Days after winning majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats are setting sharp priorities. They are zeroing in on Apple, Meta and the companies led by Elon Musk as early targets for congressional investigations, according to two people familiar with the plans.

https://archive.ph/20261106195249/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/11/06/after-courting-trump-corporate-america-faces-democratic-reckoning/

August 31, 2026

The White House is renovating one of the most exclusive bowling alleys in America – a favorite rehab target for presidents of both parties that’s at least once blown up in the president’s face.

On July 28, the General Services Administration, under the auspices of the Executive Office of the President, awarded a nearly $253,000 contract for lighting work on the two-lane Harry S. Truman Bowling Alley, according to public contract awards reviewed by West Wing Playbook. And on Aug. 18, GSA awarded another contract to the same contractor, Charles Mann Enterprises, for $8,800 in escort services – essentially accompanying outside workers through secure areas – tied to the bowling alley project.

The White House and GSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The last time the GSA went near the bowling alley, which is reserved for the use of White House aides and their guests, the project didn’t survive a news cycle. In 2014, under former President Barack Obama, the GSA proposed a complete rebuild of the bowling alley’s lanes, which it described at the time as “irreparable.”

An hour and a half after Time Magazine broke the story about the bowling alley reno, GSA canceled the project, amid a Republican backlash over whether it was a good use of taxpayer money. Reince Priebus, then Republican National Committee chair, posted a list of funding needs with items like the economy and securing the border crossed out. “Repair WH bowling alley,” meanwhile, was accompanied by a checkmark and a link to the story about the project.

The Republican-controlled House at the time even adopted an amendment to prohibit funding to renovate the White House bowling alley. Former Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.), who introduced the amendment, likened upgrading the bowling alley to ice cream – constituting a “want,” not a “need.”

Without control of the White House, there is of course only so much Democrats can do with their newfound power. And in the context of the myriad horrors of the first half of President Donald Trump’s second term, talking about what the party “should” do next is roughly analogous to deciding which out-of-control forest fire to fight first: There is not enough water, there are lots of worthy candidates, and all of them are getting worse. 

One thing must be true, though: Whatever issues Democratic lawmakers choose to focus on—and, as the 2028 ideas primary gets underway, whatever ambitious ideas Democratic presidential hopefuls choose to support—the party must also have a plan for taking on the Supreme Court, which remains an existential threat to anything Democrats might hope to accomplish. Even if the party is fortunate enough to win a trifecta—the House, the Senate, and the White House—in 2028, things like a Green New Deal and Medicare for All and a new Voting Rights Act do not stand a chance before this six-justice conservative supermajority. Regrettably, what I wrote in 2020 is just as true today: If Congress passes any one of these proposals into law, the only real question is which justice ends up writing the opinion that kills it.

We do that with hearings. We do it with subpoenas and investigations. And yes, we do it with impeachments — plural. Trump, of course. But also Hegseth. Vought. Kennedy, Jr. Patel. Blanche. Homan. Bove. Pulte. (Stephen Miller can’t be impeached, but you can sure as hell investigate him.)

Maybe with enough evidence and public anger you eventually get the four or five Republican senators you need to remove some of these chuds from office. But let’s say you don’t. So what? 

Make those senators vote anyway. Make them vote for the extrajudicial executions of fishermen, the purging of military expertise and institutionalism, and putting U.S. troops in unnecessary peril. Make them vote for the resurrection of measles, and against the medical research that could cure Alzheimer’s and pancreatic cancer. Make them defend the theft of our personal data, and the preventable deaths of hundreds of thousands of poor people around the world from starvation and treatable disease. Make them vote to save the job of the incompetent, jet-setting, frat-boy FBI director who diverted law enforcement resources from terrorism, organized crime, and sex trafficking to terrorizing immigrants and settling political vendettas. Make them vote to save the job of the Attorney General who’s covering up the sexual abuse of children.

Prepared for Sen. Elizabeth Warren

Thousands of Mississippians like Lowery — whose votes may decide a critical U.S. Senate race, in which Democrat Scott Colom holds a slim lead over Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) — are still waiting to have their ballots counted. That’s because of the Republican secretary of state’s contract with Experian, a global credit reporting agency whose data has been described as riddled with errors, that threw thousands of voters into “inactive” status in the months leading up to the general election.

In highly populated DeSoto County, over 15,000 people were removed as active voters in the time between the primary and general election, according to an analysis from Mississippi Today with data from the state.

Other counties with high rates of inactive voters include Jackson with 14,063 and Harrison, where Lowery votes, with 28,921. For many of these voters showing up to the polls on Tuesday, this was a shock.

Victims of climate change.

Rice Krispies and Coco Pops are no longer being made with whole rice grains, with the tiny toasted puffs being made using corn flour and rice flour instead.

. . . Kellogg's said it had adapted the recipes due to "changing weather conditions" that have disrupted supplies of some grains and cereals.

. . .Some expressed dismay that the taste and texture were "totally different" and dubbed the change "grim" and "disgusting".

His donor list includes controversial figures like Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf and his COO Matthew Grimm, who together spent nearly $150,000 boosting Jeffries’ fundraising committees. Some might recognize Anduril as the AI weapons tech corporation co-founded by Palmer Luckey, a tech billionaire whose recent projects include a company working on genetically enhanced dogs for military purposes.

Another controversial donor includes Mehdi Allhassani, current head of government affairs at the AI surveillance company Palantir, from whom Jeffries received $44,300 this election cycle.

Jeffries also has the backing of cryptocurrency advocacy groups and investment executives at firms including Bain Capital, DE Shaw, and Renaissance Technologies, Sludge reports.