Saturday, June 13, 2026

Immigrant Rights for DACA

 


June 15 marks the anniversary of President Obama establishing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012. We had hope that between DACA and widespread support for Dreamers, we’d be able to pass legislation to protect them, but for nearly 14 years, Republicans in Congress and President Trump have blocked any meaningful help for Dreamers, leaving hundreds of thousands vulnerable to detention, deportation and separation from their families. The attack on Dreamers is nothing short of horrific.


While the Trump administration is undermining the DACA renewal process and targeting Dreamers for deportation, Republicans in Congress just approved sending over $70 billion in new funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to expand detention and deportation operations while sowing fear and instability in schools, workplaces and communities across the country.

Combined with the more than $100 billion already available for immigration enforcement, this would bring total federal spending on immigration enforcement to nearly a quarter-trillion dollars—an unprecedented investment in detention, deportation and enforcement rather than solutions that keep families together and strengthen our economy.

Just this past week, ICE detained two parents at a preschool graduation ceremony in Baltimore. It is an unconscionable assault on the values of safety, sanctuary and common decency that schools are meant to uphold, and it underscores how critical it is that we do all we can to protect our immigrant neighbors.

Ahead of DACA’s anniversary, take action now and demand Congress provide Dreamers with the permanent protections and pathways to citizenship they deserve.

In the more than a decade since DACA was established, the policy has enabled more than 825,000 young people who were brought to the United States as children to live, work and contribute to the communities in the only country many of them have called home. Dreamers are teachers, paraprofessionals, nurses, healthcare workers, university staff, public employees, students and essential workers. They help educate our children, care for our patients, strengthen our communities and keep our economy moving forward every day.

But right now, so many of our friends, family and community members are experiencing delayed renewals, denials, detention and wrongful deportation. Every delay, denial, detention or wrongful deportation puts opportunity, economic security and family stability at risk.

Dreamers are part of our communities, our workplaces and our families. They deserve the dignity of knowing that they can build their futures without fear of being torn away from the only home many have ever known.


In unity,

Randi Weingarten
AFT President

P.S. The AFT has resources available for members to keep themselves and their communities safe during enhanced federal immigration crackdowns, which you can find here.

Thursday, June 11, 2026

Protect the Fans from ICE and Trump

Today, and every single day until the final whistle blows, we’re coming together to remind the world that this is Our Copa. 

 

En la lucha, 

Our Copa and Mijente Comité 

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

What we are learning

 I detest Trump  and everything he does or says. Ditto his despicable aides and Cabinet members, his unprincipled sycophants and suck-ups.

But it’s possible that someday we’ll look back on this horrendous era and say we needed Trump. We needed to see how horrible it could get before America was able to revive its ideals. 

Please hear me out. Robert Rech. 

Even before Trump, we were barreling down the wrong road. Inequalities of income, wealth, and opportunity were worsening. Legalized bribery was soaring in the form of mounting campaign contributions from big corporations and the wealthy. Workers were getting shafted. On Wall Street and in C-suites, fealty to the rule of law was giving way to “greed is good” selfishness. Giant corporations were monopolizing ever more of the economy. America was losing its moral authority in the world (think Abu Ghraib and the torture memo).

We couldn’t have remained on that road. Even if we didn’t know it then, most of us understand that now. Trump has opened our eyes to the consequences of extreme greed, corruption, cruelty, and utter disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law. His brazenness and shamelessness have awakened us to much that we took for granted.

He and his regime are still dangerous as hell, of course. But the American public is catching on. His polls are in the cellar; they continue to fall. 

It’s as if the nation has been through basic training in democracy, a stress test in civics, a crash course in the importance of having a decent and good government.

Before Trump, how many Americans understood the importance of “checks and balances” among the three branches of government, as envisioned by the Founders? 

Now nearly everyone knows, because we’ve seen what happens when the head of the executive branch usurps the power of Congress and defies the federal courts.

How many of us really knew what “due process” meant when it came to giving people accused by the government an opportunity to defend themselves?

By now most of us have seen videos of people dragged out of their homes in the dead of night by masked agents of the U.S. government and thrown into detention camps without so much as a hearing. And we’ve seen government agents murder American citizens in cold blood on the streets of our cities. 

