1/2 cup medium red salsa, store-bought or homemade
1/2 lime, juice only
Pinch kosher salt
For the shrimp fajita spice mix
2 teaspoons mild chili powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
For the fajitas
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined (31/35 size)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1/2 large red onion, sliced (about 1 cup)
10 medium flour tortillas
For the toppings
Fresh avocado
Salsa
Fresh cilantro
Sour cream
Method
Make the salsa:
Char
the serrano chiles in a cast iron skillet over medium heat for 2 to 3
minutes per side, or grill over medium-high heat. Once cooked, cut the
peppers in half and scoop out seeds. Then chop and stir into your
favorite salsa along with lime and salt. It boosts the flavor and heat
substantially!
Season the shrimp:
Mix
up the spice mix of chili powder, kosher salt, black pepper, granulated
onion, cumin, dried oregano, and optional red pepper flakes. Drizzle
shrimp with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and toss with 2 tablespoons of
spice mix. Stir well to combine and coat the shrimp.
Add
the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the peppers and onions, and
sprinkle the remaining spice mix over them. Stir to coat.
Cook the fajitas:
To
cook the fajitas on the stovetop, heat a large skillet over medium-high
heat. If you’re grilling the fajitas, heat your grill to medium-high
heat along with a grill pan.
Once hot, add
veggies to the skillet or grill pan and cook for 5 to 6 minutes until
vegetables soften and start to char in spots. Scoot the veggies to one
side of the pan and add shrimp. Cook shrimp for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring
regularly until they are cooked through. They will cook fast!
Serve the fajitas:
Smear
the flour tortillas with some sour cream. Divide veggies and shrimp
between tortillas (I like to serve 3 to 4 shrimp per tortilla). You can
remove the tails prior to serving, or let each person remove their own
tails. Top the fajitas with avocado, salsa, fresh cilantro and/or sour
cream.
Leftover fajitas filling will keep okay
in the fridge for a day or two. I prefer to reheat in a skillet over
medium-low heat until warmed through. I don’t recommend microwaving
shrimp unless you want your microwave to forever smell like shrimp.
A
San Diego Navy doctor has been removed from her leadership role and is
now under investigation after her social media profile caught the
attention of a right-wing activist and the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete
Hegseth.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Janelle Marra, who has
served on active duty in the Navy for 17 years, was the medical
services director of Expeditionary Medical Facility 150 Bravo, a Navy
unit in San Diego trained to provide medical care to support military
operations.
Her
LinkedIn profile was flagged in a post by a right-wing account on X —
Libs of TikTok — on Sept. 4, calling out Marra for including her
pronouns on the page and listing a job title of “Deputy Medical Director
for Transgender Health Care.”
The post tagged
Hegseth and asked him to “look into” it. By that evening, Hegseth
re-shared the post with the message: “Pronouns UPDATED: She/Her/Fired.”
While
Marra has not officially been fired and is still working as a physician
at Navy Medical Center San Diego clinics, she has been
“administratively removed from her leadership position for a loss of
confidence in her ability to lead” and is “under investigation for
violating social media policy,” according to a U.S. Navy official.
The
Department of Defense, which President Donald Trump has asked Congress
to rename the Department of War, said it stands by Hegseth’s post on X
that commented on Marra’s pronouns and indicated that she would be
terminated.
Chump
can rot in hell and he can take prissy pot Hegseth with him. I have
never seen such an anti-LGBTQ+ administration in my life -- and never
seen one that was so made up of men who wear make up to try to pretty
themselves. Chump puts on the orange foundation, Miss Sassy JD Vance is
addicted to his eyeliner and Hegseth wears facial make up to hide his psoriasis as well as gets that nasty hair done in his own little beauty parlor that he had installed in the Pentagon.
I've
heard the rumors about Chump and the male soap opera actor (star? he
was the star of his show but his show didn't have huge ratings) and it's
never surprised me but I'm wondering if JD and Petey are on the down
low as well and that's why they go to such efforts to attack the LGBTQ+
community?
At any rate, the doctor should sue. This is beyond disgusting what they are doing to her and it should be illegal as well.
Be sure to read Stan's "Rachel Maddow and Kamala Harris" and I agree with him 100% -- it is very difficult for me to muster support for DSAers who want our votes now but last November worked to destroy Kamala's campaign. Zohran put Chump in office by working against Kamala. How does that demonstrate that he's qualified to be mayor of NYC?
Wednesday, September 24, 2025. The Epstein Files scandal takes the
duchess, a statue of Chump and Epstein goes up to celebrate the sicko
bros, Donald explodes at the UN, The Tom Homan Files scandal joins The
Epstein Files scandal in demonstrating just how corrupt Chump is, leave
it to Chump to allow two lovers to work together in the same office and
conduct their affair far from the prying eyes of their spouses, ICE
continues to hide their actions because their actions are illegal, and
much more.
President
Donald Trump has addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New
York City at a contentious moment for international relations after
France joined the U.K., Canada, Australia and Portugal in moving to
recognize a Palestinian state in response to Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Trump,
accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, is back at the U.N. for the
first time since the beginning of his second term in January.
His
speech was among the most anticipated as America’s allies and
adversaries wait to see what the president will say about ongoing
efforts to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
And
guess what he told them? He lied and told them grocery prices were
down in the US -- no, they are higher than they were this time last
year. And he told them that "your countries are going to hell."
Did
anyone connect it with Tuesday being The Day of Trumpets and all the
crazies in the US -- Chump supporters, most of them -- had taken to the
internet in the last week to explain that yesterday all the goodly would
be raised from the earth to heaven?
Yes,
there were fools around the world convinced they were 'ascending'
yesterday but, in the US, it was mainly the same fools who support Chump
-- the easily conned, the marks, the fools.
You
know two Fridays ago when SUBWAY couldn't fulfill orders placed at
their website because it kept going down and getting things wrong and
even "Sammy" (their AI bot) couldn't get things right, I thought someone
might report on that, some outlet. No one did. Or back in August that
morning where a professional golfer was golfing live on THE GOLF
CHANNEL and swore "F**K!" -- without any bleeping, it was live -- I
thought some legacy news outlet might have covered that. Or how THE GOLF CHANNEL keeps
promoting Chump because it's so stupid -- the hosts refer to NEWSDAY as
New York city's NEWSDAY. It's not. There is THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE
NEW YORK POST and THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. NEWSDAY, however, is out of
Long Island -- hence their motto "NEWSDAY, your eye on LI" (LI being
Long Island.)
