Ruth's Report: August 2025

Friday, August 22, 2025

Chump's stupidity is only matched by his desperation

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Dumb Bondi Jokes" went up earlier tonight.

Brilliant.

The Convicted Felon is out of control and then some. Mike's "Can Donald Chump learn his lane?" registered when I read it and that was before the raid on John Bolton's home this morning. Dan Mangan (NBC NEWS) notes:

FBI agents raided the Maryland home of John Bolton, the former national security advisor to President Donald Trump.

The raid is part of a "national security investigation in search of classified records," a person familiar with the matter told NBC News.

Bolton has become a staunch critic of Trump, who called him "stupid" recently after criticizing the president's meeting on the Ukraine war with Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin.

This is appalling. And I am no fan of Mr. Bolton. Here are some comments on the NBC NEWS article:

jack 76

2 hours ago

We need to pay attention, bit-by-bit, we are witnessing American justice being destroyed. No question this was political. So, where is the proof or even accusation that Bolton had classified files? Bolton has not been a part of the government for over 7 years. This is Trump carrying out his hit list of people who speak out against him.

john davis

2 hours ago

Trump ordering these unlawful raids is disturbing.

Bolton has been a stand-up TRUE patriot to our country & has served several presidents.

This abuse of POWER is rally becoming TREASON -AGAIN!!

N D

13 minutes ago

The FBI knows exactly who stole and leaked our classified documents - Donald Trump, as a private citizen as well as a sitting president, stole and leaked classified documents to news media, our adversaries, his employees, friends, family. He had enough puppets in the right places, like judges, etc. that he could bribe to do his bidding so he wasn't tried, convicted, imprisoned as he should have been.

The people of the United States will have their revenge on Trump and his puppets, just has he is wreaking revenge on his perceived enemies, in due time. Karma, Karma, Karma

S. Mays

2 hours ago

Trump accused Democrats of weaponizing the government with zero proof. Meanwhile, he has weaponized the government. Every accusation is a confession with this guy.

Scooter Macgrooter

12 minutes ago

It's getting to the point where anyone who says anything bad about the president gets tapped. I know someone who got hung up at the airport, harassed and manhandled. Turns out he was posting 'anti-Trump" stuff on line.

Donald Karl Walker

2 hours ago

Gee and I thought Trump wasn't going to weaponize the DOJ or the FBI. Someone explain to me how this is not Trump going after someone who opposes or criticizes him?

gts

1 hour ago

If he has any classified documents in his home, then this should be happening. I'm all for "nobody is above the law." I'm just wondering if Patel and Bondi had the same thoughts about Trump having classified materials at Mar-a-Lago?

Phil Petree

2 hours ago

1) Bolton speaks out against Trump and says Trump is unprepared because Trump refuses to take the briefings.

2) FBI raids Bolton home.

3) FBI says they're looking for classified documents (you know, that very thing Trump railed against at Mara Lardo).

4) MAGA still can't see what's happening.

Laura Seifred

1 hour ago

Yes, they raided his home because he wrote a book about the insanity and chaos of the first Trump administration. It's laughable that this administration is concerned about classified documents being housed in an unsecured location, as Trump did the same with no repercussions.

Adam Lynch notes:

Defense attorney Joey Jackson, speaking on CNN at the time of the raid, said the raid dredged up a number of disturbing questions considering the retaliatory nature of President Donald Trump.

“This is a person … that had a security clearance pulled [by the Trump administration]. He had his security detail pulled. He's adverse to the president. What world are we living in now again? Best case scenario, this is the Department of Justice doing their job.”

But Jackson said Trump is a vengeful president who likes to pull the levers of government to hurt his perceived enemies, and Bolton — a former Trump advisor — has criticized Trump on national television and in writing.

“Worst case scenario: this is political retribution,” said Jackson. “And if his attorney in front of the cameras, I'm going to say so. Everybody who criticizes the president, if you do it publicly, he's going to tweet about it, and then you're going to get your house raided.”

Again, I am really feeling what Mike wrote last night. It is enough. It is more than enough. We have no grown ups in this administration. We desperately need some.

No doubt that the raid on Mr. Bolton was an attempt to distract from the Epstein scandal. That will not work.

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for today:

Friday, August 22, 2025. Chump's destruction of the economy continues with attacks on tourism, groceries and US auto yet he still manages to make time to also try to destroy veterans. He himself continues to be destroyed by the Epstein scandal.

Let's start off with Chump's assault on veterans. Andrew Koppelman (SLATE) reports:

Earlier this year, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order that expelled transgender troops from the U.S. military, the administration claimed—against all evidence—that bigotry against trans people was not the reason behind the move. There’s no longer any plausible deniability, though, as Trump’s Defense Department recently escalated its war on trans service members by taking away some of those soldiers’ pensions and benefits.

Transgender troops began serving openly in 2016 under President Barack Obama. In his first term, Trump announced by tweet that he would ban transgender troops. A few months later, the Defense Department decided to bar them from enlisting, but to retain those already in uniform, citing “its solemn promise to these Service members, and the investment it has made in them.” President Joe Biden again allowed transgender recruits to join. But now Trump has decided to throw out all trans soldiers, even though in the interim they have been serving honorably and successfully. (If there were any evidence to the contrary the administration would have produced it.)

Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ireland has served for 15 years, including overseas tours to Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, and South Korea. After the Supreme Court decided to allow the Trump administration to enforce its ban, Ireland agreed to apply for early retirement; he was told that if he didn’t, he would lose half of his separation pay. His application was approved.

But then the Air Force’s acting personnel chief decided to rescind the approval for Ireland and more than a dozen others who have between 14 and 18 years of Air Force service. Instead of normal retirement benefits, they are now offered lump-sum payments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars less. There was no explanation.

“The first feeling I felt was betrayal,” Ireland said. “I’ve given my life to the service. I was promised this. I had my retirement orders in hand. I’ve been starting to process what life looks like outside of uniform, and now we don’t know what that looks like.”

The Veterans Administration’s declared mission is “to fulfill President Lincoln’s promise to care for those who have served in our nation’s military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.” But now earnings from years of service are yanked away at the whim of a bureaucrat.

This is outrageous and would only come from a coward who, while his country was at war, refused to serve. Now I am not rah-rah war. I support war resisters. But Chump did not do that. He didn't protest the war. He didn't do a damn thing but claim he couldn't serve because of bone spurs. Those bone spurs have not prevented from golfing every weekend of this year, have they? He lied. He has no respect for those who serve. Transgender troops above, but it's really all the troops that he hates and disrespects. If you doubt that reality, read this press release that the Center for Constitutional Rights issued at the start of this month:

Today, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) announced plans to no longer allow veterans to access abortion care or counseling through the VA health system, specifically including in instances of rape, incest, or to save the health of the pregnant person. While veterans were previously allowed to access abortion care in specific circumstances, this policy eliminates those exceptions apart from a narrow exception to save the life of a pregnant veteran. These kinds of exceptions to save a person’s life often don’t work in reality.

