The grift continues by Ann Telnaes
Trump is making money off the presidency…again Read on Substack
Business leaders are paying $5 million for a one-on-one dinner meeting with President Trump at Mar a Lago, WIRED reports.
Open Windows
Category: Crime
Enjoy! (Not Appropriate For Work.)
It is still funny, though chillingly so. If you click through to watch on YouTube, you’ll see much honesty in the comments, from the rest of the world. Not rude, just honest.
Republicans. Whatcha Gonna Do?
Run Against Them! Vote Them Out!
Skreeky DOGE by Clay Jones
Governor Youngkin is looking out for you, or is it coming after you? Read on Substack
This cartoon was drawn for the FXBG Advance.
Virginia is one the states being hit the hardest by the DOGE cuts, you know…Elon’s Department of Government Efficiency, which isn’t an official department.
Virginia has more federal employees than any other state except California, which has maybe around 2,000 more. In case you suck at geography, Virginia borders Washington, DC. Virginia, along with Maryland, donated land to form DC…and then took it back many years later. But a lot of federal workers live in NoVA (Northern Virginia) because as expensive as it is there, it’s even more expensive in DC.
It’s cheaper to live in Fairfax, Arlington, Falls Church, Manassas, and even Fredericksburg for federal workers. People in Fredericksburg don’t like to admit they’re a part of Northern Virginia, and there are arguments for and against, but we’re definitely a commuter town. We have a commuter train that runs several times a day.
Do you remember a few weeks ago when I did a cartoon about housing and commuting in the Burg? The issue in the cartoon was about the housing problem in the area, and the only way to afford the newly-built homes was to work in NoVa or DC. Now, a lot of people won’t be able to do that, thanks to Elon Musk.
Right about now is when you need your governor to swoop in and fight for you. Since our governor is a Republican and has always supported Trump, he may have some sway in easing or even ending the layoffs of Virginians. Oh, boy….here comes our governor, red-vest-wearing Glenn Youngkin. Where are the horns announcing our champion’s arrival? Here, I’ll do a. mouth trumpet for it. DOO-DA-Doo!
What’s your message, Gov? Let’s hear it! Here it is! Youngkin said, “Listen. We have a federal government that is inefficient, and we have an administration that is taking on that challenge of rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse and driving efficiency in our federal government. It needed to happen.”
Uhhhh….what?
Our “champion” just said that many Virginians are wasteful, fraudulent, abusive, and inefficient. Youngkin is taking the side of DOGE over Virginias, but he doesn’t care. Most of those federal workers live in NoVA, and NoVA didn’t vote for Youngkin. But, he’s still gonna help us out.
Youngkin said, “We have a lot of federal workers in the Commonwealth, and I want to make sure that they know we care about them and we value them and we want them to find that next chapter.”
Dawwww, thank you, Mr. Red Vest. We’re so happy you care. Now, lay it on us.
Youngkin announced a new “resource package” at an event hosted by Capital One and introduced a new government website, VirginiaHasJobs.com, for fired federal employees. The site has information for recently fired federal workers that includes information on “virtual job fairs,” advice on how to apply for unemployment, and helpful tips on updating their resumes.
The next time your car doesn’t start, maybe Mr. Red Vest will come along and helpfully say, “Try kicking the tires.”
You would think Youngkin would have more sympathy since he was once a commuter when he was co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, an investment firm that helped make Youngkin a multimillionaire with a net worth of around $440 million. No wonder he doesn’t give a shit about you.
And I wouldn’t care about you either if I was a Republican worth $440 million. I’d be in an ivory tower penthouse somewhere, smoking huge cigars while laughing evilly, Bwa-ha-ha-ha-cough-cough-cough-hack-hack-hack-gag-gag-gag. I just remembered that I don’t like cigars.
Anyway, the new website includes an incomplete list (is Enron still around?) of some of the state’s largest employers (a Youngkin staffer did some googling), including Capital One (the Capitol One Cafes are nice. Maybe you can get a job there if you can’t land a position in offering predatory loans). Basically, the governor is telling you to search LinkedIn and Indeed and make sure you smile during your job interviews. Thanks, Governor.
Thank God there’s a one-term limit on governors in Virginia.
Hey, speaking of that. The governor is about to be unemployed himself. Since I have as much empathy for him as he has for his constituents, I’ll give him some job-hunting advice.
