Wednesday, April 01, 2026

Journey, Chrissie Hynde, Carly Simon, Bruce Springsteen

If I say "Don't Stop Believing"?  You say: Journey!  Journey was a major bad in the 80s.  These days?  It's on a farewell tour and suffering from one liar.  Devon Ivie (VULTURE) reports:


For a band that once advised its listeners to love, touch, and squeeze each other, Journey has endured some ridiculous drama over the past few years, insofar that two of its founding members, Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain, are sharing the stage every night on the band’s current farewell tour despite having active lawsuits filed against each other. Septuagenarian fights about management and overspending aren’t new to the rock industry, but if sullying the name of Steve Perry comes into play, we’ll need to defend our man posthaste. In a new Rolling Stone article, Cain admitted that he purposely lied about Perry’s interest in reuniting with Journey for the band’s tour, which he set into motion with a February interview with Ultimate Classic Rock. “I just kind of planted a little seed out,” Cain now told Rolling Stone. “I was trying to fish a little bit, and say, ‘Well, he’s thinking about it.’ He came immediately out and said, ‘No, I’m not.’ I kind of did that on purpose, because there’s just so much fake AI stuff going on. You just look at it and go, ‘Wait a minute, no, that’s not true. None of this is true.’” Cain — who identifies as MAGA — got his wish for a 24-hour news cycle to rile up fans, as Perry had to refute the rumors and “gently put them to rest.” Seems like a great use of everyone’s time.


Cain presents himself as a Christian but he lies to the public?  On Journey, Zara Irshad (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE) reports:

Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain is defending his outspoken Christian faith and conservative values amid ongoing tensions within the Bay Area rock group, which recently set out on its Final Frontier farewell tour.

Cain and his bandmates each spoke separately with Rolling Stone ahead of opening night of their tour at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. While the band's conversations bounced from Journey's decades-long legal drama, including with former frontman Steve Perry, and hesitation to return to the road, Cain's portion of the interview also touched on his religious beliefs and support of President Donald Trump.
[. . .]
The comments come after a period of internal friction among the six-member group, with Journey co-founder and lead guitarist Neal Schon blaming Cain for the chasms that have formed in recent years between its current lineup. He claims that Cain's advocacy of Trump's MAGA agenda and right-wing, evangelical causes has compromised the group's apolitical origins.

"We were never going to affiliate politics with our music, and we're never going to affiliate any one religion … Why attach yourself into one portion of something," Schon said. "You're going to lose half your fans when you do that. It's everybody's music. I just don't agree with it. I still don't. And it's probably one of the reasons that things are still a bit shaky."



Jonathan Cain apparently wants to be the new Pat Boone.  That's what he is and that's as cultured as he isn't.  Go away, Cain, go away.  


The Pretenders are a band that tours and records to this day.  Chrissie Hynde is the front person.  Paul Brannigan (LOUDER SOUND) notes:


Chrissie Hynde arrived in London in May 1973, aged 21, knowing almost no-one in the English capital. Within a year, she had a freelance gig writing for Britain's best-known music magazine, the New Musical Express, and a side hustle working at SEX, the Kings Road boutique run by designer Vivienne Westwood and her then-partner (and future Sex Pistols manager) Malcolm McLaren. Both gigs gave her a front row seat for the birth of punk rock in England, but Hynde was never going to be satisfied with being merely an observer or bit-part player in this new movement. And she credits Lemmy from Motorhead for his piviotal role in her move to centre stage with her own band, The Pretenders.
"Without him, the Pretenders wouldn't have happened," she stated plainly to podcaster Marc Maron in 2014.

"The first time I clapped eyes on him was in a shop on the King’s Road," Hynde wrote in her 2015 memoir Reckless: My Life as a Pretender . "We exchanged no words at all. He eyed me up and down, moved in close, dipped the silver tube he wore on a chain around his neck into a plastic bag of white powder, shoved it up my snout, then turned around and walked out. I was up for three days."

Carly Simon is in the news as well.  CRACKED does a photo essay on her.  At least two shots are dated from the 1970s when they are from the 80s -- one is when she's singing on Martha's Vineyard -- her HBO concert to promote her album COMING AROUND AGAIN.  If you have CARLY SIMON COMPLETE (a book of sheet music covering the songs she wrote for her five albums), then you have a lot of the photos in the essay.  

And Bruce Springsteen's in the news with his new tour.  Ed Mazza (HUFFINGTON POST) notes:



Rock icon Bruce Springsteen delivered a blunt message to President Donald Trump and his administration on Tuesday night during a politically charged tour opener in Minneapolis. 

“The America that I love, the America that I’ve written about for 50 years, that’s been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless and treasonous administration,” Springsteen said at the start of the show to cheers from the audience. 



The 76-year-old took to the stage at Minneapolis' Target Center on Tuesday, March 31, directing his criticism at the president, Pam Bondi and the "richest men in America." Springsteen began the evening by delivering a pointed message to Trump, opening with Edwin Starr's classic War before launching into Born in the U.S.A.
However, it was midway through Springsteen's performance that he unleashed his most forceful critique of the 79-year-old Trump. "We are living through some very dark times. Our American values that have sustained us for 250 years are being challenged as never before," Springsteen declared as he began his address. He had also recently condemned the president during his appearance at the No Kings protest in Minnesota.
During his on-stage remarks, the Thunder Road singer took aim at the current conflict in Iran. "We've got our young men and women's lives at risk In an unconstitutional and illegal war. This is happening now," he stated.

Turning his attention to Trump's immigration agenda, Springsteen declared, "There are immigrants being held in detention centers around the country and being deported without due process of law to alien countries and foreign gulags. This is happening now."

Closing with C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Wednesday, April 1, 2026.  Chump due to address the nation tonight regarding his Iran War, federal judge rules against him in his attack on NPR and PBS, Kristi Noem gets some attention, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon deserves some attention for being named in a pedo lawsuit, and much more. 



As former secretaries of defense, we understand the profound responsibility of deploying our men and women in uniform into harm’s way. It is critical that there be a clear objective, a strategy to achieve the objective and an endgame to bring our forces back home. The president, Congress and the American people should be unified when a country goes to war.

