Taco Crescent Pull-Apart in the Kitchen
38 minutes ago
Saturday, July 12, 2025
Chump's reign of terror aka his immigration 'plan'
Do you like Chinese food? I do. I could eat it constantly. Lucky for me, I don't live in Syracuse. Michelle Breidenbach (SYRACUSE.COM) reports:
Kong Xiong Wang was 18 years old when he arrived at Miami International Airport with a document U.S. immigration officials said was fraudulent.
In 1994, an immigration judge ruled that Wang must return to China, record show.
Instead, over the next decades, he made his way north to a small village on the Susquehanna River in Upstate New York’s Southern Tier.
In Owego, Wang is known as Roger Huang, age 50, a husband and father and the owner of Kam Fung Chinese restaurant for about 25 years.
His is the story of Chinese restaurant owners in towns all over America. Huang works all day in the kitchen while his wife serves General Tso’s chicken and egg rolls in the dining room. Customers have watched their two daughters study their way from restaurant countertops to college.
“This family sure knows how to make awesome food and a friendly atmosphere and it’s always family, theirs and yours,” one Google reviewer wrote a month ago. “Owego New York is blessed.”
Now, for the second time in recent weeks, an Upstate New York community has lost the patriarch of its beloved local Chinese restaurant family.
He was a threat? He was a violent criminal? He was a small business owner providing jobs and food. He was a part of the community. And most being kidnapped on our streets by Chump's thugs are hard working parts of our community. Melissa Goldin (AP) explains, "President Donald Trump has pledged to deport “the worst of the worst.” He frequently speaks at public appearances about the countless “dangerous criminals” -- among them murderers, rapists and child predators -- from around the world he says entered the U.S. illegally under the Biden administration. He promises to expel millions of migrants in the largest deportation program in American history to protect law-abiding citizens from the violent threats he says they pose. But government data around ongoing detentions tells a different story." 72% of those kidnapped by ICE are not violent criminals and have no criminal convictions.
And then the ICE thugs aren't kidnapping immigrants, they're attacking American citizens. Joey Safchik (NBC NEWS) reports on the arrest of 71-year-old Barbara Stone for the 'crime' of documenting ICE's actions in a San Diego courthouse. She was left bruised by the bullies, held for eight hours and her phone was not returned to her when she was finally released. That alone should bother every American; however, combine it with what THE GUARDIAN's Edward Helmore reported today, "Donald Trump has given 'total authorization' to federal immigration agents to protect themselves after a series of clashes with protesters, including during enforcement raids on two California cannabis farms." In Thursday's snapshot, we noted:
People watch as a chaplain at Cincinnati's Children's hospital is rounded up by ICE and they rightly think, "How is that man a 'violent criminal'?" And they rightly conclude, "He isn't." This does not have the support of the American people. You see it in the polling and you see it in the rising sentiment against Chump personally.
The chaplain's name is Ayman Soliman and, Friday, US House Rep Greg Landsman's office issued the following:
Cincinnati, OH – Today, Congressman Greg Landsman (D-OH-01) released the following statement regarding his ongoing efforts in support of Ayman Soliman:
We spoke at length today with ICE officials – making the case for why Ayman deserves to remain in our community.
We have been working on Ayman’s case for months – well before this became public.
We expect this to be a long process that he and his attorneys will be navigating. At every step of the way – before he was detained, afterward, and going forward – we have been and will continue working hand in hand with his legal team.
We have secured a commitment that Ayman will be able to stay in Ohio for the time being – prior to his next appearances before the immigration court.
While we cannot go into every detail, we are working to ensure Ayman receives due process, are pushing for him to be treated fairly, and are doing everything we can to keep him here at home.
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Yesterday saw the courts hand down a verdict finally opposing ICE carrying out racial profiling. At THE INTERCEPT, Natasha Lennerd reports:
After weeks of brazen rights violations and outright impunity from America’s secret police force, a federal judge in Los Angeles on Friday issued a sharp rebuke of the racist tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong blocked ICE’s “roving” patrols in Southern California, halting agents from carrying out unconstitutional arrests based on racial profiling alone. Going forward, they’ll need to have specific grounds for believing someone to be undocumented before they can make an arrest.
“Is it illegal to conduct roving patrols which identify people based upon race alone, aggressively question them, and then detain them without a warrant, without their consent, and without reasonable suspicion that they are without status?” the judge wrote. “Yes, it is.”
While the temporary restraining order is a rightful recognition of the deportation machine’s racist operations, it is unlikely to hinder a border regime that holds racist exclusion as its organizing principle and unaccountable brute force as standard procedure.
LE MONDE and AP add, "Immigrant advocacy groups filed the lawsuit last week, accusing Trump's administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in southern California during its ongoing immigration crackdown. The plaintiffs include three detained immigrants and two US citizens, one of whom was held despite showing agents his identification."
Let's go back to Michelle Breidenbach (SYRACUSE.COM) report because maybe Chinese food doesn't impact you. The article also notes, "All over Upstate New York, the U.S. government is arresting the people who repair roofs, landscape yards and raise chickens. Dairy farm workers are refusing to leave company-provided housing, where officers would need a warrant to enter."
You going to repair your own roof?
All across the country. life is being disrupted (and worse) as Donald Chump pursues his war on immigrants. Worse? Olga R. Rodriguez (AP) reports, "A farmworker who fell from a greenhouse roof during a chaotic ICE raid this week at a California cannabis facility died Saturday of his injuries. Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die in one of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration operations. Yesenia Duran, Alanis' niece, confirmed his death to The Associated Press."
