A long, long, long time ago, around the turn of the century, we got PCs and the internet at work. I’ve told this story many times, but the point I want to make today is how it was the internet that opened the door for me. I found others who thought and felt like me. There was a community out there. As a trans person, the internet showed me it was possible to transition and have a life.
But now they want to throttle the internet. There have been bills introduced to prevent children from accessing parts of it. The question is: who decides? The government or the parent?
You know how the Republicans are always screaming, “parental rights!”? Well, now the Republicans want to judge who can see what and when. They want you to prove you are over 18 or 21. How the heck can you do that? When I go onto a pot store website, they ask, “Are you 21 or over?” Oh yeah, like that will stop kids from lying.
But it's deeper than that. If the government decides what is "adult," they often lump LGBTQ+ resources, transition support, and sex education into that bucket. They claim they are blocking "harmful content," but they are actually cutting off lifelines for kids who are just trying to understand who they are.
If you want to stop children from accessing actual adult websites, here is a very simple way to do it. You have to be 18 to get a phone or an internet plan, so all you have to do is have a checkbox when you open the account: “Do you want to block access to adult websites on this device?” It is as simple as that. Put the choice back with the parents, and leave the government out of it.
1) In this song, Bruce Springsteen sings about taking his father and his aunt to see The Cadillac Ranch. Have you recently taken a road trip? If yes, where did you go?
I went down to New Jersey for my grand-niece graduation party, down and back in a day… it was a very long day. The clan gathered at a nice little place in Stirling NJ.
2) The Cadillac Ranch is real. It's an outdoor art installation in Amarillo, TX. Tell us about a statue, mural, or other piece of outdoor art in your community.
We have the very first Civil War momentum in the nation. It is on the National Register of Historic Places as the oldest permanent Civil War monument in the United States. We used to hang out in front and we never realized that the chunk of sandstone was so important. (It is just a mile up the road form the geographical center of the state.
3) Not only is Bruce singing about a real place, he mentions three real people. The first is "James Dean in his Mercury 49." That refers to the 1949 Mercury driven by James Dean in his first starring role, Rebel Without a Cause. Though he remains a legendary star, Dean made only three movies before his death at age 24. Have you seen any of his films?
I probably did back in the 60s and 70s.
4) The second is "Junior Johnson runnin' through the woods of Caroline." Junior Johnson was a folk hero, famous as a NASCAR driver and notorious for running moonshine through North Carolina. He was the inspiration for "Midnite Moon," an animated old Ford in the 2017 Disney movie Cars 3. What Disney movie did you enjoy when you were growing up?
Well you know you are digging way back in time… I mean way back! Way back to Fantasia
5) The third man Bruce sings about is "Burt Reynolds and his black Trans Am." This is a reference to Burt's biggest hit, 1977's Smokey and the Bandit. Burt also had success as a restaurateur. He co-owned Burt and Jack's, a popular steakhouse at Port Everglades, right on the water. Tell us about a restaurant that offered both good food and a memorable view.
When we had a cottage in New Hampshire we used to go to have brunch at a restaurant in Sunapee right on the harbor of the lake. My favorite Lobster Benedict smothered in Hollandaise sauce.
6) For decades, Cadillac was the gold standard of luxury. For example, an eatery referred to as "the Cadillac of restaurants" would be best or most prestigious. Think about your neighborhood. Tell us about a restaurant, hotel or business that is "the Cadillac" of your community.
We have a lot of good restaurants here in Connecticut, but a small restaurant that I like in P'town is the Tin Pan Ally (But I here it is up for sale). It is a small but it has outdoor seating overlook Provincetown harbor.
7) Since he's been singing about America and cars for decades, it should come as no surprise that Bruce Springsteen has a collection of classic American cars. For the cover of his autobiography he chose a photo of himself leaning on his favorite, a 1960 Corvette convertible. Think about your favorite photo of yourself. What are you doing?
Smiling at a pizza place in P’town.
8) In 1981, when Bruce released this recording, Dolly Parton had a hit with "9 to 5." What's your favorite Dolly Parton song?
It is actual “9 to 5” but she has so many great songs it is hard to pick just one.
9) Random question: When did you last DIY and fix something around your home or yard?
My DIY days are numbered. At the cottage I have a Property Management company to take care of the fixes. At home friends have been helping out. But just cleaning is hard to keep up, I have started to start looking for a cleaning company.
As I wrote I went down to New Jersey to my grand-nieces graduation party from Dickerson, it was a very, very long day but it was so worth it. I don’t know how much longer with I be able to see my brother and sister-in-law. So every time I can visit them is a blessing.
