Great find! Here is a quote from Robert Reich’s alarming substack column:
[America wonders:] Will the Supreme Court and lower courts hold the administration in contempt and enforce contempt citations?
Not if the Big Ugly Bill is enacted with the following provision, now hidden in the bill:
“No court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order was issued….”
Translated: No federal court may enforce a contempt citation.
Obviously, courts need appropriated funds to do anything because Congress appropriates money to enable the courts to function. To require a security or bond to be given in civil proceedings seeking to stop alleged abuses by the federal government would effectively immunize such conduct from judicial review because those seeking such court orders generally don’t have the resources to post a bond.
Hence, with a stroke, the provision removes the judiciary’s capacity to hold officials in contempt.
This got through bc they rolled the parliamentarian, who is supposed to deny non-budget amendments. It won't fly in the Senate, where the Byrd Rule will be enforced, but we have to make sure they know about it.
Rhetoric matters. Propaganda is toxic and lethal, also when it contains selected kernels of truth and distorts them. Silence in the face of propaganda – or worse: amplifying it – can have deadly consequences.
Condolences this morning to the Jewish community on the DC terrorist attack. The fact that these two Israeli Embassy staffers were a couple, and Yaron Lischinsky was about to propose to his girlfriend Sarah Lynn Milgrim, makes this murder extra tragic.
BBB used to stand for "Build Back Better", the transformative legislation that President Biden unfortunately could not get Congress to pass.
To me it seems singularly perverse that Trump is using the same moniker for his heinous bill, and hideous that his BBB stands for "Big Beautiful Bill". That’s as phony as the false gold trappings this impostor has used to decorate his Oval Office.
If the Dem's don't understand by now that it's time for another playbook, then I don't know anything! Nothing has been done-he has his plane, this budget is moving forward, he's throwing people out of the country without due process. What next? The Dem's must get a lot louder & have more rallies, more townhalls, more easy-to-understand ads, publicity, etc. STOP waiting for the 2026 election (and I'm tired of hearing about the 2028 election). We may not get there!
Yesterday Andy Borowitz published this cutting satire:
South African President’s Approval Rating Expected to Soar After Trump Acts Like a Dick
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The approval rating of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is poised to skyrocket after he visited the Oval Office on Wednesday and was subjected to Donald J. Trump acting like a dick.
Ramaphosa, who was struggling with 35 percent approval before Trump’s tantrum, should see that rating surge to 75 or higher, experts predict.
Moments after the meeting, Ramaphosa received congratulatory calls from Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Canada’s Mark Carney, both of whom saw their fortunes soar thanks to Trump’s dickish antics.
For his part, Trump took pride in standing up for “the horribly oppressed white South Africans,” noting, “These poor farmers can’t enjoy white supremacy in their own country, so they have to move here for it.”
Hmmm... Visiting the White House could become a smart strategy for all leaders looking to boost their popularity at home. We may see many more such visits in the near future.
Comment submitted, as follows: This proposed action will politicize the federal civil service by making federal employees servants of the Executive Branch. I am a former federal employee and was bound by The Hatch Act, a federal law passed in 1939. This law already limits political activities by federal employees. The law's purposes are to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees are advanced based on merit and not based on political affiliation. The proposed rule will do just the opposite, weakening federal agencies and the services they provide to the public.
thank you for your comment's text. I don't have the time to dig into this and create a comment from scratch. Happy to use yours and just change a few words to make it sound like it's not cut/paste!
Here's what I just submitted:
The proposed rule politicizes the federal civil service by making federal employees servants of the Executive Branch!
The Hatch Act was passed long ago to limit political activities by federal employees! The law's purposes are to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan manner, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees can advance based on merit and not on political affiliation.
The proposed rule would do the exact opposite! It will politicize our Civil Service and thereby weaken our federal agencies and the services they provide to the public.
In a dictatorship, all that matters is your allegiance to the "leader/party", not your competence! Is that what we want in this country?
I urge you to not let this ruinous rule go through!
Thanks, Sarah. I just submitted my comment. (Thank you. Bison Doc, for providing a template for me to adapt.) The comment period is now extended to June 7.
