Democratic Underground: Forums for U.S. Liberals and Democrats

Trump is 'losing confidence' in Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard as he mulls removing her entire office

Wednesday 18 June 2025 08:09 EDT As he weighs joining Israel’s war against Iran, President Donald Trump reportedly finds himself at odds with his Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, with one White House official saying that he has “just been kind of down on her in general” of late. The president was recently incensed, according to Politico, by Gabbard’s decision to post a three-minute video on X in the early hours of June 10 in which she warned that “political elite and warmonger ...

BumRushDaShow

Democrats boycott hearing on alleged cover-up of Biden's mental decline

Wed 18 Jun 2025 11.54 EDT First published on Wed 18 Jun 2025 11.35 EDT Senate Democrats staged a near-total boycott of a Republican-led Senate hearing on Wednesday on Joe Biden’s mental decline and its alleged cover-up during his presidency, with only the Vermont senator Peter Welch attending the session. The hearing, titled “Unfit to Serve: How the Biden Cover-Up Endangered America and Undermined the Constitution”, began with the Democratic ranking member, Dick Durbin, launching a counteratta ...

highplainsdem

Using ChatGPT for work? It might make you stupid

-snip- Academics at the MIT Media Lab, a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, tracked students who relied on large language models (LLMs) to help to write essays. These students showed reduced brain activity, poorer memory and weaker engagement than those who wrote essays using other methods, the study found. The researchers used electroencephalogram scans (EEGs), which measure electrical activity in the brain, to monitor 54 students in three groups over multiple ...

BumRushDaShow

Appeals court won't let Justice Department step in for Trump in E. Jean Carroll's $83M verdict

06/18/25 4:18 PM ET A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday refused the Justice Department’s effort to put itself on the hook for an $83.3 million defamation award advice columnist E. Jean Carroll won at trial from President Trump. It’s the latest setback for the president in his efforts to fight Carroll’s lawsuits at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Last week, the 2nd Circuit upheld her earlier $5 million jury award. On Wednesday, the three-judge panel denied the Justice Department ...

riversedge

Minnesota Lawmaker's Home Was Broken Into Days After Her Murder, Police Say

Police said someone "pried off" the plywood covering one of the home's rear windows. Paige Skinner Jun 18, 2025, 03:01 PM EDT Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman’s (D) home was broken into sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, just days after the lawmaker and her husband were shot and killed in their home, the Brooklyn Park Police Department told NBC News on Wednesday. The home was boarded up Sunday after it was processed as a crime scene following the Saturday morning sho ...

BumRushDaShow

700 troops have been mobilized to help ICE in raids in Florida, Louisiana and Texas

(The Independent) The Defense Department has mobilized 700 troops to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Florida, Louisiana and Texas. These troops will “not participate in law enforcement activities” but will “provide logistical support, and conduct administrative and clerical functions,” according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. The troops were deployed last week, Parnell said.

BeyondGeography

No one on the inside of US foreign policy has any foreign policy or military crisis experience

(TPM) I think it’s very possible that the U.S. is on the verge of a major, major military campaign that it wasn’t considering at all just a few days ago and that we may be doing that more or less solely because Donald Trump is jazzed about and attracted by the idea of “winning.” And Israel is now “winning.” So he wants in. It’s important to step back and recognize that there is really, literally no one in the inner discussion of U.S. foreign policy today who has any level of foreign policy or military crisis experience at all.

Eugene

Trump U-turn on deporting farm workers came after fury from Noem and Miller, report claims

(The Independent) Donald Trump’s rapid flip-flop on not deporting undocumented migrant farm and hotel workers came after the president was reportedly met with angry pushback from Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem. Trump briefly changed his mind on who ICE should kick out of the country after getting a phone call from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, according to Axios.

Rhiannon12866

Whiplash at the White House: Whether it's Iran or ICE raids, Trump just can't make up his mind

AZProgressive

Trump's pardons cost victims and taxpayers $1.3 billion, House Judiciary Committee Democrats' review says

(CBS News) President Trump's flurry of recent presidential pardons has cost crime victims and taxpayers approximately $1.3 billion in restitution and payments, according to a review by House Judiciary Democrats. The pardons absolved hundreds of convicted criminals from having to pay for damages and restitution caused by their crimes. Victims have not been made whole, the Democrats said — including U.S. taxpayers who must now foot the bill for the millions of dollars in repairs and cleanup from the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol.

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Judge says Trump admin must give immigrants 21 days to challenge their deportations under Alien Enemies Act

30 min ago - 12h The Trump administration on Wednesday received some clarity over its much-stalled efforts to relaunch the mass deportation of Latin American immigrants using the Alien Enemies Act (AEA). In a 15-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Stephanie L. Hain ... (msn/Law & Crime)

US judge invalidates Biden rule protecting privacy for abortions

45 min ago - June 18, 2025 7:45 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago June 18 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a rule adopted by the administration of former President Joe Biden that strengthened privacy protections for women seeking abortions and patie ... (Reuters)

GOP eyes bailout for hospitals poised to go broke from Medicaid cuts

1 hr ago - June 18, 2025 8:06PM ET Senate Republicans are now considering a new addition to their "big, beautiful bill" of tax cuts for President Donald Trump, Politico reported: a bailout fund for hospitals at risk of shuttering due to the bill's Medicaid cuts ... (Raw Story)

SpaceX Starship upper stage explodes during ramp-up to expected engine test firing

1 hr ago - By June 19, 2025 / 3:05 AM EDT A SpaceX Starship upper stage exploded in a spectacular conflagration during ramp-up to an expected engine test firing at the company's Starbase manufacturing facility on the Texas Gulf Coast late Wednesday, destroying ... (CBS news)

Rodney Scott confirmed as head of CBP by US Senate despite 'cover-up' claim

1 hr ago - Wed 18 Jun 2025 18.25 EDT Last modified on Wed 18 Jun 2025 18.31 EDT The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed Rodney Scott as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), despite a former top official accusing him of orchestrating a “cover-u ... (The Guardian)

Kennedy's new US vaccine panel to discuss measles shot for children

2 hrs ago - June 18, 2025 6:26 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - U.S. vaccine advisers will discuss recommendations for flu vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal and a combination measles shot for children this month, putting ... (Reuters)

Democrats, major medical groups denounce Supreme Court's gender-affirming care ruling

2 hrs ago - 06/18/25 6:05 PM ET Democratic leaders and professional medical organizations on Wednesday denounced the Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld a 2023 Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a decision the high court deli ... (The Hill)

Some Democratic senators regret voting to confirm Kristi Noem as DHS secretary

3 hrs ago - June 18, 2025, 5:23 PM EDT WASHINGTON — Five days after President Donald Trump's inauguration, seven Senate Democrats voted to confirm Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Nearly five months later, most of them are critical ... (NBC News)

US lawmakers barred from oversight visit of NYC ICE holding facilities after Brad Lander arrest

3 hrs ago - Posted 5:55 PM, Jun 18, 2025 New York lawmakers Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman said Wednesday they were blocked from conducting an oversight visit to inspect detention facilities at a Manhattan immigration court. “We just went in to conduct our c ... (Scripps News)

US seizes record $225 million from crypto investment scammers

4 hrs ago - Updated 4:08 PM EDT, Wed June 18, 2025 CNN — US law enforcement has seized over $225 million in cryptocurrency allegedly stolen from dozens of American victims as part of a sophisticated investment scam, the Justice Department said Wednesday. ... (CNN Politics)

Federal judge to deny Trump administration's motion to dismiss lawsuit over block on wind projects

4 hrs ago - Updated 3:31 PM EDT, June 18, 2025 A federal judge in Massachusetts said Wednesday he plans to deny a motion by the Trump administration to dismiss a lawsuit over its blocking of wind energy projects, siding with a coalition of state attorneys genera ... (AP)

Trump installs pair of 88-foot-tall new flag poles at the White House

7 hrs ago - WASHINGTON ― Massive new flag poles hoisting United States flags have been installed on the White House grounds after President Donald Trump said they were desperately needed and that he would pay for them himself. The placement of the two 88-f ... (USA Today)

Florida attorney general wants lawmaker deported over criticism of Trump military parade

8 hrs ago - by Sylvan Lane - 06/18/25 5:53 PM ET Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier called for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to be deported for criticizing last weekend’s military parade in Washington, D.C. Uthmeier wrote “Denaturalize and Deport? ... (The Hill)

Children born now may live in a world where the US can only produce half as much of its key food crops

11 hrs ago - Rising global temperatures are set to devastate food crops across the world, with particularly alarming impacts projected for the United States, where production of key crops could plummet 50% by the end of the century, according to a sweeping new an ... (CNN)

Trump administration: international students will face strict social media review

11 hrs ago - Updated June 18, 2025 6:04 p.m. ET WASHINGTON — International students applying for visas to study in the United States will be subjected to stricter social media screening moving forward, the Trump administration says. Their entire online pres ... (USA Today)

Obama Calls Out 'Comfortable' Liberals During Ominous Trump Warning: 'Things Are a Little Different'

12 hrs ago - Jun 18th, 2025, 2:34 pm Former President Barack Obama warned that the United States is “dangerously close” to becoming “consistent with autocracies” under President Donald Trump. Obama joined writer Heather Cox Richardson on Tues ... (MEDIAite)

Judge gives Trump permission to keep DOGE documents beyond FOIA's reach by using Presidential Records Act

12 hrs ago - Jun 18th, 2025, 1:30 pm The Trump administration secured a victory on Wednesday as a court in Washington, D.C. allowed the government to keep highly sought-after documents beyond the reach of open records laws. In a 14-page memorandum opinion, U.S. ... (Law & Crime)

U.S. Embassy in Israel offering evacuations on flights and ships to American citizens

12 hrs ago - June 18, 2025 / 11:49 AM EDT Washington — The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is working on dispatching evacuation flights and cruise ships for American citizens who wish to leave Israel amid the country's ongoing conflict with Iran, U.S. Ambassador ... (CBS News)

Democratic lawmakers press USDA for answers on sensitive data collection

13 hrs ago - June 18, 2025 11:05 AM ET Democratic lawmakers expressed "deep concern" about the U.S. Department of Agriculture's intent to collect the personal data of tens of millions of federal food assistance recipients and sent Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rol ... (NPR)

'Lightnin Strikes' singer, Pittsburgh's Lou Christie, dies after illness

13 hrs ago - Pittsburgh singer-songwriter Lou Christie had died. The singer behind “Lightnin’ Strikes” and other hits, died after a “brief illness” his family said in an Instagram post. KDKA Radio confirmed Christie’s passing with hi ... (Audacy.com)