Democracy Now! Sep 9, 2025 Amid growing pressure for the Trump administration to release the full Jeffrey Epstein files, a New York Times investigation reveals how the country’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, enabled Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation and profited from its ties to him.

Progressive Democrats of America Sep 8, 2025 PDA Weekly Town Halls Two years ago, Anthony Flaccavento of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, Dave Alba from the Progressive Democrats of America, and I co-authored a Rural New Deal proposal that put forward an unapologetically progressive set of policies addressing the endemic problems facing rural and small-town communities across the country. The response to the Rural New Deal proposal has been overwhelmingly positive among those who have come in contact with it, but that number remains far too low. The Republican Party dominates the politics of rural and small-town America, and the centrist-led Democratic Party of recent decades has consistently decided not to invest in building a competitive opposition. However, there’s a vast difference between what centrist Democrats and progressive Democrats have to offer rural and small-town Americans. Namely, the progressive programs in the Rural New Deal directly address the primary economic concerns of a broadly dissatisfied public and propose appealing solutions – more so than anything on offer from centrist Democrats and Republicans alike. Clearly, the ideas in the Rural New Deal need to gain a breakthrough so they can receive a broader hearing. This brings us to the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative’s new project, that PDS is endorsing. It’s called “Beyond Resistance: Reclaiming Our Nation for the Workers Who Built It.” Beyond Resistance’s official launch event is on Wednesday, Sept. 10, with Rep. Ro Khanna and PDA’s Alan Minsky among many others – but you’ll get a sneak peek at the Beyond Resistance strategy on Sunday. We’ll also be joined by Aftyn Behn, who is running for Congress in a special election in Tennessee’s 7th district to replace Rep Mark Green, a GOP Congressman who left Congress after voting to defund Medicaid and critical safety net protections in Trump’s awful bill. Though Nashville is a progressive place and the economic driver of the state, MAGA statehouse officials sliced it into three congressional districts in one of the most extreme forms of Republican gerrymandering to date. Instead of being represented by a Democrat or two in Congress, Nashville has three different extremist MAGA Republicans who all live far outside the city limits. TN-7 is one of those districts, and if Aftyn can win the race, she will make history by overturning this undemocratic gerrymandering. Aftyn will update everyone and let us know how PDA activists can best help build support for her campaign. Early voting in the District 7 special election primary starts soon.

Google AI Overview

AB 715 is a controversial California Assembly bill that addresses discrimination and antisemitism in K–12 education

. The bill has undergone several amendments and has faced significant public debate. 

Key provisions

According to analyses and bill summaries, AB 715 includes the following components: 

• Restricts antisemitic content in instructional materials: The bill requires that when a school district adopts materials concerning Jews, Israel, or the Israel-Palestine conflict, those materials do not promote antisemitic content.
• Requires balanced teaching of controversial issues: For any instruction on a controversial issue, the bill requires it to be “balanced,” without promoting any specific opinion or vilifying any group of students.
• Expands definitions of discrimination: It broadens the legal definitions of “nationality” and “discrimination on the basis of religion” to provide protections against religious and ethnic bias, including antisemitism and Islamophobia.
• Establishes a state-level coordinator: The bill would create an Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator to provide training and track complaints.
• Strengthens complaint processes: It would increase accountability for local educational agencies through the Uniform Complaint Process. 

Controversy and opposition

The bill has sparked strong debate over its potential impact on free speech and academic freedom in California schools. 

Concerns from critics

• Censorship of speech: Opponents argue that the bill could punish educators who discuss Palestinian rights or Israeli policies by conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, potentially chilling free speech in classrooms.
• Vague definitions: Critics express concern that the language is vague and uses a politically charged definition of antisemitism. They worry that expanding the definition of “nationality” to include an individual’s connection to a country could protect foreign government policies from legitimate critique.
• Lack of input: Organizations like the Arab American Civic Council have criticized the process, stating that the bill was repurposed and fast-tracked without meaningful public input, especially from Arab and Muslim communities.
• Ignoring other forms of racism: Some argue that singling out antisemitism, without similar state-level coordinators for other marginalized communities, could be seen as preferential and cause resentment. 

Support from proponents

• Strengthening anti-discrimination measures: Supporters see the bill as a necessary step to address a rise in antisemitic incidents in K–12 schools.
• Protecting students: Advocates, including groups like the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, state that the bill is essential to protecting Jewish students and other students from discrimination and hate.
• Balancing instruction: Supporters maintain that the bill will help ensure balanced, respectful instruction on controversial topics and provide resources for educators to identify and combat hate. 

