The Common Ills: The Snapshot

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

The Snapshot

Wednesday, October 15, 2025. Chump's followers shine back at him with all the shared hate in their hearts, Chump's reopened Gitmo again, Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin wants serious answers regarding ACA, and much more.

Let's start with Lawrence O'Donnell last night on MSNBC.

Michael Bartels remains on the government dime via his job in the administration. He's still being paid by the US taxpayers.

The disgusting I-Love-Hitler chats was reported on by POLITICO's Jason Beeferman and Emily Ngo:

Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.

They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

William Hendrix, the Kansas Young Republicans’ vice chair, used the words “n--ga” and “n--guh,” variations of a racial slur, more than a dozen times in the chat. Bobby Walker, the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans at the time, referred to rape as “epic.” Peter Giunta, who at the time was chair of the same organization, wrote in a message sent in June that “everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.”

Giunta was referring to an upcoming vote on whether he should become chair of the Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s 15,000-member political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40 years old.

“Im going to create some of the greatest physiological torture methods known to man. We only want true believers,” he continued.

Read the article, these are disgusting people. And they are ugly people. Bobby Walker, for instance, i a surprisingly overly confident male who must have never encountered a mirror or any other reflective surface in his entire life. Or do most Young Republican males today aspire to look like an obese female stand up comic from 1984?

The reporters note:

The private rhetoric isn’t happening in a vacuum. It comes amid a widespread coarsening of the broader political discourse and as incendiary and racially offensive tropes from the right become increasingly common in public debate. Last month, Trump posted an artificial intelligence-generated video that showed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero beside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, whose fabricated remarks were about trading free health care for immigrant votes — a false, long-running GOP trope. The sombrero meme has been widely used to mock Democrats as the government shutdown wears on.

In his 2024 campaign, Trump spread false reports of Haitian migrants eating pets and, at one of his rallies, welcomed comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and joked about Black people “carving watermelons” on Halloween.

In a second POLITICO report, Emily Ngo and Jason Beeferman add:

Two more members of a Young Republican group chat strewn with racist epithets and hateful jokes stepped down from their jobs Tuesday after POLITICO published an exclusive report on the Telegram exchanges.

Peter Giunta’s time working with New York Assemblymember Mike Reilly “has ended,” the Republican lawmaker said. Giunta served as chair of the New York State Young Republicans when the chat took place. Joseph Maligno, who previously identified himself as the general counsel for that group, is no longer an employee of the New York State Unified Court System, a courts spokesperson confirmed.

Another chat member, Vermont state Senator Sam Douglass, faced mounting calls for his resignation as well, including from the state’s Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, and Douglass’ fellow Republican lawmakers, who called his statements “deeply disturbing.”

POLITICO’s in-depth look into how one group of Young Republicans spoke privately was met Tuesday with widespread condemnation in New York, Washington and beyond. The members of the chat — 2,900 pages of which were leaked and reviewed by POLITICO — called Black people monkeys, repeatedly used slurs for gay, Black, Latino and Asian people, and jokingly celebrated Adolf Hitler.

In a bipartisan outcry, members of Congress and other political leaders from around the country said they were appalled by the contents of the group chat. The board of directors of the National Young Republicans said every member of the chat “must immediately resign” their state organization.

THE BULWORK has already covered this appalling story.

And Ben's covered it at MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.

Ben: Notable that Donald Trump, happy to give 20 billion dollars to Argentina

while ripping away healthcare from 20 million Americans. I guess that's Putting America Last now, isn't it Donald?

We're focusing on the Young Republicans and 'peace deal' but I thought Ben's point there needed to be highlighted. Here? We've never credited Chump for a peace deal because there has been none. What he did was a "pause" or "cease-fire." That's what we've called it while the American press has too often embarrassed themselves. And as Ava and I noted Sunday in "Media: Can Dems stop caving, can the media stop whoring?" the British press has had no problem being accurate while too many in the US press have lied and whored.

British outlets continue to tell the truth. Kevin Schofield (UK HUFFINGTON POST) writes:

A BBC Middle East expert has delivered a brutal reality check to Donald Trump’s claims that the war between Israel and Hamas “is over”.

The US president made the bold prediction as world leaders gathered in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt to sign a peace deal ending the two-year-long conflict.

Under the agreement, Hamas agreed to hand over the remaining Israeli hostages it had been holding captive in Gaza, while Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from its jails.

However, lengthy negotiations are still due to take place to agree the finer details on how the agreement will deliver a permanent peace.

On Radio 4′s Today programme on Tuesday, BBC international affairs editor Jeremy Bowen said: “There’s actually almost no detail about how it’s going to be implemented.

