John Bachtell

Top Democrats, voting rights experts slam Trump's draft illegal order to seize control of voting "This is unconstitutional and insane," said Norm Eisen, the executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund and a former Obama administration official.

Following reports that anti-voting activists are coordinating with the White House on an emergency executive order allowing President Donald Trump to take control of voting, top Democratic lawmakers warned Trump is setting the stage to steal the midterms.
www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Israeli war backers making push in Illinois House race CHICAGO—Hard right members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) are pouring cash into the campaign coffers of Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, their choice for an open seat in...

Israeli war backers making push in Illinois House race. Hard right members of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) pour cash into coffers of Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, their favored candidate.
#elections #Chicago #news

ChatGPT maker OpenAI has the same redlines as Anthropic when it comes to working with the Pentagon, an OpenAI spokesperson confirmed to CNN. https://cnn.it/4aVdSVU

Pls call your Senators and tell them to oppose the GOP’s Save America Act: 202-224-3121. This is important bc MAGA is still trying to pressure Thune to force Ds into a talking filibuster in the hope that exhaustion or unforeseen circumstance will prevent Ds from succeeding. It’s all over X today.

The proposed merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery is far from settled. It must be examined by Congress like all mergers to ensure it does not harm consumers, raise prices, or threaten jobs. I hope state AGs will use their powers as well.

Truth!
#pinks

People Are Applauding The Five Members Of The Men's Hockey Team Who Declined Trump's Invitation—And Most Have One Important Thing In Common

On the right side of history.

Abraham Lincoln & his favorite Stratocaster. Photo taken by Keith Richards. 😎

I Caught POLITICO and the New York Times Laundering Pink Slime "News" How the sexist backlash to AOC and Gretchen Whitmer at the Munich Security Conference led me to a scammy "local news" outlet pushing a coordinated right-wing narrative

Interesting post about the coordinated anti-AOC smear campaign. It's 2016 again! Fake local news outlets on Facebook getting picked up until eventually it winds up in the Washington Post.

I have.

The President of the United States is detached from reality.

And lying.

The ICE surge in Minnesota cost $280M to detain 4k people. Of those- only 30 were accused of violent crimes.

$9 million per capture of the "worst of the worst".

Renee Good and Alex Pretti were unavailable for comment….

🤷🏼

The most disturbing part is knowing ICE left a little girl alone and didn’t care.

Annabella was six years old when her dad was detained by ICE while he was picking up their food order. She stayed inside, waiting.

He never returned to her that day.

1/2

DoJ cases against protesters keep collapsing as officers’ lies are exposed in court String of embarrassing defeats for prosecutors as experts condemn DoJ effort to cast people as ‘violent perpetrators’

"In Chicago, of 92 people arrested for assaulting or impeding officers last fall, 74 cases have resulted in no charges; in 13 cases, charges were filed and dismissed; and five charged cases were still pending. . . there have been no convictions.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Minnesota suburbs see ‘stealthier’ tactics as ICE stays active Minnesota residents and lawmakers say the promised drawdown has not materialized, and they are seeing ICE use more covert tactics to continue operations across Twin Cities suburbs.

Minnesota residents and lawmakers say the promised drawdown has not materialized, and they are seeing ICE use more covert tactics to continue operations across Twin Cities suburbs.

By @ncsscibelli.bsky.social

She never lived to see this moment, but it’s worth remembering that none of this would have happened without Virginia Giuffre.

She had the courage to speak out against power and privilege when it was just her word against Andrew’s.

Thanks to her, justice & accountability may finally have its day.

Ossoff: "If you live in a major democracy, and the nation's spy chief is showing up at raids on sensitive election sites, something has gone wrong."

More of this, please. The folks in this grassroots group are heroes.

Haven Watch lives by the promise, “No One Walks Alone.” Day or night, they show up. When people are released from ICE detention, volunteers meet them in the cold, disoriented, and exhausted.

Beautiful and devastating all at once.

So apparently the DOJ just removed a document from the Epstein files that shows the FBI spoke with a woman FOUR TIMES who credibly accused Trump of sexually assaulting her when she was a minor. This is being reported by Roger Sollenberger on Substack.

U2 releases Renee Good tribute song 'American Obituary' "These songs were impatient to be out in the world," singer Bono said of the band's surprise new EP, "Days of Ash."

U2 became the latest high-powered musical act to condemn the federal immigration raids with the surprise release Wednesday of a six-track EP that kicks off with a song for Renee Good.

www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/...

Feds retract statement about Chester purchase; opponents target realtors involved in deal CHESTER - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Wednesday backtracked on its statement last week that it had purchased the former Pep Boys warehouse in Chest

and now another retraction/reversal in Chester, New York:

midhudsonnews.com/2026/02/18/c...

Absolutely amazing!

BREAKING: Our campaign raised $2.5 million in 24 hours after the FCC banned our Colbert interview.

The same Black activists who fought to get Philadelphia to install memorials to slavery had to fight for them again after the Trump administration removed the plaques. They won. Again.

Georgia Army veteran deported by ICE after 50 years in U.S. Godfrey Wade was arrested by immigration authorities following a traffic stop and was deported because of minor criminal violations from 20 years ago.

I think this is paywalled but you can get the gist www.ajc.com/news/2026/02...

ICE plans to spend $38.3 billion turning warehouses into detention centers ICE plans to spend $38.3 billion converting warehouses into detention centers, according to planning documents, more than the annual budgets of 22 states.

Abolish ICE.

The Trump Administration found $38 billion to make concentration camps.

"The plan’s $38 billion budget is more than the total annual spending for 22 states, according to state budget data."

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...