics aside to honor the women veterans who gave their lives for this country at Arlington National Cemetery.

Then Trump and Hegseth shut it down.

Why? Because the ceremony recognized women.

This is an insult to every woman who wore the uniform, served with courage, and sacrificed for this nation.

Yesterday, @demwomencaucus stood with the women veterans Trump and Hegseth tried to erase and held an event anyway.

We see you. We honor you. We thank you. 🇺🇸

[Brandon M. Scott @MayorBMScott]

Let me reiterate, this type of enforcement is not welcome in Baltimore. The presence of ICE has not made our city any safer, and in fact has led to greater fear and anxiety, especially for our immigrant neighbors.

I stand with our immigrant families who have been impacted by detentions. If your loved one has been arrested by ICE, I encourage you to call 888-214-6016.

Help is available through my Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

BREAKING: A Courtroom Just Heard One Of The Most Chilling Admissions In This Case.

The accused assassin confirmed he put a gun to a lawmaker's head and pulled the trigger.

When the judge asked if he had done it, he answered:

"Yes."

According to reports, cries erupted from the courtroom.

For months, the public saw surveillance footage, fake police uniforms, badges, and doorbell camera images.

The debate over what happened is over.

The man accused of carrying out the attack has now admitted it on the record.

[Laiken Jordahl @LaikenJordahl]

BREAKING: We're suing DHS for unconstitutionally wiping out decades of environmental law to blast border barriers and roads through Big Bend National Park—one of the most remote, wild, and least-crossed stretches of the entire southern border.

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

On June 4, DHS approved a plan to run entire statewide voter registration lists through USCIS's SAVE database - a system built to verify immigration status for government benefit programs, not voter eligibility. A second component creates a new portal linking USCIS, the Social Security Administration, and the State Department citizenship data directly to state election officials.

Both systems are expected to be operational by June 30.

The same filing reveals DHS is exploring coordination with the Postal Service to monitor mail-in ballot flows, "identify anomalies," and generate "investigative leads."

This is not a voter fraud prevention system. SAVE was designed to check whether someone is eligible for food stamps. Database mismatches are common - naturalized citizens, voters whose records don't perfectly align across agencies, people whose names appear differently in different federal systems. Each mismatch generates a flag. Each flag is a potential challenge. Each challenge ahead of a midterm election is a voter who has to prove something they already proved when they registered.

The Postal Service piece is its own category of problem. The administration now wants to use mail-in ballot tracking data to generate federal investigative leads. That is surveillance of how people vote, not verification of who is eligible to vote.

This executive order is being challenged in court as unconstitutional. Those challenges are ongoing. The administration is building the infrastructure anyway, on a 26-day timeline, before the courts can rule.

That's the sequence. Build it first. Fight about it later.

[Democracy Docket @DemocracyDocket]

NEW: A federal appeals court has fast-tracked Democrats’ bid to block Trump’s executive order targeting mail voting after a lower court left it in place last month.

The move is a hopeful sign for voters seeking to stop the administration from upending mail-in voting before the midterms. https://t.co/Y4obxeUMMl

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

Run the list of what DOJ has quietly done in the weeks before a midterm election.

Removed the Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses manual from its website - the manual that has existed through both Republican and Democratic administrations and explicitly states that DOJ should not seize voting materials until after an election is certified.

Canceled election-integrity training sessions for FBI agents and federal prosecutors.

Fired the bulk of its Public Integrity Section attorneys.

No plans to establish an Election Day command center.

Meanwhile the same department is actively seizing ballots, demanding election equipment, interrogating election workers in swing-state counties, and suing 30 states plus Washington D.C. for unredacted voter rolls - based on claims of noncitizen fraud that have been refuted every time they've been tested.

John Keller ran the Public Integrity Section for years. His assessment: "This administration is abandoning decades-old policies and practices designed to minimize federal interference in elections in favor of open season for DOJ political leadership to attack election results whenever they don't like them."

The manual they removed said deterrence comes from public awareness of prosecutions - not from interference with the process itself.

They removed the manual. They kept the interference.

That's not a coincidence. That's a preparation.

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

Western audiences are completely failing to grasp the monumental scale of the war in Ukraine due to a constant barrage of disinformation and competing international crises.

The sheer volume of casualties (including civilian) has been systematically downplayed, leaving the true magnitude of the war nearly invisible outside of Ukraine itself.

There is a pervasive belief among even pro-Ukrainian Europeans that this conflict is a somewhat ”clean” war with limited civilian casualties. This narrative flies in the face of reality, as the war has amassed approximately 2 million total casualties over the last four and a half years, with a breakdown of approximately two-thirds Russian and one-third Ukrainian. Despite Russia having more total casualties, Ukraine has dozens of times more civilian casualties than Russia. This crushing disparity tells you everything about the ruthless reality of Russia's campaign.

A purely numerical comparison with the war in Gaza highlights the gap in Western perception. As of May 2026, more than two years of war in Gaza resulted in at least 75,811 reported deaths, both sides included. In stark contrast, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program reveals that the single three-month siege of Mariupol saw between 27,000 and 88,000 fatalities. Most of them were Ukrainian civilians.

Even though Mariupol had a population five times smaller than Gaza, its death toll in just three months potentially surpassed Gaza's total over two years. On a bigger level, the approximately 2 million total casualties in Ukraine match the population of the entire Gaza Strip.

This comparison is strictly statistical, used only because the public is highly aware of Gaza's bloodshed. The Kremlin has skillfully hidden its atrocities and suppressed civilian casualty data in occupied areas, but the West must look past the propaganda and recognize the historic scale of this devastation

[Wendell Pierce @WendellPierce]

PBS Sets Premiere for ‘Declarations: Black Americans and the Revolutionary War’ https://t.co/vTzmkkn22E