![\"ICE](\"https:\/\/kewus.net\/yesterday\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ICE-at-polling-place.webp\" "\\"ICE")
<\/a><\/p>\nMitch Jackson<\/small>:
\nCongress banned armed federal agents from the polls 161 years ago.<\/a><\/h2>\nA Tuesday Morning in November<\/em>
\nYou pull into the parking lot of the elementary school where you have voted for twenty years, you grab your coffee, you walk toward the door with your sample ballot folded in your back pocket, and you see two black SUVs with no plates parked by the entrance and a man in a vest with three letters on the back standing beside them. Your stomach drops. You slow down. You check your phone for a reason to stay in the car. The woman in front of you turns around and walks back to her car.<\/p>\nThat is the whole play. Nobody has to arrest a single voter. Fear does the work.
\n…<\/p>\n
The Law Has Been Clear Since 1865<\/em>
\nA polling place is the one room in America where the government has to wait outside.<\/p>\nCongress wrote this rule in the middle of the Civil War, and it has stayed on the books for 161 years because every generation since understood the danger. Federal law makes it a crime for any officer of the military, or any person in the civil service of the United States, to order, bring, keep, or control troops or armed men at any place where a general or special election is held. The only exception covers force needed to repel armed enemies of the United States. Break that law and you face up to five years in prison and a permanent ban from holding federal office.<\/p>\n
Read those words again. Armed men in the civil service of the United States. That is ICE.<\/p>\n
In 1909 Congress went back and removed a second exception that had allowed troops to \u201ckeep the peace at the polls.\u201d Lawmakers deleted it because they understood that a president who wants soldiers at the ballot box will always find a disturbance to point at. They closed the loophole on purpose, and it has stayed closed for 117 years.
\n…<\/p>\n
\n- What They Have Said Out Loud<\/em> …\n
- It Already Happened Twice<\/em> …\n
- Your Rights as a Citizen at the Polls<\/em> …\n
- If You Are Undocumented and Standing Near a Polling Place<\/em>
\nYou do not have the right to vote in a federal election, and you must never try. …<\/p>\nYou do have the right to be near a polling place. Driving your citizen daughter to vote is legal. Waiting in the car is legal. Standing beside your wife in line is legal. Walking your father with the bad knee to the door is legal, and in most states you are allowed to go inside as an assistant if he needs help reading or marking the ballot, subject to your state\u2019s rules on who qualifies. In California a voter is allowed to bring up to two people into the booth to help, and the only people barred from that role are the voter\u2019s employer and the voter\u2019s union representative. The Constitution protects you on that sidewalk exactly as it protects the citizen next to you. The Fourth Amendment does not check papers.
\n…<\/p>\n
- Police, Sheriffs, the Guard, and the Military<\/em> …\n
- In the Moment …\n
- Vote Before They Get the Chance<\/em>\n<\/ul>\n
…
\nThe Closing Argument<\/em>
\nEvery fear tactic depends on the target not knowing the rules, and now you know them. An armed federal agent at a polling place is committing a crime that Congress named in 1865 and sharpened in 1909. A federalized soldier at a polling place is committing that same crime. A president who invokes an emergency to put them there will lose in court, the way he lost in Chicago.<\/p>\nA citizen who stands in line, says four sentences, films from a distance, and calls the hotline has done the real work of protecting this democracy, and a citizen who votes early, checks the registration, brings four people, and saves the hotline number in every phone in the house has already beaten the whole scheme before the first SUV ever pulls into the lot.<\/p>\n
The room where you vote is the one room where the government waits outside, and on November 3 you are going to walk into it.
\n(Mitch Jackson more…)<\/small><\/small><\/a><\/p>\nChris Geidner<\/small>:
\nDueling rulings cause chaos over Missouri maps<\/a><\/h2>\nJennifer Rubin<\/small>:
\nWhat if the law means what it says?<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\n\n- \n
James Eagle<\/small>:
\nChina overtakes America across ten democracies<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n![\"China](\"https:\/\/kewus.net\/yesterday\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/China-overtakes-America-across-ten-democracies.webp\" "\\"China")
<\/a>
\n<\/center>
\n(James Eagle more…)<\/small><\/small><\/a><\/p>\n
![\"America\u2019s](\"https:\/\/kewus.net\/yesterday\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Americas-reservoirs-fill-with-dirt.jpg\" "\\"America\u2019s")
<\/a><\/p>\n- \n
Kyle Stock, Kyle Kim, Saritha Rai, Danny Lee, Nayla Razzouk @ Bloomberg<\/em><\/small>:
\nWildfires and Extreme Rain Are Filling Up US Reservoirs with Dirt<\/a><\/h2>\nClimate change is making water storage more precious \u2014 and less reliable.<\/em><\/p>\nThe federal government finally stepped in to referee the Colorado River earlier this summer, cooling one of the most pitched battles in the war for water rights that has engulfed much of the American West. <\/p>\n
Arizona, California and Nevada will have to reduce the amount of water they take from the river by about one-quarter for the next two years. The goal is to let reservoirs along the Colorado fill up in the midst of a prolonged drought and one of the lowest snowpacks on record. <\/p>\n
But while the top of the lakes may rise again, an arguably bigger problem is lurking at the bottom, and the government is doing little about it. A steady buildup of sediment \u2013 sand and silt and mud \u2013 is shrinking the nation\u2019s water storage capacity precisely when we need it most.
\n(Kyle Stock, Kyle Kim, Saritha Rai, Danny Lee, Nayla Razzouk @ Bloomberg<\/em> more…)<\/small><\/small><\/a><\/p>\nThe insurance industry’s response to climate change is the most honest financial accounting of the climate crisis available<\/a><\/h2>\nNiharika Mandhana, Krishna Pokharel, Tripti Lahiri @ WSJ<\/em><\/small>:
\nNepal\u2019s Big Bet on Hydropower Miscalculated One Thing\u2014Monster Floods<\/a><\/h2>\nThe country has hundreds of projects in development, but those plans are now threatened by growing instability in the Himalayas<\/em><\/p>\n
\n- \n
Ken Klippenstein<\/small>:
\nU.S. Finds A War It\u2019s Willing to Declare<\/a><\/h2>\nNew government logo chooses violence<\/em><\/p>\n
\n- \n
Heather Cox Richardson<\/small>:
\nLetters from an American – September 8, 2026<\/a><\/h2>\nOn Sunday, Germany\u2019s far-right Alternative for Germany (Alternativ f\u00fcr Deutschland, or AfD) party won 43.8% of the vote in a legislative election in the small state of Saxony-Anhalt, formerly part of Soviet-dominated East Germany. The AfD is anti-immigrant and pro-Russia and has won the support of both Vice President J.D. Vance and billionaire Elon Musk.<\/p>\n
When Musk posted \u201cWell done!\u201d in German to the co-founder of AfD, Alice Weidel, another AfD leader responded with thanks …
\n(Heather Cox Richardson more…)<\/small><\/small><\/a><\/p>\n
\n- \n
Liz Oyer<\/small>:
\nTrump\u2019s Secret Pardons<\/a><\/h2>\nThe money and influence-peddling surrounding Trump\u2019s second-term pardons have been much discussed. But less attention has been paid to another alarming feature: the secrecy.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n- \n
Joseph Cox @ 404 Media<\/em><\/small>:
\nA Secretive DHS \u2018Predictive Policing\u2019 Unit is Analyzing Americans\u2019 Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over<\/a><\/h2>\n404 Media is revealing the name of Border Patrol’s predictive policing units, which analyze financial data and have local cops pull people over. The people are not suspected of any particular crime.<\/em>
\n
\n
\nYou pull into the parking lot of the elementary school where you have voted for twenty years, you grab your coffee, you walk toward the door with your sample ballot folded in your back pocket, and you see two black SUVs with no plates parked by the entrance and a man in a vest with three letters on the back standing beside them. Your stomach drops. You slow down. You check your phone for a reason to stay in the car. The woman in front of you turns around and walks back to her car.<\/p>\n
That is the whole play. Nobody has to arrest a single voter. Fear does the work.
\n…<\/p>\n
The Law Has Been Clear Since 1865<\/em> Congress wrote this rule in the middle of the Civil War, and it has stayed on the books for 161 years because every generation since understood the danger. Federal law makes it a crime for any officer of the military, or any person in the civil service of the United States, to order, bring, keep, or control troops or armed men at any place where a general or special election is held. The only exception covers force needed to repel armed enemies of the United States. Break that law and you face up to five years in prison and a permanent ban from holding federal office.<\/p>\n Read those words again. Armed men in the civil service of the United States. That is ICE.<\/p>\n In 1909 Congress went back and removed a second exception that had allowed troops to \u201ckeep the peace at the polls.\u201d Lawmakers deleted it because they understood that a president who wants soldiers at the ballot box will always find a disturbance to point at. They closed the loophole on purpose, and it has stayed closed for 117 years. You do have the right to be near a polling place. Driving your citizen daughter to vote is legal. Waiting in the car is legal. Standing beside your wife in line is legal. Walking your father with the bad knee to the door is legal, and in most states you are allowed to go inside as an assistant if he needs help reading or marking the ballot, subject to your state\u2019s rules on who qualifies. In California a voter is allowed to bring up to two people into the booth to help, and the only people barred from that role are the voter\u2019s employer and the voter\u2019s union representative. The Constitution protects you on that sidewalk exactly as it protects the citizen next to you. The Fourth Amendment does not check papers. … A citizen who stands in line, says four sentences, films from a distance, and calls the hotline has done the real work of protecting this democracy, and a citizen who votes early, checks the registration, brings four people, and saves the hotline number in every phone in the house has already beaten the whole scheme before the first SUV ever pulls into the lot.<\/p>\n The room where you vote is the one room where the government waits outside, and on November 3 you are going to walk into it. <\/p>\n Climate change is making water storage more precious \u2014 and less reliable.<\/em><\/p>\n The federal government finally stepped in to referee the Colorado River earlier this summer, cooling one of the most pitched battles in the war for water rights that has engulfed much of the American West. <\/p>\n Arizona, California and Nevada will have to reduce the amount of water they take from the river by about one-quarter for the next two years. The goal is to let reservoirs along the Colorado fill up in the midst of a prolonged drought and one of the lowest snowpacks on record. <\/p>\n But while the top of the lakes may rise again, an arguably bigger problem is lurking at the bottom, and the government is doing little about it. A steady buildup of sediment \u2013 sand and silt and mud \u2013 is shrinking the nation\u2019s water storage capacity precisely when we need it most. The country has hundreds of projects in development, but those plans are now threatened by growing instability in the Himalayas<\/em><\/p>\n New government logo chooses violence<\/em><\/p>\n On Sunday, Germany\u2019s far-right Alternative for Germany (Alternativ f\u00fcr Deutschland, or AfD) party won 43.8% of the vote in a legislative election in the small state of Saxony-Anhalt, formerly part of Soviet-dominated East Germany. The AfD is anti-immigrant and pro-Russia and has won the support of both Vice President J.D. Vance and billionaire Elon Musk.<\/p>\n When Musk posted \u201cWell done!\u201d in German to the co-founder of AfD, Alice Weidel, another AfD leader responded with thanks … The money and influence-peddling surrounding Trump\u2019s second-term pardons have been much discussed. But less attention has been paid to another alarming feature: the secrecy.<\/em><\/p>\n 404 Media is revealing the name of Border Patrol’s predictive policing units, which analyze financial data and have local cops pull people over. The people are not suspected of any particular crime.<\/em>
\nA polling place is the one room in America where the government has to wait outside.<\/p>\n
\n…<\/p>\n\n
\nYou do not have the right to vote in a federal election, and you must never try. …<\/p>\n
\n…<\/p>\n
\nThe Closing Argument<\/em>
\nEvery fear tactic depends on the target not knowing the rules, and now you know them. An armed federal agent at a polling place is committing a crime that Congress named in 1865 and sharpened in 1909. A federalized soldier at a polling place is committing that same crime. A president who invokes an emergency to put them there will lose in court, the way he lost in Chicago.<\/p>\n
\n(Mitch Jackson more…)<\/small><\/small><\/a><\/p>\nChris Geidner<\/small>:
\nDueling rulings cause chaos over Missouri maps<\/a><\/h2>\nJennifer Rubin<\/small>:
\nWhat if the law means what it says?<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n\n
James Eagle<\/small>:
\nChina overtakes America across ten democracies<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n<\/a>
\n<\/center>
\n(James Eagle more…)<\/small><\/small><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nKyle Stock, Kyle Kim, Saritha Rai, Danny Lee, Nayla Razzouk @ Bloomberg<\/em><\/small>:
\nWildfires and Extreme Rain Are Filling Up US Reservoirs with Dirt<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n(Kyle Stock, Kyle Kim, Saritha Rai, Danny Lee, Nayla Razzouk @ Bloomberg<\/em> more…)<\/small><\/small><\/a><\/p>\nThe insurance industry’s response to climate change is the most honest financial accounting of the climate crisis available<\/a><\/h2>\n
Niharika Mandhana, Krishna Pokharel, Tripti Lahiri @ WSJ<\/em><\/small>:
\nNepal\u2019s Big Bet on Hydropower Miscalculated One Thing\u2014Monster Floods<\/a><\/h2>\n
\nKen Klippenstein<\/small>:
\nU.S. Finds A War It\u2019s Willing to Declare<\/a><\/h2>\n
\nHeather Cox Richardson<\/small>:
\nLetters from an American – September 8, 2026<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n(Heather Cox Richardson more…)<\/small><\/small><\/a><\/p>\n
\nLiz Oyer<\/small>:
\nTrump\u2019s Secret Pardons<\/a><\/h2>\n
\nJoseph Cox @ 404 Media<\/em><\/small>:
\nA Secretive DHS \u2018Predictive Policing\u2019 Unit is Analyzing Americans\u2019 Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n
\n