At UPI, Harlan Ullman raises an important issue regarding the Epstein scandal that I haven't heard anyone else raise so far:
The
sordid saga of the long dead and convicted predator Jeffrey Epstein not
only poses a threat to Donald Trump's presidency, but it also
conceivably threatens the credibility of the U.S. political system.
Yet,
an even more sinister and potentially dangerous threat lurks for the
United States and its friends. The two threats are linked, ironically,
by Epstein's ghost.
Trump's MAGA base is furious
that the promised Epstein files have not been released. What's worse is
that that Attorney General Pam Bondi apparently informed Trump his name
was in the file -- high-test fuel for that blaze.
And,
now, possibly to deflect attention, Trump and his director of National
Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, have accused former President Barack Obama
of treason by interfering in the 2016 election with Russian help.
In a nation as politically divided as America, any spark could ignite a political firestorm.
Beijing,
Moscow and others with malicious intent are intensely watching this
saga. One conclusion must be that even greater opportunities exist today
to interfere in United States and Western politics, not just exploiting
this debacle.
More importantly, creating new crises that manipulate and fracture political and social cohesion is a formidable danger.
Has Chump now given us a national security risk? There's a reason you don't vote for convicted felons. Jennifer Bowers Bahney reports on the harm coming to Chump's buddy Speaker From The Closet Mike Johnson:
The
Bulwark's Bill Kristol wrote Thursday that House Speaker Mike Johnson
and House Republicans were complicit in an "Orwellian" cover-up to
protect powerful people involved in the Epstein scandal.
Kristol
quoted Johnson telling CNN's Jake Tapper, "I want everything to come
out about the Epstein evils. . . . I’m pushing aggressively for the full
release of everything that is possible, and, by the way, so is the
president. We’re using every mechanism within our power to do that, and
to do it as quickly as possible."
And
yet, Kristol wrote, Johnson "panicked" and "recessed the House in order
to avoid a floor vote on a resolution calling for the release of the
files."
"This is Orwellian," Kristol wrote.
The
Epstein files reportedly include the names of President Donald Trump
and other powerful associates of the convicted sex trafficker who died
by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019.
But try as he might to enjoy his summer recess, Kristol wrote that the Epstein scandal has followed Johnson home to Louisiana.
"Earlier
this week, a state representative from Johnson’s own 4th district of
Louisiana, a fellow Republican, took the extraordinary step of issuing a
statement condemning Johnson," Kristol wrote.
"State
Rep. Danny McCormick of Oil City pointed out that Johnson 'shut down
Congress early to dodge the vote,'" adding, "It’s one thing to be
silent. It’s another to actively stand in the way of truth and justice.
That raises serious questions about who he’s really protecting.”
Mike Johnson is so inept and stupid. How that idiot ever got picked by the Republicans is a mystery.
President
Donald Trump's approval rating among white voters has slipped to its
lowest point, according to a new YouGov/Economist poll.
The
survey, conducted between July 25-28, puts Trump's approval among white
voters at 47 percent, with 49 percent disapproving, putting his net
approval rating at -2 points.
That
is down from last month, when 50 percent approved and 47 percent
disapproved. Overall, the poll showed Trump's net approval rating at an
all-time low of -15 among all voters, down from -14 last month, making
the survey one of several that have recently shown Trump's approval
rating at a low for his second term.
His base gets smaller and smaller with each passing day. Do you think he grasps that?
Do they lie to him at the White House? Of course. They flatter him and they all pretend that his popularity is actually increasing. But on some level, even Chump has to know that's a lie. Even he has to grasp that the number of people hating him just grows bigger with each passing day.
Thursday, July 31, 2025. Chump remains entangled with the late
pedophile Epstein, a victim's family calls out the way he speaks of
their late loved one, another Chump supporter is exposed as a pedophile,
Senator Ron Wyden actually works to end crimes against children, Loose
Lips Hegseth continues to flounder, and much more.
Agree 100% with Rebecca and her post "bobby scott's 78 and senile." Are there other issues beyond
Epstein and Chump? There certainly are. Here we are giving serious
attention to immigration. We put Loose Lips Hegseth on hold last week
-- might pick him up this snapshot, might not. We're also covering the
economy. It's all connected. Chump does not serve the American
people. He mocks them and makes fun of them. He only serves the super
wealthy. That's why the Epstein files are still not released. That's
why the big ugly bill attacks the poor, the working class and the middle
class while giving huge tax breaks to the super wealthy. His war on
immigration is about the super wealthy as well.
It's the immigrants who are targeted. As he notes
repeatedly, he keeps hearing from farming corporations and other big
business about how they need immigrant workers. This doesn't lead him
to order an investigation or arrests for those employing undocumented
immigrants. No, they're free and remain free.
If you're apprehending immigrants when do you plan to
apprehend those knowingly hiring immigrants who lack the paperwork
needed to work in the US?
And
they're not being silent. Chump has yet again spoken of the farming
industry and how arrests might need to be paused on immigrant farm
workers. That's not to benefit the immigrants, that's to benefit Big Ag
which brings in millions and millions of dollars.
So they're all connected.
This is not a new development.
The
super wealthy have always benefited from GOP policies. And the poor
and uninformed have failed to grasp that reality. (Democratic leaders
also court the rich -- Socialists would insist that's all they do --
but they also tend to push measures that focus on lifting all boats.)
Chump
is the servant of the super wealthy. If you are an elected Democrat in
the US Congress and you can't make a case on that, you do need to
retire. Actually, you need to get to the ER immediately because if
you're a Democratic member of Congress and you can't make that case, I
think you're either dying or in a coma.
A
national poll of 1,777 respondents found that a significant portion of
voters believe President Donald Trump was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s
crimes, along with a continuing trend of sliding approval numbers for
Trump.
In a July 25-28 poll from The
Economist/YouGov, Americans were asked, “Do you think that Donald Trump
was involved in crimes allegedly committed by Jeffrey Epstein?” Nearly
half of those said yes — 46% — while 32% said no; a further 23% said
they were not sure.
A
majority of voters think the Trump administration may be trying to
conceal evidence of the president’s association with the late Jeffrey
Epstein.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national
telephone and online survey finds that 60% of Likely U.S. Voters believe
it’s likely that Trump administration officials are engaged in a
cover-up to hide Donald Trump’s involvement with Epstein, including 45%
who consider a cover-up Very Likely. Thirty-four percent (34%) say it’s
not likely administration officials are engaged in a cover-up, including
16% who consider it Not At All Likely.
