This Is So Wrong!

[Editorial]

If it is legal in Connecticut, why is a law in Louisiana preventing abortions in Connecticut?

Court restricts abortion access across the US by blocking the mailing of mifepristone

AP News

By  GEOFF MULVIHILL and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM

May 1, 2026

A federal appeals court has restricted access to one of the most common means of abortion in the U.S. by blocking the mailing of mifepristone prescriptions.

Friday’s unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is requiring that the abortion pill be distributed only in person and at clinics, overruling regulations set by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

The ruling, which is likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, is the biggest jolt to abortion policy in the U.S. since the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to enforce abortion bans.

Besides the ruling effectively creating a nationwide ban on mailing abortions pills, it also hinders people with other legitimate medical needs! Mifepristone is used to treat Cushing’s Syndrome and has off-label uses for Uterine Fibroids, Meningioma, and Endometriosis.

In the ruling, Judge Kyle Duncan, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, agreed with the state of Louisiana’s contention that allowing the drug to be mailed there makes moot the state’s ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy.

Beyond this case, Judge Duncan has a history of ruling against the LGBTQ+ community. Lambda Legal  Lambda Legal wrote the following regarding one of his previous decisions

In 2018, after changing her name via court order, Kathrine Jett sent a letter to the Judge in the Eastern District of Texas who presided over her criminal case, requesting that the name on the judgment of committal be changed to reflect her legal name. The district court denied Ms. Jett’s request. Proceeding pro se, Ms. Jett appealed this decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. While the case was pending at the Fifth Circuit, Ms. Jett sent a request to the Court asking that female pronouns be used to refer to her.  “I am a woman—can I not be referred to as one?,” she asked.  On January 15, 2020, the panel majority issued an opinion determining that the lower court did not even have jurisdiction to hear Ms. Jett’s request and then used the bulk of the decision to explain why it would not treat Ms. Jett with respect and courtesy by using female pronouns when referring to her. Judge Kyle Duncan, known for his anti-LGBT work prior to being appointed to the bench by Donald Trump, wrote the opinion in this case.

The mifepristone ruling is only one in a series of right-wing cases he has presided over. Alliance for Justice (AFJ) wrote about his background:

Duncan made his name in 2014 at the boutique religious rights firm the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, when he was the lead counsel on the victorious supreme court contraception case Burwell v Hobby Lobby Stores. That pivotal decision laid the groundwork for corporations to opt out of providing birth control for employees based on religious objections, and it preceded another major contraception case the court heard this spring, one that could further favor the religious and moral objections of employers over the rights of their employees to access healthcare.

He is a devout Catholic and has been accused in the past of prioritizing his religious beliefs over the Constitution. For example, his ruling in "In re Texas S.B. 10" allowed the Bible to be displayed in public schools.

What will the Supreme Court do now that they have been asked to hear the case? In the past, the high court has already dealt with mifepristone in the case of Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine the court ruled Alliance For Justice wrote that,

Duncan made his name in 2014 at the boutique religious rights firm the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, when he was the lead counsel on the victorious supreme court contraception case Burwell v Hobby Lobby Stores. That pivotal decision laid the groundwork for corporations to opt out of providing birth control for employees based on religious objections, and it preceded another major contraception case the court heard this spring, one that could further favor the religious and moral objections of employers over the rights of their employees to access healthcare.

[...]

A large part of his career as an appellate court specialist was spent defending Republican state laws popular with the religious right and social conservatives. He fought to keep Louisiana’s same-sex marriage ban: the matter belongs in the states, would have “unforeseen” consequences, and LGBTQ rights have “nothing” (his empasis) to do with civil rights cases, he argued. He defended a North Carolina anti-trans bathroom law and a similar Virginia school board policy. And he argued in favor of a North Carolina voter ID regulation that the fourth circuit found targeted African Americans “with almost surgical precision”.

Based on past performances, I have no idea how the Supreme Court will rule this time; it is a total crapshoot!

