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right to record act
GOP Blasted for 'Handout to the Superwealthy' Private Jet Owners Slipped Into Air Safety Bill
"Oh look—Republicans helping private-jet billionaires avoid paying taxes," said one Senate Democrat. "If only they worked that hard for consumers."
Jun 08, 2026
Nearly a year after congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump made private jets tax-deductible in last summer's budget package, they're again trying to push through legislation that would benefit people rich enough to own personal planes.
Members of Congress have been working on an air safety bill since a military helicopter collided with a passenger plane over the Potomac River last year, killing dozens of people. Early Monday, Politico reported on "a little-noticed" provision on private jets that was slipped into legislation passed by the House of Representatives in April, but not included in the Senate version.
The debated provision stems from the Federal Aviation Administration's 2020 requirement that aircraft adopt a satellite-based tracking technology called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out.
"Private aircraft owners go to great lengths to hide their aircraft from us," Jeff Prang, the assessor for California's Los Angeles County, told Politico. "This data helps us to identify where those aircraft are located."
Prang said that since the beginning of the year, the data has helped his office find an additional 1,000 aircraft in the county, with a total assessed value of $3.5 billion. Private jets in California are subject to sales tax and a 1% annual property tax, so "that's $35 million in local property taxes that aircraft owners had been avoiding," he explained.
The House provision states that the data "may not be used by any person, government agency, or other entity to identify aircraft for the purpose of obtaining revenue from the owner or operator of such aircraft" without permission.
If passed, billionaires will "get to fly private and pay NO taxes," Americans for Tax Fairness Americans warned on social media Monday. "This is a handout to the superwealthy—and we're going to pay for it."
Also responding to reporting, John Loftus, editor at large of the right-wing Daily Caller, suggested the policy could harm Republicans who are at risk of losing control of one or both chambers of Congress in the November midterm elections.
"It's annoying and wrong that private jet owners dodge taxes. This is a great political issue for Democrats because they like to portray those with money as responsible for all ills in American society—$35 million in tax revenue for California is a drop in the ocean (and would likely get wasted anyway)," Loftus wrote. "Republican lawmakers trying to carve out this loophole in a midterm election makes them look sneaky and unconcerned with the issue on 99% of the population's mind: inflation."
Although Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is not up for reelection this cycle, he, too, noted the reporting: "Oh look—Republicans helping private-jet billionaires avoid paying taxes. If only they worked that hard for consumers."
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Under Right to Record Act, People Could Sue Federal Agents for First Amendment Violations
“Without recordings, we wouldn’t know the truth of what happened to Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, Marimar Martinez, George Retes, and so, so many others,” said one of the bill's sponsors.
Jun 08, 2026
A pair of congressional Democrats on Monday introduced legislation that would protect the constitutional right to legally record federal agents and open the door to civil compensation for people whose rights have been violated.
Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida and Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut introduced the Right to Record Act, which according to Frost's office, "establishes the right to sue individual law enforcement agents if they violate First Amendment rights, including the right to record, observe, or peacefully protest."
“The First Amendment defends the right to assemble, protest, and record government officials in public," Frost said in a statement.
No federal agent is above the Constitution. My bill, the Right to Record Act, with @blumenthal.senate.gov strengthens your First Amendment right to record, observe, and peacefully protest — and gives you the power to sue federal agents who violate those rights.
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— Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@frost.house.gov) June 8, 2026 at 2:24 PM
"That right has never been more important. In cases like the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, officials and their allies tried to paint the victims as threats despite evidence showing otherwise,” the congressman said, referring to two people shot and killed during the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Operation Metro Surge anti-immigrant blitz in Minneapolis.
"Without firsthand recordings, those false narratives might have become the official story, which is why the Right to Record Act is so important," Frost added. "It would protect the public’s ability to expose the truth without fear, giving individuals a legal path forward if an officer does violate their constitutional rights.”
