C.I. said Saturday "We are onto you, Donald, and we are done with you." It appears to be the case. Tom Bogginio (RAW STORY) reports:
Republicans
with an eye on the 2026 midterms should be alarmed at new polling in
what is being described as “one of the nation’s top bellwethers” that
shows Donald Trump’s approval numbers are in free fall, according to a
report.
According to a report from Politico, it
is a “warning sign” for the GOP that in Bucks County, Pennsylvania,
Trump’s disapproval numbers has reached 53 percent among likely voters,
which is casting a cloud over the looming election.
According
to Politico’s Holly Otterbein, Buck County has long been a focus of
political watchers in every election and 2026 is no exception, according
to pollster Ethan Smith.
“It’s
clear that there is some backlash against Trump and MAGA Republicans
generally,” Smith explained. “The survey also shows that we’re probably
entering a period of Democratic enthusiasm. We can tell just based on
response rates that Democrats are really eager to participate in the
election.”
Convicted Felon Donald Chump has destroyed the country. Hugh Cameron (NEWSWEEK) notes:
Amid
a broad slackening of the U.S. labor market, and in spite of campaign
promises to save "Black jobs," the unemployment rate for Black workers
is surging under President Donald Trump.
According
to seasonally adjusted data published Friday by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS), the unemployment rate for Black Americans rose from
7.2 percent in July to 7.5 percent in August, now at its highest level
since October 2021. This compares to 4.3 percent for the wider labor
force and is more than double the rate for white Americans (3.7
percent).
This
was a known. During the campaign, this was a known. TABITHA SPEAKS
POLITICS was only one program warning about this outcome. It really is
sad that so many people were taken in. And, of course, some people
wanted it. They were not taken in. They are flat out racists and they
just wanted to see racism practiced by our own government. Mr. Chump is
a racist and so is everyone in his administration. Every one.
Hope those racists who wanted Mr. Chump are happy with what he is delivering because he has destroyed our economy. Nicole Charky-Chami (RAW STORY) reports:
Farmers are reporting record yields for crops this fall but it's unclear who will buy them.
The ongoing trade war between China and the U.S. is testing farmers' faith in the Trump administration, Politico reports.
“When
our members are in the fields harvesting, they will be staring at a
visual representation of this economy and this looming farm crisis. They
will be looking at literal piles of corn and other row crops,” said
Lesly Weber McNitt, vice president of public policy at the National Corn
Growers Association, in an interview with Politico. “They don’t know
where it’s going.”
In every way, Mr. Chump is destroying our country.
Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis details how Mr. Chump misuses religion:
Three
decades later, the Trump administration and its theological apologists
are working overtime, using Jesus’ name and the Bible’s contents in even
more devastating rounds of immoral biblical (mis)references. In July,
there was the viral video from the Department of Homeland Security,
using the “Here I am, Lord. Send me” quotation from Isaiah—commonly
cited when ordaining faith leaders and including explicit references to
marginalized communities impacted by displacement and oppression—to
recruit new agents for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agency, or ICE, a job that now comes with a $50,000 signing bonus,
thanks to US President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.
”Secretary
of Defense Pete Hegseth’s former pastor went even further in marrying
the Bible to anti-immigrant hatred by saying, “Is the Bible in favor of
these ICE raids?… The answer is yes.” He then added: “The Bible does not
require wealthy Christian nations to self-immolate for the horrible
crime of having a flourishing economy and way of life, all right? The
Bible does not permit the civil magistrate to steal money from its
citizens to pay for foreign nationals to come destroy our culture.”
A
month earlier, during a speech announcing the bombing of Iran,
President Trump exhorted God to bless America’s bombs (being dropped on
innocent families and children): “And in particular, God, I want to just
say, we love you God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God
bless the Middle East, God bless Israel, and God bless America. Thank
you very much. Thank you.”
And in May, Speaker
of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Republican congressional
representatives formed a prayer circle on the floor of the House as they
prepared to codify the president’s Big Beautiful Bill. Of course, that
very bill threatens to cut off millions of Americans from lifesaving
food and healthcare. (Consider it a bizarre counterpoint to Jesus’
feeding of the 5,000 and providing free healthcare to lepers.)
Fortunately, according to Jennifer White (THE SACREMENTO BEE),
some are onto his tricks, "Evangelical leaders and humanitarian
organizations have criticized President Donald Trump for his foreign aid
cuts, warning that they threaten essential programs. The National
Association of Evangelicals (NAE), which represents more than 40
Protestant denominations, has pledged to urge Congress to restore the
funding. The groups emphasized that government program evaluations
should not undermine effective assistance that supports vulnerable
populations." Mr. Chump does not have a religious bone in his body.
Not one.
This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for today:
Thursday, September 11, 2025. Chump assaults Chicago while rewarding
his crooked buddies (Ghislaine Maxwell, the man he let out of prison in
2021 whose now been arrested five more times), you got the wrong site if
you think we're going to join in the media-imposed national mourning of
a hate monger, and much more.
