An amendment from Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Shawnee Democrat, to modify the bill’s language so best interests of a child in foster or adoptive care remained the top priority at DCF was rejected by the House. She said the amendment was necessary because the bill was drafted in a way that could force a subsection of children in Kansas to endure more trauma.
“You have to remember why children come into the system in the first place,” Ruiz said. “They come into the system because of abuse and neglect, and it comes in so many forms.”
Ruiz told House colleagues that Kansas youth were physically beaten and emotionally traumatized by parents and church leaders who wanted children to adhere to a certain sexual orientation or gender identity. Some kids were expected to “pray away the gay,” she said.
Others were compelled to undergo so-called conversion therapy, she said. It has little basis in science, but proposes to erase a person’s gender identity or sexuality — usually to conform to ideals of other people.
“This bill opens up the door to one of the most horrible forms of therapy that any human being can be exposed to,” Ruiz said. (Snip-MORE)
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Kansas’ attorney general and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) have signed a deal to assist federal immigration forces in the Sunflower State.
Danedri Herbert with the Kansas Office of the Attorney General said in a press release on Monday, Feb. 17 that Attorney General Kris Kobach and the KBI have signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This will allow KBI agents to work alongside Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to remove immigrants who are residing in Kansas illegally.
A limited number of KBI agents will receive ICE training that authorizes the agents to arrest immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, serve and execute warrants for some immigration violations and issue immigration detainers, according to the press release. Herbert said a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes states and political subdivisions of a state to enter into agreements like this. (snip-MORE)
February 23, 1982 Wales declared itself a nuclear weapons-free zone. Its last nuclear power plant, Wylfa at Anglesey with two reactors, was shut down completely in 2015. Nuclear-free zones
February 23, 2011 Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, fell to rebels after three days of violent clashes with the forces of brutal dictator Colonel Muammar Qaddafi. “He is gone. A dragon has been slain,” cried Ahmed Al-Fatuuir outside the secret police headquarters. “Now he has to explain where all the bodies are.“ Graffiti showing a caricature of Gaddafi reading, ‘The Monkey of Monkeys of Africa’, a reference to his self-declared title ‘The King of Kings of Africa’.
February 22, 1943 Sophie Scholl, a 22-year-old White Rose (Weisse Rose) activist at Munich University, was executed after being convicted of urging students to rise up and overthrow the Nazi government. There are many memorials in Bavaria and Germany to Sophie and her group, the White Rose, but little is known outside of Germany. They were medical students who organized nonviolent resistance to Hitler, and were arrested for printing and distributing anti-Nazi flyers. Sophie, her brother Hans, a former member of Hitler Youth who started White Rose, and Christof Probst, the three young people in the photo, were executed. Few White Rose members survived the war which is why the story is not well known. Film made about Sophie Scholl’s courage & watch the trailer Traute Lafrenz, Last Survivor Of Anti-Nazi Resistance Group, Dead At 103
February 22, 1967 Indonesian President Sukarno (born Kusno Sosrodihardjo) surrendered all executive authority to military chief-of-staff General Suharto, remaining president in title only. Sukarno had begun the movement for Indonesian independence from Dutch colonial control in 1927. They were supplanted by the Japanese during World War II, but independence was realized following Japan’s defeat. Sukarno was elected president but had declared himself president for life in 1963. Following a failed communist-led coup within the military, Suharto launched a purge of Indonesian communists that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. In 1967 he assumed full power, and in 1968 was elected president and remained in power for 32 years. He was also responsible for Indonesia’s 1975 invasion of East Timor, which left an estimated 100,000 Timorese dead from famine, disease and warfare. See The Year of Living Dangerously for an excellent dramatic re-creation of the time.(trailer) More on Suharto And more on Sukarno
February 22, 1974 Farmer Sam Lovejoy toppled the weather tower for a proposed nuclear power plant in Montague, Massachusetts. This was the first act of civil disobedience against the dangers of nuclear power in the U.S. Lovejoy turned himself in to the police, was tried but not convicted. Sam Lovejoy The full story of Sam Lovejoy’s action Ballad of Sam Lovejoy by Rob Skelton
February 22, 1997 Nearly 35,000 marched in Paris against a new anti-immigration bill. Many of the demonstrators chanted “First, second or third generation, we are all children of immigrants.” Another 5,000 movie directors, writers, painters, actors, translators, journalists and teachers signed petitions pledging civil disobedience.
