Midwestern Progressives

09/08/2026

Over the weekend, Trump went on a Truth Social posting spree — and among the chaos, he unveiled the "next generation" Space Force uniform.

Let's talk about these uniforms. Dark peaked caps, tall black boots, sharp black tunics, in a palette of "space gray, midnight black, silver gray, and satin black". The White House says they're "inspired by the discipline and functionality" of Starship Troopers — a movie that's literally a satire of a fascist, militaristic society. Even conservative commentators are asking if they get the joke. Jonah Goldberg put it bluntly: "My worry is whether these individuals grasp the point Verhoeven aimed to make in Starship Troopers. I honestly don't know what would be worse: if they understood or if they didn't".

Social media didn't wait to make the comparison everyone's thinking: Imperial officers from Star Wars, and yes — N**i SS uniforms. This isn't a NASA jumpsuit. This is costume design straight out of "who's the villain in this movie" — and design choices like this aren't random. As one commenter put it, "This is the kind of design costume designers make to tell you who are the bad guys in a space movie".

This comes the same weekend Trump also declared "The Moon is Ours" — despite the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 explicitly banning any nation from claiming sovereignty over celestial bodies. Together, the posts paint a picture of where this administration wants Space Force headed: not toward exploration and science, but toward space as a militarized, weaponized domain.

The costume tells the story before the mission statement does.

09/08/2026

We're going to do none of those things, instead, we're going to throw unlimited funding at the police state, put cameras up everywhere (well, not in gated communities where the wealthy live...duh...they all have their own cameras and we wouldn't dare have the government intrude on their privacy)...*sigh*

09/07/2026

Yasmany Moreno, 32, a Cuban man who had lived and worked legally in Florida, was placed on a plane in Texas on July 30, 2026 with his hands, waist, and feet shackled. Nobody told him where he was going. Five hours into the flight, an ICE officer informed him they were headed to Africa. He arrived in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, where the US State Department issues a Level 4 "Do Not Travel" advisory citing terrorism, kidnapping, landmines, and violent crime. He was sick for four days. A month later he and 35 other deportees remain in the same Bangui hotel, without passports, without legal status, without information about what comes next.

The Trump administration has used "third-country removal" agreements with African nations to deport migrants who cannot be returned to their home countries. Cuba has refused to accept most deportees. Amnesty International confirmed over 100 people have been sent to African third countries under this policy as of August 2026. South Florida immigration attorney Morella Aguado stated plainly: "There is no legal basis for sending him to Africa." Aristides Fernandez, 37, another Cuban Florida resident deported under the same policy, called it a kidnapping. Neither man had been ordered deported to Africa by any immigration judge.

Sources: Tampa Bay Times, CBS News Miami, BreezyScroll, Amnesty International, August 31 to September 3, 2026

09/07/2026

09/07/2026

Steve Witkoff opened Saturday's Kremlin meeting by telling Vladimir Putin that when he and Jared retire, their memories of him will be "right at the top of it all."

That's on the Kremlin's own transcript.

The man he was talking to has an International Criminal Court warrant for the abduction of Ukrainian children, and had hit two airports outside Kyiv that morning.

Three hours of talks, then dinner.

The Kremlin's readout, per the Washington Post, says economic cooperation was discussed "in considerable detail."

Also at the table: Kirill Dmitriev, who runs Russia's sovereign wealth fund — he's the one standing behind Witkoff in this photo.

The next morning the envoys took the train to Kyiv, which had agreed to stop shooting at Moscow so they could make the trip.

A short résumé of the American delegation.

Kushner's investment firm took $2 billion from Saudi Arabia's sovereign fund six months after he left the White House; he's since bought the bombed Yugoslav army headquarters in Belgrade for a luxury tower and floated Gaza's "waterfront property."

Witkoff's family co-founded the Trump crypto company whose stablecoin carried a $2 billion Emirati investment while he was negotiating in the Gulf.

Neither man has ever been confirmed by the Senate to anything.

Marco Rubio, meanwhile, holds four titles — Secretary of State, acting national security adviser, acting archivist, and until recently acting head of USAID.

The White House readout listed officials from the NSC, State and Treasury in the room. His name isn't on it.

Ukraine got a three-day pause in airstrikes.
The Kremlin got a photo.
Putin says he has "full trust" in the process.

Of course he does — he's met the negotiators.

09/07/2026

Roughly 34,000 people participated in the 2026 Mackinac Bridge Walk on Labor Day.