I think you will, too.
I Really Like This.
I think you will, too.
Category: MAGA / Republican
Questions!
DEI in the FXBG by Clay Jones
Now we’ll never find Gary Read on Substack
This is a local cartoon drawn for the FXBG Advance, which is looking into the ways Trump’s Executive Orders will affect the 540 region.
I think it’s funny when readers of mine who don’t live here mention Gary the Goose. A lot of people were making Gary the Goose the region’s mascot, but I wasn’t aware of that until he disappeared. Maybe he didn’t want the job and that’s why he left. Or, maybe he heard about Trump’s tariffs and planning to make Canada the 51st state, so he protested by flying back to Canada. Or, maybe when the otters came back, they said, “Beat it, Goose.”
Or maybe Gary, who got used to being around humans, paddled too close to the Stafford side of the river, which is full of yee-haw fuckers, and Gary the Goose’s goose got cooked.
Creative note: I was thinking last week that I needed to get the train bridge into a local cartoon. I also got a Rappahannock Otter into a cartoon.
I asked my editor, Martin, if Gary was starting to get a little long in the tooth. Is he still relevant? He’s been missing for about a year, I think. We decided that if it’s funny, then we still go with it.
Also, a proofer didn’t get the cartoon and neither did a friend. I was like, whaaaaat?
Dear Laura: I got your check for a paid membership (anyone can do that), but I can’t find your email address. Please email me at clayjonz@gmail.com so I can get you up and running. We want your comments. I’m starting to think Gary the Goose will be found before we find Laura.
Another update: When I publish these cartoons for the Advance, I make sure to state on social media that they’re on local issues. I don’t get upset when readers who don’t live here don’t get the local cartoons. Why should you understand it? What does make me pull my hair out is when readers complain they don’t understand it even though I left a comment with the cartoon on social media that it’s on a local issue. Sheesh. Now if you do live here and don’t get it, that’s on me.
Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go see.)
A few news stories that I wanted to post but was unable. Read as you wish. Hugs
Unless Someone Somewhere Changes Their Mind/s Again…
Trump administration agrees to restrict DOGE access to Treasury Department payment systems
The agreement came in response to a lawsuit accusing Treasury of committing an “unlawful action” by giving private info to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
By Daniel Barnes, Dareh Gregorian and Zoë Richards
Attorneys for the Justice Department have agreed to temporarily restrict staffers associated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing information in the Treasury Department’s payment system.
The agreement comes after a group of union members and retirees sued the Treasury Department alleging that providing DOGE access to the federal government’s massive payment and collections system — and the personal data housed in it — violated federal privacy laws.
The Trump administration filed a motion Wednesday night seeking to enter a proposed order that detailed the agreed-upon terms.
“The Defendants will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained by or within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service,” the proposed order says.
The order would allow exceptions for two special government employees at the Treasury — Tom Krause and Marko Elez — saying they are permitted access “as needed” to perform their duties, “provided that such access to payment records will be ‘read only.'”
The restricted access would remain in effect pending a subsequent hearing on the lawsuit. The judge still needs to sign off on the proposed order.
The White House and the groups that filed the lawsuit did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (snip)
I’ve Got Little To Nothing;
fortunately, Samantha Bee has more!
Charisma Alert? by Samantha Bee
Day-O! No No NO Read on Substack
Happy NOT January, my friends!
Last week I drank a coffee so strong it gave me Homelander heat vision. A beverage so powerful, that there I was, eight feet tall, head hovering above me like a helium balloon on a string, able to see people’s bones through their skin.
Bad news though; I squandered that supercharged power of sight on those hideous confirmation hearings, results TBD. There were three to watch and have bad feelings about, but I reserved most of my wrath for Bad Boy With A Sex Diary, RFK Jr. Look it up if you must, but I do not recommend it.
I DO, however, recommend reading Caroline Kennedy’s plea to lawmakers, if you haven’t already. I myself have read it ten times, and I hope it works (though I am not confident that it will.)
Also did that motherfucker really pop a Zyn DURING HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING TO BE SECRETARY OF HEALTH? So so cool. So rad. Such a steamy pile of man meat. Which brings me to my next point.
I simply cannot get over how many people are saying out loud and writing in print, and I am paraphrasing here but you get the idea: “You can say a lot of things about RFK Jr., but his charisma is undeniable.”
Pause.
Pause.
Pause.
It IS? His charisma is undeniable? To whom? Because actually I find it quite deniable. Thoroughly deniable.
