The week that had me asking: Do we even live in a democracy anymore?

#1) WAR ON IRAN

President Trump cut his visit to Camp David short this weekend, returning to the White House on Saturday night instead of Sunday. The administration didn't give an explanation. As the WH press pool pointed out, Hegseth also arrived in DC around the same time as Trump.

Oddly, Trump then spent Sunday at his golf course in Sterling, VA. Trump hates Camp David and doesn't visit very frequently. So, it's possible he just wanted to get out of there and with a chopper at his disposal… headed back to play golf. But, who knows...

But, also on Saturday night, the State Department issued new travel warnings for Americans in or considering travel to the Middle East, advising them to "exercise heightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions."

FOX News correspondent Trey Yingst said he spoke to Trump on Sunday. Trump told Yingst that he was in "deciding mode" on Iran and that he was debating "wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically, or making a deal..My question is, 'If and when do I blow the entire nation up?' They better behave."

Trump also told Yingst that he'd be open to meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the UN General Assembly meeting happening in New York this week.

This is not the first time Trump has threatened Iran's entire civilization. He's backed down each time... But, that doesn't mean he won't. It's hard to know what someone as reckless, petulant, and mad as President Trump will actually do.

Iran responded, warning that if the US carried out Trump's threats, Iran would retaliate with "new weapons with new capabilities." We have no idea what that means... and that should scare us all.

Saudi Arabia & the Escalating War

Before I get into the Saudi angle, a couple of things to remember. The Houthis are an Iranian-backed rebel group in Yemen. They have been fighting the internationally recognized Yemeni government, which is allied with and supported by Saudi Arabia, since 2014.

Over the last week or so, the Houthis and Saudi Arabia have been trading attacks and the situation appears to be escalating.

Strategically, the Houthis are focused on hobbling Saudi Arabia's oil exports, which would shock already high oil prices, deepen the global economic crisis and create a political sh-tstorm for Trump and Saudi Arabia — or at least that's what Iran is hoping.

Last week, the Houthis attacked a key Saudi oil plant in Yanbu, a Red Sea port city, that officials now say could take weeks to repair.

Then, last Monday, the Houthis took over two islands in the Red Sea, which would help them control access to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the route Saudi uses to export oil.

In a meeting with US officials in Oman last week, the Houthis said they wouldn't attack US and Israeli assets in honor of a 2025 ceasefire agreement between the parties, Reuters reported. The Houthis said, however, that they would keep attacking Saudi commercial vessels carrying oil in the Red Sea.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been imploring Trump for help with the Houthis. The most recent call between the two happened last Thursday, The New York Times reports, citing administration officials. Those sources say Trump agreed but then changed his mind on Sunday (after that long day of golf?).

Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors, the AP reports. In the absence of help from the US, they've asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt for "air defense support."

They've also turned to China for help — asking them to call Iran to ask the Houthis to deescalate, Reuters reports.

But is Saudi so desperate for help they're making stuff up?

The Guardian reports: "In an attempt to build popular support against the Houthis in the region, Riyadh made the disputed claim that the Houthis had fired a drone at the holy city of Mecca on Tuesday, but the missile had been destroyed by Saudi defence forces. It said the drone was entering a prohibited airspace close to Mecca's most holy shrines."

The Houthis — a Shi'ite Muslim group — say they would never attack Islam's holiest site.

"Mohammed al-Farah, a Houthi political bureau member, said: 'The truth is that Saudi Arabia is experiencing a real predicament in Yemen. It became embroiled in a war, a siege and an occupation, and then failed to achieve its goals. Today, it is looking for external solutions, so it is begging the international community, warning the world about Bab al-Mandab and requesting support from Pakistan, Turkey, America, Israel and Egypt. Then it is trying to mobilise Muslims with a false pretext called "targeting Mecca." — The Guardian

RELATED:

