Trump and Congress are skipping out on the bill for mass deportations
The current administration is acting like we live in a fairy tale.
Read in The Hill: https://apple.news/A5JsMWZCmTcqLKKD-Z1aYfQ
Shared from Apple News
Best Wishes and Hugs,Scottie
| February 7, 1926 “Negro History Week” was observed for the first time, conceived by Dr. Carter G. Woodson as an opportunity to study the history and accomplishments of African Americans. Dr. Woodson was the founder, in 1915 Chicago, of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. There he first published the Journal of Negro History, currently known as The Journal of African American History (www.jaah.org). Woodson was a graduate of the University of Chicago, the Sorbonne, and was the second black man ever to receive his doctorate from Harvard. He chose February because it is the birth month of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass; now it is designated Black History Month.   Top L-R: Frederick Douglass, former slave and abolitionist leader; Muhammad Ali, poet, World Champion, the greatest; Maya Angelou, poet, novelist, voice of wisdom; Malcolm X, strong and clear-eyed brother seeking freedom and honor and dignity ; Harriet Tubman, liberator and conductor on the Underground Railroad. Below: Jimi Hendrix, prolific guitar genius, rock ‘n’ roll writer; Nat “King” Cole, jazz composer, pianist and singer; Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., pastor, scholar and author, leader of a people, inspiration to peacemakers.  Dr. Carter G. Woodson More on Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s life and work |
February 7, 1971 Women in Switzerland were granted the right to vote in national elections and to stand for parliament for the first time in their nation’s history. This happened through a national referendum in which only men could vote, passing 621,403 to 323,596. A previous referendum in 1959 failed 2-1. |
| February 7, 1986 Haitian self-appointed President-for-Life Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier fled his country after being ousted by the military, ending 28 years of authoritarian family rule.Policies begun by his father, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, had forced many to flee Haiti (the western portion of the island of Hispaniola), leaving it the poorest and most illiterate nation in the hemisphere. Deforestation (for cooking fuel and heat) eliminated forest cover on 98% of the country, in turn leading to significant annual loss of topsoil, often making agriculture unsustainable.  Jean-Claude `Baby Doc’ Duvalier with his father Francois `Papa Doc’ Duvailer. Some Haitian history |
| February 7, 1991 The Reverend Jean-Bertrand Aristide was sworn in as Haiti’s president after winning the country’s first-ever democratic election. Haiti had achieved its independence from France in 1804 but had a long succession on unstable governments, as well as significant U.S. control in the first half of the 20th century, including military occupation from 1915 to 1934.  Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in exile during the 1991-94 military junta. Archive of Haitian history |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february7
It’s an excellent poem, with more background on the page, of interest to us here. Click the title.
I never feel so alive as when I am
writing and have no right
answer for what this means
for the lives of others, how
to live in the after which after
all means the now of our living
together when together
means death for all
those forbidden from
entering the home so
methodically built until after
they are dead. Only
after will locked doors
swing amply open to
admit the murdered
into rooms of vast
crushed comfort, whose
inhabitants eat and sleep
on furnishings carved
with corpses, stepping
with hospitable sorrow
around the bodies of the
dead, speaking dirges
into the phantom
darkness. What happens
in the quiet grave where
the living make themselves
at home, where noisily
they intend to thrive, where
the poem itself concedes
to suffering so it might persist
in blazing against it.
Copyright © 2025 by Youna Kwak. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 5, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.
Click the poem title for more about this poet and her poem.
Blanche Taylor Dickinson 1896 – 1972
My branch of thoughts is frail tonight
As one lone-wind-whipped weed.
Little I care if a rain drop laughs
Or cries; I cannot heed
Such trifles now as a twinkling star,
Or catch a night-bird’s tune.
My whole life is you, to-night,
And you, a cool distant moon.
With a few soft words to nurture my heart
And brighter beams following love’s cool shower
Who knows but this frail wind-whipped weed
Might bear you a gorgeous flower!
This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on February 2, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.
Trump’s looking to building another resort by Ann Telnaes
It certainly won’t be a holiday for the Palestinians Read on Substack
Published on Wednesday, February 05, 2025
Attorney General Peter F. Neronha and 14 attorneys general today issued a joint statement to reaffirm their commitment to protecting access to gender-affirming care in response to the Trump Administration’s recent Executive Order. The coalition released the following statement:
“As state attorneys general, we stand firmly in support of healthcare policies that respect the dignity and rights of all people. Health care decisions should be made by patients, families, and doctors, not by a politician trying to use his power to restrict your freedoms. Gender-affirming care is essential, life-saving medical treatment that supports individuals in living as their authentic selves.
“The Trump Administration’s recent Executive Order is wrong on the science and the law. Despite what the Trump Administration has suggested, there is no connection between “female genital mutilation” and gender-affirming care, and no federal law makes gender-affirming care unlawful. President Trump cannot change that by Executive Order.
