Opinion | The Sydney Sweeney Saga Shows Why Republicans Keep Winning

“Meanwhile, in another corner of the internet, a bunch of conservative women started doing what appears to be actual Nazi salutes on Instagram (though some deny it). In many ways, it highlighted how ridiculous the “good genes” controversy was; as we saw during Medhi Hasan’s Jubilee episode, when right-wing influencers want to say they’re Nazi sympathizers, they don’t exactly use invisible ink. But it also served as a reminder: Here were people doing an actually egregious thing, and Democrats didn’t have the tools to make it stick. Indeed, Democrats have tried for years to tie the genuinely extreme, not-just-irritating views of the far right to the rest of the Republican Party, and most of the time, it fails.”

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/08/08/sydney-sweeney-republicans-win-media-ecosystem-00497761

The ‘Day After’ Plan for Gaza That Netanyahu Doesn’t Want to Talk About

“Netanyahu insists that these initiatives “reward” terror. On the contrary, they make his espoused goal more likely: a regional deal in which Hamas is isolated by the Arab world, and the Palestinian Authority, which long ago agreed to the two-state solution, takes the lead in legitimizing and helping to buttress a new Gazan administration.”

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/08/09/gaza-palestinian-authority-west-bank-business-00492175

MELTDOWN: Fox News finally LOSES IT over Newsom | Another Day

Republican and right wing media hypocrisy and dishonesty on gerrymandering is outrageous.

Their responses to Newsom make this hypocrisy and/or dishonesty clear as day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MetueJ_uelQ

Trumpflation Squeezes Parents; Populist Dem Runs In Maine w/ Liz Pancotti, Graham Platner | MR Live

Trump’s Federal police action in DC is costing one million dollars a day.

Right wing media uses a deadly car accident where an illegal immigrant with a driver’s license made a driving mistake and people died…as evidence of illegals killing people. JD Vance refers to this deadly car accident as murder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDncNEBydPI

FBI on John Bolton raid: Conducting court-authorized activity in the area

FBI raided John Bolton’s home in search of classified documents. Trump does not like Bolton because Bolton told the truth about Trump’s problems. This is potentially a huge abuse of power to harass someone who criticized the president. But maybe it’s legit, we’ll have to keep an eye on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC-ZyC-lc3Y

Trump allies look to primaries as they escalate Indiana redistricting pressure

Trump dishonestly screamed about rigged elections, and then tries to rig his own midterms. Ridiculous hypocrisy and dishonesty.

“The pressure on Indiana lawmakers comes as Texas is moving forward with a redraw of its congressional map at the request of Trump — and California is crafting its own retaliation.

On Monday, dozens of Texas Democrats returned to Austin after protesting redistricting by remaining out-of-state for two weeks, denying Republicans the ability to conduct legislative business. As Texas Republicans are back on path to passing their new, more aggressive gerrymander, national Republicans have turned their attention to other states like Florida, Missouri and Indiana.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/18/indiana-republican-redistricting-trump-primary-00513609

‘We are arresting the mayor right now, per the deputy attorney general’

It looks like yet another political use of the criminal justice system by the Trump administration, and yet another dent in U.S. democracy.

“The federal officer who arrested the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city outside an immigration detention center in May suggested that he was making the arrest at the direction of the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, Todd Blanche, according to law enforcement body camera footage described in a new court filing.

Witness accounts and other video footage taken that day showed the mayor had been allowed inside a gated area by a guard, stood there peacefully for the better part of an hour and left the gated area when federal agents threatened him with arrest. That day, Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) told POLITICO that he’d witnessed an agent inside the gated area talking on the phone with someone who told the agent to arrest Baraka, who by the time of the call was outside the gate. McIver gave a similar account in a press conference at the time.

Less than two weeks later, federal prosecutors dropped a trespassing charge against Baraka. But a federal judge chided the effort to charge him in the first place. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa called it an “embarrassing retraction” that “suggests a failure to adequately investigate, to carefully gather facts and to thoughtfully consider the implications of your actions before wielding your immense power.””

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/18/newark-mayor-arrest-bodycam-footage-todd-blanche-00513734