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DHS Hunts Down 67-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Who Criticized Them in Email
New Republic • Feb 3, 2026

DHS Hunts Down 67-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Who Criticized Them in Email

The Trump administration is targeting free speech with a little-known legal tool: administrative subpoenas.The Washington Post reports that a retired Philadelphia man, Jon, 67, found himself in the government’s crosshairs after he emailed a lead prosecutor at the Department of Homeland Security, Joseph Dernbach, who was handling the deportation case of an Afghan refugee, identified as H, asking him to consider that the man’s life was in danger from the Taliban.“Mr. Dernbach, don’t play Russian roulette with H’s life,” Jon wrote from his gmail account. “Err on the side of caution. There’s a reason the US government along with many other governments don’t recognise the Taliban. Apply principles of common sense and decency.”Later that day, Jon received an email from Google notifying him that an administrative subpoena had been sent to them from the Department of Homeland Security “compelling the release of information related to your Google Account.” Federal agencies can issue such subpoenas without an order from a judge or grand jury, and Google gave Jon, who withheld his last name to protect his family from the government, one week to challenge it. Laws are supposed to restrict the use of administrative subpoenas, but DHS has used the tool against dissent protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution. Jon could not find who in the agency issued the subpoena, let alone a record of it to show an attorney.Days later, DHS agents showed up at Jon’s door. A naturalized U.S. citizen originally from the U.K., Jon was worried about potential violence. The agents showed him a copy of the email and asked to see his side of the story. They didn’t know about the administrative subpoena but said they received orders to interview Jon by DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C.Eventually, the agents agreed that Jon had committed no crimes after he told them he found Dernbach’s email address through a simple Google search. Jon secured pro bono representation by ACLU attorneys, who argue that the government is violating a statute that limits how administrative subpoenas can be used for “immigration enforcement” and that the government targeted Jon for protected speech.“It doesn’t take that much to make people look over their shoulder, to think twice before they speak again,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, one of Jon’s attorneys. “That’s why these kinds of subpoenas and other actions—the visits—are so pernicious. You don’t have to lock somebody up to make them reticent to make their voice heard. It really doesn’t take much, because the power of the federal government is so overwhelming.”Both Google and Meta received a record number of subpoenas in the United States during the first half of 2025 as Trump’s second term began, with Google receiving 28,622, a 15 percent increase over the previous six months. Jon was fortunate to have his case picked up by the ACLU and later reported on by a national media outlet. How many others in the U.S. haven’t been so lucky and face legal challenges for exercising their right to free speech?

Epstein And Trump’s DOJ; America’s Forgotten War w/ Jamie Holmes | MR Live
59:51
The Majority Report • Feb 3, 2026

Epstein And Trump’s DOJ; America’s Forgotten War w/ Jamie Holmes | MR Live

Trump Says TAKE OVER Elections Ahead Of Midterms
18:21
Breaking Points • Feb 3, 2026

Trump Says TAKE OVER Elections Ahead Of Midterms

Mike Johnson Unconcerned by Trump’s Threat to “Take Over” Voting
New Republic • Feb 3, 2026

Mike Johnson Unconcerned by Trump’s Threat to “Take Over” Voting

On Monday, President Trump suggested that Republicans should “take over” and “nationalize” voting. But House Speaker Mike Johnson isn’t too concerned.“The Republicans should say, ‘We wanna take over, we should take over the voting in at least 15 places’; the Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,” Trump said on former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino’s podcast Monday. “We have states that I won, that show I didn’t win … like the 2020 election, I won the election by so much. Everybody knows it.”Trump: "These people were brought to our country to vote, and they vote illegally. The Republicans should say, we should take over the voting in at least 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that I won that show I didn't win. You're gonna see… pic.twitter.com/H5hT3OvtLE— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 2, 2026CNN’s Manu Raju made sure to ask Johnson about the president’s statements the next day.“Mr. Speaker, the president had called yesterday for a takeover of federal elections; [he] said to nationalize in some states, is that something that you think he should do?” Raju asked.Johnson proceeded to claim that Trump just didn’t really mean that.“The president is expressing his frustration about the problems that we have in some of these blue states, where election integrity is not always guaranteed,” Johnson said, making a baseless claim about election security in blue states in order to defend a man who still lies about winning the 2020 election. “So we have to figure out solutions to that problem, and that’s what I think—”“Take over?!” Raju interrupted, not allowing the speaker to ramble on without acknowledging the actual question.“No, no,” Johnson said.Just asked Speaker Johnson about Trump’s call to “take over” voting in some states.Defended Trump and said he was “expressing his frustration” at some blue states. He pointed to voter ID bill they’re trying to pass.I asked him again about a “take over,” and he said: “no, no” pic.twitter.com/UfuE3hJzTc— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 3, 2026The U.S. Constitution orders that elections be governed by states and locales, not the executive branch. Even still, it’s hard not to hear Trump’s comment about taking over elections without immediately thinking about January 6. This time we should take his threats seriously—especially given the recent FBI raid of an election office in Georgia’s Fulton County.

Trump’s War on History
Mother Jones • Feb 3, 2026

Trump’s War on History

On a June afternoon in Washington, swarms of mosquitoes were feasting on thousands of Americans as they watched a military parade roll past the National Mall. It was the US Army’s 250th birthday, which also happened to be President Donald Trump’s 79th, and the MAGA-heavy crowd watched the procession trudge down Constitution Avenue, largely silent […]

US RUSHES Mil Equipment To Iran As Last Ditch Diplomacy Breaks Out
15:55
Breaking Points • Feb 3, 2026

US RUSHES Mil Equipment To Iran As Last Ditch Diplomacy Breaks Out

Maryland County Abruptly Revokes Permit for Planned ICE Facility
New Republic • Feb 3, 2026

Maryland County Abruptly Revokes Permit for Planned ICE Facility

A Maryland community has nixed a previously issued building permit for a private detention center that local officials said would be used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.The Howard County government revoked the permit Monday, ending construction for the proposed detention facility at 6522 Meadowridge Rd. in Elkridge, just across the road from a quiet residential neighborhood and within half a mile of several schools.“The retrofitting of private office buildings for detention use without transparency, without input, without clear oversight, is deeply troubling,” said county executive Calvin Ball during a Monday press conference. “In this case, the proposed detention center sits in an existing office park in close proximity to health care providers, schools, parks, and neighborhoods.”The Howard County Council introduced two pieces of emergency legislation later that evening intended to formally prevent private entities from operating detention centers within county lines.The five-person council will hold an emergency public hearing on the bills Wednesday, which will be followed by a vote.“Since there are four co-sponsors on the bill, it is about 99.99 percent likely to pass,” County Council chair Opel Jones said to a standing ovation, WTOP News reported. The proposed Elkridge detention center is the latest ICE contract to be killed in light of the agency’s escalating violence. Landowners in Oklahoma City backed out of a similar deal with the federal agency late last month, citing community safety concerns should ICE move in following the extrajudicial killings of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents.It is far from the end of ICE’s encroachment in Maryland, however. The “Free State” already has three primary detention facilities, one of which is in Howard County. And last week, the Department of Homeland Security purchased a warehouse near Hagerstown, sparking concerns that the site could be used as yet another detention center for deportations.ICE detained more than 3,200 people in Maryland in 2025, doubling the number of arrests of previous years, according to figures from the Deportation Data Project. Just one-third of the detainees had criminal convictions, while more than 50 percent had no criminal history whatsoever.

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