K Gates

"Poets, prophets and reformers are all picture makers -- and this ability is the secret of their power and of their achievements." -Frederick Douglass

BREAKING: Take a look at Trump's trades. You can see a large majority of the millions traded were recently in the new year, and especially after the Iranian war.

Poland heeded Trump’s request that NATO members dramatically increase defense spending. At 4.8% of GDP for defense in 2026, Poland’s % well exceeds US %. Poland’s reward: Trump administration abruptly cancels rotational deployment of US brigade.

He’s right. The Republican Party isn’t a party of ideas. Or policy. It doesn’t stand for anything. It’s just a bunch of people being blindly loyal to corrupt madman who controls the primary voting base, but is unpopular with the rest of the country.

A president's trading of securities for his personal account can in no way be argued to constitute activity that falls within the "outer perimeter" of his "official responsibilities." If it is based on inside information used in violation of his fiduciary responsibilities, it is brazenly criminal conduct, and he would not be immune from prosecution for that criminal conduct even under the Supreme Court's 2024 decision in his favor in the Jan. 6 case.

Zelensky announced a breakthrough agreement with French President Macron, stating that France has committed to actively cooperating with Ukraine in anti-ballistic missile defense. kyivpost.com/post/76288

@TaylorPopielarz @cspanwj #EpsteinFiles

I hosted @cspanwj this morning and had a three-time Donald Trump voter who called in to share this: "It's hard for me to say this, but I think, if i can open up about it in public that it might help others, I wanted to believe Trump was the real deal for a long time, even though I had doubts because I knew enough about his business history to think otherwise. But now I regret my support for him and I should've known better." "He's the worst president we've ever had and he's the most corrupt president we've ever had. I know it's hard, it took me a while to be able to say that. Very difficult when you commit yourself to believing in somebody." c-span.org/program/washin…

🚨 Senate parliamentarian just knocked out the provision in the Republican bill to spend $1 billion on Trump’s ballroom—per Budget Cmte Dems. Merkley: “While we expect Republicans to change this bill to appease Trump, Democrats are prepared to challenge any change to this bill.”

The stories and photographs from today’s voting rights marches in Alabama deserve to be seen by people who weren’t able to stand there in person. If this piece moves you, please share it widely and help make sure these voices aren’t lost in the noise of a crowded news cycle. open.substack.com/pub/joycevance…

@allenanalysis #EpsteinFiles

🚨 🇺🇸MAJOR BREAKING: They are marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge again. 61 years after Bloody Sunday. The same bridge. The same fight. Today in Selma, thousands are gathering at the spot where Alabama state troopers beat peaceful Black marchers in March 1965. That beating shocked the country into passing the Voting Rights Act five months later. This week the Supreme Court finished gutting it. (video: ib2_real)

NEW STORY: Election deniers who were long relegated to the fringe are now embedded inside the government. Reported with @yvonnewingett @shaneharris theatlantic.com/politics/2026/…

The Atlantic published a major investigation today tracing how election denial moved from the fringe into the architecture of the federal government. The specifics matter. Clay Parikh - who circulated debunked felt-tip marker theories about 2020 - is now a special government employee whose analysis was cited in the FBI search warrant used to seize Georgia ballots in January. Kurt Olsen, sanctioned $122,200 for frivolous election litigation in Arizona, was brought in by Trump to investigate 2020 and helped lead to that same Georgia seizure. Heather Honey, who spent years trying to reverse Trump's 2020 defeat, now holds a senior DHS "election integrity" position where she interacts with state officials who, a half-dozen of them told the Atlantic, do not trust her. The security firm ODNI hired to review Puerto Rico's voting machines found no evidence of tampering and no evidence any votes were altered. Olsen then wrote to Trump claiming the firm was taking money from George Soros and acting at his direction. The firm emphatically denies it. Joanna Lydgate of States United Democracy Center: "Whether it's an executive order or death by 5,000 cuts, it's chipping away at our election system. They need to sow doubt; they need to undermine public trust; and each one of these narratives is a tactic to that end." Heather Honey appeared in today's Democracy Docket report about the national voter database too. Same name. Same office. Same meetings. The architecture across both stories is the same document.

@cabsav456 If Hegseth and Miller are the spokespeople who reach KY voters, we're in truly, truly dark times. #RealityCheck

The Thomas Massie primary is truly insane. We are looking at the most expensive U.S. House primary in history, with spending pushing toward $35 million. Massie's opponent, Ed Gallrein, has raised just $2 million on his own. The rest of the money, over $14 million, is coming from outside Super PACs who desperately want Massie gone. On top of that, Pete Hegseth is being deployed to Kentucky to campaign against him. Stephen Miller & Con Inc. have been on massive Twitter tirades attacking him. And there was a highly coordinated smear campaign of unfounded allegations launched this week by Con Inc. influencers. When the establishment is willing to spend $35M+ and go to these lengths to take one man down, it really makes you wonder why. Whether you like Massie or not, this election will determine whether or not we as voters actually have a voice anymore. If outside special-interest money can successfully buy a seat and sway an election like this, we have a serious, serious problem.

@SarahLongwell25 Sadly, "too partisan" seems to be what he's counting on and what keeps working for him. Even if they notice, they seem to justify his corruption. And "partisan" probably is a euphemism.

The most self-evident thing in the world is that the President is committing massive fraud against the American taxpayer so he sent his VP out on a “Stop Fraud” tour as a kind of narrative jujitsu—because he thinks his voters are too stupid and partisan to notice.

This is baloney. For starters Poland was not notified. Senior leaders contacted me yesterday saying they were blindsided. And… I’ve learned EUCOM did NOT say there was minimal risk by cancelling the deployment. This was a foolish and embarrassing course of events.

Ben McKenzie: Last year, a crypto company estimated $154 billion of criminal activity was facilitated via cryptocurrency. The largest stablecoin company is called Tether. The broker for Tether is Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick's firm. And Tether is the primary instrument for criminal activity in cryptocurrency.

@TheMaineWonk #EpsteinFiles

DeSantis is shutting down Alligator Alcatraz after Florida blew $1 BILLION in taxpayer money building and operating it. Trump promised Federal reimbursement and it was never delivered… because Trump pays no one.