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

More Than a Dozen Elected Officials Arrested While Protesting Conditions at NYC Immigration Holding Facility

(Seattle Times) The officials — including the city’s fiscal watchdog and state lawmakers — were among 77 people detained during protests at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. The government building, home to immigration court, the FBI‘s New York field office and other federal offices, has become a hotbed of arrests and detention amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Eleven officials were arrested inside the building while attempting to inspect holding rooms on the 10th floor that are the subject of ongoing litigation alleging squalid conditions and overcrowding, according to a coalition of politicians, advocates and faith leaders involved in the protest.

bigtree

Trump says he is looking to send U.S. troops back into Afghanistan

(US News & World Report) U.S. President Donald Trump's goal of re-occupying Bagram air base in Afghanistan might end up looking like a re-invasion of the country, requiring more than 10,000 troops as well as deployment of advanced air defenses, current and former U.S. officials say. Trump, speaking to reporters on Thursday during a trip to London, said "we want that base back" and cited what he called its strategic location near China.

BumRushDaShow

Trump Expected to Fire US Attorney After Finding No Evidence Letitia James Committed Mortgage Fraud

(Mediaite) President Donald Trump is expected to fire U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert after Siebert’s office was unable to find sufficient evidence that New York Attorney General Letitia James committed mortgage fraud, ABC News reported on Thursday night. The president has reportedly been leaning on federal prosecutors to bring charges against James for alleged mortgage fraud. She has been accused of falsely claiming her house in Virginia as her primary residence despite being legally required to live in New York as an elected official there.

babylonsister

Republicans Sour on Direction of the Country

(Political Wire) AP-NORC poll: “The share of Republicans who see the country headed in the right direction has fallen sharply in recent months…Today, only about half in the GOP see the nation on the right course, down from 70% in June. The shift is even more glaring among Republican women and the party’s under-45 crowd ... Overall, about one-quarter of Americans say things in the country are headed in the right direction, down from about 4 in 10 in June. Democrats and independents didn’t shift meaningfully.”

BumRushDaShow

'Goons!' Legendary late-night comedian unleashes on Trump official over Kimmel suspension

(Raw Story) Former "Late Show" host David Letterman spoke at "The Atlantic's" Festival on Thursday morning, blasting the networks for caving into an authoritarian government. “We all see where this is going, correct? It’s managed media,” Letterman said of ABC's firing of Jimmy Kimmel. “You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian, a criminal administration in the Oval Office,” Letterman said. “That’s just not how this works.”

TexasTowelie

Jon Stewart on Jimmy Kimmel

highplainsdem

Stephen Colbert on Jimmy Kimmel

BumRushDaShow

Northeast US states form health alliance in response to federal vaccine limits

(Reuters) Seven northeastern U.S. states, including New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, have banded together to form a new public health coalition that will make its own vaccine recommendations in response to the Trump administration's changes to federal vaccine policy. The effort, called the Northeast Public Health Collaborative, resembles a similar collective of California and three other western states known as the West Coast Health Alliance, which issued its own vaccine recommendations on Wednesday that went further than the federal government's latest guidelines.

BumRushDaShow

Walt Disney Executives To Meet With Jimmy Kimmel, Assess Talk Show Future

(Huff Post) Walt Disney DIS.0 representatives and talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel raced to find the right words on Wednesday to calm a social media furor that erupted following criticism of his remarks about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. A representative for Kimmel did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Executives will meet with Kimmel to discuss the future of his program, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.

Jilly_in_VA

FCC pressure gets Jimmy Kimmel suspended for a joke? What a bunch of snowflakes.

(Rex Huppke/USA Today) Free speech has gotten really confusing in Trump America. If I’m following things correctly, Republicans and President Donald Trump are celebrating the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show because he said something they didn’t like. These are the same folks who, for I don’t know how long, have been hollering that free speech is a God-given American right, even if that speech offends sensitive snowflake liberals like myself.

Expand Featured Stories

Culture Forums

Alliance Forums

Region Forums

Latest Breaking News

Pentagon Plots to Recruit Radicalized Charlie Kirk MAGA Fans

22 min ago - Updated Sep. 19 2025 7:38AM EDT Published Sep. 18 2025 7:48PM EDT The Pentagon is reportedly looking to recruit Charlie Kirk’s young fans into the military. The Defense Department is considering a new military recruitment campaign centered aro ... (Daily Beast)

Soros cuts $10M check for California redistricting campaign

58 min ago - 09/19/2025 11:33 AM EDT Progressive megadonor George Soros has given $10 million to boost Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting campaign as Democrats continue to raise huge sums from reliable allies. The donation from Soros, first reported by the Ne ... (Politico)

Josh Shapiro blasts RFK Jr., federal health officials; vows to protect vaccine access in Pa.

