Trina's Kitchen

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Cheesy Hot Dog Casserole in the Kitchen

Olivia notes that she's got four kids to feed and Chump's destroyed the economy. There's a recipe from Pillsbury for Cheesy Hot Dog Casserole:

Ingredients

1 package (14 to 16 oz) hot dogs, sliced 1/4 inch
1 can (15 to 16 oz) pork and beans, undrained
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 can (10.2 oz) refrigerated Pillsbury™ Grands!™ Southern Homestyle Buttermilk Biscuits (5 Count)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz)

Instructions

Step
1

Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) baking dish with cooking spray. In medium saucepan, mix sliced hot dogs, pork and beans, onion, ketchup and brown sugar; mix well. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Spoon hot bean mixture into baking dish.
Step
2

Separate dough into 5 biscuits; cut each biscuit into 6 pieces. Arrange biscuits in single layer over hot bean mixture. Sprinkle with cheese.
Step
3

Bake 18 to 21 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and biscuits in center of baking dish are cooked through on bottom.

Chump has crewed over the country and it's only going to get worse. I am so sorry for those of you struggling with bills. I've been there -- most of my life, in fact. Eight kids to raise, feed and clothe? I've been there where you are begging the electric company for eight extra days on the bill -- please, please, please don't shut it off.

I know you can and will make it through. But this is not your fault and should have to be struggling. This is the fault of a wealthy man who just helps his friends and you and I are not his friends. Those of who have to struggle are not his friends. His friends are rich crooks who get away with everything, stealing, assaulting youn girls, those are his friends.

Greg Owen (LGBTQ Nation) reports:

In twin moves attacking transgender detainees and prisoners, new guidance from the Trump administration strips away safeguards against rape and other protections for trans people in custody in U.S. prisons and Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities.

The Department of Homeland Security instituted this revised guidance this month for several privately-run ICE facilities, while the Department of Justice (DOJ) is moving to eliminate rules protecting LGBTQ+ people from sexual abuse in prisons, a shift advocates are calling “reckless and dangerous.”

At least six ICE detention facilities, most run by private prison companies, have newly modified government contracts to strip away safeguards against rape and other protections for trans detainees rounded up in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, The American Prospect reports.

As of January 5, multiple detention centers revoked safety measures and halted medical care for trans prisoners in Arizona, New Mexico, Georgia, and at least two facilities in Texas.

A third in Laredo, Texas, run by CoreCivic, has a contract modification stating “all transgender guidance provided here is hereby rescinded,” but doesn’t specify what the guidance included.

The revised contracts cite Trump’s executive order “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism” as the reason for the changes, which also include a revocation of all diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility language.

The cruelty is disgusting. Donald Chump will rot in hell. And he will deserve to rot in hell for eternity.

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

Thursday, January 15, 2025. Chump's administration is filled with liars, another shooting in Minnesota, the F-word Chump and his bad body odor, the American people are not buying ICE lies and much more.

We are returning to the Tuesday Ford factory visit Donald Chump made for a reason: To demonstrate how the White House lies. Ben Solis (MICHIGAN ADVOCAE) reports:

A union-backed auto worker at Ford Motor Co. was caught on video heckling President Donald Trump as a “pedophile protector” when he visited a Dearborn factory on Tuesday ahead of his address to the Detroit Economic Club. The video that has now gone viral shows Trump responded in kind by mouthing an expletive at the worker, twice, and displaying a middle finger as he walked away.

Now, the union says the worker has been suspended while Ford looks into the matter.

A representative from the UAW told Michigan Advance late Tuesday that they could confirm that he was suspended but the length of the suspension was unknown. The union was also uncertain about the process that would follow to investigate the matter.

On Wednesday, the UAW’s Laura Dickerson, who serves as the Ford department director, issued a statement saying the “autoworker at the Dearborn Truck Plant is a proud member of a strong and fighting union—the UAW. He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job.”

Dickerson said the UAW will ensure their member receives the “full protection of all negotiated contract language safeguarding his job and his rights as a union member,” adding that workers “should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone—including the President of the United States.”

The video, which was first published by Distill Social, shows Trump walking around a raised portion of the Dearborn F-150 plant when the worker, who is not seen on screen, yells to Trump and calls him a “pedophile protector,” a reference to Trump’s widely reported connections to deceased pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein and the Trump administration’s bungling of a new law that ordered the FBI to release all of the files that the department had available to them.

A message seeking comment from Ford to confirm if the worker was fired or suspended was not immediately returned on Tuesday evening.

The worker has since been identified by the Washington Post as 40-year-old TJ Sabula, a line worker and member of UAW Local 600.

Let's note the UAW statement in full:

Jan 14 2026

Statement on Ford Plant Visit from VP Laura Dickerson, Ford Department Director

The autoworker at the Dearborn Truck Plant is a proud member of a strong and fighting union—the UAW. He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job.

The UAW will ensure that our member receives the full protection of all negotiated contract language safeguarding his job and his rights as a union member.

Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone—including the President of the United States.

# # #

KJ:sr:opeiu494afl-cio

Contact Information

Krissi Jimroglou

UAW Communications

313-518-8822

kjimroglou@uaw.net

Chump flipped the man the bird (the middle finger) and screamed "F**k you" at him at least twice after the man called him a "pedophile protector." Pedophile protector refers to Chump's refusal to release The Epstein Files even after the Act of Congress and to him screaming at former US House Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene that if he releases the files some of his friends will be hurt.

That is the definition of a pedophile protector.

And, for the record, "pedophile protector" is not an expletive. It is not a swear word. The f-word? That's a swear word.

Steven Cheung. What can you say about him? White House Communications Director. Grossly, morbidly overweight. What else? I hope he's a closeted gay man. I hope he is. Otherwise he's pathetic and lonely How pathetic do you have to be when your WIKIPEDIA entry has no "Personal Life" section? Steven has no "Personal Life" as made clear by WIKIPEDIA. That's where you find out that the person was married or lived with or dated, that's where you find out that they have a special cause that they donate to, they have pets, etc, etc. Seven Cheung, per WIKIPEDIA, has no "Personal Life."

He apparently, when not lying, just sits around stuffing his face. That would explain his statement to TMZ, "A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response."

The lunatic was Chump He was the one "screaming expletives" and in "a complete fit of rage."