Did we understand the meaning of corruption, bribes, self-dealing, and pay-to-play before Trump extorted corporations and billionaires to contribute millions to his campaign, his PAC, his inauguration, his ballroom, and his 250th birthday party? Now, we surely do.

Did we really know the importance of professional civil servants before Trump fired tens of thousands of them and substituted brainless loyalists? Before he got rid of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because it published truthful jobs data he didn’t like?

Did we understand the importance of expertise before Trump turned his back on career diplomats at the State Department, doctors and epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control, and experienced lawyers at the Justice Department and replaced them with loyalist hacks?

Or the meaning of “equal justice under the law” before Trump turned the Justice Department into his own private law firm to prosecute political enemies and pardon supporters?

Did we comprehend the true meaning of freedom of speech and expression before Trump attacked our universities for allowing demonstrations he disliked? Before he got CBS to fire Stephen Colbert for satirizing him and muzzle “60 Minutes” for criticizing him? 

Saturday, June 06, 2026

Join the Effort to Protect Public Education and Democracy

 

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers describes the problem well.

Why Do Authoritarians Fear Teachers?

Because We Teach Critical Thinking

Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers. 2025. 

“Critical thinking is the heart of democracy, the muscle at the core that keeps democracy healthy and strong. We don’t tell our students who to vote for; we don’t tell our students what to believe. We teach them how to think for themselves, why democracy is important, and how they’re an important part of making it work and making it better. But rather than help teachers build a stronger America based on knowledge and truth and freedom of thought, fascists use fear, bullying, and culture wars to try to shut down teaching and democracy.

Ironically, there is one thing fascists and teachers agree on—that we cannot create a truly democratic, inclusive nation committed to opportunity for all without public schools. Fascists fight against public education because they want to control our minds, control our ideas, and control the future. And what do teachers do? We teach. It’s that simple. Class after class, year after year, we equip the next generation to think for themselves and preserve our nation’s precious bond between individual liberty, opportunity, and the common good.”

We Want Kids to Think—and Read—for Themselves

Excerpt from  Why Do Fascists Fear Teachers?

https://www.ahttps://www.aft.org/ae/spring2026/weingarten_wolfsonft.org/ae/spring2026/weingarten_wolfson

 

Read the book. Why Fascists Fear Teachers.  Public Education and The Future of Democracy. 2025

A project to organize and support efforts to Defend Democracy with a focus on public education is developing.  Watch this blog for more.  There is a place for you- dear reader. 

America’s colleges and universities are the “envy of the world,” driving economic growth and providing better lives for students and their families, said AFT President Randi Weingarten at a launch of the blueprint April 15 in Texas.

“But instead of investing in the next generation, the federal government is stripping hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants, attacking diversity, saddling millions of borrowers with student debt and abolishing minority-serving institutions—all in a cynical attempt to punish political enemies and control knowledge.”

The new policy platform, “A Blueprint for Strengthening and Transforming Higher Education,” details a vision where colleges and universities, not corporations, are treated as key forces in creating a functional democracy.

 

Teaching Democracy Through Critical Thinking, Civic Participation, and Democratic Engagement

Democracy depends upon an informed, thoughtful, and engaged citizenry. Public education plays a central role in preparing students not only for careers and personal success, but also for meaningful participation in democratic society.

Goal:  to assist teachers to shape their teaching toward preserving democracy.  To  encourage teachers to teach about and encourage democracy in our nation, state, and local institutions, including schools

To assist teachers  and faculty in resisting the increasing demands from the authoritarian right  that  right wing ideology be taught as truth or normal  in our schools. 

Educate yourselves because we will need all of your intelligence.” Antonio Gramsci.

.

 

 

Thursday, June 04, 2026

Fired CBS Newsman Alleges He Was Asked to Insert Falsehoods Into his Reporting.

The longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, who was fired by CBS News on Tuesday after clashing with the network’s new management, issued a public statement accusing the network’s new executives of silencing employees and claiming they instructed him “to inject falsehoods and bias” into his reporting.

“‘60’ has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories,” Pelley wrote in the lengthy statement he shared on social media on Wednesday morning.

“When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.”

Pelley criticized the new leadership at CBS, adding: “Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.”

He continued: “For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them.

“Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.”

He concluded his statement by saying that he was departing “after 37 years at CBS with one emotion – a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again – a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.”

CBS News did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment about the statement.

Bari Weiss addressed Pelley’s termination on the network’s morning call on Wednesday.