I would like to send wishes for strength and healing to President Biden and Jill, as well as thanks for their phenomenal work on our behalf while in the White House and long before. Does anyone know the address or email of where I can send these thanks? Certainly not to the current regime in the White House to pass on! I'm also heartbroken about the murders of the young couple, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, who had the tragic misfortune of innocently being the first ones to exit the Jewish Museum in D.C. Of course the Museum, like every other Jewish institution in America, had security---but apparently not outside. This beautiful young couple had their entire lives ahead of them, suddenly ended---so horrible. And frightening.
This should be a "Sad" emoji. The proliferation of guns+unfettered White Supremacism and anti-Semitic sentiment have led to this tragedy. Which won't be the last, I'm sorry to say.
The Big Bill includes an increase in the SALT caps, something the Republicans promised their constituents in 2024. Voters in those districts will welcome that, no? Do they really care about Medicaid and Medicare? I don't think so. Their financial status just improved.
Bea, I think the argument I've been making here every day is that we need to run against the totality of Trump's agenda. The largely upper income folks who may end up getting a tax break here thru the raising of the SALT cap also are aware of the "freak out" going on in the stock and bond markets. Staying solely focused on the reconciliation bill without creating a broader context is in my mind reckless for us.
This is spot on as a DC resident and someone who will benefit from the increased SALT cap. Rising interest rates, the 2% drop in the stock market yesterday alone, ignoring the 10% drop this year, (and my 0% raise this year because of uncertainty in the economy), will have a much larger impact on my family's financial health than a slight tax decrease in April 2026.
I may benefit from that deduction, too, depending on the details. But the cuts to Medicare alone will wreck my finances if I have to start paying for my elderly mother's healthcare and also adjust my own retirement savings to make up for the future Medicare benefits I'll be cheated out of by the corrupt trump regime's bill. I am far from alone in this!
Raising the SALT deduction is there so that Republicans could claim that Democrats voted against their constituents’ best interests. They will put it back, or use it as a threat, or brag about it, but the real beneficiaries are the Republicans.
It would be nuts not to feel depressed, worried, scared, furious, etc. I certainly feel those things. But I've found that taking action -- calling a representative, writing postcards, volunteering to register voters, etc. -- can make me feel better. I think the main thing is not to let those feelings paralyze us. Yes, they're monsters. Monsters get defeated in the end.
Maybe I was too optimistic but I did phonebanking and calling my representatives every day for months, and had hoped we would stop it. I knew in the back of my mind it was very slim we'd stop it at this point, but I was still disappointed that we didn't, if that makes sense.
I feel like the calls, protests, townhalls, etc., aren't nearly enough anymore, but I'm not too sure what else we can do.
The overwhelming public sentiment is this bill is very bad, but they passed it anyway.
I feel like we should be boycotting buying all goods except essentials, or something like that, because losing money is the only thing that wakes them up.
We can’t stop them, but we can be a boat anchor and slow them down. We can make it expensive for them to pass bills, show that we are watching them even when they try to slip something past. We can build communities and networks to be ready whenever there is an opportunity.
Like so many here, I worked through all of 2024 to prevent this, and it is discouraging. Where was all this passion and anger BEFORE the destruction?
Some days the rage and grief are overwhelming. But not every day. I feel like as long as we don’t give up, we haven’t lost.
As Simon has said, being depressed and feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed is how they WANT us to feel. But we will resist, in whatever way we can, big or small. And the resistance IS growing! The effects of this evil regime's fingers in every nook and cranny of our lives, wrecking SO much, is only now just beginning to be felt in totality.
Self reporting that I called and shared my disappointment with staff of Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales for voting for the budget bill. I mentioned again that many of his constituents will be hurt.
I then left a message for Ted Cruz to vote NO for this bill that will cause serious economic problems for the state of TX and many of his constituents.
It’s a frustrating day. But I just read SCOTUS voted down a religious charter school in Oklahoma. So we lose some, win some. I’m looking forward to listening to some of the Field Team 6 event, including Simon’s talk.
I think what is hardest for me to understand is that some of my family members support all these atrocious policies and actions. And for what? Paying less taxes? Feeling more privileged? Yes, I’m angry too. Channeling the anger into protesting and writing postcards.
Simon, last night you said you lacked the words to describe the illegal dumping of people into Sudan. I would suggest “sadistic.” Sadism is a key feature of this administration.
I believe we’re in the early stages of an ethnic cleansing. They are rounding up POC and sending them to foreign gulags and to places where they seemingly have no realistic chance of survival. Outsourcing concentration camps and murder, in effect.
Far as I’m concerned, if Dems are willing to leave the CECOT detainees behind, they’ll be willing to leave us behind too. Trump already said “the homegrowns are next,” and disappearing political dissidents is a normal feature of repressive regimes.
PS: I’ve never particularly liked the term, “ethnic cleansing,” because the “cleansing” part is problematic. But it’s a slightly broader term than “genocide,” although the former can be a precursor for the latter, and may be in this case. This is why I will not stop calling about the CECOT detainees. I got a LOT of holocaust education and rule 101 is when you see that it is happening again you stand up and put a stop to it. First they came for…
Actually that might be rule 102 🤔. 101 is learning to recognize the warning signs, which I started calling out as soon as he started barking about a Muslim registry in 2015. We’ve blown past the warning signs now, and Stephen Miller et al are starting to execute the actual plan. Starting with the gutting of USAID and then the sending of innocent men to CECOT to be incarcerated until they die on our taxpayer dime.
The Dems who have been poll-testing this have driven me to deep despair, because it's so monstrous. I need to pick my calls back up to them, because I've learned from some guy that we need to teach them how we want to respond in this moment.
If you take a look at Jack Posobiec’s book Unhumans on Amazon or google books free preview, you’ll see that JD Vance wrote a promotional blurb that appears on the cover. This is from before the election.
The book argues that a large, diverse population requires a strong-arm dictator and that Pinochet was right to use extrajudicial tactics to eliminate dissidents.
Well, Pinochet had a habit of kidnapping dissidents and dumping them into the ocean from a helicopter.
So when DOJ lawyers went to court about Kilmar Garcia and basically argued that the constitution can’t protect someone they get over international waters, I saw the Pinochet parallel immediately. Kilmar was a test case. Fascists start with immigrants. They don’t stop there.
So when congressional democrats insist on just talking about “kitchen table issues,” and “the economy,” it signals to me that they won’t fight for me if I’m ever disappeared.
Rep. Glenn Ivey (D- Maryland) has announced a trip to El Salvador to advocate for Kilmar Garcia and other CECOT detainees, per reporting from The Hill.
“The administration still hasn’t complied, and we got to keep the pressure on,” he said.
“What happens with these guys who haven’t been convicted of anything, anywhere, but they’re in a prison system that never lets people out?”
Ugh. Thanks to both of you, Pamela and Annie for the reminder to call about this issue. There’s just so much to attend to, but this along with them arresting political opponents needs to be fought hard.
Megna Chakravarty has two On Point Episodes that I found outstanding, tremendously informative - she's really going all out. Today's on El Salvador - looks like actually T's model for where he wants to take the US, very informative on how El Salvador got where it is with two outstanding guests
Be warned of this secret amendment in the bill: https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/the-hidden-provision-in-the-big-ugly?r=4o8dwj&utm_medium=ios
Great find! Here is a quote from Robert Reich’s alarming substack column:
[America wonders:] Will the Supreme Court and lower courts hold the administration in contempt and enforce contempt citations?
Not if the Big Ugly Bill is enacted with the following provision, now hidden in the bill:
“No court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order was issued….”
Translated: No federal court may enforce a contempt citation.
Obviously, courts need appropriated funds to do anything because Congress appropriates money to enable the courts to function. To require a security or bond to be given in civil proceedings seeking to stop alleged abuses by the federal government would effectively immunize such conduct from judicial review because those seeking such court orders generally don’t have the resources to post a bond.
Hence, with a stroke, the provision removes the judiciary’s capacity to hold officials in contempt.
This got through bc they rolled the parliamentarian, who is supposed to deny non-budget amendments. It won't fly in the Senate, where the Byrd Rule will be enforced, but we have to make sure they know about it.
Thank you for explaining that!
We have to make sure the public knows about it!!!
Madam Geoffrin, I just contacted my Democratic Illinois Senators to alert them and ask that this be publicized.
Thank you for pointing this out!
Among the 2 offensive provisions I called my Senators about today - post below!
The heinous Bill passed the House
Rhetoric matters. Propaganda is toxic and lethal, also when it contains selected kernels of truth and distorts them. Silence in the face of propaganda – or worse: amplifying it – can have deadly consequences.
Condolences this morning to the Jewish community on the DC terrorist attack. The fact that these two Israeli Embassy staffers were a couple, and Yaron Lischinsky was about to propose to his girlfriend Sarah Lynn Milgrim, makes this murder extra tragic.
I wish there was a sadness emoji on these sites.
BBB used to stand for "Build Back Better", the transformative legislation that President Biden unfortunately could not get Congress to pass.
To me it seems singularly perverse that Trump is using the same moniker for his heinous bill, and hideous that his BBB stands for "Big Beautiful Bill". That’s as phony as the false gold trappings this impostor has used to decorate his Oval Office.
We can call it the Budget-Busting Bill.
Big Brutish Bullsh*t bill
Or BFB.
Or, bloated blubbery billionaire bill.
There is no doubt DT deliberately chose that acronym to mock Biden.
If the Dem's don't understand by now that it's time for another playbook, then I don't know anything! Nothing has been done-he has his plane, this budget is moving forward, he's throwing people out of the country without due process. What next? The Dem's must get a lot louder & have more rallies, more townhalls, more easy-to-understand ads, publicity, etc. STOP waiting for the 2026 election (and I'm tired of hearing about the 2028 election). We may not get there!
your comment is not constructive. what are you doing to move us forward?
Yesterday Andy Borowitz published this cutting satire:
South African President’s Approval Rating Expected to Soar After Trump Acts Like a Dick
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The approval rating of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is poised to skyrocket after he visited the Oval Office on Wednesday and was subjected to Donald J. Trump acting like a dick.
Ramaphosa, who was struggling with 35 percent approval before Trump’s tantrum, should see that rating surge to 75 or higher, experts predict.
Moments after the meeting, Ramaphosa received congratulatory calls from Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Canada’s Mark Carney, both of whom saw their fortunes soar thanks to Trump’s dickish antics.
For his part, Trump took pride in standing up for “the horribly oppressed white South Africans,” noting, “These poor farmers can’t enjoy white supremacy in their own country, so they have to move here for it.”
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/south-african-presidents-approval
Hmmm... Visiting the White House could become a smart strategy for all leaders looking to boost their popularity at home. We may see many more such visits in the near future.
URGENT ACTION OPPORTUNITY! Submit a comment to the Federal Register by EOD this Friday (tomorrow) opposing the proposed rule that will cause tens of thousands of civil service employees to lose important job protections so that they can be fired at Trump’s whim. Here is a link to the FR: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/23/2025-06904/improving-performance-accountability-and-responsiveness-in-the-civil-service AND here is a link to a post about the nefarious implications of the proposed rule: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-return-of-schedule-f
Already done. Please take this action, really important.
Thank you! I posted a comment and sent the info to a bunch of friends.
Just did this, thank you, Jenny Ellsworth.
Did this a few days ago, thanks for keeping this on the front burner
Comment submitted, as follows: This proposed action will politicize the federal civil service by making federal employees servants of the Executive Branch. I am a former federal employee and was bound by The Hatch Act, a federal law passed in 1939. This law already limits political activities by federal employees. The law's purposes are to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees are advanced based on merit and not based on political affiliation. The proposed rule will do just the opposite, weakening federal agencies and the services they provide to the public.
thank you for your comment's text. I don't have the time to dig into this and create a comment from scratch. Happy to use yours and just change a few words to make it sound like it's not cut/paste!
Here's what I just submitted:
The proposed rule politicizes the federal civil service by making federal employees servants of the Executive Branch!
The Hatch Act was passed long ago to limit political activities by federal employees! The law's purposes are to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan manner, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees can advance based on merit and not on political affiliation.
The proposed rule would do the exact opposite! It will politicize our Civil Service and thereby weaken our federal agencies and the services they provide to the public.
In a dictatorship, all that matters is your allegiance to the "leader/party", not your competence! Is that what we want in this country?
I urge you to not let this ruinous rule go through!
Already submitted my comment. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Government employees deserve better than this!
Just posted a comment. Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks, Sarah. I just submitted my comment. (Thank you. Bison Doc, for providing a template for me to adapt.) The comment period is now extended to June 7.
I would like to send wishes for strength and healing to President Biden and Jill, as well as thanks for their phenomenal work on our behalf while in the White House and long before. Does anyone know the address or email of where I can send these thanks? Certainly not to the current regime in the White House to pass on! I'm also heartbroken about the murders of the young couple, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, who had the tragic misfortune of innocently being the first ones to exit the Jewish Museum in D.C. Of course the Museum, like every other Jewish institution in America, had security---but apparently not outside. This beautiful young couple had their entire lives ahead of them, suddenly ended---so horrible. And frightening.
Powerful poignant words. My heart bleeds – and for my wife and me this terror strikes close to home.
Yes, it must be even more awful because it happened near to you. No one is safe.
It really is frightening.
This should be a "Sad" emoji. The proliferation of guns+unfettered White Supremacism and anti-Semitic sentiment have led to this tragedy. Which won't be the last, I'm sorry to say.
No. It won’t.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN THE BIDEN INSTITUTE,
44 KENT WAY, NEWARK, DE 19716
Thanks so much for this information, Kate. I'm sharing it with several friends who want to send messages of healing and thanks to President Biden.
The Big Bill includes an increase in the SALT caps, something the Republicans promised their constituents in 2024. Voters in those districts will welcome that, no? Do they really care about Medicaid and Medicare? I don't think so. Their financial status just improved.
Your thoughts, please.
Bea, I think the argument I've been making here every day is that we need to run against the totality of Trump's agenda. The largely upper income folks who may end up getting a tax break here thru the raising of the SALT cap also are aware of the "freak out" going on in the stock and bond markets. Staying solely focused on the reconciliation bill without creating a broader context is in my mind reckless for us.
Thank you for your reply. Makes sense.
This is spot on as a DC resident and someone who will benefit from the increased SALT cap. Rising interest rates, the 2% drop in the stock market yesterday alone, ignoring the 10% drop this year, (and my 0% raise this year because of uncertainty in the economy), will have a much larger impact on my family's financial health than a slight tax decrease in April 2026.
Agreed.
Thank you for this, Kyle W
I appreciate your reply
I may be a weirdo but I strongly object to this bill notwithstanding that I personally benefit from increased SALT deduction.
Thank you for your reply, Madame Geoffrin
I may benefit from that deduction, too, depending on the details. But the cuts to Medicare alone will wreck my finances if I have to start paying for my elderly mother's healthcare and also adjust my own retirement savings to make up for the future Medicare benefits I'll be cheated out of by the corrupt trump regime's bill. I am far from alone in this!
Raising the SALT deduction is there so that Republicans could claim that Democrats voted against their constituents’ best interests. They will put it back, or use it as a threat, or brag about it, but the real beneficiaries are the Republicans.
I'm so depressed y'all. These people are monsters
It would be nuts not to feel depressed, worried, scared, furious, etc. I certainly feel those things. But I've found that taking action -- calling a representative, writing postcards, volunteering to register voters, etc. -- can make me feel better. I think the main thing is not to let those feelings paralyze us. Yes, they're monsters. Monsters get defeated in the end.
Thank you Catherine.
Maybe I was too optimistic but I did phonebanking and calling my representatives every day for months, and had hoped we would stop it. I knew in the back of my mind it was very slim we'd stop it at this point, but I was still disappointed that we didn't, if that makes sense.
I feel like the calls, protests, townhalls, etc., aren't nearly enough anymore, but I'm not too sure what else we can do.
The overwhelming public sentiment is this bill is very bad, but they passed it anyway.
I feel like we should be boycotting buying all goods except essentials, or something like that, because losing money is the only thing that wakes them up.
We can’t stop them, but we can be a boat anchor and slow them down. We can make it expensive for them to pass bills, show that we are watching them even when they try to slip something past. We can build communities and networks to be ready whenever there is an opportunity.
Like so many here, I worked through all of 2024 to prevent this, and it is discouraging. Where was all this passion and anger BEFORE the destruction?
Some days the rage and grief are overwhelming. But not every day. I feel like as long as we don’t give up, we haven’t lost.
So true!
That's a good point.
As Simon has said, being depressed and feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed is how they WANT us to feel. But we will resist, in whatever way we can, big or small. And the resistance IS growing! The effects of this evil regime's fingers in every nook and cranny of our lives, wrecking SO much, is only now just beginning to be felt in totality.
well no, they showed their hand and we're building towards July 4. We know that's who they are.
Self reporting that I called and shared my disappointment with staff of Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales for voting for the budget bill. I mentioned again that many of his constituents will be hurt.
I then left a message for Ted Cruz to vote NO for this bill that will cause serious economic problems for the state of TX and many of his constituents.
