Stand with students and demand an end to right-wing book bans!

Trump baselessly attacks Judge Merchan, claims he's making "BIG MONEY" off porn star hush money trial
In a totally reasonable, very measured social media post that in no way suggests the 77-year-old, disgraced ex-president is losing his gold-plated marbles, Trump attacked Judge Juan Merchan with preposterous, baseless claims of corruption. Trump took his campaign of belittling Merchan to a new level, alleging that he is somehow personally profiting from the trial and its outcome. The serially indicted con man failed to provide a shred of evidence in support of his allegations of corruption, of course, but he did thumb-smash his diatribe in ALL CAPS, so you know he means business. [RETWEET THAT!]

Take Action: Tell Judge Merchan to jail Trump for violating his gag order!

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Trump walloped in court by prosecution team's star witness
Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen's devastating testimony yesterday arrived pre-corroborated — both by previous witness testimonies and good, old-fashioned, physical evidence — undermining the core tenets of the MAGA cult leader's flimsy defense. Cohen returns to the witness stand today for another round of fireworks. Brian Tyler Cohen and Glenn Kirschner spell out what it all means for the serially indicted con man's prospects with the jury.

Take Action: Rename a prison after Trump instead of an airport!

Democrats launch new strike to hit Trump where he's weakest
Youth Save Democracy: With the polls being so close in an election where our very democracy is at stake, it’s more important than ever we hit Donald Trump and his cronies where he’s the weakest — and that’s with young people. Youth Save Democracy was created to bridge the gap between young voters and their ballots, providing critical voting information, resources, and field operations to boost turnout where it counts the most. But we’re going to need your help to do it. Will you chip in to fuel Youth Save Democracy’s efforts to make an election-winning impact on young voter turnout?

University of North Carolina to divert entire $2.3 million DEI budget to campus policing
Under the disingenuous guise of protecting their campus against super scary student protests, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced that it would divert the school’s entire $2.3 million diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) budget toward...public safety and policing. Some members of the board of trustees, which UNANIMOUSLY voted for the divestment, cited students’ recent anti-war and pro-Palestinian human rights demonstrations as a reason for the radical redesignation of funds to the campus police. Fun fact: the board's decision will likely lead to the shuttering of the department entirely, while the public safety and policing departments will see yet another boost to their existing $14 million budget. Someone please make it make sense.

Take Action: Close the gender pay gap and pay women a fair wage!

Israeli civilians attack aid trucks to Gaza, tearing open grain bags and throwing supplies into the road
A mob of Israeli civilians blocked aid trucks destined for Gaza on Monday, throwing food packages onto the road and ripping bags of grain open in the occupied West Bank. The trucks came from Jordan and were headed to the Gaza Strip, where war-stricken Palestinian civilians facing full-blown famine are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. The group reportedly behind the protest claimed they were demonstrating against the continued detention of Israeli hostages in Gaza. The White House has condemned the attack, describing the "looting" of aid convoys as "a total outrage."

Fox News blowhard claims Democrats will steal 2024 election before admitting, "I have very little evidence of that"
Fox News talking head Greg Gutfeld — who last week declared Donald Trump a "sex god" on air without warning — told his viewers yesterday that Democrats will try to steal the 2024 election before immediately admitting he had "very little evidence" to back up the preposterous claim. Speaking of very little evidence, all signs suggest the right-wing propaganda network has learned nearly nothing from its whopping $787 million defamation settlement for peddling horseshit election theft lies last time around. [RETWEET THAT!]

Take Action: Tell President Biden to decriminalize marijuana!

More than 60% of Americans say abortion should be legal, poll finds
In the two years since right-wing radicals on the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade and opened the floodgates to draconian abortion bans across the country, reproductive rights have only grown more popular in the US. A full 60% of Americans now believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, with support that transcends numerous demographic divides. The Republican assault on bodily autonomy has thrust the issue to the forefront of the upcoming election, where battleground states like Arizona and Nevada are expected to hold ballot measures to protect abortion rights, likely boosting both turnout and Democrats' chances in critical races. Please remember in November.

Biden gets good news ahead of November
About time.

Blinken visits Ukraine to tout US support for Kyiv's fight against Russia
Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday in an unannounced diplomatic mission to reassure Ukraine that it has American support as it struggles to defend against increasingly intense Russian attacks. The visit comes less than a month after Congress approved a foreign assistance package — long delayed by obstinate Republicans — that includes $60 billion in critical aid for Ukraine, much of which will go toward replenishing badly depleted artillery and air defense systems. Blinken acknowledged that there was “no doubt” the monthslong delay in aid caused serious problems but that “we are doing everything we can to rush this assistance out there.” On Monday, a Ukrainian general admitted that Ukraine’s military is confronting a “critical” situation in the country’s northeast, facing troop shortages as it tries to repel a Russian offensive that has been advancing for several days, capturing villages and sending thousands fleeing for safety in the Kharkiv region.

The biggest bombshells from Michael Cohen's testimony were all in Trump's own words
When former fixer Michael Cohen was arranging hush-money payments for adult film star Stormy Daniels, he tried very hard to keep Donald Trump's name out of it. But in his under-oath testimony for the MAGA cult leader's criminal trial on Monday, Cohen placed the serially indicted con man firmly in the room where it happened. Trump's attorney-turned-nemesis quoted his former boss extensively, telling jurors about key moments when Donald participated fully in the plot to keep Daniels quiet ahead of the 2016 election. Trump's legal team has preposterously cast all the blame on Cohen, claiming he went rogue and came up with the hush-money scheme all on his own without the disgraced ex-president's approval. Riiiight.

Citing ethnic cleansing, Jewish US Army major resigns over Israel's assault on Gaza
A US Army major described months of being increasingly disturbed by the images and news of Israel's US-backed bombardment of Gaza, which culminated in his public resignation from his position at the Defense Intelligence Agency to avoid further complicity in what he described as Israel's "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians. "At some point it became difficult to defend the outcomes of this particular policy," Army Major Harrison Mann wrote. "At some point — whatever the justification — you're either advancing a policy that advances the mass starvation of children, or you're not. As the descendant of European Jews, I was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment when it came to the topic of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing — my grandfather refused to ever purchase products manufactured in Germany — where the paramount importance of 'never again' and the inadequacy of 'just following orders' were oft repeated."