We don't note every death. We don't have time. And, as Ann pointed out in "Not a sad moment for me" last night, we're not going to play the White game. You trash our race, we're not going to pretend to shed tears over your death. You trash women, we're not going to pretend. You trash the LGBTQ+ community, we're not going to pretend. Hate merchants are cheap and all around.
In Hawaii, Gregorio Cordova Murrieta is about to be sent to Mexico. He's been in the US 17 years. He was tracked
down via a government system that Western Union and others hand data
over to in order to allow the US government to track money orders. Jeremy Hay (CIVIL BEAT) reports on this 'dangerous' 'criminal':
“I‘m just
coming from a place of, how can we move on when the leader of the free
world keeps calling this a hoax, when indeed it is not a hoax? And then
it‘s just kind of this feeling of, like, you‘re throwing everything at
the wall to let it stick. And now it‘s, you‘re an FBI informant, and now
you‘re not an FBI informant. It‘s back to being a hoax.”
Veteran
journalist, opinion columnist and author Mona Charen, now 68, spent
much of her writing career attacking liberals and progressives. But
these days, Charen — who worked in the Reagan White House as a
speechwriter for First Lady Nancy Reagan during the 1980s — is a Never
Trump conservative, a blistering critic of the MAGA movement and an
unlikely ally of Democrats.
Let's start with a passing.
The actress Polly Holliday has passed away. As Marcia noted, "You can't talk about US television in the 70s without
noting Polly Holiday and her character Flo. Good hearted, kind and
living life on her own terms, Flo was a breakthrough character." And Stan agreed adding, "If you watched TV in the seventies, you knew Polly Holiday's Flo. Flo
was an iconic TV character of the 70s like HAPPY DAYS' Fonzie, THE MARY
TYLER MOORE SHOW's Mary, DIFFR'NT STROKES' Arnold, etc. "
Flo
was not the beginning and ending of Polly's career. She gave strong
performances throughout her career -- won Golden Globes, was nominated
for an Emmy and a Tony. But Flo really did capture something -- joy.
Along with the TV and film roles many in the press are covering, she was
often instrumental behind the scenes of many other projects. I see
press noting that Dustin Hoffman (her lifelong friend, by the way, the
press might try noting that) directed her early in the 70s and got her
cast in ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN. One of the projects Polly did not
appear in but had a real impact on behind the scenes was Dustin
Hoffman's TOOTSIE.
There are
so many in front of microphones preaching hate on this group or that
group. Flo was about joy. And America embraced the character for that
reason. When someone had brought joy and uplifted us, helped us laugh
at ourselves and embrace ourselves, their passing is always
significant.
We don't note every death. We don't have time. And, as Ann pointed out in "Not a sad moment for me" last night, we're not going to play the White game. You trash our race, we're not going to pretend to shed tears over your death. You trash women, we're not going to pretend. You trash the LGBTQ+ community, we're not going to pretend. Hate merchants are cheap and all around.
If you go CBS NEWS' YOUTUBE page
right now, you will find 35 videos they've posted in less than 17 hours
on the passing of a hate merchant who preached hate towards African
Americans, hate towards women who lived equality and hate towards the
LGBTQ+ community.
And how many videos noting Polly Holliday's passing?
She
was one of the main reasons ALICE was a hit show. Four years she
played FLO on that CBS show. She played the character two more years on
the spin-off FLO. Her work in that role brought the CBS network
prestige with her Golden Globes as well a with her Emmy nominations.
And not one video report on her passing posted to the CBS NEWS YOUTUBE
page. That's outrageous.
But 35 on a hate monger.
Ann
made it quite clear and speaks for many of us: We're adults, we can
handle ourselves. But racists make the country much worse for our
children. We're not going to tolerate that and we're not going to ever
pretend that someone who publicly hated us and attacked us is someone
whose passing has upset us.
I would argue that
the media coverage -- which does include MSNBC's firing of Matthew Dowd
-- is racist. The White-led news doesn't get it because they're White.
So they think they can chuckle over what the hate monger did and made
his life about. It was never threatening to them.
I
do not have time to go through every video I post at this site
throughout the day. But if it's a video about the hate monger and it's
not him being called out for his racism, it's not going up here. As a
Black woman, I'm not glorifying him. And I'm certainly not mourning
him. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Black children whose life is
harder because of him, to the LGBTQ+ children who suffer because of his
words and actions, to the girls and young women he led attacks on.
Here's a few examples of the hate he preached:
Flo
said, "Kiss my grits." To those trying to force us to mourn the
passing of an avowed racist -- and homophobe and misogynist -- I say,
"Kiss my Black ass."
Let's move over to immigration. Yesterday on MEIDASTOUCH NEWS, Ben addressed Chump's gestapo police.
They
shove, they attack citizens. I have noted for months now that these
people will destroy their own lives in the coming years, they'll turn to
booze and drugs to self-medicate or they'll take their own lives out of
guilt over the families they've broken up and the lives they've
destroyed. That
said, I didn't include the asshole factor. Not only will the coming
years find them ashamed of their actions, it's also going to find them
disgraced and others attacking them. If they're lucky, a decade from
now they'll just get their house tee-peed. But it could be much worse
because they are breaking the law and they are being violent. That has a
way of coming back on you.