by Kathleen Romig Director of Social Security and Disability Policy February 20, 2025
Social Security has broad support across party lines, income levels, and generations. After 90 years, Social Security remains one of the nation’s most successful, effective, and popular programs.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has strict controls over who receives a Social Security number (SSN) and what documentation is required to prove identity, U.S. citizenship, and immigration status. The agency assigns a unique Social Security number to each eligible individual, and it pays a single Social Security benefit to each qualifying individual with a Social Security number. Only U.S. citizens and some lawfully present non-citizens may receive Social Security benefits. Social Security’s payment accuracy rate is very high — well over 99 percent — and it has many safeguards against improper payments, including rigorous protocols to stop paying benefits to people who have died.
Misinformation and false statements from President Trump and “Department of Government Efficiency” head Elon Musk claiming otherwise are causing confusion and risk undermining a trusted program that is rigorously administered, and which 69 million people currently rely on and nearly everyone will eventually use.
Here are the facts.
Social Security Number: What Is it and Who Is Eligible?
The Social Security Administration only provides new or replacement Social Security cards to people who meet strict authentication requirements. Applicants must fill out an application for a Social Security card (SS-5) and take or mail original documents to a local Social Security office for processing. Applicants must provide at least two documents that prove age, identity, and U.S. citizenship or lawful immigration status. Almost all U.S. citizens are assigned Social Security numbers at birth through SSA’s enumeration at birth program.
Some non-citizens with lawful immigration statuses may receive Social Security numbers. To receive a work-authorized SSN, non-citizen applicants must prove that they have a current, lawful work-authorized immigration status (such as lawful permanent resident status, also known as having a green card). Social Security cards issued to non-citizens with temporary work authorization are labeled “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION.” To receive a non-work SSN, applicants must prove they are lawfully present in the U.S. (for example, on a student visa) and provide the valid, non-work reason for which they need an SSN. Social Security cards issued to non-citizens without work authorization are labeled “NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT.” People who are without lawful immigration status are not eligible for an SSN.
The Social Security number is a unique identifier, meaning that one number is assigned to one individual. It was designed this way to keep track of each worker’s earnings so that SSA could determine eligibility for Social Security and the benefit amount, which is based on a worker’s earnings.
Social Security Benefits: Who Gets Them and How Are They Calculated?
Social Security has a payment accuracy rate of over 99 percent. Only 0.3 percent of Social Security benefits are improper payments, which are typically caused by mistakes or delays.
SSA has many safeguards to ensure accurate payments, including strict documentation and eligibility requirements, quality reviews, and regular reviews of medical eligibility for disability beneficiaries and financial eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients. SSA works with its Office of Inspector General (OIG) to root out rare cases of outright fraud, in which applicants or beneficiaries deliberately falsify information to get or keep undeserved benefits. SSA and OIG team with state and local authorities in Cooperative Disability Investigations to investigate suspected fraud and to prosecute violations of the law.
Only U.S. citizens and some lawfully present non-citizens may receive Social Security benefits. Social Security benefits are based on the earnings on which people pay Social Security payroll taxes. As of 2004, non-citizens must have had work authorization for their earnings to count toward Social Security eligibility and benefits. In addition, the Social Security Act has prohibited the payment of benefits to non-citizens who are not “lawfully present” in the U.S. since 1996.
SSA only pays one Social Security benefit to each qualifying Social Security number holder. A person may receive a Social Security benefit based on their own work history or based on their relationship to a worker — for example, the surviving spouse of a deceased worker. Beneficiaries who are eligible in multiple ways (for example, as both a worker and a surviving spouse) only receive one benefit that is reduced under the “dual entitlement rule,” which caps the total benefit amount at the highest single benefit for which the person qualifies. In no case does the same individual receive multiple Social Security benefits, nor does SSA pay Social Security benefits to people without SSNs.