But look how Cheung took the truth and 'remixed' it. He's a liar and he lies all the time. This is typical from him and typical from the White House. It never matters to them -- not the truth, not the truth being captured on video. They lie and they whore over and over.

"was ike bad breath mixed with feces"

B.O.

https://michiganadvance.com/2026/01/13/a-ford-worker-called-out-trump-the-president-flipped-him-off-now-hes-been-suspended/

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung tells TMZ ... "A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response."

Here's some more media coverage.

.

The second video is Ben with MEIDASTOUCH NEWS and we need to note two things on his video report. That awful party that Chump threw at his hellhole in Florida? It's MAGA -- EYES WIDE SHUT for the right-wing Furbies crowd.

Second, Ben notes Chump's odor. Chump has little bowel control at this point. We've noted that issue for years now. He mocked Ron DeSantis for Ron's failure to make it to the bathroom in time when Ron was in Congress and dealing with a House vote. And that's how DeSantis got his nickname from Chump. He did that even as his own body was beginning to give out. (It's also why there were complaints after he vacated a bedroom in Windsor Castle. Sheets were covered and caked in feces.) And it's so bad that their efforts now to spray him with whatever they can find to try to mask the odor no longer work Which is why, as Ben notes, people at the Ford plant were complaining about the stench of Chump, describing it as "body odor [. . .] like bad breath mixed with feces." His dementia makes it harder and harder to get him out in front of the public. Maybe Steven Cheung can give him an enema before each public appearance? If nothing else, it might give Steven a "Personal Life" at WIKIPEDIA

Faefyx Collington (LGBTQ NATION) notes Chump's health:

It can be hard to work out what might be going through Donald Trump’s head at the best of times, but lately his actions have seemed to be increasingly bizarre and reckless.

However, all of those actions become much easier to understand with one simple perspective shift: Trump knows he is dying, he doesn’t have much time, and he won’t have to face any consequences, at least not in this life.

Trump often doesn’t seem too stressed about consequences, and that’s felt especially true since he won the 2024 election. But over those four years out of office, he came close to facing very real consequences. He was tried and found liable and guilty in both civil and criminal court. It’s not unreasonable to suggest that he was well on his way to being bankrupt, imprisoned, or both. The only thing that saved him was the presidency.

If Trump leaves the White House again, he’ll be at risk of those consequences again, along with all the other ones that he has racked up over the last few months. While Steve Bannon has become the latest supporter of Trump seeking an unconstitutional third term, and Trump still refuses to rule that out, it starts to feel more likely that Trump will avoid walking out of the White House not by changing the Constitution, but by shuffling off his mortal coil while still in residence.

Trump’s health is clearly failing. He’s been seen struggling with stairs and has even mused that Obama was better at navigating them. His cognitive health might well be in decline, and his instances of random word association in public comments appear to be getting worse.

While Trump and his cronies claim that his medical reports generally show that he is in the finest health any person has ever been in, the number of those reports recently should raise an eyebrow. In early October, he had what he called a “semi-annual physical” at the Walter Reed National Medical Center. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed it was a “routine yearly checkup.” The problem is that he already had his annual physical in April.

Those checkups included an MRI at Walter Reed. “It was perfect,” Trump said, claiming “the doctor said [it] was some of the best reports, for the age, they’ve ever seen.” While MRIs are often used to rule out possible medical concerns, they’re rarely used when there are no concerns to begin with.

Trump has also claimed to have aced another cognitive test, making comments that echo his “person, woman, man, camera, TV” debacle.

The White House has not released comments on the MRI or the cognitive test. All of that might be fine, but Trump has historically overstated his health (with the help of his doctors), and with everything else, it becomes part of a suspicious pattern.

Death is clearly on Trump’s mind.

Turning to Minnesota, Nicholas Bogel-BurroughsMitch Smith and Hamed Aleaziz (NEW YORK TIMES) report this morning:

A federal agent shot and injured a man in Minneapolis on Wednesday evening, federal officials said, an incident that touched off hours of clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers and that came just one week after an immigration agent killed a woman in the city.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security

And we stop there because we don't quote known and repeated liars. As Ava and I noted in October's "Media: They fail to note the pattern of ICE lies but make time to defend this year's John Fetterman:"

They're a department of liars led by the lying Homeland Secuirty Secretary Kristi Noem.

ICE rammed a car in Chicago -- ran into it -- and they lied in statements and false charges insisting that Dayanne Figueroa, a US citizen, ran into them:

Footage obtained by Newsweek appears to show armed federal agents detaining Figueroa, dragging her by the legs to remove her from her vehicle. Some agents brandish guns, and bystanders can be heard shouting, “You hit her,” as the situation unfolds.

Additional video obtained by Figueroa’s family from another witness provides a different angle of the encounter. The bystander who is filming tells federal agents: “You hit her. We all saw it.”

“You guys are f*****g scumbags, f*****g Nazis. They hit her car. You guys hit her, and you f*****g know it,” the bystander is heard saying.

“As agents were departing, the driver, a U.S. citizen, struck an unmarked government vehicle,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek.

Tricia, like Kristi, is a repeat offender when it comes to lying to the American people. Nicole Charky-Chami (RAW STORY) notes:

A senior ICE official is under fire after publicly sharing a 13-year-old child's information — and an expert warns it "could lead to serious consequences."

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, 31, who is the most senior public affairs official under Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, revealed the identity, alleged criminal history and a photo of the child detained by ICE, The Daily Beast reported Monday.

McLaughlin is accused of sharing children's information not just once, but multiple times.

Her social media post and the DHS actions “could lead to serious consequences inside the government, such as an Inspector General investigation, disciplinary action, or even congressional scrutiny," Los Angeles-based criminal defense attorney Arash Hashemi told The Beast.

Public anger was rising after a Brazilian-born seventh-grader in Massachusetts was reportedly taken by federal agents to a juvenile detention center more than 500 miles away from his family.

In an attempt to stop the public criticism, McLaughlin and DHS tried to use social media.

"They claimed that the boy had an 'extensive rap sheet,' while listing some of his apparent past offenses. They also stated—falsely, it transpired—that he had been in possession of a firearm," The Beast reports.

It's illegal for DHS or law enforcement to share a child's information.

