AXIOS (Kate Santaliz) - Congress' disappearing town halls
The congressional town hall is becoming an endangered species. Why it matters: August recess once meant lawmakers returning home to face constituents — sometimes friendly, sometimes furious. After a wave of explosive confrontations last year, many lawmakers have stopped them altogether. - Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) is among the dwindling number of lawmakers who still regularly subject themselves to the traditional, open town hall. - "You've got to show up in the town square and answer the questions. I told people I'd do it when I ran, and I kept my promise," Flood told Axios. - Flood holds three in-person town halls a year. He said his forums last year each drew about 750 people, while attendance this year has ranged from 235 to 315.…
ABCNEWS - DOGE’s claim of $110B in savings was vastly inflated and riddled with errors: GAO
When Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency launched its effort to slash federal spending last year, it created a website to show how much money it was saving.
JUSTTHENEWS (The Center Square Staff) - DOGE unable to substantiate much of its claimed savings: GAO report
DOGE's website reports $215 billion in total savings across all categories, including asset sales, workforce reductions and regulatory changes. That figure has not changed since Jan. 1. It is a fraction of the $2 trillion Elon Musk initially suggested.
DAILYCALLER (Alexander Pease) - Top Government Watchdog Says DOGE Savings Data Full Of Errors, Claims Of Contract Cuts That Never Happened
Failed to follow its own standards
WASHINGTONPOST (Meryl Kornfield) - Government watchdog still can’t identify who all worked for DOGE
Over a year after Elon Musk left the government, it remains unclear who was in DOGE and if they understood ethics rules.
NEWSNATIONNOW (Chris Cuomo) - Elon Musk immigration history draws criticism over alleged double standard
Michael Knowles says Musk's 2002 citizenship proves his immigration path was legal, but Cuomo isn't convinced.
BITCHUTE - Americans Want REAL Welfare Reform. So Why Aren’t They Getting It? | The Brief
Americans say they want less government. So why does the welfare state keep growing? In this episode of The Brief, host Shabbos Kestenbaum sits down with Jesse Arm — Vice President of External Affairs at the Manhattan Institute — to break down the Manhattan Institute's new poll on American attitudes toward welfare, the rise of the DSA inside the Democratic Party, and what voters across the political spectrum actually want from government in 2026. Thirty years after Bill Clinton signed landmark welfare reform, Jesse walks through what the data actually shows: Americans broadly support a social safety net, but they want it targeted, tied to work requirements, and focused on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse — not on reducing income…
AXIOS (Brittany Gibson) - How Trump's "self-deportation" machine has ramped up
President Trump 's controversial "self-deportation" program, which pays unauthorized immigrants to leave the U.S., is on pace to account for more than 200,000 departures, according to internal data shared with Axios. Why it matters: Launched last year alongside a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, the initiative is virtually the only carrot in an aggressive immigration crackdown that has been long on sticks. - Through July 16, the nearly $600 million program — dubbed Project Homecoming by the Department of Homeland Security — has helped about 132,000 people exit the U.S. - Roughly 70,000 more have signed up and are on track to leave, according to the data. - About half of the self-deportations have involved immigrants held in…
THENATIONALPULSE (Pulse Wires) - Musk Regrets Getting ‘Too Involved’ in Politics.
Elon Musk admitted to the British press that he regrets getting "too involved" in politics, while simultaneously complaining that the public do not have enough faith in his predictions. “People don’t realize that what I’m saying will come to pass,” he told The Economist in an article published Thursday.
Elon Musk now believes he got “too involved in politics”, admitting he “got carried away, frankly.” PULSE POINTS WHAT HAPPENED: Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter) mogul Elon Musk admitted to the British press that he regrets getting “too involved” in politics , while simultaneously complaining that the public does not have enough faith in his predictions. “People don’t realize that what I’m saying will come to pass,” he told The Economist in an article published Thursday. DETAIL: Musk’s political engagement included backing Ron DeSantis’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. After the Florida governor was decisively defeated by President Donald J. Trump, he pivoted to supporting the Trump…Open