AI responses may include mistakes. Learn more

MSNBC9.Sep 5, 2025 In an exclusive, extended interview, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker talks with Jen Psaki about Donald Trump’s threat to blitz Chicago with ICE agents, supported by the deployment of National Guard troops. Pritzker discusses what tools he has to push back, what Chicago residents can do, and what else he thinks Donald Trump has in mind while he normalizes military on the streets of U.S. cities.

Gov. Pritzker is asking Chicago residents to film Trump’s fascist thugs

Instagram video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOWfMnWjFED/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

MSNBC Sep 1, 2025 The Best People with Nicolle Wallace Ken Burns is America’s documentarian: From the Civil War to Vietnam, baseball to the Brooklyn Bridge, his films are gospel for generations of Americans curious about the world and our history. This November, in a new six part, 12-hour documentary series Burns turns his attention to the American Revolution – and the counterintuitive revelation that democracy was not on the table when the fighting first broke out. Burns says what this film showed him is that the tension we feel today in 2025 arcs back to and mirrors the tension that gave birth to our nation. And Burns believes the American story boils down to a simple choice – a question posed in the timeless Frank Capra classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”: Do you want to live in Pottersville or Bedford Falls? (HINT: Ken Burns only wants to live in Bedford Falls)

5 DAYS AGO byGRIFFIN SCHWARTZ ( @ ) (thebeaverton.com)

TORONTO – Eyewitnesses today confirmed reports that a pedestrian was walking in the road because a cyclist was riding on the sidewalk because a car was parked in the bike lane.

“I was driving down the road when all of a sudden I looked up from my phone and saw this guy walking in the lane right in front of me, when there was a perfectly good sidewalk right next to him,” said one eyewitness who wished to remain anonymous because his driver’s licence is currently suspended for a DUI. “Right as I was about to lay on my horn and scream at him and threaten to kill him and his entire family, I noticed that the sidewalk was actually full of cyclists riding on it and the bike lane was blocked by a parked car. Well, I say car but does a cybertruck count as a car?”

The driver then reported that waiting the thirty or so seconds it took to safely get around the pedestrian wasn’t so bad, as it gave them time to scroll through a couple of funny videos on Instagram.

The cyclist confirmed the driver’s account, adding that exiting the bike lane would have been necessary regardless of any parked vehicles because it was full of broken glass, thumbtacks, torn-open garbage bags, loose knives, and bullet casings.

“On second thought, I think all of that stuff could have been from the cybertruck because the lane was perfectly clean right in front of it…” The cyclist also wished to remain anonymous for fear of being ticketed by police.

The pedestrian said that having to walk in the road was an added insult to injury, as they were only walking because their bus never showed up. The pedestrian also did not want to be identified for fear of being accused of vandalizing the parked cybertruck. “I wasn’t trying to, I just had to lean on it for support as I stepped over a garbage bag and then the whole back panel fell off. I would have tried to put it back on but the exposed wires immediately started sparking up.”

Police were called to the scene but no ticket was issued. Officers cited TPS policy that advises against issuing parking tickets to colleagues for their private vehicles as it can lead to an awkward moment at work.

This is what patriots look like!

Wash DC protest on Saturday

Donald Trump like all aspiring tyrants needs people to fear him. That is why on Saturday, Trump shared an image on social media threatening to send the U.S. military to destroy the city of Chicago. The image features an AI generated Trump in a U.S. Army uniform with the words, “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”

Ironically, Trump’s meme was based on the film “Apocalypse Now” –which was about the Vietnam War. That is the very war Trump evaded the draft for by lying that he had bone spurs. So this image is not only stolen valor—it also marks the closest the coward Trump has ever come to serving in our military! (Imagine if a Democratic President who was a draft dodger shared an image of himself in a U.S. Army outfit—corporate media would’ve covered this angle for days!)

Trump thought the people of Chicago—and Washington, D.C. where he already sent the troops—were going to cower in fear. But that’s because Trump doesn’t know what it means to be an American. Period.

Trump must have been shocked to see massive protests in both cities on Saturday as the people made it clear they will not bow down to Trump. In fact, they punched Trump in the face!

In Washington, D.C., we saw a glorious display of people showing Trump that Americans are ready to fight for freedom. As the Associated Press put it: “Thousands of protesters marched across Washington, D.C., on Saturday in one of the largest demonstrations against President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of policing in the nation’s capital.” Below You can see a video of a small part of the protest:

While ICE wears masks, the proud Americans in the streets wanted Trump to know who they are. They came from all walks of life carrying signs such as “Free DC, “protect DC home rule” and “stop the Trump takeover.

