Thursday, September 10, 2026

Junior destroys health care for 9/11 responders

9/11 responder John Feal (USA TODAY) notes Junior's harm to 9/11 survivors

:

The day after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as secretary of Health and Human Services, HHS fired thousands of probationary employees in the department, a cut that hit the already understaffed WTC Health Program hardest, wiping out 20% of its staff overnight.

In the months that followed, thousands more HHS employees were pushed out through department-wide layoffs and early-retirement buyouts – offers that many took not because they wanted to leave, but because they were afraid of who'd be fired next.

Secretary Kennedy is a case study in how #NeverForget gets ignored and, worse, exploited.

Kennedy knew the WTC Health Program had money to run on. He slashed its staffing anyway, and on April 1, 2025, he fired the head of the program, Dr. John Howard.

Those decisions knocked the program off the foundation we'd spent two decades building, and took infrastructure and expertise we still haven't gotten back. We lost years of research that was already underway, and to this day, no one has a clear picture of what research still needs to happen.

For weeks, Howard's status was left in limbo while HHS' communications office refused to answer even basic questions about whether he had been reinstated.

#NeverForget in 2026, under Kennedy, keeps looking like intentional disrespect to a community whose needs keep growing. It wasn't until this April that Kennedy authorized the WTC Health Program to fill nearly 40 open positions, in a program fully funded under laws signed by both President Trump and President Obama.

That's not progress; rather, it’s pretending his actions somehow honor #NeverForget when they do the opposite. During his time leading HHS, Kennedy has given little support to the 9/11 community. As far as I can tell, he knows exactly what this community needs, and chooses to ignore it anyway.


I've railed about the damage Junior is doing.  But sometimes even I am surprised.  That's the case here.  I had no idea on this.  I can't believe it -- it's true, but I can't believe it -- because I have the hardest time believing anyone would purposely harm the healthcare of the first responders on 9/11.  That is so unAmerican.  There's just no excuse for it.

So many people were lost that day.  9/11 responders were lost.  Some were lost rescuing people.  

We freely used the term heroes to describe these men and women.  


Yet Junior has done everything he can to assault their health care and their well being.

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS): 

Wednesday, September 9, 2026.  Chump drops to 32% approval rating in new poll (that new hair color's apparently not helping him), he's kicking off TRUMPTHEBIGLOOSA in Dallas today, Markwayne Mullin's in the news as is Kristi Noem's sidepiece, Jared Kushner gets questioned by NBC's Richard Engel, and much more.


 

As Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) notes in the video above, Chump's handing out gifts.   Chamberlain Harris and Margo Martin (POLITICO) report:

President Donald Trump gave three of his closest aides $45,000 cash gifts for the holidays, according to financial disclosures filed by the White House.

Natalie Harp, Chamberlain Harris and Margo Martin each reported receiving the gift from Trump in their annual public financial disclosures. The gifts totaled $135,000 and came on top of each aide’s $150,000 taxpayer-funded annual salary.

The filings identify Trump as the source of each payment and describe the gifts as “cash gift for the holidays.” Harris listed Trump’s location as Washington, D.C., while Harp and Martin listed it as Palm Beach, Florida. They were filed under the federal government’s public financial disclosure requirements.

The payments amount to 30 percent of each aide’s annual White House salary.

The disclosures identify Trump as the source of the payments and describe them as “cash gift for the holidays.”

The recipients are among the aides with the most regular access to the president.



With 55 days until the midterm vote, Chump gets more bad news.  Fernando Cervantes Jr. (USA TODAY) reports:

As November’s midterm elections loom, President Donald Trump’s approval rating continues to struggle, reaching a new record low in a new Focaldata/Financial Times poll released over Labor Day weekend.

The poll, released on Sunday, Sept. 6, found that only 32% of Americans approved of Trump’s job performance, a three-point drop from last month’s edition and the lowest the president has seen in Focaldata/Financial Times tracking since it began in May.

Trump’s slip in the most recent poll comes as his approval among Republicans also dropped by two percentage points to 72%, marking a new low, according to the Financial Times.


Meanwhile, Kathrine Frich (DAGENS) notes:


The economic squeeze is turning into political poison ahead of upcoming elections. In an interview with the Mirror US, analyst Christopher Lee warned that key advisors might soon turn on each other to protect their own careers.

Lee highlighted Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as primary candidates who could create distance from the White House.

“Trump’s approval is at the dreaded 30% level where members of his own party are, within the next few weeks, likely to distance themselves from him,” Lee stated.

Former supporters are also expressing anger over sudden foreign policy shifts. “Additionally, the ‘no new wars’ cadre in MAGA are pretty angry over Trump breaking his promises on Iran, and to a lesser extent, Venezuela,” Lee added.

Tamara Keith (NPR) notes, "At the unconventional midterm convention kicking off in Dallas Wednesday, President Trump will be the star of the show, serving as headliner both nights of the two-night event. It is being billed as a 'Trumpapalooza,' a term Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters has been wearing out from overuse."  Trumpapalooza?  Try TrumpTheBigLoosa.


It begins in Dallas later today.  Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) reports:

Republicans arriving in Dallas for President Donald Trump's midterm convention are describing an atmosphere far removed from the triumphant spectacle organizers had planned, with candidates increasingly distancing themselves from the president over fears he could sink their campaigns in November.

"The vibes are very bad," a Republican lobbyist close to the White House told Politico Playbook. "Dems are salivating. Our people are debating Israel. Or melting down about this or that. No one is motivated to vote. Only the DSA rise is what's keeping us in the game."

One person close to the White House told Playbook the best outcome might simply be low viewership, given the convention's scheduling collision with NFL season openers.

"My only hope is that no one watches it," the person said. "Hopefully nobody notices the embarrassing show. ... I don't think it will matter. No one knows about it, no enthusiasm, and it's during football. Only D.C. people care."


That starts today.  Chump descends upon the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas today and plans to hang around until tomorrow evening so that he can gather all his fans and worshippers together to celebrate and praise him.   THE NEW REPUBLIC's Michael Tomasky observes:


Except for the Kool-Aid-drinking third of the population, America is sick of Donald Trump. The third of us who’ve always seen him as a fascist were sick of him 10 minutes after he descended that escalator. The middle third, well, their enthusiasm for him has waxed and waned, but in these last couple of months, they finally seem to have realized what a charlatan the man is.

So this convention, in other words, is exactly what America doesn’t want: two more prime-time nights of watching Donald Trump whine and moan and tell the country how great his poll numbers are and how “hot” America is. That should work great!

It appears that the idea was Trump’s, not some aide or sycophant’s. That makes sense. Only Trump is dense enough to think this is a good idea. Much has been made of the fact that they scheduled this without realizing that they’re competing (this Wednesday and Thursday) with the first two nights of the new NFL season, and against marquee matchups both nights. But I prefer to think that one of his saner aides knew this and scheduled it anyway, praying that most Americans would rather watch Sam Darnold and Matthew Stafford than tune in to Trump’s train wreck.

Have you seen that list of speakers? If they’d asked me to come up with a speaking list, I couldn’t have concocted something this self-parodic, this certain to repel middle America. There’s Mr. Measles, a.k.a. RFK Jr. He’s almost as unpopular as Trump. There’s Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary who used to brag that America under Trump would see 4, 5, or even 6 percent GDP growth (actual 2025 figure: 2.1 percent, or 25 percent worse than Sleepy Joe’s 2024 number) and who in a just world would be prosecuted for lying to Congress. Todd Blanche, the most corrupt attorney general since, well, Pam Bondi, but a man so shady and unprincipled that he makes Bondi look like Louis Brandeis. And Karoline Leavitt—America wants more of her, right after she quit her job, mouthing her mendacious platitudes like those brainwashed soldiers in The Manchurian Candidate? Don Jr.? Seriously? Don Jr.??

Oh. There’s also Scott Turner. Who’s Scott Turner? Good question. I didn’t know. And I’m not telling you. He’s in the administration. You can google him, and when you see him, I think you’ll see why they added him to the list.

What a bestiary. And that’s why I’m kind of excited. A president at 35 percent in the polls presiding over $4.15 a gallon gas and thinking he’s doing something neat by trying to change New Mexico’s name (“Oh, hell, no,” blared a headline in the Albuquerque Journal) will now go before the nation for two nights spewing lie after lie about the economy. Pass the popcorn.




“This is essentially a Trump rally that they’re calling a midterm convention,” said Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. “They’re trying to get enthusiasm among their base because that’s what they need for November. Basically, this is a Trump show.” According to the Guardian, however, "It appears the plan could backfire. Trump’s approval rating is at 33 percent, the lowest point of his political career, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll last week. Democrats seem more fired up about the midterms with 46 percent describing themselves as ‘very enthusiastic’ about voting in November, compared with 31 percent of Republicans.”
Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, argues that building a midterm convention around a failing president is tantamount to “political suicide,” saying, “It is an incredibly risky strategy for any Republican at this point to hitch his wagon to Donald Trump. On every issue that Trump was once strong on he is underwater, from the economy to immigration.” Setmayer added, “The idea that he’s going to excite people is flawed at this point, given the polling numbers in Donald Trump’s own constituency. They’re not inspired and this vanity convention is not going to change that with 60 days to go to the election. If anything, it’s going to remind people of how dissatisfied they are under Donald Trump’s second term.”



At least he'll be sporting his new 'do.


Maybe it will stop a few from wondering why Jared Kushner is negotiating anything?  Marco Margaritoff (HUFFINGTON POST) reports:

Jared Kushner on Sunday was asked directly why his lacking track record should inspire “any confidence” in his abilities to negotiate an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prompting the U.S. special envoy and son-in-law of President Donald Trump to get defensive.

“You have been involved in numerous negotiations around the world,” said NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel during a press conference in Kyiv. “Why should people have any confidence in your capacity to succeed here?”

Kushner, who married the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump in 2009, has been involved in high-stakes peace talks in recent years to help end several international conflicts — including the Israel-Gaza conflict, the war on Iran and Russia’s offensive against Ukraine.

“You were involved in the Gaza negotiations, but Gaza remains a wasteland,” Engel noted. “There’s been really no progress there. Iran, you were involved in those negotiations. The war is still going on.”

He continued, “You’ve been involved in several rounds of negotiations in this conflict. It’s only getting more intense. So you’re relaunching negotiations now. What’s the likelihood they will succeed, when other negotiations you’ve been involved in have not?”

Kushner has been under scrutiny over potential conflicts of interest in his dual role as a Trump adviser handling U.S. diplomatic efforts with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia while running a private equity firm heavily funded by those same governments.


Kushner has enriched himself.  He's not accomplished anything for the United States however.  He's just another in the inner circle grifting and on the take. 

They all harm the country.  And Chump has harmed the farming and the cattle industries.  From yesterday's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (NPR)


SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

Canada hit back today against President Trump's latest 50% tariffs. The country is levying its own retaliatory tariffs on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods. This will affect everything from imports of steel to farm equipment. Farmers in rural border states are worried about their bottom line, as NPR's Kirk Siegler reports from northern Montana.

KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: It's a two-hour drive north to the province of Alberta from Steve Sheffels' wheat and barley farm outside Great Falls. But you can see evidence of Canadian trade everywhere here, starting with the massive steel shredders attached to the front of his combines for harvesting.

(SOUNDBITE OF COMBINE MACHINE RUNNING)

SIEGLER: They're called headers, and they cut the grain he just finished harvesting.

STEVE SHEFFELS: For us, anyway, these headers are the best ones that we can buy. We think so.

SIEGLER: And they're made in Canada with steel, and they're ideal for this harsh environment, Sheffels says. He says this whole trade tussle feels like a big waste of time.

SHEFFELS: Getting the entire world upset with us. Our trading partners, I mean, can't be happy with what's going on.

SIEGLER: Now farm equipment is subject to a 15% or higher retaliatory tariff. This is just the latest economic stress for grain farmers, who are enduring generally flat commodity prices, the second trade war spanning two Trump administrations, as well as record-high diesel prices and rising fertilizer costs. All of this uncertainty weighs on Sheffels.

SHEFFELS: I'd like to consider buying a new drill, and I'm also looking at grain bins that come out of Canada, and I'm afraid I won't be able to afford them.

SIEGLER: Touching three provinces, Canada is Montana's single largest trading partner, accounting for about a billion in cross-border sales. That's no small number for a state with barely a million people. Lately, farmers have been shipping a lot of barley north to Canadian feed lots, as well as their cattle, which had been a lifeline for the struggling ag economy.

JILLIEN STREIT: It's just sad that food has to be a bargaining chip.

SIEGLER: This is Jillien Streit, director of Montana's Department of Agriculture, who also grows wheat alongside chickpeas and lentils on a family farm and ranch near the border.

STREIT: Canada is a hugely important trade partner because, I mean, I don't know how many times as a farm wife, I'm running up to Lethbridge to get parts. Or especially on the cattle side of things - we send 15% of our herd up north to be fed out.

SIEGLER: Streit thinks farmers will get through this latest trade war by maintaining strong business ties with farmers and companies north of the border that she says are caught in the middle of this escalating trade fight. Montana voted overwhelmingly for Trump, and it's not just farming that's going to be hit. At the Montana World Trade Center in Missoula, Director Brigitta Miranda-Freer is worried. She says America's adversarial tone toward Canada will jeopardize business for small manufacturers here and the vital service and tourism industries.

BRIGITTA MIRANDA-FREER: It doesn't feel right for Montanans (laughter), right? Montanans very much pride themselves on developing business relationships that are authentic and personal.

SIEGLER: For wheat and barley farmer Steve Sheffels, it all feels personal. He says this isn't how you treat friends, let alone one who has been one of the U.S.'s closest allies.

SHEFFELS: They're critical trading partners. My wife is Canadian (laughter). It just - you know, you don't treat your neighbors like this.


We've noted here that Chump's tariffs, his war on Iran and his war on immigrants have destroyed the US economy.  The war on immigrants impacting the economy?  ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (NPR) covered that yesterday:


SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

The Trump administration's nationwide immigration crackdown is well into its second year. Federal immigration agents have arrested hundreds of thousands of people since Inauguration Day. On any given day, about 65,000 people are sitting in immigration detention. That's a record. And about 70% of them have no criminal conviction. Now, new research quantifies how much these ICE arrest operations are costing local economies, and not just in immigrant neighborhoods. Here's NPR's Jasmine Garsd.

JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: In the days after President Donald Trump took office on January 20, 2025, the mood in Chicago's Latino neighborhoods was tense. Rumors were running wild that this city was going to be the first to see ICE raids. A waitress NPR spoke to back then, named Caridad, requested that we not use her last name for fear of being targeted.

CARIDAD: (Speaking Spanish).

GARSD: "I have to go grocery shopping," she said, "but I haven't because what if ICE is there? People are more than afraid. They're panicking." A new study out today shows just how big an economic impact that panic and the ICE raids that followed had. The report by the University of Illinois Chicago used anonymous GPS data from cellphones to unpack the economic toll of ICE operations in 2025 throughout Chicago. The study tracked movement between immigrant neighborhoods and nonimmigrant neighborhoods in Chicago's Cook County. Professor Matt Wilson, a study co-author, says the usual back-and-forth between the two areas stopped almost immediately.

MATT WILSON: The flows from the high Latin American-born areas to the low Latin American-born areas collapsed after January 20.

GARSD: Wilson says it's remarkable how strongly the economic impact was felt outside those immigrant communities. Now, the report estimates that the raids cost retail and restaurants in nonimmigrant neighborhoods in the county about $1.26 billion, and it cost the state around $107 million in tax revenue.

WILSON: We see that 9% drop in retail and 10% drop in restaurant visits, and it persists for about a year. People's behavior systematically changed after January 20, 2025, and it never recovered.

GARSD: For a small business, a 10% drop over the course of a year can be a financial hit. In a statement to NPR, White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said, quote, "If there was any correlation between rampant illegal immigration and a good economy, Biden would have had a booming economy. Removing these criminals from the streets makes communities safer for business owners and customers." Wilson, the researcher, says the report underscores that no community is an island.

WILSON: I think a lot of people treat Latino and some immigrant communities as if they're insular and they're isolated. But it's really that these communities are much more integrated into the broader economy and they're making trips to faraway places in the county routinely.

GARSD: Several other studies have confirmed that ICE raids have sent economic shock waves throughout local economies in and well beyond immigrant neighborhoods. Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, New York.


Yanqi Xu (NEW YORK TIMES) reports on a Republican friend of Chump's who benefits from migrant workers -- documented and undocumented: 


Before becoming Nebraska’s governor three years ago, Jim Pillen built a multimillion-dollar hog enterprise. Casting himself as a conservative businessman who would grow the state’s economy, he defeated a Trump-backed candidate in the Republican primary.

This time around, Mr. Pillen, who is seeking re-election this fall, won President Trump’s endorsement. The governor — who had rarely spoken out about immigration issues until last year — had embraced Mr. Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda.

Days after Mr. Trump’s return to the White House, the governor directed the Nebraska State Patrol to partner with ICE on immigration enforcement. He allowed the federal agency to use a former state prison, now referred to as Cornhusker Clink, to hold hundreds of detainees caught up in the administration’s mass deportation sweep. He has echoed Mr. Trump’s rhetoric about “criminal illegal aliens” who have “invaded our country” and decried “the worst of the worst” immigrants he has claimed are hiding out in Nebraska.

But for more than a decade, Mr. Pillen’s hog business has employed migrant workers, those who are in the country legally — and those who are not, The New York Times and The Flatwater Free Press found.

His company, Pillen Family Farms, has taken on undocumented workers as it has grown into one of the nation’s largest hog producers, according to a review of state and federal court records and interviews with more than 40 current and former employees, prosecutors, immigration lawyers and community organizers.


He's happy to use undocumented workers, to make money off of them.  He is the ultimate hypocrite. 


Or maybe that's Markwayne Mullin.  Secretary of Homeland Security.  Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) reports:


Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who’s been accused by Democrats of stolen valor, revealed on Fox News Tuesday that he had been rejected by the U.S. military three times, and called the military’s decision to turn him down “crazy.”

In the past, Mullin has given vague references to the “smell” and “taste” of “war,” comments that have led some critics to accuse Mullin of misrepresenting himself as having served in the military. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) aggressively questioned Mullin on the matter in March during a congressional hearing, asking him: “So where did you smell war, sir?”

Mullin refused to answer, telling Peters his answer would reveal classified information.

On Tuesday, Mullin was asked by Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade where he was during the 9/11 attacks ahead of the 25th anniversary of the incident.

[. . .]

“No, not at that time, I actually tried to join the military three times after that, and... uh... because of some previous injuries, they never would accept me, which is crazy because I try to keep myself in good shape,” Mullin said. “But that didn't stop us from being involved in other ways.”


Stolen valor?  Markwayne is always embarrassing himself.  Bennito L. Kelty (RAW STORY) reported yesterday: 

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin should "go back to plumbing school," a legal expert said, warning that his own on-camera words are a crime.

In a Monday episode of the "Legal AF" podcast, lawyer and legal analyst Michael Popok unloaded on Mullin after the secretary suggested federal agents could turn up where people cast their ballots. Popok said Mullin, or "somebody," needs a lesson in "18 United States Code 592" and "593," the statutes that govern "armed forces or troops at polling places."

Popok said Mullin gave away far more than he realized when he floated sending agents to serve a warrant.

"No, you can't," Popok said. "And you just conceded that you're willing to commit a crime punishable by five years in prison."

[. . .]

Popok mocked Mullin's resumé, saying he "had been a plumber or a small homebuilder, and that was his credentials to become the head of Homeland Security." Popok called the wider administration "comprised of dingbats and idiots" and said Mullin is "about as smart as his predecessor," a jab at former Secretary Kristi Noem.


Turning to Markwayne's predecessor Kristi Noem.  Joseph Konig (PEOPLE) reports

A damning new report from The Wall Street Journal details allegations that longtime MAGA operative Corey Lewandowski ran the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a “shadow secretary” and allegedly sought payments from the autocratic governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Lewandowski’s role was officially an unpaid “special government employee” and was never confirmed by the Senate for any leadership position in the department that President Donald Trump has poured tens of billions of dollars into as it carries out his violent and deadly mass deportation campaign.

Lewandowski — Trump’s onetime campaign manager and the rumored lover of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noemwas ousted when Noem, the former South Dakota governor, was fired earlier this year.

But the Journal reported on Monday, Sept. 7, that the DHS inspector general is investigating Lewandowski’s tenure at the department and considering a criminal referral to the Justice Department. The White House and Noem’s successor, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, have been briefed on the investigation, according to the report.

The report alleges that Lewandowski micro-managed the process of awarding the smallest DHS grants to multi-billion-dollar deals, directly approached Qatar and UAE to hire him on the side, installed allies in key positions, and pivoted DHS’ focus from the homeland and Latin America to the Middle East.


Who does Lewandowski think he is?  Jared Kushner?


ICE continues to terrorize.   Saturday's WEEKEND EDITION (NPR) reported


SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Earlier this week, ICE agents raided a night spot in Memphis that is popular with many Latino residents and detained more than a hundred and twenty people. Officials say they had a warrant to search for drugs and illegal gambling. Erika Konig with the Institute for Public Service Reporting and member station WKNO reports that it was one of the agency's largest mass arrests this year.

ERIKA KONIG, BYLINE: It was close to 1 a.m. Sunday when agents flooded into El Corralon, a restaurant and bar in Berclair, a Hispanic neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).

KONIG: This employee asked NPR not to use her name because she fears jeopardizing a pending immigration case. She says patrons were told to put their hands up, that they were all being arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).

KONIG: "Men and women were screaming, almost fainting and crying," she says.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).

KONIG: "The mothers were screaming for their children or praying out loud." Then the questions started.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).

KONIG: "One by one, they were asked about their papers and work permits." This employee from Central America keeps immigration documents with her. She and three others were released at the scene. Other patrons were not so fortunate. A relative of this employee was among those arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).

KONIG: She's now taking care of that relative's four children, including a 2-year-old, she says. The father was previously deported. The immigrant rights group Vecindarios 901 says the parents of at least 16 children were taken into custody in this raid. Data show this was one of the largest, single-day ICE arrests in the country this year. In a press release, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin is quoted as saying those arrested included child abusers, drug traffickers and violent assailants. So far, the agency identified only five people in custody but was silent about the remaining 116. Community activists, such as Gisela Guerrero, question the need to arrest so many others.

GISELA GUERRERO: So any person is meant to be innocent until proven guilty. Any person is meant to have a right against illegal search and seizure and detainment, and everybody has a right to due process. And all of those rights are being violated in this case.

KONIG: ICE agents used search warrants from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to enter the bar looking for drugs and gambling equipment. Lucas Cameron-Vaughn with the American Civil Liberties Union says that should not give ICE the power to arrest an entire club full of people.


The ICE terrors are taking place around the country.  Frederick, Maryland saw seen several days of terror from ICE and that's part of a larger wave in the state.  Ahmed Hassan (HOODLINE) explains, "The Frederick standoff comes amid a broader escalation of interior immigration enforcement across the region. Federal officials reported arresting 1,328 people across Maryland and Virginia between August 1 and August 14 as part of a sweep designated Operation Safe Community, according to The Center Square."  As for Frederick, Sara Ruberg (BALTIMORE BANNER) reported this past weekend:


Federal immigration agents violently clashed with protesters in Frederick on Friday night, using their vehicles to clear sidewalks and dragging protesters from the front porch of a home they attempted to enter, city officials said.

The escalation occurred after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents staked out a small neighborhood in the Taskers Chance area for about 40 hours starting at 6 a.m. Thursday. A couple of dozen community members gathered to watch the federal agents as more of them began to pour in and spread across the few streets of the subdivision.

The stakeout confused residents and put many of them on edge, according to activists and local officials. Many residents did not leave their homes, Katie Nash, vice president of Frederick City Council, said, and there were federal agents on every street of what she described as a quiet, small neighborhood.


Katie Lusso (WUSA9) added:                 

Friday night, she says things took a turn.

"They turned on all of their lights in their vehicles, and they made an announcement saying everybody needed to disperse, that we were impeding a federal investigation and that we would be arrested if we remained on the scene," Tatiana said.

Video shows some of the people gathered there, linking arms and moving towards the home. Tatiana says things only escalated from there.

"They were pushing people down on the ground. They kicked them, they were beating them with batons," she said. "It was very violent for something that Um, just seemed over the top at that time like it wasn't necessary."

"These people weren't doing anything other than standing in front of this home," she said.

About an hour after that happened, the federal officers left, she shared.


Joseph DeBell (FREDERICK NEWS-POST) noted:


Several people reported injuries during the confrontation, which drew city police back to a neighborhood where ICE agents maintained a presence for much of the previous two days.

Videos provided to The Frederick News-Post show protesters linking arms and moving in front of a home on Stoneybrook Court, near the Taskers Chance neighborhood, as agents approached.

Agents can then be seen pushing through the group. Several appear to strike protesters with batons as an agent orders people to back up.

Another video shows an agent throwing an observer to the ground.


WJZ speaks with witnesses to ICE's actions. 



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


Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), released the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s reported plans to tap funding provided by Congress to help working families afford child care through the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and establish the first federal subsidy to incentivize parents to leave the workforce and raise their own kids. The plan would siphon funding away from an already-underfunded program specifically designed to help working families afford child care as the Trump administration seeks to promote “traditional family values.”

“It’s not the 1950s in America—our government shouldn’t punish people for being single parents or choosing not to marry. There are hundreds of thousands of families stuck on waiting lists who are eligible for very limited federal child care subsidies—you don’t get to skip the line because you have a marriage certificate. I will not allow this President to tell single moms that their kids matter less. This is an illegal and backwards move to deny single parents and unmarried couples federal funding they should be entitled to.”

“There are hundreds of thousands of working families who qualify for federal child care assistance on waiting lists—I’m ready to pass a bill that delivers enough funding so that every working family in America can afford child care. Instead, Trump is taking money away from those families and pushing for an obscene half trillion increase for his so-called Department of War. Nobody cares what JD Vance thinks constitutes a ‘real’ family—single parents and parents who aren’t married pay taxes, too. Raiding an underfunded program solely to score culture war points is not pro-family—it’s a wasteful grift that I will fight every step of the way.”

Senator Murray has led the fight in Congress to make affordable child care a reality for every working family in America. She is the author of the Child Care for Working Families Act, comprehensive legislation to address the child care crisis, and she has used her seat on the Appropriations Committee to deliver significant increases to the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). Over the last 10 years, she has helped more than triple funding for the program. Earlier this year, she announced the launch of a new Child Care for America Working Group alongside Senator Warren, and she has been leading the fight against President Trump’s attempts to weaken the federal child care program. In July, she forced a Senate vote on her Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval of the Trump administration’s May 2026 rule to remove regulations for the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program.

###


The following sites updated: 




  •  
  • Tuesday, September 08, 2026

    Junior the failure

    Sasha Abramsky (TRUTHOUT) reports

    ive years ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. traveled to Amish country, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to address a large anti-vaccination crowd. It was 2021 and the COVID pandemic was still raging; the anti-vaxxer spoke to a crowd of 1,500 people, mocked vaccinations in general, and told them that the cure for measles was chicken soup and vitamin A.

    Already primed by their religious beliefs to be suspicious of vaccinations, Kennedy’s Amish and Mennonite audience, known as part of Pennsylvania’s Plain People community, was a ripe target for his anti-vaccine message. In the years since, the number of unvaccinated residents has soared, and so too has the incidence of measles. Kennedy is now secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in which capacity he has continued to undermine confidence in vaccines, including the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella, and has presided over a resurgence of diseases that, for decades, had been successfully corralled. In the first eight months of 2026, Lancaster County alone reported more than 200 measles cases. Meanwhile, a CDC report released last week documented over 3,000 confirmed measles cases nationally in 2026, the first time the U.S. has exceeded that threshold since 1991.

    Dr. Holmes Morton, a pediatric specialist in genetic disorders who has worked with the Plain People for four decades and won a MacArthur Foundation genius fellowship for this work in 2006, is furious at what he is seeing. Morton’s mother and several of her siblings caught measles as teenagers in the late 1930s, and all subsequently became deaf, needing multiple surgeries to try to restore their hearing. 

    That personal story has likely impacted Morton’s life choices: Over the past half century, he has made it his mission to convince vaccine skeptics, especially those with genetic disorders common among the Amish — diseases such as pyruvate kinase deficiency that predispose them to particularly serious reactions to an array of infections — of the benefits of vaccines. He also set up the Clinic for Special Children in Lancaster County, in 1989, and, more recently, the Central Pennsylvania Clinic in nearby Mifflin County, which provides medical care for people with special needs caused by genetic disorders. Now, he sees his work being undermined by RFK Jr. 


    Junior has done real damage and does not deserve to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

    Dani Blum and Alice Callahan (NEW YORK TIMES) evaluate Junior's performance:

    Last September, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released the government’s ambitious plan to improve the health of American children, promising reforms that he said would have been “unthinkable two years ago” and pledging to carry them out “very, very quickly.”

    The highly publicized “Make Our Children Healthy Again” report laid out more than 100 goals, some that medical experts praised as worthwhile and many others that they dismissed as unscientific, potentially harmful or unlikely to improve children’s health.

    The New York Times assessed the progress on the central promises in the four areas the report outlined — “poor diet,” “chemical exposure,” “lack of physical activity and chronic stress” and “overmedicalization” — and documented actions from the administration that have contradicted some of those goals. 

    In a statement, Grace Davis Jamison, a health department spokeswoman, wrote that Mr. Kennedy and President Trump have “delivered historic reforms that are fundamentally changing how the federal government approaches food, nutrition and chronic disease,” adding that the administration’s “record speaks for itself.”



    How did Junior do?  I'll give you one conclusion, for the rest read the article:


    Experts say the change could lead more teens to start vaping and become addicted.


    "The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS): 

    Tuesday, September 8, 2026.  Chump gets a new 'do as he declares himself First Lady of the United States, while that takes place corruption runs wild in his administration, and much more. 




    Chump the fool.  Chump the moron.  This morning Daniel Hampton (RAW STORY) notes:

    A Wall Street Journal investigation published Monday night portraying Corey Lewandowski as the unofficial power broker who steered billions in Department of Homeland Security spending has set off a wave of fury online.

    The report alleged that Lewandowski, Donald Trump's 2016 campaign manager, operated as the department's "shadow secretary" under then-Secretary Kristi Noem, his long-rumored romantic partner, pitched himself for private hire to Qatari and Emirati officials, and helped slash a Palantir contract from $2.7 billion to $1 billion after the company refused a one-on-one meeting. Lewandowski has denied wrongdoing, and a federal watchdog investigation is weighing a criminal referral.

    The report sparked a firestorm online.

    Former CIA officer and MS NOW national security contributor Marc Polymeropoulos applauded the report: "Bravo to the WSJ. Staggering corruption now for the American people to see. But is anyone really surprised? This administration will go down as the most corrupt in modern history. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The rent is coming due."

    Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan, who co-directs the democracy watchdog Bright Line Watch, chimed in: "Unprecedented corruption," while writer Hemant Mehta added: "There is no bottom to how corrupt Republicans are."


    There is no oversight provided in the Chump administration.  Everyone just rips off the taxpayer and Chump's fine with it.  Malcolm Ferguson (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:


    A Thursday report from the Inspector General states that former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer went to a strip club while on the job, even forcing her driver to rain dollar bills on one of the dancers.

    The report further details just how sloppy and reckless Chavez-DeRemer’s tenure as Labor secretary was until she stepped down in April.

     “During Chavez-DeRemer’s April 15–20, 2025 personal travel to Oregon, she requested an off-the-record stop at an establishment that was determined upon entry to feature partially nude dancers,” the IG report reads, noting that Chavez-DeRemer made a point to bring her limousine driver inside with her.

    “Chavez-DeRemer subsequently took money from her purse, gave the money to the driver, and directed him to give it to the performer. When the agent resisted and sought guidance from [Assistant Special Agent in Charge]1, ASAIC 1 instructed him to comply with Chavez-DeRemer’s requests,” the report continues. “Chavez-DeRemer then took additional money from her purse and asked the agent to drop the bills one by one onto the partially nude woman. The agent again hesitated and sought intervention from ASAIC 1, who told him to follow Chavez-DeRemer’s instructions. The agent complied against his wishes.”


    This is how they govern in the Chump administration.  They don't care about ethics, they don't care.  They do what they want and they violate the rules.  And Chump's too busy praising himself to ever provide the oversight of his administration that he's supposed to as president.  


    That lack of oversight is most evident in Chump's refusal to fire Pete Hegseth from the post of Secretry of Defense.  Adam Entous and Greg Jaffe (NNEW YORK TIMES) report


    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decided in early 2025 to spike Gen. Christopher T. Donahue’s nomination to be the top U.S. military officer in Europe.

    Mr. Hegseth believed that President Trump wanted heads to roll for the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. General Donahue was not responsible for security at the bombing site. But he was a top commander at the airport, and so Mr. Hegseth decided he needed to go.

    It fell to Joe Kasper, Mr. Hegseth’s chief of staff, to try to convince him that he was wrong.

    Mr. Kasper asked a senior Pentagon official to prepare a card with a half-dozen bullet points laying out the facts in General Donahue’s defense, current and former officials said. He took it with him in March of last year as he and Mr. Hegseth sped through traffic to the White House for a press event.

    For those few minutes in the car, Mr. Kasper knew he would have his boss’s undivided attention.

    Sirens were blaring. He handed Mr. Hegseth the card.

    These were the facts of General Donahue’s three-decade career: He had seen more combat in his 20-plus deployments than just about any officer in the U.S. military. A star in the clandestine world of special forces, he had spent years in the shadows hunting terrorist leaders. And then as the world and warfare changed, he changed with it.

    He had played a central role in the U.S. military’s efforts to help Ukraine hold off a much larger Russian force, a job that inspired his vision for a new kind of combat that married divebombing drones, robotics and artificial intelligence.

    Now his fate lay in the hands of Mr. Hegseth, a former Fox News host who had two deployments as an Army officer to Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Hegseth had come to the Pentagon vowing to weed out the “small” and “feeble” generals who he believed had failed in those wars.

    What played out in the 16 months after the car ride was a clash between Mr. Hegseth and General Donahue’s supporters, who viewed him as a generational talent.

    That clash, and its outcome, was described to The New York Times by more than 40 people at the Pentagon, in Congress and around the world, nearly all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.


    Hegseth is a failure, an utter failure.  He was the topic of two of the Sunday chat & chews.  ABC's THIS WEEK started their Hegseth segment with a thorough review of recent events for Hegseth:


    MARTHA RADDATZ:  And as the Iran war drags on, this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has faced mounting questions about his leadership. His army secretary resigned Monday. And that’s just the latest in a series of resignations and firings in Hegseth’s tumultuous tenure at the Pentagon.

    (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

    RADDATZ (voice-over):  For Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, it was a week of unwelcome headlines and renewed calls for his ouster.

    Republican Thom Tillis posting on X, “I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country. I urge the president to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent, rather than diminish it.”

    That followed the resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll after repeated disagreements with Hegseth over the firing of multiple senior military officers, including the highly respected Army chief of staff, Randy George, and a slew of others.

    REP. DON BACON, (R) NEBRASKA: He has not been a very good leader in many -- in many ways.

    REP. MIKE LAWLER, (R) NEW YORK: It is critical, frankly, that Pete Hegseth come forth and talk about exactly why these changes have been made.

    RADDATZ (voice over): Before resigning, Driscoll warned President Trump about the impact of Hegseth firing senior military leaders and blocking promotions as well, according to sources familiar with the matter.

    VICE ADM. NANCY LACORE, FORMER CHIEF OF U.S. NAVY RESERVE (RET.) & (D) SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: One year into that position, I was removed by Pete Hegseth. I was not given a reason.

    RADDATZ (voice over): One Navy vice admiral Hegseth fired, Nancy Lacore.

    LACORE: There was no notice other than, you know, being called down to a senior Navy four-star’s office on Friday afternoon and given the message. And that was it. An hour later, I was out of the Pentagon.

    RADDATZ (voice over): Lacore, now running as a Democrat for the congressional seat currently held by Representative Nancy Mace.

    LACORE: The abrupt end to my service really just wasn’t sitting well with me. And I, you know, service has been my entire life. And I just wanted to continue serving. Running for Congress was another way of serving our country.

    RADDATZ (voice over): And it is not just those who have been ousted from the Pentagon who have concerns. “The Washington Post” reported that top military leaders have advised Hegseth that prolonging large scale operations against Iran was unsustainable and risked weakening our ability to confront threats elsewhere and at home. Leaks have infuriated Hegseth, but they keep coming, reportedly prompting him to polygraph Pentagon staff.

    “The New York Times” reporting late Friday that some 50 members of the U.S. military’s joint staff have been polygraphed because of leaks about critical munitions shortages. Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell telling ABC News, the department “does not comment on internal personnel or investigative matters but takes all leaks of classified national security information extremely seriously and investigates accordingly.” Hegseth has repeatedly claimed the U.S. has won the war and depleted Iran’s missiles, while denying the U.S. has a problem.

    PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We had plenty when we needed it, and we have plenty now, and we’ll have plenty when we’ll need them in the future.

    RADDATZ (voice over): Since the beginning of the war, Hegseth has rarely held press conferences, which are often combative.

    HEGSETH: Excuse me. Why are you so rude? Just wait. I’m calling on people.

    RADDATZ (voice over): And none since May 5th, more than four months ago. And never any explanation why he has taken the axe to so many senior officers.

    (END VIDEOTAPE)

    RADDATZ (on camera): And to talk about all of that, I’m joined now by former secretary of the Air Force under Joe Biden, Frank Kendall, who caused quite a stir this week with a “New York Times” op-ed titled “Military Officers Can’t Look Away From This Any Longer.”

    It’s good to see you, sir.

    And what you are talking about is Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon. You spent years at the Pentagon. Twenty years at the Pentagon in civilian jobs. About 11 years active duty in the Army. You know, politics has no place in the military, yet you say military officers should take action. What do you mean by that?

    FRANK KENDALL III, FORMER AIR FORCE SECRETARY: I’ve always been incredibly impressed with the apolitical professionalism of our military. And I’ve served a total of 20 years, as you said, in the Pentagon. I’ve been through a number of transitions. Different parties come in. People just continue to do their jobs. They support whatever the policies are of the current party in power.

    I’ve never seen an attempt to politicize our military like the one being conducted by Pete Hegseth. He’s fired 25, roughly, senior officers. He’s pulling people off of promotion lists. And that effect is rippling all the way down through the ranks. It’s causing people to be afraid and refuse -- and, in many cases, I think he’s not getting good advice because people are afraid to tell him things that he doesn’t want to hear. Long term serious damage is being done to our military.

    But what the op-ed addressed was a tendency to try to partition the military off from responsibility for some of the decisions that the administration is making, that the military’s asked to carry out. There’s an obligation on our officers, particularly our senior officers, who interact directly with the senior political leadership to tell them the truth and to stand up to them when they want to do something which is morally wrong, unethical, or illegal. And we’re not -- I’m afraid they’re not doing that.

    RADDATZ: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine, you addressed that in your piece. He has said, in front of Congress, we don’t make policy. And the military doesn’t make policy. But do you think he’s filling his -- fulfilling his obligation to give the president his best military advice?

    KENDALL: I think he’s trying to keep the military apolitical, but he’s drawing the line in the wrong place. He made a comment in a speech about how his role was about telling the administration what they can do, not what they should do. That’s not accurate. It can be accurate in one sense technically, but it’s not accurate when you’re asked to do something that’s illegal, immoral, wrong, or even unconstitutional. The most egregious example is the strikes on drug boats. Just because the president's lawyer told you they were legal, you have to look at this on your own and make your own decision.

    And as we approach the midterms, I'm worried that all of our guardrails are gone. We already saw once what President Trump is capable of doing when he doesn't like the results of an election. I think we're going to get an opportunity to see that again. And with the Justice Department in the hands it's in, with the State Department -- I'm sorry, with the National Security, Homeland Security Department in the hands of (INAUDIBLE), with a passive Congress and, of course, with Pete Hegseth in the Pentagon, the professionalism and the apolitical nature of our military, I think, is going to be tested in a very serious way.

    RADDATZ: But let me go back to -- you're talking about the military not saying what they want to say, not saying what should happen. The "Washington Post" reported this week that top military leaders have warned Hegseth that prolonged operations against Iran are unsustainable. Isn't that exactly what you're saying should happen and that has happened?

    KENDALL: It is, Martha, but that's on the narrower, purely military advice side of the equation. That's the sort of thing I would routinely expect as a matter of course our military people are talking about. What I don't understand, frankly, about the Iran war is what advice was given to the president that led him to start this conflict?

    Aside from the fact that he never got approval from Congress to do it, the results of the initial strike have been about as one would have predicted. The illusion that the Iranian regime would suddenly fall and this would be a very short conflict was not one that's been held by anybody else until now.

    RADDATZ: What -- look, officers are, and enlisted, are understandably, if they go forward and say something about the Pentagon or about Pete Hegseth, they're fearful. You saw, Driscoll, Dan Driscoll resigned this week. You have seen other senior military officers who have been fired or resigned not say anything publicly after that because they're -- they say there is a real fear there.

    KENDALL: I'm in touch with a lot of people who are currently serving and have served recently. And that climate of fear, which I wrote about over a year ago, is very real and it's very debilitating. Very good people that I know are leaving because of the climate of fear and because of the things the military is being asked to do. I talked to someone who was involved in teaching ethics at the Air Force Academy the other day.

    They're in a very difficult time explaining how the decisions being made by this administration conform to ethics as it's been taught to our officers.

    RADDATZ: We have about 20 seconds. What would you do if you were Air Force secretary right now?

    KENDALL: I couldn't serve this administration.

    RADDATZ: OK. Thanks for joining us this morning. We appreciate your time.

    KENDALL: Thank you.


    CBS' FACE THE NATION also saw Hegseth as a story worth covering:


    MARGARET BRENNAN: We're joined now by Colorado Democratic Congressman Jason Crow.

    It's good to have you here in person.

    REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW (D-Colorado): Thank you. Thanks for having me.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: So, CBS is reporting that several dozen of the highest- ranking officials in the United States military were subjected to polygraph tests as part of the sweeping leak probe that Secretary Hegseth has ordered.

    This includes combatant commanders. They're looking for who leaked the highly classified details about the nation's stockpiles of sophisticated weapons. This is extremely rare.

    REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: Yes.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: Is it appropriate? Has Congress been told anything about the outcome?

    REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: I haven't been briefed anything about this.

    I'm a senior member of the Armed Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee. We haven't received any information. It's just been public reports. And, certainly, stopping leaks and protecting classified information is really important. And I would always support that.

    The problem is, is the broader context that Pete Hegseth has created here. He has purged over 80 generals and admirals. The top 10 percent of the entire military chain of command has been purged. We are at a 25-year low for the number of women on the promotion list. And he's created an environment of fear. He's pushed out journalists.

    He's pushed out media. This is part of his effort to create fear and to clamp down on information coming out of the Pentagon.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: I mean, polygraph tests are part of routine cadence.

    REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: Right.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: But, from what I understand, it's the number, it's the rank of people here. It also seems to confirm the reporting about the problems with America's munitions shortages.

    REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: Right.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: What is the state of that?

    REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: Well, because they don't – they don't want people to know. This is exactly the point. They don't want people to know what's actually happening.

    That's why they fired the editor of "The Stars and Stripes," an independent newspaper that's been around since 1861, by the way, 1861. It was founded during the Civil War to be an independent media outlet for our service members, so that people would understand what they're going through.

    This is the broader trend of them not wanting anybody, including members of Congress, to understand what's going on. Munitions have been depleted. The stockpiles are very low. Contrary to what Donald Trump wants us to believe. these types of precise munitions do not grow on trees. They take a long time to build up.

    They started this war, the president started this war without a plan, without a strategy. I mean, I just heard your prior guest, Secretary [of Energy Chris] Wright, talk about numbers and barrels and – and that's all tactical discussion, right? These are tactical decisions.

    There's no strategy here. There's no off-ramp. There's no longer-term plan for how we get out of this and how we normalize the markets and how we drive down prices for Americans.


    Hegseth is just as lost on this war as Chump.  The two don't know what they're doing. And what they're doing is disgusting.  And their efforts are racist.  Janna Brancolini (THE DAILY BEAST) reports this morning that Hegseth announced the upcoming return of a Confederate memorial: 


    President Donald Trump’s administration has installed a new informational plaque that sanitizes a former memorial to the Confederacy as Pete Hegseth’s Defense Department prepares to return the “racist” sculpture to Arlington National Cemetery.

    The Confederate Memorial was removed from the cemetery in 2023 after Congress passed a law requiring the U.S. military to change property names and remove symbols honoring the Confederacy.

    It was replaced with a marker explaining that the monument had portrayed a “nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery” in the form of a “Mammy” figure and a “faithful slave” following his owner to war. 

    Despite the congressional mandate, Hegseth announced last year that the “beautiful and historic sculpture” will “rightfully be returned” to Arlington National Cemetery.

    The administration is now preparing for its reinstatement next year with a new sign providing “historical background” on the monument that conveniently omits any mention of its controversial past, The Washington Post reported.


    This anti-Blackness coming out of the administration succeeds because there's a lot of anti-Blackness on the right.  And, as Ava and I noted in "Media: BIG MISTAKES, PROUD, LUCKY and anti-Blackness," on the left as well.  



    Howard Lutnick, President Trump’s billionaire commerce secretary, was holding court before reporters outside a Washington courthouse recently when he acknowledged what had become readily apparent inside the White House.

    As the war with Iran grinds on, Mr. Trump finds reprieve by focusing on the minutia of an endeavor much more within his grasp: renovating Washington with ornate projects.

    [. . .]

    He is at his most animated, aides and visitors to the White House say, when he is showing off the designs for the ballroom, boasting about the size of the columns and their designs, or taking officials on tours of the White House to show off where he has gilded the interiors. His personal touch has been quite literal: He has used super glue to affix gold pieces onto the walls and the Oval Office mantle, among other places.


    And now he's  designing uniforms.  Ed Mazza (HUFFINGTON POST) reports

    President Donald Trump on Sunday unveiled a potential redesign of U.S. Space Force uniforms, and it’s giving sci-fi fans a bad feeling. 

    The president posted an image of the supposed “next generation” design on his Truth Social feed: 

    Trump shared the image during a massive day-long posting spree, and it’s not clear if this is a real design for a new uniform or just one of the many images, memes and AI slop creations he likes to throw into his feed. 


    They're so cute with the men  and the wearing belts over the jackets to make them look like skirts -- in fact, he appears to have been inspired by Judy Garland's outfit from her "Get Happy" number.



    He's not just the president, you understand, he's also the First Lady.  That explains his beautification efforts and his designing clothing.  It even explains his coloring mishap over the weekend when they left the hair dye on too long and left him looking like Betty Ford circa 1975.  And 80 year old man who dyes his hair.  That is our First Lady Donald Chump. 





    Let's wind down with this from Senator Mark Kelly's office:

    U.S. Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Peter Welch (D-VT) and 10 of their colleagues condemned the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s refusal to seek immediate appellate relief from a recent district court decision striking down key regulatory requirements of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA).  

    In a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche, the senators expressed serious concerns about DOJ’s failure to vigorously defend the NFA, a foundational federal gun violence prevention law that regulates some of the most dangerous concealable weapons in the country.  

    “For months, DOJ has defended the NFA in court against legal challenges brought by the firearms industry, certain state attorneys general, and the gun lobby. But less than one week after you were confirmed as Attorney General, the Department appears to have reversed course,” wrote the senators. “The Department’s failure to immediately pursue an appeal in support of the NFA calls into question statements you made to the United States Senate during your confirmation process and raises serious doubts about your willingness—and ability—to keep Americans safe.” 

    Last month, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas held the NFA’s regulatory requirements for certain highly dangerous weapons unconstitutional. Although the court temporarily stayed its order to give DOJ time to seek immediate appellate relief, DOJ declined to do so, opting instead to let the court’s injunction take effect.  

    The senators demanded answers about DOJ’s justification for not seeking immediate relief and called on DOJ to appeal the district court’s decision.  

    “As a result of DOJ’s refusal to seek a stay of the District Court’s order, some of the most dangerous concealable weapons in the country—including those that have been used in several mass shootings—can now be (and have been) bought and sold outside the NFA’s heightened regulatory framework for the first time in nearly 100 years,” concluded the senators. “We urge the Department to resume its vigorous defense of the NFA and fulfill the promises you made to defend the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress and keep Americans safe.”  

    In addition to Kelly, Padilla, and Welch, the letter was signed by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). 

    This letter continues Kelly’s push for commonsense gun violence prevention. Kelly has repeatedly introduced the GOSAFE Act, legislation to protect communities from gun violence while safeguarding Americans’ constitutional right to own a firearm. He also introduced the Background Check Completion Act to close the “Charleston loophole” that allows gun sales to proceed before a background check is completed. As a gun owner, combat veteran, and husband of a gun violence survivor, Kelly knows firsthand the damage these weapons can cause and has pushed Congress not to wait for the next tragedy to act. 

    Click here to read the full text of the letter. 



    Kat's "Kat's Korner: THE WOMACK SISTERS is an amazing album" went up yesterday.  The following sites updated: