Creators: Instead of Being Down About Trump, People Are Rising Up

If the barrage of MAGA nuttiness and raw meanness is getting you down, ponder this passage from the classic novel, “Don Quixote”: “It is not possible for the bad or the good to last forever … and since the bad has lasted so long, the good is close at hand.”

Of course, the good only comes when fed-up people openly rebel against the bad. And, sure enough, President Donald Trump’s awful tyranny is revving up a majority movement for the common good.

Soaking in self-delusion, tyrants start sipping their own bathwater, thinking it’s champagne. So, today’s Washington MAGA moguls, drunk on narcissism, are imperiously rigging the rules so their clique can grab more wealth and power from the rest of us. Maybe they thought we commoners wouldn’t notice … or care. But we did and do, so the rebellion is on and gaining steam with nationwide protests and a surge in grassroots populist defiance.

Predictably, Trump & Co. is now resorting to the same losing tactic that panicky despots always fall back on — deploying police and military to subjugate the people. He has commanded the Army and Marines to shut down public protests. Then, posturing as a “strongman,” this 1960s draft dodger spent 45 million of our tax dollars to stage a made-for-TV, Stalin-style military parade on his birthday, letting him strut around as warrior-in-chief.

These are not shows of strength, but pathetic confessions of personal insecurity and presidential weakness. Sad. Don Quixote was right — the good is close at hand. So, to all of you in the growing democracy movement, keep pushing, push harder, push further! Thanks to you, we’re getting there. And we’ll get there sooner rather than later.

https://www.creators.com/read/jim-hightower/06/25/instead-of-being-down-about-trump-people-are-rising-up

Esquire: Anti-government Lunatics Used to Be on the Fringe. Trump Has Allowed Them to Operate in the Open.

Pennsylvania police stopped one of these crazies from harming ‘No Kings’ protesters. But the wildness persists.

But because I had been reading and studying a lot about the militia movement, especially in the West and South, even before Tim McVeigh blew up the Murrah Federal Building—thanks there to the indefatigable David Neiwert, who has been on that beat for longer than most people—I knew that the wildness predated Obama’s rise to the presidency, that it was fed by lunatic conspiratorial beliefs and a fringe form of American Protestantism that had taken to guns and the woods at the same time.

In retrospect, what I sensed in 2012 was that this vague wildness was beginning to gain focus. It needed a target and, in the long view, Obama really was only a temp worker. The wildness was beginning to organize itself, and its target was the entire democratic-republican governmental system.

Now we have hundreds of these individual warriors floating around. The president pardoned a couple regiments of these people who attacked the U.S. Capitol. They have friends at court now. They have too many allies in the state and federal legislatures despite all the public mewling about “political violence” that is all the rage today. The wildness has taken on human form. It now has a coherent shape. We can see it plain. We can see it through the Kevlar.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a65102966/pennsylvania-police-stop-no-kings-protest-bomber

Also here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/anti-government-lunatics-used-to-be-on-the-fringe-trump-has-allowed-them-to-operate-in-the-open/ar-AA1GYcF3

Daily Beast: Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Is Hitting Nursing Homes Hard

The administration’s anti-immigration policies are exacerbating pre-existing staffing shortages.

Nursing homes and other health care providers are struggling to fill vacancies as the Trump administration cracks down on immigration. Last year more than 41 percent of home health aides in the U.S. were born outside the U.S. The data also shows that 30 percent of nursing home housekeeping and maintenance employees, 22 percent of nursing assistants, and 28 percent of personal care aides are foreign-born. With the administration ending temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of people from more than a dozen countries, many legal residents working in health care are being forced to leave the U.S. Officials have also suspended refugee programs, which during the Biden administration worked with resettlement agencies to staff housekeeping, dietary, and other ancillary positions at nursing homes.

The U.S. was experiencing a shortage of caregivers for the country’s disabled and elderly populations even before the immigration policy changes. Now patient advocates and policy experts warn the crackdown could lead to a lower quality of care.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-immigration-crackdown-is-hitting-nursing-homes-hard

Newsweek: ICE detains green card-holder returning from visit to son in US Air Force

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

Avila was detained May 7 at San Francisco International Airport after returning from Japan. The 66-year-old has been a legal permanent resident since 1967, when he immigrated to the United States from Mexico. He was returning from the trip with his wife, who had not been detained.

According to a GoFundMe page, his wife, four children and six grandchildren are all U.S. citizens, including his son, who serves in the U.S. Air Force.

