DISNEY+
has rarely gotten females right in their own MARVEL TV shows. It's
not that hard to get it right. When NETFLIX made the shows, for
example, you had a strong Jessica Jones headlining her own series and
being part of THE DEFENDERS as well. Dirk Libbey (CINEMA BLEND) notes:
Fans
were certainly excited when it was announced that Charlie Cox would be
back as Marvel's Daredevil in his own show for Disney+. However, if
anything, the hype for Season 2 has been even bigger, considering it
will see the return of Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones.
The
first trailer for the new season just dropped, and it's certainly going
to get fans hyped for the upcoming Marvel series that will drop on
Disney+ in March. It doesn't hold back Jessica Jones, giving her one of
the trailer's few lines of dialogue, while also promising she'll get in
some of the show's incredible, and incredibly violent, action. Check out
the full trailer above.
The snarky
interactions between Jessica Jones and Daredevil were among the
highlights of the Defenders series, and it's great to see the new show
will take us right back there. The implication is that Ritter's
appearance in Season 2 will be on par with Jon Bernthal's Punisher in
Season 1. So she might only show up once or twice in the show, but it
will likely be a big deal when she does.
Krysten
Ritter makes a long-awaited return to action as Jessica Jones and to
rescue Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock/Daredevil in the trailer for Marvel
Television’s Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, set to bow on Disney+ on
March 24.
“I hope you can walk, because I’m not
carrying you,” Jones tells Murdock as he looks decidedly worse for wear
than he does in battle with a diabolical Mayor Wilson Fisk/Kingpin,
played by Vincent D’Onofrio. In the trailer, battle lines are drawn
between Mayor Wilson Fisk and his Anti-Vigilante Task Force and Matt
Murdock/Daredevil and his outmatched allies as they attempt to defeat
Kingpin with New York City’s resources in his arsenal.
Let's
all pray DISNEY+ doesn't screw up Jessica Jones. We know Krysten knows
how to play the part -- she played it for three seasons of JESSICA
JONES and one season of THE DEFENDERS. We also all know that DISNEY+
has done a s**t poor job with female characters in their MARVEL shows.
Elizabeth Olsen and MARVEL made Wanda a joke and was there ever a more
pathetic show than MS. MARVEL -- even in the finale, the narrative got
lost and we were applauding a minor male extra and not the female lead.
Although it is possible the She-Hulk series was even worse.
Jessica Jones better be the return of the strong female hero or they better just stop making MARVEL TV shows.
Wednesday, January 28, 2026. The murder of Alex Pretti continues to impact the national conversation.
On
MEIDASTOUCH NEWS this morning, Ben explains the blame game various
Republicans are playing: Kristi Noem blames Stephen Miller blames
Border Patrol and Greg Bovino while MAGA Republican state officials are
attacking Stephen Miller's ugly wife Katie who is attacking Florida
state senator Ileana Garcia who then attacks Stephen Miller and tells
Katie how she's happy to come on Katie's podcast to discuss Stephen's
racism and . . .
They're all trying to evade responsibility for the murder of Alex Pretti.
That's people talking about how wonderful Alex was. How he helped them.
It's a far cry from the lies this administration -- the killers -- have tried to smear him with.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller was hit with community
notes on two high-profile posts after repeatedly labeling Alex Pretti an
“assassin,” claims that are false and not supported by available
evidence. In both tweets, Miller asserted that Pretti had attempted to
murder federal agents and framed Democratic criticism of ICE as siding
with “terrorists.”
[. . .]
However, the community notes, added by X users, point to video footage
and reporting that contradict those assertions. The notes state there is
no evidence of an assassination attempt and that videos of the
encounter show Pretti’s gun remained holstered until agents removed it,
with shots fired only after he was disarmed and subdued.
A preliminary review by U.S. Customs and
Border Protection’s internal watchdog office found that Alex Pretti was
shot by two federal officers after resisting arrest, but did not
indicate that he brandished a weapon during the encounter, according to
an email sent to Congress and reviewed by The New York Times.
The
review makes no mention of the Department of Homeland Security’s
earlier claims that Mr. Pretti, a U.S. citizen, “wanted to do maximum
damage and massacre law enforcement.” Shortly after the shooting, Kristi
Noem, the homeland security secretary, claimed that Mr. Pretti had been
“brandishing” a gun.
