Canada is furious at tRump for the bullying treatment they are receiving. But Canada is not a small country that tRump can bully with impunity. The border is a treaty. tRump has no legal authority to violate it, especially for his personal gain. Ask yourself why tRump and crew want Canada to be only one state? It is made up of thirteen administrative divisions: ten provinces and three territories. Why not bring all of them in to one big country. Because that would wipe out the republicans, they wouldn’t win elections. Canada is far more progressive than the US. But again why does tRump want Canada. Because they have a much higher standard of living, longer life expectancies, the government works much better for the people than in the US. It would stop people in the US from pointing to the north and saying … “see they understand how to do it, why can’t we”. Now tRump is on to something great he is just too stupid to realize it. I would love to see the three major countries in the Americas join as one state, with equality and inclusion of all. Something like the EU but closer. Eventually it could include the lesser nations. Think of the ways these countries could help build a better future for all if it could be one country. But tRump doesn’t want Mexico because those people are mostly brown in his mind, Canada is white in his mind. He should have watched more Star Trek. Hugs
Stop the testing tRump demanded during his first term. If we don’t admit the bad thing exists we can pretend it doesn’t hurt us. Right. Tell that to every frightened child. The free tests are very important to people on a limited budget and it is a way to keep co-workers safe. If these people can test themselves before they go to work then they might not spread what they have to their friends, family, and fellow workers. In the story after this one is about a pregnant Texas woman unvaccinated who had measles and never told the hospital staff when she went in to deliver her baby. She exposed every one of the newborns there, she exposed all the woman who gave birth, their families and the staff. All of them should sue her if any of the newborns have issues or die. These people are so stupid. The US used to have massive infant / child mortality over measles. If it did not kill you, like covid it can leave lasting organ damage. It will make the other newborns getting their vaccinations in question. Selfish people who have not lived through the horrifying consequences of these preventable diseases, so they ignore history and science. How many children need to needlessly suffer for them to wake up? Hugs
The Governor and Lt Governor have referenced “measles’ on their Twitter 0 times. Dan Patrick has however posted about renaming the New York Strip the Texas strip, served with Gulf of America shrimp, 5 times”.
I love how people who never served in any branch of the military feel they know all about what it takes to do so. I love that people who claim to honor the Vet’s and then cut all funding that would actually help veterans and military people. It is like the pro-life crowd that claims they need to erase the LGBTQ+ people from society to protect the children then slashing all funds for feeding and caring for those very same children. Hugs
Study after study has been done by both serious military leaders and hate groups. It doesn’t matter who does a serious study of LGBTQ+ people in the military as they all show that LGBTQ+ are great assets for the military that increase military effectiveness. I have often told the story of how my sub unit begged me to reenlist when I was saying good by the site went down and I was the one that got us back on the bird. But the new company commandeer was a homophobe Christian and he told me he would destroy me if I reenlisted. The unit lost a grand technician with a great future in the military due to bigotry. Compare the personal life of Pete Buttigieg a gay man who was in the military, seen action in Afghanistan and is in a stable same sex marriage with children to the life of the new straight cis Christian Nationalist Pete Hegseth. Hegseth often called kegseth by late night TV hosts, has married and devoiced several times currently on his third marriage, he has been married three times, his first wife, who he admitted to cheating on five times, is Meredith Schwarz. He is also stepdad to Rauchet’s three children so Trump’s appointee for Secretary of Defense has four biological children and is stepdad to three. He is credibly accused of being a drunken jerk who harasses women, has committed domestic violence on one of his wives. Really a moral guy compared to the gay guy though right because he has the right religion and is straight cis. Hugs.
Read the full article. The Washington Times is a far-right outlet founded and owned by the Unification Church – which is better known as the Moonies. Surely homocons Scott Bessent and Richard Grenell are thrilled with a no-gays symbol.
My but all those pesky freedoms in the constitution being thrown away as fast as possible. Freedom to protest the goverenment, the freedom of the press. You know the very things keeping the government in check. Look the democrats said the project 2025 was designed to destroy democarcy and install a authoritarian dictatorship such as Russia or Hungry. Wake up and act because tRump / republicans want to make it illegal to do anything that is not supportive of the cult leader. Think about what is being protected in the stories below, it is the profits of the wealthy and the ability of the cult leader to simply ignore any law or normal decency that displeases him. Hugs.
I’ll be reposting this on many stories I’m sure… “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The setting was part of an effort to emphasize the power of the institution Mr. Trump controls through loyal and compliant appointees.
CNN’s Jake Tapper just noted on-air that in the same breath in which Trump raged about a “weaponized” justice system, he vowed to himself weaponize that same system against reporters and outlets that serve up anything other than lavish praise.
Think about this :
A convicted felon lectures the Dept. of Justice on what should or should not be ‘allowed’, – having just pardoned over a hundred other convicted felons.
Alice in Wonderland would be embarrassed.
All this is carefully planned and orchestrated.
Everything Trump is doing almost exactly mirrors what Orban did to take control in Hungary. In fact, it’s uncanny how similar the takeover is.
If you want to see what Trump does next, look to Hungary.
tRump has a problem. First he promised he could solve this before being sworn in to office. Now he talked tough and attacked Ukrainian leader Zelenskyy while saying he would hold Putin to the agreement with the strongest sanctions / efforts. Yet when Ukraine agreed to a cease fire and Russia did not … where was tRump’s big tough talk. He back tracked and demanded that Ukraine give in more. Now when Putin simply used the pause to attack and take over a large part of the region in the fighting, tRump is silent on his promises to make Putin agree to the cease fire. In fact again he attacks Zelenskyy as the real problem and the other countries supporting Ukraine. He guys if you just stop supporting Ukraine and agree with the US / Russia we can stop this war right way. He will not and never can say a bad thing about his boss Putin, he has been compromised and is desperate to change reality. Hugs
Along with the above, those that claim tRump is not a racist simply never worked with / for him and don’t watch what he says about people. Remember that he wants only white South Africans to be able to come to the US on a fast track, he wanted to annex Canada but not Mexico who he has accused of sending the US rapists and murders, he asked in a meeting why we can’t get more European white people to move to the US. His company was sued by the US government which won the case for not allowing black people to move into his apartment buildings. Any claim tRump is not a bigot or racist denies reality. In tRump’s mind and many of his racist white supremacist whites must always be in charge over those not white. Hugs
with Mr. Trump having accused Mr. Ramaphosa’s government of discriminating against South Africa’s white minority
Trump had already issued an executive order last month cutting all funding to South Africa over some of its domestic and foreign policies. The order criticized the Black-led South African government on multiple fronts, saying it is pursuing anti-white policies at home and supporting “bad actors” in the world like the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran.
How long before Trump calls for invading South Africa? Rather obviously, this was done as a favor to Elon Musk, who is wildly unpopular in his home country.
Read the full article. That Trump’s so-called antisemitism czar is merrily retweeting notorious anti-Semites is classically Trumpian. Terrell last appeared here in January when he declared that Los Angeles’s “DEI firefighters have no intention of putting out those wildfires.” Yesterday Terrell called for a new federal commission on “anti-white bias.”
Again look at what these countries have in common. Being not white is OK if you are wealthy but if you are not, being not white is a ban from tRumpstaia. Hugs
In those cases, affluent business travelers might be allowed to enter, but not people traveling on immigrant or tourist visas. Citizens on that list would also be subjected to mandatory in-person interviews in order to receive a visa. It included Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan.
This one is so clear. The criminal is demanding his crime files never be released. Why? If he was as innocent as he claims he is why not release the files for the public to see? Because he was guilty as hell and this judge was compromised and working with the tRump team to do everything possible to stall the case until possibly he could be reelected making the charges go way. He was guilty. Look the facts are clear, he had the files, he was asked to return them, he refused, then told the government he did not have anymore, the government went into his domicile and found he did have them. What never came out was why he wanted so badly to have these files that was reported he picked himself and why he was desperate to hold on to them. Everything I have written is fact! It is reality! So apparently there is so much more in those files that tRump is terrified will come out. Why? again if he is innocent then let the files show it. But he hides and wants the files hidden and destroyed. Hugs
So there is still no peace deal and Trump is left arguing whether Putin treated his envoy abysmally before rejecting it or just sent him packing after he was forced to listen to another 3-hour Putin lecture on his alternate version of European history.