And Martha McHardy (NEWSWEEK) reports, "Donald
Trump's public approval has dropped to its lowest level in months,
according to newly released polling data. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll
shows that Trump's approval rating has dropped to 40 percent, with 56
percent disapproving, giving him a net approval rating of -16 points."
A
new CBS News report alleges that the DOJ and FBI have copies of the
scrutinized security footage from just before Epstein's death without
the midnight time jump
[. . .]
Earlier
this month, the Department of Justice and the FBI released around 11
hours of footage from the security camera in New York City's
Metropolitan Correctional Center, in an attempt to assuage public calls
for transparency about the late billionaire and alleged predator.
However,
the footage immediately sparked new conspiracy theories, as viewers
noticed that, at 11:58 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2019, the footage jumped forward
one minute, to midnight. As the video was meant to show that no one
entered or exited Epstein's cell on the night before he was found dead —
thereby proving that he died by suicide — the gap in the tape made many wonder if the footage had been doctored to hide evidence.
CBS News cites
"a government source familiar with the investigation" in its new report
that claims the FBI, the DOJ and the Bureau of Prisons all have a copy
of the video that doesn't skip forward a minute. However, CBS' source
did not provide information on what may be on the missing footage.
Earlier this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked about the missing minute, and she claimed it was a technical glitch.
"What
we learned from the Bureau of Prisons is every night they redo that
video," she told reporters on July 8. "So, every night the video is
reset, and every night should have the same minute missing."
Surveillance
and forensic video experts told CBS News that a daily reset, such as
Bondi described, "would have been unusual and was not something they
encountered in most video systems."
When
they released the footage, the DOJ and FBI claimed it was the "full
raw" security video, however, forensic video expert Jim Stafford
analyzed the released footage for CBS News and concluded that it was
"likely a screen capture, not an actual export" of the security file.
Additionally,
the metadata on the video showed that the file was created on May 23 of
this year and was actually two separate videos stitched together.
We
noted that in yesterday's snapshot. I think it's an important
development because Pam Bondi lied to the American people again. I also
think it goes to why FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director
Dan Bongino believe Bondi needs to go. That would be the second big lie
she's told the American people about the Epstein case as Attorney
General.
Here's one of the video reports on this issue from CBS NEWS.
On
THE LAST HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE (MSNBC) last night, Stephanie and
her guests discussed some of the latest developments in the Epstein
scandal.
Two
senior-level staffers from President Donald Trump's first
administration are now saying the president's constantly shifting
explanations on his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey
Epstein suggest he's withholding significant details.
During the Wednesday episode
of Jim Acosta's Substack show, the former CNN host interviewed both
Olivia Troye and Miles Taylor, who served in the office of former Vice
President Mike Pence and the Department of Homeland Security,
respectively. Both agreed that Trump's continuously shifting story on
his association with Epstein raise a number of red flags that merit
further investigation.
"He's
getting really paranoid here," Taylor said. "There's no supporter of
his that's going to buy the idea that his name was simply planted in the
files given everything that's come out, given the revelations that
Trump was briefed by his own attorney general that his name was really found in the files. And so he's getting really anxious here."
Troye
agreed with Taylor's point, and made the argument that Trump wasn't
"behaving like someone who is innocent." She further suggested that
Trump's "lashing out" makes him look "really guilty."
And
he appears to assist the guilty, doesn't he? The Deputy Attorney
General goes to visit Maxwell for two days, visit her in prison, brings
her some form of a gift in a box, offers her limited immunity, etc,
etc. This is Epstein's partner. She's a pedophile. She engaged in the
sex with children. She's a pedophile. She's a sex trafficker. And
the administration goes out of their way to make nice with her but
they're not speaking to any of the victims or the victims' families.
The president told reporters on Tuesday that Jeffrey Epstein "stole" Giuffre,
one of Epstein's most well-known accusers, from his Mar-a-Lago club in
Palm Beach, Florida, where she worked in the summer of 2000 when she was
16. Giuffre died by suicide in April.
The president told reporters on Tuesday that Jeffrey Epstein "stole" Giuffre,
one of Epstein's most well-known accusers, from his Mar-a-Lago club in
Palm Beach, Florida, where she worked in the summer of 2000 when she was
16. Giuffre died by suicide in April.
Giuffre
and her family didn't have money. Maxwell was raised in the lap of
luxury. Who is Chump playing footsie with? The super wealthy. Always
and forever.
A
passionate supporter of President Donald Trump, who is married to a
prominent Republican operative in Wisconsin and publicly stated in 2024
that he was casting his vote to combat child trafficking, is now facing
ten counts of possessing images of exploited children.
Scott Soucek, from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, was arrested last week, according to a report by The Daily Beast. He is accused of downloading hundreds of illicit images via a file‑sharing network.
Back in October, Scott posted on Facebook a list of roughly two dozen reasons why he intended to vote for Trump.
“I’m
voting to fight against human/child trafficking,” he wrote, adding that
he was voting “for my children and my grandchildren.”
More
than fifteen years prior to that post, in 2009, Door County
investigators examined his laptop after he admitted to downloading
illegal images involving children, but for reasons that remain
unexplained, the case was never sent to the district attorney’s office.
According
to the report, the newly filed 12‑page criminal complaint describes
graphic content that was allegedly downloaded in March of this year. It
linked to an IP address believed to be associated with Soucek.
Soucek's
wife, Stephanie Soucek, serves as chair of the Door County Republican
Party and was a delegate at the 2024 Republican National Convention, per
the report.
So instead of going to prison and being put on a
sex offender registry in 2009, Soucek's influence and money got him a
sweetheart deal. Just like Epstein's money and influence got him a
sweetheart deal in 2008. Something about Chump certainly attract the
pedophiles.
While Chump encourages the exploitation of children, Senator Ron Wyden works to end it:
Washington, D.C. — U.S.
Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called for an immediate investigation of
reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has drastically
diverted resources away from investigations into serious crimes against
children, including child sexual abuse and human trafficking, in order
to devote more resources to rounding up immigrants.
“Instead of locking up rapists, child predators and other
violent criminals, Trump appears to be diverting investigators to target
cooks, farm workers and students. Congress and the American people will
not tolerate the Trump administration ignoring the ongoing sexual abuse
of vulnerable children,” wrote Wyden in the letter to DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) at DHS is responsible for
investigating serious crimes, and is one of the leading agencies charged
with investigating child sexual abuse materials online. The 7,000 HSI
agents are supposed to focus on investigating drug smuggling, human
trafficking, and child sex trafficking, among other crossborder criminal
activities. According to DHS,
HSI arrested over 3,000 individuals for crimes against children and
rescued over 1,000 victims of child exploitation in 2020 alone.
