Friday, October 09, 2026

The Snapshot

Friday, October 9, 2026.  ICE terrorizes a New York residential neighborhood, a move in Congress attempts to get members of the House of Representatives to agree to abide by the election results, the Federal Reserve finds that Chump's tariffs led to price increases in the US, and much more.





The midterms loom.  Early voting is taking place in many states across the country.  The last day to vote is November 3rd.  That is 25 days away.  Polling right now favors the Democrats.  Louise Radnofsky (WALL STREET JOURNAL) reports:


Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans have grown increasingly anxious that the current GOP-controlled Congress could thwart the seating of Democrats in January. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is trying to take the tactic off the table.

Reps. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, and Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, are seeking written pledges from their colleagues to accept the midterm-election results. The effort follows months of claims by President Trump that some states’ voting practices are vulnerable to fraud.

They are asking lawmakers to sign a public letter “opposing efforts to undermine free and fair elections or override the will of the voters, including any attempt to refuse or delay the seating of any Member-elect who presents a validly issued election certificate.”

The goal, they say, is to get enough signatories to head off any prospect that the current House of Representatives would even contemplate parliamentary maneuvers to block their successors from taking over.

A rational fear.  Shouldn't be.  But that's what happens when Chump is in the White House and Speaker of the Closet Mike Johnson will do anything to please him.  That is what happens when Chump encouraged the January 6th insurrection back in 2021 and when he returns to the White House in January 2025, he issues a blanket pardon for all insurrectionists.  Even those who assaulted the police, please note, got pardoned.  Thugs.  And Chump tried to set up a slush fund for them. 

With all of that disrespect for democracy and for the law, it is a rational fear that Chump and his lackey Johnson will pull nonsense following the election if they don't like the results.


AILSA CHANG, HOST:

All right, let's talk about January 3, 2027, or what could happen on January 3. That's when the new House of Representatives will elect a new speaker and all House members will take their oaths of office, unless - well, unless one unlikely scenario happens. Say members of the current Republican-controlled Congress use procedural delays to avoid seating some Democrats in office, especially if Democrats are elected to a majority in the House. Well, then what happens in that case?

This possibility may be unlikely, but it is concerning enough to one Democrat and one Republican lawmaker that they are seeking signed pledges from their colleagues to oppose any such effort. The Republican is Don Bacon of Nebraska, and the Democrat is Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, who is with us now. Welcome, Congressman.

JOSH GOTTHEIMER: Thanks for having me.

CHANG: So what does this public pledge entail exactly?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, and I know this could seem crazy given that since 1789, every two years, the people's choices take their seats when the state certifies an election, and a member of Congress gets elected, and they send it to Washington. And the clerk of the House puts your name on the rolls, meaning you can vote. The oath shouldn't come with an asterik (ph), but after living through January 6, you got to actually watch the rules.

And there's been some chatter out there, which is why we are writing this pledge and have circulated it with our colleagues, that what will happen is, instead of allowing a name to be added to the rolls and to vote as the members of Congress, that you will have a member actually object, which they can do. And then there can be a vote in the House to say that we're not going to recognize what the state sent us - the state-certified election - and we're going to kick it back for investigation, either in the House or back to the state.

That's allowed in the rules, and given that there's a lot of chatter out there, and given some of the other stuff the president's been saying about sending ICE to polling locations or utilizing the Insurrection Act, which would send military out into our country for Election Day, I think you want to get ahead of these things. And this is our attempt to make sure people can feel strong confidence in our elections and that the will of the people will find their way on January 3.

CHANG: OK, so the pledge, in essence, basically requires that no Democrat and no Republican object through any kind of parliamentary procedure whatsoever to seating a fellow member of the House. Something like that?

GOTTHEIMER: Exactly right.

CHANG: OK.

GOTTHEIMER: We're asking the speaker and the minority leader to commit to actually recognizing the state certification process, to not interfere with it and - with illegitimate challenges and to recognize the winners that each state certifies.

