ICE Attack: Another Murder in Maine

Two men have been murdered by ICE agents in the last week.

The most recent murder was Monday in Maine where an ICE Officer mistook a Hispanic man for someone else and shot him in cold blood.

A witness, Daniel Boucher said he looked out his third story window after hearing a "pop,pop,pop" sound and saw a small car "turned 90 degrees to the curb" with an SUV behind it. The driver was wounded and the car started moving down the street until the SUV hit it again.

"His face was bloody. His head was bloody," Boucher said, getting choked up. "I clearly heard the victim say, 'I tried to stop' clearly heard him say that."

It's not a coincidence that the agent didn't wear a body camera. When another agent murdered Lorenzo Salgado Arajo in Houston, Texas he wasn't wearing a body camera either.

That's because the new ICE director Markwayne Mullin hasn't made the officers wear body cams, despite legislation stating that all ICE agents wear them.

The Maine murder was a repeat of the Texas murder where unmarked vehicles chased innocent people. In both cases ICE's claim of the suspect weaponizing his vehicle and endangering the agent were trotted out as fact.

In fact, witnesses in the Houston attack said that there was no agent in front of the suspect's vehicle. ICE opened fire from the side of the truck. 

Afterwards they blocked the city from investigating the murder. A tactic ICE regularly uses to destroy evidence. There were three witnesses in the back of the van who were taken into custody. ICE is currently trying to get two of the men to self-deport before testifying in court.

The Maine man that was murdered was from Columbia and U.S. authorities are working with the Colombian embassy to get the individual's identity. According to the Maine immigrants' Rights Coalition and Presente! - the man was authorized to work in the U.S. 

Another case of mistaken identity (after all Hispanics all look alike. Right?)  as Mulllin confessed the warrant was NOT for the man they killed. Opps! The hell with that!

These murders are only going to continue until ICE and its director, are stopped. Congress has a duty to hold both to account and make some big changes soon. 

Justice might have to wait until after the midterms when the Democrats take back the House and possibly the Senate.

As it Stands, no one is safe in America today if their black or brown. Shame on the authoritarian government that encourages these murders.

Surprise News: McConnell is Alive Amid Conspiracies, Coincidences and Corruption

                     Where to start?

Two prominent Republicans have cardiac arrests within 30 days. One is dead. The other disappears in a hospital where his status has been unclear for three weeks. 

Coincidences?

Mitch McConnell was reportedly taken to the hospital after suffering a reported cardiac arrest and getting CPR. No one knew if he was dead or alive and speculation was swirling around every media platform.

That suddenly changed today when McConnell made a public statement and appeared in a photo (AI?) with his wife Elaine Chao. The same day Lindsey Graham died.

He claimed he didn't have a heart attack or a stroke and had suffered from a fall and was "briefly unconscious," and that he was recovering in a rehabilitation center.

Senator Lindsey Graham visited Ukrainian President Zelensky on Saturday to assure him of America's support, then dies of a cardiac arrest on Sunday. Reports suggest he had a lingering health problem. But what?

Moving on.

Corruption.

It's obvious the Trump favors Russian dictator Putin over democratic world leaders. 

Why else did Trump stop the oil sanctions against Russia? Why did Trump roll out the red carpet in Alaska for Putin's visit? He hasn't done that for any other world leader.

How did Trump earn $2.2 billion in the first year of his second term? The Trump clan increased their wealth four-fold by getting U.S. contracts worth billions and through crypto currency schemes cooked up by Trump and his money minions. 

The Department of Justice has become a wholly owned subsidiary that follows Trump's illegal orders. Every major position in Trump's cabinet is filled by loyalists willing to walk on glass for dear leader.

America's 250th anniversary has become a honey pot for Trump and MAGA as they cash in on their twisted interpretation of patriotism by holding expensive stunts funded by Trump's billionaire buddies (and taxpayers) seeking more influence with America's mob boss.

Conspiracies.

Hands down, the most dangerous conspiracy in America today is Trump's attempt to rig the midterms and his never-ending lie about the 2020 election being stolen.

In his return to office Trump has been conducting a witch hunt and going after his perceived enemies. The DOJ openly denies that. But privately it's open game time as evidenced by the numerous lawsuits filed.

