Married!

 

 

 

On this day in 1936 my parents got married by a justice of the peace (No it wasn't because of what you are thinking) and honeymooned in Provincetown.

The problem was my father was Catholic and my mother was Episcopalian. So my mother became a Catholic and were married in a Catholic church in January.

I always wondered, why my parents got and anniversary card from my grandmother in January, hence the anniversary card

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I inherited my mother's diaries... and in it she talks about this new man who just started working in the office.

 

Sat 9!

Working in the Coal Mine (1966)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…

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

1) In this song, Lee Dorsey sings that at 5:00 he's already on the job. What were you doing this morning at 5:00 AM?

Reading the news online.

2) He's worked so hard all week that he's too tired to enjoy his weekend. What are you doing for fun this holiday weekend?

Well a friend is coming up to the Cape for the weekend.

3) Lee Dorsey was raised in Portland Oregon, home of the Portland Trailblazers. The NBA season kicks off next month. Do you have a favorite basketball team?

I don’t even have a favorite sports team.

But you opened up a good questions.

Team loyalty. Is it a two way street?

The Mohegan Sun’s built a big fan base here and many of their star players were local UConn grads. Poof! They’re gone! Down to Texas! The tribe took the money and ran. The loyal fan base? They are stunned.

And you wonder why I don’t have a favorite sports team.

4) This song was written by Allen Toussaint, who had a long career as a composer and producer. He produced Fats Domino in the late 1950s and worked with Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney into the new millennium. What job have you held the longest?

For 29 years, 7 months, and a few day. And for 25 of those years as the department manager.

Here is a little fact… June 2027 I will be retired for 20 years.

Well I did have a nine year stretch as an executive director of a non-profit but that wasn’t paid.

5) In 1966, the year this song was popular, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey was born. Are you a good cook?

Fair to fair to middling. But I do like to cook.

6) 1966 was the year when more Americans purchased color TVs and black and white sets. When you were a kid, did your family have a black and white TV?

Yes. And we got color TV when they first came out. I remember going to the town appliance store and seeing all the color TVs! Wow.

7) Labor Day is a big weekend for mattress sales. Do you plan on buying a new mattress before the year is out?

Nope… my last water bed last 25 years.

8) Though kids go back to class earlier these days, store aisles are still full of school supplies. When she was a little girl, Sam was crazy about her big box of 96 Crayola Crayons with a sharpener in the back. Share one of your back-to-school memories.

My first day of school! Ever.

Every telephone pole, ever fence anything I could hold on to I grabbed. I didn’t want to go to school! I wore my mother out and my grandmother had to drag me to school. Literally.

9) Labor Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of fall. Have you had any pumpkin spice yet?

UGH! I tried it once when they got my order mixed up and almost gagged.

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I don't know what was going on yesterday, there has been nothing in the paper or on the town's Facebook pages about it but for about an hour a Coast Guard helicopter was flying around town... a lot of sirens.

The last time that happened there was a shark attack at the Cape Cod National Seashore.

 

And 90 years ago, my parents were married in White Plains New York and honeymooned in Boston & Provincetown.

Spillage

Their hatred for us is so great that it is spilling out into other areas.

Medicaid transgender care rule sets precedent that could restrict coverage of other drugs

Medicaid generally pays for drugs approved by the FDA. Trump’s rule could upend that

Stat

By John Wilkerson

Aug. 24, 2026

The Trump administration plans to use a new approach to deny Medicaid coverage of drugs for gender-affirming care. The precedent it sets could be used to avoid paying for other drugs, too, upending an expectation that Medicaid covers the vast majority of prescription medication.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule this month barring the use of federal Medicaid and CHIP funding to pay for pediatric gender-affirming medications and surgery. The rule, set to go into effect Oct. 13, attracted attention because it’s the latest development in the administration’s campaign to halt transgender health care for young people.

While KFF shoots it down...

Despite gender-affirming care being a best medical practice, recommended by major medical groups, including the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association, the new rule builds on a range of administration actions aimed at restricting this care, including within the Medicaid program. States have also increasingly sought to limit access, with the number restricting access rising from just 4 in 2023 to 27 states today. Additionally, dozens of providers have ceased to offer services, citing pressure from or fear of the administration. The final Medicaid rule represents the latest barrier to this care, this time focused on limiting access at the payer source.

[...]

As noted, the rule does not prevent states from covering these services using state-only funds, and some states may seek to do so. States have faced similar choices in the context of abortion. The federal Hyde Amendment prohibits use of federal Medicaid dollars to pay for abortions outside of specific contexts, but states can use their own funds to cover abortion services more comprehensively, which 21 states do. It would likely be a relatively small expenditure increase for states to absorb gender-affirming care costs given how relatively uncommon and inexpensive these services are. CMS estimates that Medicaid spent about $31 million on the prohibited services for enrollees under 19 years old in 2023, representing 0.003% of all Medicaid spending that year. Theoretically, families could also pay cash for these services, but given the income limits in the Medicaid program, it is not likely many would have the resources to do so. There could also be charitable funds set up at national or local levels.

Connecticut is one of the states that is suing (See my 1 o'clock post)

This is the Republicans who promised to get the government off of your back is now stepping between your doctor and you! 

Thank You!

The Connecticut Attorney General office just posted this...

 Attorney General Tong Joins Coalition Challenging Trump Administration’s Latest Attack on Healthcare for Transgender Youth

Attorney General William Tong today led a coalition of 22 states in challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to prohibit states from using federal Medicaid funds for gender-affirming care for low-income minors and some young adults.

In the lawsuit, the coalition argues that since the creation of the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs in the 1960s, Congress has always granted states the authority to determine which services would be covered under their Medicaid and CHIP programs, subject only to limits set by statute. The coalition asserts that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are now acting without statutory authority or a reasoned basis to second-guess state Medicaid agencies’ reliance on individualized medical necessity and treatment decisions made by healthcare providers. Instead, based solely on CMS’s unilateral decision making, the agencies are categorically excluding medically necessary healthcare services from federal reimbursement only when provided to low-income transgender adolescents.

“Once again, Trump is trying to replace the professional medical advice of doctors and the personal choices of patients with his own MAGA political priorities, and abusing our tax dollars and federal healthcare programs to bully everyone into submission. His actions are cruel and illegal, and we have sued and already secured multiple federal court orders to stop him, including blocking his threat to withhold Medicare and Medicaid to hospitals and clinics providing gender-affirming care and his efforts to erase gender-affirming care from Affordable Care Act protections. We will continue to vigorously prosecute our litigation to ensure Connecticut families and providers may continue to live their lives and do their jobs free from cruel partisan meddling,” said Attorney General Tong.

In December 2025, HHS proposed a rule prohibiting federal reimbursement for gender-affirming care for Medicaid beneficiaries under age 18 and CHIP beneficiaries under age 19, despite covering the same healthcare treatment when provided to non-transgender youth. HHS received more than 30,000 comments on the proposal. More than 90% of the comments, including comments from Attorney General Tong and a coalition of state attorneys general, opposed the rule. Despite this strong opposition, the broad medical consensus on the safety and efficacy of transgender youth healthcare and strong state law guardrails to ensure high-quality care, HHS finalized the rule earlier this month, with an effective date of Oct. 13, 2026.

In the complaint, the coalition argues that the rule would set a troubling and unlawful precedent that the executive branch can, without congressional authorization, replace individualized judgments made by licensed medical practitioners with a categorical, agency-determined prohibition on reimbursement for healthcare it disfavors.

The coalition argues that the rule runs counter to several federal and state laws. They also assert that the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Since the first day of President Trump’s second term, the administration has launched relentless attacks on this small and vulnerable population in nearly every aspect of their lives, but especially in healthcare. Attorney General Tong is fighting to protect access to gender-affirming care across multiple fronts, including suing and securing federal court orders blocking Trump’s threat to withhold Medicare and Medicaid to hospitals and clinics providing gender-affirming care and his efforts to erase gender-affirming care from Affordable Care Act protections.

Joining Attorney General Tong in leading today’s lawsuit are the attorneys general of Illinois, Maryland, California, and Massachusetts. They are also joined by the attorneys general of Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, along with the governor of Pennsylvania.

It Is A Vicious Cycle We Are In.

Violence against us is increasing assaults and murders of trans people is increasing.

Two men charged in connection with attack on transgender woman at Memorial Union

WMTV

By Shaina Nijhawan

Sep. 1, 2026

 Two men charged in connection with an alleged attack on a transgender woman at UW-Madison’s Memorial Union appeared in court Tuesday, where Dane County Court Commissioner Brian Asmus set cash bonds of $75,000 and $100,000.

Yorfred Marcano Gutierrez and Arturo Santos Albujas each face charges of attempted second-degree sexual assault as a party to a crime, strangulation and suffocation as a party to a crime, false imprisonment as a party to a crime and misdemeanor battery.

According to the criminal complaint, the alleged attack happened early Saturday morning at Goodspeed Pier.

The complaint states the two men had been making advances toward other women on State Street before approaching the victim. She told police the men asked her to walk with them to a boat they said they had at the pier. Once there, she became concerned when she did not see a boat and tried to leave.

But she wasn’t the only one attacked.

Venture-N murder-suicide was anti-gay hate crime; 2 killed before gunman shot himself

Tucson police say shooter died at hospital; carried list of local LGBTQ businesses

Aug 31, 2026, 4:30 pm

Mia Kortright

Tucson Sentinel

Two men were killed outside Tucson's Venture-N early Monday morning, while the shooter died at a nearby hospital. Police are investigating the murder-suicide as a hate crime.

Authorities say Ousman Ceesay, 44, fatally shot two men at the business at 1239 North 6th Ave. shortly after midnight.

Ceesay confronted the men in the longtime gay bar's parking lot before shooting them, and then himself, authorities said.

The two victims, 42-year-old Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and 33-year-old Cameron Davis Capara, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Ceesay was found suffering from gunshot wounds and taken to a local hospital, where he died soon after.

Tucson police said they found a note on Ceesay with several LGBTQ-associated businesses written on it.

"Bias-based crimes are especially heinous and have no place in our community. Our investigators are thoroughly examining the evidence and pursuing all available leads as they work to establish the full circumstances surrounding this tragic incident," said Tucson Police Chief Monica Prieto in a news release.

We have to end this cycle of hate! We have to end this institutionalizing of hate. Hate flow from the top down. The swamp creatures need permission to crawl out of the swamp. When those at the top look the other way with a wink and a nod.

"Sanctuary State"

When Washington state refused Texas's subpoena for the records of trans children and the records of women from Texas... it was to protect the identities of medical patients.

When Texas refused an extradition order, it was for a criminal assault where a person beat shot [updated] another person and then lied about it. That person was an ICE agent.

PBS News reported that;

Castro is accused of firing gun through door of home

Castro is accused of firing a gun through the front door of a Minneapolis home, shooting Sosa-Celis in the leg. Prosecutors say Castro also falsely accused Sosa-Celis and another man of attacking an ICE officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel.

But while this back-and-forth in the legal system plays out...

 ICE officer’s release from Texas jail opens a new front in the escalating fight over extradition

AP News

By  MICHAEL GONZALEZ, VALERIE GONZALEZ and SUDHIN THANAWALA

August 27, 2026

The release of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer from a Texas jail on Thursday despite Minnesota’s request for his return could set a dangerous precedent, increasing friction between states and helping criminal defendants avoid justice, legal experts said.

Christian Castro was released from a detention center in Brownsville after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declined to immediately sign his extradition warrant. A federal judge also declined to block Castro’s release or order Abbott to sign the warrant.

Minnesota officials say they believe Castro could flee to Mexico to avoid prosecution on charges he shot a man and lied about it during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis in January. Extradition from Mexico would require action by the Trump administration, which opened an investigation into Castro’s actions but also has argued ICE agents have “absolute immunity” for their actions on duty.

But now it has escalated to another level:

Trump’s DOJ Blocked Serious ICE Shooting Charge Over Federal Prosecutor’s “Strongest Possible” Objections

A prosecutor planned to file civil rights charges — similar to those brought against the officers who killed George Floyd — against an ICE agent. In an email we exclusively obtained, he reveals that Trump officials quashed those plans.

Propublica

by Megan Rose and Andy Mannix

September 2, 2026

Over the “strongest possible” objections from the federal prosecutor handling the case, leaders at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., quashed plans to bring civil rights charges against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent accused of shooting a Venezuelan immigrant and then lying about it. 

The agent, 52-year-old Christian Castro, allegedly shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg in Minneapolis this January during Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s immigration blitz that sent thousands of federal agents into the state. The incident was one of three shootings by immigration agents in the city, the other two of which were fatal. 

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota had been preparing to charge Castro with deprivation of rights under color of law for the shooting of Sosa-Celis, according to several people familiar with the case. Those charges are similar to the ones leveled against Minneapolis police officers accused in George Floyd’s killing and can carry hefty prison sentences. 

Late on Tuesday, Matthew Evans, the assistant U.S. attorney in Minnesota in charge of the case, told lawyers for Sosa-Celis and other victims to prepare for Castro to be charged “only with False Statements,” according to an email that was reviewed by ProPublica. 

You know what that behavior and being above the law reminds me of? The KGB, NKVD, Stasi, Cheka... the whole alphabet soup of Cold War secret police.

The Hill reports that;

U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., an appointee of President Trump who oversees the case, will consider Minnesota’s bid at a Tuesday afternoon hearing in his Brownsville, Texas, courtroom.

It has become a major legal clash between Abbott and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who requested Castro’s extradition as state authorities charged the ICE officer with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.

The officer stands accused of injuring a Venezuelan man in the leg by firing a gun at the front door of an occupied Minneapolis home on Jan. 14 amid an immigration enforcement surge in the Twin Cities. Castro had allegedly told investigators he opened fire in self-defense after being hit with a shovel and a broom, only for video footage to undercut the officer’s claim. 

Abbott has refused to sign a rendition warrant that would pave the way for the officer to return to Minnesota for trial.

This is a whole new level of political interference in our legal systems. Think about this for a moment: The governor and the judge are saying that for the shooting, Castro can't be charged, only for the misdemeanor.

This doesn't make sense... for the serious crimes of shooting an individual, they say he can't be charged because it was justified. While he used a lie to justify it! Duh! What circular logic. Has Texas become a "sanctuary state" for all the ICE agents who cross the line?

Tell Me What's The Difference?

What is the difference between...

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Different Needs.

[Editorial]

We are victims of our generations… Boomers, Gen X, Millennials (Gen Y), etc.

Oh man… Lawrence Welk. The old folks are watching Lawrence Welk!

Now the new generations are seeing us go to a Rolling Stones concert or watching PBS with all the old groups from the sixties and seventies, alongside old clips from the fifties.

I grew up with the PC and dial-up, and now the kids are cursing gigabyte internet for being slow.

A couple of days ago, I asked whether crossdressing was going the way of the dinosaur. But in reality, we are all aging out! The Rolling Stones are our generation’s Lawrence Welk. What we grew up with, we hid in closets; we were in steamy mob dives that the police raided regularly during elections. You’d see us in the papers with our faces covered by our hands, and newspapers would even print our names. They held congressional hearings on us!

At the same time, on the evening news, Black Americans were sitting at lunch counters getting their heads bashed in or walking across a bridge being attacked by dogs.

People said, "Enough! Enough!" and passed non-discrimination laws, saying, "Let's get together right now and end this hate!" The haters crawled back into the swamps to stew and foment their anger.

New generations grew up, the alphabet continued through Gens X, Y, and Z, and they forgot.

Oh, they remembered Stonewall, but to them, it became an excuse to party.

Meanwhile, in the swamps, a brew was fermenting: “I believe it is my constitutional right to discriminate!" "Oh, we aren’t gerrymandering because of race… just politics… oh, that’s all right then.” The courts are whittling away at the protections of the 2000s.

We've seen this in the seventies, in the fifties, and in Europe in the thirties—pick on a minority and make them your scapegoats. And now the swamp creatures have become emboldened.

Now it is time for the new generations to pick up the torch. What we have learned is to go to the core… yes, immigration rights matter, our rights matter, but what we learned from Saul Alinsky, the focus has to be on the elections—not just our rights, no matter how hard or exhausting that seems. We need to overthrow the Republican grip; we have to free up the pendulum to swing back.

[/Editorial]