#politics

Don Jr. swamped by ridicule as he opposes statehood for Ohio: 'Don't do drugs' Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, drew a wave of online ridicule after complaining that Democrats want to make Ohio a state. Trump Jr. made the remark Monday while actually in the Buckeye State to campaign for Republican candidates. “They want to, what is it? Save democracy by destroying democracy,” Trump Jr. said of Democrats. “They wanna pack the Supreme Court. They wanna make Ohio a state, make D.C. a state, have permanent one-party rule.”

Who funded the midterms? Inside US elections’ historic bipartisan spending Ad industry tracker AdImpact predicts $11.6bn in ad spending this cycle, surpassing the $11.2bn spent in the 2024 presidential election. OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan research group tracking money in politics, pegs total spending in the midterms as on track to reach $11.9bn. The top 40 donors are giving more than ever before: $2.4bn by mid-October, seven times the amount the top 40 in 2014 gave, adjusted for inflation, according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan, pro-campaign finance reform institute the Brennan Center for Justice. But the significant difference since then is that those top donors now give more to Republicans, and by a larger differential. In 2014, the top 40 gave to Democrats two to one, but this year the top 40 gave to Republicans three to one over Democrats.

A Democratic Betrayal and GOP Panic: The Wild Finale of the Midterms It’s almost over, and on this special Election Eve edition of Stress Test, David Corn and Garrison Hayes deconstruct the manic final moments before America votes. The big last-minute surprise was the 11th-hour bombshell out of Michigan. Defeated Democratic primary contender Haley Stevens sent shockwaves through the political world on Sunday when she rescinded her […]

Ken Paxton’s Office Sues Over Efforts to Get People of Color to Vote | The New Republic Paxton’s lawsuit claims that a get-out-the-vote advertisement campaign from Harris County’s office essentially constitutes reverse racism because it encouraged Black and Latino voters (groups with historically lower access to elections) to vote. Harris County is Texas’s most diverse county, notably housing Houston.

Trump Administration Said to Plan Rolling Back Pregnancy-Related Job Protections The Trump administration is preparing to scale back workplace accommodations for women related to pregnancy and reproductive health, seven people with knowledge of discussions of the plans said. The moves will limit the impact of a 2022 law that was meant to fill a gap in disability and discrimination protections that employees are guaranteed at workplaces. It was intended to provide accommodations for pregnant workers, such as bathroom and water breaks, reprieves from heavy lifting or time off for prenatal appointments. But the scope of the regulations under the law, known as the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, has been debated since their drafting. Conservatives, even some who supported the law, said the rule that Equal Employment Opportunity Commission wrote to apply the law reached far beyond pregnancy to cover matters including abortion, fertility treatment and related procedures and conditions it was not meant to protect. Narrowing them would fit with other efforts by Andrea Lucas, the E.E.O.C.’s chair, to roll back what she has called the liberal excesses of the Biden administration. The E.E.O.C. has targeted corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, abandoned some discrimination cases and stopped enforcing workplace protections for transgender workers. It is of a piece with a suite of executive actions that are remaking the American workplace by halting enforcement of sexual harassment rules and encouraging fewer mothers to work outside the home. The E.E.O.C. plans to publish the proposed narrowing of conditions eligible for accommodations as soon as this month. Ms. Lucas is not expected to eliminate requirements that most directly protect women during pregnancy, said the people familiar with her plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the planned changes are not final. But she could eliminate explicit protections for conditions that affect women who are not pregnant, the people said. Since Mr. Trump appointed Ms. Lucas as chair in 2025, the E.E.O.C. has brought dozens of cases and enforcement actions involving pregnancy-related discrimination, but she has said that she disapproves of the rule’s reach. “The rule fundamentally errs in conflating pregnancy and childbirth accommodation with accommodation of the female sex, that is, female biology and reproduction,” Ms. Lucas said in 2024. The E.E.O.C. said it would not comment on potential regulatory changes.

Tucker Carlson Claims Netanyahu Is Pushing Trump Towards Nuclear Strike on Iran Within Days, Warns of World War 3

Trump floats pardons to ‘protect’ Elon Musk and staffers from Democrat investigations Trump said he would consider pre-emptive pardons to protect Elon Musk and other close aides should Democrats take control of Congress Donald Trump said he would be willing to protect Elon Musk and his staff if Democrats take control of Congress after the midterm elections this week. In an interview for the “Pod Force One” podcast published Monday, Trump said he would move to “protect” the billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO if Congressional investigators targeted him. Trump also indicated that he was weighing pre-emptive pardons for his close aides and others around him should the Democrats pursue investigations, according to Axios. It is a notion that the president has floated before to keep his team from facing prosecution for actions during the first two years of his term.

Explosions hit Iran’s Qeshm Island as US media report US strikes in Hormuz

The US Electorate Is Permanently Mobilized and Unable to Move

Ex-Michigan Governor spills on dinner with Haley Stevens: ‘Something snapped in her’ Ex-Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard (D) — a longtime friend of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) — revealed that her stunning endorsement of U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers ® occurred less than 48 hours after she told him over dinner that she planned to reiterate her support for Rogers’ opponent, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. In the lead-up to Sunday, the congresswoman — who is backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — and her fiancé, Jason Turkish, ramped up their criticisms toward El-Sayed’s views on Israel, pressuring the progressive to denounce ads backing his bid that they called “hateful” and antisemitic. Turkish — who is Jewish and has donated to AIPAC — had endorsed Rogers days before attending the dinner with Stevens on Friday. Blanchard, speaking on Turkish’s behavior at the dinner, told Gongwer, “He was working her over.” “The way he was saying it was, ‘Everyone is disappointed in you, they did everything they could to help you and then immediately after you lose the primary, you endorsed him,’” Blanchard said.

