When you think about con artists, sooner or later you get to Kari Lake. She's small fry but she does leave behind a stink. Steve Benen (MS NOW) notes:
Donald
Trump’s original plan for Kari Lake was badly flawed. Not long after
returning to the White House, the president tapped the Arizona
Republican, best known for her failed Senate and gubernatorial
campaigns, to oversee the administration’s plan to gut the Voice of
America.
That plan didn’t go especially well, and as recently as March, a federal judge invalidated Lake’s VOA tenure and nullified the mass layoffs she ordered last year.
President
Trump on Monday appointed Kari Lake, a fierce ally of the president who
had led the administration’s efforts to shutter Voice of America and
other federally funded news groups, as the next ambassador to Jamaica.
Her
appointment, if confirmed by the Senate, would end her tumultuous time
at the parent agency for federally funded news groups that broadcast to
countries with limited press freedom, such as China, Russia and Iran.
Lake’s
nomination coincided with the president also tapping Pennsylvania’s
Doug Mastriano — another prominent Republican election denier who
launched a failed gubernatorial campaign — to serve as U.S. ambassador
to Slovakia. The far-right state senator will also need to be confirmed
by the Republican-led Senate.
Time will tell
when and whether Lake and Mastriano receive the support they’ll need on
Capitol Hill, but their nominations are emblematic of a larger pattern:
The White House sure does like to hand out ambassadorships to those
whose earlier political plans didn’t quite work out.
She's an idiot and she's a nut. And to Chump, that says, "Ambassador!"
Tuesday, May 12, 2026. Chump loses it overnight posting one crazed
conspiracy theory after another, he continues his war on Iran and on the
economy, Petey at the Defense Dept continues to lament the fact that
he'll never measure up to Senator Mark Kelly, and much more.
As Ben notes this morning on MEIDASTOUCH NEWS, Donald Chump went crazy last night posting whack job conspiracy theories.
He
makes a fool of himself and a fool of the country. He really needs to
be removed from office. The 25th Amendment should have been implemented
long, long ago.
He is not safe to the
country or for the world. He goes on these nutso benders where he
screeches lies and just looks like a raving loon.
The
combative tirade comes as independent analyses have repeatedly found
that Trump's broader economic agenda has failed to deliver on its
promises for American workers.
The U.S. has
shed roughly 80,000 manufacturing jobs since Trump took office last
year, according to employment data, with economists pointing to the
administration's own tariff policies as one driver of rising input costs
and factory uncertainty.
The gap has widened
between Trump's manufacturing promises and economic reality, with his
"Liberation Day" tariff promise — that he would bring jobs and factories
"roaring back" — has instead coincided with steady job losses.
A
separate analysis found that Trump's tariffs have functioned as a
regressive tax costing American households an average of $1,300 last
year, with working-class families bearing the heaviest burden.
Democratic
National Committee Deputy Executive Director Libby Schneider said in a
Thursday statement that “America’s farmers were already struggling to
get by under Donald Trump and Brooke Rollins and now Trump’s war with
Iran has pushed farmers to a breaking point.”
“Trump
tanked the agricultural economy with his reckless trade war, causing
family farms to go bankrupt at record levels, and now his deadly and
costly war with Iran has caused prices on everything from diesel to
fertilizer to skyrocket,” Schneider added. “Farmers are scraping by to
make ends meet under Trump — and Trump and Rollins have done nothing but
turn their backs on them.”
Rep. Betty
McCollum, a Democrat from farm-heavy Minnesota, said “the closure of the
Strait of Hormuz has made energy prices go up globally, and it’s
increased the cost of living,” adding: “Everything from what my farmers
are paying for fertilizer, to the fuel that they’re putting in their
tractors as they go out to the field, let alone what everyday Americans
are doing gassing up.”
“The president says we
can’t afford to help American families with daycare or funding of
Medicaid or Medicare because we’re fighting wars,” she said during an
April 30 House Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing. “Well, I
strongly disagree with the president on this analysis.”
Another
Democrat from a farming-rich Midwest state, Sen. Gary Peters of
Michigan, said during an April 30 Armed Services Committee hearing that
“the number one question I get when I’m back home from people is,
basically, very simply: ‘When will this war end?’”
“Our
farmers are paying because of fertilizer costs. We know that the whole
world economy is paying a great deal for this war,” Peters said.
It's
an interesting economic climate, one where those who just a couple of
years ago were decrying the high cost of gasoline now duck their heads
and try to stay silent. Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) reports:
Congressional
Republicans are struggling to defend rising gas prices after years of
using fuel costs as a political weapon against Democrats, with some
lawmakers reversing previous messaging while others remain silent on the
issue.
Gas prices have surged nearly 50
percent since President Donald Trump launched the war with Iran on Feb.
28, and the spike presents a sharp reversal for Republicans who spent
years blaming former President Joe Biden for rising fuel costs, reported NOTUS.
“Isn’t
that the only argument you can have right now?” said one Republican
operative involved in midterm contests. “It affects our voters more than
their voters. We live farther apart from each other ... You hope and
pray it’s temporary.”
Some Republicans have
attempted to minimize the current price increases by comparing them to
higher prices under Biden. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA)
claimed on CNBC that gas prices under Biden reached "almost $6 a
gallon," a figure that even conservative host Joe Kernen disputed as
inaccurate.
Vulnerable Republicans facing
reelection are employing various strategies. Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI),
who previously warned Michigan families about high gas prices, now
redirects questions about current prices to Iran's nuclear program.
Rep.
Mike Lawler (R-NY) shifted from 2024 campaign messaging about
cost-of-living crises to claiming Washington brought prices down, later
telling CNN that higher prices were "absolutely worth it" for the Iran
war.
Other lawmakers have opted for silence.
Reps. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Mariannette
Miller-Meeks (R-IA) and David Valadao (R-CA) have largely avoided public
comments on the issue despite running 2024 campaigns emphasizing gas
and grocery costs.
President
Donald Trump on Monday said he planned to suspend the federal gas tax
to provide some economic relief as fuel prices have soared since the
start of the Iran war, CBS News reported, though the move would be a
drop in the bucket for consumers given the historic surge in gas prices
lately.
[. . .]
Removing
the federal taxes—totaling 18.3 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24.3
cents per gallon of diesel—would reduce the average price for a gallon
of gas to about $4.33, down from $4.52, according to the latest gas
price stats from AAA.
The cost for a gallon of diesel would drop to roughly $5.38, down from $5.63.
18
cents a gallon. And still well above the cost prior to Chump starting
the Iran War. Remember, Chump didn't have to declare war on Iran. Bankole Thompson (DETROIT NEWS) observes:
No
matter what side you sit on in the war with Iran, the skyrocketing gas
prices, which have hit $6 in some parts of the country, are affecting
everyone. They are not merely an energy crisis but an economic
inequality question facing families across the nation, including
Michigan.
