Some of the worst of the republicans.

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

Trump Told Trudeau US-Canada Border Treaty Is Invalid


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

Trump Administration Ends Free At-Home COVID Tests

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Newborn Babies Exposed To Measles At Texas Hospital

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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”.

USDA Cancels $11M In Funding For NC Food Banks, Asheville Must End Diversity To Get Hurricane Relief

 


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

Musk Brands Decorated Combat Veteran/Astronaut And Dem Senator Mark Kelly A “Traitor” For Visiting Ukraine

 

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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.

Trump Shares “No LGBTQs” Symbol On Truth Social

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 GOP clearly hates American values.

https://www.joemygod.com/2025/03/bondi-vows-to-jail-anyone-funding-tesla-protests/

Felon Vows To Prosecute Outlets That Displease Him

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

Trump: When I Said That I Can End Russia-Ukraine War In 24 Hours, “I Was Being A Little Bit Sarcastic” [Video]


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

Rubio Expels South Africa’s Ambassador To The US

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.

Trump’s “Antisemitism Czar” Retweets Anti-Semites

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

NYT: Trump Plans To Restrict Visitors From 43 Nations

 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

DOJ: “Under No Circumstances” Release Docs Report

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Memes and cartoons along with some recent news. Dang Bluesky is the place to get it all.

 

Trump, dressed as Napoleon, trips over a cannon ball labeled ‘Tariffs’. The cannon ball was fired from his own cannon, which is standing right behind him with smoke coming out of the barrel.

Cartoon showing the top floor and the roof of the White House. A weather vane shaped like Trump is circling in the wind on the roof, and is connected via gears to a wheel of fortune where a needle indicates which will be today's policy: tariffs, war, peace, deal or no deal. Trump's cabinet sits at a long table, looking expectantly at the wheel.

 

 

Trump selling Teslas

Remove this from your car immediately - showing a transmission. Let those woke leftists know you won't support a TRANSMISSION

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/doge-employees-earning-six-figure-125445382.html

 

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.

Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T17:49:39.555Z

Cool so what happens if GOP attach a national abortion ban to a CR? You'll vote for that too?🚮

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T22:50:13.989Z

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)

jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) 2025-03-15T00:37:58.669Z

The US is running a Stanford Milgram experiment on a societal scale.

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-03-15T13:30:54.402Z

NEW: Here are the 10 “democratic” senators that voted to sell out veterans, the American people, and their colleagues in the House. Cortez MastoDurbinFettermanGillibrandHassanKingPetersSchatzSchumerShaheen

Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T21:25:01.117Z

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.👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T21:15:33.513Z

Ah the party of free speech is at it again

MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2025-03-14T20:17:56.739Z

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.

Mark Cuban (@mcuban.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T01:32:14.237Z

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.

Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) 2025-03-14T18:08:40.589Z

I asked Schumer about this last night and his answer was basically that they’re wrong.

Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T19:09:23.678Z

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…

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-03-15T17:55:25.545Z

Isn't it funny how America is the only country in the world that needs this…weird 🤷

Being Liberal ®🗽🇺🇲🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇺🇳🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 (@beingliberal.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T14:55:12.102Z

Exactly what we've been warning would happen.

George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T18:30:00.687Z

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T04:26:16.072Z

The VA has removed discrimination protections from transgender vets, dishonoring their service.www.advocate.com/news/transge…

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-03-14T22:34:15.988Z

Trump now says he was “being a little bit sarcastic” when he repeatedly promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours.

MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2025-03-15T16:03:36.515Z

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.

Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T18:43:18.865Z

I hate to say ‘I told you so’ but… I told you so. Seven years ago:

Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T18:38:33.851Z

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?

Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T11:30:36.343Z

 

Two important clips from The Majority Report. See I can do shorter clip posts.

Vaccines

Too tired and too discouraged.

My own doctors have been pushing for 8 years that I need a neurologist.  It got much worse after I had my stroke in 2023.  But I put it off.  But I have seen Ron decline.  I admit that the string of numbers I need to put in due to two factor authentication.  I need Ron to read them to me, or I have to keep refreshing them as I can’t remember the numbers.  I also am dyslexic on numbers.  I have never been able to spell but also numbers are not my friends. 

But while my doctor has said I need a neurologist due to the lost of strength on my left side due to my stroke, and the ever increasing tremors, and while I have a standing order for an MRI on my left shoulder due to a spasm that my doctor thinks tore my rotator cuff.  I put it off.  Glad I did.

 Ron has been failing mentally for years.  I took over the bills a decade ago because he said it was too much for him … I have seen the writing on the wall.  Now at 70 I have to often remind him of things, make sure he puts appointments into the calendar. He will open food and walk away leaving it on the counter, he struggles to understand why some of his lapses upset me, always promising to do better … then repeating it.

