Expel GOP Rep. Randy Fine for his disgusting racist attacks on Democrats!

Gov. Abbott reacts to "blame" question over Texas flood response: "That's the word choice of losers"
In a repulsive show of cowardice and buck-passing, Texas Governor Greg Abbott went on a bizarre tangent about how asking who's to blame for the historic flood disaster that has killed at least 111 people was for "losers" and compared the tragedy to...a football game. "Who's to blame? Know this, that's the word choice of losers... Any size community they care about football, high school, Friday Night lights, college football, or pro. Know this, every football team makes mistakes. The losing teams are the ones trying to point out who's to blame. The championship teams are the ones who say, 'don't worry about it, man. We got this.'" It is beyond disgraceful and unforgivably insulting that Abbott would trot out this pandering schtick in order to deflect blame that ultimately rests with the entire Republican state apparatus — with Abbott himself at the very top — which studiously failed to take appropriate measures to prevent this very kind of disaster. And on top of that, his meandering analogy doesn't even make sense! Football players get benched and coaches get fired all the time! Folks, 10 times out of 10, the person insisting we shouldn’t be trying to blame anyone for calamity is the person to blame for the calamity.

Take Action: Click here to donate to Bobby Cole, who is running to unseat Greg Abbott and restore sanity to Texas!

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Republican fallout from abysmal budget bill surges into spotlight
Brian Tyler Cohen spoke with Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin to discuss what made the conservative holdouts fold in Congress and ultimately back Trump's big bill of bullshit and "Pod Save America's" Tommy Vietor about the seismic consequences awaiting Republicans for treading all over their constituents and abandoning their so-called principles. Roll the tape!

Take Action: Demand Pam Bondi resign as attorney general!

Top Democrat comes under furious GOP fire for opposing Trump's catastrophic bill
Chris Pappas for Senate: Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Chris Pappas did the right thing, as he has for each of his 20 years in public service, and voted against Trump's tax bill because it would kick millions of Americans off their healthcare, and now the GOP is trying to make him pay the price. Within hours of passage, the Republican National Senatorial Committee blasted Pappas on social media for having “just voted against the largest middle class tax cut in history" (an outrageous lie) in an attempt to derail his campaign for the must-win New Hampshire Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Shaheen. Will you chip in to Chris Pappas' campaign to say THANK YOU for doing the right thing and help him fight back against the relentless attacks from Trump's cronies?

Trump says he's "looking at" federal takeover of Washington, DC — and NYC
Donald Trump opened yet another front in his ongoing mission to turn the United States of America into a fascist police state firmly under his singular control, threatening to "take over" the nation's capital because crime should be "down to a minimal." Fun fact: crime has plummeted to a 30-year low in DC, but let's not let actual data get in the way of the authoritarian con man's crusading. The MAGA cult leader also hinted he might pursue similar action in New York City because Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is apparently a "communist" who would be, like, really bad for the city, according to Trump. "We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to," the MAGA cult leader said before disclosing he’s already "testing" a plan to take over Washington. "We would run it so good," he added. Uh, it's R-U-I-N, Donald. How could you, of all people, leave out the "I?"

Take Action: Demand Trump stop ICE raids and military escalation against protesters!

Dept. of Agriculture secretary says able-bodied Medicaid recipients should replace immigrant farm workforce
"Send granny out to pick strawberries in 100 degree heat in exchange for slightly less expensive kidney medication" is apparently the Republican Party's vision of a working healthcare system for America.

House Republican refers to Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar as "Muslim terrorist"
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar took offense to Donald Trump rolling out the red carpet for the Israeli Prime Minister this week, tweeting: "This is Benjamin Netanyahu’s third visit to DC this year. War criminals should not be welcomed by any president or Congress. He should be held accountable for his crimes, not platformed. Beyond shameful." Which prompted this response from her Republican House colleague, the aggressively racist Randy Fine: "I'm sure it is difficult to see us welcome the killer of so many of your fellow Muslim terrorists. The only shame is that you serve in Congress." Fine should be expelled from Congress for this hateful, egregious attack, but with Republicans in charge he likely won't even receive a performative slap on the wrist. Beyond disgraceful.

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok praises Hitler, adopts alter ego "MechaHitler" to deliver "truth without the baggage"
After a string of smackdowns by his own AI chatbot, Elon Musk announced that he would be reprogramming Grok to be less liberal and more friendly to today’s American conservatives. Yesterday, the results of that MAGA reprogramming were on full display when Grok unveiled its alter ego, MechaHitler, and spent the day spouting anti-Jewish, racist, and literal Nazi propaganda. Informed onlookers were left wondering how the MAGA alignment went so horribly right. And all this after Grok earlier got Musk into a vat of very hot legal water for — we are not making this up — giving step-by-step instructions on how to break into a specific user's house and rape him.

Democrats told to step up, "get shot" for the anti-Trump resistance
The Democratic voter base is understandably freaking the FUCK out at the absolute horror show of fascistic violence and authoritarian overreach playing out in the news on a daily basis, and they have a message for their reps: do more, break the rules, and be willing to do whatever it takes to stop the GOP. "Some of them have suggested ... what we really need to do is be willing to get shot" when visiting ICE facilities or federal agencies said one House Democrat. "Our own base is telling us that what we're doing is not good enough ... [that] there needs to be blood to grab the attention of the press and the public." Another Democrat recounted: "I actually said in a meeting, 'When they light a fire, my thought is to grab an extinguisher...And someone at the table said, 'Have you tried gasoline?'" Look, we certainly don't want anyone getting shot, but strongly worded letters aren't cutting it. It is definitely well past time for elected Democrats to up their game and start defending democracy in a serious, actionable way.

Supreme Court clears way for Trump regime to resume mass government firings
The conservative-stacked high court cleared the way for the Trump regime to resume plans for mass firings of federal workers that critics have rightly warned could threaten critical government services. Extending a deeply problematic winning streak for the authoritarian dictator-in-training, the justices lifted a lower court order that had frozen sweeping federal layoffs known as "reductions in force" while litigation in the case proceeds. The decision could result in hundreds of thousands of job losses at the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, State, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and other agencies. What could possibly go horribly wrong?

Alligator Alcatraz detainees allege inhumane conditions at Trump's newest immigration concentration camp
File under Least Shocking News of the Day.

Trump unloads on Putin after promising more military aid to Ukraine
Donald Trump expressed mounting frustration Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, promising during a lively Cabinet meeting to boost US military aid to Ukraine. "We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth," Trump told reporters. "He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless." Oh, is the Russian dictator, who has managed to rule with an iron fist for 26 years and counting, behaving in a duplicitous manner on the world stage? Has Donald finally caught on that they aren't playing checkers? When asked about an earlier reported pause in weapons shipments to Ukraine by the Pentagon, which seemed to catch the president off guard at the time, Trump insisted he wanted to equip "brave" Ukrainians with defensive arms. Putin "is not treating human beings right. He’s killing too many people, so we’re sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and I’ve approved that." Is it just us, or does it sound like the president is reading the crayon scribblings of an agitated nine-year-old? Also, not sure how many people is "too many" in Donald's book, but multiple estimates by outside agencies put the Ukranian death toll somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 while Russia has lost an astounding 250,000 troops.