One of the things that shocked me when I started following politics was how racist so many of the republican party members are and to be honest a few democrats as well. They finally drove Steve King out due to his over the top hate for black people and constant promotion of whites as the only salvation for the country. But I saw this in Reagan in the 1980s and it has gotten much worse. So many openly racist people are now in the US congress and they are not just men; at least one is a woman from the south who openly hates Black people. First let me be clear, I have heard the arguments made up by white supremacists with their false made up claims, but when I got the chance to work with people of a different skin tone I found two things. One was there was no difference between us in mental ability or the way we did our jobs, and second … Sorry but some of the nonwhite guys I knew were hot and made me horny as hell. Now having said that I of course respected everyone’s boundaries, and I won’t say if I had a few interesting 4 day passes with persons of a different skin tone than mine. But just say I did I can honestly report the melanin in their skin did not change their reactions or our pleasures on those passes … if they happened. OK, yes, they did and I loved it. So did they. But you get my point. The only difference between them and me at that age in that situation was our skin color and I saw how soft bigotry worked. Two young white guys going into a motel in South Carolina raised no eye browes, but when I went to that same hotel with a dark skinned companion, we had to show our military IDs, give my license plate information, and plenty of other things. That was my go to place because they had a nearby amusement park which we could pretend was what we were there for … not the hot sex happening in the hotel room. So even then racism was real in the 1980s and every time it happened I saw the person I was with shrink a bit more inside themselves. Something I understood as an abused child. We really need to do more to fight it. Hugs
The sealed order in the Abrego Garcia case that I wrote about in Sunday night’s “The Week Ahead” column was unsealed today. This is in the government’s hastily manufactured criminal case against him, which seemed, at the time, to be some sort of face-saving gesture after they were forced to return him to the U.S. from El Salvador, where he was incarcerated in CECOT prison.
The case is before Federal District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. in the Middle District of Tennessee. It turned out that my conjecture that the sealed motion might have something to do with Abrego Garcia’s motions to dismiss the prosecution because it’s vindictive was on target. As we know from our discussion of this type of motion in the context of the Virginia prosecution of Jim Comey, it’s difficult for a defendant to prove, and cases are only rarely dismissed on this basis. But the timeline here has always seemed to suggest it could be a serious possibility in this one.
In the newly unsealed motion, the Judge goes straight to the heart of the government’s contention that the local U.S. Attorney made the decision to indict, so it was not influenced by any alleged vindictiveness on the part of higher-ups in Washington, writing, “The central question after Abrego established a prima facie case of vindictiveness is what information in the government’s control sheds light on its new decision to prosecute Abrego, after removing him from the United States without criminal charges. These documents show that McGuire [the local U.S. Attorney] did not act alone and to the extent McGuire had input on the decision to prosecute, he shared it with Singh [a Lawyer in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office] and others. … Specifically, the government’s documents may contradict its prior representations that the decision to prosecute was made locally and that there were no outside influences.”
This, needless to say, is not good news for the government. To understand just how bad it is, let’s review a bit of the case’s history:
In October, Judge Crenshaw found that Abrego Garcia had come forward with evidence to suggest that a reasonable person might believe the indictment was motivated by vindictiveness on the part of the government. When that happens, the government has to offer evidence that the prosecution was undertaken for legitimate reasons, for instance, that newly discovered evidence made a case previously rejected as weak strong enough to be indicted.
Judge Crenshaw granted Abrego Garcia’s request to conduct discovery on the issue and have an evidentiary hearing. But he noted that it was entirely possible that “no fire will be discovered under all the smoke.”
The indictment stems from a 2022 traffic stop that did not result in Abrego Garcia’s arrest, or even a traffic ticket. The case file at Homeland Security Investigations remained open, but no action was ever taken on it, and the case was closed shortly after he was deported.
Abrego Garcia was deported on March 15, 2025 (despite the existence of an order that prohibited it).
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers sued on March 24, 2025, and in less than two weeks, a district judge ordered his return to the U.S.