This is a reign of terror pure and simple. A functional government would have long ago ended it. I don't give a damn what Rashida Tlaib or anyone else says ahead of next year's midterms or the 2028 presidential election. We have got to get the Democrats back in power. Those of who you f**ked around and voted for Chump or wasted your vote on grifter Jill Stein or just didn't vote at all when you had time and you had opportunity? Do you get where you've put us? Do you get that Chump's using social media to threaten an American citizen (Rosie O'Donnell) with losing her citizenship? Do you get the hell you pulled us all into with your bulls**t 'purity' issue of Gaza?
We grasp that you dropped Gaza immediately because you're scared of what Chump might do to you. Not only are Palestinians still being killed - your supposed primary issue -- but Chump had War Criinal Netanyahu to the White House. Which is why cowardly CODEPINK protested . . . Congress.
You dragged us into hell. The whole country suffers because of your bulls**t. Be nice if one of you could find the maturity to admit that you were wrong and ask the country for forgiveness.
Terror. We live under a reign of terror. At SALON, Akina Cox shares:
A few weeks ago on a sunny Friday afternoon, my child’s preschool sent out an alert that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were nearby. I picked them up early from school, passing a Home Depot that had apparently been raided a few hours earlier, sending day laborers and street vendors fleeing. The following day, ICE was seen in the city of Paramount where my friend lives, and I checked for alternate routes to her graduation party held that evening. On Sunday morning, as I was looking for shoes and packing snacks, I heard a rumor that ICE was on the same block as my child’s playdate. I searched for concrete details, scrolling through images of the previous day’s protests in Los Angeles only a few miles away — cops shooting rubber-coated steel bullets at protestors, tear gas wafting down the street like morning fog.
By the end of the weekend I was agitated and frayed, unable to focus. That’s when it struck me: I used to feel like this all the time, when I was growing up in the Unification Church, a doomsday cult known for arranged mass weddings of its members. Founded by the self-proclaimed messiah Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church gained notoriety in the seventies when members known as “Moonies” became ubiquitous on city corners, selling trinkets and inviting passersby to a nearby center for a meal. Dinner would turn into a weekend at a rural property, and soon new members would vanish from their normal lives. Accusations of kidnapping were leveled on both sides, with distraught families claiming the Unification Church was keeping their children away from them, and the church alleging families had hired deprogrammers to kidnap them back. Families were torn apart, a situation that was repeated again when church offspring like myself wanted to leave.
While the reach of the Unification Church has diminished over the years, ICE is now on our street corners, arresting our neighbors and loved ones, disappearing them into a legally dubious network of prisons and holding facilities. In observing these actions, I can’t help but notice the numerous parallels between the church and the current administration. Allegations of brainwashing, tax evasion and sexual abuse hounded Reverend Moon despite his growing wealth and political influence. Today the news is filled with stories about President Donald Trump, another alleged tax cheat and sex abuser, and his unprecedented monetization of the presidency for himself and his extended family through dubious cryptocurrency and international real estate deals, and tawdry commercialism that includes selling a $250 Victory 45-47 fragrance.
Most concerningly, both Trump and Moon have used scapegoats to distract their followers from their power grabs. Scapegoats are integral for a cult; they promote social cohesion, both by binding the in-group together over a common enemy, and by widening the gulf between members and outsiders. They cleave the world into a binary of us and them. Scapegoats are vilified as a tacit warning to cult members, an example of what could happen to them if they stray too far from the rest of the flock. The cohesion provided by the scapegoat places cult members in a position of further manipulation, when they don’t look past the easy answers and see their leaders taking advantage of them.
Terror.
We've repeatedly noted here of ICE that your choices are to remain working for them and face a future that's either drug addiction (self-medicating to deal with the guilt) or suicide. That's not me putting a curse on them, that's me noting that this outside of acceptable human behavior and that these are the two responses/possibilities for most people when they transgress the bonds of humanity. Friday, Billal Rahman (NEWSWEEK) reported:
A
government attorney resigned over what he called a shift in Immigration
and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) mission from safeguarding the nation to
chasing deportation numbers.
Adam Boyd, a 33-year-old attorney, quit the ICE legal department last month, The Atlantic reported.
"We
still need good attorneys at ICE. There are drug traffickers and
national-security threats and human-rights violators in our country who
need to be dealt with. But we are now focusing on numbers over all
else," Boyd told the outlet.
Stephen
Miller, who is the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, and
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem set a daily arrest quota of
3,000, piling up pressure on ICE agents to deliver historically high
figures.
Boyd said he ultimately felt he "had
to make a moral decision" to leave after watching the agency's
priorities change under mounting political pressure.
"It
became a contest of how many deportations could be reported to [White
House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller by December," Boyd said.
According
to Boyd, ICE lawyers were increasingly frustrated as legitimate cases
were dismissed so that officer teams could arrest immigrants in
courthouse hallways and push them through fast-track
deportations—tactics that he says padded statistics at the expense of
due process.
Boyd added that many ICE attorneys
share his concerns and are biding their time until their student loans
are forgiven before they, too, resign.
THE ATLANTIC article noted above is by Nick Miroff
and morale has been destroyed as one ICE agent after another reveals.
For example, one notes that they're supposed to be going after violent
criminals but instead they're tasked with "arresting gardners" and
another states, "Even those that are gung ho about the mission aren't
happy with how they are asking to execute it -- the quotas and the shift
to this low-hanging fruit to make the numbers."
