There's an obscure $40 billion lawsuit against the government, among the largest in history. The plaintiff is a bankrupt satellite company backed by private equity giant Cerberus, whose founder Steven Feinberg is #2 at the Defense Dept—the agency being sued. Feinberg stands to make a mint.

BREAKING MS NOW: The Trump White House hosted about two dozen election denial activists this week ahead of Trump's address where he's expected to spread election lies. The session was convened by conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell — who advised Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 result.

“The government is supposed to exhaust alternatives before it would subpoena the press … it’s very hard to believe that that exhaustion requirement could have been met,” FPF's Caitlin Vogus told @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social. Read more in @prospect.org:

don’t worry we have the receipts

Have you been affected by Trump's funding cuts? I'd love if you'd share your story here. Any cut counts, including the ones allowing the Cyclospora parasite to sicken thousands of people with explosive diarrhea.

Jay Clayton's installation as director of national intelligence was meant to give intel community-supporting Democrats an excuse to extend the expired warrantless spying provision in FISA...until Clayton showed he's as willing to do Trump's bidding as Bill Pulte. @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social reports.

ICE, boosted by $250 billion in funding over the last year, increased spending on small arms by more than 400% in 2025. ICE has also made over 2,000 enforcement deals (known as 287g) with local cops, the most ever. And those cops are also getting surplus military-grade weapons from the military.

Here's a story on this absurd attack ad against Will Lawrence, hitting him as a Wall Street investor for having $11,000 in a 401(k). The half-million-dollar ad buy itself cost 48 times more than the value of the retirement account. prospect.org/2026/07/11/s...

Kirsten Gillibrand's son, right out of college, getting a $300 million valuation on his "trade stocks as derivatives" company is a particularly ugly payoff for the Senator's stalwart crypto support, writes our friends at @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social. prospect.org/2026/07/08/n...

There's been bipartisan disgust at the Save Our Bacon Act, which attempts to pre-empt state rules to give pigs at least a little room to walk in confinement cages. Yet it's the pork industry's top priority, and it could ruin the farm bill. Good story from Zachary Groz: prospect.org/2026/07/07/m...

One reason Trump has been able to rug-pull his supporters is that his administration has ended essentially all crypto regulation. Congress is trying to strip the SEC of crypto oversight but the SEC has done a pretty good job of stripping themselves. Great breakdown from Eleanor Davis-Diver.

This is over

Quite a lot in so far in Denver based CO-01 off the bat, and Kiros is narrowly in front. If there's the usual blue shift, she's in great shape.

If Diana DeGette manages to save her seat tonight, it will be in part because of a pop-up dark money Super PAC that had to be badgered into disclosing donors, and then said the money came from ANOTHER dark money Super PAC with undisclosed donors. prospect.org/2026/06/30/p...

The Republican primary for governor of Colorado is today, and the front-runner is a karate-themed pastor who takes vigilante justice missions abroad hunting for potential sex traffickers, runs a multilevel marketing vitamin scheme, and appears to be running guns? Wild stuff.

Media outlets are running with the Kingmaker Mamdani narrative, but progressives also won last night bc hundreds of people organized for months to knock doors and get out the vote. I spoke with @jfrejnyc.bsky.social about why that's important for durable power on the left!

Note that he didn't say he'd veto it. Bills become law if not signed after ten days, excepting Sundays. Article 1, Section 7. (Also there are more than enough votes to override even if he did veto it.)

Warrantless spying (FISA 702) has expired. Trump killed it by tying reauthorization to the SAVE Act & installing Bill Pulte as director of national intelligence. But the program is authorized by a court until April '27. So why wouldn't Dems wait until after the midterms to force reform?

Read my piece on how Claire Valdez didn't just run to win a seat and build power for herself, she ran to develop political power for the left overall.

Read this great profile my colleagues @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social and @emmarjanssen.bsky.social wrote on @bradlander.bsky.social. One source told them: "He’s not the flashiest guy or the most dynamic orator... but he just does consequential work that makes a real difference in people’s lives.”

Holy shit man, @socialists.nyc absolutely crushing it tonight!!!

State Assemblywoman Claire Valdez will be the Democratic nominee for New York’s 7th Congressional District, according to Spectrum News. Read more: http://specne.ws/NvWsef

Rep. Dan Goldman, the incumbent in New York’s 10th Congressional District, is projected to lose his primary to progressive candidate Brad Lander.

Congratulations to Zachary Groz, our new writing fellow, on his first @prospect.org byline! Opponents of surveillance pricing, the use of personal information to set individualized prices, have had middling success winning legislative bans. They're trying again in New York City.

Zay has been ousted as IURC chair

First up, a fantastic profile of @bradlander.bsky.social by my friends and colleagues @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social and @emmarjanssen.bsky.social. Lander is running to represent NY-10 against incumbent Dan Goldman.