Will
the big money they make right now at this moment still seem worth it
five or so years from now when the country and the government turn
against them?
Now let's be
honest about what we saw in the video Ben played. With regards to the
US citizen who is a Latino-American? He was shoved. And ICE can -- and
did -- lie but we saw what happened. And it was not because he wasn't
cooperating. He was being questioned by a man in front of him and he
was answering the question.
The ICE thug shoved the man to try to get him on an assault charge.
That's
what these pathetic cowards do. Over and over. They shove people. And
then they whine assault. It's a gestapo tactic and that they use it --
and do so while people are recording -- demonstrates that they are human
garbage.
They've not been properly trained and there is no real oversight.
Especially
when it comes to our former Supreme Court which has now become The
Crooked Court as Betty regularly notes. The lack of oversight and the
inability to follow existing laws that we see in the videos Ben reported
on above? Time to bring in The Crooked Court. John Fritze (CNN) reports:
Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s breezy suggestion this week that Americans who are roughed up by ICE
can sue agents in federal court is drawing pushback from civil rights
attorneys who note the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has in
recent years made those cases nearly impossible to win.
Writing to explain the court’s emergency ruling
Monday that allowed the Trump administration to continue “roving”
immigration patrols in Southern California, Kavanaugh brushed aside
concerns that masked ICE agents had pushed, shoved and detained
Hispanics – in one instance throwing a US citizen against a fence and
confiscating his phone.
“To the extent that
excessive force has been used,” Kavanaugh wrote in a 10-page
concurrence, “the Fourth Amendment prohibits such action, and remedies
should be available in federal court.”
But in a
series of recent decisions – including two that involved incidents at
the border – the Supreme Court has severely limited the ability of
people to sue federal law enforcement officers for excessive force
claims. Kavanaugh, who was nominated to the court by Trump during his
first term, was in the majority in those decisions.
“It’s
bordering on impossible to get any sort of remedy in a federal court
when a federal officer violates federal rights,” said Patrick Jaicomo, a
senior attorney at the libertarian Institute for Justice who has
regularly represented clients suing federal agents.
Lauren
Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability
Project, said that it can be incredibly difficult for a person subjected
to excessive force to find an attorney and take on the federal
government in court.
“What we’ve seen is, term
after term, the court limiting the avenues that people have available to
sue the federal government,” Bonds told CNN.
So
I've long cautioned the thugs about the internal threats they face in
the future -- threats coming from their own hearts and minds. And
today, we added being known years from now as the gestapo throughout the
neighborhood you live in. But there's another. And that's the law.
While Chump and crooked court may have thwarted rule of law at present,
that can change at any time. So toss that in your risk pool -- you may,
at a later date, be made to pay legally for every law you are now
breaking.
You break the
law and that's on you. Chump will be dead and gone before 10 more
years pass. And after he's out of the White House, you want be able to
hide behind Old Man Thug. Julia Ainsley, Didi Martinez and Laura Strickler (NBC NEWS) report:
For
more than 15 years, before they conducted any operation to arrest an
immigrant in the United States, officers with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division have been
required to fill out a form with details about their target — name,
appearance, known addresses and employment, immigration history, any
criminal history and more — and give it to a supervisor for approval.
This
year, in a sign of how the agency has moved from targeted enforcement
to broad street sweeps under the Trump administration, that policy has
been ended, six current and former officials and agents of ICE and the
Department of Homeland Security told NBC News.
“It’s hard to fill out a worksheet that just says, ‘Meet in the Home Depot parking lot,’” one of the former ICE officials said.
The
policy shift sheds light on the way ICE is now operating ahead of
anticipated immigration crackdowns in Chicago and Boston, and it helps
explain the seemingly spontaneous nature of recent arrests in Los
Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Both Darius
Reeves, the former director of ICE’s Baltimore field office, and two
former officials with DHS, under which ICE falls, said the form, known
as a field operations worksheet, had been required for nearly every
arrest the division made. The only exceptions, they said, were instances
in which ICE was called out to assist local law enforcement agencies.
The
exact date of the change is unclear, but it happened before this
summer. Reeves, who left ICE in May, said that he was made aware of it
before he left and that it was communicated down from DHS leadership.
The decision was made because of a perception that the worksheet is “a
waste of time,” he said, but he said he believes it is actually “a very
valuable necessity” now “bypassed … so they could keep constantly
flooding the streets” with officers. Reeves said that, even though the
worksheets are no longer mandatory, he knows some officers are still
using them out of concern for future legal liability.
They're wise to be concerned. Much wiser than the thugs hired on under Chump.
Kunle Falayi with WHRO's VIRGINIA CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM covers the huge increase in ICE arrests in Virginia and she notes:
About 872,000 immigrants live in Virginia, according to federal and independent estimates. More than 6% of the state’s population are temporary workers and immigrants
– lawful permanent residents, nonimmigrants, asylees and refugees – a
population that has remained largely the same in the decade. Another 3.7% of the state's population is undocumented immigrants, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center estimate.