I guess it's going to fall to Mira Fox at THE FORWARD and Theo Burman (NEWSWEEK)
to be the only ones in legacy/traditional/mass media to cover the nut jobs (well, as Kamala
Harris rightly pointed out to Rachel Maddow Monday night, NYC media
thinks they are the center of the world). But those nut jobs -- many of
them Chump supporters -- have been all over YOUTUBE and TIKTOK in the
last two weeks explaining how they will be leaving all the sinners
behind and how they know this is true because they had dreams --
prophetic dreams.
Now I
believe in dreams and use them all the time. I'll go to bed thinking of
a problem or something that I can't remember and I can zoom in on that
in my dreams. However, that's not being psychic or receiving messages
from the dead. (After Michael Ratner died, he did haunt me in my dreams
-- that wasn't him -- that was our conversations regarding Julian
Assange and my knowing he was no longer able to advocate for Julian so
my guilty conscience was telling me to do it for Michael. Again, I
wasn't seriously being messaged from the great beyond by Michael
Ratner.)
But I wouldn't
have a dream that I was me, an adult, and I was in classroom with
children and teenagers and the teacher told us all to go to the board
and write your ages on it and the teacher stepped out and some people
were laughing about what age I would write and then I wrote my age and
then say that this was proof that the rapture was a week out. I wouldn't
do that. But one man did and shared it online and he was joined by
many, many others.
Credit to TABITHAS SPEAKS POLITICS, Coach D and other YOUTUBE outlets (new media) that did cover the crazies.
But maybe, convinced that the end was nigh, Chump saw himself needing to tell other countries that they were going to hell?
Where's Chump going?
I
ask that mainly to recommend that you read Elaine's "Work for Chump and he'll pay you to cheat on your spouse too" and grasp that
the party of family values and the Christians and 'Christians'
supporting Chump aren't at all bothered that he's letting a couple work
together -- a couple rumored to be sleeping together (that's been
reported since 2023) despite the fact that they are both married to
other people.
How do the
Christians and 'Christians' reconcile themselves to this daily sin, this
violation of the 7th Commandment? Chump and other loons want The 10
Commandments posted in schools despite the separation between Church and
State but maybe the country would be better off it we just posted them
in Kristi Noem's office?
Elaine notes this affair's been reported on forever:
Married
Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has engaged in a years-long
affair with longtime Donald Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski, multiple
sources told The Post Friday.
Though no images
of the two getting frisky are known to exist, the pair have been less
than discreet about their relationship, with one source recalling them
making out at a hotel bar during the 2021 Conservative Political Action
Conference in Orlando, Fla.
“I remember it was
so absurdly blatant and public,” said the person, who recalled Noem and
Lewandowski getting “handsy” at the bar of the Hyatt Regency Orlando
with between 100 and 200 others around.
“It
wasn’t like 2 a.m.,” the source said. “It isn’t like we caught them at
some dive bar miles away. It’s a lobby bar where everyone is staying and
so there’s a bajillion political operatives and journalists and
electeds around. I remember I saw it with my own eyes and a couple other
people saw it and the blatantness was absurd.”
“This has been a known, open thing and we’ve all been waiting for it to blow up at some point,” the person added.
The
liaison emerged one week after Noem, a 51-year-old mom of three,
formally endorsed Trump, 77, for the 2024 Republican presidential
nomination, raising the pitch of speculation that the 45th president
would pick her as his running mate.
“He’s 100% banging her,” said a second person familiar with the relationship between Noem and Lewandowski, first reported by DailyMail.com.
The
source added that they personally witnessed Noem “sitting on his
[Lewandowski’s] lap” and “playing grab-ass” during an event at Trump’s
Mar-a-Lago resort in December 2020.
Elaine observes, "Well
Chump didn't run as a fiscal conservative. He also didn't run as a
family values Republican. So I guess the ongoing infidelity of two
workers is no big deal -- even if they're allowed to work together. I
hope all of the Christians and 'Christians' who worship Chump are okay
with two married people on the government payroll being paid to cheat on
their spouses with each other."
In her article, Mira Fox notes:
Most
of the people expecting a rapture seem to have a clear vision of what
it will look like: people rising into the sky, as though they are being
beamed up into an alien ship. (It seems likely that most of these ideas
are based on popular media such as The Leftovers, an HBO show about
those who remained after a rapture event.) Those left behind would then
endure seven years of tribulations, after which Jesus would return to
establish heaven on earth.
The idea of the
rapture is a relatively new one in Christianity. While various lines in
the New Testament refer to some sort of second coming of Jesus, also a
raising of the dead, the idea that a rapture would come to save true
Christians from the seven years of tribulations was only popularized by a
British minister in the 1830s, John Nelson Darby. In the early 1900s,
an American edition of the Bible called the Scofield Reference Bible
further spread the idea of a rapture through its margin notes.
Pastors
and historians online are desperately trying to calm those who are
concerned about the rapture via videos discussing the recent history of
the idea.
But for those readying themselves and
their homes for the rapture, the details are irrelevant. The main thing
to remember is not to look down.
Again, I believe she and THE FORWARD and NEWSWEEK were the only ones in legacy media covering it. Talk about avoidance.
This morning at MEIDASTOUCH NEWS, Ben's covered Chump's trip to the UN and all the threats Chump and his minions made.
The
12-foot statue — a combination of foam, resin, wood and wire — shows
Trump and Epstein standing on pedestals, holding hands and smiling at
one another as they appear about to frolic through the park toward the
Washington Monument in Washington, DC.
Below the statue, there are three plaques, two of which contain excerpts from the bawdy birthday letter Trump allegedly wrote Epstein for his 50th birthday.
The
whole world's talking as Chump, yet again, cannot escape his close and
personal ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein or, for that matter,
Ghislaine Maxwell. NDTV notes, "The artwork, titled 'Best Friends Forever,' was created by an anonymous
group called The Secret Handshake and will remain on display until the
evening of September 28 under a permit granted by the National Park
Service."
Sarah Ferguson can't escape her ties to Epstein either. Monday in "Sarah Ferguson is a con-artist and a fake ass snake,"
Ann covered how Andrew's ex-wife said one thing publicly -- she wasn't
against pedophiles -- but e-mailed Epstein to tell him that was just
talk for public, she and Jeffery were tight and would remain tight.
The revelations have not worked out well for Sarah -- nor should they have.
Meanwhile
there are a million questions that Chump and his administration
flunkies refuse to answer but that need to be answered as MTN points
out.
On Epstein, let's note this from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's office:
Latest episode of Making the Case available now on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube
Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking
Member of the Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee, released the fourth
episode of season two of his podcast, Making the Case. In the new
episode, Whitehouse is joined by Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA), who
leads a bipartisan discharge petition in the House of Representatives
calling on the Trump administration to release the full Jeffrey
Epsteinfiles, with redactions to protect survivors.