Governor, update your resume and make sure to include you’re an orange Kool-Aid-swilling MAGAt, and maybe you can get a job in the Trump administration (sic). After all, you have chosen Trump and Elon Musk over your constituents.
Make sure you include that you like Nazis in your resume because that can get you in good with Elon Musk, who is a Nazi. Don’t get your hopes up too much because word is, Elon favors young boys for those positions. I’m not insinuating anything nasty here, but it’s true. Elon favors young, inexperienced men still in the Clearasil demographic for jobs in DOGE.
During your campaign for governor, you spread lies about the FBI tracking and intimidating parents of students in public schools. Mention that, too. Say something hateful about Biden. They love that shit.
Since you don’t have any accomplishments from your time as governor, you might have to start as an intern. Just crawl up Trump’s ass and wait for your call. What? You’ve already done that? Good job thinking ahead.
Also, tell them you really really really really really wanted to ban abortion in the state, but those commie socialist woke Democrats in the General Assembly wouldn’t let you.
Just hang in there because there will be an opening in the Trump cabinet soon. Which cabinet? Who knows, but this is Trump. He’ll fire someone soon, or perhaps one of them will discover he or she has a couple of ounces of dignity left and will quit after the next international shameful embarrassment. No, it won’t be Rubio.
Also, if you do get inside the Oval Office, be cautious about sitting on any couches. JD’s been in there.
You could also apply for a job at Fox News. Perhaps you can get Pete Hegseth’s former seat on the couch (I’m not sure if JD’s been on that one). What? You don’t have any journalism experience? HAHAHAHA. You’re funny, Gov. This is Fox News, not an actual news outlet.
Ya know, Gov…I think you’re going to be fine (you can probably scrape by with your $440 million), at least for the first three years after you leave office, but it could be close to four years if you leave now.
Nudge, nudge. Hint, hint.
Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Sears made a direct-to-camera video acknowledging “concern about the federal government workforce transition” and shared five links to “additional resources to assist.” All five links led to “404 Page Not Found” website errors. Sears is going to have a lot of fun running to replace Youngkin in this year’s gubernatorial election. Winsome, make sure to constantly mention these firings “needed to happen.” It’ll be a real winner of a message in NoVA, Richmond, Norfolk, etc, ect.
Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go see.)
Christopher Titus Armageddon clips
Trumps fuck you hate
Former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who was injured by the mob on Jan. 6, told NBC News that he tried to purchase a number of the replica medals this week, planning to hand them out as gifts, and was surprised to see they were no longer available.
OK Senator – Bible Says It Is Okay For Teachers To Hit Kids
Hello All. I know I posted a lot of videos today. I wear headphones when doing things out of my Pink Palace office and because I like what I am hearing I post them. I do that while in my office also. I am having crackers and sharp cheese as I write this because of my recent steroid shot I get hungry quickly. I was down to 168. Every time I have steroids my weight goes up a bit because I get so hungry. But to this video and why I am posting it. I hate abuse of children as you can imagine, that includes beatings which I got frequently. Please tell me how a 6 year old 40 pound child can stand up to a 200 pound barroom brawler who can put three chimney blocks over one arm and go up a ladder. I soon learned that to complain would get me told that parents have the right to discipline their children, it was in the bible. I am not sure that included the black eyes, broken bones, or seeming all over me bruises. I would gladly take the hits rather than the belts that left welts that would take weeks to stop hurting, and if on my butt made sitting still in class to learn impossible. So to hear a man of the cloth stand up and say that hitting a child is not that passage meant is very important to me. Thank you all for reading and watching. Hugs
TizzyEnt clips
What In The Actual F On Soap Opera Friday?!?! grrr
I don’t know if anyone else is catching this, but the US President and VP are behaving like 7 year old boys on the playground bullying Pres. Zelenskyy. Right in front of everyone. Now he’s on RussiaRussiaRussia and Hunter Biden’s bathroom and bedroom.
