Memes, cartoons, and more information for Wednesday. I couldn’t sleep so I got up and kept adding to the page. It got long.

— Being Liberal ®🗽🇺🇲🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇺🇳🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 (@beingliberal.bsky.social) 2025-02-26T07:00:26.621Z

Remember when Republicans wanted to impeach Bill Clinton because big donors got to stay a night in the Lincoln bedroom? Seems quaint now.

— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2025-02-26T02:38:44.397Z

If DOGE wants to root out "waste, fraud and abuse" in the healthcare area re: Medicaid, how about they cut out the wasteful, price gouging mafia middlemen in between us and our doctors, the insurance companies, and make Americans' healthcare entirely self funding with one payer?

— Emma Vigeland (@emmavigeland.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T23:12:48.995Z

NEW: Fully leaked diplomatic cable directing the implementation of this policy at all US diplomatic and consular posts.

— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-02-25T20:24:18.312Z

Guess who’s getting a new FAA contract to help privatize air safety?Elon Musk. He’s cutting the FAA and everything else in government — and carving it off for himself.THE WHOLE THING IS A MONEY GRAB

— Tristan Snell (@tristansnell.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T22:23:12.908Z

We need more… everywhere! Especially in red states.

— Being Liberal ®🗽🇺🇲🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇺🇳🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 (@beingliberal.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T17:31:45.900Z

Medicaid covers:- 21% of Americans nationally- 83 million low-income Americans- 4 in 10 children- 1 in 4 adults with disabilities- Nearly 50% of kids with special needs- 41% of births nationwide- 5 in 8 nursing home residents- 32% of people in Mike Johnson's home state

— Emma Vigeland (@emmavigeland.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T16:29:37.906Z

Pedro is the best ❤️

— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T21:57:40.616Z

Queens NY

— Being Liberal ®🗽🇺🇲🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇺🇳🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 (@beingliberal.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T13:23:43.836Z

BREAKING — 21 "DOGE" staffers RESIGN in protest1/3 of "DOGE" technical team quit — experts who came to the government from companies like Amazon and GoogleRemember, Elon Musk (and most of his minions) don't actually have ANY technical expertise!"DOGE" in disarray

— Tristan Snell (@tristansnell.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T20:59:21.211Z

This is how the Terran empire began in fact.

— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T20:30:05.317Z

Our immigration carceral system is designed to create a permanent underclass of subminimum wage workers who can't speak up about workplace abuse or unionize for fear of deportation. Corporations like DoorDash prefer immigrants to be under threat, and that's who Trump represents.

— Emma Vigeland (@emmavigeland.bsky.social) 2025-02-26T03:03:07.895Z

Ok now vote is back on. To be clear this is basically a purely symbolic vote on a framework that won’t pass the senate and should be an absolute lay up

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes.bsky.social) 2025-02-26T00:46:13.652Z

Folks, I just broke this story for @gbhnews State Department erases LGBTQ victims from human trafficking reportwww.wgbh.org/news/news-pr…

— Phillip Wd Martin (@phillipgbhnews.bsky.social) 2025-02-07T22:21:17.987Z

https://x.com/franklinleonard/status/1888007249215545770

This is "The Boardroom" from Donald Trump’s “reality” show “The Apprentice.” Look at the top and you can see where the wall ends because it wasn’t a real boardroom. It was a set built on a soundstage because Trump’s real offices were small and shoddy. The show created an *illusion* of Trump success.

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) 2025-02-07T19:31:21.594Z

Of these two, the one bigot above or the classy lady below. Hate is not good for anyone.

"Trump Signs Executive Order to ‘Promote the Resettlement of White Afrikaner Refugees’ in the U.S." Trump finally finds refugees he will accept: WHITE ones from South Africa. This is real. Musk trying to help his fellow white apartheid lovers http://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-…

— Dean Obeidallah (@deanobeidallah.bsky.social) 2025-02-08T12:25:52.169Z

https://x.com/JBPritzker/status/1887949566525186554

BREAKING 🚨🚨🚨Trump stripping the security clearances of numerous antagonists, including NY AG Letitia James, DA Alvin BraggAnthony Blinken’s security clearances will also be revoked, following the same presidential directive aimed at Biden.nypost.com/2025/02/08/u…

— Lauren Ashley Davis (@laurenmeidasa.bsky.social) 2025-02-08T22:29:24.659Z

Felon Bans Antony Blinken, New York AG Letitia James, DA Alvin Bragg, And Five Others From Federal Facilities

Our new border patrol

This man, who might be high on Ketamine at any given moment, talks privately with Putin. He is not elected, nor is he appointed by Congress. He’s ‘outside’ of government.