That's why they have to wear masks -- because even now they're ashamed of what they're doing. When the true scope of what they've done is revealed years from now and they see how their own actions, their own individual actions, were illegal and destroyed lives, all they'll have is suicide or drugs to self-medicate and try to erase the memories.
They need to quit. For their own souls, they need to quit. This is not something that will be less painful for them as the years go by.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have become a more and more common sight across America during Trump’s second term, especially after the administration reportedly
set a goal to increase immigration arrests to 3,000 per day. The
federal agency has been whisking people off the streets, sparking
protests with raids on businesses in Los Angeles, including a clothing wholesaler downtown, and even arrested
(and released hours later, reportedly without charges) New York City
comptroller Brad Lander at an immigration courthouse on June 17. These
actions have begun to sow anxiety and even panic in communities
nationwide. And ICE’s power will likely grow: President Trump’s
newly-signed budget legislation allocates roughly $170 billion to
immigration and border enforcement through 2029, nearly $30 billion of
which is earmarked for ICE operations, including hiring and training new
personnel. The way many of the current agents are dressing is only
adding to the controversy.
In
photographs and footage from recent raids in Nebraska, California, New
York, Florida, and other states, ICE agents are often either decked out
in military-style gear, including tactical vests and helmets, or seem to
be dressed as civilians, with few, if any, apparent identifying
markers. ICE, like some other federal law enforcement agencies, does not
have a standard uniform for its agents. Many in these images wear
gaiter-style masks, which the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, said
in May are “for personal protection and to prevent doxing,” or being
identified online. (An ICE spokesperson tells GQ via email that its
officers have faced “a nearly 700% increase in assaults.” The Department
of Homeland Security reportedly recorded 79 assaults against officers
from the start of Trump’s second term through the end of June.)
Some
of these agents have reportedly refused to identify themselves as ICE,
raising concerns over the agency’s accountability and oversight of its
actions. According to the ICE spokesperson, during enforcement
operations all of its agents “wear badges designed to be easily
identifiable and to signify their authority as law enforcement
officials.
I
believe the real assaults they are facing are assaults from their own
conscience. And they should be paying to attention to those. Things
you do wrong and feel bad about today do not get easier to stomach as
time goes on which is why so many turn to drugs (which includes booze)
or self-harm (suicide).
Why
might your conscience be nagging you? Because your job is not one that
your faith can forgive or that your belief system can stomach. Ailia Zehra notes:
46-year-old
Chris Landry, a Canadian-born legal U.S. resident who’s lived in New
Hampshire since age 3, supported President Donald Trump in the last
election. But on Sunday, things took a sharp turn. Returning from a
family vacation with three of his children via the Maine border, Landry
learned his green card — granted in 1981 — had been revoked.
He was warned he’d be arrested if he attempted to reenter without approval.
“I
was definitely all for ‘Make America Great Again’ and having a strong,
unified country and a bright future for my five American children, but
now I feel a little differently,” he told NBC Boston, in a report
published Wednesday. “I’ve been torn from my family. My life has been
disregarded completely.”
He says he was held for
three hours and questioned about long‑past offenses, including marijuana
possession and driving with a suspended license — with convictions
dating back to 2004 and 2007. He paid all fines and received suspended
60‑day sentences for each, and asserts he has stayed out of trouble
since.
Still, he felt his treatment at the
hands of border agents was heavy-handed. “I never expected that I
wouldn’t be able to go back home,” he told Manchester, New Hampshire ABC
affiliate WMUR.
Lives are being destroyed. And the press it gets today? In 20 years, you'll be watching documentaries on this. It will be one of the key and telling factors about the Chump administration. ICE agents who think, "It was twenty years ago, I can live my life," will instead be triggered on a weekly if not daily basis because these stories will be told -- a huge number of stories, many more than are known and shared today.
The American people grow more appalled each day. Thursday, Gallup released the results of their latest poll:
Americans have grown markedly more positive toward immigration over the past year, with the share wanting immigration reduced dropping from 55% in 2024 to 30% today. At the same time, a record-high 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is a good thing for the country.
These shifts reverse a four-year trend of rising concern about immigration that began in 2021 and reflect changes among all major party groups.
With illegal border crossings down sharply this year, fewer Americans than in June 2024 back hard-line border enforcement measures, while more favor offering pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the U.S.
These findings are based on a June 2-26 Gallup poll of 1,402 U.S. adults, including oversamples of Hispanic and Black Americans, weighted to match national demographics.
The same poll finds many more Americans disapproving than approving of President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration. Trump’s 21% approval rating on the issue among Hispanic adults is below his 35% rating nationally, with the deficit likely reflecting that group’s low support for some of the administration’s signature immigration policies.
Winding down, an e-mail asked about earlier today when this went up here:
They went up at the same time and are both mixes of Diana Ross' number 11 on the dance charts hit "Paradise" (from WORKIN' OVERTIME). I was trying to decide which one. I liked the mix of the vocals best on the EXOTIC mix and I liked the mix of the music best on the Desert Island version. So in the end, I just posted them both because I had like 30 seconds before it had to go up.
Another e-mail on the music asked where were the men? On every other site I believe. When we started, it was male, male artist, male artist male artist, male artist, male artist . . . At every website. They noted male singers and actors and directors and never seemed to grasp that women matter. Even PUMA, the 2008 wave that was pro-woman and, for many, feminist, was no better. I watched as they turned to entertainment on Saturdays and did posts about great movies . . .
