Stop Trump from building a mass surveillance system with all our private data!

Xi, Trump spoke by telephone on Thursday, China says

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Elon declares war on GOP, calls for Trump's "big beautiful bill" to be killed
Welp, that didn't take long. Just days after leaving the Trump administration both literally and figuratively battered and bruised, the world's most famous ketamine enthusiast and the man who financed Donald Trump's return to the White House has declared all-out war on the Republican Party and their signature legislative priority — the MAGA cult leader's "big, beautiful," deficit-busting bill. Elon took to nüTwitter and implored his army of followers to rise up: "Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL." During a press conference yesterday, a noticeably flustered House Speaker Mike Johnson went into damage-control mode, dancing around the 800 billion pound gorilla very much NOT in the room, repeatedly insisting the disagreement isn't personal (for Elon it most certainly is) and mumbling that he hoped the two could speak about their differing opinions on the bill. Pop the corn, folks! We're just getting warmed up. [RETWEET THAT!]

Take Action: Stop the sale of our national monuments to fossil fuel and mining interests!

Trump announces total travel ban on 12 countries and restrictions on 7 others: "We don't want them"
The MAGA cult leader just resurrected a hallmark, nakedly racist policy of his first term, announcing that citizens of 12 countries — Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — would be banned from visiting the United States and those from seven others — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela — would face heightened restrictions. Sounds about white. Somewhere in the bowels of the West Wing Stephen Miller is dancing a painfully awkward, out-of-rhythm jig.

Take Action: Demand Congress protect our veterans from DOGE cuts!

Top scientist takes on the GOP's crusade of ignorance
Jasmine Clark for Georgia: Trump, RFK Jr., and the rest of their cronies in Congress have taken a chainsaw to our scientific research, public health, and climate initatives and are waging an all out-war on science and the truth. PhD scientist Dr. Jasmine Clark has had enough, and she's running for Congress in order to restore sanity to the government and make America a global leader in scientific development once again. Will you chip in to help jump-start her campaign and flip the House blue?

Judges bring Trump's sweeping plan to deport foreign students to a standstill
Donald Trump’s sweeping bid to deport foreign students who have condemned the war in Gaza has been brought to a standstill by federal judges who have repeatedly ruled against the administration, according to an NBC News review of recent court filings. Nice to know at least one branch of the federal government is following some letter of the law and nominally doing its job.

Take Action: Demand Trump stop targeting foreign students!

Trump orders investigation into Biden's actions as president, ratcheting up targeting of predecessor
In perhaps the least surprising news of the day, Donald Trump is going after his predecessor's administration with a laundry list of accusations all designed to cast doubt on the legitimacy and legality of basically all of the actions Joe Biden took as president, laying the groundwork to potentially invalidate four years of policy. Biden responded swiftly with a statement Wednesday night: "Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false."

Take Action: Tell the Senate: No cuts to Medicaid or SNAP!

“The intern in charge”: Meet the 22-year-old Trump’s team picked to lead terrorism prevention
This is one of those headlines where you look at the picture and read the words and think: "this has GOT to be a fucking joke, right?" But unfortunately, this nightmare is very, very real. Thomas Fugate graduated from college *last year* with a degree in "politics," got an internship at the Heritage Foundation, and is now a Department of Homeland Security official overseeing the government’s main hub for terrorism prevention, including an $18 million grant program intended to help communities combat violent extremism. According to LinkedIn, the bulk of Fugate’s leadership experience comes from having served as secretary general of a Model United Nations club. There have been at at least five high-profile targeted terrorist attacks across the US in the past few months, including a car bombing in California and the gunning down of two Israeli Embassy aides in Washington. While Trump redirects the majority of the DHS' resources towards arresting the guy making your sandwiches at the bodega, he's putting children in charge of keeping us safe from terrorism. It's beyond comprehension, and uh...we are most definitely in danger.

US vetoes UN Security Council demand for unconditional Gaza ceasefire
The United States on Wednesday unilaterally vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution that demanded an "immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza and unhindered aid access across the war-torn enclave. The other 14 countries on the council — Algeria, China, Denmark, France, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russia, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Somalia, and the United Kingdom — voted in favor of the draft as a humanitarian crisis grips the enclave of more than 2 million people, where famine looms and aid has only trickled in since Israel technically lifted an 11-week blockade last month.

ICE arrests record number of immigrants in single day, including hundreds at scheduled appointments
Immigration and Customs Enforcement made the most immigrant arrests in a single day in the department's history Tuesday, detaining more than 2,200 people, as the agency's jackbooted officers respond to pressure from the White House to "push the envelope" and dramatically increase arrests. Hundreds of the people who were arrested had been enrolled in ICE’s Alternative to Detention (ATD) program, three sources familiar with the arrests said. Under the program, ICE releases undocumented immigrants who are deemed not to be threats to public safety and then keeps track of them through ankle monitors, smartphone apps, or other geolocating programs, along with periodic check-ins at ICE facilities. At least some of the arrests appear to be the result of a deeply troubling new ICE tactic: Immigration attorneys across the country told NBC News that some of their clients on ATD were asked in a mass text message ICE sent out to show up ahead of schedule for check-ins at ICE offices, only to be arrested when they arrived. It is so good to be great again.

Marjorie Taylor Greene gets cornered in hearing, insists she's "proud" to have voted for bill she trashed just yesterday
Just one day after publicly admitting she hadn't actually read Trump's "big, beautiful bill" and claiming she regretted voting for it, the QAnon congresswoman from Georgia pulled a remarkable 180 and insisted she was, in fact, "proud" to have helped pass the Republicans' deficit-exploding give-away to the megawealthy after all. Nobody puts Marjorie in a corner!

Elizabeth Warren claims Musk enriched himself to the tune of $100 billion during his White House stint
Only $100 billion?

Trump administration threatens Columbia University's accreditation
The Trump regime is ratcheting up its ongoing war on thinking, looking for just about any excuse to target Ivy League schools that don't simply fall in line and embrace the MAGA cult leader's woefully distorted vision for higher education. Yesterday, Education Secretary Linda McMahon accused Columbia University in a written letter of acting "with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students" and threatened to strip the school, which was founded in 1754, of its federal accreditation. US accreditors, it should be noted, play a key role in determining which universities are allowed to access billions of dollars in federal funding.