Like Maria Said Paz: 2025

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Chump lies and lies

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Meeting Of The Mini-Minds."

I love that one. But I really love the one Isaiah will be posting tomorrow because it's a nod to a movie and I love it when Isaiah's able to do a film comic.

I hope you read Ava and C.I.'s "Media: Truth Molested Versus Truth Told." I'm glad they posted it last night. They had a hard time writing that because they're calling out someone they know. They wrote up to the Lily Tomlin part by three am Sunday morning and then had to stop. They couldn't finish that part when they tried at 5:00 pm, so they just jumped past it and wrote about George Clooney's documentary instead. Then late last night, they came back to finish up on the Tomlin-Ian-Cosby issue. They never want to look at it again and immediately posted it. They could have just looked the other way -- but they're not hypocrites. Let me note the opening of the piece:

It was Sunday morning in Iran but Saturday night in the US when the Convicted Felon Donald Chump's order to bomb Iran took place. This was an act of war and he executed it without the Constitutionally required Congressional authorization and he also failed to inform them ahead of the bombing. Three sites bombed in Iran with twelve 30,000 pound bunker buster bombs.

He says that the B-2 bomber planes were targeting nuclear sites. He says that. Others say Iran moved things from those sites long ago. His intel is faulty, some say.

It's Chump so we're talking about someone who's been booked repeatedly and charged with battering and abusing the truth.

Which allows me to jump to the topic of Iran.

THE MADDOW BLOG's Steven Benen wrote this morning:

There’s no shortage of questions in the wake of Donald Trump’s decision to launch pre-emptive military strikes against nuclear targets in Iran. Were the attacks legal? What kind of retaliatory measures should we expect from Iran? Was this the president’s first military offensive against Iran or his last?

But as important as these questions are, and as necessary as it is to understand the answers to these lines of inquiry, there are also immediate, short-term considerations: Did these strikes work? Did they serve their intended purpose?

On Saturday night, the president delivered a televised address in which he sounded a triumphant note:

The phrase “completely and totally obliterated” did not offer much in the way of nuance or wiggle room. Hours after Trump’s remarks, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held a press conference at the Pentagon in which he used nearly identical phrasing: “Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated.”

Taken at face value, it suggested that the U.S. offensive was such a sterling success that Iran’s nuclear program effectively no longer existed. Indeed, it raised the question of whether additional negotiations over the future of Iran’s nuclear program would even be necessary: If the country’s nuclear ambitions have been completely and totally obliterated, what’s left to talk about?

But it wasn’t long before the reliability of the president’s claim came into question.

Chump lies. Always.

Which brings us to the lacky always sniffing Chump's tiny nuts, Senator Lindsey Graham. Guess that's why Chump told him to "be very careful" with his mouth. Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) reports:

Lindsey Graham was on the receiving end of a smack-down from one of his Senate colleagues on Sunday after going on "Meet the Press" and declaring Donald Trump had every right to launch an unprovoked attack on Iran on Saturday.

During an appearance on MSNBC, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) bluntly claimed the Republican from South Carolina needs a refresher course on the Constitution.

During his Sunday appearance, an upbeat Graham claimed Trump "was within his Article II authority” to begin bombing that cold lead to a war.

He added, "Congress can declare war or cut off funding,” Graham continued. “We can’t be the commander in chief. You can’t have 535 commander-in-chiefs. If you don’t like what the president does, in terms of war, you can cut off the funding. But declaring war is left of the Congress. We’ve declared war five times in the history of America. All of these other military operations were lawful.”

Asked to comment after watching the clip, Merkley suggested, "I'd encourage him to actually read the Constitution."

Poor Lindsey. If it's not a magazine named BLUE BOY, he's not thumbing through.

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, June 23, 2025. Chump bombs Iran, the disgusting Bill Maher attacks Whoopi Goldberg (for being correct) and tries to start an intimidation campaign against her (note the silence on the left to his actions), Chump continues his war on immigrants, and much more.

Over the weekend, Donald Chump unilaterally carried out an act of war without the Constitutionally mandated Congressional authorization. He also did not seek UN approval. He lied to the American people on Friday saying he was going to take two weeks to consider options but then he ordered US B-2 bomber planes to drop twelve 30,000 pound bunker buster bombs on Iran.

Josh Marshall (TPM) explains of the bombing of Iran by the US:

Trump has referred to this as very successful and — if I’m understanding his statement — essentially done. I don’t think that’s how it works. My understanding is that there’s real uncertainty about how many strikes it would take to destroy especially the Fordow facility, which is buried deep in a mountainside. So I think we should be skeptical about how we know how successful this was. You need after action reports to have any sense of what actually happened. The geography here, the composition of the mountainside, how it interacts with these particular munitions. These are incredibly complicated and make outcomes uncertain. (I’m going from memory since we’re reacting to breaking news. So keep that in mind.) The U.S. has conducted extensive testing on these “bunker buster” bombs. And there has been extensive planning going back a number of years on how this attack specifically would be carried out. The Pentagon produces and maintains war plans on almost everything. But this specifically has been planned out in great detail and over many years.

Has Fordow been destroyed as Trump seems to be saying? I very much doubt the military planners would be stating that so confidently at this point.

Let me add a political judgment where, unlike with munitions, I feel like I have understanding of the situation. Trump’s statement on Truth Social was very much: “We did it. It worked. It’s done.” I think Trump felt like he’d gotten himself far out on a limb with his threats and was now in a position where if he didn’t act he’d again be mocked as someone who always caves in response to fear or pressure — TACO, as they’re now saying. So he was stuck there and it was weighing on him. Now he feels like he’s addressed it. He acted. He doesn’t chicken out. Whether the facilities were actually destroyed or how much they were damaged is less of a priority. But I suspect he at least feels like he got himself out of the box he’d gotten himself into. I think that’s what’s driving a lot of this.

Let’s state the obvious that the U.S. has committed a major act of war against another country without any specific immediate or even medium term threat. This is not a token bombing of the kind the U.S. has done more than a few times in the post-Cold War era to make a point.