The Pentagon is going out of its way to withhold information regarding the war with Iran. Secretary of War Defense Pete Hegseth has done everything in his power to muzzle reporters. Trump doesn't want to talk about the war or the Strait of Hormuz.

No one is sure if we're still at war (what happened to that Memorandum of Understanding?) or if there's a cease fire. Every day brings a new surprise/attack as the hostilities grow unchecked.

As it Stands, in this age of Trumpian lies and misinformation no one can be sure about anything. Every day is so full of challenges that Americans are in a state of continual stress.

Who Will Be Left Standing After Lies About McConnell's Condition is Exposed?

Do you believe "Moscow Mitch" McConnell is still alive?

It's a fair question considering the lack of information about his health for three weeks now. What little we do know would make anyone wonder why no proof of life has been reported yet.

You can't count the three MAGA morons who claim they talked with him just days ago. Republican Senators Thune and Boraso both claim they each talked with McConnell for 20 minutes since his hospitalization. I suspect their going to regret their stories when the truth comes out. 

The third MAGA moron is Scott Jennings at CNN. In an interview with Kasie Hunt Jennings claimed he talked with McConnel and was relieved he was doing so well. Hunt didn't let him off of the hook however and asked him to call McConnell on air. He declined the offer.

There was a reason Hunt asked Jennings to make the call. Simply put, she didn't believe him. Maybe because he's been caught lying on air before with false claims like "Almost 5 million able-bodied people on Medicaid simply choose not to work. They spend six-hours a day socializing and watching TV." 

Being a competent journalist Kasie Hunt must have heard from inside sources that there was something rotten in Denmark. That McConnell was dead. The challenge for Hunt and other journalists is determining if he's brain dead or deceased. It's a fine line that MAGA is sure to exploit and claim when the truth gets out, and we discover he wasn't technically dead.

Being a cynical kind of guy I'm waiting for the Republicans to prop up McConnell's body for a photo shoot in a scene from Weekend at Bernie's Mitch's.

The reason for all the lies is a political calculation. If McConnel can no longer do anything but lie in bed until relatives pull the plug, the Republican party is afraid Democratic Gov. Andy Beshar will appoint a Democrat in his place (one who can run as an incumbent during the midterms). Worse yet, they fear Thomas Massie may run for the Republican party in November.

It should be interesting watching Jennings, Thune, and Boraso try to back pedal on their conversation claims. If Jennings had any credibility, he shredded it. As far as I'm concerned Thune and Boraso lost any credibility when they kissed Trump's ring a long time ago.

As it Stands, Trump probably knows the truth about McConnell and that's why he's taking "executive time" for several days to redecorate the Oval Office with a coating of Ketchup. 

If Trump Gets His Way Residents and Tourists Will Be Unable to See the White House

You better take a quick trip to Washington D.C. if you want to see the White House and take a photo or two.

Trump is planning to fence off parts of Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House, shutting down a historic space for political protests. 

The Washington Post reported that the regime and the Secret Service plan to put fences where Pennsylvania Avenue crosses 15th and 17th streets NW, allowing them to close pedestrian access if they decide there are security risks.

What do you want to bet any protests will be viewed negatively? If not a protest, then just at the whim of the big baby in the Oval Office if he's feeling insecure. Easy access will be a thing of the past.

The concealment of the people's house will also extend to Lafayette Square (a public park across from the White House and another historic protest space) where the regime is going to put up permanent fencing. 

Trump's plan is to plant 47 maple trees in Lafayette Park to make sure the White House will be further obscured to visitors and foreign tourists.

The fences on Pennsylvania Avenue will affect multiple organizations that are located on the street, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery and the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream.

The new fencing will cut off the public's view of the White House and deter, if not outright ban, pedestrians from getting through. The irony is thick. Americans will be deterred from pursuing the American Dream.

To put a cap on it, Trump doesn't give a damn about the public's opinion on his ravaging of Washington D.C.s monuments and the White House itself because he's remaking the city in in his own hateful image.

As it Stands, a paranoid convicted felon and sexual abuser is making the White House HIS HOUSE and so far, he's getting away with it. 

Dying from Laughter?

