A miser, a cheat, a criminal, a grifter -- which word will be attached in history to Donald Chump's name? Jessica Alcantara (TIME) reports:
This
week, Republican lawmakers are attempting to pass a budget
reconciliation bill that pays for unprecedented handouts to the
wealthiest Americans on the backs of cuts to programs that benefit most
people. Hidden in this budget package before the House is a national
private school voucher program funded through tax breaks for the wealthy
that threatens to dismantle our system of public schools.
According
to Senator Ted Cruz, school vouchers are "the Civil Rights Issue of the
21st century.” The Texas Republican argues that vouchers are key to
providing educational opportunities for young people. On the contrary,
expanding vouchers and eliminating public education will actively harm
young people—especially Black, Latino, and Indigenous students.
President
Donald Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” currently includes a
provision hidden in the tax code that offers an unprecedented 100% tax
deduction for donations to third party organizations that hand out
private school vouchers. The push to create a national private school
voucher program is part of a long legacy of efforts to return to the
separate and unequal educational landscape of the pre-civil rights era.
Since the 1960s, white segregationists pushed for private school
vouchers to avoid the desegregation mandates of Brown v. Board of
Education and maintain a discriminatory and unequal system of education.
We
urge lawmakers to drop the private school voucher program from the
spending bill and keep it out of the final budget package. We also call
on lawmakers to pass legislation that fully funds public schools, such
as the Keep Our Pact Act. If the lawmakers fail to do so, it will set us
on a dangerous course back toward a pre-civil rights era reality,
defined by deliberate racial segregation and extreme disparities in
school funding and resourcing.
This
private school voucher plan to strip millions of children of their
opportunity to access free public education directly mirrors Project
2025. The issue with such a policy is that private school vouchers
subsidize wealthy families who can already pay for private school, while
decimating public schools for everyone else by diverting resources away
from public education.
Mr. Chump is so disgusting. Chris Cillizza is a conservative. At THE DAILY BEAST, he has a column expressing how he disappointed he is with Mr. Chump's bill:
When
I was a young political reporter in the early 2000s, one issue that
united all Republicans was a desire to reduce the size of the nation’s
debt and deficit.
John McCain ran not one but
two presidential campaigns on the idea that the government spent way too
much money—and, in so doing, was burdening future generations with debt
problems they might not be able to solve.
Paul
Ryan rode his fiscal hawkishness to the national party ticket—as Mitt
Romney’s vice-presidential pick in 2012—and a four-year stint as Speaker
of the House. Here’s what Romney said about Ryan when he picked him for
VP:
With energy and vision, Paul Ryan has
become an intellectual leader of the Republican Party. He understands
the fiscal challenges facing America: our exploding deficits and
crushing debt—and the fiscal catastrophe that awaits us if we don’t
change course.
McCain passed away in 2018,
after making clear his opposition to the direction that Donald Trump was
leading the party. And today, neither Romney, who retired in 2024, nor
Ryan, who left office in 2018, are leaders within the GOP anymore—or
would even really be considered Republicans.
I
would date the official death of McCain and Romney’s brand of
conservatism to Tuesday, when Senate Republicans passed the so-called
“One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) which funds Trump’s priorities on
national security and immigration while also extending the tax cuts he
put into place during his first term.
Why?
Because it is a full-scale abandonment of any attempt to curb the
national debt—or even, really, to acknowledge it as a problem. This
isn’t even a status quo bill; it actively makes the problem worse. “An
initial analysis show it adding at least $3.3 trillion to the nation’s
debt over the next 10 years—making it among the most expensive bills in a
generation—but it would also reduce the amount of tax revenue the
country collects for decades,” wrote The New York Times of the
legislation. “Such a shortfall could begin a seismic shift in the
nation’s fiscal trajectory and raise the risk of a debt crisis.”
And
it is the final nail in the coffin—lots of morbid metaphors, I know!—of
the idea that the modern-day Republican party cares about the issue
that once served as its ideological center.
Under
the Convicted Felon, all the Republican Party now stands for is hate:
Hate of Black people, hate of Brown people, hate of immigrants, hate of
women, hate of LGBTQ+ people, hate of public schools, hate of choice,
hate of democracy, hate of freedom. Hate. Hate. Hate.
C.I.'s
been writing in the community newsletters about how the GOP has gone
too far like Moms For Bigotry did and how they do not even realize it.
But people do not like the big grab Mr. Chump is making and it is
creating a real backlash. I thought about that last night and about
P.J.O'Rourke, a conservative columnist who made his mark in the
80s, writing in ROLLING STONE during President Ronald Reagan's second
term that they (Republicans) voted for Mr. Reagan to get the government
off our backs not into our beds. It is a similar thing that they are
going through now but, again, they do not even see the backlash they
have created. And it is "created." Not "creating." The polling on the
bill clearly demonstrates that the American people say no to this
theft. The American people have turned on Mr. Chump and his minions.
Their own vanity and hubris prevent them from grasping that
development. THE DAILY DIGEST notes, "A
recent survey in the United States disclosed that President Trump's
approval ratings continue to be substantially low, reflecting a broad
disapproval among American voters. This poll underscores the profound
divisions among the populace concerning Trump’s domestic and
international policies, with numerous individuals raising concerns about
his leadership approach."
While
preparing to slash health-care funding to millions of low-income
Americans, the Trump administration is also illegally sharing their
private health information with immigration officials engaged in mass
deportations, California and 19 other states charged in a lawsuit
Tuesday.
The 78 million
Americans receiving health care through Medicaid, including 15 million
Californians in the Medi-Cal program, provide personal information that
their states forward to the federal government to verify their
eligibility. But California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the states
learned last month that the administration has disclosed the private
Medicaid files to the Department of Homeland Security to create a
database for raids and deportations by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement.
"The Trump administration has
upended longstanding privacy protections with its decision to illegally
share sensitive, personal health data with ICE," Bonta said in a
statement announcing the lawsuit, filed in federal court in San
Francisco. "In doing so, it has created a culture of fear that will lead
to fewer people seeking vital emergency medical care."
As
Americans, we value our privacy. That is why, as C.I. pointed out in
POLLY'S BREW, Robert Kennedy Junior's idea of every American wearing a
device is not going over well. He wants to 'encourage' at this point,
Junior says. But to Americans, this is also a privacy issue. And to
some End of Time Americans, this is also a "mark of the beast" issue.
Junior struggles as always to grasp where the American people are.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025. Since "we're all going to die," the GOP decides to rob the American people before they're in the grave.
Donald Chump's desire to rob from the poor to give to the rich bill has passed the Senate and has gone back to the House which is expected to vote for it today so that they can rush home to their districts where they will continue to ignore their constituents while sleeping in their own beds. Edith Olmsted (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes, "A survey by The Washington Post found that 42 percent of Americans opposed the bill, while only 23 percent supported it, leaving the legislation with a net favorable rating of -19 -- and that was the most positive that the results got. A Pew Research Center poll found that the bill had a net favorable rating of -20, Fox News found a net favorable rating of -21, Quinnipiac found a net favorable rating of -26, and KFF found a net favorable rating of -29."
The American people are not being listened to and this is going to harm the GOP in next year's midterm elections. Some grasp that and are bailing with announcements right now that they won't be seeking re-election. Most others will be shown the door by others.
