Friday, October 16, 2026. Chump remains on his DESPERATION TOUR as he pushes off all his duties as something to handle after the midterms, pressure forces Chump to kill Hegseth's plot to live stream an execution, Christmas will likely be impacted for many by the tanking economy, ICE is out of control, and much more.
Things are heating up with regards to Iran as Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) notes in the video above. Remember, Chump says he'll address the Iran War -- which he started -- as soon as the election is over. He's had to put that on hold because it's more important -- to him -- that the president of the United States spend the six weeks leading up to the election doing campaign rallies. No, it's not a presidential election year but Chump would rather do anything than the job he's supposed to do.
We've seen that as he focuses on interior decorating and arches and slapping his name on monuments -- everything but his job is what he's focused on.
And he's willing to ignore the Iran War for six weeks because, hey, it's only destroying the economy and leaving so many Americans struggling to get by. That doesn't mean a thing to him.
Chump's only acknowledgement of the economy he's wrecked is to promise bribes. THE NEWSHOUR (PBS) addressed Chump's nonsense last night.
Amna Nawaz:
President Trump is cutting checks to Americans and promising more with less than three weeks left in a midterm cycle largely focused on affordability. Trump argues they're refunds for high health care costs and economic dividends that only his party can deliver. Democrats contend he's trying to bribe citizens to vote for Republicans.
Our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, is here with an accounting of those payouts.
Good to see you, Liz.
Liz Landers:
Yes. Nice to see you.
Amna Nawaz:
So let's start with those checks some Americans have already started to receive in the last week or so for Affordable Care Act fees. How much are people getting and what's the president's rationale for those?
Liz Landers:
People are starting to get these $500 checks really in the last week or so. It's gone out to about a million Americans so far across 30 different states.
And this is for people that don't get premium assistance. With these checks was a personal letter that the president wrote. And it says in part: "I'm proud to return your money to you, and I will never stop fighting to put the American people first, restore affordability, protect your hard-earned money, and lower the cost of health care."
Now I spoke with Cynthia Cox about this. She's the director of the Affordable Care Act Program at KFF. And she said that this move from the administration is unprecedented. But she also explained how this can help Americans and how these checks will factor into overall rising health care costs.
Cynthia Cox, Program on the ACA Director, KFF: For people who get ACA coverage, in particular, the people who lost subsidy this year, they're probably paying a couple thousand dollars more in their premiums this year than they were last year. So the $500 checks are probably going to help. I mean, $500 is nothing to sneeze at, but they're still having a much higher cost beyond that $500 this year than they were last year.
Liz Landers:
Cox says that the timing of this is political. She said she first heard about this idea floated out there last year, but, of course, now it's being implemented just a few weeks before a midterm election.
The White House fact sheet that they put out claimed that the Biden administration -- quote -- "accumulated a significant surplus of funds that were not used to benefit the Americans who paid these higher premiums." But I asked Cox about this, and she says that the different administrations between the Biden and Trump administration have collected different user fees, and that the Trump administration inherited this surplus from the Biden administration, and now they're sending it out as checks.
Amna Nawaz:
Meanwhile, that's not the only check the administration is sending out. There's more than 20 million Medicare enrollees who could receive a payment as well. What's the reasoning behind those payouts?
Liz Landers:
These are $90 checks, so much less money, only one-time payments. And this is going to Medicare Part B participants. But Medicare Advantage enrollees and other people with disabilities and some low-income Medicare recipients are not eligible for this.
Of course, Medicare Part B covers things like ambulance services, doctor visits, lab tests. So this is helpful, of course; $90 is not nothing. And this will go out to about 21 million Americans. This payment is coming through the Medicare Improvement Fund created by Congress in 2008.
And it's not the first time that the fund has been used. The Obama administration and Congress redirected money to expand coverage, but it's the first time that it's been used for direct payments like this.