[/Editorial]

They Just Disappeared!

Just as the KGB could make people disappear during the Cold War, so can ICE. Several Oglala Sioux tribal members were picked up by ICE, yet the agency has refused to comment on the detention—even going so far as to not acknowledge that they have them in custody!

Oglala Sioux Tribe leader says ICE detained tribal citizens in Minneapolis operation
KVIH
by MINA ALLEN
January 14, 2026

The president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe is calling on federal authorities to immediately release tribal citizens who were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during an operation at a Minneapolis homeless encampment last week.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out said three of four tribal members arrested Friday were transferred to an ICE detention facility at Fort Snelling. The statement accompanied a formal memorandum sent to federal immigration officials demanding their release.

Star Comes Out emphasized that tribal citizens are not subject to immigration enforcement, noting that they hold U.S. citizenship by law and citizenship within their tribal nation by treaty. “Tribal citizens are not aliens and fall completely outside immigration jurisdiction,” he said.

Officials have not provided clear details about why the men were detained. According to Star Comes Out, when the tribe contacted the Department of Homeland Security seeking information, the agency shared only the first names of the detainees and declined to release additional details unless the tribe agreed to enter into a formal immigration enforcement agreement with ICE.

 The United States government is using extortion to force the tribe to back off on the rights guaranteed to its members by the Constitution and the laws of this land!

That was in the middle of January. By February:

 'A State of Panic’: Native Americans Left in the Dark Weeks After ICE Arrests
Time
by Philip Wang
Feb 18, 2026

For Native American leaders, the recent wave of immigration arrests has felt less like an isolated enforcement effort and more like a pattern: federal action first, explanations later.

That anxiety intensified after reports last month that four members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe were detained during a sweeping immigration operation in Minneapolis. When Frank Star Comes Out, the tribe’s president, learned of the arrests, he said he immediately called the Department of Homeland Security.

“We were in contact with DHS, but they wanted names, and I said, ‘Well, we want names, too. What are you doing? Detaining Native Americans?’ But they couldn't answer that. So that conversation just went nowhere, stalemate,” President Frank Star Comes Out tells TIME. 

Star Comes Out, who received the report from a tribal member doing street outreach work with homeless Native American people in the Twin Cities, said he reached out to Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) officials for help without much success.

 I guess the officials at ICE have never heard of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. Does this mean that, in the eyes of ICE, homeless people are nationless people?

In March...

Oglala Sioux Tribe Rejects ICE Conditions for Information on Detained Members
Native News Online
by Levi Rickert
March 4, 2026

Leaders of the Oglala Sioux Tribe are demanding the immediate release of tribal citizens held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and are pushing back on federal conditions for information about their whereabouts.

Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out said in a memorandum to Department of Homeland Security officials that three of four tribal members detained during immigration enforcement activity in Minneapolis remain in ICE custody at the Fort Snelling facility, a site with historical significance for Indigenous people. One of the four has since been released.

[…]

Tribal leaders called the reported condition an unacceptable infringement on tribal sovereignty, saying treaties between the federal government and sovereign nations do not allow federal agencies to impose immigration enforcement arrangements as a prerequisite for transparency.

The dispute has drawn criticism from Indigenous rights advocates, who say the detentions reflect broader concerns about racial profiling and a lack of understanding among federal agents about tribal citizenship and sovereign status.

Tribal officials are seeking direct government-to-government consultations and written assurances that enrolled tribal citizens will not be subject to immigration detention moving forward.

Crickets… that is all the tribal leaders have heard!

It is fundamentally wrong that this has been going on for over four months. American citizens are being unlawfully detained!

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You) – 1944
On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 

1) "I'll Get By" was very popular song in the 1940s, and we're taking a look at the recording by Dick Haymes and Harry James because it got the most airplay. Can you think of another song that has been recorded by more than one artist?

