Impeach. Convict. Remove.
Recap of this week in the revolution: SC blocks mail ballot restrictions and Congress authorizes Russian sanctions. Trump makes it easier to kill endangered species and pollute the environment and bans free press from White House. Speaker Johnson runs away from Hegseth's impeachment vote. Trump will keep Kennedy Center closed unless he gets to put his name on it.
The good...
Image by Venita Oberholster from Pixabay.
This week, the Supreme Court rejected Trump's latest demand that the Postal Service place new restrictions on mail ballots. With the ruling, states are no longer required to make changes to the way they send out mail ballots to eligible voters.
Justice Alito wrote that the Postal Service has the authority to regulate the mail on its own and doesn't have the power to enforce the Trump regime restrictions. Justice Kavanaugh, on the other hand, said he only turned down the regime's request because of how close we are to the midterm elections, but might consider a favorable ruling if the issue is brought to the court at a later date.
The Postal Service is canceling its hasty roll-out of the new software that was being developed to enforce the new rules to disenfranchise voters.
Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay.
Congress overwhelmingly passed a new bill authorizing sanctions against Russia over its war against Ukraine. The bill was championed by Senator Lindsey Graham before his death earlier this year, and has been floating through Congress for over a year before being passed this week.
The bill authorizes the use of high tariffs (which can only be authorized by Congress) against countries that import energy supplies from Russia because money from those sales have been funding much of the Russian invasion. This bill is the first pro-Ukraine legislation passed in Congress since Trump took office in early 2025.
The bad...
Black-footed Ferret: One of the most endangered animals in the United States. Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay.
The Trump regime is re-interpreting the Endangered Species Act, saying it only applies if the endangered species is "specifically targeted" and not killed incidentally. This means that logging and construction companies that harm endangered wildlife through reckless disregard—such as cutting down forests even if they know they are destroying habitats or building dams that kill local salmon populations—will no longer be held accountable for their actions.
It just creates a huge loophole.
It completely relieves people of any responsibility for their actions, even consequences that can be easily predicted.
Dan Ashe, former Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service
In addition, the regime is planning to loosen environmental restrictions on oil and gas wells to allow them to release vast amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. This change applies primarily to old, poorly maintained, leak-prone wells that produce low volumes of oil but release high levels of methane.
Trump in the Oval Office surrounded by press (2019).
Donny 2-Dolls once again attacked the free press this week. This time, he "banned" three of the most notable news outlets from the White House because he doesn't like how they report on him: CNN, MSNow, and Politico.
These are reputable news organizations that each have long histories of independent reporting not driven by political affiliation. But in addition to attempting to ban these outlets, Trump said that other news organizations that don't write positive stories about his regime may face similar fates.
This is not the first time Trump has tried to exclude legitimate news reporters from the White House. His previous attempts have failed because he doesn't have the legal authority to ban reporters just because he doesn't like the articles they write. We have this little thing in our country called a Constitution that explicitly protects the free press from government interference like this.
The ugly...
"Brave Sir Johnson ran away.
Bravely ran away, away.
When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Johnson turned about and gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet, he beat a very brave retreat.
Bravest of the brave...Sir Johnson."
On the brink of a midterm election cycle that is likely to end the Republican dominance of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson canceled the final day the House was to be in session for September and sent representatives home early.
He did this to avoid a vote on articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth submitted by Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY). In the articles of impeachment, Massie rightly claims that starting a war with Iran without Congressional approval, destroying civilian boats in the Caribbean on unsubstantiated claims they belong to drug smugglers, and other actions amount to "high crimes and misdemeanors" that require impeachment (formal charges against a public official) to address.
Johnson has a habit of running away any time the House is set to vote on an issue if he doesn't think the vote will go his way. He's canceled a total of 28 days of the House schedule this year, which is about one fourth of the entire legislative session.
The stupid...
A U.S. district judge has once again ruled that Donny 2-Dolls can't put his name on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts without approval from Congress, which he can't get.
Trump responded by throwing a temper-tantrum and saying he was going to keep the Kennedy Center closed indefinitely unless he gets to put his name on it. The center has been closed for repairs, and Congress has allocated money to repair the center. But the Kennedy Center's board, which were mostly hand-picked Trump supporters and is led by President baby-man himself, won't authorize the repairs to proceed unless Trump's name is added to the center.
What can you do this week?
The next No Kings national day of action is set for October 17. This year, in addition to a massive gathering, organizers are encouraging participants to vote on that day (or as early as possible in your county).
With all of the attempts by the Trump regime to try to destroy our electoral process, voting early becomes more important than ever before. When you submit your vote early enough, you have time to fix anything that goes wrong...if you are missing a signature, you have time to correct the issue. If you show up at your polling place and the line is too long, you can come back another day and try again.
However you do it, just make sure you vote. Republicans know their only chance to retain their majority in our federal government is if there is a low voter turnout this midterm election. That's why they're trying so hard to disenfranchise as many voters as possible. But they failed to get their new rules pushed through at the federal level to disrupt the midterm election, so make sure you go out and vote so we can get these anti-American fools out of our government before they try again for the 2028 presidential election.
Keeping you informed...
Sounds of the revolution...
Martin Kerr [Link]
The Resistance [Link]
On the lighter side...
