Glory built on the suffering of others is no glory at all. This is the price of choosing ignorant fools to lead us. Putting children in cages is evil, a word I rarely use, but with such a darkness covering the land there is no other option. At times such as these inaction is complicity. If we allow children to be caged as if somehow they were a threat to the most powerful nation in history what makes us think that we won’t be next.
A misconception about Catholicism is you confess and you're forgiven. Not true. You must confess, be truly sorry, and intend never to do it again. Otherwise, you are not forgiven. I grew up in the faith. Oh: must say the act of contrition and do the penance you're given.
I was a Catholic as well. Penance was saying a number of our fathers and a hail mary or two. After confession you were absolved and could partake in the eucharist (eating a cracker and drinking some wine), and of course you weren't suppose to sin again, but we all did, so it was back to confession the next Saturday, wash, rinse, repeat.
Lol. I once heard my sister in the other side of the confessional confess to stealing cookies for which she let my father spank her, me, and our other two sisters every week when there weren't enough Oreos to ration for our lunches. My mother counted them on grocery day. If you recall, I had the impression that if you ever repeated what you overheard in confession, you would go straight to hell because it was a grevious sin. I never told and was spanked every week until my mother finally caught her standing on the counter and reaching up with her hand inside the Oreo package.
I reprsented people who faced excommunication by canonical courts. Represnted Amish caught in a schism. Lawyers who were accused of participating in obtaining divorces.
One of the lawyers in my home town had a girlfiend who was head of support services in a neighboring county. He appled for annulment, was demied at every level until it went to Rome. Annulment was awarded. In effect his 7 kids were illegitimized, including 2 who were lawyers. Before the annulment was final, the girlfiend died.
Another annulment was awarded to a woman who had a kid during marriage.....
Daniel,thanks but you know the sadness of the times we are in. Religion sup[orts this "Nazi" Catholics,Jews,White Christian Nationalists. How do fight back against this orchestrated attempt to take over the Gov't by Religion?
Be kind, be loving (sorry, old hippie), share what you don’t truly need. And do remember that alone we will make little difference but together we can be unstoppable.
What then is inaction? In spite of our current reality I love this country. Despite our differences I think most - if not all - of us who post here do. Of Of vourse you’re right - as individuals we are not bathed in the stench arising from the corruption of this land, this isn’t Germany yet. However, there are many who gladly support Trump’s policies, even to taking pleasure in the caging of infants. Not only do they currently control America, if they had their way they would make dissent a crime. At least in my eyes that is evil. Those who resist, even if it is with a keyword are not. I don’t want to call us heroes but standing in the path of evil has few other descriptors. It is the inert amongst the population that through their shying away from this very palpable danger are by their inactions/ whether by inaction, fear or indifference have allowed America to be cloaked in shame. What are they to be called? I know this country has many times chosen a dark path, just as our arrogance has threatened the world as a whole. In spite of this I remain, quite foolishly, in love with its promise. As of this moment I see an inescapable dichotomy: either we rise up to fight the beastie we allow it to feed on the fears of a child in a cage desperately clutching his stuffy.
Sorry for pompously carrying on. In defence I have been mouldering in a hospital bed for the last six weeks, nothing life threatening, with nothing else to do but watch in horror and (almost) disbelief. I wish things were different but they’re not, nor will they ever change if we don’t act.
Robert, I hope you start feeling better soon. We may not be Germany yet,but we are certainly no " Democracy" I think we are further along toward the 4th Reich than most would. At the rallies people have signs " Nazi America" ,I think that pretty much sums up where we are.
Thank you. My ailments are minor though persistent. However, I feel somewhat ashamed because millions of Americans have no insurance and yet they are facing life-threatening illnesses or have to watch as their children are slowly ravaged, crippled for life or dying, when simple operations would save them. Yet here are the rich, buying islands or 150 foot yachts paid for by the suffering of others. At last is there no decency left in them? Meanwhile, here I sit, warm, fed good meals, cared for by doctors and nurses…I am living better sick than millions of Americans whose only sin is that they are poor in a country whose “leaders” don’t give a damn about them.
Robert,thank you for your response.There is no decency,no empathy,no sympathy,no humanity,they are the worst examples of human beings that has ever existed,ICE is America's Nazis Brown Shirts. When will people wake up?
The scale of litigation has expanded rapidly across several fronts:
Mass Filing of Habeas Petitions: In Minnesota alone, 288 unlawful detention cases were filed in the first 20 days of 2026, compared to a monthly average of just 1.6 in the previous administration.
Civil Rights & Damages Suits: Attorneys are increasingly using the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) to seek financial damages for wrongful detention.
High-Value Settlements: Recent cases have resulted in significant payouts, such as a $112 million jury verdict for immigrants held solely on ICE detainers and a $125,000 settlement for a
It is, Daniel. Poland had girls trafficked out of Krakow, and they are opening their own investigation. Of course they want to get at the info on Putin. There is no Bondi to protect TRump's ugly ass over there.
Norway, France, and others are looking into things too. The Eastern Bloc survivors should be compensated from the Epstein Estate---their voices should be heard.
How many dead bodies have been buried? How many people did NOT commit suicide? As is his usual tactic, TRump declared victory and said move on. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!
In the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), Jeffrey Epstein's legal fallout has primarily centered on massive civil settlements and racketeering lawsuits rather than traditional criminal prosecutions of his associates. Under the Virgin Islands Code, most degrees of rape have no time limit for prosecution.
WHAT ABOUT THE PERPS?
The most significant legal actions in the territory include:
Settlement with the Epstein Estate: In November 2022, the USVI government reached a landmark $105 million settlement with Jeffrey Epstein’s estate. As part of this deal, the estate paid the territory in cash and agreed to give the USVI half the proceeds from the sale of Little St. James.
JPMorgan Chase Litigation: The USVI sued JPMorgan Chase, alleging the bank facilitated Epstein's sex trafficking by ignoring red flags for over a decade. In September 2023, JPMorgan agreed to a $75 million settlement to resolve these claims.
Action Against Leon Black: The territory also secured $62.5 million from billionaire investor Leon Black to resolve potential claims related to his ties with Epstein, though Black denied any wrongdoing.
Political Controversy & Firing of AG Denise George: Attorney General Denise George, who led the prosecution against the estate and JPMorgan, was abruptly fired by Governor Albert Bryan Jr. in January 2023 shortly after filing the suit against the bank. Reports indicated the governor was reportedly angry she filed the suit without his prior knowledge.
Recent Document Releases: As of February 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has begun a rolling release of "Epstein files," which include internal evidence and witness statements.
However, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche recently stated that new criminal charges for anyone based on these files are currently unlikely.
Is he TRYING to make it unlikely, and if so, is that not obstruction of justice under VI law?
We just sued the Trump regime over another element of its illegal immigration “policy.”
By the way, this is the 32nd lawsuit Public Citizen has filed against the administration since Donald Trump returned to power.
The Trump regime is waging a campaign of terror against people in America who are from — or who look or sound like they could be from — another country.
With its lawless crackdown, the Trump administration does not seem to care about whether someone is here legally, whether someone is following the rules for refugees and asylum seekers, or even whether someone is a U.S. citizen.
What the Trump regime does seem to care about is the color of someone’s skin.
And — apparently — the size of their bank account:
In 1990, Congress passed a law that sets aside a limited number of visas (official permission to live and work here) for people with “extraordinary” or “exceptional” abilities in areas like science, arts, business, and sports.
These are sometimes called “Einstein visas” — in reference to the renowned physicist Albert Einstein — to highlight the type of person who is eligible.
But the Trump administration — in flagrant violation of that law — has launched a program that lets people buy these visas with a “gift” of $1,000,000 to the U.S. government.
The administration is calling it the “Trump Gold Card.”
To recap, the Trump regime will act illegally and immorally to expel immigrants from this country. But if you can give Trump’s government a million dollars, the regime will welcome you with open arms (or at least open pockets).
Our lawsuit calls out this perversion of immigration law and asks a federal court to declare it illegal.
As noted above, this is the 32nd lawsuit Public Citizen has filed against the administration since Donald Trump returned to power.
Are these lawsuits alone enough to fully defeat Trump and MAGA? Of course not. But are they a meaningful part of the pushback that is the only chance we have to collectively save our country? No doubt about it.
What you and Public Citizen are doing together matters. What hundreds of other organizations, big and small, are doing matters. What millions upon millions of our fellow Americans are doing matters. We believe that to our core. We take solace in that. And we draw inspiration from that. We hope you do, too.
If you can, please donate today to support Public Citizen’s work standing up to the Trump regime.
Alis,as you know Trump is delirious,a disgusting example of a human being.He is but a collection of malignant cells,that has seen his wealth go up massively in the last 12 months.
As Bovino and his CBP agents real purpose was to train and acculturate ICE, into a GESTAPO. the ICE budget has nothing to do with immigration. There is enough money to build many concentration camps
.Based on recent budget data, few if any individual country's total military budget is larger than the entire Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) budget. In FY 2026, the DHS budget was approximately $332.72 billion. Only the U.S. Department of Defense—which is significantly higher—typically exceeds this amount, placing the DHS budget in a top-tier category globally.
The Defense budget is big enough to build aircraft carriers, nuclear subs, bombers and fighters, think about what DHS can do with that kind of money.
The GESTAPO analogy is more than accurate, however the GESTAPO were more professional, the CBP/ICE act more like the head bashing Sturmabeitlung, except the SA were privately funded, while the American GESTAPO is tax payer funded.
The Sturmabteilung (SA) was primarily funded through the Nazi Party (NSDAP), supplemented by donations from industrial supporters, and, beginning in 1929, an independent income source: the Sturm Cigarette Company, founded by Arthur Dressler. Early funds also came from former Freikorps members and various business interests.
The Nazi Party was funded by a combination of donations from wealthy individuals, industrialists, and major corporations like Krupp and I.G. Farben, who saw benefits in the regime, alongside funds from party memberships, book sales (like Mein Kampf), and state resources once in power, with key early support from figures like steel magnate Fritz Thyssen and even American industrialist Henry Ford.
Anyone else see parallels between the NSDAP and Trump.
You'd be dead wrong. Trump has to file financcial rreports. He holdds lts of stock, especially more than 114 million shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) through a revocable trust, representing over 50% of the company> Probably worth more than $3 trillon.. held in the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, which is managed by Donald Trump Jr..
.
Because the Trump Organization is a private company, it doesn’t have to report its earnings in as much detail as public companies do. It’s, therefore, difficult to estimate Trump’s true wealth and what he’s invested in as this information isn’t freely available.
Based on available public records, there is no direct evidence that Trump personally owns stock in private prison companies like GEO Group or CoreCivic. However, these firms have been major donors to his campaigns and inaugural funds, and they have financially benefited from his administration's policies, including increased immigration detention contracts.
Beyond his majority stake in Trump Media, financial disclosures from early 2026 indicate significant positions in other major U.S. corporations and alternative assets.
Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT): 114.75 million shares (~$1.43 billion).
Cryptocurrency: Reported holding of 15.75 billion WLFI tokens (estimated at $2.8 billion) and Ether (ETH) worth over $1 million.
Blue-Chip Technology Stocks:
Apple Inc. (AAPL): Over $650,000.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT): Over $630,000.
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA): Over $615,000.
Alphabet Inc. (GOOG/GOOGL): Over $431,000.
Financial & Asset Management:
Blackstone Inc. (BX): Over $603,000.
Blue Owl Capital Corp. (OBDC): Over $5 million.
Key Recent Developments
TAE Technologies Merger: In December 2025, Trump Media announced a $6 billion all-stock merger with nuclear fusion company TAE Technologies. Upon closing (expected mid-2026), existing Trump Media shareholders are projected to own roughly 50% of the new combined entity.
Shareholder Token Drop: Trump Media set February 2, 2026, as the record date for a digital token airdrop to DJT shareholders. These tokens are intended for use within the
Daniel,don't know if you notices but during the past three weeks,all the cyptos are down significantly. Maybe people woke up to find that this is biggest scam in history and those buying in ,deserve to lose. The ETH eth just hit a new low.
Software and services companies lost about $300 billion in market value yesterday after the release of more A.I.-driven automation tools by Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot. The worry is that these tools, which can handle some legal, marketing and customer-service tasks, could replace many current offerings.
Shares in Thomson Reuters fell almost 16 percent and LegalZoom.com lost nearly 20 percent, while a JPMorgan index that tracks U.S. software stocks dropped 7 percent. The stock of Infosys, the big Indian I.T. outsourcing provider, is down 7 percent today as well
From NYT Dealbook: The founder of Citadel, the big hedge fund, criticized the federal government at a Wall Street Journal conference for taking stakes in private companies. Griffin, one of few major Republican donors to be publicly critical of Trump, also accused the administration of making “missteps” that were “very, very enriching” to the families of administration members.
....On Jan. 21, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted nearly unanimously to advance the AI Overwatch Act to the House floor. The legislation would subject H200 shipments to congressional review and bar Nvidia from selling China the more-advanced Blackwell chips.
Right-wing influencers then accused House Republicans of undermining President Trump’s authority. Sacks endorsed one of those critiques, prompting a public exchange with Representative Brian Mast, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair. “My job is not to be a yes-man to David Sacks or for Jensen Huang,” Mast told Axios.
Why do I bother to read my email? A hundred or so flooding my email every day or two. I keep trying to convince myself that I am actually surrounded (in person) by wonderful people. At least it seems that way here in my bubble. But the daily hate mail sure works hard to convince me that a lot fewer of my e-acquaintances are mostly half reasons to promote hate, and the other half are "send money". The only way I can avoid starting my average day on a negative note is to simply delete them all without reading any, and I very intentionately ignore ALL "social networking" of any flavor...which is even worse! Depressing!!
Publishing such a list would be a public service. At least we would know where to boycott.
I live in the country, and there is no cable service, so I have to use Dish TV, but I do have a local wi fi, weak signal and $80 a month. I saw Starlink on TV for $50 a month, I would change over, but Starlink is Musk, so I'll pay the extra $30 and keep it local.
Start with Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg, Bezo's, Cook, Gates. Ellison, Sachs, Jaime Dimon, Financial institutions, Exxon, Conoco, Texaco, Marathon, Koch Brothers. in other words less than .001 of the population controls 99.99% of the wealth. I say control, because control is more powerful than ownership.
You don't have to own something to control it. Trump controls the Trump organization, and the organization owns property and stocks. Putin controls Russia, Xi controls China, MSB controls Saudi Arabia, Sheiks control the Emirates.
Control is safer and superior to ownership. The only corporations that are owned by a family or individual are those owned by Koch, and even then David Koch doesn't own anything, he just controls the Trust.
All other corporations are owned by individuals and private investment funds like Vanguard, Blackrock, State Street. BoA
Amazon is a publicly traded company primarily owned by institutional investors, with founder Jeff Bezos remaining the largest individual shareholder. As of early 2026, Bezos holds roughly 9-10% of the company's stock, worth over $200 billion. Major institutional shareholders like Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street also hold significant stakes.
For all appearances America is a corporation, owned by Vanguard, Blackrock, State Street, and they have representatives that sit as members of the board on virtually all major corporations, in media, entertainment, defense, petro chemical, agriculture, manufacturingm there is not an industry or a major corporation in which they don't have holdings and a representative on the board.
That would be the show Rachel Maddow just did. She covered the massive spaces that the regime is trying to buy---mostly old warehouses. It is NOT going well for them. People are using their political power and financial influence to keep the purchases from happening. It is a beautiful thing:
I too toured Dachau, and I was amazed what a short drive it was from Munich. They knew. Research where the nearest concentration camp is to you. You may be in for a shock. The Resistance is alive and growing. See you in the streets.
Hopefully people will pusback against now only the detention centers but also the Data Centers that the supporters of AI will use to reconstruct society so it exists only for the benefit of the " Technonazis".
Last night, I sent this link to local officials in regards to a large warehouse ICE is attempting to purchase AND I pointed out that many cities & counties (in red states especially) had been able to thwart ICE.
I'm going to keep exposing these potential concentration camps to local governments who may not understand where this is headed.
First and foremost, we have to do everything in our power to stop ICE from surrounding polling places. Now is the time to respond to tRump, Bannon and ICE, not a month before the election.
Finally, the lawyers of America are coming together to address the lawlessness in America. Actiion is what the public has been clamoring for, not more descriptions of what's happened since tRump took over.
They bring crime up from the border into our cities--not immigrants, the border police. These tactics are far out of proportion to anything these vulnerable people may have done, whatever that is, since they are not charged, get no hearing, never face a judge, can't plead their innocence. What is evident is that the captors are the ones who should be contained.
CBP agents act out of sight of the public, they rough up and even kill border hoppers, and no one ever knows, they will claim that a body found, died of dehydration.
Homan used hem to train, acculturate and desensitize ICE, to turn ICE into a GESTAPO.
Bovino and his agents served their purpose, so he was sent back to El Centro, and will probably be awarded medals and promotions.
Thom on his radio/TV show a few days ago, addressed the role of ICE and their professional behavior before Trump, Homan and Bovino. They wore windbreakers, served papers, were professional and acted nothing like they do now
One of the really big differences about the round-ups in Germany as compared to here:
The Nazis didn't wear masks!!! While they were vile, contemptible, vicious criminals they didn't wear masks, they weren't afraid of being "outed" or in today's terminology, "doxed". In short they weren't cowards!!! They weren't afraid of what people would say or do. Yeah, yeah, they had the full Nazi apparatus behind them but our "agents" have support too but they still insist on covering their faces. At this point in time, I have been lucky enough not to be an area infiltrated by ICE, yet! I hope that I have the courage (or stupidity depending on the outcome) to stand up & just yell:
"COWARDS, SHOW US YOUR FACES"!
I was furious all day after watching that testimony yesterday. I'm still irate & I just fucking can't wait until our protest next week to blow my whistle, ring my cowbell & chant ICE OUT!!!! I may be old, I may need my "protest mobile" aka: walker, but I can still yell & curse the insanity that is going on!
Return,thanks for support and willingness to get out there and register your disagreement. It would be nice if all the Dems who voted for Harris,but have been AWOL would also have the courage to get there.
The last protest I went to there were actually some kids there with their parents. It's important to get the kids involved. The old folks ain't gonna be around forever & this work will need to continue for years!
If we didn't learn about these things here and from a very few others, such as Rachel Maddow and some of the MS NOW contributors, we would not know about them. This is a national emergency, and the facts must be broadcast widely all day and night, every day and night.
Concentration camps are prisons where people are stored who oppose the regime, usually without trial, for invented crimes like possible enemy spies, "traitors," and "domestic terrorists." While Germany had them, so did America. That is where we put all people of Japanese or Asian ethnicity in WWII. In fact, concentration camps can be found all over the world today. Check out the list:
Today we view NAZI Germany's concentration / extermination camps with horror. How could they do that we ask. We could never do that did we feel. We are they. Same species. Trump has appointed people to powerful positions who promote, condone, (per Thom) 225 concentration camps with 70,000 prisoners. Arbeit macht frei.
Entirely right, G2 - and not only is it true now that "we are they" - as is laid out in disturbing detail in the book I mention in another comment (Andrea Pritzer's 2017 "One Long Night"), "we" have even been "they" in multiple instances in the past - not that we are alone in this.
When I was a kid, parents used to say to their children, "The policeman is your friend." Over the course of my life I learned that there were a number of caveats that parents didn't mention concerning skin color and socio-economic class.
Now, In Tennessee, what are parents going to say to their children if Miller and the Republican leaders he's coordinating with succeed in creating legislation that would turn every local cop, teacher, social worker, and helper in the state into an official agent of ICE?
Trump said he could shoot a person on 5th Ave and not lose a voter.
His base is about 35 – 40% of the voters.
What percent do you think he would lose if the fact that he was a pedophile came out.?
Any estimate of what percent already know he is a pedophile. They know what the thinks of women, the Access Hollywood tapes and the E Jean Carroll suit.. They don’t care, they deny or make excuses.
Who controls the government, the federal police, the military and I mean control unlike any previous President, total control and loyalty.
Given that he has already rebranded the White House and is in the process of rebranding DC into Trumplandia, which will be concluded when he builds his arc de triumph.
What’s the chances that he will leave the house that he built and rebranded? Who is going to make him leave? The DoJ, DHS, FBI, the military? A court order? SCOTUS?
He wasn’t going to leave in 2020, when he didn’t have total control of the government, with sycophantic loyalists in control of all of the organs of government, including the Dept of Defense. Now that he does, what makes anyone think that he will pack his bags. Who would arrest him if? The very people that are his accomplices and have their own freedom to lose,if he leaves?
So, perversely and strengthwise dumbly, to create a fantasy ethnostate, Santa Monica High's most rabid asshole, S. Miller, is exporting non-White Others'
a. Brains
b. Labor
They're Brown. Lock them up. Hope they die.
Blacks and Jews next.
204,000,000 Whites in America vs 8,100,000,000 humans on the Planet Earth.
Nice odds.
Vote tough enough to destroy the Russian, Racist cabal, i.e., the GOP.
Bring back the "American" Party [aka Know Nothings.] Or damn near ANY other party.
That is the purpose of the DHS budget,,, second only to the Dept of Defenses, it is big enough to build hundreds of concentration camps in Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Utah, Nevada, Missouri and Texas.
Few if any individual country's total military budget is larger than the entire Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) budget. In FY 2026, the DHS budget was approximately $332.72 billion. Only the U.S. Department of Defense—which is significantly higher—typically exceeds this amount.
$332.62 Billion could buy 25 Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. How many concentration camps can they buy.
The opposition to ICE temporary holding facilities is coming from cities, in which ICE wants to use existing warehouses, like old Walmart or Costoco warehouses.
But there are hundreds of isolated counties in the middle tier states and in Texas, NM, AZ, UT, CO.
During World War II, the U.S. government incarcerated Japanese Americans in 10 primary, remote War Relocation Authority (WRA) camps, mostly located in desolate areas of Western states and Arkansas. The camps were situated in California, Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas.
If we do not rise up, first at the polls, then beyond if need be, we deserve to pay the price that will follow. Likely internal conflict, not like the Civil War, far worse really as it won't be geographical. And unlike that war, foreign enemies or even frenemies won't likely sit on the sidelines. They will get actively involved to maximize the chaos in the expectation of both supplanting this country and maybe plundering or conquering what remains.
I hope our beloved grandson can get away before all of this transpires. Likely not, and most of his generation will bear the brunt of the failures of those of us who came before--Boomers and Gen X, mainly. And it won't be the hard core MAGAts that will be our demise. It will be complacency.
We may never get to the polls if Trump decalres a national emergency and invokes marshal law.
Today, the Supreme Court told California that it could use its new congressional voting maps, which create more leans-Democratic districts. It drew them last year after voters passed Proposition 50, which they did in response to rank political gerrymandering in Texas.
Thanks for providing so many facts. Germany today is deeply ashamed of its past. Knowing what we know now, should America be ashamed of its present?
Glory built on the suffering of others is no glory at all. This is the price of choosing ignorant fools to lead us. Putting children in cages is evil, a word I rarely use, but with such a darkness covering the land there is no other option. At times such as these inaction is complicity. If we allow children to be caged as if somehow they were a threat to the most powerful nation in history what makes us think that we won’t be next.
Not ALL of Germany, I'm sorry to say. And not all of us/US need to be ashamed.
The pain is just as deep here as it is elsewhere. It is especially so, when you love the people that voted for him.
Christians, I am told, are instructed to REPENT.
Church dogma supports immigrsnts. How many MAGA have been excommuniucated?
In Catholicism, confess, seek absolution.
When I was a kid, people were cexcoimmunicated shunned, hexed, for less. Alcohol. Adultery. Acting "English."
A misconception about Catholicism is you confess and you're forgiven. Not true. You must confess, be truly sorry, and intend never to do it again. Otherwise, you are not forgiven. I grew up in the faith. Oh: must say the act of contrition and do the penance you're given.
I was a Catholic as well. Penance was saying a number of our fathers and a hail mary or two. After confession you were absolved and could partake in the eucharist (eating a cracker and drinking some wine), and of course you weren't suppose to sin again, but we all did, so it was back to confession the next Saturday, wash, rinse, repeat.
Lol. I once heard my sister in the other side of the confessional confess to stealing cookies for which she let my father spank her, me, and our other two sisters every week when there weren't enough Oreos to ration for our lunches. My mother counted them on grocery day. If you recall, I had the impression that if you ever repeated what you overheard in confession, you would go straight to hell because it was a grevious sin. I never told and was spanked every week until my mother finally caught her standing on the counter and reaching up with her hand inside the Oreo package.
I reprsented people who faced excommunication by canonical courts. Represnted Amish caught in a schism. Lawyers who were accused of participating in obtaining divorces.
One of the lawyers in my home town had a girlfiend who was head of support services in a neighboring county. He appled for annulment, was demied at every level until it went to Rome. Annulment was awarded. In effect his 7 kids were illegitimized, including 2 who were lawyers. Before the annulment was final, the girlfiend died.
Another annulment was awarded to a woman who had a kid during marriage.....
Was this a miracle, or what?
Daniel,thanks but you know the sadness of the times we are in. Religion sup[orts this "Nazi" Catholics,Jews,White Christian Nationalists. How do fight back against this orchestrated attempt to take over the Gov't by Religion?
I think religion is the wrong term. They are a bunch of people who just hate.
Be kind, be loving (sorry, old hippie), share what you don’t truly need. And do remember that alone we will make little difference but together we can be unstoppable.
What then is inaction? In spite of our current reality I love this country. Despite our differences I think most - if not all - of us who post here do. Of Of vourse you’re right - as individuals we are not bathed in the stench arising from the corruption of this land, this isn’t Germany yet. However, there are many who gladly support Trump’s policies, even to taking pleasure in the caging of infants. Not only do they currently control America, if they had their way they would make dissent a crime. At least in my eyes that is evil. Those who resist, even if it is with a keyword are not. I don’t want to call us heroes but standing in the path of evil has few other descriptors. It is the inert amongst the population that through their shying away from this very palpable danger are by their inactions/ whether by inaction, fear or indifference have allowed America to be cloaked in shame. What are they to be called? I know this country has many times chosen a dark path, just as our arrogance has threatened the world as a whole. In spite of this I remain, quite foolishly, in love with its promise. As of this moment I see an inescapable dichotomy: either we rise up to fight the beastie we allow it to feed on the fears of a child in a cage desperately clutching his stuffy.
Sorry for pompously carrying on. In defence I have been mouldering in a hospital bed for the last six weeks, nothing life threatening, with nothing else to do but watch in horror and (almost) disbelief. I wish things were different but they’re not, nor will they ever change if we don’t act.
My apologies, I’m doing it again.
Robert, I hope you start feeling better soon. We may not be Germany yet,but we are certainly no " Democracy" I think we are further along toward the 4th Reich than most would. At the rallies people have signs " Nazi America" ,I think that pretty much sums up where we are.
Thank you. My ailments are minor though persistent. However, I feel somewhat ashamed because millions of Americans have no insurance and yet they are facing life-threatening illnesses or have to watch as their children are slowly ravaged, crippled for life or dying, when simple operations would save them. Yet here are the rich, buying islands or 150 foot yachts paid for by the suffering of others. At last is there no decency left in them? Meanwhile, here I sit, warm, fed good meals, cared for by doctors and nurses…I am living better sick than millions of Americans whose only sin is that they are poor in a country whose “leaders” don’t give a damn about them.
Robert,thank you for your response.There is no decency,no empathy,no sympathy,no humanity,they are the worst examples of human beings that has ever existed,ICE is America's Nazis Brown Shirts. When will people wake up?
For the 50,000 individuals incarcerated, America is indeed Hitler's Germany.
Oh, and with typos galore.
Absolutely.
"...meaningful accountability."
The scale of litigation has expanded rapidly across several fronts:
Mass Filing of Habeas Petitions: In Minnesota alone, 288 unlawful detention cases were filed in the first 20 days of 2026, compared to a monthly average of just 1.6 in the previous administration.
Civil Rights & Damages Suits: Attorneys are increasingly using the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) to seek financial damages for wrongful detention.
High-Value Settlements: Recent cases have resulted in significant payouts, such as a $112 million jury verdict for immigrants held solely on ICE detainers and a $125,000 settlement for a
I still think the way to end this is via the Epstein saga....
It is, Daniel. Poland had girls trafficked out of Krakow, and they are opening their own investigation. Of course they want to get at the info on Putin. There is no Bondi to protect TRump's ugly ass over there.
Norway, France, and others are looking into things too. The Eastern Bloc survivors should be compensated from the Epstein Estate---their voices should be heard.
How many dead bodies have been buried? How many people did NOT commit suicide? As is his usual tactic, TRump declared victory and said move on. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!
I've posted this stuff before. I have relatives in the VI.
What has happened in the VI? https://usvidoj.com/about-us/
In the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), Jeffrey Epstein's legal fallout has primarily centered on massive civil settlements and racketeering lawsuits rather than traditional criminal prosecutions of his associates. Under the Virgin Islands Code, most degrees of rape have no time limit for prosecution.
WHAT ABOUT THE PERPS?
The most significant legal actions in the territory include:
Settlement with the Epstein Estate: In November 2022, the USVI government reached a landmark $105 million settlement with Jeffrey Epstein’s estate. As part of this deal, the estate paid the territory in cash and agreed to give the USVI half the proceeds from the sale of Little St. James.
JPMorgan Chase Litigation: The USVI sued JPMorgan Chase, alleging the bank facilitated Epstein's sex trafficking by ignoring red flags for over a decade. In September 2023, JPMorgan agreed to a $75 million settlement to resolve these claims.
Action Against Leon Black: The territory also secured $62.5 million from billionaire investor Leon Black to resolve potential claims related to his ties with Epstein, though Black denied any wrongdoing.
Political Controversy & Firing of AG Denise George: Attorney General Denise George, who led the prosecution against the estate and JPMorgan, was abruptly fired by Governor Albert Bryan Jr. in January 2023 shortly after filing the suit against the bank. Reports indicated the governor was reportedly angry she filed the suit without his prior knowledge.
Recent Document Releases: As of February 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has begun a rolling release of "Epstein files," which include internal evidence and witness statements.
However, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche recently stated that new criminal charges for anyone based on these files are currently unlikely.
Is he TRYING to make it unlikely, and if so, is that not obstruction of justice under VI law?
Dear Daniel,
We just sued the Trump regime over another element of its illegal immigration “policy.”
By the way, this is the 32nd lawsuit Public Citizen has filed against the administration since Donald Trump returned to power.
The Trump regime is waging a campaign of terror against people in America who are from — or who look or sound like they could be from — another country.
With its lawless crackdown, the Trump administration does not seem to care about whether someone is here legally, whether someone is following the rules for refugees and asylum seekers, or even whether someone is a U.S. citizen.
What the Trump regime does seem to care about is the color of someone’s skin.
And — apparently — the size of their bank account:
In 1990, Congress passed a law that sets aside a limited number of visas (official permission to live and work here) for people with “extraordinary” or “exceptional” abilities in areas like science, arts, business, and sports.
These are sometimes called “Einstein visas” — in reference to the renowned physicist Albert Einstein — to highlight the type of person who is eligible.
But the Trump administration — in flagrant violation of that law — has launched a program that lets people buy these visas with a “gift” of $1,000,000 to the U.S. government.
The administration is calling it the “Trump Gold Card.”
To recap, the Trump regime will act illegally and immorally to expel immigrants from this country. But if you can give Trump’s government a million dollars, the regime will welcome you with open arms (or at least open pockets).
Our lawsuit calls out this perversion of immigration law and asks a federal court to declare it illegal.
As noted above, this is the 32nd lawsuit Public Citizen has filed against the administration since Donald Trump returned to power.
Are these lawsuits alone enough to fully defeat Trump and MAGA? Of course not. But are they a meaningful part of the pushback that is the only chance we have to collectively save our country? No doubt about it.
What you and Public Citizen are doing together matters. What hundreds of other organizations, big and small, are doing matters. What millions upon millions of our fellow Americans are doing matters. We believe that to our core. We take solace in that. And we draw inspiration from that. We hope you do, too.
If you can, please donate today to support Public Citizen’s work standing up to the Trump regime.
https://donate.citizen.org/page/89614/donate/1
Alis,as you know Trump is delirious,a disgusting example of a human being.He is but a collection of malignant cells,that has seen his wealth go up massively in the last 12 months.
Agreed Daniel. Release of Jack Smiths VOL II would help too.
Daniel,thanks for the info.
As Bovino and his CBP agents real purpose was to train and acculturate ICE, into a GESTAPO. the ICE budget has nothing to do with immigration. There is enough money to build many concentration camps
.Based on recent budget data, few if any individual country's total military budget is larger than the entire Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) budget. In FY 2026, the DHS budget was approximately $332.72 billion. Only the U.S. Department of Defense—which is significantly higher—typically exceeds this amount, placing the DHS budget in a top-tier category globally.
The Defense budget is big enough to build aircraft carriers, nuclear subs, bombers and fighters, think about what DHS can do with that kind of money.
The GESTAPO analogy is more than accurate, however the GESTAPO were more professional, the CBP/ICE act more like the head bashing Sturmabeitlung, except the SA were privately funded, while the American GESTAPO is tax payer funded.
The Sturmabteilung (SA) was primarily funded through the Nazi Party (NSDAP), supplemented by donations from industrial supporters, and, beginning in 1929, an independent income source: the Sturm Cigarette Company, founded by Arthur Dressler. Early funds also came from former Freikorps members and various business interests.
The Nazi Party was funded by a combination of donations from wealthy individuals, industrialists, and major corporations like Krupp and I.G. Farben, who saw benefits in the regime, alongside funds from party memberships, book sales (like Mein Kampf), and state resources once in power, with key early support from figures like steel magnate Fritz Thyssen and even American industrialist Henry Ford.
Anyone else see parallels between the NSDAP and Trump.
Thanks for the history lesson. Wonder how much stock trump owns in private prison companies.
Good question. I would be surprised if the Trump organization owned any stock at all. Trump is a real estate developer not an investor.
You'd be dead wrong. Trump has to file financcial rreports. He holdds lts of stock, especially more than 114 million shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) through a revocable trust, representing over 50% of the company> Probably worth more than $3 trillon.. held in the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, which is managed by Donald Trump Jr..
.
Because the Trump Organization is a private company, it doesn’t have to report its earnings in as much detail as public companies do. It’s, therefore, difficult to estimate Trump’s true wealth and what he’s invested in as this information isn’t freely available.
Based on available public records, there is no direct evidence that Trump personally owns stock in private prison companies like GEO Group or CoreCivic. However, these firms have been major donors to his campaigns and inaugural funds, and they have financially benefited from his administration's policies, including increased immigration detention contracts.
Beyond his majority stake in Trump Media, financial disclosures from early 2026 indicate significant positions in other major U.S. corporations and alternative assets.
Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT): 114.75 million shares (~$1.43 billion).
Cryptocurrency: Reported holding of 15.75 billion WLFI tokens (estimated at $2.8 billion) and Ether (ETH) worth over $1 million.
Blue-Chip Technology Stocks:
Apple Inc. (AAPL): Over $650,000.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT): Over $630,000.
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA): Over $615,000.
Alphabet Inc. (GOOG/GOOGL): Over $431,000.
Financial & Asset Management:
Blackstone Inc. (BX): Over $603,000.
Blue Owl Capital Corp. (OBDC): Over $5 million.
Key Recent Developments
TAE Technologies Merger: In December 2025, Trump Media announced a $6 billion all-stock merger with nuclear fusion company TAE Technologies. Upon closing (expected mid-2026), existing Trump Media shareholders are projected to own roughly 50% of the new combined entity.
Shareholder Token Drop: Trump Media set February 2, 2026, as the record date for a digital token airdrop to DJT shareholders. These tokens are intended for use within the
Daniel,don't know if you notices but during the past three weeks,all the cyptos are down significantly. Maybe people woke up to find that this is biggest scam in history and those buying in ,deserve to lose. The ETH eth just hit a new low.
Virtually everything is down.
Software and services companies lost about $300 billion in market value yesterday after the release of more A.I.-driven automation tools by Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot. The worry is that these tools, which can handle some legal, marketing and customer-service tasks, could replace many current offerings.
Shares in Thomson Reuters fell almost 16 percent and LegalZoom.com lost nearly 20 percent, while a JPMorgan index that tracks U.S. software stocks dropped 7 percent. The stock of Infosys, the big Indian I.T. outsourcing provider, is down 7 percent today as well
From NYT Dealbook: The founder of Citadel, the big hedge fund, criticized the federal government at a Wall Street Journal conference for taking stakes in private companies. Griffin, one of few major Republican donors to be publicly critical of Trump, also accused the administration of making “missteps” that were “very, very enriching” to the families of administration members.
....On Jan. 21, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted nearly unanimously to advance the AI Overwatch Act to the House floor. The legislation would subject H200 shipments to congressional review and bar Nvidia from selling China the more-advanced Blackwell chips.
Right-wing influencers then accused House Republicans of undermining President Trump’s authority. Sacks endorsed one of those critiques, prompting a public exchange with Representative Brian Mast, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair. “My job is not to be a yes-man to David Sacks or for Jensen Huang,” Mast told Axios.
I didn't say that Trump; didn't own any stock. I said I would be surprised if he did.
Since I didn't make a declarative statement I could not be dead wrong.
I am however surprised. Thanks for doing the google search, that I was not inclined to do.
I was kind of hoping that somebody would do it for me.
Why do I bother to read my email? A hundred or so flooding my email every day or two. I keep trying to convince myself that I am actually surrounded (in person) by wonderful people. At least it seems that way here in my bubble. But the daily hate mail sure works hard to convince me that a lot fewer of my e-acquaintances are mostly half reasons to promote hate, and the other half are "send money". The only way I can avoid starting my average day on a negative note is to simply delete them all without reading any, and I very intentionately ignore ALL "social networking" of any flavor...which is even worse! Depressing!!
Averting your eyes from impending disaster, does not avert the disaster.. Forewarned is fore armed, and give you time to make choices.
William,it may be time to list the names of all the WealthyTrump supporters.I know there are lists out there,just not certain where to find them.
Publishing such a list would be a public service. At least we would know where to boycott.
I live in the country, and there is no cable service, so I have to use Dish TV, but I do have a local wi fi, weak signal and $80 a month. I saw Starlink on TV for $50 a month, I would change over, but Starlink is Musk, so I'll pay the extra $30 and keep it local.
William,will do some research to find out.Thanks.
Start with Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg, Bezo's, Cook, Gates. Ellison, Sachs, Jaime Dimon, Financial institutions, Exxon, Conoco, Texaco, Marathon, Koch Brothers. in other words less than .001 of the population controls 99.99% of the wealth. I say control, because control is more powerful than ownership.
You don't have to own something to control it. Trump controls the Trump organization, and the organization owns property and stocks. Putin controls Russia, Xi controls China, MSB controls Saudi Arabia, Sheiks control the Emirates.
Control is safer and superior to ownership. The only corporations that are owned by a family or individual are those owned by Koch, and even then David Koch doesn't own anything, he just controls the Trust.
All other corporations are owned by individuals and private investment funds like Vanguard, Blackrock, State Street. BoA
Amazon is a publicly traded company primarily owned by institutional investors, with founder Jeff Bezos remaining the largest individual shareholder. As of early 2026, Bezos holds roughly 9-10% of the company's stock, worth over $200 billion. Major institutional shareholders like Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street also hold significant stakes.
For all appearances America is a corporation, owned by Vanguard, Blackrock, State Street, and they have representatives that sit as members of the board on virtually all major corporations, in media, entertainment, defense, petro chemical, agriculture, manufacturingm there is not an industry or a major corporation in which they don't have holdings and a representative on the board.
A great companion piece to this Report.....
That would be the show Rachel Maddow just did. She covered the massive spaces that the regime is trying to buy---mostly old warehouses. It is NOT going well for them. People are using their political power and financial influence to keep the purchases from happening. It is a beautiful thing:
The Rachel Maddow Show 2/2/26
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D-6Cpt35DiKM
I too toured Dachau, and I was amazed what a short drive it was from Munich. They knew. Research where the nearest concentration camp is to you. You may be in for a shock. The Resistance is alive and growing. See you in the streets.
Hopefully people will pusback against now only the detention centers but also the Data Centers that the supporters of AI will use to reconstruct society so it exists only for the benefit of the " Technonazis".
Last night, I sent this link to local officials in regards to a large warehouse ICE is attempting to purchase AND I pointed out that many cities & counties (in red states especially) had been able to thwart ICE.
I'm going to keep exposing these potential concentration camps to local governments who may not understand where this is headed.
First and foremost, we have to do everything in our power to stop ICE from surrounding polling places. Now is the time to respond to tRump, Bannon and ICE, not a month before the election.
Finally, the lawyers of America are coming together to address the lawlessness in America. Actiion is what the public has been clamoring for, not more descriptions of what's happened since tRump took over.
https://www.defiance.news/p/exclusive-americas-prosecutors-are?utm_campaign=
They bring crime up from the border into our cities--not immigrants, the border police. These tactics are far out of proportion to anything these vulnerable people may have done, whatever that is, since they are not charged, get no hearing, never face a judge, can't plead their innocence. What is evident is that the captors are the ones who should be contained.
CBP agents act out of sight of the public, they rough up and even kill border hoppers, and no one ever knows, they will claim that a body found, died of dehydration.
Homan used hem to train, acculturate and desensitize ICE, to turn ICE into a GESTAPO.
Bovino and his agents served their purpose, so he was sent back to El Centro, and will probably be awarded medals and promotions.
Thom on his radio/TV show a few days ago, addressed the role of ICE and their professional behavior before Trump, Homan and Bovino. They wore windbreakers, served papers, were professional and acted nothing like they do now
One of the really big differences about the round-ups in Germany as compared to here:
The Nazis didn't wear masks!!! While they were vile, contemptible, vicious criminals they didn't wear masks, they weren't afraid of being "outed" or in today's terminology, "doxed". In short they weren't cowards!!! They weren't afraid of what people would say or do. Yeah, yeah, they had the full Nazi apparatus behind them but our "agents" have support too but they still insist on covering their faces. At this point in time, I have been lucky enough not to be an area infiltrated by ICE, yet! I hope that I have the courage (or stupidity depending on the outcome) to stand up & just yell:
"COWARDS, SHOW US YOUR FACES"!
I was furious all day after watching that testimony yesterday. I'm still irate & I just fucking can't wait until our protest next week to blow my whistle, ring my cowbell & chant ICE OUT!!!! I may be old, I may need my "protest mobile" aka: walker, but I can still yell & curse the insanity that is going on!
Return,thanks for support and willingness to get out there and register your disagreement. It would be nice if all the Dems who voted for Harris,but have been AWOL would also have the courage to get there.
Thank you for the encouragement!
The last protest I went to there were actually some kids there with their parents. It's important to get the kids involved. The old folks ain't gonna be around forever & this work will need to continue for years!
I'm with you!
If we didn't learn about these things here and from a very few others, such as Rachel Maddow and some of the MS NOW contributors, we would not know about them. This is a national emergency, and the facts must be broadcast widely all day and night, every day and night.
Let's face it. The Civil War started months ago. They just haven't gotten to us yet.
Concentration camps are prisons where people are stored who oppose the regime, usually without trial, for invented crimes like possible enemy spies, "traitors," and "domestic terrorists." While Germany had them, so did America. That is where we put all people of Japanese or Asian ethnicity in WWII. In fact, concentration camps can be found all over the world today. Check out the list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concentration_and_internment_camps.
Today we view NAZI Germany's concentration / extermination camps with horror. How could they do that we ask. We could never do that did we feel. We are they. Same species. Trump has appointed people to powerful positions who promote, condone, (per Thom) 225 concentration camps with 70,000 prisoners. Arbeit macht frei.
Entirely right, G2 - and not only is it true now that "we are they" - as is laid out in disturbing detail in the book I mention in another comment (Andrea Pritzer's 2017 "One Long Night"), "we" have even been "they" in multiple instances in the past - not that we are alone in this.
When I was a kid, parents used to say to their children, "The policeman is your friend." Over the course of my life I learned that there were a number of caveats that parents didn't mention concerning skin color and socio-economic class.
Now, In Tennessee, what are parents going to say to their children if Miller and the Republican leaders he's coordinating with succeed in creating legislation that would turn every local cop, teacher, social worker, and helper in the state into an official agent of ICE?
Trump said he could shoot a person on 5th Ave and not lose a voter.
His base is about 35 – 40% of the voters.
What percent do you think he would lose if the fact that he was a pedophile came out.?
Any estimate of what percent already know he is a pedophile. They know what the thinks of women, the Access Hollywood tapes and the E Jean Carroll suit.. They don’t care, they deny or make excuses.
Who controls the government, the federal police, the military and I mean control unlike any previous President, total control and loyalty.
Given that he has already rebranded the White House and is in the process of rebranding DC into Trumplandia, which will be concluded when he builds his arc de triumph.
What’s the chances that he will leave the house that he built and rebranded? Who is going to make him leave? The DoJ, DHS, FBI, the military? A court order? SCOTUS?
He wasn’t going to leave in 2020, when he didn’t have total control of the government, with sycophantic loyalists in control of all of the organs of government, including the Dept of Defense. Now that he does, what makes anyone think that he will pack his bags. Who would arrest him if? The very people that are his accomplices and have their own freedom to lose,if he leaves?
Due to a sh-t healthcare system, compared to advanced nations, we [U.S.A.] are dropping like flies. We're dying, in case you didn't know.
See: https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2025/us-excess-deaths-continued-to-rise-even-after-the-covid-19-pandemic/
So, perversely and strengthwise dumbly, to create a fantasy ethnostate, Santa Monica High's most rabid asshole, S. Miller, is exporting non-White Others'
a. Brains
b. Labor
They're Brown. Lock them up. Hope they die.
Blacks and Jews next.
204,000,000 Whites in America vs 8,100,000,000 humans on the Planet Earth.
Nice odds.
Vote tough enough to destroy the Russian, Racist cabal, i.e., the GOP.
Bring back the "American" Party [aka Know Nothings.] Or damn near ANY other party.
The GOP is headed towards a cliff.
That is the purpose of the DHS budget,,, second only to the Dept of Defenses, it is big enough to build hundreds of concentration camps in Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Utah, Nevada, Missouri and Texas.
Few if any individual country's total military budget is larger than the entire Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) budget. In FY 2026, the DHS budget was approximately $332.72 billion. Only the U.S. Department of Defense—which is significantly higher—typically exceeds this amount.
$332.62 Billion could buy 25 Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. How many concentration camps can they buy.
The opposition to ICE temporary holding facilities is coming from cities, in which ICE wants to use existing warehouses, like old Walmart or Costoco warehouses.
But there are hundreds of isolated counties in the middle tier states and in Texas, NM, AZ, UT, CO.
During World War II, the U.S. government incarcerated Japanese Americans in 10 primary, remote War Relocation Authority (WRA) camps, mostly located in desolate areas of Western states and Arkansas. The camps were situated in California, Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas.
How the mighty have fallen.
Not yet....
I just added a link to this on my Substack for today: "The U.S. is a ruthless brutal paramilitary police state that violates every standard of human rights." >>> https://halbrown.substack.com/p/the-us-is-a-ruthless-brutal-paramilitary
Hal,well said,and should be repeated.
If we do not rise up, first at the polls, then beyond if need be, we deserve to pay the price that will follow. Likely internal conflict, not like the Civil War, far worse really as it won't be geographical. And unlike that war, foreign enemies or even frenemies won't likely sit on the sidelines. They will get actively involved to maximize the chaos in the expectation of both supplanting this country and maybe plundering or conquering what remains.
I hope our beloved grandson can get away before all of this transpires. Likely not, and most of his generation will bear the brunt of the failures of those of us who came before--Boomers and Gen X, mainly. And it won't be the hard core MAGAts that will be our demise. It will be complacency.
We may never get to the polls if Trump decalres a national emergency and invokes marshal law.
Today, the Supreme Court told California that it could use its new congressional voting maps, which create more leans-Democratic districts. It drew them last year after voters passed Proposition 50, which they did in response to rank political gerrymandering in Texas.