The Common Ills

Sunday, February 22, 2026

The polls continue to note that the American people are tired of Donald Chump and his self-created drama. Kathryn Palmer (USA TODAY) reports:

Ahead of President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address of his second term, a new poll shows a majority of Americans disapprove of his job performance, especially on inflation, tariffs and foreign policy.

In a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released on Sunday, Feb. 22 − just two days before Trump's highly anticipated address to Congress − six in ten Americans, 60%, said they disapprove of the way he is handling his role. Of that number, 47% indicated a strong disapproval. Another 39% said they approve of the president's performance.

His performance has been lackluster and threatening at the same time. Currently, he's raging at NETFLIX to fire a member of the board (Susan Rice) and it's that sort of nonsense -- unethical and beyond the pale -- that really reveals him to be an immature cry baby incapable of stewarding the US economy. His meltdown on Friday following the Supreme Court striking down his tariffs didn't win him any glowing reviews. Sophia Tesfaye (SALON) notes:

Late Thursday night, The Wall Street Journal published an editorial with a headline that read like a prescient sigh of relief: “The Embarrassing Truth About Tariffs.” By Friday morning, the Supreme Court had done something far more consequential than scolding Donald Trump’s trade fantasies — it kneecapped them. In a 6–3 ruling, including two of Trump’s own appointees, the Court declared that most of his sweeping tariff regime was illegal. And by Friday evening, in a display of wounded bravado that has become his signature move, Trump took to Truth Social to announce a new global 10% tariff on all nations, as if the Constitution were a suggestion and not the supreme law of the land. Overnight, he upped the ante on his “retribution” for countries “ripping the U.S. off,” raising the tariff to 15%. The Journal’s op-ed following the ruling ripped Trump’s rant, calling it “arguably the worst moment of his Presidency.”

[. . .]

The president could have taken the Court’s ruling as an off-ramp. He could have declared victory and admitted that perhaps trade policy is best crafted through the democratic process. Instead, he doubled down in remarks to reporters, impugning the justices in the majority as “fools and lapdogs for the RINOS and the radical left Democrats.” Trump accused them of lacking “the courage to do what’s right for the country” because they have “been swayed by foreign interests” and are “unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution.” He also insisted that he still didn’t need Congress, directly contradicting the Court’s ruling.

Chump continues to struggle as does FBI Director Ka$h Patel. Alan FeuerGlenn ThrushMotoko Rich and Tariq Panja (NEW YORK TIMES) report:

The F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, criticized for blurring the lines between personal recreation and professional responsibility, spent Sunday celebrating the American hockey team’s Olympic victory in Milan as the bureau grappled with multiple, fast-developing crises at home.

A video of a euphoric Mr. Patel, a devoted hockey fan who plays the sport himself, was posted on social media, showing him giving a gleeful shaka sign — the thumb-and-pinky salute — in the gold-winning team’s locker room as he stood next to Dylan Larkin, the team’s center.

“Congratulations, Team USA!” Mr. Patel shouted while wearing a white jersey and craning his head to get into the frame of a cellphone video with Mr. Larkin, who flashed his gold medal at the camera.

Another video clip showed Mr. Patel chugging most of a beer and splashing the remnants into the air as the hockey players around him cheered. Then one of players, the video showed, draped a gold medal around his neck and he raised his arms in triumph.

Ka$h's presence came as a bit of a surprise due to a spokesperson disputing that Ka$h would be there. Jennifer Bowers Bahney (MEDIAITE) notes:

FBI Spokesman Ben Williamson spent days trashing reports by MS NOW’s Ken Dilanian and others who reported Patel would be attending the event.

“Your rag outlet wrote that [Patel] went to hang out at the Olympics on the taxpayer dime – even when provided information that your theory was false. When you’re ready to correct that let me know. Won’t hold my breath,” Williamson wrote.

Spokespeople who lie don't help anyone. They don't fool anyone either. That's something Propaganda Pig Karoline Leavitt keeps refusing to learn. Tommy Christopher (MEDIAITE) notes:

President Donald Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt have tried to laugh off what they falsely call “false accusations” of racism, and too many in the media are helping them do it.

While never far away, the subject of Trump and racism was top of mind when the president issued a denial of racism as he commented on the death of Reverend Jesse Jackson, and that denial was blown up in a White House briefing exchange.

In that statement, Trump wrote “Despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a Racist by the Scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left, Democrats ALL, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way.”

[. . .]

I’ve got some bad news for Trump, Leavitt, and Tyson. According to a new The Economist/YouGov poll, by a two-to-one margin, more Americans believe that President Donald Trump is racist than think he is not, with the remainder responding “no opinion.”

Mike Tyson notwithstanding, among Black voters who expressed an opinion, 90 percent said Trump is racist, versus 10% who said he is not.

That's what's really hurt Donald Chump. He expects to say whatever and for it to be taken down as stenography and then be repeated without question or fact checking. He can't handle when people use their own minds and figure out that he's lying. Again. And again.

Another example? He claims he was "exonerated" of any wrong doing with the release of some of The Epstein Files. That's not the case. Jennifer Bowers Bahney (MEDIAITE) notes:

The New Republic reported this week that accusations made by a woman who “credibly accused Donald Trump of having sex with a minor he met through Jeffrey Epstein,” appeared to have been removed from the Epstein files.

TNR reporter Edith Olmsted wrote that “A 21-page slideshow buried in the massive trove of Epstein-related documents included allegations that sometime between 1983 and 1985, Trump forced a woman to give him oral sex when she was in her early teens,” Olmsted wrote. “When the woman bit down on Trump’s exposed penis, he allegedly punched her in the head and kicked her out. That same woman told the DOJ that Epstein had introduced her to Trump in 1984.”