Both the Fourth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Abrego Garcia, holding the government responsible for “facilitating” his return. The Supreme Court ruled on April 10.
Just days after the Supreme Court’s decision, the investigation into the traffic stop was reopened by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) under DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s direction.
Ten days after that, an HSI agent reached out to the acting U.S. Attorney in Nashville.
The case was indicted on May 21, 2025, only 58 days after Abrego Garcia filed suit in Maryland seeking his return to the U.S.
As Judge Crenshaw noted back in October, “All of this stands in stark contrast to the 832 days the HSI investigation into Abrego remained pending, without referral to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Tennessee for prosecution.” In other words, the case wasn’t even deemed significant enough to ask a prosecutor to take a look at it. It was only after Abrego Garcia’s lawsuit challenging the legality of his deportation—and the Supreme Court confirmation that he should be returned—that HSI seemed to take the case seriously. In the absence of any explanation from the government, the Judge correctly found these facts gave rise to a presumption of vindictiveness.
Sometimes, though, where there’s smoke, there is, in fact, fire.
The newly unsealed order relates to two motions filed by Abrego Garcia’s lawyers in the course of trying to obtain the discovery the court had ordered they were entitled to: one to compel the government to comply with some of the requests and one to obtain testimony from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and some of the key people in his office. The government had submitted “over 3,000 documents” to the Judge for him to review privately, because the government maintained it wasn’t obligated to turn them over.
Judge Crenshaw has now ordered the government to “disclose to Abrego a sub-set of the over 3,000 documents that are relevant to the narrow issue of whether the government’s new decision to prosecute Abrego, after deciding not to do so, ‘was tainted by improper motivation’ arising from Abrego’s success in the Maryland civil case.” The government doesn’t have to turn over the remainder of the 3,000+ documents. The Judge asked for additional briefing on the government’s motion to prevent Blanche and his subordinates from testifying.
At the time the motion was filed, the government argued that the decision to prosecute was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Robert McGuire in Nashville, so it could not have been vindictiveness of the part of higher-ups in Washington. But as the Judge points out at length in this order, “at the time of Abrego’s arrest, Blanche linked Abrego’s criminal charges to his successful civil lawsuit in Maryland.” Blanche had “volunteered” in a television appearance that the government’s criminal investigation had started up after the judge in the civil case in Maryland accused the government of misconduct when it deported Abrego Garcia. So, Judge Crenshaw orders the government to provide the defendant with documents that “support Abrego’s argument. Specifically, some of the documents suggest not only that McGuire was not a solitary decision-maker, but he in fact reported to others in DOJ and the decision to prosecute Abrego may have been a joint decision, with others who may or may not have acted with an improper motivation.” If Abrego Garcia can use the discovery to successfully wipe out the government’s contention that the decision to indict wasn’t made in D.C., he may be on the road to getting his case dismissed.
Some of the documents the government must now turn over for the defense to use include:
An email from one of Blanche’s subordinates to the local U.S. Attorney that “made clear that Abrego’s criminal prosecution was a ‘top priority’ for the Deputy Attorney General’s office (Blanche).”
An email from the U.S. Attorney to his staff, advising them that “DAG (Blanche) and PDAG would like Garcia charged sooner rather than later.”
There is also an email from the Blanche subordinate to the local U.S. Attorney advising him that they should “‘close[ly] hold’ the draft indictment until the group ‘g[o]t clearance,’ to file.” The Judge comments that “The implication is that ‘clearance’ would come from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, not just McGuire.”
These developments are all phrased in the polite language used in courts by judges and lawyers, but they are jaw dropping. The government represented to the court that the decision to prosecute Abrego Garcia was made locally, disconnected from his effort to enforce his constitutional rights and challenge his deportation. Their own emails appear to contradict that assertion. The government will still have the opportunity to come forward and explain away the presumption of vindictiveness. I’ve seen a number of cases during my 25 years at DOJ where a defendant argued vindictiveness. In every case, the government explained why the prosecution was legitimate, and in every case, it prevailed. I’ve never seen a case where the government made representations to a judge that were refuted by its own internal communications. It’s exceptionally unusual for prosecutors to have to take the witness stand to defend their own conduct. But Abrego Garcia’s case, which has been highly irregular from the start, may well be the one where that happens.