• War Crimes. A UN fact finding mission concludes that there are "reasonable grounds to believe" that the US committed war crimes in Iran "by launching indiscriminate attacks that killed or injured civilians or damaged civilian objects."
  • The report cites two attacks, one on a school in Minab that killed more than 150 people including 120 children, and another on a sports complex in Lamard, killing 22 people including children.
  • The report also concludes that Iranian security forces killed people "on a massive scale in all provinces," including 221 children.
  • The White House criticized the UN body, accusing it of "spouting unserious nonsense for decades." The State Department said they "do not give credibility to findings in this report." Which would mean they'd also have to denounce the group's findings that the Iranian regime committed war crimes, too?
• Military Deaths. The Pentagon is misrepresenting the number of troops who have died in the war on Iran, The Washington Post reports. Four sources tell the Post that at least four additional troops have been killed. A fifth source puts the number at five. If true, this would put the total number of troop deaths at 22-23.
  • Right now, the Pentagon only counts 14 troop deaths in the war; an additional four who were killed after a ceasefire broke are not counted either.
  • The total number of wounded is now 832.
  • In recent months, I've seen at least two instances where Iranian state media quoted state officials claiming to have killed US troops/personnel in attacks. The US military denied the reports both times. Could they have been true?
• Heavy Losses. As we discussed in last weekend's newsletter, the administration continues to downplay the extent of the damage to US assets in the Middle East, ABC News reports — with video.
• War Powers. For the third time, the House passed a war powers resolution to end the war on Iran and ordered Trump to remove military forces from hostilities against Iran, 220-204.
  • Seven Republicans voted with Democrats: Tom Barrett (MI), Warren Davidson (OH), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Thomas Massie (KY), Nancy Mace (SC), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA) and Zach Nunn (IA). The last time the House voted, four Republicans voted with Democrats. Nunn, Miller-Meeks and Mace were the three additional ones.
• Impeach Hegseth. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) filed 8 articles of impeachment against Hegseth. Three of them accuse Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution with the war on Iran. The five others are for ignoring laws to minimize civilian casualties, killing at least 221 people in extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly for a video reminding service members that they are required to ignore illegal orders, kidnapping Venezuela's sovereign foreign leader Nicolas Maduro; and illegal strikes in Yemen that killed an estimated 224 civilians.
  • House Speaker Johnson ended the House session a day early, sending everyone home until after the midterms, in an apparent bid to avoid a vote on Hegseth's impeachment articles. Johnson denies that's why he ended early.
• Record High Diesel. Diesel hit another record high of $6.51 a gallon on Monday, AAA reports. One year ago, it was $3.69. Regular unleaded gas is now $4.47 per gallon, up from $3.18 a year ago. The record high for unleaded gas is $5.01 in 2022.
• Friends Like These. South Korea said flat out that it will not send troops to the Middle East — something Trump has been nudging them to do to help with the Strait of Hormuz, The New York Times reports.

"Last month, Mr. Trump unilaterally scaled down one of the United States' annual joint military exercises with South Korea, calling the drills not only 'costly' but also 'totally inappropriate and hostile' toward North Korea. He said that, for as long as he had been in office, North Korea had been 'unthreatening and respectful.' Mr. Trump also boasted of having a 'very good relationship' with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, even as the North has become a bigger nuclear threat against the South."

• Price Tag. The Pentagon told Congress that the war has cost $43.6 billion so far, most of that on bombs and missiles, The New York Times reports. The number is likely an underestimate, the paper reports, citing congressional officials.
• Audit. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats want Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to tell them how he plans to spend the $67 billion in additional funds he's asking Congress to approve. In a letter to Hegseth, the senators ask how much of that money is for future expenses and how much is to reimburse the department for past expenses. There's been reporting that the Pentagon is raiding other departments to pay expenses — and could be downplaying how much the war has cost so far.

#2) FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: TRUMP'S BAN

President Trump on Friday banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House because he doesn't like their reporting... on shit he actually does.

When reporters from the various outlets arrived for work at the White House on Saturday anyway — where their news outlets work and keep offices — they were denied entry and their press badges were confiscated.

