A USA TODAY friend to try to sell me on highlighting a new story on polling. They're a little hurt over there at me for taking them down over their appalling article -- one that outlets spent the rest of the week refuting because USA TODAY's typists got the polling results that wrong. I'm really not interested in rescuing the outlet but while I had one of their own on the phone I asked them how this counted as a disclosure: "Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science." It appears at the bottom of the column entitled "Supreme Court's birthright citizenship opinion reveals rising hostility, tension" and no link to garbage trash.
The column finds Diced Poatoes trashing Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson while elevating the unmoored Amy Coney Barrett (see Betty's "Amy Coney Barrett gets some much needed schooling") who sports a lack of familiarity with American history and the law.
Diced Potatoes is a raving loon who most people know as a conservative and even more people suspect he's gay -- he does write like a self-loathing gay man. May even have the same plaid skirt Glenneth Greenwald does -- the one he wears while smoking crack and licking the feet of a man he's paid to degrade him. I do love how the drug use that got exposed in the video continues to be ignored.
Diced Potatoes hails from LONE CONSERVATIVE -- again, no link to trash.
I do marvel over the journalistic lice in this world -- and especially at USA TODAY -- that would give a column to someone who's done nothing but attack not bad journalism but journalism itself. Prior to joining USA TODAY, did anyone count up Diced Potatoes use of the term "fake news'? In a letter calling out Chump's immigration lies, Darryl Cornelius informs the editorial board of THE LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL, "Our nation has reached a point where there is nothing too false, ridiculous or stupid that one-third of the country will not swallow. A substantial portion of our country has become scornful of compromise and unmoved by facts, evidence and science. We are rapidly losing the truth. We must not let it die." A very good point. But outlets like USA TODAY ignore that sort of advice and, instead, bend over and taken the enemy inside. Anybody got video of that Walk of Shame?
What Diced Potatoes couldn't and wouldn't tell you, Robert Kuttner does at THE AMERICAN PROSPECT:
The Supreme Court issued a shocking ruling today, making it easier for President Donald Trump to overturn birthright citizenship. The way the Court did it was in keeping with its disingenuous strategy of using technicalities that allow it to duck the underlying question.
The substance of Friday’s 6-3 decision, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, involved a challenge to Trump’s executive order denying citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily. His order violated the 14th Amendment, which clearly holds that anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen, regardless of the circumstances.
Immigrant rights groups and 22 states sued, and three different federal district court judges issued universal injunctions barring the administration from enforcing the Trump policy anywhere in the country. The Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court to overturn the injunctions.
Today's ruling ducks the underlying constutional question about the meaning and reach of birthright citizenship, but bars the injuctions from taking effect nationwide and explicitly allows Trump's order to take effect in 30 days. This will only give more cover to ICE raids and deportations. Along the way, the high court overturned the ability of lower courts ever to issue injunctions with national reach.
As Chump, Kristi Noem, Tom Holman, the Supreme Court and others attack immigrants (and those perceive to be immigrants), real journalists note what happens. That includes Sofia Mejias-Pascoe. Ken Stone (TIMES OF SAN DIEGO) reports:
Sofía Mejías-Pascoe of inewsource, San Diego’s newest and youngest Journalist of the Year, says immigrants and asylum-seekers she once followed closely are no longer reachable.
Ever since Donald Trump took office, she said Thursday night, “I’ve stopped hearing from many of them. The numbers I used to reach them at are no longer in service.”
Texts messages aren’t going through, she said, and “the people I do talk to are really afraid.”
Today in El Cajon, citizens gathered to call out the assault on immigrants. THE SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE has a photo essay here. San Diego's NBC7 reports:
The protest began at Manolo Market on Main Street and people marched to El Cajon City Hall.
“We’re here to make their voices heard. We want them to know that we are here to support them. I want them to know that we hear them. That we see them and that we feel their trauma,” Violet of “Yo Soy El Cajon” said.
Violet’s family has personal experience with recent immigration enforcement measures.
“My brother-in-law got taken away. The dynamics are very hard to see. There’s a lot of sadness, there’s a lot of trauma, there’s a lot of depression and anxiety because of separation,” Violet said.
Recent immigration enforcement in San Diego has received a lot of attention
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted “worksite enforcement operations” at Italian restaurant Buona Forchetta which led to four employees being detained.
Recently, plain clothes law enforcement agents arrested a housekeeper outside of the Handlery Hotel in Mission Valley.
Lives are being ruined by the Convicted Felon and his minions as they attack and assault people. Angelique Brenes (KLTA5) reports:
A mother walking with her children in Pasadena was taken into custody by immigration agents over the weekend in an incident that was partially captured on video and has drawn sharp criticism from witnesses.
