Do you remember or have you heard about the musical HAIR? If not, do
you remember or have you heard about the rock band Three Dog Night? The
Australian group had several hit songs including one from the musical
HAIR entitled "Easy To Be Hard."
Conservative
political pundit Ann Coulter sparked backlash from Native leaders
Sunday, July 6 after posting on her X account, “We didn’t kill enough
Indians.”
Coulter’s comment came in response to
comments made by University of Minnesota Professor Melanie Yazzie
during a December 3, 2023, event (not a 2025 event like Coulter asserted
in her X post) featuring Native people discussing the similarities
between Palestinians and Indigenous people of America. The event
occurred nearly two months after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas
militants that sparked the most recent Israel-Palestine conflict.
Yazzie, Diné, had talked about the Land Back movement and the need to decolonize America.
“Because
the U.S. is the greatest predator empire that has ever existed. So we
want U.S. out of everywhere … and the goal is to dismantle the settler
project that is the United States,” Yazzie stated in the posted video.
Coulter’s
statement immediately drew criticism from Native leaders across the
country, including Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr.,
who issued one of the first public statements the same evening after
Coulter posted her incendiary comment.
“Coulter’s
statement, on its face, is a despicable rhetorical shot trained on the
First Peoples of this continent, designed to dehumanize and diminish us
and our ancestors and puts us at risk of further injury,” Hoskin posted
on Facebook. “We have faced enough of that since this country’s
founding. Such rhetoric has aided and abetted the destruction of tribes,
their life ways, languages and cultures, the violation of treaty
rights, violence, oppression, suppression and dispossession.”
Why
would she even say that? She's an idiot I know. And a hateful
person. Guess she just felt the need to remind America that sadly she
is still with us. How pathetic her life must be.
Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld sparked outrage Tuesday with an on-air comment about Nazis and “the Blacks.”
During
a segment on “The Five,” co-host Gutfeld pushed back at current
right-wing figures who are being compared to Nazis with an offensive
comparison.
He said:
“This
is why the criticism doesn’t matter to us when you call us Nazis. ‘Nazi
this and Nazi that.’ You know, I’m beginning to think they don’t like
us. You know what? I’ve said this before. We need to learn from the
Blacks, the way they were able to remove the power from the n-word by
using it. So, from now on, it’s, ‘What up, my Nazi? Hey, what up, my
Nazi? Hey, what’s hanging, my Nazi?’”
“Nazi, please!” replied fellow panelist Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, the former MTV VJ who now goes by Kennedy.
Gutfeld cracked up at the comment, then responded: “Thank God you did a hard ‘i’ there.”
The moment was condemned online.
Online
streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker wrote on X, formerly
Twitter: We’ve officially gotten to the point where Fox News
commentators are comfortable calling themselves Nazis.”
Journalist
Mehdi Hasan, formerly of MSNBC, added: “These quotes — even if said in
jest — would destroy the careers of any other journalist on any other
mainstream national media platform. But Fox doesn’t employ journalists
and doesn’t have any journalistic (or decency) standards.”
As
with Ann Coulter, there is something seriously wrong with Kennedy and
Greg Mutfeld or whatever his name is. I don't watch him, I don't care.
He's a nasty little man.
People
like this must just be miserable and bound and determined to spread
misery. There's nothing funny about Nazis or killing Native Americans.
Three
Dog Night, by the way had 21 top forty hits from 1969 to 1975 so they
were a very big rock band back in the day. Ten of those hits were top
ten hits -- "Easy To Be Hard" made it to number four on the pop charts.
They had three number one pop hits -- "Joy To The World," "Black and
White" and "Mama Told Me Not To Come." Two other well known hits they
had -- and top ten hit on both of them -- was their cover of Laura
Nyro's "Eli's Coming" and Harry Nilsson's "One." They also had eight
adult contemporary hits in the US -- the two biggest both hit number one
-- "Black and White" and "An Old Fashioned Love Song."
Wednesday, July 16, 2025. Inflation increases under Chump, the
effects of the tariffs begin to be felt, ICE agents need to hide behind
masks while ICE attorneys hide their names from the courthouse records,
Mark Cuban wants Democrats to co-sign on Chump's gestapo immigration
war, and much more.
Jeff Cox (CNBC) reports,
"Consumer prices rose in June as President Donald Trump’s tariffs began
to slowly work their way through the U.S. economy. The consumer price
index, a broad-based measure of goods and services costs, increased 0.3%
on the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.7%, the Bureau
of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. The numbers were right in line
with the Dow Jones consensus." Shane Croucher (NEWSWEEK) adds:
But there are signs that prices are due to rise further in the coming months.
Some
companies have said they have or plan to raise prices as a result of
the tariffs, including Walmart, the world's largest retailer.
Automaker
Mitsubishi announced in June that it would be increasing prices by an
average of 2.1 percent in response to the duties, and Nike stated that
it would implement "surgical" price hikes to offset tariff costs.
But
many companies have been able to postpone or avoid price increases,
after building up their stockpiles of goods this spring to get ahead of
the duties.
Other companies may have refrained
from lifting prices while they wait to see whether the U.S. is able to
reach trade deals with other countries that lower the duties.
Inflation was addressed at the top of THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE last night on MSNBC.
Chump
campaigned on ending inflation on day one. As Stephanie noted, Tuesday
was day 177 of the Chump administration. No, that's not day one.
Inflation continues to increase.
Question:
Do you think he might have done a better job if he and his
administration had focused on the economy instead of trying to micro
manage college universities -- not really a presidential duty -- or a
hundred and one of his other pet causes?
If he'd
focused on the actual job, would the economy be as bad as it is?
Because it is bad and its going to get worse. Each month it already
has. Walmart, for example? Keesha e-mailed to note that the plain
label canned chick noodle soup? Great Value is the brand. It's not at
70 cents a can and, under Joe, it was 50 cents a can. Last month,
Keesha notes, she paid 70 cents an avocado and this week the price
jumped to 90 cents.
And as if inflation isn't bad
enough for the average American, Chump's 'big' 'beatiful' bill is about
to really steal from the middle class, the working class and the poor to
give huge tax breaks to te extremely wealthy.
Stephanie noted and quoted the banking institution's reaction to the inflation increase:
Bank of America: Today's report provides ample evidence that tariffs are being passed onto consumers.
Wells
Fargo: One of the top questions we get these days involves when will we
see the impact of tariffs on consumer spending and in the retail
sector. The time is now.
Ben covers the economy this morning on MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.
Ben
notes, "But the only prices that are going down? Airfare, hotel and
motel prices. These are recession indicators, folks."
Over the last month, Jorge, an Inglewood resident and a cook at a
restaurant, has scanned social media each morning to check for ICE
activity near his home or along the route to work. If federal
immigration agents are around, he stays inside, which he said means
risking the loss of a job that sustains his family of four.
“I leave home not knowing whether [ICE agents] will arrest me or not,” said Jorge, whose last name LA Public Press has
agreed to withhold to protect his identity as an undocumented person.
