Summer Girl 🌊 🌊 🌊

Abigail Spanberger for Virginia Governor Show your support with a contribution.

Abigail Spanberger is poised to become the Virginia's first woman governor.

A victory here will show the country the Democrats are fighting back against Trump's Project 2025 agenda.

Please donate and share this link!

https://secure.actbl...
.

Governor Abbott Must Call a Special Election in Texas NOW! Show your support with a contribution.

Gov Abbott is REFUSING to call a special election, an outrageous move to deprive Democrats of a solid blue vote for the entire Congress.

Texas Democrats deserve representation!

Donate here and please share this link!

https://secure.actbl...
.

The National Failure at the Heart of the Jeffrey Epstein Story It is a great challenge to pay sustained attention to any one of the onslaught of moral or legal indignities unfolding in this moment.

The National Failure at the Heart of the Jeffrey Epstein Story

Scoop: White House memo says furloughed federal workers aren't entitled to back pay Furloughed federal workers aren't guaranteed compensation for their forced time off during the government shutdown, according to a draft White House memo described to Axios by three sources. Why it matters: If the White House acts on that legal analysis, it would dramatically escalate President Trump's pressure on Senate Democrats to end the week-old shutdown by denying back pay to as many as 750,000 federal workers after the shutdown. Trump wants the Democrats to back a continuing resolution to fund the government with no strings about healthcare subsidies attached. "This would not have happened if Democrats voted for the clean CR," a senior administration official said. The big picture: Under Trump, the executive branch is grabbing more power than ever — a trend that's accelerating during the shutdown that began last week. Zoom in: At issue is the ''Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019" that Trump signed during the last government shutdown, which lasted a record 35 days. Called GEFTA, the law has been widely interpreted as ensuring that furloughed workers automatically would be compensated after future shutdowns. But the new White House memo from the Office of Management and Budget argues that GEFTA has been misconstrued or, in the words of one source, is "deficient" because it was amended nine days later, on Jan. 25, 2019. "Does this law cover all these furloughed employees automatically? The conventional wisdom is: Yes, it does. Our view is: No, it doesn't," a senior White House official said. Friction point: The new OMB analysis is a major departure from the administration's own guidance issued by the Council of Economic Advisers this month and the Office of Personnel Management last month. Both said furloughed workers should get automatic back pay after the shutdown. "OMB is in charge," a senior White House official said. The fine print: The White House's stance revolves around the law's amended version, which added a phrase saying furloughed workers shall be compensated "subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse." That's a technical phrase for shutdown. To the White House, that means money for those workers needs to be specifically appropriated by Congress. The joint resolution containing that amendment to the law specified that the U.S. government would pay "obligations incurred" during that 2019 shutdown. "If it [GEFTA] was self-executing" in future shutdowns, "why did Congress do that? It's precedent," the White House official said, calling any other interpretation "ridiculous." What they're saying: Those who represent federal workers or advocate on their behalf say the White House is misreading the clear intent of the law. "There is no legal authority to support that interpretation of the statute," said Nekeisha Campbell, labor attorney with Alan Lescht & Associates. "When the language of a statute is plain, courts must apply it except in the rare circumstance when there is a clearly expressed legislative intent to the contrary, or when a literal application would frustrate the statute's purpose or lead to an absurd result." "The law here is quite clear. The caveat is, if you follow the law," said Sam Berger, senior fellow at the Center for Policy and Budget Priorities. He called the amended language a simple recognition of the appropriations process, not a restriction on compensating furloughed workers. Between the lines: The White House believes that although furloughed workers aren't guaranteed back pay unless specified by Congress, non-furloughed government employees who are now working without pay are automatically entitled to back pay after the shutdown. State of play: The White House analysis of the law reflects the administration's multipronged effort to make the shutdown unbearable for Democrats. Federal workers overwhelmingly made campaign contributions to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris last year, Trump Republicans note. The furlough of hundreds of thousands of workers each day follows the administration's widespread, DOGE-led cuts to the federal workforce earlier this year. "This is not being done simply as a pain-point for Democrats," a second senior administration official told Axios. "We're seeking clarity. We believe the existing language is unclear. And the administration is looking for clarity." OMB Director Russ Vought has an expansive view of executive authority that has tested the constitutional limits of the president's powers (successfully so far). Vought's office has outlined how the administration could conduct mass firings of federal workers as a consequence of the shutdown — which critics say would be illegal. Trump posted a video Friday comparing Vought to the Grim Reaper. The Supreme Court last week gave Trump a green light to withhold congressionally authorized foreign aid money under what's called a "pocket rescission" that Vought pushed. After the shutdown began last Wednesday, Vought also announced the administration is withholding as much as $28 billion in infrastructure and energy-related projects in mostly Democratic states and cities, including New York City, home to the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate. Another Trump adviser said the GOP-led Congress is deferring more to the executive branch at the same time the Supreme Court is, emboldening the president. "Trump will take his chances in court," the adviser said. "Why not?" This story has been updated with context including the positions of the Council of Economic Advisers and the Office of Personnel Management.

White House memo says furloughed federal workers aren't entitled to back pay

Stop Trump! Show your support with a contribution.

Trump's egregious abuse of power must be stopped!

Democrats need your support to win the House and hold Trump and the Republicans accountable.

Donate to support our cause and Please Retweet!

https://secure.actbl...
.

Stop Trump! Show your support with a contribution.

Medicaid Cuts Kill

🔻900 billion cuts to Medicaid
🔻16 million lose their healthcare
🔻Hundreds of hospitals close
🔻Hundreds of nursing homes close

Trump must be stopped!

Show your support with a donation and Please Retweet!

Poll Observer Training · Spanberger for Governor The Democratic Party of Virginia Coordinated Campaign’s Voter Protection team is working to ensure that every voter has access to the polls and that every vote is counted. To accomplish this, we need your help! Please join us for one of our trainings to be a poll observer for Early Vote and Election Day. Poll observers are our eyes and ears on the ground at polling places across the state on Election Day. They identify potential issues at the polls and work us and election officials to protect voters. We will train, assign, and support you to make sure that you are as prepared and effective as possible on your Election Day or Early Vote shift. You must attend at least one training to be a poll observer. If you have any questions, please contact us at voterprotection@opvavictory.org.

Volunteer Poll Observers identify potential issues at polling sites and work with the party to protect voters.

Sign up here for online training:

Poll Observer Training · Spanberger for Governor The Democratic Party of Virginia Coordinated Campaign’s Voter Protection team is working to ensure that every voter has access to the polls and that every vote is counted. To accomplish this, we need your help! Please join us for one of our trainings to be a poll observer for Early Vote and Election Day. Poll observers are our eyes and ears on the ground at polling places across the state on Election Day. They identify potential issues at the polls and work us and election officials to protect voters. We will train, assign, and support you to make sure that you are as prepared and effective as possible on your Election Day or Early Vote shift. You must attend at least one training to be a poll observer. If you have any questions, please contact us at voterprotection@opvavictory.org.

@VADemocrats need your help to ensure everyone has access to the polls and every vote is counted.

Volunteer Poll Observers flag potential issues at polling sites and work with the party to protect voters.

Sign up here for online training:

Blue Victory War Room: "Win Elections, Rebuild Democracy" with Swing Left · Mobilize *** Zoom Link available in Event Calendars and Confirmation Emails *** Follow This Week's Priority Links: https://linktr.ee/BlueVictoryWarRoom # # # # # # # # # # # # Join Blue Victory War Room for a discussion of what is next for democrats as we plan to fight back against Donald Trump by winning elections and rebuilding democracy. Network For Progress Founder and Blue Victory Event Host Jim McBride is Swing Left Community Leader for the National Capital Region (DC/MD/VA) and Nationwide. Jim previously served as a Harris-Walz & DNC & Biden-Harris Community Leader, Communications Director of the DC/MD/VA Grassroots Coordinating Committee. He also served as the 1st Volunteer Database Coodinator for Virginia For Obama and founded Generation Obama-DC/MD/VA Chapter in 2007. FOLLOW US: https://www.facebook.com/bluevictorywarroom https://www.facebook.com/groups/bluevictorywarroom https://twitter.com/bluevictoryusa

Join Blue Victory War Room for a discussion of what is next for democrats as we plan to fight back against Donald Trump by winning elections and rebuilding democracy.

https://www.mobilize...
vvv

Support Virginia Democrats! Show your support with a contribution.

Virginia's off-year elections are coming up. This is the first chance for voters to weigh in on Trump's 2nd term.

Democrats are fighting to maintain razor-thin legislative majorities.

Donate to @VADems and Please Retweet

Stop Trump! Free Memphis! Show your support with a contribution.

This is the beginning of dictatorship in America. Donald Trump must be stopped!

Donate to Free Memphis and Please Retweet!

https://secure.actbl...
.