This is all about due process. Back in April, as Abrego Garcia’s situation was coming to light, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that there was “a lot of evidence” Abrego Garcia was a convicted member of the gang MS-13, saying that “I saw it this morning.” We were supposed to take her word for it and leave Abrego Garcia to his fate of torture in a Salvadoran prison. That’s why the rule of law and due process matter. If it’s up to Trump, anyone can be swept up and swept away and have no recourse. Our ability to go to court to protect ourselves when the government gets it wrong is more and more important.
During his monumental filibuster earlier this year, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker said that this was our moral moment and that inaction was not enough. He asked: “Where does the Constitution live? On paper, or in our hearts?” Here at Civil Discourse, it lives in our hearts and stays on our minds.
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ICE agents violently restrained a woman in Minneapolis on Monday, dragging her through the snow and pinning her face down as onlookers shouted that the woman was pregnant.
During what was supposed to be a “targeted vehicle stop,” according to ICE officials, protesters swarmed the agents. Esme Murphy, a WCCO reporter, was on the scene, where she saw ICE holding a woman on the ground.
“Please let her go! She’s pregnant!” one onlooker shouted.
“Get her off of her fucking stomach,” another said.
In response to this, one agent fired a Taser into the crowd. “Who wants more?” he taunted, according to WCCO.
“We kept yelling, ‘She is pregnant, she’s pregnant,’” resident Tonika Deutch told Murphy. “They put their knees on her. We kept telling them, ‘She can’t breathe, let her up, let her up.’”
The woman was then dragged by one arm, as the crowd continued to yell and plead with the ICE agents. Bystanders threw snowballs, and ICE agents fired pepper spray into the crowd—hitting Murphy, the reporter, as well as her photographer.
ICE called the Minneapolis Police Department for backup. Once they arrived, the officers determined there was “no violence occurring” against the agents. “We have been training our officers for the last five years very, very intensely on de-escalation, but unfortunately that is … often not what we are seeing from other agencies in the city,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told WCCO.
According to ICE, they succeeded in arresting the targets of their operation: a young Ecuadorian couple who were abducted from their car, its windows shattered by agents. The woman is currently in custody in Illinois, and it’s not known where her husband is being held. Two U.S. citizens were also arrested for assaulting federal officers, according to CBS.
More tRump stupidity / tRump putting his branding everywhere / is he the president or chief architect / Fluffing tRump’s ego / tRump’s grifting / tRump’s lies & misinformation
That’s $100,000/head. tRump doesn’t care as he spends the taxpayers money / countries treasury like a drunk spending other peoples money. He is a tryant in that he thiinks that money is his todo what he wants even though the law states that only congress controls spending. This is human traficing plain and simple. Hugs
In September 2025, Turner’s agency sponsored a far-right anti-LGBTQ extremist to lead a massive Christian nationalist rally on Washington DC’s National Mall, the first-ever such event formally sanctioned by the federal government.
In June, it was reported that Turner is moving to take over the former National Science Foundation building as his agency’s headquarters, where he has demanded a full-floor executive suite, a private dining room, and parking for his five personal cars.
It is not lost on me that the above story is a woman with a career telling other woman they need to be stay at home mothers / trad wives to please a man because of religious dogma. Hugs
Yarborough appeared here last month for his bill that would ban Pride flags at government buildings, including public schools.
He appeared here in April 2025 for his bill that would ban thousands of books, including classic novels, over sexual content.
Yarborough appeared here March 2025 for his bill that would ban civil rights ordinances enacted by cities and counties, including, presumably, LGBTQ protections.
He first appeared on JMG in 2010, when as a member of the Jacksonville City Council he declared that gays, Muslims, and atheists should not be permitted to hold public office, otherwise God will smite the country.
In April 2023, lawmakers approved Yarborough’s ban on drag shows before minors. Yarborough is also the author several anti-trans bills.
