Democratic Underground: Forums for U.S. Liberals and Democrats

Maine Democrats approve 600-person convention to pick Graham Platner's replacement

(Bangor Daily News) The Maine Democratic Party’s state committee voted Wednesday to hold a nominating convention to select a replacement for U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, according to a party statement and an account of the meeting shared with the Bangor Daily News. More than 100 state committee members attended the meeting and voted in favor of the convention process, the party said in a statement. The convention would include 500 delegates elected proportionally by county committees, along with the entire state committee, according to the account of the meeting.

BumRushDaShow

'This Is a Cover Story': Leon Panetta Says Trump Is Hiding the True Reason Behind Air Force One Switch

(Mediaite) Former CIA Director Leon Panetta wasn’t buying President Donald Trump‘s excuse for switching planes for his journey home from the NATO Summit in Turkey. On Wednesday, Shawn McCreesh of The New York Times asked Trump during a news conference in Ankara why he wasn’t flying the much-ballyhooed new Air Force One home. The $400 million jet was a gift from the Qatari government and has long prompted security concerns.

mahatmakanejeeves

Secret Service advised Trump to not fly Qatari-gifted Air Force One

(The Hill) The Secret Service advised President Trump not to leave the NATO Summit in Turkey on the newer Qatari-gifted Air Force One, according to a Wednesday report. Sources familiar with the matter said the president flew out of Ankara on the older Air Force One model out of an abundance of caution for a potential threat from Iran, although none were explicitly identified, the New York Times reported.

Swede

New photo shows extent of damage Trump has done to the White House

BumRushDaShow

Graham Platner ends U.S. Senate campaign in Maine

(Washington Post) Graham Platner, the populist political newcomer who Democrats had hoped could flip a critical U.S. Senate seat in Maine, ended his campaign Wednesday night after a woman he previously dated publicly accused him of sexual assault. “We believe for the movement to continue, it can’t be me and for that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,” Platner said Wednesday night.

RandySF

ME-SEN: Collins' allies think Platner's exit makes her reelection bid tougher

(Politico) Republicans may be publicly using Graham Platner’s exit from Maine’s Senate race to ratchet up their attacks on Democrats, but behind the scenes, his withdrawal is hardly being viewed as good news for Sen. Susan Collins’ reelection campaign. According to a person familiar with the campaign’s thinking, granted anonymity to discuss it, Collins’ team had long viewed Platner as a uniquely vulnerable opponent whose personal controversies could help offset one of the biggest challenges she faces in 2026: running as a blue-state Republican in the Trump era.

KS Toronado

Thursday's Condensed News Cartoons & Memes

muriel_volestrangler

Trump denies disaster aid for 4 Democratic-led states

(Politico) Trump on Friday rejected $227 million in aid requests from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island for help recovering from a major snowstorm in February. Two days earlier, Trump approved Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster aid for six Republican-led states, while extolling the political virtues of GOP politicians and candidates in the states. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement that “there is no politicization to the President’s decisions on disaster relief,” adding that Trump “provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him.”

erronis

The New York Times Would Like You To Meet This Totally Harmless Tradwife/Heritage Foundation Hack

(Wonkette) "A Conservative Role Model for Ending the Fertility Crisis." That is the actual title of a New York Times profile on Heritage Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Emma Waters -- an ideologue in the mold of Phyllis Schlafly, who also famously traveled around the country telling other women to stay home. It's not the first. As writer Jessica Shortall pointed out on Bluesky yesterday, Waters has been the subject of at least two other New York Times profiles on her quest to replace standard fertility treatments with some bullshit called "restorative reproductive medicine" and downplaying her desire to force other women back to the 1950s.

BumRushDaShow

Family of Black woman on DC train surrounded by white nationalists in 'defining image' of America breaks silence

(The Independent) Paul Bowlding was concerned when he saw the now-viral July 4 photo of his sister, Bernita Bowlding, as she sat on a train surrounded by members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front in Washington, D.C. The image, of a single Black woman surrounded by masked extremists, spread widely, with commentators comparing it to images from the Civil Rights era, but Bowlding said he was worried for his sister’s immediate safety.

Expand Featured Stories

Issue Forums

Region Forums

Latest Breaking News

Trump immigration cuts could worsen US caregiver shortage, experts say

19 min ago - Thu 9 Jul 2026 06.00 EDT Last modified on Thu 9 Jul 2026 11.02 EDT The Trump administration may remove the temporary protected status (TPS) of Haitians and Syrians in the US, the US supreme court ruled in late June – a move that will worsen Amer ... (The Guardian)

Mexico to file criminal complaints in US over deaths of Mexicans in immigration enforcement

33 min ago - Mexico's government plans to file criminal complaints in the U.S. regarding Mexican citizens who died in ‌immigration custody or while being targeted in anti-immigration operations, Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco said on Thursday. Fourt ... (Reuters)

LinkedIn and X Are Flooded With AI Spam, Browsing Data Suggests

1 hr ago - A shocking amount of the content that users encounter on popular social media websites is likely AI generated, according to data from a company that detects AI writing. As much as 41 percent of longform written content seen by users on LinkedIn is li ... (404 Media)

Iran says it hits US military targets in Gulf, lays slain leader to rest

1 hr ago - July 9, 2026 6:13 AM EDT Updated 10 mins ago DUBAI, July 9 (Reuters) - Iranian armed forces launched attacks on U.S. military infrastructure in Gulf states on Thursday following U.S. strikes on Iran's southern coastal and eastern provinces, pu ... (Reuters)

Former Maine state senator announces campaign after Platner suspension

1 hr ago - Former Maine state Sen. Troy Jackson (D) on Wednesday announced his campaign to run against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), not long after Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner dropped out of the race amid a slew of scandals. “There is a powerf ... (The Hill)

Brigham and Women's Hospital nurses locked out after ending one-day strike in Boston: "Let us in!"