“Last week, attorneys general secured a critical win from a federal court that directed the federal government to resume funding that had been frozen by the Trump Administration. In response to the Court’s Order, the Department of Justice has sent a notice stating that ‘federal agencies cannot pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate any awards or obligations on the basis of the OMB memo, or on the basis of the President’s recently issued Executive Orders.’ This means that federal funding to institutions that provide gender-affirming care continues to be available, irrespective of President Trump’s recent Executive Order. If the federal administration takes additional action to impede this critical funding, we will not hesitate to take further legal action.
“State attorneys general will continue to enforce state laws that provide access to gender-affirming care, in states where such enforcement authority exists, and we will challenge any unlawful effort by the Trump Administration to restrict access to it in our jurisdictions.”
Joining Attorney General Neronha in issuing this statement are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
The agreement came in response to a lawsuit accusing Treasury of committing an “unlawful action” by giving private info to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
By Daniel Barnes, Dareh Gregorian and Zoë Richards
Attorneys for the Justice Department have agreed to temporarily restrict staffers associated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing information in the Treasury Department’s payment system.
The agreement comes after a group of union members and retirees sued the Treasury Department alleging that providing DOGE access to the federal government’s massive payment and collections system — and the personal data housed in it — violated federal privacy laws.
The Trump administration filed a motion Wednesday night seeking to enter a proposed order that detailed the agreed-upon terms.
“The Defendants will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained by or within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service,” the proposed order says.
The order would allow exceptions for two special government employees at the Treasury — Tom Krause and Marko Elez — saying they are permitted access “as needed” to perform their duties, “provided that such access to payment records will be ‘read only.'”
The restricted access would remain in effect pending a subsequent hearing on the lawsuit. The judge still needs to sign off on the proposed order.
The White House and the groups that filed the lawsuit did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (snip)
| February 6, 1899 Spain agreed to abandon all claims of sovereignty over Cuba, the cession of Puerto Rico and Guam, the cession of the Philippine Islands; and in exchange the U.S. agreed to pay $20,000,000 in a treaty ratified by the U.S. Senate on this day. The previous July the U.S. took control of Gantanamo Bay, blockaded Cuba’s other ports and destroyed the Spanish fleet at Santiago Bay. The U.S. Army, landed at Guanica, near Ponce, Puerto Rico, and shortly took possession of the island with the exception of San Juan. The Spanish Pacific fleet was destroyed and the U.S. took control of Manila, the capital, and Luzon, the main island of the Philippines a few weeks later. |
| February 6, 1943 The U.S. government required the 110,000 disposessed Japanese Americans forcibly held in concentration (internment) camps to answer loyalty surveys.  Some of the interned were U.S. citizens, and some volunteered to serve in the armed forces during the war with Japan. The Nisei, as they were known, were kept in the camps until the end of World War II.  The Manzanar Relocation Center, a one of the concentration camps where Japanese-Americans were forced to live throughout World War II. |
| February 6, 1956 Autherine Lucy was excluded from classes just three days after becoming the first black person allowed to attend the University of Alabama. Her suspension “for her own safety” followed three days of riots over her Supreme Court-ordered enrollment.  Autherine J. Lucy and her attorney Thurgood Marshall Crowds of students, townspeople and members of the Ku Klux Klan shouted, “Kill her!” among other things. It is unclear why the University did not suspend the students who were among the rioters. Lucy had originally applied for graduate study in library science in 1952, and had been accepted until the University realized her race, and claimed state law prevented her admission. A graduate of traditionally black Miles College, she was only admitted with the help of the National Association for Colored People Legal Defense and Education Fund (NAACP-LDEF) and lawyers Thurgood Marshall (later a Supreme Court justice), Constance Baker Motley (future federal judge) and Arthur Shores (elected to Birmingham City Council). Read more |
| February 6, 1959 The United States successfully test-fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), known as Titan, from Cape Canaveral. It was a two-stage rocket designed to carry nuclear warheads.Titans were also capable of boosting satellites and spacecraft into orbit. Before the last was produced in 2002, they launched several two-man Gemini missions in the 1960s and launched the first spacecraft to land on Mars.  First test launch of Titan booster rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. |
| February 6, 1961 The civil rights jail-in movement began when ten negro students in Rock Hill, South Carolina, were arrested for requesting service at a segregated lunch counter. They refused to post bail and demanded jail time rather than paying fines, refusing to acknowledge any legitimacy of the laws under which they were arrested. More about Charles Sherrod Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote to Charles Sherrod, Diane Nash and the others in jail: ‘‘You have inspired all of us by such demonstrative courage and faith. It is good to know that there still remains a creative minority who would rather lose in a cause that will ultimately win than to win in a cause that will ultimately lose.’’ |
| February 6, 1985 The Molesworth Common Peace Camp, just outside the Royal Air Force Base there, was evicted by the British Army. The 300 inhabitants and their many supporters had been nonviolently protesting the siting of nuclear-tipped U.S. cruise missiles at the base. Peace camps were established at several locations in Europe in the early 1980s to protest the destabilizing nuclear weapons buildup.  Molesworth Common peace camp |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february6
One Thing… by Jess Piper Read on Substack
The world is on fire and none of us can do much to stop it on our own, but we can each do a little to stop it, and those actions add up to a massive resistance.
Red state residents recognize the shock and awe doctrine that we are all seeing from the first few days of the Trump administration. It’s something we have a lot of experience working with. Our nervous systems are already familiar with the constant attacks on democracy — the constant need to keep up with our lawmakers and pushback on our lawmakers.
I live in Missouri. I have lived under the tyranny of a GOP supermajority for two decades.
It’s not easy, but I have learned to make calls and post and write and then get outside. Do the work and take a break.
My emboldened lawmakers do whatever they want. They will not honor the will of the people and they need constant pushback from the people. We have been fighting in this way for over two decades.
The only way to stop them is through constant resistance. Because screw them and their authoritarian instincts. We didn’t elect Kings and I won’t have a boot on my neck and I won’t stand for one on my neighbor’s neck.
We can’t be shocked into silence.
My testimony against SJR 54, Jefferson City, MO. 2/4/25.
Yesterday, I drove to the Missouri Capitol to testify against something that has already been resolved. Abortion.
I thought I would share my testimony to the committee. This was my one thing yesterday. This was my act of defiance and resistance.
Here is my testimony:
Hello. My name is Jess Piper and I am here to testify against HJR 54. This resolution is an attempt to overturn the will of Missouri voters.
The Republicans who are behind this fake resolution claim to represent rural people. They don’t and I am here to set that record straight.
I am a rural mom to five and grandmother to four. I live in Northwest Missouri and I am angry about the overreach of the Missouri GOP. I am here to testify on the disrespect – the absolute disdain – shown to every Missouri voter by some of the folks in this room.
Amendment 3 passed in Missouri. There is no reason why I had to drive eight hours round trip to testify against an abortion restriction. Why can’t you just accept the will of your constituents?
I collected signatures for Amendment 3 in some of the most rural areas of this state. Brookfield is a town of 4,000 and when I pulled up to set up my table and gather signatures, there were folks in the parking lot waiting. A woman signed her name and then texted her Bible group to remind them to come sign the amendment.
Ever heard of Marceline? The town has a population of 2,000. A woman I met in Marceline chored her animals and farm – and then came to sign the amendment in overalls and mucks.
She knew what she was signing, and I am here to give her voice. It’s hard to get your chores done and make it all the way to Jeff City to testify against legislation and your own lawmakers who won’t honor your vote or your voice.
I bet many of you know where Maryville is. We were able to get a few hundred signatures in that town. Maryville is a “huge urban space” in the middle of cornfields, population 11k. They even have a Starbucks. I sat at that coffee shop for hours one afternoon to get signatures. When I was about to pack up, a man named Gordon came in to add his name to the petition.
Gordon is 86 years old. He uses a walker and drove all the way to town and proudly signed his name to a petition to make sure his great-granddaughters would not suffer under the tyranny of an abortion ban.
I am here to remind you that lawmakers who would overturn the will of Missourians should remember they serve the folks who sent them here, and many of those folks voted to approve abortion rights in this state.
Those people include the Bible group from Brookfield and the farmer from Marceline and the great-grandfather from Maryville.
I am also here to express my disgust with the Missouri GOP. You claim to be the party of “small government” but that is a lie. You want to control books, curriculum, teachers, children’s private parts, and every uterus in the state. You overreach into the lives of Missouri citizens each day.
You can’t be the party of “small government” when your members act like tyrants. Do better.
It’s as easy as that.
Well, it wasn’t that easy — I had to drive all day to speak for 3 minutes, but it was worth every mile. They were forced to listen to someone they have tried to disenfranchise. They were forced to see my face and listen to my scathing review of their tenure. They couldn’t escape me or the dozens who testified against the resolution to ban abortion…again.
I know how hard every day is, but do one thing today.
Share an article with friends and then call your Congressional Rep to demand they hold the line with Musk. Call your Senators and demand they do the same. Call you AG and demand they stand with the American people on the biggest data breach in American history — sue Elon for stealing the data of the people of their state.
And then go outside if you can.
Don’t be paralyzed in front of the television or your phone. Doomscrolling without action will make you crazy and exhaust you. That’s the point of shock and awe.
Do one thing. And then rest.
Rinse. Repeat.
~Jess
P.S. I am so thankful for the Abortion Action group and the Missouri ACLU who planned the resistance event at the Capitol. There were so many Missourians there to oppose SJR 54, that we filled the hearing room and an overflow room. The hearing went on for several hours with testimony opposing the resolution.
This is what democracy looks like. (snip)
Scottie's Playtime 