Borrero appeared here in 2023 for a ban on Pride flags that died in committee. He tried again last year, but that attempt died after passage in its first committee hearing.
Borerro first appeared on JMG in January 2022 for his successful bill mandating that Florida public schools recognize an annual “Victims Of Communism Day.”
Oltmann appeared here last year when he called for executing Joe Biden, adding, “I want to send the mainstream media to the gallows, radical leftists to the gallows, traitors to our nation to the gallows, and they all kind of fit in the same bucket.”
In 2022, he appeared here when he announced that he would lead a “well-armed action” to install Kari Lake as governor of Arizona.
In 2021, he appeared here when he called for executing the 19 Republican Senators who voted to avert a government shutdown.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem | Steven Spearie/The State Journal-Register / USA TODAY NETWORK
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) confronted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the administration sending a gay man to a prison camp in El Salvador and not even knowing if he’s still alive. Noem said that it wasn’t her problem.
Noem, who has bragged in the past about shooting her dog to death, appeared before the House Homeland Security Committee for a hearing yesterday, where Garcia asked her about Andry Hernandez Romero, a gay hair dresser from Venezuela who came to the U.S. legally to escape anti-LGBTQ+ violence and who was sent to the CECOT camp in El Salvador, which is known for torturing inmates, earlier this year.
The administration, which sent immigrants to the CECOT without letting courts determine if they were in the country illegally or if they had committed any crimes, has refused to try to bring anyone back from the camp.
“Would you commit to just letting his mother know – as a mother-to-mother – if Andry is alive?” Garcia asked Noem. “He was given an asylum appointment by the United States government. We gave him an appointment, we said, Andry, come to the border at this time and claim asylum, he was taken to a foreign prison in El Salvador.”
“His mother just wants to know if he’s alive. Can we check and do a wellness check on him?”
Noem said she doesn’t “know the specifics” of Hernandez Romero’s case but said that since he’s in El Salvador, Garcia should be asking El Salvador’s government about him.
“This isn’t under my jurisdiction,” Noem said.
Garcia reminded her that she said that the Salvadoran prison is a “tool in our toolkit” for fighting crime.
“You and the president have the ability to check that Andry is alive and not being harmed,” he said. “Would you commit into at least looking and asking El Salvador if he is alive?”
“This is a question that is best asked to the president and the government of El Salvador,” Noem responded drily.
Hernandez Romero is a Venezuelan immigrant who trekked to the U.S. and entered legally last year at San Diego. There, he asked for asylum, saying that he was being targeted in Venezuela for being gay and due to his political beliefs. He was held in a CoreCivic detention center, where he was screened by Charles Cross Jr.
“The government had found that his threats against him were credible and that he had a real probability of winning an asylum claim,” his lawyer, Lindsay Toczylowski, said.
In March, he, along with over 200 other immigrants, was taken in shackles to the CECOT camp in El Salvador. Even his lawyer said she didn’t know what happened to him until he was gone and missed a hearing in his immigration case.
In a video from the CECOT, Hernandez Romero could be heard saying, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a stylist,” as he was slapped and had his head shaved.
It was later revealed that the evidence Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had against Hernandez Romero was his tattoos, which came from a report from the contractor CoreCivic, specifically from former police officer Charles Cross Jr., who lost his job with the Milwaukee police after he drunkenly crashed into a house and allegedly committed fraud. His name was subsequently added to the Brady List, a list of police officers who are considered non-credible for providing legal testimony in Milwaukee County.
Cross claimed that Hernandez Romero had crown tattoos associated with a gang. The tattoos are labeled “Mom” and “Dad” and are common symbols associated with his hometown of Capacho, Venezuela. Capacho is known for its elaborate festival for Three Kings Day, and a childhood friend, Reina Cardenas, told NBC News that it was that festival that awakened Hernandez Romero’s desire to be an artist.
“Andry dedicated his life to arts and culture, and he worked hard to better his craft,” Cardenas said.