Amna Nawaz:
Liz, meanwhile, there's this other promise the president made you reported on that he first made from the midterm convention stage in Dallas that he would send $5,000 to all American adults. Let's just start with what that would cost.
Liz Landers:
It would cost about a trillion dollars and add that much money to the national debt, which is why you have seen people raise immediate questions about this. This, of course, made big news when the president announced this from the stage during the midterm convention about a month ago.
And he has been repeating this and promising this over and over to Americans throughout just about every midterm rally that I have watched and covered. And, yesterday, he talked about this yet again.
President Donald Trump:
If Republicans can win the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, I am going to give all adult citizens in the United States of America $5,000.
(CHEERING)
President Donald Trump:
Think of it.
Liz Landers:
President Trump was asked in September, sort of right after this announcement, why are you doing this if your economic policies are working? And he said that this is not to turn out voters. He said instead it is a -- quote -- "reward" for voters having to put up with Biden's economic policies.
There are, of course, lingering questions about congressional approval of this. Just a reminder, Amna, we're hearing the president make all these promises. He also promised in November of last year, almost a year ago now, that a $2,000 dividend check would be going out to every American for a tariff revenue refund. That has yet to materialize.
In case you missed the news, late last week U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan shut down the DOJ’s months-long campaign to collect sensitive voter data from the states and run it through the Department of Homeland Security’s flawed federal database, the Federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system.
In her 78-page ruling, Sooknanan said that the DOJ’s efforts to access unredacted voter files from states and then run those files through the SAVE system violated federal law, specifically the Privacy Act and the Paperwork Production Act. Sooknanan’s decision goes further than the actions taken by federal judges that have rejected the DOJ’s legal arguments in several individual state-by-state cases. Her ruling suspends the DOJ’s nationwide voter roll crusade, invalidating what the DOJ has called its “list maintenance project.”
“DOJ cannot run roughshod over longstanding laws that were carefully crafted to protect the rights of the American people,” she wrote.
“And to state the obvious, the Court’s decision does not pave the way for ineligible voters to vote in our elections,” the order adds. “Rather, the Court vacates a policy that has removed United States citizens from the voter rolls in their home states and risks disenfranchising many more -- a policy that flies in the face of duly enacted laws designed to protect Americans.”
Chump's efforts to 'prune' voter rolls have not been very successful thanks to our courts. But he certainly has managed to slash of Republican support for himself. Sam Stevenson (NEWSWEEK) reports:
President Donald Trump’s approval among non-MAGA Republicans turned negative following a double-digit swing against him in an October Fox News Poll. It suggests dissatisfaction has reached a less ideologically aligned part of his party.
It matters weeks before the midterms because Republican candidates need unity across the party while confronting widespread dissatisfaction over living costs.
GOP campaigns in competitive House and Senate races could face weaker enthusiasm or split-ticket voting among Republicans who remain outside the MAGA core.
We are 18 days away from the last day to vote in the midterms. Early voting is taking place in many areas. 18 days and we just got the bad report about the economy this week. Dominick Reuter (BUSINESS INSIDER) reports:
Grocery bills had begun to stabilize after a bruising stretch of inflation. Now, rising fuel and transportation costs threaten to make that relief short-lived.
While food prices have managed to hold fairly steady this year, much of September's accelerating headline inflation number was driven by a 20.4% increase in energy prices — the largest hike since May, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday.
[. . .]
Grocery chain Albertson's said on an earnings call Tuesday that its business is being squeezed by higher gas prices for US shoppers and higher diesel prices in its operations.
And spice maker McCormick said earlier this month that it now anticipates 7% inflation in its financial forecasts, due in part to energy challenges.
"We're facing more costs, both in terms of raw packaging, but also freight, primarily freight costs due to fuel, as well as capacity constraints in the US," CFO Marcos Gabriel said on an earnings call.