I had to vent. I like my stories, it’s Friday, and they broke in to show us this awful behavior. Open thread on comments, as far as I’m concerned. grrrr
Peace & Justice History for 2/28, 29
February 28, 1919 Gandhi, 1919 Mohandas Gandhi launched his campaign of non-cooperation with Imperial British control of India. He called his overall method of nonviolent action Satyagraha, formed from satya (truth) and agraha, used to describe an effort or endeavor. This translates roughly as “Truth-force.” A fuller rendering, though, would be “the force that is generated through adherence to Truth.” More on Satyagraha (civil disobedience) Excerpt from The Core of Gandhi’s Philosophy by Unto Tahtinen on the concept of Satyagraha |
February 28, 1946 Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the newly formed Democratic Republic of Vietnam, facing re-imposition of French colonial rule over his country, sent a telegram to President Harry Truman: “. . . I most earnestly appeal to you personally and to the American people to interfere urgently in support of our independence and help making the negotiations more in keeping with the principles of the Atlantic and San Francisco charters [founding documents of the League of Nations and United Nations].” |
February 28, 1954 The U.S. detonated its largest thermonuclear blast ever, in a test of a new hydrogen (fusion) weapon design in the atmosphere at Bikini Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands. Castle Bravo had an explosive yield of 15 megatons (equivalent to 15,000,000 tons of TNT), it was double the maximum possible expected by the Atomic Energy Commission. Carried out in spite of adverse weapon conditions (the monitoring station was downwind at the time of detonation), the unexpected yield created a radioactive fallout plume that contaminated three other atolls of the 29 in the Marshall chain. Though too late to avoid their contamination, hundreds of Marshallese and U.S. servicemen were evacuated.To avoid another such radiological disaster, future tests required an exclusion zone 1370 km in diameter (850 miles), an area equal to about 1% of the earth’s surface. Because Bikini had been essentially destroyed, subsequent test weapons were detonated from barges. All about Castle Bravo |
February 28, 1958 The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) was founded in London by philosopher Sir Bertrand Russell, then 86 years old, and the Reverend Canon (Lewis) John Collins of St. Paul’s Cathedral.The peace symbol was originally developed for CND. History of the CND The CND today |
| February 28, 1989 The Nevada-Semipalatinsk Movement to Stop All Nuclear Testing was founded in the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Olzhas Suleimenov, a popular Kazakh poet, was chosen to lead this first anti-nuclear non-governmental organization in Kazakhstan, formerly part of the USSR. Nevada-Semipalatinsk ended nuclear arms tests at the Semipalatinsk Polygon. Organizers had been inspired by the large Nevada Test Site anti-nuclear demonstrations and encampments outside Las Vegas in the mid-to-late 1980s.   a Semipalatinsk test demo at Semipalatinsk, 1990 Read more |
| February 29, 1968 The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission) warned that racism was causing America to move “toward two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal.” Former Illinois Governor Otto Kerner and his commission were charged by President Lyndon Johnson to look into the causes of the many riots that had taken place in recent years. The 1968 Kerner Commission Got It Right, But Nobody Listened |
| February 29, 1984 U.S. District Judge Miles W. Lord held the officers of A.H. Robins Company personally liable for the injuries caused by the intrauterine contraceptive device they had produced and sold, the Dalkon Shield. Eighteen women had died, and more than 300,000 ultimately claimed injury. The top three executives had to pay $4.6 million personally, and the company paid out $220 million in compensatory and $13 million in punitive damages to thousands of women.  Judge Miles W. Lord Judge Lord: “The whole cost-benefit analysis is warped. They say, well you can kill so many people if the benefits are great enough . . . Once they put a price on human life, all is lost. Life is sacred. Life is priceless.” He also criticized Robins’s legal strategy of requiring witnesses to discuss their sex lives: ”You exposed these women, and ruined families and reputations and careers, in order to intimidate those who would raise their voices against you,” he said. “You introduced issues that had no relationship whatsoever to the fact that you implanted in the bodies of these women instruments of death, mutilation and of disease.” Judge Lord was called before a review panel for his professional and judicial conduct in the case but the charges were dismissed and he continued to serve until retirement. Read about the case |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february28
News For DOD Employees About Tomorrow, And More
Termination Spree Begins Friday for DOD Civilians
By Josh Marshall | February 26, 2025 10:01 p.m.
Reviewing a directive from DCPAS Director Daniel J. Hester. This applies to DOD civilian personnel. On Friday the 28th, they “must terminate the employment of all individuals who are currently serving probationary or trial periods in the DOD.” The document lists categories of exception: positions “designated mission critical,” “political appointees.” There are a few other technical exception categories. Document signed yesterday.
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You Must Read This: Uproar Over Malicious and Disastrous Cuts at VA
By Josh Marshall | February 26, 2025 6:43 p.m.