this guy’s distinguishing quality is his boundless contempt for anyone who voices the slightest disagreement with him. you can see in his voice and mannerisms that he thinks he’s better than everyone around him. (which to my mind is just compensation for his palpable self-loathing)
NEW: Here are the 10 “democratic” senators that voted to sell out veterans, the American people, and their colleagues in the House. Cortez MastoDurbinFettermanGillibrandHassanKingPetersSchatzSchumerShaheen
As someone who has criticized Mark Kelly in the past, all I can say is that this video is fantastic, this message is fantastic, and can we have more of this from the Dems please.👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Made a mistake on the interest payment numbers. I took short term debt that needs to be refinanced and incorrectly extrapolated. So the interest savings won't be as significant as I stated.
1. Texas AG Ken Paxton is usurping the authority of Texas Courts in a brazen act of autocratic power.He's ordering court ordered gender changes void.He's demanding licenses and birth certificates revoked, with reverted replacements for trans people.Subscribe to support my journalism.
This was the DOGE staffer who was previously fired for racist and nazi tweets but was brought back after JD Vance and Elon supported him. http://www.yahoo.com/news/doge-st…
I’m not leaving the Dem party. I’ve been here for 33 years. If guys like Schumer wanna vote with republicans, THEY can leave the Dem party and join the GOP.
Why did Trump repeat Russian propaganda and lie about this? Why would he claim that a Ukrainian army in Kursk could only be saved from annihilation if Putin benevolently agreed to Trump’s request not to do so? Why is the US President deceiving Americans with Russian lies?
After all these are only migrant children being abuse, right. These people turn a blind eye to clergy abuse but claim just knowing LGBTQ+ people exist is sexualizing children. Just having a story read to them by a man dressed up in costume as a woman is sexual abuse, seeing a drag show is sexual abuse and they demand the erasing of drag queens along with all the LGBTQ+ to save the children. But a for profit detention center creditably accused of forced oral, anal, and in the cases of girls vaginal rape of children by staff as a means of punishment or control, that is OK because the kids are not white. Sick as fuck. Hugs
The lawsuit against Southwest Key included allegations of abuse at an El Paso facility. The administration said it will no longer use the company’s services.
Southwest Key national headquarters in Austin. A federal lawsuit against the company over allegations of abuse at its child migrant shelters has been dropped by the Trump administration. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune
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McALLEN — The Trump administration moved to drop a civil lawsuit Wednesday against the largest provider of housing for migrant children over allegations of sexual abuse and harassment of unaccompanied minors, saying it also would no longer be using that company’s services.
The motion to dismiss the suit against Austin-based Southwest Key Programs was filed after the federal government announced it had moved all unaccompanied children to other shelters and would no longer be using that provider.
The complaint, filed last year during the Biden administration, alleged a litany of offenses between 2015 and 2023 as Southwest Key Programs, which operates migrant shelters in Texas, Arizona and California, amassed nearly $3 billion in contracts from the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Out of continuing concerns relating to these placements, HHS has decided to stop placement of unaccompanied alien children in Southwest Key facilities, and to review its grants with the organization. In view of HHS’ action, the Department of Justice has dismissed its lawsuit against Southwest Key,” the HHS said in a statement.
Children were warned not to report the alleged abuse and threatened with violence against themselves or their families if they did, according to the lawsuit. Victims testified that in some instances, other workers knew about the abuse but failed to report or concealed it, the complaint said.
“DOJ’s lawsuit revealed horrific sexual abuse and inhumane treatment of children detained in Southwest Key shelters,” said Leecia Welch, an attorney who represents unaccompanied children in a separate case. “It’s shocking to me that the government now turns a blind eye to their own contractor’s actions. I hope the impacted children will have other legal recourse and support in healing from their abuse.”
At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges related to the allegations since 2020.
The civil lawsuit had sought a jury trial and monetary damages for the victims.
Southwest Key Programs furloughed employees across the country. “Due to the unforeseen federal funding freeze and the stop placement order on our unaccompanied minor shelters and Home Study Post Release programs by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, we have made the difficult decision to furlough approximately 5,000 Southwest Key Programs’ employees,” the company said in a statement shared Tuesday.
According to allegations in the 2024 lawsuit, Southwest Key employees, including supervisors, raped, inappropriately touched or solicited sex and nude images of children beginning in 2015 and possibly earlier.
Among the accusations: One employee “repeatedly sexually abused” three girls ages 5, 8 and 11 at the Casa Franklin shelter in El Paso, with the 8-year-old telling investigators the worker “entered their bedrooms in the middle of the night to touch their ‘private area.’ ”
The lawsuit also alleged that another employee, at a shelter in Mesa, Arizona, took a 15-year-old boy to a hotel and paid him to perform sexual acts for several days in 2020.
Children were warned not to report the alleged abuse and threatened with violence against themselves or their families if they did, according to the lawsuit. Victims testified that in some instances, other workers knew about the abuse but failed to report or concealed it, the complaint said.
“DOJ’s lawsuit revealed horrific sexual abuse and inhumane treatment of children detained in Southwest Key shelters,” said Leecia Welch, an attorney who represents unaccompanied children in a separate case. “It’s shocking to me that the government now turns a blind eye to their own contractor’s actions. I hope the impacted children will have other legal recourse and support in healing from their abuse.”
At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges related to the allegations since 2020.
The civil lawsuit had sought a jury trial and monetary damages for the victims.
Explaining the House’s funding bill. It has something to do with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage wearing each other’s faces. House Democrats actually all voted (except one schmuck) against it, and then they yelled at the Senate like so:
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): “It [the bill] is not something we could ever support. House Democrats will not be complicit in the Republican effort to hurt the American people.”
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), ranking Appropriations Committee member: “This is Republican leadership handing over the keys of the government, and a blank check to Elon Musk and to President Trump.”
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA): “It [Senate Democratic votes] would be a capitulation to the Trump style of democracy, which is the movement of democracy to dictatorship.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY): “If the government shuts down with a Republican House, Republican Senate and Republican president, it will be solely because the Republicans have moved forward with a terrible, partisan, take-it-or-leave-it bill.”
What did the Senate do? Presumably I will find out before I finish writing this tabs! (The Fucking News)
What the Senate did, if they ever fucking vote on it before I turn this goddamn laptop and go to bed, goes here!
Trump’s economic excuses: stupid and lying! (Paul Krugman)
The FBI is demanding Citibank freeze accounts for Habitat for Humanity, United Way, New York state tax department, and a bunch of statewide climate investment banks, like for instance Michigan Saves. So that’s are you fucking kidding me! (Citibank filing)
Child genital exams without a parent’s consent, West Virginia? “It also says that all intersex people are ‘either male or female’ but does not give a basis for assigning a sex to them.” Oh, word? Word. (LGBTQ Nation)
Six federal agencies are investigating the two trans girl athletes in Maine. (Pro Publica)
I have not even a single clue what this means or how it would work, but the Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to crypto … ??? (Pro Publica)
Tesla owners, Polestar will give you $20,000 to not be a Tesla owner anymore. (Polestar)
Faine Greenwood went to Canada’s Gaspe Peninsula and would like to show us all the pictures. We are all super fucking sorry about all this, Canada! (Little Flying Robots)
That’s right I’m still hounding you to buy the pizzas. Detroit Public Schools is working on the assumption we’ll have budget cuts next year of between $30 and $80 million for just our district. You help me fund the girls’ Detroit public elementary school, and I help you eat delicious fucking pizza, mailed right to your door. Buy the fucking pizzas everybody. They’ll FedEx em right to your door. Pizzas. (Pizzas.) This motherfucking pizza ad will be up all month. (snip)
Simply very bad news. Precisely what Project 2025/Agenda 47/Republican National Platform said they want to do. I’m sorry; I don’t like to bring bad news. But people need to prepare. This is written in editorial/opinion style, but facts are within and there are citations. For people like us who need time to prepare for austerity, it’s news we ought to read.
Also, there are Senator names included for who we should write to regarding this bill. That’s our last chance. Shutdown is on Republicans, not Democrats, no matter how they try to deflect. We need to tell the Dem senators to speak what’s in this bill, every chance they get, and to refuse to vote in favor, pointing at Republicans the entire time.
There are parts in the article complaining about Democrats and their choices, etc., et. m. Read it if you want (you’ll have to click through for it,) but it won’t help anyone to read more complaining about Democrats. We the people need to energize Dem. Senators to speak out, and to vote no. Especially the speak out portion; Sen. Mark Kelly does that especially well, and is among those the author of this piece feels is wavering. I intend to start first thing in the morning, and I hope all of us will devote some time to this. It’s vital.
