The Conversation -- July 2, 2025
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) reads the preamble to the Big Ugly Bill: ~~~
The New York Times' liveblog for Trump's Screw EweEssAy bill is here: “Speaker Mike Johnson labored on Wednesday to overcome resistance in his own ranks to bringing up ... [Donald] Trump’s marquee domestic policy bill for a final vote in the House, as Republicans dismayed by Senate changes threatened to derail it. The House was marching toward a test vote that would allow the bill to come to the floor for debate, but several conservative Republicans raised objections, suggesting that Mr. Johnson might lack the votes to move forward. Facing tight margins in the House, he can only afford a small handful of defections on the measure.... As of midday, at least two Republicans had said they planned to vote against the procedural measure.” And so on. ~~~
Robert Jimison: “Action in the House has come to a grinding halt, and different factions were meeting amongst themselves. The House Freedom Caucus members, the group that railed against the changes the Senate made to the bill, were meeting in an office near the chamber floor. A number of other potential Republican holdouts, including Representatives Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Rich McCormick of Georgia and others, have joined their meeting. Meanwhile, Speaker Johnson is holed up in his office where a rotating cast of members were also coming and going.”
They're Eating the Dogs. They're Eating the Cats. They're Eating Themselves. Sanjana Karanth of the Huffington Post: “Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem added another dehumanizing label on Tuesday to her list of descriptors meant to justify the rounding up of migrants: cannibals.... [At a roundtable following a tour of a Florida-state detention center in the Everglades, Noem] began telling a bizarre story about how U.S. marshals working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement told her they detained a cannibal and put him on a deportation flight.... 'And while they had him in his seat, he started to eat himself. And they had to get him off and get him medical attention,' she told reporters. 'These are the kind of deranged individuals that are on our streets in America, that we’re trying to target and get out of our country because they are so deranged they don’t belong here.'... On Friday, the secretary told the same anecdote to Jesse Waters on Fox News, saying the man was eating his own arm while shackled. 'That is what he did,' she said. 'He called himself a cannibal, ate other people and ate himself.' It should be strongly noted that there is no evidence supporting Noem’s anecdote.” Thanks to Jeanne for the lead, I guess. ~~~
~~~ Marie: It does seem possible to me that among all the people the Trumpists are deporting, one was so stressed that he behaved in a bizarre manner. This is not a circumstance to use as an example of how horrible immigrants are; rather, it's a shameful example of how horrible the Trump deportation program is.
Erika Solomon & Sanam Mahoozi of the New York Times: “Iran’s president has enacted a law to suspend cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, Iranian state media reported on Wednesday, in a move that will shut out international inspectors from overseeing the country’s contested nuclear program.”
AP Liveblog: “Sean 'Diddy['] Combs was convicted of a prostitution-related offense but acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s most celebrated figures behind bars for life. The mixed result came on the third day of deliberations. It could still send Combs, 55, to prison for as long as a decade, and is likely to end his career as a hitmaking music executive, fashion entrepreneur, brand ambassador and reality TV star.” The New York Times liveblog is here.
Marie: Earlier today, I complained about this sentence in Tony Romm's story about Trump's omnibus U.S. economic destruction bill: "That reality could undercut Republican lawmakers and ... [Donald] Trump, who insisted anew this week that their legislative vision would benefit the entire economy...." Yeah, when you tell big fat lies about a bill to make it sound as if the bill does the opposite of what it does, that could undercut you and your argument. I asked who taught reporters to write. RAS found the answer right away: ~~~
~~~ Mark Jacob of Stop the Presses: “... I’ve speculated about the existence of a 'euphemism desk' at the New York Times that sands off the sharp edges of Trumpism. Other news outlets are guilty of this weasel wording too, downplaying MAGA lies and criminality. I’ve broken down this trend into five categories[.]” Read on through. Jacob points to many examples you will recognize. MB: In fairness to the editors who established the euphemism desks at the NYT & elsewhere, they probably did so to avoid being slapped with a Trumpy lawsuit for factual reporting. By using a conditional verb like “could,” Romm (or his euphemism editor) is merely proposing a hypothetical, not stating outright that Trump & other Republicans are lying about the effects of the bill.
