One of the biggest lies yet about immigration

Stephen Miller's new bullshit about immigrants

Robert Reich

Trump’s Chief Bigot, Stephen Miller, said on Fox News this month that immigrants to the United States bring problems that extend through generations.

“With a lot of these immigrant groups, not only is the first generation unsuccessful,” Miller claimed. “You see persistent issues in every subsequent generation. So you see consistent high rates of welfare use, consistent high rates of criminal activity, consistent failures to assimilate.”

In fact, the data show just the opposite. The children and grandchildren and great grandchildren of most immigrants are models of upward mobility in America.

In a new paper, Princeton’s Leah Boustan, Stanford’s Ran Abramitzky, Elisa Jácome of Princeton, and Santiago Pérez of UC Davis, used millions of father-son pairs spanning more than a century of U.S. history to show that immigrants today are no slower to move into the middle class than immigrants were a century ago.

In fact, no matter when their parents came to the U.S. or what country they came from, children of immigrants have higher rates of upward mobility than their U.S.-born peers.

Stephen Miller’s great great grandfather, Wolf-Leib Glosser, was born in a dirt-floor shack in the village of Antopol, a shtetl in what is now Belarus.

For much the same reasons my great grandparents came to America — vicious pogroms that threatened his life — Wolf-Leib came to Ellis Island on January 7, 1903, with $8 in his pockets. Though fluent in Polish, Russian and Yiddish, he understood no English.

Wolf-Leib’s son, Nathan, soon followed, and they raised enough money through peddling and toiling in sweatshops to buy passage to America for the rest of their family, in 1906 — including young Sam Glosser, Stephen Miller’s great grandfather.

Yard sale

Never forget!

A special kind of scum

 

Trump Threatens Child Care Funding Across the US After Bogus Social Media Claim

Child Care services nationwide de-funded based on racist claims by right-wing nut

By Sharon Zhang

This article was originally published by Truthout

The Trump administration has reportedly frozen federal child care subsidies for every state in the U.S. after a right-wing social media influencer made a debunked video purporting to show fraud in Somali-run daycares in Minnesota this week.

On Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Jim O’Neill said that the agency had frozen all child care payments to Minnesota following the spread of a social media video claiming, with dubious evidence, to have uncovered over $100 million of child care fraud in the state. 

Later, reports emerged saying that the administration was freezing funding for all states until they can provide supposed verification regarding their child care programs. One outlet, Reuters, reported that one official said that no funds had been frozen, however, and that the administration was only initiating probes into fraud in Minnesota.

Federal child care subsidies fund care for 1.4 million children across the country, with over half of children receiving subsidies aged less than five years old, according to HHS’s Office of Child Care. The reported cuts come at a time when families are already facing massive shortages and an affordability crisis of child care in the U.S.

The reports came after a video by a 23-year-old right-wing influencer, Nick Shirley, circulated social media this week. In the video, Shirley visits a dozen Somali-run child care centers with a man identified only as David, knocking on their doors and demanding to see the children.

The centers refused to let them inside for reasons many commentators attributed to the safety of the children, but the men nonetheless took it as proof that the centers are fraudulent.

The video was debunked by reporters, including local news outlet WCCO. WCCO visited one of the facilities that Shirley went to for his video and claimed was empty, and instead found that there were over a dozen children there, as well as several adult staff members. Further, workers shared surveillance footage from the morning of Shirley’s visit that showed children being dropped off at the facility for a normal day of child care.

How can you avoid norovirus (the stomach flu)?

Hand sanitizer doesn’t work well on this nasty bug. So how to dodge norovirus symptoms this season? 

UC Davis Health

The norovirus – a virus that’s the country’s leading cause of vomiting, diarrhea, and foodborne illness – is picking up steam again as the holidays arrive.

Recently the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) warned that norovirus — commonly known as the stomach flu — is “on the rise.”

As of Dec. 12, norovirus levels in wastewater in the U.S. West and South were labeled “medium” according to data linked on the department’s website, but were “high” in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast. As of Dec. 20, levels were high at the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, as well as in San Francisco. 

Norovirus is highly contagious, and it travels from person to person a bit differently than the respiratory viruses that cause flu, COVID and common colds. That can be both good and bad news. 

Read on to arm yourself with more understanding about norovirus symptoms and behavior — and how you can increase your chances of avoiding this bug.

What is norovirus? 

Norovirus is one of several intestinal viruses that cause diarrhea, vomiting and gut cramps that can last for multiple days. Sometimes, this can lead to dangerous levels of dehydration. 

