He Is Politicizing Everything

The Trump administration is now “weaponizing” unemployment insurance, cutting it off to blue states that don’t kowtow to him.

Trump administration warns governors to crack down on unemployment insurance

By Nick Viviani

FOX 5

June 17, 2026

The U.S. government wants states to do more to combat fraud, waste, and abuse in their unemployment insurance programs and is threatening to withhold federal dollars until they do.

Big picture view:

Letters from the Labor Department were sent to the governors of every state warning that, if they do not crack down on their unemployment programs, administrative funds would be withheld. The move is the latest action by President Donald Trump’s administration to combat fraud and waste in state programs. 

What they're saying:

"We are officially putting governors on notice," Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said in a statement Wednesday. "The American people will no longer tolerate the blatant waste, fraud, and abuse of their hard-earned tax dollars — no state should allow it either. If states allow it, they will suffer the consequences."

The backstory:

The Labor Department blamed poor oversight, outdated technology, weak identity verification, and lax control for "allow[ing] unprecedented fraud to flourish." Its statement cited examples from California, Illinois, and New York to show how hundreds of millions of dollars have been reportedly lost to fraud, improper payments, and mismanagement.

Funny how they all Blue states named.

Back in April,

Vance to focus fraud efforts on Democratic states, Trump says

By Reuters

April 3, 2026

President Donald Trump on Friday ​said Vice President JD Vance will ‌focus on investigating fraud in Democratic-run states in his new role as "fraud czar."

"His focus will be 'EVERYWHERE,' ​but primarily in those Blue States," ​Trump said in a post on Truth ⁠Social, singling out California, Illinois, Minnesota, Maine ​and New York.

First it was ICE going after blue states, now it is unemployment insurance being framed as fraud in blue states. But as usual, they offer no data to back up their accusations.

Trump’s Department of Labor claims without data that states defrauded government

Acting secretary Keith Sonderling threatens to withhold administrative funds from states for first time in history

The Guardian

Michael Sainato

Wed 17 Jun 2026

Keith Sonderling sent letters to 53 states and US territories demanding action to “combat waste, fraud, and abuse” within the unemployment insurance program, threatening to withhold administrative funds from states for the first time in history.

“We are officially putting governors on notice,” said the acting US secretary of labor. “The American people will no longer tolerate the blatant waste, fraud, and abuse of their hard-earned tax dollars – no state should allow it either. If states allow it, they will suffer the consequences. This department is no longer afraid to use every lever available to ensure taxpayer money is protected.”

The agency did not provide data on fraud or alleged fraud in unemployment systems, but highlighted three Democrat-led states – California, New York and Illinois – and made claims about each.

The article also noted that much of the so-called “fraud” is actually billing and payment error.

The Department of Labor also claimed that New York loses an estimated $2m a day in unemployment insurance fraud and improper payments, but did not differentiate between the two. They also cited that Illinois had improper payments of $320m, at a rate of 14%.

Improper payments are not fraud, rather are most often cited as due to antiquated technology, with an estimated improper payment rate of 14.9% across the US.

This is the Trump administration’s typical MO: make broad, attention-grabbing accusations that dominate headlines, but are not supported by clear data.

Friendly news outlets like Fox News plaster it all over their headlines: “Massive Fraud Crackdown.” What they don’t mention is that much of it is billing error and that states are actively pursuing actual fraud cases. But they don’t mention that.

I also want to point out that states are going after fraud:

• Audits uncover issues with timely delivery of N.C. unemployment benefits, $47 million in fraudulent payments
• California’s troubled unemployment agency squandered $4.6M on cellphones, devices that went unused for years
• Colorado: State audit finds $5M in UI overcharges to employers

It is not as though the states are doing nothing. Much of the data the federal government is using comes from the states themselves. This is nothing more than grandstanding.

And you know darn well that if the feds do this the courts will overturn it like they did with the ICE and CBP fake claims. The courts blocked him in cutting funding to Sanctuary Cities. When he cut funding to states' Welfare & Social Services programs. When he tried to cut Public Health & Research. So if he goes through with these threats I foresee the court blocking him again.

Judge Shopping?

This is really off the deep end—they are grasping at straws. They are going after a medical association! Now get this... for fraud!

FTC sues transgender care group, arguing it deceived parents and patients

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health has a leading role in determining how gender-affirming care is provided.

