What A Day: Truth Social, justice warrior

We would love to stop writing about disgraced former president Donald Trump, but the man keeps posting too many L’s. To answer author Stephen King’s question, “Trump sucks. Can’t we just move on?” Would if we could. 
 

• Over the weekend, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon (a Trump appointee) said she was inclined to honor disgraced former president Trump’s motion to appoint a “special master” to determine the privilege status of documents recovered from the August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. But the Trump team’s hefty delay in filing such a request—nearly two weeks after agents had collected evidence—gave the Justice Department time to finish its review. So in response to Judge Cannon’s ruling, the Justice Department revealed in a court filing today that only a “limited set” of material taken would be protected by attorney-client privilege. 
   

• The team tasked with reviewing the documents is also in the process of following procedures laid out in an affidavit detailing the justification for the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago this month to "address potential privilege disputes, if any," according to U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez in Miami, and Jay Bratt, the top counterintelligence official at DOJ. The Justice Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) are also undertaking a classification review of the materials. 
   

• If potentially attorney-client privileged information is uncovered, the procedures offer three options: to ask Judge Bruce Reinhart (who signed off on the search warrant) for a determination, to withhold the documents from the investigative team, or to ask Trump to waive privilege to permit investigators to review the documents. DOJ indicated those procedures have been followed. The Director of National Intelligence told lawmakers on Friday that analysts from the Intelligence community will also conduct a review of the materials to determine the potential risk to national security if their contents were disclosed. 

Naturally, Trump has responded to his increasingly bleak legal outlook by having a complete meltdown online.
 

• Today, Trump unleashed a truly bizarre (even for him) tirade on (the soon-to-be bankrupt?) Truth Social demanding to be declared the winner of the 2020 election or a new election to be held. The reason? Because the FBI did not acknowledge it was investigating Hunter Biden for adherence to tax laws. The FBI (with one very notable exception in recent years!) almost never acknowledges the existence of ongoing investigations in accordance with longstanding DOJ policies. Hilariously, Trump has now admitted, in a 48 hour period, that he only won in 2016 because of James Comey, and thinks he didn’t win in 2020 because there was no James Comey. 
   

• Speaking of Truth Social, the favored online bullhorn of the former president is facing financial challenges as its traffic continues to be a blip in the greater social-media landscape. The company that is scheduled to acquire it, Digital World Acquisition, fears that it will continue to decline with Trump’s myriad legal troubles. Truth Social’s stock prices have plunged nearly 75 percent since its March peak, and reported in a filing this month that it had lost $6.5 million in the first half of the year. The niche social network would need millions of people to regularly use it in order to achieve commercial success, but that doesn’t look particularly likely, as Trump is the site’s most popular user (obviously) and has fewer than 4 million followers, compared to the 88 million he had on Twitter before getting booted for inciting violence. 
   

Six months ago, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and over that period of time the war has captured the world's attention, disrupted the global chain of distribution and left the country devastated. But in order to understand the present, we have to know the past. If you haven’t tuned into Another Russia yet, now is your chance to hear Zhanna recount the night of her father’s assassination and reflect on what her father’s legacy means for present day Russia. 

The final episode of Another Russia is out now and you can binge all 6 episodes on Amazon music or wherever you get your podcasts.

Authorities in Pakistan issued an emergency appeal for international humanitarian aid as the death toll from the country’s virtually unprecedented “monster monsoon” season reached over 1,000. 

Brazil’s indigenous protection agency reported that the last member of an uncontacted indigenous tribe has died, after more than 26 years of living in complete isolation. The man lived on Tanaru indgenous land deep in the Brazilian Amazon alone after the rest of his tribe was murdered in a genocidal land grab in the 1970’s.

According to a new study published, it is now inevitable that 3.3 percent of the Greenland ice sheet will melt due to climate change, triggering global sea-levels to rise a foot, an outcome we couldn’t avoid at this point even if the world stopped emitting all greenhouse gases today. Sounds bad!

The town of Lakewood, NJ decided to remove all of the trees in the town square so that unhoused people could no longer spend extended periods of time under them. The town has no proposals for otherwise accommodating the unhoused population and I guess would rather ruin a public space for everyone and just leave it at that! Classic!

The mayor of Jackson, MS, warned residents to evacuate as soon as possible if they hadn't already, as the Pearl River is expected to crest at about 36 feet today, and contribute to severe flooding.

The judge presiding over the special grand jury investigation into election interference by Donald Trump and his goons denied a motion from Gov. Brain Kemp (R-GA) to dissolve his subpoena, but delayed his appearance in court until after the November election. 

Boston City Council President Ed Flynn stripped Councilor Ricardo Arroyo of his council vice presidency and committee chairmanchips after revelations of a Boston Globe report that Arroyo was twice investigated (though never charged) for possible sexual assault as a teenager. 

Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke postponed some upcoming campaign events after he was diagnosed with a bacterial infection. Wishing Beto a speedy recovery so he can get back on the campaign trail to swear at more soulless Republicans.

After several weeks of relative stalemate, the death toll and international stakes of Russia’s war on Ukraine are escalating at an alarming clip. A team from an international atomic-energy watchdog group is on its way to the Ukrainian nuclear power plant occupied by Russian forces in Zaporizhzhia to assess damage to the plant’s facilities, evaluate the working conditions of staff and perform urgent safeguard activities. Four holes have appeared in the roof of the building, ascertained via satellite, (though Russia repeatedly claims not to have “heavy weaponry” at the plant) raising international concerns over nuclear disaster for obvious reasons. Ukrainian forces launched an attack today on the Russian-occupied town of Nova Kakhova in Southern Ukraine, and the town was left without water or power as a result. At the same time, Russian forces shelled residential areas of the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv, where Ukrainians reportedly suffered significant casualties. Also today, Russian cargo planes retrieved the first of scores of combat drones from Iran to use against Ukraine, underscoring deepening ties between the two countries. And despite the West’s bid to cripple Russia with sanctions, the country’s oil industry is raking in more money than ever.

Fight Back Against Book Bans
 

This is important. Freedom of expression protects our right to read, learn and share ideas free from viewpoint-based censorship—but recent legislative efforts across the country threaten that right. 
 

Book bans in schools and public libraries—places that are central to our abilities to explore ideas, encounter new perspectives, and learn to think for ourselves—are unconstitutional—and we need your support to fight back. Sign up today if you’re with us.
 

The vast majority of book bans that are taking hold across the country—whether through legislative proposals or direct school district or board actions—specifically aim to remove books that are by and about communities of color, LGBTQ people, and other marginalized groups. 
 

These book ban efforts work to effectively erase the history and lived experiences of women, people of color and LGBTQ people and censor discussions around race, gender and sexuality that impact young people’s daily lives. It’s wrong and it’s unconstitutional.
 

We all have a right to read and learn free from viewpoint-based or partisan censorship. Sign up today to help us fight for our right to read and learn.

Thank you for taking action,

The ACLU Team

Major global battery maker LG and automaker Honda are investing $4.4 billion in a joint venture in the U.S. to produce batteries for Honda electric vehicles in the North American market. 

A group of parents, students, and advocacy organizations asked a federal judge to halt Florida school districts from enforcing the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).

The Department of Energy announced last week that it will award over $500 million in grants to universities and labs to conduct research on clean energy technologies and manufacturing.

New polls show Democrat Mandela Barnes pulling ahead of incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) in the Wisconsin senate race. 

A new NBC poll shows swing voters breaking for Democrats ahead of the Midterms. Message to the national Democratic campaign committees: do NOT fuck this up.