SSA has rigorous protocols to stop payments to beneficiaries who have died. State vital statistics agencies report deaths to SSA via the Electronic Death Registration system, typically within days. SSA also collects death data from funeral home directors, family members, and financial institutions. Across all sources, the agency receives nearly 3 million death reports each year, preventing over $50 million in improper payments each month. To catch any deaths that may have escaped reporting, SSA regularly checks to be sure its oldest beneficiaries are using their Medicare benefits — if not, they verify that the beneficiary is still alive. And in the extremely rare cases where benefits are paid to people over 100 years old, SSA has a policy to stop payments by age 115.
Only 0.1 percent of Social Security benefits are paid to people over 100 years old. DOGE head Elon Musk has been circulating a table he claims shows Social Security beneficiaries at very old ages, but he is grossly mischaracterizing its contents. These numbers appear to be drawn from SSA’s Numident database, a record of every Social Security number application since the program started. The Numident typically does not contain death dates for people born before 1920 — before Social Security was established and long before electronic records were kept. A 2023 OIG report explains that “almost none” of the people born before 1920 in this dataset are being paid benefits. As a result, SSA explained that adding death dates to these very old records would be “costly to implement [and] would be of little benefit.”
February 21, 1848 “The Communist Manifesto,” written by 29-year-old Karl Marx with the assistance of Friedrich Engels, was published in London (in German) by a group of German-born revolutionary socialists known as the Communist League. Friedrich Engels Karl Marx The political pamphlet — arguably one of the most influential in history — proclaimed that “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles,” and that the inevitable victory of the proletariat, or working class, would put an end to class society forever. Read the Manifesto
February 21, 1965 Malcolm X, an African-American nationalist and religious leader, was shot and killed in New York City by Black Muslims with whom he had broken the year before, as he began to address his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City’s Washington Heights. His home had been firebombed just a few days earlier. He was 39. Radio story on the late Manning Marable’s biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention More on on Malcolm’s assassination MalcolmX.com “In 1964, after his break with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, and following his trips to Africa and to Mecca, Malcolm was seriously questioning black nationalism. He was also beginning to recognize that MLK’s non-violent methods, far from being passive, were actually creating more change than the separatism of the Nation of Islam. In this same period MLK was beginning to recognize that Malcolm was advocating self-defense, not violence. In March Malcolm and Martin encountered one another by chance at a news conference in Washington, D.C. Subsequently Malcolm spoke at several rallies in support of the civil rights movement, and in February 1965, two weeks before his assassination, he went to Selma to meet with King.” –Grace Lee Boggs ” You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”–“Prospects for Freedom in 1965,” speech, January 7 1965.
February 21, 1972 The trial began for Father Philip Berrigan and six other activists (the “Harrisburg Seven”) in Pennsylvania. They were charged with conspiring in an alleged plot to kidnap Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Proceedings later ended in a mistrial. Daniel Berrigan, above, and his brother Philip in the documentary, “Investigation of a Flame.” The film focuses on the Catonsville action. Remembering Fr. Philip Berrigan
February 21, 1975 Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell, Mitchell aide Robert Mardian, and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 21⁄2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up. They were variously convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, fraud, and perjury. See the new film, Frost/Nixon, for perspective on some of the issues behind Watergate Charlie Rose interview with Peter Morgan, the screenwriter (and author of what was originally a play) and Michael Sheen and Frank Langella, the lead actors
February 21, 2011 Two Libyan Air Force fighter pilots defected to the Mediterranean island of Malta rather than carry out orders they had received to bomb civilian countrymen. Two helicopters with seven others landed in Malta to escape the violence. Colonel Muammar Qadaffi had ordered the attacks in attempt to quell the growing protests against his 42-year dictatorship. Libya’s ambassadors to China, India, Indonesia and Poland, as well as Libya’s representative to the Arab League and most, if not all, of its mission at the United Nations resigned the same day.
It came in an email with action alerts, linked. I made a religious statement earlier, and I don’t want to overdo religion here. Anyone can participate without fear, though, and they don’t check to see if you’re Christian; they just appreciate the help. Mainly I really like the toon above; it belongs here. Good Afternoon!