The initial review by C.B.P., which deployed more than 1,000 officers and agents
to support the enforcement operation in Minnesota, represents the first
official written assessment of Saturday’s shooting since administration
officials rushed to blame Mr. Pretti.
All
of the administration's lies begin to fall apart. The brutality of BP
and ICE's actions, the murder of an American citizen has led to a new
climate. Carl Hulse (NYT) notes:
Demands for
independent investigations. Scheduled oversight hearings. Overtures for
proposed concessions to avert a government shutdown.
In
the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a federal agent
in Minneapolis, Republicans in Congress have starkly shifted their tone
on the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown, offering
some of the strongest and most pointed criticism of the administration
since the start of President Trump’s second term and conceding that
something must change.
But
for a much broader group of Republicans who have been reluctant to
challenge Mr. Trump or even gently criticize him, the president’s
messaging pivot appeared to have provided license to air grave concerns
about what happened in Minneapolis and the backlash it had generated
among much of the American public.
The outrage has
multiplied and even some Republicans have had enough. While the bulk of
Republicans in Congress try to figure out where they stand, Democratic
leaders are already staking out their ground. Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) notes:
House Democrats gave President Donald Trump an ultimatum to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for the "killing spree" she has overseen.
House
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and his top deputies issued a
warning Tuesday to the 79-year-old president to hold Noem accountable
for the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis and
other abuses in the administration's immigration enforcement surge, reported Axios.
"Taxpayer
dollars are being weaponized by the Trump administration to kill
American citizens, brutalize communities and violently target immigrant
families," the letter to Trump read.
The Democrats told Trump that dramatic changes were necessary at DHS and threatened to impeach Noem if she was not fired.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's office issued the following yesterday:
Providence, RI – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
today released the following statement opposing the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill and calling on Senate Republicans
to separate the DHS funding bill from the full appropriations package:
“The Trump administration has empowered masked goons who
terrorize American citizens, undermine local law enforcement, and lie to
the American people about constitutional violations. Everyone knows
the DHS funding bill needs work, and I will not vote for it as it’s
currently written. Senate Republicans should separate the DHS bill,
like the House did, so we can pass all other appropriations and fund the
government.”
Press Contact
Meaghan McCabe, (202) 224-2921
And this is from Senator Maria Cantwell's office:
EDMONDS, WA – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
released this statement regarding today’s fatal shooting of a U.S.
citizen in Minneapolis by federal agents.
“President Trump has crossed the line. Americans will not
stand for masked, armed troops roaming their neighborhoods. ICE is not
trained in this capacity and should not be on streets. This incident
should be investigated immediately and not politicized by the
President.”
But as Aaron Parnas reports, it's even Republicans calling for the departure of Kristi Noem.
Among the elected Republicans publicly questioning the false narratives from Kristi and other administration liars? Stef W. Kight (AXIOS) notes:
"I am deeply troubled by the shootings in Minneapolis involving federal agents," Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) posted on Monday.
"Our
Constitution provides citizens protection from the government. We have a
right to free speech, to peaceably assemble and to bear arms," Moran
continued.
"I
would encourage the administration to be more measured, to recognize
the tragedy, and to say, we don't want anyone's lives to be lost," Sen.
Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told reporters.
"I
support a full and transparent investigation into the tragic event in
Minneapolis," Sen. Todd. Young (R-Ind.) said in a statement. "Congress
has requested testimony from ICE, CBP, and USCIS leaders in an open
hearing, and they should testify soon."
While politicians may be rethinking some of ICE's tactics, ICE itself continues to terrorize the American people. Zach Buchanan (PHOENIX NEW TIMES) reports on ICE in Arizona this week:
Monday afternoon, federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations raided several Zipps Sports Grill locations
across the Valley. Though it’s unknown what prompted the investigation —
the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said only that
agents were executing several warrants — the raids drew protests at
several Zipps locations from residents fed up with Immigration and
Customs Enforcement activity in Arizona. HSI is a division of ICE.
The raid at the Zipps at Park Central in midtown Phoenix drew roughly
200 protesters and observers, including Democratic Rep. Yassamin
Ansari. And the raid at the Zipps at 32nd Street and Shea Boulevard
attracted roughly 50 protesters. Video provided to Phoenix New Times by
one of those observers — who asked not to be identified — showed the
final minutes of the raid before federal agents left the restaurant.