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Jacob Bogage, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Senate on Tuesday narrowly approved massive tax and immigration legislation that Republicans hope will become the centerpiece of ... Donald Trump’s second term, dramatically reorienting the role of the federal government and unwinding many of the Biden administration’s accomplishments. Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote for the measure, which extends trillions of dollars in tax cuts from Trump’s first term and implements new campaign promises — such as eliminating income taxes on tips and overtime wages — while spending hundreds of billions of dollars on immigration enforcement and defense. To offset the cost, the legislation would cut about $1 trillion from Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for low-income individuals and people with disabilities, and other health care programs. It would also cut SNAP, the anti-hunger Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. Nearly 12 million people will lose health care coverage if the bill becomes law, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Linda Qiu of the New York Times: “As ... [Donald] Trump sought to pass his tax and domestic policy bill, he and his allies have insisted that the legislation would be a boon for seniors and the middle class.... Still, some of their most repeated talking points — a warning about vast tax increases if the bill did not pass, a purported elimination of taxes on Social Security and boasts about a record tax cut for average Americans, or insistence that the bill would not balloon the deficit or cut Medicaid — are not accurate. Here’s a fact-check.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: BTW, I heard on the teevee that the devastating provisions of the bill will not go into effect until after the 2026 election. So the dimwits will never know what hit them. Even if Democrats take control of both houses of Congress, they still will not gain enough seats to override a Trump veto. So (a) the bill's provisions will go into effect, and (b) they would hit during Democrats' watch, so the dumbkopfs will blame Democrats. ~~~
~~~ Tony Romm of the New York Times: “Millions of low-income Americans could experience staggering financial losses under the domestic policy package that Republicans advanced through the Senate on Tuesday, which reserves its greatest benefits for the rich while threatening to strip health insurance, food stamps and other aid from the poor.... That reality could undercut Republican lawmakers and ... [Donald] Trump, who insisted anew this week that their legislative vision would benefit the entire economy.... On average..., [the Senate bill amounts] to about $560 in losses for someone who reports little to no income by 2034, and more than $118,000 in gains for someone making over $3 million.... Martha Gimbel ... of the [Yale B]udget [L]ab described the Senate measure as 'highly regressive.'... On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the bill as a 'deal for working people,' saying on Fox News that it would protect Medicaid.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Who teaches these reporters to write? What does "could undercut" mean here? ~~~
~~~ Dismantling Obamacare, a Piece at a Time. Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: “The Senate version of ... Donald Trump’s massive tax and immigration spending plan would wipe out many of the strides made by the Affordable Care Act in reducing the number of uninsured Americans, resulting in at least 17 million Americans losing their health coverage, according to nonpartisan estimates and experts. The bill ... would effectively accomplish what Republicans have long failed to do: unwind many of the key components of the ACA, President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, which dramatically increased the number of Americans with access to health insurance.... In addition, both [the House and Senate] versions of the bill would allow pandemic-era enhanced subsidies for health insurance through ACA marketplaces to expire at the end of the year, sharply raising out-of-pocket costs for millions of Americans. The CBO estimates that 4.2 million people would lose insurance as a result. An additional 1 million are likely to become uninsured because of a combination of other Trump administration cuts and the Republican legislation, according to the CBO. The bill also includes other, less-noticed changes that over several years would make it harder for states to maintain the ACA’s Medicaid expansion at existing levels....”