"There has never been a better time to make the correct argument that slashing the use of fossil fuels, and hence carbon emissions, is the best thing to do for affordability, national security, the economy writ large, and the environment to boot." prospect.org/2026/06/22/a...

There likely won't be any Trump commemoration of Juneteenth. @naomibethune.bsky.social explains why the celebration exists in tandem with resistance to the erasure of Black history. prospect.org/2026/06/19/j...

It's become a disturbing trend in open-seat races in heavily Black districts: whoever has the most crypto Super PAC money wins. The new generation of Black politicians benefiting from this cash say that crypto brings financial inclusion @naomibethune.bsky.social explains why that makes no sense.

Clayton confirmation scheduled for today has formally been postponed, according to Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton. “It’s regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today,” he said.

Blackstone is in trouble in New Mexico, after the state's public regulation commission found its purchase of stock in a utility it's been aiming to buy before approval was illegal. That could scuttle the entire acquisition. @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social has the story. prospect.org/2026/06/17/b...

What you won't hear this weekend amid the spectacle of the UFC fight night at the White House is the routine shortchanging of fighters, exclusionary contracts, and muscling out of competition. @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social has the story. prospect.org/2026/06/13/u...

Jay Clayton is manifestly not a good selection for director of national intelligence, even if he appears to be better than Bill Pulte. He's a partisan Wall Street lawyer who has intermingled financial and national security interests repeatedly, a bad combo going back to the Dulles brothers.

I talked with Rogelio Bolufé, organizer of the Union of People Kidnapped by ICE. The US government deported him to Ecuador earlier this month, even though he's from Cuba, and left him there with nothing.

As expected, House FISA 702 extension vote fails, increasing likelihood of a statutory lapse for the key surveillance authority.

Democrats are going to let authorization for the FISA warrantless spying program expire as long as Bill Pulte is acting director of national intelligence. But the program is set to continue until next year. This week's deadline is fake. @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social explains:

The progressive nonprofit Demand Progress has set up a new monitoring effort, called AI Money Watch, to follow one particular AI PAC called Leading the Future. prospect.org?p=139608

Financial institutions are giving SpaceX shares special expedited treatment to burrow onto indexes that millions of index fund holders will then robotically purchase to induce demand. It's an innovative version of a pump-and-dump scheme. Eleanor Davis-Diver reports. prospect.org/2026/06/10/e...

Sharing two new resources on FISA Section 702. First, my op-ed in @thehill.com today on why Pulte isn’t the only reason Section 702 renewal is stuck (spoiler alert: Republican leadership is refusing to allow votes on reforms that have broad bipartisan support): 1/2 thehill.com/opinion/cong...

POTUS says Pulte will take over as acting DNI beginning June 19. Gabbard was originally supposed to leave her post at the end of this month.

Update: after this bill passed the state Assembly 67-1, sources in the state Senate expressed significant resistance to the idea and the sponsor is likely to pull the bill. Sunshine works!

The California Public Utility Commission has been a leader in ensuring universal broadband, with subsidies for low-income residents, minimum quality standards, and guaranteed competitive rates. So of course a telecom-funded state legislator (a Democrat!) is trying to strip the CPUC's jurisdiction.

BlackRock’s infrastructure arm has set its sights on another utility in the Midwest—this time in Indiana, where it has one less regulatory hurdle to clear. That utility is AES Indiana, whose parent company agreed to be acquired by BlackRock earlier this year.

At dawn this morning, the Senate voted 47-52 not to advance a Section 702 reauthorization that would have given the Trump administration warrantless access to Americans’ communications. It’s an interim victory… but it’s crucial to take the right lessons from it. 1/11

Democrats were on their way to give in on extending warrantless spying, until bill Pulte was picked for Director of National Intelligence. Now Dems must answer for handing over surveillance authority to a brazen partisan actor. Good report by @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social. prospect.org/2026/06/04/s...

The Senate will take up Section 702 reauthorization again as early as tomorrow. The bill from reform opponents (Trump allies in Congress + Sen. Warner) doesn’t just fail to curb warrantless domestic spying. It actually expands the govt’s ability to use 702 against Americans. 1/18

NYS Senate just passed a measure to amend the state’s Champerty Doctrine to close a 2004 loophole that hedge or “vulture” funds have used to shield large-scale commercial debt acquisitions from being invalidated under it.

Tom DiNapoli's visit was sponsored by a group with financial ties to Israel Bonds, an investment vehicle that has become an issue in his primary. interc.pt/43KkgMc

Yesterday was the first day immigration judges in NYC held "mega master" hearings designed to drastically speed up Trump's mass deportation machine. I watched one judge spend less than 3 minutes per person as she raced to get through a docket of 88 cases.

Great piece from @gurleygg.bsky.social about the dramatic reversal in approval for data centers in Virginia, the world leader in the facilities. Now neighborhood groups are opposing new locations, lawmakers want to review tax breaks, and promises of jobs don't hold up. prospect.org/2026/06/02/j...