And if you thought Chump was the Grinch stealing Christmas back in 2025 with his one-doll-and-one-pencil-for-all bah humbug nonsense, get ready for Christmas 2026. Danielle Kaye (REUTERS) reports:
Cash-strapped US consumers are facing a squeeze in their shopping budgets this holiday season, hit by the double whammy of tariffs and high energy costs.
While overall inflation is creeping up, toy prices are surging, with an increase of 6.6% in the last year, the latest US consumer inflation data showed. Other products that depend on both overseas shipments and petroleum in their manufacturing processes are also posting higher prices.
The toy industry, which manufactures a majority of products sold in the US in China, remains exposed to the Trump administration's shifting tariff policies. At the same time, toys are largely made of fossil-fuel-based plastics, meaning higher oil prices from the Middle East war are likely also contributing to the sticker shock consumers will run into on retail shelves.
"Those dual issues appear to be showing up in pricing," said David Silverman, senior director at Fitch Ratings, who focuses on retail and consumer companies. "The impact from the Iran conflict on commodity costs and shipping costs will certainly persist for the next several quarters."
If Republicans lose a lot of House races, they will need to blame themselves and for a number of reason. Alex Reimer (QUEERTY) notes:
A high-profile Republican is calling out his party over its fixation on trans issues.
In an interview with Texas Monthly, former Texas GOP House Speaker Dade Phelan says Republicans are in serious jeopardy of losing their grip on the Lone Star State. “People are freaking out,” he said. “You see it in their faces.”
Republicans across the country are experiencing similar angst. This week, Politico spoke to five senior Republican lawmakers who all agree that the GOP is all but certain to lose the House.
To counteract the impending blue wave, Republicans are returning to a tired and desperate playbook: demonizing trans people.
Phelan, who’s still in the Texas House but not running for reelection, says the attacks are falling flat. The intense GOP focus on trans athletes far outweighs the issue’s impact on people’s lives.
“We’re still running transgender ads. It’s just not resonating,” he said. “Let’s be honest. The 8 to 10% of voters in the middle who are going to decide this election, when they hear stuff about boys in girls’ sports, they don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
He continued, “This never happened in their communities, and they’ve been hearing about it for so many years, and so many other people have been accused of it. What Republicans are talking about is just not what the swing voter is really interested in.”
On the topic of demonizing trans people, Hafiz Rashid (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes that Secretary of Defense Priss Pot Hegseth may have to answer for his transphobia:
A federal judge is considering forcing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to testify in court about his anti-transgender statements for a lawsuit challenging the U.S. military’s ban on transgender people.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said in court in Washington, D.C., Wednesday that she might compel Hegseth to sit for a one-hour deposition and answer questions about the anti-trans views he has expressed.
“I’m very aware that he is the secretary of defense and he has a lot of constraints on his time. But he has time to tweet and put out videos and speak to generals, and I think it’s fair game,” Reyes said, according to The Washington Sun’s Jose Pagliery.
First, though, Reyes said she’d give Hegseth the chance to respond to 10 written questions, and if he isn’t forthcoming enough and is too “lawyerly,” then he’d have to sit for the deposition.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Pentagon could leave military advocates waiting until 2027 for answers about a controversial women-in-combat study that critics fear could threaten thousands of servicewomen's careers, OK! can reveal.
According to court documents obtained by OK!, Marine Corps officials warned that processing records concerning the Pentagon's review might not begin until late December 2026 or mid-January 2027, raising concerns about transparency as the military examines women's effectiveness in ground combat positions.
The warning emerged in an October 8 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, National Women's Law Center, and Service Women's Action Network against the Department of Defense.
[. . .]
The organizations warn that the Pentagon's review could pave the way for restrictions affecting women already serving in combat positions.
According to the lawsuit, rolling back women's eligibility for combat roles could derail thousands of military careers and limit opportunities for future recruits. Combat assignments can also provide pathways to specialized training, leadership opportunities, and senior military positions.
