Remember Mace is a notorious attention hound, demanding her staff book her constantly on different media. She does any stunt she thinks will gain her attention. She made over 500 tweets in two days about a new trans member to congress and the bathroom ban she was pushing but at no time did she mention anything helping her constituents. She even sent a staffer back an hour or so later to ask the man to repeat what he said to Mace. So she clearly did not feel assaulted then. But after a time thinking how to spin it for more attention she suddenly claimed to have been badly assaulted with damage to both wrists and her arm so bad that she is parading around with her arm in a sling. What a phony. Slandering an advocate for foster youth and trans kids for clicks and views. She never grew up, she is still a high school girl chasing fame on social media. Hugs
This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Aformer foster youth and award-winning advocate for children was arrested at the U.S. Capitol tonight — a bizarre twist in an otherwise celebratory day of events — after South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace accused him of assault.
The incident took place outside a House of Representatives office building following an event honoring the anniversary of a landmark child welfare law where Mace, a firebrand Republican, had given a speech. Three witnesses at the scene told The Imprint their accused colleague James McIntyre had done nothing more than shake the congress member’s hand at the House reception, and asked her to protect the rights of transgender people.
But in a post on the social media platform X, Rep. Mace described a violent confrontation.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace
“I was physically accosted at the Capitol tonight by a pro-tr*ns man. One new brace for my wrist and some ice for my arm and it’ll heal just fine,” she posted at 8:43 p.m. “The Capitol police arrested the guy. Your tr*ns violence and threats on my life will only make me double down.”
The arrest stunned onlookers.
A group of McIntyre’s fellow foster youth advocates rushed to the outside of the Rayburn House Office Building to watch the scene unfold. They stood by tearfully as he was searched for several minutes by police, asking officers where he’d be taken and calling frantically for an attorney who could represent him.
McIntyre, 33, has spoken publicly about his excruciating experience growing up in foster care, and is now a leading voice in policymaking in his home state of Illinois. He is also a chapter co-founder of the influential group Foster Care Alumni of America. In 2019, the National Association of Social Workers’ Illinois chapter named him the “Public Citizen of the Year.”
An officer with the Capitol Police Department told a reporter present at the scene that they were responding to a call about an “assault.” McIntyre was then placed into a police van and driven off.
Other attendees have reacted with outrage since McIntyre’s arrest.
“I want to express deep disappointment in the fact that Congresswoman Nancy Mace came to a national foster youth event, told participating youth that it was a safe space — and literally had one of them arrested by Capital police for simply shaking her hand and asking about trans rights,” said Lisa Dickson, a veteran advocate for foster youth from Ohio, in a Facebook post.
Mace is not new to such publicity. In recent weeks, she has been in the news for her successful campaign to bar newly elected Rep. Sarah McBride — a Democrat from Delaware who is transgender — from using the public women’s bathrooms in the U.S. Capitol.
At tonight’s event, Mace, who co-chairs Congress’ bipartisan foster care caucus, joined a group of legislators at a House reception celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999. The act created the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood, legislation that significantly expanded federal support for foster youth who leave the system after turning 18 without a permanent home.
Today’s events featured speeches from some of the former foster youth whose advocacy led to the writing and passage of the law known as the Chafee Act.
In her remarks at the House event, Rep. Mace told the crowd that while she was not an adoptee or former foster youth, she had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child. She called the dozens of advocates and foster youth in attendance — McIntyre among them — “the cream of the crop.”
“I look forward to working with each and every one of you. God bless you, I will be praying for you,” Mace said.
As she finished her comments and moved to leave the room, McIntyre approached her near an exit door, witnesses said.
Elliott Hinkle, a former foster youth and advocate for LGBTQ rights, said McIntyre shook her hand, and made a comment about how many transgender youth are in foster care, adding: “They need your support.”
“From what I saw, it was a normal handshake and interaction that I would expect any legislator to expect from anyone as a constituent,” said Hinkle, a consultant who has advised the federal government on issues affecting youth in foster care.
Later, Hinkle said, one of Mace’s aides returned to the reception and asked McIntyre his name and whether he would repeat what he had told the legislator. Two other people who witnessed the interaction confirmed that description of the brief episode.
McIntyre left the celebration, but he was later summoned back to the Rayburn Building by police.
Hinkle said his subsequent arrest “sends a chilling effect of, you’re not actually safe to go to the Capitol Hill and share an opinion that is true for you, that isn’t violent — because right now if you do, a congressperson might say that they were physically assaulted and call the police on you. So how would a young person in care feel safe?”
Michael Fitzgerald contributed to this report.
I hope everyone can see what the rabid right haters are trying to do. Not only gaslight everyone lying that a horrible assault happened and trans people are the fault and guilty party, but that the left endorses it. A woman was assaulted by a pro trans … trying to hint or make it sound like it was a trans man who did it. The log cabin people are the silliest as they claim she is a supporter of the LGBT, notice the last letter. They can not find a real attach on a woman by a trans person so now they are trying to make one up. Normal maga right dirty tricks. Hugs
With new restrictions on gender-affirming care, prisons confiscate underwear from trans people and compel them to cut their hair.