Supreme Court won’t hear Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking conviction appeal The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider throwing out the 2021 sex-trafficking conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was found guilty of conspiring with and aiding Epstein in his sexual abuse of underage girls. She was thrust back into the spotlight this summer as the Trump administration faced intense pressure to release new information about the decade-long scheme. Her appeal to the justices turned on a 2007 nonprosecution agreement Epstein signed with federal prosecutors, which she claimed her conviction violated. The deal let Epstein avoid federal charges for pleading guilty to state-level sex crimes in Florida and serving 18 moths in prison. It also included an unusual co-conspirators’ clause, which she argued binds every U.S. attorney in the country from pursuing certain charges against her. Lower courts found that the deal only covers the Southern District of Florida, where the agreement was signed, and does not apply to the federal prosecutors in New York who secured Maxwell’s conviction. “In this case, the government made a written promise that Epstein’s co-conspirators would not be prosecuted by the United States, and Maxwell was in fact prosecuted as a co-conspirator of Epstein by the United States,” Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, wrote in her April petition to the justices. “The only question is whether the government’s promise that the ‘United States’ would not prosecute her was enforceable against the U.S. Attorney’s office in New York, or only against the Southern District of Florida,” he continued, urging the court’s review. The Justice Department opposed Maxwell’s appeal, rejecting her contention that the nonprosecution agreement applies to every judicial district in the country. “While ‘the United States’ could conceivably refer to the entire federal government, as petitioner urges, the entirety and context of the NPA here make clear that the term is used — as it often is — as one alternative way to refer to the USAO executing the agreement,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court in July. As Maxwell’s petition awaited review at the Supreme Court, she simultaneously made overtures to President Trump, who has faced sharp criticism over his administration’s handling of the so-called Epstein files. Trump’s political base exploded with frustration after the Justice Department in July stated Epstein did not have a “client list” and confirmed his 2019 death was indeed a suicide, two flash points for skeptics who have long claimed the government covered up the truth. Amid growing tensions, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell over the course of two days, during which she said she “never saw” Trump in “any inappropriate setting.” The president’s critics have accused him of withholding information about Epstein’s case because he is named in the files. After the meeting, Maxwell was transferred from a correctional facility in Florida to a lower-security prison camp in Texas. Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked DOJ’s inspector general’s office to investigate the move. Trump said in July that he’s “allowed to give her a pardon,” but that “nobody’s approached me with it.” Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Supreme Court won’t hear Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking conviction appeal

The Nobel Prize in medicine goes to 3 scientists for work on the human immune system They won for their work on peripheral immune tolerance, which is one way the body helps keep the immune system from getting out of whack and attacking your own tissues..

The Nobel Prize in medicine goes to 3 scientists for work on the human immune system

Abigail Spanberger for Virginia Governor Show your support with a contribution.

Abigail Spanberger is poised to become the Virginia's first woman governor.

A victory here will show the country the Democrats are fighting back against Trump's Project 2025 agenda.

Please donate and share this link!

https://secure.actbl...
.

...

David Hogg's PAC is a Massive Scam. Quelle surprise. Support our cause! Stop David Hogg!

David Hogg's PAC is a Massive Scam!

Hogg launched Leaders We Deserve to support primaries against sitting Democrats, but most of the funds went to paying consultants.

Donate here to save Democratic incumbents from bad actors like David Hogg!

Broadway shows are picking Baltimore to launch national tours. Here’s why. Baltimore has become a launching pad for Broadway shows ready to hit the road. A recent state tax credit helps explain why.

Broadway shows are picking Baltimore to launch national tours. Here’s why.

The 101 greatest movies, songs, books, artworks (and more!) about Washington, D.C. Introducing the D.C. Canon, starring Chuck Brown, Olivia Pope, George Washington, Leonardo da Vinci, Duke Ellington, Rites of Spring and — who could forget? — Gort.

The 101 greatest movies, songs, books, artworks (and more!) about Washington, D.C.

Support Virginia Democrats! Show your support with a contribution.

Virginia's off-year elections are coming up. This is the first chance for voters to weigh in on Trump's 2nd term.

Democrats are fighting to maintain razor-thin legislative majorities.

Donate to @VADems and Please Retweet

Keep up the fight!

Donate to Free Portland and Please Retweet!

https://secure.actbl...
.

Abigail Spanberger for Virginia Governor Show your support with a contribution.

Abigail Spanberger is poised to become the Virginia's first woman governor.

A victory here will show the country the Democrats are fighting back against Trump's Project 2025 agenda.

Please donate and share this link!

😂