“Donald Trump essentially stated the destination, but he didn’t say state how you got there, and that seems to be his style.

“It’s important to get some clarity from looking at what it is and what it isn’t. It is not a peace deal, it is not a peace process, it’s a ceasefire and hostage agreement.

“Now that’s a considerable achievement in itself, and it tries to go on to state where it wants to go, but it doesn’t say how you get there and that’s a real problem.

Donald Chump has brokered no peace deal. We've called it a pause or a cease-fire. That's all that's happened. Ava and I pointed out that British outlets grasped this even when US outlets did not. Ehud Olmert of England's THE INDEPENDENT notes:

It is not a peace agreement. The title Trump suggested for the conference now taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh – “Peace 2025” – has nothing to do with what has happened so far.

The crucial question now is whether the temporary cessation of the war, Israel’s partial withdrawal from Gaza, and the continued minor activity of Hamas will be a starting point for a bold political move that will change the entire Middle East and bring about an Israeli-Palestinian peace based on two states.

Again, the British find it so easy to state the basic facts. But then in the US, we have so many idiot fools. Doubt it? Look at this statement:

I pretty much can assure you that once those doors are opened, it will be a scene of absolute, abject horror... It’s been a terrible, terrible two years for them, because not only are they there, you know, they’re probably being treated better than the average Gazan, because they are the pawns and the chips that Hamas had. Now, Hamas has given up all of its leverage, by the way, by giving them all up. So that is a victory for the Israeli side

Those are Christiane Amanpour's words and she uttered them on CNN and has now apologized for them. Why? Because big baby idiots have comprehension issues. She did not imply that the hostages had it easy. She stated they were likely treated better by Hamas than Hamas treated the average Gazan. Because they loved the hostages? No, because the hostages became chips used in a negotiation. There's nothing contorversial about her statements unless you're an idiot who can't comprehend. Maybe it's time for all of us to start asking if English is MAGA's second language since it's so difficult for them to follow?

Cameron Adams (DAILY BEAST) reports:

Amanpour’s comments had MAGA in a rage. “You can feel how mad she is with the release of hostages by Trump,” Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell posting on X, adding, “she’s a sick woman.”

Oh look, a woman-hating gay man from Glenneth Greenwald's generation and political grouping. They were the worst. Ask any lesbian from that generation about the conservative gay men with the chips on their shoulder (I don't want to be known as a bottom! Even if I am bottom!) and how they hated and loathed women in their pathetic attempts to reassure themselves that they were manly -- gay or no gay, you can't tell them that they're not.

No, Dick, Christiane is not "a sick woman" but you are certainly a sick man.

So is Isaac Schorr. MEDIAITE needs to pull him off any story that has to do with Israel because he can't show any objectivity and he bends the truth to the point that it breaks. There is no peace deal, you stupid fool. Nolink to his garbage but the garbage I'm commenting on right now is his article attacking Cornel West.

But back to Richard Grenell. Where's his condemnation of the Young Republicans' comments in their now exposed thread?

He makes time to willfully misconstrue Chrisiane's comments and to weigh in. But he's got nothing to say regarding these racists, homophobic and sexist comments by the Young Republicans?

You'd think he'd want to call it out.

That everyone in the administration would want to.

Donald Chump is still wrongly taking a victory lap for his cease-fire. And he'll be doing that for at least two more days because it takes a fat boy a lot of time to haul all that around a track.

And how does it look, as he claims to care about the Jews in Israel, that his most intense followers are praising Hitler and wanting another Holocaust. How does that look?

It looks like he and his followers are full of s**t. Is that why his gut's so big? He can't take a dump anymore and it just stays in his body getting toxic?

Donald's delivered nothing to this world but hate. The Young Republicans in that chat are disgusting but let's never forget that it was Chump's womanly hips that birthed them.

MOTHER JONES tries to tell the truth about the cease-fire but maybe next time speak to someone rationale? That might allow for the trashing of Joe Biden not to be in there or for the idiot being interviewed to stop changing the goal posts from comment to comment. MOTHER JONES published a s**t poor article. We can't afford that right now. There are too many important things going on in this country. (And don't forget this Saturday's NO KINGS protests across the country.)

While garbage Brit Daniel Levy fondles and sniffs Chump to MOTHER JONES, Carol Rosenberg (NEW YORK TIMES) reports that the despot has reopened GITMO to imprison those kidnapped off American streets:

Federal agents have moved about 20 migrants to the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a Defense Department official said on Tuesday, repopulating the holding site for detainees designated for deportation for the first time in nearly two weeks.

The identities or nationalities of the detainees were not immediately known. All were believed to be men.