Priss Pot has blocked promotions by women repeatedly. I'd hate to have been a female US senator with combat experience who voted to confirmed Pete Hegseth. Thank goodness that Republican senator Joni Ernst stood up and called out his nomination noting the allegations against him abusing alcohol, of sexual assault, of mismanaging veterans groups financing and of his past statement opposing women in combat roles. Joni called it out. And she stood strong . . . Oh, wait.
She caved. All it took was some pushback and she caved. There were threats to primary her. And that's all it took to put Joni in line. If she'd stuck to her word and not voted for Hegseth, he wouldn't have gotten confirmed. The Senate vote was 50 for and 50 against Had she voted no, it would have been 51 against and he would not have become Secretary of Defense. Instead, she voted for him and a 50 - 50 tie means the vice president gets to vote to split the tie and Miss Sassy JD Vance voted for Hegseth giving him the 51st vote.
Yesterday, Priss Pot got some bad news. He wanted a public execution that was live streamed. Live streamed The way the Taliban might elect to handle an execution. And Chump went along with him at first until all the pushback. Yesterday, Chump decided there would be no live streaming of the execution.
The scheduled execution of Nidal Hasan, the man who carried out a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, will no longer be livestreamed. President Trump made the announcement today. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had previously said the Pentagon would make the firing-squad shooting public, setting off a wave of condemnations from the Vatican to fellow Republicans.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PETE HEGSETH: It was a radical Islamist attack in uniform inside the ranks, and so he's going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be. And we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public, because people need to understand that this is a - there's serious consequences for these types of things.
DETROW: Hasan killed 13 people and injured 32 at Fort Hood and was subsequently sentenced to death. Dexter Filkins is a staff writer at The New Yorker, and he wrote this week about witnessing a public execution in Afghanistan in 1998. He joins us now. Hi, Dexter.
DEXTER FILKINS: Hi there.
DETROW: Let's start with the latest news today. In terms of the message that the U.S. government is sending the rest of the world, how much of a difference do you think it makes that this is now called off?
FILKINS: Well, I - you know, they look a little silly, having advertised the thing and now pulled it back. But I do wonder how many people are going to be disappointed they can't see it. (Laughter) Probably not too many.
DETROW: Yeah. I mean, what did it mean to you that the Trump administration was seriously thinking about and making plans to take this step that, you know, we see in countries like Iran and Afghanistan?
FILKINS: Well, I - as you mentioned, I saw a public execution in the Kabul sports stadium under the Taliban. And an amputation of a second person.
DETROW: Yeah.
FILKINS: That's not something that I've ever forgotten. I mean, it was - it felt like I'd gone back in time, for sure.
DETROW: Yeah.
FILKINS: It felt medieval.
DETROW: You wrote about it vividly, first in that opening scene of your famous book, "The Forever War," and then in this recent article. Tell me what you remember about the crowd, the way the crowd reacted before it happened, to the speeches from the officials, from the Taliban, to the shooting itself.
FILKINS: Well, it's interesting. I - 'cause remember, the - this was a traumatized place and a traumatized society. It still is. But it had - the Soviet Union had withdrawn eight or nine years before and with 2 million people dead. So it was a broken place, and there was no electricity, and there was just nothing of the modern world there. So they were pretty numb. And it was - attendance was mandatory. I mean, they basically called in everybody from the mosques on Friday. So the reaction was just - it was muted. It was - they were - people were not cheering. They just kind of watched and then shuffled out.
DETROW: Yeah.
FILKINS: So it wasn't what you would expect. I mean, it wasn't the Roman Colosseum.
DETROW: Yeah. You know, we've covered, as a lot of outlets have spent a lot of time covering, the way that Pete Hegseth talks about religion, talks about theology and kind of the mix between his religious views and how he talks and thinks about war. I'm curious if you see any parallels between the Taliban's embrace of theologically justified violence and the types of things that Hegseth says.