Politico

By Simon J. Levien

06/17/2026

The Federal Trade Commission is suing the leading transgender health care group in federal court. The agency argued on Wednesday that the World Professional Association for Transgender Health made “deceptive claims” in its health care guidelines for transgender children. The group’s members include psychiatrists, surgeons, pediatricians, endocrinologists and primary care doctors who work with transgender patients.

The FTC, like the Health Department, has been on a monthslong legal tear to clamp down on providers and hospitals that offer gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming care refers to medical interventions for minors experiencing distress that their bodies do not align with their gender identity.

This is total bonkers!

“Medical organizations must follow the science, disclose conflicts and put patients first,” said Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a news release praising the FTC’s action.

The agency alleged that WPATH’s trans care recommendations violate the FTC Act by misleading parents and patients about the necessity and efficacy of these treatments. The FTC filed its complaint in the federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, alongside several red states, which joined the suit: Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas.

Ah... now I see. RFK Jr. has his two cents in this politically motivated attack on WPATH. And this appears to be a spinoff from a British investigation.

 The Trump administration has pointed to a British government review that found the evidence supporting gender-affirming care’s efficacy is weak, and produced its own study arguing the same. The administration supported Tennessee’s defense of its law barring gender-affirming care for minors in a Supreme Court case last year that Tennessee won 6-3.

So why Texas and not Washington, D.C. to file the case? Because the FTC had recently received an unfavorable ruling from Judge Boasberg in D.C. in related litigation involving WPATH. Meanwhile, down in Texas, they had a very good chance of getting a judge that Trump appointed... and they got Judge Mark Pittman! Who is he?

• In 2022, Pittman struck down the Biden administration's student-loan forgiveness program,
• In April 2023, Pittman issued the first major ruling in the case seeking to suspend the FDA's approval of mifepristone,

And of course the Republican states are jumping on board...  The Advocate writes;

The Federal Trade Commission, joined by the attorneys general of Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas, filed the lawsuit against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health in federal court in Texas. The complaint alleges that WPATH made deceptive or unsubstantiated claims about the safety, effectiveness, medical necessity, and evidence base for puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries for young people.

It doesn't look good for us!

I'm not a legal expert, but I believe that this case is mainly to show the MAGA base that they are tough on us. The grounds they are basing their case on have been called novel and aggressive. What are its chances of succeeding? I give it a 50/50 chance to win in the Supreme Court. They seem to be essentially trying to reclassify medical consensus and clinical guidelines as "commercial marketing." It is an aggressive stretch of consumer protection law designed to bypass the traditional medical boards and go straight for the financial and legal jugular.

My Worry

Trump is in a slow meltdown… everything he touches is falling apart!

👉 The Kennedy Center went down in flames in court.

👉 His pièce de résistance—the ballroom—has costs skyrocketing… $300 million! $500 million! Now the estimate is over $600 million.

👉 His arch is being challenged in court.

👉 The Reflecting Pool, once blue, is now green!

👉The big one… the Iran situation. He caved and surrendered!

Everywhere you look in the news, the top article is about the MOU. Many news outlets are pointing to the fact that President Obama’s treaty was better than Trump’s MOU.

I am concerned that he might take drastic action to counter a perception of weakness. He is a loose cannon and might do anything.

As a trans woman, I am worried that he will take it out on us.

Good Luck

The EEOC doesn't believe in discrimination!

Intersex teacher in Florida says school fired him based on belief he was trans

Shepard Scalf said in an EEOC filing that a parent complained to the district that he was transgender.

The Advocate

Mathew Rodriguez

Jun 16, 2026

Shepard Scalf, a Florida teacher who is intersex, is alleging in a new Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filing that his school district fired him because they perceived him as transgender. Scalf was assigned female at birth but identifies as male, per the Monday filing.

In the filing, Scarf claims that, at the same time he was fired, he was told that his performance as a Language Arts teacher at Patriot Oaks Academy in the St. Johns County School District was “exemplary,” and that there was no “merits-based justification” for his termination. Scalf taught sixth grade and had been newly hired for the 2025-2026 school year.

“At the same time, the district knew both that I have a male gender identity (they gave me a placard saying ‘Mr. Scalf’) and that I was assigned female at birth (based on my employment paperwork),” Scarf wrote. “I therefore believe this termination was based on the perception that I am transgender.”

Hey! The Republicans don't care about the little details like he is intersex, all they see is he is not like them. He is different... therefore unacceptable to them.

