Rest in Power. ✊

Right-wing Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters has resigned and announced that he will lead the anti-union network "Teacher Freedom Alliance." The Center for Media and Democracy wrote about the launch of this astroturf operation earlier this year. Read more 👇

NEW: Journalists from FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, New York Times, New York Post, & Newsmax have all embedded with ICE & CBP operations over the past nine months under the umbrella of the DHS, giving the operations a publicity boost while leaving key claims about DHS enforcement policies unquestioned.

Fossil fuel burning poses threat to health of 1.6bn people, data shows

24 hour general strike in Italy for Palestine underway. “This doesn’t mean we’re anti-Jews or antisemitic, and we’re tired of the media and politicians playing on this misunderstanding,” the student, identified only as Alessandra, told La Repubblica.

WATCH: Important coverage from the Center for Media and Democracy about the repression journalists are facing from local and federal law enforcement simply for doing their jobs. ⬇️

"About 15 of every 16 Palestinians the Israeli military has killed since its renewed offensive in Gaza began in March have been civilians, data collected by the independent violence-tracking organisation Acled indicates."

A June 2 email from RLDF’s then President to RAGA members obtained by CMD shows that Bondi has set up a State Attorneys General Task Force to work with her & the DOJ to “focus on addressing different criminal and civil issues via state statutes & regulations, in concert with enforcing federal codes”

NEW investigation from the Center for Media and Democracy reveals that the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) has cuts ties with Christian Right activist/funder Leonard Leo and brought in $10.1 million in the first half of 2025. Read more 👇

Attacks on the press are attacks on the public's right to know. DHS, LAPD, and other law enforcement must be held accountable for their brazen and repeated violations of the First Amendment.

“Charlie Kirk will be remembered as one of the foremost architects of the political strategy of treating faculty and students with whom he disagrees as enemies to be defeated,” said Isaac Kamola, a political science professor at Trinity College.

“Los Angeles police officers fired over 1,000 projectiles at protesters on a single day in June as demonstrators pushed back against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and decision to deploy the National Guard to the nation’s second largest city.”

Shocking violence against journalists and observers at anti-ICE protests in LA threatens all of our rights. #protest #LAProtests #PressFreedom #ProtectJournalists

NEW: Internal report reveals DHS intelligence portal was accidentally opened to tens of thousands of users for months, exposing sensitive intel about Americans. @brennancenter.org obtained the docs. @wired.com has the story. 🧵 www.wired.com/story/a-dhs-...

Brilliant letter!

📚 New CA Bill Could Punish Educators for Discussing Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Teacher unions (CTA, CFT, CFA), civil rights groups, and 100+ grassroots orgs are sounding the alarm over AB 715 — a bill passed overnight that gives a governor-appointed “Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator” -

If DHS can violently attack journalists and citizen observers without any consequences, none of us are safe anywhere in the country. #protest #LAProtests #PressFreedom #ProtectJournalists

A federal district court judge in LA issued a sweeping preliminary injunction Wednesday barring DHS officers from “dispersing, threatening, or assaulting” journalists or legal observers, or using crowd control weapons on or shooting projectiles at anyone who doesn’t “pose a threat of imminent harm.”

NEW: Later this month, Florida’s surgeon general Joe Ladapo is appearing at an event hosted by the Florida chapter of anti-vaccine group that calls the mRNA COVID vaccines “weapons of mass destruction.” Its state leader called them “bioweapons” at an event last year that Ladapo participated in.

Death toll from Israeli attack on Yemen rises to 35 - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/death-toll-israeli-attack-yemen-rises-35

ICYMI: DHS's Tricia McLaughlin told the Center for Media and Democracy that “videotaping ICE law enforcement and posting photos and videos of them online is doxing our agents,” and added: “We will prosecute those who illegally harass ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law.”

NEW: President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security claims that making and posting videos of ICE agents as they disappear tens of thousands of immigrants from America’s streets, workplaces, and courtrooms without due process is an act of “violence” to be dealt with accordingly.

👉 This brings the recorded death toll from the Israeli genocide in Gaza to 63,746 and 161,245 injuries (likely 3-5x higher) Watch: Al Jazeera reports on one of the Israeli attacks yesterday on a group of children queuing up for water in Al Mawasi, a so-called ‘safe zone’.

Warnock to RFK jr: "For the first time, we are seeing deaths of children from measles. We haven't seen that in two decades. We're seeing that under your watch. You are a hazard to the health of the American people."

A Republican member of a county election board in North Carolina has been arrested for spiking his grandkids’ ice cream with cocaine and ecstasy. Today’s @americandoom.bsky.social: www.american-doom.com/p/nc-republi...

"Heather Honey embraced 2020 election conspiracy theories. She’ll now serve in election integrity role at the Department of Homeland Security."

SCOOP: A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers, raising questions about ethics in the independent media space

New from 404 Media: Customs and Border Protection had direct access to more than 80,000 Flock cameras around the U.S. We previously reported local cops were doing lookups for ICE. Turned out CBP had its own access. Flock says it has now "paused all federal pilots" www.404media.co/cbp-had-acce...

Say her name @apnews.com - Maryam Abu Daqqa risked her life working for you, yet now you refuse to say her name while spouting the same old IDF lies. Shame on the AP and all the mainstream media silent amid the slaughter of >250 Palestinian journalists - that's more than 20 colleagues each month.

Council for National Policy's executive director Bob McEwen attended the Ukrainian National Prayer Breakfast. The Ukrainians are unfamiliar with our tax laws because they refer to McEwen in the release as "Executive Director of the Council for National Policy of the U.S. Republican Party Bob McEwen"

EnergySolutions has long used political donations for influence. But as Utah expands energy production, the nuclear services company has taken a new direction — buying lawmakers memberships to a conservative group pushing policy in nuclear’s direction. www.sltrib.com/news/politic...

NEW: In the weeks since Trump targeted American cities for “the single largest Mass Deportation Program in history” & deployed U.S. troops to the streets of Los Angeles, federal & local law enforcement officers have repeatedly assaulted & seriously injured journalists, legal observers, & protesters.

Trump is “considering creating a full-time ‘Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force’ that could be called on to quash civil unrest & protest at a moment’s notice,” per documents reviewed by WaPo. The force would consist of National Guards troops with “military-style weapons”. 8/12/25

Several conservative states have recently cracked down on squatting despite no evidence of a crisis. Some of the legislation resembles a model bill drafted by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council. Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

I wrote about ALEC's role in our present housing dystopia, for @rollingstone.com and @exposedbycmd.bsky.social www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

NEW: State legislatures seem to be obsessed with squatters these days — and the corporate-dominated American Legislative Exchange Council has played a major role in advancing legislation to crack down on them.

My God: “An internal Meta Platforms document detailing policies on chatbot behavior has permitted the company’s [AI] creations to ‘engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,’ generate false medical info & help users argue that Black people are ‘dumber than white people.’” 1/

NEW: Through an analysis of hundreds of IRS filings, CMD has been able to identify the sources of $21.5 million that is bankrolling the GOP gerrymandering guru responsible for engineering new Texas maps. www.exposedbycmd.org/2025/08/07/p...

NEW: Through an analysis of hundreds of IRS filings, CMD has been able to identify the sources of $21.5 million that is bankrolling the GOP gerrymandering guru responsible for engineering new Texas maps.

“The memo is alarming, because it speaks to the intent to use the military within the United States at a level not seen since Japanese internment,” Carrie Lee, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, told TNR. “The military is the most powerful, coercive tool our country has.”

World in $1.5tn ‘plastics crisis’ hitting health from infancy to old age, report warns

The Culinary Workers Union representing 60,000 hospitality workers in Nevada has achieved a historic victory on the Las Vegas Strip. For the first time in its 90-year history, all major casinos on the Strip are unionized.

Israeli bombardment kills at least 94 in just 24 hours in Gaza - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-bombardment-kills-least-94-just-24-hours-gaza

A massive regressive national sales tax imposed upon every American by a president with no constitutional authority to impose a national sales tax. The reason why the founders gave this power to Congress is because this would never pass any Congress- even this one.

NEW: After massive contract terminations for consulting giants like Accenture, Booz Allen, and Deloitte, Palantir has emerged ahead. Now the data analytics firm is partnering with those companies—offering them a lifeline while consolidating its own power. www.wired.com/story/palant...

"In the aftermath of bombings, the Israeli army routinely fires on Palestinian rescue workers, paramedics, and other civilians to prevent them from saving the wounded, an investigation reveals."

Revealed: records show border patrol gave inaccurate testimony about people it jailed. Prosecutors now face ‘embarrassing’ dismissals

"Two leading human rights organisations based in Israel, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, say Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the country’s western allies have a legal and moral duty to stop it."

In the words of the brilliant Omar el Akkad: "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling it what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.’