There's nothing like a good laugh, right? 

Laughter is generally beneficial for your health, promoting stress reduction, improving your mood, and boosting your immune system.

In describing how hard someone laughed you may have heard the phrase, "He was dying from laughter." It's often used hyperbolically but what if there was some disturbing truth behind that phrase.

The fact is you can die from laughing. Death from laughter is a rare form of death, usually resulting from either cardiac arrest or asphyxiation, that has itself been caused by a fit of laughter. Dying from laughter has been recorded in ancient Greece right through modern times.

Three Recorded Examples...

Chrysippus, also known as "the man who died from his own joke," was a 3rd-century Greek philosopher who reportedly died of laughter after he saw a donkey eating his fermented figs; he told a slave to give the donkey undiluted wine to wash them down, and then, "having laughed too much, he died," according to Diogenes Laertius a local scribe.

Ole Bentzen was a Danish audiologist who found a scene in the movie A Fish Called Wanda so sidesplittingly funny that his heart rate rose to an estimated 250-500 beats per minute, leading to a heart attack as he laughed his way into the afterlife.

Alex Mitchell, from King's Lynn, England, died on March 24, 1975, laughing while watching the "Kung Fu Kapers" episode of The Goodies. After 25 minutes of continuous laughter, Mitchel slumped on the sofa and died from heart failure.

Three examples In Fiction...

"The Three Infernal Jokes," short story in The Last Book of Wonder (1916) by Lord Dunsany, is about three jokes "which shall make all who hear them simply die of laughter." 

"The Stand In," was an episode of the American comedy Seinfeld, which featured Jerry Seinfeld telling a joke to a hospital patient who then suddenly dies from laughter.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a 1988 fantasy comedy, had a scene where the weasels of the Toon Patrol literally die laughing.

So now that we have determined laughter is not always a good thing in large doses, we can take the necessary precautions although I don't know what that would entail. Stop laughing? I don't think so. Check with your doctor before going to see a comedy? Not practical. 

As it Stands, when you think about it dying from laughter may not be such a bad way to exit this life. I can certainly think of worse ways. 

A Mitch McConnell Mystery: Is He Dead or Kicking Back in a Hospital Bed?

I would love to see Mickey Spillane's take on the McConnell mystery.

 

The famous crime novelist has been called the "king of pulp fiction" and is best known for his character Mike Hammer.

What would Hammer say about the longtime senator's silence? His investigation would begin with McConnell's sudden hospitalization on June 14th when he was found unconscious in his home and reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest. No one has heard from him since.

McConnell's staff keeps claiming the 84-year-old is "continuing to improve." That's it. No evidence. On Wednesday two top Republicans, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. John Barrasso claimed they actually talked with McConnell on the phone for 20 minutes each. "He's eager to come back to the Senate," both men assured reporters.

Hammer would have called bullshit on both Trump cronies. For starters he'd ask why McConnell can't speak to the press if he was able to hold two twenty minutes conversations with his fellow senator's? You know. Proof of life. Not another MAGAified cultist who is trying to hide something.

Even Kentucky's governor publicly asked McConnell to share his health status. 

On top of Hammer's list would be the suspicion that the ruling regime is trying to avoid any political insatiability. Under Kentucky law, if a Senate vacancy occurs, the governor cannot directly appoint a replacement. That means a special election must be held. MAGA is afraid it could lead to a long, drawn-out political or legal fight.

Hammer would also have known the critical date of Aug 3 is approaching. If McConnell is dead, brain dead, or otherwise not able to continue to serve, they have to turn his resignation in to the Senate. That means a special election where MAGA fears ousted congressman Thomas Massie could win it.

However, Mike Hammer, being an inquisitive sleuth, would have delved deeper into the mystery. Like why McConnell's wife Elaine Chao decided to go to China three days after her husband's hospitalization? It seems odd for a loving wife. She met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on June 17 in Beijing according to Chinese state media service Xinhua. What they really talked about is anyone's guess.

Why was Chao, who plays no role in the government, there to suddenly talk about "further efforts to strengthen the relationship between the U.S. and China?"  Hammer would have noted Chao had a good relationship with the Chinese elite and urged her husband to make concessions to the Communist nation for decades.