Per the filing, the letter from Asplen claimed that, due to Scalf being a first-year teacher, his employment was “probationary” and could be dismissed without cause. The letter said he would be placed on temporary leave following a board meeting. Scalf says he was given the choice to accept the probationary release or voluntarily resign. Scalf resigned after being told by the union rep that a resignation would be better for his future career prospects than a termination, according to the EEOC filing.

[...]

After his resignation, Scalf says he received evidence that his termination was due to a parent complaining that he was transgender, per the filing.

It will be a hard uphill battle with Florida and Trump's EEOC

“Heya Joe… who wonna da Second World War, you so smart?”

Those words are from Firesign Theatre's “How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You’re Not Anywhere at All” and to paraphrase them... “Heya Don… who wonna da Second Iranian War, you so smart?”

How does "The art of the deal" Trump do in this compared to Obama?

So … let me get this straight:

• The official numbers say the war cost around $25–30 billion but estimates put it as high as $100 billion.
• It is estimated that ~1,400–1,700 Iranian civilians were killed including ~120 schoolchildren killed in the one missile attack on the school.
• At least 13 U.S. service members killed and ~380 wounded
• And what it has done to our allies in the region is beyond calculations.

What Trump did not get...

❌ No regime change (Iran’s government remains intact)

❌ No confirmed dismantling of Iran’s missile program

❌ No full shutdown of Iran’s proxy networks

❌ No permanent or fully verified nuclear rollback

❌ No decisive military defeat of Iran

What Iran got...

✅ Sanctions relief on oil exports

✅ Return to global oil markets

✅ Partial access to frozen assets

✅ Easing of shipping and maritime restrictions 

✅ Potential reconstruction and investment prospects of $300 billion dollars in loans

Bottom line: Trump surrendered!  

Really Bad News!

I mean some really bad news: the Trump administration has stopped enforcing discrimination cases against trans people in the workplace!

Judge tosses lawsuit challenging civil rights agency’s pullback on transgender workplace protections

AP News

By  CLAIRE SAVAGE

June 15, 2026

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit alleging that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is unlawfully refusing to enforce workplace protections for transgender workers.

Chief Maryland District Judge George L. Russell III dismissed the case on Friday, saying the court lacks jurisdiction over the complaint, and plaintiff FreeState Justice, a Maryland LGBTQ+ advocacy group, lacks standing to pursue it.

“While deeply troubling, the Court agrees with Defendants that the EEOC’s decision to alter its investigations of gender identity discrimination claims constitutes a discretionary decision over which the Court lacks authority to review,” said Russell, a nominee of President Barack Obama, in a memorandum opinion filed Friday.

[...]

On behalf of FreeState Justice, legal advocacy groups Democracy Forward and the National Women’s Law Center sued the EEOC in July 2025, alleging the agency’s “Trans Exclusion Policy” violates Supreme Court precedent, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fifth Amendment’s Equal Protection guarantee, and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Not being a legal expert, I would have to say that what the judge said about jurisdiction is correct. However, it seems to me that the court did not address the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause issues directly. What I see is that they did not reach the discrimination question—whether a protected class (transgender people, as sex-based discrimination under Title VII) is being singled out for unequal treatment.

What the judge did was focus on whether an agency can determine its own enforcement policies. The court concluded that it can, but it did not reach the question of whether those policies, if they systematically exclude a protected class, would themselves be unlawful.

However, if the EEOC is systematically refusing to process or pursue transgender-related discrimination cases as a category, then that goes beyond ordinary enforcement discretion and begins to look like a discriminatory policy applied to a protected class.

So it is off to the appeals court we go. This may eventually reach the Supreme Court, where the key question will likely be whether courts can review only an agency’s policy itself, without considering whether that policy results in unequal enforcement of anti-discrimination protections.

Bad Reviews!

Tacky!

Strange!

Triumphalist!

Crass!

Gaudy!

Unseemly!

Those are some of the adjectives used to describe the fight at the White House! What Trump was create a circus on the White House lawn,

Trump, 80, Eviscerated for Defiling D.C. With Tacky UFC Spectacle

Daily Beast via Yahoo

Mary Papenfuss, Matt Young

Sun, June 14, 2026

President Donald Trump is facing a backlash for turning the White House and Washington, D.C., into a circus for his UFC birthday spectacle.

The White House and its surroundings were filled with eyebrow-raising events for the America 250 celebrations over the weekend. At the top of the bill is a UFC fight on Sunday night, also Trump's 80th birthday.

The hijinks got started Saturday morning with the weigh-ins of the fighters, who promoters warn will get hurt and bloodied in Sunday's seven wild spectacles. Heavyweight Josh Hokit walked unsteadily and appeared to drool, dribble, or vomit at the weigh-in. "So what? Maybe I was drinking last night," the bare-chested fighter told spectators. "Who wouldn't be? I have a giant Black man that wants to knock me out."

The pre-fight entertainment also got a lot of attention in creating a circus like atmosphere...

Posting footage of the moment, Trump critic Ed Krassenstein wrote, "Donald Trump has made a disgrace of America."

The bizarre moments continued as adrenaline junkies from The Nitro Circus performed motorbike jumps on the South Lawn of the White House.

"Disgraceful," wrote the Lincoln Project in response.

I think that this photo says it all...

Motorsports athletes and stunt performers do a motorcycle jump ahead of the UFC Freedom 250 fights on the South Lawn. / Alex Brandon / via REUTERS

Everything Trump touches turns to that brown stuff!

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Even the UFC wants noting to do with it again!

Don’t expect a repeat. UFC boss Dana White says ‘never again’ to another White House fight night

AP News

By  DAN GELSTON

June 15, 2026

By the time Justin Gaethje pummeled his bloodied foe to a pulp and celebrated a championship win with a backflip off the top of the wire-mesh cage, then shook hands with President Donald Trump — and even fist-bumped Melania — this much about his company’s future was clear to the ultimate boss of UFC: Just say no to the White House.

“It was an amazing, experience, this was a one-of-one,” UFC CEO Dana White said.

“It will never happen again.”

Oh, not because the show dubbed Freedom 250 and ostensibly held to celebrate Trump’s 80th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing wasn’t by White’s accounts a smashing success. He crowed about merchandise sales and streaming service subscriptions and how UFC surpassed its goals in every metric he could list at a news conference that stretched well into the dawn’s early light Monday.

Translated from business speak: "We made tons of money!"

Forget it, almost impossible to top on a night when fighters essentially treated their walkouts like they were kids on a class trip. The all-male lineup toured the West Wing, the Oval Office, walked past presidential portraits, through the Roosevelt Room, the Cabinet Room — and the winners even got a meet-and-greet with Trump.

[...]

Forget it, almost impossible to top on a night when fighters essentially treated their walkouts like they were kids on a class trip. The all-male lineup toured the West Wing, the Oval Office, walked past presidential portraits, through the Roosevelt Room, the Cabinet Room — and the winners even got a meet-and-greet with Trump.

[...]

“Usually, I kind of blank out when it comes to getting ready to walk to the cage,” Gaethje said. “It was pretty crazy, looking at the Declaration of Independence. The original one. Their language was different. I’m not smart enough to read that.”

Gaethje also banked a whopping $825,000 in bonus money for winning “Performance of the Night” and “Fight of the Night” honors.

[...]

Blood and guts were a mandate before an American fighter wrapped himself in the flag.

Under Trump the White House is now center stage for a 3 ring circus!

There Are So Many Titles I Could Use

Like what were you expecting?

Really, Texas is one most anti-everything state, they are so far right that they stand in the shadow of Trump.

A Muslim Texan sought to find his place in the party at the state GOP convention. He left in tears.

Muslim delegates and attendees hoping to participate in the state Republican convention were shunned and rejected by members as they espoused themes of party unity ahead of the November election.

Texas Tribune

by Renzo Downey

June 15, 2026

To some extent, Mohamed Hussein knew he was preparing to enter the lion’s den.

But he made the decision to attend the Republican Party of Texas Convention to confirm for himself that he had a place in the GOP, even as members of the party have railed for months about the urgency of ending Sharia Law and the so-called “Islamification” of Texas.

What he found was a party that didn’t want him. He arrived with hope but left in tears after being told explicitly that he should leave the country.

The Republican party is a party that is against "The Others"

Hussein was among four Muslims who arrived at the convention in earnest — not as protesters, but as delegates or attendees — to participate in the annual meeting of the state’s most hardlined Republicans as they vote on the party’s priorities and hear from GOP leaders. Two prevailing themes from the Houston gathering were party unity and combatting Sharia Law, a movement that veered into outright Islamophobia by members of the convention.

The Republican party has turned into the party of the White Christian Nationalists