~~~ “Agonizing.” Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, on Tuesday cast the deciding vote for ... [Donald] Trump’s sprawling bill to slash taxes and social safety net programs, embracing a measure she acknowledged would harm Americans after securing carve outs to protect her constituents from its harshest impacts. 'Do I like this bill? No,' Ms. Murkowski, who appeared to be quietly seething as she was questioned about her vote, told NBC News. 'But I tried to take care of Alaska’s interests. But I know that in many parts of the country, there are Americans that are not going to be advantaged by this bill.'... Republicans stuffed the bill with all sorts of goodies designed to win her over, including a provision that would allow certain Alaskan whaling captains to deduct more of their expenses.
“After the vote, Ms. Murkowski continued to express grave concerns about the legislation she had supported. 'Agonizing,' she said when asked to describe the process of getting to 'yes' on the bill. She said that ultimately she supported an extension of the 2017 tax cuts, which expire at the end of the year, and killing the bill would also have had a harmful impact on the people in her state. 'I struggled mightily with the impact on the most vulnerable in this country when you look to the Medicaid and the SNAP provisions,' she said.” ~~~
~~~ RAS and Akhilleus expressed little "concern" for Lisa's "agonizing." In yesterday's Comments, RAS noted that Murkowski must have "lost the coin flip with Collins." ~~~
She said, 'My hope is that the House is gonna look at this and recognize that we’re not there yet.' I mean, my question to her is, if you really believe that, then why the hell did you vote for this bill? It doesn’t make any sense! It’s a dereliction of your duty as United States senator and as a representative for the people in Alaska. When was the last time this current House of Representatives has fixed or solved anything? Where have you been, Senator Murkowski? This Republican House is dysfunction on steroids. -- Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), during a meeting of the House Rules Committee ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Murkowski has plenty of money. She’s 68. She cast a critical no vote on the last round of ACA repeal and did just fine. If she didn’t want to take the pressure anymore she could spend the rest of her life on a lucrative no-work lecture circuit. Instead she wants her legacy to be senselessly sickening and killing and immiserating people because she can make it marginally less bad for her own state, and she’s still trying to convince herself that someone else will fix it. Unspeakably vile." MB: The whole post is interesting.
~~~ Katherine Tully-McManus & Jordain Carney of Politico report on some of the horsetrading Murkowski engaged in to get to an "agonizing" "yes" vote. ~~~
~~~ Andrew Solender of Axios: "Democrats are already vowing to make ... [Donald] Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' a centerpiece of their strategy for taking back the House of Representatives in 2026. MB: I don't have a lot of confidence that Democrats can carry this off, especially because of the way Republicans have apparently loaded the aid cuts not to take effect till after the 2026 election. Meanwhile, I know JayDee is easy to forget, but let's not: ~~~
~~~ Cheyanne Daniels of Politico: “Democrats are rushing to portray Vice President JD Vance as the central figure behind the passage of the GOP’s megabill, with potential 2028 rivals arguing it will come back to haunt the MAGA heir apparent.... Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called Vance’s vote an 'absolute and utter betrayal of working families,' while California Gov. Gavin Newsom urged Americans to 'bookmark' the moment Vance became 'the ultimate reason why 17 million Americans will lose their healthcare.' 'VP Vance has cast the deciding vote in the Senate to cut Medicaid, take away food assistance, blow up the deficit, and add tax breaks for the wealthiest,” former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeg posted on X. 'This bill is unpopular because it is wrong. Congress votes this week, but it’s our voices — and our votes — that will have the final say.'”
Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: “The White House said on Tuesday that ... [Donald] Trump had paused the delivery of some air defense interceptors and precision-guided bombs and missiles to Ukraine, citing Pentagon concerns that the U.S. weapons stocks were dwindling too low. Included among the munitions being halted are interceptors for Patriot air defense systems, precision artillery rounds and missiles that the Ukrainian air force fires from American-made F-16 jets, according to Pentagon officials. They have been critical weapons in Ukraine’s efforts to hold off increasingly intense attacks from Russia, at a particularly perilous moment in the three years and four months since Russia invaded.... Only last week, after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in The Hague, Mr. Trump said he was open to selling more weapons to Ukraine.... But the signal to President Vladimir Putin of Russia may be that the United States is gradually getting out of its role as Ukraine’s major supplier of advanced weaponry. That, in turn, may encourage Mr. Putin to drag out talks about a cease-fire....” ~~~
Trump’s approach to economic statecraft is to impose pressure and get leverage and try to get the best deal possible.... For whatever reason, with Russia, he doesn’t want to have any leverage over Putin. -- Edward Fishman of Columbia U.'s Center on Global Energy Policy ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Aaron Krolik of the New York Times: “Since ... [Donald] Trump returned to office in January, the United States has issued no new sanctions against Russia related to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In some cases, the administration has eased restrictions. And without new ones, analysts say, existing measures lose their force. The result has created an opening for new dummy companies to funnel funds and critical components to Russia, including computer chips and military equipment that would otherwise be cut off to the Kremlin, trade and corporate records show.... During his presidency, Joseph R. Biden Jr. imposed thousands of so-called maintenance sanctions targeting new schemes.... In total, the Biden administration imposed more than 6,200 blocks on individuals, companies, vessels and aircraft linked to Russia.... But this year, those actions have come to a standstill, according to a New York Times analysis....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: IOW, there are literally (numerically?) thousands of ways Trump is acting as Putin's puppet, most of which don't make the news. It isn't just attacking President Zelensky during a state visit or withholding weapons from Ukraine.
Eprat Livni & Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed to 'conditions to finalize' a 60-day cease-fire with Hamas, though he provided no detail about the terms of a potential deal. The office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the announcement, and Israeli officials have not yet confirmed they have agreed to conditions. Mr. Trump has been pressing Israel and Hamas to end their nearly two-year-old war. The announcement, which the president made on Truth Social, his social media site, comes ahead of a meeting Mr. Trump is scheduled to have with Mr. Netanyahu in Washington next week.”
Cat Zakrzewski, et al., of the Washington Post: “As ... Donald Trump visited a new immigration detention center in the Everglades, the White House celebrated the local alligators as a new kind of security force. 'It’s known as “Alligator Alcatraz” which is very appropriate because I looked outside, and that’s not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon,' Trump said during a news conference with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) after touring the site Tuesday morning. 'Very soon this facility will have some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.... We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation.'.... Trump also raised the idea of deporting U.S. citizens convicted of crimes, an idea he floated earlier this year. 'We also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time, people that whack people over the head with a baseball bat from behind when they’re not looking and killing people, that knife you when you’re walking down the street.… Many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here, if you want to know the truth,' he said.... Under U.S. law, the government has no authority to deport citizens.... Asked earlier in the day whether the intent was for the alligators to eat escaping detainees, Trump said he guessed 'that’s the concept.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yesterday I speculated that maybe one of those alligators would have Trump for lunch, and Akhilleus thought it more likely a venomous snake would get him. I'm thinking we might have heard on the news had Trump succumbed to any creatures of the great swamp. As for the law against deporting U.S. citizens, when has the law or the Constitution entirely contrained Trump? ~~~
~~~ WHAT??? Romy Ellenbogen & Anna Cebalos of the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times: “... Donald Trump said Tuesday he would approve Florida’s plan to expedite deportations by having qualified National Guard members work as immigration judges. Trump made the announcement during his visit to a new state-run immigration detention center in South Florida dubbed Alligator Alcatraz. For months now, Gov. Ron DeSantis has sought the approval of the federal government to deputize Florida National Guard Judge Advocate General Corps officers to act as immigration judges. On Tuesday, Trump said he is in favor of the plan. 'He didn’t even have to ask me. He has my approval,' Trump said during a roundtable discussion at the immigration detention center in the Everglades.... Unlike federal judges, who work for the judicial branch and are independent of the President, immigration judges work under the direction of the U.S. Attorney General.” ~~~