Right now, Chicago is the city Chump's assaulting. Jasmine Minor (Chicago's ABC 7) notes:
The
Trump Administration says it is an ICE operation targeting the worst of
the worst. But immigrant advocates say this more of an attack on the
immigrant community as a whole and the parade will go on as planned.
"We
noticed that Monday and Tuesday phones are ringing off the hook, and so
they Monday especially was our busiest day since January," Andre
Gordillo, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said.
Those
at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights have been
prepped and ready for the anticipated surge of ICE agents in Chicago
this week. They've been handing out info cards, as advocates are uniting
to help keep families safe.
"What he's trying to sow is divide, but he's actually sowed unity in our great city," 22nd Ward Alderman Michael Rodriguez said.
We
do get how evil Donald Chump is, right? He was evil before his first
term.
But he gets increasingly evil and disgusting with each year he racks
up. That's probably why his skin is rotting. You know his insides are
rotting. And should be. He's named this assault on Chicago "Operation
Midway Blitz." Seemed a strange name even for Chump. Blitz:
A
blitz is a sudden, intensive attack or effort, originating from the
German term Blitzkrieg (meaning "lightning war") [. . .] in any context,
it means a swift, overwhelming, and often unexpected attack or
concentrated effort, such as in the heavy bombing of London during World
War II, known as The Blitz.
Leave it to Chump to stroke (or jerk) his inner Nazi. CBS NEWS' Chicago Team notes:
DHS
claims the operation will "target the criminal illegal aliens who
flocked to Chicago and Illinois," blaming the city and state's sanctuary
laws that prohibit local and state law enforcement from cooperating
with ICE agents.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson
said the city received "no notice of any enhanced immigration action"
ahead of the operation. Gov. JB Pritzker posted on X.com, "Once again,
this isn't about fighting crime. That requires support and coordination —
yet we've experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks."
Mayor Brandon Johnson announced last week that Chicago is expanding its "Know Your Rights" and "Family Preparedness" campaigns.
"My
administration will not allow our communities to be consumed by fear
and uncertainty. We will continue to provide updated information so that
all of the families of Chicago are prepared," Johnson said in a
statement.
The initiatives include printable
and fillable preparedness packets, infographics and guides with trusted
resources and community contacts, and weekly workshops to help families
create safety and communication plans. The city also launched an upgraded immigrant and refugee rights website.
I
guess it's being so butt ugly that makes Homeland Security's Assistant
Secretary Tricia
McLaughlin so nasty -- look at the forehead -- that's not a human
being, she's been bred with something else -- not even Christine
Baranski's nose-forehead region is as disturbing and that's really
saying something. As Paul Rudnick has observed, "Tricia
McLaughlin, a whiny Assistant Secretary at DHS, is the latest member of
the vicious L'Oreal-13 gang. She says white Afrikaners suffer more
discrimination than anyone. Tricia's what happens when you cross Kristi Noem with a rabid pekingese"
So Tricia -- who needs to choose a more natural hair color -- attacks
Illinois Governor JD Pritzker in a press release that we're not going to
quote. We're only noting because they sent it to the public e-mail
account and because it ticked me off. I know JD and have for years.
Their attack just goes to how scared they are of him. And they should
be. He's got a spine which is something no one serving in the current
administration has.
McLaughlin wants the country to know that JB is responsible for criminals being on the street.
You know what, I think I'm going to have to agree with you and call JB out for putting Jonathan
Braun on the streets -- Oh wait. Tits, that was your boss Donald
Chump. Kat wrote about this last night in "Chump sprung him from prison and he's been arrested five time since" -- Chump gave him clemency in
January 2021 right before he left office. 220,000 pounds of
marijuana is what the drug dealer was caught with. That's what he was
convicted of. Chump put him back on the streets (he's tight with
son-in-law Jared) and since then? Five arrests.
Five arrests.
Most recently for attacking a nurse.
The
danger to this country is not JB, it's Donald Chump -- you know, the
convicted felon. The man Ivana said raped her. The man accused by
multiple women of assault. The man whose best friend was a convicted sex
trafficker. The man who's terrorizing the residents of Chicago right now.
“People
are, frankly, afraid. People are afraid to come out of their homes.
They’re afraid to go shopping. They’re afraid to take their own children
to school because they have mixed-status households,” Pritzker said on a
visit to Pilsen Tuesday.
[. . .]
Trump
and his administration has singled out Chicago among a short-list of
Democrat-led cities to be painted as crime-ridden and in need of
intervention. Yet Chicago is actually leading a national downward turn
in violent crime, according to experts who study crime statistics. And
there is no evidence to support undocumented immigrants are responsible
for an outsized share of violent crime, according to the Gun Violence
Data Hub.
“Donald Trump likes to talk about
immigrants as criminals. These are not criminals. These are people who
are genuinely here in this country, holding down jobs. They’ve been here
for 10, 20 or 30 years. Raising families here. Paying taxes. Following
the law. Doing the right thing,” Pritzker said.
Sew,
divide and destroy is what he's up to. And he's assaulting people in
every city he can (well, he's avoiding one state and it's not a red
state but none of us are supposed to notice that -- or comment on itI
may make time to do so tomorrow). Gino Fanelli (WXXI) reports on New York state:
Federal
immigration agents were seemingly forced to retreat from a roofing job
site Tuesday in the Park Avenue neighborhood after being confronted by
more than 100 protesters.
The group shouted
“shame” and "Gestapo,” and applauded as agents in the ICE-led action
drove a Border Patrol SUV away on four flat tires, which had been
slashed.
One of the roofers was taken into
custody, but agents left others apparently unchecked on the rooftop of
the Westminster Road rental house.
Confrontations
between immigration agents and protestors have been escalating across
the country, leading the Trump administration to deploy National Guard
troops to cities like Los Angeles and elsewhere. Last week, The New York
Times reported on an expected surge in enforcement, and that Trump
officials had hinted of plans for a "crack down on so-called sanctuary
cities," which prohibit local law enforcement from assisting in federal
immigration enforcement.
Roofing contractor
Clayton Baker identified the man taken into custody by ICE as “Chino,”
one of his employees. Baker said the man has been in the United States
for about 25 years and had legal documentation to work.
“They
took my best worker that's been working with me for 5 years, and just
basically, ‘See you later,’ you know?” Baker said. “He's a family guy,
and he's got a baby on the way. He's never even had a speeding ticket
that I know of. He goes to church every Sunday, and he pays his taxes.
“But you want to come get him off of a hard-working job,” Baker continued. “It's bulls--t, and it's inhumane and it's sad.”
Support from the Western New York Coalition of Farmworker Serving Agencies
allowed two immigrants to be spared -- ICE high tailed it once the
coalition made it clear that they weren't leaving and that more
immigrant supporters were due to arrive. On their home page, they quote
the late Civil Rights activist Cesar Chavez, "It is ironic that those
who till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables and
their foods that fill you tables with abundance have nothing left for
themselves."
Cordova
-- who was not charged with any other crime and Smith noted has no past
criminal record -- was to be placed directly into the custody of the
federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE.
On Tuesday, the judge spent several minutes reading aloud portions of letters submitted to the court in support of Cordova.
From
a U.S. soldier grievously wounded in combat in Iraq whom Cordova helped
to recover enough to play soccer again. From another wounded combat
veteran who said Cordova had been “instrumental in my mental wellbeing.”
From his fiancée’s children, who called him a “source of joy,
companionship, and stability” for their mother and “an example of
resilience.” From clients in his tile setting and countertop business
who called his workmanship “first class” and described him as a “benefit
to our economy who filled a need for honest and trustworthy workers.”
Letter after letter, Smith said, “showed that you have made a very significant impact on others who lived here.”
His only 'crime' was crossing the border.
The
fear and anxiety that swelled within the Brazilian population on the
Island after masked federal agents raided Martha’s Vineyard last spring
is on the rise again, this time following statements from federal
immigration officials that they are targeting Massachusetts a second
time to deport immigrants. There are also reports that enrollment of new
immigrant students on Island is down this school year.
As
has been widely reported by the New York Times and the Boston Globe,
acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Todd Lyons announced
“Patriot 2.0” on Saturday, which is expected to last the next several
weeks. It’s unclear how many people ICE would attempt to apprehend or
whom, nor have there been indications that the Island would be targeted.
But it’s having an impact locally.
“People
are getting scared again.” said Ricardo Duarte, pastor at Lagoinha
Martha’s Vineyard Church, on Tuesday. “Every move [ICE] makes, it’s an
emotional roller coaster.”
[. . .]
Duarte
said that about 30 percent of his congregation stopped attending
services after the ICE raids last spring, but families were starting to
trickle back to services over the summer. He worries that with the
recent rumors and statements from top federal officials, many will again
stay home with more frequency. Even smaller gatherings at individual
homes, he said, some have feared attending.
“They
don’t know what to do, because we don’t know what ICE is going to do,”
Duarte said, noting that he has struggled with what to tell his
congregants. “They said they were going after criminals last time, but
this is not what happened.” Duarte referred to the statement from ICE
officials in May that they would be targeting immigrants with criminal
backgrounds, but reporting by The MV Times indicates that several of
those detained did not have criminal backgrounds; Duarte said that his
congregation also helped the family of a man that was detained who did
not have a criminal history.
We have got to pull together to defeat Chump and his gestapo force. At LABOR NOTES, Jody Anderson shares:
I'm
an electrical worker in IBEW Local 553 in Durham, North Carolina. We're
one of the fastest growing locals in the South, with members in both
construction and utility line work.
Last month,
I worked with a group of members to organize an immigrant defense
training at our union hall, after persuading our officers to approve it.
We worked with local immigrant organization Siembra NC to lead it. We
had about twenty people there, half IBEW members and half from other
organizations. Everybody agreed it was very useful.
Siembra
NC combined two trainings into one. One was ICE verification: training
people to show up when they hear reports of ICE, and send out a
confirmation or an “all clear” to a local network. People are very
scared and can think it’s ICE when it’s not. Unverified rumors can
quickly spread and stoke terror in immigrant communities. Building an
ICE verification network helps get information out when ICE is
conducting a raid, and prevents alarmism when it's not.
The
second part was “4th Amendment workplaces” training about how to make
your workplace a little safer. Even small changes can make a big
difference: making sure your doors and gates say “employees only” or
“restricted area” can keep ICE from barging in. We have a goal to push
our employer to implement these changes. We also got trained to ask for a
warrant, and to record agents.
We also talked
about other things we can do. Having established safety practices can
add a layer of protection in the event of a worksite ICE raid. Since PPE
is a requirement on jobsites, if agents show up, we can say, “Hey, we
need to get you a hard hat and glasses -- this is a restricted area".
We
need a restricted area for those who traffick children. We're supposed
to have that in the US. A Ghislaine Maxwell gets convicted for her
pedophile exploits and is sentenced to prison for 20 years only to be
moved by her friend Donald Chump to a minimum security facility.
She's a pedophile who trafficked girls and women. But there's justice
and then there's Chump justice.
Ghislane
Maxwell’s former lawyer just admitted what we all suspected: The sexual
abuser and Epstein accomplice was transferred to a nicer,
minimum-security prison so that she could give the Trump administration
something in exchange -- like a favorable testimony.
Arthur
Aidala, who represented Maxwell in her 2022 sex-trafficking trial and
appeals, appeared on CNN on Monday to talk about the case.
“The
deputy attorney general met with Ghislaine, and then she was shortly
thereafter moved to a cushier prison,” CNN’s Abby Phillips asked Aidala,
who has also represented Alan Dershowitz, Harvey Weinstein, and Rudy
Giuliani. “Why?”
“Well, there are things I’m
not allowed to talk about, right?” Aidala replied, stumbling over his
words. “So there are things I can’t talk about.”
“Let’s just—” Phillips attempted to interject.
“Obviously
I can talk in generalities,” Aidala continued. “Anybody who’s
represented by a lawyer who knows what they’re doing, [and who] goes in
and meets with the government … there’s always a quid pro quo.… Anytime
the government wants information from a citizen, the citizen says,
‘Well, I have a right to remain silent. If you want me to give up that
right, I need something in return.’ Usually, it’s a plea bargain.
Usually, your charges are going to be lowered, and your exposure.”
Former Biden adviser Neera Tanden, who was present, started laughing at Aidala.
“Why are you laughing?” he said. “I’ve done that for 35 years!”
“Because you just admitted to a quid pro quo with the Trump administration!”
“That’s how the whole system works! The whole system works on quid pro quo.”
Repeating from yesterday's snapshot:
So
a deal was made before a word was spoken? And somehow the White House
didn't feel the deal needed to be released to the American public or
even acknowledged? Who works for who? Can someone help me out with
that because I love the United States and was raised to believe that our
government works for us. Not the other way around. So when Chump
makes a deal with a convicted pedophile and sex trafficker and does so
as a public servant, he's not only on the clock, he's working for us and
we have the right to know what Maxwell gave and was required to give in
order for him to move her to a prison that she did not qualify for.
He's put her in a low level prison and she's a convicted sex offender.
People in Bryan have not just complained, they have actively protested
her being at Camp Fed and arguing that her presence is a threat to their
neighborhood.
They're right too. That's why sex offenders like Maxwell are not supposed to be in these prisons.
Donald
made a deal and fat boy works for us, not the other way around. It's
past time to remind him of that and Congress needs to demand that the
Justice Dept release every bit of paperwork they have on Maxwell's deal
that resulted in a prison transfer.
We deserve to know.
What
we do know? Just like he let a drug dealer out of prison because he
was friends with his son-in-law, Chump let Ghislaine skip off to Club
Fed. The only one Chmp always protects is himself. Exactly what does
Ghislaine Maxwell have on him?
It
took Trump chronicler Maggie Haberman to cut to the chase: if Trump
didn’t sign the birthday card or other documents released by Jeffrey
Epstein’s estate, the reporter asked in a quiet yet insistent tone,
what’s the working theory as to why he’s in there?
“The
president has one of the most famous signatures in the world,” Karoline
Leavitt, the White House press secretary, replied on Tuesday. “The
president did not write that letter. He did not sign those documents.”
Leavitt
will have to do better than that. The typewritten message inserted into
the sketched outline of a nude woman looks like compelling evidence of a
close – and laddish – relationship between the US president and the
world’s most notorious paedophile sex trafficker.
Tuesday’s
press briefing at the White House was the latest demonstration of how
the Epstein files are the scandal that refuses to die. Leavitt threw
Roman candles, Catherine wheels and smoke bombs in the air in the hope
of distracting reporters. But she was unable to quash the nagging
suspicion that Donald Trump has something to hide.
Typically
full of brio and swagger, the White House is scrambling this time
because Trump is behaving so out of character. For years, he has
inverted the politician’s playbook by saying the quiet part out loud and
flaunting misconduct in public. When, in a 2016 presidential debate,
Hillary Clinton accused him of dodging taxes, Trump retorted: “That
makes me smart.”
But now, he is acting like the
thing he always scorned: a typical politician. Watergate was lethal to
Richard Nixon because of the cover-up and reporters chipping away to
gather precious information. British deputy prime minister Angela Rayner
spent more than a year fending off rightwing press scrutiny of her
finances before being forced to quit last week over underpaid tax on a
flat.
The Trump of old would have done the
opposite and released all the Epstein files, as he promised during the
election campaign, even if they were personally incriminating. Better to
brazen it out, lie about it and deploy some whataboutism than prolong
the stench of secrecy.
Instead, he has berated
reporters for harping on the subject. On Tuesday the man who usually has
a comment on everything told NBC News: “I don’t comment on something
that’s a dead issue.”
He sure does comment a lot on what he's supposedly not commenting on. Catherine Bouris (DAILY BEAST) notes:
An
Epstein survivor who voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential
election has spoken out about his administration’s two biggest mistakes
in the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Haley
Robson, who was abused by the pedophile financier when she was 16 years
old, told CNN’s Erin Burnett that the president’s first mistake was
”assuming you knew your voters,” and that his second mistake was what
he’s doing now: “doubl[ing] down on what you said about it being a
hoax.”
“I‘m not coming with hostility. I‘m not
angry. I‘m exhausted. I‘m tired. I am disgusted. I am not even coming
from a place of anger,” Robson continued.
He keeps making things worse for himself. Alex Henderson points out:
In a scathing article published by the conservative website The Bulwark
on September 10, Charen argues that President Donald Trump and his
allies' handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal demolishes MAGA's entire
case for sticking with Trump.
"At the heart of
the case for Trump has always been the notion that, sure, he's rough
around the edges, but we have to put aside our piddling character
concerns and just be glad that he is so strong, because the left
presents such an existential threat to America that we cannot survive
without Trump," Charen explains. "It was always the Flight 93 election.
When you are drowning, you don't question whether the man throwing you a
life preserver is a decent person or not — you're just grateful he's
there."
Trump and his
allies, including White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, continue
to insist that Democrats and Never Trump conservatives are promoting a
"hoax" when they call for the release of the U.S. Department of
Justice's (DOJ) files on the late billionaire financier and convicted
sex offender Epstein. And that dismissive attitude, Charen emphasizes,
is totally at odds with pro-MAGA arguments.
"They
knew Trump was a louse," Charen says of MAGA apologists. "They knew he
lied, betrayed his business partners and his wives, spread false rumors,
played dirty, and did it all without a flicker of conscience. When
Trump's character was raised as an issue by opponents, the knee-jerk
MAGA response was not to defend him, not really, but to stress the
enormity of the Democrats. This carried them through Trump's escalation
of offenses — from bullying and lying to inciting a rebellion, to
standing by while a murderous mob hunted his opponents, including his
vice president, to the machine-gun fire he's now spraying at our
institutions. We need a tough guy, they say, because the Democrats are
so dangerous."
Charen continues, "But now, they
find themselves defending Trump against the one sin that has given
their movement its chief moral stature: child abuse. It was QAnon,
Pizzagate, and other iterations of the vast child abuse conspiracy that
reassured MAGA that no matter what Trump did, the other side was always
worse — thus the obsessive focus on Jeffrey Epstein."
Winding down, please read Rebecca's "the stupidity that was always behind chump's 'big beautiful bill'"
about the mistake Chump and company made with the naming of that bill
and let's close with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office about
that bill:
Warren: “I think it is wrong for the Trump administration to be handing out literally tens of billions of dollars to these giant profitable corporations. And you will be in a position to get them even more.”
Washington, D.C. — At a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Mr. Donald Korb, nominee for Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), about his views on the billions of dollars in retroactive tax breaks that Republicans are giving through the “Big, Beautiful Bill” to large corporations for research and development that they’ve already done.
In response to a letter from Senator Warren, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) revealed in August that President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” will deliver $67 billion in retroactive research and development tax breaks to corporations in 2026.
Senator Warren challenged Mr. Korb to explain how these tax breaks lower costs for American families. Mr. Korb repeatedly dodged the senator’s questions, saying that “Congress [] is responsible for enacting the tax law,” and that he is “not drilled down on what is in this bill.”
Trump's “Big Beautiful Bill” is also massively driving down tax liabilities for large corporations. Senator Warren asked Mr. Korb to commit not to write new rules that let these giant corporations out of paying the corporate alternative minimum tax, which prevents billionaire corporations from reducing their tax liability below 15 percent of their book income. Mr. Korb “commit[ed] to follow the law that you as the Congress enacted in writing the regulations.”
“I think it is wrong for the Trump administration to be handing out literally tens of billions of dollars to these giant profitable corporations. And you will be in a position to get them even more…I want to hear that we’re going to hold people at least to what the law specifically requires of them, even if they are billionaire corporations,” concluded Senator Warren.
