Category: Questions

Conversation Starter: Is the very beauty of what is to come ruined by man?

I recently had a somewhat uncomfortable conversation with my Dad. At 88-years old, he is understandably considering what comes next, and knowing that I’m a ‘blowhard democrat and therefore think I know everything‘, lol, he made it part of my own considerations – at least out loud. But, as we talked, I began to realize that how we look at “what comes next” truly inspires how we view this thing called life, what we value and hold dear.

When I was much younger, I had the opportunity to read Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. I think I’d like to read it again. It was a story that had a great impact on a young troubled life, and while I am sure I didn’t get nearly as much from the book as was offered, I still carry some of that book within my thoughts nearly 35 years later. Chief among those ringing ideas was the consideration that we are on this world to be excellent, to fly free and powerfully, to be our best selves. It is an idea that gives me hope and conviction on the same blade, for I’ve not made much of myself. What I have done, perhaps better late than never, is I’ve begun to understand what is important to me and I’ve tried to adjust my life accordingly.

During my studies of different religions, I found a great deal of beauty. It is probably shocking to some, but Muslims have a beautiful religion filled with dedication to their God, peace and humility. I recently heard a person of influence, a politician, say publicly that he “hated the Muslim religion”. I thought that was tragic. He has painted a billion people with a the same brush and feels fully justified in his self-righteous hate. His words did not influence me to hate Muslims, they only brought me sadness. Here is a man who hopes to profit by hate, and I can only imagine what those wages bring.

Over the years, I’ve come to find a lot of hope in the Christian Faith, but I don’t find myself deluded into thinking that the Bible is definitive or that the Pulpit is infallible. Clearly humans have left their mark on both, and both have gained their insecurities and foibles. Unfortunately, most religions are marked by the greedy and deluded powerful who are sure that they know what is best for everyone and damned be those who disagree. As a result, parishioners lose their search for what is beautiful and magnificent in whatever may come next. They instead follow a set of rules, a kind of club, a group identity. They have given up on God and hope only to please the pastor and Sister Bertha Betterthanyou. They have forsaken courage to seek for the safety of the flock.

Perhaps this is just what we are. How many of us are caught in this idea that by hating someone else, we are somehow doing as God would want? I would be very curious to ask them what they value, and then would I be so brave to ask how their spoken values reflect their current words. Do they value freedom, or just their own freedom? Do they value love, or only for those like them? Do they value hope, but do performative acts some man told them would get them into Heaven? Do they seek or are they comfortable in being told what to think, what to feel, what to do? Do they look for what comes next or are they seeking identity and safety in a church, a political movement, in the acceptance of someone seeking to control them?

I don’t know what I would tell Dad if he asked me again. I don’t think the answer is in religion, any religion. I do think there is something that comes next, what I would loosely if respectfully refer to as God, and if I could quote Ghandi I’d say that God is not restricted by any single religion. I want to believe that this beautiful thing called life doesn’t end. I want to believe in Love. I want to rest in Hope. I want to live a life absolutely riddled with awe at how fabulous humanity can be, rather than live a life of judgement and insecurity. And, when I regard my final days I hope I am looking forward with eager anticipation for all the wonders I will experience.

-Randy

Let’s talk about Trump’s election claims, and plot holes….

What’s Next In Maine’s Senate Race? | Ryan Grim | TMR

As Emma says in the intro what reporters including herself decide to include, leave out, or highlight can influence how a story is received and the reaction to it.  I know my last post had raised some concern.  I will be addressing all of that after I get tomorrow’s cartoon / meme / news post scheduled and the Sunday morning semi news shows watched.  If you listen to this please note that neither one of the reporters is excusing what Platner might have done; they are discussing the omitting of details that could color the story in different ways and should reporters be concerned with that shading effect.  The fact is in my opinion there are a lot of unknowns and unanswered question.  This is not a court of law that a person’s life is being examined under; no one is under oath in any of this.  It is being tried in the media of public perception.  So in that case I want to be sure of the facts before I condemn a person and ruin  their life. 

