Monday, September 08, 2025

Paula Deen playacts as honesty

In the summer of 2013, I was at Walmart or Target with my friend Toni and saw some pots and pans very cheap.  Less than 20 dollars.  I put them in our cart and Toni says, "No, no,no!"  Why?  They're Paula Deen.  Who's Paula Deen?  I knew she was some celebrity because they were in a big box, over $100 bucks and marked down.  

Paula was seen as a racist at that time which is why Toni was saying "no."  Didn't know.  She was a chef who cooked with a ton of butter and sugar -- that's the most I may have known of her.  She'd gotten famous on The Food Network and had her own magazines.  At the store, that day, Toni explained to me how awful Paula truly was how she was being sued and in depositions had noted she had used the n-word. 


She now has a documentary.  I'm not enthused.  I also think THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER needs to fire Steven Zeitchik is he thinks his write up qualifies as journalism:


I guess it was less about the deposition and more the fact that you had used the word in the past, which you obviously felt bad about, right? That was what the apology was about?

PAULA DEEN They asked me a question [at the deposition]. This group of attorneys from an established well-thought-of firm. They were horrible; they were horrible. The lawyer sitting there with me never opened his mouth. Not one time. So when they asked that question [about the N-word] I said, "Yes, of course." I'm 65 years old [at the time] and raised in the South, I said, "Yes, of course." BUT that word has been out of our vocabulary now for a long time, and I said you can ask my oldest grandchild, you could say that word to him, and he would ask what it meant and not have a clue. My daddy taught me when I was a teenager, he told me, "I don't ever want to ever hear you being mean or rude to anyone." That's how I was raised.

Many people who know you will say you don't have hate in your heart. But do you understand from the other side how people might be uncomfortable about someone who is so direct about the usage of the word. Did that make sense to you as a reaction? Or is that something you still don't quite get?

PAULA DEEN Oh no, I got that. Because the word always kind of made me shiver. But there was a time that the Black community was changing its name. First it started out as Negro, and then Black and then I don't know, there were many words. But that one word, it made my skin crawl. It was just so far from who I am. So far. And I have many Black friends. Many Black friends that I love very much. And they love me.

Did you talk to them while this was going on?

PAULA DEEN I don't remember. All of a sudden my team was gone and my agent was gone and they brought in these people. I don't know who they were One crisis manager told me I had done something very bad.


That's a cute little story, Paula, it's just not accurate.  1987 is the last time, per your own sworn testimony, that you used the n-word.  You were a forty-year-old woman.  Check WIKIPEDIA for the quote where she says she last used it when she was robbed at a bank -- that was 1987

Ask Google AI for confirmation: 


Paula Deen worked as a bank teller in Albany, Georgia, beginning in 1986. She was robbed at gunpoint while working there the following year, in 1987. 
1986: Paula Deen was well enough to take a job as a bank teller. 
1987: She was held up at gunpoint during a bank robbery while working as a teller. 
After the robbery: The incident was a significant factor that led to her dealing with her agoraphobia and helped prompt her move to Savannah. 

So there's that.  40 years old is not a young woman.

But there's more.  I had to Google again because you know my memory.  I distinctly remember some party was part of the lawsuit.  I remember Toni telling me about it that day.  June 19, 2013, Clare Kim (NBC NEWS) reported:


A true 'southern plantation-style wedding' would include waiters dressed as slaves, Deen says in a deposition. A former employee is suing the TV chef and her brother, alleging workplace discrimination.

Celebrity chef Paula Deen has a mess she needs to clean up. A deposition was obtained Wednesday in which she admits to using a racial slur. The National Enquirer first reported Deen’s deposition, in which she responds to recent allegations of racism in the workplace–and admits to using the N-word and expressing a wish for a wedding served by waiters dressed as slaves.

The legal deposition was held on May 17 after one of Deen’s former restaurant managers, Lisa Jackson, sued the TV chef and her brother Earl “Bubba” Hiers for sexual and racial workplace discrimination in a $1.2 million lawsuit. During the three-hour-long questioning, Jackson’s lawyer asked Deen if she had ever used the N-word.

Deen responded, “Yes, of course,” and detailed the instances in which she had used the racial slur. Below are Deen’s responses, as recorded in the deposition.

Jackson subsequently asked Deen what type of uniforms she preferred the servers to wear.