As well, Feb. 19th is the annual Day of Remembrance of Pres. Roosevelt’s E.O. 9066, interning Japanese-Americans.
February 19, 1919 A Pan-African Congress was organized by W.E.B. DuBois in Paris, France, to coincide with the Versailles Peace Conference after World War I. DuBois, sociologist, historian, novelist, playwright, and cultural critic, served as special representative of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and was assisted by Blaise Diagne, a member of the French Parliament from the West African colony of Senegal. W.E.B. DuBois, founder of the NAACP and convener for the Pan-African Congress in Paris. The Congress’s aim was to call the issue of “international protection of the natives of Africa” to the attention of the United States and the European colonial powers who were making momentous decisions on the nature of the post-war world. DuBois was a moving spirit behind the growing struggle for self-determination among Africans, both on the continent and in the diaspora, and the Pan-African Congresses helped to bring the issues of this struggle to world attention. The Pan-African Congress was re-convened in 1921, 1923, 1927, and 1945. Attendees at the Pan-African Congress. More about W.E.B. DuBois More depth on the Pan-African Congresses
February 19, 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, ten weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, issued a directive ordering all Japanese Americans (Nisei) evacuated from the West Coast of the U.S., and forcing them to live in concentration camps. Executive Order 9066 authorized the Secretary of War and military commanders “to prescribe military areas . . . from which any or all persons may be excluded.” San Francisco Chronicle February 27, 1942 Photo by Dorothea Lange Japanese American residents board the bus for Camp Harmony, 1942. There was strong support from California Attorney General Earl Warren (later U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice), liberal journalist Walter Lippmann and Time magazine—which referred to California as “Japan’s Sudetenland” Japanese-American child on bus to concentration camp. photo: Dorothea Lange 112,000 citizens of Japanese ancestry were relocated, losing their businesses, homes, and belongings to the white residents of their former neighborhoods.This day is referred to as the “Day of Remembrance.” It has been commemorated every year for 67 years to remind Americans of that miscarriage of justice, and to ensure such things do not happen again. Children of the camps Note: In the entire course of the war, 10 people were convicted of spying for Japan, all of whom were Caucasian Day of Remembrance “Not Enough People Know About Day of Remembrance”
February 19, 1972 Paul McCartney’s song, “Give Ireland Back to the Irish,” was immediately banned from airplay by the BBC. Opening of the song: Give Ireland back to the Irish Don’t make them have to take it away Give Ireland back to the irish Make Ireland Irish today Great Britain you are tremendous And nobody knows like me But really what are you doin’ In the land across the sea Tell me how would you like it If on your way to work You were stopped by Irish soldiers Would you lie down do nothing Would you give in, or go berserk? Paul McCartney and “Wings” rehearse the song
Ocean acidification now looms as a direct challenge to oysters. Experts warn that more acidic conditions can alter the sex balance in these shellfish. Some oysters start life as male, then switch to female later. Shifts in pH threaten to speed that switch.
These shifts could upend aquaculture and coastal ecosystems everywhere.
Researchers note that an oyster population with too many females might see future reproduction problems, since a balanced sex ratio helps keep populations stable.
Photo: Pexels
Oysters rely on environmental cues to decide their sex. (snip-MORE)
Proposal calls on company to prepare reports on ‘macroeconomic costs’ of health insurer’s practices
UnitedHealth Group is attempting to swat down a non-binding shareholder proposal that asked the company to prepare reports on the costs of delayed and denied healthcare.
The proposal, filed by members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), represents a new frontier in seeking to hold insurance companies accountable for the “macroeconomic costs” of denied care – arguing they eventually hurt the bottom line of large investors.
The proposal asks UnitedHealth Group to prepare reports on the “public health-related costs and macroeconomic risks created by the company’s practices that limit or delay access to healthcare”.
“The investors we work with are interested in long-term value creation,” said Meg Jones-Monteiro, senior director of health equity at ICCR. The coalition represents primarily institutional investors, such as pensions and foundations.
“When you think about the investment portfolios our members have, they are very diverse,” Jones-Monteiro. “What happens in one sector impacts another.”