1 hr ago - With the Trump Administration poised to order sweeping changes to long-standing scientific guidance on childhood vaccines, Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday reiterated his pledge to protect access to vaccines in the Commonwealth. Appearing as a guest in a ... (Penn Live)

Gov. Josh Shapiro says Trump's threats to revoke TV networks' licenses are an attempt to 'stifle dissent'

1 hr ago - Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday accused the Trump administration of “trying to stifle dissent” after ABC removed late-night comedy host Jimmy Kimmel from the airwaves this week following comments from a federal regulator. “Wit ... (NBC News)

Saudi Arabia signs a mutual defense pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan after Israel's attack on Qatar

1 hr ago - Sept. 19, 2025, 5:48 AM EDT / Source: The Associated Press ISLAMABAD — Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan have signed a mutual defense pact that defines any attack on either nation as an attack on both — a key accord in the wake of Isr ... (NBC News/AP)

CDC advisers vote that patients must consult a health care provider for Covid-19 vaccination, but no prescription req

2 hrs ago - CDC advisers vote that patients must consult a health care provider for Covid-19 vaccination, but no prescription required By Brenda Goodman, Jamie Gumbrecht Updated 20 min ago Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ... (cnn)

Kennedy's vaccine advisers change COVID shot guidance, calling them an individual choice

2 hrs ago - Updated 4:09 PM EDT, September 19, 2025 ATLANTA (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vaccine advisers added confusion Friday to this fall’s COVID-19 vaccinations — declining to recommend them for anyone and leaving ... (AP)

Trump to Add New $100,000 Fee for H-1B Visas in Latest Crackdown

2 hrs ago - President Donald Trump is expected to sign a proclamation as soon as Friday that would move to extensively overhaul the H-1B visa program, requiring a $100,000 fee for applications in a bid to curb overuse, according to a White House official familia ... (Bloomberg)

Judge blocks feds from tying funding to food stamp data

2 hrs ago - September 19, 2025 SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge Thursday temporarily blocked the government from withholding funding from states that refuse to provide the personal information of people who receive food stamps. U.S. Senior District Judg ... (Courthouse News Service)

DEA faced pushback at White House, Pentagon after urging Mexico strikes

2 hrs ago - September 19, 2025 at 7:00 a.m. EDT Drug Enforcement Administration officials advocated for a series of military strikes in Mexico earlier this year, alarming some in the White House and Pentagon and presaging the fraught debate underway in Washingto ... (Washington Post)

'Something fishy': Frustrated lawmakers claim closed-door meeting shows Epstein 'cover-up'

3 hrs ago - September 19, 2025 2:41PM ET Lawmakers sensed "something fishy" going on after a closed-door hearing with Alex Acosta Friday, where the former federal prosecutor and Secretary of Labor was deposed about his involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Se ... (Raw Story)

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to intervene in dispute over sex markers on passports

3 hrs ago - Updated on: September 19, 2025 / 12:46 PM EDT Washington — The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to enforce for now its policy ending the use of the "X" marker on passports and requiring the documents to reflect ... (CBS News)

Government shutdown looms after Senate rejects House-passed stopgap funding bill

4 hrs ago - 09/19/25 1:24 PM ET Senate Democrats on Friday blocked a House-passed bill to fund federal departments and agencies for seven weeks, putting Washington on the path to a government shutdown on Oct. 1. Democrats came together in near unison to defeat t ... (The Hill)

Barack Obama Responds to Jimmy Kimmel Being Taken Off Air

5 hrs ago - Published Sep 19, 2025 at 2:31 AM EDT Former President Barack Obama has called for freedom of speech to be protected after ABC suspended late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's fatal shooting. "This ... (Newsweek)

Mudslides trap drivers, bury roads and damage homes in southern California

5 hrs ago - Updated 11:34 AM CDT, September 19, 2025 OAK GLEN, Calif. (AP) — Mudslides and debris flows knocked down trees, plowed into homes and trapped drivers for 10 hours after several Southern California communities were hit by heavy rain, authorities ... (AP)

Judge strikes down Trump's $15 billion suit against the New York Times

6 hrs ago - A federal judge in Tampa struck down President Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, saying that the 85-page complaint was "decidedly improper and impermissible" under the rules governing civil proceedings in federal court. U. ... (Washington Post)

Russian warplanes violating Estonia airspace intercepted, Nato says

6 hrs ago - Just now Three Russian warplanes that violated Estonian airspace have been intercepted by Nato, the military alliance has said. Estonia's foreign ministry in Tallinn condemned the incursion as "brazen". It said three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets enter ... (BBC)

House passes GOP bill to avert a shutdown, but Senate looks likely to reject it

7 hrs ago - WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House on Friday passed a stopgap bill to fund the government until just before Thanksgiving, daring Democrats in the Senate to reject the measure and risk a shutdown at the end of this month. The vote was 2 ... (NBC news)

Former US attorney who negotiated Epstein's 2008 plea deal appearing before House Oversight committee

7 hrs ago - Updated Sep 19, 2025, 10:10 AM ET PUBLISHED Sep 19, 2025, 6:00 AM ET The former US Attorney from southern Florida who negotiated a controversial plea deal in 2008 with Jeffrey Epstein is appearing before the House Oversight Committee as the panel con ... (CNN Politics)

3 Members Of Federal Control Board In Puerto Rico Sue Trump, Others For Illegal Firings

8 hrs ago - Sep 18, 2025, 11:49 PM EDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Three members of a federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico’s finances, who were recently fired by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, filed a lawsuit in federal cou ... (Huff Post/AP)