There are now over 50,000 troops stationed in the Middle East, with President Trump reportedly considering sending forces on missions to extract Iran’s uranium or to occupy Kharg Island. Both operations are very risky and could result in heavy casualties and prolong the war.

Because their lives are on the line, we owe it to these committed American service members and their families to be truthful about the risks involved and why we are at war. There was a case to be made that Iran had a history of threatening the stability of the United States, Israel and other nations in the Middle East. Its leaders’ support for terrorism, arming dangerous proxy forces, developing large numbers of missiles that could strike regional targets and efforts to develop nuclear capability represented a genuine threat to peace and stability in the region.

But it is also true that the 12-day war waged by Israel and the United States against Iran in June weakened Tehran and its proxies, damaged missile and airstrike capabilities and set back the project to develop a nuclear bomb. By July, Iran was no longer an imminent threat — a conclusion supported by our intelligence agencies.


This morning, NPR reports:

President Trump is set to address the nation on the Iran war at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday night, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying he would be providing "an important update," without providing further details.

On Tuesday, Trump said he expected the conflict to be over in two to three weeks, adding, "we'll be leaving very soon," and promising gas prices would then "come tumbling down."

Trump shrugged off what would happen to the blockaded Strait of Hormuz – which has cut off one fifth of the world's oil supply – saying, "we're not going to have anything to do with it." He said that it wouldn't affect the U.S. and would be something for other countries to deal with.

"They'll be able to fend for themselves," he said, having previously told European allies who have refused to enter the war to "go get your own oil!"

The assertion to wrap up the war quickly comes just days after Trump threatened to up the ante if there was no deal and Tehran didn't reopen the strait. He said he could seize Iran's oil and blow up all of their Electric Generating Plants and desalinization plants. He also said he was considering an invasion of Iran's key oil export terminal, Kharg Island.


So will Chump announce that tonight?  If so, will he stick to it or will it just be more disposable words about this war of choice?  Will it happen or will he TACO again?  At least 13 American service members have died in Chump's war of choice, over 3000 more have been left injured, between 1,500 and 3,4000 Iranians are estimated to have been killed.  


And after four weeks, Chump's finally going to address the nation about this war of choice he started.  





The Department of Homeland Security permitted a Mexican woman to return Monday to the United States after a judge found her deportation was unlawful, a rare reprieve at a time when growing numbers of immigrants who arrived as children are being targeted for removal.

A federal judge had ordered DHS to facilitate Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez’s return to the United States, after immigration officers deported her to Mexico even though she is actively enrolled in an Obama administration program that prohibits her removal because she arrived in the U.S. as a child.
Stacy Tolchin, her immigration attorney, and Ivonne Rodriguez, an advocate, confirmed Estrada had returned to California.

“This has been one of the most painful experiences of my life,” Estrada said after arriving in California. “I followed the rules. I trusted the system. And for that, I was ripped away from my daughter, Damaris, without warning. I’m home now — but what happened to me is wrong, and it should never happen to anyone.”

Estrada, 42, is one of dozens, if not hundreds, of immigrants enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program who have been arrested and, in some cases, deported, since President Donald Trump started his second term. Former DHS secretary Kristi L. Noem, who was ousted this month, alleged that most had criminal histories and were therefore eligible for removal. But congressional Democrats say Trump is targeting a group that had cleared background checks and been promised to be shielded from deportation.


Maria is just one of the many harmed by Kristi Noem.  The freak. Some of her victims are dead.  Some are being tortured in other countries.   She has a lot of blood on her hands.  And she has a lot of nerve asking for privacy.  Yes, there's her alleged years long affair with Corey Lewandowski who is married.  And Kristi's married. But that's not what she's asking for privacy over  Do we go there?  Let's. Ahmad Austin Jr. (MEDIAITE) covers it:

 
Former Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem was reportedly “devastated” by the bombshell allegations of her husband’s double life involving crossdressing.
On Tuesday morning, Daily Mail published a explosive report alleging that Noem’s husband, Bryon Noem, liked to cross-dress and regularly contacted fetish models. Included in the report were numerous photos of Bryon dressed in women’s clothing, with what appeared to be two balloons under the shirts to imitate breasts. Daily Mail also claimed that Bryon “lavished praise on their surgically-enhanced bodies” and “confessed his lust for ‘huge, huge ridiculous boobs.'”

THE DAILY MAIL published photos and texts.  TMZ adds:

The statement reads, "Ms. Noem is devastated. The family was blindsided by this, and they ask for privacy and prayers at the time."

According to The Daily Mail, Bryon snapped photos of himself wearing oversized fake breasts and chatted with adult performers from the "bimbofication" fetish scene about their massively augmented boobs.





Kristi Noem has made a career out of policing identity. She has pushed laws targeting transgender people, restricted access to care, and framed those decisions as moral clarity about who people are allowed to be. What began as political noise quickly became policy, enforced by the state, often against children. So when a scandal breaks inside her own family, and her response is to ask for privacy, the contradiction is not subtle. It is the system working exactly as designed.

Privacy has never been extended to the people her politics target. Transgender people, and the broader LGBTQ+ community, live under a level of scrutiny that most Americans will never experience. Our identities are debated in legislatures, dissected on television, and reduced to talking points in political campaigns.

Transgender people’s bodies, their health care, their families, and their very existence are treated as public questions to be answered repeatedly, often by people with no stake in the outcome. There is no off switch. No private lane. Just a constant demand to explain, justify, and defend the simple act of being alive.

This would be easier to dismiss as a personal scandal if it were not happening in the middle of a coordinated political project. In 2026 alone, hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills have already been introduced across the country, with hundreds more specifically targeting transgender people, restricting health care, policing schools, and inserting the state into the most private parts of people’s lives. The same politicians driving that effort are the ones now asking for privacy when the scrutiny turns toward them.

So maybe this is a moment to reconsider the rules. If privacy matters, it should matter for everyone. If identity is complex, it should be treated that way in law. And if living honestly is something worth protecting, there are already people doing that work every day, often in the face of the very policies Kristi Noem has championed.