Yesterday I saw a video from VA Secretary Doug Collins (former member of Congress from Georgia) bragging about how they were cutting $2 billion worth of what were clearly, in his estimation, worthless and stupid contracts. They were in fact almost one thousand different contracts tied to everything from medical and burial services to cancer prevention and doctor recruiting programs. I’ve posted that video below. This afternoon I received this email from a longtime reader …
I’m a contractor working for a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) for 15 years. I’ve worked on projects with the Veterans Benefit Administration and the Veterans Health Administration. During that time, I’ve run marketing campaigns to get veterans to enroll in healthcare, conducted program evaluations and process improvement efforts, and provided strategic communications support.
I’ve been very proud of my work and the VA mission. But today I’m devastated. My contract was one of more than 800 that were canceled last night. The cancellations were not based on any evaluation. DOGE appears to have simply identified all professional services contracts and canceled them.
The cancellations will not only have a terrible impact on VHA healthcare, it will destroy hundreds of SDVOSBs because a great deal of VA contracts go to SDVOSBs. I don’t know how Republicans in Congress can let this destruction continue when so many of them profess to care deeply about veterans.
This afternoon, VA appears to have reversed course, now saying their going to review and potentially reverse at least some of the cancellations. “Under pressure, VA halts contract cancellations in major reversal” reads the WaPo headline. It goes on: “Records show the 875 contracts at issue included support for medical and burial services, cancer programs, and efforts to recruit doctors for critical vacancies.”
“I don’t have a lot of hope that they’ll reverse many,” the TPM Reader followed up.
Here’s the Collins video.
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Oversight?: Trump NIH Pick Fails to Include Big Award From Major Right-Wing Group On Financial Disclosure by Walker Bragman
Jay Bhattacharya won the $250,000 Bradley Prize in 2024 but did not include it in his government filing. Read on Substack (snip-MORE)
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This Is How to Debunk the Onslaught of Disinformation
The last Trump administration might not have introduced the concept of disinformation, but 2.0 has taken propaganda to a new dangerous level. Are we better equipped to combat it this time around?
Brooke Binkowski Feb 26, 2025
Snippet:
But I have some ideas that might help. Here is what I have learned from my work as a debunker and a cross-border reporter with a background in breaking news, where you have to learn to protect yourself and your information:
- Limit the time you spend consuming news. The news cycle is being deliberately weaponized to make you feel hopeless in ways that many journalists are unable or unwilling to understand and mitigate at the moment.
- Limit your time on social media unless you can have trusted private networks. And even then don’t talk about anything unlawful. Save those conversations for face-to-face meetings.
- Embrace physical media. Write things down. Send letters to each other. No, really.
- It’s possible to step up and help when others won’t. We can learn from previous disasters and do better, if we work together.
- Find and form trusted mutual aid networks.
- Support your local libraries.
- Do not waste your time appealing to authority that has demonstrated they are unwilling to fight for you. Fact-checking is always important, but it is only effective on its own in a healthy democracy. We are not in a healthy democracy.
- Learn your regional history, particularly unresolved crimes against humanity such as slavery and genocide. Learn about vulnerable groups and how they are treated. Often, those painful histories are leveraged in the service of disinformation campaigns. Listen to marginalized people.
- Follow people online who you have already observed having integrity. Give people the benefit of the doubt if you hear rumors. Do not give them the benefit of the doubt if you observe them engaging in bad behavior.
- Toss toxic people out of your trusted networks.
- Keep a journal. Write a few words in it every day, if you can; it doesn’t need to be a long letter to yourself. Writing down your thoughts will help you remember what you want to remember, and it will also provide you with a bulwark against weapons-grade gaslighting.
- Take breaks and find joy somehow. This is going to really suck. Find or make a haven for yourself if you possibly can.
- Take care of your health. Don’t forget to rest, eat, and hydrate. Find a place you can retreat and shut out the rest of the world if you have to.
- Spend time with your loved ones.
- Stand up for each other, even when it’s hard. (And it will be hard.)
We can get through this. But in order to do so, we all have to work together to debunk poisonous lies and preserve our memories and our thoughts, because that’s how we build resilience, real resilience, the type that gives us what we need in order to bounce back from the heartbreak and tragedies of the last few years and whatever is to come. We can do that if we work together, and the time to do so is now.
Scottie's Playtime 