“I don’t go to work when I hear that [ICE is] near my home.”
Jorge,
who said he’s lived in the United States for 24 years and is married to
a U.S. citizen, said he’s missed at least eight days of work in recent
weeks due to the fear of arrest by ICE.
“I can’t miss many more days of work,” Jorge said. “Money isn’t going as far as it once did.”
Jorge’s
story reflects a broader crisis across Los Angeles County’s restaurant
industry, where some establishments have seen revenue drop by as much as
25% since immigration raids began in June, according to industry leaders, forcing owners to cut staff and reduce hours.
Since
June 6, undocumented restaurant workers like Jorge have been targeted
for arrest by federal immigration agents across Los Angeles County,
where one in three residents
is an immigrant. About 1.8 million California residents work in
restaurants and food service, making it the largest private employer in
the state, according to the National Restaurant Association. Nationwide in 2025, at least 20% of restaurant workers are immigrants.
An
ICE spokesperson didn’t respond by time of publication to a request for
comment on the impact that federal immigration operations are having on
restaurants.
Tricia La Belle, president of the Greater LA Hospitality Association and a restaurant owner for more than 30 years, told the LA Public Press that her five establishments have seen a 25% drop in revenue since ICE launched raids in June.
The loss of business has forced her to cut staff, she said.
“We’ve
cut down to the bare bones,” La Belle said about her establishments,
which include Boardner’s nightclub in Hollywood and the Bon Vivant
restaurant in Atwater Village. “You can’t provide the same quality of
service when you don’t have a bus boy, barbacks and floor maintenance
crews. You just don’t have those bells and whistles anymore.”
You wouldn’t know it from what FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, is about to do, but it has a human rights policy.
“Guided
by its human rights approach, FIFA embeds its commitment throughout the
organisation and engages in an ongoing due diligence process to
identify, address, evaluate and communicate the risks of involvement
with adverse human rights impacts. … FIFA will constructively engage
with relevant authorities and other stakeholders and make every effort
to uphold its international human rights responsibilities.”
But
here was Sunday’s final of the Club World Cup — a sort-of dry run over
the past four weeks for its 2026 World Cup in North America scheduled to
be anchored in the United States — with FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and
champion Chelsea in celebratory embrace with President Donald Trump, who
is defining his second term in the White House not by protecting human
rights but by trampling them.
Indeed, a day
before the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, several lawmakers
toured a hastily built detention center in the Florida Everglades for
undocumented migrants and described it in inhumane terms. Trump
officials and supporters jovially named the encampment “Alligator
Alcatraz” after the vicious reptiles that live in the surrounding swamp
and the notorious prison of last resort in the San Francisco Bay that
was shuttered because the government deemed it too expensive to keep
humane.
On Friday, a
federal judge in California ordered a stop to Trump administration raids
of everything from farms to public parks to car washes looking for
undocumented laborers. The actions erupted into violent confrontations
between National Guard troops in riot armor and protesters trying to
protect the immigrants being hunted.
Anecdotal
narratives illustrate the enforcement of Trump’s immigration policies as
xenophobic at best. People such as Kilmar Abrego García, the Salvadoran
man living in Maryland on protected status whom the Trump
administration admitted it mistakenly deported in a raft of detainees to
a dissolute El Salvador prison. He’s still in custody. People such as
University of Florida student Felipe Zapata Velásquez, a Colombian whom
Gainesville police arrested on traffic offenses and then turned over to
Trump immigration officers. He agreed to be deported rather than face
detention.
Then there are those such as Rümeysa
Öztürk, a Tufts University PhD student on a student visa from Turkey,
and Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown academic, whom Trump’s masked squads
snatched off streets into unmarked vehicles and whisked away to
who-knew-where because they were said to have voiced opposition to
Israel’s war in Gaza. Both eventually were released but not necessarily
freed.
And there is an expanding list of
countries from which Trump would like to ban citizens’ entry to the
United States. They include mostly sub-Saharan African nations to go
along with countries in Latin America, Central Asia and the Middle East.
They include countries that certainly will qualify for the World Cup.
Iran already has.
All of this is an affront to what FIFA claims it stands for. Human Rights Watch reminded FIFA of as much last month.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will now be the biggest
federal law enforcement agency, by far. Its budget will exceed that of
the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and U.S. Marshals Service
combined. (It even has a bigger budget than the militaries of Brazil, Italy, and Israel.)
It
will require a crash hiring spree for new ICE agents, with little
training and oversight. Federal and local law enforcement officials will
be pulled off their core duties
in massive numbers to play the unfamiliar role of immigration enforcer.
All this for an agency whose agents wear masks to avoid identification
while grabbing people off the street, arresting political leaders, and
choosing to sow terror.
And for all the claims that only the “worst of the worst” will be targeted, enforcement seems increasingly to be focused more on construction workers and landscapers with no criminal history than on drug traffickers or sex offenders.
Then
there is the troublesome role for private prisons. Many of the new
facilities will be built and run by private firms. Eisen is the author
of the definitive book,Inside Private Prisons. She
reports, “In May, the CEO of private prison company
CoreCivic told investors, ‘Never in our 42-year company history have we
had so much activity and demand for our services as we are seeing right
now.’ This budget bill will solidify that vision for CoreCivic, GEO
Group, and other firms that manage and own immigrant detention centers
and transportation subsidiaries.”
The administration has rebuffed oversight by Congress. Federal law says
that members of Congress and their staffs must be permitted to
“enter[], for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated
by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or
otherwise house aliens.” ICE is throwing up barriers and in some cases
denying access outright.
And of course, the Brennan Center has
documented the ways this current crackdown is being pursued in violation
of the law. The misuse of the Alien Enemies Act, a discredited wartime statute the administration has used to deport migrants, is a vivid example.
Let's
stay with legal issues for a moment. ICE agents? As weve noted, if
they don't quit their jobs their future is one of two paths: Suicide or
drug addiction to self-medicate. You can't do what they're doing and
not tear apart your soul. The same is true of the the attorneys working
for ICE.
Inside a federal immigration
courtroom in New York City last month, a judge took an exceedingly
unusual step: declining to state the name of the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement attorney pressing to deport asylum seekers.
“We’re not really doing names publicly,” said Judge ShaSha Xu — after
stating her own name and those of the immigrants and their lawyers. It
was the first of two separate instances The Intercept identified in
which judges chose to withhold the identities of the attorneys
representing the Trump administration’s deportation regime.
As ICE agents across the country wear masks to raid workplaces and
detain immigrants, government attorneys need not cover their faces to
shield their identities. Legal experts who spoke to The Intercept agreed
the practice of concealing the lawyers’ identities was both novel and
concerning.
“I’ve never heard of someone in open court not being identified,”
said Elissa Steglich, a law professor and co-director of the Immigration
Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin. “Part of the court’s
ethical obligation is transparency, including clear identification of
the parties. Not identifying an attorney for the government means if
there are unethical or professional concerns regarding [the Department
of Homeland Security], the individual cannot be held accountable. And it
makes the judge appear partial to the government.”
