“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)

The GLAAD Weather Watch

It’s an interactive site, and it looks like a fine resource. I’m not aware of problematic things with GLAAD, but am aware I don’t see them mentioned here, so if there is something I’ve missed about them, please let us know. Also then, my apologies. But this looks like an excellent resource, so I hope they haven’t messed up anything for people. The blue GLAAD Weather Watch below is the link.

Take Action to Protect LGBTQ People with the GLAAD Weather Watch!

This year, anti-LGBTQ extremists are continuing their dangerous mission to ban LGBTQ people from access to bathrooms, schools, sports, and medical care. We need your help to defeat bad legislation, and to celebrate wins: Tune in to the GLAAD Weather Watch and sign up to receive updates of how you can take action!

From yesterday:

It’s not only handwringing about what’s happening, it’s reportage of how what’s happening is being fought on We The People’s behalf.

Mary Trump Live: Two Weeks of Chaos by Mary L Trump

Donald’s Power Grab, Elon Musk’s Treasury Takeover, and the Future of Democracy Read on Substack

Two weeks into Donald’s second term, while a demented old man plays emperor, Elon Musk—who has no authority, no votes, no confirmation—has effectively taken control of the U.S. Treasury.

Four years ago, in the lead-up to the 2020 election, I and many others warned that American democracy was on a knife’s edge. I also said that if Donald ever returned to power, it would mark the end of the American experiment. I desperately wanted to be wrong.

But here we are.

Tariff War: Chaos with Mexico and Canada

Donald’s 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, scheduled to take effect at 12:01 AM Tuesday, have been paused for 30 days after frantic negotiations.

Here’s what Mexico conceded:

10,000 National Guard troops deployed to Mexico’s northern border to combat fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration.
The U.S. pledged to help Mexico curb weapons trafficking.

And here’s what Canada conceded:

A $1.3 billion border security plan was announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Donald agreed to a 30-day pause to explore a broader economic deal.

This wasn’t a bluff. The tariffs were scheduled to happen tonight. Economists sounded the alarm, and the U.S. stock market opened nearly 450 points down over fears of rising prices and a trade war.

Donald, however, thrives in uncertainty. He emphasized that the tariff pause is conditional, stating that tariffs will proceed if a final deal isn’t reached within 30 days.

After speaking with Trudeau, Donald posted:

“Canada has agreed to ensure we have a secure northern border and to finally end the deadly scourge of drugs like fentanyl that have been pouring into our country, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans while destroying their families and communities. Canada will implement their $1.3 billion border plan, reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology, and personnel. I have also signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl and will be backing it with $200 million.”

Sure, Donald.

Of course, data shows minimal fentanyl smuggling at the northern border, but who needs facts when you can manufacture a crisis?

Elon Musk’s Hostile Takeover of USAID and the Treasury

Elon Musk—who holds no official government position—is shutting down USAID (United States Agency for International Development), an organization that has provided humanitarian assistance since the Kennedy administration.

Musk hates USAID, though it’s unclear why. Maybe because it helps starving children, funds education for war-torn Ukraine, or provides foreign aid that limits China and Russia’s influence.

Regardless, Marco Rubio—who, as Secretary of State, apparently has enough free time—was appointed as acting director of USAID.

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been named the acting administrator of the US Agency for International Development.” — CBS News

Yes, you read that correctly. The guy running the State Department now has a side gig managing foreign aid.

The reason for this? Donald’s administration is trying to dismantle USAID by placing it under the State Department’s direct control. Rubio has long criticized the agency for its “lack of responsiveness” to the State Department’s directives. Now, he’s in charge of gutting it.

But Democrats are fighting back.

Representative Jamie Raskin didn’t mince words:

“They have removed all evaluations from the USAID website. They have shut down, immediately, as of right now, all evaluations of USAID efforts across the world. This has nothing to do with evaluation—this is about termination and obliteration of the major foreign aid programs of the United States of America.”

Raskin also pointed out that USAID’s total budget is less than $40 billion, while the Pentagon budget is $900 billion—the very budget that defense contractor Elon Musk profits from.

The impact of USAID’s collapse is already being felt:

Emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt were exempted, but programs for refugees, HIV/AIDS treatment, and war-torn regions like Ukraine and Syria are now at risk.
In Zimbabwe, a U.S.-funded HIV program credited with saving millions of lives faces collapse—a death sentence for many patients.
China will step in to fill the vacuum, expanding its influence in Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific.

Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) has responded by placing a hold on all of Donald’s State Department nominees, saying the move is illegal. His hold will force Republicans to spend valuable Senate time on confirmations, slowing Donald’s ability to install loyalists.

It’s a start.

(snip-More, or listen at the page)

Award-Winning Doc ‘Sally!’ Introduces Sally Gearhart, the Lesbian Activist Who Took on Proposition 6 With Harvey Milk

PUBLISHED 2/3/2025 by Michele Meek

Historic lesbian activist Sally Gearhart is featured in Deborah Craig’s new award-winning documentary Sally!

Most people have heard of Harvey Milk. Sally Gearhart—not as much. But in fact, Gearhart sat right beside Milk as his debate partner in 1978 when they disputed—and ultimately defeated—Proposition 6, the Briggs Initiative that would have banned lesbian and gay teachers and topics in California’s public schools. When their opponents quoted the Bible, Milk was at a loss. Gearhart, on the other hand, could quote it right back at them. Born in 1931 into a Christian household in Virginia, Gearhart charted her own unconventional path from a career as a teacher at Christian colleges in Texas until she determined …

Weekend/Monday AM News

has been moving along rapidly, and I haven’t put much here because it’s moving so quickly that posting doesn’t keep up with the changes. Anyway, we’ve likely all heard of the non-government workers who are directed by an unelected, unsworn, non-government worker and are accessing US Treasury data bases and We The People’s personal and financial data. If not, well; it’s everywhere. Anyway, I spent a lot of time writing to my Rep, the one of my senators who’s not insane, and Sen. Chuck Schumer about this yesterday, and had more letters and calls (messages) about other business this morning. I’ve had 6 stories up to post only to find as I began to set up posts that something had changed, and they weren’t accurate news anymore. However, here’s a thing. Many people have been despairing of and finger-pointing to “the Dems” as being at fault for all of this. Here is where Dems’s actual momentum is at this time:

Senate and House Dem Presser Outside USAID Today (Video) – Please Watch And Share by Simon Rosenberg

Senate and House Dems forcefully challenge Trump/Musk’s illegal attacks on USAID and the US government Read on Substack

https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/senate-and-house-dem-presser-outside?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Above is the link to the video, and all of what Simon Rosenberg wrote. Here’s a snippet:

Friends,

I was really impressed with the House presser today and decided to send it along to all of you. Please watch and share with others you think might be interested. You all have wanted Dems to fight – well here you go!

Note that several speakers today talked about how important the calls are they’re receiving from constituents. These calls matter everyone. Keep working it!

(snip-go see everything, and if you’ve contacted your legislators, thanks and please keep it up! If not, I don’t know what it’s gonna take, but to me, we don’t want things to get worse than this, so now is the time. Unless you think this is all fine, of course, but I don’t think you’d be reading here if you did. Links to contact and phone numbers are right beneath.)

https://www.congress.gov/ , https://www.house.gov/representatives

https://www.senate.gov/ , https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Here’s the only one of the tabs I was going to post, but it gives good background if someone needs a little more info in order to act: Musk’s Little Green Men

Is It, Truly?

Trump’s tariffs by Ann Telnaes

Hopefully his supporters can take a yoke (I’m sorry) Read on Substack

Peace & Justice History for 2/3

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february3

Good News from “Chop Wood, Carry Water”

Extra! Extra! 2/2 by Jessica Craven

We made it through another week! Read on Substack

From Jay Kuo’s ever excellent “Just For Skeets and Giggles”

Hi, all, and happy Sunday!

Good God, what a week. I’m guessing you’re ready for a little good news, and guess what? I’ve got some! Actually quite a bit. Remember: two things can be true at once. Things are very bad, AND good things also happened this week. Some of them are even outgrowths of the bad things.

So with no further ado, let’s take a look at what went right in a week that was otherwise exceedingly challenging. Please take this list in, savor it, and dwell on it for as long as you can. It isn’t doomscrolling, for a change — it’s goodscrolling! Enjoy! And then share this list with someone who needs the lift.

As usual, I’ve popped an 🪓 next to every item that everyday activists like you helped make happen, and a 🪣 next to every one that got done by lawmakers or administrations that we helped elect.

Read This 📖

This hopeful cartoon is from editorial cartoonist Kevin Necessary. [H/T Nancy Davis Kho]

Celebrate This! 🎉

The Virginia Senate approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would restore voting rights to individuals with past felony convictions upon their release. If passed by both chambers next session, the amendment will go before voters for final approval. 🪣

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced a settlement with Novo Nordisk, securing insulin products for $35 per month in the state for the next five years. 🪣

A coalition of non-profits, public health leaders, and small businesses sued to block OMB’s late night attempt to pause all agency grants and loans. 🪓

Workers at a Whole Foods in Philadelphia have voted to become the first unionized store in the grocery chain, which is owned by Amazon. 🪓

Jim Acosta resigned from CNN, issuing a statement that said, in part: “It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant…Do not give in to the lies. Don’t give into the fear. Hold on to the truth and to hope.” He then launched a Substack, which already has over 150K subscribers. 🪓

A Nevada judge dismissed a right-wing lawsuit filed by the Public Interest Legal Foundation that challenged voter rolls in Washoe County.

Trump’s firing of 18 inspectors general has prompted bipartisan pushback. Your calls helped with this! 🪓 🪣

The White House rescinded its illegal “freeze” after a day of ferocious backlash. Nice job, y’all. 🪓

Democrat Mike Zimmer flipped a state Senate seat in Iowa in a special election on Tuesday. Zimmer prevailed 53% to 47% in a district that Trump carried 60% to 39% in November. AMAZING! 🪓

The normally quiet Reddit thread of federal workers at rfednews has exploded with defiance — “We will NOT Resign, we took an oath and we will keep defending it against foreign and DOMESTIC enemies!!” 🪓

USDA inspector Phyllis Fong refused to comply with her firing and finally had to be semi-dragged out of her office. 🪓

Clean energy investment manager Greenbacker Renewable Energy has secured $950 million to build what will be New York State’s largest solar farm.

The U.K. and Scottish governments have launched a “skills passport” program to help fossil fuel workers transition to clean energy jobs.

The American Association of University Professors are saying they will completely ignore Trump’s attempts to control school curriculum. 🪓

Democrats easily held a state Senate seat in Minnesota. Democrat Doron Clark won this Hennepin County seat 91% to 9%. In November, Harris had prevailed 83% to 14%. 🪓

The Burbank, CA city council voted unanimously in favor of a resolution to make Burbank a sanctuary city. 🪓 🪣

Solar and wind are now being installed at a rate that is five times faster than all other new electricity sources combined. 🪣 (Thanks, Joe Biden!)

In response to Trump’s announcement of 25% tariffs on Canadian goods, British Columbia Premier David Eby has directed the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch to immediately stop purchasing American liquor from Republican-led “red states” and remove the top-selling brands from public liquor store shelves.

A bipartisan coalition of 24 U.S. governors pledged to continue the country’s work toward achieving Paris Agreement goals. Representing nearly 60% of the U.S. economy and 55% of the nation’s population, Alliance members pledged to reduce collective greenhouse gas emissions by 26% below 2005 levels by 2025, a target it is on track to achieve. 🪣

The Nature Conservancy also independently pledged to continue honoring the Paris Agreement goals and help the rest of the U.S. “do its part,” too.

SCOTUS allowed the federal government to enforce a money-laundering law that protects consumers by increasing transparency in corporate ownership.

Three days before Trump was sworn into the presidency, a private equity firm with a growing monopoly on anesthesia practices agreed to a federal settlement requiring it to back off its anticompetitive roll-up scheme that has cost patients millions more for vital services. 🪣

After years of litigation that delayed payments designed to combat the national opioid crisis, Purdue Pharma and the billionaire Sackler family who own it agreed to pay $7.4 billion to settle lawsuits over the opioid manufacturer’s role in the crisis and give up their company ownership. 1

Sexual assault victims in New Jersey should be able to track their rape kits through the criminal justice system by late summer under a new law Gov. Phil Murphy signed last week. 🪣

Sacramento City Unified School District officials unanimously affirmed safety for undocumented students at their schools, saying they will refuse to cooperate with ICE or allow them on their campuses. 🪓 🪣

Senate Budget Committee Democrats boycotted the committee hearing on Russell Vought to protest his nomination. MORE LIKE THIS PLEASE!! 🪓 🪣

Costco is increasing pay for most of its hourly U.S. store workers to more than $30, per Reuters.

A New York appeals court restored the state’s Voting Rights Act, which expands voter protections, overturning a lower court’s decision striking it down.

China broke its own records for the installation of new solar and wind power last year, with installed capacity increasing by 18 and 45 percent, respectively.

Former New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison following his conviction on bribery and corruption charges.

The leaders of more than half of Africa’s nations gathered this week in Dar es Salaam to commit to the biggest burst of spending on electric-power generation in Africa’s history.

New research indicates students are paying significantly less to attend public universities than they were a decade ago. And tuition increases at private colleges have finally slowed after years of hefty rises. Meanwhile, college enrollment in the U.S. rose for the first time last fall to surpass pre-pandemic levels.

Two unions–National Treasury Employees Union and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility–are suing the president for his “Schedule F” executive order that would allow him to fire civil servants without due process. 🪓

Former North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is dropping his defamation lawsuit against CNN and “dropping out of politics.”

A federal judge in Rhode Island granted a temporary restraining order to block Trump’s freeze on all agency grants and loans. The judge also barred the Trump administration from issuing any further directive that emphasizes a funding freeze. Oh and he’s a judge Biden appointed. 🪣

A group of Quaker meetings, represented by Democracy Forward, filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s plan to enable ICE agents to enter houses of worship for their immigration enforcement actions. 🪓

The first step towards creating a Celtic rainforest – a now extremely rare habitat that once covered large swathes of the west coast of Britain – has been completed in Devon, England.

IKEA has slashed its carbon footprint by 30 percent in the last ten years while growing its profits 24 percent over the same period.

The decision to greenlight a giant new oilfield off Shetland in the UK has been ruled unlawful by the courts, in a major win for climate action.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has blocked anyone who took part in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol from working in state government. 🪣

TikTok influencers have been spreading information about ICE raids across the country, sometimes making it harder for agents to enforce Trump’s massive crackdown. 🪓

A new report from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication finds that most registered voters support climate-friendly policies, think the US should use more renewables and less fossil fuels in the future, and support US participation in the Paris Climate Agreement.

A Franklin County, MO woman pardoned for her participation in the U.S. Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021 was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for her role in a fatal drunk driving crash.

Left-leaning media outlets are seeing a “Trump bump” in ratings after initially seeing a massive drop in viewership. MSNBC has seen a 61 percent bump since Donald Trump’s inauguration. The Guardian, The Bulwark and The Atlantic have also seen increases.

Economists at Georgia Tech reported in a paper published this month that by mid-2023, the 13 states with total abortion bans had suffered a combined net loss of an estimated 36,000 residents per quarter, or more than 144,000 per year.

Rachel Maddow is bringing viewers back to MSNBC — and giving them hope.

Ron DeSantis and the Florida legislature seem to be at war.

A tip line (DEIAtruth@opm.gov) meant to encourage federal employees to rat out their colleagues for working on diversity issues is instead apparently being spammed with movie quotes and colored pencil drawings. (And some of us helped!)

Active-duty trans soldiers—and one prisoner—have sued to stop the Trump Administration’s anti-trans orders.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by several voters who sought to remove hundreds of allegedly ineligible voters from voter rolls in Marin County, California without evidence. The judge ruled the voters lacked standing.

Trump’s approval ratings are already starting to drop.

Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll refused a Justice Department order that he assist in the firing of agents involved in Jan. 6 riot cases, pushing back so forcefully that some FBI officials feared he would be dismissed (he wasn’t.) Courage—love to see it!

Officials have declared that the world’s largest hornet, dubbed the “murder hornet” for its killer stings, has been eradicated in the US five years after it was first spotted.

2000 new people have signed up with Run For Something just in the last week – that makes more than 15k since Election Day. WOW!

After Minnesota’s largest Pride festival dropped Target’s sponsorship (and the 50K donation that came with it) they put out a call for financial help and raised twice the money Target was supposed to kick in in less than 24 hours.

New York lawmakers are discussing a bill that would give Gov. Kathy Hochul more time to set dates for special elections, which could leave Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik’s red North Country seat empty until the summer.

Amazing PA rep Malcolm Kenyatta was just elected the Vice-Chair of the DNC! So was David Hogg! (The DNC has three vice-chairs.) Ken Martin will be the Chair, and although he wasn’t my choice he seems like he’ll be a competent leader. So the DNC has strong new leadership. No more “rudderless ship.” Yay!

Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs appointed Maria Elena Cruz to the Arizona Supreme Court. The state appellate judge from rural Yuma County will become the first Latina and the first Black person chosen for the state’s high court

After a white supremacy aligned university club encouraged students to report their classmates to ICE, hundreds of Arizona State University students responded by marching in support of their undocumented classmates.

Gov. Tim Walz announced he is proposing the first sales tax rate cut in Minnesota’s history to help Minnesotans weather Trump’s tariffs.

ITS OFFICIAL — the Eaton, Palisades & Hughes fires are all 100% contained. (As an Angeleno this one may be my favorite.)

(snip)

Literally Watching Again In Real Time, Peace & Justice History For 2/2

History, and Why Some Women Ought To Know Better Than How They Behave…

In the Ladies’ Loo

Gender-segregated bathrooms tell a story about who is and who is not welcome in public life.

Passengers freshening up in the ladies’ restroom at the Greyhound bus terminal, Chicago, 1943 via LOC

By: Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza

Women’s entry into public life around the turn of the twentieth century was a major catalyst for the creation of sex-segregated public restrooms. As scholar Daphne Spain writes, female civic reformers lobbied municipal governments to make cities more inclusive places for women, pushing for amenities such as health clinics and kindergartens. And in both small towns and big cities, notes historian Peter C. Baldwin, women worked to ensure the availability of public toilets. The first gender-segregated public bathrooms afforded women privacy, safety, and autonomy—if, that is, the women were white and of means; otherwise, access to bathrooms served as a tool of segregation. The history of the women’s bathrooms in the United States is a story of who does—and who doesn’t—get to belong in public life.

The first public bathrooms in the United States appeared in the late 1800s. Pub owners offered them to paying customers to drum up business and keep drinkers drinking. But, as Baldwin notes, pubs and saloons were improper, unwelcoming, and sometimes dangerous environments for women, and were effectively male-only establishments whose facilities only catered to men.

Just a few decades later, according to Spain, women had begun to challenge their “proper place” in society. While middle- and upper-class women increasingly ventured out of the home into the burgeoning urban environment to shop and to socialize, their lower-class counterparts increasingly found work in factories and other non-domestic environments where they could earn their own money. And some, many of whom belonged to the upper classes, forced their way into political and civic life, lobbying for, and winning, suffrage. Changing social stations pushed women and men together in public. They shared sidewalks, transportation, parks, stores, and restaurants. Women entered public life, and standards of decorum shifted to accommodate them, though certainly not to include them—gender segregation became a paramount concern, according to Baldwin, for preserving the modesty and propriety of women. Still, a dramatic shift had occurred: Men no longer wielded a monopoly on public life.

While men were afforded the opportunity to take care of their most basic needs—the need to relieve themselves—women were not given the same.

In the absence of an available pub bathroom, men were accustomed to relieving themselves in the street. Not only did that suddenly seem crass in mixed company, but the new science of germ theory made it clear that using the city as a toilet posed a health hazard, Baldwin says. Urban designers, physicians, and civic groups lobbied municipal governments in Chicago, Boston, New York, and elsewhere to provide a sanitary solution to the problem of human waste.

The first public toilets, euphemistically called “comfort stations,” appeared in American cities in the 1890s, according to Baldwin. By 1919, roughly one hundred cities, including Denver, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Seattle made toilet facilities available to the public for free or a small fee. Some were funded by health-minded philanthropists and reformers concerned not only with physical cleanliness, but “moral cleanliness,” writes sociologist Alexander K. Davis. They believed the two were intrinsically linked.

Comfort stations were gender segregated but not gender equal. While men were afforded the opportunity to take care of their most basic needs—the need to relieve themselves—women were not given the same. Women’s facilities were often smaller and had fewer toilets than the men’s, writes Baldwin, and were consistently inferior to the semi-private “customers only” bathrooms available in the “Adamless Eden” of a department store, as one such store owner Spain quotes called them; these were available only to patrons.

For those women denied the privilege of department store entry owing to race or lack of means, the comfort station was the only option for getting some privacy in public. Businesses, manufacturing plants, offices, and government buildings almost entirely lacked gender-segregated bathrooms, and because it was scandalous for a woman to enter a bathroom that men used, the lack of women’s toilets sent a clear signal about who was and wasn’t welcome in a particular space. Without equitable access, women were not able to fully participate in life outside the home. If you can’t empty your bladder or your bowels with dignity, it’s hard to be away from home for long.

Public stations were expensive to maintain and quickly became dirty and malodorous. Many were underground or in secluded areas and were dangerous for female users. Baldwin points out that by the early 1920s, cities cut budgets and patrons abandoned the cause, so stations fell into disrepair almost as soon as they appeared, and some of the same women’s groups that had petitioned for their creation eventually pressed for their closure. The provision of bathrooms became largely the remit of private business owners who could provide or restrict access as they pleased.

Women's restroom at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, AZ, 1930s — Women’s restroom at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, AZ, 1930s via Wikimedia Commons

Though the truly public bathroom—where access is free to all—is increasingly rare today, the semi-public toilet is taken for granted. The ladies’ room in restaurants, bars, airports, train and bus stations, hotel lobbies, schools, and event venues remains one of the few spaces where men are strictly prohibited. Though many are accessible only to those who can patronize a business or afford a ticket for travel.

It’s such an important part of female culture that the women’s bathroom is a convenient prop in movies, TV, and books. Writers set a scene in the ladies’ room, where women gather to complain, cry, confide, confess, gossip, preen, or bully. And though such scenes sometimes lean on tired tropes of female behavior, the gender-segregated bathroom is a place to exist beyond the gaze and reach of men. Here, women speak candidly about feelings, bodies, periods, sex, romantic partners, friends, jobs, and family.

“They offer a space for bonding, the exchange of information, and personal recovery,” writes scholar Christine Overall. “Sex-segregated toilets provide ‘the element of sociability important to many women, who also use the women’s room as a refuge, ‘a place to feel safe, both physically safe but also psychologically safe.’” On the wall and in stalls, it’s not uncommon to see phone numbers for domestic violence helplines or, in bar bathrooms, instructions for ordering an “angel shot”: a coded way to ask a bartender for help in the face of harassment.

Of course, the ladies’ room by design isn’t a safe space for all women.

“At various points in US history, the absence of toilet facilities has signaled to [B]lacks, to women, to workers, to people with disabilities, to transgender people, and to homeless people that they are outsiders to the body politic and that there is no room for them in public space,” writes the feminist scholar Judith Plaskow. If these bathrooms are supposedly for the public, then by virtue of excluding certain people, the message is that their needs are not for consideration.

Access to public space in the US has even been explicitly exclusionary. When the Boston-based advocacy organization Women’s Educational and Industrial Union pressed for the creation of health clinics and lunch rooms in the early twentieth century, it made it clear that their goal was to segregate classes and create spaces, Spain explains, where only “middle-class and elite women could appear without being declassed and working women could appear in public without having their virtue questioned by being ‘on the streets.’”

In the Jim Crow south, writes Baldwin, Black women had to use separate bathrooms, typically older and poorly maintained, and were not afforded the privacy of gender-segregated facilities. In some cases, Black people in the segregated South had no access to public bathrooms at all.

Now, the current campaigns of exclusion seek to bar transgender women from accessing the ladies’ room. In 2016, the North Carolina state legislature passed “the bathroom bill,” which forced people to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender they were assigned at birth. The next year, eight more states moved to impose similar restrictions. North Carolina’s bill was met with such anger on behalf of the LGBTQ community that some elements were quickly scrapped, and the remainder was left to lapse in 2020. While campaigns for equity have made such laws and restrictions exceedingly unpopular, they have not yet made them extinct.

In November 2024, Sarah McBride became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, representing the state of Delaware. Within weeks, representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina introduced a resolution banning transgender women from the ladies’ bathrooms on Capitol Hill. Within days, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced the official ban.