I also believe strongly in redemption.  We all have made mistakes and we all were young.  I am not perfect.  I have always had the idea of being a better Scottie today than I was yesterday.  I had a temper in my 20s and have struggled most of my life to not just control it but to remove it and the triggers that ignite it.   Should 20 year old me ready to battle and fight at the least provocation be the down fall of 40, 50, 60 year old Scottie now?  Is there no redemption, compassion, or empathy for the experiences that lead to mistakes and wrong choices?  But that is not what this post is about, it is about what facts should be included or omitted in reporting.   Hugs

 

NOTE: Politico’s response to Breaking Points and Drop Site News on the gaps in reporting follows: “This story is based on extensive reporting and interviews and reflects our editorial standards. In interviews with us and in accounts she gave to other outlets, Jenny Racicot said that she told Graham Platner not to come to her home and that he nevertheless showed up there uninvited. POLITICO gave Platner and his campaign ample opportunity to respond to our reporting and to provide any information or documentation they believed contradicted it. If presented with information that materially challenges our reporting, we will report it.” Ryan and Saagar discuss exclusive reporting on key details missing from the Graham Platner story.

Again more information is coming out.  Details that give credit to Platner’s side of the story.  The news doesn’t excuse him, but it sets up why he was at her house and why he was touching her.  Again the media has a bias and it is being reported with that bias totally one sided.  This report says he was wasted out of his mind black out drunk but again no proof of that.  Was the woman here drinking also like the first woman was?  I think Saagar is trying too hard to brand Platner,  again we need more facts.  As he said the woman is accusing Platner of a serious felony and now we need to see if this is going to be a trial in the media which is a slander hit job or a trial in court.  The question I have is more going to come out.  I like that on morning Joe the host asks for colaberating evedince.  She asks what do you have to show him raping the victim?  Again if he did it he needs to pay for his crime, I just don’t like how it is coming out, being played up in media, and the timing.  Again the reporter admits he can’t produce any evidence.  The therapist did not verify that it happened, yet that was reported.   The very account I had heard about the exchange between the therapist and the victim has been proven out, it was not about the assault or at the time or the assault.  The therapist said she did not recall the victim’s account of the assault but said she vaguely supports women who say they are assaulted.  Therrapest keep notes, mine always have so why did she blank on the case details.   This is looking a media hit job to drive a progressive candidate out of politics.    Hugs

 

NOTE: Politico’s response to Breaking Points and Drop Site News on the gaps in reporting follows: “This story is based on extensive reporting and interviews and reflects our editorial standards. In interviews with us and in accounts she gave to other outlets, Jenny Racicot said that she told Graham Platner not to come to her home and that he nevertheless showed up there uninvited. POLITICO gave Platner and his campaign ample opportunity to respond to our reporting and to provide any information or documentation they believed contradicted it. If presented with information that materially challenges our reporting, we will report it.” Ryan and Saagar discuss exclusive reporting on key details missing from the Graham Platner story.

Trump hijacked US’s 250 anniversary to serve ‘political ideology and pet projects’, congressional report says

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/02/trump-hijacked-250-anniversary?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Collage featuring fireworks, a close-up of Donald Trump's face, a UFC event at the White House, a cowboy riding a horse, and airplanes flying over the White House Illustration: Guardian Design

House Democratic subcommittee report outlines web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemes

The interim report, “From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People Out of Their 250th Birthday”, outlines a web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemes orchestrated through a shadow corporation embedded within the National Park Foundation (NPF).

The document was produced by Democratic staff of the House of Representatives’ natural resources committee’s oversight and investigations subcommittee. It has not been officially adopted by the committee.