CHANG: And do you have any Republicans so far signed on to this pledge?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, so Don Bacon and I led it.

CHANG: I mean, beyond Don Bacon.

GOTTHEIMER: Well, yes, along with Brian Fitzpatrick and Mike Lawler, two Republicans and two Democrats joined along with me. And then we just did a briefing with our staffs, with more than 50 members of Congress where their staffs joined in the briefing, and we just started circulating this pledge around. So I'm hoping next time I talk to you, we're going to have, if not every member of Congress, but nearly everyone.

CHANG: What about Speaker Mike Johnson? Has he said anything about this pledge or about this concern in general?

GOTTHEIMER: No, but I'd love you to ask him.

CHANG: (Laughter).

GOTTHEIMER: Because I know where Leader Jeffries is about this. And, you know, everyone believes - that I've spoken to - that we should recognize the will of the people and not interfere with elections.

CHANG: Yeah. Well, let's just tease this out a little bit because one of the reasons this scenario we're talking about is thought to be unlikely is because if Democrats were to retake the House majority, Republicans would, of course, be in the minority and would presumably have to orchestrate this maneuver we're describing through some unelected administrator, like the clerk of the House. Is that coordination all that realistic, you think?

GOTTHEIMER: I mean, again, I'm hoping this is a possibility that we never have to face.



Again, polling right now favors the Democrats.  Ryan Mancini (THE HILL) notes:


Fewer voters who backed President Trump in 2024 than those who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris say they are "very enthusiastic" to cast ballots in November, according to new polling.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos survey, released Thursday, found 30 percent of Trump voters said they are "very enthusiastic" to vote in the midterms, while 21 percent shared a moderate rate of excitement. Just less than 10 percent were lukewarm about voting, and 10 percent said they are "very" unenthusiastic. Another 30 percent said they are neither enthusiastic nor unenthusiastic or skipped the question.

By comparison, 48 percent of Harris voters said they are "very enthusiastic" to vote in November, followed by 18 percent who were just enthusiastic. Fewer Harris voters were unenthusiastic to vote, with 7 percent lukewarm and 6 percent "very" unenthusiastic. About 20 percent said they are neither or did not answer.
These results came days after the pollsters found Trump's approval rating remained steady at 32 percent since its September poll, with 65 percent saying they do not approve of his handling of the presidency.


So those who voted Democrat in 2024 are significantly more motivated to vote in the midterm elections than are those who voted Repbulican in 2024.  Scott Clement (THE WASHINGTON POST) writes:


Polls show Democrats are in a strong position less than one month before Election Day.

Democrats lead by about eight percentage points in national support for Congress, above the 3.5-point margin they probably need to win a House majority. Democratic Senate candidates hold at least narrow leads in races for seven Republican-held seats, more than the four they need to win control of the chamber.

But is it a mirage? Republicans are hoping that polls are overestimating Democratic support, as they have done in the last three presidential elections.


The problem with the 2016 polling was -- and we noted it here in real time ahead of the elections -- respondents were in the closet.  Respondents didn't want to be considered, for example, racists.  Because that's who Chump appealed to at his base.  He appealed to more than that but the strongest Chump supporters were racists.  

And in 2016, a number of people didn't want to be considered that.  His supporters stopped caring after the 2016 election.  But prior to that election, a number of his supporters did not want to answer honestly.  Again, today, they're thrilled to parade their racism through the streets and into the public square.  They want to put up Confederate statues and name military bases after Confederate crooks.  That's what the Confederacy was -- a bunch of crooks who tried to destroy this nation and they lost. 

And let's be clear, it's not just from Chump.  

It's also from the mainstream media of late.  But the point is, Chumpies don't care if their racism is seen anymore.  They flaunt it. 

They're not held accountable by anyone except really the NAACP and the NAACP gets very little press coverage these days.  

Hegseth gets some clucking over his racism.  Not that much.  And when it is noted in the press, no one's trying to shine a light on how disgusting and repulsive his racism is.  It's treated as just a physical characteristic.  Some people might have green eyes, others are racists.  