Wyden’s letter cites a recent report published by the Atlantic,
which stated that HSI “supervisors have waved agents off new cases so
they have more time to make immigration-enforcement arrests,” and quoted
one agent describing the impact: “No drug cases, no human trafficking,
no child exploitation.”
Wyden has been a staunch advocate in the Senate for increasing
resources for investigating sex trafficking and prosecuting predators to
protect vulnerable children. In January 2024, Wyden introduced bipartisan legislation to protect children from online exploitation. In June 2024, he released
information from his investigation into child abuse and neglect in
youth residential treatment facilities across the United States. In
September 2024, he urged
existing authorities to protect and strengthen services for children
susceptible to abuse enrolled in Medicaid in the child welfare program.
This morning, Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) discussed the many, many ways in which Donald Chump is failing the American people.
As we speak to veterans groups
across the country, one thing is clear: No one thinks Pete Hegseth is
qualified to be Secretary of Defense. Guess what? That judgment call
apparently includes Loose Lips Hegseth himself. James Liddell (INDEPENDENT) reports:
Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth is considering stepping down from his Pentagon
duties to pursue political office in his adopted home state, according
to a new report.
According
to Defense Department rules that prevent civilian employees from
seeking political office, Hegseth would need to resign his post to
launch a campaign.
If Hegseth were to follow
through, it would mark the biggest shake-up in Pentagon leadership since
the Trump administration ousted Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles
Brown in February.
Since his confirmation, Hegseth has faced controversy over the abrupt firings of his top staff, accusations of chaos at the Pentagon
and questions about his handling of sensitive military plans after he
shared information about a military operation in Yemen on an unsecured group chat on Signal.
A Pentagon inspector general report on the Signal chat, including the
classification of the information Hegseth shared, could be released as
early as next month.
Trump
has said publicly that he maintains confidence in Hegseth, although
privately he has at times expressed frustrations with him, NBC News has reported.
We've
had to put Loose Lips Hegseth on hold for about three weeks so let me
toss out something before I forget. Gossip. Hadlima. I'm told that's
what caused Hegseth's facial outbreaks that look like psoriasis -- the
reason he wears foundation -- often wears foundation poorly.
Supposedly, his wife's been explaining that to her friends. Sad, when
you try to pose as mister manly man and your wife has to go around
explaining
why you're wearing women's make up. I have no idea why he's on Hadlima
-- Cron's disease? -- if he is on it. But that's what people are saying
his wife is relaying is that he was previously on Humira and didn't
have the facial spots but then he had to switch to Hadlima because the
VA dropped coverage of Humira. If this is true, I'll be kind and share
that two doctors I spoke with after I heard the gossip both
said TriDerma Psoriasis Control Face and Body Cream is the best and
fastest acting cream for the red spots.
Can't help him with his disclosure of classified secrets in a non-secure chat. Dan Lamothe (WASHINGTON POST) reports on the upcoming watchdog report:
It follows a report last week by The Washington Post
that revealed the inspector general’s team was in receipt of evidence
indicating the messages disseminated through Hegseth’s account on the
unclassified chat app originated from a classified email sent to senior
Pentagon officials by the top officer overseeing U.S. operations in the
Middle East, Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla.
The email was labeled “SECRET/NOFORN,” a classification level at which
unauthorized disclosure could be expected to cause serious damage to
U.S. national security. The “NOFORN” label means it also was not meant
for anyone who is a foreign national, including senior officials of
close allies of the United States.
Hegseth’s
account on Signal shared similarly sensitive details with at least one
other group chat that included his wife, Jennifer; his brother, Phil;
and a personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, people familiar with the matter
have said previously.
The
situation could mark a test of whether Hegseth will follow through on
past promises to allow the inspector general’s office to carry out its
work independently. During his bruising confirmation process, Hegseth
promised Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) that, if confirmed, he
would commit to “protecting the DoD IG’s independence,” according to a
copy of the questionnaire reviewed by The Post.
Days after Trump returned to office, he fired the Defense Department inspector general,
Robert Storch, and at least 14 other leaders with similar watchdog
responsibilities at other government agencies in a purge. Steven A.
Stebbins, who took up the case against Hegseth, was selected as Storch’s
replacement on an acting basis. A onetime Army officer like Hegseth,
Stebbins retired from the military in 2015 and joined the inspector
general’s office later that year, according to his official biography.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s remarks on Senate Floor***
Washington, D.C. —Today,U.S.
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations
Committee, spoke out on the Senate floor against the nomination of Joe
Kent to lead the National Counterterrorism Center. Senator Murray
slammed Kent for his lack of experience and long history of promoting
conspiracy theories and white supremacist views, and urged her
colleagues to vote against his nomination.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered on the Senate Floor, are below:
“Thank you, M. President.
“The National Counterterrorism Center plays a crucial role keeping
our country safe. The agency is responsible for collecting and analyzing
intelligence to help protect our nation from terrorist threats. It is
sober, serious work that requires a level head and a commitment to
putting the mission before politics.
“Which is why I am deeply alarmed that Republicans are charging ahead
to put it under the thumb of a conspiracy theorist who espouses white
supremacist views, and is patently unqualified for this important role
in just about every way imaginable. You are supposed to pick people with
qualifications, but just about everything we know about Joe Kent is
disqualifying for this role and alarming.
“There’s his track record chumming it up with white supremacists,
from discussing campaign strategy with avowed white supremacist Nick
Fuentes, to giving an interview to a guy who has defended Hitler, to
rallying with the founder of a far-right paramilitary group, and let’s
not forget the Proud Boy that he hired as a consultant!
“And it’s not just his connections, there’s his own deeply bigoted
statements like: claiming Islam is ‘based on conquest at its core,’ and
pushing racist ‘replacement theory’ rhetoric.
“That is alarming stuff. Let’s be frank here: These are white
supremacist views—and they should have absolutely no place in our
federal government.
“And then there is his track record of politicizing intelligence,
like when he was caught red handed pushing to change intelligence
reports—facts be damned—so they would agree with Trump and attack Biden.
“Joe Kent also has a track record of peddling conspiracies and
attacking law enforcement, from saying our country is at war with
‘leftist cabal,’ or calling to completely defund the FBI and ATF,
agencies that keep Americans safe from foreign and domestic threats, or
pushing the offensive and false conspiracy that the January 6th
insurrection was somehow a deep state plot.
“You want to know who in the federal government was behind the
insurrection? How about we start with man in the White House who
promised to march to the Capitol with them? How about we start with the
President who calls rioters patriots? How about we start with the guy
who pardoned violent cop beaters—en masse?