Trackers spotted the flight after it left a Homeland Security Department hub in Alexandria, La., on Monday afternoon. But the first confirmation came on Tuesday, after the federal holiday, from a defense official who was not authorized to be identified by name.

The operation raised to about 710 the number of migrants who had been temporarily held at the base since the Trump administration’s deportation operations began in early February.

Chump's immigration war is destroying the country. It's destroying our rights. It's destroying our safety. It's destroying our economy. He's destroying businesses that depend upon foreign travelers to this country. He's destroying farming. On farming, Dave Smith (FORBES) reports:

At the Fortune Most Powerful Women (MPW) Summit Tuesday morning, Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford warned that American farmers face a critical labor shortage that could lead to a “black swan event” if the U.S. doesn’t institute more pathways for legal immigration. “While there might be some discussion on undocumented, et cetera, this is critical for the health of the economy,” she said.

Ford, who chairs the Business Roundtable’s immigration committee, told the MPW audience that farmers “absolutely need labor,” adding that “we need more legal immigration” as an economic driver for businesses and the broader U.S. economy. For some context, America’s agricultural sector is currently grappling with mounting pressures from trade disputes, farm bankruptcies, and an increasingly restrictive immigration environment.

“These are folks who oftentimes try to get American labor [but] are struggling to do so,” Ford said. “They absolutely need labor, and if they don’t have it, that’s yet another element—and it could be a black swan event for a farmer if they don’t have somebody who can help and be on [the] farm.”

The term “black swan event,” for those unfamiliar, refers to an unpredictable occurrence with severe consequences that appears obvious only in hindsight. In agriculture, such events can include natural disasters, disease outbreaks, or severe labor disruptions that threaten food production systems.

In other disturbing news from THE TIMES, Ruth Igielnik and Jazmine Ulloa cover a new poll, "Nine months into President Trump’s mass deportation campaign, registered voters largely support the idea of removing immigrants who have arrived in the country illegally, even as majorities say they feel his methods have gone too far, according to the latest survey from The New York Times and Siena University."

How can it be both?

The easiest answer would be muddled questions.

But that's not the case if you break down the poll.

So what's going on?

Reality leaks out to some and not to others. FOX "NEWS" and other firght-wing outlets do not cover reality.

So you can get people thinking that we do need to deport non-criminal immigrants who have been here forever and also people who say that Chump i going too far.

We're not consuming the same news.

We're not witnessing the same reality.

If we were, it'd be over right now. ICE physically attacking a rabbi? ICE shooting at priest?

There's no support for that.

But not all Americans are getting truth when they sit down to watch partisan infotainment that they think is news.

How many Americans, for example, will learn of the story Robert McCoy's notes at THE NEW REPUBLIC:

Federal immigration enforcement agents allegedly interfered with—and even threatened to “shoot and arrest”—emergency personnel rescuing an injured protester last week in south Portland, as first reported Monday in Willamette Week.

Citing public dispatch records and two confidential internal reports filed by the ambulance workers, Willamette Week reported that agents blocked an ambulance on the evening of October 5 as it tried to exit an ICE facility with a protester who had suffered a collar bone injury.

Federal agents allegedly delayed the emergency workers manning the vehicle for several minutes, repeatedly requesting to ride in the ambulance to the hospital—even after having agreed, due to their lack of arrest paperwork, to simply follow along in their own vehicle instead.

After some delay, the driver began moving the vehicle toward the garage’s exit, when a plainclothes man with a partial face covering reportedly stepped in its path, urging the driver to stop so as not to hit a group of officers in riot gear standing about 15 feet away.

Eventually, seeing the group of officers line up in apparent “preparation for the gate to open so they could escort the ambulance” off, the driver reported having inched forward a bit further. But the delay stretched on, as federal agents stood “incredibly close” to the vehicle and behaved aggressively, the driver recounted. One of the crew members decided to get out to “calm and deescalate the situation,” they later wrote.

Deciding to join them, the driver, according to their report, put the emergency vehicle in park, which caused it to lurch forward slightly. An agent evidently interpreted the vehicle’s forward movement as deliberate, and is said to have begun threatening the driver.

The agent “pointed his finger at me in a threatening manner,” the driver recalled, “and began viciously yelling in my face, stating, ‘DON’T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN, I WILL SHOOT YOU, I WILL ARREST YOU RIGHT NOW.’”

“I was still in such shock,” the driver said, “that they were not only accusing me of such a thing, but crowding and cornering me in the seat, pointing and screaming at me, threatening to shoot and arrest me, and not allowing the ambulance to leave the scene. This was no longer a safe scene, and in that moment, I realized that the scene had not actually been safe the entire time that they were blocking us from exiting, and that we were essentially trapped.”

