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.
The Trump administration is hiding IRS data that would reveal how his tax cuts benefited the wealthy. A Republican congressman blamed Democrats for gas prices then attempted to have a journalist arrested when the crowd laughed at him. The Department of Justice is threatening California with legal action if the state doesn’t purge nearly 200,000 people from its voter rolls within 48 hours. And a Texas judge refused to reinstate 92 polling places in Tarrant County that were cut from predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
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The only thing less transparent than Trump’s personal finances is the agency in charge of yours.
The Trump administration is withholding IRS data that would show how his so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” impacted taxpayers. The data was scheduled to be released in July and updated in September, but the agency said it is still awaiting approval from the Treasury Department.
The data would show which tax breaks were claimed at each income level, and how much each group really paid in taxes. The agency has also kept secret its separate report on the “tax gap,” or how much in taxes goes unpaid each year.
The IRS has the legal authority to make the data public on its own without Treasury’s approval. Nina Olson, a former national taxpayer advocate who served in the post for 18 years, said IRS chief executive Frank Bisignano is concealing the numbers because they undermine Republican promises that the tax cuts would benefit working families.
Even without the data, analyses from the Center for American Progress and the Tax Policy Center have shown that the 2025 tax cuts disproportionately benefited high-income taxpayers, estate heirs, and corporations. They also found that under the law, Social Security will run out of money sooner than previously projected.
“You’re gone, you’re gone” is also what his campaign manager said to the mirror that night.
Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland lost his composure during a debate Tuesday night after the audience laughed when he tried to blame high gas prices on Democratic environmental regulations. Harris, who leads the House Freedom Caucus, chastised the crowd and told an audience member that she was being rude for interrupting him.
“If you’re not going to tell them they’re rude, I’m going to tell them,” Harris told the moderator, before turning and telling the woman, “You should let me finish the sentence, ma’am. You are rude. You’re rude.”
Shortly after, when a reporter from the Baltimore Banner asked Harris about his support for the war with Iran, he incorrectly told her she was breaking the law. He then threatened to have her arrested, telling her “you’re gone, you’re gone.”
Before the war with Iran, diesel prices were under $3 per gallon. They now exceed $6 per gallon because fighting near the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has disrupted the flow of oil, which Harris’ Democratic challenger, Dan Schwartz, pointed out.
Imagine a school bus driver delivering kids to the wrong house 81 percent of the time and then asking for a bigger route.
The Trump administration has given California 48 hours to review a flash drive it claims holds files on almost 200,000 noncitizens registered to vote in the state. Reuters has obtained a letter threatening “emergency relief” from the Justice Department if California does not comply, which could include removing voters before the midterm elections.
The threat comes weeks after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to allow the administration to resume using the SAVE database, which allows states to upload entire voter rolls to conduct citizenship checks. The government has internally acknowledged that the system’s error rate runs as high as 81 percent.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber questioned the accuracy of the 190,000 figure cited by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, noting that the system has made “a number of errors.” She added, “We did not find the list valid for us and as a result decided some while ago we would not use it.”
The administration has sued more than two-dozen states over their voter registration data and has lost all 21 cases so far. California is the largest state so far to receive a direct ultimatum, nearly two weeks after early voting began.
East Fort Worth officially has more Whataburger locations than polling places.
A Texas judge ruled Tuesday that Tarrant County doesn’t have to bring back 92 polling places that officials eliminated, cutting the county’s total from 316 to 224 ahead of the midterm elections. District Judge Patrick Gallagher gave no explanation for his one-page ruling.
Tarrant County’s three Republican commissioners voted 3-2 last month to approve the cuts over the objections of dozens of residents. They did so despite the county’s own election administrator projecting roughly 40 percent more voters this year than in 2022.
Four women, three Black and one Hispanic, sued the county earlier this month, arguing the cuts disenfranchise minority voters. In East Fort Worth, one ZIP code with a Black and Hispanic population lost all three of its polling places, and another lost four of its five.
Tarrant County Election Administrator Clint Ludwig has admitted he didn’t consider how the cuts would affect Black, Hispanic, or low-income voters who are less likely to have reliable transportation. He also testified he didn’t consult with any Black or Hispanic groups before making the cuts.
Gallagher denied the request to restore the sites but did not dismiss the lawsuit, meaning the case could return to court after the election.
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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.
Trump-Appointed Judge Blocks White House Media Ban Indefinitely. U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee in 2017, ruled Tuesday that the administration’s ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters at the White House likely violates their due-process rights and First Amendment protections. The judge said the outlets were banned because Trump believed their coverage was biased against him and wrote that the administration’s national security justification wasn’t supported by the record. Kelly had previously issued a temporary restraining order that restored press access, and Tuesday’s preliminary injunction keeps that access in place as the case moves forward.
BBC Asks Judge to Force Trump to Sit for Deposition in $10 Billion Lawsuit. The BBC has asked a federal judge in Florida to force Trump to sit for a deposition in his own $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the network. Trump’s lawyers had agreed to a deposition date of October 16 but canceled on September 28, citing “other matters of national importance,” and then floated rescheduling to January, well past the discovery deadline. In its filing, the BBC pointed out that eight months into discovery, Trump’s legal team has deposed seven BBC witnesses, but the broadcaster has not yet had the opportunity to question the president.
House Considers Bill to Shield Assault Survivors From Defamation Lawsuits. The House of Representatives is considering a bill to make it harder to sue victims of sexual assault, harassment and discrimination for defamation. Under the proposed Speak Your Truth Act, plaintiffs who lose qualifying defamation or libel cases in federal court would be required to pay the defendant’s attorney fees and legal costs. The protections would cover factual statements made without malice about firsthand experiences of the person, and also would include claims involving workplace harassment, retaliation for reporting discrimination and housing-related harassment. Five states have similar protections already in place, with bipartisan support.
Texas Woman Uses Anti-Abortion Law to Sue the Activists Who Pushed for It. A 26-year-old woman in Texas is suing four anti-abortion activists under a state law that their group helped pass, claiming they illegally ordered abortion pills during an undercover operation. The suit names Students for Life founder and president Kristan Mercer Hawkins and three of her staffers. Hawkins posted a photo on Instagram outside Space Center Houston with overlaid text that read, in part, “Ordering abortion pills undercover? Yep. Stay tuned.” Texas House Bill 7 allows private citizens to sue anyone who mails, delivers or provides abortion pills in Texas, but exempts women who obtain the pills for their own pregnancies. The plaintiff, who was unable to access abortion care when she became pregnant in 2022 due to the state’s ban, is seeking $459,782.