So, no, it's not 2016 and the Chumpies aren't afraid of giving answers indicating that they are Trumpsters which does mean you're a racist at this point in time.






Tariffs. Chump never understood how they worked and repeatedly insisted it would create a tax paid by foreign companies.  That's not how it worked but it is how Chump first began to destroy the US economy.  Alex Harring (CNBC) reports: 

The cost of many everyday items would have declined last year and early this year without President Donald Trump's tariffs, according to the New York Federal Reserve.

The cost of 67 categories of goods was 2.9 percentage points higher as of February thanks to tariffs, according to a paper from a team of researchers at the central bank's New York arm.

Without the levies, the team found that prices for the products they studied would have pulled back by almost 1%.

The New York Fed's report offers the clearest evidence yet of the impact of Trump's tariffs — a core policy of his most recent campaign and second term in the White House — on consumers' wallets. Economists had widely expected his levies to push up prices, though the precise effects had been hard to estimate due to the changing nature of the policy and the lack of transparency on how companies set their prices.

The researchers didn't say which 67 types of goods they evaluated.

For each percentage point increase in the average tariff, the team said that consumer goods prices were higher by roughly a quarter of a percent a year later.

And that's what happens when you elect a moron.  In other bad news for our economically stunted convict in chief, Steven John (FORTUNE) reports: 

If you’d never heard of red-dyed diesel before it suddenly entered the news cycle this week, you’re not alone. Even President Donald Trump said he was unfamiliar with the fuel at a campaign rally in Grand Island, Neb., on Monday, Oct. 5. “I don’t know what the hell it is, but whatever it is, it’s supposed to be very good,” he told the crowd.

Moments later, Trump signed an executive order onstage that temporarily allows red-dyed diesel on public roads and defers the federal excise tax normally owed on highway fuel through Dec. 31. Despite Trump calling the fuel “tax-free,” the tax hasn’t gone away—at least not yet. The order directs the Treasury Department to defer payment without interest or penalties, and to explore ways to eliminate the deferred bill entirely.
[. . .]
That federal tax is 24.4 cents per gallon: a 24.3-cent excise tax plus a 0.1-cent “Leaking Underground Storage Tank” fee, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. On a 250-gallon fill-up for an 18-wheeler, that works out to about $61. The White House’s claim that truckers will save more than $100 per fill-up assumes states suspend their own diesel taxes as well, which the order encourages but can’t require.
Measured against the pump price, the federal tax is a sliver. Diesel averaged about $6.20 a gallon nationally the week of Oct. 5, per the EIA, down from a peak of roughly $6.53 in late September. Before the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran in late February, the national average was about $3.76, according to AAA. A 24.4-cent break amounts to about 4% of today’s price—a modest savings for everyday motorists, and perhaps not much more for heavier users in trucking, farming, and other industries.
The bigger problem is that a small cut in per-gallon costs does nothing to change the basics of supply and demand. Metcalf sees little potential for the executive order to have any meaningful impact.

“I don’t see this having really any impact on supply … On the supply side, it’s not going to lead to any more diesel coming online, all it does is change some of the diesel that’s out there [to be] usable by anyone,” Metcalf said. “But that doesn’t change the total amount of diesel that’s out there. And if you look at U.S. refineries, they’re operating at near record capacity levels. There’s no ability to process more or create more diesel. That’s the supply side.”
“On the demand side,” Metcalf continued, “if we shift some of that diesel into road use, what does that mean? It means that the diesel is going to be more expensive for farmers and other off-road use, like construction.”

In other words, opening red-dyed diesel to highway drivers may slightly reduce on-road fuel costs while actually raising the effective price paid by the off-road users the fuel was meant to help. Farmers who already burn red-dyed diesel in their tractors and combines don’t gain a new tax break from the order.

That's Chump, proving Ronald Reagan correct when he noted the nine most terrifying words: "I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help."  Chump destroys everything.  He did that his first term as president and he's really doing it in his second term.  Sarah Raza and Mae Anderson (LOS ANGELES TIMES) report:

Farmers, truckers and economists say a move to cut taxes on diesel will provide little relief from record-high fuel prices that have soared since the U.S. attacked Iran months ago.

Industry groups said they appreciate President Donald Trump’s executive order expanding the use of a diesel now reserved for off-road work, but farmers already have access to the fuel and many have already wrapped up harvest. Truckers will struggle to navigate differing state rules.

“In the context of diesel prices that are over two dollars more than they were last year, it just doesn’t come close to closing that wound,” said Matt Perdue, president of the North Dakota Farmers Union.
 


ICE?  Kristi Noem is gone as the Secretary of Homeland Security but there doesn't seem to be much difference in the department with Markwayne Mullin now heading it.  In fact, another ICE shooting took place yesterday. 



A federal immigration agent shot and wounded a man in a largely residential section of New York City on Thursday, eliciting swift rebukes from Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who accused the Trump administration of “terrorizing our city.”

The shooting happened about 4 p.m. in the Marble Hill neighborhood, as agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, tried to arrest the man while he was in a car with a 5-year-old boy believed to be his son in the back seat, Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner, said at a news conference late Thursday night.

Ms. Tisch said that a preliminary investigation had determined that at least one ICE agent had fired seven rounds at the car, striking the man, whom she identified as Oscar Belgal, 28, in the neck below the left ear. The child was not injured and was in the care of a family member late Thursday, she said.


Seven rounds.  Fired in a residential neighborhood.  One of the shots went through the guy's neck.  So it's not as though they really knew where the bullets were going to go.  A five-year-old child was in the car.  That's outrageous.  And it's outrageous that ICE turned a regular day into SHOOT OUT IN A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD.  These are not motion pictures being filmed.  These are real guns, these are real bullets and they're being fired by ICE in a residential neighborhood.


ICE was not returning fire.  They went into a residential neighborhood and treated it as though it were a gun range. 


This goes to the lack of oversight and to the lack of training.


On the lack of training -- a problem that's existed with ICE since 2025 when they started doing their mass hirings --  Edith Olmsted (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes: 


The Department of Homeland Security radically reduced training requirements for local law enforcement officers whose departments had agreed to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In an email obtained by American Oversight, an ICE official whose name was redacted explained that the training had been reduced from four weeks of in-person instruction to just 40 hours of virtual courses, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Additionally, training on real-world scenarios that officers might encounter in the field was eliminated entirely.

The email addressed to former ICE Director Todd Lyons and adviser David Venturella explained how the training had been “truncated” to meet demands that the course be shortened. Lyons resigned in May, and Venturella now leads the agency.



ICE agents are put on the streets of cities and towns across America.  They are armed.  That demands increased training, not less.  That demands that these agents know this isn't a game and that there are real lives at stake. 


Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been instructed to increase immigration arrests by 1,000 more people a day.

The new directive is a return to a previous goal of 3,000 daily arrests, a target the agency has struggled to meet in the past.

Leadership also set a weekly goal of 19,000 arrests for agents, accounting for fewer officers working over the weekend.
If met, the new goal would be the highest weekly arrest total ICE has made under the Trump administration.

In June, weekly immigration arrests reached a new high of 12,500, according to the Deportation Data project.

The agency is urging officers to maximize arrests of people it can deport, a source told CNN.


Increase the amount arrested?  ICE agents are being told to increase the numbers.  And this at a time when they can't even behave lawfully and safely in residential neighborhoods.  


A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to halt its policy telling immigration authorities they will not take biometric data — such as fingerprints and photographs — from detainees that is necessary for them to move forward in their applications for lawful status.
The policy from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must be stayed, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali declared on Wednesday, finding that it likely violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the federal statute governing how agencies may make decisions.
The Joe Biden appointee wrote in his 23-page order that the detainees have sufficiently shown that the policy "is preventing them from pursuing immigration applications that, if granted, would preclude their detention and deportation."
[. . .]
"It is undisputed that most of the plaintiffs could not be detained and would not be deported if USCIS determines they are entitled to the immigration statuses they have applied for," he wrote. "It is also undisputed that for some plaintiffs, the submission of a complete application and satisfactory completion of background checks, which requires the collection of biometrics, can itself be enough to stay deportation or allow deferred action—even before USCIS's adjudication of their application."



More and more, ICE is losing in court.  They are being called out for lying to the courts -- called out by judges.  They are no longer reliable witness in a court of law.  There has been too many lies told in too many cases that have come before the judges.  




The family of a Mexican immigrant shot and killed during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Chicago last year filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Thursday accusing a federal immigration officer of “effectively executing” him at close range.

Silverio Villegas Gonzalez was the first immigrant fatally shot during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. He had just dropped off his two young sons at school before he was stopped in Franklin Park, Illinois, by two immigration officers on Sept. 12, 2025.

The family’s attorneys say what happened next has become part of a “larger pattern of killings by the federal government,” in which officers have repeatedly fired at people in their vehicles. The lawsuit alleges that officers violated the Department of Homeland Security’s use-of-force policy and were encouraged to act recklessly by senior officials who imposed high arrest quotas and told agents they had broad federal immunity for their actions.


Ann covered one of the big stories in the news cycle with "Con Woman Kimberly Guilfoyle."  We'll not some video coverage of the story. 








Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:


Senator Murray: “We can’t afford to regulate AI with nothing but a pinky promise. We cannot just wait for the worst risks of this technology to become reality before we take action.”

Murray has opposed the Trump administration’s efforts to stamp out state-level regulations of AI

ICYMI: In Seattle, Murray Highlights Urgent Need to Deploy AI Safely, Transparently, and to Benefit Working People; Murray Says Pro-Worker, Pro-Family Policies Don’t Have to Wait

***VIDEO HERE***

Olympia, WA — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, held a roundtable discussion with state leaders on Washington state’s latest efforts to regulate AI and underscored the need for a strong federal floor to ensure AI is deployed safely, transparently, and benefits working people.

Joining Senator Murray for the discussion today were: Beau Perschbacher, Senior Policy Advisor to Governor Bob Ferguson; Yuki Ishizuka, Senior Policy Analyst and Technology Policy Manager at the Washington State Office of the Attorney General; Gretchen Peri, Chief Technology Officer at Washington Technology Solutions (WaTech); and Rob Eleveld, Chief Executive Officer at the Transparency Coalition.

“I’m not an expert in AI, I’m a former preschool teacher. But I’ll tell you what: I ran for office exactly because I believe regular people deserve a say in how their government is run—the exact same is true for the development of this technology. There are real opportunities with AI—in medicine, in discovery. But this technology will also likely mean disruption and it poses real challenges and threats. And right now regulation of AI is virtually nonexistent at the federal level. I want America to develop and deploy this technology in a way that is transparent and safe—and we have got to make sure the benefits of AI are for everyone, not just billionaires and giant corporations. And we have to stay ahead of the risks too,” said Senator Murray. “I recently spoke with the so-called godfather of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, he made it absolutely clear that there are real safety risks that require urgent action. When the stakes are this high, we cannot take safety for granted. That’s just common sense. No one would say nuclear plants can regulate themselves—or drug companies. Why would we ignore something as powerful and potentially dangerous as AI?”

“At minimum, over in Congress, we need to think about a floor of basic, bipartisan guardrails the entire country can get behind: for that to happen, we need hearings, briefings, testimony from industry leaders, markups, debate, and more. So far the Republican majority has done nothing. Trump wants to call AI risks a ‘hoax’ and call it a day. His most significant AI policies to date? He tried to rename it, and threatened states’ funding if they dare to regulate it. Trump shaking hands with billionaires and saying they can regulate themselves is not going to cut it,” continued Senator Murray. “We can’t afford to regulate AI with nothing but a pinky promise. We cannot just wait for the worst risks of this technology to become reality before we take action.”