Why
not identify themselves? Because they're rightly ashamed of
themselves. And they can hide all they want from the public -- or try
to -- but they can't escape the voice inside them that knows what
they're doing is wrong, the voice that will nag them until the day that
they die. Too late, they'll grasp that there's not enough money in the
world to justify selling your soul.
Some people really aren't qualified for politics.
Politics chases money, yes, but your ability to amass money does not
mean you grasp politics. More than anything, common sense is required
for politics and our best politicians possess common sense. Selling out
is not common sense.
I'm
not a Mark Cuban fan. That's been obvious for years. Mark always has
an idea. "Idea" may be giving him too much credit. He always has a
"notion." But his notions are not based on common sense. His notions
are based on what the other side is saying.
We'll
circle back around. Let's move over to Paul Krugman who has common
sense and a brain and uses both. From his most recent SUBSTACK:
And as G. Elliott Morris points out,
the detailed polling suggests overwhelming disapproval of Trump’s
immigration policies. Notably, voters are twice as likely to support
giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship than they are to support
deporting them. By the way, in 2023 Congress seemed likely to enact bipartisan legislation that would have opened such a path. But Trump killed it.
What’s going on? Why were cynical, seemingly savvy takes on the politics of immigration so wrong?
Part of the answer is that there is almost always a “thermostatic backlash”
against the policies pursued by a party that has recently gained power.
Pundits who imagined that Trump’s war on immigrants would become more,
not less popular once it began were assuming that he could defy all
historical precedent.
But, like Morris, I think there’s more going on here than just the thermostat.
First,
it’s important to understand that the call for mass deportations and/or
imprisonment was based on a lie — the claim that America is facing a
huge immigrant crime wave. “They’re not a city of immigrants, they’re a
city of criminals,” declared Kristi Noem about Los Angeles last month. Last week city officials reported that LA is on track to have the fewest homicides in 60 years.
It's
true that many Americans have remained willing to believe that big
cities like LA and NYC are scary urban hellscapes, even though they’re
quite safe these days.
An aside: There was a period in the 1970s
and 1980s when New York, in particular, actually was the kind of scary
place people like Trump and Noem claim it still is. As it happens, that
sort-of hellscape period coincided with an era when New York had fewer
immigrants than at any time before or since:
In any case, however, it seems to me that the lie is beginning to
unravel as it becomes clear that ICE is having a really hard time
finding violent immigrants to arrest.
According to the Miami Herald,
only around a third of the people being held in “Alligator Alcatraz” — a
cute name, but it’s a concentration camp, pure and simple — have any
kind of criminal conviction.
Why aren’t they rounding
up more undocumented criminals? Because that would be hard work, and
anyway there aren’t that many of them. Morris
did a back-of-the-envelope calculation suggesting that there may in
total be only around 78,000 undocumented immigrants with criminal
records, and 14,000 convicted of violent crimes. Meanwhile, Stephen
Miller is demanding that ICE arrest 3,000 people a day. Do the math, and
you see why they’re grabbing farm workers and chasing day laborers in
Home Depot parking lots.
So Americans may be turning on Trump’s immigration policies in part
because they’re starting to realize that they’ve been lied to. But an
even more important factor may be that more native-born Americans are
beginning to see what our immigrants are really like, rather than
thinking of them as scary figures lurking in the shadows.
It’s a
familiar point that views of immigration tend to be most negative in
places with very few immigrants and most positive in places where there
are already many foreign-born residents. You can get fancy about why
that’s true, but I would simply say that if you live in a place like New
York, where you’re constantly interacting with immigrants, they start
to seem like … people.
And the Trumpies — for whom, as Adam Serwer
famously observed, the cruelty is the point — are inadvertently
humanizing immigrants for Americans who don’t have that kind of daily
experience. The nightmarish ordeal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia has probably
done more to highlight the humanity of immigrants, documented or not,
than any number of charts and tables. And while some Americans are
instinctively cruel, most are, I believe, instinctively decent.
Get it? The crime wave myth needs to be
called out. Common sense and a brain puts Paul miles ahead of Mark
Cuban. Mark's gotten Eric Swalwell on his side. With what? Mark's
notion. The way to take on Chump is to accept his premise (cave) and
start making lists of violent criminals and we'll all round them up
together.
What are we, Lindsey Buckingham?
If we go, go insane
We can all go together
In this wild, wanton world
We can all break down forever
Mark Cuban throws in the towel. He calls that politics.
If we've learned anything in these most recent days of The Epstein Files, it's that MAGA lies. And then lies again.
What
kind of an idiot -- Mark Cuban, for one -- buys the lie and makes plans
to meet in 'the middle.' It's not the middle. The lie has pulled the
country over to the right and Mark Cuban is going to push us further
over.
I'm getting really
tired of the Mark Cuban fan boys. If you're not paying attention, he's
also pimping Alien Musk's notion of a new political party.
I don't see why elected Democrats feel they owe Mark Cuban anything.
Take what's being called the biggest sweep or raid, the one targeting the cannabis farm in California. Julie Watson, Amy Taxin and Olga R. Rodriguez (AP) note,
"The government said four of the 361 arrested had prior criminal
records, including convictions for rape and kidnapping." The government
says they nabbed 361 people. And the government says four "had prior
criminal records." The government said. Even their own figures don't
back up a crime wave. That's 1.1080% of the number taken in.
And
I look at the concentration camp in Florida -- call it whatever you
want -- and I'm thinking, "If this were the McCarthy era would Mark
Cuban be coming forward to say: Hey, let's meet them half way. Some of
these artists are Communists so let's make a list and . . ." At what
point do we take a stand for what we believe in and say, "No, we're not
going to make this easy for you." Because what Mark Cuban's proposing
and what Eric has signed off on is making it easier and is getting in
bed with the devil. That's because every generation has a Mark Cuban or
two who doesn't have a spine and is more inclined to go along to get
along.
As
a pastor, I consider the church not just a place of worship, but a
sacred home − somewhere families gather to find comfort, courage and
communion. For generations, our pews have held the laughter of children,
the tears of grief and joy, and the prayers of the faithful.
Last month, the sanctity of our space was shattered.
Immigration
and Customs Enforcement agents entered the parking lot of Downey
Memorial Christian Church to take a man who was walking through our
property. The agents were armed, masked and aggressive.
They
tried to intimidate clergy and staff − people whose only armor is their
faith and moral convictions. In that moment, our sacred space became a
site of state-sanctioned fear and violence.
This is not isolated. It is part of a widening campaign.
Archbishop
Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino, the spiritual shepherd of more than a
million Catholics, recently excused parishioners from their obligation
to attend Mass.
Why? Because fear of ICE raids has become so pervasive that even worship cannot feel safe.
Standing
in front of the Detroit headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) on a sunny Monday morning, the Rev. David Buersmeyer
asked a security officer if he could accept a letter from Catholics
asking ICE Detroit to better treat immigrants.