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

Avila’s daughter, Carina Mejia, told local outlet ABC 10 News that her father was pulled over in 2009 and arrested for a DUI and drug possession misdemeanor. He served his time and paid the fines for the misdemeanors. She said he has been able to renew his green card two times since that arrest.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-detains-green-card-holder-returning-visit-son-us-air-force-2087397

The Hill: Democrats hammer Hegseth over restoring Confederate names of military bases

Democratic senators on Wednesday repeatedly slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his decision to restore the names of nine military bases originally named after Confederate leaders, with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) criticizing the Pentagon chief for not calling the families whose relatives’ names will now be stripped from the installations. 

The former titles, which the Pentagon earlier this month said would be restored albeit with new namesakes, means seven bases named for notable individuals will soon revert back roughly two years after conversion. Hegseth earlier this year ordered the names of two other bases, Fort Liberty and Fort Moore, changed back to Fort Bragg and Fort Benning, respectively. 

Kaine, whose state holds three of the nine military bases that were originally named for Confederate generals, said Hegseth’s decision strips away “the names of four amazing people that the Pentagon and local communities had chosen to honor.”

The Virginia bases are currently known as Fort Barfoot, named after Col. Van Barfoot who earned a Medal of Honor for his actions during World War II; Fort Walker, honoring American abolitionist and Civil War surgeon Mary Edwards Walker, the only woman to ever receive a Medal of Honor; and Fort Gregg-Adams, named after Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg, the first Black man in the Army to reach the rank of lieutenant general, and Lt. Col. Charity Adams Earley, the first Black woman to become an officer in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in WWII.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5357795-democrats-hammer-hegseth-over-restoring-confederate-names-of-military-bases

News Nation: LA’s undocumented immigrants try to avoid ICE

  • ICE has been targeting stores where day laborers congregate
  • The raids in LA sparked protests in the city
  • Workers have stayed home out of fear of being detained

Raiding stores like Home Depot has become a common strategy for ICE, with stores across Southern California reporting raids.

One Cuban immigrant who asked to remain anonymous told NewsNation he’s seen men get snatched up in parking lots.

“[It’s like] you’re catching animals, it’s like they’re not considering these people to be human because you take their freedom and they have committed no crime,” he said. “Some of them don’t even hear their Fifth Amendment right, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in law.”

Immigrants who spoke to NewsNation said they are not criminals, they’re just honest people looking for work, trying to feed their families and support themselves.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/la-immigrants-avoid-ice

Mediaite: ‘Disgusting’: Republican Senator Rips Federal Agents Who ‘Wrestled’ U.S. Senator to the Floor, Urges Civility From Politicians

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday, denouncing federal agents detaining and wrestling Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) to the floor as “disgusting” – while also urging leaders to act with restraint and civility instead of trying to “trend on social media by getting in somebody’s face.”

Problem is, our Grifter-in-Chief and his band of sycophants thrive on insulting and diminishing others. Unless Trump is impeached or kicks the bucket, these behaviors will be par for the course until 2029.

Associated Press: US resumes visas for foreign students but demands access to social media accounts

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it is restarting the suspended process for foreigners applying for student visas but all applicants will now be required to unlock their social media accounts for government review.

The department said consular officers will be on the lookout for posts and messages that could be deemed hostile to the United States, its government, culture, institutions or founding principles.

… or which might otherwise annoy our pathetic thin-skinned Grifter-in-Chief.

Currently only about half of social-media users have public profiles, and even then they may choose to limit access on a post-by-post basis.

This will not work to our advantage in the long run.

https://apnews.com/article/student-visas-trump-social-media-6632a2c585245edcd6a63594345dd8c7

Raleigh News & Observer: Trump’s Approval Rating Plummets in New Poll

President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 38%, according to Quinnipiac, amid a public clash with Elon Musk over the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” A CBS/YouGov poll earlier this month showed 45% approval and 55% disapproval, underscoring the growing public scrutiny he faces.

Republican lawmakers … are viewed unfavorably by 61% of the general public. This disparity comes amid ongoing challenges Republicans have faced in appealing to a wider audience beyond their base.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-approval-rating-plummets-in-new-poll/ss-AA1GVnKX

Newsweek: Trump’s most favorable pollster warns it could be “all over for MAGA”

President Donald Trump‘s most favorable pollster has warned that it could be “all over for MAGA” if the president gets the United States more deeply involved in the conflict between Iran and Israel.

“Kiss the Republican majority goodbye… For the next decade,” Rich Baris, the director of Big Data Poll, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “If he pulls the trigger, it’s all over for MAGA.”

I seriously doubt that Trump has the brains to step back from brink. On the plus side, perhaps we’ll be rid of him sooner than 2029.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-pollster-warns-all-over-maga-iran-israel-2086637