May 23, 2026
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Michael's Daily Notes
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Washington spent this week picking apart the Democratic Party's long-awaited 2024 autopsy - a document so riddled with errors and omissions that DNC chair Ken Martin released it while simultaneously disowning it. Martin called it "not ready for prime time." The report skips Biden's debate collapse, ignores Kamala Harris's nomination, and somehow contains no mention of Israel or Gaza. The man hired to write it hadn't worked a presidential campaign in over two decades and never interviewed the principals. This is the document Democrats waited 18 months for.
Meanwhile, the real autopsy arrived just 21 days ago - from a hospital room.
Barney Frank died on Tuesday. But the sharp-tongued Massachusetts congressman who spent four decades in the arena, gave the New York Times an exit interview as he was dying. No consultants. No message-testing. Just a man with nothing left to lose and everything left to say.
Frank put it plainly: Democrats have allowed the perception to take hold that the entire party is committed to "a series of very drastic social reconstructions that go beyond the politically acceptable." He said most mainstream colleagues privately agree - but stay silent, fearing primary challenges from the left.
He knew something about winning unpopular fights. Frank helped lead the gay rights movement - and he noted that advocates were strategic about sequencing. They started with the most broadly acceptable battles - gays in the military, employment protections - and saved same-sex marriage for last, once public support had been built. His analogy for today: transgender rights. Lead with it, and you lose. Sequence it properly, and you have a chance.
The problem with today's left, Frank said, is they want everything as a litmus test immediately - forcing mainstream liberals to sign on before public opinion has moved, guaranteeing defeat.
Frank wasn't just offering a critique. He was offering a roadmap.
The DNC paid for a flawed report from a D.C. insider. The real diagnosis came free, from a dying man who no longer had anything to fear. Democrats should be embarrassed it took a hospice interview to tell them what they already knew.
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DAILY POLL
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TOP STORY
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The Trump administration announced a sweeping immigration policy change requiring many foreigners already living legally in the U.S. to leave the country and apply for green cards abroad, alarming immigration advocates who warn it could separate families and strand applicants in legal limbo.
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TODAY'S YOUTUBE
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IN OTHER NEWS
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At least 82 miners were killed and 9 remain trapped after a carbon monoxide-related explosion at a coal mine in northern China, where rescue crews continue searching for survivors and investigating the cause of the disaster.
Newly released 911 audio reveals gruesome details of NASCAR champion Kyle Busch's sudden death at 41 on Friday, just days after his latest Truck Series victory at Dover.
Federal prosecutors allege suspected IRGC-linked operative Mohammad Baqer Al-Saadi plotted to assassinate Ivanka Trump in retaliation for the 2020 killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, with sources claiming he surveilled her Florida home and threatened Trump family members online.
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President Trump met with top national security advisers Friday as he weighs renewed military strikes on Iran amid stalled negotiations and mounting pressure for a possible “decisive” operation.
After nearly a century on the air, CBS News Radio signed off for the final time Friday night, closing the chapter on a pioneering broadcast institution that delivered historic breaking news coverage to generations of Americans.
Comedian-turned-billionaire media mogul Byron Allen is returning to late night television by taking over CBS’s iconic 11:35 p.m. slot with his politics-free comedy show “Comics Unleashed,” capping his decades-long rise from stand-up comic to one of the most ambitious figures in American media.
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MORE NEWS
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U.S. intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard resigned Friday citing her husband’s rare cancer diagnosis, amid reports she had been increasingly sidelined by the White House over disagreements surrounding the Iran war.
A recent New York Times/Siena poll suggests many Democrats favor a hybrid path forward for the party — combining economic populism and skepticism of aid to Israel with more moderate messaging on cultural issues — even as broader debates over moving left or center continue.
Phil Collins says he turned down performing at his upcoming Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction due to ongoing health challenges, though the Grammy-winning artist shared that he is feeling healthier and would still “contemplate” returning to the stage in the future.
For the Left
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said he will judge New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani based on results rather than ideology, warning that policies such as higher taxes on wealthy residents could undermine the city’s competitiveness.
For the Right
A bipartisan group of senators has urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to release $600 million in delayed Ukraine and Baltic security aid, citing a missed congressional deadline and rising concerns about U.S. support amid frustration in Congress.
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