“Trump and his MAGA underlings at the Department of Justice
and FBI are brazenly breaking promises and doing everything in their
power to cover up what’s hidden in the Epstein files. If not for the
bipartisan work of the determined Rep. Khanna, the American people would
still be in the dark on key documents from Epstein’s estate and other
closely held secrets,” said Whitehouse. “Rep. Khanna
is a champion for justice and transparency in Washington, and I’m
thrilled to have him on this next episode of Makingthe Case to break
down the latest developments in the Epstein Files saga.”
The fourth episode of season two of Making the Case is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and other podcast platforms.
Whitehouse has long been the Senate’s leading voice for improving
transparency and accountability in politics and in Washington,
delivering a series of speeches on the Senate floor about the special
interest scheme to capture the judicial branch. In August, Whitehouse wrote a
letter to the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons demanding more
information on the transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum-security
prison camp in Texas. Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and Jeffrey
Epstein associate, was transferred without explanation to the cushy
prison camp after an unusual visit by Deputy Attorney General Todd
Blanche.
Whitehouse and Khanna have previously teamed up to investigate corruption in the fossil fuel industry, and introduced legislation to crack down on profiteering by Big Oil and return the industry’s excessive gains to working people.
Of course, Lawrence O'Donnell
pointed out on MSNBC last night, Chump has The Epstein Files scandal to
deal with but he also now has the Tom Homan scandal to deal with.
Note the clip of Homan O'Donnell plays from Homan's
chat with mannish Laura Ingraham. How dare anyone question him! He has
sacrificed for 34 years!
I'm so sorry, Tom, which years did you serve in the armed service?
None, right?
But he wants to maintain working for the US government has been a sacrifice -- and a sacrifice for multiple decades.
Anyone
familiar with criminal law is aware that those kind of
self-aggrandizing statements are the justifications that criminals make
for taking bribes or stealing money.
So file it under "How To Confess Wihtout Dirctly Saying I'm Guilty."
Yesterday
on MSNBC's THE WEEKNIGHT, US House Rep Jasmine Crockett provided the
walk through on what Homan is accused of and how to pursue it.
Again, it is The Homan Files scandal and it's further corruption on display.
Over
the weekend, it came out that Tom Homan, one of the senior architects
of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, allegedly took $50K
from undercover FBI agents posing as business executives hoping to bribe
their way into government contracts if Trump won. He’s said to have
accepted the funds — which the FBI reportedly captured on video — in a Cava bag.
If the fast food chain doesn’t immediately capitalize on this with some
sort of marketing campaign, then I’ve lost all faith in them.
Homan,
interestingly enough, put himself front-and-center of the move to drop
the Eric Adams bribery case. Homan never came across as the proper
spokesperson for the administration’s decision, highlighted when he seemed to confirm a quid pro quo for
dropping the Adams case, but in retrospect, he might have had a vested
interest in putting out the message that bribery isn’t anything to be
ashamed of.
Since
late December, J. Dale Shoemaker, a reporter for the Investigative
Post, a nonprofit newsroom based in Buffalo, has filed seventeen Freedom
of Information Act requests with the US Immigration and Customs
Enforcement and US Customs and Border Protection to guide his deep dives
into federal law enforcement activity, deportation actions, and ICE
detention centers in upstate New York. In return, he says, he has gotten
only documents that were redacted beyond comprehension, or nothing at
all. “I have not received a satisfactory response to a single one of
them,” Shoemaker said.
Ryanne
Mena, of the Los Angeles Daily News, sent ICE a FOIA request on January
24 for all grievance forms filed by detainees at facilities in Adelanto,
California, between 2016 and early 2025. Nearly eight months later, she
said, she’s received nothing: ICE “has failed to provide me with an
estimated date of production despite repeated requests.”
Monica
Eng, a reporter for Axios, filed a FOIA request with ICE in February,
seeking data she hoped would inform stories about where and why agents
were apprehending people in Illinois. At first, she said, ICE officials
appeared willing to cooperate. But by March, ICE had denied Eng’s
request in full, citing “ongoing law enforcement investigations.” Axios
filed an administrative appeal with ICE, but hasn’t received a response.
“I have filed a lot of FOIAs, and my requests to the Trump Department
of Homeland Security have been some of the least successful and least
transparent,” Eng said.
ICE and
CBP have become centerpieces of President Donald Trump’s quest to deport
millions of undocumented immigrants from US soil through aggressive law
enforcement tactics and billions of dollars in new federal funding. But
CJR spoke to nearly two dozen reporters, editors, and other people at
news organizations and open-records watchdog groups across the country
who have filed FOIA requests with the agencies, and who say that ICE and
CBP officials routinely deny or ignore those requests. The agencies
have never been particularly open with the press, but many reporters
believe that their experience is part of an enhanced effort by the Trump
administration to conceal immigration agency operations, even in
possible violation of federal law. Some also described the agencies’
press offices as functionally useless, with media officials providing
few, if any, answers to even their most basic of inquiries.
Chioma
Chukwu, the executive director of American Oversight, a nonprofit
organization that advocates for public access to government records,
said ICE and Border Protection have an “abysmal” track record of
transparency. Of 137 requests her group has filed with ICE and CBP over
the course of 2025, there has been a “substantive response” to just
one—“and that took almost seven months,” Chukwu said. “ICE and CBP
remain among the slowest and least transparent agencies we deal with,
routinely flouting FOIA’s requirements and denying the public timely
access to information about their operations.”
This
stonewalling comes at a time when ICE—and its parent organization, the
Department of Homeland Security—has repeatedly cracked down on
journalism about its operations. The department has described the video
recording of ICE agents as “violence,” with a department spokesperson
promising to prosecute those who “illegally harass ICE agents to the
fullest extent of the law.” Multiple reporters have been arrested or
injured while covering protests or anti-ICE rallies, including
Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevaram, who was detained while covering a
rally in Georgia in June, and Australian reporter Lauren Tomasi, who was
shot in the leg with a rubber bullet as she reported on an anti-ICE
protest in Los Angeles. In early September, a federal judge issued a
preliminary injunction ordering DHS to stop using “nonlethal” weapons
against journalists. “Under the guise of protecting the public, federal
agents have endangered large numbers of peaceful protesters, legal
observers, and journalists—as well as the public that relies on them to
hold their government accountable,” the judge wrote. “The First
Amendment demands better.”
Some news
outlets told CJR they believe that, in ICE’s and CBP’s handling of their
FOIA requests, the agencies are themselves violating federal law by
ignoring statutory deadlines or failing to respond altogether. By law,
government agencies must determine within twenty business days whether
to fulfill or deny a FOIA request and “immediately notify” the requester
of their decision. Agencies may also extend this deadline because of
“unusual circumstances.” If fulfilling a FOIA request requires
significant time, agencies are required by law to offer requesters an
“opportunity to arrange with the agency an alternative time frame for
processing the request or a modified request.” Requesters have the right
to appeal agencies’ FOIA determinations, and if all else fails, they
may sue the government in federal court.
Federal
agents caught and detained a 5-year-old girl to lure her immigrant
father outside the family's home following a brief traffic pursuit,
according to a report.
Video of
the incident Tuesday in Leominster, Massachusetts, captures the family's
anguished screams as Immigration and Customs Enforcement held the
5-year-old girl outside after chasing her father, Edward Hip, a
Guatemalan man who has lived in the U.S. for 22 years, reported WBTS-CD.
"Is that your daughter? Come here so I can see those IDs," one of the agents said, according to the video.
The
girl's mother tells the agents her daughter is on the autism spectrum
and begs for her return, saying agents had grabbed the girl as she
followed her father inside.
U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a man inside the
Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland following a pre-trial hearing on
Sept. 15, according to a statement issued by Alameda County public
defender Brendon Woods on Monday.
Two
ICE agents in plain clothes allegedly detained the man in a courthouse
hallway and took him out of the building to waiting, unmarked vehicles.
Agents took him to an ICE detention facility, where he remains in
federal custody, according to Woods.
“ICE raids at our
courthouses must stop immediately,” Woods said in a statement. “People
who follow a judge’s orders to attend court should not have to fear
federal agents kidnapping them and dragging them away to detention
centers. Our democracy cannot function if this continues.”
The
ICE arrest was the first made in an Alameda County courthouse under the
authority of President Donald Trump, according to Woods.
“Everyone
-- our clients, victims, witnesses, staff, lawyers -- deserves to
participate without fear,” Woods said. “Our justice system loses
legitimacy when people do not feel safe entering a courthouse. We cannot
allow a racist, authoritarian regime to interfere with our local courts
like this. It’s time to pick a side. Either you allow this to happen to
members of our community or you take action to prevent it.”
U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are holding a man
living in New York who has lawful permanent residence status and has
been caring for his wife with cancer.
The
arrest of Duwayne Baugh took place last month but was only reported on
Monday by The City, a New York-based news publication.
His
wife, Kaiisha Baugh, wrote in a statement to Newsweek, “My husband has
been a lawful permanent resident for years. A routine check-in should
not lead to this kind of torture and separation. It’s becoming
unbearable and I just hope the Judge sees the cruelty and unfairness
here and allows him to come home.”
His attorney confirmed to Newsweek that he has lawful permanent residence status.
They're
destroying lives. And we're not going to let them forget it. This
will not be swept aside like the internments during WWII. We, as a
people and as a country will not spend the future pretending this was
okay or alright. Donald Chump's not the only one who is going to take
the historical fall on this. Crooks like Tom Homan and Kristis
cheaty-cheaty bang-bang Noem and ICE agents and so many more. We see
you.
ICE has so much to hide -- most crooks do.
During
the last Trump administration, California Democrats were so concerned
about ICE making arrests at superior court buildings and potentially
discouraging witnesses from testifying that they passed a law to forbid
that kind of enforcement.
Picking
people up at a courthouse can have a “potential chilling effect” on
witnesses, victims and even suspects who are afraid to show up for
court, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero said
earlier this summer.
“Making
courthouses a focus of immigration enforcement hinders, rather than
helps, the administration of justice by deterring witnesses and victims
from coming forward and discouraging individuals from asserting their
rights,” Guerrero said.
But
no one cares about 'state's rights' in what was once the Republican
Party. They don't care anymore. They don't care about the law because
The Crooked Court continues to break the law, to subvert the law and to
reward the criminal behavior of Donald Chump.
I
think we need serious Congressional oversight of the current Supreme
Court. I think they need to submit all financial records to the
Congress so that we can find out exactly who's being paid off -- it's
not just Thomas and Alito, it's much more than that. For more on the
failure that the Supreme Court has become, see Betty's "The Crooked Court" from last night.
But
let's ponder something. Chump's secret police? They're getting
bonuses. Of $50,000. How did they arrive at that figure? Did Homan,
acting director of ICE, brag in a meeting, "Hey, last fall I got a bonus
of $50,000 when I took that bribe. $50,000 all around!"?
Now we're winding down with this from Senator Mazie Hirono's office:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mazie K.
Hirono (D-HI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and U.S. Representatives Adam
Smith (D-WA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) introduced the Protect Adoptees and American Families Act,
legislation that would grant U.S. citizenship to international adoptees
who were legally adopted in the U.S. as children but lack citizenship
status due to a loophole in the Child Citizenship Act of 2000.
“Thousands of American families and their
internationally-adopted children have been living in fear and
uncertainty due to an oversight in the Child Citizenship Act,
which is why I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing legislation
that would provide a long overdue solution to address this issue,” said Senator Hirono. “The Protect Adoptees and American Families Act will help keep families together, and ensure that international adoptees are afforded the rights they deserve as U.S. citizens.”
Families who adopted children from abroad were previously required to
complete a lengthy, expensive naturalization process for their adopted
children, on top of the adoption process itself. In some cases, the
paperwork was not completed in full, leaving adoptees unaware they were
living in the U.S. without citizenship. The Child Citizenship Act of 2000
(CCA) streamlined this process by granting automatic citizenship to
foreign-born children under 18 adopted by U.S. citizens. However, the
law only applied to adoptees under age 18 at the time the CCA took
effect in February 2001. Adoptees who had already reached adulthood were
excluded, leaving tens of thousands of people without citizenship
despite being raised in American families.
The Protect Adoptees and American Families Act fixes this
oversight by confirming U.S. citizenship for internationally adopted
individuals, regardless of when they were adopted or their age.
Specifically, the bill:
Provides automatic citizenship to foreign-born children lawfully
adopted by U.S. families who turned 18 before February 27, 2001; and
Establishes a path to citizenship for adoptees living abroad who
meet eligibility requirements but currently reside outside the U.S. This
process includes background checks and the resolution of any
outstanding legal matters before citizenship is granted.
This legislation will provide long-overdue certainty for adoptees who
have faced barriers to higher education, employment, and financial
services, and who in some cases have even faced deportation to countries
where they have no family or community ties.
The bill has been endorsed by Adoptee Rights Campaign; Korean
American Grassroots Conference; National Council For Adoption; Ethics
and Religious Liberty Commission; NAKASEC; Niskanen Center; Center for
Adoption Policy; National Immigration Forum; National Asian Pacific
American Bar Association; Adoptees for Justice; Family Coalition for
Adoptee Citizenship; National Alliance for Adoptee Equality; and
Alliance for Adoptee Citizenship.
“As a national network in five states, the NAKASEC network
strongly urges the immediate passage of this legislation. Birth parents,
adoptive parents, and sending countries partnered with the United
States with the understanding that adoptees would be full members of
their families – with all the rights, protections, and opportunities
afforded to them. It’s important to note that citizenship for adoptees
is an issue only in the United States. No other receiving country failed
to confer citizenship for the children in their care. It’s time for the
United States to fulfill their promises and secure citizenship for all
intercountry adoptees,” said Becky Belcore, Co-Director of the National
Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC).
“We recognize the challenges faced by adoptees who, though
raised in American families and contributing fully to our communities,
continue to live without the protections of citizenship. We applaud the
leadership of Rep. Smith, Rep. Bacon, Sen. Hirono, and Sen. Collins in
introducing the Protect Adoptees and American Families Act, a bipartisan
measure that offers long-overdue relief and recognition to those who
are American in every way except on paper. With Korean American adoptees
among the most affected, KAGC is committed to working with partners to
ensure this vital legislation is enacted and justice is delivered to all
impacted,” said Wonseok Song, Executive Director of the Korean
American Grassroots Conference, the largest nationwide network of
Korean American voters.
“NCFA supports the Protect Adoptees and American Families
Act. Congress intended citizenship for children being internationally
adopted by American citizens, but a complicated and confusing
immigration and visa system resulted in some parents failing to complete
the citizenship process on behalf of their minor children. The Protect
Adoptees and American Families Act provides the citizenship that was
initially intended for these individuals,” said Ryan Hanlon, National Council For Adoption.
“The Protect Adoptees and American Families Act fixes a
25-year loophole that has prevented internationally adopted Americans,
raised by American families and fully integrated into American society,
from achieving full United States citizenship. There is no excuse. Now
is the time for Congress to get this commonsense bill over the finish
line and provide a long-awaited solution for these families and for the
betterment of our country,” said Kristie De Pena, Director of Immigration Policy at the Niskanen Center.
“We support this effort to strengthen American families by
easing the citizenship process for international adoptees. The Protect
Adoptees and American Families Act supports a core aspect of our
national values, and we are glad to see Republicans and Democrats come
together behind it. We look forward to seeing it passed and signed,” said the National Immigration Forum.
“Fundamental fairness demands that those children who were
lawfully adopted and raised in the United States enjoy the full
privileges and opportunities of American life.?
Yet for thousands of international adoptees, so many of whom arrived
from Asian countries and through no fault of their own, that basic
promise has been denied due to inadvertent missing paperwork.?
The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) commends
the sponsors for introducing the Protect Adoptees and American Families
(PAAF) Act, a pivotal step to ensure that those impacted within the
Asian Pacific American community can finally enjoy stability and pursue a
livelihood without fear of removal,” said Priya Purandare, Executive Director of NAPABA.
“Adoptees and their families across the country are living in
fear, shock, and with a sense of betrayal – often learning they are not
citizens when they are well into adulthood and after lifetimes as
Americans. More and more adoptees are reaching out when they are
approaching or in their senior years. Their stories underscore the
urgent need for immediate legislative repair. The introduction of this
bill shows that our country’s leaders recognize this profound injustice
and are committed to adoptees and American families,” said Rachel Koelzer, Co-Founder of Adoptees For Justice.
“We’re thrilled at the introduction of this bill that will
give aging adoptees the rights and protections that are rightfully
theirs. Reintroducing this bill is an important step toward ensuring
that no one is denied their rights or opportunities because of how they
came to be a part of their families. This is the tenth year the bill has
been introduced – let’s get it passed this session!” said Amanda Cho, Policy Manager with the Alliance for Adoptee Citizenship.
“To be adopted into a family is to be chosen, loved, and
embraced as one of their own. Adoption is a bond that transcends
borders, making you not just a citizen of a country, but a citizen of a
family, forever. Somehow, we as adoptees have been forgotten. We were
lost in the shuffle and are being held accountable for the
responsibilities of adults that were ignorant of the process. Our
adoptive parents were under the impression that we were citizens through
the adoption process. Many of us were born in the 60s and grew up
living as citizens because we were told we were. Why would we believe
any different when we grew up being told we were citizens? We were given
our social security numbers and our driver’s licenses with no questions
asked. Why didn’t the government inform us then? If they did, we would
have been able to right the wrong. Now years later, we are in limbo,
many of us deported. How is this fair or humane? How is it fair to send
someone to a country where they know no one, they don’t know the
language, and have no means to make a living? This bill needs to be law
for those innocent adoptees who are victims of a faulty system,” said H, an adoptee without citizenship.
The full text of the legislation is available here.
Heather's trying to increase her consumption of garlic for health reasons. Garlic's good for the heart and the immune system. Good Housekeeping notes:
Garlic
is one of the oldest known crops in the world, and in addition to
folklore tales of keeping vampires away, it has proven to have some
serious health benefits. According to the Journal of Nutrition, Olympic athletes in ancient Greece used garlic as one of the earliest performance-enhancing agents.
There is also evidence that garlic was used as a remedy throughout
history to treat a variety of ailments, which is why it has been given many nicknames
ranging from "Russian penicillin" to “natural antibiotic” to “vegetable
Viagra,” among others. Today, garlic is available everywhere, and the
studies on its health benefits are endless.
Is garlic good for you?
Yes! While many studies have demonstrated the anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial benefits of garlic,
there is also promising research that garlic could help in the
prevention and management of certain types of cancer. Additionally,
garlic's health benefits may reach even further to promote better gut health, help you to live longer, resist osteoporosis, and improve cardiovascular health. Below are eight science-backed ways garlic may benefit your health.
Add the oyster sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil to a bowl and stir until combined.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles according to the package directions (boil for 7-10 minutes). Drain the cooked noodles in a colander, then set aside.
Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the drained pasta and oyster sauce mixture to the skillet, and stir well to coat the pasta. If your pasta is stiff or sticky making it hard to stir, sprinkle a small amount of hot water over the pasta to loosen it up. Garnish the pasta with any reserved sliced green onions, then serve.
News?
That was a really important interview. Make a point to stream the interview with the person who should have been president.
Tuesday, September 23, 2025. Chump continues to destroy the economy,
Kamala Harris reminds how he swore he'd fix it on day one and she
observes how feckless so many business leaders have become, Senator Adam
Schiff calls out the bribe-taking Tom Homan, we take a part an article
sent to the public e-mail account for us to highlight in order to
explain what we won't highlight here (poorly written articles containing
one factual error after another) and much more including how Chump is
losing his power not just due to his abuses but also to the natural
effect of mid-terms turning presidents in their second term into lame
ducks.
Let's start with the White House and Karoline
Leavitt who was asked about Donald Chump's illegal actions and abuse of
office as he went after political enemies. Propaganda Pig Leavitt
swiped her head repeatedly and chomped and grunted and squealed as she
lied lied lied. Robert McCoy (THE NEW REPUBLIC) explains:
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt crumbled Monday when pressed about President Trump’s lawfare against New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Trump last week forced
Erik Siebert out of his post as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District
of Virginia for failing to find (read: concoct) evidence of James’s
criminality during a five-month-long investigation.
James previously filed a civil case against Trump, in which he was ultimately found liable
for business fraud in September 2023. (An appeals court last month
tossed a $500 million penalty—but not the verdict.) Now, like several
other Trump foes, James faces a thinly veiled retribution campaign, in
which she’s accused by the administration of mortgage fraud.
ABC
White House correspondent Selina Wang laid these facts before Leavitt
at a Monday press conference. Considering that a monthslong
investigation into James by Siebert (a Trump appointee) yielded no
evidence, she asked, “Is the president saying here it doesn’t matter if there’s a crime, he just wants his political enemies to be charged?”
Leavitt
launched into a tirade against James, who, she said, “completely abused
her oath of office” and “was actively and openly engaged in lawfare.”
The press secretary also falsely claimed that last month’s removal
of Trump’s half-billion-dollar civil fraud penalty meant the president
was “exonerated” of James’s “witch hunt”—when, in reality, the appeals
court upheld the lower court’s verdict that Trump is indeed liable for
fraud.
Most likely after that,
Propaganda Pig kicked her hind legs in the air and charged at the wooden
fence around her pigsty in an attempt to get out of the barn yard.
In the meantime, are you ready for Farmageddon? Donald Chump's destroyed the economy and farmers are seeing it. James Havers (MONEYWISE) reports:
The
combines are rolling across the American Midwest, but instead of
excitement, many farmers say this harvest feels more like a crisis.
Trade
wars, rising costs, labor shortages and high interest rates have
converged into what some growers call ‘farmageddon,’ a tidal wave of
financial and emotional strain threatening one of this country’s most
vital industries. And with markets closing and storage bins filling
fast, they say time is running out.
“It
just seems like things have stalled all summer long,” Brian Warpup told
CNN recently [1], who grows corn and soybeans on 3,900 acres in
northeastern Indiana. “With harvest here, patience may be running thin.”
Donald
Chump was handed off a functioning economy, one that had recovered from
the pandemic and was an example for the entire world. And in 246 days,
he has destroyed the US economy. Last night on MSNBC, Kamala Harris
pointed out on THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW that Chump said that he was going
to lower prices -- day one -- and he did not.
That's the entire interview audio only. They have it up on their YOUTUBE channel with video in various segments.
China
is still holding off on making soybean purchases from U.S. farmers, as
its trade war with the Trump administration plays out. A key North
Dakota ag group says without an immediate solution, it could be harder
for local farmers to stay in business.
As
regional farmers fan out for the fall harvest, some are scrambling to
find extra storage for their soybeans, because China continues to look
to other nations for this commodity.
North
Dakota Farmers Union President Mark Watne said the dilemma also weighs
down prices for other major crops like corn. He said the ripple effect
could be felt for a while.
"This is a mess, and
time is of the essence here," said Watne. "We can't just keep throwing
things into storage and not have any corrective action, someplace along
the line that's going to utilize up the supply, or we'll see two, three
years of lower prices because of this action."
He agreed with analysts who predict the crisis will fuel more farm bankruptcies.
The Farmers Union acknowledges this summer's domestic tax law did
secure some benefits for farmers, but Watne said the effects won't be
noticed until next year.
During
a recent trip to Washington DC, Nebraska farmers told members of
Congress they’re being adversely impacted by President Donald Trump’s
tariffs, and they need financial assistance.
Many
corn and soybean producers say they’re losing money on their products.
The administration says it’s using economic levies to level the playing
field.
Nebraska Farmers Union President John Hansen
said ag producers want greater support for using farm products in
biofuel production, including ethanol and aviation fuel.
"We
need to be able to get serious about domestic utilization of soybeans
and corn in our gasoline and our diesel fuel," said Hansen, "and we
could be helping take a lot of pressure off of losing foreign markets if
we had better domestic utilization."
That’s largely because
key monthly costs for most Americans - shelter, food, health care,
electricity - are outpacing inflation. Rents are up 3.8 percent - the
largest increase since 2011 - the Census Bureau reported last week, and
roughly half of all renters spend more than the recommended 30 percent
of their incomes to cover the cost. Utility prices have spiked,
according to the consumer price index, with natural gas and electricity
bills rising 13.8 and 6.2 percent, respectively, since last year. And
though President Donald Trump promised to lower food costs during the
presidential campaign, grocery prices just posted their biggest increase
since 2022, due in large part to his tariffs.
Other
sectors where inflation is rising faster include homeownership and
medical care, while falling gasoline prices help bring down the overall
average.
“It’s not
that they have a choice. We’re talking about things that people must
buy. They have to live somewhere. … They have to heat their homes. They
need lights,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
How
are people coping? The best that they can. While grocery prices
continue to increase, Americans are spending more on discounted foods.
There's not much more that Americans can do right now. They've had to
give up so much as it is because Chump has wrecked the economy and now,
studies keep finding, that discounted food consumption is the only way
many are staying afloat in this economy.
The nation’s top economic statistician was fired. Central bank independence is being undermined. The federal government is buying chunks of private companies and demanding cuts of revenue streams.
Presidential power to lob tariffs has been wielded in unprecedented
fashion. And federal regulators are threatening media companies over
late-night comics.
These events all took place this year, and not in a
third-world country, but in the world’s preeminent democracy under
President Donald Trump.
Some political scientists see a pattern that suggests
American democracy is being undermined in real time. The stakes are
massive for the US economy and the business world.
“I have never been this concerned about democracy in the
United States,” Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow of governance
studies at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution, told CNN in a phone
interview.
CEOs are growing alarmed — even if they’re publicly staying quiet to avoid the wrath of the White House.
Business leaders are “quite alarmed” in private about the
state of democracy in the United States, according to Jeffrey
Sonnenfeld, the Yale professor known as the “CEO Whisperer” due to his extensive rolodex in the business community.
“We’ve had a serious erosion of the foundations of
democracy,” Sonnenfeld, founder and president of the Yale Chief
Executive Leadership Institute, told CNN.