FILKINS: Well, the - during the execution or in the run up to it, like, in the minutes before, they - one of the clerics was reading from the Quran into a loudspeaker. And I still remember what he said. He said, in revenge there is life. And, you know, and everything we're doing here is in the Quran. It's all mandated by the Quran. But I have to say it was - they used the Quran to justify what they were doing, but they weren't - there wasn't a kind of bloodlust about it in the type of which you can detect in Hegseth's voice.
There was no enthusiasm. I mean, it was much more this is a country that has gone through anarchy, and we put that anarchy to an end, the anarchy of civil war, and we are doing this because we have to do it. Because if we don't do it, the anarchy will return. And that was the mood. And so, you know, yes, they used religion, but it was much more subdued...
DETROW: Yeah.
FILKINS: ...And serious than you would imagine.
DETROW: About 30 seconds left for this last question, but we are reporting that one reason the president canceled this livestream was concern from the Pentagon the footage would end up on Jihadi websites and endanger U.S. forces in the Middle East. Curious, does that make sense to you as someone who covered the war on terror for so long?
FILKINS: Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It'd be everywhere.
DETROW: Yeah. That is Dexter Filkins, a writer at The New Yorker and the author of "The Forever War," about the rise of the Taliban and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thanks so much.
Turning to ICE, remember David Gonzalez III? We noted him Saturday:
An off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was shot early Friday after he was found sleeping on the lawn of a home in Fresno, Calif., the authorities said.
The Fresno Police Department received calls reporting a gunshot in a neighborhood shortly after 3 a.m. local time, the department said in a statement on Friday.
David Gonzalez, an ICE agent from Texas, had been sleeping on the lawn when a woman returned to her house and saw him, the police said. The woman told her father, who was inside the house.
The father, 72, woke up Mr. Gonzalez, who appeared “intoxicated and agitated,” the police said. Mr. Gonzalez then assaulted the 72-year-old man, causing several “visible injuries,” and then assaulted his daughter when she tried to intervene, the police said.
The woman’s father then pulled out a firearm and shot Mr. Gonzalez once, the police said. The woman’s boyfriend, an off-duty police officer, arrived soon after and handcuffed Mr. Gonzalez, the police said.
Mr. Gonzalez, 32, was charged with felony assault and vandalism, the Fresno Police Department said. He was taken away from the scene in an ambulance and received treatment while an investigation was carried out, the police said.
Drunken and passed out on the lawn of someone's home, he attacks the man who tells him to leave and he attacks the woman. How did someone like that get hired to be an ICE agent? Oh, that's right, Chump lowered standards and cut back on training. So Gonzalez is the new norm for ICE.
The Fresno County District Attorney's Office charged Texas native David Gonzalez III, 32, on Tuesday with felony assault likely to produce great bodily injury, felony elder abuse, felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery, according to a criminal complaint filed in Fresno County Superior Court.
The charges come amid an escalation of federal immigration enforcement operations across California's Central Valley, where widespread arrests have drawn criticism from local officials and immigrant advocates. ICE has also reportedly lowered its hiring standards to comply with President Donald Trump's directive to carry out mass deportations across the country, according to a recent whistleblower report.
The confrontation unfolded early Friday morning in Fresno's Tower District when the homeowner's daughter found Gonzalez sleeping on their lawn, according to prosecutors. Her father went outside to ask him to leave, but Gonzalez "appeared intoxicated and agitated" when awakened, Fresno police said.
Gonzalez allegedly attacked the homeowner, knocking him to the ground and throwing him into a neighbor's parked vehicle, which resulted in visible injuries and significant damage to the car, the district attorney's office said in a news release. Then, as the homeowner's daughter tried to intervene, Gonzalez allegedly assaulted her, knocking her to the ground, according to prosecutors.
