A Little Fun On A Hot Afternoon

I hope everyone is safe and comfortable, or able to get that way. Today I had an appointment in a city about 30 mi. away; I decided that afterward, I was going to stop in at their larger grocery and pick up the stuff on the list, and maybe a few other things. Their prices are a little higher, and there are spaces on the shelves over there. It doesn’t make sense why that is; the gas prices are the same; still under 3.00/gal. Anyway, I had a good trip, am safely home now for the rest of the day, and I ran across this article, which is the fun. Enjoy!

The John Oliver/Dean Cain Feud Is Officially On

Cage match! Cage match!

Matt Solomon

Dean Cain made headlines last week when he hopped on social media to announce that he was taking a break from his busy Hollywood career to become an ICE agent. “For those who don’t know, I am a sworn law enforcement officer as well as being a filmmaker,” he revealed. “I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it. So, I joined up.”

Given Cain’s status as a washed-up TV star, the news was ready-made for late-night monologue fodder, and John Oliver didn’t disappoint on his most recent Last Week Tonight. “There’s an old saying in Hollywood,” Oliver began. “If all you can get is Dean Cain, you are fucked.”

Not satisfied after a single punchline, Oliver proceeded to make a meal of the Cain announcement. “I’m not saying that ICE isn’t finding people,” he continued. “I’m just saying when you are reduced to pinning a badge on the 59-year-old star of The Dog Who Saved Christmas, The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation, The Dog Who Saved the Holidays, The Dog Who Saved Halloween, The Dog Who Saved Easter and The Dog Who Saved Summer, maybe you are in trouble.”

Are those titles simply funny punchlines about the kinds of movies Cain has been reduced to starring in? Nope — that’s Cain’s actual IMDb.

Are there any positives to Cain becoming an ICE agent? Oliver can think of one: “No need for that guy to wear a mask because the chances of anyone recognizing him are fucking zero.”

Harsh. But it’s not officially beef until the other guy punches back, which is just what Cain did yesterday.

(snip-embedded tweet that won’t embed here but transcribed below)

“He stole that mask joke from the internet,” Cain insisted, trying to score points by pointing out that other people are making fun of him as well.

Oliver “also laughed hysterically when Trump said he was going to run for President. Case closed,” Cain posted, equating Trump’s presidential victories with his own decision to round up day workers at Home Depot.

Finally, Cain defended the honor of The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation. “Those movies were sweet, by the way!”

Oliver hasn’t posted on his own X account in 2025, so don’t expect any counterpunches — if any — until the next Last Week Tonight. In the meantime, fans of the burgeoning feud will have to make do with Oliver’s parting shot on his most recent episode. He gave viewers this advice if approached by an ICE agent: “Attorneys told us the only two things you should say to them are: ‘Am I free to leave?’ And ‘I want to speak to a lawyer.’ That’s it. You have the right to remain silent. And I recognize that in some cases, you may be unable to help yourself from saying: ‘Didn’t you used to be Superman? I thought you died.’”

Four more news clips from The Majority Report on politics of both republicans and democrats with a Fox host getting fact checked again in real times as they try to push the republican party line

Chuck Schumer has created and talked about a fictitious family declaring they are real people. It seems he has talked himself into believing they are real. This is the Democratic Party leader in the Senate. Hugs

CNN hides true facts of starvation and genocide in Gaza

Who Are The Crime-Fighters, & Who Are The Criminals?

Roof-Top Felon by Clay Jones

DC is so crime-ridden, that the top federal official is a 34-count felon Read on Substack

Despite the nation’s capital being at a 30-year low in crime, Donald Trump has now federalized it, installing 800 National Guard troops to patrol the city because a former DOGE guy (white dude) got slapped around by some kids.

Fun fact: National Guardsmen are NOT cops. They have not been trained in police work. What authority do they have?

During a rambling and slurry 80-minute press conference while flanked by goons such as Pam Bondi, Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, and Jeannine Pirro (it gets worse as you go down the line), Trump talked about sending the military into other cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and Baltimore. All cities with Black mayors.

This is going to be like Star Wars, where stormtroopers are stopping citizens on the streets, demanding to see their IDs.

During his rant, Trump said, “Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people.” It’s illegal to be homeless now? Is it illegal to be young?