Monday, June 01, 2026

Vote ! Voté

Xavier Becerra has actual governing experience. Tom Steyer has never held elected office and is trying to buy this election. 

Becerra:

  • 30+ years of actual public service

  • 24 years in Congress

  • California’s first Latino Attorney General

  • First Latino HHS Secretary in US history

  • Built his entire career defending working people, immigrants, and families

  • His resume was earned,  not purchased

Steyer:

  • Never held elected office. Not one day in government. Ever.

  • Ran for president in 2020, spent $250 million, won zero delegates, dropped out after losing three straight contests.

  • Now wants to run the world’s fifth largest economy with zero governing experience

  • His qualification is his checkbook. That is not enough.

Xavier Becerra has actual governing experience. Tom Steyer has never held elected office and is trying to buy this election. 


Becerra:

  • 30+ years of actual public service

  • 24 years in Congress

  • California’s first Latino Attorney General

  • First Latino HHS Secretary in US history

  • Built his entire career defending working people, immigrants, and families

  • His resume was earned,  not purchased

Steyer:

  • Never held elected office. Not one day in government. Ever.

  • Ran for president in 2020, spent $250 million, won zero delegates, dropped out after losing three straight contests.

  • Now wants to run the world’s fifth largest economy with zero governing experience

  • His qualification is his checkbook. That is not enough.

 

Saturday, May 30, 2026

The Judge That Shook the MAGA Tree

 https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/a-truly-amazing-exercise-of-justice?

https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/a-truly-amazing-exercise-of-justice


Thursday, May 28, 2026

Xavier Becerra


Xavier Becerra has actual governing experience. Tom Steyer has never held elected office and is trying to buy this election. 

Becerra:

  • 30+ years of actual public service

  • 24 years in Congress

  • California’s first Latino Attorney General

  • First Latino HHS Secretary in US history

  • Built his entire career defending working people, immigrants, and families

  • His resume was earned,  not purchased

Steyer:

  • Never held elected office. Not one day in government. Ever.

  • Ran for president in 2020, spent $250 million, won zero delegates, dropped out after losing three straight contests.

  • Now wants to run the world’s fifth largest economy with zero governing experience

  • His qualification is his checkbook. That is not enough.

Supported by Duane Campbell 

Monday, May 25, 2026

Trump is Crumbling

 May 26,2026

Bt Marc Cooper

Donald J. Trump has been a disaster so often with such regularity that it has become difficult to distinguish between bad weeks and very bad weeks. This last week has been downright catastrophic for The Boss, his enablers and acolytes and possibly for the immediate future of the republic.

Bad for Trump. Bad for MAGA. Bad for whatever normie Republicans are still out there and threatening to our democracy not to speak of the rest of the world. 

Appearances can be misleading and often contradict reality. Flexing his sagging muscles, Trump appeared as strong as ever in influencing recent GOP primaries by financing and dragging across the finish line a number of retro-MAGA screwballs against somewhat more rational Republicans (this is actually good for the rest of us as the flying monkeys are easier to beat in the November general elections).

This is against a more ominous background of his poll numbers continuing to node dive, now into Bush 08 territory and heading quickly toward the dark hole of Nixonland, the high 20’s. It’s a pity Trump is not running for a third term as he would be crashed by Democratic dog cathcher of East Jesus, Missourri in 2028. Trump has never ben stronger with MAGA, but MAGA has never been weaker or more fragmented. And decomposing. 

As is president Trump -- as both his official policies and his late night Truth Farts, not to mention his public speaking descend ever deeper into MADNESS. The Trump-MAGA train crash took on consequential proportions when a handful of Senate Republicans, including high-profile MAGAS refused to give him the 51 Senate votes to finally fund ICE, essentially aping the position of the Democrats.

Yes, you heard that right, Republicans denied Trump the votes he needs to keep funding ICE. The rather meek Senate leader John Thune dealt him the humiliating blow of sending the Senate off for a two week vacation, perhaps cutting short the chance of eventually approving the funding before the early voting in the midterms. 

That’s after the Republicans were forced to pull the $1.8b heinous slush fascist fund out of the big reconciliation bill aimed at aggrieved Trumpanzees who claim the Biden Justice Department was weaponozed against them. B;these fine patriots to plead guilty. As the DOJ also convinced 100% of the judges involved in hunfreds odtrial Translation: Trump want to hand loads of cash to the 1600 convicted hooligans a,omg whom not a single conviction was overturned. 