“If you cannot be honest with the American people about January
6th—you have no business being trusted with protecting our democracy. It
should be that simple.
“And let’s not forget—Joe Kent was on the infamous Signal-gate
chat—where classified attack plans were discussed with no regard for
security, or law, not to mention the safety of our servicemembers.
“You know what he had to say about that? He said no classified
information was discussed. That was the answer he gave at his Senate
confirmation hearing.
“Now it’s obvious that answer was a complete lie. Last week, the
Pentagon’s watchdog confirmed there was classified information in that
Signal chat.
“So, was Kent being intentionally dishonest? Or does he not understand what classified information is?
“Either way—it is completely disqualifying. Which—as I think I’ve made clear—is pretty much the pattern here.
“So here is my warning to Republicans, confirming someone like Joe
Kent to lead the National Counterterrorism Center makes about as much
sense as putting Donald Trump in charge of releasing the Epstein files
after all that we have learned.
“We have all the evidence we could ever need—in the public record,
right now—that he is not going to do the right thing. And we have no
reason to believe he will do this important, high-stakes, work in a
serious, impartial manner—let alone a competent one.
“So, M. President, I am here to urge all of my colleagues to join me
in doing exactly what people back in Washington state have done each
time they were asked to trust Joe Kent, vote no.”
Senate
Democrats openly sparred on Tuesday in the upper chamber over police
bills, as the wrangling intensified when New Jersey Senator Cory Booker
called out his colleagues for being "complicit" to the Trump
administration.
Newsweek reached out to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's office for comment via email.
The
Democratic Party has been in disarray since its November presidential
election loss, searching for a central message to stand behind and
potential leaders to emerge as midterm election campaigns begin ramping
up. Republicans currently control the House of Representatives and the
Senate.
Booker, Minnesota
Senator Amy Klobuchar and Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto of Nevada were
at the center of the feud on Tuesday after Cortez-Masto asked for
consent for the passage of the policing bills.
Booker
said he disagreed with the legislation moving forward unless there were
assurances that the money would not be denied in Democratic states like
Connecticut, New Jersey or New York.
"This, to me,
is the problem with Democrats in America right now," Booker said. "Is
we're willing to be complicit to Donald Trump to let this pass through,
when we have all the leverage right now there is."
"Don't
be complicit to the president of the United States, who we both know
doesn't understand that language, oh please, oh please, don't hurt blue
states," he added.
According to The New York
Times, Booker yelled so loudly during the confrontation that his voice
was heard outside of the Senate chamber.
Klobuchar
called out Booker for missing a Senate committee hearing where the
bills were discussed, saying in part, "I can't help it if someone
couldn't change their schedule to be there. I think these hearings
should mean something," the Times reported.
"Don't
question my integrity," Booker yelled. "Don't question my motives. I'm
standing for Jersey, I'm standing for my police officers, I'm standing
for the Constitution and I'm standing for what's right. And dear God, if
you want to come at me that way, you're going to have to take it up
with me. Because there's too much on the line right now in America."
I
don't dislike Amy Klobuchar but I'm with Cory on this. Get these
things solid and fixed from the start. Chump is nothing but broken
promises. Ask Senator Lisa the big crybaby. She sold out the country
and voted for the big bad bill. Then she begged House Republicans to
vote against it. So why did she vote for it? Because she was promised
certain things -- but then Chump and her buddies went back on their
word. And she was left to whine like a baby. See Betty's "Can someone give cry baby Senator Lisa a cookie and tuck her in already?" and my "Idiot of the Week" and "Republicans are vying hard already for the title of Idiot of the Week."
In other news, the pendulum swings both ways. A reality that like most realities escapes Chump. Ailia Zehra reports that the young men (I'm assuming White) that made him their love master have cooled their jets in recent weeks:
In
February, roughly 55 percent of Americans aged 18-29 approved of
Trump’s job performance, while today that figure has fallen to about 28
percent.
The steepest
drops have come among independents and non‑voters. Similar declines are
seen among those who didn’t vote in 2024 — whereas party‑identifiers and
2024 voters saw smaller but still notable decreases.
After
his inauguration earlier this year, approximately 51 percent of young
adults who approved of Trump’s presidency showed cautious optimism after
the 2024 election, which saw him narrow the gap with former Vice
President Kamala Harris significantly.
Exit polling registered 47 percent of men under 30 voting for Trump in 2024, up from roughly 41 percent in 2020.
But
by July 16-18, CBS/YouGov polling showed approval among 18‑ to
29‑year‑olds had plunged to 28 percent, with 72 percent disapproving,
yielding a net rating of negative 44 points.
There
was never a long term base of young men for Chump. He's older than
their great grandpas, he wears make up, he can't stop bragging about
himself, he can't stop lying, he's overweight, he's old, he doesn't get
hard ons anymore, all of this adds to his being a big joke. It's really
the lack of erections that's going to run most young men off from him.
When you're young, that doesn't just seem strange, you worry it might
be catchy. :D
He promised
them so much and he delivered nothing. That's reality. And Chump's
yelling comes off more and more like an old man screaming out the
window, "Turn that music down! Get a new muffler on that car! Get off
my yard!"
Wednesday, July 30, 2025. Chump doesn't have trade deals (though
many in the media humor him), Pam Bondi can't stop lying, nursing
mothers and Maine police officers among the latest targeted by ICE, and
much more.
Prices continue to increase under
Donald Chump. Tariffs are taxes and those are costs passed onto
consumers. "American companies big and small are suddenly facing much
higher costs leaving them to decide whether to swallow that cost and lay
off workers or pass it on to you the consumer," Stephanie Ruhle noted
last night on MSNBC's THE LAST WORD WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE.
Frameworks are not contracts, Dan Nathan pointed out, "We just don't have a lot of detail about that."
Trump
has now announced a trade “deal” with the European Union that looks a
lot like the “deal” he made with Japan. I use scare quotes because there
is little sign of a quid pro quo. The United States is imposing a 15
percent tariff that is lower than previously threatened, but still
vastly higher than we had before Trump. Overall U.S. tariffs seem likely
to settle roughly at the level that prevailed after the infamous
Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930.
In return we got a vague
promise of higher European investment in the United States. When Japan
made a similar promise last week, administration officials asserted that
this would mean hundreds of billions flowing into rebuilding U.S.
industry. Japanese officials, however, say that the money will consist
almost entirely of loans and loan guarantees.
This strongly suggests that Japan will, if it does anything at all,
simply be sticking Trump’s name on money flows that would have happened
anyway. There’s every reason to suspect that the same will be true of
whatever the EU does.