If the cost of fuel continues to
rise astronomically, it could interrupt the summer vacations of many
families, especially those who love to take long road trips because it
is more convenient and reasonable than any airfare.
Those
on fixed incomes and communities that are struggling to get by, as well
as families taking their children to school, are feeling the pain the
most. That includes the single mother in Detroit or the Upper Peninsula
who has to balance rent, utilities and childcare because the spike in
gas prices is exposing them to more financial hardship.
Republican
candidates running for office in the midterm cannot escape the fact
that such economic instability is being presided over by President
Donald Trump, the cornerstone of whose 2024 campaign was about bringing
down the inflation that took place under former President Joe Biden.
Instead
of concretely addressing the economic pressure that many are facing
from an unstable oil market, and as a result of the war, Trump seems
more focused on his new White House ballroom than anything else.
Florence Tan and Siyi Liu (REUTERS) note, "Oil
prices rallied on Monday, a day after President Donald Trump said
Iran's response to a U.S. proposal was "unacceptable," raising supply
fears as the Strait of Hormuz stayed largely closed, which kept the
global market tight. Brent crude futures climbed $4.04 or 3.99% to
$105.33 a barrel at 0614 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was at
$99.85 a barrel, up $4.43, or 4.64%." Sara Dorn (FORBES) adds, "President
Donald Trump’s approval rating hasn’t risen above 36% in Reuters/Ipsos
weekly polling since the start of the Iran war, as Americans on both
sides of the aisle blame him for rising gas prices and 80% expect gas to
become more expensive. [. . .] Three-quarters of respondents,
including half of Republicans, said his administration is at least
partly to blame for high gas prices, which have gone up 50% since the
start of the conflict, while 65% said they believe Republicans are more
responsible for the rise in gas prices versus Democrats, and 80% said
they expect gas prices to go up more." And John-Paul Ford Rojas (THIS IS MONEY) delivers
this bad news that Chump's not just destroying the US economy, he's
destroying the economies all over the world such as in the UK:
Consumer sentiment has seen its fastest slump in four years as 'Trumpflation' fears grip shoppers, a poll reveals.
The
quarterly survey by PwC revealed 90 per cent of UK consumers worry
about the cost of living as the Iran war stokes inflation.
The accountant's barometer of spending intentions was at minus-13 for April, down from minus-1 at the start of the year.
That
was its lowest since autumn 2023 and the sharpest fall since summer
2022 – a time when inflation was spiralling in the wake of Vladimir
Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Now
inflation is on the rise again after Donald Trump's war on Iran choked
off oil and gas supplies from the Middle East, driving fuel prices
higher.
Sam Waller, consumer markets spokesman
at PwC UK, said: 'Rising costs are prompting shoppers to pull back spend
across the board, and it's expected sentiment will get worse before it
gets better, as consumers face higher energy and food costs later in the
year.'
And as the economy crashes, Chump wants to spend more on ballrooms, on the Eisenhower Executive Office building, etc. Emily Burack (TOWN & COUNTRY) reports that the estimate to slap some paint over the granite building will cost an estimated $7.5 million:
“The
Eisenhower Executive Office Building is a National Historic Landmark.
Its distinctive granite exterior isn't just beautiful, it's historically
significant. Painting over it would trap moisture, damage the stone,
and create a costly, irreversible cycle of maintenance at taxpayer
expense,” the National Trust for Historic Preservation said in a
statement.
Rob Nieweg of the Trust testified
before the National Capital Planning Commission in opposition to the
proposal to paint the EEOB. “The Eisenhower Executive Office Building is
a contributing element of the Lafayette Square Historic District and,
importantly, this architecturally significant building is a National
Historic Landmark,” he said. “That is our nation’s most coveted historic
designation. It serves as permanent notice to all that the EEOB
occupies an important place in our collective story as Americans.
Accordingly, the EEOB’s federal steward should respect the aesthetic
characteristics that qualify the landmark for NHL designation.” He
added, “The historic EEOB has been preserved, un-painted, since its
completion in 1888.”
The building, built in the
1870s and 1880s as the State, War, and Navy Department Building, is now
the base for federal workers. Trump’s desire to repaint it has been
ongoing; in November, he showed a rendering of a painted building on Fox
News, “Look at that, how beautiful that is with a coat of paint.” He
complained, “It was always considered an ugly building” and added “gray
is for funerals.”
A nonprofit group trying to stop President Trump's
reflecting pool renovation on the National Mall claims the project
breaks federal law.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation filed a
lawsuit today, saying the National Park Service violated an historic
preservation act by repainting the pool -- quote -- "American flag
blue." The complaint says the new color -- quote -- "will fundamentally
alter the visual and experiential character of the pool."
The
president announced the project last month and drove through the pool's
construction site just last week. The New York Times is also reporting
that its initial cost of less than $2 million has now ballooned to seven
times that figure.
For more on the project, I'm joined now by one
of the reporters covering that story. That's David Fahrenthold of The
New York Times.
David, welcome back.
Let's begin with your
reporting on this that shows that initial cost estimate from the
president of $1.8 million now up to $13.1 million. What happened there?
David Fahrenthold, The New York Times:
Well, the -- President Trump has said multiple times that
this project is only going to cost $1.8 million or less than $2
million. That's never been right.
From the beginning, the federal
government had expected to pay $6.9 million for this contract. And then,
on Friday, that cost jumped again by another 88 percent. So now we're
talking about $13.1 million.
Amna Nawaz:
And the contractor for this project, your reporting also
showed, had no previous federal contracts. How unusual is that for a
renovation like this?
David Fahrenthold:
It's quite unusual for a renovation of this size and this sort of importance.
Remember,
this is not a swimming pool. This is a pool that's about 2,000 feet
long. It's been around since the 1920s. It has a lot of complicated
problems that come from both its age and its size. And the contractor
they chose to do it, not only is this their first federal contract, but
it's not clear this is a swimming pool contractor at all.
Their
Web site is more about lining pipes and culverts and fuel tanks. It's
clear this is a very different project than the ones that they appear to
be used to.
Amna Nawaz:
So folks will remember the images from last week that
showed the president and his motorcade driving through that pool area.
When we saw those, I know a lot of folks had the same question was, is
that going to impact the pool in any way? What does your reporting show
you on that?
David Fahrenthold:
Well, from folks we have talked to, it will not probably
make the pool look any different in terms of reflectivity. If you're
standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, you're standing at the
World War II Monument on the other end, and you're looking across the
pond at a low angle, it'll probably still be reflective.
The
difference, though, may come when you see it from a higher angle, from
an airplane or the top of the Washington Monument. This is a space
that's meant to sort of be invisible. It's supposed to reflect back the
gray stone and the trees all around it.
If what you see instead is
kind of an artificial blue, like a -- the water hazard at a mini golf
course, that could stand out in a very jarring way on the National Mall.
Amna Nawaz:
We know that the president has framed some of these
renovations as part of a broader beautification effort ahead of those
America 250 celebrations. What do we know about what that means about
who's paying for much of this?
David Fahrenthold:
Well, in the cases -- in this case and in the case we
wrote about recently about changes to the fountains around D.C., the
government is paying for it.
It's not private donors. And the
money they're using in this case is coming from people that go to
national parks. If you go to a national park and pay an entrance fee,
some of that money goes to the Park Service to pay for renovations. And
that's the fund they're using here.
Amna Nawaz:
I know as we reported earlier that at least one nonprofit
is trying to block this project. But this is one of several renovation
projects that we know the Trump administration is looking to at least
partially fund with taxpayer money.
We have seen the Kennedy
Center renovation, the White House ballroom, and others. As you track
this, as ethics watchdogs and other track this, what are some of the
concerns that are coming up here?
David Fahrenthold:
One of the biggest concerns about this project and others
around the area is that these are no-bid contracts. The government is
supposed to let multiple vendors bid on jobs like this so the taxpayers
get their best bang for the buck.
In this case, the Trump
administration used sort of a special power to block out all competition
and hand this job directly to a firm that President Trump says is close
to him. He says, this is a company that worked on the swimming pools at
his golf club in Northern Virginia.
And so what happens when you
give a contract directly to somebody with no competition, you don't
really know you're getting the best deal. You don't know that you're
getting the best person for the job. And so it raises questions about
why they're circumventing the normal contracting process and what we're
losing in the process in terms of quality or maybe overpaying.
The
line outside a suburban office building was already 15 people long when
Tiffany Hudson showed up with her 7-year-old son cradling his blanket.
It was 7 a.m. At the front of the line was a woman hooked up to an
oxygen tank who had arrived 90 minutes before the building opened.
Like
others there, Husdon had come to the Arizona Department of Economic
Security office in Surprise, a Phoenix suburb, to find out why the food
stamp benefits for her and her two children were cut off after the state
began implementing new eligibility requirements under President Donald
Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
“It’s been
really hard. We’ve been going to food banks every week,” Hudson said.
She’s a single mom who had received about $600 a month in food
assistance to supplement her income as a part-time caretaker. Her
benefits stopped without warning three months ago. “We’re eating less,
we’re eating more frozen stuff.”
Hudson
and her children have been swept up in a wave of new restrictions and
bureaucratic hurdles that have begun to ripple across the country as a
result of Trump’s marquee legislation, which he signed into law with
great fanfare nearly a year ago during a Fourth of July celebration. The
law extends tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations while cutting
$187 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, often
referred to as food stamps, over the next decade. Now, the consequences
of those cuts are showing up on Americans’ kitchen tables.
Since
the law was enacted last summer, about 3.5 million people have fallen
off the SNAP rolls nationwide as of January, according to federal data.
No state has seen a more dramatic drop than Arizona, which offers a
window into what may be in store for other states.
“It’s
a frightening time for the folks we serve,” said Natalie Jayroe, CEO of
the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, which has already been
struggling with limited food after the federal funding cuts from the
early days of the second Trump administration. “The overwhelming
uncertainty and anxiety that the folks we serve are facing — it’s hard
to describe.”
Turning to Petey Hegseth, Secretary of Defense. William Shoukri (BIG) reports on an April 29th hearing before the House Armed Service Committee:
New
Hampshire Rep. Maggie Goodlander was one of the most effective
Democratic critics in the room, asking Hegseth multiple questions that
he fumbled. After Hegseth had bragged about his ‘crack economic team’
earlier in the hearing, Goodlander tested him, asking whether he knew
the average cost of gas on February 28. Hegseth (who clearly did not
know the answer) replied snarkily: ‘If you lived in California, it was 8
bucks’ (this is not true; the average price of gas in California was
$4.44 at that point). Goodlander ignored Hegseth, stating the national
average was $2.83. She then asked him if he knew the average gas price
today, to which Hegseth made another crack at California prices.
Goodlander smirked and told him the price of gas on April 29 ($4.23).
"Mr.
Hegseth, you said you’ve got a crack economic team that’s looking at
the impact of this war on the American taxpayer, and you can’t answer
this basic question – that should shock the conscience of every
American."
At the end of her
time, New Hampshire Rep. Maggie Goodlander asked Hegseth whether he
agrees with the statement “the military won’t follow unlawful orders.”
Hegseth immediately showed his annoyance with the question, snapping, “I
do but understand what you’re insinuating at a partisan point.”
Goodlander replied with a smile and revealed that she was actually
quoting Hegseth, not a Democrat talking point. Luckily for Hegseth, her
time was over after the question. Goodlander took to X to criticize
Hegseth after the hearing
Yes,
Hegseth did say that. On TV. On FOX "NEWS" and it wasn't a big deal
because that's what the US military is trained on: Don't follow unlawful
orders.
But when Senator Mark Kelly and others do the same, Petey pisses his diaper and loses it in front of everyone.
Petey
has already lost in one court. It appears that he will lose in the
court that heard arguments last week as well. But Petey can't let his
penis envy go. He's suffering from p.e. every time he looks at Senator
Mark Kelly.
Kelly appeared on CBS' FACE THE NATION Sunday.
In the appearance, Kelly noted the shortage of weapons as a result of
the Iran War. Back in early March, that was rarely noted. By the end
of March, the media was beginning to note it more often and by April?
It was hard to miss stories on this topic. Kelly raised this issue on
Sunday.
U.S.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon is investigating
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) after accusing him of speaking about
classified information connected to the Iran war on cable news.
Hegseth's
threats come after a federal appeals court signaled Thursday that it
would turn down his efforts to punish Kelly and a handful of other
Democratic lawmakers for urging troops to refuse illegal orders. The
blow comes after a court blocked Hegseth's attempt to censure and demote
Kelly, a 62-year-old retired Navy captain and NASA astronaut, in
February.
The latest feud
came to fruition after Kelly warned about dwindling U.S. weapons
stockpiles following the U.S.-Israeli offensive against Iran,
criticizing the Trump administration's war strategy in the Middle East.
“Because
this president got our country into this without a strategic goal,
without a plan, without a timeline... because of that, we’ve expended a
lot of munitions. And that means the American people are less safe,”
Kelly told CBS News’ Face the Nation.
The
latest outburst from Hegseth came after Kelly spoke Sunday to CBS News’
Face the Nation about a classified briefing on the Iran War and U.S.
weapons stockpiles.
Kelly said it was “shocking
how deep we have gone into these magazines” amid the war in Iran and
that it would take years to replenish the stockpiles of Tomahawks, Army
Tactical Missile System weapons, Patriot missiles and other missile
systems. The U.S. spent weeks sending missiles and other munitions into
Iran before a ceasefire in the attacks.
In response, Hegseth lashed out.
“Captain’
Mark Kelly strikes again,” Hegseth posted on X. “Now he’s blabbing on
TV (falsely & dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he
received. Did he violate his oath…again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will
review.”
Kelly immediately shot back on social
media, saying Kelly and Hegseth had this discussion in an open committee
hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The
threat of a new probe comes as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit appears likely to affirm that Hegseth's
disciplinary action against Kelly for telling service members they "can
refuse illegal orders" will fail.
President
Donald Trump accused Kelly and five other Democrats — Rep. Jason Crow,
D-Colo., Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy
Houlahan, D-Pa., and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. — of engaging in
"SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" when they appeared in a video
in November and condemned lethal military strikes on alleged drug
smugglers' boats in international waters.
Kelly
himself replied to Hegseth with the video below and wrote: “We had this
conversation in a public hearing a week ago and you said it would take
‘years’ to replenish some of these stockpiles. That's not classified,
it's a quote from you. This war is coming at a serious cost and you and
the president still haven't explained to the American people what the
goal is.”
Washington Post
military affairs correspondent Dan Lamothe also joined the discussion,
writing: “Secretary Hegseth is again threatening Sen. Mark Kelly with
legal action here. In this case, the comments from Kelly that Hegseth is
claiming are an issue do not address specific munition numbers. That’s
generally where classification comes into play. No sign of that here.”
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
Washington, D.C. – Today—as Trump proposes to slash
domestic investments to help pay for a defense spending increase of
roughly half a trillion dollars—U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice
Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following
statement after a new report found the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program saves participating Washington state families over $19,000 a year on child care.
“Trump is asking Congress to increase his war budget by $500
billion dollars and even said: ‘’We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care
of day care.’ Well, as a former preschool teacher and mom, I think that
is just absurd,” said Senator Murray. “This is not a
question of what’s possible—it’s a question of priorities. President
Trump and congressional Republicans want to spend your taxpayer dollars
on costly wars and golden ballrooms, and I’d like to help more families
afford child care. Instead of dumping trillions of dollars into Trump’s
reckless wars, we could be expanding crucial programs like CCDBG—we
could be saving families thousands of dollars a year on child care. Half
a trillion dollars would make high-quality child care affordable for
every family that needs it, and it would mean employers wouldn’t have to
worry about their employees missing work because they couldn’t find
child care. The child care crisis is holding back families and holding
back our economy. But putting the kind of money Trump is talking about
for war into child care instead would make a world of change for all
families.”
A new report
has detailed how CCDBG subsidies help families in Washington state
afford child care for kids under the age of five. The average cost of
child care in Washington state is over $21,000 a year, or almost $1,800
per month. For families who qualify, CCDBG brings the cost of child care
down to a maximum of $1,980 a year, or $165 per month for a family of
three in Washington state. But, of the over 118,000 children who are
eligible in Washington state to be served by CCDBG, only 15,435 kids are
being served at the current funding levels—that means only 13% of kids
who have families who are struggling to afford child care, are receiving
support. Senator Murray has long pushed to change that and played a
critical role in securing historic funding increases for the CCDBG
program to help serve more families.
As Trump proposes spending $1.5 trillion on the defense
budget—roughly half a trillion more than this year—raising costs on
everyday essentials for working families, Senator Murray is leading
Democrats in Congress to continue their push to help working people make
ends meet—including by tackling the child care crisis. In the FY26
appropriations bills Senator Murray secured $8.8
billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program
(CCDBG)—an $85 million or increase over fiscal year 2025—and $12.36
billion for Head Start, an $85 million increase over last year’s funding
level. Sustained annual increases of federal investments in child care
and Head Start are critical in tackling the child care crisis and
helping to ensure more families can find and afford the quality,
affordable child care and early childhood education options they need.
Senator Murray also protected funding for Preschool Development Grants,
which President Trump and House Republicans pushed to eliminate.
Senator Murray is Congress’ top advocate for child care, and her Child Care for Working Families Act would
tackle the child care crisis head-on: ensuring families can afford the
child care they need, expanding access to more high-quality options,
stabilizing the child care sector, and helping ensure child care workers
taking care of our nation’s kids are paid livable wages. The
legislation will also dramatically expand access to pre-K, and support
full-day, full-year Head Start programs and increased wages for Head
Start workers. Under the legislation, which Senator Murray has introduced every
Congress since 2017, the typical family in America will pay no more
than $15 a day for child care—with many families paying nothing at
all—and no eligible family will pay more than 7% of their income on
child care.
Grifter supreme Donald Chump
can't keep his hands off anything. Someone has wrongly led him to
believe he has taste when, in fact, he has none. Frida Liljefors (NEWSNER) reports:
But
one proposal in particular is causing outrage among architects,
historians, and preservation experts. Trump reportedly wants to paint
the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building – the massive
19th-century building located next to the White House – completely
white.
The building, which first opened in 1888
after 17 years of construction, is currently known for its distinctive
gray granite exterior. It’s also designated as a National Historic
Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Trump, however, has previously made it clear he’s not a fan of the current look, according to Tyla.
According
to outlets including AP News, the president once described the granite
as a “really bad color.” The Washington Post also reported that Trump
said: “Gray is for funerals,” before adding: “Look at it, how beautiful
that is with a coat of paint.”
According to the
White House, repainting the exterior could cost taxpayers at least $7.5
million – and that estimate only covers the initial work, not long-term
maintenance.
Officials have reportedly
proposed two different versions of the project. One would involve
painting the entire granite exterior white, while the other would leave
the granite base untouched and paint the rest of the building.
The fully white version is reportedly the preferred option.
Experts
have warned that painting granite is far more complicated than simply
covering it with a fresh coat of paint. Critics argue the paint could
trap moisture inside the stone, potentially damaging the building and
permanently altering one of Washington’s historic landmarks.
Priya
Jain, from the Society of Architectural Historians, reportedly
criticized the proposal, saying: “Painting the granite facade of the
building white will adversely and permanently alter this important
landmark, and should be rejected.”
Some comments on the article:
Mary Brown
30 minutes ago
Donald
Trump’s obsession with redesigning yet another historic landmark would
be comical if it weren’t happening in the middle of a war he started and
still can’t explain, justify, or end. Every week brings a new
“renovation” project — a reflecting pool here, a monument facelift
there, a pet construction fantasy somewhere else — as if America’s
greatest crisis is insufficient marble polish rather than a spiraling
conflict in Iran that has cost lives, destabilized the region, and put
U.S. citizens at risk.
Experts are right to sound the alarm.
These vanity projects aren’t harmless distractions; they’re symptoms of a
leader who treats governing like a real‑estate portfolio and war like
background noise. While Trump fixates on cosmetic changes no one asked
for, the actual urgent work — de‑escalation, diplomacy, securing
Americans abroad, stabilizing global markets, preventing further
civilian harm — is left undone.
The country doesn’t need
another Trump-branded “renovation.” It needs a president focused on
ending a war, not redesigning landmarks like they’re props in a campaign
commercial. The stakes are too high, the damage too real, and the world
too unstable for this level of unserious leadership.
D S
2 hours ago
"...the paint could trap moisture inside the stone, potentially damaging the building..."
It's amazing how much he can find to ruin. This time around it's an actual physical degradation of a building.
Mark Conrad
59 minutes ago
Shouldn't
the president finish one project before he starts another? Where's the
ballroom? He said a while back it would cost $200 million,. Now it's a
billion. He also said he got his projects made on time and on budget.
Somehow, I think he's making things up again. Also, where's that
arch? Now, there's a gold statue. Right, someone else made it.
Washington,
D.C. is already defined by its landmarks, from the Lincoln and the
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorials to the Washington Monument. But a new
proposal could soon add another structure to the skyline (1).
In
a post on Truth Social (2), President Donald Trump said his
administration plans to submit designs to the Commission of Fine Arts
for what he called, “the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch,
anywhere in the World.”
Renderings of the proposal
show a 166-foot arch topped with a winged and gilded Lady Liberty
statue, bringing the total height to roughly 250 feet. The design —
created by Harrison Design (3) — also includes two 24-foot eagles, four
golden lion statues at its base and the phrase “One Nation Under God”
etched prominently across the structure.
But
when Trump was asked by Ed O'Keefe of CBS News who the monument was
meant to honor, he replied: "Me,” according to a video of the exchange
shared on social media (4).
[. . .]
In
February, a group of Vietnam War veterans and a retired architectural
historian filed a lawsuit to halt construction, arguing the project
sidesteps federal rules that require clear congressional approval for
new commemorative structures on parkland in Washington, D.C.
The
group also argued the project would disrupt a historically significant
sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House — a view long
associated with national unity. They described it as a “vanity project”
that would intrude on one of the capital’s most symbolically important
corridors (6). The arch would also tower over nearby landmarks and,
according to the plaintiffs, could even pose potential risks to air
traffic at Reagan National Airport.
There's
no reason for that flim-flam artist to be noted by this country and we
don't need it to dwarf the monument to the Vietnam veterans. Some
comments on the article:
papajoe oldman
1 hour ago
Every
American should flood their congressional representatives denouncing
this dictatorial display of egotistical and self-center loathing. This
and the ridiculous ballroom is taxation without representation, and the
masses do not want either. Our tax dollars are not used to support
clowns and their circuses. This needs to stop now!
Douglas Walden
1 hour ago
Trump
wants to honor 'Trump' in every way every American hero has been
honored, the difference is that other people decided to honor all of
those others. While Trump is the only one, or one of the very few
wanting to honor him for doing nothing good for anyone.
Bo W.
2 minutes ago
I
can't wait until the opposing party takes power and suddenly "wasteful
spending" and "the national deficit" come back up in the headlines when
this guy is king at putting government money in his own pocket.
Monday, May 11, 2026. John Oliver examines The Crooked Court, Puny Pete
Hegseth slaps another false accusation on Senator Mark Kelly, Chump's
immigration problems continue, Chump goes on a late night rant, and much
more.
Last night on LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER, John took on The Shadow Docket.
Oil prices rose and stock futures ticked
down on Monday as investors reacted after the two sides failed to agree
on a U.S.-Iran peace deal.
President
Trump said on social media Sunday that Iran’s latest proposal was
“TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” He did not share details about what Iran had
offered. Tehran has said the two countries are working on a short-term agreement
that would pause fighting for another 30 days and end Iran’s blockade
of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and gas shipping route in the Persian
Gulf.
Iran’s demands for
U.S. war reparations, recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of
Hormuz and an end to American sanctions were among the conditions that
President Trump has deemed “unacceptable,” Iran’s state-owned
broadcaster reported on Monday.
The
terms were detailed in a social media post by Islamic Republic of Iran
Broadcasting after Mr. Trump on Sunday dismissed an Iranian
counterproposal as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.” Mr. Trump did not specify his
objections to the deal, which was passed via Pakistani mediators.
UAW's Will Lehman issued the following statement regarding the Iran War last week:
Brothers and sisters,
On Saturday, April 25, I introduced a resolution against the US-Israeli imperialist war on Iran at a meeting of UAW Local 677, which includes the Mack Trucks plant where I work. The local apparatus voted it down 7–1, with mine the only vote in favor.
There is enormous opposition among autoworkers to the war, to the attacks on democratic rights at home, and to the diversion of trillions into militarism while living standards are slashed. But the UAW apparatus has aligned itself with the war drive of the government and the corporations, enforcing nationalism while workers are told to “sacrifice” for policies that benefit only the financial oligarchy.
The resolution denounces the war as the supreme international crime as established at Nuremberg, condemns Trump’s threat to “end a whole civilization” as incitement to genocide, opposes the conversion of auto and auto parts production to military output, and demands the immediate disbanding of ICE and CBP as agencies of repression. It calls for the formation of rank-and-file committees in every local — independent of and not subordinate to the union bureaucracy — to take this fight forward.
The fight against war cannot be waged through the officials who support it. I urge workers to read, print, and distribute this resolution widely in your workplaces, present it at your local, and use it to organize discussion and action independent of the bureaucracy.
Donald Trump has gone on a desperate social media posting spree to try to hide just how unpopular a president he is.
In a typically deranged Truth Social blitz starting Sunday night, the 79-year-old posted: “Excellent Poll Numbers. Thank You!”
It is unclear where Trump is seeing these “excellent” poll numbers, as the president is routinely recording dire approval ratings amid his deeply unpopular war on Iran and his handling of the U.S. economy.
In a further 17 Truth Social updates posted over the next hour, the
president shared numerous pieces of AI-generated slop on various topics,
along with fawning praise from MAGA accounts, appearing to self-soothe
over the success of his second term.
Trump
was so desperate to share acclaim from his loyal supporters that he
even posted a polling story that is at least nine months old.
Soon
after boasting about his supposedly “excellent” polling, the president
shared another post about a CNN survey showing Trump had surpassed
Ronald Reagan as the “most beloved president among Republicans.”
The poll appears to refer to polling aggregation reported by CNN in July 2025. A more up-to-date story on the president, showing approval ratings in the low to mid-30s, was published by CNN last week under the headline: “Charting how Trump became a historically unpopular president.”
A released a study
that looked at Latino immigrant labor employment across every major red
and blue state across the country. Researchers found that Texas and
Florida, among the loudest anti-immigration states, depend on immigrant
labor at about the roughly the same rates as California and more than
New York. In other words, red states can’t function without the very
people they say they want to deport.
Red state conservatives
attack immigrants publicly, so no one looks too closely at their own
behavior. As Shakespeare once wrote: “The lady doth protest too much,
methinks.”
A good example of someone “protesting too much” has been Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attacked undocumented migrants as “animals” who “poison the blood of our country.”