As
agents left in a series of cars and trucks heading south down 32nd
Street, the video shows, an agent doused the protesters in pepper-spray
through the passenger window of a departing vehicle. Several protesters
were hit by the spray, and at least one protester fell to the ground in
pain as others rushed to find her water and a towel.
It’s not clear what justification, if any, the agent had for deploying a
chemical irritant against the protesters. Video shows the protesters
had confined themselves to the sidewalk and were not impeding the agents
from departing in their vehicles, which were parked on 32nd Street.
Though one protester appeared to toss an empty water bottle at one of
the cars as they drove off, it harmlessly bounced off the vehicle in
front one carrying the agent who maced the protesters.
New
footage of ICE agents appearing to threaten journalists in Minneapolis
has surfaced on social media, just as the reporters in question are
driving down a street in their car.
In
the footage the journalists seemingly subjected to the verbal attack
are from the Italian news agency Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI),
Italy’s national public broadcasting company owned by the Ministry of
Economy and Finance.
In the video, one of them says, “ICE is approaching our vehicle.
No, I’m not rolling my window down. I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m
just driving around my community.” “Press, we are press,” says the other
journalist.
The
ICE agents can be heard telling both women, “We’re going to break out
your window and extract you from the vehicle,” before saying again,
“This is the only warning, if you keep following us, we will break your
window, and we will pull you out of the vehicle.” It comes as Kri
ABC
News’ Rachel Scott, during Trump’s visit to the Machine Shed restaurant
in Urbandale, Iowa, tried to ask the president if he agreed with the
“domestic terrorist” description that White House officials had
disparagingly given to Alex Pretti, the ICU nurse who was killed by a
federal agent in Minneapolis over the weekend.
But Trump cut her off.
“By the way, this is ABC fake news, this one,” said Trump, drawing laughs and whoops from those inside the eatery.
“She
hasn’t asked me a good question in years. I think a nice woman, but I
don’t really like her too much,” the president continued.
Scott
tried to repeat the question but Trump ignored her, waved her away and
turned to take a different query from another journalist.
He then quipped: “I’d say ABC is about as bad as they get.”
The British Academy Film Awards (which also cover TV) were announced today. We'll note two categories -- Best Actress and Best Actor.
Leading Actress
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue
Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another
Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
Emma Stone – Bugonia
Leading Actor
Robert Aramayo – I Swear
Timothee Chalamet – Marty Supreme
Leonardo Dicaprio – One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
Michael B Jordan – Sinners
Jesse Plemons – Bugonia
Except
for Leo and Ethan, those are strong nominees. It really is sick how
both coasted on boyish charm and both think they still can. Ethan is
especially irritating because he didn't just give a bad performance, he
portrayed a historically gay man as a straight man. Well he's been in
the midst of a homosexual panic since REALITY BITES, I guess we
shouldn't be surprised. We know his mom probably lied, right? About
Lee Harvey Oswald. She was just a teacher, you understand. And just
working the phones calling the media in the immediate aftermath of the
shooting. For a full list, click here.
BAFTA Awards are prestigious and the British equivalent of the Academy Awards. That does not mean that they are the same award from both bodies. Jane Fonda has won two Best Actress Academy Awards-- for KLUTE and COMING HOME. Her two BAFTA wins? For JULIA and for THE CHINA SYNDROME. She has six BAFTA nominations for Best Actress (and one for supporting actress -- that's for ON GOLDEN POND) and she has six BAFTA lead actress nominations (and one for supporting actress -- also for ON GOLDEN POND). She also, in 2019, won the equivalent of a lifetime award from the BAFTAs. Marilyn Monroe never got an Oscar nomination but she got two BAFTA nominations for Best Actress. So there are differences between the two bodies.
Tuesday, January 27, 2026. Even Chump's realizing he's not getting away with the murder of Alex Pretti.
Jon
Stewart takes on the lies and the stupidity of Kristi Noem and her
Homeland Security team as they lie to avoid consequences for their
murder of Alex Pretti.
"That's
the facts." Remember, she dropped out of college and only finished
because an institution was willing to give her class credit for serving
in the US Congress. "That's the facts" is grammatically incorrect but
maybe she spent K through 12 and on through college slutting around
instead of learning. That's the facts is "That is the facts." Facts
are plural. "Those are the facts" or "That is the fact" could be used
as any fourth grader could tell you. But "That's the facts" is a
statement made by a very stupid and uneducated person.