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This AG was not elected to any office, he was handpicked and given his job by DeathSantis. Both are Christian nationalist who feel it is great to force their religion on others even as they do not live by their own church doctrines in any way. They seem to feel forcing the public to live by their church doctrines or what ever view they think their god endorses is perfectly fine regardless if others disagree. They are the first to scream the loudest if their rituals or they think their rights to oppress others is interfered with, but they also seem unable to give others the same rights they demand for themselves. Hugs
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) is urging the Pensacola City Council to shut down a Christmas-themed drag show, which he has deemed “demonic” and “harmful” to children, despite how it is exclusively for adults over the age of 18.
The city’s Saenger Theatre plans to host “A Drag Queen Christmas” on December 23. The website says fans should “expect a fabulous remix of classic Christmas hits, dazzling themed variety performances, and interactive moments to share your Christmas cheer.”
A letter from Uthmeier claimed the show “openly mocks one of the most sacred holidays in the Christian faith” and expressed horror that some of the queens evoke “satanic imagery” in their outfits or characters. He also decried the fact that it will be playing at the same time as the city’s family-centered Winterfest.
“So, while Penscola children are taking pictures with Santa, men dressed as garish women in demonic costumes will be engaged in obscene behavior mere feet away,” he ranted, even though the drag show will take place inside a theater where the children at the festival won’t be able to see it.
The Pensacola city attorney has reportedly refused to cancel the show, saying it would violate the drag show production company’s First Amendment rights and the city’s contract with the theater’s management company.
Uthmeier, however, said the city – which owns the theater – has a legal right to supersede the management company’s decision to put on the show if it deems a performance detrimental to public health or safety. He said the drag show meets this criterion because it will be taking place near children at Winterfest, even though they won’t be able to see it.
“While the First Amendment safeguards freedom of expression, it does not require a city to platform and endorse disgusting, obscene content that denigrates its residents’ religious beliefs,” Uthmeier concluded.
He claimed it may even amount to religious discrimination and could cause legal issues for the city, especially if one of the “deranged performers” were “to expose themselves to the kids” nearby. The preposterous idea that LGBTQ+ people are inherently a danger to children has long been used by the right to fearmonger and stir anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment.
The letter comes after a group of churches in the city launched a campaign to pressure the Pensacola City Council to cancel the drag show. The controversy has caused an uproar in the community, the Pensacola News Journal reported, where pro- and anti-LGBTQ+ residents continue to clash over whether the drag show should be permitted to go on.
At a packed and contentious city council meeting in early October, resident Jermaine Williams called out the hypocrisy of those claiming to oppose the show on religious grounds.
“I mean, we see how y’all vote,” Williams said. “Half of these people that spoke today wouldn’t know Jesus if they stared him in the face.”
Another resident, Stephen McCollum, gushed that drag queens are “more than entertainers.”
“They’re small business owners. They’re advocates and they’re educators who use creativity to uplift others and welcome all. They welcome all, demonstrating that this art form is more than just a performance. It’s a form of connection, and it’s a form of community, and it’s a form of hope.”
Uthmeier has long used his position to vilify and terrorize LGBTQ+ people. Earlier this year, he launched a crusade against a Life Time Fitness in Palm Beach Gardens after discovering that the private business had a trans inclusive policy. State law requires people use facilities aligned with their sex assigned at birth, but that does not apply to private businesses.
Uthmeier, however, claimed otherwise in a letter sent to the gym. He falsely claimed that trans inclusion leads to “assaults, exploitation, and fear” and that he was merely doing this to protect women and girls.
Even after Life Time said it would comply with his demands, Uthmeier posted a video in which he visited the gym in person to make sure they are “not allowing trans women into women’s bathrooms, not in Florida,” and “actually following the law.”
“It appears they are,” he reported to followers, though it’s unclear how he could have confirmed this without major privacy violations of the individuals entering and exiting the locker rooms there.
This past October, Uthmeier also filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of a parental rights activist who dubiously claims her child’s middle school helped her child secretly transition. She has now petitioned the Supreme Court to take her case.
Uthmeier’s brief claims government officials across the United States “are fundamentally altering the upbringing of children and keeping parents in the dark” with “secret transition” policies.
These policies do not involve schools encouraging students to be trans or transition, but rather to support any students who willingly communicate that their gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth and to allow the student to choose when to share that private information with their parents. For some students with anti-trans parents, telling them could be dangerous.
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After spending this year working to implement as much of its gargantuan right-wing policy agenda, Project 2025, as possible, the Heritage Foundation has unveiled its anti-LGBTQ+ goals for 2026.
Over the past month, the far-right think tank has been preparing for next year, releasing an ad campaign and doing multiple interviews about its plans. The activity has brought renewed attention on Heritage Foundation’s 2025-2026 policy priorities, which were titled “Restoring America’s Promise” when they were released in March. At the time, the group named nine key priorities, including “root[ing] out the deep state” and “counter[ing] the CCP [Chinese Communist Party].”
The bulk of its anti-LGBTQ+ goals lie in the priority titled “Put Family First,” in which the Heritage Foundation declares that “every child conceived deserves to be born to a married mother and father who will love, guide, and protect them throughout their lives.”
The organization goes on to claim that “family breakdown and rampant abortion tears at the soul of our country and saps it of strength and moral authority,” while “radical ideologies that deny social and biological truths about sexual embodiment, marriage, and unborn life poison our courts, our culture, and our laws.”
“The Heritage enterprise will advance policies at the state and federal level to restore the nuclear family to the center of American life and to reduce both the demand and supply for abortion at all stages of human development,” it concludes. This language appears to oppose same-sex marriage given its emphasis on children being born to a married father and mother. It also appears to oppose transgender identity given its condemnation of ideologies that “deny social and biological truths about sexual embodiment” — this falls inline with a longstanding Heritage Foundation fight against trans people.
Elsewhere, the Heritage Foundation indicates its anti-trans views in a priority titled “Expand Education Freedom,” in which the group declares that the education system is “failing our children” through “the scourge of woke ideas like critical theory and radical gender ideology.” The terminology “radical gender ideology” is often used by conservatives to refer to trans and nonbinary identities.
The Heritage Foundation has been around since 1973, when it was founded by conservatives who found President Richard Nixon too liberal and feared both fiscal liberalism and federal government expansion. It has been consistent in its campaigns against LGBTQ+ rights, from consulting with then-governor Mitt Romney to figure out ways around preventing the legalization of gay marriage from being implemented in Massachusetts to lobbying against Title IX protections for trans students implemented during the Obama administration.
More recently, the organization has made headlines for its 920-page policy blueprint Project 2025, which presents a far-right Christian vision for the second Trump administration that includes several anti-trans measures, as well as the dismantling of the Department of Education and undoing other federal checks and balances. Although the Heritage Foundation has been releasing regular “Mandate for Leadership” blueprints ahead of incoming presidential administrations since the 1980s, Project 2025 has received considerable attention given that the group staffed and advised the first Trump administration (in July 2024, a CNN review found that at least 140 people working for Trump were involved with the Heritage Foundation). One of Project 2025’s architects, Russell Vought, currently runs the Office of Management and Budget.
Following late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s temporary removal in September, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr seemingly confirmed speculation that the Trump administration’s actions are a part of Project 2025. At the time, Glee star Kevin McHale shared an X post stating that “This was all in Project 2025,” after reposting another X post that framed right-wing attacks on media — which also include the Trump administration’s lawsuit against 60 Minutes, The New York Times, and Wall Street Journal — as First Amendment assaults. In response, Carr — who wrote Project 2025’s chapter on the FCC — shared a GIF of Jack Nicholson nodding in apparent confirmation.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem | Steven Spearie/The State Journal-Register / USA TODAY NETWORK
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier speaks about the arrest of 28 members of the Mongols motorcycle gang during a press conference at the Stephen Saboda Training Center near Daytona Beach, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. | © Nigel Cook/News-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Tom Williams/Getty Images
Scottie's Playtime 