2 hrs ago - By Penny Kmitt Updated on: July 9, 2026 / 9:03 AM EDT / CBS Boston The one-day nurses strike at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston ended Thursday morning, but a four-day lockout began, keeping the 4,000 union nurses out of the facility. Hundreds ... (CBS News)

SpaceX and AI startup wealth fuels demand for private jets

2 hrs ago - Aviation lawyer Amanda Applegate skipped her annual vacation last month as a surge of wealth from AI startups and sent a wave of tech investors shopping for private jets, burying her in ‌paperwork for aircraft-purchase agreements. [....] ... (Reuters)

Under a new federal rule, colleges must leave grads better off or lose financial aid

2 hrs ago - Updated July 9, 2026 5:00 AM ET This month, the U.S. Department of Education began rolling out a new accountability test that most colleges and universities will soon have to pass. The test itself is simple: If an undergraduate program's graduates d ... (NPR)

New passport system will make taking at-home photos easier

3 hrs ago - Updated July 8, 2026, 9:57 p.m. ET Getting and renewing your passport might get just a little bit easier, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. On July 2, Rubio said the State Department is developing a more streamlined system that would allow ... (USA Today)

Bonnie Tyler, singer famed for 'Total Eclipse of the Heart,' dies at 75

3 hrs ago - LONDON — Legendary pop singer Bonnie Tyler, best known for hits including “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” has died after weeks in a hospital, her family said Thursday. “Bonnie’s family and team are heartbroken to announce that ... (NBC News)

Trump's plan for a triumphal arch in the nation's capital is getting another review

3 hrs ago - July 9, 2026, 12:06 AM WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's plans to build a skyline-altering arch in the nation's capital is getting another review from the federal commission whose approval he needs, but the agency's staff says the project should ... (ABC News/AP)

June 2026 was Western Europe's hottest on record, second hottest globally, report finds

4 hrs ago - July 8, 2026 / 10:00 PM EDT Western Europe saw its hottest June on record this year as temperatures skyrocketed around the world last month, with blistering heat stoking wildfires and, at times, turning deadly across the continent and the United Stat ... (CBS News)

C&H offloads sugar at industrial terminal in East Bay due to strike, sparking health concerns

4 hrs ago - By Anser Hassan Thursday, July 9, 2026 12:45AM RICHMOND, Calif. (KGO) -- Concerns are growing over how raw sugar destined for the C&H Sugar refinery is being stored at a private terminal during an ongoing labor dispute, prompting calls for invest ... (ABC 7 News)

Trump Calls for Supreme Court to Rehear Birthright Citizenship Over 'Scam'

4 hrs ago - Published Jul 08, 2026 at 06:01 PM EDT updated Jul 08, 2026 at 08:55 PM EDT President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the Supreme Court to rehear the birthright citizenship case, following reports of billboards along the Southwest border adverti ... (Newsweek)

Inspector of Buckling Building Cited for Missing Problems at Other Sites

5 hrs ago - Inspector of Buckling Building Cited for Missing Problems at Other Sites A New York Times review of city records shows that the firm, Domani Inspection Services, was repeatedly accused of breaking New York City rules. An ambitious building project at ... (The New York Times)

Air Force pulls 135 promotions after grading mistake

5 hrs ago - July 8, 2026, 7:51 p.m. ET More than 100 U.S. Air Force airmen who thought they'd been promoted are now being told they didn't make the cut after the service uncovered a scoring error on a key advancement exam, forcing officials to revoke 135 promoti ... (USA Today)

John Deere owners will get the right to repair their own equipment under a new FTC settlement

6 hrs ago - Updated 7:16 PM EDT, July 8, 2026 It looks like John Deere owners can soon feel free to fix their own machines. The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from several states secured a right-to-repair settlement Wednesday with agriculture eq ... (AP)

Oregon A.G. Seeks Delay of Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger, Suggests DOJ Approval Was 'Corrupt'

6 hrs ago - Jul 8, 2026 2:43pm PT The Oregon attorney general’s office has asked a judge to grant a 60-day delay on the closing of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, as it continues to investigate whether the deal violates antitrust law. Judge Eric Dahlin ... (Variety)

Federal inmates could soon have their own tablets in prison

7 hrs ago - July 8, 2026, 5:04 PM Inmates in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons could soon have tablets to help with education coursework and rehab programs. The "landmark" tablet service contract will "modernize" the custody of inmates, according to ... (ABC News)

Fed policymakers' inflation concerns grew at June meeting, minutes show

7 hrs ago - 12h WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) - Concern about high inflation mounted at the U.S. central bank's meeting last month, as officials followed Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh's lead to a more stripped-down policy statement even amid concerns that ... (msn/Reuters)