In other Kristi Noem news,   Robert Davis (RAW STORY) notes:

Another ally of former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has found herself in legal jeopardy over delays in responding to a natural disaster, according to a new report.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that Kara Voorhies, who was installed at the Federal Emergency Management Agency by Noem's top advisor, Corey Lewandowski, is facing a DHS Inspector General probe into her role in responding to the deadly floods in Texas last year. Voorhies retained outsized influence on agency contracting and spending decisions while she worked at DHS, according to the report.


Davis notes that this ally of Kristi's is "the second Noem ally to come under legal scrutiny" and that "Tricia McLaughlin, a former DHS spokesperson, and her husband have also faced allegations of benefitting from a massive $220 million advertising contract from DHS, according to reports."  Actually Voorhies is the third.  It would go Tricia, Corey and now Kara.  That's three, not two.  And there will no doubt be many more.  (And I may have forgotten one that's already known.) 

Let's stay with corruption in the administration.  Secretary of Defense Pete Looselips Hegseth.  Joe Sommerlad (DAILY BEAST) reports:


Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s personal broker allegedly approached a major asset manager about making a multimillion dollar investment in defense companies in the weeks leading up to the airstrikes on Iran, according to a report.

The Financial Times, citing three people familiar with the matter, has alleged that Hegseth’s broker at Morgan Stanley reached out to BlackRock in February to inquire about making a significant investment in its Defense Industrials Active ETF.
The inquiry from such a high-profile client was flagged internally at the asset manager, the FT writes, and the investment was ultimately never made as the $3.2 billion equity fund in question was not at that time available for Morgan Stanley clients to buy.

Catherine Bouris (DAILY BEAST) adds, "The Financial Times notes that it is unclear whether the broker representing Hegseth found an alternative defense-focused fund to invest in."  



Turning to Chump's friend, the late Jeffrey Epstein.  The sex trafficker remains in the news. Erkki Forster (DAILY BEAST) notes:

MAGA Rep. James Comer has admitted that President Donald Trump’s Justice Department has “botched” the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The Kentucky Republican was asked on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper on Monday if he had “confidence” in the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein case, with Tapper noting that Attorney General Pam Bondi’s department has not been in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The DOJ identified 6 million Epstein files for potential release, but has only disclosed about 3.5 million.

“Well, I think the Justice Department has botched this,” said Comer, who once described himself as a “Trump man” shortly after the Jan 6. Capitol attack.
[. . .]

He said Bondi blamed the slow release on ongoing class-action lawsuits involving victims, which he said make it difficult for the DOJ to turn over some documents.
It’s unclear what lawsuits Comer or Bondi are referring to. A group of Epstein survivors filed a class-action lawsuit against the DOJ last week over its failure to redact victims’ personal information in the documents, but it’s unclear how that would affect the millions of files still to be released.



Richard Kahn was deposed by the House Oversight Committee last month. After stating that Jane Doe number four received a payout from an Epstein fund for victims, he then disowned his testimony.  Jane Doe number four is the woman who accused Epstein and Chump of assault.  MarĂ­a Teresita Armstrong-Matta (RAW STORY) reports US House Rep Ro Khanna appeared on Jen Psaki's MS NOW program on Sunday and they discussed this issue:

During an appearance on MS NOW, Khanna told Jen Psaki that the FBI interviewed Jane Doe 4 four times, suggesting credibility.
Khanna proposed that Kahn retracted his statement due to fear of Trump directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute him or take retaliatory action. Khanna questioned why Kahn's representatives claimed they could "neither confirm nor deny" payment of a settlement, stating they would definitively know whether funds were disbursed.


Today, the US Supreme Court hears arguments in Chump's efforts to overturn the Constitution and strip people of birth right citizenship.   Chump is said to be planning to attend the hearing.  If so, expect plenty of photos of him sleeping through the arguments.   


A disgraced attorney who tried to help President Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election has been revealed as the secret driving force behind the administration’s effort to end birthright citizenship.

John Eastman has been working for decades to convince the Supreme Court to take up his fringe legal theory that the Constitution doesn’t automatically confer citizenship on virtually all people born in the U.S., despite the 14th Amendment’s explicit guarantees.

The justices will hear oral arguments on the subject Wednesday in a case challenging a Trump executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship.
But the administration has apparently sought to obscure Eastman’s influence on the topic, even as it has embraced his legal theories, according to Politico.

Trump did not mention Eastman—who has been barred from practicing law over his effort to subvert Joe Biden’s election victory—when he signed his executive order, even though Eastman had been pushing Trump to try to end birthright citizenship since the president’s first term in office.

The Justice Department’s briefs also don’t cite any of Eastman’s 100-plus op-eds, interviews, law review articles, debates, speeches, or legislative hearings, despite adhering closely to Eastman’s legal arguments, Politico noted.


Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) reported Monday on a new lawsuit:

The Trump administration was hit Thursday with a new lawsuit from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein over what they say was a “deliberate” oversight from the Justice Department (DOJ).

“The United States, acting through the DOJ, made a deliberate policy choice to prioritize rapid, large-volume disclosure over protection of Epstein survivors’ privacy,” the plaintiffs in the lawsuit said, according to a report from NBC Los Angeles.

“[The DOJ] outed approximately 100 survivors of the convicted sexual predator, publishing their private information and identifying them to the world. Survivors now face renewed trauma. Strangers call them, email them, threaten their physical safety, and accuse them of conspiring with Epstein when they are, in reality, Epstein’s victims.”


We can't talk Epstein and Chump without noting the accusations of sexual misconduct against the Secretary of Education.  From Ann's "Linda McMahon -- grifter and accused of being involved in a pedo ring:"


She's just a con artist and she knows nothing about education.  (She served less than a year on that board.)  She also has an Epstein like connection with the other creeps in Chump's administration per Wikipedia:

In October 2024, McMahon was named as a defendant in a lawsuit accusing her, her husband, and the WWE of negligence regarding the ring boy scandal, in which multiple WWE personnel, including ring announcer Mel Phillips and executives Pat Patterson and Terry Garvin, either resigned or were dismissed in 1992 after being accused of sexually assaulting young boys.[80][81] The lawsuit alleged that the McMahons fostered a culture of sexual abuse within the WWE.[82] The lawsuit was paused by a federal judge in December 2024, pending the outcome of a legal challenge to a state law that could impact the case.[83] The lawsuit was allowed to proceed in February 2025; in April 2025, McMahon filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. She has denied the claims in the lawsuit.[84][85]

Didn't know that until today.  She's accused of being part of a pedophile ring.  I don't think she should be allowed to serve in our government while she's accused of that.  It doesn't look right. 