So when you say charisma…you must mean less Han Solo, and more Beetlejuice, right? Because that guy was decently charismatic.
I mean they certainly both command attention. One for being overall revolting and a predator, the other for being a predator from the underworld, who is also revolting. I could definitely imagine both of them putting baby chicks into a blender for the pleasure of scaring teens. And they each have a kind of startling skin texture.
RFK Jr is dangerous. He is a lunatic. He doesn’t understand science, and financially benefits from fomenting mistrust around vaccines such as Gardasil, which have immeasurably helped humanity and are nothing short of miraculous. His scaly claw is hovering over the delete button when it comes to critical research funding, health care access, and… my GOD, my 75 year old father cannot be the only person with open access to Misoprostol.
At his best he does not even begin to comprehend the organizations he would be called upon to lead; his nomination to this position is a joke, and a sham, and a disgrace. He is there to break it, not to run it.
How could I trust him to handle a syphilis outbreak across the country when I wouldn’t even trust him to handle a syphilis outbreak in his own jeans.
OK. Well, we will see how it all shakes out, and good luck to us all.
To soothe my soul after the confirmation hearings I ate TWO full pastries from Librae Bakery, an epic salad from this amazing cookbook by Sohla El-Waylly, had a piping hot shower – and was pajamas up by 3:30pm.
To soothe your soul, please consider checking out THIS episode of Choice Words, in which I interview Chris Hayes and together, we basically solve the whole thing. His new book is suuuuper interesting, and we, two very needy people discussing the attention economy, are asking for your attention.
And if you are NOT YET AWARE, and what?? And HOW???? I also co-host The Daily Beast podcast with my friend, the always spicy Joanna Coles. Consider liking! Consider subscribing!
Together we are quite good at shenanigans, if I do say so. This week I indicated that I believe The New Mark Zuckerberg is the type of person who *might* recline on a surfboard in an attempt to tan his perineum, *allegedly* *possibly* *seems on brand in our new world*. How long will we be permitted to continue saying things like this? Let’s find out together.
Welcome to February.
Xo,
Sam
(snip)
“This is like the Nigerian Prince on crack.”
Phishing With Elon by Clay Jones
Worse than a Nigerian prince Read on Substack
In addition to mocking people, challenging authority, and making people laugh while making others soil themselves in anger, political cartoons can be a public service. Today’s cartoon is a good example of that because every American needs to know about this shit. when I sent this cartoon to proofer Laura, she told me she was hoping I’d cover this today because it hasn’t been covered enough. Some of you, dear readers, have also posted in the comments about this issue. So, let me begin.
Elon Musk has been granted access to the Treasury Department’s payment system. What does this mean? It means Elon and his people have access to the financial information for everyone who receives payments from the federal government, including Elon’s competitors for government contracts…and even those who receive tax refunds.
This means Elon has your social security number, your date of birth, your address, your income, and if you do direct deposit with the government, he has your banking information. Elon might have your bank account and routing numbers. If you’re not pissed off yet, Elon even has access to your Social Security and Medicare accounts.
This is like the Nigerian Prince on crack.
Perhaps the only person safe from this is that survivalist living “off the grid” with a YouTube channel my little sister cites for anti-vaccine information.
David Lebryk, a top Treasury official and a non-political civil servant was put on leave and then suddenly retired on Friday after a standoff with Musk and his lieutenants. Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, gave Elon and his goons the keys to the car.
Elon is pretending he needs this access to monitor and stop government spending he deems unnecessary or corrupt. But again, Elon can’t approve or cancel government spending because he does NOT have that authority. Even Trump doesn’t have that authority.
Elmo attacked the Treasury Department Saturday, criticizing the department for not rejecting more payments as fraudulent or improper. Except, how does he know the payments are fraudulent or improper? Before last Saturday, Elmo didn’t even know what payments the government was making. Has he read every single contract the government has or just the billion-dollar contracts he has with the government?
Do you remember when the goons were outraged with the idea President Barack Obama was born in Kenya? Do you remember when the goons were upset over unelected bureaucrats?
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is NOT a government department, but a team within the Trump administration (sic). Some members of DOGE have been made employees of the Treasury Department which is very odd since Trump demanded a hiring freeze. Somehow, these new Treasury employees have all passed speedy background checks which I’m sure aren’t suspicious at all.
Other DOGE teams have begun demanding access to data and systems at other federal agencies.