“Well what I would really like is a bunch of little n—–s to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around.” Paula Deen laughed and said “Now that would be a true southern wedding, wouldn’t it? But we can’t do that because the media would be on me about that.”

Deen responded to Jackson’s allegations.

“I remember telling them about a restaurant that my husband and I had recently visited. And I’m wanting to think it was in Tennessee or North Carolina or somewhere, and it was so impressive. The whole entire wait staff was middle-aged black men, and they had on beautiful white jackets with a black bow tie. I mean, it was really impressive. And I remember saying I would love to have servers like that, I said, but I would be afraid somebody would misinterpret.”

“That restaurant represented a certain era in America,” Deen said. The servers in that era “were slaves,” she conceded. “But I did not mean anything derogatory by saying that I loved their look.” She denied having used the N-word to describe the restaurant’s wait-staff “because that’s not what these men were. They were professional black men doing a fabulous job.”

The celebrity chef also said she didn’t know what kinds of jokes minority groups might find offensive.

That party idea was and remains offensive.  It probably did her in more than the use of the n-word.  But somehow, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER ignores it.  


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


Monday, September 8, 2025.  Chump threatens war on Chicago as he launches an attack on Boston, his efforts to hide the crimes of his friends Ghislaine Maxwell and the late Jeffrey Epstein expose him as the criminal he is, the economy in tatters, he's booed at the US Open with the whole world watching,  and much, much more. 


Nancy Armour (USA TODAY) reports on a spectacle that's become much more common in the last months:


Resistance takes many forms.

Sometimes it’s people taking to the streets in protest, as they did this weekend in Chicago and its suburbs. Sometimes it’s governors banding together to ensure their citizens have access to vaccines that have been thoroughly vetted, as the governors of California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii have.

And sometimes it’s ABC and ESPN not muting the full-throated chorus of boos that occurred when the president of the United States was shown at the U.S. Open on Sunday.

The U.S. Tennis Association’s request that broadcasters “refrain from showcasing any disruptions to the President's attendance in any capacity" was an embarrassment. This is not North Korea or Russia, and it is not ABC’s, ESPN’s or any other broadcaster’s job to stroke President Donald Trump’s ego. His vice president, Cabinet secretaries and Republican House leadership have that covered.


As we noted Saturday: "We are onto you, Donald, and we are done with you"   There's always a point of no return.  We've reached it with Donald.  The Iraq War?  We got to a tipping point in public opinion and the needed support was over for the Iraq War.  Sadly, it didn't end then but serious players in Congress knew that they had to start planning and heed public will.  We've reached that point with Donald Chump.  He needs to get used to that booing. 


Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) covers that, Epstein and Chump's war on Chicago this morning.


One more time on Chump's latest booing, Peter Wade (ROLLING STONE) notes:

A chorus of boos and sparse clapping greeted Donald Trump when the president arrived at the U.S. Open men's final at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City on Sunday. Later, the boos continued and could be heard on the national telecast during the national anthem. The crowd booed again when the president was shown on an arena screen during a set break.


Whenever we reach one of these tipping points, I'm always reminded of a Carole King song that she wrote and recorded for her TOUCH THE SKY album.


The rebel cry of desolation
To which we used to hearken
Echoes now in isolation
As the skies in fury darken
A thousand acts of desecration
Hundreds more continue
When y'know that you are all creation
You're gonna fight 'em with all that's in you

I remember a time gone by
When peace and hope and dreams were high
We followed inner visions and touched the sky
Now we who still believe won't let them die

Waters dammed to overflowing
Like tears brimming over in our eyes
Sometimes it's so hard to keep on going
When promises turn to lies
Go ahead, give in to confusion
And put aside your ideals, too
Soon you'll see only illusion
Don't care who's hurt
As long as it's not you

I remember a time gone by
When peace and hope and dreams were high
We followed inner visions and touched the sky
Now we who still believe won't let them die

Sometimes a leader emerges
And is followed for awhile
Doesn't matter what he encourages
As long as he's got style
Young ones conceived in a passion
Of directions we thought enlightened
Grown-up, they follow the mood in fashion
But beneath their bravado
You know they're frightened

I remember a time gone by
When peace and hope and dreams were high
We followed inner visions and touched the sky
Now we who still believe won't let them die


Chump is the epitome of corruption.  No shock, he is a convicted felon -- on multiple counts.  He is trash and he is vile.  And he dirties the nation with his unwashed ways.