The proposal is non-binding, but UnitedHealth Group is nevertheless fighting to stop it. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in January, UnitedHealth Group attempted to exclude the proposal from proxy statements on technical grounds, arguing in part that the terms “public-health related costs” and “macroeconomic risks” are vague and subject to interpretation. (snip-MORE)
Last month I asked to hear from trans-friendly employers who sponsor visas, and provided a simple form for interested employers to reach out. In the process, I heard from many individuals: people who were hoping to find new employment in another country, and people who worked for companies that were aligned, who were encouraging their bosses to fill in the form.
A quick reminder before we dive in: I’m not providing formal legal or financial advice. I’m just trying to point people in the right direction and provide some ideas for relocation for people who want it.
The bad news
Here’s the bad news: today, that form sits empty. While the post was shared far and wide, not a single person has filled it in.
I think there are a few reasons for this. First and foremost, in the current environment, being listed in such a database presents a significant risk, particularly if you’re doing business with US entities. In an environment where the administration is firing employees and cutting contracts for even the barest mention of support for trans people, there’s every reason to believe that the current administration will penalize people and organizations who work with trans people.
So, that’s not great. I’m very sorry to everyone who got their hopes up that I would be able to make direct connections.
The good news
The good news: some countries actively sponsor visas, welcome trans people, and are hiring.
In my personal conversations with people, what jumped out again and again was that emigrating to the Netherlands was a viable route for many people — and particularly those with tech skills (engineering, IT, product management, design, research, and so on).
Reasons include:
Dutch tech companies tend to sponsor visas. (Look for job vacancies written in English and/or on boards like Tech Me Abroad and Relocate.me.)
You can relocate with a self-employment visa if you have a skilled background, can demonstrate at least one Dutch-based contract or that you’ll start a tech-based business, and can show that you’ll independently make €1,613 (~$1,700) per month.
The DAFT visa lowers the barrier to entry for US entrepreneurs who can commit to invest €4,500 (~$4,700).
The Netherlands is also kind of just a neat country: excellent social safety net, great support for culture and the arts, good connectivity to other European countries, and a strong grant support network for mission-driven tech. Amsterdam is a first-class cosmopolitan city, but other centers in the Netherlands are not to be sniffed at, and the country is so small that you can easily take public transit from one to another in less time than it might take you to commute to work by car in the US.
It is not, however, perfect. Much like the US, the Netherlands has had its own racial reckoning; unlike the US, the discourse has often centered on the idea that racism doesn’t happen there. That’s a rich claim from a society where racist tropes like Zwarte Piet are still commonplace, and where women of color are often marginalized. There’s work to be done — although it’s worth asking if this is truly any worse than the US.
Not everybody can relocate, and not everybody has these skills. I’m aware that this is a privileged route that not everybody can take advantage of. It would be better if there was a defined route for everybody who needed to find a safer place to live; it would be better still if a safe place to live was the place they already call home. This situation is sick and sad, and I truly wish that everything was different.
It also comes with an attendant cost. It’s estimated that moving to the Netherlands will set you back between $6-10K. That’s a lot less than one might expect, but it’s obviously a significant barrier for many people. Unfortunately, very little financial support exists for these moves. If you know of grants, mutual aid funds, or community resources that help trans people relocate, please share them. Funding and guidance from those who’ve navigated the process could make all the difference.
Please reach out
In the meantime, I’ll keep looking. If you are a company in a country that is safe for trans people, and you’re looking to hire people from the US who need visa sponsorship, please fill out this form or reach out to me via email. I’m not giving up.
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I once had a wonderful experience with tens of thousands of pansies. by Worriedman
Plant the green side up and give it a good drink of water a couple of times a week…
Pansies are Viola hybrids, Viola x wittrockiana. (“wittrockiana” sounds like a mountainous region in the south of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick) The common names, pansy, viola and violet are used interchangeably. “Pansies” are usually larger and taller than true violas, with large showy blooms. Violas are usually smaller plants, with smaller blooms, more plentiful than find on pansies. If you want to be a real nerd you can look at the petals. Both kinds of blooms have five petals . On the pansy, four petals point up, one points down. On the viola, two petals point up and three point down.
Scottie's Playtime 