Ignorance
is not an excuse but should she plead that when she finally faces a
court, no one would disagree that she is a very ignorant person and
deeply, deeply stupid.
President Trump said his border czar, Tom Homan, will direct ICE
operations in Minnesota. Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official, is
set to depart amid growing anger over a second fatal shooting by federal
agents.
If Killer Chump was serious about reform, he wouldn't be meeting with Kristi Noem and her alleged paramour.
President
Trump met Monday evening in the Oval Office with Kristi Noem, the
homeland security secretary, and Corey Lewandowski, her top aide, for
nearly two hours, as his administration tries to shift its strategy
after federal agents killed a second Minneapolis resident over the
weekend, according to two people briefed on the meeting.
In
fact, if he were really serious, he would've told her that she can't
work as Corey's superior due to the years and years of rumors that the
two are involved in an ongoing affair.
And if Killer Donald Chump was truly serious, NYT wouldn't be noting this:
The Trump
administration appeared to acknowledge on Monday that its investigation
into the killing of a Veterans Affairs nurse, Alex Pretti, by federal
agents this weekend was limited to a “use of force” review meant to
establish whether government employees had violated training standards.
Such
a move, disclosed in court filings, would represent a much narrower
inquiry focused on tactics and conduct than one that would examine
whether federal agents should face criminal charges.
The
killer's on the run, trying to rewrite facts, trying to look
concerned. He's trying to hide his kills now. Not crowing about it
like he did with Renee. Now he's trying to pretend like no one
anticipated Alex's murder, like no one could have seen it coming, like
he's not openly killing American citizens out in the open.
He's
a murderer. His historical image was always going to be poor but now
it's even worse. The Convicted Felon who murdered American citizens.
That's his slug line.
Co-workers of Alex Pretti along with patients at the Veterans
Administration Medical Center in Minneapolis expressed sorrow and anger
over the cold-blooded murder of the 37-year-old ICU nurse who was known
for his compassion and care.
Reporters from the World Socialist Web Site
spoke to healthcare workers outside of the VA center Monday afternoon,
while co-workers inside the facility held a vigil for the well-loved
nurse.
“I worked with him four years ago as a student,” said one
worker. “He wasn’t my direct preceptor. I had another nurse who was my
first doctor, but Alex was a delight on the unit, always cracking a
joke, always had a smile. I didn’t know him as closely as his other ICU
colleagues, but this was an absolute tragedy.
“Lots of my other
co-workers were communicating that day and they were just truly very
broken.” Responding to the Trump officials’ lying claims that Pretti was
“brandishing a gun,” she said, “Frustration was everyone’s immediate
reaction at this point. Yeah, he doesn’t deserve that.”
In a widely shared Facebook post, Jessica Hauser, who described
herself as Pretti’s “last nursing student,” described working “shoulder
to shoulder” with him over the last four months treating the “sickest of
the sick.”
In her tribute, she wrote in part:
Alex
carried patience, compassion and calm as a steady light within him.
Even at the very end, that light was there. I recognized his familiar
stillness and signature calm composure shining through during those
unbearable final moments captured on camera.
It does not surprise
me that his final words were, “Are you okay?” Caring for people was at
the core of who he was. He was incapable of causing harm. He lived a
life of healing, and he lived it well.
He spoke out for justice
and peace whenever he could, not only out of obligation, but out of a
belief that we are more connected than divided, and that communication
would bring us together.
I want his family to know his legacy
lives on. I am a better nurse because of the wisdom and skills he
instilled in me. I carry his light with me into every room, letting it
guide and steady my hands as I heal and care for those in need.
A
medical student at the VA told WSWS reporters, “It’s pretty messed up
what they did, and it was a violation of his basic civil rights, as
outlined in the Bill of Rights. So clearly, they don’t care about that
stuff anymore. And trying to flip the narrative as if he was doing
something wrong, it’s blatant propaganda. It was obvious, if you look at
the video.
“He worked here at the VA and was someone who cared
about America’s veterans and was working every day to help the people
who have dedicated their lives for this country. So, the fact that a
bunch of thugs can just do that is a pretty big injustice.”