As it Stands, it doesn't just take a fictional character to suspect something's rotten in MAGA land. The truth is out there.

Why Autonomous Vehicles Suck

Just the idea of sitting in the passenger seat or back seat with no human driver makes me shutter. 

Sitting in the driver's seat with no control is about as dumb as you can get.

There's just no way I'll trust my life with a robot in charge. I'm uneasy when someone else is driving. My wife is the only exception but I digress.

The very idea is ridiculous and too over-the-top for me and millions of other Americans.

It seems autonomous vehicles are going to be here for a long time despite their many flaws.

If you happened to be in San Francisco for the 4th of July fireworks you probably saw a bunch of stationary Waymo vehicles blocking traffic. Their batteries all died waiting in the congested traffic as a high volume of travelers contributed to the gridlock from hell.

People were getting out of their cars, yelling and screaming at the stalled Waymos obstructing traffic. It was a bizarre scene as angry drivers expressed their wrath at the driverless cars. The fact is Americans hate those driverless vehicles with their technical glitches, regulatory hurdles, and economic anxieties.

Companies like Alphabet's Waymo, Amazon's Zoox, May Mobility, Cruise, and Nuro are struggling to carve out a place on America's roads. The challenges run from erratic traffic disruptions, mapping and software glitches, weather and environmental blindness to their inability to improvise.

Private driverless cars offered in the U.S. are Tesla, General Motors, and Ford. There are numerous other models available to Americans from throughout world.

I checked out the data for self-driving car accidents in the U.S. (updated in 2026) and there's been 5,202 autonomous vehicle accidents reported last year. There's no statistics on fully autonomous vehicles. That technology is currently unavailable to consumers.

It's important to differentiate between self-driving cars and ADAS2 vehicles. The ADAS2 vehicle is not a fully self-driven system. It helps with some driving tasks. A surprising statistic (at least to me) is as of April 15, 2026, there were only two fully self-driving vehicle deaths this year. That's opposed to the ADAS2, which are not fully automated and have resulted in 56 deaths thus far.

It's hard to draw any definitive conclusions based solely on these numbers since we do not know the total number of each company's cars on the road.

As it Stands, setting all this scientific gooblygook aside, I don't trust autonomous vehicles. To me it would be akin to watching an oncoming train and not being able to avoid it.

Americans Still Want a 'Square Deal'

More than a hundred and twenty years ago, Teddy Roosevelt stood up for what Americans wanted for a very long time and called it the Square Deal: a fair shot for the worker, the consumer, and the "honest businessman" against the trust and railroad barons who'd swallowed the economy whole.

The framework for the New Deal was built by Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson finished it with the Great Society. For about 30 years the middle class in the postwar years grew faster and richer than any middle class in the history of the world. 

We were hot. Trump likes to claim we are today, but the reality is the country is divided and embroiled in cultural wars that are spreading out worldwide like a plague. 

Oh, by the way... the economy is collapsing under the grift coming from Trump's lackeys and corporations have resumed the power they once had 120 years ago.

The age of Trump has been a renaissance for the wealthy and connected in Washington D.C. 

When Trump visited the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota for the grand opening, he made a series of surreal moments treating an AI generated projection of Roosevelt like a real-life encounter with the former president. 

His handlers just smiled and tried to pretend he wasn't acting crazy.

Trump profusely praised Roosevelt for his bravery and toughness saying he lived "a freakin' wild life." I can't help thinking what Roosevelt would have thought about Trump if he met him. I suspect he would have beaten the bone spurs off of Donny and called him a coward and a traitor.

Some things never change.

As it Stands, middle class Americans are still fighting for their rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  

Another 250 Years of Democracy? Hmmm...

After watching Trump take over the 4th of July celebrations this year it's crystal clear what Americans have to fear.

Future holiday celebrations will be big money makers for Trump and cronies. They'll be about promoting ideology and harvesting donor data through controversial shadow LLCs designed to siphon donor's money away from legitimate organizations.

This 4th of July was the blueprint for future holidays. Because Trump wanted to warp the holiday into another vehicle to make money and a showcase focused upon him, he backed a private LLC called Freedom 250 to take over all the events celebrating America's 250th anniversary, despite the fact that there is already a bipartisan organization called America 250 that's been planning events for a decade.

There's a congressional investigation surrounding the funding and takeover of the 250th events. House Democrats allege that Trump allies illegally redirected millions of dollars in federal funds away from the congressionally approved America 250.

The 55-page interim report accused the Trump-backed Freedom 250 LLC of potential wire fraud and deceptive fundraising of the nation's 250-anniversary events. The shadow organization was created inside the National Park Foundation and re-routed donations from federal funds allocated by Congress for America 250.

The result was predictable.

Activities planned by Freedom 250 have been disasters. The organizers put together a 4th of July salute to Trump and the country that has further divided the United States of America. We can expect future events to be dripping with white nationalism and praise for dear leader. While there's no way around that there are ways of fighting back with counter events and protests.

Come November we can show what we think of this authoritarian regime by voting against Trump's handpicked lapdogs and regaining the House and possibly the Senate setting the stage for investigations into the massive grifting by Trump and his billionaire buddies.

As it Stands, as cliche as it sounds, we must never stop fighting for our freedoms from those who would take them from us.

A Fourth of July Message to Americans Who Love this Country

A Holiday Message for my Readers;

Despite Trump's authoritarian seizure of the Fourth of July holiday there's millions of Americans who still honor our founders and new republic, rejecting the lies, hate, and twisted narrative that MAGA is trying to force upon the nation this year.

I refuse to let the bastardization of our nation go unchallenged. I'll be flying the American flag, but upside down because freedom is under attack by a felon and sex offender who is illegally squatting in the Oval Office.

It hurts - and hardens - my heart to see this decline in our democracy. 

Today I'm recalling past Fourth of July celebrations when my kids were growing up and more recently with my grandchildren. Great memories of children with sparklers, hot dogs, hamburgers, and potato salad will always hold me in good stead. 

I'm not going to allow Trump to ruin those memories. Instead of letting him get in my head I'll be thinking about the price of freedom in the coming days, months and years.

As it Stands, I'm proud to be an American who believes that we all deserve to be free and equal as spelled out in the Bill of Rights.

How the Trump Stole 4th of July

You can step aside Mr. Grinch because someone eviler than you have taken the spotlight.

"You're a mean one

You really are an ass

You're a liar

Without any class

Mr. Trump, you're cruel

Mr. Trump, you're crass."

(Apologies to Dr. Seuss)

It doesn't feel like 4th of July this year. 

I remember celebrating America's 200th anniversary in 1976. It was special. There was a series of celebrations and observances that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic.

The whole country embraced the activities. I was on a patriotic push and talked my long-suffering wife into decorating our house in red, white, and blue. I even bought a Bicentennial set of Commemorative coins. I displayed the flag outside our house proudly.

That was then. How things have changed in 2026.

Trump has managed to turn the holiday into a series of political events and tributes for himself. Each worse than the one before. Despite having a National State Fair at the Washington mall to celebrate 4th of July hardly anyone has shown up for the event which is slated to last 16 days.

It didn't help that Trump opened the fair with a two-hour-long political screed that saw a sparce crowd walk away by mid speech. The fair's failures to secure entertainers and the lack of shade (Washington DC is in the 100s right now) contributed to the small crowd. The state booths (only 40 states participated) were bland and often weren't staffed by anyone.

Like a political slap in the face, the organizers (Trump's Freedom 250 clowns) erected a facsimile of one of Trump's vanity projects - a triumphal arch like the one in France. His plans call for it to be by the National Mall. The only people it attracted at the fair were the few who used the little shade that it provided.

We have to look at the big picture. Trump has taken national holidays over and is desecrating them with his vile politics. America is split into warring fragments that refuse to unite. Even once safe national holidays have been poisoned.

It's particularly galling watching Trump and his cronies wrapping themselves in the American flag and claiming they are super patriots. They've appropriated national symbols, striping them down into a MAGA centric meaning that most Americans revile.

The takeover of Fourth of July is a continuation of an authoritarian government holding freedom hostage.

As it Stands, I'll still hang my flag out this year, but I'll skip buying any commemorative coins with Trump's mug on them.