First, he pardoned them. Now he wants to give them 100 grad reward each. Madness?Yes. But there’s a more sinister motive In play here. Yjey may be what some analysts like Ruth Ben-Ghiat call “retatiners.”

” Such retainers are common in organized crime and autocratic corruption around the world. I agree with former national security operative Steven Cash’s assessment that the “settlement” “resembles the kind of state-funded loyalty network or private militia support system often seen under rising authoritarian regimes overseas.” The idea of MAGA as a revolution that continues the energies of 1776 was integral to the Stop the Steal movement that fueled January 6 and served as a recruiting and radicalization ground for those who assaulted the Capitol and wanted to harm Republicans and Democrats alike. 1776 rhetoric and images run through in the January 6 documentary Fight Like Hell (Jon Long, 2024) which follows the flow from Stop the Steal to the tragic events of that day (I consulted on the film)… 

While the U.S. armed forces is to all appearances doing Trump’s bidding, and ICE is developing in the direction of being a state-funded revolutionary guards operation, there is nothing like having a private militia that is loyal to you personally. With this slush fund, Trump signals to violent extremists that their service to him has not ended. “America could evolve into a national brand of electoral autocracy in which election subversion is backed up by grassroots violence,” I wrote in the fall of 2021. The 2026 midterms could present an opportunity for this militia in the making to serve the leader again.” 

One day, Signore Bomgiorno, I mighi call on you some day for a favor,” Vito Corleone said to a small time supplicant mortician who needed The Godfather’s help in getting a suitore of his daughter busted up. 

Republians, and everybody else, previously rasied enough hell over Trump’s jaw dropping movr to pay himself $10b dollars for psychological damage by Biden. That one never sood a chance. Congress, neither seems very excited, about provding the extra $100b in taxpayer funding for his Marie Anoinette ball room, Ain’t gonna happen—at least at nowwhere that level. 

And now we have more, not a lot, but more MAGAS saying they will no longer go ahead with funding the collapsing war on Iran and are ready to join Democrats in approving the restrictive war powers act. Trump can’t wait to get free of that Booby Trap that Netanyahu and Hegseth lured him into. But there’s a problem: there is no exit accept a humiliating retreat which Trump could likely precede with one more massive bombardment so he can claim Mission Accomplished.


 

https://open.substack.com/pub/thecoopscoop/p/trump-is-slowly-crumbling?

Sunday, May 24, 2026

Media dominance

 First, some background. Twenty years ago, the best way to communicate with voters was through TV, radio, and newspapers, and Democrats were pretty good at it. 

But today, everything has changed. A majority of swing voters now get their news from social media, podcasts, and YouTube.

And on these platforms, Democrats are getting absolutely steamrolled.

Four of the top ten news podcasts on Spotify right now are hosted by right-wing extremists, like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. The White House’s rapid response Twitter/X account is five times bigger than the DNC’s. Of the 100 largest political YouTube channels, 64 of them are conservative.

On Facebook, Twitter/X, TikTok, you name it … Republicans are running circles around Democrats, and that could cost us the entire midterm election.

Robert Reich, 

A New Separation Crisis by the Trump/MAGA Regime

 https://portside.org/2026-05-21/new-kind-family-separation-crisis?utm_source=portside-general&utm_medium=email

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Police Officers Sue Trump to Stop the Corruption and abuse of Tax Funds

 


Payout Fund: Two officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sued the Trump administration to try to stop the creation of a $1.8 billion fund they argue would benefit rioters who committed violence to support the president. The lawsuit argues the administration exceeded its authority to create the fund without Congress’s authorization. Read more ›
New York Iimes 

Saturday, May 16, 2026

Tom Steyer distorts the issues on immigration and children (updated)

   Candidate Tom Steyer should end his negative, inaccurate, destructive media campaign distorting the reality of Becerra’s work on immigration. It is unfortunate that this campaign has selected this route. Instead, if he hopes to be governor, Steyer should campaign on what he is in favor of.  



The anti Becerra  ads funded by Tom Steyer are endless and deceptive. Becerra is being blamed for Trump  era immigration failures.  The failures  were created by the overcrowding of immigrants detention facilities during the Trump era.  Becerra organized and sued the Trump administration as California Attorney General.  Then, we went to Washington with the Biden Administration. 

