(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . This One is Personal GNR [1] ['Greg Dworkin', 'Crimson Quillfeather', 'Sabrina Haake'] Date: 2026-07-11 Before I get to the news, I set up a new fundraiser. This fundraiser divides donations between three organizations that target down ballot Democrats. Why focus on down ballot? First, these are the smaller races that allow us to gain control of states and allow states to actually do things to increase voting and help people. Second, they are races that build candidates for other races in the future. Third, these races are notoriously underfunded so your donation can make a huge difference. Finally, down ballot races bring people out to vote for the candidates for the House and Senate, which helps everyone. It is (imho) the best way to spend your money. Here is the link: Support Down Ballot Candidates to Support All Democrats I report on all kinds of good news. Week after week. And I’ll do the same today. I have the usual sections on good election news, and democrats being amazing, and trump being a moron. All good. But today there is a little good news that is also affects my day-to-day life as a professor. We don’t talk as much about the Rs attempts to destroy higher education as we do the other things that they are destroying because the day-to-day stakes are lower. It feels, to me, like the least of our problems when we are dealing with ICE and the destruction of Black voting rights and the social safety net. But there are long term consequences for the country and short term consequences for all of us who do research and teach at universities. We are feeling the pressure and seeing people lose jobs and facing our students being deported. We are seeing silencing of researchers and the defunding of all kinds of really important research. Florida has been the role model for all this awful. DeSantis started this well before it started to be instituted on a national stage. And, although there are still many threats to higher education, this week something truly wonderful happened. Here is the headline and a bit from the article: ‘Breathtaking assertion of power’: Appeals court slams door on Florida ‘Stop Woke’ law championed by DeSantis Florida’s anti-woke law restricting how lessons on race and gender can be taught in colleges and universities — policies championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis — violates the free speech rights of professors, a panel of appeals court judges ruled Tuesday. The decision from a divided 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit is a devastating, possibly final blow to the so-called Stop WOKE Act touted by the DeSantis administration. The judges affirmed a 2022 decision that labeled Florida’s rules as “positively dystopian,” doubling down by arguing the law is “a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse” in the very classroom space where students are supposed to “puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth.” Yay! And not onto more good news Democrats are Great! Trashing Democrats is a favorite hobby amongst many Democrats but it is dumb and shortsighted and ignored all the great things that many Democrats do. Here are some great things from this week alone! These kinds of laws have an invisible ripple effect across the country.A good number of corporations will just change their policies instead of making a NYC-specific protocol. A lot of the consumer protections we have started in one state or big city. — Nicole Bedera (@nbedera.bsky.social) 2026-07-10T17:10:40.195Z Newsom’s July 4 speech Our corrupt and unstable President is forcing us to ask a once-unimaginable question: Do we still have a government that belongs to the people? The core of our democracy, the thing that separates us from a monarchy or a dictatorship, is the fundamental right to vote. If we lose that, we lose everything. That’s why, on America’s 250th birthday, we need a declaration of election independence — a proclamation of freedom from the manipulators and deniers, from the threat of imprisonment for refusing to go along with Trump’s schemes. Sen. Jon Ossoff the breakthrough candidate of the 2026 primary season, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who — like former President Barack Obama — exudes confidence that voters are entirely capable of absorbing a fact-based, serious discussion about democratic values, policy, and reform. Ossoff’s easy command of facts to expose the egregious, stomach-turning corruption at the heart of the MAGA canard has focused the public’s ire against a regime delegitimized by its own excessive self-dealing. (Consider how well this approach worked for the pro-democracy coalition that took down Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.) Moreover, Ossoff has been able to make the critical connection between the Epstein elite’s “coin-operated” corruption — where dollars paid are returned in favors, crony capitalism, tax breaks, and impunity from the law — and the withering of economic opportunity for average Americans. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez When it comes to leading a big-tent party, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has become a savvy progressive voice striving to keep the broad-based pro-democracy coalition intact. Interestingly, she never backed Platner. In the wake of two Democratic socialists’ victories in New York, she advised her colleagues not to “create a self-fulfilling prophecy by deciding who these young women are before you’ve met them.” She added, “If you are already panicking and sending little messages in your group chats about how these people need to be reined in and tamped down and shown their place, you are creating the antagonistic dynamic that we do not need.” Whether she stays in the House or runs for Senate or president, she is modeling how to lead a diverse, contentious party that should stop panicking at the first signs of healthy internal debate. IL Gov. Pritzker Signs Law Protecting Trans Patients By Removing Testosterone from Govt. Monitoring Program Governor Pritzker rounded out Pride Month by signing a trio of bills that will protect transgender people’s privacy from out-of-state attacks—most notably, by removing testosterone from the list of prescriptions required by law to be added to a government database. “The work will continue until all Illinoisans are safe, healthy, and free to express their truest selves,” said Governor JB Pritzker in a June 28 press release. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has signed more than 60 bills since Friday, including new laws on rental fees, rate hikes Gov. JB Pritzker signed more than 60 bills since Friday, including new laws to increase transparency around rental fees and give some drivers an alternative to having their license suspended. House Bill 3564 bans so-called “junk fees” charged by landlords and adds new layers of transparency to rental agreements. House Bill 4472 requires the secretary of state to establish a statewide Blue Envelope Program. The voluntary program allows people on the autism spectrum to show a blue envelope to police officers that signals to the officer a person has a communication disorder. House Bill 4514 gives public utility customers the right to request a public forum to discuss rate hike proposals in front of the Illinois Commerce Commission, as well as the right to submit written feedback. It takes effect Jan. 1. House Bill 4420 enshrines the editorial independence of public radio and television stations affiliated with Illinois colleges and universities. House Bill 5070 bars the Illinois Pollution Control Board from adopting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules and regulations that are less stringent than existing state standards. Under Senate Bill 4006, insurers generally must send out cancelation and nonrenewal notices 60 days in advance ­— double what was previously required. We Can Win in November It is going to take work, but we can do this. And to help us, I set up a new fundraiser. This fundraiser divides donations between three organizations that target down ballot Democrats. Why focus on down ballot? First, these are the smaller races that allow us to gain control of states and allow states to actually do things to increase voting and help people. Second, they are races that build candidates for other races in the future. Third, these races are notoriously underfunded so your donation can make a huge difference. Finally, down ballot races bring people out to vote for the candidates for the House and Senate, which helps everyone. It is (imho) the best way to spend your money. Here is the link: Support Down Ballot Candidates to Support All Democrats Now onto some hopeful news about the elections: The Cook Political Report updated its Governor Rate Ratings The Cook Political Report updated its Governor Rate Ratings (paywall, sorry) and now has four currently held GOP seats – Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, and Ohio – rated as toss ups. Here are the results of Fox News’ recent polling in three of these races: GA 52%-47% (+5) – Lance Bottoms (D) leads Rick Jackson (R) IA 53%-44% (+9) – Rob Sand (D) leads Zach Lahn (R) OH 50%-49% (+1) – Amy Acton (D) leads Vivek Ramaswamy (R) If we win all four Dems will control a majority of governorships for the first time since 2010. As I explain in this week’s talk all the data continues to point to this being a year of remarkable opportunity for us across the country Anti-incumbent mood sweeping country in troubling sign for GOP majorities A sour, anti-incumbent mood is sweeping across the nation on its 250th anniversary in what political analysts say is an especially troubling sign for Republican control of the House and Senate, given President Trump’s slumping approval rating. Republicans on Capitol Hill fear the antiestablishment mood could cost them control of the House and perhaps the Senate as well. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott (S.C.) has warned Senate GOP colleagues privately “about how bad polling is, currently, for Republicans and how bad the president is losing ground among all groups,” said a senior Republican aide. Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton (Ark.) also shared polling with Senate Republicans at a recent lunch meeting that showed independents moving in large numbers away from the GOP and toward Democrats, according to a GOP senator who attended the presentation. The Houston Chronicle, largest newspaper in Houston endorse James Talarico! 👏Writing, “Texans deserve better than Ken Paxton’s moral rot’… Paxton’s documented deeds prove he’s a man of low character, lacking integrity. An extremely very poor candidate for an even more powerful political office. — @Boom-WhatsGoingOn.bsky.social (@boom-whatsgoingon.