Oh there are tons of them! But the problem that I have is that I don’t listen to contemporary music so that I don’t know what the current bands are playing. So I cheated and just list songs that did it in the past… Respect, I Heard It Through the Grapevine, “Lean on Me”, and Cyndi Lauper dug this one up and made it her hit… “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”

Okay, back in the 80s, family is all up at the lake cottage in New Hampshire. My niece and nephews were all agog about a new song when my sister-in-law started singing it. My niece and nephews couldn’t believe that their “Mother” knew the words to the hit song that juat came out! But it was a Beatles song!

2) In this week's song, vocalist Dick Haymes sings that he won't complain about the rain. Do you have any complaints about the weather this morning? 
Sh… I got my fingers crossed. I’m hoping for rain this afternoon!
Why, because I don’t want to drive up to Northampton MA for Pride. It is a long drive and I’m worried about parking. When it was at the fairgrounds you could park right next to the Pride, but now it is right down in the center of Northampton in a parking lot! I can’t do a lot of walking, so since it is right in the middle of the center of Northampton it is usually mobbed on a Saturday and to get all the way up there to have to walk a couple of blocks and if it is raining, well...

But on the other hand, I'll be able to see friends that I haven't seen in awhile.

Update: @11AM

I backed out. It is a Yucky day and to drive all the way up and back, I decided to wait for a Pride on a sunny warm day.

3) Dick was briefly married to movie queen Rita Hayworth. Known as The Love Goddess and The Strawberry Blonde, Rita was famous for her magnificent mane. She dyed her dark brown hair red to get attention and it worked. Have you ever experimented with a different color? If yes, were you happy with the results?

Ha! I wear a wig. One time at a party out on Fire Island on Long Island NY I just came back from swimming in the ocean and a woman came up wanted to know if she could use my bathing cap… I said, “Naw, I just change wigs!” (I learned that trick from the NH cottage. But with salt water I have to wash out the salt.)

4) Dick was the lead vocalist of the Harry James orchestra. Like Dick, Harry had a movie star wife. Betty Grable was famous for her legs. Her bathing suit poster inspired hosiery manufacturers to single out her perfectly proportioned thighs, calves and ankles. Betty herself joked, "I'm a star for two reasons, and I'm standing on them."  What do you think is your best (physical) trait?
My mind.

5) Betty's weren't the only legs that fascinated Harry. He was known for his stable of thoroughbred racehorses. Have you ever been to the races?
No, but car races yes! I went to the Watkins Glen Grand Prix but not horses. But I have a distant cousin who owns a stable of Polo horses… they are very, very, rich! I mean well into the nine figures. (My cousin was a ski instructor and tended to marry rich women. I father’s worst nightmare, their daughter marrying a ski instructor!) BTW… he raced Porsches at Limerock park in CT (Well if your wife is a multimillionaire your wife is bound to know someone who owns a Porsche dealership to lend you one to race!)

6) Teenaged Harry played trumpet with The Beaumont High School Royal Purple Band. Did you belong to groups or clubs while you were in high school?

Science Club... anyone surprised?

 
7) In addition to "I'll Get By," Judy Garland's "Trolley Song" topped the charts in 1944. When did you most recently take public transportation?
Last summer. Once in while I take the bus into Provincetown MA in the summer. For seniors the fare is $1, parking is $8/hr! You do the math, and the buses run every ½ hour.

 

8) Also in 1944, Diana Ross was born. First with the Supremes, then as a solo artist, she has sold more than 100 millions records, making her one of America's most successful female singers. Who is your all-time favorite "girl singer?"

 Hands down… Linda Ronstadt.

 

9) Random question – Last week we asked about the garage. Let's turn our attention to the glove compartment (aka glove box). What have you got in there?
I have to laugh! Back in the 60s and 70s you could fit an overnight back into them, but now all I can fit in the glove box is the owners manuals! All 850 pages! There are more “!Warning!” then instructions. The only other thing I have in there besides the manuals is a small LED flashlight.

