Good morning folks!
It’s Friday, August 28, and somehow we have reached the point where “ICE buys thousands of gloves capable of electrically shocking people” is an actual sentence in the morning news.
So yeah. We need to talk.
Here are five stories I’m watching this morning.
1. ICE JUST BOUGHT 6,000 PAIRS OF ELECTRIC SHOCK GLOVES
This is easily my biggest story of the morning.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has awarded a $16.7 million contract for 6,000 pairs of gloves capable of delivering electric shocks through direct contact.
According to the Associated Press, the no-bid contract went to Compliant Technologies, and the gloves could be used during arrests, detainee transportation and crowd-control situations.
ICE argues the devices could allow officers to control people without escalating to more severe forms of force.
Civil rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers are sounding alarms about exactly the question you’re probably asking right now:
Who is going to make sure these things aren't abused?
That concern becomes considerably more serious when you look at the broader context surrounding ICE operations, detention conditions and allegations of excessive force.
And this isn't happening in isolation.
Reporting out of Maryland this morning says attorneys continue to describe an ICE holding facility in Baltimore as overcrowded despite a court order requiring improved conditions.
This deserves considerably more attention today.
2. THE MIDTERMS ARE OFFICIALLY BECOMING A WAR OVER TWO VERY DIFFERENT AMERICAS
Primary season is essentially over.
Now comes November.
Democrats and Republicans are entering the general election with remarkably different strategies.
Democrats are leaning heavily into the cost of living, healthcare, groceries and the economic pressure facing working families.
Republicans, meanwhile, are increasingly attempting to make Democratic socialism and the growing progressive movement itself the threat voters should fear.
And I think that tells us something important.
Progressives aren't sitting outside the political conversation anymore.
They're helping define it.
Progressive candidates have scored major victories throughout this primary season, and Republicans are clearly preparing to make those victories part of their national message.
There are roughly two months until Election Day.
The general election starts now.
3. JAMIE RASKIN IS HITTING THE ROAD FOR ABDUL EL-SAYED AND OTHER DEMOCRATS
Here’s something worth watching.
Rep. Jamie Raskin has become one of Democrats' most active campaign surrogates heading into November, traveling around the country during the August recess to campaign for candidates ranging from progressives to Democrats competing in Republican territory.
That includes Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
And Michigan remains one of the races I believe everyone should have circled.
El-Sayed's campaign is doing something Democrats desperately need heading into November: bringing some voters who became deeply alienated from the Democratic Party back into electoral politics.
Recent reporting from Michigan found voters who abandoned Democrats over Gaza now reconsidering because of El-Sayed and the broader progressive movement.
That could matter far beyond Michigan.
Because if progressives can demonstrate that running candidates people actually believe in expands the electorate instead of shrinking it, that becomes a blueprint.
4. SEATTLE'S RECALL ATTEMPT AGAINST MAYOR KATIE WILSON HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN
Back home in Seattle, yesterday brought a pretty significant development.
The petition seeking to recall Mayor Katie Wilson has officially been withdrawn by the people who filed it.
The effort had only been filed on August 11.
The petitioners say they aren't necessarily finished and could try again, but Wilson's attorney is already warning that continued filings deemed frivolous could result in an attempt to seek sanctions.
For now, though, the first attempt is dead.
And considering Wilson hasn't even completed her first year in office, the entire episode raises a larger question about whether recall mechanisms are being used to address genuine misconduct or increasingly becoming another political weapon against elected officials people simply don't like.
Seattle probably hasn't heard the last of this.
But round one is over.
5. SIX MONTHS LATER, THE WAR WITH IRAN IS STILL GOING
This is the story that should probably make everyone stop for a second.
The U.S.-Israel war with Iran has now reached six months.
Donald Trump originally suggested the conflict would last only weeks.
Six months later, it continues.
That matters not only because of the staggering human consequences of another prolonged war in the Middle East, but because Americans are increasingly experiencing its economic consequences at home.
And we're heading toward a midterm election where affordability is already becoming one of the defining issues.
Wars don't exist in political isolation.
They affect fuel prices.
They affect government spending.
They affect families.
And they have a habit of lasting considerably longer than the politicians who start them promise.
WHAT I'M WATCHING TODAY
The ICE shock-glove contract is the story at the top of my board.
I want to know who approved it, exactly how these devices will be authorized for use, what training and reporting requirements exist, and whether Congress is going to demand meaningful oversight.
I'm also watching the transition into the general election extremely closely.
The primaries gave us one message.
November determines whether that message becomes power.
We have roughly two months.
Stay loud. Stay informed. Pay attention to what happens next.
I’ll be following all of it throughout the day.
This is your Morning Cup.
— Sean