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Your support made it possible for me to pull every record in today’s edition—thank you. We need just two people to upgrade to Founding Member today to help fund our next major round of document requests—I hope you can be one of them. And if you know someone who needs to see these receipts, please consider sending them a gift subscription. Newsom Takes On Social Media Companies, Kentucky Says No To Data Centers, A Judge Blocks Mail-Ballot Rule, and Lawyers Say Trump Staff Payments Broke Federal LawA dozen documents nobody expected anyone to read. Turns out we’re winning.
Thanks so much for joining me on this wonderful Sunday. I’m glad to have some great news for you in this edition, especially as Trump’s propaganda firehose keeps blasting. Before we jump in, like and restack this piece. It helps push through the algorithms that are meant to bury stories about people beating him. And if you haven’t yet, join us as a paid subscriber today. We need all hands on deck for our effort to flip Congress. On top of our reporting and investigations, we run one of the largest social media campaigns against the regime that generates billions of monthly impressions. And our pressure campaign on the House and Senate has delivered more than 845,000 letters to Congress on dozens of issues since November of 2024. Millions over the last decade. Help us win. Become a paid subscriber today.
California Just Made Social Media Safer For KidsOn Thursday, at a children’s museum in Sausalito, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of child safety laws—some of the hardest hitting in the country. Three things stood out to me. If a large social media company is found negligent in harming a child, it now faces a fine of up to $1 million per child. Companies can’t offer anyone under 16 the addictive features on social media platforms that keep them scrolling for hours. And if they run an AI chatbot they have to first test it for any risks to children before releasing it to them. Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan wrote part of the package. She put it in clear terms: “We have designed cribs to be safe, chairs to be safe, car seats.” Nobody ever asked that of the thing in their pocket. Meta pushed back. Spokesman Jim Cullinan defended the social media feeds the new laws target: “Personalization is also how we deliver age-appropriate content for teens.” This is the same Meta that settled last month for up to $18 billion over claims it designed Instagram to addict children—and hid what it knew. California is showing other states how to protect children from these apps. 49 other governors could sign the same bills if their legislatures sent them.
Somebody Finally Opened The FormsIn 2025, White House staffers couldn’t legally be paid more than $195,200. Four of those White House staffers ended the year $200 under that.
All four of these staffers included this “gift” in their most recent financial disclosure forms. Harp listed the source as Donald J. Trump, Palm Beach, Florida. While Harris called hers a cash gift for the holidays. The forms were released this month. The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog, matched staffer salaries against the federal pay chart. What they saw was a clear pattern. Three days later, they filed an ethics complaint naming all four staffers, citing a law that bars government employees from taking outside money as pay for their government work. The Center asked for an investigation by the Office of Government Ethics, and if the facts hold, to send it to the Justice Department. A willful violation carries up to five years in prison, plus a civil penalty of up to $50,000. Nobody expects an investigation—yet. But if we flip Congress, we can get answers sooner. Democrats with subpoena power could put them all under oath and find out if any of this was legal. November is coming.
A County Just Told The Data Centers No.Permanently.Americans are getting the same data center pitch across the country right now. A tech company wants to build a warehouse of computers that runs around the clock and sucks staggering amounts of power and water from communities. They promise jobs and money. Woodford County, Kentucky’s fiscal court passed a permanent data center ban unanimously on Tuesday. They’d been building toward it. In June the court unanimously directed the county attorney to draft a ban outright. In July, with their own resolution citing a recent uptick in demand, they blocked anyone from even filing a data center application—the freeze existed to buy time, “in support of its current position that they should be banned.” Every incorporated city in the county adopted identical language. Woodford is one of the smallest counties in Kentucky, and it holds some of the most valuable horse farms in the world. “This isn’t about closing doors,” Judge-Executive James Kay said. “It’s about holding the line for the community we treasure.” He added: “We will not allow data centers to compromise our future.” No company had formally proposed anything there. The county had gone on offense—to protect itself before Big Tech even showed up. Kay watched the fighting over a proposed data center tear apart nearby Burgin, where a council member walked out this week just to stop a vote. The developers’ trade group said that communities should work with the industry instead of shutting it out. About a dozen local governments in the country have gone this far. Woodford is the first in Kentucky.
The Government Had No Evidence. It KeptGoing Anyway.Just ten weeks before Election Day, Trump tried to hand the Postal Service control of mail voting. A new barcode on every envelope, every mail voter logged in a federal website, every batch of ballots hauled to a counter for inspection. Judge Indira Talwani took a look at it all, and asked the regime to show her the fraud. The regime brought her absolutely nothing. Not one piece of evidence. So Talwani blocked the rule, and the appeals court refused to lift it. On Wednesday, 38 election officials from 10 states told the Supreme Court they couldn’t do it in time—many of them Republicans. But let’s not hand them a medal. They took no position on whether the rule is legal or whether it’s good policy. They didn’t even criticize Trump. They just said they physically couldn’t pull it off. That’s the bare minimum. The math doesn’t add up in the regime’s favor either. Only 40 postal employees across the country are cleared to approve ballot envelopes for around 8,000 election offices. And the regime didn’t follow its own rule. It includes a 90-day planning notice—for a November 3 election, that deadline was August 3. The rule didn’t take effect until August 21—eighteen days after the planning window had already closed. The same Supreme Court that bailed them out in August is deciding this one now. But North Carolina started mailing ballots September 4, and every state has to mail military and overseas ballots by September 19. Mail ballots are already going out—thanks to people who decided to stand up for our democracy. That’s exactly what we’ve been doing for more than a decade now. We helped uncover the Russia scandal, ran the first impeachment campaign against Trump, and put together the biggest operation against MAGA propaganda on social media. Plus a congressional pressure campaign that’s delivered millions of letters and countless phone calls into the House and Senate since 2016. We do all of this on top of our daily reports and exclusive investigations, and we couldn’t do any of it without our amazing community here. We have no corporate owner and no billionaires. None of them would let us run a news organization that also organizes the resistance. So if you haven’t yet, help us sprint through Election Day and beyond by becoming a paid subscriber today: Be sure to like and restack this post before you go. It’s what helps us break through the MAGA propaganda machine. Thanks so much for all of your help. Onward! Scott If Democrats flip Congress what’s the first thing they should subpoena people over? What’s the one rule you’d put on social media companies if you could write it yourself? Thanks for your support! Another way to help us out is by gifting subscriptions to friends and family! You can get yours by clicking the link. For all contact Congress links, or to volunteer, you can go here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-up-for-the-watchdog-coalition They want to carve up Yosemite. They want to bury the Epstein files. And they want to deploy rogue AI with zero oversight. Do not let them run the table on a Sunday. Hit all three desks in under two minutes. Go: Ban Rogue AI: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-pass-the-ban-on-ai-we-cant-control/ Save Yosemite: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-stop-trumps-yosemite-giveaway Epstein Files: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-demand-acting-ag-blanche-release-all-of-the-epstein-files-now/ JUST A FEW OF NUMEROUS COMMENTS: Three good goals when the bloodiest grip of the corrupt GOPMAGA over our freedoms and democracy is gone. Vote because our lives depend upon each and every single person who has the right to choose and who will vote for freedom and democracy for all of us. “WE NOT THEM” is the cry. DATA CENTERS...after the experience of other communities was known, Massachusetts Gov. issued an EXECUTIVE ORDER that includes other safeguards, but this is conspicuous: excerpt: GOV. MAURA HEALEY signed an executive order Tuesday subjecting proposed data center projects to local approval before developers can move onto state permitting, representing her administration’s latest crackdown on the facilities after halting tax breaks earlier this summer. Pending data centers will now need to strike community benefits agreements with host communities that align with state standards before state permitting can get underway. The executive order also blocks the use of non-disclosure agreements between state agencies and data centers to “ensure a transparent and fair approval process,” Healey’s office said. https://commonwealthbeacon.org/technology/proposed-data-centers-subjected-to-local-approvals-under-healey-order/ NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS CONTRIBUTE TO THE OUTRAGE! While this is CELL PHONE BAN, some of this might be added to other media. There were not only proposals for banning usage during a school day, but also LIMITING DAILY USAGE as well as silencing usage during the night. WE could do more! PROTECTING KIDS: excerpt: The Senate last July passed a bill (S 2581) by a 38-2 vote that would ban cellphones for students throughout the school day. The bill did not extend to limits on social media usage. Under the cellphone piece of the House proposal, school districts would need to establish a policy prohibiting "personal electronic device" use during the school day and during school-sponsored activities during the school day. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education would have to provide districts with guidance, recommendations and a model policy to implement the restrictions, according to the summary. The bill would also create a DESE-run pilot program for 10 districts "to provide for a technological means of rendering students’ personal electronic devices inoperable on school grounds during the school day," according to the summary. https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/07/09/massachusetts-school-cellphone-ban-senate-bill-newsletter |
"We not them" says it all, Nancy. When we stand together for our shared democracy and freedoms, we hold the power. Thank you for always being a voice for unity and action!
All 3 done
Thank you so much for hitting all three! Knocking those out in just a couple minutes makes a massive collective difference. Appreciate you!
Same here.
Done all 3 and posted to Facebook. Just waiting to get attacked by MAGA where I can then say something snarky and then block and report them.
Sometimes I'm not sure what category to place the letters under as my reps have categories. As long as it gets to them, that's all I care. My reps are Democrats but I wish everyone would send these letters especially if you have a Republican rep. Everything is tallied on what they get.
It seems those categories change often, just to confuse us or to discourage our letters. I send them anyway. I don’t call because I don’t trust my message will be forwarded.
Four “holiday gifts.” Same total. Two hundred dollars under the cap. Flip the House and somebody with a subpoena asks the question out loud. We’re 51 days out. Let’s go get it.
TAXPAYERS didn't realize how generous they were!
Yes indeed! From your lips to the good Lord's ears! We need a blue tsunami that completely overwhelms so we can truly clean house.
From your lip! Organizing and turning out in overwhelming numbers is how we deliver that blue wave and restore balance to our government.
Yes! I’ve confirmed with our local country registrar that my voter registration is valid, and our school will be a polling place. Of course, I vote early!
Yes! It needs to be EPIC
Epic is the only goa! Relentless focus every day until the polls close.
The real Operation Epic Fury.
That is the ultimate plan. People power at the ballot box is unstoppable!
Agree. It has to be so overwhelming that the Republicans in Congress and the enablers in the WH and Fed scurry like rats, leaving the absolute worst of the worst (DJT, Miller, Blanche, Hegseth, Mullin) floundering/imploding.
Decisive majorities in Congress provide the legal authority to bring real accountability and dismantle corrupt policies. We must turn out in historic numbers!
51 days Hoooooray!!!!!! Door walking and card writings...onward.
Mary, thank you for putting in the direct grassroots work! Knocking on doors and writing postcards moves real voters and decides tight races. You are making it happen!
Not a day to waste! Thanks for your hard work, Mary
51 days out, Sam! Flipping the House and handing real subpoena power back to principled oversight committees is the key that unlocks every one of these investigations. Let's go get it! Talk to you in two minutes LOL
Anxiously waiting for our ballots in this household! Part of the Blue Wave! We will drive down to our elections office in our county and drop it off in the drop box ASAP like we have every election. Ballots go out Wednesday, October 14th here in Washington State. Drop Boxes open Friday, October 16th. Clean up starts at the TOP and trickles down to each and every GOP OFFICIAL RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS CORRUPTION. We must make sure our election counts and swiftly! And make sure we put laws in place to INSURE that this never EVER happens again. PERIOD.
The Woodford line hit me. They wrote down what they were going to do in July and then they did it. That’s what standing still looks like when you decide the land is worth more than the pitch.
That Woodford detail says everything, Ms. Jonington. Standing firm and valuing public land and principles over empty sales pitches is exactly the courage we need everywhere right now.
If the Democrats flip Congress, in November, they have to stop an illegal war and end illegal tariffs!!! Yes, there's a lot of crime and corruption to wade through. And Yes, the orange blight and his enablers have to face Justice. But Congress has to do it's most important duty first! Take back it's Constitutional obligations and duties and perform them!
You hit on a vital constitutional truth, Carol. Congress has abdicated its core Article I responsibilities on war powers and trade oversight for far too long. Restoring that balance of power is job number one!
Agree with much of what you say, Carol. I just keep thinking about the immigrants including children that continue to suffer daily. The damage from that will take generations to repair as well.
You are so right to center human dignity, Julie. The human trauma inflicted on vulnerable families and children demands compassionate, systemic repair that honors basic human rights.
Beautifully stated, Scott!
Absolutely. There can be no worrying about anything else when it comes to accountability. No excuses
That should be our motto for them. No excuses.
Something no one on these city or county councils ever seems to ask of these data center companies--why do you suddenly need to built thousands of these things all over the country at this moment in time?
It's not for AI cat videos or Lego parodies. It's not "so your phone can instantly access information."
It's to store every single person in this nation's personal data stolen by DOGE, picked up from Flock cameras not only on the streets but even inside Ulta cosmetics stores, face recognition information at the airports--and even your own phone, disable that feature--every bit of what you do on every loyalty program you've ever joined...it's all to be stored to use against you whenever the billionaire tech bros need to discipline lowly worker serfs.
These data centers are what will enable AI to destroy us. To quote an old GOP line:
Just. Say. No.
Hell to the NO.
You ask the question that local councils too often bypass, Jude. Massive corporate data centers sucking up local power and water for surveillance and unchecked data mining require intense community scrutiny and regulation. Thank you for raising this alarm!
100%, Jude. Thanks for calling it out!
Have you seen this‼️❓
https://substack.com/@avee1/note/c-336112145?r=v5mzk&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Excerpt;
What it is: Palantir was founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen, and Nathan Gettings. Its two products — Gotham and Foundry — are the connective tissue of the modern American surveillance state. ICE runs on it. The IRS now runs on it. The Pentagon runs on it. The NYPD and LAPD run on it. The Israel Defense Forces run on it while they flatten Gaza.
THE BIG PICTURE Here is what you are looking at. A company funded by the CIA, chaired by a man who wrote that democracy and freedom are incompatible, who took $40 million from Jeffrey Epstein and bankrolled a neo-monarchist blogger, whose software now runs inside ICE, the IRS, the Pentagon, and the White House — just published a 22-point manifesto calling for the draft, the rollback of postwar denazification, the end of international arms treaties, civilizational ranking of human beings, and the fusion of Silicon Valley with American hard power.
AVee, the milquetoast owner of Facebook recently granted a subscription of their AI version to Newsmax, a primary propagator of the regime's fascist propaganda, presumably so that they can lie the voting public into submission to our corporate overlords. AI is the most dangerous tool on Earth when placed under the control of the moneybags who manipulate the strings of dictatorial power. For our literal survival as a species and as a nation, we as citizens need to wrest control of our government back from the monsters' puppeteers. Rolling back the fascists on Nov. 3rd will be key. In Wisconsin, vote for David Crowley for Governor
versus drump sycophant Tom Tiffany.
If Democrats win Congress, they should defy Citizens United in order to reveal the sources of 'dark money' infiltrating the filthiest political campaigns.
Social media companies must be banned from using AI to formulate addictive messaging to underaged learners.
As regards mail-in voting, fascist #1 does his best to lie and deceive the People of their Constitutional right to choose their leaders. Judge Talwani is commended for upholding the rule of law!
We need more than words, we need deeds. So far, Dems, with a few exceptions, have been giving us the former, not the latter. The poison is deep in the system. Radical action is needed to excise it.
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” - Buckminster Fuller
That Buckminster Fuller quote is timeless, Al. Rhetoric without structural reform changes nothing. Electing bold reformers who are ready to build a transparent, responsive model of governance is the challenge before us!
As Johan would probably write, Change the Structure.
Changing the underlying structures is how lasting progress happens, Gin. Spot on!
The 1st subpoena should involve DOGE.
The 1st action should be impeachment of several SCROTUS justices.
Uncovering the financial flows behind unauthorized commissions and holding judicial ethics to the highest standard will definitely be top priorities for incoming committee chairs, Joan!
I LOVE that a county in Kentucky BANNED the data centers PERMANENTLY! YAY! I wish my county in CO would follow suit!
To answer your first question - tRUMP's corruption! Followed by IMPEACH, CONVICT, JAIL!
I don't have a good answer for your 2nd ?.
That Kentucky county decision is a huge victory for local sovereignty and environmental protection, Colleen! Local communities setting their own limits shows that grassroots action works everywhere.
I so wish that were true here in Weld County, CO! Our county commissioners just moved the AI data center to it will be, when the vast majority (and yes, we went to the meetings) were opposed to it!