In the same statement, Blumenthal said that “over the last year, I’ve investigated dozens of cases of Americans brutalized by agents of their own government, and across the board, video footage corroborated their testimony—showing the world what they experienced and making sure that justice was served."
"Without recordings, we wouldn’t know the truth of what happened to Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, Marimar Martinez, George Retes, and so, so many others," the senator continued.
Martinez, a US citizen, was shot five times by a US Customs and Border Protection agent last October in Chicago while going to donate clothing to her church. Officer body camera footage showed that DHS officials—who labeled Martinez a "domestic terrorist"—lied about events leading up to the shooting.
Retes, who is also a US citizen, is an Iraq War veteran who was violently arrested last July during an immigration raid on his job site and subsequently jailed for three days.
"The right to bear witness has never been more important," Blumenthal said in his statement Monday. "I’m proud to work with Congressman Frost on bicameral legislation that will strengthen the right to record, observe, and peacefully protest—creating real enforcement tools for the protections of the First Amendment that lay the foundation for our democracy.”
Recording federal law enforcement agents in public is protected First Amendment activity, as long as the recorder is not interfering with the officers' duties. Federal courts have repeatedly upheld this right.
"The right to observe and record law enforcement is fundamental to our democracy," Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel with the ACLU—which has endorsed the Right to Record Act—asserted Monday.
"We can't hold our government accountable if we can't see for ourselves what they're doing in our communities," she argued. "Observing and filming allows people to create an independent record, share information with their communities, and demand better from our government."
"Protesting for what we believe in is a core American value, and observing and filming government activity can drive the protest movements that spark change," Leventoff added. "All of these rights are squarely protected by the First Amendment, and we're hopeful that Congress will codify them into law by enacting the Right to Record Act."
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A Special Kind Of Loathsomeness
Jun 08, 2026
Bad Men Behaving Badly Chap. 746: 'Cause it's not awful enough we have to endure the racist crap spewing from our home-grown jackasses, the rest of the world just bore grim witness to it as dunk-tank Christofascist Pete Hegseth chose a D-Day remembrance to flip the script on World War 2, trash European allies for not being fascist enough, and liken (good-guy) Allies landing at Normandy to an "invasion" of brown people "with "dangerous ideologies." Fact: "This is repulsive and confused, unless you're a Nazi."
Speaking of: Last week, under cover of darkness, "shameful" Senate Republicans pushed through a "Secure America Act" (sic) gifting yet more billions to keep out more of the swarthy hordes Pete's so scared of. Without making any of the reforms Dems had demanded, they added to last year's obscene $191 billion gift to DHS another $75 billion for ICE and $65 billion for CBP, 4 to 7 times their previous budgets, with most allocated to expand detentions, deportations, facilities, goons - not, as it could, to fund free childcare for over a million kids, groceries for over 10 million households, a year of SNAP benefits to 31 million people, health care tax credits for a year etc etc ad nauseum. Their wise leader, meanwhile, was throwing tantrums on TV - "Dude is losing his shit" - because a reporter dared ask for evidence of his flood of unhinged claims.
And greasy, self-proclaimed Secretary of War (Crimes) Pete lurches along on his unholy quest to turn America into a white nationalist theocracy. A blood-lusting warmonger though (because?) he never saw combat, he acts the macho, racist buffoon at every turn. He posts klutzy videos of himself working out; in one, he prances in a t-shirt that reads, "This Is War." (No, this is reality TV). Sporting Crusader tattoos - Deus Vult, but whose God wills it? - he stripped 180 faiths from those the military recognizes - all the Christian ones remain - "a religious purge dressed up as paperwork (telling) thousands of service members their beliefs don't matter to the government they're risking their lives to protect." He cut dozens of female and Black Navy officers from leadership-approved promotions, dissing "historic so-called firsts” that make the military "less lethal."
And to mark this weekend's 82nd anniversary of the June 6, 1944 D-Day landing of Allied forces on the beaches of Normandy - perhaps the most pivotal moment in a long bloody fight to defend democracy against fascism - he gave a pro-fascism speech, embracing a Great Replacement theory that calls for a return to the racial ideology on which fascism is based. Speaking at the American Cemetery in north-west France where about 9,400 are buried, he'd barely recalled the courage of Allied Forces from multiple countries wading ashore in history's largest amphibious operation to liberate Europe before pivoting to warn "their legacy requires our active vigilance." European leaders may have grown too "comfortable," he said with the chutzpah of the deeply ignorant, and they may have somehow "forgotten that freedom is not free."
"Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different, dangerous ideologies," he intoned. "On beaches in Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive....When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not." What a pompous asshole. So: On D-Day, Ugly Americans hawking xenophobia. Equating brown-skinned migrants who want to feed and keep safe their families with "dangerous ideologies." Also: Equating anti-fascism with "dangerous ideologies"? Wait, weren't the Allies the good guys? And wait, so the Nazis were...? Americans were horrified by so much repulsive and confused: "Sewage," "straight-up white nationalism," "a cheap suit full of hate and racism - what an evil shit," "Crystal Meth Rumsfeld strikes again," "We get it, dude. Just come out and say you hate black and brown people."
Especially in Europe, critics did not hold back, and we are here for it. English historian Simon Schama decried Hegseth's "special kind of loathsomeness, a blend of historical deafness, grotesque stupidity and comically ludicrous self-importance...As if the little people’s rage against immigration somehow is superior to the war against the 3rd Reich, and entitles this comic-book nobody to lecture the actual heroes." Others blasted "something profoundly ugly happening" in our right wing..."and on D-Day, D-Day!" and "an obscene desecration" of the memories of those who fell. Like many, French P.M. Sébastien Lecornu rightly paid tribute instead to the "3,000 men, barely 20 years old," who died, offering "the breath of their youth and the sacrifice of their lives."
Europeans also called bullshit on the faux drama and utter hypocrisy of Hegseth's angry claim that, after a united D-Day era when "each nation bled," Europe is not "standing with" a U.S. now run by a lying, racist, narcissistic, war-mongering toddler who does nothing but abuse them. "America will lead and we must, but capable allies must be Right. There. With Us...In the Breach. When It Matters," he bloviated. "The men who fought and died here restored freedom to Europe,. Now freedom must be maintained by this generation of leaders and war-fighters...We stand by our allies, and we expect our allies to stand beside us." "So much nonsense," retorted Swedish economist Anders Åslund. "'We stand by our allies!’ No you don’t. You just attacked them. Immigration policies are internal matters...Doesn’t Hegseth know the most unreliable ‘ally’ by far is the US?”
And now, in the name of their mythical, bigoted, white, male, Christian Republic, the US - Hegseth, Trump, Vance et al - have the audacity to be hectoring their European “allies” to “up their white supremacy game” to stop an “invasion” of what Trump has called the brown and black “vermin” who once flocked to our “shining city on a hill,” now a beacon of hate. Hamlet's ghost: “O, what a falling-off was there.” Last weekend, in France, Hegseth didn’t even stay for the international ceremony at the cemetery where so many are buried - per Trump, all those suckers and losers. Pete likely didn’t know the denizens of a nearby village had weeks earlier asked that his visit be cancelled. "It seems to us," they said in their request, "that this man does not share our democratic values." We feel your pain.
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Trump Formally Nominates 'Henchman' Blanche as AG Despite Senators' Concerns
"He's never given up his primary role: Donald Trump’s chief defender in court," said Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats.
Jun 08, 2026
President Donald Trump on Monday officially asked the Senate to confirm his former personal lawyer and "henchman," Todd Blanche, as US attorney general, despite concerns from senators in both major parties and various other critics about the man currently leading the Department of Justice on an interim basis.
Blanche has been acting attorney general since April, when Trump fired Pam Bondi after reportedly growing frustrated by her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and his efforts to abuse the DOJ to target political enemies. Since then, the DOJ has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), former Cuban President Raúl Castro, and ex-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey (again).
The DOJ has also settled Trump's $10 billion "sham" lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax records by creating a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to line the pockets of the president's allies—which is "dead for now" after public backlash and setbacks in court—and forever barring the IRS from pursuing any other actions against Trump and his family.
"Todd Blanche has spent months running the Justice Department like it's Trump's family law firm, and now Trump wants to give him the attorney general title."
"This is yet another example of Trump assembling a team of henchmen whose primary qualification is doing his own bidding, rather than serving the nation, to staff the government," Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, said Monday. "Blanche demonstrated his toady qualities throughout his 'audition' for this role, and is being awarded with the leading role as a result."
"The examples of his malfeasance are stark, from the unjust SPLC indictment, to a second indictment of Jim Comey, to the settlement shielding Trump's family from IRS audits, are all glaring demonstrations of the fact that his loyalty lies with Donald Trump, not with the American people who the DOJ is supposed to serve," she warned. "The rule of law has already taken too many hits under this authoritarian administration, and we don't need another vengeful pick that will weaponize the government against Trump's political adversaries."
Citing Blanche's recent actions, along with his service as Trump's criminal defense attorney for the cases on hush money, federal classified documents, and election interference that culminated in the president's supporters storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Public Citizen and other groups behind the Not Above the Law Coalition launched a "Block Blanche" campaign last week.
"Donald Trump just made it official with his personal fixer," coalition co-chairs Gilbert, Praveen Fernandes of the Constitutional Accountability Center, Kelsey Herbert of MoveOn, and Brett Edkins of Stand Up America said Monday. "Todd Blanche has spent months running the Justice Department like it's Trump's family law firm, and now Trump wants to give him the attorney general title."
"The Senate has one job here: reject Blanche," they argued. "Blanche weaponized the DOJ against Trump's enemies, fired career prosecutors, and cut deals for his boss—including by blocking the full release of the Epstein files, crafting a $1.8 billion slush fund for Trump's political allies, and trying to arrange immunity from IRS audits for Trump and his family."
According to the co-chairs: "Every senator who lets this nomination sail through is signing off on the end of an independent Justice Department. We're not letting them do that quietly."
Gilbert, Elizabeth Wydra of the Constitutional Accountability Center, Maya Wiley of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) plan to join a coalition call about Blanche on Wednesday afternoon.
While the Senate confirmed Blanche as deputy AG in a 52-46 party-line vote last year, the coalition highlighted in an email roundup on Monday that some "Republican lawmakers are breaking ranks" now.
The Hill noted Monday that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said last week that "most of our members are pretty deferential to who the president wants in some of these key positions," but "this is an environment where nothing’s a safe or sure bet these days."
As Politico's Jordain Carney detailed last week:
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is viewed as the critical vote for Blanche to win over on the Judiciary Committee. Tillis has vowed he won’t support Justice Department nominees who he views as sympathetic those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and previously told Politico that the Justice Department's "Anti-Weaponization Fund" would be a factor in whether or not an attorney general nominee is able to be confirmed...
“What we need to do right now is focus on the [Anti-Weaponization] Fund, or he's not going to have a very good time in Judiciary Committee," Tillis, who will retire after the end of this year, told reporters when asked about Blanche’s forthcoming nomination. "Just think about what the Democrats would do to him."
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, another Senate Judiciary Republican, said of Blanche's chances, "I think it depends on his answers to questions that I intend to ask him at the Judiciary Committee."
"The attorney general is not the president’s private lawyer, so it's sort of by its nature, it's a really hard job to do, but I want to make sure he understands the difference and is committed to making sure that the law is enforced," Cornyn said.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) is also reportedly undecided on Blanche. Republicans currently hold 53 Senate seats, and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who sometimes votes with the GOP, said last week, "I would not vote for him."
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats declared on social media Monday afternoon that "Todd Blanche is no neutral law enforcement officer. He's never given up his primary role: Donald Trump's chief defender in court. Putting Donald Trump and the Epstein class before YOU."
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