“In Congress, we need to think about a floor of basic, bipartisan guardrails the entire country can get behind. There’s no time to delay AI safety. When it comes to the economy, I absolutely want to explore big ideas. But we already know what working families need: paid leave, universal health care and child care, and stronger unions. If we’re expecting major economic disruption, we should write that safety net into law now, not after workers have already been left behind,” said Senator Murray in closing. “Washington state has been leading on these questions, and I came to Olympia to hear directly from state leaders about what they’ve done and what they’re considering next. I’m taking what I heard back to the other Washington, because the people of this state, and this country, deserve a government that is ready for what’s coming.”


Senator Murray made clear that while policymakers can’t yet predict exactly how AI will change our economy and how we work, there is no reason for Congress to delay in passing so many of Murray’s longstanding legislative priorities that would benefit working people like stronger labor laws and enforcement, national paid leave, universal health care, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, affordable child care for every working family, and much more.

“We need guardrails to ensure that AI development does not infringe on our rights, harm our families, or pose an existential risk to our country,” said Attorney General Nick Brown. “Congress should act swiftly to put these protections in place, and I appreciate Senator Murray’s leadership on this issue.”

“Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we work and serve the public, so Washington is approaching this moment with intention,” said WaTech’s Gretchen Peri, the State Chief Technology Officer for Washington. “The statewide AI strategy we’ve developed is committed to human‑focused, trustworthy innovation, and gives state agencies the tools, guardrails, and shared platforms they need to deploy AI safely and transparently. Backed by new state laws that reinforce accountability and public trust, we’re proving that government can lead AI adoption with responsibility, foresight, humanity, and dignity.”

“We at Transparency Coalition want to thank Senator Murray for pulling together the AI Safety and Transparency roundtable today. We have been honored to work closely with Attorney General Nick Brown’s office, Governor Ferguson’s office and a number of legislators starting with Representative Callan on some key AI laws passed in 2026 including protecting minors from addictive and manipulative AI chatbots,” said Rob Eleveld, CEO and Co-founder, Transparency Coalition. “Looking forward, our position across many states is the best way to hold AI companies accountable is to use existing product liability laws, the reason we all trust the brakes in our cars, to require a duty of care to not harm customers with AI products.”

Earlier this year, Senator Murray met with leading AI experts in Seattle about the challenges and opportunities associated with AI to discuss how leaders can work to deploy AI safely, transparently, and in a way that benefits working people—not just giant corporations and billionaires.

As vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray negotiated the Commerce‑Justice‑Science (CJS) Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2026, which is currently the largest federal investment in AI standards and testing ever passed through a CJS bill. The CJS bill includes $1.8 billion for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) overall, an increase of $690 million over last year’s funding level. This includes no less than $55 million for AI research, an increase of $20 million, and up to $10 million for NIST’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation to advance AI research, standards, and testing. Senator Murray fiercely defended science agencies from President Trump’s proposed reductions, which threatened to cut NIST by more than 28 percent.

Senator Murray also played a key role in helping to pass the bipartisan Chips and Science Act which makes historic investments in American manufacturing, and research and development. The bill included AI scholarships through NSF, funding for the Department of Energy’s research and development on AI and machine learning, support for NIST’s work on AI and quantum information science, and resources for the creation of a NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships which will focus on domestic development of AI and other quantum computing.

Senator Murray has called for Congress to regulate AI and been outspoken against President Trump’s efforts to ban states from regulating AI. As President Trump called AI safety concerns a “hoax” and rolled out the red carpet for Xi Jinping, Senator Murray sent a letter urging him to take the threat seriously and work out real AI safeguards with China. She recently introduced legislation to halt the A.I.-Driven Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) model which is overruling doctors and delaying care for Medicare beneficiaries.

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