For awhile there, he could fool the slightly crazy.  Now it's just the full on nuts who still believe in fat boy.  His friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein has made it clear who's side he's on.  He's not on the side of the American people.  Despite years and years of pretending publicly to be outraged by pedophiles, despite QAnon and others -- Roseanne Barr -- pushing the lie going back to his first term that he was going after pedophiles and what they claimed was an international pedophile ring, he did nothing.  He still does nothing to stop pedophiles.  Epstein and Maxwell?  Pedophiles.  Epstein died in prison after his convictions.  Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Chump spent the summer moving her to a camp in Bryan -- one she didn't qualify for because it doesn't take sex offenders.  He rescued her.  And that and his refusal to release the Epstein files have combined to expose the reality of Chump to everyone and, at this point, only those with a non-functioning brain still trust him.



Lilly Phillips was interviewed on MSNBC's Alex Witt today and revealed that the survivors of Epstein and Maxwell are tired of  waiting for Chump to do what he should have done and that they are compiling their own list of Epstein and Maxwell clients. 



Maybe this will put a fire under Chump's fat ass and lead him to start releasing real papers -- not the ones that already in the public record that he tries to pretend are a 'new release.'  As Lawrence O'Donnell and others have pointed out, the birthday book?  The one with Chump's greeting per THE WALL STREET JOURNAL?  Congress is getting it due to the Jeffrey Epstein estate -- not as a result of any move on the part of Donald Chump.  Kendall Wright (ABC NEWS) reports:

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said Sunday that those who might be in the Jeffrey Epstein files need to be held accountable regardless of their social status.

"We can't avoid justice just to avoid embarrassment for some very powerful men," Massie told ABC News' "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos.

Appearing in the files is not indicative of wrongdoing or a crime.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said there are enough votes in the House to force a vote on his and Massie's discharge petition, a rare bipartisan effort they've led to compel the Justice Department to release all records related to the convicted sex offender.


Instead, the gut-busting president insists that it's all a "hoax."  Lisandra Gomez-Tate (2PARAGRAPHS) notes US House Rep Thomas Massie has denounced that lie:

Massie posed the question: “Is it a hoax that Jeffrey Epstein was involved in underage sex trafficking, and there is unreleased evidence that would likely expose rich and politically connected perpetrators to indictments or convictions?”

With the results below (94 percent replied, “No, Release Epstein file”), Massie wrote: “The people know this is not a hoax (see poll), and as the survivors said this week, calling this a hoax dehumanizes the victims.”


 

The case of Jeffrey Epstein is not just a sordid tale of sex trafficking and privilege—it is a window into a justice system rigged to protect the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable. And despite his death nearly six years ago, the true story remains buried beneath a fog of sealed files, silenced voices, and unanswered questions. Julie K. Brown, the tenacious journalist who helped reopen the Epstein case through sheer investigative will, recently outlined nine critical questions we still need answered. Every one of them demands public reckoning. 

Why did the FBI wait nearly a decade to act after Epstein’s infamous 2008 sweetheart deal? Why were his victims ignored in violation of federal law? Why did the Department of Justice allow him to be placed in a jail so riddled with “coincidences” that even seasoned correctional officers called it suspect? Why hasn’t Ghislaine Maxwell -- convicted of trafficking girls to unnamed, unindicted men—been compelled to testify about the clients she and Epstein serviced? And what happened to the troves of hard drives, videos, and surveillance footage seized from Epstein’s homes -- materials rumored to contain evidence of high-profile sexual abuse? What powerful names are being protected, and why? 

The American public doesn’t need conspiracy theories. We need transparency. The idea that Epstein died alone in his cell with broken cameras, absent guards, a removed cellmate, and no suicide watch—just as the walls were closing in—is not a theory. It's a collection of verified facts that no responsible government would allow to go unexamined. Yet that’s exactly what has happened. The Department of Justice issued a summary report calling it suicide and closed the book. The files remain sealed. The abusers remain anonymous. And justice remains undone. 

This is a case that involved minors being raped and trafficked across borders. And yet not a single man who participated in Epstein’s operations has been prosecuted. Not one. The world knows the names that floated around his private jets and mansions -- from British royalty to American tech billionaires, financiers, presidents, and prime ministers. Are we truly to believe they were just… bystanders? 