One of the people affiliated with DOGE who now has access to the payment system is Tom Krause, the chief executive of a Silicon Valley company, Cloud Software Group, and is worth over $83 billion. He’s only “affiliated,” and not officially a part of DOGE. Trump is allowing billionaires to rifle through the Treasury. Has Tom Krause passed a background check?
Guess what! Surprise, surprise, Cloud Software Group, much like Elon’s companies, has contracts with the federal government. I didn’t read that in any stories about this issue, I traced it. Krause was the individual who pushed for access and was first resisted by Lebryk until his hasty retirement.
This is like the bank robbers demanding the code to the safe and the manager giving it to them while making them a cake.
Elon having anything to do with the government is a conflict of interest. Even the name, DOGE, is a conflict of interest and a violation of the Emoluments Clause. This shouldn’t be allowed.
The best information I can find for accountability for DOGE is that there are about 20 employees and its office is next to the White House in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. What I can’t find but I’m sure will turn up throughout the Executive Grift, is how much DOGE is costing us.
Elon has talked about cutting $2 trillion from government spending, but it’s always always always always Republicans who do the most spending. I get to mention Dwight Eisenhower twice in this blog because he’s the last Republican president to leave a surplus. Now, here’s Elon to help Trump trim $2 trillion when it was Trump who increased our debt by over $7 trillion.
Ike sent that budget to Congress on January 25, 1960. A Republican president hasn’t sent a balanced budget to Congress since Running Bear by Johnny Preston was the number one song. See the shit I research for you? Also, Running Bear was the kind of shit we were forced to listen to before The Beatles (Elvis was in the Army and then he started a decade of those movies).
Bessent was confirmed just last week, but did he mention handing the government’s payment system over to Elon during his confirmation hearing? Since Trump didn’t mention it on the campaign trail, probably not.
Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee said, “I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems.”
I get texts and emails from scammers all the time, but I’m pretty good at spotting them, just like I’m good at spotting fake news. Some of those scams claim a package from USPS can’t be delivered, so click this link. Another will claim my Netflix payment didn’t go through, so click this link. There’s a new one claiming you have unpaid tolls, so guess what they want you to do…click this link. Then there are those gorgeous women on Facebook leaving comments on your posts telling you that you seem like an interesting person, but their friend requests won’t go through, so please send one to them. Last year, someone sent me a check for over $6,000 for me to draw them something (that one had flies on it). But all of them can only wish to be as good of a phishing scammer as Elon.
If you’re not pissed off yet, then there’s something wrong with you.
Now, someone tell Donald Trump that Elon also has access to all his financial information too.
Creative note: This blog was written at Wegmans. I found a nice quiet spot in the corner of the dining area upstairs. The location is almost hidden. I got about two paragraphs of this blog written when a lady sat one table over from me with her pink computer and started blasting videos. It was like being the only person in a movie theater and a creeper comes in and sits next to you. Actually, I think that’s how my parents met. Dad was a creeper.
Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go see)
Is It, Truly?
Trump’s tariffs by Ann Telnaes
Hopefully his supporters can take a yoke (I’m sorry) Read on Substack
The Roads to What Trump’s Tariffs will cost you….
Seeing “Victors” Rewrite History
Vera Rubin Was a Pioneering Female Astronomer. Her Federal Bio Now Doesn’t Mention Efforts to Diversify Science.
The edits to the webpage offer a glimpse into how far the Trump administration will go in refusing to acknowledge today’s inequalities as it purges federal initiatives promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
Vera Rubin was an astronomer who earned the National Medal of Science for her research on dark matter, an invisible substance that makes up much of the universe. Credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Rubin Collection
During his first presidential term, Donald Trump signed a congressional act naming a federally funded observatory after the late astronomer Vera Rubin. The act celebrated her landmark research on dark matter — the invisible, mysterious substance that makes up much of the universe — and noted that she was an outspoken advocate for the equal treatment and representation of women in science.
“Vera herself offers an excellent example of what can happen when more minds participate in science,” the observatory’s website said of Rubin — up until recently.
By Monday morning, a section of her online biography titled, “She advocated for women in science,” was gone. It reappeared in a stripped-down form later that day amid a chaotic federal government response to Trump’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
While there are far more seismic changes afoot in America than the revision of three paragraphs on a website, the page’s edit trail provides an opportunity to peer into how institutions and agencies are navigating the new administration’s intolerance of anything perceived as “woke” and illuminates a calculation officials must make in answering a wide-open question:
How far is too far when it comes to acknowledging inequality and advocating against it?