Mr. Korb is a former IRS Chief Counsel under President Bush and, up until recently, represented Fortune 500 companies in tax disputes with the IRS. As Chief Counsel, his work could directly affect his former clients’ bottom lines. Senator Warren recently urged him to address these ethics conflicts by recusing himself from his former clients’ matters, committing to not seek employment with companies that interact with him as IRS Chief Counsel after his government tenure, and agreeing to not serve as a lobbyist for at least four years after his time in government.
Transcript: Hearing to Consider the Nomination of Honorable Donald Korb, of Ohio, to be Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service
Senate Finance Committee
September 10, 2025
Senator Elizabeth Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Donald Trump's ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ raises costs for families all across this country while handing out giant tax breaks to billionaire corporations. So, here we have Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos getting billions of dollars in tax breaks paid for by kicking 15 million Americans off their health care and raising health care costs for millions more.
One of the most ridiculous tax breaks in this bill is called retroactive research and experimentation expensing. Let's use plain English on this: this is money to incentivize research that corporations like Meta and Amazon conducted years ago. We’re going to give them a break now to incentivize them for things they did a long time ago. So, because of Trump's horrible bill, the federal government will hand $67 billion in these tax breaks to giant corporations next year.
Now, Mr. Korb, as IRS Chief Counsel, you would be in charge of drafting the guidance and regulations that will determine whether or not these corporate tax breaks stay at $67 billion — or, depending on how you write it, get even more valuable. And given that you have spent the last 15 years and beyond representing Fortune 500 companies in tax disputes with the IRS, your work could directly affect your former clients' bottom lines.
Mr. Korb, help me understand: how does handing out billions of dollars to corporations for research they already did lower costs for American families?
Mr. Donald Korb, Nominee for IRS Chief Counsel: Thank you for that question. And also, I would like to thank you for the meeting yesterday. I will let you know that my granddaughter, Anna, really appreciated your signature. I don't want to take up more of your time, you understand.
Keep in mind that the Chief Counsel is responsible for administering the tax law. It’s the U.S. Congress that is responsible for enacting the tax law.
Senator Warren: Okay, so you're saying ‘I don’t have to answer this question, not my job.’ But Mr. Korb, you were IRS Chief Counsel for President Bush. You know that the IRS Chief Counsel has a central role in determining how these laws are implemented through regulations and guidance. This is where the action is.
So, I’m going to ask one more time: how is a tax break for research — that's already been done — anything other than a huge windfall for corporate America?
Mr. Korb: Thank you, Senator, for that question. While I have some experience with what we used to refer to as the R&D tax credit during my many years of practice, I have to admit I am not drilled down on what is in this bill on that point. So I can't give you any view at this point.
Senator Warren: Okay, let me try another then. The tax giveaways in the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ are so large that massive corporations across America will see their tax bills drop dramatically. According to one estimate, Amazon, for example, is set to pocket over $15 billion this year alone. Meta will get $11 billion this year alone.
Now, there is one backstop. And that is: back in 2022, Democrats created a corporate minimum tax that prevents billionaire corporations from paying a tax rate lower than 15%. Already, corporations are trying to wiggle out of it by lobbing the Trump Treasury Department and the IRS to write weaker rules.
Mr. Korb, the corporate minimum tax is the law of the land, just like the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill.’ When billionaire corporations see their tax rates drop below 15% because Trump and the Republicans gave them all these tax cuts, will you commit that you will not write new rules that let them out of paying the corporate alternative minimum tax?
Mr. Korb: Thank you for that question, Senator. And I do commit to follow the law that you as the Congress enacted in writing the regulations.
Senator Warren: So, let me make sure I understand your answer then, because if anyone should be able to commit to following the law it should be a person in this job.
Does that mean you will commit to implementing and enforcing the corporate minimum tax as required by statute? Or do you believe the corporations are above the law?
Mr. Korb: Again, I have not studied the latest iteration of this. We have been through corporate minimum taxes, alternative minimum taxes, back to the ‘86 act and beyond. It keeps changing, okay. I do have a day job so I’ve not studied every element of this bill. I apologize for that. Are there, in that particular statute or provisions, is there authority given to the Treasury to write regulations?
Senator Warren: Yes. That’s what I said.
Mr. Korb: Okay. That’s what you’re talking about. Again, keep in mind tax policy is the job of the Treasury. As Chief Counsel, our lawyers work hand in glove with the Treasury lawyers to do that. And I will be involved in approving regulations. No question about it. And so probably I should not offer a view at this point in time since I am not up to speed yet.
Senator Warren: Well, I just want to say I’m over time so I’m going to quit here. But, I think it is wrong for the Trump administration to be handing out literally tens of billions of dollars to these giant profitable corporations. And you will be in a position to get them even more. And I am uncomfortable with the way I feel like you’ve dodged the answers to these questions. I want to hear that we’re going to hold people at least to what the law specifically requires of them, even if they are billionaire corporations.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
###
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