Earlier this fall, Florida officials ordered transgender women in the state’s prisons to submit to breast exams. As part of a new policy for people with gender dysphoria, prison medical staff ranked the women’s breast size using a scale designed for adolescents. Those whose breasts were deemed big enough were allowed to keep their bras. Everyone else had to surrender theirs, along with anything else considered “female,” such as women’s underwear and toiletry items.
This article was published in partnership with the Tampa Bay Times.
The examinations came after people who had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria by the prison system’s own providers were brought into meetings at the end of September and told of the prisons’ new policy, which would make it nearly impossible for them to get hormone therapy and other gender-affirming medical care, according to interviews and emails with more than a dozen transgender women who said they attended the meetings.
Josie Takach, who is incarcerated in a men’s facility south of Tallahassee, said a male doctor told her to lift up her shirt, then glanced at her breasts and wrote something down without saying a word. When she tried to ask a question, a nurse “told me not to ask any questions and to just shut up and do what I’m told,” she recalled.
“It felt like I was being treated less than human,” she said.
The state’s chapter of the ACLU sued Florida’s Department of Corrections, which operates the prisons, in late October, calling the policy draconian and arguing it amounts to an unconstitutional ban on gender-affirming care. The new policy is the latest maneuver in the culture war around transgender people’s civil rights in the Sunshine State. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis championed a raft of anti-trans legislation, including a law passed last year that prohibited children with gender dysphoria from accessing treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy. A similar law in Tennessee was the subject of arguments in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court last week.
In Tallahassee Monday, a federal judge held a preliminary hearing in the ACLU case. The state had asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit altogether, and the ACLU asked him to stop the state from enforcing the new rules. The judge is expected to issue a ruling on these questions in the coming weeks.
The Florida Department of Corrections’ media office did not respond to multiple emails and phone calls with detailed questions, but in court papers responding to the ACLU’s lawsuit, the department’s lawyers argued that the new rules are “a carefully crafted policy that creates an individualized course of treatment for each inmate based on scientific evidence and clinical judgment.”
Under the new policy, the Department of Corrections stated that the prisons will only provide those with gender dysphoria with psychotherapy — and not cross-gender hormones — except “in rare instances … if necessary to comply with the U.S. Constitution or a court decision.” The policy argues that “unaddressed psychiatric issues and unaddressed childhood trauma could lead to a misdiagnosis of gender dysphoria,” and that cross-gender hormones “may be requested by persons experiencing short-termed delusions or beliefs which may later be changed and reversed.”
Florida has the country’s third-largest state prison system, with more than 87,000 people incarcerated at the end of September. Of those, 181 have been identified by the department as transgender, and about 100 received hormone treatment, according to documents state officials filed with the courts in the ACLU case.
The new policy was announced in meetings in several prisons across the state at the end of September. Transgender women who attended the meetings said they were told by officials that everyone identifying as transgender would be “re-evaluated” to assess whether they can have continued access to the care and accommodations they had been receiving, such as permission to grow their hair long. Officials have not told the women whether and under what circumstances they will be allowed to stay on the hormones they have been receiving.
Since then, more than a dozen transgender people said corrections officers ordered them to cut their hair. Mariko Sundwall told The Marshall Project that she was given a disciplinary infraction and spent 10 days in solitary confinement for refusing to cut her hair before officers put her in handcuffs and led her to the prison barber where her hair was cropped short.
“[Before] my hair was long enough for a ponytail. Now I have a buzz cut,” said Jada Edwards, incarcerated in Dade Correctional Institution south of Miami. “I’m very sad and depressed. I feel like they’re taking away my identity.”
Scores of women also had their breasts examined, according to filings in the suit and interviews with some of the women. A medical provider for the state assigned each transgender woman a rating on the Tanner scale, a system used by pediatricians to assess the development of adolescents during puberty. Several of the women said they weren’t told what stage was required for permission to keep their bras, but that almost everyone they knew had theirs taken away.
Some report hiding bras or sewing makeshift underwear — although now women’s undergarments are considered contraband and could result in disciplinary charges — because they feel naked and exposed without them.
“I feel like I’m 12 years old again, sneaking around wearing a bra,” said Takach, after her female undergarments were confiscated.
The new policy, which requires psychotherapy to treat underlying issues rather than treating the dysphoria, “comes off like conversion therapy,” says Daniel Tilley, the lead attorney from the ACLU of Florida. “We’re trying to change your fundamental nature to get you to stop being who you are.”
Sarah Maatsch, who is incarcerated in a men’s prison south of Orlando, said she was told that the gender dysphoria diagnosis she received from corrections department doctors in 2019 would now be considered a serious psychiatric illness. If she wants to continue her treatment, she said she was told, she would have to move to a more restrictive prison with more psychiatric services, but fewer work and programming opportunities.
“We are all devastated,” said Maatsch. “There are good days, bad days and the very bad days where a part of you hopes you have a heart attack.”
The new policy is the latest change in health care for transgender people in Florida after a 2023 law said any “governmental entity” in Florida “may not expend state funds … for sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures.” It did not name prisons specifically, but the Department of Corrections’ new policy says it “shall comply” with this law.
Shortly after DeSantis’ anti-trans bills were passed, transgender people in state prisons began reporting that medications were abruptly changed or delayed with little or no explanation.
Courts have held that prisons are required under the U.S. Constitution to provide gender-affirming hormones as needed. Dan Karasic is a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco who helped develop international standards for treatment of transgender people and who has testified against bans on gender-affirming care in Florida and elsewhere. He read Florida’s new guidelines at The Marshall Project’s request and called them “a fig leaf on their efforts to ban gender-affirming care. They are really trying to skirt the law, as determined by multiple courts, that gender-affirming medical and surgical care must be provided when medically necessary.”
The Florida prison system’s program to treat prisoners with gender dysphoria began in 2017, after Reiyn Keohane sued the state. The federal judge in the case said that the Department of Corrections’ refusal to provide Keohane with hormones and social accommodations, like women’s clothing and haircuts, caused her “to continue to suffer unnecessarily and poses a substantial risk of harm to her health.” During the course of the lawsuit, the state began providing gender-affirming hormone therapy, access to makeup, women’s clothing and other social accommodations within its prisons.
Behind the scenes, Danny Martinez, the state prison system’s medical director, began revising the state’s gender-affirming care program in 2020, he said in a court declaration in response to the ACLU’s recent lawsuit. As many as one-third of the people on hormones in Florida’s prisons were not attending group or personal therapy sessions, he said. “I observed no decrease, and in fact an increase in grievances to the medical and mental health staff from inmates receiving hormone therapy, indicating to me that the treatment solely based on hormone therapy without additional mental health treatment produced limited success,” he wrote. An email to Martinez seeking comment was not returned.
Martinez said he designed the new program based on a 2022 report by Florida’s Medicaid organization that found “insufficient evidence” that medical interventions for gender dysphoria are safe or effective. The report led to the state’s Medicaid program banning coverage of gender-affirming medical care. But a federal judge, in striking down the Medicaid ban last year, found that the report was “a biased effort to justify a predetermined outcome, not a fair analysis of the evidence,” and the report’s conclusion was “not supported by the evidence and was contrary to generally accepted medical standards.”
So far, none of the transgender women incarcerated in Florida have reported being taken off their hormones, but the looming threat has led to widespread anxiety.
“If they took away my hormone therapy treatment, I would be ready to end my life. I’m at that point,” said Sasha Mendoza, who is incarcerated in a men’s prison near Miami, in a declaration filed in the ACLU case. “It may sound drastic. But FDC just let me start my transition and I was doing so well, and now they are making me stop. I’m halfway there and halfway not there.”
Republicans are against the public having healthcare for some reason. Paxton, Texas leadership, and a good segment of the republican part simply want non-white people / all immigrants to suffer as much as possible. As if just by living they have committed the worst possible crime. Plus dreamers? Look republicans keep passing laws that kids are property so they had no choice being dragged to the US with their parents. Plus they have been here, raised here, never caused problems, added to the economy. Denying them healthcare is stupid and just trying to hurt them. Plus it costs taxpayers more as dreamers need care they must have but can’t afford to pay for. Hugs
PSA: migrants desperately seeking shelter may be in your area. Call ICE asap if seen.
Government run by gang thugs. That is what maga and the maga republicans want. tRump has always been a mob boss wannabe but was never good enough to really do it. He is a school yard bully who never grew up and has only regressed over the years. He thinks might make right, and that who ever can bully or threaten the most gets all the toys and their way on everything. Is this how we think things should be run? Is this for the good of the country? And if this is the way the republicans are going to act then how should democrats respond? Corporate media both print and video are afraid to attack tRump so they ganged up on Biden and the democrats, but they never pointed out that tRump was everything they attacked Biden for being. Now the brownshirts and thugs are making congress people offers they don’t dare refuse. Hugs
In recent days, allies of Trump adopted an approach that is not novel for the president-elect and his followers: Make life extremely uncomfortable for anyone who dares to oppose him. The swarm of MAGA attacks that Sen. Joni Ernst has experienced is a warning of what’s in store for others who express skepticism of his personnel choices.
Read the full article. As I noted yesterday, among the attacks on Ernst are threats to resurface allegations of an adulterous affair.