The report continued:

Justice Department records indicate that the FBI spoke to this woman not once but at least four separate times, according to independent journalists Roger Sollenberger and Nina Burleigh. Now those records appear to have been removed from public viewing — despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which requires all documents relating to the alleged sex trafficker to be made public.

The report went on to say that Sollenberger found the interview records “in a separate database of documents downloaded from the government’s public files on Epstein.”

The FBI recorded the first interview on August 9, 2019 — “the day before Epstein was found dead in his jail cell,” Olmsted wrote.

Before the House Judiciary Committee this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi “insisted that there was ‘no evidence’ that Trump had committed any crime — adding to the growing pile of denials from Trump officials that constitute a sweeping cover-up of the president’s alleged wrongdoing,” TNR reported.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Alex Padilla's office:

WATCH: Senator Padilla slams Trump Administration after ICE officials reject his efforts to investigate reports of inhumane conditions at San Diego detention facility

SAN DIEGO, CA — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, was denied entry to Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego while he attempted to exercise his Congressional oversight role amid reports of inhumane conditions individuals detained at the facility are facing. Padilla was turned away by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials from conducting a critical oversight visit into the private CoreCivic facility and meeting with local ICE leadership amid President Trump’s mass detention and deportation campaign. The warden also refused to meet with the Senator. Padilla did not give advanced notice to the facility prior to his oversight visit.

Under ICE’s watch, detained individuals at Otay Mesa are struggling with poor nutrition, sickness, inadequate medical care, and severe overcrowding. Multiple reports last year uncovered that Otay Mesa is approximately 100 people over capacity — between October 1 and November 10, the facility held an average of 1,456 people in ICE custody, exceeding CoreCivic’s contractual capacity of 1,358. ICE refused to provide even basic information without approval from ICE headquarters, including how many people are being detained.

Detained individuals at Otay Mesa have been throwing notes attached to lotion and shampoo bottles out of the facility to shed light on these horrific conditions during a weekly vigil held by a coalition of seven local groups. The groups have been gathering for the last 15 weeks every Sunday outside of Otay Mesa to protest the conditions inside.

“I came to Otay Mesa today to see firsthand the inhumane conditions detained individuals at the facility are facing, but Donald Trump’s ICE continued to refuse any oversight of their cruelty. If individuals at Otay Mesa are actually ‘well taken care of,’ as Secretary Noem claims, then what does this Administration have to hide?” said Senator Padilla. “Detained individuals are throwing handwritten notes over the walls and fences to get the word out about their conditions: a severe lack of healthy food, large holding rooms without doors or even windows, constant sickness, and wholly inadequate medical care. Every single person inside that facility — the overwhelming majority of whom have no criminal record — is a human being deserving of respect and decency, with basic standards for accessing health care, food, and legal counsel. The American people deserve better than Trump’s out-of-control ICE and CBP. And I will keep fighting and keep fulfilling my responsibility as a United States Senator to provide oversight until they get it.”

ICE rejected Padilla’s entry into the Otay Mesa Detention Center as the number of immigrants detained by the agency has swelled to over 66,500, after reaching 73,000 earlier this year — more than ever before in U.S. history. After 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025, the deadliest year since 2005, at least eight individuals have already died in their custody this year.

Last week, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem held a press conference at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry where she claimed that individuals held at the nearby facility are “well taken care of” and given food and medical attention despite notes from detained individuals claiming otherwise.

The Otay Mesa facility operates under less stringent and protective standards and still has not been inspected by the DHS Office of Inspector General since 2021. At the time, the DHS Inspector General found that Otay Mesa did not meet standards for grievances, segregation, or staff-detainee communications.

On February 9, San Diego County’s public health officer announced the county’s intent to investigate potential violations at the private facility, sending a letter to the facility’s senior warden “assert[ing] the county’s authority to examine health and safety conditions inside the privately operated immigration detention facility.” The county officials were also denied entry today. Representative Juan Vargas (D-Calif.-52) previously tried to gain access to Otay Mesa, which is in his district, to inspect the facility, but was denied entry.

Today’s attempted visit comes after Padilla and Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) conducted an oversight visit last month to the largest detention center in California, located in California City, to learn firsthand of the concerns surrounding the inhumane conditions detained individuals are facing at the private, for-profit facility. The Senators investigated reports of unsanitary and unsafe facility conditions, inadequate medical and mental health care, insufficient access to legal counsel, a severe lack of accommodations for people with disabilities, and the unnecessary use of solitary confinement. Last week, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering ICE to provide better access to health care and counsel to people detained at the facility.

Senator Padilla has strongly opposed President Trump’s cruel and indiscriminate mass deportation agenda and denial of basic services for detained individuals. Last week, Padilla joined Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and 20 other Senate Democrats in sounding the alarm on the dramatic increase in deaths in ICE detention, with over 30 deaths since the start of the Trump Administration. In January, Padilla joined Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in introducing the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act to end the use of private, for-profit detention facilities, prohibit the practice of detaining families, and ensure due process for detained individuals. Last year, Padilla cosponsored the Restoring Access to Detainees Act, a bill to ensure the Department of Homeland Security allows detained noncitizens to contact legal counsel and their families.

Video of Padilla’s remarks following his attempted tour can be watched here and downloaded here. Padilla’s remarks in Spanish are available here.

Additional photos and b-roll footage from the event are available here.

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Kat's "Kat's Korner: U2's DAYS OF ASH" went up earlier today and the following sites updated: