Stop & Think.

With abortion and trans healthcare, Republicans are trying to go after citizens of their home state for getting medical care that is illegal in their state, but completely legal where it was performed! How is that legal?

Does that mean if you go to another state to gamble in a casino, your home state can arrest you for gambling? I think not. Does that mean if you go to another state to smoke pot, they can arrest you when you come back—even if you didn't bring any weed back and just smoked it there?

Now stop and think: why do Republicans think it's okay to do this for abortions and trans healthcare?

Here is what they claim: it's a conspiracy because you planned the abortion while still inside their state, where it is illegal. But by that logic, if a senior citizens' group plans a bus trip from a state where gambling is illegal to a state with legal casinos, are they committing a conspiracy, too? Can you imagine if Utah arrested senior citizens for a trip to Las Vegas?

AG: state can prosecute those who help women travel for abortions

Alabama Daily News

AP 

September 3, 2023

Alabama’s attorney general argued in a court filing that the state has the authority to bring conspiracy charges against groups who help women travel to another state for an abortion.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office made the assertion in a Monday motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by an abortion assistance fund and others arguing such prosecutions would be unconstitutional. The groups are seeking a legal ruling clarifying that Alabama can’t prosecute people for providing financial, appointment or travel assistance for an Alabama woman to obtain an abortion in another state.

Alabama bans abortion at any stage of pregnancy. Marshall argued while it’s legal for a woman to travel out of state for an abortion, he suggested groups that help her do so could face prosecution.

You see how they are twisting the law. The person receiving the abortion or trans healthcare isn't directly arrested, but everyone who helped them can be prosecuted for aiding and abetting a felony. That is even more sinister—parents could be arrested just for seeking healthcare for their children.

That is why shield laws, like Connecticut’s, are so important. But you can also see the dangers with Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs). In Connecticut, data from these license plate readers could be used to track us. Even though Connecticut law requires a court order to dig through that data, there have been numerous reports that the private companies managing the system have given information to ICE and CBP without a court order.

The U.S. Constitution should offer protection through the Interstate Commerce Clause, the Full Faith and Credit Clause, and the Privileges and Immunities Clause.

Then, of course, if the courts step in and ban states from prosecuting people who travel out of state for healthcare, Republicans will just blame it on an "activist" court. For conservatives, it's a win-win situation.

 

The Best Government Money Can Buy

You know that slush fund of 1776 billion dollars that Trump is trying to create... the Republicans said, "Not so fast!"

Where's our cut?

House Republicans Make Themselves Eligible for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Slush Fund, Reject Levin Amendment to Block Payouts to Elected Officials

During a House Appropriations Committee markup, Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49) introduced an amendment to prevent federal elected officials from receiving any money from the U.S. Treasury Judgment Fund in response to the creation of President Trump’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” The amendment was rejected by Republicans on the Appropriations Committee, who voted to allow themselves to receive money from the fund.

Recently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the establishment of an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as part of the settlement to end President Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS. The Judgment Fund would transfer nearly $1.8 billion to the slush fund to benefit President Trump’s allies, including Senators who believe they were victim to government weaponization and January 6th insurrectionists who attacked U.S. Capitol police officers. The U.S. Attorney General would be responsible for appointing a five-person commission to administer the payouts, and the President can fire the commissioners at any time.

But the Republicans amendment was defeated. They wanted in on the deal.

It Is Getting Tiring

Back in the 1950s, we had "Duck and Cover."

With the rise of the fear of communism, and as always, the Republicans used that fear. The leader of the fear wagon was Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose hatred of anything "communist" was, well, like waving a red flag at a bull.

During the anti-communist fervor of the McCarthy era, we have "In God We Trust" on our currency and "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

And now we have a president waving the "Red Flag!" So why now? Why are the Republicans scared? They're scared about the midterm elections, and as a result they are creating their own "Red Scare." The problem is that it is socialism, not communism. However, in the minds of many Republicans, they conflate the two.

Trump attacks Democrats as ‘godless communists’ in test of midterms message

President seizes on wins by Mamdani-backed candidates to warn darkly of threat to ‘traditional American way of life’

The Guardian

David Smith in Washington

Fri 26 Jun 2026

Donald Trump has previewed a Republican strategy for the midterm elections, seizing on a progressive sweep in New York to portray Democrats as “godless communists” who pose an existential threat to the nation.

The US president, who was a child during the “red scare”, seized on wins by democratic socialists backed by the mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, to stoke fears that the Democratic party has embraced extremism that could lead to the violent persecution of Christians.

On Friday, Trump was addressing religious conservatives at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference at the Washington Hilton hotel – his first appearance there since April, when he was rushed off stage after an assassination attempt at the White House correspondents’ dinner.

He focused on Tuesday’s Democratic primary election results in New York, where three leftwing candidates endorsed by Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who is the city’s first Muslim mayor, upset incumbent or establishment rivals.

[...]

Preaching to a religious right audience, Trump emphasised: “All communists are godless. They do not believe in God … These ruthless communists attack all religions, but in particular Christianity. They always do. They’re after Christianity more than any other religion.” Trump noted the US military had intervened in Nigeria to save Christian populations who had been persecuted. Nigeria is not a communist country.

Is Trump pulling out the old Mein Kampf playbook? 

• Demonize minorities ✓
• Blame the Communists ✓
• Wave the religious flag ✓

PolitiFact writes,

What Trump’s communism claims miss about Democrats and democratic socialists

Marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, President Donald Trump gave a July Fourth speech about “freedom’s triumph over tyranny, liberty’s conquest over oppression, and the enduring victory of the American spirit.”

Then he turned his attention to communism.

“Communism is a loser and it always will be,” the president said in his late-night address on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. “Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America. We’re not gonna let it happen.”

In the days leading up to the event, he said Democrats are communists.

The Democratic Party is “becoming a communist party,” Trump said June 26 at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference. “These are not social Dumocrats, these are hardcore, godless communists. They’re godless communists.”

Hmm... I wonder what page that is on in Mein Kampf?

This isn’t a new line of attack for Trump and Republicans; they have previously falsely labeled Democrats as communists, including former Vice President Kamala Harris.

He keeps bring it up and MAGA and Christian Nationalist base gobble it right up! The Cato Institute reported that,

Capitalism (52%) is viewed somewhat more favorably than socialism (37%). However, people are evenly divided on socialism, with equal shares who are favorable and unfavorable. Gen Z stands out with more who are supportive of socialism (53%) than capitalism (45%). The survey found the “Democratic Socialist” label can both help and harm a candidate about equally. While 39% said they’d be more likely to vote for a Democratic Socialist candidate, 40% said they’d be less likely, and 22% weren’t sure either way. Democrats (61%) and Gen Z (51%) reported they’d be likely to vote for a candidate with the Democratic Socialist label.

You know what... voters are starting to see that Trump's way, and the Republicans' way, is the way of a new Bolshevik Party—the party of the elites.

The question is: Do voters elect a candidate to serve them, or to serve the party's elites?

I Hate This But It Has To Be Told

We told you so. We told you that the Republicans would come after you next. Well...

RFK Jr. rolls back rule protecting LGBTQ+ kids in foster care from hostile parents

The Biden-era policy that would have protected queer kids in the child welfare system, advocates say.

The Advocate

Christopher Wiggins

Jul 15, 2026

President Donald Trump’s administration has formally stripped away federal protections for LGBTQ+ children in foster care, a move that former officials, advocates, and foster youth themselves say will make life harder for young people already facing some of the highest levels of rejection, instability, and trauma in the child welfare system.

Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Department of Health and Human Services published the rescission Tuesday, eliminating a Biden-era rule that had been designed to help ensure that LGBTQ+ foster children could be placed in supportive homes, seek relief from hostile placements, and be protected from dangerous so-called “conversion therapy” and retaliation.

Hey, welcome the club!

“LGBTQI+ youth in the foster care system are unquestionably some of the most vulnerable parts of our community and one of the parts of the community that really needs our help the most,” Shanker said. “When they rescinded this rule, it does not change the needs of the youth in the foster care system who still need these protections.”

Here in Connecticut we might be protected, we have to wait and see what the courts have to say.

The Congressional Equality Caucus had this to say,

“Every child in foster care—including LGBTQI+ children—deserves a safe home, which is exactly what the Biden Administration sought to accomplish with this rule,” said Rep. Mark Takano, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. “Rescinding this rule without putting forward an alternative to protect LGBTQI+ foster children puts children at risk, plain and simple. I’m thankful to the leadership of Equality Caucus Co-Chair Angie Craig in this fight—together, we’re going to keep working to protect young LGBTQI+ children in foster care from harassment and abuse."

“The ‘party of family values’ strikes again and their relentless attacks on LGBTQ+ youth continue,” said Rep. Angie Craig, Co-Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. “The Trump Administration’s decision to rescind this rule with no clear alternative is yet another disgraceful attack on LGBTQ+ foster youth and on families across this country. As an adoptive mother myself, I won’t stop fighting to ensure that foster youth have the chance to land in a safe and supportive home.”

The Trump adminstration does not care about the children, they care about getting elected!

This is not the end. They will not stop until marriage equality is over turned, they will not stop until we are all back in the closet and coming out will be a crime.

Milliseconds

That is all it takes... a fraction of a second to make millions or lose millions in the stock market and other commodities markets. How would you like to know before anyone else what Trump is going to do? Like announcing a ceasefire with Iran.

Well, now you can with this amazing limited offer for the measly sum of $100,000!

Trump Media pitched $100,000 monthly fee for fastest feed of US president's posts, sources say 

Reuters

By Anirban Sen, Jaspreet Singh and Courtney Rozen

July 17, 2026

Summary

• Trump Media has also pitched $60,000 monthly three-year plan, people familiar with the matter said
• Truth API will deliver posts from 10 influential accounts faster than for regular push notifications
• Trump's trust holds about 114.75 million TMTG shares, or roughly 41% of outstanding stock, filings showed

Donald Trump's social ​media company has discussed charging Wall Street traders and investment firms as much as $100,000 a month for faster access to the U.S. president's posts on his Truth Social ‌platform, according to people familiar with the matter.

[...]

TMTG on Thursday unveiled a paid-for, licensed data feed called "Truth API" to provide banks and trading firms the fastest access to posts from the 10 most influential Truth Social accounts, but did not ​give any pricing details.

The move would be the company's first step into data licensing, opening up a new revenue stream, although it drew immediate criticism from Democrats.

U.S. Senator Ron ​Wyden of Oregon, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said it would financially benefit the Trump family and "make Wall Street traders rich."

Just think what you could do if you knew that Trump was going to announce a ceasefire. You could go out and buy oil futures... what a killing you could make.

CNN reports that,

Whether President Donald Trump and those around him are corruptly enriching themselves during his second term is a matter of personal judgment. Many Americans seem to think the president at least is.

But what is incontrovertible is that he and his team are doing almost nothing to disabuse people of that notion. Indeed, they seem to be increasingly leaning in on the idea that Trump can do whatever he wants — and that apparent conflicts of interest just don't matter.

Thursday was a case in point for how in-your-face this dynamic has become, with several stories about potentially profiting from the presidency, or proximity to it.

• The first was a CNN investigation finding Trump has used his Truth Social account to promote more than 20 companies just days after buying stock in those same companies. He sometimes even announced government action that would benefit the companies.
• The second was that, for the first time, we got details on a White House aide potentially engaging in insider trading using prediction markets. Trump's teleprompter operator made more than $90,000 by betting on what Trump would say in speeches and at events, according to a source. The news follows months of suspiciously well-timed trades making big money ahead of major Trump moves.
• And the third — the pièce de resistance, which effectively combines the above bits of potential corruption — is that Trump's business is now going to let Wall Street firms pay to get quicker access to his Truth Social posts and try to make more money trading on them.
  

As you can imagine, this is creating a lot of controversy!

Trump has also hamstrung regulatory agencies by firing agency leaders, removing inspectors general (watchdogs), and reducing staffing and enforcement.

The Trump administration is turning into one of the most corrupt administrations in history!

Things That I’ve Noticed Once I Transitioned

I started this list over twenty years ago, when I first transitioned. I thought I would discover endless differences between men and women. Instead, after all these years, I only have two things that really stand out.

First and for most: My god they talk in the bathrooms!

Second. Men are macho. I've noticed that many men seem to communicate through competition, confidence, and posturing. “Me Caveman! Ugh!”

Women, on the other hand, often seem more cerebral and relational in the way they interact.

One way I've come to think about it is that men often compete to win a mate, while women are more likely to present or "preen" themselves.  Women are nurturing, men are competitive.

But you  know what else it says… in over twenty years I haven’t seen that much difference between the genders. I think that is the amazing part! We are more alike than different.

t is how far you are on the spectrum that matters. Super macho men can go too far, as we see with Hegseth. When everything becomes a competition, that is when it crosses the line.

The Parallels

You are starting to see articles about.

Or a paragraph or two in a news story.

The hints are there... Trump's War

The Vietnam War... the endless war.

He promised it. In 10 days after the initial U.S. strikes on February 28—Trump said the war was "very complete, pretty much" we won!

A 132 days later Trump's announces that... overnight U.S. planes completed an eighth consecutive night of airstrikes against Iran, targeting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bases, coastal air defenses, and drone storage sites. The overnight escalation followed an Iranian drone and missile attack in Jordan that killed two U.S. service members.

The endless war parallels are there,

Spot The Differences!

[Essay]

The color of their skin.

A wheelchair.

A white cane.

Some differences are immediately visible, and because we can see them, we rarely question whether they exist. Yet many aspects of a person's identity leave no obvious physical clue. Because there is no visible marker, some people assume that being transgender is simply a choice rather than a natural part of who someone is.

And like all forms of discrimination it separates them into “the others” they are “not like us” once people are seen as "the others"—different, unfamiliar, or somehow less authentic. The result is the same: distance replaces empathy, suspicion replaces understanding, and prejudice becomes easier to justify.

During the 1930s in Germany… the Jews, the Roma, the disabled, the gays and us, the trans people were all persecuted because they were different.

Now we are, many of the same laws passed back in the 30s are now being passed against the trans community. History shows that discrimination rarely begins with violence. It begins with language, with suspicion, with laws that single out one group as different, and with the belief that some people deserve fewer rights than others. Trump has used 'transgender insanity,' 'men masquerading as women,' and other terms meant to dehumanize us.

The problem lies in the people. In their prejudices. Those prejudices can be encouraged, exploited, and molded by those seeking power. Once fear takes hold, it becomes easier to convince ordinary people that "the others" are responsible for society's problems, and easier still to accept discrimination against them.

But the problem with all this, is that it is easily recognized. People are against undocumented immigrants. But now they are seeing the brutality they are saying, “Wait not so fast? What’s going on here?”

The same thing is happening with trans people. In Kansas they took back all the trans drivers licenses out of ~2,024,000 there were only ~1,700 trans people. And people stopped and thought, “Why is this a problem.” When people in Connecticut learned that only about dozen out of ~100,000 high school student-athletes in Connecticut who participate in sports each year about a dozen are trans.

People are starting to question all these anti-trans laws.

Look at all the times we came to a vote on referendums… in the Massachusetts 2018 referendum (Question 3) we won! And in Anchorage, Alaska (2018) we won! But now a new crop of questions is showing up on ballots. In Arizona, Colorado, and in Washington we are once again on the ballot… will prejudices win out? Or will the voters see it for what it is, an attempt to marginalize an already marginalized community?