It's not a good time to be Chump as the corruption is exposed and as court verdicts go against him.  Such as?  Benjamin Mullin (NEW YORK TIMES) notes:

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that President Trump’s executive order barring the federal funding of NPR and PBS violated the First Amendment.

Randolph Moss, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said in his ruling that Mr. Trump’s order, signed last May, was unlawful because it instructed federal agencies to refrain from funding NPR and PBS because the president believed their news coverage had a liberal viewpoint.

“The message is clear: NPR and PBS need not apply for any federal benefit because the president disapproves of their ‘left-wing’ coverage of the news,” Judge Moss wrote. But the First Amendment, he said, “does not tolerate viewpoint discrimination and retaliation of this type.”

The ruling will likely have minimal effect on the federal funding of public media. Two months after the executive order, Congress voted to claw back roughly $500 million in annual funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the organization that distributes federal money to NPR and PBS. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has since shut down, and public radio and TV stations across the country have sought alternate forms of revenue.


Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

ICYMI: Murray, Booker, Lieu Reintroduce Legislation to Ban Conversion Therapy

ICYMI: Murray, Congressional Democrats File Amicus Brief Urging Supreme Court to Support Conversion Therapy Bans

Seattle, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Chiles v. Salazar. The decision rejected a Colorado law that protects children from the harmful practice of conversion therapy, putting at risk the safety and wellbeing of children in Colorado and 23 states around the country—including Washington state—with similar restrictions.

“Conversion therapy is a dangerous practice based on the hateful idea that being part of the LGBTQ+ community is an illness that requires treatment—it’s child abuse. Conversion therapy should be banned nationwide, and I have a bill to do just that because there is no real debate in the medical community—the overwhelming majority of mental health care providers know how harmful this practice is. I’m not going to stop fighting for a world where every person, no matter their gender or sexual orientation, can live with dignity and without fear.”

Senator Murray has consistently fought to ban conversion therapy and ensure that LGBTQ+ people have access to high-quality health care. Last year, Senator Murray, joined by Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-CA-36), reintroduced her Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act legislation that would ban conversion therapy—a practice that has been recognized by the national community of professionals in health, education, social work, and counseling as being both dangerous and useless. Senator Murray first introduced the legislation in the 114th Congress and has pushed to pass it every Congress since.

In addition to Senators Murray and Booker, the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act was cosponsored by Senators Baldwin, Bennet, Blumenthal, Cantwell, Coons, Cortez-Masto, Duckworth, Durbin, Fetterman, Gillibrand, Hassan, Heinrich, Hickenlooper, Hirono, Kaine, Kelly, Kim, King, Klobuchar, LujĂ¡n, Markey, Merkley, Murphy, Padilla, Reed, Rosen, Sanders, Schiff, Shaheen, Slotkin, Smith, Van Hollen, Warren, Welch, Whitehouse, and Wyden.

The legislation was introduced in the House with 70 original cosponsors. The Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act is endorsed by the Congressional Equality Caucus, Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG, American Academy of Pediatrics, Equality California, National Association of School Psychologists, Christopher Street Project, and Advocates for Trans Equality.

Also last year, Senator Murray joined Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate in filing an amicus brief urging the United States Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of Colorado’s ban on mental health professionals engaging in conversion therapy for minors in this case, Chiles v. Salazar.

###



The following sites updated:

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Aretha Franklin, Tom Petty, The Chiffons, Hearts Nancy Wilson and Joni Mitchell

Aretha Franklin remains the queen of soul.  AUTO REVIEW HUB details why including:

Aretha's first studio album, Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo, released in 1961, wasn't a huge financial - or critical - success. Nevertheless, record producer and music historian Frank Driggs had this to say after listening to it: "The word is out. A magnetic new artist, Aretha Franklin, only a short while away from her father's gospel church in Detroit, has been breaking up audience in theatres and nightclubs throughout the country and on Columbia single records. Combining a completely natural and uninhibited vocal style with an irresistible rhythmic sense, Aretha Franklin has established herself as one of the hottest new performers in show business and one likely to set new standards in the entertainment industry. She doesn't just open the door - she breaks it down."



John Landis' 1980 musical comedy "The Blues Brothers," which made one of my /Film colleagues a lifelong fan of the action genre, is based on characters created for "Saturday Night Live" and is a miniature blues hall of fame unto itself. There are cameos from musical legends like James Brown, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, John Lee Hooker, and, of course, the inimitable Aretha Franklin. The makers of "The Blues Brothers" came up with the flimsiest possible excuses to get these musicians to perform, and the audience doesn't mind the contrivance. Any excuse will do if it gets Aretha Franklin to sing "Think." 
In the context of the movie, Franklin plays Mrs. Murphy, the co-owner of a soul food diner and wife of Matt "Guitar" Murphy (himself), the ex-guitarist for the Blues Brothers' band. The Blues Brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi) have arrived at the Murphys' diner to recruit Matt for their band in the hopes of playing a reunion show and earning enough money to save the orphanage where they were raised. Mrs. Murphy implores that Matt not rejoin the band, and she sings "Think," asking him to, well, think about it. It's a standout musical sequence in a film full of standout musical sequences. 

Franklin loved making the movie. She was no stranger to cameras, having first performed on "The Tonight Show Starring Jack Parr" all the way back in 1962. 



Tom Petty almost gave away one of his biggest hits.

For years, “Don’t Do Me Like That” sat forgotten in his catalog, a song he considered too simple to bother with. By the time he began recording Damn the Torpedoes with producer Jimmy Iovine in 1978, the track was already five years old, and Petty was ready to hand it off to another band entirely.

It took a persistent producer and a blunt comment from a studio assistant to convince him otherwise.
As Petty later explained, the song’s origins were surprisingly humble.

“It’s based on something my dad used to say,” he said.

His father’s expression was a simple plea for respect. In Petty’s hands, though, it became something darker. In the song’s story, a jilted friend warns the narrator that the same fate could happen to him, planting a seed of suspicion about his girlfriend.
It made for a compelling narrative hook. Combined with the song’s straightforward chord structure and driving beat, “Don’t Do Me Like That” was clearly a strong tune for Mudcrutch, the band he and guitarist Mike Campbell performed with prior to the formation of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

[. . .]
Released on November 5, 1979 as the lead single from Damn the Torpedos, “Don’t Do Me Like That” went to number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s the group’s only song to reach the top 10 of that chart, and became even more popular in Canada, where it peaked at number three.


Gabriela Silva (PARADE) reports on a sixties classic:


Even some of the greatest songs are met with a bit of drama, and that's exactly what happened to a hit track by American girl group The Chiffons. In 1963, their debut song, written by Ronnie Mack, hit No.1 on the charts 63 years ago and entered a legal battle with a Beatles member.
Out of the Bronx, New York, in 1960, The Chiffons made a name for themselves during the era. The group was originally made up of a trio of schoolmates consisting of lead singer Judy Craig, backed by Patricia Bennett and Barbara Lee. They were discovered by Mack after hearing them harmonise in their school lunch room, and the rest was history.

They released their debut track, "He's So Fine," in January 1963 with the doo-wop band and production company group the Tokens as their backing instrumentals. After the song was recorded, Capitol Records, where the Tokens were house producers, didn't like the track and claimed it was too simple. The Tokens instead decided to shop around the track to different labels before landing on Laurie Records, which immediately jumped on the opportunity.


And, of course, it was later used by George Harrison with his "My Sweet Lord."  That was a solo hit for Harrison, not one of the hits he wrote for the Beatles.  Nancy Wilson notes the Beatles in a recent interview.  Deborah Cruz (PARADE) reports:

Nancy Wilson knows exactly who to thank for her legendary rock career. The Heart guitarist recently revealed that The Beatles sparked the musical fire that led her and sister Ann Wilson to become rock icons.

According to Music News, the 71-year-old rocker opened up about her inspiration during an interview with WJFF Radio Catskill, explaining that she and her sister never set out to be trailblazers in the male-dominated rock world. "The Beatles came out when we were little kids, and The Beatles just drove us to our calling," Wilson shared. "It was just like we were aimed like a pistol from the minute."

Growing up in a musical military family with singing, piano playing and harmony sessions with aunts, uncles and grandparents, the Wilson sisters had the perfect foundation. When The Beatles burst onto the scene, everything clicked into place.
Wilson explained that being women in rock never felt like an obstacle at first. "We had no sexual identity to conform to at the beginning. So we just went ahead, like the military brats that we are — we just joined forces and took no prisoners," she said with a laugh.
According to Britannica, Heart officially formed in 1973 and released their debut album "Dreamboat Annie" in 1975. The album featured instant classics like "Magic Man" and "Crazy on You," launching the sisters into rock stardom. Their powerful blend of hard rock, folk influences and Ann's soaring vocals set them apart.

Let's wind down with Joni.  Olivia Klimek (PARADE) reports:

Picking the best songs ever made is a nearly impossible task. However, there are some tracks that have persevered as undeniable hits.

In 2024, Rolling Stone ranked the 500 best songs of all time, compiling a list of the greatest tracks in history. Ranked among classic hits like Bruce Springsteen's 1975 song "Born to Run" at No. 27 and David Bowie's 1977 song "Heroes" at No. 23, Joni Mitchell's 1971 breakup anthem, "A Case of You," took the No. 26 spot.
Released on her landmark fourth studio album, Blue, "A Case of You" garnered immense critical acclaim. Upon its release, the track was widely recognized by artists for its brilliance and emotional depth. Although the song did not chart alongside the album's other hits, "California" and "Carey," it is regarded as one of the album's most enduring tracks. Today, it has become one of the most covered love songs in history with over 300 recorded renditions, including notable versions by Prince and Diana Krall.
Written by Mitchell, "A Case of You" is a deeply personal account of her relationships with those many believe to be Leonard Cohen and Graham Nash. The track highlights themes of profound loss and identity struggles, amplifying the emotional heartache that comes with a breakup. Mitchell uses imagery comparing her lover to "holy wine" as a metaphor for her partner's intoxicating nature.

Closing with C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Tuesday, March 31, 2026.  Chump talks of possibly ending war on Iran, Pete Hegseth apparently tried to profit from the war, and much more. 



President Donald Trump’s second term hit a dubious new milestone this weekend. No, it wasn’t his war in Iran entering a fifth week, nor was it the shutdown grinding on after Trump personally killed a deal to partially fund DHS. It wasn’t even the president hitting new levels of unpopularity in public polling, or a third “No Kings” day drawing thousands of protesters. Instead, HuffPost can report that the president’s golf habit has crossed the $100 million mark, costing taxpayers at least $101.2 million in travel and security expenses since his return to office.
When Trump arrived at his West Palm Beach golf course on Saturday morning, it marked his 56th visit there since his 2025 inauguration. It was his 110th day on a golf course that he owns — meaning he has played golf on more than one-quarter of his days since returning to the presidency. Per our analysis, Trump is now on track to spend $300 million on his golf habit by the end of his term. 

While the president golfs, the country is at war. Troops describe overwhelming stress and a disillusionment so deep that some are walking away from military service altogether. Gas prices are climbing, and workers are already feeling the pain. Americans are already skipping meals or rationing prescriptions to cover health care costs — and Republicans are plotting further health care cuts to pay for Trump’s war.


Poor Donnie,  The war might distract him from golfing.  


Chump and Netanyahu's war on Iran might wind down, might not.  Yesterday, Chump spoke and was -- as usual -- all over the place.  Aaron Boxerman,Erika Solomon and Sanam Mahoozi (NEW YORK TIMES) report:


President Trump zigzagged from claims of diplomatic progress to renewed threats of destruction on Monday, sending new shocks through oil markets as he sought to pressure Iran to make a deal to end the monthlong war.

Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post that there had been “great progress” in talks with Tehran but warned that if they failed to produce an agreement, he would order the bombardment of Iranian power plants, oil infrastructure and potentially desalination plants. The president has repeatedly threatened such attacks in recent weeks, only to back down, as the global economy reels from the risk to energy supplies.