CEQA Reviews to Continue as Prop 45 Is Projected to Fail https://sfist.com/2026/11/09/ceqa-reviews-to-continue-as-prop-45-is-projected-to-fail/ #SanFrancisco #Politics #News

From Justin Miller: Last summer's move by #Republicans to redistrict #Texas, under marching orders from Pres. Trump, was seen as a politically dicey maneuver at best. In hindsight, they were completely high on their own supply. https://www.texasobserver.org/yep-texas-got-dummymandered/#politics #midterms #Texas #news

‘He’s a force’: Obama answers call to boost Democrats – and rattle Trump Former president has given series of blistering speeches to help candidates in key races – and deployment has proved a hit with party’s progressive wing That could have been awkward. Barack Obama, campaigning for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, acknowledged that his fellow Democrat has criticised some aspects of the Obama presidency. “Yeah, Abdul didn’t agree with some things we wanted to do – that our administration was doing – when I was president,” he told a rally in Detroit. “You know who e…

Call your reps every day -you can get ideas at https://www.5calls.org/ Today, your goal is to call your state AND local electeds on ONE issue that matters to you - just one! Pick one and go for it. Abolish ICE? Universal Healthcare? Defend voting? Find your rep: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative Senators: Schiff: 202-224-3841 Padilla: 202-224-3553 (Fresno 559-497-5109 and Sacramento 916-448-2787) Governor Newsom: 916-445-2841 #politics #democrats #democracy #California #santaclara #USPol #CAPol

Trump administration's social media posts ahead of elections criticized for being inflammatory The Trump administration’s online accounts are circulating images of a pumpkin carved with a sombrero design and a fake Halloween-themed background around a Black man apparently accused of food assistance fraud, in social media posts slammed by critics as inflammatory rhetoric.

“Britain’s Anti-Semitism Panic: The Campaign to Silence Palestine Solidarity” by Jonathan Cook in Savage Minds on Substack @uk_politics@UKLabour@mastodon.cloud@thegreenparty@greenpartyzack@palestine@fedibird.com @Palestine@masto.ai@palestine@lemmy.ml@palestinenews@gts.liberated.press@BBC5Live@social.bbc @BBCRadio4@social.bbc @BBCNews@flipboard.com @guardian@press.coop @Independent@flipboard.com@thetimes@press.coop “Britain is firmly back in the grip of a full-blown moral panic about left-wing ‘anti-Semitism,’ once again manufactured by the UK’s political and media classes desperate to shield themselves and Israel from scrutiny. They are keen to smear large swaths of the British public as Jew haters, just as they did a decade ago when they targeted Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party. But this time the task will be far harder” https://open.substack.com/pub/savageminds/p/britains-anti-semitism-panic #Press #SocialMedia #Politics #Government #Labour #Burnham #Hypocrisy #Lies #Israel #Palestine #Gaza #LabourLies #ItWasAScam #FakeAS #Antisemitism #LabourFriendsOfIsrael #LabourFriendsOfGenocide #LabourFiles #LabourRacism #Greens #Polanski #LegacyMedia

“Britain’s Anti-Semitism Panic: The Campaign to Silence Palestine Solidarity” by Jonathan Cook on Substack @uk_politics@UKLabour@mastodon.cloud@thegreenparty@greenpartyzack@palestine@fedibird.com @Palestine@masto.ai@palestine@lemmy.ml@palestinenews@gts.liberated.press@BBC5Live@social.bbc @BBCRadio4@social.bbc @BBCNews@flipboard.com @guardian@press.coop @Independent@flipboard.com@thetimes@press.coop “Britain is firmly back in the grip of a full-blown moral panic about left-wing ‘anti-Semitism,’ once again manufactured by the UK’s political and media classes desperate to shield themselves and Israel from scrutiny. They are keen to smear large swaths of the British public as Jew haters, just as they did a decade ago when they targeted Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party. But this time the task will be far harder” https://open.substack.com/pub/savageminds/p/britains-anti-semitism-panic #Press #SocialMedia #Politics #Government #Labour #Burnham #Hypocrisy #Lies #ToryContinuityParty #Israel #Palestine #Gaza #LabourLies #ItWasAScam #FakeAS #Antisemitism #LabourFriendsOfIsrael #LabourFriendsOfGenocide #LabourFiles #LabourRacism #Greens #Polanski #LegacyMedia

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy is in the hospital after having a stroke, his office says

Democrats warn Stevens ‘seriously hurt herself’ with GOP Senate endorsement

Pentagon watchdog declines bipartisan request to investigate Starshield slowdowns in Ukraine | CNN Politics Shaheen said in a statement Wednesday that “it is concerning that the inspector general has apparently decided not to investigate satellite communication disruptions that Ukraine relies on to protect its civilians.” “The Trump Administration and SpaceX have provided conflicting accounts of what led to those disruptions, which weakened Ukraine’s defenses and put American personnel in Ukraine at risk unnecessarily,” the New Hampshire Democrat said. “There must be an independent accounting and review to determine responsibility and prevent this from happening in the future. I urge the Inspector General to conduct a full investigation.” Mollie Halpern, the spokesperson for the Pentagon’s inspector general office, said that the office “carefully considered the congressional request and determined that the matters raised were best addressed by the Department.” “Should new information come to light, we may reconsider,” she said. The issues with Starshield were discovered after the administration threatened to withhold intelligence to Kyiv over its strikes on Russian refineries and after President Donald Trump made a deal to buy Russian diesel and ease sanctions on Moscow.