Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America. Please take a moment to click the ❤️ and restack this post. The oligarchs’ platforms are trying to keep stories like the ones below from hitting your feeds, and this helps us break through.
Some of Donald Trump’s closest outside allies are urging him to declare martial law to seize control of the midterm elections. A shocking new video shows Senator Mitch McConnell unable to speak or respond to basic questions. ICE agents detained an American citizen in Illinois and left him injured on the ground. And a woman in Missouri was dragged away in handcuffs for speaking about surveillance cameras during a public comment period at a city council meeting.
**Before we get to the news, a brief ask: **AlterNet America was launched as a direct response to MAGA billionaires buying up networks like CBS and newspapers like the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. We’re going all-in on the bet that reader-supported journalism can compete directly with the billionaires by being the one thing they can’t buy.
We’re incredibly grateful to all the free subscribers who have signed up to receive our newsletters in recent weeks. But if you’ve been thinking about making the leap to become a paying subscriber, this is the time when it matters the most. Please upgrade today.
Trump’s allies are not confident he can win the midterms, but they are confident he has a military.
A new report from The Atlantic reveals that some of Trump’s most loyal allies are urging him to declare a national-security emergency to seize control of the federal elections in November. His White House and Cabinet advisers have spent months trying to talk him out of these demands, but even his inner circle admits it could happen.
Attorney Peter Ticktin, who attended military school with Trump as a teenager, claimed without evidence that Democrats have already stolen the election through fraud in the primaries. He said the remaining options are “either martial law, or step aside.”
LindellTV host Wayne Allyn Root has separately called for Trump to declare the emergency on his radio show. Trump responded with interest, only saying that “stranger things have happened.”
Administration officials have authorized the seizure of Georgia election records and examined voting equipment in Puerto Rico, but none of that uncovered the sweeping fraud Trump has alleged. Those pushing for martial law have not cited any evidence, because there is none.
Sponsored Kalshi poll: Ohio Senate winner?
Mitch McConnell has returned to the Senate, but it’s unclear whether he knows that.
Journalist Desiree Townsend posted a video Tuesday of the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican being wheeled into a large black car before a Senate vote. Townsend asked McConnell how his weekend went and if he felt ready to get back to work, to which the senator responded only with a feeble wave and peace sign.
Townsend wrote that McConnell appeared somewhat confused by the rain. She said he had a delayed response, and gave no verbal acknowledgment.
McConnell has not spoken publicly since he returned to Capitol Hill after his alleged fall earlier this year. His wife, Elaine Chao, took his place over the weekend for an event at the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center.
The one time McConnell spoke on the Senate floor, he sided with Democrats on a bill his own party opposed. An aide had to step in and remind him what team he was on.
Another day, another citizen left bleeding on the ground by federal agents who could not be bothered to check his ID.
ICE agents in Evanston, Illinois attacked a man on Sunday morning, leaving him on the ground with injuries to his head, neck, and teeth. The man can be heard in a video taken by a witness repeatedly telling the agents that he is an American citizen.
Evanston police responded to the scene after callers reported two men arguing and one threatening to take someone into custody. When officers arrived, they found the man on the ground with several people helping him. Witnesses said the five attackers were ICE agents.
ICE said the man resembled someone they were looking for as part of a fugitive investigation, and that he “was not cooperative and refused to identify himself.” DHS has not explained why federal agents left the scene without giving him medical assistance.
Congressional Democrats are documenting more and more of these cases. Earlier this year, a 67-year-old Chicago citizen had his door broken down in a raid and was left zip-tied outside his building for nearly three hours. A citizen in Alabama was detained twice during worksite raids, even after showing agents his REAL ID.
Getting arrested after one sentence at a city council meeting has to be some sort of record.
A woman in Springfield, Missouri was arrested Monday night for speaking about surveillance cameras at a city council meeting. She was dragged away in handcuffs after saying a single sentence during the public comment period.
Mia Heider had never attended a city council meeting, but she came to this one with a written statement opposing Springfield’s contract with Flock Safety. The company builds surveillance cameras that automatically check and photograph the license plate of every vehicle that passes them.
After she spoke a single sentence, Mayor Jeff Schrag cut her microphone. A police officer approached the podium, told her she was under arrest, and pulled her out of the room in handcuffs.
Freelance photographer Noah Powell was also ticketed and detained after yelling insults at Mayor Schrag as the room was being cleared. He said he plans to fight the charge in court, saying the city’s own ordinance should only allow officers to ask someone to leave.
The arrests followed a 5-to-3 vote earlier in the evening to send a proposed review of the Flock cameras to committee instead of allowing public comment. City Councilor Brandon Jenson told his colleagues “this isn’t how government is supposed to run. It’s just disappointing. And we’re not even allowing folks to speak who clearly came out to share their voices tonight.”
Right-wing billionaires are quietly buying up more media outlets, while smaller outlets unable to keep up shut down on a nearly daily basis. If nobody stops them, the rich and well-connected will be able to act in secret and escape all accountability. AlterNet America doesn’t answer to them. We only answer to you, and that means we can cover these stories the way they need to be covered. But our editorial independence is only possible with the support of our paying subscribers.
If you’re still reading, that means you found this newsletter valuable. Now we need you to make your support official by upgrading your free subscription to a paying one. It only costs 22 cents a day, and it ensures AlterNet America will be able to keep working exclusively for you instead of a billionaire or corporate owner. Please subscribe or upgrade now.
Thank you again for reading and for supporting independent media. And if you haven’t yet, click the ❤️ and restack this post so we can reach more feeds.
** Judge Rejects Todd Blanche’s Attempt to Withhold Foreign-Language Epstein Files.** A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to begin releasing foreign-language documents from the Jeffrey Epstein files, rejecting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s attempt to block them. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the DOJ had failed to follow basic procedural rules before filing its motion, and that the request would have failed on its merits anyway. The Justice Department now has until Thursday to begin reviewing and producing the documents.
** Harvey Weinstein Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault.** Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for sexually assaulting former production assistant Miriam Haley at his Manhattan apartment in 2006. Weinstein was first convicted and sentenced to 23 years in 2020, but New York’s highest court threw out the verdict in 2024 and ordered a new trial. A jury convicted him again in June 2025 on the same charge. Haley told the court in a victim impact statement that Weinstein “abused his position and power,” causing a “devastating effect on my life and security.”
Dolly Parton’s Free Book Program Expands After Her Death. Almost a month after Dolly Parton died, her Imagination Library is expanding in London, doubling from five boroughs to ten and making 157,000 more children eligible for free monthly books. Parton launched the program in 1995 to provide books to children in her home county in Tennessee. It has since given away more than 330 million books to over 3 million children in all 50 states and several countries. Jeff Conyers, president of the Dollywood Foundation, told the BBC that Parton would have been incredibly proud to see it growing after her death.
** Sea Turtles Nest on California Beaches for the First Time in Recorded History.** An olive ridley sea turtle nested near Seal Beach in Orange County, California on September 16, followed by a second nest near the Huntington Beach Pier on September 19. NOAA’s West Coast Fisheries division said it’s the first time any sea turtle species has been recorded nesting naturally on the entire West Coast. The event was so shocking that Trevor McDonald, the marine safety chief for the Huntington Beach Fire Department, said that the lifeguards patrolling at night thought the turtle was sick at first before they watched it start to lay eggs.