It’s a frustrating day. But I just read SCOTUS voted down a religious charter school in Oklahoma. So we lose some, win some. I’m looking forward to listening to some of the Field Team 6 event, including Simon’s talk.
I think what is hardest for me to understand is that some of my family members support all these atrocious policies and actions. And for what? Paying less taxes? Feeling more privileged? Yes, I’m angry too. Channeling the anger into protesting and writing postcards.
Simon, last night you said you lacked the words to describe the illegal dumping of people into Sudan. I would suggest “sadistic.” Sadism is a key feature of this administration.
Sado-populism. Was it Timothy Snyder who first used this apt and damning term?
Never heard this term but, yes, quite apt.
I believe we’re in the early stages of an ethnic cleansing. They are rounding up POC and sending them to foreign gulags and to places where they seemingly have no realistic chance of survival. Outsourcing concentration camps and murder, in effect.
Far as I’m concerned, if Dems are willing to leave the CECOT detainees behind, they’ll be willing to leave us behind too. Trump already said “the homegrowns are next,” and disappearing political dissidents is a normal feature of repressive regimes.
PS: I’ve never particularly liked the term, “ethnic cleansing,” because the “cleansing” part is problematic. But it’s a slightly broader term than “genocide,” although the former can be a precursor for the latter, and may be in this case. This is why I will not stop calling about the CECOT detainees. I got a LOT of holocaust education and rule 101 is when you see that it is happening again you stand up and put a stop to it. First they came for…
Actually that might be rule 102 🤔. 101 is learning to recognize the warning signs, which I started calling out as soon as he started barking about a Muslim registry in 2015. We’ve blown past the warning signs now, and Stephen Miller et al are starting to execute the actual plan. Starting with the gutting of USAID and then the sending of innocent men to CECOT to be incarcerated until they die on our taxpayer dime.
The Dems who have been poll-testing this have driven me to deep despair, because it's so monstrous. I need to pick my calls back up to them, because I've learned from some guy that we need to teach them how we want to respond in this moment.
If you take a look at Jack Posobiec’s book Unhumans on Amazon or google books free preview, you’ll see that JD Vance wrote a promotional blurb that appears on the cover. This is from before the election.
The book argues that a large, diverse population requires a strong-arm dictator and that Pinochet was right to use extrajudicial tactics to eliminate dissidents.
Well, Pinochet had a habit of kidnapping dissidents and dumping them into the ocean from a helicopter.
So when DOJ lawyers went to court about Kilmar Garcia and basically argued that the constitution can’t protect someone they get over international waters, I saw the Pinochet parallel immediately. Kilmar was a test case. Fascists start with immigrants. They don’t stop there.
So when congressional democrats insist on just talking about “kitchen table issues,” and “the economy,” it signals to me that they won’t fight for me if I’m ever disappeared.
Rep. Glenn Ivey (D- Maryland) has announced a trip to El Salvador to advocate for Kilmar Garcia and other CECOT detainees, per reporting from The Hill.
“The administration still hasn’t complied, and we got to keep the pressure on,” he said.
“What happens with these guys who haven’t been convicted of anything, anywhere, but they’re in a prison system that never lets people out?”
good!
Ugh. Thanks to both of you, Pamela and Annie for the reminder to call about this issue. There’s just so much to attend to, but this along with them arresting political opponents needs to be fought hard.
Megna Chakravarty has two On Point Episodes that I found outstanding, tremendously informative - she's really going all out. Today's on El Salvador - looks like actually T's model for where he wants to take the US, very informative on how El Salvador got where it is with two outstanding guests
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025/05/22/el-salvador-bukele-politics-iron-fist
Yesterday's on the impact of corruption to damage our innovative economy with two outstanding economists [ the 'gift' airplane!!]
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025/05/21/trump-trickle-down-corruption-qatar-crypto
Self report: I called my two Democratic senators from Virginia and I left voicemails. It was very helpful to have your script, Simon!
I’m sure they heard the emotion in my voice and heard my tears, too. I’ve never felt so scared in my life.
After listening to your talk last night, reading your post this morning and learning about the secret amendment in the reconciliation bill : https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/the-hidden-provision-in-the-big-ugly?r=4o8dwj&utm_medium=ios the tears I have been holding in came flooding out.
I will work as hard as I possibly can !!! This moment demands it!!!!!
thank you Leni!
I e Calle
I’ve called