 

The truth is Xavier Becerra inherited the failures at HHS caused by the Trump era assault on immigrants and immigrant children.  And Becerra resolved many of the problems.  Now, Trump has done it all again- even more.

See Here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SntyYRugBgY&t=1224s


Trump and company have filled the jails and detention centers. Steyer responds with  campaign ads and distortions. 

Update. 

 I am adding to a prior post in response to the  overwhelming domination of the media market by political ads by Tom Seyer. 

What did Becerra do about the immigration crisis ? During the 2016- 2020 Trump Administration, Becerra, as California Attorney General sued Trump 120 times. He won over 80% of the cases that went to court. 

In 2021, when Trump lost and Biden became President, he appointed Becerra to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.  In this position, Becerra had responsibility for many of the children incarcerated by  Trump. In response to Trump budget cuts,  It took some months for the Becerra office to work through the back log of cases of children in custody. 

Becerra received criticism for not acting quickly enough.  See the video of the House Select Committee on this. 

Since 2024 and the second Trump administration, the separation of children and the division of families, the jailing of hundreds of thousands has returned. 

Now, Steyer is spending millions on ads attacking Becerra for his actions in H & HS. I recommend that he do something  to rescue or release detained immigrants. He is not doing a single thing to rescue those jailed and deported and removal operations.  If we defeat Trump in 2028, a new government will have to do the releases again.  Becerra has experience and a record on this. Steyer does not.  We will not be able to defeat Trump if we are diverted by misrepresentations of the actions of other members of the needed coalition. 

Becerra had years of work on these issues.  If we can defeat Trump in 2028, the next head of H H S will have to do it all again. Instead of misrepresenting what happened Steyers burries the issues in endless campaign ads.  

Steyer has gained substantive progressive support in recent weeks including from major unions and political organizations.  He should campaign positively and accept the voters solutions whichever way the votes come in.  If he refuses, progressive groups should reconsider their endorsements which endanger this elections. 

We need a governor who is honest rather than deceptive. We need a governor with experience in running major government functions. 

Steyer  has continued to misrepresent the issues.  Here is Voting  alternative for those of us who do not want a November election where we are faced with a choice between two bad Republicans.  ( Proposal Reprinted from another source. )

A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR IN CALIFORNIA?

 NO WAY!

***VOTE STRATEGICALLY IN JUNE 2 PRIMARY*** 

HERE’S THE SITUATION:

California has a “jungle primary,” meaning the two candidates with the highest votes will be on the ballot in November, regardless of party. 

Democrats have at least six candidates competing, while the Republicans have two. Democrats are diluting the vote so much that NONE of them are frontrunners. Tom Steyer, Xavier Becerra and Katie Porter are at 14-10% in polls. 

Both Republicans are MAGA Trump supporters. Steve Hilton is a Fox News commentator. Chad Bianco is a Republican sheriff. Both are round 14 %  in polling.

If we don’t organize and strategize RIGHT NOW, the two Republicans could end up being our only two choices on the ballot in November!

 In spite of Steyers flooding the airways  and our mail boxes with inaccurate campaign ads,,,

We should be strategic to get a candidate on the November that we would be willing to vote for.  

 

WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO DELAY CASTING YOUR VOTE UNTIL 7-10 DAYS BEFORE THE  June 2 primary.  

THEN VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRAT (OPPONENT OF DONALD TRUMP )  WITH THE HIGHEST POLLING NUMBERS. 

Despite what you may feel about some of the candidates, ANY of these Democrats would be much, much better than either of the two Republicans!!! 

A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR IN CALIFORNIA COULD MEAN:

 - more ICE agents in the streets, deportations, detention facilities

 - subverting, disrupting, hijacking the election in 2028

 - appointing Republican judges and other officials hostile to democratic rule of law

 - dismantling environmental regulations

 - reducing social services and safety net programs 

 - reducing protections for LGBTQ people, racial minorities, immigrants

Further actions to help get an opponent of Trump on the November ballot.

 

SEND THIS INFORMATION TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, so that people understand why they need to hold off voting until a week before the primary.

Post this on your social media.  Spread the word. 

VOTE IN THE PRIMARY! Check to see if your neighbors will vote. 


 
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