All three news organizations have filed lawsuits, arguing the ban infringes on their First Amendment rights.

"Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists' credentials because it objected to our reporting," the news outlets said. "Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference."

A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. The case is assigned to Timothy Kelly, the same federal judge (Trump appointed, btw) who presided over former CNN White House Correspondent Jim Acosta's lawsuit against Trump when the White House banned him in 2018, in Trump's first term.

CNN was scheduled to be the White House pooler this week — which means there's no TV official coverage of Trump's events. And maybe that's not a bad thing.

The four additional press pool networks — ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC — all said they would no longer cover Trump's events.

The Washington Post also said it would not publish any photos of Trump's events until midnight, in a "show of support" for the banned outlets. PBS said the same. The New York Times too. More from media journalist Brian Stelter here.

In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump claimed this was not "an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish" but on the "FAKE NEWS."

The White House is now advertising its own TV station.

#3) FREE PALESTINE

• Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) has put a hold on a $2.8 billion arms package to Israel which includes 40,000 additional two-thousand pound bombs. The usually pro-Israeli Meeks is the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
  • "The Trump administration has not provided sufficient assurances that these weapons will be used by the Netanyahu government in accordance with US law and with appropriate protections for civilians," Meeks said. "I therefore will not clear this sale at this time." Rubio can bypass Congress though if he declares an "emergency declaration." Congress can only override that with a two-thirds, veto proof majority — a high bar. [The Guardian]
• The State Department has banned Palestinian Authority Leader Mahmoud Abbas from attending the UN General Assembly meeting this week by refusing to grant him a visa, claiming he gasp pursued justice and statehood goals for Palestinians through international bodies like the International Criminal Court. Wanted war criminal and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu … and Iranian officials … however, are permitted to attend. [State Department]
• Twenty-one people including 12 children died after an apartment building weakened by previous Israeli attacks collapsed on them in Gaza City. Rescue workers had limited heavy machinery to dig thru rubble and had to use their bare hands and small hand tools to dig people out. [Al Jazeera]
• A 21 year old Palestinian died in Israel's Ofer Prison, making him the 92nd Palestinian so far to die in Israeli prisons since 2023. [Middle East Eye]
• Palestinian-American journalist Naqaa Hamed is being held prisoner, accused of "communicating with the enemy," which if true — is KIND OF HER JOB. She is a contributor for US-based news outlet, Drop Site News. "Israeli settlers have been targeting Hamed in an online smear campaign over the past month, calling for her arrest since she began her coverage of the Israeli siege in the village of Qusra." [Truthout]

#4) FREE PALESTINE + FREE SPEECH

Singer Macklemore was removed from Ed Sheeran's Loop tour because he dared to advocate for justice and freedom for Palestinians at a MetLife concert earlier this month.

First, singer Pink reshared a post criticizing his comments. Then, billionaire Robert Kraft called Sheeran and told him that if Macklemore continued to open for him, at least 7 venues — including Kraft-owned Gillette Stadium — would refuse to let Sheeran perform there. Sheeran buckled.

Kraft claims Macklemore's comments constituted "hate speech."

Rolling Stone reported that the involved stadiums that colluded to ban Macklemore are:

• Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia
• Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts
• Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta
• Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis
• Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina
• AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas
• Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida

Gillette is privately owned by Robert Kraft's Kraft Group, which also owns the New England Patriots.

The other six stadiums have varying public-private ownership and operating arrangements.

Lincoln Financial Field, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, AT&T Stadium and Raymond James Stadium are publicly owned, although several are operated or leased by private entities, including by the professional sports teams that play there.

Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, for example, is owned by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, a state entity, but is privately operated by AMB Sports & Entertainment, the organization owned by Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, who also owns the Atlanta Falcons.

As the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights and advocacy organization, pointed out, there may be First Amendment implications if publicly owned stadiums refused to allow Macklemore to perform because of his political speech and support for Palestinian human rights.