He has hired a crew of young rightwing nerds and they are now inside every fucking computer system in the government. They work for a Russian agent.

Don’t be surprised when, sometime soon, every system shuts down or worse, every dime of US money is flying into Russian accounts.

It is painful to see that it would be so easy to destroy a big country like America.

Horribly hateful people / person the above.

“This isn’t DEI. It’s white Christian Nationalism.” of course it is they’re just using DEI as a cover.

https://x.com/HeartlandSignal/status/1887181299103744025

Oh carp with all going on I forgot to post this. Hey trying something different.

This time I tried to not only use memes and cartoons but also stuff from Bluesky I like. Let me know if that is something you all enjoy. If the Bluesky links to far more important news links is jarring to your viewing, again let me know. Hugs

Did he get a chubby while he was talking about Gitmo?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ron-desantis-guantanamo-torture-prisoner-b2300753.html

Wait for it… Wait for it…
Reintroduction of segregation.

First it will be the women.
Then the LGBTQ+
Then the POC

Immigrants currently serving will be ~~deported~~ segregated back to their country of origin.

Not to worry. President Musk will address the nation this week from the Oval Office on the subject.

He should be our messenger.
— Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.bsky.social) 2025-02-20T04:24:28.922Z

Dark Pence is back.
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2025-02-19T18:12:50.595Z

ICE Prosecutor in Dallas Runs White Supremacist X Account http://www.texasobserver.org/ice-prosecut…
— Emma Vigeland (@emmavigeland.bsky.social) 2025-02-20T15:52:20.442Z

This is a coup.
— Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.bsky.social) 2025-02-19T22:12:55.331Z

NEW: HHS launches anti-transgender campaign featuring Riley Gaines. It seeks to ban gender affirming care and require the federal health agencies to eliminate recognition of trans people. womenshealth.gov/protecting-w…
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-02-19T19:59:54.387Z

This is how to be an ally to the trans community.Also, this isn't just an ex NFL player, he's the first punter ever inducted into the hall of fame.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-02-20T12:46:44.935Z

It’s amazing to me that people still question whether or not Trump is a stooge for Putin.
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) 2025-02-20T13:12:59.199Z

Punchbowl News reporting that Trump and Hegseth plan to start firing top generals, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who was overwhelmingly Senate-approved for a 4-year term back in 2023.No one can say they weren’t warned.
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) 2025-02-20T17:04:36.145Z

DHS has removed manual guidance barring investigations solely based on sexual orientation and gender identity.This is a prerequisite to targeting the LGBTQ community with criminal investigations solely based on being LGBTQ. news.bgov.com/bloomberg-go…
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-02-20T04:02:49.452Z

“We had to erase trans people or we couldn’t get our federal funding”Fuck the federal funding. You fight, you sue, you do not become complicit in our mass erasure.We are all in this together, and we all go down together.I will not allow us to be jettisoned or erased.
— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) 2025-02-21T22:18:44.770Z

Incredible news! More hospitals have returned to offering gender affirming care after Trump's executive order was blocked.Moments after publishing our story on hospitals returning, Childrens National DC announced a return to care.And JUST now, Colorado Children's is back to giving care!AMAZING
— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) 2025-02-19T23:25:43.382Z

People with doctorates are the most liberal and progressive. The entire mission of destroying academia is to eliminate entire voting demographics. They explicitly spell this out.Shutting down PhD programs isn't an accident, it's the goal.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-02-22T16:16:22.822Z

This is a stunning betrayal by Whitman Walker in DC.You CANNOT jettison the trans community to protect yourself.It’s shameful. I got my name changed at WWH. I have promoted their research.Now they are capitulating to save gay people at trans people’s expense by trying to erase us.
— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) 2025-02-21T21:24:19.179Z

If you support this, you’re an awful human being
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) 2025-02-22T12:47:25.041Z

It’s a cult.
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2025-02-22T01:21:15.272Z

This is how it’s done.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) 2025-02-21T23:43:20.991Z

The 'find out' phase is here.
— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) 2025-02-21T20:39:29.266Z

A sitting congressman calling Elon Musk a dick is now considered a threat by the DOJ and are now starting a criminal investigation. This is the death of free speech in the United States.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-02-20T21:39:38.262Z

Some Justice

thanks to FOIA and Jason Leopold:

By Susie Madrak — February 11, 2025

The dismissal of criminal charges against the Yam Man for concealing classified records at Mar-a-Lago eliminated a significant barrier to making records about the probe public, a federal judge ruled Monday. Via Politico:

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said Trump’s election as president — which forced the end of the criminal case — combined with the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity mean Trump is effectively insulated from any criminal responsibility for his conduct. That means the FBI’s previous reasons for refusing to gather and disclose records related to the probe no longer apply, Howell wrote in a ruling in a Freedom of Information Act case brought by journalist Jason Leopold.

She noted that while the dismissal of charges against Trump may have reduced his criminal exposure, it “ironically” made him more susceptible to public scrutiny for his conduct. “With the far dampened possibility of any criminal investigation to gather evidence about a president’s conduct and of any public enforcement proceeding against a president, the [Supreme Court’s] decision … has left a FOIA request as a critical tool for the American public to keep apprised of a president’s conduct,” Howell ruled.

https://bsky.app/profile/plaintanjane.bsky.social/post/3lhu7clii5s2v

https://bsky.app/profile/luciecatnip.bsky.social/post/3lhu27ltj422c

https://crooksandliars.com/2025/02/judge-fbi-must-disclose-records-trump

Any doubt the family did not pass this feeling teaching down to Emo Boy Musk.

Why Elon Musk’s Family Moved from Canada to South Africa in 1950

A few news stories that I wanted to post but was unable. Read as you wish. Hugs

https://apnews.com/article/usaid-foreign-aid-trump-rubio-48f8460804d33bdaa18d7765c4b24f9e

https://apnews.com/article/trump-doge-marko-elez-musk-vance-racist-posts-959272aca0eece7385cdbc470930bf37

https://apnews.com/article/michigan-lawmaker-threats-elective-sterilization-358a4f0ed6e55e8c785faa7b29d41cdb

https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-doge-lawsuit-attorneys-general-5733f8985e4cf7ad5b233fddefef4d01

https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-appoints-himself-kennedy-center-chair-citing-disapproval-of-drag-shows-c9783724

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transgender-athletes-3606411fc12efffec95a893351624e1b

Interesting, And I’m Glad There Are People Thinking of Such Things!

TikTok’s “cute winter boots” meaning explained

[Taylor Lorenz at UserMag]

This is like something from a cyberpunk novel:

“The phrase “cute winter boots” is not about footwear. It’s a code phrase being used to discuss resistance to Trump and how to fight back against the draconian immigration policies his administration is enacting. Users talking about “cute winter boots” keeping people safe from “ice,” are referencing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Cute winter boots” is just the latest example of algospeak, coded phrases and words aimed at subverting algorithmic filters.”

The reason is a perceived idea – which may well have basis in fact – that actual discussion of how to combat ICE raids and so on will be demoted by the platform’s content algorithm. It’s also clearly a way of trying to avoid scrutiny from authorities. But it also reveals a strong knowledge of what the TikTok algorithm likes to promote:

“The videos discussing “cute winter boots” leverage the TikTok algorithm’s preference for product-focused content to amplify their reach. “What the algorithm likes is products,” said Diana, the admin of @/citiesbydiana, a TikTok account about urban planning. “It’s a way to talk about resisting the federal government in a way that will actually reach people.””

This is absolutely dystopian police state stuff, but at the same time, it shows a ton of initiative, and illustrates that people aren’t going to take any of this lying down. Power to them.

#Technology

[Link]

https://werd.io/2025/tiktoks-cute-winter-boots-meaning-explained