Given those types of comments, it is more than ironic that the Trump Tower in Manhattan was built by employing undocumented Polish workers in 1980s, while Trump was telling Americans that immigrants were stealing their jobs. Trump’s golf courses hired undocumented workers for decades. Of course, Trump will deny all of these facts as “fake news.”
Trump
and MAGA need you to hate immigrants, so you don’t notice they’re the
ones hiring immigrants. The louder the outrage, the bigger the secret
they’re hiding from the public.
By the way, aren’t we still waiting for millions of more documents to be released from the Epstein files?
Bob Chimis, Elmwood Park
And let's note a letter to the editors of THE SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS:
After
years demanding indiscriminate immigration crackdowns, they’re now
shocked to learn that driving away workers leaves no workers.
The same politicians who cheered mass deportation suddenly bemoan labor shortages and slower growth.
That’s not policy. It’s political theater with real world costs.
For
more than a decade, Texas leaders blocked immigration reform, sued to
stop legal pathways and turned border security into a prop.
Now
crops rot, construction stalls and restaurants can’t hire. You can’t
demand mass deportation on Monday and complain about missing workers on
Tuesday.
Texas
has always relied on immigrant labor. Our economy knows it. San Antonio
knows it. Only politicians trapped in their own contradictions pretend
otherwise.
If they want workers, they can drop the stunts and finally pass real bipartisan immigration reform.
The United States Department of
Justice on Friday filed a motion urging a federal judge to immediately
prohibit New Mexico officials from enforcing House Bill 9, the Immigrant Safety Act, saying the new state law is unconstitutional and would irreparably harm a New Mexico county.
The law prohibits public entities
like counties from contracting with the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency to hold immigrant detainees. The law has faced sustained pushback
in Otero County, where county officials say the measure will result in
the loss of up to 284 jobs and force the county to sell its immigrant
detention facility, the Otero County Processing Center, at a loss.
The federal DOJ’s Civil Division and
the United State’s Attorney’s Office in New Mexico filed the motion for a
preliminary injunction Friday in federal court. The defendants are the
State of New Mexico, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Attorney
General Raúl Torrez.
The 49-page motion
alleges that House Bill 9, which goes into effect May 20, amounts to an
unconstitutional regulation of the federal government and its
responsibility to detain and remove undocumented immigrants.
ICE
continues to terrorize this country and the people in it. Markwayne
Mullen is not in charge. Tom Homan is. Tom Homan who, ahead of the
2024 presidential election, took a bribe -- $50,000 -- and that got
swept aside once Chump was sworn in.
He's a law enforcement officer . . . who took a bribe. That makes him dirty. And yet Chump allows him to oversee ICE.
As Mother’s Day approaches, a group of
senators are raising the alarm about the “appalling and horrific
treatment” of pregnant and nursing people in immigration detention. On
Thursday, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie K. Hirono
(D-Hawaii), and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin demanding information about the treatment of this vulnerable group, and urging the agency to release pregnant women from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
Their letter comes on the heels of new legislationintroduced
this week by Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) that would establish
care standards for federally incarcerated pregnant people—including
those jailed in ICE and Customs and Border Protection facilities. The
bill builds on one that the House already passed in 2022, which only
applied to those in Bureau of Prison’s custody.
It’s hard to know how many pregnant people are in federal custody, and what percentage of those are immigrants. In 2023, more than 700 incarcerated mothers gave birth in prison,
according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Between January 1, 2025, and
February 16, 2026, 363 pregnant, postpartum and nursing immigrants were
deported, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Sixteen
miscarriages were recorded during those six weeks. As of March, there
were an estimated 126 pregnant women still being held in detention,
according to the senators’ letter.
The care those who are pregnant in detention receive—or don’t
receive—varies widely depending on the state they’re in, or even the
individual facility. Federal guidelines are sparse: There are no federal
rules on prenatal nutrition for incarcerated mothers, and some
facilities still reportedly shackle pregnant inmates, even around their
bellies. Some mothers are separated from their newborns only moments
after birth. These practices can put mothers’ lives in danger, and can
lead to miscarriages, psychological, and physical trauma.
The the laughable First Lady gave a speech last week -- and typed
it up as a column for THE WASHINGTON POST -- proclaiming the importance
of motherhood. But she didn't mean the women in detention -- the women
who need the help the most. No, she's just a blithering egomaniac like
her husband. She's trashy, she's uncouth, she's garbage.
She
lied to get citizenship -- she wasn't a college graduate and did not
qualify for genius status -- but. like her husband, she feels rules are
for other people. Motherhood includes children being schooled and
Melania doesn't give a damn about immigrant children being schooled. Sarah Matusek (CHRISTIAN SCINCE MONITOR) notes:
U.S. states can’t bar immigrant children – no matter their status –
from attending public school. The Supreme Court said so in 1982.
A
growing chorus of Republicans wants to overturn that decision. Bills in
state legislatures over the past year have unsuccessfully aimed to
collect data on immigrant students without legal status or charge them
tuition. Passing that sort of legislation could put the issue back in
front of the Supreme Court someday.
“It’s time for it to go,” Rep.
Chip Roy, who’s also running in the Republican primary for Texas
attorney general, said of the court ruling during a congressional
hearing in March. “Any amount of illegal immigration in our hospitals,
jails, schools, or elsewhere should not be tolerated. ... States should
have the ability to curb it.”
Critics of the landmark decision – Plyler v. Doe – say that educating
unauthorized immigrant children is expensive and that cash-strapped
school districts should focus limited resources on American kids.
Immigrant advocates say children who entered the United States illegally
deserve the same access to schools as their American-born peers,
arguing that free education helps shield against poverty.
As the death toll at immigrant detention centers across the country continues to rise, the Trump administration is kneecapping federal efforts to monitor allegations of abuse at these facilities.
You may have heard of Camp East Montana earlier this year, after a medical examiner determined that an immigrant who was being held there died by homicide via asphyxia, contradicting officials who said the man died after attempting suicide. Last month, NPR reported that
the number of immigrants to have died in the custody of U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has already hit a record annual high
in the current fiscal year, which began in October. And CBS News reported that a record high for the calendar year is possible as well.
Meanwhile, the administration is undermining efforts to investigate
unlawful and abusive behavior toward detained immigrants. HuffPost
reported on an internal email, which MS NOW hasn’t independently seen,
indicating that the Department of Homeland Security is closing an office
tasked with investigating claims of abuse at immigration facilities.
The internal Department of Homeland Security office that oversees detention facilities
and conditions is winding down its operations — even as the
administration places more people in detention, and for longer stints.
Congress
created the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) in 2019 to
investigate detainee deaths, detainee access to medical care, and
employee misconduct, among other issues.
In a statement to NPR,
DHS said the office shut down because of the current funding lapse in
Congress targeting immigration enforcement.
Congress last week finally ended
the longest agency shutdown in U.S. history, agreeing to fund most
parts of DHS — but excluding some immigration enforcement functions.
DHS
said that it is Congress' fault. DHS who lies regularly to the
American people and the American legal system. They're lying again.
Republicans
are separately looking at a partisan process known as reconciliation to
fund all of DHS, including ICE and Border Patrol, for the remainder of
Trump's term without any Democratic support. It is not clear if OIDO
would reopen if ICE and Border Patrol are funded.
Even before the shutdown, the Trump administration had been stripping down the office's functions and laying off staff in civil rights areas. That comes as the number of people who have died in immigration custody has reached an all-time high for the fiscal year.
While Melania ignored the mothers in need, American Friends Service Committee doesn't. They issued the following:
Mother’s Day is a time to celebrate the women who
raised us—to honor their love, their sacrifice, their strength. But
today, thousands of immigrant mothers are separated from their children
and loved ones by detention. Across the U.S., mothers are locked up in
immigration detention centers. Many more are left to care for their
families alone after a loved one is detained or deported.
No
one should be torn away from their loved ones. Families should never be
separated by walls or borders. That’s why, with your support, AFSC is
working alongside communities across the country to end detention for
good.
This week, dozens
of community members in San Diego, California, and Denver, Colorado,
showed up for mothers in detention. We wanted everyone behind those
walls to know that people outside stand in solidarity with them, that
they are not forgotten.
In
Colorado, community members gathered for a vigil outside the GEO
Detention Center in Aurora. We held handmade signs and candles and
delivered our messages through a megaphone so everyone inside could
hear.
In San Diego, many community members came together to make Mother’s Day cards for people in detention. On Friday, we brought the cards and yellow flowers to Otay Mesa Detention Center, where we hoped they would be delivered to people inside.
These
acts of solidarity are one part of a broader effort to support families
facing detention. They also highlight the cruelty of our immigration
system.
“Writing a
Mother's Day card to someone who is currently being detained exemplifies
the idea that everyday people are thinking about those who have been
deprived of their freedom,” says Adriana Jasso, coordinator for AFSC’s
U.S-Mexico Border Program. “We need to communicate to the public that
immigration law and policies—as harmful as they are—don’t just impact
mothers being held, but also their children and extended community. We
have a responsibility to call out the inhumanity of a system that
continues to take away people’s freedom and potentially their future.”
Since
the start of the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) has vastly expanded detention and deportation. ICE has
detained the parents of at least 50 U.S. citizen children per day, according to research by ProPublica. It has also deported four times as many mothers of U.S. citizen children per day as the previous administration did.
The people behind these numbers are mothers, children, and whole communities.
From California to New Jersey, AFSC provides
direct support to families impacted by detention and deportation. That
includes legal representation, social work, accompaniment, and other
support.
In Florida, AFSC is part of the Miramar Circle of Protection.
Since 2017, the group has offered mutual aid, information, and other
resources to immigrants navigating the immigration system.
Every
Wednesday, AFSC staff and volunteers set up across the street from the
local ICE facility in Miramar. We offer water, coffee, homemade
pasteles, clothing, Know Your Rights information, and legal referrals.
When someone comes for an ICE appointment and gets detained, our team
documents what they can and helps families locate their loved ones.
AFSC
Campaigns Coordinator Maria Bilbao helped found the Circle of
Protection. In recent months, she says the group has assisted mothers
facing eviction, deportation, and family separation.
Gladis
is a mother of two. Her youngest was just two weeks old when ICE
detained her husband while he was walking to the neighborhood store.
Without her husband’s income, Gladis couldn’t pay the rent or afford
groceries or diapers. The Circle of Protection mobilized, helping raise
funds from the community to cover her rent for three months and other
expenses until she figured out her next steps.
Doris
and her husband were both detained and facing deportation. Maria
connected them with legal help to get their affairs in order. The
parents made the difficult decision to return to Honduras with their
young children. Maria helped Doris get passports for their children so
they could make the journey together.
Ana*
came to the Circle of Protection after her husband was deported during
an ICE check-in at the facility. She didn’t know how she was going to
support their family. The group provided her with some financial
assistance. They brought toys for her kids. And they connected with a
local immigrant services organization that could offer long-term
support.
“We are not
charity,” Maria says. “We are showing up. We are bearing witness. We are
documenting everything we’re seeing. We are there every day to stand
with immigrants facing detention and injustice.”
This
is what community looks like—people choosing to show up for one
another. None of this work happens without people who believe families
belong together and that all people deserve to live in dignity.
Because
of supporters like you, we can walk alongside mothers like Gladis,
Dori, and Ana—offering care, resources, and solidarity in the hardest
moments.
This Mother's
Day, we stand with every mother harmed by detention and deportation. We
stand with every family forced to navigate this inhumane system. And we
will keep standing until every mother can spend this day where she
belongs—with her children, her family, and her community.
Pope Leo XIV’s pick to lead West
Virginia Catholics is a prelate who was at one time an undocumented
immigrant. Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, who has served as an auxiliary bishop
in the archdiocese of Washington D.C. since 2023 and has now been
selected by the pontiff to become the new bishop of West Virginia, is a
Central American immigrant who fled for his life hidden in the trunk of a
car, The Guardianreports.
“Born on 14 August 1970, in
Chalatenango, El Salvador, Menjivar-Ayala’s journey to the priesthood
began in the violence of the Salvadorian civil war, where he and his
family narrowly survived being fired upon by soldiers while fleeing
their home, he previously told the Catholic Standard,” The Guardian
said. “After two failed attempts to reach the US, hindered by
deportation and a guide who deserted the migrant group, he finally
succeeded on his third try, despite a brief imprisonment in Mexico and a
grueling desert crossing.”
Menjivar-Ayala, who arrived in the
U.S. with just an extra set of clothes as his only possessions, worked a
series of essential jobs in construction and janitorial services while
earning his GED before entering the priesthood, The Guardian noted.
During a press event announcing his elevation to bishop of West Virginia, Menjivar-Ayala pledged
to stand by working people, including immigrants. Menjivar-Ayala has
already asserted fierce support for immigrant communities as
Washington’s auxiliary bishop, including penning an April 2025 National Catholic Reporter op-ed
that rebuked the federal government’s mass deportation agenda and urged
faithful to not be complicit in the targeting of their neighbors.
“To those of you who are silent or
think this does not involve you, to those of you who are not troubled by
this — or worse, who applaud it — particularly those who are Catholic, I
ask you: Do you not see the suffering of your neighbors?” he wrote. “Do
you not realize the pain and misery and very real fear and anxiety
these unjust government operations and policies are causing? Is your
conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet? In the final teaching
of his public ministry, Jesus warned that we will be judged on how we
respond to others in distress (Mt 25:41-46).”