Every time I copy and paste one of Trump’s quotes, Grammarly loses its shit. I think it wants to scream at me, “THAT’S NOT HOW WORDS WORK!” (snip, and there’s MORE)

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Wanted by Clay Jones

From one criminal to another Read on Substack

Today on GoComics, a very ignorant and vile person claimed “leftists” are in favor of forever wars. That pissed me off. I wasn’t pissed because he insulted us, or that he called us “leftists,” and not even that he’s wrong. He uses “leftists,” as though he’s describing Daniel Ortega and Sandinistas. If you think there’s a comparison between Daniel Ortega and today’s Democratic Party, then you should talk to my friend Pedro Molina. I guess “liberal” isn’t scary enough for the MAGAts anymore. What pissed me off is that because of his ignorance and inability to understand our position, he took it upon himself to assign one for us.

It’s not just him. This is a talking point, and I hate talking points. Yeah, both sides have them, but while liberals will use them out of convenience, MAGAts use them out of ignorance and laziness. It saves them time and effort from actually researching. All MAGA cartoonists would prefer to use talking points rather than understand an issue. It’s also a cover for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Besides all that, MAGA talking points are always bullshit.

I’m anti-war. I had a battle every day with my editor at The Free Lance-Star because I wouldn’t draw cartoons supporting the invasion of Iraq. If I’m not going to support an illegal invasion by my country, then why would I support one by Russia?

The idiots who claim we support forever wars support the guy who started the war in Ukraine. After Putin illegally invaded Ukraine over a flimsy excuse about Nazis, Donald Trump called him a “genius” for it. I wonder if Trump thinks he’s a genius for invading DC on a flimsy excuse that Big Balls was attacked.

Supporting Ukraine, that nation that did not start this war, and its right to defend itself from a much stronger aggressor does not mean I want the war to last forever. Supporting arming Ukraine for it to defend itself from an invading force stealing its land and killing its people doesn’t mean I want the war to last forever. Anyone who believes that is a lazy idiot. Speaking of lazy idiots…

Trump and Putin will sit down tomorrow in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss the war in Ukraine. Trump is already prepared to reward Putin for his illegal invasion. Trump is proposing that Russia be gifted portions of Ukraine, which won’t be good enough for Putin. Putin wants the entire nation. If Trump were around in World War II, he would have given Hitler Poland. (snip; of course there is MORE)

Minnesota teen says server forced her to prove her gender in restaurant bathroom

As I keep repeating these bathroom bills hurt cis women because it is based solely on how someone looks to some other people. If as in this case a cis woman did not look feminine enough for the server and so this woman was forced to show her breasts. How is that feminism work going TERF people. These bathroom bills and the hype of fake false stories of danger to women only make all women less safe. See now people that look like men legally might have to use a female’s bathroom, so all a cis man has to say is he is trans and they can legally be in the woman’s bathroom. Same for any female that wants to go into the men’s room only needs to claim to be a trams women. All due to hate and bigotry making a problem where none existed. Think of it, the only assaults I have heard about in female restrooms is from cis people attacking cis females because they think they are trans. Hugs

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/minnesota-teen-says-server-forced-prove-gender-restaurant-bathroom-rcna224562

The 18-year-old high school student said she unzipped her hoodie to show she had breasts after a Buffalo Wild Wings server didn’t believe she is a woman.

Aug. 12, 2025, 4:52 PM EDT

By Jo Yurcaba

A Minnesota teenager filed a charge of discrimination against a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant Tuesday, alleging a server followed her into the women’s restroom and demanded she “prove” she was a girl.

Gerika Mudra, 18, went to dinner in April with a friend in Owatonna, about an hour south of Minneapolis. When she went to the restroom, a server followed her inside and banged on the stall door while saying: “This is a women’s restroom. The man needs to get out of here,” according to Gender Justice, a Minnesota gender-equality organization that filed the charge on Mudra’s behalf.

Gerika Mudra, 18, says she was harassed by a server who accused her of being a boy in the girls’ bathroom.Gender Justice

Mudra, a biracial lesbian who isn’t transgender, said that she has been in similar situations before, when people have suggested she’s in the wrong restroom, but that when she tells them she’s a woman they leave her alone. However, when she came out of the stall at Buffalo Wild Wings and told the server, “I am a lady,” she said, the server responded, “You have to get out now,” Gender Justice said in a statement.

Mudra said she felt she had to prove to the server that she is a woman, so she unzipped her hoodie to show she has breasts. The server didn’t say anything in response but left the restroom, Mudra said.

“She made me feel very uncomfortable,” Mudra said. “After that, I just don’t like going in public bathrooms. I just hold it in. … I want to be able to use the bathroom in peace.”

Inspire Brands, which represents Buffalo Wild Wings, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Buffalo Wild Wings in Owatonna, Minn.Google Maps

Gender Justice filed the charge of discrimination with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, arguing that what happened to Mudra violates the state’s Human Rights Act, which protects people from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, among other protected statuses.

Sara Jane Baldwin, senior staff attorney at Gender Justice, said at a news conference Tuesday that even though Mudra isn’t trans, the server’s actions “were based on assumptions that she made about” Mudra, and that Minnesota’s law protects against discrimination based on stereotypes or assumptions about protected characteristics like gender identity.

“Businesses have a legal obligation not to just have antidiscrimination policies on paper, but to train staff and ensure that those policies are followed in real time,” Baldwin said. “When that doesn’t happen, the business is liable for the harm caused.”

Gender Justice said Mudra’s experience “reflects a broader climate of fear and suspicion aimed at anyone who doesn’t conform to narrow expectations of what girls and women ‘should’ look like.” That suspicion has been driven largely by the wave of state legislation targeting trans people, particularly their access to school sports and bathrooms that align with their gender identities, though Minnesota hasn’t enacted any such legislation.

Nineteen states have laws that prohibit trans people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identities in K-12 schools, and in many of those states the restrictions apply to other government-owned buildings, as well, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank. Twenty-seven states prohibit trans people from playing on school sports teams that align with their gender identities.

Even before such laws, trans people had long reported facing harassment in public restrooms and avoided using them as a result. There have been several reports this year of women who aren’t transgender alleging harassment in public restrooms because they were suspected of being trans, including at the U.S. Capitol in January, Phoenix in February, Florida in March and Boston in May.

“This kind of gender policing is, unfortunately, nothing new,” Megan Peterson, executive director at Gender Justice, said in a statement. “And yet, in our current climate we have to ask: What if Gerika had been a trans person? Would this story have ended differently? That’s the terrifying reality too many trans people live with every day.”

Even if Mudra had been trans, she would be able to file a discrimination complaint under state law in Minnesota, which is one of 21 states and Washington, D.C., that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations, according to the Movement Advancement Project. Two states explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation only, and six additional states interpret existing measures against discrimination based on sex to also include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Twenty-one states don’t have explicit protections from discrimination based on gender identity in public accommodations.

Jo Yurcaba

Jo Yurcaba is a reporter for NBC Out.

7 clips from The Majority Report. They cover everything from ICE staging photo ops to tRump’s lies being corrected on TV, to vote blue no …. not for Zohran Mamdani and then the genocide in Gaza

From The TPM Morning Memo:

This is hugely pertinent to our interests. And the history callback of Dobbs/Roe is spot on!! This needs we the people’s work sooner rather than later. The story linked within is important background for working on this. Seriously: pick one or two (or more!) rights organizations and do what you can with them, now, while it’s not still too late, and stick with it until the other side is defeated. Please don’t wait until this is in court. Then:

A very sound scheme is to check in with your states on their legislative websites, see what the laws are right now, and what’s in the chute. Overturning Obergefell can’t/won’t change state laws regarding marriage, just as overturning Roe didn’t change state laws regarding repro rights. But knowing what could be coming, especially in red states, is imperative for getting ourselves protected, and protecting others. If your state is safe, well, pick another state that isn’t, and help them out. If your state has no law at all, lobby hard to get one, ASAP. And thanks! -A.

This Could Be Roe all Over Again

Some of Trump’s judicial nominees have refused in confirmation hearings to acknowledge that the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, striking down state bans on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, was correctly decided. According to an analysis by JP Collins at the legal website Balls and Strikes, Eric Tung, who Trump nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, said only, “the Supreme Court granted such a right.” William Mercer, a nominee to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, said Obergefell is “binding precedent,” but declined to “grade the Supreme Court.”

As Collins points out, these verbal gymnastics to avoid saying the case was correctly decided mirror those of Trump’s first term Supreme Court nominees who said Roe v. Wade was precedent but would not say it was correctly decided — and then voted to overturn it.

One might say marriage equality is different from abortion. Obergefell is just 10 years old, and Roe was decades old. But the most important feature that both decisions share is the enmity of the Christian right, and its determination to overturn them, no matter how many years or decades it takes.

Even before the court decided Obergefell in 2015, the Christian right was already planning to treat it just like Roe. The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision, they argued, was not the end of the abortion issue but rather the beginning. They used money, media, political might, religion, and relentless organizing to use abortion to drive politics and shape the judiciary. Their plans for Obergefell and LGBTQ rights are no different.