Despite Mr. Trump’s claim that the United States is in talks with “a new, and more reasonable, regime” in Iran, however, there has been little apparent progress in the negotiations. Iran has denied holding substantive talks with the United States and has rejected the Trump administration’s conditions as unreasonable. The war has raged on, drawing in much of the Middle East, sending oil and gas prices skyrocketing and fracturing Mr. Trump’s political support at home.

As Mr. Trump strains to find an end to a conflict he originally mused would last four to five weeks, he has alternately narrowed his aims — arguing on Sunday that “regime change” in Iran had already been achieved — and raised the prospect of escalation, ordering thousands more U.S. troops to the Middle East, including Marines and Special Operations Forces.


He has no plans because he has no established goals.  He never did.  He started a war with on end goals.  He was encouraged in this by the yes-people who surround him. They started a war and, even now, can't point to any accomplishments.  They just continue it and hope at some point they'll discover a way to say, "It's over!"


Ellie Cook (NEWSWEEK) reports,  "The White House told Newsweek on Monday that the United States does not need 'help from Spain or anyone else' after Madrid closed its airspace to U.S. aircraft involved in the Iran war, a move that underscores Spain’s opposition to U.S. and Israeli military operations in the Middle East."  They don't need help from anyone else?  Well that will be interesting to see. 



Trump’s threats: Trump claimed the US was in “serious discussions” with a “new” regime in Iran and threatened to “completely obliterate” the country’s energy sources if “a deal is not shortly reached.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later claimed there were “fractures” within Iran’s leadership but declined to name the specific people the US is negotiating with. Trump’s former national security adviser dismissed claims the White House is negotiating with a more moderate regime as “just delusional.”
Tehran’s rebuttal: Contradicting both Trump and Rubio, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said there are currently no direct negotiations between the US and Iran. Messages have only been relayed through intermediaries, he claimed. The White House says Tehran’s pessimistic public comments do not reflect private messages being passed between the two sides.


Chump lies about conversations all the time.  And what happens when you lie all the time?  No one believes you.  So people don't believe Chump's talking to anyone in the Iranian government.  And they don't believe that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth would be sitting out press briefings if he had anything worth sharing.  



Once mobilization begins and the war industry is activated, it is difficult to turn back. The war machine is too vast and complex to stop. Now the war against Iran is escalating and seems out of control. This is evident, to begin with, in the words: Iran issued a harsh warning to the United States yesterday that any ground operation against the country will end with the "humiliating capture" of its troops, who will be "food for the sharks of the Persian Gulf".

In this context, the Pentagon has offered, as confessed yesterday by Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, "several intervention options in Iran and the president has not yet made a decision." In the Middle East region, the United States already has over 8,000 deployed ground forces, including paratroopers, marines, and special forces, but Trump has not yet made a decision on the plans presented to him, which include taking one or more islands and even an incursion beyond enemy lines. At the moment, we do not know if Trump will choose one, several at once, or none.
What we do know is that he is not satisfied with that deployment and has asked for more. Another ship for amphibious operations, the USS Boxer, set sail from Hawaii two days ago to head to the Gulf region with thousands of marines on board. It will be the second of its kind, as the USS Tripoli already arrived here on Friday.

Some recall these days that U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War began in 1960 with 900 military advisors, then with 3,500 marines to secure Da Nang airport, and from there to half a million soldiers fighting in 1969.

To replace the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford, which is undergoing repairs in Greek waters, the USS George Bush will also be deployed. Some claim that in reality, the Gerald Ford was damaged by an Iranian missile attack, while the United States maintains that there was a massive fire in the laundry room.

Many journalists covering Defense affairs in Washington have complained about the lack of transparency: it has been 10 days since the last appearance of Hegseth and Caine before the press regarding Iran. There has been no CENTCOM press briefing since March 10, nor any daily Pentagon press conference.



Questions arise over US targets in Iran.  There have been two schools bombed.  ALJAZEERA looks at other targets:

In the densely populated neighbourhoods of southern Tehran, the 11th Criminal Investigation Base once stood as a mundane symbol of local law enforcement. Its detectives investigated economic crimes, fraud and petty thefts.

The building housed no ballistic missiles, no uranium centrifuges and no military command centres. Today, it is a crater. In the opening wave of the United States-Israel war on Iran, warplanes wiped the local police station off the map.
It was not an isolated incident. An investigation by Al Jazeera’s Digital Investigations unit has verified that at least 75 internal security sites were destroyed or damaged in bombardments by Israel and the US from February 28 to March 10. The targeted facilities included local police stations, criminal investigation headquarters, public security offices and checkpoints operated by the Basij paramilitary force.
[. . .]
The spatial distribution of the 75 verified strikes revealed a clear and deliberate strategy. Warplanes bypassed isolated military installations to hit the infrastructure Tehran uses to police its citizens.
The capital alone absorbed 31 strikes, more than 40 percent of the total targets. Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province, suffered eight strikes. The remaining targets were clustered tightly in major western and central cities, including Isfahan, Kermanshah and Hamedan. Meanwhile, Iran’s sprawling eastern and southeastern provinces remained largely untouched by this campaign.

By overlaying the strike coordinates with demographic maps, the investigation shows a near-perfect alignment with urban density. More than 70 percent of Iran’s population lives in these targeted western urban areas.


At THE HILL, James Durso points out, "The ghosts of Baghdad and Kabul should be enough to silence any serious talk of sending American troops into Iran. Yet here we are again, with voices in Washington and Tel Aviv whispering that only boots on the ground can neutralize Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, its local allies and its regional mischief.


On this morning's MEIDASTOUCH NEWS, Ben explains that Chump may, in fact, be abandoning the war. 




Trump’s job-approval ratio at Silver Bulletin on March 4 was at minus-12.5 percent. As of March 30, it’s at minus-17.4 percent, more than 2 percent below the previous second-term low. His average job-approval number stands at 39.7 percent, another second-term low, while his average job-disapproval number is 57.1 percent, a second-term high. On average, 47.2 percent of Americans strongly disapprove of Trump’s performance as president, still another second-term high. Only 22.4 percent strongly approve of Trump’s job performance, another second-term low. That’s an intensity gap of nearly 25 percent, or if you prefer, a ratio of more than two to one.

,

Individual polling trends mostly tell the same story. Fox News polls show Trump’s net job approval sliding from minus-14 percent at the beginning of March to minus-18 percent on March 23. Quantus Insights had him at minus-9 percent at the beginning of March and minus-15 percent on March 26. Reuters-Ipsos showed him sliding from minus-22 percent at the beginning of March to minus-26 percent on March 23. A new UMass survey on March 25 set his job approval at 33 percent, around the same level he was registering after the Capitol Riot. Polls that break out partisan self-identification show the president’s job approval among independents dropping into the 20s (25 percent at Quinnipiac, 29 percent at Economist/YouGov).

It’s tempting to attribute this sudden downward lurch to the Iran war. As Silver Bulletin documents in its polling averages, Trump’s war of choice is quite unpopular: Currently 38.5 percent of Americans support it and 53.9 percent are opposed. But the president is bleeding support on other crucial issues as well. According to Silver Bulletin, on “the economy” Trump’s net approval averages have dropped to a second-term low of minus-22.5 percent, and on “inflation,” he’s hit a really shocking second-term low of minus-35.9 percent.

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In terms of the rapidly approaching midterm elections, there’s a pretty clear trend as well: The Democratic advantage in the generic congressional ballot has hit 2025–2026 highs of 5.9 percent at RealClearPolitics and 5.4 percent at Silver Bulletin.

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If the war in Iran continues, along with elevated gas prices and other bad economic news, there’s no reason to think the current free fall in Trump’s popularity will do anything other than persist, at least until the irreducible minimum of hardcore party-base support is reached. There’s a reason prediction markets strongly favor a Democratic takeover of the U.S. House (84.5 percent at Kalshi and 85 percent at Polymarket) and give even odds of the Senate flipping as well.




President Trump’s approval rating dipped to a new low, and even fewer people surveyed in a new poll said they support his administration’s war efforts against Iran.

In a University of Massachusetts Amherst poll released Monday, 33 percent of respondents said they approve of the president’s job performance. Of the 62 percent who said they disapprove of his work in office, 53 percent expressed “strong” disapproval. 
Exactly 33 percent of the poll’s respondents said they either “somewhat” or “very much” associated themselves with Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, including 77 percent of Republicans and 4 percent of Democrats polled. 

On the issue of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, only 29 percent of respondents said they supported Trump’s handling of strikes against Iran. Sixty-three percent disapproved of his job on this issue. 


Today on MORNING JOE, they addressed Chump's talk that he might be willing to walk away and they addressed his threat of War Crimes. 



Audra D. S. Burch, Andy Newman, Edgar Sandoval, Anna Griffin and Pooja Salhotra (NEW YORK TIMES) note the American people:

As Americans pumped gas into their cars Monday, pennies were getting pumped right out of their pockets. A lot of pennies.

As the Iran conflict entered its fifth week, gas prices had increased about 35 percent since Feb. 28, with the national average hitting $4.02 per gallon on Tuesday. It was the largest increase in decades. The conflict has threatened oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which previously carried a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil.

Motorists in every corner of the country are watching the numbers tick up and — rarely — down. On Monday, New York Times reporters followed along as they made their calculations. 

At a Mobil station on Atlantic Avenue along a popular route to Kennedy International Airport, Mohammed Razzak, an Uber driver, paid $70 on Monday to top up his Chevrolet Suburban, a purchase that would have cost about $53 earlier this year.

“This is too much,” Mr. Razzak, 48, said. “Since the beginning of the war, it’s gone up almost $1 a gallon” — to $3.69, from $2.79.

Uber has offered drivers increased discounts on gas, but Mr. Razzak, who has been driving for 14 years, said his bottom line has gotten steadily worse.

“Every week, I’m spending $100 extra,” he said. “It’s not like my fare is going up every day. We are suffering, all the drivers, all the people — not the government. There’s nothing I can do. No choice.”

Many mornings, Penelope Cepeda drives her mother to work and in the afternoon picks up her sister from school. And she commutes to her own job or to college classes.

She drives a relatively fuel-efficient Kia K4, but the skyrocketing gas prices caused by the Iran war — more than a $1 hike per gallon in Florida over the last month — have cut into an already tight budget. Before the increases, Ms. Cepeda paid about $35 for a tank of gas. That price is now more than $45. For Ms. Cepeda, who earns $12 an hour as in-home caregiver, every penny counts.

“If you’re counting on the dollars that you’re earning by the hour, it’s like, ‘Damn, 80 cents?’” said Ms. Cepeda, a student at Valencia College who fills her tank two or three times a month. “That’s money that I’m losing for my car bill. That’s money that I’m losing for my water bill or my phone bill.”

Ms. Cepeda, 20, gave up on plans to travel for spring break, but hopes gas prices will stabilize by the summer so she can take a vacation.

“Maybe a cruise. Maybe something cheap. If cruises go up, then maybe we’re just going to stay here.”



Last week, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens penned an article that captured the rah-rah-ness of the pro-war crowd and was breathtaking in its short-sighted triumphalism. Headlined “The War Is Going Better Than You Think,” Stephens called for “perspective on the panic over the war in the Middle East” and scolded critics who depict the Iran war as “an unprovoked and unnecessary attack on Iran, launched at Israel’s behest” that is “already a foreign-policy fiasco that has put the global economy at risk without any clear objective or endgame.” Not so, he cried.

His evidence? Comparisons to the past. In 1991, during Operation Desert Storm against Saddam Hussein, the US-led forces lost 75 aircraft. So far not a single piloted plane has been shot down over Iran. At the start of the invasion of Iraq 12 years later, President George W. Bush tried but failed to mount a strike to decapitate Saddam’s regime. This time around, Donald Trump killed Iran’s supreme leader and many high-ranking officials in the initial bombing. And in 2012, when Barack Obama was president, the price of Brent crude oil hit $123 a barrel ($175 in 2026 dollars). So the price of $108 a barrel this past week shouldn’t be such a bother.