If you are a bigot who hates gay people then you believe this false idea. If you are a racist you believe that black / brown people are inferior and erode standards. In fact that was said about blacks when the military was first integrated. However that notion got totally destroyed due to the bravery and proficiency of the black divisions in the 1930s and 1940s. Same with gay people. Most people in the military don’t care your sex partner as longs as they are not forced against their will to join you. It is only the bigots, the fundamentalist religious people. It is the Christians like Hegseth who has said that the goal is to make the military Christians who want all the gay people out. Notice it was gays he objected to, not lesbians. The upper military brass has studied this, the idea of LGBTQ+ in the military and all the studies show that the military benefits greatly for allowing the LGBTQ+ to serve openly. Look let’s be honest the military was full of gay people in the 1980s when I was in, both the Navy and the Army. We just stood the chance of getting blackmailed or discharged if a bigot like Hegseth found out. Again all of maga want desperately to return to the fantasy time of the 1950s thinking that was the best of times, but only if you were a white straight cis male. The rest of the population suffered from the unfair laws. Hugs.
New: Pete Hegseth Lamented Don't Ask Don't Tell Change, Women in the MilitaryThe Trump nominee's views on women and LGBTQ+ individuals raise questions about his fitness
Hegseth’s views risk alienating large segments of the armed forces and undermining morale by suggesting that certain groups are inherently less capable of serving. The Department of Defense has long moved toward embracing equality and diversity as pillars of strength. A leader who dismisses these values could jeopardize decades of progress and fail to inspire trust and cohesion among service members.
In a time when military challenges require unity and innovation, the Secretary of Defense must represent the best of modern leadership—respect for diversity, evidence-based policy, and a commitment to national security above outdated biases. Pete Hegseth’s comments reveal a personal belief system with negative views which raises doubts about his fitness to lead the military
This is more gang thuggery. Notice this part: … as he threatened local officials to open the city and its county jail to the will of federal immigration agents. Hugs
The very same weaponizing the government and the DOJ to attack enemies that tRump and the maga right claims is happening under Biden was routine under tRump. Notice the use of the deep state tools to gather information including personal information which should have been protected legally. That is why all these people who claim tRump won’t be vengeful and won’t weaponize the government are just blowing smoke, he will and he has. Hugs
Oh wow, think of all those poor people who voted for tRump because they believe everything he says and think he is a smart businessman. Too bad no one tried to explain to them that tariffs are paid by the consumer, that means the person buying the item. Oh wait yes there were people trying hard to tell them that. In fact the black woman they just couldn’t vote for was saying that very clearly as was everyone but right wing media that is deep into the cult of tRump. Hugs
This man has shown nothing but contempt for all normal behavior and respect for the those in congress. He has done a lot to destroy the post office and to make it unreliable. Remember that he was destroying sorting machines and shortening delivery routes during an election so many mail in ballots never got counted. In deeply rural areas no other mail delivery service covers that area so they depend on the post office. The post office is the only government service mandated in the constitution. Remember DeJoy is a multimillionaire who owns a company that competes with and contracts with the post office that he is in charge of. Sounds like a conflict of ethics that needs real instigating. Hugs
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy covered his ears during a congressional hearing as Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) repeatedly pressed him on postal service oversight. https://t.co/hdpF8bnhu4pic.twitter.com/CpSHfh52PF
As normal Musk is spouting off on stuff he knows nothing about. Homelessness is caused by several factors, a major one being the cost of housing. With hedge funds and wealthy investment companies buying up all the housing in an area and jacking up the rents while providing no maintenance support. They don’t care, a large profit is demanded. The fact that people can not afford to live these days because people like Musk demand ever more profit, a man who has so much money he could waste 44 billion on a whim and not suffer any lowering of his lifestyle. That is what life is like for these clowns. They have no conception of what life is like for the rest of us. By the way, the article he cites as his proof says the exact opposite of what Musk claims. That is why you need to read more than the headlines and look at the pictures. Providing housing does work, but as the article referenced states the programs need the correct amount of funding and supervision. Hugs
The article does not support the contention that providing shelter to people who need it is fruitless or that all unhoused people are criminals. Rather, the article details how the converted hotels in San Francisco were “underfunded and understaffed,” leading to substandard living conditions.
Read the full article. As the linked piece notes, a large percentage of the homeless are children, veterans, queer kids rejected by their parents, and women escaping domestic violence. But they’re all violent, drug-addicted liars, according to Musk, whose tweet currently has 25 million views.
Elon Musk accused the homeless of being violent drug addicts. Many are victims of domestic violence, hard workers with low paying jobs, multiple children to feed and clothe, veterans, students, young adults aged out of foster care, LGBTQ youth kicked out by intolerant parents etc pic.twitter.com/eUbrEECGdd
Delusion run strong in this one. Need I say more. A fox entertainment host is also claiming tRump will buy a large track of property for the US making more states. Hugs
Donald Trump is once again “joking” about annexing Canada into the United States, this time calling Justin Trudeau the “Governor” of the “Great State of Canada.”Totally normal and not crazy at all
Aysha Bagchi USA TODAY (if only USAT were brave enough to state they’re election interference convictions, instead of calling them hush money convictions!)
“President-elect immunity does not exist,” lawyers from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office wrote in the court filing made public Tuesday. “At most, (Trump) should receive temporary accommodations during his presidency to prevent this criminal case from meaningfully interfering with his official decision-making.”
Trump is now arguing that sentencing should be cancelled and the case should be dismissed as a result of his election.
“Burdening the Presidency with a biased prosecution by a local prosecutor would be not only unconstitutional, but also unbearably undemocratic to the people of this country who chose President Trump as their leader,” Trump’s legal team wrote in a motion calling for the case’s dismissal.
Prosecutors float option of not sentencing Trump
Trump is making various legal arguments for getting the case tossed out, including that its continued existence – even with sentencing pushed out past his next presidential term – would improperly interfere with his upcoming presidency.
It “would be egregious and unlawful for this Court to hold the prospect of a 2029 sentencing over President Trump’s head while he continues his service to this Country,” Trump’s legal team wrote in his motion.
But Manhattan prosecutors said in the new filing that there are multiple options short of throwing out the jury’s verdict that would address concerns about interfering with Trump’s upcoming presidency.
If Trump isn’t sentenced before he takes office, remaining steps in the case could be paused until his term is over, prosecutors said.
Or, if Judge Juan Merchan is worried that simply pausing the case would improperly burden Trump’s presidency, Merchan could close the case while still putting a note in the court record stating that the jury’s verdict removed Trump’s presumption of innocence but he was never sentenced and his conviction was neither upheld nor struck down on appeal.
“On the one hand, this remedy would prevent defendant from being burdened during his presidency by an ongoing criminal proceeding,” prosecutors said. (snip-MORE)
(I’ve been really enjoying this trip of his, through his column. Iceland sounds like my kinda place. -A)
Good morning from American soil, and to be more specific, Baltimore.
Six decades of oppressive dictatorship collapsed Sunday as Syrian rebels entered Damascus and sent tyrant Bashar Al-Assad fleeing to Russia. Russia and Iran were the backers who kept the Assad regime afloat and now have eggs on their faces for betting on the wrong dog.
Syria was Russia’s toehold in the Middle East and Mediterranean as they have two bases in that nation. If Russia wants to keep those bases, they’ll have to negotiate with the people they’ve been dropping bombs on for the past 13 years. They may feel some kind of way about that. For Iran, it could limit its ability to spread weapons to its allies in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and even Gaza. For Syria, this brings an end to 13 years of civil war that pummeled cities and left hundreds of thousands dead. Refugees from all across the region and Europe may finally be able to return home…maybe.
Even as a coalition of rebels liberated the capital and freed thousands of prisoners while promising to build a coalition government, American forces were striking known Islamic State camps inside Syria. Israel sent its military inside Syria to protect its border along the same region it captured from Syria decades ago. Some of these groups in the coalition are considered terrorist organizations by several nations. One of the groups was al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, but now they’re all wearing smiley faces. These groups, backed by Turkey, are saying, “Trust us. We’re the good guys.”
Vladimir Putin granted Assad exile in Russia, but it’s not like the former Syrian dictator will be sleeping on the Russian dictator’s couch. Assad left Syria with about $2 billion in assets that should belong to the people he ruled over. For them, Assad left cities in ruin along with a devastated economy. His people are suffering, but he’ll be OK.
I wonder how much American money Donald Trump will take with him when he flees for exile in Russia.
I’m home.
I’m home, back in my country. Not home home, like back in my apartment or even my city.
I woke up at 5 a.m. because my body still thinks it’s in the London time zone. Sleep has been fighting me for the past two weeks and I don’t think it’s ready to quit yet.
Yesterday morning started in Reykjavik as I got on a shuttle at the Reykjavik Creepy Arms Inn, which took me to a bus station that took me to the Keflavik airport, about 45 minutes from the capital…which was just overrun by Syrian rebels. Kidding.
Keflavik Airport was built by the United States military after England invaded Iceland during World War II. Why did England invade Iceland? So the Germans wouldn’t. There wasn’t any fighting when England invaded. They just showed up in four ships one morning and took over like it was India or something. The British built the regional airport in Reykjavik during their occupation. The “invasion” rescued Iceland from the Great Depression as there were just as many foreign soldiers in Iceland as Icelanders. The United States took over occupying Iceland before it entered WWII so England could use more of its troops to fight Nazis (who we used to think were the bad guys before we started voting for them). I think a movie should be made about the invasion of Iceland and it would be a comedy.
I started this cartoon in the airport where NONE of the electrical outlets work. There were dozens of tables in the airport for passengers and each one had at least four outlets…and none of them worked. I charged my phone by draining power from my iPad during the flight, that is, after I had drawn the day’s cartoon of course. I finished the cartoon during my flight and I probably freaked out passengers who walked by as they saw me drawing skulls. People are always sneaking peeks over my shoulder, and often regretting it.
Where I started the cartoon. Every retailer has to scan your boarding pass before they can sell you something, like someone’s going to sneak into the terminal while fighting off the very dickish Icelandic security guards (oh, they suck) to purchase one of the Icelandic hotdogs. You’ll see.
On the plane, I shared a row with a young lady and we started whispering to each other as the plane filled up with people, hoping that nobody would take our middle seat. We were counting the passengers left in the aisle and praying for the doors to close. I was like, “If someone does sit here, don’t let it be another fat guy. Please god, no fat guys.” Nobody did which made it a more comfortable flight for both of us. I had elbow room to draw and she had some extra room to nap. It was a long flight. My back still hurts.
Sorry for not doing all this in chronological order. How long am I allowed to blame jet lag? President Biden blamed jet lag from two weeks before for his dismal debate performance. Maybe he thought he was still on London time and the answer to the next question will arrive in five hours. Anyway, I decided to eat something good the night before for my last meal in Iceland, and I chose well.
Readers LOVE the food pics. At least they do on Facebook. This is a haddock covered in horseradish sauce, and it wasn’t as expensive as I expected. It came with broccoli and potatoes over rice. It was great and there was something done with the potatoes I can’t figure out, but they were excellent. Most of the other diners were eating cheeseburgers.
When I was done, the waitress asked if I wanted dessert…no thank you…or coffee. Coffee? Oh, god yes.
Nectar of the gods, people. Nec…tar…of…the…gods. I almost cried. Of course, I got more coffee the next morning at the airport and I have two cups with me now that I took from the continental breakfast downstairs in my B’more hotel.
After the haddock and coffee (that could be an emo band name), I braved the weather and 55 mph winds (I’m still not on the metric system), and saw my friend Renata one last time and I met her coworker Isak, who was born and bred in Iceland but has spent significant time in Astoria. How expensive is Iceland? Isak thinks New York City is cheap.
The patch Renata is showing off is her football team in Brazil, which her family has been following for decades, something Americans can understand. Also, Renata is reading the blog. Say hi to her in the comments. Renata, there are hellos in the comments.
Renata told me I couldn’t leave Iceland until I could finally accomplish pronouncing “Gull,” a very good lager made in Iceland. It was a constant theme of my stay on that frozen island. I still can’t say it properly. If you go to Iceland, order the beer and ask your server how it’s pronounced. It will fuck with you.
And I was wrong. The haddock was not my last meal in Iceland. Take a deep breath before you look at the next picture. I don’t want to start a panic.
Admit it. You did a little jump in your seat. This is the Icelandic hotdog. Rene, my niece from Alabama, was in Iceland a few months ago and tried it. She hated it. I thought she was probably too good for hotdogs but gave her points for trying it, and then I tried it, and yeah…she’s right. I didn’t love it.
We invented the hotdog so this must be how Don McClean felt when he heard Madonna’s cover of American Pie.
This was purchased from Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, who created this dog. They have stands in the capital and a couple in the airport. It’s not a large airport yet they have two stands for these things. As the young lady handed it to me, she either said, “Have fun” or “Have a great time.” I can’t remember, but I thought it was cute. I saw a few people running for their flights while carrying a hotdog.
So that’s a dog made from lamb mixed with beef (I think) and it’s covered in APPLE ketchup, sweet mustard, remoulade, and crispy fried onion. At least that’s what it says on the website (I research for you). I’m religiously opposed to ketchup on hotdogs and any red-blooded American caught doing so should be sent to Guantanamo to think about what he did, but I tried this. I figured if I was going to try an Icelandic dog, then I should try it the way the Icelanders intended, but even with apple ketchup, it’s still not right. My defense for the ketchup is that I was on foreign soil.
On my flight, I saw a young man with two slices from Sbarro, which is worse than putting ketchup on a hotdog. He probably thought it was real pizza. I saw a lot of pizza in Iceland and I was like, “Nope!”
Yes, I am a bit of a food snob, but I’m the kind of food snob who enjoyed that Icelandic haddock but can also appreciate a Whopper and will eat a hotdog (a real American hotdog) from a Manhattan street cart.
By the way, four things Iceland doesn’t have: Snakes, mosquitos, an army, or McDonald’s. For awhile, I didn’t think it had coffee either. I should also mention I never got coffee in Liverpool either, but there was tea. It sufficed.
I’m a member of an author’s group in Fredericksburg. I think the rule for membership is that you have to have written a book. My two cartoon books count and I was invited after I won my RFK award, when I officially became a big shot. Basically, all it does is have dinners every few months which are usually held at a nice expensive German restaurant next to the train station. There’s lots of schnitzel. There was a dinner last night and the leader of the group was pushing me to make it.
My plane landed at 5:20 p.m. in Baltimore and the last train to Fredericksburg was leaving at 6 p.m. I was gonna have to get off the plane. Anyone who’s ever flown can tell you it can take 20 minutes to get off a plane. After landing in London, an old lady was telling her husband to look in the overhead bin again to make sure they didn’t forget anything. She kept saying, “Look in the bin, Harold.” He’d say, “I did look in the bin.” And she’d say it again. “Look in the bin, Harold.” “I looked in the bin.” “Look again,” Harold.” “I looked.” This went on a few more times. As they were holding everyone up over this bin shit, someone still in their seat, unable to get out because of this couple, shouted, “Look in the goddamn bin, Harold.” Ok. That person was me. And guess what. There was something in the bin Harold missed. Anyway, after getting off the plane in Baltimore, I would have to get through U.S. Border Patrol and Customs, whose employees are a LOT nicer than the Iceland Asshole Patrol posing as airport security. I asked a suit-wearing security guy where my airline’s check-in counter was located, and he interrupted, saying “I’m security, I don’t take questions.” He wouldn’t even hear the question and as I tried to say something else, he interrupted me again, and again. Finally, I told him he was a dick which made him look at me as if nobody had ever told him that before which is impossible when you’re a real dick. I saw him again later and he glared at me, so I said, “And your haircut’s stupid too.” And it was stupid, as it was some self-inflicted mohawk-looking thing. Who wears a suit with a mohawk? And how did a guy with a mohawk get a job in security without it being in a place like a casino in Atlantic City? Anyway, after getting through Customs, which can take from two minutes to an hour, I would have to get my luggage from baggage claim, catch an airport shuttle (which can take longer than Customs), get to the train station, and catch the train. There was no way I was going to do all that in an hour.
I took a shuttle to my hotel and got to talk to a nice lady from London as if I knew London. Oh, yes…don’t get me started on the Tube. Harumph.
So, I spent the night in Baltimore. Unfortunately, because I didn’t want to spend a lot of money just to sleep over for one night, I stayed in the same inexpensive hotel where they once gave me a room they had already booked, and I ended up walking in on a large hairy naked guy doing things to himself. Thankfully, that didn’t happen this time, and nobody has walked in on me either…yet.
Listen, I don’t really hate large people and I kinda am one myself, but it shouldn’t make me intolerant if I don’t want to sit next to them on an airplane or walk in on one while he’s naked doing things to himself. Get a room! Well, he had one. It wasn’t his fault.
I was also invited to a lunch today hosted by the Fredericksburg Advance, the local publication I’ve been drawing a weekly (most weeks) cartoon for over the past year or so. I’m not making that event either. I have to take a train from Baltimore to take a train from DC, and that one’s leaving until 1 p.m. Hell, I should get moving now.
I grabbed dinner last night at Glory Days (think Applebees, TGY Fridays, Ruby Tuesday, etc), had an American beer (not Coors), and watched American football. I had fried haddock.
Now, that’s an American haddock. Eh, the haddock in Reykjavik was better.
Now, can I pat myself on the back to end this? I just spent two weeks traveling abroad and produced a brand new cartoon and blog EVERY FUCKING DAY while doing it. Am I insane or what? During my trip, every cartoonist back in the states took the weekends off. And, I think I did a pretty good job of covering the issues during those two weeks, which involved a lot of drawing and researching on planes, trains, buses, and other things.
Some of my colleagues say I’m the hardest-working political cartoonist in the business. Well, yeah. It’s not like I’m expecting a Pulitzer Prize for this, but can I at least get a cookie?
On that note, don’t you dare call what I just did a “vacation.”
December 9, 1917 British troops, known as the Egyptian Expeditionary Force and under the command of General Edmund Allenby, entered Jerusalem, ending 700 years of Muslim rule of the city, 400 under the Ottoman Turks. The Turkish army withdrew, the city surrendered without a battle. Thus began 30 years of British control over Palestine.
December 9, 1949 U.S. Representative John Parnell Thomas, former chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was sentenced to 6 to 18 months in federal prison for “padding” Congressional payrolls and using the money himself (embezzlement). He had pled no contest to the charges, and was pardoned by President Harry Truman shortly before the end of his presidency. John Parnell Thomas
December 9, 1961 Members of the National Committee of 100, a movement of non-violent resistance to nuclear war and to the manufacture and use of all weapons of mass extermination, joined with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and held demonstrations at various U.S. air and nuclear bases in Britain. Bertrand Russell and the “Committee of 100″at an earlier action in 1961. Members of the Committee of 100, including Bertrand Russell, considered civil disobedience a legitimate means in their struggle. The CND avoided all illegal activities. The CND is still active today
December 9, 1990 Solidarity trade union founder and leader Lech Walesa won Poland’s presidential runoff election in a 3-1 landslide. He thus became the first directly elected Polish leader. Poland only became an independent country at the end of World War I. About Lech Walesa
As you can see below, that “sifting” has already begun.
Last month, Davis, who was among Trump’s candidates for Attorney General, posted this about Trump’s critics: “I want to drag their dead political bodies through the streets, burn them, and throw them off the wall.”
Davis last appeared here with he threatened to imprison “fat ass” New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In August 2024, Davis appeared here when he threatened to sue any publication or social media user who referred to Trump as a “convicted felon.”
In April 2024, he appeared here when he vowed to imprison Trump’s critics and prosecute Barack Obama for murder.
In February 2024, we heard from him when he declared, “What’s so bad about Christian nationalism?”
His first appearance here came last year when he threatened to “arrest and deport” journalist Mehdi Hasan and throw gay reporter Tim Miller in a women’s prison.
Welker: Economists of all stripes say that ultimately, consumers pay the price of tariffs.Trump: I don't believe that.Welker: Can you guarantee American families won't pay more?Trump: I can't guarantee anything..
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal is accusing Pete Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, of witness intimidation because Parlatore suggested that Hegseth may sue the woman who accused him of sexual assault and received a settlement if he doesn’t get confirmed.
Trump NIH pick "considering a plan to link likelihood of receiving research grants to some measure of academic freedom…Bhattacharya wants to counter what he sees as a culture of conformity that ostracized him over his views on masking and school closures" http://www.wsj.com/health/healt…
The list compiled by the American Accountability Foundation includes 20 general officers or senior admirals and a disproportionate number of female officers. Those on the list in many cases seem to be targeted for public comments they made either in interviews or at events on diversity, and in some cases for retweeting posts that promote diversity.
The above-named group is a dark money organization that does not reveal its donors. Their leader is a former staffer for nutbag Sen. Ron Johnson.
These people what a Russian style military of only white cis straight males which Ted Cruz gave such praise to over our US military. The thing is the Russian military was stopped and driven out of a country by the rag tag Ukrainian military with gifted supplies dripping in. A diverse military of the entire population is the strongest one, which has been demonstrated over and over again. Talk about a group wanting purity in a place, this is what these bigot racist haters want. Hugs
Among Hegseth’s alleged “mistakes” are sexual assault, countless incidents of adultery (including with a coworker), at last one bastard child, drunkenly attempting to climb onto a strip club stage, on the job drinking, being fall down drunk at corporate events, shouting “kill all Muslims,” having white supremacist tattoos, belonging to a far-right misogynist Christian nationalist church, and running two nonprofits for veterans into the ground with what former colleagues call questionable spending on partying and travel. It’s what Jesus would want.
1. Bondi asked for a $25,000 campaign donation from Trump, and got it. 2. Then she dropped her state’s investigation into Trump University. 3. Now she’s Trump’s nominee for Attorney General.
Watch the clip and you’ll see an excited Lummis wave a copy of her bill, calling it a “present for President Trump.” Hayes calls the bill an “enormous heist” and an “explicit bailout” of bitcoin holders should the price plummet
Again notice the gang thugs threatening violence to get what they wanted. All it takes for places to cancel LGBTQ+ events or participation is to make a threat against them. Seems to me to show these people did not want the LGBTQ+ event or participation in the first place. There goal is to remove us from society and public view. Why are we letting these thugs, these brownshirts drive us out of public life. We must fight back with everything we can. Hugs.
Prattville, Alabama, USA – May 12, 2017: Official seal for the City of Prattiville hanging at Stanley Jensen Stadium, the city-owned football stadium.
An LGBTQ+ float has been denied participation in the Prattville Christmas parade, with Mayor Bill Gillespie citing safety concerns.
“This morning, it was brought to the City’s attention from Prattville Pride that there are serious safety concerns regarding Prattville Pride’s participation in the Christmas parade,” Gillespie said in a statement Thursday morning. “Until today, there has only been conjecture and speculation regarding potential safety concerns that Prattville Pride’s participation in the parade may cause. The City will not put the rights of parade participants ahead of the safety of its citizens. Because of the safety concerns for Prattville Pride, other parade participants, as well as parade bystanders, the City has made the decision to remove Prattville Pride from the Christmas parade.”
Asked to clarify these safety concerns, Gillespie said the safety concerns were brought to the attention of the city by Prattville Pride itself in a Thursday morning email. APR has obtained that email, sent from Prattville Pride Vice President Caryl Lawson to Prattville Police Chief Mark Thompson and Assistant Chief Jeff Hassell.
“Subsequent to the city council meeting held on Dec. 3, there have been some additional threats made against our organization referencing harmful actions to be taken against us and our float during the Prattville Christmas Parade,” Lawson wrote. “At this time, Prattville Pride is requesting Prattville police officers to specifically monitor us and our surroundings during staging, as well as assign two officers to walk near the crowd alongside our float.
An important video to watch and try to understand. Sensitive times. I have encrypted mail and encrypted text on both computers. Plus my computers have VPN’s of high quality that do not have any tracking, along with good security programs. I have what I can also on my phone. You might ask why I have such things. I talk to people who have been abused. I also have been abused. All mainstream programs scan such communications with computers, AIs, and they don’t differentiate from this happened to me from I am doing this to a child now. In the past I have known people who had police or other agencies target them thinking they were part of an abuse network when they were only talking to fellow survivors.
Having said that it is going to get worse. We know from Snowden the US government was illegally spying on all texts, calls, and other phone / computer activities of the public, now we must worry about foreign governments doing it also. Please listen to the video and protect yourself. Oh, for clarity I use NordVPN, no possible tracking, and I use Teleguard, Sessions, and Proton mail. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 