[/Essay]

Cuckoo Award: A Trifecta

Can you believe it, the Republicans are racking up the Cuckoo Awards this month. The newest is for butting into the affairs of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

GOP rep Ben Cline introduces bill to bar biological men from joining Daughters of the American Revolution

Virginia Republican says DAR abandoned founding principles by rejecting motion to bar transgender applicants

By Rachel del Guidice 

Fox News

July 15, 2026

A House Republican is introducing legislation that would require the Daughters of the American Revolution to limit membership to biological women, saying the historic organization's congressional charter should reflect its original mission after the group adopted a policy interpreted as allowing transgender applicants.

Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., introduced the Daughters of the American Revolution Membership Integrity Act on Wednesday.

"The DAR has a longstanding tradition of celebrating and empowering women who represent the exceptional heritage of the birth of our Nation," Cline said in a statement provided exclusively to Fox News Digital.

Not the economy. Not the Iran war. Not the cost of food. Not the cost of gas. But trans people in the DAR is the #1 issue in the United States today. So with that in mind, Congressman Cline is hereby awarded the coveted Cuckoo Award.

 

Not All Religions Are The Same

Said this over and over, don't paint all religions with a broad brush. There are those who have our backs.

United Methodist conference to move meeting out of Idaho, citing LGBTQ+, immigrant safety concerns

Oregon-Idaho Conference will either move to Oregon or be held virtually in 2027 after members’ vote

Idaho Capital Sun

By Micah Yip

July 16, 2026

Citing dangers to LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities, the Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist Church voted last month to move next year’s annual conference out of Idaho.

At this year’s annual conference — a meeting where representatives from Oregon and southern Idaho United Methodist churches gather to vote on and make decisions — held at the Cathedral of the Rockies in Boise, the Rev. Heather Riggs of Montavilla United Methodist in Portland brought a motion to the floor to change the location of next year’s conference.

Dozens of clergy and laity gave public comment, arguing why they believed the event should remain in Idaho or move to Oregon in 2027. The vote was close, but the end result was that the conference would either move to Oregon or be held virtually.

This is the result of Idaho's bigoty, I hope other organizations shy away from states that are non-affirming. 

Captain Queeg

Who remembers the USS Caine? Who remembers Captain Queeg? Who remembers the "strawberries" incident?

A relatively minor theft—the disappearance of strawberries intended for the officers' dessert—became the focus of an exhaustive investigation. Captain Queeg grew convinced that the crew was lying and conspiring against him, turning a small matter into a major inquiry. In The Caine Mutiny, that episode foreshadows larger questions about his judgment and leadership.

Now consider the episode involving Trump's repeated claims about a long "gash" in the White House reflecting pool—described at various times as 150 feet, then 200 feet, then 300 feet, allegedly made with a box cutter.

Is there possible any similarities there?

---

I am not the only one drawing parrillas;

Trump Makes Bonkers Claim About Reflecting Pool Damage

The president keeps complaining about alleged vandals destroying the pool. But the evidence suggests a different cause.

Sarah Ewall-Wice

The Daily Beast

Jul. 17 2026 

President Donald Trump returned to ranting about alleged vandals destroying the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Friday, despite the mounting evidence that the issues were caused by errors made during his renovation attempt.

Hot off his rambling primetime address about “election integrity,” the president, 80, took to Truth Social on Friday morning to complain about the botched Reflecting Pool with further unsubstantiated claims.

“The Reflecting Pool, so badly damaged by Deranged Vandals, has been emptied as the massive slash gets repaired,” Trump wrote. “We got it through the great July Fourth Weekend. What kind of animals would do such a thing? We are looking for a Vandal Proof material, but such a thing should not have been necessary.”

The president went on to declare, “The Scum in Court will hopefully be prosecuted to the MAX.”

Captain Queeg?