The agent, David Gonzalez III, 32, of McAllen, Texas, faces up to four years and eight months in prison if convicted of all charges, which include assault likely to produce great bodily injury, battery, elder abuse and vandalism, the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
Gonzalez, 32, is from McAllen, Texas. It was not immediately clear why he was in Fresno. But the Central Valley has in recent weeks noticed an uptick in Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to questions on the agent and his employment status with ICE
The incident took place around 3 a.m. on Oct. 9, when the Fresno Police Department received several reports of a gunshot fired near East Dudley Avenue and North Broadway Street in the Tower District. Officers arrived and found Gonzalez in handcuffs with a gunshot wound to his midsection, the department said in a statement last week.
Strangely enough, Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of Homeland Security, who always has some nonsense lies to push has had nothing to say about Gonzalez. Not one word.
Houston-based attorney Kim Bruno said during a news conference Wednesday that Luis Delfin Martinez and another man, both Mexican immigrants, were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials early Saturday and were riding in the ICE vehicle when it struck Miguel Parra Hernandez.
"He has firsthand knowledge of the entire account. He was in the vehicle that actually ran over Mr. Parra and so he is a key witness," said Bruno, who is also representing Delfin. "He is in detention right now and the (Harris County District Attorney's) office is working to get his statement."
The incident left Parra Hernandez with a broken leg that has since required surgery. He remains in a hospital and is being guarded by ICE agents.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare's office is investigating Saturday's incident as a potential case of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Teare told the Houston Chronicle on Monday.
Will Miguel Parra Hernandez get justice? Not likely as evidenced by the refusal of Homeland Security and the Dept of Justice to hold any ICE agents responsible for their illegal actions. Whitney Wild and Katelyn Polantz (CNN) report:
Federal investigators in Minnesota abruptly stopped sharing evidence last month with state authorities investigating the fatal ICE shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
The move — which could hamper the state’s probe of the two killings by ICE agents — is the latest in a series of reversals that have frustrated Minnesota officials, with federal authorities repeatedly cooperating with state and local investigators before suddenly changing course and cutting off cooperation days, or even hours later.
Minnesota investigators said in court filings Tuesday that say the Justice Department still has not turned over key evidence to local authorities, including a statement by one of the officers who shot Pretti, a crucial piece of evidence as the Hennepin County attorney investigates the killing.
State investigators are also now blocked from accessing the cellphone of the agent who fatally shot Good, her clothing, the firearms used to shoot Pretti, the gun Pretti possessed, and other physical evidence from the scene of Pretti’s shooting, such as projectiles and shell casings, according to a sworn statement from Drew Evans, superintendent of Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA.)
A tearful federal agent facing assault charges tied to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown told a judge he “can’t live” because of a job he was “forced” to do.
Gregory Morgan Jr., an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, made the remarks while testifying at a federal court hearing, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel heard arguments on whether to move the assault case from Hennepin County court to federal court.
Cry baby ICE agent who acted as though no rules applied to him. That is how the bulk of them behave, in fact. Oscar Belgal was shot in New York last week by an ICE agent. The ACLU notes:
On the afternoon of Thursday, October 8, as families in the Marble Hill neighborhood were picking their children up from school, ICE officers stopped Oscar Belgal and fired multiple rounds into his car, hitting him in the neck. Belgal’s five-year-old witnessed everything from the back seat.
This horrific shooting is the inevitable consequence of the Trump regime’s unhinged and lawless campaign to terrorize, dehumanize, and deport our immigrant neighbors and rip apart our communities.
Nearly a week after he was shot during an encounter with Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers in Manhattan, the man remains held at a detention center with the bullet still inside him, his attorneys alleged in a court filing Wednesday.
Oscar Belgal was shot Thursday in his car while his 5-year-old son was in the back seat, authorities said. Attorneys with the Legal Aid Society said in a habeas petition that the bullet is still "lodged in his neck" and he is only being given ibuprofen for the pain.
Bullet lodged in his neck and only given ibuprofen for the pain? They don't treat people very well out in public but they don't treat them well in custody either. Adam Downer (OK) notes:
Representatives for Oscar Belgal, the man shot by ICE agents in New York City in early October, have released a statement contradicting the Department of Homeland Security, insisting that the plainclothes officer who fired at Belgal while he was in his car never identified himself.