Stephens presents a couple of other markers to suggest this war is proceeding just fine, while acknowledging the Trump administration’s “failures in planning, particularly its unwillingness to make a stronger public case for war and get more allies on our side before the campaign began”—which are hardly quibbles. Overall, his advice is to buck up and not be Debbie Downers: “If past generations could see how well this war has gone compared with the ones they were compelled to fight at a frightening cost, they would marvel at their posterity’s comparative good fortune. They would marvel, too, at our inability to appreciate the advantages we now possess.”

Stephens is grasping at tactical straws. Perhaps the US military is putting its hundreds of billions to effective use in terms of the prosecution of the war, though we probably won’t know for certain until there are after-action reports and investigations (if there are any). We do already know that a missile strike that was attributed to US military forces hit a girls’ school and killed about 175 Iranian civilians, most of them students. But looking at the number of bombs dropped or Iranian leaders killed or the fluctuation in the price of oil is not the best way to evaluate this war—especially in these first weeks of the conflict.

Wars are often not easy to judge because the chaos, conflict, and disruption they trigger will yield consequences that last for years, if not decades. It’s easy to gawk at Pentagon videos of Tomahawks raining “death and destruction from above,” as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calls it, and hail the war machine. Much tougher is perceiving the ripples. We have no idea where all this violence will lead. It’s theoretically possible we might end up with a less threatening regime in Tehran and more stability in the Middle East, though that does seem close to magical thinking. However, cheerleading the early stats and proclaiming they bode well for the long run seems purposefully naive.



Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes coutnries helping Iran target the US:

More than one major U.S. adversary is assisting Iran.

China has been sharing intelligence with Iran since roughly two weeks into the war, a “well-placed,” unidentified source “with knowledge” of the situation told HUMINT’s Sasha Ingber. The military cooperation has been ongoing since at least March 10.

[. . .]

Several military officials told The Washington Post on March 6 that Russia shared targeting details with Iran, offering the locations of U.S. military assets such as warships and aircraft across the Middle East. Over the weekend, European allies warned that Russia was aiding Iran more than U.S. officials had let on. They underscored that America’s latest Middle East conflict is intertwined with Russia’s war against Ukraine, reported CBS News.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted Monday that the conflict would be resolved in the coming weeks, though military officials have indicated that the war could rage for months.


And in the US, the greedy have dirty hands. Catherine Bouris (DAILY BEAST) notes:


A broker for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly sought to invest in major defense companies just weeks prior to the commencement of Donald Trump’s war on Iran, a new report has alleged. According to three people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Financial Times, a Morgan Stanley broker representing Hegseth contacted investment firm BlackRock in February about a potential multimillion-dollar investment in its Defense Industrials Active ETF. On Feb. 28, Trump began conducting joint strikes with Israel on Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and starting a new war in the Middle East.


Some video coverage of the war.




Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

ICE Director intent on building warehouse system like “[Amazon] Prime, but with human beings” 

“Cramming tens of thousands of people into warehouses meant for packages, without the ventilation, temperature control, plumbing, or sanitation systems necessary for human habitation, would almost certainly exacerbate…deaths in custody, assaults, and infectious disease outbreaks.”

Letter to CoreCivic (PDF) | Letter to GEO Group (PDF) | Letter to GardaWorld Federal Services (PDF)

Letter to Newmark Group (PDF) | Letter to KVG LLC (PDF) | Letter to PNK Group (PDF)

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, led 52 members of Congress in a new investigation into whether government contractors, real estate brokers, and property owners are corruptly profiting from the White House’s fast-tracked expansion of inhumane warehouse-based immigration detention facilities. The lawmakers wrote to six companies, pressing them to explain how much they expect to earn from the new detention warehouses, their lobbying efforts to land these lucrative government contracts, and more.

“These warehouses were built to hold products, not people…Given the public’s grave concerns about this warehouse system, we request prompt answers to questions about your involvement in the system,” wrote the lawmakers.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is working at breakneck speed to implement its “Detention Reengineering Initiative,” a warehouse system to hold nearly 100,000 people by November 2026. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons has described the vision as “[Amazon] Prime, but with human beings.”

Experts have warned that because of the speed of the operation, it will be nearly impossible for ICE to build the infrastructure necessary for human habitation in warehouses. Immigrants in existing detention centers suffer from inhumane conditions, including lack of access to adequate medical care and poor-quality food.

“Placing thousands of people in warehouses that were never intended to house human beings will only exacerbate these problems,” wrote the lawmakers.

With the Trump administration planning to spend $38.3 billion on the warehouse system, the project promises to be extremely profitable for vendors, property owners, and real estate brokers. And for many of the warehouse contracts, ICE appears to be circumventing the normal competitive bidding processes.

ICE is using a Navy’s contracting program, diverting DoD resources to avoid a competitive bidding process and avoid disclosing contract details that would typically be made public, triggering concerns of unnecessary costs and corruption.

For example, ICE paid $129 million for a facility in Georgia — nearly five times the amount it was assessed for last year. The details of some of these transactions have been kept secret, including through the use of non-disclosure agreements.

Additionally, some senior Trump officials have close ties to immigration contractors that could profit from the warehouse system. For example, David Venturella, who recently joined ICE after leaving the GEO Group — a top ICE detention contractor — is leading the ICE division that oversees detention contracts even though his former employer is competing for lucrative warehouse contracts. Attorney General Pam Bondi is also a former lobbyist for the GEO Group. Tom Homan, the “Border Czar,” and Corey Lewandowski, a former Homeland Security official, have reportedly helped contractors secure contracts to line their own pockets.

The lawmakers asked the contractors and real estate firms to provide clarity on: their roles in the warehouse expansions; their expected profit margins from the project; whether they’ve donated to the Trump campaign or cabinet officials; and whether they will commit to not allowing their work to be used to facilitate inhumane conditions at these detention centers, by April 13, 2026.

Senators Edward Markey (D-MA), Bernard Sanders (D-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) joined in signing the letters.

Representatives Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Jesus GarcĂ­a (D-Ill.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), April McClain Delaney (D-Md.), Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Ilhan Omar (D-M.N.), Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), Patrick Ryan (D-N.Y.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), Jan Shakowsky (D-Ill.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill), Donald Beyer (D-V.A.), and James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) joined in signing the letter.

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The following sites updated: