Queerjohn PA 🇺🇦🟧🏳️‍🌈

A little background on who the Southern Poverty Law Center is and what kind of work they’ve been doing for decades makes it clear that DOJ’s indictment (which is of the center, not of any individuals) is vindictive & malicious, an attack on civil rights work itself. open.substack.com/pub/joycevance…

I hope the US plans to say “thank you” to Ukraine.

in ELEVEN states this year, justices who took part in upholding or striking down abortion bans are up for reelection. details: boltsmag.org/your-state-by-…

🚨BREAKING: Republicans have BLOCKED our subpoena of Stephen Miller and Tom Homan. 

House Republicans continue to shield the architects of Trump’s Mass Deportation agenda from accountability.

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NEW: Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA) has introduced spending bill amendment “to block the federal government from hiring individuals pardoned for their roles in the January 6 insurrection” Justice Dept has already hired a pardoned Jan 6 defendant

Trump concocted a tale about how Republicans were about to win the Virginia vote until something nefarious happened with mail-in ballots. Everybody who understands elections understood “Yes” was very likely to win even when “No” was ahead in the early count (before Fairfax and some other Democratic-dominated areas had reported their votes). cnn.com/2026/04/22/pol…

Attorney General Jay Jones Shares Statement on Republican National Committee v. Koski Tazewell County Circuit Court Injunction

While an American weapons officer was evading enemy forces in Iran, there was a live betting market on what day he’d make it home. Military Times is out with a piece everyone should read on how this goes from morally indefensible to a genuine national security threat. We know that anonymous accounts with no betting history placed and cashed out on six-figure bets on U.S. military operations minutes before they happened. I have serious concerns about insider trading here, and if that’s what’s happening, the consequences go far beyond illegal profits. If military or government officials are trading on classified information they’re privy to, they aren’t just breaking the law. They may be exposing national security information on a public platform that our adversaries can track and use against us. We need new rules here. That’s exactly why @SenAdamSchiff and I introduced the DEATH BETS Act, and why Congress needs to pass it. militarytimes.com/news/your-mili…

Amazon just got caught rigging prices. They were colluding behind the scenes with companies like Levi’s, Hanes, and Chewy to make sure you paid more. When corporations act like cartels, that’s not free market capitalism.

David Graham's Atlantic piece pulls together a pattern that is now documented across multiple independent sources and should be read as a single coherent picture. Aides kept Trump out of the situation room during the pilot rescue because his impatience was assessed as operationally unhelpful. That is from the WSJ, sourced to a senior administration official. Trump has been starting his days with a sizzle reel of explosion footage rather than hard intelligence briefings. Susie Wiles grew concerned that aides were giving the president a "rose-colored view" of how the war was being perceived domestically. Trump was reportedly shocked at how easily Iran seized the Strait of Hormuz - even though his own military had warned him of the possibility. In the lead-up to the war, multiple aides believed Trump was not taking seriously the risks and trade-offs involved. None of them said so publicly. They said enough privately that the comments leaked. Graham's observation on that specific fact is precise: it does not speak well for the Cabinet's judgment or courage. Trump's Energy Secretary said gas prices have likely peaked. Trump subsequently told reporters Wright had been "totally wrong." In 1974, Defense Secretary Schlesinger quietly instructed the military not to deploy nuclear weapons without checking with him or Kissinger first because Nixon was unstable. Graham notes what that means: it was a reasonable precaution on one hand and a constitutional scandal on the other, because Americans had elected Nixon, not Schlesinger. The aides keeping Trump in the dark may be doing so for entirely understandable reasons. But the problem Graham identifies is that if the president can't handle reality, the problem is ultimately with him - not with the information being managed around him. The management is a symptom. The president is the condition.

🚨BREAKING: The Republican majority on the North Carolina State Board of Elections voted Wednesday to block a proposal that would have prepared local officials for scenarios involving federal agents at polling places and attempts to seize ballots. democracydocket.com/news-alerts/go…

“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it.” -George Orwell, 1984.

Note the risk here: The government could simply charge people, even bringing charges that have no merit, to force their removal. That wouldn’t normally be a concern, but with this Department’s proclivity to bring baseless charges, it’s on the table.

When Lina Khan ran the FTC, she spotted this *exact* scenario and launched an investigation The very first thing Trump’s FTC Chair did when he took over was kill it

Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they pushed back against a President who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress. As we watched other states go along with those demands without voter input, Virginians refused to let that stand. We responded the right way: at the ballot box.

Not war crimes. Just straight up crimes carried about by the U.S. military, on the orders of Trump and Hegseth.

Our nation promised we would welcome our Afghan allies who helped American troops during the war—and put their families in danger in the process. Trump has been callously breaking that promise for no real reason, but now he's trying to make them choose between facing certain death from the Taliban or moving into one of the world's worst refugee crises. Unconscionable.

Rep James Walkinshaw (D-VA): “Tonight’s victory is a victory over the Trump MAGA Republican power grab. But more importantly, it’s a victory for the federal worker illegally fired. It’s a victory for the immigrant living in fear of masked secret police. It’s a victory for the working family struggling to afford rising health care, gas, and grocery costs. It’s a victory for the farmer facing skyrocketing fertilizer costs. And it’s a victory for our democracy because it means voters will have a level playing field in November. But the real victory will come in November when Virginia leads the way in electing a Democratic Congress to put a check on the Trump Administration and go to work delivering for middle class Americans”

According the AG Blanche, “The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence.” This is some whacked out far-right fantasy. Hard to imagine this theory will hold up in court, but the lives of paid informants who infiltrated hate groups will be at risk. justice.gov/opa/pr/federal…