Judith
Brooks, a fellow Catholic who advocates for immigrants, stood by the
Detroit priest's side with a sealed envelope, leaning forward to hand
the letter to him. But the officer didn't respond, slammed the glass
door shut with a loud thud and then pushed on it to make sure it was
secure.
"Shame!" a protester shouted out. A
crowd of hundreds who stood outside the building on Michigan Avenue then
started to sing a song by Batya Levine, a Jewish musician: "In hope, in
prayer, we find ourselves here, in hope, in prayer, we're right here."
The
scene on July 14th outside the Detroit ICE building illustrated the
growing frustration Catholic leaders and others have expressed with
immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump, which they allege
has unfairly targeted communities with overzealous actions.
[. . .]
"We
are here today to ask that our nation and its leaders" listen to the
plight of immigrants, Sister Rebecca Vonderhaar of Immaculate Heart of
Mary told the large crowd at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church before
the march.
"Many of our brothers and sisters
and their families have proven their innate goodness," Vonderhaar said.
"They have been so unjustly treated by raids and mass deportations. Let
us know that apathy is never an option, but trust with faith, goodwill
and a bit of advocacy will bear fruit. And trusting in your goodness oh,
God, we move on."
Federal
immigration raids sweeping Los Angeles have created such widespread
fear that even naturalized citizens are afraid to leave their homes,
prompting mental health providers to form informal support networks for
traumatized immigrant communities.
Immigrant
neighborhoods that were once bustling have become noticeably quieter,
with fewer people on the streets and some businesses seeing reduced foot
traffic.
Therapists working in these communities say clients are canceling appointments and expressing new fears about seeking help.
Sandra
Espinoza is a second-generation, bilingual Mexican-American licensed
Marriage and Family Therapist and associate professor at Alliant
International University’s Los Angeles campus. She has been paying
attention to what has been happening locally and said she felt called to
action.
“Once I heard about the ICE
raids happening, I was very upset, and [I wanted] to find a way to kind
of channel my anxiety and anger. I remembered that during the wildfires,
another therapist had organized a list of over 800 therapists who were
willing to provide pro bono services,” Espinoza said. “[I thought] how
cool would it be if we could do this for the undocumented community at
this time?”
While Espinoza’s network is smaller
than the 1,000-provider wildfire list, she is far from alone in her
desire to help migrants across the county. Some care providers are
offering support publicly, while others, fearful due to their own or
their clients’ immigration connections, are choosing to offer it
privately through whisper networks and word-of-mouth referrals.
Therapists
have voiced concerns about making these lists publicly accessible for
confidentiality and safety reasons, so accessibility is limited and
relies primarily on referrals and vetting processes.
For
Espinoza’s network, both therapists and clients complete Google forms
for vetting. The list is password-protected with only three people
having access. Most connections are made personally by Espinoza, with
95% of clients choosing telehealth sessions.
Immigration
enforcement agents do not legally need a judicial warrant, issued by a
court, to make an arrest in a public space. If they have reason to
believe someone is in the country unlawfully, they can detain the person
on the street. However, entering private areas like offices, kitchens
or the grounds of a mosque or church requires a signed judicial warrant.
Still, immigration advocates warn that many agents present
administrative warrants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
instead, which do not authorize entry.
That
distinction has shaped recent training sessions at the Holy Apostles
Soup Kitchen in Manhattan, the largest soup kitchen currently operating
from the grounds of an Episcopal church in the city.
"We
certainly have done some internal preparations just so that our staff
knows what to do in the event that [immigration agents] show up," said
Elizabeth Starling, Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen director of development.
"We went through a training about the need for them to have a specific
judicial warrant because, well, you're not coming on our property for a
fishing mission — that's not going to happen."
Marcelo
Gomes da Silva is still trying to get back to his old life. The
18-year-old, who was born in Brazil, wants to enjoy the summer before
his senior year at Milford High School in Massachusetts—go to pool
parties, hang out with friends. Since his arrest by US Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, he has been praised for his strength. “But that’s
not really what I want,” he told Mother Jones on a video call. “I want
everyone to think of me as Marcelo Gomes da Silva, just as I was
before.”
On a Saturday morning in late May, ICE
arrested Gomes da Silva on his way to volleyball practice. At first,
when he noticed a white Ford Explorer trailing his car, he thought
little of it. But when Gomes da Silva pulled into a friend’s driveway,
an ICE agent walked up, knocked on the window, asked for his documents,
and eventually handcuffed him. The officer asked Gomes da Silva if he
knew the reason for his arrest. He said he did not. “Because you’re
illegal,” the agent told him, “you’re an immigrant.”
Gomes
da Silva had never thought of himself as undocumented. He came to the
United States at age 7 as a visitor and later obtained a now-lapsed
student visa. “I was just in shock,” he said. “I didn’t know what was
going on and I was kind of questioning God…Why is this happening to me?
Did I do something? I never really understood why I was there.”
The
Department of Homeland Security said ICE officers “never intended to
apprehend” Gomes da Silva but were instead looking for his father, the
owner of the car, whom they accused of having a “habit of reckless
driving.” To the US government, Gomes da Silva was an accidental target
in the wrong place at the wrong time. These so-called “collateral
arrests”—often warrantless apprehensions of immigrants without a
criminal history—have become more commonplace as the Trump
administration pushes the legal limits of its deportation dragnet.
“I
didn’t say he was dangerous,” acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said of
Gomes da Silva at a press conference days after his detention. “I said
he’s in the country illegally and we’re not going to walk away from
anybody.” Gomes da Silva was taken to ICE’s Boston field office in
Burlington, where he was detained for six days until a judge released
him on bond in early June.
Fortunately, the young man's community said "Hell no" and got to work:
After
practice, school administrators gathered everyone in the locker room
and shared the news. There was a deep silence. Some players cried. One
of them threw up. “I knew it was happening in Milford, but I didn’t
really know anybody who was detained,” said Greco’s son Colin. “That’s
when emotion just hit everybody and we were like, ‘This is real.’”
The Archbishop of Miami, Father Thomas Wenski, issued a lengthy statement which included:
It
is alarming to see enforcement tactics that treat all irregular
immigrants as dangerous criminals. Masked, heavily armed agents who do
not identify themselves during enforcement activities are surprising -
so is the apparent lack of due process in deportation proceedings in
recent months.
Along these lines, much of the
current rhetoric is obviously intentionally provocative. It is
unbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good to speak
of the deterrence value of “alligators and pythons” at the Collier-Dade
facility. Common decency requires that we remember the individuals
being detained are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of
distressed relatives. We wish to ensure that chaplains and pastoral
ministers can serve those in custody, to their benefit and that of the
staff. We also raise concerns about the isolation of the detention
facility, which is far from medical care centers, and the precariousness
of the temporary “tent” structures in the Florida heat and summer
thunderstorms, not to mention the challenge of safely protecting
detainees in the event of a hurricane.
We call
on all people of goodwill to pray for our government officials, for
those in immigration custody and their families, for those who work in
enforcement, and for justice for all in this nation, whose prosperity
immigrants have always contributed to.