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T01:44:58.541Z Here’s another sign that Democrats are building a blue wave For the third month in a row, Democrats gained more new voter registrants than Republicans, according to pollster John Couvillon, who has been tracking party registration data for years. Couvillon found that Democrats added 83,000 new registrants in June, while Republicans added 64,000. Democrats out-registering Republicans reverses what had been a bad trend for the party, as the Democratic Party had seen membership dwindle since 2020. In fact, the Democratic voter registration slide was one of the early signs that the 2024 election was not going to go Democrats’ way. That year, according to Gallup, more people identified with Republicans than Democrats. But now that trend is flipping. Even more promising for Democrats is that new Democratic registrants are popping up in places that have competitive statewide contests. CNN’s Harry Enten: “This is perhaps the best sign for Democrats so far: they're dominating primary turnout (casting 57% of primary ballots). In the same states in 2022, Dems were casting 47% of the votes. In every midterm since at least 2006, the party with the higher primary turnout won the House.” — Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T19:28:36.937Z Susan Collins Should Be Worried On Wednesday night, Graham Platner finally ended his campaign for Senate in Maine, after rape allegations from a former girlfriend caused even his own allies to denounce his candidacy and call for him to drop out. The move has Democrats feeling relieved and GOP Sen. Susan Collins and her allies panicked, as they viewed Platner and his personal transgressions as a weak nominee who she could defeat in November. “She can certainly win, but they didn’t want to change candidates,” an unnamed “person familiar” with Collins’ campaign’s thinking, told Politico. “The stuff we already knew about Platner was going to propel Collins to overcome the Trump anchor. Now it’s going to be a Democrat with a cleaner record, presumably.” You can tell that Republicans wanted Platner to remain in the race, as on social media they were wishcasting a scenario in which Platner declined to drop out. Democrats running in nearly all Indiana legislative races while GOP not challenging 20 House seats Democratic candidates will appear on the November ballot for nearly all Indiana legislative seats up for election this fall — while Republicans are sitting out more than 20 races. The two major parties had until noon Monday to fill candidate vacancies that remained following the May 5 primaries. Democrats filled seven such vacancies for Indiana House seats, giving them candidates for 97 of the 100 seats. Republicans added two candidates, which left 20 current Democratic legislators without a GOP challenger, according to filings with the Indiana Election Division. That includes 10 districts in Indianapolis and five in Lake County. Maryland schedules special redistricting session to counter GOP gerrymanders Maryland’s top Democratic lawmakers announced a special session for early August to address congressional redistricting in an effort to counter recent Republican gerrymanders. Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) said Tuesday that the General Assembly will convene Aug. 3-5 to consider legislation to put a redistricting amendment before voters in November. The bill, which requires a three-fifths vote in both chambers of the Assembly, is the first step toward redrawing the state’s congressional map to dismantle the lone red district, long represented by U.S. Rep. Andy Harris (R). Should the bill pass, it’ll be up to Maryland voters in November to decide whether to amend the state’s redistricting rules, which would allow the Assembly to draw a new map that favors Democrats in all eight congressional districts for the 2028 election. Trump is a loser Trump’s red-baiting won’t work With this year’s midterms just four months away, Trump is trying it again. But instead of migrant caravans, this year’s terrifying menace is … communism! Given how Trump has moved the word into such heavy rotation, it deserves the exclamation point. In a series of recent speeches, not to mention his off-the-cuff remarks to reporters, Trump has brought up communism dozens of times, in both broad terms (“America will never be a communist country. Won’t happen. Communism is a loser, and it always will be”) and specifically with regard to the opposition. If the rhetoric sounds outdated, that may be because in Trump’s mind it’s still the 1980s, when the dashing young real estate investor was all over the tabloid gossip pages and Ronald Reagan was taking it to the Russkies. But for most Americans, communism is a story out of history books or a fading memory. Trump’s policy mayhem is making even the Maga faithful consider walking away Even voters who identify as foot soldiers of his political army are increasingly willing to blame Trump for their economic troubles Democrats invoke ‘big, beautiful bill’ far more than Republicans as midterms near Republicans continue to tout some provisions of the law, including tax cuts, but its overall unpopularity has provided Democrats ammunition