And here's where the media keeps failing us. Homeland Security officials have been caught in one lie after another. It's so bad that judges can't really take their claims seriously at this point. But the media too often repeats claims regarding ICE without noting the long pattern of lies from them this year.

We were all taught about the little boy who cried wolf. You don't lie because you'll be known as a liar and the time will come when you need to be believed but you're known as a liar.

A lesson we're taught as children is too much for ICE and the officials over ICE to grasp. That might be shocking if we hadn't already addressed the relaxed 'standards' when it comes to hiring ICE agents.

Yesterday was one week exactly from the murder of an unarmed American woman. The US government murdered Renee Nicole Good on January 7th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ICE agent Jonathan Ross, a man with years of training in using a firearm and who provided training to others ("a firearms instructor, an active shooter instructor"), shot and killed the mother of three who was unarmed. Ross, apparently needing to make social content while on the clock, filmed her and when the video was released, the world saw that her last words to him were, "I'm not mad at you." By contrast, he or one of his fellow agents immediately called Renee a "f**king bitch" after plugged her with three bullets. The federal government immediately began attacking Good -- even though they should be stating "I can't comment on an ongoing federal investigation."

Instead, as NPR's Martin Kaste observed on January 9th, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, "And I think what's not normal here is the way the federal officials have been publicly passing judgment on a case that's still being investigated. For instance, just today, the vice president posted a video that appears to have come from a device being held by the agent who shot Renee Good on Wednesday. It shows Good smiling and saying she's not mad at the officer. But Vance called the video evidence that the officer was in danger. So there seems to be a real disconnect right now on the basic level of what the evidence means." Fat and little Vice president JD Vance is a professional troll but his efforts this time are especially outrageous. John Grosso (NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER) observed:

Yesterday (Jan. 7), 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed in a residential Minneapolis neighborhood by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Good was a mother of three and an U.S. citizen.

Today, JD Vance has taken to social media to justify the shooting and blame Good for her own death.

Though the full circumstances of the situation are still coming to light, widely available video evidence shows the horrific moments before, during and after shots were fired into Good's car. Videos of the shooting and the ensuing aftermath are graphic and disturbing. After Good was shot, her car accelerates, slamming into another car and a pole. In one video, a person can be heard identifying themselves as a physician and offering to help only to be angrily denied by an unidentified ICE agent saying: "I don't care."

The Trump administration was quick to demonize Good. Within hours of the event and before a formal investigation could even be launched, Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem labeled Good's actions as an "act of domestic terrorism." President Donald Trump on Jan. 7 labeled her as "disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer." Trump went on to say that the ICE officer was lucky to be alive and "is now recovering in the hospital."

[. . .]

As a Catholic, Vance knows better than to peddle this brand of gaslighting and agitation. Vance knows that, by virtue of her humanity, Good was endowed with inherent dignity, made in the image and likeness of God. Vance knows that only God can take life. Vance knows that protesting, fleeing or even interfering in an ICE investigation (which there is no evidence that Good did) does not carry a death sentence. Vance knows that lying and killing are sins.

Vance knows. He doesn't care. Vance’s twisted and wrongheaded view of Christianity has been repudiated by two popes. His Catholicism seems to be little more than a political prop, a tool only for his career ambitions and desire for power.

The vice president's comments justifying the death of Renee Good are a moral stain on the collective witness of our Catholic faith. His repeated attempts to blame Good for her own death are fundamentally incompatible with the Gospel. Our only recourse is to pray for his conversion of heart.

Mike's response to Vance's outrageous lies, "As a Catholic, I'm sick of this little bitch distorting my religion. He needs to be excommunicated. I'm not joking. He is presenting as a Catholic -- he's been a Catholic for about five minutes -- and he is distorting our beliefs and our teaching. Two popes have repudiated him -- Pope Francis and now Pope Leo. Excommunicate Vance, don't let him speak for the Church or pose as a Catholic. Whatever crap he was raised before distorted his damn mind. We cannot allow him to pervert the Catholic faith."

At AMERICA: THE JESUIT REVIEW, James T. Keane writes:

After Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed in her minivan by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, Vice President JD Vance called her murder “a tragedy of her own making” and claimed that Ms. Good, a community activist and a mother of three, was “part of a broader left-wing network to attack, to dox, to assault and to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job.”

Mr. Vance claimed further that Ms. Good “viciously ran over the ICE officer” who shot and killed her, an assertion contradicted by video evidence taken from multiple angles.

Why the obvious lie? Because, similar to Ms. Kirkpatrick and Mr. Haig, Mr. Vance recognizes the potential for this atrocity to turn American public opinion against President Trump’s brutal campaign against undocumented immigrants, particularly because Ms. Good is an American citizen, was apparently denied medical assistance by ICE agents after the shooting and, according to the video evidence, posed no real threat to the shooter. Not even the most fervent supporter of the arrest and deportation of undocumented migrants, one assumes, would defend such Gestapo-like tactics.

The answer? Blame Ms. Good for her own murder.

Mr. Vance’s boss, President Trump, has engaged in further deceit and hyperbole in support of that same goal, claiming that Ms. Good “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense.” She made for an easy culprit for a man desperate to justify ICE’s actions. After all, she was already dead.

The murder of the churchwomen in El Salvador in 1980 was not an isolated incident; they shared the fate of tens of thousands of other Salvadorans, including Rutilio Grande, S.J., St. Oscar Romero, and the six Jesuits and two laywomen who were murdered by the Salvadoran military in 1989 in San Salvador. Eventually, the overwhelming evidence of these murders became too much for American politicians to justify, and U.S. funding for the Salvadoran military government dried up. It just became impossible to believe the lie anymore.

On the 40th anniversary of the martyrdom of the churchwomen of El Salvador, Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., preached at a memorial Mass in Rome on the impact of their witness. “Theirs, mysteriously but without doubt, is the triumph because vigorous, courageous acts of solidarity and compassion persist in dreadful, risky conditions,” he said. “Brutal claims failed and fail to stop the evangelizing.”

Let us hope the same will happen in Minneapolis. Nothing can bring Renee Good back; her 6-year-old son is without his mother now, her partner a widow. The masked man who killed her simply drove away. Nor is her death an isolated incident: All over the country, we hear and see more and more examples of violent attacks by masked ICE agents who seem to face no accountability for their crimes. And we hear the brutal claims used after the fact to justify them.