We have seen a multi-tiered justice system before. But the Epstein saga might be the most flagrant example in modern memory. He weaponized his wealth to buy silence, legitimacy, and even immunity. His connections reached into intelligence agencies, Ivy League universities, Wall Street banks, and global political offices. These institutions were not innocent enablers. Many were direct beneficiaries -- financially, socially, and politically -- of Epstein’s web of exploitation. The complicity goes beyond individuals. It is systemic. The U.S. legal system allowed this predator to walk free for over a decade. The Bureau of Prisons failed to uphold even the most basic duties of care. The Justice Department's refusal to release the full investigative report into Epstein's death is a disgrace to any democracy claiming to uphold transparency and accountability. This is not just about Epstein. It is about whether the United States still has the will to hold its most powerful citizens to the same laws that govern everyone else. It is about whether our institutions are still capable of self-correction—or whether the rot has gone too deep.


As Chump's flesh rots, so does whatever passes for his soul.  The files need to be released and released immediately.  Failure to do, as US House Rep Jasmine Crockett points out, prolongs the suffering of those who survived the criminal abuse of Epstein and Maxwell.

 
 


Instead of releasing information, Chump and his administration are protecting pedophiles.  Tom Winter (NBC NEWS) reports:


The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge overseeing the case of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to deny a request from NBC News to unseal the names of two associates who received large payments from him in 2018, court documents show. The Justice Department cited privacy concerns expressed by the two individuals as the reason for not making their names public.

The first associate received a payment of $100,000 from Epstein and the second associate received a payment of $250,000, both in 2018, days after the Miami Herald began publishing a series of investigative stories where victims criticized a plea deal he received in Florida in 2008.

As part of the plea agreement, Epstein secured a statement from federal prosecutors in Florida that the two individuals would not be prosecuted.

The payments became public after Epstein was indicted and arrested in New York in 2019 and asked to be released on bail. Federal prosecutors in New York filed a memorandum on July 16, 2019, that argued Epstein should remain in jail to prevent him from tampering with witnesses.

They cited the payments he made to the two individuals, which began two days after the Miami Herald began publishing its stories on Epstein’s plea deal, also known as a nonprosecution agreement, or NPA.

Prosecutors wrote that on Nov. 30, 2018, Epstein “wired $100,000 from a trust account he controlled, to an individual named as [REDACTED] a potential co-conspirator — and for whom Epstein obtained protection in — the NPA.”

Prosecutors also wrote that “this individual was also named and featured prominently in the Herald series.”

Prosecutors added that “the same records show that just three days later, on or about December 3, 2018, the defendant wired $250,000 from the same trust account to [REDACTED], who was also named as a potential co-conspirator — and for whom Epstein also obtained protection in — the NPA.”


Chump has demonstrated that MAGA really stands for Make America Groom Again.  It's a party for pedophiles.  That's why they are rallying around Chump.

Saturday, THE DAILY BEAST's Joanna Coles spoke with Cleo Glyde about when Epstein introduced her to Chump. 


  


Ravi Hari (MINT) observes, "Glyde is not the first woman to recount awkward or inappropriate interactions involving Epstein and Trump. Stacey Williams, another former model and Epstein acquaintance, said Trump groped her at Trump Tower in Epstein’s presence."

It's over for the elderly, doddering fool.  Greg Sargent (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:

President Donald Trump understands better than anyone else alive that his hold on his supporters—and on plenty of swing voters, too—depends on the mere perception that he’s strong, wins everywhere, always acts boldly, and wields absolute mastery over his eternally feckless, disoriented enemies. Last month, after an anemic July jobs report, Trump fired the steward of jobs data, magically transforming the story from one about the Trump economy’s weakness into one about him decisively crushing a newly designated foe.

On Friday, however, the new jobs report found that only 22,000 jobs were created in August, far fewer than the 73,000 created in July. A downward revision of the previous month shows 13,000 jobs were lost in June. Shockingly, firing the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics could not disguise the impact of Trump’s own policies: As economists noted, most signs suggest his tariffs are an important reason for the slowdown. 

All this suggests that Democrats have a fresh opening to undermine the foundation of Trump’s political strength by portraying him as a politically weak, failing, diminished, naked-emperor figure—and some new internal polling conducted by Senate Democrats hints at why.

The polling—conducted for the Senate Majority PAC and provided to The New Republic—probes voter attitudes toward Trump, his tariffs, and the economy. It finds that 56 percent of likely 2026 midterm voters say Trump’s tariffs are hurting the economy overall, with 44 percent saying they’re hurting a lot. Only 32 percent say they’re helping. Among swing voters—defined as voters who switched in either direction from 2020 to 2024—57 percent say they’re hurting.