Collage of welcome sign outside Yellowstone national park
‘A sanitized view of America’: inside Trump’s campaign to erase US history from national parks
Read more
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“Under President Donald Trump, this anniversary has been hijacked and perverted into a hotbed of corruption and self-enrichment,” it states, contending that the machinery built for a national commemoration was converted “into an apparatus for raising and spending money in service of the President’s ego, political ideology, and pet projects”.
How Trump is making the US’s 250th anniversary about himself – video

In 2016 Congress established the US semiquincentennial commission, operating as the non-profit America250 Foundation, to plan the nation’s 2026 celebrations on a non-partisan basis. However, under Trump, the White House launched a sustained pressure campaign to subsume the commission.

When America250 leadership resisted its demands to shift focus toward partisan, campaign-style spectacles, the Trump administration created Freedom 250 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the congressionally chartered NPF.

The interim report finds that, by taking control of the NPF board and installing key campaign operatives such as Meredith O’Rourke and Chris LaCivita, the White House secured an opaque vehicle that enjoyed the NPF’s non-partisan credibility and tax-exempt status while operating outside standard government transparency laws.

Jared Huffman, a California congressman who is the top Democrat on the natural resources committee, said: “I can’t, in my time here in Congress, remember anything even remotely like this: watching this trusted, venerable charity organisation, the National Parks Foundation, literally be hijacked for a craven political agenda that tries to steal the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary and turn it into something that’s all about Trump, advancing this very divisive agenda and even enriching Trump and those around him.”

The interim report alleges that Freedom 250 surreptitiously diverted resources intended for America250 for its own benefit, leaving America250 scrambling for funds.

Sources interviewed by Democrats on the committee said fundraisers including O’Rourke misled prospective America250 donors by providing them with Freedom 250’s banking and routing numbers instead. The report finds this could constitute wire fraud and charitable solicitation fraud under federal and District of Columbia law.

This deceit extended to the entertainment industry. Artists recruited for the kickoff of the Great American State Fair – including Martina McBride and Young MC – were assured the event was non-partisan, only to face social media backlash when the event was revealed to be a Trump-backed rally. In the words of Young MC, the booking was a “bait and switch”.

The investigation also outlines how Freedom 250 effectively put a price tag on presidential access, circulating sponsorship packages starting at $500,000 and climbing above $10m for tiered recognition, culminating in a “historic photo opportunity” with Trump.

The report also points to perhaps the most clear example on 14 June when the White House hosted a huge Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on the South Lawn to celebrate the president’s 80th birthday. The event was heavily sponsored by corporations facing impending federal regulation and used vast government resources for “Super Bowl-level security” marshalled by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Fighters received bonuses in “USD1”, a cryptocurrency issued by World Liberty Financial, a trust run by the president’s children, and Trump personally bought up to $50,000 in stock in the UFC’s parent company weeks before the event.

Freedom 250 has also functioned as a conduit for steering federal funds to Trump campaign loyalists. Event Strategies – the same firm that planned the January 6 rally that preceded the US Capitol attack – was awarded 18 federal contracts totalling roughly $40m, along with an indefinite delivery master contract worth up to $100m.

Beyond lucrative contracts, the administration is accused of building a partisan political database disguised as a government domain. Freedom 250’s website, initially managed by former “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge) employees known for past data leaks, extensively logs user data.

Event registration is powered by Campaign Nucleus, a firm founded by Brad Parscale, a veteran of Trump election campaigns. Campaign Nucleus openly boasts about using artificial intelligence to analyse personal data and target “persuadable” voters. Unsuspecting visitors, such as attenders of a free Fifa World Cup Fan Zone on the National Mall, unwittingly fed their personal information directly into this Republican campaign apparatus.

The report also focuses on the ideological overhaul of the semiquincentennial. Freedom 250 replaced America250’s civic engagement focus with overt Christian nationalist programming, operating in tandem with the Religious Liberty Commission, which recently recommended repealing the Johnson amendment to allow churches to engage in partisan politics.

