The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker vowed Sunday to use the power of state government to resist President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard resources and federal law enforcement agents like ICE to Chicago, while Vice President JD Vance said the White House may escalate things even further.

Pritzker was on ABC’s This Week, where he challenged Vance over a “tidal wave of lies” about the city of Chicago and other cities run by liberal mayors and leadership. He also responded once again to Trump’s call for his arrest this past week.

“As I’ve said before, come and get me,” said the governor.

Pritzker’s comments come as the White House moved this past week to deploy National Guard troops to Illinois’ largest city using a provision of federal law that allows it to be activated without the consent of the governor. Though Guard troops in the city will not have direct law enforcement powers, they will be able to assist federal law enforcement operatives carrying out immigration enforcement and other activities which fall under the umbrella of crime prevention.

A federal judge then ruled on Thursday in favor of the state, temporarily blocking the deployment.

The Trump administration argues that American cities like Chicago, Portland and Baltimore are “lawless” hellholes where law enforcement and citizens are attacked openly, a false perception fueled by right-wing media like Fox News.  [snip]

Pritzker responded in an interview following Vance on ABC, arguing that there was absolutely no legal justification for invoking a law allowing the president to federalize individual National Guard units and deploy military assets against U.S. citizens, which under the Constitution can only be used to address an “insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination or conspiracy” which prevents law enforcement from taking action normally or where a state government “is unable, fails, or refuses” to protect Americans’ rights.

"If the Constitution means anything, and I guess we all are questioning that right now, the Insurrection Act cannot be invoked,” Pritzker told host George Stephanopolous. “There has to be a rebellion.”

“They just want troops on the ground because they want to militarize especially blue cities in blue states,” the governor added. He argued that Vance and Trump both were contradicting arguments in court made by DOJ attorneys claiming that the militarization of the Illinois Guard was necessary to protect ICE and its related facilities in the state... (our emphasis)

Pritzker continues to be a credible and effective leader pushing back against the fascist takeover of key Democratic cities.  The regime's buildup to invoking the Insurrection Act is being challenged publicly in the media and in the courts.  But the lesson these MAGAt extremists learned from January 6 was that they didn't go far enough.  They aren't restraining themselves this time around.

The bad:

Donald Trump has retrained his legal focus on Sen. Adam Schiff, a familiar foe for the president – but with a renewed context, as James Comey goes to trial for giving a false statement and obstruction of justice.

“The Ukraine Impeachment (of me!) Scam was a far bigger Illegal Hoax than Watergate,” Trump wrote in a post shared on Truth Social Sunday. “I sincerely hope the necessary authorities, including CONGRESS, are looking into this! Adam “Schiffty” Schiff was sooo dishonest and corrupt. So many laws, and protocols, were violated, and just plain broken!!! President DJT.”

Schiff said in a video shared on X Saturday that he is not concerned about Trump’s attempts at intimidation.

“The president has made no secret of his enemies list,” he captioned the video. “But we will not be intimidated. We will not be deterred.We will do our jobs and continue fighting back against these attempts at retribution.”

Schiff’s video comes days after New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted on allegations of mortgage fraud and after Comey entered a plea of not guilty in response to his own indictment.

In a September post shared on Truth Social, Trump described Comey, Schiff, and James as “guilty as hell” and lamented “nothing is going to be done.”

This lawless, deranged felon and his willing accomplices' abuse of the justice system should shock every American, but too many have become numb to the daily firehose of outrages and offenses, stretching back a decade.  This authoritarian behavior is what the "No Kings" protests on October 18 are all about.  We can't allow it in our politics if we're to (barely) remain a democratic republic.

The ugly:

On the morning of Oct. 3, 2025, Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam walked out of Huntingdon State Correctional Institution, the Pennsylvania prison that had confined him for more than four decades. The 64-year-old had spent nearly his entire adult life behind bars for a murder he did not commit. His conviction had been vacated weeks earlier after a court found that prosecutors had concealed evidence that would have dismantled the state’s case. The Centre County district attorney formally withdrew all charges a day before his expected release. 

But Vedam never made it home. As he stood on the threshold of freedom, officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were waiting. Acting on a decades-old deportation order, they detained him and transferred him to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, an ICE detention facility in central Pennsylvania.

His family, who had prepared to welcome him home, instead learned that Vedam would remain in custody — not as a prisoner of the state, but as a detainee of the federal government. 

“To our disappointment, Subu was transferred to ICE custody and is currently being held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center,” the family said in a statement posted on a website dedicated to building support for Vedam’s case. 

“This immigration issue is a remnant of Subu’s original case. Since that wrongful conviction has now been officially vacated and all charges against Subu have been dismissed, we have asked the immigration court to reopen the case and consider the fact that Subu has been exonerated. Our family continues to wait — and long for the day we can finally be together with him again.”

You have to read all the details of this story.  But let it never be said that the goons at ICE aren't working overtime to meet ghoul Stephen Miller's daily quota of arrests.  Welcome to America, 2025.