America’s social safety net is poised to become thinner if the Republicans’ massive tax and spending bill crosses the finish line, at a time when low-income consumers are struggling and recession fears linger.
On Tuesday, the Senate passed its version in a 51-50 vote. Vice President J.D. Vance cast the tie-breaking vote. The version that passed the Senate included last-minute adjustments to try strengthening the finances of rural hospitals, which treat many Medicaid enrollees. Next the bill goes back to the U.S. House of Representatives for a final vote.
If President Donald Trump signs the megabill into law, it would result in stingier subsidies and tighter eligibility rules for government-funded healthcare. It would potentially create more requirements for people to qualify for food stamps, and those benefits would do less to keep up with grocery prices over time. The bill would also create more paperwork for people who want to keep using these anti-poverty programs and tax credits.
“Overall, we would be left with an economic security system that barely functions in the best of economic times and will be completely overwhelmed when we encounter our next economic downturn,” said Indivar Dutta-Gupta, a distinguished visiting fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance.
Medicaid is in the center of the debate on whether to scale back government aid and how to do it. But the proposed Medicaid cuts are only one of the ways the megabill will touch safety-net programs that Americans have relied on for decades. The nearing overhaul also targets other programs including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, and tax subsidies for people who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s exchange.
The Senate version of President Donald Trump’s massive tax and immigration spending plan would wipe out many of the strides made by the Affordable Care Act in reducing the number of uninsured Americans, resulting in at least 17 million Americans losing their health coverage, according to nonpartisan estimates and experts.
The bill, which narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday and now heads back to the House, would effectively accomplish what Republicans have long failed to do: unwind many of the key components of the ACA, President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement that dramatically increased the number of Americans with access to health insurance.
To start, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Senate version of the bill would result in 11.8 million more uninsured in 2034, mostly because of Medicaid cuts, compared with 10.9 million if the House version became law.
In addition, both versions of the bill would allow pandemic-era enhanced subsidies for health insurance through ACA marketplaces to expire at the end of the year, sharply raising out-of-pocket costs for millions of Americans. The CBO estimates that 4.2 million people would lose insurance as a result. An additional 1 million are likely to become uninsured because of a combination of other Trump administration cuts and the Republican legislation, according to the CBO.
The bill also includes other, less-noticed changes that over several years would make it harder for states to maintain the ACA’s Medicaid expansion at existing levels, which currently cover some 20 million Americans, according to KFF, a health policy research organization.
“This bill-- if passed, and if the enhanced subsidies expire -- will be a very effective undermining of the vision of the Affordable Care Act to move the United States to a country where universal coverage is in sight,” said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. “This was the 100-year fight to get to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.”
Senator Patty Murray is the longest serving Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee. Her office issued the following:
In Washington state, at least 328,695 people will lose health care under Republican bill; 900,000 Washingtonians could see SNAP benefits reduced or eliminated; 14 rural hospitals will be at risk of closure
ICYMI: In Senate Floor Speech, Murray Rails Against Republican Bill That Rips Away Health Care, Nutrition Assistance, Abortion Access & Balloons National Debt to Fund Tax Cuts for Billionaires; VIDEO HERE
ICYMI: On Senate Floor, Murray Again Slams Republicans for Using Deceptive Tactics to Hide True Cost of Deficit-Busting Tax Cuts for Billionaires
ICYMI:Republicans Block Murray Amendment to Stop Republicans’ Big Ugly Betrayal Bill From Defunding Planned Parenthood
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on Senate Republicans passing their partisan reconciliation bill—the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”—by a vote of 51-50 on Tuesday, with Vice President Vance voting with Republicans to break the tie, after an overnight “vote-a-rama” where Democrats forced Republicans to take dozens of tough votes on a wide array of issues, from protecting rural hospitals to preserving food assistance for families to extending expiring tax credits that help millions of families afford health care. The nearly 30-hour vote-a-rama came after Democrats forced more than 10 hours of debate and a full reading of every word of Republicans’ 940-page bill that will kick 17 million Americans off their health care and make the largest cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance in history to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.
Senator Murray put forward an amendment to strike a provision of the legislation that achieves anti-abortion extremists’ long-sought goal of “defunding” Planned Parenthood by cutting off Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving federal Medicaid funding for the care they provide for millions of low-income women across the country—including birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and wellness exams. Republicans blocked the amendment, 51-49.
“This monstrosity of a bill is about one thing: Republicans’ insistence on passing more tax breaks for billionaires and giant corporations while they kick working people off their health care, rip away nutrition assistance, and make it harder for struggling families to get by. It’s about taking away programs that give American families a hand up in hard times, to pay for a handout for the people who need it the least.
“This should be obvious: if a bill is so bad that you have to exempt entire states from its consequences to win the votes you need—just don’t pass the bill!
“Republicans’ legislation will mean 17 million Americans will lose their health insurance, including more than 328,000 people in Washington state who rely on Apple Health and Affordable Care Act coverage. Families will lose the SNAP benefits they rely on to afford food because of new Republican red tape positively meant to keep people from getting the benefits they are eligible for. Rural hospitals in Central and Eastern Washington that are already operating on the tightest of margins will be forced to close their doors, ripping away health care access from entire communities. Planned Parenthood health centers will shutter and women will be left with nowhere they can go to get birth control, cancer screenings, and other preventive care they can actually afford.
“When it comes to the all-out assault on clean energy in this bill, even Elon Musk understands the plain facts of the matter—Republicans’ cuts are ‘utterly insane and destructive’ and will ‘destroy millions of jobs in America.’ Republicans are also ripping away tens of millions of dollars for critical NOAA facilities in Washington state as part of this bill.
“This fight is not over—this bill is not yet law and I am not going to stop raising my voice and making sure the American people know exactly what is in it. Communities in Eastern and Central Washington will be among the hardest hit by these gigantic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP—now is the time to raise your voices and tell your Republican Members of Congress to vote NO. Republicans in the House need to listen to the American people and abandon this disaster of a bill.
“In the end, every Republican who votes for this bill will have to explain to their constituents why they voted to shutter local hospitals and punish struggling families to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”
Earlier on Sunday, Senator Murray delivered a lengthy speech on the Senate floor where she laid out in detail how Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act will rip away health care from millions of Americans, shutter the doors of hospitals and health care clinics across the country, make the largest cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance in history, and blow up the national debt—all so Republicans can fund massive tax breaks for billionaires. Murray also spoke outrepeatedly during debate on the Senate floor against Republicans’ use of a so-called “current policy baseline” to hide the true cost of their deficit-busting tax cuts for billionaires.
Republicans’ 940-page bill, which they released in the dead of night, cuts more than $900 billion from Medicaid—$100 billion more than the House bill. That means about 17 million Americans will lose their health care, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and more than 300 rural hospitals and over 500 nursing homes could close because of the legislation. The legislation makes the largest cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in history and will rip away nutrition assistance entirely from more than 5 million Americans and shift tens of billions of dollars in costs to states. The legislation also increases the debt by nearly $4 trillion dollars—nearly a trillion more than the House bill. About two in three Americans oppose the bill.