These protesters spoke defiantly to the press. Joshua Armstead, vice president of Unite Here Local 23 told the press, “This is an attack on not just D.C., but the country, and the citizens and the people living in this country.” And Jun Lee, a printmaker artist living in Washington, told the AP these inspiring words: “This is my home, and I never, ever thought all the stuff that I watched in a history documentary that I’m actually living in person, and this is why this is important for everyone, this is our home, we need to fight, we need to resist.”

While in Chicago, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker put it well early on Saturday in response to Trump’s image of attacking Chicago: “The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal,” adding, “Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”

Pritzker is right because he understands what it means to be an American. And come later Saturday, thousands took to the Chicago streets as part of the “No Trump, No Troops” march. (Clip of Chicago protest below)

Again, people didn’t hide their face like Trump’s ICE agents. And they boldly spoke to the press standing up to Trump’s threats. Viviana Barajas of Palenque Liberating Spaces through Neighborhood Action (LSNA) slammed Trump’s actions of “Terrorizing our communities by sticking the National Guard against its own people.”

And Kobi Guillory, of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repressions told the press, “One thing we’re not confused about is that our city is under attack. Even if we don’t see the National Guard, we’ve already seeing ICE snatching people out of their cars and invading people’s homes.”

Trump threatening to have the US military attack fellow Americans who oppose him is what tyrants do. Of course, this is no surprise given Trump has been following the aspiring tyrant playbook from literally day one of his second term. That is why Trump began this term with what his aides dubbed a campaign of “shock and awe”—which was Trump signing a barrage of executive orders in the first days of his regime. His goal was to make people feel overwhelmed, powerless and frightened so that they submit to this pathetic aspiring dictator.

While the speed at which Trump moved in the first few weeks was dizzying, he never knocked us down. That is why he had to escalate his war over the past few months. And yes, as I’ve written many times before, “We are at war.” This is a war Trump has declared against all who refuse to submit to him.

But here’s the truth the corporate media and the big tech CEOs who just dined with Trump at the White House don’t want to talk about. Trump may have won some battles –but he is losing the war. And I’m not saying that to make you feel better. It’s the truth and Trump’s increasingly desperate actions over the past few months backs this up.

First, there is Trump trying to rig the 2026 election with mid-decade redistricting in red states. If Trump was very popular as he claims, would he need to do this? Of course not. But even with his cognitive decline that gets worse by the day–as I noted on MSNBC Saturday morning—he’s underwater on every issue.

Trump’s “Big BS” bill and his massive tax increase aka tariffs are polling horrifically. The economy is weakening as Friday’s jobs report once again reminded us with another anemic month of job growth and unemployment at the highest level since Covid in 2021. This is all due to Trump’s tariffs causing inflation and uncertainty. This explains why the consumer sentiment report form last week found consumer confidence has now dropped by 20% since December 2024 when Biden was still President.

Given this litany of failures, it’s no surprise that Trump’s poll numbers are abysmal with just a 37% approval rating in a recent Quinnipiac poll. And a NBC poll released Sunday found those who strongly disapprove of Trump (42%) are nearly double of those who strongly approve (23%)—which is a key metric heading into midterm elections but it’s those who really love or hate the President who tend to vote.

BTW if you have not heard about all the above horrible news for Trump, you can thank corporate media which is laser focused on helping Trump—or at least not challenging him.

Many times in our battle against Trump this year, I’ve been reminded of the famous passage from Thomas Paine during the Revolutionary War that was intended to inspire people in the fight versus King George. Paine wrote, “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

The people of Chicago and Washington, D.C. deserve our thanks. Protesting Trump could come with a price. But they still refused to cower to Trump. Instead, they punched that bloated orange traitor right in the face!

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END PRESIDENTIAL REVENGE

The legal defense fund to end presidential revenge against Miles Taylor & others

JOIN OVER 200 BIPARTISAN NATIONAL LEADERS SAYING

“No President Should Be Allowed to Use the White House for Retaliation”NAMEEMAIL

HISTORY WILL NOT FORGET WHO STOOD SILENT.

President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order on April 9, 2025, directing federal agencies to investigate Miles Taylor, a former Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland security, for his public criticisms of the president.

This appears to be the first time in U.S. history that a president has explicitly invoked his investigative powers – to potentially include criminal prosecution through an Executive Order to target a named private citizen for dissent.