I didn't see ALL ABOUT EVE. I didn't see MAHOGANY. I didn't AGNES OF GOD. I saw one post after another about some male buddy caper or some male action film that a woman was on screen for about fifteen to twenty minutes in.
We have to do our part to create the world that we want. We can't just complain. We do note male singers here. Not on Saturdays unless it's a duet with a female. I can't control what other sites do. I can make sure that women matter at this site. I was hoping to note Carly Simon today but didn't have room. I mention that because people often e-mail that I hate their favorite singer because she's never noted here. They're usually wrong. Even ones that I might dislike personally can be noted here and have been. There are only two women who are banned because they're backstabbing bitches to other female artists. One's dragging her tired ass around still while the other will soon be gone.
I'm more than happy to amplify talented women -- whether I like them or not -- but those two women deserve to be forgotten, they've worked overtime to destroy other female singers (at one point, both targeted Anita Baker, for example) and I'll do nothing ever to advance or promote them.
If it's a slow morning and I have time to really select and listen, you'll find Sarah Vaughan in the mix because she's probably my all time favorite singer. But there are so many great singers and not enough slots on every Saturday to note Cher (who we always kick off with the morning), followed by Diana (who gets at least four videos each Saturday), Sade, Carly Simon, Jody Watley, Vanessa Williams, Janis Joplin, Cass Elliot, Nina Simone, Odetta, Judy Henske, Raye, Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Betty Wright, Heart, Alicia Keys . . . If I'm choosing favorites to post and not rushing, besides Sarah, you'll also get a lot of piano playing women -- Ashford & Simpson for Valerie, an Aretha performance where she's at the piano, Carole King, etc.
The following sites updated:
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puny man!12 hours ago
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Idiot of the Week21 hours ago
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The Chump s**t show21 hours ago
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Nancy Mace, big disgrace22 hours ago
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Friday, July 11, 2025
The Snapshot
Friday, July 11, 2025. Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi should both immediately be fired for their latest scandals, Chief Justice John Roberts needs to defend the judiciary by making an example of those who appear before the Court and intentionally lie as the administration has done, you're not helping AOC's shot at the presidency or Zohran's shot at NYC mayor by treating "Socialist" like a dirty word that can't be typed or uttered, and much more.
I never know what I'm covering because I tend to get stuck responding. E-mails to the public account -- so non-community members -- screaming about Mike and what he wrote "RAW STORY better stop publishing COMMON DREAMS whoring plus FettyCrap, John
Crap Kerry." E-mails telling me I must denounce Mike and defend RAW STORY.
If you look this morning at the websites link to on the side, you'll see Mike's. You won't see RAW STORY. I removed them this morning.
First off, Mike's a friend, he's married to one of my lifetime best friends (Elaine). Maybe you should know something about something before you e-mail me that I need to drop someone. Mike and Elaine are living in my home and that started during the pandemic when they wanted to be back on the 'mainland' (their home is in Hawaii).
Then maybe learn something about what I'm doing online.
In 2016, Ava and I wrote "TV: Chelsea lately?" for THIRD:
"I just think he's so great. I hate the girl. The girl I hear was just
killed. Thank God. it's supposed to be his daughter. She's terrible."
No, TV criticism isn't for everyone.
And Martha Stewart is among those not up to it.
No, TV criticism isn't for everyone.
And Martha Stewart is among those not up to it.
She's sharing her thoughts on NBC's THE BLACKLIST in what we're quoting,
sharing with Chelsea Handler, and she's speaking of the actress who
plays Elizabeth (Megan Boone) and apparently unaware that (a) killing
Liz off resulted in massive protests from fans and (b) the 'death' was a
plot twist (to allow downtime for Boone to give birth) and that Liz was
back on the show.
An unpopular opinion?
A critic can stake that out (though maybe not if you depend upon people to buy your wares at Home Depot).
But weighing in on a 'death' that had been rumored for months to be fake and that was known as fake after the May 19th season finale of THE BLACKLIST?
Not really testifying to an ability to watch TV.
BREAKING BAD? She dismissed the show as one she didn't watch because the people were too ugly.
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK was another show she didn't watch.
"Too close to home?" Chelsea asked, referencing Martha's 2004 conviction for insider trading and the imprisonment that followed.
"Too close to home?"
It's why Chelsea Handler makes such a great talk show host.
It's a funny comment and punctures the hot air many celebrities can have.
An unpopular opinion?
A critic can stake that out (though maybe not if you depend upon people to buy your wares at Home Depot).
But weighing in on a 'death' that had been rumored for months to be fake and that was known as fake after the May 19th season finale of THE BLACKLIST?
Not really testifying to an ability to watch TV.
BREAKING BAD? She dismissed the show as one she didn't watch because the people were too ugly.
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK was another show she didn't watch.
"Too close to home?" Chelsea asked, referencing Martha's 2004 conviction for insider trading and the imprisonment that followed.
"Too close to home?"
It's why Chelsea Handler makes such a great talk show host.
It's a funny comment and punctures the hot air many celebrities can have.
Do you know who I personally hate? Martha Stewart. And have since before I was online. Some people find Martha pairings cute -- like her and Snoop in recent years. I don't. I don't find it cute because I've encountered Martha. She doesn't like women, she's not a friend to us. She considers every woman a threat and she's openly hostile.
That's the reality of Martha Stewart. And the reality is that that's the only time I've covered her. I don't like her but I don't use my writing to even scores.