We ate at a nice restaurant but I sat of a hard wooden bench that killed my back. It was over twelve hours from the time I left my home until I pulled into the driveway.
I want to get up to the Cape this week or next week but it is a holiday weekend coming up! And the bridges to Cape Cod will be once again “a nightmare” to get on the Cape.
Trump has used "National Security" as a trump card!
Now they are saying these massive energy hogs and polluters are actually super important to "National Security." Cue the rimshot!
It seems like every time they get challenged, they drag out the "National Security" angle. Offshore windmills? "National Security!" National security has become a flexible justification for stopping or pushing through infrastructure projects when the real underlying motives are political, economic, or ideological. And the latest example is... the AI data centers that Trump’s billionaire friends are building!
The Trump administration is helping one of Elon Musk’s companies fight a civil rights lawsuit that alleges it is illegally running dozens of natural gas turbines to power a $20 billion AI data center in Mississippi.
The NAACP and other groups say Musk’s xAI subsidiary failed to get a permit for its power plant — which is located near homes, schools and churches — creating health risks for families in North Mississippi and nearby Memphis and violating the federal Clean Air Act.
The Justice Department, in a motion late Monday, sought to intervene in the case and dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the plant is needed to power an artificial intelligence data center that is “critical to the economy” and the U.S. military.
The state of Mississippi — not the federal government — is responsible for any permits for the power plant and “decided no permit was required,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
Wow! "Critical to the economy" and the U.S. military! So that means that they can pollute the environment?
“Ultimate responsibility for enforcing federal law belongs to the Executive Branch, not private interest groups,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who is No. 3 at the Justice Department. The motion to intervene in the case is intended to protect national security and promote American energy and innovation, he added.
Yeah! That’s it! We will just say they are exempt from environmental laws because they are "too important" to us.
NAACP sued Elon Musk’s xAI, alleging Clean Air Act violations from the company’s use of natural gas-burning turbines to power its data centers.
XAI is building out its data infrastructure primarily around Memphis as it races to compete in the booming AI market against OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
The company’s Colossus 1 and 2 data centers in Memphis, and power plant in Southaven, Mississippi have faced protests for more than a year.
The NAACP filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI on Tuesday, accusing the artificial intelligence company of violating the Clean Air Act with its use of natural gas-burning turbines to power data centers in and around Memphis, Tennessee.
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, alleges that between August and December 2025, xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech, LLC, installed and operated 27 gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, “without an air permit or regard for the health and safety of people living nearby.”
The turbines emit smog-forming pollutants and particulate matter that can lead to increased health risks and an unpleasant odor, among other things.
The NAACP is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief for the companies to “cease operating the Colossus Gas Plant unless and until they obtain the required permits; to apply the necessary pollution controls; and to pay appropriate civil penalties for each day of violation.”
[…]
Separately, the NAACP wants Mississippi state regulators to revoke a permit granted to xAI in March that allowed Musk’s company to build out its massive power plant in Southaven with 41 permanent turbines.
But now the DOJ is claiming the lawsuit is illegal. When big money talks, this administration listens.
The AP article went on to state:
The Trump administration has made AI a top national and economic security priority. It has also upended policies meant to address climate change and has worked to undo environmental regulations on business.
So, Trump has ignored the laws to give his friends a helping hand. But what gets me is: what do they think will happen when Trump is no longer in office?
A federal judge on Thursday halted President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to create a federal voter list and limit who can receive a mail ballot.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, sided with a coalition of nearly two dozen states that challenged the Republican president’s order in granting a summary judgment. Her ruling applies to this year’s midterm election cycle.
Plaintiffs argued in two lawsuits, both filed in federal court in Boston, that Trump’s order should be found unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election rules. The judge agreed, saying in her ruling that the provisions of Trump’s order seeking to create a federal list of eligible voters and using the U.S. Postal Service to determine who can receive a mail ballot are “legally void” because they “unconstitutionally violate the separation of powers.”
Anyone thinks this will stop Trump in his bid to take over the elections?
It was the second ruling in as many days against executive orders Trump has signed seeking oversight of the nation’s elections. A separate ruling Wednesday prohibited an executive order he had signed last year that would have required people to show documents proving their citizenship when registering to vote.
It seems that Trump keeps getting rejected by the courts, and it seems that the advice he is getting from his staff is bogus. Is it because no one wants to tell the emperor that he has no clothes on?
Connecticut won its second court victory over the administration of President Donald Trump in two days, according to a statement from Attorney General William Tong’s office.
Tong on Thursday said the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts blocked what he called an unlawful executive order issued March 31 that amounted to an attempt to commandeer state elections.
Just one day earlier, Tong had announced another court victory regarding what he called unconstitutional documentary proof of citizenship requirements to voting.
“Another major defeat for President Trump and his desperate illegal attempts to control our elections,” Tong said. “These are critical wins heading into the November elections. We’re going to keep fighting and winning to protect our democracy and ensure every lawful vote is counted.”
But that is not the only case that has overruled Trump...
Grants for research on diversity-related topics canceled
Judge says government 'bearing down on people of color'
Grants are ordered reinstated to organizations and states
A federal judge in Boston on Monday said the termination of National Institutes of Health grants for research on diversity-related topics by President Donald Trump's administration was "void and illegal," and accused the government of discriminating against racial minorities and LGBT people.
U.S. District Judge William Young during a non-jury trial said the NIH violated federal law by arbitrarily canceling more than $1 billion in research grants because of their perceived connection to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
[...]
"This represents racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community," said Young, an appointee of Republican former President Ronald Reagan. "Any discrimination by our government is so wrong that it requires the court to enjoin it and at an appropriate time, I'm going to do it."
Note: Judge Indira Talwani (who blocked the voter list order) was appointed by Barack Obama and
Judge William Young (who reinstated the NIH grants) was appointed by Ronald Reagan.
Trump will continue to ignore the Constitution and the laws. He will continue to push the envelope to see what he can get away with.
"When you have a 350-foot slit, from one end to the other, you think that's proof? ... They cut it, they cut it very violently."
"You'd have to go see the Parks Department... but I saw it. They cut it very violently.
That is what was reported by CBS News about what Trump said.
Somehow, that doesn't look like what Trump described.
And ask yourself this: If they have this video, why don't they show a video of the person Trump described? Trump claimed he saw the person do it, so where is the video? Maybe because it didn't happen. Maybe it's just another one of Trump's lies.
But these accusations of vandalism could cost taxpayers another $18 million. If the damage resulted from workmanship, materials, or installation, it would generally be more likely to be covered under the warranty. If it's classified as vandalism, that may not be the case.
This is just another example of Trump digging the hole deeper and deeper. This is what we used to call a "clusterfuck."
Political action committees with the ability to spend unlimited money trying to influence Maine's gubernatorial race have spent more than $8 million trying to shape next Tuesday's primary election.
With less than a week left before the election, the total spending by PACs is approaching the $12 million spent by the 12 candidates vying to replace Gov. Janet Mills next year. While PAC spending has eclipsed candidate spending in recent years, groups operating separately from the candidate campaigns haven't historically been as active during party primaries.
[...]
Nevertheless, the $8.6 million PAC spending in the gubernatorial primary is already approaching the $13.7 million that outside groups spent during the entire 2022 race for governor. In 2010, PACs spent $3.6 million compared to $15.5 million by candidates.
This year, the most spending has come from the Restoration of America PAC, a committee funded by Republican megadonor Thomas Klingenstein. At $4.7 million, Restoration of America accounts for more than half of the PAC primary spending, according to data compiled by the Maine Ethics Commission.
Just another billionaire pumping in tons of money!
The group is backing former state Sen. Garrett Mason, one of seven Republicans vying for the GOP nomination. The Maine Dream, a PAC backing Republican candidate Jonathan Bush, is the second leading spender at $1.1 million, as of Tuesday. Working Mainers First, a committee backing Democratic candidate Troy Jackson, is No. 3 on the list at $751,000, followed by the Maine Conservation Voters PAC (roughly $700,000) backing Democratic candidate Hannah Pingree and 314 Action ($640,000) backing Democratic candidate Nirav Shah.
The Maine Democratic Senate nominee secured a national transgender rights PAC endorsement while pledging not to abandon LGBTQ+ Americans.
The Advocate
Christopher Wiggins
Jun 24, 2026
Days after marching in the Portland Pride Parade, Graham Platner, Maine’s Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, is promising to fight federal attacks on transgender Americans as he heads into a nationally watched general election against Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
In an exclusive interview with The Advocate on Wednesday, Platner welcomed the endorsement from the Christopher Street Project, a political action committee dedicated to electing transgender rights advocates. The group’s executive director, Tyler Hack, said Platner represents the kind of Democrat needed not only to build a congressional majority but also to prevent transgender people’s rights from being negotiated away.
[...]
The Christopher Street Project’s support came two days after the Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Platner at a Monday event in Portland. Its president, Alexis McGill Johnson, backed him as a defender of reproductive freedom and contrasted his position with Collins’s vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who later voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
For the Senate race, the Maine Morning Star reported that:
The level of billionaire funding shows how the race, which could decide control of the U.S. Senate, has drawn interest and funding from some of the wealthiest people in the world.
By: Josh Keefe
June 12, 2026
Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced her reelection campaign in February by posting a video that showed her opening a box of New Balance running shoes.
The video didn’t mention that New Balance’s owner and chairman, billionaire Jim Davis, gave $1 million to the super PAC supporting Collins’ campaign seven months prior. The company is based in Boston and has manufacturing facilities in Maine. It was one of four donations Davis made last year to the network of committees raising money for Collins.
Davis, who is worth an estimated $6.1 billion, is one of at least 79 billionaires who donated to Collins’ network between January 2025 and May 20, 2026, according to a Maine Monitor analysis of Federal Election Commission campaign finance data. If billionaires’ spouses are included in the tally, the number rises to 97.
Collectively, the group of nearly 100 billionaires and spouses has donated $9.8 million to the Collins network since the start of 2025, representing a third of what groups supporting Collins raised from all donors.
Our elections are being bought. We have the best government money can buy.
It is PACs that need to be reined in. Campaigns should be limited to donations from individuals only, not corporations or PACs. The modern era of heavy corporate and "big money" influence in elections is mainly traced to Citizens United (2010), combined with follow-up rulings that enabled super PACs.
What I think needs to be done is pass a law allowing only citizens to donate to campaigns. PACs would be banned because they're not citizens. We also need limits on campaign donations; otherwise, a billionaire could pour hundreds of millions of dollars into a political campaign.
Back last spring, when Trump's administration was rounding up the homeless in Washington, D.C., we all thought that this was just the first step in "Trump's Master Plan." Just like in Nazi Germany, where they rounded up the homeless, Trump's administration is now talking about doing the same thing!
Pedro Jauregui, with the organization U.S. Vets in Long Beach, Calif., once spent a whole year getting one homeless veteran to come in from the cold.
[...]
More than 30,000 U.S. military veterans are homeless, according to the latest government data from an annual one night "point in time count." That number is down significantly in the past decade, which most experts credit to a straightforward combination of robust funding and a philosophy focused on offering housing without prerequisites, called housing first.
While the Trump administration has promised new housing for vets, President Trump also signed an executive order last year titled "Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets," which leans heavily toward institutionalizing homeless people against their will. This winter, NPR obtained slides describing a proposed VA plan called "Safe Harbor," which would include veterans in that shift to involuntary treatment. Then in March, the VA put out a memorandum of understanding with the Justice Department about state court guardianship for veterans.
That’s the goal of Trump & Company: homeless detention centers alongside immigrant detention centers.
Who will be next?
Us?
The trans community? It sure looks like they are setting us up as the next victims of Trump wrath!
Among the allegations against the companies are medical neglect, unsafe or inhumane living conditions, physical abuse and excessive force, understaffing and poor oversight, and lack of transparency. Given the allegations that have been made against some detention-center operators, critics are asking whether similar problems could arise in large-scale facilities for homeless populations if oversight and accountability are insufficient.
"What the administration has said publicly on this proposal is at odds with the documentation on the project and its pilot program. That original documentation was directly linked to the president's executive order, calling for involuntary commitment of people experiencing homelessness. I think it's disingenuous for anybody from the VA to say that this was meant for a completely different population," she said.
Through my lens, what I am seeing is a repeat of the 1930s in Germany. The Nazis used the label "asocial" to classify people they believed did not fit their vision of a productive, orderly society. Does that sound familiar? We were also included in that group. If you want to know where the "Pink Triangle" came from, you only have to look at the Nazi concentration camps, where we were required to wear a pink triangle badge to identify us. So wear it proudly—many trans people, lesbians, and gays were killed wearing it.
In addition, the Nazis had their own "immigrant" problem with the Roma, whom they put into forced labor camps.
In states around the U.S., there are already "forced labor" camps reminiscent of the Jim Crow era. In federal prisons, inmates are forced to work for the shocking rate of around $0.12 to $1.15 per hour! When I had to be certified for military-spec soldering back in the '90s, there were a number of prison guards who were also getting certified. They joked all the time about how they had a "captive" workforce.
In Germany at the time, the concentration camps were run by millionaires—only now, it is billionaires.
The parallels are unbelievable.
What is instore for us? We will know a more this November... will Red win or Blue... it could be a matter of life or death for us.
Did you know that Trump's DOJ settlement gave President Trump and his family special protection from IRS that blocked Trump's family from being investigate for tax fraud?
The addendum stated that the government was "forever barred and precluded" from pursuing audits, examinations, reviews, or related tax claims concerning Trump, members of his family, and affiliated businesses for tax matters that were pending or could have been raised before the settlement's effective date. (i.e. A Get Out Of Jail)
Watch this to see how far Trump's corruption has gone!