How long before it simply becomes impossible to believe the lie anymore?

And they keep lying. And they keep smearing Renee Nicole Good. Over and over, multiple times a day. The government just lies. And how's that going?

Not very well at all.

Tommy Christopher (MEDIAITE) notes, "Americans favor the filing of criminal charges against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross for the killing of Renee Nicole Good — with a whopping 23-point spread between 'yes' and 'no' responses." Christopher explains:

Days after the shooting, Americans disagreed with Trump and Noem by almost two-to-one. Respondents to a YouGov poll taken between January 9 and January 11th uniformly showed opposition to ICE on every question.

Americans were asked, “Do you think the ICE agent should face criminal charges for shooting the woman in Minneapolis?”

Fifty-three percent answered “yes” versus just 30 percent “no” — including 54% to 23% among independents — with the remainder responding “not sure.”

There was a similar spread when participants were asked “Do you think the ICE agent was justified or not justified in the amount of force he used in shooting the woman in Minneapolis?”

On that question, 53% said “no,” Ross wasn’t justified, to just 28% “yes.”

Elsewhere in the poll, a stunning 61% said ICE “often” or “sometimes” arrests immigrants “who are authorized to live in the U.S. and have not committed immigration or customs violations.”

And similarly, 60% said that Trump’s ICE agents use “unnecessary physical force against U.S. citizens who have not committed immigration or customs violations.”

Mandy Taheri (NEWSWEEK) adds, "The survey, conducted January 9-11, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points."

Chump and company are losing so they're lying even more. That's not working so -- despite the fact that none of them are legally supposed to be talking about an ongoing investigation, their new strategy is to try to intimidate people regarding their free speech rights.

Let's note this reality. You can sue for anything. Doesn't mean you're going to win. Apparent bribe taker Tom Homan is floating publicly that John Ross might sue!!!! Might he? SFW. Holman's trying to shut people up and put a chill on free speech because that's what bitches like Tommy Homan do. Where's the 50,000 dollars, Tommy? B illal Rahman (NEWSWEEK) reports:

A senior Trump official suggested that Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, could pursue legal action for defamation against individuals who labelled him a “murderer” online and in public remarks.

“I think you may see him take action,” Tom Homan, the White House border czar, said on the Will Cain Country podcast, adding that Ross has gone into “hiding.”

I don't care what in hiding Jonathan Ross thinks. He's somebody who shot an unarmed mother of three dead -- shot her in the face, like a little coward. I think he's a murderer. I've tried to make the point here that it doesn't end with him and goes up the chain to Kristi Noem and Donald Chump. But, yeah, murderer.

Did he shoot someone dead? Yes, he did.

So I can all him a murderer if I want as can all the politicians listed in the NEWSWEEK article.

OJ Simpson walked on charges of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and people continued to call him a murderer. There's no video of OJ killing Nicole and Ron. There is video evidence of Jonathan Ross -- cry baby in hiding -- shooting Renee Nicole Good. And he shot her and he shot her dead and we can all make the connection to murder. It is a judgment call. We can make it. We are within our legal rights to make the conclusion and free speech allows us to say we think he's a murderer.

I've been really nice about Jonathan Ross. But if he is trying to foster free speech intimidation? Well truth is truth. That includes about his immigrant wife. And the paper's don't have that story. I'm happy to go into that story at great lengths.

Again, you can sue for anything. Let's note Joni:

I saw a little lawyer on the tube

He said "It's so easy now anyone can sue"

"Let me show you how your petty aggravations can profit you!"

Call for the three great stimulants

Of the exhausted ones

Artifice brutality and innocence

Artifice and innocence

-- "The Three Great Stimulants," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on DOG EAT DOG.

DOG EAT DOG is one of Joni's classic albums -- beat up in the playground more than any of her works except for THE HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS but it's due for a critical reappraisal. (Which should note that men doing the same thing that year and later were praised for examining the world around them but Joni, a woman, was attacked for that.) Joni's ex and sometime collaborator Larry Klein has an article about DOG EAT DOG -- it is now 40 years since the album was released. Again, a masterpiece -- I'll go out on the ledge without fear. It's a masterpiece. Back in November, Joni was awarded Juno's lifetime achievement award. She's been releasing from the archives of late and next month, February 1st, JONI MITCHELL ARCHIVES -- VOLUME 4: THE ASYLUM YEARS (1976 -1980) we'll see if she wins the Grammy for Best Historical Album.

So stay in hiding Jonathan Ross. If you think you can. But the reality is you can't hide from yourself. That's who you are trying to escape. We all know right from wrong.

This should be a wake up call to the many ICE agents who have e-mailed this site. I warned you long ago -- both in e-mail replies and up here at this site -- where this road ended. You would be physically harming people and that would include US citizens. When Chump started talking up this crackpot 'plan' in the summer of 2024, we took it seriously here and noted it would lead to racial profiling (and it did) and it would lead to not just immigrants being targeted but also to American citizens being targeted and to "let me see your papers" (and it did). I'm not a genius. Anyone paying attention could have seen the exact same things. So, question, why didn't you Amy Goodman? Why did you do multiple segments attacking Kamala Harris on Immigration (see Ava and my "Media: How Amy Goodman harmed immigrants and helped elect Chump") and insisting Chump was the same as Kamala or better? Why?

Don't pretend you were looking out for immigrants because you weren't.

But back to the ICE agents. I can't be your sin eater. I told you that staying with ICE was going to destroy you. That you'd end up in therapy or you'd end up self-medicating. It's time for you to wake up. You've thought about leaving, you've written me about you leaving. At this point, the smartest thing you could do is quit and take your stories you've shared with me to your reps in Congress. Joe Sommerlad (INDEPENDENT) reports:

Six days after protester Renee Nicole Good was shot dead by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, another confrontation between immigration enforcement and a member of the public has been captured on video.

In a clash between federal forces and demonstrators on a residential street in the same Minnesota city – just two blocks from where Good, 37, was killed last Wednesday, sparking a national outcry – an unidentified woman was dragged screaming from her car Tuesday.

Multiple masked agents wearing sunglasses and flak jackets argue with the woman as she tries to drive away from the chaotic encounter. Two of the men reach in through the driver side window before one of them manages to force it open and drag the woman to the floor.