And like the Japan deal,
this deal seems to place lower tariffs on cars made in Europe, which
have very little U.S. content, than on cars made in Canada, which
contain many American parts. Add in the punishing tariffs on steel and
aluminum, and Trump’s trade policy seems, if anything, to be tilting the
playing field against U.S. manufacturing.
When
I point out that Trump’s idea of trade deals seems counterproductive
even in terms of his claimed goal of boosting manufacturing, I get some
pushback from readers along these lines: “Oh, yeah? If you’re such an
expert on trade negotiations, tell me what deal you think you could have
made.”
OK, I can answer that. If I had been in charge of
negotiating with the European Union, I would have been able to get a
deal with the following components:
· Very low tariffs on U.S. exports of manufactured goods to Europe, on the order of 1 percent
· Near balance in bilateral trade, with U.S. exports to Europe close to 90 percent of our imports from Europe
· U.S. companies allowed to operate freely in Europe, earning hundreds of billions a year in profits
· European corporations investing more than $150 billion a year — real investment, not loans — in the United States
Why
do I believe that I could have negotiated a deal like that? Because
that’s what U.S.-EU international transactions actually looked like in
2024. So that’s what we could have gotten by doing nothing.
Krugman: The
U.S. runs a trade deficit overall. We buy more stuff from abroad than
we sell. That’s not because U.S. goods are uncompetitive, really. It’s
basically because the U.S. has been an attractive investment
destination, which keeps the dollar strong. And it’s just arithmetic
that the inflow of capital to the U.S. equals the trade deficit. I know
arithmetic has a well-known liberal bias, but you can’t
really reduce the trade deficit unless you reduce the flow of investment
into the U.S. It’s not really about tariffs at all. Other things Trump
is doing—making the U.S. looks like a crazy place—may end up reducing
that flow of investment, but the tariffs won’t do that at all. So that’s
the broad macroeconomic picture. And then if you look at the micro—sorry, economist
talk—but if you look at what it’s actually doing to industries, Trump
is in general putting higher tariffs on the goods that we use to produce
manufactured goods than he is on the consumer goods that are produced
with those inputs. So he’s actually raising the costs of U.S.
manufacturing more than he is giving them protection from foreign
competition.
So the overall thrust of his strategy is
actually anti-manufacturing. During Trump’s first term, a bunch of
studies went through trying to figure out the impact of the tariffs on
manufacturing, and they all came to the conclusion that Trump’s tariffs
on overall cost the US some manufacturing jobs. And we thought, Well, he won’t make that mistake again. But he is. He’s making that mistake again, but five times bigger.
Sargent: How long would you give this? In
fairness, how long should we wait? How many years do we have to wait
until we can say definitively that Trump has failed to restore
manufacture in the U.S. with his regime? How long do we have to wait?
Krugman:
I would say.… I mean, it’s never going to happen. But if you look at
it, maybe here’s a point of comparison. Biden had the Inflation
Reduction Act, which had nothing to do with reducing inflation but was a
lot about promoting green manufacturing and so on. And you could see
within two years, it was obvious that the IRA was generating a huge boom
in investment in manufacturing in the U.S. So I think to give Trump
more than two years to show that this is actually doing something
positive would be holding him to a different standard. If you don’t see
this in two years, then it’s a failure. I have no question. There’s just
nothing in there.
If you actually looked at the trade deal with Japan and now with Europe, who was hopping mad, screaming, This is a terrible deal?
It was a lot of industry groups. The auto industry was in hysterics
over last week’s Japan deal because it was just clear to them. They
said, Stuff that we have a stake in, which
includes manufacturing in Canada and Mexico, is being disadvantaged
relative to cars from Japan, which is not us. Anyway, I don’t think
we’re going to see anything. Now if we can talk about the other
provisions of the deal later on, it turns out they’re completely empty. If
we’re not seeing a boom in manufacturing investment by the end of
Trump’s term.… To even wait that long would be giving him more time than
people gave Biden, and Biden’s policy actually did boost manufacturing.
Sargent: It’s
just so crazy. This is just never talked about. These two things are
never talked about together. On the one hand, Trump is doing all these
tariffs to supposedly try and spur manufacturing this country. Meanwhile,
they’re functionally doing all they can to wipe out the nascent green
energy manufacturing industry in the U.S., which is actually something
that competes well with China if it works over the long haul. The whole
thing is so ridiculous. Why don’t more people point that basic
disconnect out: that they’re wiping away the manufacturing jobs of the
future while imposing tariffs to create manufacturing jobs? Why don’t we
hear that said more often?
Krugman: Yeah,
the media is really—well, not only on this—dropping the ball. And I
have to say, I don’t think it’s the reporters. I think that the
reporters at major news organizations may not all be top-ranked
economists but they do know enough about it to know that the whole
switch in policy [is] actually toward reduced manufacturing and
wiping out a lot of jobs. They’re editorial decisions. To cast this as a
win for Trump, that’s an editorial decision. I’m sure that wasn’t the
reporter’s idea of how to portray it. And we can talk.… That’s a whole
other discussion. Basically, for the most part—not my department, but
this is crazy—the fact that we’re actually going backward and
undermining a lot of the industries of the future barely [gets] reported.
Sargent:
And never in the context of Trump and Vance’s constant rhapsodizing
about manufacturing. You mentioned that there were other things in the
deal that are empty, I want to quickly touch on those. You wrote in your
piece that the promised $750 billion in spending on U.S. energy and the
$600 billion increase in investment in the U.S. are probably illusory
or nothing. What’s the deal with that? The whole thing is starting to
look awfully like a pretty big scam as so much that Trump does is.
Krugman:
I should say, by the time people hear this, there will have been a
second Substack post which is already in the can for the day after we
had this conversation looking into those things. So yeah, the Europeans
said we’re going to do $600 billion of investment in the U.S. Take them
in two pieces. Not clear that that actually helps, but the
question you should immediately ask is, How are they going to do that?
Europe is not China. The Chinese government can tell companies or banks,
Send the money there, but Europe doesn’t work that way. Europe
is a market economy like ours. And this was a deal with the European
commission in Brussels, which isn’t even a government. The European
commission negotiates trade deals, but it has absolutely no authority
over domestic economic policies within European countries.
This morning, Ben tries to make sense of it all for MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.
Jon Luke Evans. That's our next topic. Donald Chump's war on immigrants and the various lives he's destroying. Patrick Whittle (AP) reports:
The chief of police in a Maine resort town has called for an investigation into the arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of one of its officers, who the chief said was federally approved to work in the country in May.