Legal and national security experts have denounced the Executive Order as a retaliatory act, one that raises serious constitutional questions about the use of presidential power and the rights of individuals who speak out. The consequences are real. Miles has already faced threats to his family’s safety and financial stability.

All proceeds will go toward legal and/or security expenses directly associated with any federal actions taken against Miles and others fighting back against Trump’s unprecedented retaliation.

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Help stop this president – or any president (regardless of political party) – from being able to persecute private citizens.

A frontal assault on the rule of law.”

— The New Republic

“The President’s unprecedented Executive Order targeting Messrs. Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor for nothing but the exercise of their First Amendment rights is the president’s most constitutionally corrupt Executive Order to date.”

-Judge Michael Luttig

“One of [Trump’s] most chilling steps toward retribution.”

— The Atlantic

“Fishing expedition…tainted from the start.”

— Wall Street Journal

A frontal assault on the rule of law.”

— The New Republic

“The President’s unprecedented Executive Order targeting Messrs. Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor for nothing but the exercise of their First Amendment rights is the president’s most constitutionally corrupt Executive Order to date.”

-Judge Michael Luttig

“One of [Trump’s] most chilling steps toward retribution.”

— The Atlantic

“Fishing expedition…tainted from the start.”

— Wall Street Journal

A frontal assault on the rule of law.”

— The New Republic

WHO IS STANDING UP

Over 225 prominent former government officials and American leaders joined an open letter condemning Trump’s retaliatory investigations targeting Miles and Chris Krebs, another former Trump official similarly targeted by Executive Order because he dared to assert the 2020 election was fair and legal.

The forceful statement marked the largest, joint bipartisan repudiation of any targeted executive action in President Trump’s second term. The signatories blasted the Executive Orders as a “dangerous escalation in the abuse of presidential power” and a “profoundly unconstitutional break with tradition.”

Signatories included: nearly a dozen former officials from Trump’s first term, such as Ty Cobb, Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet (ret.), John Mitnick, Elizabeth Neumann, Anthony Scaramucci, Olivia Troye, and Alexander Vindman; former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt; dozens of Republican and Democratic members of Congress, such as Charlie Dent, Reid Ribble, Kathleen Rice, Christopher Shays; former Senators Barbara Boxer, Bob Kerrey, Mark Udall, and Tim Wirth; former CIA Directors Gen. Michael Hayden and William Webster; former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe; former Governors Arne Carlson, Christine Todd-Whitman, and Mark Sanford; former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta; former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Acting Attorney General Stuart Gerson; ex-presidential advisors Paul Begala and Bill Kristol; dozens of conservative and progressive policy luminaries such as John Bellinger, Rosa Brooks, George Conway, Joseph Nye, Richard Painter, Anne-Marie Slaughter, CAP CEO Neera Tanden, Laurence Tribe, and many more.

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Taylor and his family are being represented by a legal team that includes Lowell & Associates, Hecker Fink, and Mark S. Zaid, PC. This legal defense campaign is coordinated by Whistleblower Aid and other leading civil society groups fighting for #End Presidential Revenge.

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All proceeds will go toward legal and/or security expenses directly associated with any federal actions taken against Miles and any others fighting back against Trump’s unprecedented retaliation.

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Pod Save America Sep 7, 2025 Pod Save America It can feel like all is lost under Trump 2.0, but America has faced extremely dark chapters before and come out on the other side. Heather Cox Richardson—professor, historian and author of the most-read newsletter on Substack, Letters from an American—joins the show to share her long-view approach for this shortsighted era. She walks Dan through the biggest challenges to American democracy throughout history, how she believes we got to this MAGA moment, and what fuels her optimism about the future of the country. CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS: SIMPLISAFE – http://simplisafe.com/crooked STAMPS – http://stamps.com CODE: CROOKED COOK UNITY – http://cookunity.com/crookedfree CODE: CROOKEDFREE QUINCE – http://quince.com/crooked CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro to Heather Cox Richardson 01:25 – Finding a Voice (and Audience) on Substack 08:44 – Writing “Letters from an American” 12:24 – Trump and the Myth of the “American Cowboy” 23:43 – Subscribe for Ad-Free Videos 25:00 – Ad Break 1 27:49 – Republicans vs Conservatives vs Radical Extremists 30:37 – Is the Trump Era Actually Unprecedented? 35:09 – Hiding Racism Under an Economic Argument 37:50 – What Drives Political Change? 46:07 – From Barack Obama to Trump and MAGA 50:52 – Ad Break 2 54:06 – Trump’s Deployment of Federal Troops 58:48 – Is Democracy Losing? 01:06:44 – Lessons for Today