Mark
Cuban wants us to 'meet in the middle' on this hideous program. He
wants Democrats to co-sign off on it, thereby giving Republicans cover
and the ability to claim both parties supported this evil plan. No.
This needs to be fought and people across America grasp and see what
Mark Cuban can't or won't.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
ICYMI from June: Senator Murray Statement on Protests in Response to Immigration Arrests in Spokane
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the
following statement on the news, reported by
the Spokesman-Review, that federal agents arrested and searched the
homes of Spokane residents who took part in a protests in Spokane on
June 11th. The protests in June were sparked by the sudden detention of two asylum-seekers whose work visas were abruptly revoked days before.
“The Trump administration is abusing the force of the law to
intimidate Americans exercising their First Amendment rights—whether you
are a Democrat or Republican, this is wrong and we all need to speak
out against this disturbing perversion of justice.
“If you are as angry as I am about Trump’s unconstitutional
and cruel assault on immigrants, we need to speak out peacefully against
inhumane policies. We lose our democracy when our voices fall silent.
“Let’s be perfectly clear about Trump’s unconstitutional
immigration crackdown: he is diverting limited federal resources away
from pursuing violent criminals to instead round up individuals with no
criminal record—and now, apparently, he’s going after peaceful
protestors as well. We cannot be silent and I will be contacting DOJ
directly regarding this gross abuse of federal resources.”
I'll
never forget the first time Brian Wilson made me see God. It was 1973,
and I was sitting in the mostly empty balcony of a second-run movie
theater finally watching "American Graffiti," the movie everyone in my
high school was talking about. I liked the film okay, but it didn't make
that much of an impression on me. I couldn't have been less interested
in what I derisively thought of, at the time, as "the '50s." (To me,
songs like "At the Hop" and "That'll Be the Day" were corny and dull.)
But at the end of the movie, as the now-famous
what-happened-to-them-after-graduation epilogue came on, a song started
to play that had a whole different flavor. It woke me right up. If I'm
honest about it, what hooked me - the first thing in my life that made
me a Brian Wilson believer - was a single chord change, the one that
happened on the word "house." As in, "Sittin' in my car outside your
HOUSE…"
As
the Beach Boys sang "house," the song, "All Summer Long," didn't just
change chords - in a luscious instant, it ascended to a higher place.
Another wave of voices flooded in, but it was the revelation of that
chord that was the hook, the spice, the thing that made me melt.
It's
hard to talk about music, about the flow of chords and melodies and
arrangements, when you're talking about a pop song, because it can all
sound a little technical and abstract. But these mystic combinations of
notes are the true heart of what we respond to in music. And Brian
Wilson was the transcendent maestro of sonic magic. The title of the
Beach Boys' greatest album is "Pet Sounds," and pet sounds is what Brian
built into just about every song he ever wrote. It was those sounds
that lifted you into the light.
To me, it's
far from incidental that Brian Wilson was the first pop musician of the
'60s to bring the word "God" into the equation. It was the first word of
the title of "God Only Knows," which I would argue is his greatest
song, though that title wasn't just an expression that Brian was using.
The song's implicit statement was, "God only knows what I'd be without
you…because it's God who knows what I am when I'm with you." This was
not just a love song. It was a prayer.
Make
a point to read in full. Sunday, I took time to just lay on the bed
and listen to music -- Beatles -- closing my eyes and letting the words
paint pictures. Really restored my sanity and sense of well being. I'm
glad I was a huge music fan before music videos. It taught me to let
the music and words make images.
On
Brian, Trina covered his passing ("Shrimp Salad Rolls in the Kitchen"). A few of you have e-mailed that
Brian got ignored by the community. No. We weren't aware he had passed
when he passed but Trina covered it when she learned. Another person
passed and your e-mails on that?
I've said many nice things over the years about that artist. When he passed away last month, I had nothing to say. How come?
I
don't promote MAGA. Before you rave over him, you might try reading
the book that no one bothered to. It's his book. In it, he's
slobbering over Donald Chump.
Stan
reviewed the book and noted that in his review. As a result? None of
us give a s**t about the artist. He crashed and burned decades ago, he
became a CHUMPER in his last ten or so years of life, not interested in
noting his passing or even mentioning his name.
Stevie Wonder had the perfect response to ongoing rumors that he is not actually blind.
During
a show for his Love, Light and Song U.K. tour in Cardiff, Wales, the
singer poked fun at the wild speculation and addressed the crowd: "I
must say to all of you, something that I was thinking, ‘When did I want
to let the world know this?' But I wanted to say it right now. You know
there have been rumors about me seeing and all that? But seriously, you
know the truth."
He continued: "Truth is, shortly after my
birth, I became blind. Now, that was a blessing because it's allowed me
to see the world in the vision of truth, of sight. See people in the
spirit of them, not how they look. Not what color they are, but what
color is their spirit?"
Wonder
has kept things lighthearted when discussing his blindness. During a
2015 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, the musician
listed a catalog of the best advantages of being blind including, "You
can act like you don't see nothing when you really do" and "You can say
you didn't see that when you did."
Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Grifters fall in line with Chump, his crooked
administration continues to prove that they are the dumbest and the
dimmest, GOP take our John Kerry please, and much more.
MORNING JOE today exposes the grifters.
Are they all as feckless as Charlie Kirk and Laura Ingraham?
Chump gives the marching orders to drop the topic and they fall in line.
I'm
sorry, it's not that simple. If they're going to finally drop the
lies, fine. Honestly fine. Right after you acknowledge you have been
lying for a decade about this bulls**t and after you apologize for these
years of lying and after you tell us how you're going to prevent
yourself from taking part in a massive lie like this again.
Hillary Clinton.
Joe's
talking about "men." No, the lies also dragged Hillary Clinton into
this nonsense, the lie called her a pedophile. It's hilarious, isn't
it, how they spent the 90s forward calling Hillary a "cold fish" and
making her out to be sexelss only to turn around and start up nonsense
about her being in an EYES WIDE SHUT pedo ring. And Stanley Kurbrick!
Your lies had Stanley murdered. Remember that? Your lies had brave
Stanley Kubrick making EYES WIDE SHUT as an expose and being murdered
for it.
But EYES WIDE SHUT wasnt about a pedo ring, was it?
No.
It
was a really bad movie that was dead if it wasn't one of the few
minutes Nicole Kidman was onscreen. Tom Cruise was never so sexless
onscreen.
You lied.
Over and over you lied. You dragged innocents like Tom Hanks into your lies.
And they were lies.
Right, Charlie? Right, Laura?
You were lying.
And you knew it.
Otherwise, you wouldn't be dropping it now, right?
Unless,
oh, my goodness, are Charlie Kirk and Laura Ingraham part of a pedo
ring! Are they Epstein enablers!!!!! They are!!! That's why they're
covering up now!!!!
You want people to drop the
topic of Epstein. Then explain why. Explain to your audiences that
you lied. Explain that you lied because you will say anything to distort
reality and to advance your right wing goals. Confess that you're just
cheap little hustlers who actively set out to deceive people in order
to influence them.