Without the luxury of Republicans falling apart, Democrats in the Senate need to decide whether to prevent a dangerous and harmful budget that shrinks the power of Congress in the government. Since operating on principle goes against their “adults in the room” mindset, they are wavering on what to do. But it should be an open-and-shut case.
A normal continuing resolution funds the government at the same level as the previous budget. This bill does not. It cuts non-defense discretionary spending by $13 billion below last year’s level, while increasing military spending by $6 billion. It zeroes out funding for programs that fund homeless shelters and prevent child abuse. It cuts health care funding for clinics and hospitals, emergency preparedness for communities, clean water projects and tribal assistance. Meanwhile, it adds money for mass deportations, just as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has illegally detained a green card holder for his political beliefs.
Most of the budget cuts are achieved by removing earmarks, which members of Congress put in to direct projects. But usually when earmarks are removed, the money goes back to the agency to decide how to distribute it. This maneuver cuts the earmarks and the money.
The House Republican bill also fails to fix a carryover of a $20 billion rescission to IRS money from the Inflation Reduction Act, effectively doubling that cut. This was kind of pre-ordained when Democrats punted on this in a prior continuing resolution last December, but it still means that practically all of the IRA’s funding for greater enforcement of tax collection is now gone.
The bill not only adds $6 billion to the Department of Defense’s enormous budget, but adds $8 billion in “transfer authority” that allows the agency to shift spending where they deem important, a flexibility no other agency gets.
While Republicans tout a $6 billion increase in veterans health care in the bill, they neglect to mention the removal of a $23 billion appropriation to the Toxic Exposure Fund to implement the PACT Act, which cares for veterans exposed to burn pits and other cancer-causing chemicals. While there’s an extra $2.2 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund, there’s no additional money to support the rebuilding in southern California after the January wildfires.
But most important, the bill grants an open invitation to Trump and Elon Musk to continue to ignore Congress and toss out disfavored spending. Vice President JD Vance, while selling the deal to House Republicans, stated outright that “Trump would continue cutting federal funding with his Department of Government Efficiency initiative and pursue impoundment — that is, holding back money appropriated by Congress.” This has been reiterated by others in the Trump administration.
In fact, the House Republican bill gives the president more leeway to move money around. It appropriates money for things that Musk has eliminated, meaning that money can operate as a floating slush fund for Trump’s priorities, as long as the courts don’t roll back the illegal impoundments.
… The Trump administration is saying that they will sign a bill appropriating specific funding, and then go about cutting funding anyway. If you’re a member of Congress, you’re being told that your work product doesn’t matter, that the constitutional power of the purse doesn’t matter, and that there’s no guarantee that anything you pass will actually reach the people you serve.
I can see why Republicans would take this deal: they want budget cuts but know they don’t have the votes for them, so they’re plenty happy to outsource that to the president, even if it turns Congress into a separate and unequal branch of government. But why would Democrats willingly submit to a fake budget on paper that can be so easily circumvented? As Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on X, “The Republican spending plan will supercharge Musk’s theft from working people to pay for billionaire tax cuts. Senate Democrats must stop it.”
…
So far, only Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has committed to voting yes. But as Josh Marshall has documented at Talking Points Memo, a number of Senate Democrats have stated no position on the bill, leaving their options open. In general, senators have been hedging their bets until forced to make a decision. That time has come.
Credible sources indicate that the most likely Democrats to offer up the remaining seven votes to avoid a shutdown are Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Michael Bennet (D-CO), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Mark Warner (D-VA).
I am getting my grove back making videos. This is the best I have done since I started again. I realize I have to speak from my heart on issues I know and understand. I enjoy doing them when they are stress free like this one. In the future I will edit stuff into them, I have the program to do that. But right now I like doing what I did a few years ago. Back then I did not bother with lighting and fussing over the camera, I simply started up the recording program and talked directly to the camera. Please take a look at the video and tell me both what you think of the content. Hugs
I talk about how some people want to throw trans people under the bus and stop supporting them. That is not how to change people’s hearts and minds. I describe how we managed to change public opinion on gay people. Hugs
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Scottie's Playtime 