Rosalina Luna Vargas, a mother of two and the primary breadwinner for her family, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Saturday morning around 8 a.m., according to bystanders. Her children were present at the time of the arrest, which took place in broad daylight in the corner of Catalina and Del Mar.
In many cases, like with Pennsylvania's Roberto Diego Alvarez Oliva, it's people who are in this country and have followed all the rules and regulations to enter and work in this country. Mike Maneval and Karen Vibert-Kennedy (SUN GAZETTE) report:
Roberto Diego Alvarez Oliva, his wife Nicole Alvarez and their children “had a beautiful time” one weekend in early May at their home, Alvarez told the Sun-Gazette. “We were grilling outside with our family. We had friends over,” she said.
Oliva went to work on Monday morning, then came home to take his 8-year-old stepson Scout to school and then went back to work as Alvarez watched their 9-month-old son Denver.
Soon after, Alvarez saw the police outside the family’s home, which is near the Williamsport-Loyalsock Township line. Just one officer at first, then more. Then she noticed from her window that they were wearing tactical vests.
“I was kind of scared,” she said.
Alvarez went outside to see her husband, who she shared has no criminal record, in handcuffs. Oliva pleaded with her not to worry, and said he would call her as soon as he could.
Oliva, 34, came to the U.S. more than three years ago from Peru, his wife said, “to make money for his family. His mom was sick and they needed money.”
When he crossed the border, he visited authorities and was issued the documentation necessary to begin the process of staying in the United States legally. He routinely completed each phase of the paperwork, started a business, paid taxes and went to two of three court appointments necessary to continue the process.
“He was legal here to work,” Alvarez noted.
None of that matters apparently, not in Chump Land when even US citizens are getting rounded up. And Chump's also spitting on the immigrants here after helping the US military. For example, Joey Safchik (NBC7) reports:
Just over two weeks after Sayed Naser was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, the Afghan national was placed into expedited removal Thursday night, meaning Naser's case was dismissed by a judge.
Expedited removal is a tactic the Trump administration is using to speed up deportations.
A video of Naser being detained outside a San Diego immigration courtroom went viral, wracking up millions of views on social media, playing out on television and catching the attention of congressmembers. In the video, Naser tells the officers handcuffing him that he aided U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
NBC 7 has reviewed documents that support Naser's claims and has spoken to experts who say they are credible. However, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement, "There is nothing in his immigration records indicating that he assisted the U.S. government in any capacity. All of his claims will be heard by a judge. Any Afghan who fears persecution is able to request asylum.”
Madeleine May and Hannah Marr (CBS NEWS) quote #AfghanEvac's executive director Shawn VanDiver stating, "A bureaucratic technically just stripped a wartime ally of his legal protections and fast-tracked him for deportation. Sayed stood with U.S. forces in combat. Now he faces removal without a lawyer, without a hearing and possibly without a country. This isn't just cruel, it's cowardly." June 19th, NPR's MORNING EDITION reported on Sayed's arrest:
QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: The scene of ICE agents arresting immigrants at courthouses has become common in the past few months, but this one played out a bit differently last week in San Diego.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT #1: Yeah, yeah, go ahead. We're going to take him.
LAWRENCE: Bystanders filmed as Sayed Naser was approached by two masked ICE agents after a routine immigration hearing. They don't show a warrant, and they don't even seem to be sure they have the right person.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT #2: What's your name?
LAWRENCE: As they handcuff him, he starts to tell the onlookers that he's a former interpreter for the U.S. Army.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SAYED NASER: I worked with the U.S. military back in my home country, Afghanistan.
LAWRENCE: Sayed Naser asked to withhold his family name because he fears for their safety in Afghanistan. And that's the whole point, says his lawyer, Brian McGoldrick.
BRIAN MCGOLDRICK: He spent three years working with the U.S. military at great risk to himself. And they've already killed part of his family.
LAWRENCE: Sayed Naser fled Afghanistan after the Taliban showed up at a family wedding and killed one of his brothers. He made a journey from Afghanistan to Brazil and then, sometimes on foot, traveled north to the U.S. border, where he was admitted legally last year. But McGoldrick says ICE agents took none of that under consideration.
MCGOLDRICK: Was all about filling their quota of 3,000 a day. They didn't care that, you know, he was really our ally. I don't think anybody took the time to even go through that.
