1. Pete Hegseth published a column in college that claimed having sex with an unconscious woman is not rape

The piece published by Hegseth claimed that rape required both the failure to consent and "duress," and women who are passed out cannot experience "duress" 2. 13 things everyone should know about Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense

popular.info/p/13-things-ev…

1. @elonmusk has every right to support Trump but he has become one of the most malign forces in politics

He has used his control of this platform to spread lies, many deeply rooted in racism, to millions of people

It is likely the most expensive disinformation campaign ever 2. Musk spent 9-figures financing a Super PAC, America PAC, to support Trump

American PAC created political ad that repeatedly called Kamala Harris the c-word.

Despite some reporting to the contrary, the ad was never taken down.

facebook.com/theamericapac/…

1. Trump is not a policy wonk and is not eager to talk about what specific policies he would pursue if he returns to the White House.

But in the closing hours of the campaign things are coming into focus.

Follow this thread for details

🧵 2. One point of contention is Project 2025, the 922-page blueprint written by members of the first Trump administration under the auspices of Heritage.

Trump has said he "has no idea who is behind it."

We now have proof this was a blatant lie

popular.info/p/the-conseque…

1. @JeffBezos has made CHOICES

He chose to buy the @washingtonpost

He chose, despite his conflicts, to intervene in the paper's editorial decisions & spike an endorsement of Harris

Bezos claims people who care about journalism have no choice but to accept his decisions — and trust his benevolent leadership 2. The only alternative giving him a pass, according to Bezos, is to rely on "off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources."

Bezos is wrong.

popular.info/p/jeff-bezos-i…

1. @ElonMusk is spending 9-figures to elect Trump, appears alongside Trump at rallies, and his Super PAC is coordinating w/the Trump campaign

Musk just produced the most misogynistic ad in the history of politics

Coverage of the ad has ranged from muted to non-existent 2. "America really can't afford a 'C-Word' in the White House right now," America PAC posted, adding a laughing emoji. "Kamala Harris is a ‘C word,’" the narrator of the ad says. "You heard that right. A big ole ‘C word.’"

popular.info/p/the-most-mis…

1. @JeffBezos did not become the second-richest person in the world because of his dedication to journalist integrity

He did it by prioritizing the bottom line

And, even though he owns the @washingtonpost, wealth maximization continues to be his priority

🧵 2. How important is the @washingtonpost to Bezos? He paid $250 million for it in 2013

That's half of what he paid for his superyacht, Koru

He also spent $75M on Abeona, a 246-foot yacht that follows around his other yacht w/a helipad and other toys

popular.info/p/the-billiona…

1. Three GOP state senators in North Carolina have demanded an investigation of state Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs

They claim that Riggs has "blatantly violated" the Code of Judicial Conduct

Riggs' transgression? She mentioned reproductive rights in a campaign ad. 2. In a TV ad, Riggs says that "women should be in charge of our own reproductive health care"

She notes that the GOP nominee for Governor, Mark Robinson, supported a total abortion ban and her opponent "could decide if [Robinson's] ban becomes law"

popular.info/p/republican-l…

1. This is an OUTRAGEOUSLY MISLEADING headline by @NBCNews

The 600 people w/"possible ties" to the Venezuelan gang includes PEOPLE WHO WERE VICTIMS OF THE GANG OR WITNESSED CRIMES BY THE GANG

Unfortunately, it's part of a pattern of NBC pushing misleading Trump talking points 2. Being a victim of a gang crime does not mean you are "tied" to a Venezuelan gang.

Only 100 Venezuelan migrants in the US are believed to be members of the Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang and many of them are in ICE custody or in the custody of other law enforcement!

1. There is a brazen and ongoing attack on free speech in Florida, where the DeSantis admin is attempting to coerce TV stations to stop running ads in support of abortion rights

Funny that none of the people on X who claim to care about free speech are talking about it.

🧵 2. Earlier this month, the general counsel for the Florida Department of Health sent a letter to TV execs threatening jail time if they continued to run an ad supporting abortion rights.

popular.info/p/update-its-t…

1. If the government found someone laundered $67,000 in drug money, they would almost certainly go to jail

Meanwhile, TD Bank executives oversaw the laundering of $670 MILLION, but no one is going to jail

The company is paying a fine

Follow this thread for details

🧵 2. On March 7, 2024, Attorney General Merrick Garland, speaking at the American Bar Association's 39th Annual White Collar Institute, gave an impassioned soliloquy on the importance of criminally prosecuting individual corporate executives for serious corporate crimes.

"[O]ur first priority in the area of white-collar crime is going after individual bad actors… All of us in this room know that the acts of corporations are actually the acts of individuals. All of us in this room who have counseled corporations—and I did very early on in my career—know that the greatest deterrent to white-collar crime is fear of individual prosecutions of the executives and companies. But the most important element of this is the rule of law. That people see that if a corporate executive is held to account, is in prison for a corporate crime, people are being treated equally, that there isn't a different set of rules, that like circumstances are treated alike. That increases respect for the rule of law, and, conversely, without that, people's respect for the rule of law goes down in every element."

1. Since Kavanaugh was confirmed in 2018, he's been a key vote in Supreme Court rulings that ended federal protections for abortion, gave presidents near total immunity from prosecution, etc.

New evidence shows his narrow confirmation was aided a sham FBI investigation

🧵 2. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released a report last week documenting how the FBI investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh — key to his Senate confirmation — was deeply flawed

popular.info/p/the-kavanaug…

1. A Texas county has reclassified a public library book on the abuse of Native Americans as "fiction"

The move comes after the county government excluded librarians from reviewing challenges to children's books

Follow this thread for details

🧵 2. The book at issue is Colonization and the Wampanoag Story

Penguin Random House, the publisher, describes it as "the true story of the Indigenous Nations of the American Northeast"

Montgomery County, Texas now classifies it as "fiction"

popular.info/p/texas-county…

1. In Florida, @RonDeSantis' administration has THREATENED A LOCAL TELEVISION EXECUTIVE WITH JAIL TIME

His supposed crime? Airing a television ad in support of abortion rights

It is a shockingly brazen attack on the First Amendment

Follow this thread for details

🧵 2. The allegedly "illegal" ad was produced by Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group promoting Amendment 4, a ballot initiative that would add language protecting reproductive rights to the Florida Constitution.

You can watch it here:

1. In a series of fundraising appeals sent to tens of millions of his supporters, Trump offered a chance to appear with him on stage during his October 5 rally in Butler, PA.

It seems like it was a scam.

Follow this thread for details.

🧵 2. "I’d love to bring you up on stage for my Butler rally!" was the subject line of a September 2 fundraising email from Trump.

He sent similar messages on 9/10, 9/28, and 10/1.

popular.info/p/trump-held-a…

1. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has removed HUNDREDS of eligible US citizens from the voter rolls in a botched effort to legtimize Trump's conspiracy theory that large numbers of undocumented immigrants are illegally voting in US elections.

Now the RNC and the Trump campaign are suing other states to force them to follow Alabama's lead

🧵 2. One of the central narratives that former President Donald Trump and his allies are pushing is that Democrats are planning to steal the election by using undocumented immigrants to pad their vote totals. It is an absurd claim rooted in a white nationalist conspiracy theory.

It is illegal for undocumented immigrants to vote, and data shows it almost never happens. A database maintained by the right-wing Heritage Foundation found "fewer than 100 examples of non-citizens voting between 2002 and 2022, amid more than 1 billion lawfully cast ballots."

1. Over the weekend, JD Vance appeared at a conference hosted by a preacher who says Harris is possessed by the devil who is using her "to bring in the destruction of this country." 2. At the conference, known as the Courage Tour, radical preacher Lance Wallnau suggested America was faced with a choice between anarchy, a Satanic agenda channeled through Democrats, and embracing Christianity under Trump's leadership.

Topics Florida sex ed teachers can no longer cover:

1. Contraception
2. Consent
3. Abuse
4. "Different kinds of sex"
5. Domestic violence
6. Fluids
7. Gender identity

This is all due to a new law pushed by DeSantis to "emphasize abstinence"

🧵 2. A Florida Department of Education spokesperson defended the new restrictions: “A state government should not be emphasizing or encouraging sexual activity among children or minors and is therefore right to emphasize abstinence.”

popular.info/p/florida-bans…

EXCLUSIVE: The Trump campaign is still being hacked

Email communications from individuals associated with the Trump campaign have been hacked by malign actors within the last ten days, Popular Information has confirmed.

Follow this thread for details.

🧵 2. On September 18, I was sent a message from "Robert," which contained the cover page of a dossier on JD Vance

Robert refused to identify himself except to suggest he was the same person who sent stolen Trump campaign materials to other outlets

popular.info/p/trump-campai…

1. Major corporations — including @doordash, @google, @walmart, @cvs, and @microsoft — have bankrolled an ongoing multi-million dollar effort to elect @markrobinsonNC the next governor of North Carolina

Follow this thread for details

🧵 2. Even before securing the Republican nomination for Governor of North Carolina in March, @MarkRobinsonNC had a long and well-documented record of promoting conspiracy theories, maligning LGBTQ people, using anti-Semitic tropes, and demeaning women.

1. A new IPSOS poll asked voters if they “support the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.”

The results may tell us more about the failure of the media and others to educate citizens on what Trump’s plan for mass deportation would entail.

Let's talk FACTS

🧵 2. The scale required to orchestrate Trump’s proposed policy, deporting 11 million+ people, is way beyond the capacity of ICE.

Trump’s solution is to use local law enforcement.

That means local police would be doing little else, making communities less safe and causing migrants, fearing deportation, to be less willing "to report crimes or cooperate with police.”

1. A little-noticed report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released this month reveals why, for many Americans, the economy is broken.

Follow this thread for details.

🧵 2. The report focuses on the American economy from 2019 to 2021.

That period included a massive economic disruption due to the pandemic and a recovery as the economy reopened.

The report reveals that the economic impact of the pandemic was concentrated among the bottom 20% of earners.

That group saw a significant decrease in labor income in 2020, which did not rebound as the economy reopened in 2021.