Chump's gestapo is nothing but goons who can't get jobs anywhere else because they're uneducated sociopaths.

Julie Bosman (NYT) reports:

Federal agents deployed tear gas on Chicago residents and more than a dozen police officers on Tuesday, the latest clash in the nation’s third-largest city as the Trump administration has carried out its immigration crackdown.

The clash began on Tuesday morning when federal agents were seen chasing a car through a working-class, heavily Latino neighborhood on the city’s far South Side, witnesses said. An S.U.V. driven by the federal agents collided with the car they were pursuing, the Chicago Police Department said, sending that car into another vehicle that was parked nearby.

After the crash, dozens of additional immigration agents in masks arrived and residents emerged from their houses, gathering on streets and sidewalks, throwing objects at agents and shouting, “ICE go home!”

As the agents left, they released tear gas, apparently without warning, sending people coughing and running for cover. Among those affected by the gas were 13 Chicago Police Department officers, the police department said, and at least one officer was seen rinsing his eyes out with water from a neighbor’s garden hose.

They need to go home and get the hell out of Chicago. They need to go home and kneel before their shrines to Donald Chump. Salute their Fuhrer.

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling (THE NEW REPUBLIC) reports:

Why Trump might admire Egypt’s regime is no secret. Trump has made enemies out of his stateside opposition, publicly calling for the political persecution of Democratic lawmakers that have dared to object to his agenda, including Pritzker, Senator Adam Schiff, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and more.

Just last week, the president threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a 19th-century law that would let him utilize the military for domestic purposes, to quell fictitious bedlam that he has claimed has taken over Democratic cities.

One such area that Trump has honed in on is Portland, Oregon, a city better known for Voodoo Doughnuts and cold brew than hellish riots. Late last month, the president ordered the National Guard to the hipster paradise, but his rationale for sending them was not informed by statistics or data—instead, it was because of something he saw on TV.

Other crime stats that have informed his decision to federalize the law enforcement of American cities were completely imagined. When Trump deployed hundreds of National Guard members to Washington in August, he blamed the city’s rising crime data—from 2023. The cherry-picked statistics misrepresented the state of crime in the nation’s capital, which, according to data from the Metropolitan Police Department that was touted by the FBI, had actually fallen last year by 35 percent.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Tammy Duckworth's office:

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) led all Democratic members of the Illinois congressional delegation in sending a letter to health insurance companies to request answers about how the potential expiration of the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits would impact Illinoisans using the marketplace to purchase insurance. Today’s letter comes as the Republican-led government shutdown continues and Republican congressional leaders and President Trump refuse to extend the ACA tax credits that expire at the end of 2025. If these tax credits are not extended by the end of the year, more than four million Americans could lose their health coverage, and more than 20 million Americans are expected to see a significant rise in their premiums.

“We are writing to request information about how the potential expiration of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA; P.L. 111-148) enhanced premium tax credits would impact patients, health care providers, and hospitals in Illinois,” the lawmakers began. “The ACA established premium tax credits, helping lower- and middle-income families lower their health insurance premiums for plans offered through the marketplace. These premium tax credits made health care affordable for millions of families, small business owners, and farmers across the country.”

In 2021, Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan, establishing these enhanced premium tax credits to support Americans in affording their health insurance. In 2022, Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, extending these critical enhanced premium tax credits.

“To make health care even more affordable, the American Rescue Plan Act (P.L. 117-2) enhanced the premium tax credits. This measure ensured that eligible households would not contribute more than 8.5 percent of their income to their health insurance premiums and allowed more middle-income Americans to access the premium tax credits,” the lawmakers wrote.

“Due to the beneficial impact these enhanced tax credits had for American families, Congress extended them as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-19) through the end of 2025. The enhanced premium tax credits helped double enrollment in ACA health plans from 11.4 million Americans in 2020 to 24.3 million Americans in 2025. In Illinois, ACA enrollment grew 59 percent, from 292,945 Illinoisans in 2020 to 465,985 in 2025. The enhanced premium tax credits have allowed more Americans to access primary care visits, prescription drugs, mental health and substance use disorder services, maternity care, and other essential health benefits,” the lawmakers wrote.

Continuing their letter, the lawmakers emphasized that if Republicans in Congress allow these enhanced premium tax credits to expire, premiums for more than 22 million Americans, including 395,850 Illinoisans will more than double—from an average of $888 to $1,904 each month. But some Americans could see even steeper premium increases.

“In Illinois, a 60-year-old couple with an income of $82,800 could see their annual premium increase $17,018—254 percent—while a family of four with an income of $64,000 could see their annual premium increase $2,571—226 percent. Such a large premium increase is unsustainable for most families. In fact, more than four million Americans will become uninsured due if Congress does not act, including 106,000 Illinoisans,” the lawmakers wrote.

The lawmakers underscored that health care providers and hospitals will lose critical revenue if Republicans allow the tax credits to lapse. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation projects that hospitals and health care providers across the U.S. could lose more than $32 billion in revenue, while uncompensated care costs could increase by $7.7 billion, in 2026.

“For hospitals and providers in Illinois, lost revenue could amount to $372 million, while uncompensated care costs could increase by $129 million. This is in addition to the congressional Republicans’ $1 trillion Medicaid cut included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will reduce federal Medicaid funding to Illinois by 19 percent over the next decade. We worry that health care providers and hospitals will face even more severe financial hardship if the enhanced premium tax credits expire, and patients will suffer,” the lawmakers wrote.

Concluding their letter, the lawmakers requested details about the potential impacts of Republicans refusing to address this health care crisis.

The following insurance companies received a copy of the lawmakers’ letter: Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna Group, Molina Healthcare, Celtic Insurance Company, Mercyhealth, and Oscar Health Inc.

A copy of the letter is available here and below:

October 14, 2025

Dear [CEO],

We are writing to request information about how the potential expiration of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA; P.L. 111-148) enhanced premium tax credits would impact patients, health care providers, and hospitals in Illinois.

The ACA established premium tax credits, helping lower- and middle-income families lower their health insurance premiums for plans offered through the marketplace. These premium tax credits made health care affordable for millions of families, small business owners, and farmers across the country. To make health care even more affordable, the American Rescue Plan Act (P.L. 117-2) enhanced the premium tax credits. This measure ensured that eligible households would not contribute more than 8.5 percent of their income to their health insurance premiums and allowed more middle-income Americans to access the premium tax credits.

Due to the beneficial impact these enhanced tax credits had for American families, Congress extended them as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-19) through the end of 2025. The enhanced premium tax credits helped double enrollment in ACA health plans from 11.4 million Americans in 2020 to 24.3 million Americans in 2025. In Illinois, ACA enrollment grew 59 percent, from 292,945 Illinoisans in 2020 to 465,985 in 2025. The enhanced premium tax credits have allowed more Americans to access primary care visits, prescription drugs, mental health and substance use disorder services, maternity care, and other essential health benefits.

If the enhanced premium tax credits are not extended, premiums for more than 22 million Americans, including 395,850 Illinoisans, will more than double—from an average of $888 to $1,904 each month. Some could see even steeper increases. In Illinois, a 60-year-old couple with an income of $82,800 could see their annual premium increase $17,018—254 percent—while a family of four with an income of $64,000 could see their annual premium increase $2,571—226 percent. Such a large premium increase is unsustainable for most families. In fact, more than four million Americans will become uninsured due if Congress does not act, including 106,000 Illinoisans.

Health care providers and hospitals across Illinois also will be impacted if the enhanced premium tax credits are not extended by the end of the year. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, hospitals and health care providers across the United States could lose more than $32 billion in revenue, while uncompensated care costs could increase by $7.7 billion in 2026. For hospitals and providers in Illinois, lost revenue could amount to $372 million, while uncompensated care costs could increase by $129 million. This is in addition to the congressional Republicans’ $1 trillion Medicaid cut included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will reduce federal Medicaid funding to Illinois by 19 percent over the next decade. We worry that health care providers and hospitals will face even more severe financial hardship if the enhanced premium tax credits expire, and patients will suffer.

To help inform our legislative efforts to improve health care for Illinoisans and better understand the implications of letting the ACA tax credits expire, we request that [health insurer] respond to the following questions by October 22, 2025:

How many Illinoisans does [health insurer] cover? Please provide statewide figures and a breakdown by congressional district.
How many Illinoisans does [health insurer] cover who receive the enhanced premium tax credit? Please provide statewide figures and a breakdown by congressional district.
For Illinoisans who are covered by [health insurer] and receive the enhanced premium tax credit, what is their average premium reduction? Please provide statewide figures and a breakdown by congressional district.
If the enhanced premium tax credits are allowed to expire because of congressional Republican inaction, does [health insurer] plan to increase premiums for Illinoisans next year?

If so, please provide the justification for such premium increases.

If so, please provide the average statewide increase and a breakdown by congressional district.

If the enhanced premium tax credits are allowed to expire because of congressional Republican inaction, does [health insurer] expect the Illinoisans it covers to lose coverage?