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.
HERE IN MARYLAND
Judge Rules Abrego Garcia Likely Victim Of Vindictive Prosecution: A federal judge in Tennessee ruled that Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s claim of vindictive prosecution is strong enough to require further investigation, court documents show. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw said in a 16-page memorandum opinion Friday that there was a “realistic likelihood of vindictiveness” behind the United States government’s decision to prosecute Abrego Garcia, an El Salvador native and Beltsville resident. Baltimore Banner.
Snap Disruption Could Hit Thousands If Shutdown Drags On: About 700,000 Marylanders could see disruptions to their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits if the federal government shutdown continues past several weeks, experts warn. WYPR-FM – see also PA national report and map, below…
House Speaker Says ‘Now Is The Time’ To Take Up Redistricting: The leader of Maryland’s House of Delegates is pushing her colleagues on redistricting, saying she is “eager” and “willing” to consider redrawing congressional lines to help match changes made in GOP-controlled states. Baltimore Banner.
EPA Names New Bay Program Director
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has selected a career employee with two decades of experience at the agency as the new head of its Chesapeake Bay Program Office in Annapolis. In an email to Bay Program participants, the agency said that Dan Coogan is scheduled to begin Oct. 6. Bay Journal
Jurisdictions Seek To Hold Fossil Fuel Firms Liable In Climate Change Fight: Baltimore city, Annapolis and Anne Arundel County are set to argue Monday at the Maryland Supreme Court that they should be able to sue to hold fossil fuel companies liable for deceptive practices related to climate change. Baltimore Sun.
Food Banks, Businesses Step Up During Shutdown: As the shutdown continues, missing paychecks and the potential pause of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program support could lead to a surge of patrons at food banks around the state, said Chloe Woodward-Magrane of the Maryland Food Bank. “People should not go hungry because something is happening with their job.” Maryland Matters.
>>"Something like a government shutdown, the loss of a paycheck, the loss of public benefits, is really just a hammer down on Maryland families at a time when they can't afford it," said Anne Wallerstedt of the Maryland Food Bank. According to Wallerstedt, 1 in 3 Maryland families were experiencing food insecurity before the shutdown and, with the shutdown, they are preparing for an even larger need. WJZ-TV News.
Judge: Feds Illegally Capped Sustainable Energy Funding in Md, 19 Other States: The U.S. Department of Energy broke the law last month when officials there attempted to cap the amount of federal funding states could receive to cover staff and administrative costs of sustainable energy and energy efficiency projects, a federal judge found. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown welcomed Kasubhai’s ruling. Maryland was one of the states on the suit. Maryland Matters. Related article below
DMV/REGION/THE OTHER 49
Nearly $8b Cut In Clean Energy Projects In 16 States: The Trump administration is canceling $7.6 billion in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, including Maryland, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election. Michael Phillis and Matthew Daly, Associated Press/The Baltimore Banner.
Forests, Urban Tree Canopy Still Shrinking In Chesapeake Bay Region
It’s getting still harder to see either the forest or the trees. New data indicates that the Chesapeake Bay watershed has continued to lose significant amounts of tree canopy and forest as runoff-inducing pavement and buildings keep spreading. High-resolution aerial surveys show a loss of tree cover nearly equivalent to acreage of Lynchburg, VA, from 2013 to 2021. Meanwhile, over that same time, development covered an area twice the land size of Baltimore, with roads, rooftops, parking lots and other impervious surfaces. Virginia and Maryland accounted for the bulk of those losses. Both of the states separately experienced a nearly 12,000-acre net decline in tree canopy over the eight-year period, according to Bay Program data. Bay Journal
IMMIGRATION: Federal District Court Judge Karin Immergut issued a temporary restraining order Sunday blocking the Trump administration from deploying National Guard units to Portland, Ore. Immergut had blocked Trump from deploying Oregon Guard units on Saturday; on Sunday, she blocked Trump from deploying California or Texas Guard units, siding with Oregon and California. (Associated Press, Oregonian) via Pluribus
GIG ECONOMY: California Gov. Gavin Newson (D) has signed legislation allowing ride-share drivers to join a union and bargain collectively. The law is part of an agreement between the legislature and ride-share giants Lyft and Uber that will allow the companies to cut insurance requirements for accidents caused by underinsured drivers. (Associated Press) via Pluribus, which adds: California joins Massachusetts as the only states to allow gig workers to unionize.
GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND THE FEDS
Trump escalated his deployment of federal troops in major Democrat-led US cities over the weekend, as countervailing orders ping-ponged through the courts. After a federal judge temporarily blocked the president’s push to deploy the Oregon National Guard into Portland on Saturday, the administration ordered hundreds of California National Guard troops sent up to Oregon instead — until the judge stalled that deployment, too, following a legal challenge from California Gov. Gavin Newsom Sunday night. “Trump’s abuse of power won’t stand,” Newsom said. Meanwhile, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Sunday that Trump had ordered 400 Texas National Guard members to be deployed to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations, in addition to the hundreds of troops already sent to Chicago, describing the surge as “Trump’s invasion.” Federal immigration agents in Chicago have been engaging in “increasingly brazen and aggressive encounters” with both US citizens and migrants, the AP reported. Roundup via Semafor
From WaPo: “Trump plan would limit disability benefits for older Americans -- Trump administration officials are considering eliminating age as a factor in deciding whether someone is capable of working.” Officials say they want to refine the SSA’s evaluation of disabilities and appropriate types of work; one scholar (and former OMB official) says this practice might throw three quarters of a million now receiving disability off the rolls, WaPo reported
AND MORE – shutdown, feckless Congress, nonsense declaimed to stone-faced generals and other misdeeds gathered for us by Megan E, federal affairs director for People’s Action, our national affiliate:
Hi People's Action,
A Trump-appointed federal judge in Oregon ruled over the weekend that Trump is not legally justified in taking over Oregon’s national guard to “go to war” with small peaceful protests outside an ICE facility. He then tried to send CA national guard troops to Oregon and the judge accused him of trying to violate her order and ruled that illegal as well. The decision is headed to the appeals court, which could rule as early as today.
ICE has been increasingly aggressive in Chicago and around the country, arresting and detaining U.S. citizens, including an alderperson, in Chicago as Trump is using them and the National Guard as his personal police force. Last night, Secretary of Defense and former Fox host, Pete Hegseth, ordered 400 Texas national guard troops to Oregon and Chicago.
Last week, Hegseth and Trump spoke to a gathering of hundreds of his top generals last week at an event that was more like a rally - except the crowd was quiet. Hegseth focused on calling generals fat and trying to push women out of the military which SNL parodied last night. Trump’s remarks were far more sinister. He said, “that American cities should be used as ‘training grounds’ for the U.S. military, and that their job will be to help quell an ‘enemy within’ which is ‘no different than a foreign enemy — but more difficult in many ways, because they don’t wear uniforms.’ Trump added: ‘At least when they’re wearing a uniform you can take them out.’”
The government shutdown continues with no end in sight. Speaker Johnson is not opening the House this week because he refuses to negotiate reopening the government. The Senate will be in session as Republicans try to force more Democratic Senators to vote for their bill.
Many narrative gurus, political commentators and state and local leaders are arguing that Democrats are not being clear in this fight. On the one hand they are saying Trump is taking power and violating the Constitution and then on the other they are publicly making health care demands for the shutdown. This is of course, based on polling and trying to reach beyond the active base. In some ways that seems to be working. While Democrats' approval rating is still in the toilet, a majority of people are blaming Trump and Republicans for the shutdown. CNN reports that the health care demand is popular; an unprecedented, “47% of Americans say they want to extend the subsidies and Democrats should continue demanding that ‘even if it continues the government shutdown.’” [An NBC poll has 78 percent of Americans saying they approve of extending the ACA subsidies].
David Dayen in the American Prospect is floating another proposal -- that Democrats can try to negotiate another deal that gets guardrails that require Trump to spend appropriated money in the funding bill in exchange for funds to bail out soybean farmers who are bleeding money due to Trump’s tariffs (China is no longer buying our soybeans). This in parallel to the health care fight.
There are no perfect answers. We are in a terrible situation with Trump controlling three branches of government and attacking institutions that oppose or resist him left and right. How you message on the shutdown depends on each organization's audience, powerbuilding ( for example, people concerned about democracy and immigration v. people who may have voted for Trump or sat the last election out) and campaign goals. People’s Action is trying to message more broadly on Trump’s raising a personal army to go to war with peaceful blue cities and his other power grabs while supporting the health care narrative. Our toolkit is here.
We are looking for stories of people on ACA plans who will be affected by rising prices. Please contact me at [email protected] if you have any storytellers AND to let me know what is happening where you live around the shutdown. Thank you to folks who have shared their materials or events with me! Story collection form here
NEW RESOURCES: The Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality released an interactive map of SNAP cuts – notice that many of the worst-hit states are clustered in the Red Zone.