There are many strong and valid opinions and takes out there but, for me, the best one is in the title to Michael Tomasky's piece for THE NEW REPUBLIC "If You Thought Donald Trump Would Never Do This, You’re an Idiot."

Amen. Glenneth Greenwald, in his plaid skirt and with his crystal meth, was hoping to spend a weekend groveling before some Black man he'd paid to humiliate him (again) but fun and games came to an end with the bombing of Iran.

If you missed it, liars and racists -- not one or the other, they were both -- like Glenneth and Matt Taibbi and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and so many more whored for Chumpaloompa because he was, they insisted, anti-war. They trashed and smeared and lied about Kamala Harris.

Why?

Because she's a Black woman.

You saw it with the offensive Bill Maher on Friday. I don't watch his trash show, to be cler. Ava and I have repeatedly said for 20 years now that HBO needs to offer more than Bill. We don't like racists. But we didn't call for him to be removed from the air. We called for HBO to offer more voices.

Friday, Bill Maher revealed the thing that frightens him the most in the world: A Black woman who's not afraid to speak.

ABC, he is insisting, needs to address Whoopi and THE VIEW.

Before we get into why, let's stop there a moment. The left rushed to defend Bill when he called the terrorists who struck on 9/11 heroes. It got him in huge trouble with the network ABC. Now, after playing the victim for over two decades, he wants to do the same to Whoopi?

Of course he does because he's not left, he's libertarian. And everything in this section should be seen as being written by Ava and myself because it had been our plan to address Bill and the nonsense of We-need-a-man that leads the left and the 'left' like THE NATION to rush to get behind a Bill Maher or a Howard Stern. Leads THE NATION to toss this trash on their cover nd whitewash these men to insist that they're left and they're new voices. The 'need' for a left Joe Rogan stories of late? The only thing new about them is that it's Joe's name this go round.

There is no excuse for Bill Maher's attack on Whoopi.

None.

Wednesday on THE VIEW, in a discussion about Iran, Whoopi disagreed with some of the points that Alyssa Farah Griffin made regarding Iran.

She didn't dispute that they were factual. She noted that all countries have their human rights issue and stated "Let's not do that, because if we start with that, we have been known in this country to tie gay folks to the car. Listen, I'm sorry, they used to just keep hanging Black people."

This led to the Friday attack on Whoopi from Bill Maher and US House Rep Wesley Hunt.

Hunt wanted the world to know that's never happened to him! "As I said, I'm a direct descendant of a slave, my great-great-grandfather, who was born on Rosedown Plantation."

When did Whoopi bring you into her comments, fat ass?

Oh, that's right, Uncle Tom, she didn't bring you into them. You were born in 1981.

What did she say? "Listen, I'm sorry, they used to just keep hanging Black people."

She's talking about lynching. And she's historically correct. Prissy Bill Maher and fat ass Uncle Tom wanted to attack Whoopi.

And it's not for what she said -- that's what so shameful.

They want to attack Whoopi so that they can set the parameters for any conversation regarding the attack on Iran.

Are you not getting how offensive that is?

Coming from anyone, that's offensive. Coming from Bill Maher, it's the height of hypocrisy. From Frank Rich's September 10, 2006 NEW YORK TIMES column:

The presidential press secretary, Ari Fleischer, condemned Bill Maher’s irreverent comic response to 9/11 by reminding "all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do." Fear itself -- the fear that "paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance," as FDR had it -- was already being wielded as a weapon against Americans by their own government.

He is trying to do to Whoopi what was done to him. And when it was done to him, people showed up to defend him -- especially those of us on the left.

And now he's trying to do to Whoopi what was done to him.

As we saw with the attacks on Kamala from Socialists in the fall of 2024, it's something about a Black woman that leads certain people to think they can attack her in any way that they want. They can dismiss her and attack her.

And we're seeing that again as Bill Maher attacks Whoopi.

Whoopi's single sentence that has them so upset is

"Listen, I'm sorry, they used to just keep hanging Black people,”

She is correct. There is nothing controversial about her remarks.

But Bill is trying to make it controversial to shut her up.

That happened Wednesday. We learned about it on Friday and were going to try to roll that together into a piece on liars like Tucker Carlson and Glenneth but we covered documentaries instead ("Media: Truth Molested Versus Truth Told") because we're not hypocrites. (We're calling out someone we know and like for what she did which was racist. We didn't want to write it, but we did.)

Bill Maher is insisting that he will decide what comments are and are not appropriate (Bill is a longtime apologist for the Israeli government) and we're not supposed to notice that or question it.

It's really past time for the left to stop supporting the non-leftist Bill Maher. And it's really past time for garbage outlets like THE NATION, THE PROGRESSIVE, COMMON DREAMS and so many more who refused to defend Kamala Harris from racist attacks to go on looking the other way for racist Bill Maher.

Shame on anyone who doesn't push back against efforts by Maher and others to define who can speak and what can be said.

At MEIDASTOUCH NEWS, Troy Matthews writes:

Despite initially stating that the U.S. attack on Iran was limited to disabling Iran's nuclear production sites, and that the U.S. did not seek a wider war, Donald Trump suggested he might pursue regime change in Iran in a post on Truth Social Sunday.

"It’s not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,'" Trump wrote, "but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!"

After attacking both political parties on the campaign trail for getting the U.S. bogged down in forever wars, Trump appears to be steering the U.S. into yet another protracted conflict in the middle east with no end in sight.

Even suggesting the mission could elevate to regime change could be disastrous. The Iranian government is not going to negotiate on nuclear proliferation or peace with Israel if they believe the end game is an all out U.S. invasion to topple them.

Regime change was the mission in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars launched at the beginning of the century that lasted 14 years and 20 years respectively. Toppling a regime is only the beginning of a long fight if there is no plan in place for what happens when the regime is gone. Ultimately the power vacuum allows bad actors to step up and further destabilizes the region.

Trump's inability to refrain from regurgitating his inner thoughts in Truth Social posts continues to propel the world towards a massive conflict, and puts the lives of U.S. troops in danger.

The weekend should have been a weekend of joy and celebration that Mahmoud Khalil was finally released from the 'detention' center he'd spent months in and was finally able to see, for the first time, his newborn child. CK Smith (SALON) reports:

Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian-born Columbia University graduate and activist, walked free Friday after a federal judge ordered his release from immigration detention.

Khalil was held for 104 days in a Louisiana facility under a rarely used section of immigration law, after participating in a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Columbia. Though he faced no criminal charges, his detention drew widespread criticism from civil liberties groups who said the government was targeting political speech.

U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, presiding in New Jersey, ruled that the government presented no evidence Khalil posed a flight risk or public threat. He also issued an injunction to block Khalil’s deportation while his constitutional challenge proceeds.

Mahmoud is still under attack from the Chump administration but this release should have resulted in applause and reflection. But when a madman is in charge of the country, we all deal with the effects of his rage and drunken behavior.

Convicted Felon Donald Chump is destroying the country on a daily basis and his attack on immigrants -- and those mistaken for immigrants is harming the country. It's harming morale, it's harming the economy. Casey Stegall (KDFW) reports:

State Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says stepped-up immigration enforcement is taking a toll on the industry.

As the effects are being felt not just here in Texas, but beyond, federal immigration officials say they’re just doing their jobs.

ICE Effects on Agriculture Industry

Local perspective:

Just 40 miles or so south of Dallas sits Lee Calvert’s 2,000-acre Ellis County family farm.

Calvert knows he’s lucky, not having to rely on farmhands to check the chores off, because those who do say absenteeism among hired migrant help has disrupted their entire operations.

Big picture view:

Recent video posted to immigration-rights groups’ social media channels shows federal agents conducting raids on California farms.

Levi Sumagaysay and Lauren Hepler (CALMATTERS) note realities in California:

Brandon Mejia usually spends his weekends conducting a symphony of vendors serving pupusas, huaraches and an array of tacos at his two weekly 909Tacolandia pop-up events.

Half food festival, half swap meet, the events draw 100-plus vendors a week in Pomona and San Bernardino. They offer a way to “legalize” street food — vendors get a reliable location, cities collect taxes and enforce health codes — while patrons enjoy delicacies from all over Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Spanglish music plays, people dance and kids flock to facepainting and pony rides.

But in the past week, that’s all come to a screeching halt. As the Trump administration ramps up immigration raids in California, some restaurants, worried about their workers or finding that customers are staying home more, are closing temporarily. Many street vendors are going into hiding, and some food festivals and farmers markets have been canceled.

Mejia called off all Tacolandia events last week. His mind raced about whether agents would come for his vendors as videos surfaced on social media of taqueros, farm workers and fruit vendors vanishing in immigration raids around LA and neighboring Ventura County.

The whole country's suffering due to Chump's inhumanity but border states are especially suffering. And lies are needed to continue Chump's inhumanity. That's what's behind preventing members of Congress and other officials from carrying out their legal duties to visit and, yes, inspect detention facilities holding immigrants. They don't want the the truth to get out. Because the truth is not just unpretty, it's also illegal. Valerie Gonzalez (LOS ANGELES TIMES) reports:

Adults fighting kids for clean water, despondent toddlers, and a child with swollen feet denied a medical exam: These first-hand accounts from immigrant families at detention centers included in a motion filed by advocates Friday night are offering a glimpse of conditions at Texas facilities.

Families shared their testimonies with immigrant advocates filing a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from terminating the Flores settlement agreement, a 1990s-era policy that requires immigrant children detained in federal custody be held in safe and sanitary conditions.

The agreement could challenge President Trump’s family detention provisions in his massive tax and spending bill, which also seeks to make the detention time indefinite and comes as the administration ramps up arrests of immigrants nationwide.

“At a time when Congress is considering funding the indefinite detention of children and families, defending the Flores Settlement is more urgent than ever,” Mishan Wroe, a senior immigration attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, said in a statement Friday.

ICE has 21 detention centers in Texas and over 200 nation wide. Protests continued this weekend. The Party for Socialism and Liberation held a rally in Atlanta today. Athens wasn't the only city holding a protest this weekend. Gabe Chavez (KRQE) reports:

Friday night, hundreds took to the streets of downtown Albuquerque to protest federal immigration enforcement in the country. Most of downtown was shut down for the evening, with protesters calling for an end to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in America.

The sound of strumming guitars and chants for change filled the air as downtown Albuquerque was packed with protesters expressing their anger toward the federal government. One speaker emphasized, “It’s important to have the community together at a time like this when our neighbors and our families are in stress and are scared of even going out in public because ICE is not only detaining criminals but legal citizens.”

Julie Watson, Jake Offenhartz and Claire Rush (AP) note, "More Americans are witnessing people being hauled off as they shop, exercise at the gym, dine out and otherwise go about their daily lives as President Donald Trump's administration aggressively works to increase immigration arrests. As the raids touch the lives of people who aren’t immigrants themselves, many Americans who rarely, if ever, participated in civil disobedience are rushing out to record the actions on their phones and launch impromptu protests." Trevor Hughes (USA TODAY) adds, "Immigrant-rights advocates have reported harsher enforcement in rural farming communities and big cities alike, and note that federal statistics show more than 40% of ICE detainees have no criminal record. Trump and administration officials say they are targeting violent criminals and gang members, though Americans are also seeing vineyard workers, car-wash attendants and building contractors snatched up, in many cases by masked men and women refusing to identify themselves, ratcheting up tensions."

It's not just immigrants, of course. To target, you have to racially profile. And that means US citizens get roughed up and kidnapped by ICE. People like US citizen Job Garcia. He attends Claremont Graduate University. Vivian Chow (KTLA5) reports:

That morning, he arrived at the store to pick up a delivery order when armed agents suddenly surrounded the parking lot. Realizing what was happening, he picked up his cellphone and began recording the activity.

“At the end of the parking lot, they started gathering around a van with a gentleman inside, probably in his 50s or 60s,” Garcia told KTLA’s Mary Beth McDade.

In the video, agents are heard telling the man to step out of his truck before they used a baton to smash the driver’s side window.

“They broke his window and that’s when all the bystanders who were recording said, ‘You have no right to be doing that!’” Garcia said.

Garcia and several others walked over to the man being detained and began informing him of his rights. Video showed one federal agent growing agitated and stepping forward as yelling could be heard from bystanders.

“That’s when he lunged at me,” Garcia said. “I’m still recording, so he pushes me and puts both hands on me and I push his hand off and he didn’t like that.”

Going to work is a 'crime' in Chump Land. Whether it's at Home Depot or Walmart. Laurie Perez (CBS NEWS) reports:

The young man who was wrestled to the ground, Adrian Andrew Martinez, is a U.S. citizen, according to his family.

A video of the incident shows Martinez, in a blue Walmart vest, appearing to talk to the Customs and Border Patrol agents before one of them pushed him back. In the middle of the exchange, the man who was recording, Oscar Preciado, had his phone knocked out of his hand.

After picking it up to start recording again, Preciado captured the federal agents wrestling Martinez to the ground. Preciado said the agents tried to grab him, too.

"He grabbed me by the neck and put the other hand behind my leg," Preciado said. "Luckily, I was able to get him off of me and kept recording ... I told him I'm recording this and that's when he smacked my hand to get my phone out of my hand."

It's bad enough that ICE roughed the kid up and kidnapped him, they also lied about him because all ICE has to offer now is lies. They lied about it. As did others in law enforcement. Rachel Uranga and Brittny Mejia (LOS ANGELES TIMES) note, "L.A.'s top's prosecutor, Bill Essayli, posted on X that Martinez 'was arrested for an allegation of punching a border patrol agent in the face after he attempted to impede their immigration enforcement operation'." But that's not what happened.

Heaven forbid more Americans grasp what jack-booted-thugs ICE is now made up of. Gina Silver (FOX 11) reports:

FOX 11 obtained security camera footage from the store, which showed the entire confrontation.

In the video, Martinez can be seen pulling up to the agents' truck with his car. He gets out and moves a janitor's cart. One agent then throws the cart to the ground, before shoving Martinez twice, knocking him to the ground. Martinez gets up, and is shoved to the ground by a second agent. He gets up again and continues arguing, and then agents take him down.

"To say that he is the aggressor is absolutely untrue," said defense attorney Dmitry Gorin after watching the security footage.

He did nothing wrong. He was physically attacked and he was kidnapped -- ICE agents are out of control. They need to be brought to heel. Friday, 20-year-odl Adrian Martinez was finally released. Lily Dallow (KTLA5) quotes Adrian's attorneys stating, "We're very grateful our client will be released today. Adrian did nothing wrong, and was standing up for an elderly janitorial worker when he was violently assaulted and abducted by masked federal agents."

And now you grasp why they attacked Oscar Preciado -- because he was recording the truth. Can't have witnesses to this illegal abuse, to this criminal action.

I don't know how to break this to ICE agents but there is no buy-back for your soul. Once you sell it, that's it. You are going down a path that leads to drug addiction and suicide. There is no pride to be found at the end of the road you are own. For your own health, you need to quit working for ICE.

And you know what I'm saying is right, that's why you're wearing masks -- because you're beyond the law now and you have to hide. Ray Sanchez and Alisha Ebrahimji (CNN) report:

It has become the new calling card of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown: Federal officers, often masked and not wearing uniforms or displaying badges, arresting people outside courtroom hearings, during traffic stops and in workplace sweeps.

“I never saw anyone wearing a mask,” John Sandweg, an acting director of Immigration Customs and Enforcement under President Barack Obama and a former acting general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, said of the dozens of ride-alongs he attended during his tenure.

[. . .]

“The way that they’re carrying on without any visible identification – even that they’re law enforcement, much less what agency they’re with – it really is pretty unprecedented to see at this scale, and I think it’s very dangerous,” said Scott Shuchart, a senior ICE official during the Biden administration.

And people aren't going to be silent about this. Lily Dallow (KTLA5) notes:

Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores released a statement Saturday, condemning what he called “masked abductions” amid immigration raids across Los Angeles County, and directing police to intervene in unlawful or unauthorized operations.

“These are not lawful arrests. These are abductions,” said Mayor Flores. “For more than a week, we have witnessed families being torn apart, children left without parents, and residents vanishing without explanation. Men dressed in tactical gear, operating unmarked vehicles without displaying credentials or agency affiliation, have infiltrated our neighborhoods in direct violation of our community’s values, civil rights, and the basic principles of due process.”

The following sites updated:

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Stop letting hate merchants get away with toxic calls for violence

This week, as we've reflected on the horror in Minnesota, we've all hopefully grasped that the toxic violence spewed from the mouths of Chump, MTG and other hate merchants is dangerous to our society. Ryan Nadeau (THE HILL) reports:

A Virginia man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to pursuing and ultimately shooting two Latino men because of his “anger at illegal immigration.”

On Wednesday, June 18, Douglas W. Cornett pleaded guilty to two counts of federal hate crimes involving attempts to kill and one count of discharging a firearm during a federal crime of violence.

Court documents identify the two Latino men Cornett shot as “Victim 1” and “Victim 2.” Authorities in Spotsylvania previously said they are both from Prince William County.

On Feb. 28, 2024, Cornett was driving on Interstate 95 when he came up on a box truck driven by Victim 1. Per court documents, Cornett honked at the truck and remained behind it despite Victim 1 trying to let him pass. He then followed the truck to a fueling station.

Upon his arrival, Victim 1 spoke to a friend of his who worked at the fueling station. He asked that friend, who spoke English, to ask Cornett what was wrong. After a brief conversation between the friend and Cornett, Victim 1 left the fueling station.

Cornett proceeded to follow Victim 1 to the Thornburg area Sheetz, located close to the fueling station, according to court documents. Seeing this, Victim 1’s friend called Victim 2 and told him that someone was following Victim 1.

[. . .]

Cornett then pulled out a handgun and shot a total of six times. Victim 1 was hit three times and Victim 2 was hit once. Both had serious injuries. Per court documents, Cornett then left the scene, returned home and told the two people he lived with about what happened.

When he was arrested the following day, Cornett admitted to the double shooting and said “[his] intentions were clear in [his] brain, at that time.”

He's going to be sentenced in November. He got his 'information' from "cable news." FOX "NEWS" should be listed as a co-defendant along with Donald Chump, JD Vance, Marjorie Taylor Greene and several others.

They and their lies created this violent environment. They egg on people with their statements and they're government officials so people are quick to trust them.

We can't go on together

With suspicious minds (with suspicious minds)

And we can't build our dreams

On suspicious minds

But that's all Chump and his minions do: Preach hate and create suspicions. Today, the editorial board for THE NEW YORK TIMES noted, "The surge in political violence during the Trump years has imperiled not only American lives, but also, our country's collective memory. The details of a new atrocity overwrite the old. Even the names of the fallen evade our best efforts to retain them." Exactly.

By the way, Trina's noting the passing of Brian Wilson in her "Shrimp Salad Rolls in the Kitchen."

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Friday, June 20, 2025. The ICE horror stories multiply. A pregnant American gets imprisoned and chained up, an Afghan who was a translator for the US military gets rounded up, a journalist stopped from doing his job and detained and imprisoned. Those are just some of the horror stories Chump, ICE and Homeland Security are creating daily.

Let's start with some good news. Yesterday, MEIDASTOUCH NEWS reached five million subscribers.

That's a big deal and huge applause for them for the achievement.

Anything can happen in Chump Land. That includes an American citizen Cary López Alvarado being targeted. Will Conybeare (THE HILL) reports:

A pregnant U.S. citizen who was detained by federal agents approximately two weeks ago has since given birth to a healthy baby girl, but her boyfriend is now being held out of state and her problems are far from over.

Cary López Alvarado told Nexstar’s KTLA that she “tried to remain strong” during the scary ordeal, which took place outside a building where her boyfriend and cousin were doing maintenance work on June 8. She was nine months pregnant at the time.

Video taken by López depicts her struggling with a masked agent wearing a Border Patrol uniform asking to see her identification as she was protecting a truck carrying her boyfriend Brayan Nájera and cousin Alberto Sandoval — the latter of whom is also a U.S. citizen.

All three of them were eventually detained. Further footage posted on social media shows agents detaining López after they had pinned her truck between a wall.

[. . .]

The then-soon-to-be-mother was taken to a processing facility in San Pedro, where, according to her, the agents automatically assumed she was undocumented.

“[They said] ‘But you’re from Mexico, right?’ And I’m like ‘No, I’m from here,’” López said. “[They asked] … ‘Where’s here?’ and I’m like, ‘Here, the U.S., Los Angeles.”

“They put us in chains, so I had a chain from my hands under my belly that went all the way to my legs,” she added. “Every now and then, I would fix my hands because I felt like I would be putting too much pressure because the chain went under my belly.”

López was released after complaining of stomach pain and went straight to a hospital where she started having contractions, which she believes were caused by the stress of what she had gone through.

These horror stories are not accidents. I'm not a psychic. Months before the election, I noted what Chump was saying he would do could not be done without a lot of US citizens ended up targeted and harmed as well. Racial profiling, that's what they're doing. It's what they did to Cary, insisting she was from Mexico because of the way she looked. Putting her in chains because of the way she looked. Imprisoning her because of the way she looked.

She was pregnant when this happened -- pregnant and about to pop.

And she's an American citizen and this is what they did to her.

This is what hate merchants posing as Christians are embracing in the US now. There is nothing Christian about this.

Yesterday, MSNBC reported on Sayed Naser.

NPR's MORNING EDITION also reported on Sayed Naser.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

As part of its aggressive immigration policy, the Trump administration has been making it harder for asylum-seekers to stay in the U.S., and that includes at least one immigrant seeking safety here after helping the U.S. military in his home country. NPR's Quil Lawrence reports.

QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: The scene of ICE agents arresting immigrants at courthouses has become common in the past few months, but this one played out a bit differently last week in San Diego.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT #1: Yeah, yeah, go ahead. We're going to take him.

LAWRENCE: Bystanders filmed as Sayed Naser was approached by two masked ICE agents after a routine immigration hearing. They don't show a warrant, and they don't even seem to be sure they have the right person.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT #2: What's your name?

LAWRENCE: As they handcuff him, he starts to tell the onlookers that he's a former interpreter for the U.S. Army.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SAYED NASER: I worked with the U.S. military back in my home country, Afghanistan.

LAWRENCE: Sayed Naser asked to withhold his family name because he fears for their safety in Afghanistan. And that's the whole point, says his lawyer, Brian McGoldrick.

BRIAN MCGOLDRICK: He spent three years working with the U.S. military at great risk to himself. And they've already killed part of his family.

LAWRENCE: Sayed Naser fled Afghanistan after the Taliban showed up at a family wedding and killed one of his brothers. He made a journey from Afghanistan to Brazil and then, sometimes on foot, traveled north to the U.S. border, where he was admitted legally last year. But McGoldrick says ICE agents took none of that under consideration.

MCGOLDRICK: Was all about filling their quota of 3,000 a day. They didn't care that, you know, he was really our ally. I don't think anybody took the time to even go through that.

Only the worst of criminals. That's what Chump lied and continues to lie. That's what Kristi Noam lies. Lies. The justification? Lies. They hide with lies. They break the law with lies. They evade oversight with lies. Earlier this week, US House Rep Dan Goldman's office issued the following:

Rep. Dan Goldman: “And the question is, why can't we go in? What are they hiding? If they're going to treat Comptroller Lander, if they're going to treat Senator Padilla, if they're going to treat Congresswoman McIver the way that these agents have been treating them, as if it's the police state out in the open in public, how are they treating immigrants behind closed doors who have to sleep on floors for multiple nights?”

Rep. Dan Goldman: “This is unacceptable. It is unacceptable that they denied our access, and we will be continuing to push for access with the executives at the Department of Homeland Security because they are violating the law. And we will not stop until we get to go in and observe what is going on in these detention centers with these non-criminal, nonviolent immigrants going through the process the correct way.”

Watch Video of Rep. Goldman Being Denied Access to Detention Area Here

Videos and Photos from the Press Conference Here

New York, NY — Congressmen Dan Goldman (NY-10) and Jerry Nadler (NY-12) hosted a press conference today after observing court proceedings at 26 Federal Plaza and being denied access to the federal building’s 10th floor, where immigrants are being detained for days and sleeping on the floor and benches in inhumane conditions. The Congressmembers confronted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Field Director Bill Joyce and Field Office Director Judith Almodovar, who confirmed reports that immigrants were sleeping on the floor. The members raised concerns about the detentions and ICE’s ongoing refusal to allow lawful congressional oversight of detention facilities.

The press conference came on the heels of continued ICE raids at federal immigration courts across the country, targeting law-abiding immigrants attending routine court appearances. Most recently, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander was detained at 26 Federal Plaza while overseeing similar proceedings.

On May 29, Rep. Goldman observed similar court proceedings at 290 Broadway in Manhattan, where he confronted ICE and Department of Homeland Security agents about their continued use of face coverings while detaining law-abiding immigrants following routine asylum hearings.

A transcript of the Congressman’s comments is available below:

Rep. Dan Goldman: "Thank you. Thank you all for coming.

I'm here with Congressman Nadler in front of 26 Federal Plaza. We just went in to conduct our constitutional oversight authority of ICE and ICE detention facilities. We were denied access, even though we are allowed to show up unannounced by statute, and we must be allowed in.

We gave advance notice that we would be coming this morning, and they still denied our access. They said that this building is not being used as a, this is not a “detention facility,” even though the statute very clearly says that we are allowed into any facility that is being used to detain or otherwise house aliens.

The Deputy Field Director said that there are people who have been staying there for two nights or more after they have been processed, sleeping on benches and on the floor. We are very concerned about what conditions these immigrants are being held in while this mass deportation scheme is underway.

We observed the courtroom before that, where the government is trying to dismiss these immigration cases.

These are nonviolent, non-criminal immigrants going through the proper process, and the government is trying to dismiss the cases.

We observed two cases where the respondent, the immigrant, rejected the government's motion to dismiss it and moved ahead with their asylum claim. So they were not arrested by the numerous federal agents in masks who were waiting outside of the courtroom.

And those federal agents are not just ICE agents. There are numerous FBI agents. These are people whose responsibility and job duties are to investigate serious crimes. And they're being pulled away from investigating serious crimes so that they can arrest nonviolent, non-criminal immigrants going through the lawful legal process so that they can be deceptively removed in an expedited fashion.

And the question is, why can't we go in? What are they hiding? If they're going to treat Comptroller Lander, if they're going to treat Senator Padilla, if they're going to treat Congresswoman McIver the way that these agents have been treating them, as if it's the police state out in the open in the public, how are they treating immigrants behind closed doors who have to sleep on floors for multiple nights?

This is unacceptable. It is unacceptable that they denied our access, and we will be continuing to push for access with the executives at the Department of Homeland Security because they are violating the law. And we will not stop until we get to go in and observe what is going on in these detention centers with these non-criminal, nonviolent immigrants going through the process the correct way.

And the question for everybody to ask is, not only what are they hiding with the masks, but what are they hiding about this facility that they are using to house immigrants for multiple days?"

Earlier this month, Rep. Goldman and and House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson (MS-02) led 84 House Democrats in an oversight letter of inquiry to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem seeking answers regarding the rise in ICE employing its masked, plainclothes officers to detain non-violent, law-abiding immigrants immediately following and in coordination with the dismissal of their existing deportation cases by DHS attorneys.

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Things like this are happening all over the country. Jen Psaki covered the issue last night on her MSNBC progam.

It's outrageous, it's not fair, and it's not about humanity. It's certainly not about "Christianity" though some liars try to hide behind Jesus while they persecute immigrants. June 10th, Christopher Wells (VATICAN NEWS) reported:

In a statement issued on Friday after expanded federal immigration enforcement operations, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, José Gomez issued a statement saying he was “troubled” by the raids.

The Archbishop said he is praying for the community, and “that everyone involved will exercise restraint and calm.”

While agreeing that “undocumented immigrants who are known terrorists or violent criminals” are unwanted, Archbishop Gomez said “there is no need for the government to carry out enforcement actions in a way that provokes fear and anxiety among ordinary, hard-working immigrants and their families.”

Echoing the position of the US bishops, the Archbishop repeated his call for the US Congress “to get serious about fixing our broken immigration system that leads so many to seek to cross our borders illegally.”

Noting the “coherent” immigration policies in other countries, Archbishop Gomez said the United States likewise needs a policy “that respects the natural rights of people to emigrate in search of a better life and also ensures control” of the border.

“it’s been almost 40 years since the last reform of our immigration laws,” he concluded. “That’s too long and it’s time to do something about it.”

And it's not just the Church calling out these attacks on immigrants. It's not just former US President Barack Obama, US House Rep Dan Goldman, it's many people from all walks of life stating loudly and clearly: This is not America. This is not who we are and this is not what we were. Carlos De Loera (LOS ANGELES TIMES) reports:

Bad Bunny has chimed in on the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that are taking place in his native Puerto Rico and all over the country.

The 31-year-old "Nuevayol" singer posted a video with commentary of ICE agents conducting a raid on the island to Instagram.

"Look, those motherf— are in these cars, RAV4s. They’re here on [Avenida] Pontezuela," he said of the officials arriving in the Puerto Rican city of Carolina. "Sons of b—, instead of leaving the people alone and working."

Since the onset of President Trump's second term, the U.S. territory has been subjected to ICE raids, which have targeted the island's largely Dominican immigrant population. For years, immigrants from the neighboring Caribbean island have been allowed to open bank accounts and obtain special driver's licenses that indicate their immigration status. The AP estimates that there are over 55,000 people from the Dominican Republic currently living in Puerto Rico.

Rebecca González-Ramos, ICE's top investigator in Puerto Rico, told NPR that the agency has made nearly 500 arrests, of which roughly 75% have been Dominicans. NPR further noted that fewer than 80 of the 500 people arrested have a criminal record, with the most common charge being reentry into the country following a deportation.

Again, this is not the America that inspires other countries. This is land of hate and fear with people egged on to hate and to fear by the ridiculously overweight and elderly fool Donald Chump whose 'blond' hair is about as real as his sex life (with his weight and his age, he's not getting it up anymore and that's why he rages nightly on social media). We're better than this and we need to reject the hate that Chump peddles. Patricia Caro (EL PAIS) notes:

The current U.S. immigration policy, which has defined much of the Trump administration’s five-month term, is not approved by a majority of Americans. According to the latest survey conducted by Pew Research, the Trump administration’s overall approach to immigration is viewed more negatively than positively, with 42% approving and 47% disapproving.

The mass expulsions of undocumented immigrants, which Trump wants to increase even further to achieve the largest deportation in history, are dividing citizens. Half of Americans say the administration’s immigration policies when it comes to deporting undocumented migrants are “too careless,” while 39% say they are “about right” and 9% say they are “too careful.”

Trump had announced a crusade against immigration during his campaign run, but the measures he has taken since January 20 have exceeded many expectations. The Republican’s rhetoric was that deportations would focus, at least initially, on undocumented immigrants who had committed crimes, but the reality has been very different.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in restaurants, factories, and other workplaces, or in courthouses where immigrants go to attend scheduled hearings, are disliked by the majority. Fifty-four percent disapprove of increasing raids in workplaces where people in the U.S. illegally may be working, compared to 45 percent who approve.

This is not who we are and it is not who we want to be. The more we see this in our communities, the greater our repulsion grows and for good reason. It's not Christian, it's not Muslim, it's not Jewish, it's not Hindi, it's not a reflection of any real religion, it's not a reflection of any ethical and humane code of life.

It is hatred plain and simple.

And Chump lies and claims these are the worst of the worst to justify it. He lies about an innocent man having a tattoo on his hand -- there was no tattoo -- so that he can scare people because scared people lay down in front of a bully. Scared people go along. The problem is that America's nature -- good or bad -- is one of individualism. That's the American character. And you can't spook even a majority of the American population with lies for very long. Chump's lies are exposed in every community across the country.

And the pushback against Chump's horrible actions starts with one and builds and builds.

Poetic phrases come to mind
Whenever I find injustice being done
And I wonder, what am I gonna do, what am I gonna do
What can one do except to be one
Talking to two, touching three
Growing to four million
Each of us is one--all of us are one

-- "One," written by Carole King, first appears on her album SIMPLE THINGS

The more horror stories are learned of, the stronger the pushback grows. It's obvious unless you're a fool n cognitive decline. In which case? It's all a joke to you like it is to demented Donald. Li Zhou (HUFFINGTON POST) explains:

While touting the installation of new flag poles at the White House on Wednesday, President Donald Trump paused to ask the workers involved an awkward question about their immigration status.

“Do we have anybody here?” Trump asked the workers, who were flanking him in an apparent photo opportunity. “Any illegal immigrants?”

It's a joke to him. It's not a joke to the people whose lives are being destroyed, or to the people who worry their lives are about to be destroyed, or to those of us who know and love them as our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors. I've said this repeatedly including earlier this week, Americans are rejecting this and we're doing it as We The People because so few leaders have emerged on this issue. Bad Bunny's comments? They're going to help. But this is still, right now, about communities standing up for the people who live in them. And this repulsion to Chump's tactics is spreading and spreading.

Moises Sotelo is someone we've noted before. The vineyard manager in Oregon who ICE took away from his church June 12th and has held ever since. Cy Neff (THE GUARDIAN) reports:

Left in the lurch is Sotelo’s family, the church he attends, the employees of his small business, the vineyards he works with and friends made along the way. Requests to Ice from family or attorneys regarding next steps in Sotelo’s detention are hitting dead ends.

Anthony Van Nice, the owner of a local vineyard, first worked with Sotelo in the mid-1990s when Van Nice was a “cellar rat” getting his start in the wine industry. He considers Sotelo a friend and said he was “disappointed and disgusted” by the arrest, and the government’s treatment of immigrants.

“My concern is about my friends and neighbors who are getting rounded up by Ice,” Van Nice told the Guardian. “We built this country on the backs of immigrant labor … To just round them up like criminals and throw them into these overcrowded detention centers, send them packing without telling their family or attorneys where they are or where they’re going, it’s inhumane. It’s a human rights issue.”

Sotelo’s detention comes as Ice raids on farm workers are heating up in Oregon’s wine country and across the US. The Trump administration briefly directed US immigration agents to shift their focus away from farms, only to abruptly reverse course this week. Meanwhile, reports of masked, unidentified agents conducting workplace raids have become commonplace. America’s agricultural industry, where at least 42% of workers are estimated by the US Department of Labor to be undocumented, is exemplifying the practical limits of Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda.

I don't believe that we've noted Victor Avila here before. Mandy Taheri (NEWSWEEK) reports:

Victor Avila, a 66-year-old green card holder who has lived in the United States since he was a teenager, was detained in May by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at San Francisco International Airport after returning from a trip to visit his son, a U.S. Air Force servicemember stationed in Japan, according to local reports and a GoFundMe page.

A longtime resident of San Diego, Avila has worked as a legal assistant at the workers' compensation law firm Kiwan & Chambers APC for over a decade. Colleagues from the firm organized the fundraiser.

It's one horror after another. AP's Russ Bynum reports:

U.S. immigration authorities said Wednesday they have detained a Spanish-language journalist, who will face deportation proceedings following his arrest on charges of obstructing police and unlawful assembly while covering a weekend protest outside Atlanta.

Mario Guevara was turned over by police to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody three days after he was jailed in DeKalb County, agency spokesman Lindsay Williams said in an emailed statement. His case now goes to immigration court to determine whether Guevara, a native of El Salvador, can remain in the U.S.

His attorney, Giovanni Diaz, has said that Guevara was doing his job and committed no crime when police arrested him. He also says Guevara has legal authorization to live and work in the U.S., and has a pending application for permanent residency. Diaz did not immediately return phone and email messages Wednesday.

David PlazaS (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION) notes that Mario was covering the No Kings protest in Atlanta when he was arrested and had posted on his INSTAGRAM account :

Buen día mi gente, yo sé que a más de alguno le va a molestar lo que diré, pero prefiero hacerlo y no callar, pues así se puede prevenir alguna desgracia. Se avecinan manifestaciones en contra de los operativos de ICE en diversos puntos de Estados Unidos, pero no vale la pena que la gente llegue a protestar con violencia ni a faltarle el respeto a las autoridades. Eso sólo nos hace quedar muy mal como comunidad. Nos deja ante la vista pública como seres violentos y malos, cuando la verdad es que somos todo lo opuesto. Otra cosa, si careces de estatus legal en el país, piénsalo un millón de veces antes de ir a estas demostraciones “pacíficas”. El riesgo de ser identificado y arrestado por las agencias federales es demasiado alto y la mayoría tenemos familias acá que dependen de nosotros. No vale la pena eso. Finalmente NO llevemos banderas de nuestros países. Se supone que queremos que algún día nos den legalización, pues tenemos que mostrar que amamos su tierra, lo cual es verdad, pues ya la mayoría nos hemos encariñado con esta patria, a pesar que no es nuestra y estoy seguro que más de alguno como yo, empuñaría un arma sin pensarlo para salir en defensa de USA si fuese necesario, en especial, los que tenemos hijos nacidos acá. ¿O me van a negar que cuando escuchan las notas del himno estadounidense sienten nostalgia, a pesar que no somos de acá? Porque yo sí lo he sentido muchas veces. Pongámonos en el lugar de los gringos, si yo estuviera en El Salvador y llegaran 1000 extranjeros, poniendo música en su idioma, y ondeando las banderas de Rusia, por ejemplo, yo lo tomaría como un intento de invasión y me preocuparía. Es mi opinión. Tiene derecho a pensar diferente. Si es el caso, pero déjamelo saber con respeto y educación, porque ese es otra cosa que aprovechamos las redes sociales para maldecir a los demás que ni siquiera conocemos a veces. Mal hecho.

He's noting protests going on and it is not worth it to protest violently or disrespectfully because that will be used to make the community look bad. He advises people who do not have documentation to avoid going to the protests to avoid being arrested. He advises them not to carry any flags other than US flags. He states if he were in El Salvador and 1000 people showed up waiving Russian flags, he would think El Salvador was being invaded.

Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon (ATLANTA CIVIC CIRCLE) notes:

Guevara is a prominent independent journalist in metro-Atlanta, known for his Spanish-language coverage of ICE and the Latino community. He was arrested by the Doraville Police Department last Saturday, while covering an anti-ICE protest on Chamblee Tucker Road in northeast Atlanta.

When he was arrested, Guevara was wearing a vest clearly marked “PRESS” and a helmet, while holding his phone to livestream the protest and police response. During his arrest, which he captured on his Facebook feed, Guevara can be heard calmly telling officers he is a member of the media.

During the protest, Atlanta Civic Circle reporters witnessed police in riot gear deploy tear gas on protestors at least three times and indiscriminately threaten to arrest both demonstrators and journalists who were standing on the sidewalk or in the parking lot of the Embry Village strip mall where the rally took place.

Joyce Lupiani (FOX 5) adds, "Guevara has extensively covered ICE arrests in the metro Atlanta area. He fled his native country of El Salvador in 2004 ahead of threats from leftwing paramilitary groups, according to laopinion.com. He has worked for Spanish-language media outlets including Atlanta Latino and Mundo Hispanico and won an Emmy Award in 2023 for his work. He founded MGNews in June last year to focus on immigration enforcement in metro Atlanta. He has more than 780,000 followers on Facebook alone." Shyna Mae Deang (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES) notes, "He was booked into DeKalb County Jail, and while bond was initially granted, ICE filed a detainer. Instead of walking free, Guevara was moved to Stewart Detention Center, where he remains under immigration custody." Anyone can be targeted. Even if they have all the legal papers, as Mario did. Even if they'd been a Chump supporter, as Mario had. The Committee to Protect Journalists offers:

“We are deeply concerned by the ongoing detention of Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara by authorities in DeKalb County, Georgia. He must be released immediately and the charges against him dropped,” said CPJ U.S., Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “Guevara was doing his job and reporting the news at the time of his arrest. It is alarming that the charges he is now facing could be a pretext to begin deportation proceedings against him.”

Guevara, an Emmy-winning reporter who covers immigration on his “MGnews” Facebook page, and other social media platforms was livestreaming the protest in the Embry Hills neighborhood northwest of Atlanta when he was detained by police. At the time of his arrest, Guevara was wearing a press pass and clearly identified himself as a journalist to law enforcement, according to video footage of his arrest.

As we've noted before when it comes to the farm raids, the worst of the worst criminals are not spending their down time harvesting vegetables for someone else. That's not how it works. So these raids on workers? They're not capturing anyone whose some big time criminal. Jireh Deng (BUSINESS INSIDER) reports:

The normally bustling streets of Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles were quiet except for the commotion of sirens and gusty helicopters. Loud bangs punctuated the night, but LA's street vendors were still slinging tacos and crêpes to the few pedestrians who had ventured out.

It was the evening of Monday, June 9, the week that the LA Times reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained several hundred immigrants in Southern California. In response, the streets of downtown had been embroiled in four consecutive days of uproar.

From the taco stand where Celeste Sughey works as a cashier, we could hear protesters and law enforcement clashing. Sughey and her co-workers have continued to sell food despite the risk of being undocumented because their families depend on the paychecks.

"This is our only job, this is how we get to survive," Sughey said. She asked that the business not be named out of fear that it could be targeted by federal law enforcement.

Two other vendors I spoke to said they had work authorization in the US but aren't citizens. They feared being swept up in what they see as indiscriminate arrests targeting Latino workers.

These are dark days. But the sun does come out and it will come out. And those who hid in the shadows will not be looked upon kindly. The voices objecting to this unAmerican behavior are growing and will continue to grow.

Lastly, we'll close with this from THE ELEVENTH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE who is disgusting the economy and the lies of Chump -- lies that include his 'big beautiful bill.'