“I’ve been beat up by police before,” the woman shouts as she is dragged off into the melee. “I’m disabled, I’m trying to go to the doctor up there, that’s why I couldn’t move. I am an autistic disabled person, I’m trying to go to the doctor.”

As the agents drag her away, bystanders yell at them to stop, with one asking “where is your humanity?”.

ICE agents, you can't continue on this course. The money's not worth f**king you over. That's what Noam and Chump are doing to you. And people aren't going to be kind like me -- I've noted Jonathan Ross but not stopped there -- Kristi and Chump are also guilty -- more guilty in fact, it's their orders, their 'plan' and they've failed to provide all of you with proper oversight and training. They're doing this to you and they're not going to stand with you when the legal impact sticks, they're going to let it stick to you. You're being used and abused.

And you can hide out like Jonathan Ross is doing but what he's going to slowly realize is that there's nothing other people can say about his murder of Renee Nicole Good that is worse than what his own voice is saying to him in his head. And he can't escape that.

Think about what you're expected to do now. Eduardo Cuevas (USA TODAY) reports:

Federal agents have detained a handful of Native Americans amid the Trump administration's immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota.

The detention of at least five men in and around Minneapolis has sparked an outcry among Native American groups about Indigenous people being racially profiled as undocumented immigrants by federal immigration agents. Minneapolis is one of the largest urban centers for Native Americans in the United States.

I know the lies you tell yourself to get through the day. That it's just immigrants and that they're in the country and shouldn't be and you're not setting out to harm anybody.

But you are harming Americans like the Native Americans USA TODAY is reporting on. And you are harming immigrants. There is no "just immigrant." These aren't criminals and 'the worst of the worst.' These are day care workers and these are farm workers and day laborers and these are food cart owners and restaurant owners. The only typical about the bulk of the immigrants being kidnapped is that they work hard at the jobs they do and they have families that they work for, to make their families lives better.

There are about fifteen of you that we've sent e-mails back and forth repeatedly. You know it's not the worst of the worst.

And you know Congress has let you down there. They should have been probing what was going on long ago. If they had, they could have put Kristi Noem on blast, confronted her

TRACREPORTS notes:

48,377 out of 65,735—or 73.6% held in ICE detention have no criminal conviction according to data current as of November 30, 2025. Many of those convicted committed only minor offenses, including traffic violations.

Need another source? David J. Bier (Cato Institute) notes:

President Donald Trump premised his mass deportation agenda on the idea that he will be “returning millions and millions of criminal aliens.” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has repeatedly claimed that they are arresting the “worst of the worst.” New nonpublic data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leaked to the Cato Institute reveal a different story.

Of people booked into ICE custody this fiscal year (since October 1, 2025):

Nearly three in four (73 percent) had no criminal conviction.

Nearly half had no criminal conviction nor even any pending criminal charges.

Only 8 percent had a violent or property criminal conviction.

Only 5 percent had a violent criminal conviction.

A majority of criminal convicts had vice, immigration, or traffic convictions.

And the 'answer' per Chump and Noem is to increase their arrests. They're not arresting the criminals -- certainly not the violent criminals. That's when you stop, step back and look at what you're doing and figure out why you're not meeting your objectives. And that's what Congress should be forcing them to do. Because increasing the quotas for arrests when the arrests already aren't getting the violent criminals is not an answer for anything but more abuses and more tragedies.

It makes no sense.

None of it makes sense because all of it is wrong. That's why Kristi and her finger-banging pal have to lie to the press all the time. And they know their lie will be carried in one report after another and when the lie is exposed days later, you're not going to see the same outlets note the lie from days earlier. Instead, they'll move on with the new lie.

The disabled woman? They claim she obstructed them in some manner or fashion. I'd argue she didn't and do so without needing any details other than the basic and instantly verifiable. She lives there.

She lives there. She's not obstructing. She's trying to get to a doctor's appointment and these out-of-towner ICE agents are obstructing her. They're obstructing all of us. Get the hell out -- as Governor JB Pritzker rightly said and as many have since joined him in stating the same thing.

Their claim is that they were there because they had an arrest warrant. Hmm. In the last two weeks, they've smashed in a door and entered a home they claimed to have a warrant but they didn't. This happens over and over. But what can be easily verified, again, is that the woman lives in the area and the obstruction is coming from ICE agents including those two stupid -- because they're not from the area -- to know how to drive on snow and ice.

So that's one point to make there, another? Nicole Charky-Chami (RAW STORY) reports:

ICE agents were reportedly going door to door in Minnesota asking people to identify where their Asian neighbors live, according to reports Wednesday.

Vice President JD Vance last week signaled that federal agents would take the surprising action in his comments about "door-to-door" ICE raids, and it appeared that move was underway across Twin City neighborhoods, The New Republic reported.

ICE officers apparently went to St. Paul resident Elizabeth Lugert-Thom's home last week, according to a report from The Chicago Tribune. She warned in a Facebook post about the encounter where agents who were not wearing identification badges or disclosing their names asked her to share the location of any Hmong or Asian neighbors after they asked about a person they were searching for in the area.

This is about targeting a city, not about arresting violent criminals.

The following sites updated:

Spinach Salad in the Kitchen

Kaya thinks this is the perfect time of the year for a Spinach Salad and she notes the recipe from Love & Lemons:

Ingredients

5 ounces fresh spinach

1 Gala or Honeycrisp apple, thinly sliced

⅓ cup thinly sliced red onion

Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing

1 heaping cup Candied Pecans

2 ounces crumbled goat cheese or ¼ cup shaved pecorino cheese

⅓ cup dried cranberries

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

In a large bowl, place the spinach, apple, and onion. Add some of the dressing and toss to combine.

Add the pecans, goat cheese, and cranberries and gently toss. Add more dressing, as desired. Season to taste and serve.

I love spinach salad and there are many good recipes for it. I use the traditional one where you've got boiled eggs and crumbled bacon so I'll have to try the one above.

News? Carl Gibson reports:

President Donald Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ) is now claiming that Americans do not have a Constitutional right to film law enforcement officers.