A central feature of this effort was “Freedom Trucks” – a federally funded fleet of mobile museums dispatched to schoolchildren across the nation. Supplied with content from the conservative PragerU [the Prager University Foundation] and Hillsdale College, these exhibits recast the founding of the US as an exclusively Christian project, embracing demonstrable falsehoods.

Exhibits include an AI-generated George Washington claiming that “our rights are a gift from God”, a statement the first president is not documented as having made, alongside antisemitic tropes suggesting that Jewish merchants financed the revolutionary cause while omitting they also fought and died for it.

Concurrently, the administration aggressively moved to erase historical realities, removing national park signage detailing slavery, forced removal of Indigenous peoples and climate change. Huffman said it amounted to an attempt to reshape American identity to fit a narrow rightwing agenda.

“It’s a fantasy that airbrushes out the more complicated parts of our history – slavery, the Native American genocide, the actual secular ideals on which our government was founded. It wasn’t the opening of the clouds and some revealed covenant with God as they would have you believe.”

As Washington barrels towards Fourth of July, with another Trump speech and a big fireworks display planned for the national mall, Huffman acknowledges that Freedom 250 is unstoppable. But his goal now is exposure.

“The one thing we can do is make sure the American people know what they’re doing in our name and with our tax dollars,” the congressman said. “We should do that because what they have pulled off here is a potential template for other betrayals of public trust that they and maybe future generations will attempt if we don’t challenge them.”

Buttigieg says his family was target of ‘politically motivated hoax’

This is horrific and I believe I already posted on it once.   Ron and I talked about it at length.  Hug         ————————————————————————————————————————————

Buttigieg says his family was target of ‘politically motivated hoax’

The former transportation secretary described it as “the ugliest thing that has happened to me since my career in service began.”

Pete Buttigieg in shadow.Pete Buttigieg, former secretary of transportation, during the National Action Network 35th Anniversary Convention on April 10, 2026, in New York City.Adam Gray / Bloomberg via Getty Images

By Hayley Meissner and Julianne McShane

Conversation Starter: MAGA Responses Similar to Domestic Violence

I recently watched a fantastic TED video, and I really do invite everyone to watch. It’s about 20 minutes and is here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBnocNg69o4). In this TedTalk, Miles Taylor talks about how he went to Washington DC as a young page to dedicate his life to never allowing another 9-11 type event. Then came Trump, and his simple opposition to trump’s policies and procedures garnered trump accusing him of being a traitor, death threats to him, his wife, his baby daughter. As I watched this, I thought about my own concerns and experiences including the near violent responses I’ve heard from otherwise decent people who couldn’t respond with decency when defending trump. Says it all, doesn’t it?

But, it got me to ask a simple question to Google, and I was really surpised by the answer. I asked: are maga responses to criticism similar to domestic abuse?

It became clear that I am not the only one to see the uncomfortable parallel. The following is the copy/paste answer Google offered:

Psychological and political experts, as well as abuse survivors, have drawn notable parallels between the defensive communication tactics used by the MAGA movement and the behavior patterns of domestic abusers. Both rely on emotional manipulation and coercive control to maintain power and invalidate critics.

These parallels include tactics such as:

  • Gaslighting: Denying established facts or public statements, making followers and the public question their own memory or sanity.
  • DARVO (Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender): When criticized, the immediate response is to deny the allegation, attack the critic’s credibility, and claim that the MAGA figure or movement is actually the victim.
  • Isolation: Portraying mainstream media, political opponents, and dissenters as corrupt or enemies, actively encouraging followers to cut off alternative perspectives and only trust the movement.
  • Minimizing and Dismissing: Downplaying the severity of concerning behavior—or even downplaying physical and sexual abuse allegations as mere “allegations” or “smears”.
  • Projection: Accusing critics or the opposition of the exact wrongdoing or corruption that they themselves are currently facing.

I’ve realized that I remain quiet in response to people ranting about their great and wise leader’s latest spite-filled fact-barren public embarrassment. In truth, I’m not terribly concerned about being the victim of violence, but do I really want the aggravation? I’ve realized, much to my embarrassment, that I’ve become another one of the silent majority; those who would not accept violence and abuse but only speak up in a safe environment. And, as Miles Taylor mentioned, it is the silent majority that make the abuse possible.

Is this cowardice? Is this simple self-preservation? Or, have I just become accustomed to the abusive caustic environment that the rise of trump has brought to our country? I’d like to say it is the latter, but damn. This is our reality now, but is that how I want to live? Is that even healthy?

I’ve come to realize that we are in a toxic relationship with those we love: our fellow countrymen. And, while some would say this is ridiculous, here are some questions that I’ve found to indicate one is in such a dangerous place:
Sometimes feel scared of how your partner may behave?
Constantly make excuses to other people for your partner’s behavior?
Believe that you can help your partner change if only you changed something about yourself?
Try not to do anything that would cause conflict or make your partner angry?
Always do what your partner wants you to do instead of what you want?
Stay with your partner because you are afraid of what your partner would do if you broke up?
What the hell has happened to us?!

What is worse is that due to the unhinged response we receive when we attempt to ask questions and hope for better, the defensiveness of his followers shut it down. The result is that this clown can do any illegal act and any restraint is met with calls for violence and abuse. Further, abusers abuse so that they can continue to abuse — meaning — having the power to abuse is not going to be willingly given up.

This Country has had problems from the beginning, fighting amongst ourselves and outright abusing people on the shores of our great nation. But we have always had the hope of moving toward a more perfect union. I don’t feel that anymore. I find myself feeling the destruction of deeply held ideals, like the Primacy of the Constitution and the idea that No One Is Above The Law. Am I just being naïve? Is this how Medgar Evers felt? Is this how Sitting Bull felt? I don’t know, but I do not feel that expectation of something better to come anymore. I feel like once abuse has become acceptable in this union, once those diseased claws have sunk into the marrow….

BREAKING: Buttigieg and family TARGETED in ‘politically motivated’ HOAX

This is horrific.  I think the police overreacted for just an anonymous tip with sketchy vague accusations.   It put this family through hell.  This is all to stop Buttigieg from entering politics, and if it is given any credit it will only increase.  Hugs

Judge says lawsuit against Trump DOJ ‘anti-weaponization’ fund will proceed

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/25/trump-doj-fund-lawsuit-blanche.html

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Dan Mangan@in/danmangancnbc/@_DanMangan
 
Key Points
  • A federal judge said a lawsuit challenging the Department of Justice’s creation of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund will proceed.
  • Judge Leonie Brinkema cited the DOJ’s refusal to confirm in writing to her that the fund is dead.
  • Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified to a House committee on June 2 that the fund is not going forward. DOJ lawyers have pointed to that statement in arguing to Brinkema and another federal judge that it is sufficient to dismiss suits challenging the fund.
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 04: Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks at a press conference at the Department of Justice on May 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. Justice Department and Agriculture officials announced the opening of an antitrust investigation into the meat packing industry, including the four major U.S. beef meatpackers, JBS, Cargill, Tyson Foods, and National Beef, over allegations of price-fixing and collusion. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks at a press conference at the Department of Justice on May 4, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images

A federal judge on Thursday said a lawsuit challenging the Department of Justice’s creation of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund will proceed, citing the DOJ’s refusal to confirm in writing to her that the fund is dead, as the department has verbally said it is.

Judge Leonie Brinkema, in an order in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, said that if the DOJ had given her a “short, written declaration under the penalty of perjury” that the fund is actually dead, that would have been enough to dismiss the suit as moot.

Brinkema said that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s refusal to rescind his May 18 memo that set up the structure of the fund, as well as his and President Donald Trump’s continued interest in compensating purported victims of DOJ overreach, “all support this conclusion” that the lawsuit is not moot.

The judge ordered the DOJ to file its answer to the lawsuit by July 17.

Blanche created the fund as part of a settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over a leak of his tax records. The fund, whose total possible disbursements would be $1.776 billion — in a nod to the year in which the Declaration of Independence was signed — was designed to provide redress to people who allegedly “suffered weaponization and lawfare.”

Critics called it a “slush fund” that would pay allies of Trump, including potentially hundreds of people convicted of crimes related to their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Blanche testified to a House committee on June 2 that the fund is “not going forward, period,” after sharp criticism of it by Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

DOJ lawyers have pointed to that statement in arguing to Brinkema and another federal judge that it is sufficient to dismiss suits challenging the fund.

In a court filing this week, the DOJ said that written declarations that the fund is dead “are unnecessary,” and that Brinkema’s request that Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent put in writing Blanche’s promise “implicates serious separation of powers concerns.”

But Brinkema, in her order Thursday, wrote, “That the defendants have refused to accord a genuine degree of trustworthiness to their representations about the Fund not going forward is particularly concerning because of the President’s consistent support for the Fund and Acting Attorney General Blanche’s acknowledgement that the Fund remains ‘important.’ ”

“Although Acting Attorney General Blanche reiterated several times during his testimony
that the Fund was not going forward, when asked whether he would ‘issue a new memo in writing rescinding that May 18 memo,’ he replied, ‘I’m not committing to putting anything in writing. And I said it over and over again,’ ” Brinkema noted.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Andrew Floyd, a former federal prosecutor who has said he was fired for prosecuting cases against Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol. The other plaintiffs are Jonathan Caravello, a professor at California State University Channel Islands, and the city of New Haven, Conn.

MAGA Ex-MLB Star Posts Vulgar Anti-LGBTQ Tirade

More Christian privilege and threats for those who are different or they don’t like.  There is no hate like Christian love.  And if you have listened to Dan McCallen the prohibitions against homosexuality these people like to claim are wrong.  It is wrong because they do not understand the culture of the time the bible was written and what the original text / words were.  They just want to hate and they think that if it comes from god then it is not their fault.  Imagine hating so bad that just people wanting recognition for existing and for equality free from discrimination enrages you.  This is why pride is still so desperately needed.   As I read what he wrote again the anger, ignorance, and implied violence just because other people have different ways and feelings than he does.  And the billerent stupidity makes me worry for the people around him and his children..  His view of being a man or manly is incredibly toxic.  There is a video at the end of the post I did not include.   Hugs

 

MAGA Ex-MLB Star Posts Vulgar Anti-LGBTQ Tirade

June 25, 2026

The New York Post reports:

A controversial former San Francisco Giants player has gone crazy online in a lengthy homophobic rant against his ex-team’s Pride Night debacle. Aubrey Huff took to X on Wednesday morning, and he didn’t pull any punches when it came to his thoughts on general manager Buster Posey’s befuddled response to reporters’ questions on Tuesday.

“I can pretty much guarantee you I know exactly what Buster wants to say about having to answer irrelevant non-Baseball questions that pertain to the sexual preference within the LGBTQ fudge packing community,” Huff began.

“I’m not wearing this gay bulls–t. Queers don’t watch Baseball anyway. They watch The View, enjoy therapy, & fudge packing sessions. And anyone inside the LGBTQ community, or those who support them don’t like what I just said, then I say to you…. Go f–k yourselves, & eat a d–k. And I mean that in the most literal sense,” he said.

Read the full article.

In the video below, Huff attests to his devout Christian faith in an interview for Dead Pat Robertson’s network.

Huff last appeared here in 2020 when he declared that he was training his sons to shoot socialists in case Trump lost the election.

He also called MLB superstar Alex Rodriquez a “pussy” for launching a line of makeup for men.