When you hear about nasty outbreaks of stomach illness in places like cruise ships, day cares and senior facilities, it’s highly likely you’re hearing about norovirus. It’s sometimes even called “the cruise ship virus.” These are all places where people spend time close to each other, and where they usually eat and drink together from the same food source. 

For many people, those conditions also happen during holiday gatherings.

How long do norovirus symptoms last?

Symptoms usually start 12 to 48 hours after contact with the virus, according to CDPH. A person may vomit and/or have diarrhea many times a day, with symptoms usually lasting 1 to 3 days.

Going after the source of spikes in homeowner insurance costs

Homeowners Sue Oil Companies as Climate Damage Drives up Insurance Rates

By Dana Drugmand

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

Two homeowners in Washington state who have seen sharp increases in their home insurance premiums in recent years have brought a new lawsuit against major oil and gas companies—the first of its kind aiming to hold Big Oil responsible for climate-related spikes in insurance costs. 

The case, filed last week in U.S. District Court in the state’s Western District, alleges that deception and fraud on the part of oil industry defendants around the impacts of fossil fuels on climate has substantially contributed to the climate crisis, which in turn has resulted in a homeowners’ insurance crisis as rates soar and access in especially high-risk areas starts to decline. 

In Washington state, for example, homeowners’ insurance rates have risen by 51 percent over the last six years. 

For Richard Kennedy, a resident of the Seattle suburb of Normandy Park, premiums have more than doubled since 2017, rising from $1,012 to $2,149. Margaret Hazard, who resides in Carson, Washington, has similarly experienced a doubling in her homeowners’ insurance premiums over the last eight years. They are now turning to the courts, filing a class action on behalf of all homeowners who have or will purchase insurance after the year 2017 in both that state and nationwide.

Climate change, which is supercharging damaging extreme weather such as hurricanes, flooding and wildfires, is a key factor driving rising home insurance rates. As climate-related disasters and their associated costs mount, homeowners’ insurance is becoming costlier and harder to obtain, according to a January report from the Department of the Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office. The report found that average home insurance premiums increased nearly 9 percent faster than the rate of inflation from 2018 to 2022. 

The lawsuit, Kennedy v. Exxon et al., is the first to target fossil fuel companies over these skyrocketing insurance costs. “This case is about holding the fossil fuel defendants accountable for the increased homeowners’ insurance premiums that their coordinated and deliberate scheme to hide the truth about climate change and the effects of burning fossil fuels has brought about and for their conduct contributing to climate change,” the complaint asserts. 

Tax Unfairness Soars Under Donald Trump

Big bucks for billionaires in first year of Trump 2.0  

By Gerald Scorse, Progressive Charlestown guest columnist 

Three incredible what-ifs, one right after the other, underscore the direction of America’s tax code over the last several decades. They appear early on in the 2021 book Tax the Rich! How Lies, Loopholes and Lobbyists Make the Rich Even Richer. 

Shock after shock, here they come: 

“If you had worked every single day from the time Columbus sailed to America to the present and earned $5,000 per day, you would still have less money than Jeff Bezos makes in a week.” 

“If you had made $100,000 every single day since the year 1 A.D. and saved every penny, you would still have less money than Bill Gates has.”  

“If you had started working when the human race, Home sapiens, first walked upright, around 200,000 thousand years ago, and saved $100,000 a year, you would still not have as much money as Mark Zuckerberg has.” 

All three are not only true, they’re super-true: The totals for the “if” dollars fall far short of the totals for the actual dollars pulled in by Zuckerberg, Gates and Bezos. Now comes David Kamin of NYU with a real-world parsing of the numbers, factoring in the ongoing effects of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill and his first-term Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. As Kamin sees it, the sirens are already sounding.  

Battle Hymn of MAGA

oops

 

Will Maduro get a Trump pardon if he pays Trump enough money?

 

Trump says he notified Big Oil execs before his Venezuela attack

Not Congress. 

Jon Queally

Donald Trump on Sunday told reporters that the heads of American oil companies were informed of the US military’s attack on Venezuela—described as “brazenly illegal” by scholars and experts—even before it took place.

Trump’s admission sparked condemnation because the administration refused to consult with US lawmakers about the operation, citing fears of a leak that would compromise operational security.

“Before and after,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday when asked if he’d spoken with oil executives or perhaps “tipped them off” about the operation. “They want to go in, and they’re going to do a great job for the people of Venezuela.”

Trump’s remarks were condemned by those critical of the president’s actions in recent days, including his failure to consult with or seek authorization from Congress.

January 6 protests tomorrow

Why they are important

Here are two articles explaining why, one from Indivisible Rhode Island, host of a State House vigil tomorrow and from former US Sec. of Labor Robert Reich.

First, from Indivisible:

Indivisible Rhode Island: Why we will gather by candlelight on January 6 at the State House

Lev Poplow; Lead Organizer, Indivisible Rhode Island
MK Getler; Indivisible Rhode Island Steering Committee Member
Michaela Keegan; Indivisible Rhode Island Steering Committee Member

"Democracies do not fail all at once. They erode slowly in pivotal moments when truth becomes negotiable, and participation becomes optional..."

On January 6, 2026, as the Rhode Island General Assembly gavels in its first day of a fresh new legislative session, the members of Indivisible Rhode Island and our Chapters will gather quietly by candlelight.

We do so not to celebrate the occasion, but to honor the truth.

Five years ago, on January 6, 2021, our nation watched as a violent mob stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn a free and fair election. People were injured. Lives were lost. Democratic norms, the likes of which many of us had taken for granted, were shaken to their core. For some, the images feel like a distant memory. For others, especially those who work in public service, journalism, advocacy, and policy, that day fundamentally altered how safe and stable our democracy felt.

The candlelight vigil we are holding is first and foremost about those impacted by that day: Capitol staff, law enforcement officers, elected officials, their families, and everyday Americans who realized, perhaps for the first time, how fragile our democratic system can be when hateful rhetoric is allowed to metastasize into violence.

But this vigil is also about Rhode Island.

January 6, 2026, is not just an anniversary. It is the first day of legislation at the Rhode Island State House. The irony of that convergence is not lost on us.

However, kismet the dates may be, we choose to let them serve as a reminder that democracy is not an abstract ideal housed in Washington, D.C. It lives here in our tiny state. It dwells in our state house, city halls, school committees, and town councils. It lingers in the daily work of governance and in citizens’ responsibility to remain engaged, informed, and vigilant.

Indivisible Rhode Island believes that remembrance is not passive, and as such, this candlelight vigil is an action: a form of accountability and responsibility. When we forget, or worse, when we normalize political violence, we weaken the guardrails that protect a pluralistic democracy. A candlelight vigil is deliberate: quiet instead of chaos, reflection instead of rage, community instead of fear.

Some may ask why we are “looking back” when there is so much work ahead. Our answer is simple: We cannot move forward responsibly without reflecting on what has led us to this moment. Democracies do not fail all at once. They erode slowly in pivotal moments when truth becomes negotiable, and participation becomes optional.

As lawmakers return to the State House to debate policies that will shape the lives and wellbeing of Rhode Islanders, from housing and healthcare to education and climate resilience, we want to ground that work in a shared commitment to democratic principles: Respect for humanity. Civic disagreement without dehumanization. And equal rights for all.

Rhode Island has a long history of civic engagement and dissent rooted in a commitment to the common good. Gathering by candlelight on January 6 is our way of reaffirming that legacy. It is an invitation to lawmakers and neighbors alike to begin this legislative session with humility, inclusivity, and resolve.

Democracy is not self-sustaining. It asks something of each of us. It calls us to action and challenges us to pursue a more perfect society.

On January 6, we will show up not with slogans or speeches, but with light. A beacon of our state motto: Hope.

Source: SteveAhlquist.news is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The most shameful day in American history

We will never forget, and we will not let the nation or the world forget.

Robert Reich

Jan 05, 2026

Friends,

Five years ago tomorrow was the most shameful day in American history.

We must not allow Trump to persuade America that it did not happen or that he was innocent, or let him deflect the nation’s attention from the fifth anniversary of what occurred that day.

Less than three weeks ago, Jack Smith, the former special counsel to the Justice Department, appeared before the House Judiciary Committee and testified under oath:

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.”

The sole reason Donald Trump is not now behind bars is that Smith dropped the case after Trump was elected to a second term, because the Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. United States — written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by five other justices, three of whom were nominated by Trump — prevented the prosecution of a sitting president.

Let us ponder this for a moment.

Although the peaceful transfer of power lies at the heart of American democracy, Trump sought to overturn the result of the 2020 election. He is now president once again.

Five years ago tomorrow, on January 6, 2021, when Vice President Mike Pence walked into the Capitol, he faced a withering pressure campaign by Trump.

Trump and his henchmen had already twisted the arms of governors and election officials around the country to change the result of the election in his favor. They had coaxed loyalists in five swing states to submit signed certificates falsely claiming they were “duly elected and qualified” members of the Electoral College.

Pence was about to throw out the slates of false electors. As he began the electoral vote count, thousands of Trump supporters — many of them armed — stormed the Capitol. Some chanted they wanted to “hang Mike Pence” for refusing to block the certification.

They came directly from a rally Trump held on the Ellipse, in which Trump repeated his false claim that the election had been stolen and told the crowd, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

According to the criminal indictment,

“After it became public on the afternoon of January 6 that the Vice President would not fraudulently alter the election results, a large and angry crowd — including many individuals whom the Defendant had deceived into believing the Vice President could and might change the election results — violently attacked the Capitol and halted the proceeding.”

The FBI estimated that between 2,000 and 2,500 people entered the Capitol Building in the attack, some of whom participated in vandalism and looting, including of the offices of members of Congress. Rioters also assaulted Capitol Police officers. They occupied the empty Senate chamber while federal law enforcement officers defended the evacuated House floor.

Within 36 hours, five people died. One was shot by Capitol Police; another died of a drug overdose; three died of heart attacks or strokes, including a police officer who died the day after being assaulted by rioters. Many were injured, including 174 police officers. Four other officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months.

“President Trump was wrong,” Pence said subsequently. “I had no right to overturn the election. And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”

A week after the attack, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection. In February 2021, after he left office, the Senate voted 57–43 in favor of conviction but fell short of the required two-thirds majority, resulting in his acquittal.

Senate Republicans then blocked a bill to create a bipartisan independent commission to investigate the attack, leaving the House to organize its own select committee.

After an 18-month investigation including more than 1,000 witnesses and nine televised public hearings, the House’s select committee identified Trump as the “central cause” of the Capitol attack by the pro-Trump mob.

The panel, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, voted unanimously to recommend charges to the Justice Department to prosecute Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Following a special counsel investigation by the Justice Department, Trump was indicted on four charges in August 2023.

As I’ve noted, all charges against Trump were dismissed after his reelection to the presidency.

Of the 1,424 people charged with federal crimes relating to the riot, 1,010 pled guilty and 1,060 were sentenced and served time in prison. Enrique Tarrio, then the chairman of the Proud Boys, received the longest sentence, a 22-year prison term.

Upon retaking the presidency, Trump pardoned them all.

***

Trump and his lackeys in the Republican Party have since promoted a revisionist history of the event — downplaying the severity of the violence, spreading conspiracy theories, and portraying those charged with crimes as hostages and martyrs.

Trump has tried to recast the violent events as a “day of love.”

On December 8, 2024, in his first broadcast news interview since the 2024 election, Trump said members of the House committee that investigated the riot “should go to jail.”

***

We must never forget. We must teach our children and our children’s children and all future generations of Americans what happened on January 6, 2021— so that, as Mike Pence hoped, “history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”

January 6, 2021 was the most shameful day in American history. It should live in infamy, as should the traitor who refused to accept the election results and incited the attack on the U.S. Capitol — Donald J. Trump.

After Venezuela Assault, Trump and Rubio Warn Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia Could Be Next

We were warned that this is what a malignant narcissist would do

Jake Johnson

Donald Trump and top administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, characterized Saturday’s assault on Venezuela and abduction of the country’s president as a warning shot in the direction of Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, and other Latin American nations.

During a Saturday press conference, Trump openly invoked the Monroe Doctrine—an assertion of US dominance of the Western Hemisphere—and said his campaign of aggression against Venezuela represented the “Donroe Doctrine” in action.

In his unwieldy remarks, Trump called out Colombian President Gustavo Petro by name, accusing him without evidence of “making cocaine and sending it to the United States.”

“So he does have to watch his ass,” the US president said of Petro, who condemned the Trump administration’s Saturday attack on Venezuela as “aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and Latin America.”

Petro responded defiantly to the possibility of the US targeting him, writing on social media that he is “not worried at all.”

In a Fox News appearance earlier Saturday, Trump also took aim at the United States’ southern neighbor, declaring ominously that “something’s going to have to be done with Mexico,” which also denounced the attack on Venezuela and abduction of President Nicolás Maduro.

“She is very frightened of the cartels,” Trump said of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. “So we have to do something.”

Rubio, for his part, focused on Cuba—a country whose government he has long sought to topple.

“If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned, at least a little bit,” Rubio, who was born in Miami to Cuban immigrant parents, said during Saturday’s press conference.

That the Trump administration wasted no time threatening other nations as it pledged to control Venezuela indefinitely sparked grave warnings, with the leadership of Progressive International cautioning that “this armed attack on Venezuela is not an isolated event.”

“It is the next step in the United States’ campaign of regime change that stretches from Caracas to Havana—and an attack on the very principle of sovereign equality and the prospects for the Zone of Peace once established by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States,” the coalition said in a statement. “This renewed declaration of impunity from Washington is a threat to all nations around the world.”

“Trump has clearly articulated the imperial logic of this intervention—to seize control over Venezuela’s natural resources and reassert US domination over the hemisphere,” said Progressive International. “The ‘Trump corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine—applied in recent hours with violent force over the skies of Caracas—is the single greatest threat to peace and prosperity that the Americas confront today.”

Run Venezuela? The Trump Regime Can’t Even Run the United States

Yet another distraction from our economic woes. Or is it about Epstein?

Richard Eskow in Common Dreams

Read it in the news:

“Economic Confidence Drops to 17-Month Low”
—Gallup, December 4, 2025

“Satisfaction with U.S. healthcare costs is the lowest Gallup has recorded … since 2001.”
—Gallup, December 15, 2025

“ACA credits expire, leading to sharp rise in health insurance premiums.”
—WANF TV Atlanta, January 1, 2026

“We’re going to run (Venezuela) until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.”
—Donald Trump, January 3, 2026

The commentary pretty much writes itself. As surely as night follow day, the Trump Administration was bound to do something to distract Americans from their well-founded economic fears—especially from a health cost crisis Trump’s party just made vastly worse. And all that Venezuelan oil looks mighty attractive from an oligarch’s perspective.

But “run Venezuela”? Shouldn’t they do a better job running this country first? Let’s start with healthcare. The Affordable Care Act is what programmers used to call a “kludge”; it’s a Rube Goldberg contraption whose goal is to mitigate the pain caused by America’s so-called healthcare “system.” America’s healthcare crisis can’t truly be fixed until the profit motive is removed.

Nevertheless, the ACA has provided at least some healthcare coverage to millions of people. That’s better than nothing—much better. The premium tax credits are a wealth transfer from the public to the private sector. But without them—and with no other system in place—millions of people will soon face disastrous monthly premium hikes. If they don’t pay them—and many won’t be able to afford it—they’ll face financial ruin if they become sick or injured.

We can recognize the flawed nature of the ACA and still see that these Republican cuts are inhumane and indefensible.

“We can’t afford it,” the Republicans argue. But that raises the obvious question: If not, then how can we afford to “run Venezuela”? Besides, they’ve got work to do right here.

Sure, the economy is doing pretty well—for the investor class. But even that limited success is hanging by a thread. It’s driven by an AI bubble that will almost certainly burst, wreaking economic havoc when it does. Meanwhile, millions of households are struggling with the cost of living (click on images to expand):

Visual Capitalist/Statista

More than 43 million Americans live in poverty, including one child in seven:

Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation

The housing shortage is causing widespread pain as homes become increasingly unaffordable for most workers:

The labor outlook is “cooling,” as the economists say. But even that doesn’t count the most critical element of the job market, which is the ability to find jobs that actually pay a living wage:

Young people are especially hard-hit:

“Energy affordability” is a growing crisis, too. The average American household paid $124 per month more on its utility bill in the first nine months of 2025 and rates are still rising, with no end in sight:

Oh, and the New START treaty will expire in a few weeks, leaving the world with no meaningful limits on the possibility of a new nuclear arms race:

Nuclear catastrophe? It’s not impossible. Doesn’t that warrant some attention from this country’s leaders?

You get the idea. With all these problems to solve, our leaders have decided the right thing to do is—invade Venezuela. That won’t be an easy ride. It’s a country of 28 million people and its terrain that includes jungles, deserts, and mountains.

With all these disasters at home, it’s a safe bet we’re not wanted in Venezuela for our management expertise. In fact, most Venezuelans don’t want us there at all:

Most Venezuelans think the US is only doing it “because of the oil”:

The question, translated: “Do you believe that a potential military invasion against Venezuela would aim to overthrow the president in order to seize the oil, or do you think it would be to combat drug trafficking?” The headline: “90% believe that an invasion would aim to overthrow Maduro because of the oil.”

To be fair, we are only doing it because of the oil. Mostly, anyway.

Most Americans don’t want us in Venezuela, either:

In fact, most Americans are sick of our government’s seemingly endless addiction to foreign military adventurism:

And yet, here we are.

This is a desperate resource grab by Trump and the other overseers of this dying economic system. It’s also an obvious and deliberate distraction from the many problems here in the United States. And we all know they’re doing it for their benefit, not ours.

Like the saying goes: it’s all about the grift. But at what price for the rest of us?

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

Richard Eskow is a journalist who has written for a number of major publications. His weekly program, The Zero Hour, can be found on cable television, radio, Spotify, and podcast media.