In Washington state, 1.95 million people rely on Apple Health, Washington state’s Medicaid program, and over 300,000 Washingtonians access coverage through the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace (Washington Healthplanfinder). The Joint Economic Committee estimates that at least 328,695 people in Washington state would lose their health insurance under the Republican legislation—that includes 198,050 people who would be kicked off Medicaid and 108,262 people who would lose their coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Among other things, Republicans’ bill would institute work reporting requirements for Medicaid, which have been proven not to increase employment and just strip health care coverage from people who are already working or exempt—this would put more than 620,000 Washingtonians at risk of losing their health care coverage or having it delayed. Fourteen rural hospitals in Washington state would be at risk of closure under the Republican bill. The legislation also “defunds” Planned Parenthood for the next year, threatening the closure of up to 200 health centers across the country—90 percent of them in states where abortion is legal. 11 percent of Washington state residents rely on SNAP, and the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services estimated that more than 900,000 people across the state could their see SNAP benefits reduced or eliminated under the House bill—the Senate bill is just as extreme.
Senator Murray has held constantrecentevents—including multipleevents in Washington state—to sound the alarm on Republicans’ devastating reconciliation bill and encourage constituents to raise their voices and call on their Members of Congress to oppose the legislation.
###
The bill has been sent back to the House, it has not yet been passed. Many are urging people to contact their House Representatives and urge them not to vote for the bill.
Does anyone remember the 1995 government shutdown and why it happened? Basically Newt Gingrich, fresh off a big Republican victory in the midterm election, was trying to force Bill Clinton to make big cuts in Medicare. He failed, in large part because Medicare was and is an immensely popular program.
A decade later, George W. Bush tried to privatize Social Security. But he, too, failed, because Social Security is also immensely popular.
But the Republican quest to rip up as much of the social safety net as possible never ends. And for the past 15 years or so that has meant steering clear, for now, of Medicare and Social Security, which are middle-class programs, and going after Medicaid instead. If the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which is, incredibly, the legislation’s actual name — goes into effect, Medicaid will be cut by around a trillion dollars over the next decade. (As of this morning, the fate of that bill remains uncertain.)
What is Medicaid? Like Medicare, it’s government-provided health insurance. But unlike Medicare, it’s “means-tested”: your income has to fall below a certain level before you’re eligible. This makes Medicaid a program for the poor or near-poor — and that, for many on the right, suggests a political opportunity.
Ostensibly, the right attacks Medicaid because it costs too much. I mean, it’s a government program, which means that it must be riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse, right? And surely there must be millions of lazy people getting health care through Medicaid who should be getting up off their couches and going to work.
The reality is that none of this is true.
MSNBC this morning states the GOP can only afford to lose three votes in the House.
President Donald Trump and the GOP's so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" is far from beautiful and deeply unpopular with the public. Battling concerns from voters about increased barriers to accessing programs like Medicaid and food assistance; massive transfers of wealth from less fortunate Americans to corporations and the rich; and the mass deregulation of industries like crypto and AI, Vice President J.D. Vance is attempting a new tactic to persuade the hesitant: ignore all of that and focus on how much money the bill is giving to ICE.
"The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits. The [One Big Beautiful Bill] fixes this problem. And therefore it must pass," Vance wrote Tuesday on X.
"Everything else - the CBO score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy - is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions," he added.
The millions of people who are expected to lose access to their health insurance as a result of the legislation would likely beg to differ.
I think Miss Sassy's confused. Millions losing health insurance, JD, is not "minutiae." Minutiae is actually that lifeless, little extension in the front of your pants.
Governor Gavin Newsom's office issued the following two weeks ago:
With the risk of catastrophic wildfire on the rise as peak fire season sets in across California, the state’s firefighting and prevention resources are facing new strain resulting from President Trump’s actions.
President Trump’s illegal militarization of Los Angeles is cutting into valuable firefighting resources. As a federal judge noted yesterday in ruling that President Trump’s actions are illegal and should be halted, five of California’s 14 National Guard fire crews – who staff Joint Task Force Rattlesnake – are now understaffed due to the federalization and diversion of 300 California National Guard (CalGuard) soldiers from those crews to armories in the Los Angeles region. That represents three-quarters of CalGuard’s fire response and prevention resources.
Trump is endangering communities across California. He’s pulling National Guard members off of critical wildfire prevention and response missions for his political stunt in Los Angeles. And this is on top of his dangerous cuts to the Forest Service.
It’s critical that Trump heeds his own advice: restore funding to the Forest Service, support federal firefighters and Make America Rake Again.
Governor Gavin Newsom
The National Guard impact is on top of the Trump administration’s dangerous cuts to the U.S. Forest Service, which also threatens the safety of communities across the state. The U.S. Forest Service has lost 10% of all positions and 25% of positions outside of direct wildfire response – both of which are likely to impact wildfire response this year. The cuts come as the President issued an executive order yesterday on wildfire response – another order that rings hollow given the President’s actions.
“In just the first five months of 2025 California has experienced more than 2,300 wildfires,” said CAL FIRE Director and Fire Chief Joe Tyler. “Having the necessary firefighting apparatus and personnel is critical to our mission at CAL FIRE.”
A Florida city welcomed President Donald Trump to the state Tuesday by making life harder for his ICE goons.
Hours before Trump touched down at Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” city commissioners in Key West voted 6-1 in favor of scrapping an agreement requiring local police to coordinate with federal immigration officials.
The vote “basically invalidated the city’s most recent agreement with ICE,” which was reached in March, reported Local 10.
“People who are seeking political asylum are important members of our community,” Commissioner Samuel Kaufman said, according to WLRN. “We have thousands of them here, by the way. And they deserve the respect that anybody else does.”
President Trump traveled to the steaming hot heart of the Everglades for a tour of a newly constructed migrant detention center—and a reunion with one of his fiercest political rivals.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has worked over the past year to mend a tattered relationship with the president after challenging him in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. DeSantis has sought to make Florida a proving ground for Trump’s policies. And he is selling a nickname for the detention facility that has caught Trump’s eye: Alligator Alcatraz.
“That’s not a place I want to go hiking any day soon,” Trump said Tuesday. “We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland and the only way out is really deportation.” The president added, “It might be as good as the real Alcatraz.”
As it turns out, two contractors who worked to quickly build out Alligator Alcatraz, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has called a "one-stop shop" for detention, adjudication, and deportation of migrants, have been significant donors to DeSantis and Trump.
Trump and DeSantis, who were bitter rivals in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, toured Alligator Alcatraz together on Tuesday alongside Kristi Noem, who leads Trump's Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "Ron worked beautifully with Kristi and all of the people at Homeland Security and got it done in how many days, Ron?" Trump marveled.
Earlier Tuesday, Bloomberg News identified several contractors working on Alligator Alcatraz - a group of disaster relief firms selected by Florida's Division of Emergency Management, which is part of DeSantis' administration.
Among the contractors is CDR Companies, which Bloomberg reported "will run medical services and did some site preparation." CDR's president Carlos Duart and businesses affiliated with his firm have made significant donations to DeSantis and Trump, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
CDR Enterprises donated $1 million in December 2023 to Fight Right Inc., a super PAC that supported DeSantis' presidential campaign. Late last year, DeSantis announced he was appointing Duart to the board of trustees at Florida International University, and named his wife, Tina Vidal-Duart, to the Florida Atlantic University Board of Trustees.
A person dies in Florida detention and Homan says, "People die." That's at least the fourth immigrant who has died in detention in Florida since the start of the year and Holman's response is "People die." Senator Joni Ernst is confronted by her own constituents who do not want these cuts to Medicaid, who point out to her the people will die as a result and Joni Phoney's response? "We're all doing to die."
Those are the GOP slogans: "We're all going to die" and "People die." That explains why they take no action on climate change.
Why bother because "People die" and "We're all going to die." It's their excuse for doing nothing to help the American people or anyone else.
Fight back. That's the only answer. In "Media shocks (Ava and C.I.)," Ava and I noted the various shocks last week and concluded with this:
It's very distressing but people are standing up and speaking out.
And with that in mind, last week actually contained one more shock. Chump was threatening to sue various outlets -- one of which was THE NEW YORK TIMES. In response to his ranting and raving, the paper's deputy general counsel David McGraw stated, "No retraction is needed. No apology will be forthcoming. We told the truth to the best of our ability. We will continue to do so."
CNN fired back at President Donald Trump on Tuesday for threatening to prosecute the network over its reporting of a new ICE-tracking app.
The day before, CNN ran a segment about the creation of ICEBlock, an app used to track the movements of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the area. At the time of the reporting, there were more than 20,000 users on the app — with a large portion of users the users in Los Angeles.
Hours after that report, Trump Border Czar Tom Homan called for the Justice Department to investigate CNN for “pushing” the app. He also called the segment “disgusting.” The CNN report on the app made clear that it was “controversial.”
The next day, Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed that they intend to prosecute CNN over the reporting. Those comments were made during a visit to “Alligator Alcatraz,” the new migrant detention center located in the Florida Everglades.
Ailia Zehra notes Chump backed down after raging at another media outlet:
President Donald Trump has quietly withdrawn his lawsuit against prominent Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register.
The lawsuit, initiated in December 2024 under Iowa's Consumer Fraud Act, accused Selzer and the newspaper of “brazen election interference” after her final pre‑election poll showed former Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by three points in deep‑red Iowa — a poll that ultimately missed the mark by approximately 16 points, as Trump won the state by 13 points.
CBS parent Paramount Global on Tuesday said it would pay $16 million to settle a voter interference lawsuit filed by President Trump last October, even as press freedom advocates warned the company was buckling to political pressure.
Why it matters: A settlement likely clears the way for Paramount Global to merge with Skydance Media.
Paramount and Skydance agreed to merge in a deal worth more than $8 billion last July.
The deal is largely seen as an escape valve for owner Shari Redstone, who has faced pressure from shareholders to offload the legacy TV asset while it still has value.
We'll wind down with this press release from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:
Washington, D.C. — In a new video reacting to the passage of President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) slammed Senate Republicans for “cheer[ing] over taking away health care from around 17 million people… giving huge tax breaks to a handful of billionaires.”
On Tuesday, the Senate completed 26 hours of debate on the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” following Democrats' successful delay of the bill’s passage. Despite Republicans’ efforts to rush the bill through, it only passed after Vice President JD Vance broke the 50-50 Senate tie.
During the debate and amendment process, Senate Democrats successfully pushed to strike provisions that would have devastated the deployment of clean energy and prohibited the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) at the state level for ten years.
“[W]e proved why we stay in the fight, because actually, there are pieces of this bill that we got better…It's always the reminder: all of those calls matter,” said Senator Warren.
The bill now heads back to the House of Representatives for consideration of the Senate’s amended version of the bill.
Senator Warren urged people across the country to continue fighting back as the bill continues to make its way through Congress.
“We stay in it not because it's an easy fight, not because we're guaranteed to win every time. We stay in it, because it's the right fight,” Senator Warren concluded.
Transcript: Senator Warren’s Reaction to Senate Passage of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” July 1, 2025
Senator Elizabeth Warren: I’m leaving the Senate now at the end of the vote. When the Republicans won, they cheered.
They cheered over taking away health care from around 17 million people. They cheered over giving huge tax breaks to a handful of billionaires. They cheered over running up the national debt by another three and a half trillion dollars.
You know, this bill is bad. It's bad economically, it's bad morally. This bill is just wrong.
But, we stay in the fight. We stay in the fight. And we proved why we stay in the fight, because actually, there are pieces of this bill that we got better.
We got the tax on solar and wind knocked out, and that's going to help with clean energy. We got a few different pieces and made them better. So that's reason number one. It's always the reminder: all of those calls matter.
Reason number two is: it’s still not over. The bill has now got to go back over to the House, and there are a lot of Republicans who are feeling really squeamish about this bill at this point, so that means we got to stay in the fight.
And reason number three is: yeah, they may do this now, but come November 2026, they're going to have to face the voters. They're going to have to face the people, the families of the people whose health care they took away, and they're going to have to explain exactly what they just did just now on the floor of the United States Senate and whatever they do next.
So, this is hard, but damn, we stay in the fight. We stay in it not because it's an easy fight, not because we're guaranteed to win every time. We stay in it, because it's the right fight.
I cover Convicted Felon Donald
Chump here. I grab as much as I can but miss things from time to time. I
missed something major last week. This is from Ava and C.I.'s "Media shocks (Ava and C.I.):"
But that wasn't Chump's only strange remark on Wednesday.
The
dementia appeared to be 100% in charge when Chump declared -- of Iran's
strike in response on a US base in Qatar, "You saw that, where 14
missiles were shot at us the other day. And they were very nice. They
gave us warning. They said, 'We’re going to shoot them.' 'Is one
o’clock okay?' They said, 'It’s fine.' And everybody was emptied off
the base, so they couldn’t get hurt, except for the gunners. They call
them the gunners. And out of 14 high-end missiles that were shot at the
base in Qatar, all 14, as you know, were shot down by our equipment.
Amazing stuff, amazing what they can do."
Those remarks should have resulted in a lot of coverage. Go to any search engine and you'll find out that MSNBC covered the remarks as did MILITARY.COM. Did any other news outlet write up the remarks? Or was everyone doing their best not to upset nutso?
On
Wednesday, as he was about to depart from a NATO summit, President
Donald Trump seemed to make a stunning admission: He gave Iran the green
light to attack a U.S. military base in retaliation for his own strikes
on three Iranian nuclear sites.
The Iranians
"were very nice. They gave us warning," Trump told reporters. "They
said, 'We're going to shoot 'em. Is one o'clock OK?' I said, 'It's
fine,'" he added.
The casual, nonchalant tone
of Trump's acceptance that Iran would attack U.S. forces at Al Udeid Air
Base in Qatar -- an assault that involved more than a dozen Iranian
missiles -- was a sharp contrast to the message of steely-eyed
professionalism and heroism that his top military adviser, Joint Chiefs
Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, offered to reporters the next day for what he
said was likely the largest single use of the Patriot air defense system
in U.S. history.
The
press may have been too scared to print what Crazy said but Chump knew
he'd gone too far. So the next day, at the Pentagon, it was time for an
8:00 am press briefing with Mama's Boy Pete Hegseth. Hegseth was so
rushed, they didn't get to smooth out his foundation the way they've
been doing at his personal hair and make up salon he had installed at the Pentagon leading to his psoriasis splotches being visible yet again.
The
little mama's boy got loud but with that nasal and childish voice, it
only made him come off spoiled, entitled and, frankly, unhinged.
He
publicly stated that the Iranian government cleared their attack on
U.S. troops with him? Is he insane? We know he is a liar but is he
insane as well? That remark really questions whether or not he is fit
to be president.
In
an interview on Sunday, President Donald Trump threatened journalists
who published the initial U.S. intelligence assessment on his
administration’s strikes on Iran to disclose their sources while also
blaming the leak on Democrats.
During the
segment, Mario Bartiromo asked about the president's social media post
accusing Democrats of leaking the intelligence report to the press.
"They should be persecuted," Trump, who has been given a terrifying new
nickname, said to Bartiromo. Bartiromo asked, "Who specifically?"
"We
can find out. You go up and tell the reporter, 'National security, who
gave it?' You have to do that. And I suspect we'll be doing things like
that," Trump rambled, amid alarming fears over the president's health
due to a injury being spotted.
The
clip of Trump's threats circulated on social media, with online users
criticizing the president for his lack of coherence while trying to
place the blame on the Democrats.
On
Monday night, as Senate Republicans scrambled in search of votes to
advance the GOP’s far-right domestic policy megabill, Donald Trump was
using his social media platform to issue a striking announcement:
The president is launching a “Trump Fragrances” line (for men and women). NBC News reported:
The
circumstances are familiar. In the months leading up to Election Day
2024, when Trump was ostensibly focused on his candidacy, the Republican
launched a dizzying merchandising campaign, pitching everything from
Trump-branded watches to silver Trump commemorative coins, batches of
digital trading cards to a weird cryptocurrency project, gold sneakers
to Trump-endorsed Bibles.
By
the way, where is Rachel Maddow? I turned in for her show last night
but she was not on. Instead it was Jen Psaki. No offense, but I had
better things to do and so turned off the TV and did them. See Ava and
C.I.'s "" and grasp that if Ms. Psaki cannot find a stronger
presentation, she does not belong on prime time.
President
Donald Trump seemed to stumble when responding to a reporter’s question
during a press conference in Florida on Tuesday, where he had traveled
for the opening of “Alligator Alcatraz,” a controversial detention
facility designed to accommodate migrants.
When
asked how long detainees are expected to remain at the detention
center, the president replied, "I'm gonna spend a lot. This is my home
state. I love it. I'll spend a lot of time here," sidestepping the
actual question.
The president’s unexpected answer sparked concern, prompting political commentators to question his cognitive well-being.
Journalist
Mike Rothschild said: "He's obviously losing his cognition and
coherence in a way that's becoming impossible to cover up or work
around. And the more he declines, the more his sycophants prop him up as
doing 'better than ever.' It's an unsustainable situation that could
easily end in chaos."
Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Chump's actions have consequences if the media
would like to examine that they can start with efforts to deport an
Afghan who helped the US military in the Afghanistan War, Chump
continues to terrorize immigrants and is he using the 2025 equivalent of
Blackwater on US streets, the economy goes further down the toilet and
all Chump wants to do is give tax breaks for the extremely wealthy while
gutting the safety net.
Let's start
with Sayed Naser Noor, the Afghan who worked with US troops in
Afghanistan and who Donald Chump is now trying to deport. Rebecca Kheel (MILITARY.COM) notes:
"I believed in you. I worked with you. I helped you for years, side by
side. I trusted your words and followed your rules. That trust brought
me here," Noori said in a written statement read aloud by a supporter
during Monday's news conference. "Now, I sit in detention, treated like a
criminal for doing exactly what I was told to do. I crossed borders to
be safe, I asked for protection the right way, and yet I am punished."
Noori's last hope to avoid deportation is a so-called credible fear
interview, which migrants slated for expedited removal are entitled to
to determine whether they might be eligible for asylum. Noori requested
an interview, and immigration officials have acknowledged his right to
one, but an interview hasn't been scheduled yet, McGoldrick said.
Theoretically, Noori cannot be deported until after the interview.
Before
someone e-mails about our using his full name, the article notes,
"Noori's legal team had originally requested reporters withhold his last
name for his protection but is now using it publicly after the
Department of Homeland Security identified him by his full name in
public statements." As we noted Saturday, Homeland Security posted his full name on their Twitter account June 19th.
We
need to stop a moment. The immigration attacks Chump is carrying out
are outrageous. Each and everyone. But they are often outrageous in
their own certain way.
Sayed
helped US forces. Around the world -- not just in declared war zones
-- this government has foreigners who assist in so many ways. And one
of the reasons they do do is because of a level of trust.
By
trying to deport Sayed, Chump is revoking that trust and that can have
serious consequences around the world. There's no one brave enough in
the administration to tell him this is a mistake. Would he listen if
they did? Actually, he would. He'd listen just because he'd be in
shock that the automatic response was not, "Mr. President, you're a
genius!" He is not a genius, he is an imbicile.
And
someone needs to be talking -- David Ignatius, isn't their your area of
expertise? -- about the blowback that can result in what Chump's doing
to Sayed.
Instead, we
just watch as our home grown Adolf, surrounded by his little Eichmann's
is encouraged to move further and further away from humanity. Nicole Lafond (TPM) notes:
It is difficult to find any recent photos of President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis together.
That’s because the two of them have largely been at odds since
DeSantis tried to test his MAGA bonafides and was utterly humiliated by
Trump on the national stage during the 2024 Republican presidential
primaries. Trump has made a point ofcontinuing to humiliate DeSantis
since he returned to office, while the soon-to-be term-limited governor
of Florida tries to make MAGA amends, his political relevance fading
fast.
But it appears the two are going to bury the hatchet tomorrow to come
together in a shared passion: finding creative new ways to dehumanize
immigrants, carried out with a trollish flair.
You’ll remember DeSantis’ infamous stunt during the Biden
administration, when, following Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s lead, he duped,
transported and dumped a plane full of migrants in Martha’s Vineyard.
In the months following the incident it was revealed that the DeSantis
administration lied to those it put on the plane, promising jobs and shelter only to dump them in a community that was not prepared to assist them.
It’s becoming a well worn tactic for DeSantis — upending the lives of
migrants in a headline-grabbing way to own the libs/score some media
coverage to boost his political significance. At the time of the
Martha’s Vineyard incident, DeSantis was toying with the idea of a Trump
primary challenge. Much of his second term work as governor of Florida
was seen as an attempt to establish himself as a MAGA prodigy by
trafficking in Trump-adjacent authoritarian extremes, like a new police
force to ferret out people who may have illegally voted in the 2020
election — an effort to play into Trump’s various election-related
conspiracy theories.
What Trump and DeSantis are doing in Florida this week is similar. By
now you’ve likely seen the new name for the facility that the pair are
meeting up to cut the ribbon for on Tuesday. “Alligator Alcatraz” is
opening at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the
Florida Everglades. It will have up to 5,000 beds to hold immigrant
detainees and process them for deportation. The facility will cost about
$450 million a year in operational costs, according to the Associated Press.
The state of Florida will pay to run the facility and the federal
government will reimburse Florida with FEMA funds that are typically
used to house people displaced by natural disasters. (You’ll recall, the
Biden administration was ripped to shreds by Trump and his allies for
using those funds to house migrants in hotels while they went through
the immigration process.)
$450
million a year? Yes, a lot of people are getting rich by attacking
immigrants. And once you start detaining them, you are under no
obligation to suddenly discover humanity. That's how you end up with
people dying in custody. Aaron Parnas (MEDIAITE) reports:
A
75-year-old Cuban man who first arrived in the United States in 1966
has died after spending three weeks in immigration detention in Miami,
making him the fifth person to die in U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) custody in Florida this year.
Isidro
Perez, who was detained by ICE on June 5 during an unspecified law
enforcement operation in Key Largo, passed away Thursday night at
Florida Kendall Hospital. His death underscores a troubling trend: Half
of all deaths in ICE custody nationwide in 2024 have occurred in
Florida.
According to
an ICE press release, Perez was arrested for immigration violations due
to his ineligibility to remain in the country—citing two controlled
substance convictions from the early 1980s. No other arrests were
mentioned.
According
to the notification, he was in detention at the Krome detention center
in Miami, which is already coming under scrutiny, after two deaths there
this year. Krome is where migrants recently lined up to spell out
“S.O.S.” in the yard, highlighting growing concerns about detention
conditions.
Perez reported chest pains, leading
to the summoning of paramedics, who attempted to resuscitate him, after
which he died at a Florida hospital, the notification says. While
there’s no reason to assume as of now that Perez’s death was directly
due to mishandling by ICE, its notification says he’d been diagnosed
upon getting booked into Krome and then transferred temporarily to that
hospital during his detention, so ICE knew he faced serious health
risks.
Immigration law experts tell me they
think that given his 1966 arrival in the United States, Perez was likely
paroled into the U.S. as part of the parole programs that the U.S.
implemented for Cubans fleeing Castro’s reign.
Under
the past three administrations, the worst year saw 12 deaths in Ice
custody. If the current pace continues, the total for 2025 could double
those numbers.
Critics say the system is
collapsing under the pressure of Ice’s target of detaining about 3,000
people each day. As of mid-June, more than 56,000 migrants were being
held – that is 140% of the agency’s stated capacity.
“These
are the worst conditions I have seen in my 20-year career,” Paul
Chavez, litigation and advocacy director at Americans for Immigrant
Justice, told the New York Times. “Conditions were never great, but this
is horrendous.”
Among the recent fatalities
are 49-year-old Johnny Noviello, a Canadian who was found unresponsive
on 23 June at a detention facility in Miami. Another is Jesus
Molina-Veya, 45, who died on 7 June while in Ice custody in Atlanta.
Molina-Veya,
from Mexico, was found unconscious with a ligature around his neck,
according to officials. His death remains under investigation.
A
family is desperately seeking help in freeing their father, a
twenty-year California resident, before he disappears altogether into
CBP's for-profit detention and deportation system.
Picking
up supplies to fix a fence for a customer, a local handyman was chased
down and abducted by ICE. Carlos Mejia Osorio's family is concerned that
he will be lost in the US's terrible detention systems, and they will
be unable to help him.
Public
opinion has turned and continue to turn. If, for example, you're a
member of Congress appearing in a public forum, you better expect this
issue to be raised. Steve Ahlquist reports US House Rep Seth Magaziner spoke with a League of Women Voters chapter and the transcript includes the following:
Representative
Magaziner: Like many of you, I feel a profound sense of anger and rage
at many things the administration is doing, but particularly in the
immigration space, I sit on the Homeland Security Committee in the House
of Representatives. I’m on two committees, Homeland Security and
Natural Resources. On the Homeland Security Committee, we are very much
in the trenches fighting against the deportation of innocent people, the
tearing apart of families, and the rolling back of the fabric of who we
are as a country.
We are a country of
immigrants. Unless there’s somebody here in this room who’s a hundred
percent native, every one of us is descended from immigrants, and our
state, Rhode Island, was founded by a refugee as a place of refuge for
other refugees. This is our identity as a country and a state, and
always has been. The cruelty that we’re seeing from the administration
is being driven, certainly, by Trump, but particularly by Stephen
Miller, Tom Homan, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who I
had the pleasure of arguing with strenuously when she was in front of
our committee a few weeks ago.
What they are
doing is different from what they have said their goal is. What they
have said their goal is, in whatever over the top language they use, is
to get rid of criminals, gang members, rapists, et cetera. That, for the
most part, is not what they have been doing, according to their data.
Since the administration started six months ago, they have detained and
or deported just under 300,000 people. Of those, more than 70%, more
than 200,000, had no criminal record. These are mothers, children, and
people just trying to work, make a living, provide for their families,
and contribute to our economy.
It’s been widely
reported that a month or two ago, Stephen Miller called all of the
regional heads of ICE to come to Washington in person and yelled at them
for not deporting enough people and not meeting this artificial quota
of 3000 people a day. One of the regional directors said, “But we’ve
seen you all say on TV that you want us to focus on criminals and people
with removal orders.” And Stephen Miller has reportedly said, “No,
forget about that. Go to Home Depot, go to 711, round up whoever you
can.” So the administration’s goal is not to do what they say they will.
Speaking
for myself, if all they were doing was focusing on people with criminal
records or removal orders, we could quibble over whether some of those
people should be removed. If that’s all they were going to do, I think
most Americans would be okay with that. But that’s not what they’ve been
doing. Their goal is to remove immigrants from this country, period,
whether they have committed any crimes or not, whether they’re here
legally or not, because, as you all are aware, there have been many,
many people who have been detained who are here lawfully and committed
no crimes: [such as] students expressing political opinions or writing
op-eds.
A gentleman from New Hampshire was
being held at the Wyatt in Central Falls for a few months. He was a
legal green card holder. His only criminal record was a simple
possession of marijuana from about 12 years ago, but otherwise, he had a
clean record and was a legal green card holder, here legally. What they
are doing is so expansive, unnecessary, cruel, and self-defeating.
The
vast majority of undocumented people here have no criminal record and
are actively contributing and working. It is estimated that 20% of the
construction industry, 30% of the hospitality industry—food, beverage,
and hotel workers—and 40% of agricultural workers are undocumented. They
are central to our supply chain and our ability to keep costs down for
American consumers.
What do we do about it?
There are three things to consider: litigation, legislation, and
agitation. Let’s start with litigation. There are over 300 lawsuits that
have been filed against actions that the Trump Administration has
taken: funding freezes to states and agencies, potentially illegal
actions on immigration, birthright citizenship, etc. If you look at
those 300 or so lawsuits, the administration has been losing more than
they have been winning, and for the most part, the administration has
been following court orders. Earlier in the year, there was a big fear
that Trump would just ignore the courts.
“I’m
going to do whatever I want. I control the military, I control ICE, I’m
going to do whatever I want,” but, for the most part, that has not
happened yet. Instead, they will do something illegal, like round up
three airplanes of people and send them to a prison in El Salvador with
no due process, and no hearing. A court will say, “You should not have
done that,” then the administration won’t do it again until they appeal
to a higher court to tell them they can. I compare it to Jurassic Park,
when the velociraptors kept trying different parts of the fence to see
where they could bust through.
That’s the way
the administration is handling these deportations: They keep testing the
fence and doing things they know are probably going to be found illegal
by the courts, but maybe there’s one court that will say, “Okay, you
can do that,” and then they find an opening. That’s he way the
administration has been handling it. They’re hoping that ultimately, the
Supreme Court will be very permissive with them, but in the meantime,
they’ve mostly been doing what the courts have told them to do, so we’ve
got to keep supporting these lawsuits. Several good organizations are
involved: Democracy Forward as One, the ACLU, and others. The litigation
front has been very active and, for the most part, has been our most
effective arena so far. It’s not perfect, and I’m not saying we’re
winning everything, but there’s some effectiveness there.
In Chicago today, officials will be questioned. WLS reports:
A council committee meeting will happen on Tuesday over ICE detainments in the South Loop.
City leaders said
they are concerned that Chicago's Welcoming Ordinance may have been
violated during an ICE operation in the South Loop.
On June 4, several were detained outside the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program Office, known as ISAP.
ABC7 blurred out their faces, because it is unknown if they are facing any charges.
Several people reported getting texts to check-in for their immigration cases and were later detained.
On
Tuesday, the committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights will vote on a
measure for Chicago Police, the Office of Emergency Management Chicago,
and the mayor's office to provide all data and communication related to
that day.
If you pay
attention, you may notice some changes in your surroundings. When we
were last in DC, a server was very helpful when we were having lunch.
But that's not what stood out. What stood out was a man two tables away
watching the server and coming over to ask about her accent. Nazis
need informers after all. And look closely around you and you may start
noticing little rats who would feel like their pitiful life finally
mattered if they knew that they'd destroyed some immigrant's life. Ben Conarck and John-John Williams IV (BALTIMORE BULLETIN) report:
The
Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it is investigating a
Maryland corrections department employee after ICE agents made a rare
and apparently invited visit to the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse
last week and detained someone.
On June 24,
ICE agents appeared at the courthouse indicating that they had an
appointment with the employee, causing sheriff’s deputies to escort the
agents to the fourth floor, where the Maryland Department of Public
Safety and Correctional Services runs pretrial services, the sheriff’s
office said.
The deputies then watched the
agents detain an individual in what they later confirmed was a federal
immigration action taken by ICE officers, the first of its kind to take
place in the courthouse since President Donald Trump took over the
federal government, according to Nicholas Blendy, assistant sheriff and
spokesperson for the department.
Blendy said
that “it appears that a single pretrial employee contacted ICE to cause a
federal immigration enforcement action to occur on Monday outside the
scope of their standard duties.” He said the investigation started as an
inquiry into a breach of protocols by the corrections department
employee. But, he said, it has become a criminal probe into the apparent
misuse of information for actions outside official duties.
Isaiah's
latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Your Anti-Social Neighborhood ICE
Agent." The agent explains, "I wear a mask because I'm proud of the job
I do as an ICE agent and, of course, to avoid lawsuits for beating up
women and children." Isaiah archives his comics at THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS.
This continuing misconduct reflects the actions of unqualified or
untrained personnel and exposes serious failures in operational
training, oversight, and accountability within the agencies involved.
These private contractors also all lack qualified immunity, leaving them open to prosecution
— which many believe is the actual reason for the masks. Victims can
sue for civil rights violations, false arrest, personal injury, and
wrongful death.
Chump
has created a gestapo police force for the US. That will allow him to
go down in history and be remembered, yes, but not in a good way. Are
these Blackwater mercenaries? Who has he unleashed upon the streets?
Congress needs to be asking that question because the moment they showed
up, they were wearing masks suggesting they had something to hide.
A
bill to ban federal immigration agents from wearing masks while making
arrests is set to be introduced in the House of Representatives by two
New York Democrats, amNewYork has learned.
Reps.
Dan Goldman (NY-10) and Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) plan to formally
introduce the “No Secret Police Act” in the House on Thursday morning.
The bill would prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other
Department of Homeland Security officers from concealing their faces
during civil immigration enforcement and would require them to clearly
display official identification and insignia.
The
legislation comes amid a string of ICE detentions at immigration courts
in New York and across the country, where masked, plainclothes agents
have taken individuals attending immigration appointments into custody.
New
York Rep. Nydia Velazquez held a press conference outside an
immigration court to advocate for passage of her bill to ban Immigration
and Customs Enforcement agents from wearing masks while making arrests.
Velazquez
gathered with other Democrats and activists at the Federal Plaza
Immigration Court to push for passage of the "No Masks For ICE" Act.
And that's how it should be. There is not supposed to be a secret police in the US.
Recent
raids carried out by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement in California's agricultural heartland are causing a
widespread exodus of workers, threatening the harvest of billions of
dollars worth of produce.
Farmers say the raids
earlier this month, as part of President Donald Trump's migration
crackdown, have frightened off workers and left fields in Ventura County
and beyond critically understaffed.
Ventura
County produces billions of dollars worth of fruit and vegetables each
year, much of it hand-picked by immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Lisa
Tate, a sixth-generation farmer in the area, has observed the immediate
and chilling effect of the ICE operations.
"In the fields, I would say 70 percent of the workers are gone," she said.
"If
70 percent of your workforce doesn't show up, 70 percent of your crop
doesn't get picked and can go bad in one day. Most Americans don't want
to do this work. Most farmers here are barely breaking even. I fear this
has created a tipping point where many will go bust."
Immigration enforcement operations on farms
have left crops rotting and farm operations disrupted in major
agricultural states including California, Texas, and Pennsylvania.
Farm owners and industry representatives report that up to 70 percent of workers stopped reporting to work following Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions, resulting in significant crop losses and financial strain.
"We
do not have enough workforce in the United States to do manual work, to
do those jobs that other people are not qualified to do and do not want
to do it," Alexandra Sossa, CEO of Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy
Project, told Newsweek. "For example, we are running into a problem where we do not have enough farm workers to grow the food we eat every day.
"Now
we do not have enough workers to go to the meatpacking processing
industries and factories to produce, to pack the food that we are
eating."
As President Donald Trump seeks to keep his campaign promise of mass
deportations, a majority of Americans say actions by U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement have “gone too far,” according to a new PBS News/NPR/Marist poll.
More than half of U.S. adults — 54% — described ICE’s actions in
enforcing the country’s immigration laws as having “gone too far.”
Another 18% percent said the agency has not gone far enough, while 26%
said they’d describe ICE’s actions as “about right.”
A majority of Democrats (83%) and independents (59%) said ICE has
taken its actions too far. Republicans were more likely to say that the
agency’s actions were appropriate, with nearly half (49%) agreeing,
while another 31% said ICE “has not gone far enough.”
Those
who can learn from history are already objecting to Chump's attacks on
immigrants. Sharon Mizota is a fourth generation Japanese-American. At HYPERALLERGIC, she notes:
Many
in the Japanese-American community share this intimate understanding of
the lasting loss and pain such violations bring. Back in February, the
Japanese American National Museum made a powerful statement declaring,
“We stand with all immigrant families and communities at risk and will
continue to fight for the rights of all people to be recognized as full
members of society.” While many in the museum world remained silent or
quietly acquiesced as due process, birthright citizenship, and DEI
programs were threatened or summarily dismantled, JANM saw what was at
stake and stayed true, not only to their mission to steward culture and
history but to defend human and civil rights. (In full disclosure, I
collaborate with the museum on a fellowship program.)
Nearly
60 years after the United States outlawed racial and religious
discrimination in housing, one group in Arkansas is openly reviving it.
“Return
to the Land,” a white supremacist group co-founded by Eric Orwoll and
Peter Csere in 2023, owns 160 acres in northeast Arkansas, according to
the group’s website. Jews and non-whites are explicitly banned.
Prospective residents must verify their “ancestral heritage” in a
written application and interview before becoming paying members and
residing in the off-grid settlement, according to the group’s Substack.
The
organization hopes to replicate its whites-only settlements across the
country, with the stated aim of “trying to put land back under the
control of Europeans.” Experts warn the group’s practices likely run
afoul of anti-discrimination laws and express doubt about its long-term
viability.
Still, the group’s financial and
legal infrastructure makes it one of the most established white
supremacist residential communities in the United States today,
according to Morgan Moon, an investigative researcher with the
Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Extremism.
Chump's self-imposed deadline of July 9th approaches. Deepti Sri (STOCKWITS) notes,
"Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg that the U.S. could
complete “top 10” deals with major economies by the deadline." 90 days
and 90 treaties. Only now maybe only a handful of treaties as Chump
fails yet again. Gabriela Leon (EXPLICAME) observes:
As
the Trump administration champions tariffs as a path to economic
revival, many economists are sounding alarms over their potential to
disrupt investment, raise consumer prices, and deliver fewer
manufacturing jobs than promised.
President
Donald Trump has repeatedly touted tariffs as a cornerstone of his
economic strategy. “Tariffs will bring our companies back home,” he
declared at a rally, describing the policy as a way to supercharge
domestic industry and cut dependence on foreign economies. However,
leading economic analysts suggest the results may be far more mixed—and
potentially harmful in the short term.
According
to a wide range of experts, the administration’s use of tariffs as a
negotiating tool has introduced uncertainty into the business
environment, deterring companies from making long-term investments.
“Everybody is kind of in a holding pattern until the uncertainty gets
resolved,” said Jeff Bischoff, chief sales officer at Gray, a
Kentucky-based construction firm. Recent Census Bureau data reflects
this hesitation: manufacturing construction spending has declined
slightly in recent months.
The costs of doing
business under current trade policies are also rising. Nearly one-third
of U.S. manufacturers depend on imported intermediate goods, and the
increased cost of these inputs—exacerbated by tariffs—is squeezing
margins. The National Association of Manufacturers and the Department of
Commerce have both pointed to inflationary pressure and higher
materials costs as significant threats to growth.
He's
been allowed to destroy our economy and to destroy our economy. The
only hope of any protections being put in place is a Democratic sweep in
the mid-terms.
Mark
Cuban isn’t sugarcoating it anymore. The billionaire entrepreneur and
Shark Tank star is practically shouting from the rooftops: China tariffs
are costing you way more than you realize. And he’s right to be
alarmed. Here’s the thing that’s got Cuban and economists like Justin
Wolfers freaking out—tariffs don’t just replace each other. They stack.
They build on top of existing rates.
As of June
2025, we’re looking at an average 51.1% tariff on Chinese imports,
according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.We’re
talking about rates that can climb as high as 55% when you factor in the
10% baseline tariff, the 20% “fentanyl” tariff, and the 25% Section 301
tariffs, all piling on top of each other.
While
there have been fluctuations and temporary reductions (such as the
recent 90-day truce lowering some rates to 30%), the current effective
average remains above 50% for most Chinese imports. But many Americans
only see the new percentages in headlines, missing the cumulative
effect.
The
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) reports that the
average tariff on Chinese goods now stands at 51.1%. These elevated
tariffs are directly increasing the prices of everyday items. For
example, recent analyses show that consumer technology products are
facing sharp price hikes:
Smartphones: up 31%
Monitors: up 32%
Laptops and tablets: up 34%
Video game consoles: up 69%
Walmart
and Target executives have been looking stressed lately. They can
either absorb the additional costs—cutting into already narrow profit
margins—or raise prices for consumers.
With
approximately 60% of Walmart’s merchandise still sourced from China in
2025—spanning electronics, clothing, toys, and household goods—the
company is highly exposed to tariff-driven price increases and supply
chain disruptions.
Walmart’s Chief Financial
Officer, John David Rainey, has publicly stated that these tariffs are
“inflationary for customers,” meaning price hikes are now unavoidable
for many products.
A
week after Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariff plan went into effect on
“Liberation Day” on April 2, the president abruptly announced a 90-day
pause to refocus his trade war on China.
The
U-turn offered reprieve to dozens of countries, including Thailand, the
largest foreign supplier of pet food to the U.S., which faced a steep 36
percent tariff on its exports to the American market. In 2024, the U.S.
imported 392 million kilograms of cat and dog food.
Now, the 90-day pause, which caps import taxes at 10 percent for most nations, is set to end.
If
no deal is struck between Bangkok and Washington by the July 9 deadline
and tariffs return to the 36 percent rate announced in April, pet food
prices could rise on American shelves, leaving animal owners to shoulder
the cost.
In that scenario, Thai pet food producers have warned they may be forced to suspend shipments to the U.S. market.
“We
need to pause shipping to the U.S. unless something changes,” Chatchai
Lertviwatkul of S.I.P. Siam Inter Pacific told The New York Times. “Our
customers can’t increase the prices that much at retail.”
The
U.S. dollar has had its worst start to a year since 1973, weighed down
by President Donald Trump's frenetic trade policy, a worsening outlook
for the country's ever-bloating public debt pile, and fears about the
independence of the Federal Reserve.
The
Financial Times reported that the U.S. Dollar Index was now down by 10
percent over the course of 2025, making it the weakest performance since
the end of the Bretton Woods system, which was underpinned by the
dollar's convertibility to gold.
Trump
has staked much of his political reputation on his handling of the
economy, pitching himself as the leader who can slash household bills,
put more money in Americans' pockets through lower taxes, and lift
commerce into a new golden age.
The dollar news
concides with the U.S. Senate gearing up to pass Trump's much-tweaked
One, Big, Beautiful Bill, the tax-cutting provisions of which are set to
expand the deficit by trillions of dollars over the coming
decade—putting pressure on the dollar.
In
the midst of all of this bad economic news, the GOP is trying to ram
through a bill that will seriously harm most Americans. Bob Cronin (NEWSER) notes, "Majority
Leader John Thune said he wants to pass the bill Monday to get it back
to the House for its final approval before the July 4 deadline Trump
set. But polls show the measure is becoming more unpopular with voters
over time, per the Washington Post.
And its estimated cost rose on Sunday when the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office said the bill would balloon the national
debt by $3.3 trillion over 10 years. That's on top of significant
increases in borrowing costs; even with its spending cuts, the measure
is largely deficit-financed."
Senator Elizabeth Warren's office issued the following:
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.) released new data from the Joint Economic Committee (JEC)
estimating that Republicans’ bill would kick 326,262 people in
Massachusetts off of their health insurance — up from 305,611 under the
House version of the bill earlier this month.
A recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) also
found that the proposed Senate bill would increase the number of
Americans who will lose their health insurance to 17 million people.
“Senate Republicans had the opportunity to fight back against the
House’s disgusting excuse of a bill. Instead, they’re ripping health
care away from even more people and raising costs for families to fund
giant tax handouts for billionaires and giant corporations,” said
Senator Warren. “This ugly bill is a slap in the face for Massachusetts
families, and I’m taking all my fight to the Senate floor to stop it.”
A Republican amendment proposes to lower the federal funding that
states receive to cover certain Medicaid enrollees, likely immediately
ending the program in 9 states with “trigger laws” activated if the
federal matching percentage is reduced. If adopted, the amendment would
raise the number of people kicked off of health insurance to 20 million.
JEC estimates that if all states end their Medicaid expansion
programs due to the Republican amendment, combined with the devastating
Medicaid cuts in the bill, 29 million people across the country could lose their health insurance.
Senator Warren has led the fight against these unprecedented cuts to Americans’ health care, pressing nominees to justify the cuts, and sharing stories of constituents set to be impacted by the cuts. The Senate is voting on its version of the budget bill today.