According to a petition filed on Belgal's behalf in Brooklyn federal court, the agents involved in Belgal's shooting “did not identify themselves, show any documents or otherwise communicate with Oscar in any substantive way.”
They didn't identify themselves. But they shot him. With his young child in the car. Which they didn't know about. Because they don't know how to do their job.
Let's note this from THE BLACK COMMENTATOR:
BC update on Peter Gamble
Thanks to everybody who sent Peter well-wishes. He had a full hip replacement on Sunday and is now at rehab, learning what he needs to know as The Bionic Man.
Issue #1101 will be coming out just as soon as he can finish putting it together. Yes, the man fresh out of surgery is still working, and will send you a notice just as soon as he can. It might not be today, but soon. Physical therapy and all the other things they are doing for him must take precedence.
If you'd like to contact him, he'd love to hear from you at publisher@BlackCommentator.com.
Here's to the coming Blue Wave! And if you haven't yet made a plan to vote, today is a good day to do that.
Peace,
Nancy Littlefield
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued the following statement in response to reports that the Trump administration is moving to strip the Federal Student Aid office out of the Department of Education:
“When did creating an entirely new federal agency to do the exact same work that’s already being done equate to efficiency? The law is clear: Federal Student Aid belongs at the Department of Education, and the Trump administration cannot move it without an act of Congress—nor have they even bothered consulting Congress.
“This office manages more than $1.6 trillion in debts owed by more than 40 million borrowers—tens of millions of Americans are depending on government to actually work here. Trump has already pushed out nearly half its staff—this intentional sabotage only threatens to create true financial chaos in people’s lives.
“Every family filling out the FAFSA, every student counting on a Pell Grant, and every borrower trying to make a student loan payment will pay for Trump’s idiotic obsession with abolishing the Department of Education. Americans do not support abolishing the Department of Education—they just want a financial aid system that works. I will keep fighting to block this illegal move every way I can, and it is past time for Republicans to join Democrats and put an end to this nonsense.”
Senator Murray has led the fight against the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education. As Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Murray helped negotiate the fiscal year 2026 funding bill for the Department. That bill rejected $12 billion in proposed cuts to the Department of Education and President Trump’s request to abolish it. Murray also fought to include ironclad language in the bill barring Secretary McMahon from using illegal interagency agreements to strip out the Department’s core responsibilities and hand them over to other agencies—Republicans refused, and Murray has continued to push back as the Department has signed new agreements. In July, Murray offered three amendments in the HELP Committee to stop these illegal transfers. Murray was successful in passing an amendment with strong bipartisan support out of committee which would require the Department to tell Congress and the public what each illegal interagency agreement costs taxpayers.
Murray has also unflinchingly called attention to the administration’s nonstop efforts to block critical funds for students and teachers at every turn, issuing a statement just yesterday to call attention to the administration’s latest efforts to cut grant funding—and always using every tool at her disposal to stand up for public education.
Murray forcefully opposed McMahon’s nomination from the outset. She has called attention to the administration’s mass firings at the Department at every turn, she has led public forums in the Senate on the damage the Trump administration is doing to public education, and she has rallied with students and teachers to stand up for the critical support the Department of Education provides America’s students.
Senator Murray has championed students and families at every stage of her career—fighting to help ensure every child in America can get a high-quality public education. Among other things, Senator Murray negotiated the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), landmark legislation that she got signed into law, replacing the broken No Child Left Behind Act. As a longtime appropriator, she has successfully fought to boost funding to support students and invest in our nation’s K-12 schools, and she has secured significant increases to the Pell Grant so that it goes further for students pursuing a higher education. Senator Murray also successfully negotiated the FAFSA Simplification Act, bipartisan legislation to reform the financial aid application process, simplify the FAFSA form for students and parents, and significantly expand eligibility for federal aid.