NOTUS reported Tuesday that the DOJ made the claim during a hearing in U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez's courtroom. The hearing was the result of ongoing litigation by Minneapolis residents over claims that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents pepper-sprayed and arrested them without cause. While the initial complaint was filed prior to the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, the plaintiffs cited Good's death as reason to issue a temporary restraining order against federal agents.

DOJ attorney Jeremy Newman defended the recent trend of ICE agents drawing their weapons on civilian vehicles following them, saying that "following" can lead to "dangerous activity," and that it was "reasonable for officers to be concerned about their safety. NOTUS further reported that Newman cited the 2023 Molina v. Book case to support his argument that "observing and recording police is not a clearly established First Amendment right."

"It’s very clear that this is an ongoing emergency," Newman said.

However, other court cases decided at the federal appellate court level have ruled that Americans do indeed have the right to document police officers in the course of their duties. In the 2022 Irizarry v. Yehia case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that the First Amendment guaranteed the right to film police officers "subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions."

The only reason they feel any pressure at all -- ICE -- is because they've been caught on tape. This is a b.s. claim -- that now we don't have the fundamental right to witness thse attacks. Chump is destroying this country. He's a filthy fat ass and no woman wants to crawl into bed with that. I bet Melania hasn't let him touch her in years.

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

Wednesday, January 14, 2025 In Michigan Chump gets called out for being a pedo protector, he and his administration continue to attack the late Renee Nicole Good despite polling demonstrating that Americans side with her and not with the government that killed her, whispers mount saying that AG Pam da Bimbo Bondi is on the way out, and much more.

Let's start with the woman killed by the US government last week. The US government murdered Renee Nicole Good on January 7th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ICE agent Jonathan Ross, a man with years of training in using a firearm and who provided training to others ("a firearms instructor, an active shooter instructor"), shot and killed the mother of three who was unarmed. Ross, apparently needing to make social content while on the clock, filmed her and when the video was released, the world saw that her last words to him were, "I'm not mad at you." By contrast, he or one of his fellow agents immediately called Renee a "f**king bitch" after plugged her with three bullets. The federal government immediately began attacking Good -- even though they should be stating "I can't comment on an ongoing federal investigation."

Today, JD Vance has taken to social media to justify the shooting and blame Good for her own death.

[. . .]

At AMERICA: THE JESUIT REVIEW, James T. Keane writes:

Mr. Vance claimed further that Ms. Good “viciously ran over the ICE officer” who shot and killed her, an assertion contradicted by video evidence taken from multiple angles.

The answer? Blame Ms. Good for her own murder.

How long before it simply becomes impossible to believe the lie anymore?

And they keep lying. And they keep smearing Renee Nicole Good. Over and over, multiple times a day. The government just lies. And how's that going?

Not very well at all.

Americans were asked, “Do you think the ICE agent should face criminal charges for shooting the woman in Minneapolis?”

Fifty-three percent answered “yes” versus just 30 percent “no” — including 54% to 23% among independents — with the remainder responding “not sure.”

There was a similar spread when participants were asked “Do you think the ICE agent was justified or not justified in the amount of force he used in shooting the woman in Minneapolis?”

On that question, 53% said “no,” Ross wasn’t justified, to just 28% “yes.”

Elsewhere in the poll, a stunning 61% said ICE “often” or “sometimes” arrests immigrants “who are authorized to live in the U.S. and have not committed immigration or customs violations.”

And similarly, 60% said that Trump’s ICE agents use “unnecessary physical force against U.S. citizens who have not committed immigration or customs violations.”

Mandy Taheri (NEWSWEEK) adds, "The survey, conducted January 9-11, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points."

And it's not just the public disagreeing with Chump and the other liars in the administration, it also attorneys with the Justice Dept

Rebecca Morin (USA TODAY) explains, "Joe Thompson, the acting U.S. Attorney of Minnesota appointed by President Donald Trump who led a probe that uncovered massive fraud in the state, has resigned from the position, according to reports. [. . .] The New York Times reported that Thompson, along with two other federal prosecutors, resigned over the Justice Department’s push to investigate the widow of Renee Nicole Good, the Minneapolis woman killed by an ICE agent on Jan. 7." THE TIMES report is by Ernesto Londono (formerly of THE WASHINGTON POST) and he notes:

Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned on Tuesday over the Justice Department’s push to investigate the widow of a woman killed by an ICE agent and the department’s reluctance to investigate the shooter, according to people with knowledge of their decision.

Joseph H. Thompson, who was second in command at the U.S. attorney’s office and oversaw a sprawling fraud investigation that has roiled Minnesota’s political landscape, was among those who quit on Tuesday, according to three people with knowledge of the decision.

Mr. Thompson’s resignation came after senior Justice Department officials pressed for a criminal investigation into the actions of the widow of Renee Nicole Good, the Minneapolis woman killed by an ICE agent on Wednesday.

Mr. Thompson, 47, a career prosecutor, objected to that approach, as well as to the Justice Department’s refusal to include state officials in investigating whether the shooting itself was lawful, the people familiar with his decision said.

The Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, said in an interview that Mr. Thompson’s resignation dealt a major blow to efforts to root out rampant theft from state agencies. The fraud cases, which involve schemes to cheat safety net programs, were the chief reason the Trump administration cited for its immigration crackdown in the state. The vast majority of defendants charged in the cases are American citizens of Somali origin.

“When you lose the leader responsible for making the fraud cases, it tells you this isn’t really about prosecuting fraud,” Mr. O’Hara said.

The public sees ICE as having murdered Renee Nicole Good and top prosecutors see the faux 'investigation' that Chump, Ka$h Patel and Pam Bondi plan to carry out as a hoax.

In other ICE news, Robert Davis (RAW STORY) notes:

Immigration agents arrested an employee from the New York City Council on Monday during a routine immigration hearing, according to Speaker Julie Menin.

Menin said at an emergency press conference that an employee was detained while attending a routine hearing at immigration offices in Bethpage, Long Island. The employee was then taken to a local detention center, where he was given one phone call and chose to call the city council's human resources department for help, Menin said.

The Speaker added that she spoke with the local Department of Homeland Security field office director, who provided no other basis for the employee being detained other than that he was at an immigration appointment. Menin said she expressed "extreme frustration" during the call.

"We are doing everything we can to secure his immediate release, and we demand swift and transparent action by the federal government on this apparent overreach," Menin said.

Now let's circle back to Pam da Bimbo Bondi. Whispers are saying she's ticked off Donald Chump. At the start of the week it was said of Kristi Noem. However, despite multiple press reports, I was told that wasn't accurate so we didn't note those reports. However, I am told that da Bimbo really is in trouble with Chump. Graig Graziosi (INDEPENDENT) reports:

President Donald Trump is reportedly still unhappy with the performance of Attorney General Pam Bondi, according to a new report.

Administration sources speaking to the Wall Street Journal reportedly said Trump finds Bondi weak and ineffective in executing his agenda.

Trump's frustration is reportedly an outgrowth of his efforts to pressure the Justice Department to be more aggressive in its pursuit of his various priorities, according to the report.

William Vaillancourt (THE DAILY BEAST) adds:

Trump, 79, has also complained that the government’s handling of files on dead sex predator Jeffrey Epstein has been insufficient, as have her efforts to try to prove his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Some administration officials said Trump has ramped up his criticisms of Bondi, 60, to get the Justice Department to move more quickly.

The Justice Department has brought charges against several Trump antagonists, but prosecutors have faced substantial setbacks.

The government is appealing November’s dismissals of its cases against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey after a judge ruled that Trump had illegally appointed Lindsey Halligan, the attorney who obtained those indictments.

Kristi Noem does exactly what Chump tells her. Pam doesn't. And never has. He told her to go after James Comey and she wouldn't (because she knew it could cost her that legal license). He did not like her inviting the social media crowd and distributing those binders with supposed new Epstein information. When she then went on to FOX "NEWS" and declared she had The Epstein List on her desk, he felt she was not serving him (he only cares about himself, not whether Pam serves the country), he put her down and stated she was "show boating."

So, yes, Pam is in trouble.

And she only makes it worse on herself. Today, she was attacking transgender people and she only ended up bringing The Jeffrey Epstein scandal back up. Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) reports on the response she caused:

"Impressive, very nice," posted X user Live Free or Die, using an "American Psycho" meme. "Now let's see the Epstein files."

"You've NO right to speak on anything law-related," alleged X user Candid Candor. "You have broken federal law by failing to release all of the Jeffrey Epstein files, as roughly only 1% have been released. It is now 25 days since the congressionally mandated deadline. You do not belong in office."

"That's great but still gonna need those Epstein files," said X user thee divine miss m, using an "Office Space" meme.

"Perhaps getting the Epstein files out is actually more important than one percent of our population," suggested X user Cyndie.

"Neat. When are we going to see corrupt government officials in handcuffs? Epstein clients? FBI reform?" wondered X user Eight and 3 Nines.

"Epstein files are past due you are breaking the law," said X user Squints.

"What about the EPSTEIN FILES? You are in contempt of court," accused widely followed X user Dede Watson.

Pam's peroxide twin Karoline Leavitt created similar problems for herself as William Vaillancourt (THE DAILY BEAST) notes:

Gavin Newsom was among the many critics of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s wild assertion that Democrats are protecting pedophiles.

The California governor’s press office, in a post on X, responded to Leavitt’s comments Monday where she attacked Democrats for criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She also once again smeared Renee Nicole Good, the Minnesota woman shot and killed by an ICE agent last week under legally dubious circumstances.

[We aren't including Propaganda Pig's attack on a dead woman. It's bad enough that Whore Leavitt said it and will rot in hell for it, we're not going to add to it by repeating it. She really is a tacky little slut, isn't she?]

Newsom, 58, honed in on Leavitt’s line about pedophiles, reminding everyone that the Justice Department has only released a fraction of its files on Jeffrey Epstein, the dead sex offender who said he was once Trump’s closest friend, despite the legally mandated deadline of Dec. 19.

“The Trump Administration has still not complied with Congressional law and released the Epstein Files … WHY?" he wrote suggestively, as hundreds of commenters on the Leavitt video expressed a similar sentiment.

“Pedo protector says what now?” the liberal media group Meidas Touch wrote on X, with others also noting the irony.

Pedo Protector! It's what was shouted at Chump yesterday in Michigan when he showed up for a photo op at the Ford factory.

Shawn McCreesh (NEW YORK TIMES) explains:

President Trump raised his middle finger at a heckler who accused him of being a “pedophile protector” while touring a Ford factory in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday afternoon.

It was a fleeting interaction that happened while the president was out of sight of the small group of reporters that travels by his side as part of the press pool. Footage of the moment, which looked like it was filmed on a cellphone, appeared on the celebrity gossip website TMZ shortly after Mr. Trump had left the factory.

[. . .]

For once, one topic that did not come up was the life and death of Jeffrey Epstein.

But as Mr. Trump walked along an upper floor of the factory, one of the men below began to shout that the president was “a pedophile protector.” Mr. Trump looked over in the direction of the shouting and twice mouthed a two-word response. It was difficult to make out what he said in the clip published by TMZ, though it sure looked like something beginning with the letter “F” and it wasn’t “Ford.”

Gabrielle Canon (GUARDIAN) notes;

The yelling, and Trump’s reaction to it, comes as the Trump administration faces increasing pressure to release the so-called Epstein files, documents expected to expose the dealings of the disgraced financier and sex trafficker in greater detail.

The Department of Justice has released less than 1% of the files, according to court filings in the first week of January, even after a federal law required they be released in full in mid-December. Last week, two US representatives, California Democrat Ro Khanna and Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, pushed a US district judge to release the files in full.

Instead of dealing with the lies he tells himself and the ones the yes-men and yes-women around him repae over and over, Chump had to deal with reality. And it was too much for him. Learning what people really think of him was just too much. He was up all night and morning in the Oval Office -- see Ben's clip above -- and just couldn't get over the fact that we all see right though him. And that we all heard Marjorie Taylor Green's story about how he yelled at her over the phone that he couldn't release The Epstein Files becuase that would embarrass some of his friends.

We heard her, Chump.

We know you're a liar and a pedo protetor.

Last topic, Fed Chair Jerome Powell may be the only person Chump hates more than Pam da Bimbo Bondi. Ryan Mancini (THE HILL) reports:

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) on Monday questioned the Department of Justice (DOJ) over its probe into the Federal Reserve’s renovation of its Washington, D.C., headquarters.