"We call on Mr. Sheeran and the tour promoters to reverse course. They should pursue legal options or reschedule his tour rather than give in to bullying by billionaires who care about free speech as much as they care about slaughtered Palestinian children," Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR's national deputy director, said in a statement.

#5) MIDTERM MANIPULATION

There was a big win for democracy last week when the Supreme Court refused to lift a lower court's injunction on Trump's mail-in voting EO.

"In one of the most significant cases to appear on the court's quick-turn docket in years, a majority of the justices blocked the procedure that would have given the US Postal Service the unprecedented power to withhold potentially millions of mail ballots. Even some GOP election officials cautioned that the proposal could lead to chaos and mass disenfranchisement," CNN writes.

But, the Trump administration had a Plan B – another scheme to kick voters off the rolls:

A government whistleblower alleges that the Department of Homeland Security — led by Markwayne Mullin — diverted agents working on cases involving human trafficking to hunt for alleged ineligible voters ahead of November's midterm elections. The whistleblower says the operation may already have involved thousands of violations of state law — and potentially widespread violations of federal law.

According to a complaint forwarded to Senator Alex Padilla's office by the Democracy Defenders Fund, which represents the whistleblower, DHS employees were instructed to use personally identifying information from federal government databases to access individual voter records on state websites.

In some states, those websites require the person accessing the information to attest that they are the voter or have the voter's express authorization. The whistleblower alleges federal employees were instructed to make those attestations even though they were not the voters. The complaint says this could amount to thousands of violations of state law.

But there's another problem: the federal data being used to identify these potential "unlawful voters" may itself be inaccurate.

The whistleblower says DHS data provided to investigators contained unverified voter registration and voting dates, sometimes conflicted with information from other sources, and could contain U.S. citizens who had been incorrectly identified. And the training materials reportedly acknowledged that the systems were "not perfect." In fact, when information was missing from the source data, the trainer reportedly told officers it would be "brought in through supplemental magic."

Yes. "Supplemental magic."

The complaint says agents received a single 105-minute training video and were then expected to process at least 40 people a day — roughly 12 minutes per person — to determine whether someone was an "unlawful voter." If they determined that someone was, they were instructed to create a federal law enforcement record known as a TECS record.

And the whistleblower alleges that there was pressure not only to access state voter records improperly, but also to falsify federal records. The complaint says the whistleblower has detailed evidence of this and believes that may have occurred "on a large scale," potentially in violation of federal law.

For naturalized U.S. citizens, those records could have consequences beyond voting. The whistleblower alleges they could lead to additional scrutiny, including secondary inspection by Customs and Border Protection when people return to the US from travel.

• Researchers have been ringing the alarm bells on AI, with some predicting the new technology could wipe out humanity. After first dismissing the concerns, Trump now says he'll appoint an AI czar. "Only High I.Q. individuals need apply!"
• Speaking of which... the US military almost started a war after using faulty AI intelligence, CNN reports. A "special operations command analyst" generated an intelligence report using AI that said China was carrying components of a nuclear weapon on a ship in the Middle East. "The US military swung into action with plans to intercept the vessel, according to four sources familiar with the episode. According to two of the sources, armed members of the US military were preparing to board the ship. Military planes were in the air, one of those sources and another source familiar with the incident said."
• ProPublica reports that Russian oligarch and Putin associate Umar Kremlev "heavily funded" wedding festivities of first son Donald Trump Jr at a private island in the Bahamas in May, including $100,000 to rent out a private island and another $70,000 for a fireworks show.
  • Kremlev, having only recently met Trump, was an odd addition to the intimate 50-person or so wedding. "The oligarch was part of a large group whose presence puzzled other attendees. They sometimes stood off by themselves, speaking Russian... National security experts expressed alarm at Trump Jr. accepting the oligarch's largesse, saying it raised an urgent question: What motivated Kremlev to spend a fortune cultivating the connection?"
  • In an Instagram post after the article was published, Trump Jr's wife, Bettina, confirmed the story but claimed nothing sinister was afoot, calling it an "extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend."
  • Trump — who did not attend his son's wedding — told reporters that he's "never heard of" Kremlev.
  • On Friday, Trump claimed his son has paid Kremlev back… which seems like a quick and weird accountability-ish move for this bunch. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that House Democrats had opened an inquiry into the matter, demanding a guest list, when and how Kremlev and Trump Jr were in contact, and details on Trump Jr's security clearance level.
• Trump claims his planned and legally contested 250-foot arch at the base will also serve as a military complex housing drones and sniper ammunition. [Al Jazeera]
• The EPA announced it will repeal Biden- and Obama-era greenhouse gas limits on coal- and gas-fired power plants meant to control pollution that contributes to climate change. "In February, the EPA similarly repealed emissions rules for vehicles, which account for the most pollution in the U.S. today. The agency repealed greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles, as well as the legal conclusion that underpins its obligation to regulate such emissions in the first place, known as the endangerment finding. The moves announced Monday would essentially do the same thing for power plants, which are the second-biggest source of U.S. emissions," NBC News reports.
• The US has launched weapons into space for "offensive and defensive purposes." Um, what? Despite the mystery surrounding the U.S. weapon, nothing indicates that it can attack anything on Earth's surface. The phrase 'space control weapons' strongly implies that whatever it is, it's built to affect the space environment itself," National Geographic reports.
  • As The Guardian points out, the sudden announcement by Air Force Secretary Troy Meink "carried nothing in the way of context or detail, and left experts scratching their heads at exactly what Donald Trump has in his cosmic arsenal. And, equally importantly, what he intends to do with it."
• After three months, Senator Mitch McConnell returned to the Senate, alive but looking… not all there, and apparently had to be told which way to vote on the Farm Bill. [Forbes]
• The White House withdrew the nomination of Lance Schroyer to lead ICE after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) refused to hold hearings for Schroyer until ICE provided information about the agency's investigations into two civilians — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — who were shot dead by ICE last year. [AP]
• Twenty-two states sued to block Trump's "public charge" rule, which allows immigration officers to reject visa, green card or other admissions requests based on how much in public assistance — like Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program benefits — a person might be eligible for. DHS estimates 950,000 people could be dropped or refused benefits because of it. This was illegal under Biden. "The states argue that the new rules contain many ambiguities and will cause the states to 'ultimately be forced to fill the breach' by funding gaps out of their own budgets, leading to 'staggering' costs." [Stateline]
• ICE couldn't keep track of how many pregnant women miscarried their babies while in custody. They recorded 18 in the first nine months of 2025 and then stopped counting. "Meanwhile, detained pregnant women report that they are struggling to access routine and emergency medical care. In interviews with the Guardian and in testimonies shared by their attorneys, women who miscarried or were hospitalized for pregnancy complications said they did not receive follow-up care, despite experiencing ongoing pain and symptoms." [The Guardian]
• At least a dozen Somali immigrants were deported from the US and sent to infamous Guantanamo Bay, where at least seven to eight still remain. [Mother Jones]
• Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil is suing the university for failing to address reports of harassment against him and other students. Khalil was detained and spent 104 days locked up, missing the birth of his first child. Khalil's latest lawsuit says Columbia "refused to correct disinformation" while he was detained, "allowing a false narrative about his conduct and role to persist and further enabling peer-on-peer harassment of other Palestinian students and students with perceived shared Arab and/or Muslim ancestry." [PBS]
• Some people held at Trump's Alligator Alcatraz in Florida were confined to small cages for hours, which the DHS inspector general report said was "highly unconventional and does not align with standards for humane treatment." The Washington Post

• Trump was caught looking at a poster reading "Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED" while sitting on Air Force One — and now people are worried that bulldozers could show up at any minute. On Friday night, 2,500 people showed up to form a human chain around the beloved center in protest.

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