This proposed rule change will apply to veterans receiving care through the VA living in all 50 states, including the 14 states with constitutional protections for abortion rights. This new policy would be one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, and for veterans living in the 12 states that ban abortion, it would further close off what may be their only opportunity to access urgently needed abortion care.

As a proposed rule, the policy will be open for public comment for 30 days, after which the administration will finalize the rule. Throughout this next month, the public — including health experts and veterans — can provide feedback on how this policy will endanger the health and lives of veterans.

“After veterans put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms, the Trump administration is trying to rob them of their own freedoms and putting their health at risk,” said Nancy Northup, President and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “This administration is sending a clear message to veterans—that their health and dignity aren’t worth defending. To devalue veterans in this way and take away life-changing health care would be unconscionable. This shows you just how extreme this administration’s anti-abortion stance is—they would rather a veteran suffer severely than receive an abortion.”

This rule change was ushered through by the White House Office of Management & Budget Director Russell Vought and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins—both adamantly anti-abortion—with Vought even opposing abortion if it is needed to save the life of a pregnant person. This marks the first major regulatory action by this administration to proactively take away abortion rights from a group of people nationwide, and a foreboding encroachment into states where abortion rights are protected.

Women are currently the fastest growing population of veterans, and removing these exceptions to the VA’s strict abortion ban will be devastating for pregnant veterans who need access to this care. More than two million women veterans live in the U.S. today, and more than 400,000 women veterans are estimated to live in states with total abortion bans or severe restrictions, meaning they may not be able to access abortion care—in case of emergency care or otherwise—at all. There are also thousands of transgender men as well as non-binary veterans who might need abortion care. Additionally, over 700,000 family members of veterans get their care from the VA.

The removal of the health, rape, and incest exceptions are particularly dangerous given the high rates of sexual assault in the military. One in three women veterans experienced military sexual trauma (MST), including sexual assault, during their military service, and research indicates that nearly 40% of homeless women veterans experienced MST while in the service. Many veterans also experience severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including from experiences related to sexual assault, and an unplanned pregnancy may exacerbate their PTSD and require abortion access to preserve their health or life. Last year, enrollment of women veterans in VA health care increased in every state, and four of the six most concentrated states were Texas, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina—all states with severe abortion bans.

In 2022, immediately after the Dobbs decision overturned federal abortion protections under Roe v. Wade, the Biden-Harris Administration carved out exceptions to the VA’s complete abortion ban in certain situations. That rule also allowed VA clinicians to discuss abortion options or referrals with patients for the first time, a conversation that will be prohibited if the rule is finalized.

Pregnancy complications are not uncommon and it’s critical that everyone, regardless of pregnancy intentions or circumstances, be able to access the full range of reproductive health care services including abortion. Each year in the United States, about 700 people die during pregnancy or in the year after, and another 50,000 people each year have unexpected outcomes of labor and delivery with serious short- or long-term health consequences.

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MEDIA CONTACT: center.press@reprorights.org

Bone spurs claimed this week to be a war hero -- see Marcia's "Chump should be charged with stolen valor" -- he's not. He never served. So he lies to promote himself and build himself up but the reality is he has no respect for those who have served in the military.

When you make a promise, you honor that promise. I've said this over and over here every year that we've been online -- almost 21 years now -- you don't screw around with veterans benefits. You have made a promise to them and you damn well better honor it.

Donald doesn't believe that. He not only kicked out trans members, he wants to destroy their pensions. That's what he's doing. He's telling women that they don't have reproductive care -- Translations, "Go fight for freedom but grasp that you don't have reproductive freedom." His horrendous DOGE has destroyed jobs for so many veterans. There is no veterans issue you can point to where he hasn't harmed them. How about the VA? MSNBC from a little over a week ago.

The government made promises and it is failing to deliver because of Donald Chump. This isn't an accident, it is planned. He has planned to betray veterans and he has done so.

He is a failure and a liar. And he has broken one of the core promises our government has with our veterans. There is no excuse for that.

We have repeatedly called out various politicians (Wig hatted Corrine Brown, Jim Webb, go down the list -- and the two named are both Democrats) over the years for their betrayals of veterans but I don't think anyone we've ever called out has done as much damage -- and intentionally done as much damage -- as Donald Chump.

He's destroying everything and that includes the economy. Garrett Owen (SALON) reports:

Canadian tourism to the United States is collapsing in the wake of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, according to a new report, a find that comes after the U.S. president has imposed tariffs on and threatened to annex America’s northern neighbor.

The report, published by Statistics Canada, a government office, shows that Canadians made 1.7 million return trips by motor vehicle back into their country from the U.S. in July. That amounts to a 37% drop from July 2024.

[. . .]

The decline in travel translates to a loss of billions of dollars in tourism-related revenue. With 20.4 million visits to the United States in 2024, Canadian tourism accounted for $20.5 billion in revenue and helped to support approximately 140,000 U.S. jobs, the U.S. Travel Association said in February.

The association, at the time, noted that a 10% decrease in Canadian travel “could mean 2.0 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses.”

We've noted the hit that Chump was causing the economy as a result of his repugnant personality and policies. People don't want to come to a country where they might be arrested and sent off to El Salvador or Guantanamo. People don't want to come to a country run by a hate monger. Danielle Antosz (MONEY WISE) reported this week:

While tourism is booming in many countries, the U.S. is falling behind. A recent report by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) found that the U.S. is the only country forecasted to see a decline in international visitor spending in 2025. In March, international travel to the U.S. fell 14% compared with the same period last year, according to the U.S. Travel Association.

Tourism from Canada has had the sharpest decline — Canadian visits in May decreased by 38% by car and 24% by air compared to the same month in 2024, according to the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO). Travel from Western Europe is also declining, falling nearly 5% in 2025.

“While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign,” said Julia Simpson, president and CEO of WTTC.

And the price tag is staggering. In total, this decrease in tourism could cost the United States an estimated $29 billion, and experts warn that number could grow if policies don’t change.

In addition to the travel aspect, Gabriela León reports more damage that Chump has done:

In June, a significant shift occurred in the North American auto market: for the first time since the early 1990s, Canada imported more vehicles from Mexico than from the United States. According to Statistics Canada data reported by Bloomberg, this development marks a dramatic change in a market where Canada has traditionally been the top customer for American automakers. The shift underscores the impact of trade policies on longstanding economic relationships.

The primary catalyst for this historic change is the 25% tariff on foreign vehicles imposed by President Donald Trump. This policy aimed to boost domestic production within the US but inadvertently disrupted the intricate balance of North American auto trade. The tariffs have made American vehicles less competitive in Canada, prompting a reevaluation of trade dynamics in the region.

In response to Trump's tariffs, Ottawa implemented a reciprocal tariff on US-made vehicles. However, the Canadian government introduced a significant caveat: tax relief for manufacturers that continue to invest in local production. This strategic move has softened the impact on companies like Stellantis and General Motors, which have substantial operations in Canada.

Data from Bloomberg highlights the extent of this shift. In June alone, Canada imported vehicles worth 1.080 billion Canadian dollars from Mexico, equivalent to approximately 784 million US dollars. In contrast, imports from the US amounted to 950 million Canadian dollars. This trend reflects a growing preference for Mexican-assembled vehicles, driven by competitive pricing and favorable trade terms.

Mexico has capitalized on its role within the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which partially mitigates the impact of tariffs. This agreement has enhanced the competitiveness of vehicles assembled south of the Rio Grande, offering an attractive alternative to Canadian consumers and businesses.

The shift in trade patterns poses challenges for Detroit's automotive giants. Ford, for instance, traditionally supplies Canada with US-made vehicles. Although its Oakville, Ontario plant is not yet producing high-volume models, Ford has announced plans to begin manufacturing F-Series Super Duty pickups there by 2026. This move reflects a strategic adaptation to the evolving trade landscape.

Brownie, heck of a job?

Among the topics on this morning's NEW YORK TIMES podcast? "How Trump is shaking trust in the economy." At NEWSWEEK yesterday, Suzanne Blake noted:

Food represents a large and visible share of household spending, and high grocery bills influence public perceptions of the economy and the administration's performance.

A mid-2025 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that a majority of Americans reported stress over grocery costs, and retailers have reported shoppers shifting purchases toward cheaper brands and smaller sizes. Roughly 53 percent of respondents said grocery costs were a "major" stressor.

Trump campaigned on promises of lowering grocery costs, but federal forecasts and private trackers showed only modest easing overall and price gains in several food staples.

The USDA Economic Research Service reported that the all-food Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.3 percent from May to June and was 3 percent higher than June 2024.

It also projected overall food prices would rise 2.9 percent this year and 2.7 percent in 2026.

Last week, Ben Berkowitz and Alex Fitzpatrick (AXIOS) noted:

Zoom in: A 38.9% increase in prices for fresh and dry vegetables from June to July was the major driver of a higher index for "final demand goods" (things that are done and ready to be sold to a consumer, as opposed to things that go into a later production process).

That was the biggest month-on-month increase for fresh vegetables since March 2022.

Stunning stat: Per Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it's also the largest monthly increase ever recorded in a summer month (June-August), in figures that go back to 1947.

Let's note this MSNBC video.

We noted two snapshots ago. When we noted it, we noted that it had nearly half a million streams. It's now at 1.1 million. Here's a report Ari did yesterday.

And here's a discussion on the expected release (later today) of some Epstein files.

Andrew Buncombe (THE I PAPER) notes the country remains focused on the Epstein scandal:

However, the issue is not going away, regardless of efforts. Earlier this summer, Republican speaker Mike Johnson literally sent home members of Congress early to avoid a vote on the release of files containing information about Epstein. Back in their constituencies, politicians learned that getting to the bottom of the matter remains a pressing issue for many of the people who voted for them.

When they do return, they may be unable to escape a vote, or at least addressing the issue. Before they left Washington DC, Democrat Ro Khanna of California, and Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky, filed a motion that allows any member of the chamber to force a vote if a majority signs on. This means many Republicans will be forced to do as their constituents want and vote for the release of all files, or risk angering Trump who wants nothing more than this issue to go away for ever. Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego told reporters: “We’re going to keep the pressure up – 100 per cent.” He added: “As often as we can, until we know exactly what happened, why it happened.”

Aurora DeStefano (2PARAGRAHS) also notes the pressure:

U.S. Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA), who is a member of the House Oversight Committee, said this week on MSNBC: “These Epstein files are only coming to the Oversight Committee because Democrats forced a vote to subpoena them. If Republicans refuse to subpoena Alex Acosta, the person who put together Epstein’s sweetheart deal, we will force another vote to bring him in.”

Prior to becoming President Trump’s Secretary of Labor during his first term in the White House, Acosta was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida who approved a plea deal that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to one state charge of solicitation, in exchange for a federal non-prosecution agreement in 2008. After Epstein’s arrest in 2019 on sex trafficking charges, Acosta resigned from his cabinet position.

In March, Acosta joined the board of directors of Newsmax.

Donald Chump can't shake the Epstein scandal. For years, he was friends with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell -- convicted pedophiles and sex traffickers. Epstein died in prison under Chump's watch. Maxwell got moved to a cushy Club "Fed." By Chump. That move did not happen without his okay. That was needed. I know that for a fact. I worked forever on getting someone out of federal prison under an earlier president. I know exactly what it takes and the Justice Dept by itself cannot move Maxwell to a facility that does not accept prisoners convicted of sex offenses. That requires the president of the United States' approval. The story is not going away. Chris Hatler (ESQUIRE) notes:

“You have to be on another planet if you don’t know anything about Epstein,” Julie K. Brown tells me over the phone. Maybe I shouldn’t have played dumb. The award-winning investigative reporter exposed Jeffrey Esptein’s sex-trafficking activities for the Miami Herald, after all. But with the Epstein files littering news feeds, including a House Oversight Committee plan to release documents this Friday, I thought we needed a primer for our conversation.

“There were probably hundreds of underage girls and young women who were sexually abused by this very powerful man over three decades. Then, he essentially walked away with little or no punishment for the crimes, even though the case was in the hands of the Justice Department,” Brown says.

Epstein was arrested and jailed in 2019. That August, he died by suicide in his cell. Since then, there have been calls from across the political spectrum to release the Epstein files, a collection of documents and investigative materials gathered by law enforcement about Epstein and his victims and associates. He had friends in high places, some of whom likely don’t want any additional information uncovered.

“Even if you weren’t involved in any of his crimes, just being linked to him now is a bad thing,” Brown says. “Just being friends with him, you could get blackballed.”

Brown wrote an entire book on what she learned from her reporting, Perversion of Justice, which was published in 2020. But even someone as informed as she is wonders who knew Epstein and whether or not he died by his own hand. Here are five questions to which she wants answers—whether or not documents drop Friday.

Did Attorney General Pam Bondi know Epstein?

During our conversation, Brown seems particularly curious about who knew Epstein and the nature of their relationship. One name comes up before the others: Pam Bondi.

Bondi was elected attorney general of Florida—where Epstein owned a home and committed crimes—in 2010 and assumed the position in 2011. She wasn’t in office during Epstein’s first prosecution, which began in 2007, after which he received a lenient sentence. Until he was arrested in 2019, Epstein continued to traffic young women and girls, which occurred during Bondi’s tenure. Brown wants those dots to connect.

“Did anyone ask Bondi if she knew Epstein? She was involved in Florida. Epstein was in Florida. Epstein was adept at getting dirt on people. That’s what he liked to do. So do we know whether Bondi ever had any kind of contact with Epstein or his lawyers?”

That's her first question, use the link to read her next four.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's office:

Nonpartisan CBO releases new letter at request of Whitehouse, Wyden, Merkley, Boyle showing GOP megabill triggers mandatory $45 billion cut to Medicare and $120 billion cut to non-Medicare programs in 2026

Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaires Law explodes deficit to fund tax cuts for the ultrawealthy and giant corporations

Washington, D.C. – The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a letter yesterday at the request of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee Brendan F. Boyle (D-PA) confirming that by exploding the deficit, President Trump’s Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaires Law will automatically trigger the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act, which will impose a $45 billion cut to Medicare in 2026, and $536 billion in automatic cuts to Medicare over nine years.

“We all know that Trump’s Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaires Law explodes the deficit with tax breaks for the ultra-rich and giant corporations, while slashing Medicaid and eliminating programs to feed hungry families. But Republicans are playing a shell game by hiding the sneak attack on Medicare that they tucked into their law,” said Whitehouse. “CBO has now confirmed it: Trump’s Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaires Law triggers sequestration next year, resulting in massive, mandatory cuts to Medicare and other treasured programs. No Republican who voted for this bill can credibly say that they want to protect Medicare.”

“If Republicans were serious about protecting Medicare from cuts, they wouldn’t have passed a bill that triggers half a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare,” Wyden said. “The reality is, Trump said he wouldn’t cut Medicaid, and then he turned around and passed the biggest Medicaid cut in history. He said he wouldn’t hurt Social Security, and then he gutted its staff and set DOGE loose on the program like a pack of wild dogs. Trump and Republicans cannot be trusted with Medicare, and whatever promises they make about protecting the program are worthless.”

“Congressional Republicans’ dangerous Big, Betrayal Law not only guts programs like Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and food assistance, but today we’re reminded that it also forces cuts to Medicare and many other critical programs. Because Republicans were so hell bent on passing a law that gives tax cuts to billionaires – that adds trillions to the national debt – their reckless actions have now triggered automatic spending cuts – meaning that without future Congressional action, seniors and people with disabilities will pay the price and have less access to care,” said Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley. “This is just more of the Republicans’ families lose, billionaires win agenda and the American people won’t stand for it.”

“For months now, I have been sounding the alarm on the devastating Medicare cuts caused by Trump’s Big Ugly Law,” said House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan F. Boyle. “Republicans knew their tax breaks for billionaires would force over half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts — and they did it anyway. American families simply cannot afford Donald Trump’s attacks on Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare.”

In early July, President Trump and Congressional Republicans jammed through their Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaires Bill, which cuts almost a trillion dollars from Medicaid and raises health insurance costs, all to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.

The CBO letter explains that the Republicans’ Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaires Law will increase deficits relative to the January 2025 baseline by $2.1 trillion through 2029 and by $3.4 trillion through 2034. The law’s addition to the deficit triggers the sequestration process under the Statutory Pay‑As‑You‑Go (PAYGO) Act of 2010. CBO estimates that the White House Office of Management and Budget will be required to issue a sequestration order to reduce spending by $415 billion in fiscal year 2026. Republicans could pass legislation waiving the PAYGO requirements, but did not include such a provision in the Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaires Law.

CBO estimates that OMB would be required to issue a 4% sequestration cut to Medicare, which is expected to cut $45 billion in 2026 and total $536 billion over nine years. Sequestration cuts to other non-Medicare programs are expected to total $120 billion in 2026.

A PDF of the CBO letter is available here.

Press Contact

Meaghan McCabe, (202) 224-2921

The following sites updated:

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Chump has too much time on his hands

You might think that serving as president of the United States was a time consuming job but you would apparently be wrong. The Convicted Felon made time for a late night rant last night. Ewan Palmer (DAILY BEAST) notes that Mr. Chump was attacking MSNBC at length last night:

Trump, no stranger to attacking media outlets he doesn’t like, went after MSNBC when one of its star anchors, Lawrence O’Donnell, mocked him for shielding his swollen ankles, a symptom of the medical condition chronic venous insufficiency.

During a monologue on The Last Word, O’Donnell noted that Trump took the almost unheard-of step of sitting behind the Resolute Desk during a meeting with European leaders in the Oval Office on Monday, rather than the usual spot in front of the fireplace.

O’Donnell said Trump made the move to ensure that “no one was going to compare his ankles to a French president’s ankles or a German chancellor’s or a British prime minister’s.”

Trump wasn’t so lucky when he met Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, with the two seated in chairs out in the open.

O’Donnell quipped that the Russian president’s “72-year-old ankles showed none of the mileage” of Trump’s, whose swollen cankles were on full display.

The White House also appears to be working to hide Trump’s bloating issues, going so far as to release an official photo of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which a model of Air Force One is conveniently positioned to block the Republican’s ankles.

The Convicted Felon has too much free time. Here is the video of Lawrence O'Donnell's commentary that upset Mr. Chump so much.

Emily Prescott (KANSAS CITY STAR) reports:

President Donald Trump reportedly inquired of the Nobel Peace Prize during a conversation with Norway’s finance minister. The call, which also includes discussions on trade tariffs, has since drawn international attention. Pakistan and Cambodia have expressed support for Trump's Nobel Peace Prize nomination, citing his diplomatic efforts. Republican lawmakers and several global leaders have also backed his nomination.

The White House stated, "As president, he has brokered peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia, Serbia and Kosovo, and with the Abraham Accords."

Newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv reported, "Out of the blue, while Stoltenberg was walking down the street in Oslo, Donald Trump called." The paper added, “He wanted the Nobel Prize – and to discuss tariffs.”

There has never, in all of history, been a U.S. president less deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize than Mr. Chump. His vanity knows no bounds. And instead of working to improve the lives of the American people, the dying man is off trying to buy awards. Thom Hartmann explains Mr. Chump's war on mail-in voting:

This is not just a partisan maneuver. It’s an open assault on the Constitution, a grotesque power grab, and a direct threat to the foundation of democracy itself. And it’s happening in real time, in broad daylight, with a criminally compliant Republican Party cheering him on.

Republicans hate mail-in voting for multiple reasons.

First, for people who’re paid by the hour, mail-in voting increases participation because they can fill out their ballots at the kitchen table after work. Republicans don’t want people to vote, and have introduced more than 400 pieces of legislation in the past three years nationwide to make voting more difficult.

Second, mail-in voting makes voters better informed and less vulnerable to sound-byte TV ads because, while perusing that ballot at the kitchen table, they can look up candidates on their laptops and get more detail and information. Republicans hate informed voters and rely heavily on often-dishonest advertisements to swing voters.

Third, mail-in ballots — because they arrive in the mail weeks before the election — give voters an early chance to discover if they’ve been the victim of Republican voter-roll purges, one of their favorite tactics to pre-rig elections.

Fourth, mail-in ballots end the GOP trick of understaffing and under-resourcing polling places in minority neighborhoods, leading to hours-long lines. Hispanic voters generally wait 150 percent longer than white voters, and Black voters must endure a 200 percent longer wait; mail-in ballots put an end to this favorite of the GOP’s voter suppression efforts.

Trump, knowing all this, couldn’t help himself yesterday, finally blurting out his real reason for wanting to end mail-in voting in America:

“We got to stop mail-in voting, and the Republicans have to lead the charge. The Democrats want it because they have horrible policy. If you [don’t] have mail-in voting, you’re not gonna have many Democrats get elected. That’s bigger than anything having to do with redistricting, believe me.”

He truly is a horrid person. Jennifer White (SACREMENTO BEE) notes a big loss for Mr. Chump:

U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher has blocked Trump administration directives regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in education. Opponents argued the measures have unlawfully chilled lawful practices, while Trump officials maintained that they are enforcing anti-discrimination law. Gallagher directly struck down the Education Department’s memos and a “Dear Colleague” letter, marking a significant ruling against federal overreach in schools.

Gallagher found the directives violated the Administrative Procedure Act and raised constitutional concerns. She stated, “It initiated a sea change in how the Department of Education (ED) regulates educational practices and classroom conduct, causing millions of educators to reasonably fear that their lawful, and even beneficial, speech might cause them or their schools to be punished.”

Gallagher wrote, “Plaintiffs have shown that neither challenged agency action was promulgated in accordance with the procedural requirements of the APA, and that both actions run afoul of important constitutional rights.”

The ED was ordered to rescind guidance that threatened funding over alleged DEI policy violations. The directives told K-12 districts to certify no DEI practices and warned universities to end “illegal” DEI efforts or risk losing federal funds.

Good. I remember when the best thing about America was its willing to look at its past, admit mistakes, and grow. Now we're (mis)led by a man who cannot admit to ever making a mistake even once in his life.

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for today:

Thursday, August 21, 2025. Chump and his national security stooges are giving us new grounds for impeachment, Chump's fading in the polls, a judge rebukes Chump for his efforts to distract from his failure to release the Epstein files, Chump continues his war on immigrants, and much more.

We have a lot to cover regarding Chump's war on immigrants but let's start with polling. Alex Henderson reports:

Trump, according to the Miami Herald, won 32 percent of Hispanic voters in 2020; in 2024, that number increased to 46 percent — much to the frustration of Democratic strategists.

But according to the Herald's Brendan Rascius, polls are showing his approval among Latinos falling.

In an article published on August 19, Rascius cites polling data from Reuters/Ipsos poll, The Hill and Gallup and explains, "Conducted over six days in August, the (Reuters/Ipsos) poll found 40 percent of respondents approve of Trump's job performance so far. This figure, while the lowest recorded since Trump's inauguration, is unchanged from July. But it is down 7 points from January, when a record-high 47 percent of Americans approved of Trump."

Trump's inroads among Latinos, Rascius notes, helped him win the 2024 election. But now, according to Rascius, "About one-third of Hispanic respondents, 32 percent, said they approved of Trump's job performance, on par with a previous low recorded this year. By comparison, the president's approval rating among Hispanic adults stood at 34 percent in April and 37 percent in January, marking a 5-point decline, according to The Hill."

Dementia Donnie on the decline. Rex Huppke (USA TODAY) observes:

While the top issues for most Americans are high prices, inflation and health care, our increasingly unpopular president is laser-focused on things nobody cares about. Like downplaying exhibitions on the history of slavery at the Smithsonian.

On the same day a new poll by The Economist/YouGov showed Donald Trump’s disapproval rating hitting a new high, the president took time to post this on social media: “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.”

How bad slavery was? I’m not quite sure what that implies, but suffice it to say the new poll didn’t find “See less about how slavery was bad” to be a priority for American voters watching the costs of beef and vegetables skyrocket.

Also at USA TODAY, Chris Brennan notes:

A pair of new national polls gave Donald Trump the kind of data no president wants to see.

Just 31% of Americans find Trump trustworthy, a new low for him and down from 38% at the start of his second term in January, according to an Aug. 12 Economist/YouGov survey.

And a Pew Research Center survey released Aug. 14 showed that just 38% of Americans approve of Trump's performance as president, with significant majorities disapproving of his signature "One Big Beautiful Bill," his approach to tariffs and changes he has made to the federal government.

Americans dislike just about everything Trump brags about. And the more he touts what he sees as major accomplishments, the less America likes them – and him.

He's just not trust worthy -- or likeable. Ailia Zehra notes:

Journalist Tara Pameri said Tuesday President Donald Trump and his administration are "pushing deadlines back" when it comes to the documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, only giving out "small pieces to appease their base."

During an appearance on CNN Tuesday, Palmeri, who has been reporting on the Epstein controversy, said, "I would think that these documents are going to be very limited. I obviously would love to see all of the gigabytes that they’re holding on to: The evidence, the surveillance, the photos that I’ve been told of from senior law enforcement sources that they are holding on to."

She continued: "But, as you have heard and see from your own reporters and reporting, they are kicking this down — they’re kicking the can down the road. They’re pushing deadlines back. They’re releasing limited amounts of files, and we just know that this is —this is happening in private."

She added that these should be public hearings where everyone is called on to speak, including FBI director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and even Trump.

"If they’re calling the former president, Bill Clinton — they should be calling him [Trump] as well, since he’s also in the files. So I just think, this just seems like they’re giving out small pieces to appease their base, but really, they need to come clean right now," Palmeri said.

She added that former labor secretary Alex Acosta’s deputy, Marie Villafana, would be "an excellent person to call."

They should call Villafana but, please note, they won't even Alex Acosta and he's the one who gave Epstein the sweetheart deal -- the one that Ghislaine Maxwell's new deal is starting to look a lot like -- and Chump gave Maxwell her sweetheart deal. Matthew Chapman notes:

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has moved forward with a plan to partially release information from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case — but House Democrats, including ranking member Robert Garcia (D-CA), are not satisfied with this limited production.

And furthermore, Garcia told MSNBC's "The Weeknight" panel on Tuesday, they've left out a massively important witness from all this: President Donald Trump's former Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta, who as a former federal prosecutor, helped Epstein escape justice in the first place.

"James Comer's spokesperson, responded today to you," said anchor Eugene Daniels. "They said, you're trying to invent a crisis where none exists. And at the end, they said former Attorney General Bill Barr testified that he never saw any evidence suggesting President Trump committed a crime. Now, they have been very specific about committing a crime, but are they lying in that statement based on what you heard?"

"Without actually commenting on exactly that statement, I will say that's a very — that's a very creative crafting of a statement," said Garcia. "And I think that if they have nothing to hide, they should release the complete transcript or video of the Bill Barr deposition. So let's do that and let's let the American public make their own judgments."

Letting the American people make their own judgment? Donald Chump would rather do some actual work than let that happen. And, as Lawrence O'Donnell noted last night, Chump does not like to work.

Especially not on a day when a court exposes him as a liar.

As Lawrence noted, the moment Chump was in hot water over not releasing the Epstein files as he'd promised to do, suddenly Chump tried to distract by calling for the Grand Jury transcripts to be released. Lawrence called that out immediately noting that it was a kick-the-can tactic because Grand Jury testimony does not get released. Chump was hoping his announcement would make the Epstein story go away and that when verdicts emerged on releasing the testimony, everyone would be focused on something else. Chump did manage to delay but public attention has not waned. Yesterday the third verdict on this from a judge came out.

AP notes:

Each judge cited longstanding grand jury secrecy rules and concluded that the government did not meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could justify making them public.

They also noted that the Justice Department has voluminous records related to Epstein that aren't covered by grand jury secrecy rules. Berman wrote that the scant information contained in around 70 pages of Epstein grand jury transcripts "pales in comparison to the Epstein investigative information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice," which he said totals around 100,000 pages.

"The Government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein Files," Berman wrote in an apparent reference to the Justice Department's refusal to release additional records. He said the request to release grand jury records "appears to be a 'diversion' from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government's possession."

The Justice Department had informed Berman that the only witness to testify before the Epstein grand jury was an FBI agent who, the judge noted, "had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay." The rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow and a call log.

Katrina Kaufman, Jacob Rosen and Stefan Becket (CBS NEWS) add:

Berman noted that the Justice Department's files on Epstein dwarf those stemming from the grand jury. Proceedings before grand juries are typically kept secret.

"A significant and compelling reason to reject the Government's position in this litigation is that the Government has already undertaken a comprehensive investigation into the Epstein case and, not surprisingly, has assembled a 'trove' of Epstein documents, interviews, and exhibits. And, the Government committed that it would share its Epstein investigation materials with the public," Berman wrote.

"The Government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein Files. By comparison, the instant grand jury motion appears to be a 'diversion' from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government's possession," Berman wrote, quoting a decision by another judge in New York who denied the government's move to unseal material in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's co-conspirator who is serving a 20-year sentence on sex-trafficking charges.

"The information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts pales in comparison to the Epstein investigation information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice," he concluded.

For more on this, you can stream Nicole Wallace's report . . .

. . . and Ari Mebler's report.

As the judge noted, this was a distraction. And Chump's efforts to change the topic have not gone unnoticed by the people nor is this story going away.

A letter to the editors of THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH:

Shame on Gov. Mike DeWine for sending our Ohio National Guard to Washington, D.C. at the whim of our president, who has conjured up another "emergency" in our country.

President Donald Trump has accomplished one thing by doing this. No one is mentioning the Epstein files.

Gov. DeWine, don't be complicit. Bring the Guard home.

Victoria Reidy, Columbus

From a letter to the editors of THE PALM BEACH POST:

Prosecutors [led by then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta and then-Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer] intentionally kept the victims and their lawyers in the dark because they knew these young women would never allow such a sweetheart deal to stand.

Let’s be clear — this was not just negligence. It was a betrayal. By cutting this backroom deal in secrecy, the government told these girls their pain didn’t matter, their voices didn’t matter, and their futures didn’t matter.

They were victimized once by Epstein and Maxwell, and then victimized again by their own government. Enough with the excuses.

The victims deserve better, and the public deserves the truth. Release the files, expose the liars, and the truth for the world to see what actually happened.

Spencer T. Kuvin, Esq., West Palm Beach

As an attorney, Spence Kuvin has represented some of the survivors of Epstein and Maxwell's assaults and abuse.

Let's turn to immigration and start with this from Ben at MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.

On the six-year-old noted in the video above, Alex Woodward (INDEPENDENT) reports:

A six-year-old girl and her mother, who were seeking asylum in the United States, have been deported to Ecuador after being arrested in New York City and held in immigration detention for a week.

The second-grade student went to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in appointment with her mother and older brother in lower Manhattan on August 12 when they were detained by federal agents.

New York officials confirmed that the young girl and her mother, who had been living in Queens, were deported on Tuesday morning. The girl’s 19-year-old brother is still locked up in an immigration detention center in New Jersey.

The case of another New York City public school student being targeted has drawn renewed scrutiny and outrage over the practice of arresting immigrants at routine check-in appointments and court hearings.

The child’s arrest appears to be the first known ICE arrest of a New Yorker under the age of 18 during Donald Trump’s administration.

Eduardo Cuevas (USA TODAY) adds:

New York City schools saw increased enrollment driven, in part, by families who had sought asylum during the Biden administration. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul weighed in on the family’s behalf, and school officials are working to assure students that schools will remain a welcoming place.

“She had no power to decide which country she would be living,” said Astrid Avedissian, a lawyer for one of the student's siblings, who is 16. "She had no power to decide which border she would be crossing."

[. . .]

On Aug. 19, New York City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan and state Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, both representatives in Queens, confirmed the student and her mother were deported. ICE records show her brother, Manuel, 19, is still in custody.

"Deporting a 6-year-old child two weeks before she is supposed to start school, separating her and her mother from their family, is cruel," Krishnan and Cruz said in a joint statement. "It is a shameful stain on our country's history and conscience."

Meanwhile, Billal Rahman (NEWSWEEK) reports:

A Colombian man seeking asylum was arrested by federal agents while attending a routine immigration appointment in Tennessee, his girlfriend told Newsweek.

Morgan Bowser, 28, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained her partner, John Ever Pineda Calderón, 35, a hotel renovation worker seeking asylum, inside the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) Office in Memphis.

Bowser said she was waiting in the parking lot as the arrest unfolded on August 7 around 10 a.m.

An ISAP appointment is a scheduled check-in that immigrants are required to attend while their immigration cases are being processed.

Bowser, who described waiting for hours without knowing what had happened to Calderón, said she was left heartbroken after receiving a call from him confirming he had been detained and transferred.

These are horrible stories. They go against democracy, they go against what we're supposed to value in the United States. David Kurtz (TPM) notes:

I usually cast President Trump’s anti-immigrant mass deportation agenda as a rule of law story. But it is of course so much more than that. It is fundamentally a story about racism, xenophobia, and othering. It’s about preying on our fears, differences, and prejudices to create a villainous foe whom he can easily vanquish in repeated set-pieces. It’s about letting loose the worst of our impulses to heighten and sustain divisions among us.

The mass deportation agenda is just one part of a larger agenda in which white Americans are fronted as the real America and everyone else is second-class, unless they individually demonstrate in lavish ways a high enough degree of fealty to Donald Trump.

It’s against this backdrop that much of this week’s news is taking place: Trump’s minimizing of chattel slavery; the federalization of D.C. police and the deployment of red state national guards to a plurality Black city; the phasing out of support for non-native English speakers in school; new hoops for legal immigrants to jump through; and a gauntlet of other indignities and slights that preference white citizens.

[. . .]

Students are attacked -- college students and children -- and mothers are attacked -- even nursing mothers have been separated from their children, the elderly are attacked, an immigrant who was a police officer gets attacked, the list is endless. It's not about immigration. Dan Gooding (NEWSWEEK) reports:

A Los Angeles teacher whose student was detained by federal agents while he walked his dog has told Newsweek that she believes mistaken bounty hunters plucked him off the street.

Lizette Becerra, who works within the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), visited Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz, 18, in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention on Sunday.

"For about seven days, he could not change, he was in his pajama shorts and slippers. He couldn't bathe. He couldn't brush his teeth. He was sleeping next to a toilet where he had to wake up every time someone went so that he wouldn't get urinated on," Becerra said.

"It wasn't until Saturday morning that he was finally able to shower and was issued clothes," she said, adding that he told her he lost weight, as well.

[. . .]

Guerrero-Cruz is currently being held in the Adelanto Detention Facility, on the edge of Victorville outside of L.A. Before that, Becerra said, he had been moved between two other facilities in the city itself since his arrest around two weeks ago.

"He says about 15 men, plain clothes with vests that said: 'Immigration Police' on them, in three SUVs, came up to him and just grabbed him and started calling him by another name," Becerra said, adding that the teen tried to tell the men he was not the person they were looking for.

ICE has carried out their thug tactics with no real oversight. Chump has given them powers they've never had before and these are thugs. They're the worst of the worst. Most probably couldn't get into the military (or, in some cases, back into the military) without a conduct waiver. Melissa Gira Grant (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:

The beatdown in broad daylight in Washington, D.C., on Saturday was caught on video. Two masked men in tactical vests grappled with a delivery worker. One tased him, and he fell to the ground. A third man piled on, and then a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth, all in similar vests with faces covered. Pinning the worker face down on the pavement, agents tased him again and punched him repeatedly in the head. “Get the f**k out of this city!” a bystander’s voice yelled out at the masked men. “Why are you guys here?”

The masked men’s vests only identified them as “police,” as is often the case with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and later, their arrest—in the upscale Logan Circle neighborhood—was confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security. It was part of the escalation in the federal law enforcement occupation ordered by Trump, with multiple agencies patrolling neighborhoods, stopping residents at checkpoints, and making arrests. Throughout, these federal agents have met opposition from countless bystanders and witnesses, who record them, jeer at them, and demand they leave their city.

In that sense, nothing about the assault on Saturday stood out so much as it captured all these dynamics in the span of three minutes. It laid bare too how this takeover of an American city—the nation’s capital, no less—has been brewing in the far-right imagination for a long time. “You guys are ruining the country,” said one of the bystanders to the masked agents, and one of them responded, “Liberals already ruined it.” Once, it was far-right groups who flooded cities in the summertime, in masks and tactical vests, looking for a fight; now, those groups have no need to be in the streets, with ICE and other federal agents carrying out their mission for them. As one Proud Boy organizer said at a Portland, Oregon, rally in 2018, “For all the illegals trying to jump over our border, we should be smashing their heads into the concrete.”

What we are seeing now flows from those dramatic street confrontations, brought on by groups such as Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys nearly a decade ago, when they made Portland their target and Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson pledged, “The stench-covered and liberal-occupied streets of Portland will be CLEANSED.” Gibson was running as a Republican for the Washington state Senate at the time, and the Portland Police Bureau was in close contact with Patriot Prayer organizers, as reporting by Willamette Week exposed. The police regarded them as “much more mainstream” than leftist counterprotesters, arresting more of the latter than Proud Boys or Patriot Prayer members—even as the far-right groups were advocating the murder of immigrants and leftists.

[. . .]

Seeing how ICE in particular have conducted themselves over the last few months, some people have feared that the masked agents Trump has unleashed might be the same people he pardoned for their involvement in the January 6 insurrection. Had they now infiltrated or been secretly hired into ICE and other agencies? A former assistant ICE director told Slate in July that he was “very worried” that “Proud Boys and other insurrectionists and hoodlums” would be hired at ICE, because, “What self-respecting person who wants a meaningful career in law enforcement would go to work [for Enforcement and Removal Operations] right now?

On the dangers to students, Salvador Rivera (NEWS NATION) reports:

Union del Barrio, a migrant advocacy organization with offices throughout Southern California and New York City, says it has trained hundreds of teachers on how to intervene and interact with federal immigration agents who might be trying to detain a student or parent near a school.

On Tuesday morning, some members of Union del Barrio, some of whom are also teachers from across San Diego County, staged an educational campaign outside Lincoln High School, handing out flyers to parents as they dropped off their children.

“What this is really about is showing solidarity to the familias, to the students, to ensure they feel there’s a community behind them, that they are welcomed here and they should be coming to school in spite of with this threat of ICE coming to schools and drop-offs,” said Erendira Ramirez, educator and member of Union del Barrio.

People are rightly speaking out and protesting. We can do other things as well. Such as? Pull our business from those who are backing this war. Oliver Laughland, Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Raima Amjad (GUARDIAN) report:

A Sheraton hotel in Louisiana has been used by immigration officials to hold people who are being deported, in what appears to be a contradiction of a position Sheraton’s parent company, Marriott, took in 2019 when it said its properties would not be used in cooperation with Ice.

The Intercept first reported that the hotel, located on MacArthur Drive in Alexandria, Louisiana, near a major deportation hub and airport used by Ice, had been used by immigration officials earlier this month to hold a father and his teenage son for four days after their arrest in New York. They were then deported to Ecuador. The Intercept cited phone-tracking evidence that had been shared with the publication and was later seen by the Guardian.

The evidence corroborates the account of a source with knowledge of hotel operations in Alexandria, who told the Guardian that they believed the venue had been used to detain immigrant families and unaccompanied children since it was renovated in late 2023. The source observed Ice contractors known to assist in the transfer of unaccompanied minors operating at the Sheraton as recently as June of this year.

The source added that other hotels in the area have also been used to hold immigrant families.

It is not clear whether Marriott has a formal contract with Ice or what the company knows about Ice’s use of the Sheraton in Alexandria. In one case that emerged last year, Marriott sued a New York-based franchise after the hotel entered a partnership with the city for it to be used as an immigrant shelter, saying it had done so without Marriott’s consent.

Marriott needs to immediately clarify what took place. And we need to support those who refuse to let ICE rip them off. Jacob Gardenswartz (SCRIPP NEWS) informs:

A growing number of U.S. corporations and pop culture artists are publicly distancing themselves from the Department of Homeland Security and criticizing the agency for utilizing their content in posts and branding aimed at immigration enforcement activities and new officer recruitment.

In recent weeks, companies including INDYCAR, Penske Truck Rental and Ford Motor Company have all said that their content was used by DHS without permission or in violation of company policies. Popular bands and artists including Semisonic, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC), Jess Glynne, Thomas Kinkade and Morgan Weistling have similarly asked DHS to stop using their work or take down posts.

Reached by Scripps News, a DHS spokesperson declined to answer questions about the process by which DHS identifies and clears intellectual property, nor would the official state how the agency is responding to the companies’ criticisms. The agency said in a statement only that, “DHS will continue using every tool at its disposal to keep the American people informed as our agents work to Make America Safe Again.”

There are thousands of horror stories about ICE attacking people. But? Some horror stories prompt no tears from many of us. Billal Rahman (NEWSWEEK) reports on someone whining when they got what they deserved:

A United States combat veteran and Trump voter has told Newsweek his wife was detained by federal immigration agents at the Nogales port of entry while attempting to renew her in-country travel permit.

Eddie J. Rosa, 43, a USPS electronics technician and veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army Reserves, and the Ohio National Guard, said his wife, Mireya Alexandra Blancarte Marquez, was arrested on August 11.

Rosa goes on to whine:

Rosa, who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, described his wife being handcuffed, perp-walked, and paraded in front of the public "like a common criminal."

"My wife has absolutely no criminal record of any kind in this country or Mexico. As a fervent believer in our constitutional republic, I felt violated and disrespected," Rosa told Newsweek in a statement.

You got what you deserved, stop whining you little cry baby.

Please note, if he was decrying his vote now and calling Chump out? Okay, he made a mistake in voting for Chump and realizes that. Live and learn, let's work together. But that's not the case. He says he doesn't regret his vote for Chump. So he'd vote for him again. This is the signature policy Chump's second administration will be remembered for. If you support Chump now -- even though your wife's been taken into custody and you've been humiliated -- you got what you deserve. If FAFO doesn't bring you to your senses, do the country a favor and STFU because you're too stupid for a conversation in the public square.

We were talking about conduct waivers earlier and that makes me wonder if Loose Lips Hegseth is still using weight wavers? People who are not physically fit getting into the US military on a waiver for their weight. (They're called medical waivers, but I'm referring to the ones granted specifically to candidates who should not qualify due to their weight.) Hegseth's in the news. He and all the security post holders should be in the news. Trashy Garbage (Trina's name for Tulsi Gabbard) is not qualified for her post as the head of DNI. That post was created post-9/11 to protect Americans. It's a highly important job and she's not qualified. We've noted from the day after Hegseth was nominated to be Secretary of Defense that he wasn't qualified. No one holding a post that's supposed to protect Americans is qualified. And that's a serious issue.

Let's do Tulsi and we'll then go onto Pete. Callum Sutherland (TIME) reports, "The Trump Administration has revoked the security clearances of 37 current and former U.S. government officials. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard publicly shared a memo confirming the revocation and the reasoning behind it, stating that it was carried out under the direction of President Donald Trump." This being the unqualified Tulsi, things were, of course, a bit more complicated. Ewan Palmer (DAILY BEAST) explains:

Tulsi Gabbard may have broken the law by publicly identifying dozens of current and former officials while revoking their security clearances, according to a national security lawyer.

Gabbard revealed that 37 people have been targeted in the clearance purge ordered by President Trump, accusing them without evidence of “politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards.”

Gabbard made the announcement—which comes after Trump stripped the security clearance of his political opponents—by posting a memo from her office on X. The list of 37 individuals targeted includes intelligence officials who concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, as well as those accused by far-right activist Laura Loomer of lacking loyalty to Trump, according to Axios.

Mark Zaid, an attorney who represents intelligence officers and who is suing the Trump administration to have his own stripped security clearance restored, suggested Gabbard may have landed herself in legal trouble by making the memo public.

Oh, Trashy Garbage, couldn't you even get that right? Seriously. And is this really the time -- when Chump has staffed his administration with so many inept people in security positions -- for them to be purging experienced officials? Doesn't that put us even more at risk? Another 9/11 could happen. If happens under Chump's watch, we'll all have to face the reality of just how unqualified he and his appointees were.

Now let's bring in Loose Lips Hegseth. Joe Sommerlad (INDEPENDENT) reports:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s security requirements are so extensive that it is placing a strain on the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, according to a report.

The Washington Post reports that the CID, which is responsible for protecting top Pentagon officials as well as serving as the Army’s law enforcment arm, has been forced to draft agents who would otherwise be investigating criminal offenses concerning members of the Armed Forces to help watch over Hegseth’s family and their properties in D.C., Minnesota and Tennessee.

“I’ve never seen this many security teams for one guy,” one official told the newspaper. “Nobody has.”

The CID reportedly maintains around 1,500 agents in total, around 150 of whom are typically assigned to VIP security details.

But since Hegseth took office in January, the number shifted over into personal protection roles has risen to between 400 and 500, according to two differing estimates the paper received.

One CID official quoted by the Post expressed their frustration with the situation by saying agents were being prevented from “doing what we are supposed to be doing” in order to “sit on luggage” or “sit in the cars on the driveway.”

Others complained of having to shepherd the secretary’s children to school or patrol the perimeter of his properties.

“It is literally taking away from [CID’s] law enforcement mission,” they said. “You are taking hundreds of people out of the field to provide this level of protection.”

Are we surprised that the little coward who hid behind his Mommy during his confirmation process would turn out to be the biggest coward in the administration and demand multiple guards to protect him? The candy asses of the administration need extra protection. And planes! Don't forget they all seem to need their own personal plane. Yeah, we're talking Kristi Noem. In addition, Kelly Rissman (INDEPENDENT) reports:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blamed the media for her decision to move to a rent-free military home, a space usually reserved for the top Coast Guard official.

Speaking on Fox News’ Hannity on Monday evening, Noem argued that she had to leave her apartment in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C. because of the threats she’d received after news organizations published details about her two-bedroom condo.

The Daily Mail first reported she was living at a Navy Yard condo in April and published photos outside the building. Last week, the Washington Post revealed that the Homeland Security secretary pays no rent at her new living arrangement: Quarters 1 at the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in D.C., used to house the Coast Guard Commandant.

What a bunch of wasteful, corrupt, idiotic so-called public servants. If a terrorist attack takes place on US soil, we should all remember how security officals were doing everything but their jobs and draining our intelligence resources. We should especially remember this reported by AP yesterday:

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence will dramatically reduce its workforce and cut its budget by more than $700 million annually, the Trump administration announced Wednesday.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in a statement, “Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence, and politicized weaponization of intelligence.”

Again, an attack on US soil could take place during Chump's administration -- especially the way he antagonizes so many other countries. If it does, the first points we all need to remember is that (a) unqualified people are serving in security posts in this administration, (b) they have diverted needed resources for their own comfort and (c) they've cut our intelligence budget and our intelligence workforce. There is no excuse for this. Second set of points should include that these three steps are high crimes and misdemeanors and grounds to impeach Chump.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Alex Padilla's office:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee and California’s former Secretary of State, issued the following statement after President Trump attacked mail-in voting and America’s election systems:

“Donald Trump is now taking advice on voter suppression from a murderous dictator who rigs elections, jails political opponents, and persecutes dissent. Trump knows the MAGA agenda is unpopular: raising your grocery prices and hiking up your health care premiums, all while handing out tax breaks to billionaires. So he’s resorting to desperate schemes to cling to power.

“Even his preferred news outlets, Newsmax and Fox News, have been forced to answer for pushing conspiracies about voting machines. They admitted what Trump won’t — he lost the 2020 election, and mail-in voting is secure. Fortunately, Trump doesn’t have the power to unilaterally end mail-in voting. But Congress must stand up for free and fair elections as he continues his assault on our democracy.”

###

The following sites updated: