Let me note Katie Phang.
Here's C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"
One Tweet referring to a 'crisis.' And he's a member of Congress from California? Then again Musk is for attacking the protesters so maybe that's why Ro's got his rosebud open and his mouth closed?
RoRo is insisting that we 'lost' Robert Kennedy Junior to Chump and that hurt us. Junior was -- as publicly noted in real time -- meeting to sell his endorsement for the promise of a post in an administration. That's also known as bribery. Kamala Harris didn't engage in the corruption, Chump did. Ro thinks we need Junior in the Democratic Party and he thinks we need Musk in the party. And people still let him bill himself as a 'progressive.'
Among the many rejecting Ro? Bernie Sanders:
Sen. Bernie Sanders doesn’t think Democrats should even bother trying to woo back onetime party supporter Elon Musk after he went berserk on President Trump last week.
Musk has openly admitted to backing Democrats in the past, and some party bigs believe the opportunity is ripe to now win back the tech mogul given his public mega-rift with the GOP prez — but Sanders said Sunday he has major doubts.
“I think Musk has evolved over the years,” Sanders (I-Vt.) told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “My understanding is, he actually voted for Obama, I think, in 2008. But over the years, he has developed into a right-wing extremist.
“This is a fight between oligarchs. It’s a fight among power among the few,” he said of Musk and Trump. “And it’s really an embarrassment to those of us who believe in democracy and the rule of law.”
Joining Bernie is another US senator, Kipp Jones (MEDIAITE) reports:
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said Sunday he would not accept campaign donations from Elon Musk, breaking with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who last week called on Democrats to reconsider their relationship with the billionaire tech CEO.
During an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, anchor Kristen Welker pressed Booker on whether he would take money from Musk, whose fractured relationship with President Donald Trump has driven the news cycle since last Thursday.
Welker noted Khanna said Democrats should invite Musk back into the party.
“So let me ask you,” she said. “Would you personally accept money from Elon Musk if he were to support your re-election campaign, for example?”
Booker replied:
Let me just tell you. We’re stuck in this right/left divide right now. I will partner with anyone like I did in the last Congress, putting my vote alongside of John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins to stop the tearing down of the Affordable Care Act.
This is not about right or left, it’s about right or wrong.
While blasting Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill, Booker added, “I welcome Elon Musk, not to my campaign. I welcome him right now, not to sit back and just fire off tweets, to get involved right now in a more substantive way and putting pressure on congresspeople and senators to not do this.”
Welker cut in to get a definitive answer as to whether the New Jersey Democrat would accept money from Musk.
“But Senator, let me just put a fine point on this,” she said. “Would you accept money from Elon Musk if he were to give it to you? And should other Democrats?”
Booker said he would turn down donations from Musk if they came.
“I would not accept money from Elon Musk for my campaign,” Booker said flatly. “But I would be supportive of anybody, including Elon Musk, putting resources forward right now to let more Americans know, sound the alarm, treat this like a Paul Revere moment.”
As Ben notes on MEIDASTOUCH NEWS, Chump almost fell going up steps yesterday.
At THE MIRROR, Christopher Bucktin points out:
By any measure, what is unfolding in Los Angeles is not immigration enforcement; it is authoritarian rule.
Donald Trump, emboldened by his loyal band of goons, has turned one of the most diverse cities in America into ground zero for a political crackdown disguised as policy. Over the weekend, the US president ordered 2,000 National Guard troops into Los Angeles County.
The reason? Two days of protest against a brutal wave of immigration raids that swept up thousands across the States in recent weeks. Protesters demanded dignity, compassion, and due process.
They have been met with rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, and the threat of martial law. Trump was blunt. Any demonstration that hinders his enforcement would now be considered a form of rebellion.
Let that sink in. Peaceful protest, constitutionally protected speech, is now framed as rebellion. It's not presidential talk, it’s the language of a despot. Meanwhile, thousands of immigrants are being deported without due process, violating the very Constitution Trump swore to uphold.
David Rye and Norisa Diaz (WSWS) report of Friday:
The federal agents showed up in military armored vehicles wearing camo gear and brandishing heavy rifles. Agents deployed flash-bang grenades, pepper grenades and teargas on the unarmed demonstrators. One person threw eggs at one of the military-police vehicles. Video footage from Reuters in front of the LA Federal building and Detention Center shows agents violently tackling a protester and dragging their limp body into the building.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California President David Huerta was injured and detained by federal agents. According to Democratic Congressman Gil Cisneros, Huerta was also tased. Reports indicate that Huerta was knocked down and suffered an injury to his head. Huerta was treated at LA County General Hospital, then transferred to Federal detention and remains in custody, according to a statement from the SEIU.
Julianne McShane (MOTHER JONES) adds, "US Attorney Bill Essayli said in a post on X that Huerta 'was arrested for interfering with federal officers and will face arraignment in federal court on Monday.' The union countered that Huerta was “peacefully observing” and said he was treated for injuries sustained during his arrest; SEIU is planning to hold a Monday morning rally on his behalf in downtown LA. " Christal Hayes (BBC NEWS) notes the background of Los Angeles:
Hispanics not only make up a larger share of the population than any other ethnic background, but immigrants, specifically those from just south in Mexico, are a core part of the history and culture here.
The city boasts its status as a sanctuary city, which means it does not co-operate with federal immigration enforcement.
Some here said they felt a bubbling tension that seemed to erupt when the Republican president's administration targeted LA's undocumented immigrants.
"It was time to stand up," said Maria Gutierrez, who protested in Paramount. "These are my people."
She said she was born in Mexico, but has lived here since she was a girl.
She - like many here - say they have family members who are in the US illegally.
"This is LA," she said. "It touches us all.
"Everyone has family or knows someone who doesn't have papers."
Yesterday, Missael Soto (Los Angeles' NBC 4) reported:
Governor Gavin Newsom announced Sunday on MSNBC his plan to sue the Trump administration after the president signed off on sending 2,000 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles.
"He's putting fuel on this fire ever since he announced he was taking over the National Guard in a legal act and a moral act, an unconstitutional act. And we're going to test that theory with a lawsuit tomorrow," said Newsom.
The governor added that he plans to file the lawsuit early Monday morning and has lawyers working on the brief.
Told ICE's acting director Tom Holman is talking about arresting him, Newsom responded, "He's a tough guy, why doesn't he do that? He knows where to find me. But you know what? Lay your hands off four-year-old girls that are trying to get educated. Lay your hands off these poor people that are just trying to live their lives. Trying to live their lives, paying their taxes, been here ten years Fear, the horror, The hell is this guy? Come after me, arrest me. Let's just get it over with, tough guy. I don't give a damn. But I care about my community. I care about this community."
Let's wind down with this from Senator Alex Padilla's office:
“Our nation is better than this. Look to California as a way forward.”
Watch the full interview here.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, joined MSNBC’s “The Weekend: Primetime” to condemn the Trump Administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across Los Angeles and President Trump’s ensuing unprecedented deployment of nearly 2,000 members of California’s National Guard to the region.
Senator Padilla slammed President Trump for manufacturing a cruel crisis to scapegoat immigrants and distract from Republicans’ harmful budget bill that will cut critical services that millions of Americans depend on to give tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy. He also blasted the Trump Administration for their hypocrisy in calling the largely peaceful Los Angeles protests an “insurrection” as President Trump and Republicans refuse to use that word to describe the January 6th Capitol insurrection. Padilla encouraged Californians to continue peacefully protesting the Trump Administration’s inhumane immigration enforcement.
Key Excerpts:
On Trump demonizing immigrants to distract from Republicans’ harmful budget bill:
- “The Senate Republicans are on the verge of passing what House Republicans just passed in this bill that threatens to cut Medicaid, cut the social safety net for so many, and underwrite tax breaks for billionaires. So to distract from that, it never fails. This is [Trump’s] classic playbook. He’s not brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine. His tariff war has gone horribly wrong. So when all else fails, he demonizes immigrants again.”
- “If we were having a serious, substantive policy conversation, I think there is room to discuss increased funding for our immigration system, not just smarter enforcement at the border, utilizing technology, focusing on ports of entry, but also for all the people who have pending cases, whether it’s an asylum case, whether it’s anything else, there is a need for more immigration judges and hearing officers and counsel, those sorts of things. And let’s reduce the backlog. But what the Trump Administration is doing is exactly the opposite, shifting it to complete enforcement and aggressive, extreme, cruel enforcement for that matter, while the backlogs continue to grow because they’ve shifted resources away from those services and those programs.”
- “By and large, this supposedly Big Beautiful Bill, which is anything but, is nothing but increasing funding for … immigration enforcement, gutting so many other critical areas of the budget that working families across the country depend on, all to underwrite tax breaks for the most wealthy in America, including somebody like Elon Musk. You know, Donald Trump didn’t like the headlines he was getting because of his fallout with Elon Musk, and so again, what happens? He stages a crisis, manufactures a cruel crisis to try to change the news of the day.”
On Trump’s hypocrisy in his response compared to January 6:
- “The other thing he wants is for people to, yes, maybe get out of hand, so that he has the justification to escalate and increase the use of force. Look what happened in his first term. Look what happened on January 6. You’ve got to call out the hypocrisy. He did not once say “insurrectionist” for the people who stormed the Capitol and attacked police officers, but one protester who gets a little bit out of hand in Los Angeles and all of a sudden, he’s going to bring in the Marines? That’s beyond hypocritical.”
- “If it’s one thing that the Team Trump does have going for it, is they are masters of misinformation and disinformation. What’s happening in Los Angeles is not an insurrection. What happened on January 6 at the nation’s Capitol was an insurrection. So intellectual dishonesty is nothing new for J.D. Vance, or Donald Trump, or anybody in the White House right now. They should know better.”
On the cruelty of Trump’s ICE raids and the importance of peaceful protests:
- “These raids are not new. Obviously, we’ve been seeing them around the country for a few months, but increasingly with extremism and cruelty. And that’s what people in Los Angeles are responding to. Again, as others have said, you want to focus on violent and dangerous criminals? Great, there’s no disagreement there. But when you’re going after kids that are depending on lifesaving treatment, when you’re going after people in the workplace, in houses of worship, children in schools — that’s a whole thing altogether. So in a diverse community like Los Angeles, there’s going to be a lot of people who are passionate about defending fundamental rights and due process and to speak up when they see that not being respected.”
- “So for all the people in Los Angeles, I do say protest. Protest peacefully, but protest because Donald Trump wants one of two things. He wants people … to be quiet, to suck it up, and ignore what’s happening, let him do whatever he wants. That’s not in our DNA.”
On immigrants’ integral role in driving California’s economic success:
- “We are not just the most populous state in the nation, we’re the most diverse state in the nation, home to more immigrants than any state in the nation, both mostly documented, some undocumented. But remember, folks, this is also the largest economy of any state in the nation, by far. The fourth-largest economy in the world, not despite our immigrant population, but because of our immigrant population, who contribute so much as [a] workforce, as consumers, as entrepreneurs. That’s something to be respected, not insulted.”
On his personal story growing up as the son of immigrants from Mexico and fighting against anti-immigrant actions:
- “You can’t help but take this personal because you can relate to the story, because you can relate to the sacrifice, because you can relate to that journey — not just me, my brother, my sister, my parents, and our family, but everybody, frankly, in the community where and how I grew up, which is indicative of millions of families across the country. You know, my parents came in pursuit of the American Dream, as so many have over generations, and my parents found it. My dad as a short order cook for 40 years, my mom cleaning houses. And to think that in one generation, someone like me can grow up in public schools in Los Angeles, go on to college, and one day represent our state in the United States Senate.”
- “But there’s a reason why I left my engineering degree behind in 1994. It’s because of the rhetoric I saw back then in California, very different than the California we see today. Governor Pete Wilson, at the time, standing for re-election, down in the polls, turns to anti-immigrant rhetoric to try to seek re-election and divide the people. And it was because of … that Proposition 187 that people like my parents, finally took the steps to become citizens, as opposed to just being long-term permanent residents, but also my generation choosing to get involved in government and politics and change the trajectory of our state. California is very different today, but it is just so heartbreaking and offensive that the rhetoric continues to this day, even more so, because it’s not just coming out of the governor’s office in California back then, not now, but out of the Oval Office. Our nation is better than this. Look to California as a way forward.”
On Trump’s mismanagement of the protests in Los Angeles:
- “Law enforcement on the ground knows the community, and the community knows LAPD and the Sheriff’s Department. This is just a reminder that what happens when you don’t know what you’re doing as President United States, when you send in DHS, when you send in the National Guard, and they don’t know the community, they don’t have the rapport and the trust of the community, things get out of hand. And then the federal officials are in the position of having to call in LAPD to help them bring the temperature down in a situation, or the sheriff’s office in parts of the county outside the city of Los Angeles. It’s pointing out the weaknesses and the inability, the inexperience, and irresponsibility, frankly, of the Trump Administration.”
Video of the full interview is available here.
Senator Padilla also joined Los Angeles outlets KTLA and KNX tonight to discuss the fear and chaos the Trump Administration is stoking in Los Angeles and across California. On Friday, Padilla issued a statement condemning the Los Angeles ICE raids.
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