Moreover, it appears that Sinema used campaign funds to buy a pair of vehicles for over $70K each, paid $30K to a company that outfits high-end camper vans, and then sold herself one of the vehicles (through an LLC) for just $17K.

Letter from Senator Ron Wyden: Dear CIA Director Ratcliffe, I write to alert you to a classified letter I sent you earlier today in which I express deep concerns about CIA activities. Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Sincerely, Ron Wyden U.S. Senator

I don’t like this

The NIH budget bill passed the House. Now, it's bundled w/ DHS funding in the Senate. We are likely to see a fight this week.

New from me: things to know about the budget bill, NIH presidentialization, free speech, why science has been quiet, & more.

At "Can We Still Govern" @donmoyn.bsky.social 🧪

Trump Warned of a Tren de Aragua ‘Invasion.’ US Intel Told a Different Story Hundreds of records obtained by WIRED show thin intelligence on the Venezuelan gang in the United States, describing fragmented, low-level crime rather than a coordinated terrorist threat.

BREAKING: Hundreds of sensitive U.S. records obtained by WIRED undercut the Trump administration’s claims portraying Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua as a unified terrorist force invading the country. Intelligence agencies spent much of 2025 unsure TdA even functioned as an organization on U.S. soil.

This angle. My god.

This is the video.

Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?

This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...

An ICE Air flight carried migrants from Alexandria, LA, to the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay today—the first migrants held at GTMO since October 17.

DHS Kept Chicago Police Records for Months in Violation of Domestic Espionage Rules The Department of Homeland Security collected data on Chicago residents accused of gang ties to test if police files could feed an FBI watchlist. Months passed before anyone noticed it wasn’t deleted.

NEW: DHS secretly obtained Chicago police data on 900 residents accused of gang ties. It was quietly deleted after intelligence officers violated rules against domestic spying.

The handoff came well after city inspectors formally announced CPD's gang data was deeply flawed and infected w/ bias.

No more blank checks The Congressional Democrats especially the ones in the U.S. Senate must make a stand in the upcoming government funding fight

Here we go again. Just like March @chuckschumer.com and Sen Dems will have a decision to make wrt whether to keep giving blank checks to the Trump regime: will they fight or they just meekly surrender in the name of bipartisanship?

My case for why Ds must fight as polls & pol. dynamics favor them.

klein and thompson living up to the worst accusations of their critics tbh

Police have set up a checkpoint and appear to be stopping every single car on 14th st NW, between W+V, here in northwest DC. Some cars are being pulled over after being stopped.

Some police are wearing “HSI police” vests (Homeland Security Investigations)

New WSJ poll: The Democratic Party is 30 points under water with registered voters, considerably worse than the GOP (-11). www.wsj.com/politics/ele...

“It’s a self-licking ice cream cone of crazy” former Congressman @denverr.bsky.social explains why Trump’s $10 billion dollar lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over the Epstein story may come back to haunt him.

Screenshot of series of Twitter posts by Joshua Siegel, @SiegelScribel. 1st: "NEW in ME: Permitting pipes back up, as Dems return to table despite GOP’s gutting of solar/wind tax credits under megalaw. EPW Chair Sen. Capito and ranker Sen. Whitehouse met yesterday to discuss what a bipartisan bill could look like. They are already engaging w/ ENR leaders" 2nd: "Sen. Whitehouse told me along w/ permitting reform, he hopes to pass bipartisan Water Resources and surface transportation authorization bills this Congress (with a big caveat....)" 3rd: ""None of them are going to get done until we have some kind of a trustworthy understanding going forward, that if we pass a big bill, it will actually be faithfully executed by the Trump administration," Sen. Whitehouse told me" 4th and final: "ENR ranker Sen. Heinrich argued permitting reform legislation would take the issue out of the hands of Trump and his efforts to overhaul rules through exec action. "We should create as much certainty across the energy sector,” he told me. Full report avail for ME subscribers!"

What are we doing here, @whitehouse.senate.gov & @heinrich.senate.gov?

How does this result in anything but a disaster that validates & normalizes Trump 2.0 "drill, baby, drill" agenda?

Negotiating with Republicans, days after they passed the awful Reconciliation Bill, sends a terrible signal.

HERE’S WHERE WE ARE WITH THE AI MORATORIUM:

They put the amendment in.
They took the amendment out.
They put the amendment in and they shook it all about.
They did the Hokey Pokey and they turned themselves around.
That’s what the Senate’s all about.

Last night, Republicans agreed to a so-called compromise on the AI moratorium. Don’t be fooled: This is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and it will devastate state attempts to protect children online. That’s why I filed an amendment with @cantwell.senate.gov to strip this provision

Red alert for the big bill blocking state tech laws!

There’s a new draft of the AI moratorium and it’s WORSE. The exceptions narrowed so “generally applicable” laws only survive if they do not create an “undue OR disproportionate burden” on AI. This creates huge uncertainty for which laws survive.

The best thing we can do now is flood Congress w/ calls to support the war powers resolutions blocking unauthorized war w/ Iran.

Use our tools or call 1-833-STOP-WAR to connect w/ offices after entering your zip code.

Please share so Congress knows we don't want war with Iran!

Democratic strategist David Plouffe to become Coinbase’s newest adviser The former aide to Kamala Harris and Barack Obama is jumping into an industry tightly embraced by Donald Trump.

Former Obama Campaign Manager and Harris Campaign Senior Advisor David Plouffe has been announced as the latest member of crypto giant, Coinbase's "Global Advisory Council." This is another example of a DC insider cashing in by selling their influence to the highest bidder

The Blockchain Association Just Bought the CFTC The revolving door isn’t just corrupting the CFTC—it may end the pretense of a Commission altogether.

Today the Senate Ag Committee is holding a confirmation hearing for Brian Quintenz, Trump's nominee to be chair of the CFTC.

Quintenz was not only the quasi-lobbyist for Marc Andreessen's multi-billion dollar crypto VC fund, he stands to be the most powerful CFTC chair in memory

NEW: We've teamed up with Project South to sue the DHS and the FBI for failing to provide "Cop City" records on the surveillance of protesters
www.rightsanddissent.org/news/defendi...

ICE Quietly Scales Back Rules for Courthouse Raids A requirement that ICE agents ensure courthouse arrests don't clash with state and local laws has been rescinded by the agency. ICE declined to explain what that means for future enforcement.

NEW: ICE has quietly rescinded a policy requiring agents to ensure courthouse raids don't clash with state and local laws.

WIRED detected the missing language in a superseding memo posted to ICE's website this week.

by me and @dmehro.bsky.social:

Poll: Democratic voters prefer "populism" over "abundance" Democrats are asking themselves some hard questions as they ponder how they lost the 2024 election.

BREAKING an @axios.com: Our new poll tested how voters respond to populist arguments vs abundance-aligned arguments and found that voters clearly prefer populism.

Importantly, this was true not just among Dems but also independents — and in some cases even Republicans.

Trump’s meme coin dinner borders on bribery.

Buyers have thrown millions of dollars into Trump's crypto scheme to get special access to the president.

America is NOT for sale, but it appears our president might be.

End Trump's crypto corruption NOW. Join us Thursday ⬇️

CFPB Quietly Kills Rule to Shield Americans From Data Brokers Russell Vought, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has canceled plans to more tightly regulate the sale of Americans’ sensitive personal data.

NEW: “By withdrawing the CFPB’s data broker rulemaking, the Trump administration is ensuring that Americans will continue to be bombarded by scam texts, calls and emails," says Sean Vitka, executive director of Demand Progress.

A scoop:

The FBI says scammers posing as DHS agents are contacting foreigners (from UAE, Saudi, Qatar, and Jordan so far) who are studying in the U.S. or planning to do so, claiming they have immigration issues, and threatening prosecution or deportation if they don't pay. www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA...

Link to the rule: rules.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

Breaking news: @SpeakerJohnson is trying to stop Congress from investigating the admin through September by procedurally manipulating the rules around Resolutions of Inquiry. Vote is TOMORROW — and would stop, eg, inquiries into SignalGate, which otherwise can FORCE floor votes:

'Taking the Side of Cancer': The War on Medical Research Is Being Fought Through Contracts Splinter is your home for news and opinions that challenge power in our political and economic system that's becoming more unhinged each and every day.

A group of NIH employees sent a letter to GOP senators explaining why an arbitrary 35 percent cut to contracts is completely absurd.

"There are lives at stake."