“Vera Rubin, whose career began in the 1960s, faced a lot of barriers simply because she was a woman,” the altered section of the bio began. “She persisted in studying science when her male advisors told her she shouldn’t,” and she balanced her career with raising children, a rarity at the time. “Her strength in overcoming these challenges is admirable on its own, but Vera worked even harder to help other women navigate what was, during her career, a very male-dominated field.”
That first paragraph disappeared temporarily, then reappeared, untouched, midday Monday.
That was not the case for the paragraph that followed: “Science is still a male-dominated field, but Rubin Observatory is working to increase participation from women and other people who have historically been excluded from science. Rubin Observatory welcomes everyone who wants to contribute to science, and takes steps to lower or eliminate barriers that exclude those with less privilege.”
That paragraph was gone as of Thursday afternoon, as was the assertion that Rubin shows what can happen when “more minds” participate in science. The word “more” was replaced with “many,” shifting the meaning.
“I’m sure Vera would be absolutely furious,” said Jacqueline Mitton, an astronomer and author who co-wrote a biography of Rubin’s life. Mitton said the phrase “more minds” implies that “you want minds from people from every different background,” an idea that follows naturally from the now-deleted text on systemic barriers.
She said Rubin, who died in 2016, would want the observatory named after her to continue her work advocating for women and other groups who have long been underrepresented in science.
It’s unclear who ordered the specific alterations of Rubin’s biography. The White House, the observatory and the federal agencies that fund it, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, did not respond to questions from ProPublica.
The observatory’s page on diversity, equity and inclusion was also missing Thursday afternoon. An archived version from Dec. 19 shows that it described the institution’s efforts “to ensure fair and unbiased execution” of the hiring process, including training hiring committee members “on unconscious bias.” The DEI program also included educational and public outreach efforts, such as “meeting web accessibility standards” and plans to build partnerships with “organizations serving audiences traditionally under-represented” in science and technology.
Similar revisions are taking shape across the country as companies have reversed their DEI policies and the Trump administration has placed employees working on DEI initiatives on leave.
If the changes to Rubin’s biography are any indication of what remains acceptable under Trump’s vision for the federal government, then certain facts about historical disparities are safe for now. But any recognition that these biases persist appears to be in the crosshairs.
The U.S. Air Force even pulled training videos about Black airmen and civilian women pilots who served in World War II. (The Air Force later said it would continue to show the videos in training, but certain material related to diversity would be suspended for review.)
One of Rubin’s favorite sayings was, “Half of all brains are in women,” Mitton said. Her book recounts how Rubin challenged sexist language in science publications, advocated for women to take leadership roles in professional organizations and declined to speak at an event in 1972 held at a club where women were only allowed to enter through a back door.
Jacqueline Hewitt, who was a graduate student when she met Rubin at conferences, said she was inspired by Rubin’s research and how she never hid the fact that she had kids. “It was really important to see someone who could succeed,” said Hewitt, the Julius A. Stratton professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “It felt like you could succeed also.”
Rubin was awarded the National Medal of Science by then-President Bill Clinton in 1993. The observatory, located in a part of Chile where conditions are ideal for observational astronomy, was named after her in 2019 and includes a powerful telescope; it will “soon witness the explosions of millions of dying stars” and “capture the cosmos in exquisite detail,” according to its website.
Mitton said the observatory is a memorial that continues Rubin’s mission to include not just many people in astronomy, but more of those who haven’t historically gotten a chance to make their mark.
“It’s very sad that’s being undermined,” she said, “because the job isn’t done.” (Snip)
An Informational Resource
I receive Economic Policy Institute’s newsletter for general info about which I contact my congresscritters. EPI have opened a page dedicated to what the White House, the Legislature, and the courts are doing that affect working people. I figure, first of all, forewarned is forearmed, as to little things that may not be loudly reported but which affect us regular people just out here trying to live our lives. So, here’s a link and a snippet. When a person goes on the page, you can get your choice of newsletters in your email box, if you care to; or you can just look around. Thanks for checking it out-I think it will help people.
======
Snippet: (and page link)
Featured
This week in Federal Policy Watch
Trump administration undermines federal workers, immigrants, and DEI programs. Read more
The origin of Federal Policy Watch
EPI’s 2017 Perkins Project on Worker Rights and Wages tracked the first year of the first Trump administration.
Learn more
(Lots more on the page. It offers a filter, so you can be sure to see that which affects you and those for whom you care.)
Scottie's Playtime 