    When it comes to construction issues he is spot on, but now on cooking he comes to me confused.  When Ron met me and moved in I had eggs and hot dogs in my refrigerator, it was all I knew how to cook, he taught me all I know.   Now he comes to me confused asking what I think we should do.  To be clear he understands he is losing memory and time and it terrifies him.   He has begged me that if he ever has Alzheimer’s that I will kill him.  But he is simply forgetful.  I have to get up and check the security system after he goes to bed, but also I have made my own mistakes in my nighttime pills when I am exhausted.  I am not sure where this is going to go.  I did not think the problem was as bad as this doctor did, but when Ron told me the tests he took … I couldn’t pass them either.  We are older people.  So … Hugs

Peace & Justice History for 3/13

March 13, 1830
The term “rat,” referring to a worker who betrays the interests of fellow workers, first appeared in print. The New York Daily Sentinel reported on replacement workers who had agreed to work for two-thirds of the going rate.
“ . . . [many printers are out of work, others are being paid about 2/3 the regular pay; they should join in cooperative associations, ‘as we have done’]
“ [While] the master printers [fill] their offices with boys and two-thirds men, alias ‘rats,’ it will be difficult to find a remedy.”
March 13, 1864
The first contingent of 14,030 Navajo reached Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Men, women and children had been forced to march almost 400 miles from northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico to Bosque Redondo, a desolate tract on the Pecos River in eastern New Mexico. Traveling in harsh winter conditions for almost two months, about 200 Navajo died of cold and starvation along the way.  More died after they arrived at the barren reservation.  The forced march, led by Kit Carson, an Indian agent and military leader in both the Mexican and Civil Wars, became known by the Navajos as the “Long Walk.” 
A grueling 400-mile march to imprisonment in a sterile land.
More on The Long Walk 
March 13, 1945
Pax Christi, an international Catholic peace organization, was founded in France. From their website: “Pax Christi is a ground up organization – it began with a few committed people who spoke out, prayed and worked for reconciliation at the end of the second world war, and is now active in more than 60 countries and five continents, with more than 60,000 members worldwide.”
Pax Christi history

March 13, 1968
Clouds of nerve gas drifted outside the Army’s Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah, poisoning 6,400 sheep in nearby Skull Valley.

Sign near Dugway: Warning Hazardous Area: This area may contain Chemical, Biological and Radiological contaminated material and explosives . . .
Read more about Dugway – the home of Amerian WMD

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymarch.htm#march13

Peace & Justice History for 3/12

The very first execution of a Conscientious Objector, and more in today’s items.

March 12, 295
Maximilian of Thebeste (near Carthage in North Africa) was beheaded by Romans after refusing military service because he said his Christian beliefs did not permit him to become a soldier.
March 12, 1912
Workers led by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) won the Lawrence, Massachusetts, “Bread & Roses” textile strike after 32,000 workers (mostly young female immigrants who spoke 25 different languages, half between the ages of 14 and 18) stayed out for nine weeks. They were striking for a wage increase, double time for overtime and safer working conditions: the equipment was dangerous and the air quality caused lung disease in about one-third of the workers before the age of twenty-five.

IWW organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn addresses a strike rally
Background 
“Bread and Roses” became the strikers slogan and inspired a poem by by the same name.
 
Bread & Roses victory parade
March 12, 1930
Gandhi’s Salt March began from Ahmadabad, India, with 76 followers to protest the salt tax. Great Britain’s Salt Acts prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple of the Indian diet.

Gandhi leading the Salt March
Citizens were forced to buy it from the British, who, in addition to exercising a monopoly over the manufacture and sale of salt, also exerted a heavy salt tax. Defying the Salt Acts, Gandhi reasoned, would be a simple way for many Indians to break an unjust law nonviolently (civil disobedience), increasing the pressure for independence from the British Empire.
By the time Gandhi had covered the 241 miles to the coastal city of Dandi on the Arabian Sea, the number of marchers had grown into the thousands.

More on the Salt March 
March 12, 1978
150,000 demonstrated against construction of a nuclear power plant in Lemoniz, Spain, part of the Basque region. No fewer than a dozen plants were planned in a relatively small, densely populated area, Lemoniz being only 12 km (5 miles) from Bilbao, a city of a million.
The opposition was concerned about the possibility of accidents.

Lemoniz protest
March 12, 1990
Sixteen disability-rights activists from ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit)were arrested at the U.S. Capitol demanding passage of what would become the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The Capitol Crawl

More on the status of the disabled
The Capitol Crawl Zinn project

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymarch.htm#march12

Bad News.

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.

Senate Democrats’ Choice: Block the Republican Spending Bill or Dissolve Congress

The House’s continuing resolution would effectively hand over spending decisions to Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

by David Dayen  March 11, 2025

Snippets:

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).

Extra-Read All About It!

This is yesterday’s newsletter, but I just got to it, so here it is:

Extra! Extra! 3/9 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 by Jessica Craven

Read on Substack

Found in Jay Kuo’s always excellent “Just for Skeets and Giggles.”

Hey, all, and happy Sunday!

Hope you’re enjoying your weekend. To give you a bit more enjoyment, here’s all the good news I could find from the week that just ended. I’m certain there was more, but the below is a good sampling. As awful as things are right now—and they are awful—there’s much good happening as well.

Enjoy this list, read it a few times, and share it with friends. It is not by staring relentlessly at what’s wrong that we will prevail, but in lifting up what’s working and celebrating it. Really!

Let’s do that. Then tomorrow we’ll get back to work making new victories.

Read This 📖

Here’s a great pep talk on the power of our growing movement, courtesy of Framelab!

Celebrate This! 🎉

Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win an Oscar for best costume design, and Zoe Saldaña became the first American of Dominican origin to win an Oscar at all.

A petrol giant in Norway has announced a ban on fuel sales to all US forces following Trump’s treatment of President Zelensky at the White House.

MeidasTouch, an independent news network that is consistently critical of Trump, surpassed Joe Rogan’s podcast to take the top podcast ranking.

Mike Johnson has instructed his members to stop having Town Halls because of their constituents’ anger.

1,400 people showed up to Indivisible Northern NV’s protest in front of their Republican Congressman Mark Amodei’s office on Saturday. WOW!

Despite political headwinds for the U.S. offshore wind industry, global installations are expected to rebound to a record-high 19 GW this year.

Starbucks workers at the S. Dale Mabry & Neptune location in Tampa, FL just won their election to become the 550th union Starbucks store in the US!

The Trump administration has rescinded its decision to cut off legal aid for unaccompanied immigrant children. You sent letters about that! Bravo!

After a public outcry, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs has resumed the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, lowering energy bills for thousands of Alabamans.

The Supreme Court lifted its hold on a lower court order compelling the Trump administration to resume nearly $2 billion in foreign aid funding from USAID. HUGE!

Senate Dems all voted against a bad anti-trans bill.

Over the weekend after Trump and Vance’s meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office supporters like you donated $2,597,908 to UNITED24, the Ukrainian government’s official fundraising website. Wonderful!

Los Angeles County sued Southern California Edison over its role in the devastating Eaton fire.

According to one of the organizers, over 200K people watched the “State of the People” livestream that was offered as counterprogramming to Trump’s SOTU.

In Minnesota, House Republicans brought House File 12 to the Floor, legislation that would prohibit trans and non-gender conforming youth from participating in girls’ sports in Minnesota schools and subject all women and girls to inappropriate scrutiny about their bodies. Democrats defeated it!

Rep. Al Green, was ushered out of Trump’s address to Congress by security guards after raising his voice about Medicaid. THAT is resistance!

Jackie and Shadow, two famous bald eagles, finally hatched two chicks after years of trying to become parents.

Campaign Legal Center filed a new lawsuit challenging the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). They claimed Elon Musk’s and DOGE’s actions are unconstitutional.

The African Development Foundation is putting up a fight and denying DOGE and Pete Marocco — the State Dept official dismantling USAID — access to their building.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey just commuted the death sentence of Robin Dion “Rocky” Meyers.

Electric vehicles made up 64% of all new cars sold in Denmark in January — up from 35% last year.

The stock market’s negative reaction to Trump’s tariffs caused him to withdraw them.

More than 34,000 Vermonters attended Rep Rebecca Balint’s town hall the night of the SOTU —she was joined by Sen Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch. Wow! (You can view a recording on Facebook.)

Utility-scale clean energy installations soared to 49 GW in the U.S. last year, with Republican states seeing the fastest growth.

The U.S. built a record 10.9 GW of utility-scale battery capacity in 2024, mostly in California and Texas, and that figure could surge to 18 GW this year.

More states are adopting mandates for reporting lost or stolen guns.

A federal judge extended a nationwide preliminary injunction on Trump’s executive order to end federal funding for gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth.

Jail voting soared in Colorado in November of 2024—this after the state mandated polling places in County jails.

The White House pulled the expected signing of the executive order to dismantle the Department of Education

A federal judge ruled that the head of the Office of the Special Counsel, who is responsible for protecting whistleblowers, must be able to continue in his role through the duration of his term.

With time running short to avoid a shutdown at the end of next week, Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are urging Republicans to accept a stopgap bill that would keep federal dollars flowing at current levels through the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

Alabama’s parole rate more than doubled in 2024. The board released 20 percent of prisoners last year compared to just eight percent in 2023. One lawmaker credited the boost to increased scrutiny from journalists.

A trans woman who was fired from McDonald’s after being harassed won a $900,000 lawsuit against the company that runs the restaurant.

A crowd hundreds strong gathered near the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association campus in Boulder on Monday to protest cuts made to the agency last week as part of the Trump administration’s effort to downsize the federal government.

The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) reinstated about 5,600 probationary USDA employees that had been terminated by the Trump administration.

Wisconsin is joining a multistate lawsuit against the Trump admin over the mass firings of federal workers.

Tesla shares tumbled 5.6% in trading Thursday and are now down 45% from their December peak. Just since Trump took office and Musk began wielding power they have lost 38% of their overall value.

Target’s online traffic dropped during The People’s Union USA Economic Blackout on Feb. 28, according to data from website analytics platform Similarweb. Costco’s went up.

Across the country on Friday—in at least thirty localities—protests were held in support of science.

U.S. government employees who have been fired in the Trump administration’s purge of recently hired workers are responding with class action-style complaints.

“Hamilton” is canceling plans to perform next year at the Kennedy Center, citing President Trump’s moves to impose his values on the venue. “We’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center,” said its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Couldn’t love him more.

Virginia lawmakers unanimously passed a bill to educate the public about common menstrual disorders like endometriosis and PCOS.

Educators in New York Citare embracing rather than restricting discussions of race in schools. Leaders have said they’ll do so whether the Trump administration approves or not.

This year’s count of endangered Mexican gray wolves shows their recovery is inching forward.

Parents in Britain will be granted a right to bereavement leave after suffering a miscarriage as part of Labour’s workers’ rights reforms.

Black churches across the country were awarded more than $8 million in grants by The National Trust for Historic Preservation, part of an effort to preserve buildings that played significant roles in Black history.

Researchers have created an eco-friendly alternative to plastic Mardis Gras necklaces.

Stanford University chemists have developed a practical, low-cost way to permanently remove atmospheric carbon dioxide, the main driver of global warming and climate change, using rocks.

A federal judge ordered the reinstatement of Democratic NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox, whom Trump fired to eliminate the board’s quorum.

Almost everything Trump and Musk are doing is wildly unpopular with Americans.

Dicks Sporting Goods doubled down on its commitment to DEI.

CBS has filed a motion to dismiss Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit over former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview last year, calling the suit an “affront to the First Amendment without basis in law or fact.”

Ontario will charge 25% more for electricity shipped to 1.5 million Americans starting Monday in response to Trump’s tariffs, Premier Doug Ford said Thursday.

In Las Vegas, the Culinary and Bartenders Unions have reached an agreement with Fontainebleau Las Vegas, and for the first time in the 90-year history of the strip every establishment is totally unionized.

Bernie Sanders’ ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ campaign is continuing to draw massive crowds in red districts across the US.

Production workers at Walt Disney Animation Studios officially have a first union contract.

Ukraine supporters unfurled the world’s largest 🇺🇦 flag on the White House ellipse this weekend.

In Oklahoma, the Senate Education Appropriations subcommittee nixed a $3 million request by the state Education agency to place Bibles in classrooms.

In Montana, powerful speeches by the state’s two transgender lawmakers helped flip 29 Republican lawmakers’ votes and kill two anti-trans bills.

Thanks to the ballot measure passed in the state in November, Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban has been permanently blocked!

A Federal judge in Rhode Island entered a preliminary injunction that indefinitely blocks Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans, saying the Trump Administration “put itself above Congress.” This lawsuit was brought by Democratic state Attorneys General, led by New York AG Letitia James.

Watch This! 👀

Warning, this is slightly risque. But if you saw the weird AI-generated video about “Trump Gaza” that Trump reposted last week, you have to see this. (Full disclosure; I have not watched it. No time for videos today unless it’s one of you people here. Also, the scene shown has ruined my lunch. -A)

New German, Swiss, And Austrian Guidelines Recommend Trans Youth Care, Slam Cass Review

Hi all.   I love Erin Reed and her substack Erin In the morning.  I don’t subscribe to many but I do hers.   Here is something for all those that say European countries are reversing on gender affirming care or cite the horrible bias of the debunked Cass review.   Hugs.

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The recommendations, released by the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany, come at a time when US politicians erroneously claim that Europe is “pulling back” on transgender care.