Since his election on May 8 last year, Pope Leo XIV
has named numerous bishops to fill posts around the world, also in the
USA. Before becoming pope, Cardinal Robert Prevost was himself in charge
of proposing new bishops for established Latin Rite dioceses around the
world. So, while such decisions are never taken lightly, Leo XIV is
particularly keyed in to the needs and criteria involved.
As of May 6, 2026, he has made 26 appointments of bishops for his
homeland. This includes raising priests to the bishopric, elevating
auxiliary bishops to new dioceses, and transferring ordinary bishops to
new sees. Eleven of these bishops — 42% — were born outside the United
States. Sixteen of them are under 60 years old, and the youngest is 45.
Only three come from religious communities: a Jesuit, a Benedictine, and
an Oratorian. They come from countries across North and South America,
Asia, and Africa (but not Europe). Among them are a former undocumented
immigrant from El Salvador and two former refugees from Vietnam.
This diversity reflects the diversity of the Church in America
itself. Immigrants have of course always been a key Catholic demographic
in the USA, since it is itself a nation of immigrants. However, over
the past century their countries of origin have mostly shifted away from
Europe.
Just in the first week of May this year, Leo XIV has appointed five bishops. On May 1, 2026, he made four episcopal appointments:
two of them are immigrants, and a third will be the youngest bishop in
the country. The fourth was a later vocation with a background in
military service. Then, on May 6, he named the fifth, tapping a Jesuit
priest to head the Diocese of Honolulu.
More than 200 people gathered May 6 at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in
Detroit to discuss the Church’s prophetic witness regarding the debates
surrounding immigration and the impact current federal policy has had
on immigrant communities over the past two years.
Priests,
bishops, parish leaders and immigration rights advocates from 10
dioceses participated in “Witness to Hope: Pastoral Care of Immigrant
Communities,” a collaborative effort between the Archdiocese of Detroit,
Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, the Hope Border Institute in
El Paso, Texas, and the Center for Migration Studies of New York, to
discuss what the Church can do at the parish and diocesan levels to
accompany immigrant communities amidst the expansion of immigration
enforcement initiatives taking place during President Donald Trump’s
second administration.
This was the third daylong summit, following previous “Witness to Hope” gatherings in Providence, Rhode Island, and Phoenix, Arizona, in recent months.
“The
goal here today is to get us energized to take the next steps as
dioceses, parishes, religious congregations or as groups of Catholic
organizations, because some of you might be doing pretty well in a lot
of things,” said Fr. David Buersmeyer, a priest for the Archdiocese of
Detroit and chaplain for Strangers No Longer, a Detroit-based, lay-led
Catholic immigration rights advocacy group.
An
Atlanta-based appeals court has struck down the Trump administration’s
mandatory detention policy for immigrants in federal custody, clearing
the way for more people to wait at home while their deportation cases
wind through the court system.
In a 2-1 decision issued Wednesday
by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel ruled
that the Department of Homeland Security can no longer deny bond
hearings to people in immigration detention, including those who have
been living in the U.S. for years with no criminal records.
An
increasingly desperate Pete Hegseth threatened fresh legal action
against a Democratic senator for his criticism of Donald Trump’s war on
Iran.
The defense secretary’s campaign against Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona was dealt a blow on Thursday, when a federal appeals court signaled that it would not support his effort to punish Kelly over a video in which he and other lawmakers told servicemembers they could refuse illegal orders.
In February, another court blocked
his attempt to censure and demote the 62-year-old senator, who flew 39
combat missions over Iraq during the Gulf War before serving as a NASA
astronaut.
Determined
to defeat Kelly by any means necessary, Hegseth issued a new threat on X
on Sunday evening in response to comments Kelly made on CBS News’ Face the Nation.
Speaking
to host Margaret Brennan, Kelly said that it was “shocking how deep we
have gone” into U.S. weapons stockpiles during Trump’s war on Iran.
“Because
this president got our country into this without a strategic goal,
without a plan, without a timeline... because of that, we’ve expended a
lot of munitions. And that means the American people are less safe,”
Kelly said.
Responding to a post from Brennan on X about Kelly’s claim, Hegseth wrote,
“‘Captain’ Mark Kelly strikes again. Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely
& dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received. Did he
violate his oath…again?” He ended his post with a note that the
Pentagon’s legal counsel will review whether or not Kelly violated his
oath.
Kelly was quick to respond, sharing a video of an interaction he had with Hegseth during the Pentagon chief’s appearance in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month.
“We
had this conversation in a public hearing a week ago and you said it
would take “years” to replenish some of these stockpiles,” Kelly wrote.
“That’s
not classified, it’s a quote from you. This war is coming at a serious
cost and you and the president still haven’t explained to the American
people what the goal is.”
Let's wind down with this from Senator Alex Padilla:
California gas prices are up more than $1.50 per gallon since the start of Trump’s war with Iran
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Californians face rising gas
prices driven by the Trump Administration’s ongoing war in Iran, U.S.
Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) joined Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)
and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in introducing the Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act to crack down on petroleum market manipulation and protect consumers from unjustified price spikes at the pump.
The bill would create a new Transportation Fuel Monitoring and
Enforcement Unit at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to proactively
monitor fuel markets for fraud, manipulation, and anti-competitive
behavior that can artificially inflate prices. It would also increase
transparency across fuel markets and significantly raise penalties for
bad actors.
California drivers consistently pay among the highest gas prices in
the nation, with costs often spiking faster and higher than the national
average during periods of global disruption — putting added pressure on
working families, small businesses, and commuters across the state.
“At a time when Trump’s unauthorized war with Iran is driving up
costs, we need stronger oversight to ensure oil companies and traders
aren’t exploiting the moment to pad their profits,” said Senator Padilla.
“This bill will bring greater transparency to fuel markets, hold bad
actors accountable, and help protect consumers across California.”
The Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act would:
Strengthen Oversight: Enhance the FTC’s authority to crack down on
false reporting or deceptive practices that artificially inflate fuel
prices across gasoline, diesel, and biofuels markets.
Establish Dedicated Monitoring: Create a permanent FTC unit
responsible for continuously tracking crude oil and fuel markets to
identify irregularities and protect consumers.
Target Market Manipulation: Empower regulators to investigate and
penalize companies engaging in price manipulation, abuse of market
power, or other anti-competitive practices.
Increase Penalties: Double the maximum penalty for market manipulation to $2 million per day, per violation.
Improve Transparency: Expand federal data collection and public
reporting on fuel supply and pricing to promote fair competition and
prevent price gouging.
The legislation builds on previous efforts to strengthen federal
oversight of energy markets, similar to authorities granted to the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission (CFTC), which have successfully policed manipulation
in electricity and financial markets.
Despite having similar authority since 2007, the FTC has not
consistently used its tools to monitor and enforce against manipulation
in petroleum markets. This bill would ensure those authorities are fully
utilized to protect consumers — including millions of Californians who
rely on their cars every day.
A one-page summary of the Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act is available here.