“We need this like we need a hole in the head,” Kennedy, a senior member of the Banking Committee, told reporters.

The Louisiana Republican also warned that “any litigation between the Federal Reserve and the executive branch of the United States government is going to cause interest rates to go up, not down.”

“I know Chairman [Jerome] Powell very well,” he said outside the Capitol. “I will be stunned — I will be shocked if he has done anything wrong.”

Kennedy was one of several Republicans to voice disapproval over the investigation. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is also on the Senate Banking Committee, criticized the DOJ’s moves as “another example of amateur hour, as far as I’m concerned.”

Tillis accused President Trump’s advisers of deliberately attempting to undercut the Fed’s independence and threatened to block any of the president’s nominees to the nation’s central bank until the investigation is “fully resolved.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she backed Tillis’s proposal to block nominees and called on her fellow lawmakers to investigate if the administration is attempting to coerce the Fed into cutting rates more dramatically. She said the “stakes are too high.”

It's not just Republican senators making it clear that they do not approve of Chump's latest stunt. Sam Sutton and Aiden Reiter (POLITICO) report:

President Donald Trump’s administration is facing mounting blowback on Wall Street over the Department of Justice’s push to launch a criminal inquiry into outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

“I want to say that I don’t agree with everything the Fed has done; I do have enormous respect for Jay Powell, the man,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told reporters Tuesday, shortly after the bank published its quarterly earnings. “Anything that chips away at [the Fed’s independence] is not a good idea. And in my view, will have the reverse consequences. It’ll increase inflation expectations and probably increase rates over time.”

BNY CEO Robin Vince, whose bank plays a critical role in markets for U.S. government debt securities that underpin the global financial system, said that the investigation into Powell’s statements to Congress risked shaking the foundations of the bond market and jeopardizing Trump’s affordability agenda.

It could “potentially do something that could cause interest rates to actually get pushed up,” Vince said. “The administration's focused on important things” with regard to affordability, he added, and “doing things that are going to detract from that agenda just don't seem like the best thing to do right now.”

The pushback from some of the most powerful voices in the U.S. banking industry comes as the White House faces a political pile-up over its attacks on Powell, a skilled Washington operator who’s spent years cultivating relationships across Congress. Top Republicans — including major Trump allies — have cautioned that targeting the powerful central banker during the final months of his tenure as chair could blow up in the administration’s face.

So Powell has the support of Republicans in the Senate and the support of people in the US banking industry. But it's bigger than just that. Powell also has global support. Ashleigh Fields (THE HILL) reports:

Central bankers overseas issued a joint statement on Tuesday in support of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who announced on Sunday he’s the subject of a criminal investigation led by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The DOJ opened a probe into Powell last week, seeking to review his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee last June regarding the renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters.

Powell says the move is a pressure tactic meant to undermine the Fed’s independence, as President Trump pushes to lower interest rates.

“We stand in full solidarity with the Federal Reserve System and its Chair Jerome H. Powell. The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve. It is therefore critical to preserve that independence, with full respect for the rule of law and democratic accountability,” international central bankers wrote in a Tuesday statement posted to X.

The message was signed by Christine Lagarde, the head European Central Bank, along with the heads of the central banks of England, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Brazil and the Bank for International Settlements.

All that support for Powell. And Paul Hannon (WALL STREET JOURNAL) reminds, "Former Fed chairs Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen on Monday rushed to defend Powell and the Fed’s ability to set monetary policy free from political influence, calling the investigation 'an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine that independence'.”

And for Chump? None. As Mrs. Meers says in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, "Sad to be so alone in the world." But Chump's used to it.

Simon Marks (THE IPAPER) offers:

None of this would come as a surprise in totalitarian regimes elsewhere in the world. Bureaucrats loyal to autocrats regularly engage in skullduggery that they believe will appeal to the ruler, especially when it comes to incinerating the independence of any remaining governing institutions that are refusing to come to heel.

But in Powell, Trump and his lapdog [Jeanine] Pirro may have bitten off more than they can chew. “The whole thing is proving a disaster for the White House,” Politico reported in its Tuesday morning “Playbook” that is eagerly digested over cornflakes throughout Washington. “You have to wonder how quickly this probe might get wrapped up,” the newsletter predicted.

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

Senate advanced package in 80-13 preliminary procedural vote on Monday night

Package of funding bills rejects draconian cuts and policies pushed by President Trump, House Republicans—and reasserts congressional control over key funding decisions

ICYMI: Murray, Top Appropriators Release Three-Bill Minibus

***WATCH: Senator Murray’s Remarks***

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at this afternoon’s Senate Democratic leadership press conference on the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Energy and Water Development; and Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills as the U.S. Senate considers the package this week.

Text, summaries, and more information on the three bills in the package are available HERE.

Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:

“This week, the Senate has an opportunity to pass three of our funding bills. They were bills that were a product of a lot of hard work and some serious negotiations.

“Was there more that I would have liked to do? Of course, but you don’t win anything if you take your ball and go home.

“The programs that are funded in these bills are meaningful—and because Democrats were at the negotiating table, we were able to protect resources for programs that families rely on. We protected programs that help lower families’ energy bills. We protected funding to prevent violence against women. We honored our commitments to our Tribes and our Indian Country—and a lot more.

“These are bills that reject the devasting cuts Trump demanded in his deeply unserious budget he sent to Congress about a year ago. When just about every Secretary came before our Appropriations Committee to advocate for those Trump funding cuts, I made clear to them I planned to rip up his budget and write a newone—and that is exactly what we are doing.

“Congress has a choice to do our most fundamental job which is writing and passing these funding bills or hand the pen over to Donald Trump and Russ Vought. I’m here to do my job.

“I was elected to be a voice for the state of Washington, so I’m going to vote to pass bills that include the priorities that are important to my state. And bills that reflect the input of nearly every Member of this Congress. Bills that reassert Congress’ control over spending decisions by providing hundreds and hundreds of directives that were not provided last fiscal year. I have zero intention of letting Donald Trump and Russ Vought decide how our taxpayer dollars get spent.

“Congress is the people’s representative; we hold the power of the purse. We are the check on this [president] and on any president.

“So, I am urging my colleagues to join me. We’ve got very limited time. And we want to hopefully pass these bills before the week is over.”

###

The following sites updated: