Last week, the Maryland Second Look Act  - a powerful new law championed by the Maryland Second Look Coalition with support from our partner organizations and Progressive Maryland members — officially took effect. This landmark legislation opens the door for incarcerated adults who entered the system as children or young adults to petition for parole if they can show they’ve been rehabilitated.

Trump is apparently trying to do a demo on his suggestion to military leaders that the US military practice their lethal skills on US cities run by Democrats. The generals, knowing an illegal order when they see one, kept stone faces throughout Trump's wandering and (as usual) self-pitying bleat. But National Guard members are the victims, so far, and judges are doing a great job of keeping the hapless Guardspersons out of trouble by keeping them out of the cities despite Trump's illegal orders.

Meanwhile, the shutdown goes on this week, with the House deliberately kept out of action by Speaker johnson to put pressure on the Senate (and avoid an embarrassing vote on Epstein files release, which he would lose if he swears in the most recently elected Democratic House member). Democrats are holding out for changes to the proposed short-term CR to restore Obamacare subsidies, a hugely popular idea among even Republicans in the polls. If the Senate makes changes to the bill the House will have to agree with the changes, so the Speaker (and the Senate Leader) want to keep the lower chamber's members sidelined. Meanwhile the need to actually pass a budget bill -- which the CR was intended to buy time for) creeps ever closer. We'll see if Hallowe'en winds up having a role in this Trifecta horror show.

It's News You Can Use, even with the national brakes jammed to the floorboards.

The federal government’s dysfunction and reckless brinkmanship have brought us to a shutdown with devastating consequences for working families in Maryland and across the country.

The Memo will be posted here after the email version has been sent.

Maryland, like many other Blue states, is feeling increasingly embattled as Trump continues his EO-fueled assault on peoples' everyday liberties and rights to free speech. Most of the Mad King's Executive Orders, being of dubious legality, are in court somewhere and may even get turned down by the conservative-ridden Supreme Court if they suddenly find their mislaid copies of the US Constitution. Maryland is currently escaping occupation along the lines of D.C., but facing a worst-case scenario from any shutdown because more attrition of federal workers appears nearly guaranteed even without such a disruption.  But in the meantime, many Blue cities ARE putting up with uniformed military presence, where "is THIS what you signed up for?" should be the welcome on everyone's lips. The troops look forbidding in their riot gear but they are us, and we shouldn't let the fear Trump is hoping for allow us to forget that. Note that Oregon is pushing back. 

Trump will be talking shutdown (or not) with Congressional bigwigs today and (more ominously) with a captive audience of high-ranking military tomorrow, as Megan E details in our Global/National/Feds section below. It's all News You Can Use

On Saturday, September 6, I joined 10,000 people in Washington, D.C., to march, rally, and demand an end to the illegal occupation of federal troops in our nation’s capital. We hugged, prayed, carried signs, and stood together against this outrageous abuse of power.

This wasn’t just a protest—it was a call to action. When federal troops are deployed to intimidate and silence communities, it’s not just D.C. that’s under attack. It’s Baltimore. It’s every city. It’s democracy itself.

Marylanders are getting exercised about the wacky thinking tolerated in the Department of Health and Human Services by its equally wacky agency head, RFK Jr. More to come; an announcement from Trump is expected today on Kennedy's odd obsession with autism and its causes. Meanwhile, Marylanders are also getting exercised about data centers, which have the appearance of boosting employment and revenue but (as seen in Virginia, where they are numerous) also overstrain electric power resources and raise rates for residents. How to manage these companions to the AI revolution (maybe by requiring on-site clean-power facilities) is a concern nationwide.

It's fair to ask how much we in Maryland will notice if the federal government has a shutdown. How much of the federal government is left operating, after the depredations of DOGE and Trump's cabinet-level minions? And since Maryland has already taken the biggest hit from federal employees' willing or unwilling exits, how much more hassle can a shutdown bring? It looks like we are going to find out; Dems are so far holding fast on their demand that Affordable Care Act subsidies get extended and Medicaid work requirements be eased (and the Dems actually proposed an alternative bill, rather than just saying "No"!) If spines stay stiffened, we'll see which states throw in the towel first. Red states generally depend on federal funds more than Blue states. It's News You Can Use, where we don't shut up about the shutdown.

Baltimore, MD (September 16, 2025) – Free Speech For People and Progressive Maryland have formally requested that Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown and State’s Attorney Tara H. Jackson open a criminal investigation into the unlawful kidnapping of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia by federal immigration officers. The request, detailed in a letter sent on July 15, 2025, outlines the egregious actions taken by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and senior Trump administration officials to abduct, detain, forcibly transfer, and enable the two-month imprisonment of Mr. Abrego Garcia in a maximum security prison in El Salvador, in direct violation of a federal court order.

ivemaryland.org.