I Am Not Anti-Christian

Before I came out, I never knew any rabbis, ministers, or priests. Now I know about a dozen from all denominations, and they all share one common trait: they are all affirming! So, I am a little confused.

Trump task force releases controversial 'anti-Christian bias' report

By BrieAnna J. Frank

USA TODAY

April 30, 2026

President Donald Trump’s task force to investigate "anti-Christian bias" in the federal government published a report on April 30 that criticized former President Joe Biden's administration for what it characterized as actions and policies that negatively impacted Christians around the country.

Several advocacy groups challenged the report's findings, describing them as deceptive and contradictory.

Trump established the task force in a February 2025 executive order that said his administration would “ensure that any unlawful and improper conduct, policies or practices that target Christians are identified, terminated and rectified.”

The report also took time to attack us...

"Those sentiments were reiterated in the task force’s nearly 200-page report, which criticized Biden's "Transgender Day of Visibility" proclamation (a longstanding observance which fell on Easter Sunday in 2024); charges against Christian anti-abortion activists; and alleged discrimination against Christian foster care families.

“By addressing anti-Christian bias and religious discrimination directly, Americans can make religious discrimination unthinkable for all faiths,” the report said.

Okay... everyone else does not think of abortion as a Christian issue, but rather about the right to self-determination! Our rights are not religious! Our rights are human rights!

The Baptist News wrote,

{The Biden administration enacted policies intended to weaponize the federal government against conservative Christians, according to a report released April 30 by the U.S. Justice Department.

The controversial 208-page report was created by President Donald Trump’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, established by executive order in February 2025. Church-state watchdog groups have criticized the task force’s composition and mission from the start, saying it is all about airing evangelicals’ imagined grievances.

The new report claims the Biden White House was adamantly opposed to a “Christian worldview” and determined to shut down “traditional religious practices” wherever it could.

Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, was perhaps the most religiously observant president in recent history. However, evangelicals believe his policies contradicted what they call a “Christian worldview.”}

Did you get that? "Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, was perhaps the most religiously observant president in recent history." But still, the hand-picked religious committee found the exact opposite! The task force claimed that:

The task force has interpreted the enforcement of federal law during the Biden presidency as ideologically motivated attacks against conservative Christians. Examples include prosecutions of anti-abortion protesters under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, fines levied against Christian universities for false reporting violations, mandating COVID vaccines for federal and some private employers, and prohibiting organized religious activities at government facilities.

You know, I do not know a single person who is against any religion; what we object to is those religions forcing their beliefs on us! We see the banning of abortions as a religious attack on those whose religious beliefs allow abortions; we see them forcing their religious beliefs on us... against other people's religious beliefs!

The Pink News reported,

Over the years Trump has cosied up to many evangelical Christian leaders, including prominent, wealthy right-wing evangelicals like American Values president Gary Bauer, and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins.

Family Research Council has been designated an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Tony Perkins, a former police officer, has repeatedly claimed that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to be paedophiles.

Those are the groups that are on Trump's side. When we passed the Connecticut gender non-discrimination law, we had support from religious leaders in Connecticut, including an Episcopal Bishop.

It is not religion that we are against, but rather them forcing their religious views on us

Are The Republicans Dyslexic?

[Editorial]

One of the primary challenges people with dyslexia face is that their brains may unintentionally add or omit words while reading. It seems many Republicans are suffering from a similar affliction.

The War Powers Act clearly states that a 60-day clock (with a possible 30-day withdrawal period) is triggered when U.S. forces are introduced into “hostilities” or situations where hostilities are imminent. Nowhere does the law state that a ceasefire, pause, or reduction in fighting resets or stops that timer. Yet, somehow, Republicans have read a "pause" button into the text, arguing that the clock resets during a ceasefire.

They are seeing words that simply aren't there. It is much like their stance on protesters carrying weapons; they have effectively added a silent exception to the Second Amendment that only applies when it suits their narrative.

The First Amendment is explicit:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Despite this, Hegseth and Trump act as though they can ignore these constitutional limits. They have restricted press access to the military, threatened the licenses of broadcast stations, and seized reporters' notes. Now, they claim to have found an "on/off" switch buried deep within the War Powers Act.

Regardless of their claims, this war will continue. They are fighting for "wiggle room" when what they truly need isn't measured in days or weeks, but months.

The British Guardian reported that,

However, the Trump administration has repeatedly rejected the deadline, with Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, testifying before a heated Senate armed services committee that the ceasefire agreement reached with Iran more than three weeks ago “means the 60-day clock pauses, or stops”.

Hegseths’s comments reflect what a senior Trump administration official told the Guardian earlier: “For war powers resolution purposes, the hostilities that began on Saturday, February 28, have terminated,” the official said.

This follows a bizarre statement from the Trump administration about the war being over:

Trump administration says Iran war ‘terminated’ before 60-day deadline for congressional approval

The statement furthers an argument Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid out during testimony before the Senate earlier Thursday.

MS Now

May. 1, 2026,

By The Associated Press  and Emily Hung

The Trump administration is arguing that the war in Iran has already ended because of the ceasefire that began in early April, an interpretation that would allow the White House to avoid the need to seek congressional approval.

The statement furthers an argument Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid out during testimony before the Senate earlier Thursday, when he said the ceasefire effectively paused the war. Under that rationale, the administration has not yet met the requirement mandated by a 1973 law to seek formal approval from Congress for military action that extends beyond 60 days.

A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s position, said for purposes of that law, “the hostilities that began on Saturday, Feb. 28 have terminated.” The official said the U.S. military and Iran have not exchanged fire since the two-week ceasefire that began April 7.

An administration official did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s question about what would happen if either side breaks the ceasefire.

While the ceasefire has since been extended, Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. Navy is maintaining a blockade to prevent Iran’s oil tankers from getting out to sea.

Under the War Powers Resolution, the law that sought to constrain a president’s military powers, President Donald Trump had until Friday to seek congressional authorization or cease fighting. The law also allows an administration to extend that deadline by 30 days.

Despite the clear intent of the law, it seems certain that a Republican-controlled Congress will simply ignore the statutes and do as they please.

[/Editorial]

---

Updated: 5/2 @ 7AM

There he goes again put in words that are not there! Nowhere in the law does it say anything about a cease fire! There is no such thing as a time out in the law!

Pentagon calls timeout on War Powers

Axios

Hans Nichols

April 30, 2026

Senate Republicans are calling on the Trump administration to clarify how it is interpreting the 60-day clock under the War Powers Act in its military campaign against Iran.

Why it matters: The 60-day deadline, depending on who's counting, is arriving on requiring the president to seek authorization or wind down operations. The first strikes against Iran were on Feb. 28.

• But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered a different view during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, suggesting the clock can "pause or stop" during a ceasefire.

Zoom in: Republicans, including some who have flirted with supporting a war powers resolution, appeared open to Hegseth's interpretation.

• "It sounds like there's some wiggle room he provided there for himself," Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) told reporters. "We'll take a look at whatever they send over."
• "Presumably, they will communicate that in a formal way," Young added. "They have, in a very careful way, followed the War Powers Act so far."
• "I imagine the administration will send us some sort of formal notification saying, 'Here's where we think we are under the War Powers,'" Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said. "Either we want 30 more days, or we don't think we need additional time because of X, Y, Z."

The other side: Democrats sharply rejected Hegseth's argument.

• "A ceasefire means bombs aren't dropping," Sen. Tim Kaine ((D-Va.) said. "It doesn't mean there are no hostilities. If we're using the U.S. military to blockade everything going into and out of Iran, that's still hostility."
• "That answer showed they know they've got a 60-day problem, and they're trying to come up with a rationale to get around it," Kaine added.

To paraphrase "A League Of Their Own," there's no crying in War”  Obey the freaking law!