LAWRENCE: ICE confirmed to NPR that Sayed Naser is in custody but didn't answer other questions. Sarah Verardo is with the advocacy group Save Our Allies. Her husband, Mike, was severely wounded in Afghanistan. In fact, President Trump hosted the Verardos at the White House just this April to honor that. But Sarah Verardo says seeing Afghans like Sayed Naser arrested is another wound.
SARAH VERARDO: And so much of the moral injury that we see among veterans now has really resurfaced with these issues of how we've abandoned our Afghan allies. And the Trump administration has an opportunity, while they do pursue strong immigration reform, to also say that as a nation, we stand with those who stood with us.
Sayed Naser is not his full name. And the press has respected that his wish is for his full name not to be out there in order to protect his family.
The press has done that.
The trash of the Chump administration hasn't. Which is why, June 19th, Homeland Security -- a US government agency -- posted this to Twitter:
Homeland Security
@DHSgov
Last week, ICE officers arrested Sayed Naser [. . .], an Afghan national. He entered the U.S. unvetted via the CBP One app under the Biden administration in 2024.
There is *no* record to show that he assisted the U.S. government in any capacity.
All of his claims will be heard by a judge. Any Afghan who fears persecution is able to make an asylum claim.
@TriciaOhio
Thursday, ICE raided a construction site in Laredo arresting 24 people.
People are standing up and saying no to these attacks. Brad Lander is one standing up and we've noted him for about three weeks now. Today, he spoke with MSNBC.
For 64 seasons, Jaime Jarrin was the announcer for LA Dodgers and he states, "In the face of the injustices and suffering we have witnessed, I am deeply proud of the thousands who have peacefully taken to the streets; raising their voices, refusing to be silenced. Their courage matters. Your presence matters. Do not be afraid. Stand strong. Stay present. Let your voice be heard." Others are standing up as well. Joanna Jacobo Rivera (CALO NEWS) reports:
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix raised its voice, echoing the outcry from dozens of immigrant-rights organizations calling for an end to the persecution of individuals being carried out by the Trump administration.
In the pastoral letter titled “In Solidarity with the Stranger,” John P. Dolan, Bishop of Phoenix, Eduardo A. Nevares, Auxiliary Bishop of Phoenix, and Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop Emeritus of Phoenix, condemned the recent increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations that have taken place in the Valley and across the country, saying, “we raise our collective voice and hearts in prayerful solidarity with our immigrant brothers and sisters; especially considering the recent ICE operations that have brought confusion, fear, and heartache to many of our communities.”
“These men, women, and children -- many of whom have fled economic hardship, violence, and political instability - come to our land seeking refuge and hope. They are not statistics; they are our neighbors. They are members of our parishes, our schools, and our communities,” the letter reads.
The three-page document goes on to detail how the plight of the migrant mirrors that of Jesus Christ, per Catholic doctrine, stating that Jesus was an immigrant, having been born in a land that was not Mary or Joseph’s birthplace, as they escaped the wrath of a tyrant and relied on the kindness of strangers to protect them.
That's right. ICE would attack Jesus. That's how far from sanity and humanity ICE workers now are. And when not destroying lives, they're wasting money. Sean Ogden (WHO WHAT WHY) reports:
Right now, the US government is spending billions of taxpayer dollars on private contractors to run ICE operations, and all but one of the contractors have been under investigation for:
- Overbilling government contracts
- Falsified reports
- Misuse of authority
- Holding unaccompanied minors unlawfully
- Falsified firearms qualifications
- Labor abuse
- Unsafe conditions
- Detainee mistreatment and death
- Deleting video evidence
- Unlicensed security operations
- Breach of contract
Many of these contractors are also posing as regular ICE agents (already notorious for shocking behavior); both groups appear in disturbing online footage wearing balaclavas and often full military combat gear on American soil, swarming unarmed, nonthreatening immigrants, and US citizens at flea markets, car washes, and Home Depots.
This behavior exceeds professional misconduct -- it’s often brutal, even sadistic. The real danger lies not just in the violence or legal breaches, but in the deliberate anonymity: a strategy that shields perpetrators, erodes accountability, and legitimizes lawlessness under the cover of state authority.
Their lawless anonymity -- masked faces, no IDs -- prevents the public from identifying anyone, let alone distinguishing between legitimate federal agents, rogue contractors, and actual unsanctioned criminals. Meanwhile, all these individuals exploit their concealed identities to avoid responsibility for outrageous criminal actions. (Go here and here to see a few ugly examples.)
Let's wind down with this from THE BLACK COMMENTATOR:
The Black Commentator Issue #1047 is now Online
June 26, 2025
Our email address is BlackCommentator@gmail.com
Our voicemail number is 856.823.1739
The following sites updated:
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Talking With Martin Wolf20 hours ago
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