Demand Congress reject the GOP bill to legalize hitting protesters with cars!

Tsunami waves reach Japan, Hawaii and California after an 8.8 magnitude quake off Russia

Pete Hegseth wants out of the Pentagon and is planning to run for governor in Tennessee, report says
Welp, that didn't take long. After just six months on the job, Trump's DUI hire and former Fox News teevee talker Pete Hegseth has apparently had enough "real world" work experience running the Pentagon, thank you very much, and is already looking for an exit ramp. Someone should probably tell Pete his post wasn't an internship. Also, running for governor won't exactly be a walk in the park, but, hey, at least he'll be able to set his own schedule and group text emojis to his chest cavity's content without worrying about accidentally spilling military secrets!

Take Action: Support The Michael J. Fox Foundation's mission to find a cure for Parkinson's!

Israeli public figures call for "crippling sanctions" on Israel over Gaza starvation
A group of high-profile Israeli public figures, including academics, artists and public intellectuals, has called for "crippling sanctions" to be imposed by the international community on Israel, amid mounting horror over its starvation of Gaza. The 31 signatories of a letter to The Guardian include an Academy award recipient, Yuval Abraham; a former Israeli attorney general, Michael Ben-Yair; Avraham Burg, a former speaker of Israel’s parliament and former head of the Jewish Agency; and a number of recipients of the prestigious Israel prize, Israel’s highest cultural honour. The letter is significant both for its unvarnished criticism of Israel and for breaking the taboo of endorsing stringent international sanctions, in a country where politicians have promoted laws targeting those advocating such measures. The letter was published as it was announced that more than 60,000 Palestinians had been killed in the 21-month Israel-Gaza war, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Take Action: Tell Trump: Don't spend $1 billion on a desert mega-concentration camp!

Whistleblowers risk everything to protect our democracy. Now more than ever, they need our support
Whistleblower Aid: At Whistleblower Aid, we provide pro bono legal representation and wrap-around support to help truth-tellers safely expose corruption and misconduct. As attacks on oversight escalate, our caseload continues to grow—and so does the need for resources. In honor of National Whistleblower Appreciation Day (July 30), we are asking for your urgent support to fund this essential work. We are currently representing Nick Enrich, a former USAID official who exposed dangerous global health cuts, and Miles Taylor, a former DHS official who spoke out against Trump’s policies and is now under attack. These brave individuals stepped forward to protect the public. Now we must protect them. Please donate today to support this urgent work at WhistleblowerAid.org/. Thank you — Mark Zaid, Founding Legal Partner, WhistleblowerAid.org/.

Sen. Josh Hawley introduces bill to send tariff rebate checks to Americans
Tariffs 👏 are 👏 taxes. Tariffs on imported goods mean retailers pay more to stock their shelves, which means we ALL pay higher prices at the checkout register for the stuff we buy. This isn't rocket science. It's also a stone-cold election loser. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley knows this and has introduced legislation to issue $600 rebate checks to offset the inevitable price hikes. It's a nakedly political and very convoluted way to unscramble an egg, to extinguish a fire you yourself helped start. It's also the modern GOP in a nutshell: half-assed fixes for the shit we broke in the first place.

Take Action: Protect the Endangered Species Act from Trump and GOP attacks!

MAGA rep breaks dadgum rib in freak accident
Tennessee Republican — and man very concerned about the well-being of the many innocent wealthy people who flew on Jeffrey Epstein's "dadgum plane" — Tim Burchett suffered a broken rib and some bruising after being accidentally kicked by a horse while working on his farm last weekend, his office announced Tuesday. Okay, okay, but has anyone actually interviewed the horse yet? Are we sure it was an accident? Just last week Burchett told ABC News: "Just because somebody flew on a plane doesn't mean they're a dadgum pedophile, you know. I have a lot of wealthy friends. I aspire to be wealthy, but I've taken a vow of poverty because my daughter rides horses." Just a thought, but maybe Tim's horses don't like being blamed for his underwhelming financial status? Or maybe they just don't like pedophile apologists? Who's to say, really?

Take Action: Demand Congress investigate Trump's cuts to FEMA and the Weather Service!

Senate GOP confirms Trump’s DOJ "hatchet man" Emil Bove for lifetime judgeship
Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Emil Bove was just appointed to a powerful, lifetime judicial post by a party-line Senate vote of 50-49, despite outspoken objections from multiple whistleblowers who accused the MAGA "hatchet man" of openly urging DOJ officials to simply ignore court orders. Prior to joining the Trump administration as a deputy attorney general, Bove represented the 79-year-old MAGA cult leader in multiple high-profile cases, including his stolen classified documents debacle, the Stormy Daniels hush money trial, and a 2020 election interference case. In other words, Bove is home team. And now he's got himself a permanent seat on the 3rd Circuit US Court of Appeals.

Federal food assistance program may slow cognitive decline, study suggests
Guess this helps explain the Republican Party's crusade to gut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), eh?

Trump and the GOP’s big ugly bill is big bad news for our oceans and coasts
Protect our Coast: The giant tax bill just passed by Congress is a disaster for our coasts, our oceans, and our public safety. We’re talking dangerous offshore drilling expansion, cuts funding for coastal restoration and resilience, cuts tax credits for wind and solar energy, and puts us all in danger by gutting NOAA’s ability to deliver accurate weather forecasts and timely storm alerts. Click here to get involved in the fight to hold our members of Congress accountable and mobilize the public to protect our coasts, our environment, and our communities!

Military veteran reunited with his wife weeks after her ICE detention
Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy personally stepped in and advocated for the release of Paola Clouatre, a Mexican national and wife of a US Marine Corps veteran, who was just one among tens of thousands held in ICE custody as Donald Trump's administration continues its anti-immigration crusade. It's all well and good that Kennedy personally intervened on behalf of Clouatre, a mother of two young children, but what about the countless other Paola Clouatres locked away from their children and loved ones with no chance of recourse? With all the tone deafness of a toddler choir, a Kennedy staff member congratulated Adrian Clouatre on his wife's return, writing in an email: "I am so happy for you and your family. God is truly great!" Good to know God is apparently playing favorites with ICE detainees now.

Trump moves to scrap climate rule tying greenhouse gases to public health harm
Incredible news, people! Donald Trump has cracked the code on our global climate crisis! Turns out all we had to do this entire time was simply stick our heads in the sand. Maybe he'll do cancer next!

US placed on rights watchlist over health of its civil society under Trump
A group of global civil society organizations have placed the United States on a watchlist for urgent concern over the health of its civic society, alongside Turkey, Serbia, El Salvador, Indonesia, and Kenya. Nice company we're keeping, there.