Here's another reality. I'm at Clive Davis' party. In walks the hideous Donald Chump. This is before his presidential years. I am known as loathing Chump. I immediately ask why the hell he is here because I wouldn't be if I'd known he was on the guest list. He's Martha's plus-one, I'm told.
Now he was a 'Democrat' back then. I don't care. He was trash, he was gross and he was offensive. As I've noted online repeatedly, I do not like him. Again, that's not resulted in 21 years of online writing about Martha Stewart and how awful she truly is.
You know who I do like?
Lily Tomlin. She's a comic genius and shes a sweet person. Like my friend Suzanne de Passe, I hold one thing against Lily, her effort to promote a piece of trash but let's move past that because that's going back to the 80s and we're decades past -- also I don't mention that piece of trash that she wanted to promote.
But Lily I like and respect.
I've done two pieces with Ava where we've called her out. The first time for pretending that she was out for decades when she wasn't. The second time for her recent lie about Bill Cosby in the Janis Ian documentary. I didn't want to call her out either time. The second time, it made me physically sick to co-write that piece.
But you either do the work or you don't.
You tell the truth or you don't.
What Mike is calling out is Julia Conley lying.
No, she doesn't get away with lying --and she lies all the time -- while I have to hold people I know and who are friends accountable in my own writing. No. No. No.
Ava and I just wrote "Media: Zohran Mamdani needs to stop playing catch up and go on the offense" this week. And we knew a lot of people would hate it and a lot would twist it around.
It was not an attack Zohran. We could have written that if we wanted.
He is the nominee and idiots need to wise up -- idiots being DSA -- Democratic Socialists of America. They are destroying him with their 'rescue attempts' and their character attacks on anyone who doesn't get on board their float.
Can Zohran become the mayor of NYC?
The larger questions is can AOC become the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in 2028?
She's not going to be if DSA can't cut the crap out.
Julia Conley is the perfect example.
A corporatist Democrat doesn't like Zohran. That's hardly shocking and it's certainly not news and it shouldn't have even resulted in a write up -- not even at crappy COMMON DREAMS.
But Julia decided to 'write' (lie).
That's what Mike called out. DSA reputation for lying gets worse and worse and you're not helping yourselves. Using Summer Lee to attack Dean Phillips is really nonsense to begin with but to label her a "progressive" when she's a Socialist? Julia is lying and she's hurting Zohran and AOC with her lies.
Zohran is a Socialist. AOC is a Socialist.
If they want to hold public office, they don't need to be seen as some strange aberrations.
Julia Conley's refusal to acknowledge that Socilists -- like Summer Lee -- exist harm AOC and harm Zohran. When Julia treats "Socialist" like a word that can't be used or spoken, her writing sends the message that there's something wrong with being a Socialist. That's not helping.
Mike was right to call it out. "He just hates Socialists," accused one e-mail. I'm sorry, Mike loves his great grandfather and, as he's long written at his site including the post you're objecting to, his grandfather is a lifelong Socialist. So maybe try understanding what you're reading. Maybe try grasping that attacking Mike while defending Julia Conley is creating real problems for AOC.
If we can't find a way to say the word Socialist and to not hide and pretend that people aren't Socialists, AOC doesn't stand a chance. I'm sick of political closet cases and I'm sick of the Julia Conley's putting people in political closets.
Now here's another thing you don't know. Ty (of THIRD) left a comment yesterday at the RAW STORY repost of Julia Conley. It was not an attack. It noted he agreed with Mike that calling Summer Lee "a progressive" and not a Socialist is not honest or helpful.
Many comments have gone up. His hasn't. That's the other main reason RAW STORY got pulled this morning. We'll note them from time -- probably mainly through MSN republishing their articles and we'll just list the writers -- but I'm not promoting them. It's not an outlet I currently trust.
When I say calling Lily out the second time made me physically sick, I mean I had to repeatedly stop writing to run to the bathroom and throw up. So these little liars and pip squeaks who think they can deceive and distort don't deserve my time of day. I do the work required. I'm not in the mood for the Julia Conleys.
Now we're moving to Ann. "Musk wins a round and leaves Chump bloodied" and "Reviewing my call saying Musk won this round" finds Ann noting that she'd asked me to note something. I was supposed to do it Thursday morning but I was in the ER on Wednesday night as Ann notes. I got bit some kind of spider and my lower leg swelled up with this huge blister. I forgot about it as a result of losing about two and a half to three hours on Wednesday addressing that. (And my time is scheduled so tightly that I really don't have two hours to give away.)
Now Ann's called the week for Musk. Chump and Musk are at war. Her call -- which she supports and backs up with evidence and which I agree with -- is that Musk won this week because Epstein is in the news and Chump can't avoid it. Musk is the one who threw that card out last month.
She's getting pushback because people think Musk is a failure for the third party he's proposing.
Elon Musk says his new political party will take on the Washington establishment of both Democrats and Republicans. In reality, he’s more likely to take votes away from Republicans, potentially worsening their problems in the coming midterms.
Even before Musk’s threat of a new party, the Republicans faced a tough battle to retain control of the House and possibly the Senate in 2026. If Musk is able to pry away Republican votes in a few hotly contested districts, he could undermine GOP control of Congress and make it harder for President Donald Trump to pull off his agenda.
Musk’s
new party could even spend its way into a few congressional seats. But
his vision of himself as a centrist kingmaker isn’t likely to come to
pass.
Musk has increasingly voiced frustration with Washington’s approach to debt and other issues since his stint as an advisor to President Trump ended in May. His feelings boiled over on July 4, when Trump signed his policy megabill into law. Musk said he was starting a new party, called simply America, then and there, though he has yet to file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.
That's not his vision.
It's his stated vision. He needs the stated vision. But the reality is that this is a grudge match between Musk and Chump and they're now both trying to destroy the other.
To destroy Chump, Musk can work with Democrats or Republicans. Democrats don't want him (outside of ridiculous Ro) because he's toxic. That leaves Musk Republicans.
His party is not meant to take over. Musk is not an idiot. His party is meant to continue the grudge f**k. And that means being a spoiler. In the mid-terms a Republican runs for a House seat, a Democrat runs for the same seat and a Musk conservative runs for the same seat. Musk's win comes if his candidate peels off enough votes to keep a Chump alligned candidate from winning a House seat.
To be honest about that would take the 'noble' aim away from Musk's efforts. But that is what he's after. He can't defeat Chump on his own. But he can work to ensure that Chump loses a house of Congress -- or both -- and gets held in check.
If Democrats controlled even one house of Congress right now, Chump would likely be facing impeachment. You've got Loose Lips Hegseth who is one embarrassment after another. You've got Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem who are both facing a crisis that begs the question why either is still holding office. The sheer corruption is appalling.
Let's start with Pam Bondi who was already having a bad week for lying about Jeffrey Epstein. (To be clear, I'm referring to her saying in February she had the client list and her now saying that there is no such list. That's the extent of it for me. Others have covered Epstein at length -- in this community, Ann has -- and they have more knowledge and more concerns than I do.) Bondi now has a new problem.
Attorney General Pam Bondi scrambled Thursday to discredit a Justice Department whistleblower who has accused DOJ leadership of planning to ignore court orders.
“We support legitimate whistleblowers, but this disgruntled employee is not a whistleblower—he’s a leaker asserting false claims seeking five minutes of fame,” Bondi fumed on X.
Erez Reuveni, a former justice department attorney, filed a complaint to the Senate last month alleging that senior DOJ official and federal judge nominee Emil Bove suggested in a March 14 meeting that DOJ staff should say “f--- you” to courts and defy any order blocking migrant deportation flights from taking off to the CECOT megaprison in El Salvador the next day.
The DOJ fired Reuveni on April 11, after he admitted in court that officials mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia on one of those flights.
On Thursday, the whistleblower submitted new evidence to the Senate, including internal DOJ messages that appear to support his claim that Bove said the DOJ might have to ignore court rulings.
Lawrence O'Donnell covered this story on his MSNBC show last night.
As did Ari Berman on his show . . .
And Jen Psaki on her program.
This is a very disturbing story and it's one that should result in Pam Bondi being fired from her job. I'm not counting on that happening because Chump is corrupt and he wallows in corruption. But what I do expect from this? Courts no longer giving the administration the benefit of the doubt. You or I appear in court and we lie? The judge is not going to take anything we saw seriously because we have lied in court. There should be no more attempts to give the administration the benefit of the doubt. They have intentionally lied to the courts.
In the March 31 exchange, James Percival, senior counselor to Homeland
Security Secretary Kristi Noem, was debating with other top officials—at
DHS, DOJ, and State—what could be said to the court about Abrego
Garcia. One of those officials was Reuveni.
“Can we say the following?” Percival asked, then listed several
things he’d like the administration to say about Abrego Garcia, one
being: “This guy is a leader of MS-13.”
“If we can get a declaration to that effect, yes,” Reuveni answered. This meant the assertion could not be made without a facts-and-evidence-based declaration from ICE on Abrego Garcia’s status.
In other words, top DHS officials apparently were pushing to characterize Abrego Garcia as an MS-13 “leader” before any evidence of this had appeared. And Reuveni expressly warned against doing this absent such evidence.
Subsequently in that chain, an ICE official (whose name is redacted) answered Percival’s question about whether it’s OK to call Abrego Garcia an MS-13 “leader.”
“I have not found anything indicating ‘leader,’ but I’ll keep looking,” the ICE official wrote, meaning that the hunt for such evidence would continue.
It never materialized. That ICE official did identify Abrego Garcia as a “verified member” of MS-13, based on a formal declaration which at this point had been provided by ICE.
But this too would ultimately prove to be lacking in evidence. That claim was based on a ruling by a judge early in the 2019 proceedings to deport him (resulting in him receiving protected status) after he’d been arrested in Maryland the first time and transferred to ICE.
But that ruling rested on “double hearsay,” on paperwork filed by a Maryland cop after Abrego Garcia’s 2019 arrest that cited an unnamed confidential source, and neither the cop nor the source were cross-examined. The cop was subsequently suspended and indicted for serious professional misconduct on an unrelated case.
None of this stopped top administration officials and Trump himself from continuing to recklessly call Abrego Garcia a gang member and a terrorist too many times to count. Vice President JD Vance even described Abrego Garcia as a “high-level gang member in MS-13,” long after these internal emails showed the administration knew it had no evidence for the “leader” claim.
It's outrageous and justices need to make that clear: Outrageous and unacceptable. The chief justice that needs to make that clear is Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. He is the highest judge in the country and he needs to be defending the judiciary. That means no more passes for the administration. The administration needs to prove what they say in their statements and filings or they need to lose every case that comes before the Supreme Court. Roberts has a duty and he better live up to it.
Now let's turn to the failure that is Kristi Noem. The Texas flood. Margaret Cooney and Cody Hankerson (Center for American Progress) note:
Over the Fourth of July weekend, heavy rainfall led to devastating and catastrophic flooding across six Central Texas counties. More than 100 people have died, with hundreds more reported as still missing. The flood has already become the deadliest inland U.S. flooding event in almost 50 years. As of this writing, the estimated total damage and economic loss will be between $18 billion and $22 billion dollars. The events in Texas are a heartbreaking reminder of how harmful continued climate change will be, as it is already fueling more intense, more frequent, and more catastrophic floods. Investment in disaster preparedness is crucial to giving communities a fighting chance to prepare for and respond to these events.
Amid this backdrop, the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has significantly reduced National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) staff, research capacity, and data-sharing capabilities, including weather forecasts. The National Weather Service (NWS), in particular, has lost close to staff at a time when 40 percent of national weather forecast offices are facing significant staff vacancies. Specifically for the Austin/San Antonio forecasting office, which covers areas affected by the Texas floods, the Trump administration’s recent DOGE layoffs included a warning coordination meteorologist position that plays a critical role in communication coordination between forecasters, emergency managers, and the public. These cuts to NOAA and NWS programs, staff, and data are making communities more vulnerable to storms like the one that hit Kerr County, Texas, over the weekend. And now, the Trump administration is looking to expand those cuts.
The Trump administration’s 2026 budget appears to be actively working to eliminate the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) along with all NOAA weather laboratories and cooperative institutes and laboratories, which provide weather forecasting data and research from 80 universities and work to improve NOAA’s warning and forecast capabilities. Without continued funding, long-term datasets would be disrupted and the NWS’ ability to inform disaster preparation and provide accurate and timely weather tracking would be at risk. Moreover, the president just signed into law the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which, among other dangerous provisions, repealed all unobligated funds that the Biden administration had designated for improving research, forecasting, monitoring, and public communication of hazardous weather.
As seen in Kerr County over July Fourth weekend, the impacts of extreme precipitation are deadly and damaging. Knowing when it will rain, how much will fall, and how rapidly it will fall is crucial to allow communities appropriate time to prepare and to evacuate if necessary.
Yet the proposed cuts to NOAA—particularly the elimination of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research—would stifle critical research aimed at making precipitation forecasting more accurate and timely. On the chopping block are promising research-to-operations efforts as well as the National Severe Storms Laboratory, the Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental Threats framework, the Warn-on-Forecast project, and the Flooded Locations and Simulated Hydrographs (FLASH) Project, which improves warning systems for flash floods. Additionally, NOAA’s 2020–2030 Precipitation Prediction Grand Challenge effort—which seeks to enhance precipitation prediction by improving our understanding of physical processes, exploiting observations, and improving forecast models and products—will falter without the continued investment.
Prior to this past weekend’s events, the National Weather Service had been warning about the coming rains and potential for flash floods for days, but a few key local NWS positions had been vacant since the first round of DOGE cuts and buyouts. The vacant warning coordination meteorologist position, in particular, is “responsible for working with emergency managers and the public to ensure people know what to do when a disaster strikes.” Yet the person who had served in that role for decades was among hundreds of NWS employees who accepted an early retirement offer, leaving the agency at the end of April.
New revelations of the administration's incompetence which likely cost lives are covered by Chris Walker (TRUTHOUT):
Officials within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) who were tasked with responding to massive flooding in central Texas this past week say that some of their lifesaving efforts were delayed due to cost-saving rules imposed by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem.
Noem, whose department oversees FEMA’s work, issued a new agency rule this year requiring all contracts and grants costing over $100,000 to be personally approved by her. As floodwaters were rising in Texas, Noem failed to respond to such requests over the weekend, taking four days to approve the spending that could have saved lives.
As of Wednesday evening, 120 people in Texas have been killed by the massive floods, with 173 people still missing.
FEMA officials were prompt to respond to the devastating natural disaster as it was happening. But according to four officials within the agency who spoke to CNN on the matter, the new rule directly impeded their efforts.
“We were operating under a clear set of guidance: lean forward, be prepared, anticipate what the state needs, and be ready to deliver it. That is not as clear of an intent for us at the moment,” one of the sources told the network.
A spokesperson for FEMA defending the policy said Noem’s changes to the agency were mostly positive.
“The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades,” that spokesperson said.
But some crucial tools to assist in rescuing people were left unused for days, the anonymous FEMA officials said. For example, Urban Search and Rescue Crews, typically dispatched immediately when a disaster occurs, were unable to move into position within the state when floodwaters started to rise rapidly on Friday. Aerial imagery to assist in rescue efforts was also delayed, the officials said.
Although these requests were made on Friday, Noem did not approve them until Monday, several days after the flooding had started and wrought most of its destruction.
Noem — who frequently shares social media posts of her dressing in the same garb as other DHS agents — did take the time to post on her Instagram account on Sunday a few potential options for her official portrait as a former governor of South Dakota, The Daily Beast reported, asking her followers which image was their favorite.
CNN also reported that “the additional red tape required at FEMA added another hurdle to getting critical federal resources deployed when hours counted,” noting that “Texas did request aerial imagery from FEMA to aid search and rescue operations, a source told CNN, but that was delayed as it awaited Noem’s approval for the necessary contract.”
Also, “FEMA staff have also been answering phones at a disaster call center, where, according to one agency official, callers have faced longer wait times as the agency awaited Noem’s approval for a contract to bring in additional support staff.”
In its social media statement (below), DHS posted the CNN headline and wrote: “This is a FAKE NEWS LIE from CNN.” The headline read: “FEMA’s response to Texas flood slowed by Noem’s cost controls.”
“This reporting is an unapparelled display of activist journalism and distracts from the robust, coordinated federal response led by Secretary Noem that has saved over 900+ lives,” the DHS statement reads.
“President Trump approved a Major Disaster Declaration, hours after Governor Greg Abbott’s request. By Tuesday, FEMA had deployed 311 staffers, providing support and shelter for hundreds of people.”
The flooding started Friday. Tuesday is four days later.
CNN also reported facts that DHS’s statement called “fake news,” but then confirmed in its own statement.
“By Monday night, only 86 FEMA staffers had been deployed, according to internal FEMA data seen by CNN — a fraction of the typical response for a disaster of this scale,” the news network reported. “By Tuesday night, the federal response expanded to 311 staffers deployed, the data showed.”
We'll wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:
Federal Reserve “Beige Book” survey reveals businesses are taking advantage of Trump’s chaotic tariffs to price gouge consumers.
“This Administration’s reckless approach [to tariff policy] is spiking costs for small businesses and creating opportunities for billion-dollar companies to grow their profits and take advantage of consumers.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) led a letter to Andrew Ferguson, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging the agency to investigate tariff-enabled corporate price gouging that is raising costs for American families and use its full authority to prevent it.
The letter was also signed by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), and Representatives Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), John Garamendi (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), James P. McGovern (D-Mass.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).
The lawmakers previously wrote to the FTC warning that large companies could take advantage of the Trump Administration’s chaotic tariff strategy to price gouge consumers. That letter noted that the on-again, off-again tariff confusion and uncertainty has created a cover for large corporations to raise prices on all goods, regardless of whether they are actually subject to new tariffs, and increase prices above and beyond what is necessary to cover any additional costs. Chair Ferguson did not respond to the lawmakers’ letter and has yet to take discernible action to prevent tariff-related price gouging, despite his own warning that President Trump’s tariffs “should not be interpreted as a green light for price fixing or any other unlawful behavior.”
In June 2025, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released new survey results showing that “a significant share” of companies raised prices of goods and services that are not subject to tariffs, confirming that businesses were indeed “taking advantage of an escalating pricing environment to increase prices.”
Anecdotes from the Federal Reserve illustrate that tariff-enabled price gouging is already a significant and legitimate concern:
- A heavy construction equipment supplier “raised prices on goods unaffected by tariffs to enjoy the extra margin.”
- A contact at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco “observed that price increases that had been implemented in anticipation of certain tariffs were not rolled back once those tariffs were removed.”
- The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland said she heard of firms “raising prices even though they aren’t affected by tariffs because competitors who do face higher import taxes are raising prices.”
“This Administration’s reckless approach is spiking costs for small businesses and creating opportunities for billion-dollar companies to grow their profits and take advantage of consumers,” wrote the lawmakers. “The FTC should be utilizing its full authority to prevent these unfair practices.”
The lawmakers concluded the letter by urging the FTC to use its 6(b) authority to investigate any tariff-enabled price gouging and to issue a report on its findings.
As a champion for American consumers and a secure and healthy economy, Senator Warren has engaged in oversight of corporations for unfairly increasing prices for consumers:
- In May 2025, Senator Warren demanded the Federal Trade Commission investigate which large companies are using the Trump Administration’s tariff policies – and the confusion surrounding them – as an excuse to raise prices in excess of actual cost increases and to prosecute individuals and companies that price gouge American consumers.
- In May 2025, Senator Warren wrote to Ramon Laguarta, CEO of PepsiCo, Inc. (Pepsi), demanding an explanation for the company’s potentially illegal price discrimination against small and independent grocery stores.
- In May 2025, Senator Warren pressed Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize — parent company of Stop & Shop — on the chain’s progress lowering grocery prices at stores across Massachusetts.
- In May 2025, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) applauded the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation into potential anticompetitive practices by major egg producers and urged the agency to continue its thorough investigation as egg prices continue to rise.
- In January 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) led 19 of their colleagues, writing to President Donald Trump, pushing him to take meaningful steps to lower the prices of eggs and other groceries—a problem he largely ignored during his entire first week in office.
- In November 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) led their colleagues in writing to Chair of the Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan and Secretary of the Department of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, urging them to investigate Albertsons and other major grocery chains for predatory practices that could have violated federal laws.
- In October 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren led a letter to President and Chief Executive Officer of McDonald’s, Chris Kempczinski, pushing for more information on McDonald’s pricing decisions as fast food prices continue to increase, outpacing inflation and squeezing customers.
- In October 2024, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, along with Representatives Jim McGovern and Ayanna Pressley, sent a letter to Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize—parent company of Stop & Shop—demanding an explanation for its potential use of pricing algorithms leading to price gouging, resulting in higher prices in minority and working-class communities in Massachusetts.
- On May 3, 2024, during a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs, Senator Warren called out food industry price gouging and urged action to combat unfair pricing practices.
- On March 28, 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Penn.) led a group of 14 lawmakers in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan urging the agency to revive enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), a critical tool to promote fair competition in the food industry.
- On February 28, 2024, Senator Warren joined Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) in introducing the Shrinkflation Prevention Act to crack down on corporations that deceive consumers by selling smaller sizes of their products without lowering prices.
- On February 15, 2024, Senators Warren, Baldwin, Casey, and U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) reintroduced the Price Gouging Prevention Act of 2024, which would protect consumers and prohibit corporate price gouging by authorizing the FTC and state attorneys general to enforce a federal ban against grossly excessive price increases.
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