In desperation to distract from Epstein and Maxwell, from his destruction of all his many failures including the economy, Chump declares war on US cities.  

That's reason enough to impeach him, by the way.  True, that as his dementia worsens, Chump may no longer be sure whether he's lying or not. The people in the administration, in the press and in this country need to help him out, tell him he's lying.  Non-stop.  For example, George Chidi (GUARDIAN) reports:


As Donald Trump threatens to deploy national guard units to Chicago and Baltimore, ostensibly to quell violence, a pattern has emerged as he describes which cities he talks about.

Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Baltimore.

But not Jackson, Birmingham, St Louis or Memphis.

An analysis of crime trends over the last four years shows two things. First, violent crime rates in America’s big cities have been falling over the last two years, and at an even greater rate over the last six months. The decrease in violence in America is unprecedented.

Second, crime in large cities in the aggregate is lower in states with Democratic leadership. But the president focuses his ire almost exclusively on large blue cities in blue states, sidestepping political conflict with red Republican governors.


Last week, Illinois 


Governor JB Pritzker's office served up a few key points:


Here are the facts Donald Trump should read and the White House should include in their next press release:

  • Chicago does not even make the list for Most Dangerous Places in the U.S., according to U.S. News & World Report.
  • Illinois ranks in the top half of states with the lowest violent crime rates in the country.
  • Gov. Pritzker’s Reimagine Public Safety Act (RPSA) invested $250 million evidence-based programs to reduce gun violence.
  • The Peacekeeper Program, which trains residents to mediate and de-escalate conflicts, has resulted in a 41% reduction in gun violence in targeted Chicago and suburban Cook County neighborhoods
  • Over 90% of communities in Chicago that received state funding experienced declines in total firearm victimizations in July 2025 as compared to July 2024.
  • Chicago is on track to have the lowest number of homicides in decades with violent crime trending downward across categories as well.
  • Murders and shooting incidents are both down by more than 30% in the past year and have been cut roughly in half since 2021.

Read more about Illinois public safety efforts and facts here.


Gramps is so senile, we may need to repeat that several times daily.  Saturday, we pointed out, "Juliana Kim (NPR) notes that Chump is floating an APOCOLYPSE NOW assault on Chicago.  I guess it's a senior moment?  He's that divorced from reality?  People's lives are at stake and he's trying to act like it's a movie. "  AP notes:

In response to the post, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, called Trump a “wannabe dictator.”

Trump on Friday signed an executive order seeking to rename the Defense Department the Department of War, after months of campaigning to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize. The renaming requires congressional approval.

The illustration in Trump’s post shows him against a backdrop of the Chicago skyline [. . .]

 

Sunday on THE TODAY SHOW, NBC filed this report. 






Chump's referencing APOCALYPSE NOW and "Chicago about to find out why they call it the Dept of War."  That last one.  Chump's calling the Defense of Defense the Dept of War.  Chump can call it whatever he likes, that's the thing about dementia.  But it's the Dept of Defense unless Congress votes to change the name.  






MARGARET BRENNAN: And we're joined now by Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth. She joins us this morning from Schaumburg, Illinois. Good morning to you, Senator.

SENATOR TAMMY DUCKWORTH: Good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you attended, as I understand, a demonstration yesterday in Chicago where thousands of people were out on the street protesting President Trump's vow to send in immigration agents. I know he's also posted on social media suggesting troops will go in. Quote, "Chicago is about to find out why it is called the Department of War." Vice President Vance says there aren't plans to send in troops. Do you have concrete indication, now, that there are plans to do so? 

SEN. DUCKWORTH: Let's make it clear the president of the United States essentially just declared war on a major city in his own nation. This is not normal, Margaret. This is not acceptable behavior. No, we don't have any indications of them getting ready to send troops into Chicago. In fact, I was out at Great Lakes base yesterday, naval training base, and they were able to confirm that the only assistance they've been requested to provide is just office space for ICE, but that no barracks, no detention facilities, none of that is being requested or prepared in order to support troops into Chicago.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, so then is this just, you know, social media trash talk? When you say he's declaring war, is this tongue in cheek?

