Happy Thursday, Kitties. The Supreme Court has stepped into Missouri’s congressional map disaster again, ICE reportedly sent a legal asylum seeker with no criminal record to Guantánamo Bay, and the Pentagon is digging through military medical records looking for gender dysphoria diagnoses. Meanwhile, Iran is escalating attacks against American forces and commercial shipping, the Treasury is preparing another massive debt sale, and Trump is promising Americans $5,000 checks funded by tariff revenue. Apparently the federal government has reached the stage where it is checking your medical chart while promising there is definitely a check in the mail.
Key Takeaways
Treasury Plans Another $6 Billion Debt Sale
The Treasury is preparing a $6 billion debt sale as federal borrowing remains enormous and interest costs consume an increasing share of government spending. The important question is not simply how much Washington borrows, but how much taxpayers increasingly spend servicing yesterday’s borrowing.
The Supreme Court Blocks a Missouri Map Order
The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a federal order involving Missouri’s congressional map after days of conflicting state and federal court decisions over which boundaries should govern the November election. Election officials now have the unenviable task of preparing ballots while courts continue rearranging the fucking map.
ICE Sent a Legal Asylum Seeker With No Criminal Record to Guantánamo
Eyes on ICE reports that immigration authorities transferred a legal asylum seeker with no criminal record to Guantánamo Bay, raising questions about detention authority, due process, and the expanding use of the military facility for immigration enforcement.
A Drone Nearly Hit Norway’s Prime Minister
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre says a drone came dangerously close to his aircraft, adding another security concern as European governments confront increasingly sophisticated unmanned aircraft threats. Drones have apparently entered the delightful stage where everybody needs to start looking up.
FactCheck Weekly Sorts Through Another Week of Political Claims
FactCheck.org’s weekly review examines campaign claims, healthcare statistics, election rhetoric, and other political assertions circulating across the country. Election season remains an excellent time to remember that a statistic can be technically real and still be wearing a fake mustache.
A Pentagon Memo Described the Iran Conflict as an Arms Race
Hacking But Legal examines a Pentagon document describing aspects of the Iran conflict through an arms race framework and questions what that language reveals about strategy, weapons production, and escalation. Internal terminology matters because bureaucratic language often tells you what government believes long before the press conference does.
Activists Are Targeting Palantir’s Expanding Government Role
The Nation highlights organizing against Palantir and its expanding role in government data systems, immigration enforcement, and surveillance. Whatever one thinks of the company, the underlying policy question is straightforward: how much government power should be concentrated inside privately built data infrastructure?
Fetterman Shook Up the Republican Convention
Senator John Fetterman’s participation in the Republican gathering in Texas generated attention across party lines as candidates enter the final midterm stretch. The appearance illustrates how both parties are increasingly using unusual alliances and high profile appearances to reach voters beyond traditional partisan audiences.
SOUTHCOM Is Expanding Maritime Operations
U.S. Southern Command says Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere struck a vessel in the Eastern Pacific that intelligence linked to narcotics trafficking, killing two people the command identified as narco terrorists. The military’s expanding role in interdiction operations continues raising important questions about legal authority, targeting standards, and transparency.
A Military Historian Examines Whether Officers Would Resist Unlawful Political Pressure
The West Point History Professor examines historical precedents involving military officers, presidential authority, and constitutional obligations. The argument is analysis rather than evidence of a current military plan, but the underlying distinction between lawful civilian control and unlawful orders remains fundamental.
American Workers Are Facing Another Difficult Economic Benchmark
Popular Information examines deteriorating conditions facing American workers, including wages, bargaining power, employment security, and the distribution of economic gains. National economic statistics can look considerably healthier from thirty thousand feet than they do from somebody’s kitchen table.
Iran Is Increasing Attacks on American Naval Forces
Iran has intensified attempts to target U.S. naval forces and commercial vessels, while American officials warn that Tehran may be deploying increasingly sophisticated weapons and receiving outside targeting assistance. Iran also used cluster munition ballistic missiles against U.S. forces in Jordan, although officials reported minimal equipment damage and no American deaths.
The Pentagon Is Searching Military Medical Records for Gender Dysphoria
The Pentagon is reportedly reviewing service members’ medical records for gender dysphoria diagnoses as the administration implements restrictions affecting transgender troops. The policy raises significant questions about medical privacy, personnel decisions, and how health information collected for treatment can later be used administratively.
The Fourth Circuit Rejected Another Trump Immigration Appeal
The Fourth Circuit has again rejected an administration immigration position, continuing a notable series of appellate defeats involving immigration policy. Repeated rulings do not resolve every underlying policy dispute, but they demonstrate the continuing importance of judicial review in determining the limits of executive authority.
Trump Is Promising $5,000 Payments Funded by Tariff Revenue
Trump says every adult American could receive $5,000 payments funded through tariff revenue, although any large scale payment program would require significant fiscal and legislative details before Americans should start spending imaginary checks. Tariffs are ultimately collected from importers, making the economic incidence of such a proposal considerably more complicated than free money arriving from overseas.
The Pentagon Has a New Definition of Merit
The Preamble examines Pentagon personnel policies promoted under the banner of merit and argues that changes involving gender, physical standards, and military culture reveal a more ideological definition of the term. The useful question is whether individual standards actually measure job performance and military readiness rather than political preferences.
Closing RK Thoughts
Today’s stories are largely about government power moving through systems most Americans rarely see.
Medical databases. Military targeting procedures. Immigration detention systems. Congressional maps. Debt markets. Surveillance platforms. Personnel files.
Those systems can sound technical until they determine whether someone votes in the correct district, gets sent to Guantánamo, keeps a military career, becomes the target of a strike, or receives a promised government payment.
That is why the boring details matter.
Read the court orders. Follow the contracts. Demand clear targeting standards. Protect medical privacy. Ask where the money comes from before celebrating the check.
Government power becomes considerably easier to understand once somebody turns on the fucking lights.
Claws out. Receipts ready.
Featured Resisters and Resources
- Orwell Day is an independent advocacy campaign focused on government surveillance, digital identification systems, censorship, propaganda, economic control, and the expansion of authoritarian power. The project uses themes from George Orwell’s novel 1984 to encourage public education, civic participation, and organized opposition to policies that supporters believe threaten privacy, freedom, and individual autonomy.
- UndoTrump.org is a political action campaign focused on removing the name and branding of Donald Trump from federal property, monuments, and public assets once legally possible. The initiative centers on accountability, symbolic restoration, and reversing what organizers describe as the politicization and personalization of government infrastructure.
What We Are Watching Today
- 10:15 AM EDT
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) Speaks at Campaign Endorsement Press Conference - 10:30 AM EDT
Texas U.S. Senate Candidate James Talarico Makes Announcement - 12:30 PM EDT
Democratic Lawmakers Respond to GOP Midterm Convention - 12:30 PM EDT
Texas Democrat Leaders Hold Press Conference - 1:30 PM EDT
Pres. Trump Meets with Medal of Honor Recipients - 3:00 PM EDT
Republican Midterm Convention Day 2 Preview - 3:00 PM EDT
Republican National Committee Midterm Convention Day 2 - 3:30 PM EDT
U.S. House of Representatives - 4:00 PM EDT
Texas Democrat Leaders Hold Press Conference - 6:30 PM EDT
U.S. Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D-MI) Holds Town Hall in Detroit - 7:00 PM EDT
U.S. House Candidate Christina Bohannan (D-IA) Speaks at Democratic Dinner - 7:00 PM EDT
Texas Democrats Hold Rally on ICE Reform
Today’s Call to Action
1. Read Today’s Resistance Survival Guides
2. Sign these Petitions and Send These Pre Written Letters
- Stop Trump from Rigging the 2030 Census
- Don’t let Trump’s USPS sabotage the midterms
- Sign the petition denouncing the Department of Justice for making it possible for convicted felons to have their gun rights restored.
3. Verify your voter registration status and help at least one other person check theirs
4. Save contact information for local legal aid and voting support organizations
5. Attend an Event
- No Kings: Vote Early Kickoff Call: Thursday, September 10 from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. Eastern. National organizing call focused on early voting, election protection, and local participation.
- Florida Rising Voter Mobilization Events: Opportunities throughout the week to canvass, phone bank, register voters, and help Florida voters prepare for the general election.
6. Contact Your Lawmakers Directly
- Release the Epstein Files: Hi, my name is [NAME], and I am a constituent from [ZIP CODE]. I am calling to demand full enforcement of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Protect survivors, release every legally required record, and investigate anything improperly withheld or removed. Will [MEMBER’S NAME] support full DOJ compliance?
- Protect Mail Voting: Hi, my name is [NAME], and I am a constituent from [ZIP CODE]. I am calling to demand protection for mail voting and opposition to the SAVE America Act. Congress must stop last minute federal restrictions that could disenfranchise eligible voters. Will [MEMBER’S NAME] oppose these restrictions?
- End the Unauthorized Iran War: Hi, my name is [NAME], and I am a constituent from [ZIP CODE]. I am calling to demand an end to unauthorized United States hostilities against Iran. Congress must block funding for offensive military action it never authorized. Will [MEMBER’S NAME] defend Congress’s war powers?
7. Who Are We Boycotting This Week?
- Amazon and Whole Foods: Amazon Web Services provides technology used by ICE. Skip Amazon purchases, cancel Prime, and shop locally when possible.
- Spotify: Spotify has carried ICE recruitment advertisements. Cancel Premium and move your playlists elsewhere.
- Hilton: Hilton removed a hotel from its system after the property refused accommodations to ICE agents. Avoid Hilton, Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites, DoubleTree, and other Hilton brands.
- Microsoft: Microsoft provides technology and cloud services used by federal immigration enforcement. Pause Microsoft purchases and subscriptions where practical.
- Dell: Dell has supplied technology to ICE. Skip Dell computers, accessories, and business purchases this week.
Our money does not need to finance the surveillance, detention, and deportation machine. Apparently, corporations understand morality best when it appears as a missing revenue line.