Asked what he thought about the working class preparing a general
strike to demand the removal of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) from Minneapolis and other cities, he said, “It’s clear if the
federal government doesn’t want to protect the people, they have to take
matters into their own hands… Resistance like striking is a great way
to go about doing that.”
Commenting on the strikes of nurses in
New York City and nurses and healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente in
California and Hawaii, he said, “I haven’t heard about that but that’s
great to hear that people care about this. The American healthcare
system is far from ideal. For profit, healthcare isn’t how it should be
arranged. I’ve heard the Vienna VA is dealing with staffing problems and
it makes it harder for veterans to access care.”
Another VA
medical student said, “There’s a vigil today trying to support the
community. Our reaction was like any person’s reaction. It was
completely jaw-dropping that something happened to that degree and that
violent. I just hope we can keep supporting our community and hold
strong together.
“I don’t think the government should try to blame
someone for peaceful protesting. It was obvious what happened. It’s
harmful to say that’s someone’s fault when they are just enacting their
First Amendment rights. It’s even worse when someone who is trying to
give back to the community ended up being murdered.”
The student
expressed support for the strikes of nurses and healthcare workers in
New York City, California and Hawaii. “I support that as a nursing
student. It’s inspirational to see that the community fighting for
what’s right, especially with staffing ratios. It’s for patient safety
and the nurses’ safety.”
Two veterans also spoke out forcefully about the murder of Pretti.
A
veteran of the US war in Afghanistan said, “It’s complete unacceptable
what happened to Alex Pretti. If there wasn’t already a line in the
sand, there certainly is now, and the fact that this is what America has
become is completely ridiculous. I’m a veteran myself. I spent 12
months in Afghanistan. Just got back here at the VA from the Whipple
[ICE detention] building, where I ran into several other veterans from
various areas of war, and all of us have the same opinion that this is
completely unacceptable.
“It’s capitalism. These wars are all about money, and just whatever they can do to get more money and power.”
Asked
about the conclusions that many of his generation were coming to, he
said, “It’s almost like we’re all becoming socialists, which wouldn’t be
the worst thing.”
He concluded by expressing support for a general strike throughout the US: “For it. I’m 100 percent for it.”
A
Vietnam War veteran said, “I didn’t know Alex Pretti personally, but
I’ve been going to the VA since 1974 and he served us vets. He was
attacked for protecting a woman. He was disarmed. He was held down by
five or six cops, and then they took out a gun and shot him in the back
four or five times. If that is not deliberate murder, you explain to me
what it is.
“Why ICE should be able to get away with murdering
somebody in public for everybody to see is beyond my comprehension. I
have been at the protests. I’ve been out there all day long in the cold,
in my wheelchair. Everybody in this country is an immigrant. We all
came from other countries to come here to be prosperous and, you know,
be free. We all have rights.
“Even the immigrants that come here
‘illegally’ have rights. Okay, we’re all the same. Maybe they came here
illegally, but they still have rights. You can’t kill people. You can’t
handcuff people and throw them on a plane.
“When Trump says he
hates Somalis and they need to all go back, let me tell you something.
There’s a lot of good Somalis here that didn’t rip off a government,
that don’t do wrong. This is coming from a president that is a felon,
that is a crook.
We don't yet know the name of the
shooter or shooters who plugged the bullets into Alex. But we do know
that earlier this month, the shooter was Jonathan Ross. He killed Renee
Nicole Gold. There's a development there. Alex Nguyen (MOTHER JONES) reports:
A Republican attorney in Minneapolis who gave legal counsel to the ICE agent who shot and killed Renée Good dropped out
of the Minnesota governor’s race on Monday, saying he couldn’t win
given the Trump administration’s violent campaign in the state.
Chris Madel stated in a Monday announcement video
that, “national Republicans have made it nearly impossible for a
Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota.” Despite dropping
out, Madel claimed to still support Trump’s “originally stated goals” of
going after the “worst of the worst,” meaning people convicted of serious crimes.”
Madel criticized the Trump administration’s justification for the
cruelty. “Operation Metro Surge has expanded far beyond its stated focus
on true public safety threats,” he said. “United States citizens,
particularly those of color, live in fear. United States citizens are
carrying their papers to prove their citizenship. That’s wrong.”
He continued: “I cannot support the national Republican stated
‘retribution’ on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a
member of a party that would do so.”
Everywhere we’re seeing signs that ICE, the White House and its virtual
army of influencers, agitators and generalized degenerates are losing
control of the public narrative surrounding the murder of VA ICU nurse
and activist Alex Pretti. These things don’t come in one coherent
motion. You see it more in a kind of fragmentation, a general loss of a
coherent and aggressive message. Individual players and factions start
groping for their own climb down and then often at one sudden point run
rapidly for the hills. The White House and ICE have over the last 48
hours simultaneously been claiming that Pretti was there for a mass
shooting of ICE agents, so thank god they killed him, and, also, that
Pretti’s death is a terrible tragedy and it’s all Governor Tim Walz’s
fault because Minneapolis is a sanctuary city. Those two messages don’t
really hold together.
[. . .]
The president himself seems to be moving to declaim any ownership of Pretti’s murder by sending Tom Homan to Minneapolis
as his man who “has not been involved in that area” (i.e., isn’t the
one who is doing all the killing) to get the situation under control and
“report directly to me.” These moments of breakdown in the White
House’s feral and, to date, overwhelmingly united propaganda campaign
were matched by dozens of other MAGA influencers and other members of
the GOP who could not quite manage to keep yelling that Pretti’s killing
was anything other than murder.
[. . .]
But something else has been happening too. Over the last 24 hours a
number of police chiefs have come forward not so much to attack the ICE
occupation as to say what we’re seeing in this video and in ICE’s
occupation of Minneapolis is not what we recognize as law enforcement.
Obviously there are many horrible videos and incidents we’ve seen over
recent years that are very much law enforcement. And there’s a real
aspect of this which is simply a matter of getting out ahead of the
backlash. But this is of a piece with a shift we’ve seen over the last
couple weeks in which a lot of the population is not seeing ICE as
another flavor of a metropolitan police department but something
categorically different, which of course it is.
Another response caught my eye. This afternoon, General Tony Thomas,
former head of the Special Operations Command, repeatedly responded to
top administration officials (Pete Hegseth, Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi,
et al.) with an image that appears to show Pretti being shot in the back of the head
by a masked ICE agents. Thomas was the head of Special Operations
Command from 2016 to 2019. It’s a powerful rejoinder to the weekend
warriors and Palantir board members who imagine they’ve turned
Minneapolis into some version of Anbar Province and that this is somehow
a good thing.
The campaign of lies and distortion coming out of ICE, DHS and the
White House more generally is often labeled propaganda. And it certainly
is that. But it’s important to know who it is aimed at. If you looked
at television and online news and commentary, you’d get the sense that
there was a big debate between the left and the right over whether the
shooting of Renée Good was justified. Polling and other data suggested
this wasn’t really the case at all, that very few members of the public
thought ICE agents acted appropriately or with justification. Often
these fusillades of obfuscations and simple misstatements of fact aren’t
meant to convince anyone but to give allies and reliable influencers
something to say. As we’ve discussed in other contexts, often in a
modern political argument it’s not really necessary to have a response
that makes any sense. You just need to have a response. The one fatal
thing is to leave your allies with no set of marching orders, with no
clear party line, because you can’t leave people trying to think up a
response on their own.
This morning on MEIDASTOUCH NEWS, Ben covers a lot.
As Trina noted last week in "Beans and Greens Soup in the Kitchen," she's a big Lucinda Williams fan. Lucinda's just released album WORLD GONE WRONG came out Friday.
Winding down, Senator Alex Padilla's office issued the following:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — With Congress set to consider
legislation to further increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) funding and detention beds this week, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla
(D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration
Subcommittee, and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) announced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act
to end the use of private, for-profit detention facilities, prohibit
the practice of detaining families, and ensure due process for detained
individuals. It would also end mandatory detention and increase federal
oversight, accountability, and transparency of the immigration detention
system.
The bill announcement comes after Padilla and Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) conducted an oversight visit
last week to the largest detention center in California, located in
California City, to learn firsthand of the concerns surrounding the
inhumane conditions detained individuals are facing at the private,
for-profit facility. The Senators investigated reports of unsanitary and
unsafe facility conditions, inadequate medical and mental health care,
insufficient access to legal counsel, a severe lack of accommodations
for people with disabilities, and the unnecessary use of solitary
confinement.
During the visit, the Senators met with dozens of Californians and
other detained individuals, many with no criminal record, whom ICE and
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have swept up indiscriminately amid
the Trump Administration’s mass detention and deportation campaign. Over
70,000 immigrants are currently detained by ICE, reaching historically
high numbers. After 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025, the deadliest
year since 2005, at least six individuals have already died in their
custody this year.
“Last week, I saw firsthand in California City the appalling,
inhumane conditions that detained individuals are facing at for-profit
facilities as detentions reach record levels. I met with countless
people who were injured while being detained or whose basic medical
needs are not being met — including a mother who was denied access to
her medication to manage her diabetes and received no treatment after
ICE grabbed her by the neck,” said Senator Padilla. “As
Republicans funnel tens of billions to ICE and CBP, we need to bring
back oversight and accountability to the federal detention system, while
restoring the right to legal counsel and due process, ending family
detention, and raising detention standards. Our bill would finally stop
private, for-profit detention centers from lining their pockets by
advancing Donald Trump’s cruel mass deportation campaign at the expense
of our communities and economy.”
“Delaney Hall, and every detention center like it, are a moral stain
on our country. The conditions are an abdication of the federal
government’s responsibility to care for those in its custody. GEO Group
was awarded a 15-year, one billion dollar contract by the Department of
Homeland Security to warehouse our immigrant neighbors. As taxpayers,
we’re footing the bill for a system that is brutalizing those detained
within it. Enough is enough,” said Senator Booker. “With
the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, we can move away from this
system of neglect and cruelty. We can strike a blow against the corrupt
for-profit prison model of incarceration. We can guarantee due process
for our immigrant neighbors and ban mandatory detentions. Doing this
will safeguard our communities and it will bring us steps closer to
achieving an immigration system built on dignity and justice that we
know is possible.”
The Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act is proudly endorsed
by a nationwide coalition of over 125 organizations. In addition to
Senator Padilla, current cosponsors in the U.S. Senate include Senators
Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.),
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.),
and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The bill was introduced in the U.S. House of
Representatives in late 2025 by Representatives Pramila Jayapal
(D-Wash.-07) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.-09).
“Under the Trump Administration, we have seen a shocking surge in the
detention of people who have committed no crimes, being locked up in
increasingly horrifying conditions, and a dramatic increase in deaths in
custody,” said Representative Jayapal. “People,
including children, are being held in squalor, largely in private,
for-profit detention facilities, all to pad the bottom lines of prison
corporations that donate to Donald Trump and Republicans. As Trump has
struck down legal pathways and made it nearly impossible to come to or
stay in this country, even for those who have been here for decades,
this will only continue to get worse. The Dignity for Detained
Immigrants Act is a commonsense solution to protect the civil rights of
every person in this country.”
“We are witnessing appalling conditions for immigration detention
and a clear disregard for basic human rights,” said Representative
Smith. “No
one should be subjected to overcrowded cells, denied medical care, or
held in facilities that profit off of human suffering. This legislation
establishes the oversight and guardrails needed to end these abuses and
ensure that people are treated with dignity.”
The Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act would bring much-needed justice and oversight to the immigration detention system. Specifically, the legislation would:
Prohibit the detention of families and children in family detention;
Phase out the use of private detention facilities and jails over a three-year period;
Repeal mandatory detention and replace it with a system that
requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to present evidence
that the people in its detention centers are a threat to public safety
or national security;
Require DHS to establish civil detention standards that provide, at
minimum, the level of protection in the American Bar Association’s Civil
Immigration Detention Standards;
Mandate the Inspector General of DHS to conduct unannounced
inspections with meaningful penalties for failure to comply with
standards; and
End the use of solitary confinement in immigration detention.
Senator Padilla has been a leading voice in opposition to President
Trump’s cruel and indiscriminate mass deportation agenda and denial of
basic services for detained individuals. Last year, Padilla introduced the Access to Counsel Act to
ensure that U.S. citizens, green card holders, and other individuals
with legal status can consult with an attorney, relative, or other
interested parties to seek assistance if they are detained by CBP for
more than an hour at ports of entry, including airports. Padilla and
Schiff also introduced the Restoring Access to Detainees Act,
a bill to ensure the Department of Homeland Security allows detained
noncitizens to contact legal counsel and their families. Last July,
Padilla joined a Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee hearing to set the record straight on
President Trump and Stephen Miller’s cruel mass deportation campaign,
blasting the Administration for intentionally stoking fear and
scapegoating immigrants.