SEN. DUCKWORTH: I think he's renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War, and did he not just say that Chicago will find out what it means to be at war? I don't- I take what the President of the United States says very seriously, because that is the respect you have to give to the office. And if that's what he's declaring, then let me make it clear, it would be an illegal order to declare war on a major city, any city within the United States, by the President of the United States.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator, I know you just mentioned you went out to the Great Lakes Naval training session- station, I should say, and you said the military leadership said they'll only get office space, ICE cannot bring in lethal munitions, and the resources will not be diverted from military training. So all of that together, did you breathe a sigh of relief and say this won't have a real impact on the military?

SEN. DUCKWORTH: Well, we're going to make sure that there's not an impact on the military. We need to make sure that- as, you know, Great Lakes naval training base is where every single recruit in the United States Navy goes through to get that basic training, and then later on, some advanced training. We need to make sure that not a single dollar, not a single penny of the resources that they have that should be- that should be directed towards training our nation's sailors and making them ready to dare- do their jobs, none of that money needs to be diverted in order to support ICE or any of Donald Trump's political, you know, theater efforts. We need to focus on making sure we turn out the very best sailors we possibly can out of the base.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So in terms of how Democrats are responding to this, this rhetoric, the Chicago Tribune faulted Governor Pritzker for his threats, to quote, "not stand idly by" if the guard went in. They wrote, "what does that threat actually mean? How about a conversation before the action or the response? Because it's all potentially harmful to collective health." It sounds like there's a lot of tension here. Is there an opportunity to work with the administration to avoid making this worse?

SEN. DUCKWORTH: Well, they've not- they've not responded to any of our requests. I mean, I'll give you a very concrete example. Senator Durbin, myself, Senator Schneider- Congressman Schneider, sent requests into DHS to ask them to explain what exactly are you going to be doing at Great Lakes? And can we come look at your facility so we have a better understanding of what your operations are? And they replied, no, you can't. And in fact, gave their staff the day off on the day that we went to go look at the facilities, and locked the doors and left the base. Basically, they fled the base. This is not the action of someone that's doing something legal or that they're- that they're proud of. They literally gave the people the day off, locked the doors and left. Now the Navy allowed us onto the post. They allowed us to tour the outside of the facility and also where they would be storing the non-lethal munitions. But DHS did not show up. And we certainly have sent the administration multiple inquiries about what they are planning on doing. Who are they bringing into Chicago? Are they planning to bring the National Guard in? They've- none, none of that. They've not even reached out to local law enforcement to try to coordinate. You know, if they were truly, truly interested in fighting crime, then they would work with local law enforcement and ask them, what do you need? What help do you need? And we've not gotten any- any communications or feedback from the administration, whatsoever.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you in your armed services role about what is a significant geopolitical meeting this past week. You had a lot of America's adversaries gathering together. Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un of North Korea, all of them in Beijing. And China and Russia seem to be deepening their work together. What do you think the signal to the United States here is?

SEN. DUCKWORTH: The signal to the United States is exactly what, you know, these authoritarian regimes want to send, which is that they are the new world power, that America is losing its ground, and that they have utter disrespect for the United States. I think it was very, very clear, and it, you know, it doesn't escape me, the fact that once this meeting happened, which was humiliating to Donald Trump, he immediately responds by saying, well, then I'm going to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War and declare war on Chicago. This is what Donald Trump does when something bad happens to him in the news cycle, or when the Epstein victims come together and have a very emotional press conference, he changes the topic and distracts us by saying things like, I'm going to send ICE into Chicago, I'm going to do this or do that. The American people cannot be fooled. We cannot be allowing him to distract us from what is truly happening, which is, this is a man who has driven our economy to a point where now there are more unemployed people than there are jobs. You know, we're not selling our agricultural products overseas. Our adversaries are united against us.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the unemployment rate is still low, but I hear you on a weaker than expected jobs number. Just very quickly, there was military action taken in America's backyard by the Trump administration. Vice President Vance says "killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military." He was talking about a strike on a drug boat- alleged drug boat, off the coast of Venezuela. What do you make of that show of force?

SEN. DUCKWORTH: It was an illegal- it was an illegal move by the Trump administration. There's a thing called due process in this country, and that needed to have happened. And the fact that it happened in international order- in international waters actually opens Americans to a similar action by our adversaries. You just- we were just talking about Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping and getting together and showing us- showing a show of force against the United States. Well, there's nothing now to stop them from doing something like that against Americans in international waters. And it could be civilians, and they could say, you know what? Those were drug boats. We're just going to go ahead and blow them out of the water. You're- he's setting a precedence here that puts Americans in danger.