As
Kamala noted to Rachel last night, the capitulation to Chump has been
surreal, "bending to blackmail and outrageous demands."
Angelina Jolie speaks for many Americans in the video below.
"I love my country but I don't at this time recognize my country."
The president posted — and then deleted — a message to Bondi
complaining that "nothing is being done" about former FBI director James
Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff,
a day after federal prosecutor Erik Siebert complied with Trump's
demand for his resignation for failing to bring mortgage fraud charges
against James.
"There's some speculation that this was
meant as a private message to Pam Bondi," Lemire told "Morning Joe."
"The White House has not confirmed that, but the writing of it might
have been meant as a DM, as opposed to a Truth Social post because Trump
then took that post down, tried to clean it up with a subsequent
posting.
"But this is, we know President Trump campaigned on the idea of retribution.
That was one of his campaign platforms last year, and this is what that
appears to look like, and we have seen U.S. attorneys across this
country find a lack of evidence, there has not been a charge yet against
Letitia James, the New York State attorney general. There have not been
charges yet against Sen. Schiff or others."
"We have also
seen, though, an effort by this president to remove a U.S. attorney who
wouldn't bring charges, and he makes mention of that in this post, too,
saying he needs to be replaced with someone perhaps more compliant, and I
think this is what Democrats have been warning about for months, that we'd get to this step," Lemire added.
"Will
there be follow-through? We'll see in the days ahead, but this is, as
one senior Democrat put to me over the weekend, this is a five-alarm
fire."
Former Trump defense attorney Lindsey Halligan was reportedly sworn in
as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Monday
after the president forced out her predecessor for failing to turn up
wrongdoing with which to charge New York Attorney General Letitia James
(D) and other public figures he considers his enemies.
Erik Siebert, the previous acting U.S. attorney, resigned Friday after Trump told reporters he wanted him gone.
Halligan has no prosecutorial experience. Most recently, she worked in the White House staff secretary’s office, reportedly
tasked with censoring the Smithsonian museums. Previously, per ABC, she
handled insurance claims related to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents
case.
Trump announced that he’d be appointing her Friday via
social media. That post came shortly after one that was styled as (and
possibly intended to be) a direct message to AG Pam Bondi, where Trump
reamed her out for not pursuing his political enemies (including James)
aggressively enough.
The president of the United
States is not supposed to misuse the government. He or she is not
allowed to, for example, ask the IRS to audit his political enemies.
Nixon tried all of that. Those were high crimes and misdemeanors.
People were put on enemies lists and harassed at the borders -- US
citizens harassed as they came back into the country.
Because
Nixon was a crook and not an idiot, he knew to keep it hidden. Chump's a
fool suffering from dementia and he is putting it out there for all to
see, he is making his own case publicly for why Congress should move to
impeach him.
The mid-terms are important because Democrats stand a good chance of regaining one house of Congress, maybe both.
But the mid-terms are important for another reason.
After the mid-terms focus turns to the next presidential election.
Someone who cannot run again -- like Chump -- becomes a lame duck.
There
will be less need for Republicans who remain in Congress after the
mid-terms to continue their slovenly support of Chump. They'll need to
focus on the candidates on their side who want to become the next
president.
To do that, a GOP candidate wanting to win
the primaries is going to have to distinguish him or her self from
Chump. Following the mid-terms, Americans are not going to want to hear
JD Vance promising that he will continue Chump's failed policies that
have increased prices, his failed policies that have destroyed
healthcare, his failed policies that have destroyed education, his
failed policies that have . . .
They will have to draw a
line between themselves and the current president. They will have to
run against 'the establishment.'
That's a reason
Chump should fear the mid-terms. Even the feckless will stand up to him
after the mid-terms -- or come as close to standing up as they are
physically possible.
An e-mail from [unnamed
publication] wants to know how to get something noted. Oh, I have to
name them sorry. THE NATION magazine. I still have a few friends at
the rag. After the way they lied and worked to defeat Kamala --
including the editorial that argued you shouldn't vote for her -- they
can go f**k themselves. I've said that to friends there and I've said
it here at this site. But let's pretend that it's another outlet. You
would e-mail common_ills@yahoo.com and someone would look over it. If
they thought it was worthy of note, they'd put it in a folder for me to
look at. Sometimes they might put one in that they're unsure of. I'd
read and I'd decide.
"Nina
Bang: The Marxist Historian Who Opened the Doors of Power to Women" --
sorry Bayan but if, as you write, Nina got her masters in 1894 then
there was at least one woman before opening the doors of power or she
wouldn't have been able to get the degree. (Some sources note her
highest degree was a doctorate and there year the degree was awarded
also differs from source to source.)
In Bayan's badly written 3rd grade summary, she offers:
Selected Works
Karl Marx: His Life and Work (1918)
What
does that say? "Works"? That's plural. Change it to "Selected Work"
or note the other book she was an author of (the two-volume) TABLES OF
SHIPPING AND GOODS (she also translated another author's book on Karl
Marx).
Then you have this:
Although committed to women’s issues, she did not position herself
within a liberal feminist discourse. Instead, she considered women’s
liberation inseparable from the liberation of society as a whole from
economic and political constraints. She rejected a form of feminism that
isolated gender struggle from class struggle, believing that such an
approach stripped the movement of its revolutionary substance.
No, she wasn't a feminist, she pretty much rejected feminism itself as ENCYCLOPEDIA.COM notes,
"Although Bang was one of the first established female political
activists, she was not an active feminist; she considered women's social
and legal issues part of general political issues and part of the
general battle for democratic progress.
"She was among the first women historians to break men’s monopoly over academic history writing."
Really?
She was born in 1866. The first known female historian is usually said to be Anna Comnena
who wrote THE ALEXIAD and who was born in 1083. Others who predate Bang
include Matilda Josyln Gage, Henrica van Erp, Johanna Naber, Harriet
Martineiu, Anna Julia Cooper, Mary Wollstonecraft, Luise Gerbing, Mary
Bonaventure Browne and, as a feminist, I'm smart enough to know that for
every one woman historian I'm aware of there are probably 100 more who
are either erased in history or misclassified as something else (Anna
Julia Cooper's first book -- a collection of speeches and essays A VOICE
FROM THE SOUTH BY A BLACK WOMAN OF THE SOUTH is not considered a
history book by some but a book by a black woman forced into slavery and
published 27 years after the end of The Civil War about the life she
observed is history)l
I don't have much tolerance for nonsense. A lot of stuff that gets submitted via e-mail qualifies as nonsense.
Let's trudge through these three paragraphs from the bad ZNET column:
In 1895, she married Gustav Bang, a historian and prominent
politician of the Social Democratic Party. For Nina, marriage was not a
traditional framework of male authority but a partnership built on
intellectual equality and a shared political project.
Together, they formed a rare Marxist-socialist duo, jointly analyzing
the social and political realities of their time and contributing to
the development of a radical critical vision for the future of Denmark
and the world.
They had no children, but their relationship extended beyond private
life into the public sphere, as their home became both an intellectual
salon and a hub of political activity. Gustav’s death in 1915 was a
personal shock to Nina, but it transformed into a renewed commitment, as
though grief became a driving force for her continued defense of the
working class and marginalized groups.
They had no children?
That must have come as a surprise to Merete Hansen. Who? Gustav Ban and Nina Bang's daughter Merete Bang Hasen.
I
can do this with at least 21 more examples of a piece that should have
never been published. As an Iraqi woman who escaped to Denmark, is the
author compelled to make up lies? She wasn't the first feminist (she'
wasn't a feminist) in Denmark, she wasn't the first to blaze a trail. I
have no idea why an Iraqi woman would be so fascinated with this woman
and bend over backwards in order to make her appear to be a feminist, a
first and so much more. But that's how you can get rejected and ignored
by me: Write poorly and make one factual error after another. It's a
shame that despite Iraq's rich history of feminism -- and lengthy
history -- Bayen Saleh writes such an embarrassing article
Let's wind down with Senator Adam Schiff:
Schiff on Homan: “Who takes 50,000 in cash in a bag, if they’re doing something legitimate?”
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined MSNBC’s Alex Witt Reports to
discuss Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to weaponize the Department of
Justice (DOJ) against his political opponents and the administration’s
hypocrisy on DOJ investigations in the wake of a bombshell report
detailing the closing of a bribery probe into White House Border Czar
Tom Homan.
Schiff slammed Trump for pressuring the
Attorney General to bring baseless cases against his critics – including
himself, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General
Letitia James – and for filling DOJ and FBI leadership with loyalists
who have undermined serious investigations while dismissing corruption
among Trump’s allies. Schiff also slammed FBI Director Kash Patel for
his testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Epstein
case and the firing of senior FBI agents who investigated Trump.
On Trump pushing Attorney General Bondi to pursue baseless charges:
He made it very clear that he was firing
the U.S. Attorney of Virginia for not bringing a meritless mortgage
fraud case against Letitia James, and he’s basically out in the opening
pressuring his Attorney General, sending a message to other U.S.
attorneys out there that if they don’t do his will, they don’t do his
bidding and bring meritless cases against his enemies, they could be
fired. And this is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Nixon had his
enemies list, but it wasn’t so exhaustive and blatant as this, where he
was ordering, in front of the whole country, the Justice Department to
go after his enemies. In my case, for impeaching him, leading his first
impeachment, for serving on the January 6 Committee. And
what he wants to try to do is not just go after me and Letitia James or
Lisa Cook, but rather send a message that anyone who stands up to him
on anything, anyone who has the audacity to call out his corruption will
be a target, and they will go after you. It’s an effort to try to
silence and intimidate people, but I refuse to be silenced or
intimidated.
On weaponization of the Justice Department:
I served for almost six years in the U.S.
Attorney’s Office. I venerated my experience in that department, all
the hard-working men and women who are doing, I think really, really
important work on serious cases. But this just casts a shadow over all
of it. We’ve seen top leadership at the department devastated. We’ve
seen three top people, Trump criminal defense lawyers, appointed to the
top positions of the Justice Department. They’re running things. When
you see, for example, Todd Blanche personally intervene in the Epstein
case, someone Blanche who acknowledged that he has a continuing duty to
his client as Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, then it’s the interest of
the American people that suffer. You’re seeing the same devastation at
the FBI, where senior FBI agents are being fired or pushed out, so the
nonpartisan leadership at the top is being pushed out. It’s
gone. And instead, you have this now fully weaponized department to go
after the president’s enemies. And in the case of Tom Homan, to run
interference against investigations that are a serious and warrant
investigation. So, you have both the dismissal of charges against the
president’s allies like Eric Adams, the dismissal of investigations
against Tom Homan and pressure to bring meritless investigations against
the president’s enemies.
On the investigation into Tom Homan:
These people should have never been confirmed for these positions.
And there’s only a limit to what Democrats can do, given that we don’t
have the votes in the Senate to defeat them. We need some Republicans of
good conscience to turn down the arcade juniors that are going to
endanger the public health of the people exists. They’re going to
endanger the national security and to call for the resignation of people
like Tom Homan. I mean, how can you have a top if. Enforcement
official, the border czar, like Tom Homan, who took $50,000 from
undercover agents in a bag, in a bag with the apparently, reportedly the
promise of helping deliver federal contracts when he was going to take a
position in the Trump administration. How
can you have that person in leadership? He should be gone. And I hope
my Republican colleagues will join me and others in demanding that the
videotape of him taking the bag, literally holding the bag, be shown to
the public. We also, I think, got to hear the audio conversations of him
making those promises in a change for that 50,000 in cold cash. I mean,
who does that? Who takes 50,000 in cash in a bag, if they’re doing
something legitimate?
###
And also from Senator Schiff's office, let's note this on the same topic:
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Adam Schiff
(D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the
following statement in response to reports that
the Trump administration intervened to close an investigation into
former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and
current White House Border Czar, Tom Homan, despite evidence of Homan
collecting bribes in exchange for facilitating future government
contracts.
The investigation reportedly included video of Homan accepting $50,000 in cash from undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents last fall.
“Nothing demonstrates the Trump administration’s culture of
corruption like closing an ongoing investigation into one of the
President’s close associates despite clear evidence of a conspiracy to
commit bribery captured on camera.
“The Justice Department, FBI, and White House must be held to
account. Congress must demand that the administration immediately
preserve all evidence related to this investigation and immediately
release the video of Homan. The public should be able to watch the
conduct of a high-ranking law enforcement official for itself.
“From this report, it appears that the investigation into Homan
was known to Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and
other key administration officials, including then-Acting Deputy
Attorney General Emil Bove. It is critical that we understand who knew
about this probe, who specifically ordered its end and under what
circumstances, and whether it influenced the Trump Administration’s
decision to place Homan in a position that avoided Senate confirmation
and accountability to Congress.
“The American people also deserve a clear accounting of Homan’s
influence on federal contracting decisions. Homan has repeatedly touted
this administration’s aggressive plans for expanding immigrant detention
centers, including for families with young children. If he was willing
to accept at least $50,000 from an undercover FBI agent, any contracts
that Homan approved or advocated for must be scrutinized by independent
watchdogs and Congress.”