You know, I had more
respect for these whores when they were lying that Tom Hanks was
molesting and sacrificing children. Tom Hanks. If Tom Hanks has a
flaw, its that he's too damn nice.
But that's how insane you were and what big liars you were.
I get it. You had a product to sell: Donald Chump.
A
non-Christian, failed businessman with multiple bankruptcies repeatedly
accused of sexually assaulting women and beating a wife.
That
was the product that you were selling. To sell that garbage, you had
to invent something worse. So you lied bout people and smeared them
with the worst lies you could think of.
And now
that these lies no longer help Chump and now that he's ordered you to
drop the subject, you think you can. In front of everyone, you think
you can just drop it and act like it never happened.
It's not that easy and you stand exposed for the cheap liars you truly are, you stand exposed in front of the world.
And guess what? You can cave all you want but it's not going to go away just because you caved for Chump.
Next topic, Barack has spoken.
Early on when Barack Obama was
campaigning for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, he
offered tough talk that sometimes rubbed those of us in the Black
community wrong. We would wonder if, for example, certain remarks about
Black fathers were being made more because his own father abandoned
him. Those remarks were never really forgotten and they popped up
throughout his presidency. I'm not rehashing this, I'm bringing it up
for a reason. In the lead up to the elections, Barack spoke to and of
young Black men and the need for them to turnout. I didn't call him out
and I didn't defend him. I didn't highlight those calling him out over
this because to me, his words were straightforward and needed. But,
again, I did understand the reaction because of past reactions when the
topic was Black males. Barack's offered some tough talk again -- for
all genders and races. Arlette Saenz (CNN) reports:
Former
President Barack Obama issued a call to action for Democrats at a
private fundraiser in New Jersey on Friday evening, urging those
frustrated by the state of the country under President Donald Trump to
“stand up for the things that you think are right.”
“I
think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little
less whining and being in fetal positions. And it’s going to require
Democrats to just toughen up,” Obama said at the fundraiser, according
to excerpts of his remarks exclusively obtained by CNN.
“You
know, don’t tell me you’re a Democrat, but you’re kind of disappointed
right now, so you’re not doing anything. No, now is exactly the time
that you get in there and do something,” he said. “Don’t say that you
care deeply about free speech and then you’re quiet. No, you stand up
for free speech when it’s hard. When somebody says something that you
don’t like, but you still say, ‘You know what, that person has the right
to speak.’ … What’s needed now is courage.”
Obama’s
comments come as the Democratic Party searches for its path forward in
the second Trump term and beyond. Many in the party’s base have called
for a more forceful response from Democratic leaders at a time when the
party is locked out of power.
As Democrats
debate who should lead the party, Obama encouraged them to channel their
energy into the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia, saying the
off-year elections could be “a big jumpstart for where we need to go.”
I
agree with one caveat. Black women. We were attacked and we were
disrespected. From the right? Oh, always. It doesn't even surprise us
anymore at this late date. But in 2024, we were attacked by others on
the left. We were savaged and attacked. Tabitha at TABITHA SPEAKS
POLITICS has documented this at length. So my caveat is that if you're a
Black woman and you're taking time to heal and focus on other things
after the attacks we suffered, you continue to take care of yourself.
When you're ready to come back, you can. And that day may never come.
If so, I understand.
For those of us who are back in the battle, I think there's a great deal of wisdom in Barack's words.
“Stop
looking for the quick fix. Stop looking for the messiah. You have great
candidates running races right now. Support those candidates,” Obama
said, calling out the New Jersey and Virginia elections, according to
the excerpts of his remarks.
“Make sure that
the DNC has what it needs to compete in what will be a more data-driven,
more social media-driven cycle, which will cost some money and
expertise and time,” he continued.
The
U.S. Justice Department unit charged with defending against legal
challenges to signature Trump administration policies - such as
restricting birthright citizenship and slashing funding to Harvard
University - has lost nearly two-thirds of its staff, according to a
list seen by Reuters.
Sixty-nine
of the roughly 110 lawyers in the Federal Programs Branch have
voluntarily left the unit since President Donald Trump's election in
November or have announced plans to leave, according to the list
compiled by former Justice Department lawyers and reviewed by Reuters.
The
tally has not been previously reported. Using court records and
LinkedIn accounts, Reuters was able to verify the departure of all but
four names on the list.
Attorney
General Pam Bondi has dismissed the Justice Department's top ethics
lawyer, Joseph Tirrell, according to a post he shared on LinkedIn.
Tirrell,
a Navy veteran, posted a copy of his termination letter on the platform
Friday, noting that it resembled notices received by other DOJ
employees. The letter included a typo, misspelling his name as "JOSPEH."
Well,
I think we always suspected -- and certainly expected -- that Pam Bondi
is illiterate and doesn't know how to read. That may be why she has
her 'vetting' problems. Back to the article:
"Until
Friday evening, I was the senior ethics attorney at the Department of
Justice responsible for advising the Attorney General and Deputy
Attorney General directly on federal employee ethics," he wrote, in
part, on LinkedIn. "I was also responsible for the day-to-day operations
of the ethics program across the Department.
"I
led a small, dedicated team of professionals and coordinated the work
of some 30 other full-time ethics officials, attorneys, paralegals and
other specialists across the Department of Justice, ensuring that the
117,000 Department employees were properly advised on and supported in
how to follow the Federal employee ethics rules."
She'll
run everyone out that she can and, all the while, pretend she's doing
her job. I really marvel, by the way, and I've noted this before, over
all the sex whispers that attach to her in DC. Is the really the
dominatrix that rumos insist she is?
Related,
Little Marco's on a firing drive at the US State Dept.
Speaking of stupid, John Kerry. May he rot in hell for this.
He's a back stabber and he always has been (he was my US senator for
years). He cheats on his wife and pretends he's so moral. All he ever
does is stab the backs of people who've helped him. That's his wife,
that's the voters, that's the Democratic Party. He'll turn 82 years old
this year. It's time for him to sit his tired ass down. It's also
past time for him to stop having plastic surgery. It was bad in 2013
but his work since then is only more ridiculous.
And if
John Kerry wants to flap his useless gums again, how about he call out
the way Rubio's destroying the Secretary of State post? Or has John
forgotten he himself was once Secretary of State? He's forgotten a
great deal as he rushes to praise Chump.
John
is a backstabber to the extreme. He hasn't been so disgusting since
his I-was-for-the-war-before-I-was-against-it b.s. He was Secretary of
State. He needed that post after his stupid mouth ensured he would
never be president. Following his 2004 run, Kerry went to California
and made a 'joke' in his mind about how students better do well in high
school or they'd end up in Iraq and since the country was still actively
deploying to Iraq, his remarks offended many. As we noted the day he
pulled that nonsense, his chance to ever be president was gone. He
could have ended up just a senator who tried but never moved beyond
that; however, Barack made him Secretary of State. And last week, when
John should have been defending the State Dept employees, he was instead
found praising Donald Chump.