Chump's cry of going to war on Chicago was so offensive -- and patently illegal -- that  Chicago's ABC 7's Eric Horng, Michelle Gallardo, Maher Kawash, and Lissette Nuñez report he attempted to walk it back Sunday.  While everyone waits to see what happens next, AP reports:

The Rev. Marshall Hatch urged congregants of a prominent Black church on Chicago’s West Side to carry identification, stay connected to family and protest as the city readied for an expected federal intervention.

“You need to start telling people about your whereabouts, so you don’t disappear,” Hatch said during Sunday services at New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church. “We’re not going to despair. We’re not going to feel threatened. We’re not going to give up and give in to fascism and authoritarianism.”


Saturday protests took place as Chicago and surrounding areas geared up for whatever crimes Chump plans to attempt.  Susan Sarkauskas (DAILY HERALD) reported, "At least 250 people protesting on the streets of Wheaton Saturday made one message clear --  they don’t want immigration agents arresting people in their hometown.  Standing along sidewalks in front of a Jewel-Osco store at Main Street and Geneva Road, they held signs, rang bells, drummed and chanted." Wheaton is a city to the west of Chicago in Illinois.  And that's a very big turnout for the seat of DeKalb county which, last November, saw 48.1% of the voters turn out for Chump (Kamala Harris won the county with 50.1% of the voters, she also carried the state).  Cristobal Cavazos is quoted stating that they chose the protest site as a result of ICE grabbing a man in the parking lot there on August 1st, "We saw what ICE terrorism is doing to what the Bible says re 'the least of these'."   ABC 7's Christian Piekos, Maher Kawash, Evelyn Holmes, and Rob Hughes reported:


A rally and march was held Saturday evening in downtown Chicago against the anticipated surge in ICE operations. A large crowd gathered at Michigan and Ida B. Wells before marching up Michigan Avenue.

President Donald Trump says the surge in immigration enforcement activity in the Chicago area is about getting dangerous criminals off the streets.

The White House has not released any details about what's being planned. City and state leaders oppose deploying federal agents to the city.

Protests wrapped up Saturday night in the city and suburbs as federal immigration enforcement was expected to expand. The protests stayed peaceful, but demonstrators had a strong message for the president.

Massive crowds marched through downtown Chicago. At least a few thousand people protested the Trump administration.


Joanie Lum and Will Hager (Chicao's FOX 32) added that an estimated 2000 people participated in the protest and they note:

Veronica Castro, deputy director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said, "Our job is to take to the streets, defend our space and keep each other safe."

"Our communities are still experiencing state-sanctioned trauma as a result of this orchestrated fear campaign," Viviana Barajas of Palenque USA said.

They marched through the Loop, stopping at the U.S. citizenship and immigration services office, the federal courthouse and paused at the foot of Trump Tower to send loud messages.

There’s been no sign of the National Guard in Chicago but the city is braced for it.


At TALKING POINTS MEMO, Josh Marshall observes, "Everyone is rightly shocked, disgusted, outraged by Trump's Truth Social meme threatening to turn Chicago into a war zone. But where's the National Guard exactly? Trump said he was doing this a couple weeks ago. He said they were 'going in' right away a week later. Maybe he'll do it tomorrow. I'm certainly not promising he won't."  Late Saturday night, Matan H. Josephy and Laurel M. Shugart (HARVARD CRIMSON) reported  that Chump was already launching an attack on Boston:

 
The Trump administration has begun rolling out its next surge of immigration enforcement in Boston, even as the federal government sued the city over a policy limiting police collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The surge, dubbed Operation Patriot 2.0, is expected to last several weeks, according to a Saturday report by the New York Times. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the move Saturday afternoon.

[. . .]

Reports of ICE agents near Harvard’s campus spread quickly among students Friday afternoon.

Students saw three vehicles marked with ICE lettering and the slogan “Defend the Homeland” driving in Harvard Square on Friday. The vehicles were photographed parked on Mt. Auburn Street and filmed driving toward Central Square.


Launching an attack on Boston.  Gearing up to launch one on Chicago, already carrying out attacks on Los Angeles and DC.  Stop trying to normalize him.  There is nothing normal about any of this.  He is a dictator and the people are turning on him.  The press needs to learn to read the moment.

The following sites updated:




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