MIDWEEK ALREADY AGAIN

There are 90 days to the midterms.

The Big News is the surprising result of last night’s Democratic senate primary in Michigan, which saw progressive Abdul El-Sayed declared the winner by a margin of less t han 1% of total votes cast - around 22,000 votes. According to polls released in the week prior to the election, El-Sayed was supposed to be leading moderate Haley Stevens by 10% and some observers expected a double-digit winning margin. The fact that the polls were so far off of the results in the Real Poll may actually have influenced the outcome of the election itself, according to some observers. The poll showing El-Saywed with a 10-point lead might have depressed the turnout of pro-Stevens voters, or conversely increased the turnout of voters who wanted to support the “obvious” winner, El-Sayed. There is one crucial fact in the post-mortem: Stevens won the majority of Black voters across the State in both urban and less-urban districts. She dominated in Wayne County, where Detroit is located; ubnfortunately her margin of victory there was not as large as predicted. Had it equaled predictions, she would be taking the congratulations today. As it is, El-Sayed proved he could win in districts across the state - most surprisingly in majority-white and conservative districts in the Northern Peninsula, where job loss and subsequent loss of healthcare benefits moved the normally-conservative voters to support El-Sayed with his campaign focus on expansion of healthcare. While El-Sayed might have shown up at public events before the election with polarizing individuals like Hasan Piker, his campaign stayed away from ideological positions and concentrated on the bread-and-butter issues that affect voters regardless of any ideological beliefs. He also distanced himself from the DSA with his non-ideological campaign. The issue of Israel - which the polls had predicted would be dominant - was in fact a much smaller element. Overall, the fact the election was as close as it was is a good thing for Michigan Democrats who need to unify the party to take on and defeat GOP candidate Mike Rogers. El-Sayed’s victory speech had little to do with his victory over his opponent - about whose campaign he was very positive, pointing out all the areas of agreement between the two. This humbling of the victorious campaign and the elevation of the losing one, can make the unification much easier than it would have been with a wider victory margin. Stevens had publicly stated beforehand that she would support whoever won, which can help solve the problem of “sour grapes” among her supporters. Her statement after El-Sayed was officially declared the victory shows how this will be won: “I want to congratulate Abdul El-Sayed on winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. He is a doctor, a community health official, a Rhodes Scholar, and a dedicated Michigander. I am proud to offer my support as he takes on Mike Rogers in the general election.” Overall, the progressive movement is continuing to demonstrate its strength, even in hard-fought campaigns in a purple state like Michigan. At all levels of candidacies across the primary, the progressive candidates were the winners. For those of us who want the party to “stand for something” and be “willing to fight,” last night was a solid victory all around.

Trump claimed election fraud in Michigan in a Lies Anti-Social Post this morning as he revived his long-running attacks on election integrity in Michigan. In so doing, he also demonstrted ho “out to lunch” he and MAGA are on this topic, and that they have no real idea of how to campaign against him. Trump said without evidence that this area is “one of the most corrupt voting areas in the United States” and warned that “fake mail-in ballots” could still emerge. “Get ready for another Rigged Election. VOTE FOR MIKE ROGERS, and make Michigan TOO BIG TO RIG!” Once the results were confirmed a few minutes later, Dilbert put out another post saying this was “great news for the Republican Party. El-Sayed, a Communist loser who hates Jews and Israel, is the projected winner in his race with the Socialist. As usual, the Polls were way off on this one. She was not expected to do nearly as well as she did. Now, the Dumocrats crazy policies will only get worse!” “Tailgunner” Ted Cruz showed what the GOP campaign will center on in a wild rant on Fux Snooze: “They want Sharia law, they hate Jews, they hate Christians, they hate capitalism, they hate America!”

Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 to advance the nomination of Todd Blanche to the full Senate for a final vote on confirmation. Senator John Cornyn capitulated to Trump when Blanche provided illusory promises that the $1.8 billion weaponization fund would not proceed. Cornyn gave a pathetic excuse for his capitulation, saying: “Well, there’s nothing we could do to rein in the president when he said he likes the fund and he wishes it still exists. But the fact of the matter, it’s dead, and that’s all we could do under these circumstances.” To the contrary, Blanche rescinded his order implementing the fund but did not repeal the settlement agreement that creates the fund and authorizes the payments. As the Bulwark’s Philip Rotner wrote: “Don’t be fooled by the weasel-worded statements that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche posted on the Department of Justice website and tweeted out late Sunday night. They are clearly intended to give a false impression that a stake has finally been driven into the fund’s heart. It hasn’t. If Senators Cornyn and Tillis are too dense to understand the difference between “not operative” or “not moving forward,” on the one hand, and “dead forever,” on the other, then maybe Trump stumbled on something true by branding them as no longer fit to be senators.”The vote on Blanche will take place sometime in the next few days, so there is still time to prevent his confirmation.

Molly, Sebastian and Corky at 12 weeks

Here is why Todd Blanche is terrible: last week, he told faith leaders he is planning to roll back abortion access even in states that have laws protecting it. On a private call last week hosted by the White House Faith Office, Blanche told the religious group Intercessors for America that moves to undo the Biden administration’s efforts to protect abortion are “taking longer than we want.” But Blanche assured them that the Justice Department (DOJ) is “working hand-in-hand” with federal health agencies, the White House and Trump’s team “to get permanent solutions so the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state.” Blanche hinted that restrictions on mail-order abortion drugs are coming. Maladministration II is “putting practices and policies in place so that other states and other organizations” can’t send abortion pills through the mail to states where they are banned. “If states have said, ‘We are going to protect the unborn and we’re going to protect every life from the moment of conception,’ we’re putting practices and policies in place so that other states and other organizations can’t attack that. They can’t do things like they’re doing with mailing in mail-order drugs.” Blanche didn’t specify if he was planning to invoke the Comstock Act, a long-dormant anti-obscenity law from 1873 that conservatives want to use to ban all mail-order abortion pills and medical instruments. Blanche acknowledged that to the faith leaders on the call that “we don’t have complete victory yet” but promised it is coming. “We will have victory, and victory will be soon, and it will be permanent.” Blanche isn’t sdatisfied with losing 20 court decisions that keep him from stealing the 2026 election - he has to go for more embarrassing losses between now and 2028.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation , an advocacy group suing the Department of the Interior over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, warned in a new filing that the agency is racing to destroy evidence just as newly surfaced documents undercut its own vandalism story. The Cultural Landscape Foundation asked a federal judge on Tuesday for emergency permission to inspect and document the pool’s current condition before Interior crews perform more repair work that could wipe out physical evidence. A National Park Service official previously swore under oath that the pool’s damaged lining showed signs of deliberate sabotage, including caulk allegedly cut with a sharp blade. A separate Justice Department tells a very different story. Prosecutors dropped charges against David Hearn, after reviewing evidence showing the real culprit was shoddy construction work tied to Trump’s $14 million renovation of the site. “Damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented,” the DOJ filing said. DC US Attorney Winebox Jeanine Pirro was forced to take a box of evidence with her to the White House Monday night, which apparently put Trump off his desire to fire her on the spot. The foundation’s lawyers argue that inconsistency alone justifies letting them document the pool’s condition immediately, noting Interior has already signaled plans for further work that could erase the discrepancy for good. They also flagged internal agency records showing the project was rushed through a “streamlined review” process atypical for the site, allegedly at the direction of “White House leadership.” Secretary of the Interior has been Trump’s chorus on how the pool renovation was intentionaly damaged by “antifa.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche took his 20th straight court loss in Trump’s bid to force states to turn over voter data before the midterm elections after a Republican-appointed federal judge threw out the case and barred him from refiling. U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer, appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning Blanche cannot bring the same claims back to that court. The ruling was dated Monday but emerged in the news Tuesday - the same day the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 to advance Blanche’s nomination as permanent attorney general to the full Senate, according to CNBC.

Per Democracy Docket, Republicans were on the verge of drastically reducing the number of voting locations in a major Texas battleground county, including cutting early voting locations on college campuses. “But that all changed at the last moment, when Republican officials were faced with a massive backlash from outraged voters who packed the meeting room - and two overflow rooms - to demand that their voting locations remain open.”

Republicans in the Missouri legislature grew weary of the people of Missouri using the initiative process to enact progressive legislation, including protection of abortion rights, legalization of marijuana, and a minimum wage increase. So, Republicans in the Missouri legislature proposed a constitutional amendment to make it harder for the people of Missouri to use the initiative process to enact progressive legislation and amend the state Constitution. New restrictions would have required that a majority in each of the state’s 8 congressional districts vote in favor for an initiative to pass. Tuesday, Missouri voters rejected the Republican legislature’s attempt to curtail the initiative process. And they did so by an overwhelming margin of 83% to 16%!

The measles outbreak in 2025 cost almost $5.4 million to contain according to new research published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Authors of the study said $53,522 was spent per measles case, which breaks down to $1,817 per person that came into contact with the viral disease. The study says $290,000 was spent on direct medical costs, including seven hospitalizations, while $32,000 were put towards 79 outpatient visits and $20,000 was spent on 1,286 commercial laboratory tests, according to Reuters. “The largest component of the public health response to the outbreak (about $3.2 million) was costs from vaccination-related activities (about $2.1 million),” researchers wrote. This year, the U.S. has recorded 2,371 measles infections, marking the highest number of cases seen since 1991. Part of the uptick in cases has been credited to vaccine disinformation that has sparked hesitancy in immunizations. Sunday, RFK Jr told CNN’s Dana Bash, who pressed him over past statements of vaccine skepticism, that he is urging parents to get the measles vaccine. “A measles vaccine is effective. It stops measles in about 97 percent of the cases. So people should get vaccinated.”

Remember, you are not the crazy ones, and we were made for these times. Regardless of what you may feel right now, act as if you believe that and redouble your efforts.

“Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty, as we understand it.” - Abraham Lincoln

Sweetie in any kitty’s favorite place

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