~~~ Mike Masnick of TechDirt: “There’s no way to look at what the US government is doing here and not think of it more as Auschwitz than Alcatraz. The parallels are unmistakable: hastily constructed camps in remote locations, euphemistic naming designed to obscure their true purpose, and — most tellingly — officials proudly touring the facilities while discussing plans to build 'a system' of such camps nationwide.... But here’s where today’s American concentration camps differ from their 20th-century predecessors: the Trump regime isn’t trying to hide what they’re doing. They’re merchandising it. They’re selling t-shirts celebrating human suffering as if it were a sports team or a vacation destination. The United States government is literally selling branded merchandise to celebrate putting human beings in cages surrounded by dangerous predators. This isn’t just about policy — it’s about turning cruelty into a consumer product. It’s about making the suffering of others into something you can wear to own the libs.... Every day you don’t call this what it is—fascism—you become complicit in normalizing it.” More on Auschwitz embedded below. ~~~
~~~ Reuters: "The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it was looking into whether CNN could be prosecuted over its report on an Apple ... iPhone app that alerts users to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their area. The cable news network said its reporting was not illegal. The app ICEBlock is the third most popular free app in Apple's app store in the U.S. ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told CNN the free app could increase the risk of assault on U.S. agents. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, speaking alongside ... Donald Trump at a migrant detention encampment in Florida, said she is working with the Justice Department to see if CNN can be prosecuted for reporting on the phone app. 'It's OK with me,' Trump said, referring to prosecuting CNN."
There's naturalization and there's naturalization. If you get too prolific with that free-speech stuff, Trump might denaturalize you. ~~~
Rachel Scott, et al., of ABC News: "... Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday his administration will 'have to take a look' at deporting Elon Musk after the billionaire reignited the feud with the president over his spending bill. Musk, a South African national and a naturalized U.S. citizen, made several weekend X posts slamming Republicans over the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' arguing that it was adding more debt. 'It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!,' Musk posted Monday afternoon." Thanks to Julie in MA for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.)
Tom Nichols of the Atlantic: “Trump has shown, over and over, that he has no real ability to make moral distinctions about anything.... When Trump depicts America as an unending nightmare of crime and carnage, he’s not only trying to trigger a cortisol rush among his followers; he’s also creating a narrative of despair. It’s a clever approach. He tells Americans that because the world is nasty, all that “shining city on a hill” talk is just stupid and all that matters is making some deals to get them stuff they need. Meanwhile, he paints America as something out of a medieval woodcut of hell, implicitly warning that he can’t really extinguish the lava and the fires but promising to at least put on a show of punishing some of the demons. This nihilism and helplessness is poisonous to a democracy, a system that only works when citizens take responsibility for their government.” Thank you to laura h. for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The Hollow People. Marie: I doubt there's a neat break, but in general, I think it's fair to say that there are two kinds of citizens: those who have morals and those who don't (i.e., they're either amoral or immoral). You and I, being moral people, may disagree on important public policies -- say, the death penalty. But each of us has come to her position via moral inquiry. As Nichols points out, morality does not enter into Trump's decisions; following Groucho Marx (apocryphally, at least), Trump would say “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them … well, I have others.” Nichols does not seem ready to believe that millions of Americans share Trump's lack of moral grounding. I think they do. They know what morality is, and they may be able to recite moral "rules" (like the Ten Commandments), but it doesn't occur to them to apply these rules to themselves.
Santul Nerkar of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Tuesday nominated Alina Habba, his former campaign spokeswoman and personal lawyer, to be New Jersey’s U.S. attorney for the next four years, a move that would remove her interim status.... Ms. Habba has bucked the traditionally nonpartisan approach of U.S. attorneys. She has aggressively carried out Mr. Trump’s wish to use the Justice Department to target his enemies.... 'We could turn New Jersey red...,' Ms. Habba said in an interview with a conservative podcast host after her appointment. 'Hopefully while I’m there, I can help that cause.'...