John
Kerry owed it to them to stick up for them. Instead, he wasted his
time defending Chump. We see you, John. And you're someone who
disgusts so many of us who are Democrats with your actions that always
advance you and not the party.
Chump
has the worst and most unqualified administration of all time. The
worst and the dimmest? The dumbest and the dimmest.
Economists Robert Reich and Dean Baker both
weighed in yesterday. Robert writes:
The
conventional explanation for why Trump’s second term is far more
extreme than his first (which was extreme enough) is that the guardrails
are now gone.
The people who occupied
significant roles in the White House and Cabinet during his first
administration — who talked him out of (or subverted) his illegal and
unconstitutional cravings — are no longer there. In their places are
loyalists who will do whatever he wants.
But this conventional view overlooks a more important explanation.
He’s
more extreme this time because he’s attracted people around him who are
also extreme and pushing him to new levels of malevolence.
I’ve
served under three presidents and advised a fourth. In every case, I’ve
seen the same pattern: A president acts as a magnet, drawing into the
highest levels of his administration people who not only share his
values but amplify them.
When
a president wants to do a decent job — at the least, respecting
democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law — the magnet produces
an administration of people who respect our institutions of
self-government.
But when a president is malevolent, those drawn to him are among the most fanatical and dangerous in the land.
Richard
Nixon — the most malevolent president in recent American history before
Trump — drew to the White House a collection of bottom-feeding crooks:
H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Attorney General John Mitchell, Chuck
Colson, Egil Krogh, G. Gordon Liddy, and E. Howard Hunt. They amplified
Nixon’s worst paranoid and criminal tendencies.
Twisted people who surround a twisted president encourage his malevolence.
They also provide him a chorus of group-think approval.
They embolden one another as they destroy norms for how White House and Cabinet appointees are supposed to behave.
Which describes the Chump administration. Dean offers:
We
all know and expect that a president’s top appointees are picked in
large part because of their willingness to carry out a president’s
agenda. But usually these are people with some experience in the areas
that they are overseeing. Insofar as this is not the case, they can
generally rely on the high-level career officials in the departments or
agencies under their control to make sure that necessary tasks get
accomplished.
Unfortunately,
this is not the case now. The main and possibly only qualification for
Trump’s top appointees is the ability to tell blatant lies with a
straight face. He has picked people who not only have no background in
the areas they oversee, they don’t even have the most basic
understanding of their responsibilities. And in many cases they have
fired or marginalized the career people with expertise.
Starting
at the top, Trump picked a former Fox talk show host with a drinking
problem, Pete Hegseth, to be his Secretary of Defense. Secretary Hegseth
apparently didn’t know that he shouldn’t be making war plans on
unsecured channels and without knowing who was included in the
conversations. He apparently also didn’t know that his wife should not
be included in the discussions.
Hundreds of people just died in Texas because of this failure, and we are virtually certain to see far worse in the future.
Trump
has a Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, who claims he doesn’t know
that tariffs (import taxes) are taxes. Since tariffs are among the
oldest form of taxes, long predating the income tax, this is a pretty
elementary point that a Treasury Secretary would be expected to know.
Kristi
Noem, Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary, didn’t know what habeas
corpus is. Since that is basic right guaranteed by the Constitution, it
would be rather important for the person controlling the largest federal
police force to be familiar with the concept.
While
knowledge of their areas may not be a strong point for top Trump
officials, lying in front of TV cameras is an area of real expertise. We
see this constantly.
And he's right
as well. Again it's not the worst or the dimmest serving in the
administration, it's the dumbest and the dimmest.
As Ben notes at MEIDASTOUCH NEWS, Chump is rotting from the inside and out.
The prospect that the Trump-appointed attorney general, FBI director, and his top deputy could be dragged down over Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theories makes my head hurt.
None
of them is fit for office. They’ve ransacked the Justice Department.
They remain eager to abuse their offices to curry favor with the White
House. But in this era that’s not enough to run them out of town. What
might be enough is failing to properly perform one of the MAGA cult’s
ritualistic dances. Suddenly Attorney General Pam Bondi is on the outs,
with her two top FBI underlings threatening to turn on her and join the
mob.
For those of us on the outside looking in, it’s not just baffling but enervating. Watching President Trump try to call off the MAGA mob is surreal.
What’s
most important about this whole sordid episode is likely to be the
lengths Bondi will go to shore up her position in MAGA world. She seems
perfectly willing to and entirely capable of committing further
transgressions of the rule of law in order to demonstrate her MAGA bona
fides and stave off demands that she be sacked.
It’s
difficult to parse which of Bondi’s latest outrages were already in the
works and which are self-protective. But credit the national political
coverage over the past few days with at least acknowledging
that there might be a connection between the Epstein blowback and
unusual DOJ moves like confirming the criminal investigations of John
Brennan and James Comey.
In addition, Bondi has:
fired
another 20 DOJ employees, including prosecutors, support staff, and
U.S. marshals, who were involved in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Trump
prosecutions
fired without explanation DOJ’s most senior ethics official, Joseph Tirrell, a career employee who had been with the department for nearly 20 years
dropped charges against a Utah plastic surgeon who had become a MAGA darling even though jury selection was already underway for a trial on charges he sold fake Covid-19 vaccine cards.
The
traditional tools of the Justice Department are now just baubles to be
used for self-preservation by the attorney general and ultimately by the
president. We are so deep into not normal.
Rep.
Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) said he supports Democrats’ threats to shut
down the government if Republicans proceed with a planned rescissions
package, saying his party should use all the leverage they can to
prevent cuts to previously approved funding.
“I
say it’s time to stand up for the American people,” Subramanyam said in
an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday,” when asked what he
thinks about a potential shutdown.
“It doesn’t
matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. I mean, I’m hearing from
both sides. They’re fed up with this administration, and they want to
see some changes, not just in this administration, but even in the
Democratic Party,” he continued.
“And, so, yes, absolutely, the time to fight was yesterday,” he added.
Republicans
are ramping up efforts to pass a rescissions package that President
Trump requested last month, which includes more than $9 billion in
funding cuts for foreign aid and public broadcasting programs.
Where
do you stand on it? I support bringing it to a standstill. I support a
real and full fight to push back against these cuts. And in terms of
public broadcasting, let me note this from a post Ruth did around the
4th:
And you can't talk the economy without talking Chump's war on immigrants. David Edwards reports:
Two
Omaha restaurant locations have closed after their owner reported
receiving a subpoena from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
seeking the immigration status of its employees.
In
a Facebook post on Sunday, Fernando's Omaha said it was cooperating
with the DHS inquiry. However, the subpoena resulted in the loss of some
workers, causing the two restaurant locations to close temporarily.
Without
the employees, they can't keep the restaurants open. How long will the
closings last? How many other businesses will be impacted.
CNN
chief data analyst Harry Enten revealed Monday how President Donald
Trump’s polling on immigration has plummeted in recent months.