ICE
arrested Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve officer Jon Luke
Evans, of Jamaica, on July 25. The agency said Evans was illegally
present in the U.S. and unlawfully attempted to purchase a firearm.
The Old Orchard Beach Police
Department said in a statement on Monday that as part of its standard
hiring process, Evans completed an I-9 federal immigration and work
authorization form to verify that he was legally able to work in the
U.S.
Police Chief Elise Chard
said in the statement that the town reviewed multiple forms of
identification and submitted the forms for Evans to the Department of
Homeland Security’s E-Verify Program. The system is operated by the
Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security
Administration to let employers know if a prospective employee has legal
authorization to work in the U.S.
“The
Department of Homeland Security then verified that Evans was authorized
to work in the U.S.,” Chard said. “The form was submitted and approved
by DHS on May 12, 2025.”
“Evans
would not have been permitted to begin work as a reserve officer until
and unless Homeland Security verified his status,” she said.
“In
Old Orchard Beach, reserve police officers are part-time, seasonal
employees who must meet the same background checks, pass the same
physical agility tests, and receive the same medical evaluations as
full-time police officers,” Chard said.
More and more, the question around the country becomes: When's ICE coming for you?
A Marine Corps veteran’s wife
has been released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention
following advocacy from Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican who
backs President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown.
Until this week, Mexican national Paola Clouatre had been
one of tens of thousands of people in ICE custody as the Trump
administration continues to press immigration officers to arrest 3,000
people a day suspected of being in the US illegally.
Since late May, Paola, who was still breastfeeding 4-month-old daughter
Lyn when she was arrested, had been held at a facility about three
hours from her family, who live in Baton Rouge, La.
Now she's back home with husband Adrian, 26, and their two children, including nearly 2-year-old son, Noah.
The couple spoke with PEOPLE from Louisiana, as their young kids cooed
and laughed in the background, one day after they were reunited when ICE
freed Paola from detention.
Her case is one of an increasing number around the country drawing
attention to federal immigration policies. President Donald Trump
successfully campaigned last year on cracking down on illegal
immigration, but some of his deportations have stirred major debate.
Paola, though no longer held in Monroe, La., is required to wear an ankle monitor for the remainder of her legal proceedings.
Again, when's ICE coming for you?
US
Senator John Kennedy was able to work to free her. But ICE frequently
tries to do run-arounds when it comes to Congress. For example, William J. Ford (MARYLAND MATTERS) reports:
Six members of Maryland’s congressional delegation were turned away
Monday when they showed up to inspect a U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement office in Baltimore where they said people are being
temporarily held for deportation or awaiting court hearings.
Democratic Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen and Reps.
Johnny Olszewski Jr. (D-2nd), Sarah Elfreth (D-3rd), Glenn Ivey (D-4th)
and Kweisi Mfume (D-7th) entered the George H. Fallon Federal Building,
where the ICE detention facility is located.
In a joint statement, the lawmakers said the visit was part of their
oversight responsibility as members of Congress, and that they were
“exercising our legal authority … to inspect the Baltimore federal
holding facility, and, if necessary, speak directly with detainees.”
But they were denied entry by an ICE official who told the lawmakers
that it was an office, not a detention facility, and that they were not
authorized to to enter, even though they wrote the head of ICE and
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last Monday to alert them to the
visit.
Despite the claim that it’s just an office, Alsobrooks said previous
visits by congressional staffers, and a court brief filed by Maryland
Attorney General, indicate that immigrants are being held for several
days at a time in “hold rooms” at the facility. Those rooms are designed
to hold detainees for up to 12 hours while awaiting a court appearance,
but are not meant for longer stays, lawmakers said.
“They are breaking the law in there,” Alsobrooks said. She said the
official they encountered refused to say who gave the order to bar
lawmawkers from the building.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks' office issued the following regarding the above incident:
“It was abundantly clear that the
people working in this facility have been instructed to hide the horror
of the inhumane treatment of the people in their custody.” – Senator Alsobrooks
We will not let this cover-up
continue – we will continue pushing for accountability and the humane
enforcement of our immigration laws.” – Senator Van Hollen
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Senator Angela
Alsobrooks, Senator Chris Van Hollen, and Representatives Kweisi Mfume,
Glenn Ivey, Johnny Olszewski, Jr., and Sarah Elfreth (all
D-Md.) conducted oversight on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) facility in Baltimore and on the President’s draconian and
inhumane tactics he is employing – throwing innocent people in jail,
housing undocumented people in awful conditions, snatching people off
the street, and more. The lawmakers were denied access to the facility
despite it being within their constitutional authority to conduct
Congressional oversight.
After the visit, Senator Alsobrooks remarked:
“It was abundantly clear that the people working in this
facility have been instructed to hide the horror of the inhumane
treatment of the people in their custody.”
She continued:
“And the man behind it all – Donald Trump – clearly does not care about any of us.
“His inhumanity is not limited to the people of these facilities.
“We recently had the awful flood in Western Maryland. People’s
lives were disrupted and their homes and livelihoods taken away. And
what is the response of this Administration: deny Maryland disaster
relief. You know why?
“Because he couldn’t care less, really, about any of us.”
Senator Van Hollen remarked:
“Donald Trump told the American people that his Administration’s
immigration policy would focus on ‘the worst of the worst,’ detaining
dangerous criminals. That’s a targeted approach that we could support,
but it was a lie. In reality they are pursuing a cruel mass deportation
agenda where scores of people – the vast majority of whom pose no public
safety threat – are held under inhumane conditions at places like this
Baltimore ICE office and shipped off without any due process. Congress
has a legal authority and responsibility to conduct oversight, but the
Trump Administration refuses to let the American public see the truth.
We will not let this cover-up continue – we will continue pushing for
accountability and the humane enforcement of our immigration laws.”
###
The gestapo agents of ICE make whatever threats that they
want and break whatever laws they want. Imagine being told in the
United States that "you have no rights." 18 year old high school
student and United States citizen Kenny Laynez doesn't have to imagine it. ICE bullied him and told him "you have no rights." Cristian Benavides (CBS NEWS) reports:
Video
Laynez recorded of the arrest shows an officer telling him, a U.S.
citizen who was born and raised in the country, "You got no rights here.
You're an amigo, brother."
"It hurts me,
hearing them saying that I have no rights here because I look like, um,
you know, Hispanic, I'm Hispanic," Laynez told CBS News.
The
car was pulled over for having too many people sitting in the front
seat. Two passengers were undocumented, according to Laynez, and
officers are seen on the video using a Taser. The teens' two co-workers
were both detained, and Laynez says he has been unable to contact them.
"We're not resisting. We're not committing any crime to, you know, run away," Laynez said, recalling the arrest.
Laynez's
phone continued recording after he was detained, capturing an exchange
in which an officer tells another, "They're starting to resist more.
We're gonna end up shooting some of them."
Another officer replies, "Just remember, you can smell that too with a $30,000 bonus."
Florida Highway Patrol did not comment.
U.S.
Customs and Border Protection told CBS News in a statement that the
individuals "resisted arrest" and said immigration agents are facing a
surge in assaults while doing their job. The statement made no mention
that a U.S. citizen had been detained.
ICE
lies. Over and over. And they get caught lying above.
Kenny Laynez's cellphone camera
captured every undocumented immigrant’s nightmare on video when it
happened to him on the morning of May 2. One problem: He is a U.S.
citizen. Here's more to know about what happened.
Kenny Laynez, a U.S. citizen, was driving with his
mother and coworkers to their landscaping jobs when they were pulled
over on Singer Island by Florida Highway Patrol and Border Patrol
agents. Officers dragged them from the car, grabbing necks, twisting
arms, using a Taser, and later joked about raises and promotions.
Laynez,
who was born and raised in West Palm Beach, was held for six hours at a
federal facility in Riviera Beach before being released. His mom, who
is Guatemalan and has legal status in this country, was not detained.
His coworkers were taken to the Krome Detention Center in Miami and
later released on bail.
“I have rights. I was born and raised here,"
Laynez told the officers, according to a copy of the video shared by the
Guatemalan-Maya Center of Lake Worth Beach.
"You
don’t have any rights here. You are a ‘Migo,’ brother,” said the
officer, who hurried him into a van. "Migo" is short for "amigo," the
Spanish word for "friend, " an apparent reference to Laynez's ethnicity.
There's no
resisting arrest on the recording. ICE is lying. They are the new
gestapo. They break the law and act with impunity.
Donald
Chump's war on immigrants continues to include Cubans. Now we have a
long history with Cuban Americans at this site. I don't believe you
come to this country -- or go to another -- seeking a new start while
dragging your grudges over here with you. Meaning, don't you turn
Florida into a staging ground for your war on Castro or whomever. I'm
not the voice of Cuban immigrants or Cuban Americans. But I do think
that we need to realize something: Donald Chump has turned his back on
Cubans. No voting group has done more for the Republican Party --
especially in the state of Florida. And their thanks for that? One
attack on Cuban immigrants after another. Cuban-Americans have every
right to feel outraged. This is not how you thank your base. Nick Mordowanec (NEWSWEEK) reports:
A
Cuban immigrant detained and held in Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz"
facility after about 25 years of legal U.S. status had his court hearing
canceled last minute and without provided cause, according to his
attorney.
The
abrupt cancellation of a scheduled immigration court hearing on July 23
for 31-year-old Gonzalo Almanza, a green card holder and U.S. permanent
resident since 2000, ties to debate over due process, detainee
treatment, and legal access at the recently opened immigration detention
center in Florida's Everglades region.
Almanza's
case echoes broader legal struggles facing migrants and permanent
residents as lawyers and civil rights groups challenge the facility's
operations in court, arguing detainees are denied basic rights and
access to counsel.
No record currently exists for Almanza within the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) database.
Almanza, who arrived in the United States at the age of 6, has been detained at the Alligator Alcatraz facility since July 11.
His
wife, Aschly Valdez, said Almanza was taken into custody by immigration
authorities because of a past racketeering charge, despite ongoing
efforts to fulfill legal obligations and restitution.
On
the bromance of Chump and Epstein, there are many new developments. I
think Pam Bondi's lying is one of the important ones that's not getting
enough attention. Does Pam Bondi just lie every time she opens her
mouth? Dan Ruetenik (CBS NEWS) reports:
Attorney
General Pam Bondi was questioned about the gap during a July 8 Cabinet
meeting with President Trump. She said the missing minute was the result
of a nightly reset of the video that caused the recording system to
miss one recording minute every night, and attributed that information
to the Bureau of Prions.
"There
was a minute that was off that counter and what we learned from [the]
Bureau of Prisons was every year, every night, they redo that video,"
Bondi said. The equipment was old — "from like 1999, so every night is
reset, so every night should have that same missing minute," she said.
Bondi
said the department would share other video that showed the same thing
happened every night when the video system reset. That video, however,
has not yet been released.
Experts in
surveillance video, including video forensic professionals, told CBS
News that a nightly reset would have been unusual and was not something
they encountered in most video systems.
One
thing that is clear, forensic experts say, is that the version of the
recording released by the FBI was edited and not raw, as the government
stated. Bondi, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and others have said
publicly that the video would be released unaltered.
When the DOJ and FBI shared the video with the public, they said in a news release
that it was the "full raw" video, and that "anyone entering or
attempting to enter the tier where Epstein's cell was located from the
SHU common area would have been captured by this footage."
Jim
Stafford was one of several video forensic analysts who looked at the
video for CBS News using specialized software to extract the underlying
coding, known as metadata. He said the metadata showed that the file was
first created on May 23 of this year and that it was likely a "screen
capture, not an actual export" of the raw file.
He
also told CBS News the metadata showed that the video was in fact two
separate videos stitched together. It was also slightly sped up, so the
video covering 11 hours runs approximately 10 hours and 53 minutes in
length.
CBS asked the FBI and Justice
Department for a response, but they declined to comment. The Bureau of
Prisons said they "had no additional information to provide".
She
lied ny on-stop about the video she released. Who can trust a word out
of her mouth at this point? In February, the files were on her desk,
she was soon to release them. July 6th there was nothing, per Bondi, to
release. As this month winds down we learn that in May she met with
Chump and warned him that he was in the files. Who can trust her?
The one other thing I'd add is former Senator Claire McCaskill's correct in the video below from this morning's MORNING JOE.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Alex Padilla's office:
WATCH: Padilla pushes back against indiscriminate ICE raids and the militarization of Los Angeles
A one-pager on the Registry bill is available here.
LOS ANGELES, CA — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla
(D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration
Subcommittee, hosted a press conference in Los Angeles alongside
immigration advocates, impacted families, and community leaders to
announce legislation to expand a pathway to lawful permanent residency
for millions of long-term U.S. residents. Amid the Trump
Administration’s indiscriminate immigration enforcement in California
and across the country, the bill would offer a forward-looking,
strategic update to our outdated immigration system to counter President
Trump and Stephen Miller’s demonization of undocumented immigrant
communities.
Padilla’s Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 would update the existing Registry statute of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(INA) by adjusting the Registry date to meet current circumstances so
that an immigrant may qualify to apply for lawful permanent resident
status if they have lived in the U.S. continuously for at least seven
years before filing an application, do not have a criminal record, and
meet all other current eligibility requirements to receive a green card.
This overdue update would provide a much-needed pathway to a green
card for more than 8 million people, including Dreamers, forcibly
displaced citizens (TPS holders), children of long-term visa holders,
essential workers, and highly skilled members of our workforce, such as
H-1B visa holders, who have been waiting years for a green card to
become available. According to 2023 FWD.us estimates,
if the undocumented individuals covered in this bill eventually became
citizens, they would contribute approximately $121 billion to the U.S.
economy annually and about $35 billion in taxes.
Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, is co-leading the legislation in the Senate, and
Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.-18) is leading companion
legislation in the House of Representatives.
“Americans know there’s a better path forward than the Trump
Administration’s cruel scapegoating of hardworking immigrants and
fearmongering of California communities,” said Senator Padilla.
“We believe that if you’ve lived here for over seven years, paid taxes
for years, contributed to your community for years, and you don’t have a
criminal record, then you deserve a pathway to legalization. My bill is
a commonsense fix to our outdated immigration system and the same kind
of reform that Republican President Ronald Reagan embraced four decades
ago, calling it a ‘matter of basic fairness.’ This legislation creates
no new bureaucracies or agencies — it’s simply an update to a
longstanding pathway to reflect today’s reality and provide a fair shot
at the American Dream for millions of Dreamers, TPS holders, and highly
skilled workers who have faced delays and uncertainty for decades.”
“Recently, we have seen devastating arrests of immigrants who have
spent their lives in this country, building communities and families in
the United States, without any due process. Most have never committed
any crime. Protections for these hard-working individuals are long
overdue. It’s common sense that immigrants who pose no safety threat and
contribute to our country should be able to call America home with
certainty; additionally, it’s also common sense that the small
percentage of undocumented immigrants who do commit violent crimes
should be removed. Expanding the registry pathway to citizenship is a
practical solution to provide stability to immigrants who have worked
and contributed to our country for years. It’s part of the solution, and
I look forward to working to pass this bill into law,” said U.S. Senate
Democratic Whip Durbin, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee.
“When Donald Trump ran for president, he pledged to deport violent
criminals. Instead, masked, heavily-armed agents, often refusing to
identify themselves, are aggressively, sometimes violently, targeting
day laborers, busboys, farmworkers, and some of the hardest-working
people in this country. It’s outrageous and deserves the condemnation of
every Member of Congress. We need to control our borders, but we also
need a straightforward reform solution for those who have resided
peacefully for a long time in America,” said Representative Lofgren.
“My colleagues and I are reintroducing our registry legislation to
simply update a historically-bipartisan provision that provides lawful
permanent resident status to vetted immigrants who have been a part of
our communities for years. Providing stability to our communities and
our workforces – versus terrorizing them – will make our country
stronger.”
The bill is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy
Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.),
Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.),
Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.).
Section 249 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, also
known as the Registry, gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the
discretion to register certain individuals for lawful permanent resident
status if they have been in the country since a certain date and meet
other requirements. Section 249 was first codified in 1929 and Congress
has modified it four times, most recently during the Reagan
Administration in 1986. No changes have been made since 1986, and the
cutoff date for eligibility remains January 1, 1972 — more than 50 years
ago.
Specifically, the Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 would:
Amend the existing Registry statute by moving the eligibility cutoff
date so that an immigrant may qualify for lawful permanent resident
status if they have been in the U.S. for at least seven years before
filing an application under Registry.
Preempt the need for further congressional action by making the
eligibility cutoff rolling, instead of tying it to a specific date, as
it is now.
Padilla continues to lead the charge to pass commonsense immigration
reforms that strengthen communities, protect long-term residents, and
unlock America’s economic potential. He was joined today by community
members impacted by the Trump Administration’s cruel immigration raids,
including Alejandro Barranco — a veteran and the son of Narciso, who was
violently detained by masked Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in Orange County.
“As the son of a hardworking immigrant, I never imagined our family’s
story would become national news. Yet the violent and unjust treatment
my father endured on June 21st is one that countless others are
experiencing across this country. My father, a man who has spent over 30
years working to provide for our family, was beaten and detained by men
with no identification—simply for doing the work that makes this
country great. This attack wasn’t just on him; it was on every immigrant
who has ever sacrificed for the American dream. It’s long overdue for
this country’s broken immigration system to be fixed, or more families
will continue to be torn apart. I stand with leaders like Senator
Padilla to fight for a pathway to citizenship for people like my dad,
whose contributions make America stronger,” said Alejandro Barranco.
“I ask the American people: if you trust us to pick your crops, help
build your homes, take care of your children and elderly parents, play
with sons and daughters in the same sports teams, why won’t you trust us
to be part of the American dream? A path to citizenship is the only
solution that will protect us and the nation. Only a path to citizenship
will allow us to live free in this our home, the United States of
America,” said Angelica Salas, Executive Director for Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).
Senator Padilla is a leading voice in Congress for providing
long-term undocumented immigrants with pathways to citizenship or
permanent legal residence. As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
raids and mass deportation assaults intensified in Los Angeles, Padilla marked the 13th anniversary
of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy by urging
Congress to take immediate action to deliver permanent protections for
millions of families, parents, and individuals who are increasingly at
risk amid President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. He also delivered remarks on
the Senate floor ahead of the anniversary, pushing for permanent
protections for Dreamers rather than the indiscriminate ICE raids
stoking fear in Los Angeles communities. Padilla previously introduced the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act,
which would create a pathway to citizenship for immigrant essential
workers, including Dreamers, as his first bill in Congress.
Senator Padilla has been outspoken in criticizing Trump’s mass
deportations and unprecedented militarization and escalation of tensions
by deploying National Guard troops and active-duty U.S. Marines to
respond to overwhelmingly peaceful protests in Los Angeles. He recently
introduced the VISIBLE Act to
require immigration enforcement officers to display clearly visible
identification during public-facing enforcement actions. He also led the entire Senate Democratic Caucus last
month in demanding that President Trump immediately withdraw all
military forces from Los Angeles and cease all threats to deploy the
National Guard or active-duty service members to American cities.
Padilla spoke on the Senate floor following his forcible removal from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s press conference, where he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed after attempting to ask a question.
Video of Senator Padilla’s opening remarks from today’s press conference can be viewed here and downloaded here. His closing remarks are available to watch here and can be downloaded here.
Additional photos from today’s event can be found here.