“She has directed the government’s lawyers to investigate Philip D. Murphy, the Democratic governor of New Jersey, and the state’s attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, over the state’s immigration policies. In May, Ms. Habba’s office brought criminal trespassing charges against Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, after he was arrested outside an immigration detention facility. Her office has also charged Representative LaMonica McIver, who was also present at the facility when Mr. Baraka was arrested, with assault. The charges against Mr. Baraka were later dropped, and Ms. Habba’s office earned a rare admonition from a federal magistrate judge. 'Your role is not to secure convictions at all costs, nor to satisfy public clamor, nor to advance political agendas,' Judge André M. Espinosa told prosecutors.”
Alan Feuer & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: “A former F.B.I. agent who was charged with encouraging the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to kill police officers has been named as an adviser to the Justice Department task force that ... [Donald] Trump established to seek retribution against his political enemies. The former agent, Jared L. Wise, is serving as a counselor to Ed Martin, the director of the so-called Weaponization Working Group, according to people familiar with the group’s activities. Mr. Martin, a longtime supporter of Jan. 6 defendants, was put in charge of the weaponization group in May after Mr. Trump withdrew his name for a Senate-confirmed position as the U.S. attorney in Washington. His nomination faltered in part because of the work he had done as an advocate and defense lawyer for people charged in connection with the Capitol attack. Even in a Justice Department that has often been pressed into serving Mr. Trump’s political agenda, the appointment of Mr. Wise to the weaponization task force was a remarkable development. His selection meant that a man who had urged violence against police officers was now responsible for the department’s official effort to exact revenge against those who had tried to hold the rioters accountable.” The AP's report is here.
This Is Ludicrous. Benjamin Mullin, et al., of the New York Times: “Paramount said late Tuesday that it has agreed to pay ... [Donald] Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of an interview on the CBS News program '60 Minutes,' an extraordinary concession to a sitting president by a major media organization. Paramount said its payment includes Mr. Trump’s legal fees and costs and that the money, minus the legal fees, will be paid to Mr. Trump’s future presidential library. As part of the settlement, Paramount said that it had agreed to release written transcripts of future '60 Minutes' interviews with presidential candidates. The company said that the settlement did not include an apology. The deal is the clearest sign yet that Mr. Trump’s ability to intimidate major American institutions extends to the media industry. Many lawyers had dismissed Mr. Trump’s lawsuit as baseless and believed that CBS would have ultimately prevailed in court, in part because the network did not report anything factually inaccurate, and the First Amendment gives publishers wide leeway to determine how to present information.” The CBS News story is here. MB: What, no apology? I guess Paramount really is tough.
Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration’s move to terminate long-running deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the United States, preventing their removal to the Caribbean nation. In a 23-page order, Judge Brian Cogan of the Eastern District of New York wrote that Secretary Kristi Noem, who leads the Department of Homeland Security, 'does not have statutory or inherent authority' to end the immigration protections, known as Temporary Protected Status. The administration moved to end the protection last week. The Biden administration had extended those protections for Haitians through Feb. 3, 2026. Judge Cogan wrote that Ms. Noem would have to wait until then to decide not to renew the protections for Haitians according to what he called 'the statutorily prescribed procedures Congress has enacted.'... Haiti and migrants from the country — who are overwhelmingly Black — have been the focus of Mr. Trump’s vitriol. In 2021, Mr. Trump said that Haitian migrants were spreading AIDS to the United States, saying 'it’s like a death wish for our country.' He also referred to Haiti as a 'shithole' country in remarks denigrating Haitian immigrants.”
Brittany Gibson of Axios: "A growing number of local law enforcement officials are alarmed about their jails and prisons holding immigration detainees without warrants, saying it exposes their departments to legal risks.... It's the latest sign of tension between local authorities and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, whose strong-arm tactics in arresting immigrants have shocked communities across the nation.... With ICE arrests soaring to more than 2,000 a day under Trump, local jail and prison officials are increasingly concerned about being liable for detainees' care — particularly when ICE leaves them in local facilities for lengthy periods."
Christina Jewitt & Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with a dramatic reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services, finding that the mass firings and organizational changes were probably unlawful. In an opinion accompanying the order, Judge Melissa R. DuBose of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island said that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to wipe out entire programs and reorient the agency’s priorities and work far exceeded his authority. 'The executive branch does not have the authority to order, organize or implement wholesale changes to the structure and function of the agencies created by Congress,' she wrote. A coalition of 19 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia had banded together in a lawsuit led by Letitia James, the New York attorney general, seeking to reverse Mr. Kennedy’s plan to cut 10,000 federal health workers after mass layoffs began in April.” A CBS News report is here.
Alan Blinder of the New York Times: “The University of Pennsylvania said on Tuesday that it had struck a deal with the federal government that will limit how transgender people may participate in its athletic programs, bowing to the Trump administration’s new interpretation of the law that bans sex discrimination in education. The government also said the Ivy League school had pledged to 'adopt biology-based definitions for the words “male” and “female’” that comply with the Trump administration’s reading of Title IX and a pair of executive orders that the president issued this year. The agreement was tied to a civil rights investigation, conducted by the Department of Education, of a transgender woman’s participation on Penn’s women’s swim team three years ago. In April, the Education Department said that Penn’s support for the swimmer, Lia Thomas, had violated the law governing sex discrimination in most educational settings. Penn’s president, J. Larry Jameson, noted in a statement on Tuesday that the university had been in compliance with the interpretation of federal law that was in effect when Ms. Thomas swam there. But he said that the Trump administration’s inquiry had left Penn vulnerable to 'significant and lasting implications,' a reference to the possibility of a loss of federal funding.” A report by CBS News Philadelphia is here.
Sarah Mervosh & Michael Bender of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has declined to release nearly $7 billion in federal funding that helps pay for after-school and summer programs, support for students learning English, teacher training and other services. The money was expected to be released by Tuesday. But in an email on Monday, the Education Department notified state education agencies that the money would not be available. The administration offered little explanation, saying only that the funds were under review. It gave no timeline for when, or if, the money would be released, saying instead that it was 'committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the president’s priorities.' 'It’s catastrophic,' said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance.... The move is likely to be challenged in court and has already been criticized as illegal by Democrats and teachers’ unions, who emphasized that the money had been appropriated by Congress and was approved by ... [Donald] Trump in March as part of a broader funding bill. 'This is lawless,' said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.” Looks like a gift link. Politico's story is here.
Ben Brasch of the Washington Post: “Sixteen states are suing the Trump administration for 'unconstitutionally' ending more than $1 billion in mental-health-related grants created to help after mass school shootings, the states’ attorneys general said Tuesday. The Education Department began discontinuing the grants in April, claiming that schools diversifying their pool of psychologists are misusing the funds and saying the grants would be rebid.... Donald Trump’s January executive order called on programs that foster diversity, equity and inclusion in schools to be cut.”
Now Here Is Some (Alleged) “Waste, Fraud AND Abuse.” Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: “An FBI special agent who supervised other agents had sex with prostitutes during overseas assignments and domestic travels, and used an agency-issued device to pay for the encounters, the Justice Department’s watchdog said Tuesday, committing policy violations that agency officials have said could expose agents to extortion.... The inspector general’s summary said 'criminal prosecution was declined,' without elaborating. The summary did not provide the time frame for the alleged misconduct, nor the locations where it occurred. It did not say whether disciplinary action was taken and referred to the agent only as a 'then-FBI Supervisory Special Agent.'... The allegations add to an emerging picture of a culture within the FBI in which agents freely paid for sex while working overseas.”
⭐The Nationalization of the Fascist State. Hunter Walker of TPM: "Chris West was sworn in as the president of the National Sheriffs’ Association on June 26. West is the sheriff of Canadian County, Oklahoma. He’s also an ardent supporter of ... [Donald] Trump who traveled to Washington D.C. to join the thousands who protested Trump’s election loss on Jan. 6, 2021." Read the whole story. MB: It's alarming, IMO. This development is, in its way, worse than the National Guard or even the Marines going in to police immigrants. Most of those troops are green kids who literally are "just following orders," though I acknowledge that a good percentage of them think the orders are just fine. The sheriffs, though, hold positions of local power, and by voting for West, they are endorsing right-wing lawlessness. And even if courts should hold that the Guard and the federal military cannot serve in policing functions, these sheriffs command forces throughout the nation whose jobs are to police us. Still think we're safe? BTW, this story has received almost NO national attention. So thanks to TPM.
⭐When Ken W. mused yesterday that "there must be [pictures] somewhere of Hitler and the gang whooping it up at the grand opening of Dachau," Akhilleus laura h. came through with "Here There Are Blueberries." (Thanks to Akhilleus for the correction. My apologies to laura for the error.) The photographs are truly astounding when you realize what lies directly in the background: ~~~
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Alabama. Mark Walker of the New York Times: “A man who has spent 25 years on Alabama’s death row is eligible to be retried for the 1988 murder of a deputy sheriff, a federal appeals court ruled this week, because prosecutors violated his constitutional rights by intentionally rejecting Black potential jurors. In a decision issued on Monday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit found that prosecutors in Montgomery County, Ala., had violated Michael Sockwell’s 14th Amendment rights by systemically excluding Black jurors from his 1990 trial, fearing they would be sympathetic based on his race. Mr. Sockwell, now 62, is Black. The court determined that prosecutors 'repeatedly and purposefully struck Black jurors, making only dubious and capricious excuses.'”
New York. Dana Rubenstein of the New York Times: “Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist whose blend of populist ideas and personal magnetism catapulted his upstart candidacy, won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City by a significant margin, according to The Associated Press. The race was called for Mr. Mamdani on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after New York City’s Board of Elections released its tabulation of ranked-choice ballots. Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, won with 56 percent of the vote. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo came in second with 44 percent. The board will certify the final vote in mid-July. Mr. Mamdani, 33, now moves on to a contested general election in November, where he will face Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who opted out of the primary to run as an independent; Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder running on the Republican line; and Jim Walden, a lawyer also running on an independent line.” ~~~
~~~ Racist President* Makes Another Racist Attack. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Tuesday floated an outlandish claim that Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for New York mayor, was an illegal immigrant and threatened to arrest him if he blocked immigration arrests in New York City. Mr. Mamdani was born in Uganda and has lived in New York City since 1998, when he was 7 years old. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2018.... There is no credible evidence to suggest Mr. Mamdani is not, or shouldn’t be, a U.S. citizen. Mr. Trump’s attack on the mayoral candidate echoed language he has long used to lend credibility to falsehoods. 'A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,' he said of Mr. Mamdani. 'We’re going to look at everything.' When a journalist raised the possibility that Mr. Mamdani 'will not allow' ICE to make immigration arrests, Mr. Trump replied, 'Well then we’ll have to arrest him.'
“The attack was the latest effort by Mr. Trump to promote far-fetched conspiracy theories about his political opponents: He used a similar attack to falsely accuse Nikki Haley, his rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, of not being eligible for the presidency. Later that year, he falsely questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’s identity as a Black woman. And Mr. Trump’s attack against Mr. Mamdani echoed the lie that raised his profile in the Republican Party ahead of his 2016 run for president: that President Barack Obama was not legitimately elected because he was not born in the United States.”
~~~ Jaren Gans of the Hill: “New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani slammed ... [Donald] Trump’s threat to investigate his immigration status and arrest him over his opposition to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) raids.... Mamdani said in a statement responding to Trump that the president threatened him 'not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city.... His statements don’t just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you.'...”
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