for the midterms. Murdoch Paper Goes Scorched Earth on Trump for ‘Destroying’ Jobs The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal eviscerated President Donald Trump over the reality of his beloved tariffs. The newspaper’s editorial board published a scathing piece on Thursday evening, ripping the 80-year-old president over one of his signature policies as he seeks to “rescue his underwater job rating.” Good Legal News Over the weekend, Democracy Docket tracked its 100th court victory of the cycle!Total Active Cases: 195Active Voting Rights Cases: 154Active Redistricting Cases: 41Active Anti-Voting Cases: 76Active Pro-Voting Cases: 74Active DOJ Lawsuits: 28www.democracydocket.com — Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) 2026-07-06T13:39:34.404Z Judge Orders $5 Million Trump Judgment Be Released to E. Jean Carroll Ms. Carroll had asked a federal judge to order the president to pay the judgment after a jury found he sexually abused and defamed her. E. Jean Carroll is Going to Outlast Trump’s Delay Game Trump, of course, isn’t done yet. Next, he’ll ask the Supreme Court for a stay. Prediction: It will be similarly unavailing. Stick a fork in this case. It’s done. After her win in the $83.3 million defamation case, which is still on appeal, Carroll responded to a question about how she intended to spend the money like this: “I’d like to give the money to something Donald Trump hates. If it’ll cause him pain for me to give money to certain things, that’s my intent.” How splendid. Sometimes justice happens. We’re close. Big win today—the DC Circuit kept Trump's name OFF the Kennedy CenterOur full @democracydefendersaction.org statement w/ @repbeatty.bsky.social & co-counsel WLG👇 -TN — Norm Eisen (@normeisen.bsky.social) 2026-07-08T18:53:57.421Z Trump Loses $3.8B Defamation Battle With Blunt Ruling A federal judge has tossed a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump’s social media company against the Washington Post, dealing a sharp defeat to Trump Media and Technology Group. NEWS: Federal judge in Georgia quashes DOJ grand jury subpoena seeking information about election workers who volunteered or worked during the 2020 election in Fulton County. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us… — Anna Bower (@annabower.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T19:42:35.356Z 🚨BREAKING: A federal judge declined to pause a ruling that blocked the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from implementing President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order targeting mail voting. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/… — Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T22:00:40.560Z A Bush-appointed judge, Joseph LaPlante, just threw out Trump's demand for New Hampshire's voter files—ruling the regime pointed to zero evidence of any problem. Loss number 11. www.dworkinsubstack.com/p/trump-went… — Scott Dworkin (@dworkin.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T16:05:30.608Z We the people Court clerks smile and ‘flip off’ security camera while ‘sneaking’ immigrants out the back door of courthouse before agents can arrest them, DOJ says Two Utah court clerks have been dubbed “anti-ICE vigilantes” by the U.S. Justice Department after they were allegedly caught “sneaking” undocumented immigrants out the back door of their courthouse before federal agents could arrest and deport them. Jennifer Joma, 27, and Lauren Morrow, 26, were captured on surveillance video waving and smiling at a courthouse camera — with Morrow using “her middle finger to flip off the camera” — as they helped at least three immigrants “escape out a back door,” according to court documents filed by the DOJ. This is so powerful. Inspired by the March of a Thousand Robes in Poland, retired and sitting judges in the United States walked down the streets of Columbus, Ohio to stand up for the Rule of Law. #JusticeinMotion — Danny Miller (@danielmilleresq.bsky.social) 2026-07-08T23:59:32.274Z Man sues DHS after agents tracked him down for sending a scathing email to ICE a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression on Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C. argues Streever’s January email was protected speech and the federal agents’ and their superiors violated Streever’s First Amendment rights. Finally, I set up a new fundraiser (just in case you missed the first two times I mentioned it). This fundraiser divides donations between three organizations that target down ballot Democrats. Why focus on down ballot? First, these are the smaller races that allow us to gain control of states and allow states to actually do things to increase voting and help people. Second, they are races that build candidates for other races in the future. Third, these races are notoriously underfunded so your donation can make a huge difference. Finally, down ballot races bring people out to vote for the candidates for the House and Senate, which helps everyone. It is (imho) the best way to spend your money. Here is the link: Support Down Ballot Candidates to Support All Democrats I am so lucky, grateful, and proud to be in this with all of you 💙🩷💜💛✊🏽✊🏿✊🏼✊🏾💛💜🩷💙 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/11/800067327/community/this-one-is-personal-gnr/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/