Last
week, a new poll from Gallup showed that Trump’s net approval rating on
immigration had dropped to a staggering 27%. Among Republican voters,
support for reducing immigration decreased from 88% last year to just
48%.
On Monday morning, Enten broke down several
other polls to show that, although the numbers weren’t as extreme as the
Gallup poll, Trump has been gradually losing support for his
immigration crackdown:
Take a look at this:
Trump’s net approval rating on immigration. Got five numbers for you
across the screen here. A lot of focus on Gallup of minus 27. That’s
horrible. Quinnipiac University — minus 16. That’s awful. Marist is bad
at minus 9. IPSOS is minus 8. Fox at minus 7. Bad! So going from your
left side, bad to just downright terrible on the right side of your
screen.
The American people have turned against
President Donald Trump on what was his best issue, one in which he had a
positive that approval rating for most of his term and arguably the
issue that got him, of course, the GOP nomination all the way back in
2016, and one of the issues, of course, he used last year to quite a
successful degree.
Enten then flipped to
another image on the digital board showing that Trump’s net approval
rating with Hispanics dropped to negative 26. Near the beginning of his
term, his net approval rating within the group was only negative 2. That
earlier figure, as Enten noted, was historically good for Republican
candidates.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warrene's office.
The lawmakers blasted the
administration for its abrupt notice and illegal freeze of the funds,
which has sent school districts and programs nationwide scrambling.
“We are shocked by the
continued lack of respect for states and local schools evidenced by this
latest action by the administration… This rash decision will only
worsen school working conditions and teacher shortages.”
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.) joined Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders
(I-Vt.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), along with 28 of their colleagues,
in demanding the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ
Vought and Department of Education (ED) Secretary Linda McMahon
immediately release the nearly $7 billion in funding for K-12 schools
and adult literacy programs across America that is currently being
illegally withheld by the Trump administration.
The abrupt decision by the Trump administration to withhold this
funding has left school districts nationwide struggling to find ways to
fill the massive budget hole. School districts have made clear they will have to end after-school programs and have already told parents to prepare backup options, while adult literacy programs have already been forced to lay off staff.
The members note that the 10,000 school programs benefited
approximately 1.4 million students across the nation, and the latest
report by ED showed significant improvements in student attendance,
grades, and teacher reports of student engagement in learning.
“These centers also help working parents by providing a safe and
productive place for their children to be after the school day ends and
during the summer months,” wrote the lawmakers. “It is beyond
comprehension why the administration would want to jeopardize these
outcomes.”
The Trump administration has confirmed it is blocking funding for the
following programs, all of which are programs President Trump has
requested to eliminate in his budget request, raising serious concerns
about this administration’s intentions to simply impound the funding:
Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants (Title II-A), which
support professional development and other activities to improve the
effectiveness of teachers and school leaders, including reducing class
sizes.
21st Century Community Learning Centers (Title IV-B), which support
high-quality before- and after-school programs focused on providing
academic enrichment opportunities for students.
Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (Title IV-A), which
provide flexible funding for school districts for a wide range of
activities, including supporting STEM education, accelerated learning
courses, college and career counseling, school-based mental health
services, and improving school technology, among many others.
English Language Acquisition (Title III-A), which supports language
instruction to help English language learners become proficient in
English.
Migrant Education (Title I-C), which supports the educational needs
of migratory children, including children of migrant and seasonal
farmworkers.
Adult Basic and Literacy Education State Grants (including Integrated
English Literacy and Civics Education State Grants), which support
adult education and literacy programs to provide the basic skills to
help prepare adults and out-of-school youth for success in the
workforce.
The letter was also signed by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Mazie
Hirono (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.),
Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), John Fetterman
(D-Pa.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeanne Shaheen
(D-N.H.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Martin
Heinrich (D-N.M.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Maggie
Hassan (D-N.H.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Brian
Schatz (D-Hawaii), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.),
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Maria Cantwell
(D-Wash.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy
Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).
Senator Warren launched the Save Our Schools campaign in a coordinated effort to fight back against President Trump’s attempts to abolish the Department of Education:
On July 3, 2025, Senator Warren led her colleagues in submitting an amicus brief for NAACP v. US,
arguing to the United States District Court District of Maryland that
President Trump’s attempts to dismantle the Department of Education (ED)
violate separation of powers and lack constitutional authority.
On June 10, 2025, Senator Warren met
with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and delivered over 1,000
letters to McMahon that the senator had received from people in all 50
states who were worried about the Secretary’s efforts to dismantle ED.
On June 9, 2025, Senator Warren led her colleagues in pushing the
Acting Inspector General of ED to open an investigation into new
information obtained by her office revealing that DOGE may have gained
access to two FSA internal systems, in addition to sensitive borrower
data.
On May 20, 2025, Senator Warren and 27 other senators pushed for full funding for the Office of Federal Student Aid.
On May 14, 2025, Senator Warren led a Senate forum
entitled “Stealing the American Dream: How Trump and Republicans Are
Raising Education Costs for Families,” highlighting the consequences of
Secretary Linda McMahon’s reckless dismantling of the Department of
Education (ED) and President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” for working-
and middle-class students and borrowers.
On May 13, 2025, Senator Warren agreed
to meet with Education Secretary Linda McMahon and promised to bring
questions and stories from Americans across the country to highlight how
the Trump administration’s attacks on education are hurting American
families.
On May 6, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren highlighted
the consequences of President Trump and Secretary Linda McMahon’s
reckless dismantling of the Department of Education for American
families in a Senate forum.
On April 24, 2025, Senator Warren launched a new investigation
into the harms of President Trump’s attacks on the Department of
Education, seeking information on the impact of the Trump
administration’s actions from the members of twelve leading
organizations representing schools, parents, teachers, students,
borrowers, and researchers.
On April 10, 2025, following a request
led by Senator Warren, the Department of Education’s Acting Inspector
General agreed to open an investigation into the Trump administration’s
attempts to dismantle the Department of Education.
On April 2, 2025, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Mazie Hirono, along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, sent a letter
to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon regarding the Department of
Government Efficiency’s proposed plan to replace the Department of
Education’s federal student aid call centers with generative artificial
intelligence chatbots.
On April 2, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren launched
the Save Our Schools campaign to fight back against the Trump
administration’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education (ED)
and highlight the consequences for every student and public school in
America.
On March 27, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) led
a letter to Acting Department of Education Inspector General (IG) René
Rocque requesting that the IG conduct an investigation of the Trump
Administration’s attempts to dismantle the Department of Education.
On March 20, 2025, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders led
a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon regarding the Trump
Administration’s decision to slash the capacity of Federal Student Aid
to handle student aid complaints.
On February 24, 2025, in a response to Senator Warren, Secretary McMahon gave her first public admission that she “wholeheartedly” agreed with Trump’s plans to abolish the Department of Education.
On February 11, 2025, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim sent
Linda McMahon, Secretary-Designate for the U.S. Department of Education,
a 12-page letter with 65 questions on McMahon's policy views in advance of her nomination hearing.
