Friday, January 31, 2025

Lies, Lies, And More Lies

You all heard about the crash into the Potomac, will the MAGA is spreading lies about it...
A decorated trans army service member, Jo Ellis, has taken to Facebook to debunk viral claims that she was the pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter that was involved in the fatal mid-air crash in Washington on Wednesday.
Pink News
By Hilary Mitchell
January 31, 2025


67 people are believed to have been killed in the incident, after an American Airlines plane from Kansas carrying 64 people onboard collided with a military helicopter, manned by three personnel, the BBC reports.

Following the tragedy, an X account called FakeGayPolitics shared a post that claimed Jo Ellis was the pilot of the helicopter at the time of the crash. It has since gone viral, and has even been picked up by various news sources, despite being false.

The misinformation states “The pilot of the Black Hawk has been identified as Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) Jo Ellis, a transgender woman. Jo Ellis served in the Virginia National Guard for 15 years and transitioned while serving as a pilot. Jo has been making radicalized anti-Trump statements on socials.”
It is totally illogical... she is alive how could she have been piloting the helicopter? All on board died!
In response, Jo Ellis took to her personal Facebook page on Friday (31 January) to debunk the claims, sharing a screenshot of the viral tweet and writing: “Some craziness has happened on the internet and I’m being named as one of the pilots of the DC crash. Please report any accounts or posts you see. It’s insulting to the victims and families of those lost and they deserve better than this BS from the bots and trolls of the internet.”
The are being egged on by Trump...


In a Thursday press briefing, President Trump criticized his predecessor for his management of the Federal Aviation Administration and suggested, without evidence, that diversity initiatives at the agency could be to blame for a deadly crash between a passenger plane and an Army helicopter in Washington, D.C.

"I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first," Mr. Trump said. "The FAA's website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism." Mr. Trump added that people in those categories would be "qualified" for controller positions, even though the agency's statement does not say that.

The president continued, "Brilliant people have to be in those positions." 
He even contradicted himself, ABC News reported that...
"I put safety first, Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody's ever seen," Trump told reporters in the White House briefing room, referring to the policies, even as the investigation into what happened is just getting underway.
But the press secretary contradicted him,
When asked in the earlier briefing by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce whether he was saying the crash was the result of diversity hiring, Trump said, "we don't know" what caused the crash, adding investigators are still looking into that. "It just could have been. We have a high standard. We've had a higher, much higher standard than anybody else."
Trump said that,
Trump said Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary in the Biden administration, "just got a good line of bulls---" and said he had "run [the Department of Transportation] right into the ground with his diversity."
Pink News ended with,
Asked by a reporter how he could blame the initiatives for the crash when an investigation into the incident had only just begun, Trump said: “Because I have common sense.”
How can you trust someone that is a habitual liar? It is one lie after another! Here in the middle of this disaster and Trump and his cronies tries to blame the Democrats... he play politics with their lives!

Then you have the falsely accused trans helicopter pilot, the New York Time wrote...
Jo Ellis, a helicopter pilot in the Virginia Army National Guard, was falsely identified as the captain of the crashed Black Hawk helicopter in thousands of social media posts this week. The flurry of falsehoods were so extreme that Ms. Ellis, who is transgender, posted a “proof of life” video to Facebook clarifying that she is alive and had not flown the crashed chopper.

The falsehoods, which tried to tie Ms. Ellis’s transgender identity to the tragedy, spread online shortly after President Trump and his allies attempted to tie the crash in Washington, D.C., to so-called “D.E.I. programs,” an array of initiatives meant to boost diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. There is no evidence that such programs played any role in the crash.

“I understand some people have associated me with the crash in D.C. and that is false,” Ms. Ellis said in a video posted to her Facebook account. “It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda. They don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve this.”
Anything to cast aspersions on our community!

Updated:4:00PM


Niemöller Poem In Real Life!

You know the one, “First they came for…”

First they came for PBS and NPR. They are starting an investigation in to PBS and NPR!
Heard on All Things Considered
By David Folkenflik
January 30, 2025


President Trump's new head of the Federal Communications Commission has ordered an investigation of NPR and PBS, with an eye toward unraveling federal funding for all public broadcasting.

"I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials," Chairman Brendan Carr wrote on Wednesday to the presidents and chief executives of NPR and PBS, Katherine Maher and Paula A. Kerger, respectively. "In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements."
They are going to “Find” something to justify cutting their funding!
Public broadcasting stations are prohibited from running commercials. Instead they present what are considered corporate underwriting spots, which are supposed to stop shy of a "call to action" telling listeners and viewers to buy a product or service.
They are going to nitpick ever little thing and blow it up out of proportion.
Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said the inquiry could help Congress decide whether to continue funding local stations.
The New Times
By Benjamin Mullin and David McCabe
January 30, 2025


The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has waded into the politicized debate over NPR and PBS, ordering up an investigation that he said could be relevant in lawmakers’ decision about whether to continue funding the public news organizations.

Brendan Carr, the chairman, said in a letter to NPR and PBS on Wednesday that the inquiry would focus on whether the news organizations’ member stations violated government rules by recognizing financial sponsors on the air.

[…]

NPR and PBS have for decades aired sponsorships under rules set forth by the government. While public broadcasters are restricted by law from accepting traditional commercials, the F.C.C. has become more permissive over the years about what public stations are allowed to air. The F.C.C.’s evolving stance on the issue has gradually allowed public radio stations to become less dependent on government funding.
You know why they are doing this, they want to control the message.



Then they came for tying conditions for aid and it is getting a lot of people upset...
CT Mirror
by Mark Pazniokas
January 30, 2025


The administration of President Donald J. Trump has informed the Connecticut Department of Transportation it would, “to the maximum extent permitted by law,” link federal transportation funding to policies on masks, vaccines, tolls and immigration enforcement. 

The four-page undated memo by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy states the administration “shall prioritize projects and goals” that, among other things, prohibit recipients “from imposing vaccine and mask mandates” and require “local compliance or cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.”

It also would “give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average” and places that “utilize user-pay models,” which seemingly would include the congestion pricing in Manhattan that Trump has denounced and highway tolls that Gov. Ned Lamont proposed without success.
You remember Trump said the same thing to California about FEMA Disaster Relief funding.

Then there is this bill about immigration...
Finger Lake.com1
January 7, 2025


Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24) has introduced the Red Light Act, legislation aimed at withholding federal transportation funding from states that allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses or identification cards.

Under the proposed bill, the Department of Transportation would be directed to withhold federal funds allocated for programs such as the National Highway Performance Program, the Highway Safety Improvement Program, and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program from non-compliant states.

The bill targets laws like New York’s Green Light Law, which took effect in 2019 and permits individuals over the age of 16, including undocumented immigrants, to apply for a state driver’s license. The licenses also serve as valid photo identification. According to Tenney, more than 50,000 undocumented immigrants received licenses in the first month of the law’s implementation.
They are really pissing off a lot of people and in two year we can change Congress!



Next they came for DEI.

Trump fired the head of the "Office of Civil Rights" NBC News reports that,
As it has in other parts of the Justice Department, the Trump administration has made personnel changes in the Civil Rights Division. The top two officials in its appellate section have been reassigned to a new task force that will prosecute officials from sanctuary cities who do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts, according to a DOJ official familiar with the matter.

[...]

To lead the charge, Trump nominated California lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, 56, who has alleged fraud in the 2020 election, accused Google of discriminating against white men and spoken out against state laws to protect doctors who perform gender-affirming surgery for transgender minors.
Of course you know where the focus will be.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order abolishing the initiatives and directing agency heads and the attorney general to identify private-sector targets that the Civil Rights Division could sue as part of a plan to “deter DEI programs or principles that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences.”

[...]

The Justice Department is expected to release new guidance on transgender workers and students, which would affirm the LGBTQ rights reversal Trump initiated last week. He tasked the department last week to “correct” the Biden administration’s “misapplication” of the Supreme Court’s Bostock ruling, which found that federal law prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“The phrase ‘gender’ has been hijacked to mean something that was infused with complete ideology,” said Roger Severino, a vice president at the conservative Heritage Foundation who spent seven years as a career lawyer in the Civil Rights Division. “It has confused matters, and we need clarity, because we’re dealing with real human beings.”
Kind of reverses the civil rights laws from protecting the rights of minorities to protecting the White majority.



They came for the FAA Safety Board, and fired the members from 9 days ago...
The committee will technically continue to exist, but it won't have any members to carry out the work of examining safety issues at airlines and airports.
HuffPost
JOSH FUNK
Jan 22, 2025


President Donald Trump moved quickly to remake the Department of Homeland Security Tuesday, firing the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard before their terms are up and eliminated all the members of a key aviation security advisory group.

Trump’s immigration policy changes drew the most attention at DHS, but he is also making changes at the rest of the massive agency.

Members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee received a memo Tuesday saying that the department is eliminating the membership of all advisory committees as part of a “commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security.”
Thursday... Economic Times reports,
Was Trump warned of 'dangerous policy' before crash?
According to a report in The Mirror, US President Donald Trump has come under fire for implementing a "dangerous" federal hiring freeze, dismissing the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard, and dismantling a crucial aviation safety advisory committee. This all occurred just days before a fatal collision between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter.
Who is he coming after next? Will it be you?

Updated 7:30PM
We know what's next... the prosecutors in the Jan 6 cases, he fired them and is filling the openings with stooges! Interim U.S. attorney fires more than 2 dozen Jan. 6 prosecutors in D.C.

Update 8:00PM



Then Musk came for those who he thinks wronged him.

Vengeance is mine saith Musk...
Daily Beast
By Emell Derra Adolphus
January 29, 2025


Fired inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Phyllis Fong was removed from her Washington D.C. office on Monday after refusing to comply with the conditions of her termination.

A 22-year-old veteran of the department—which has a broad mandate to investigate food safety and animal welfare—Fong’s office has been investigating Elon Musk’s brain implant startup Neuralink, among other investigations into the Boar’s Head’s listeria outbreak.

The USDA launched a federal investigation into Neuralink in 2022 for potential animal-welfare violations following internal staff complaints alleging the needless suffering and deaths of animals via testing, reported Reuters at the time.

On Friday, Fong was one of 17 federal watchdogs given their walking papers by the Trump administration, reported Reuters. However, Fong told her colleagues in an email that she intended to stay in her post, arguing that “these termination notices do not comply with the requirements set out in law and therefore are not effective at this time.”
 “First they came for…” Who's next?
 

 
Updated 2/1 @ 6:00AM 

Well they just came for the news media... 
Pentagon removes major media outlets, including NBC News, from dedicated workstations in new ‘rotation program’
NBC News, The New York Times, NPR and Politico must vacate their office spaces in two weeks for other news organizations — including at least one that did not request to be added.
NBC News
By Amanda Terkel
February 1, 2025


The Department of Defense announced Friday night that it will institute a new “annual media rotation program” for its in-house press corps, effectively removing several major news outlets, including NBC News, from their Pentagon office spaces in favor of other outlets.

In addition to NBC News, The New York Times, National Public Radio and Politico must vacate their dedicated workspaces. The news organizations found out in a memo sent to the press corps without being individually notified, and an accompanying email included a message that read, in part, “no additional information will be provided at this time."

“For over a half-century, the Pentagon Press Corps has benefited from working out of individual office spaces that provide coveted and open access to some of the Department’s top military and civilian leaders,” read the memo Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot sent to the Pentagon Press Association.
They only want loyal news-media covering the military... why?

Thursday, January 30, 2025

The Headline Reads: "These People Are Frightened to Death”

Fired from government jobs, kicked out of the military, persecuted and jailed for being ourselves, denied housing and jobs, and kicked out from bathrooms. That wasn't now but in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

It was a time know as "The Lavender Scare!" You all know about the Stonewall Uprising but do you know what it happened before Stonewall, and why for us trans people it happened long before Stonewall back before the Compton Cafeteria rebellion. Back before Dewey’s Lunch Counter protest, before the Black Cat Tavern protest there was the Executive Order 10450.

The National Archives writes about the "The Lavender Scare!"...
Summer 2016, Vol. 48, No. 2
By Judith Adkins


The Red Scare, the congressional witch-hunt against Communists during the early years of the Cold War, is a well-known chapter of American history. A second scare of the same era has been much slower to make its way into public consciousness, even though it lasted far longer and directly impacted many more lives.

Beginning in the late 1940s and continuing through the 1960s, thousands of gay employees were fired or forced to resign from the federal workforce because of their sexuality. Dubbed the Lavender Scare, this wave of repression was also bound up with anti-Communism and fueled by the power of congressional investigation.

The purge followed an era in which gay people were increasingly finding each other and forming communities in urban America. During World War II, many men and women left behind the restrictions of rural or small-town life for the first time. After the war, young people poured into cities, where density and anonymity made pursuit of same-sex relationships more possible than ever.
Does this sound similar to what is happening now? Executive Orders, throwing us out of the military, locking us out of jobs...  creating fear of us?
This publicity did not, however, make homosexuality more acceptable, in part because virtually no gay people were open about their sexuality. Also, the country was in the midst of a more general sex-crime panic, stirred up by a few highly publicized cases. In this context, greater public awareness of homosexuality coincided with growing unease and, in many parts of the country, an increase in official repression. Certainly this was true in Washington, DC.

In 1947 the U.S. Park Police initiated in the city a "Sex Perversion Elimination Program," targeting gay men for arrest and intimidation. A year later, Congress passed an act "for the treatment of sexual psychopaths" in the nation's capital. That law facilitated the arrest and punishment of people who acted on same-sex desire and also labeled them mentally ill. Homosexuality was perceived as a lurking subversive threat at a time when the country was coping with tremendous social change as well as rising anxiety about another lurking subversive threat: Communism.
Now we are banned from government bathrooms, we are now banned from the military!
"Case 14" was, according to McCarthy, a known homosexual who had been ousted by the State Department but then rehired. In his discussion of that man and of "Case 62," McCarthy directly linked homosexuality and Communism. A top intelligence official had reportedly told him that "practically every active Communist is twisted mentally or physically in some way." McCarthy implied that the men in these two cases were susceptible to Communist recruitment because as homosexuals they had what he called "peculiar mental twists."
How does the saying goes, something like "Those who don't learn from history are set to repeat it."
A closer look at the life of anti-gay crusader
Los Angeles Blade
By James Patterso
January 21, 2025


In 1977, Anita Bryant, who recently died, made the career mistake of a lifetime when she began an anti-gay campaign in Miami. Her campaign failed for two important reasons.

First, Bryant mistook the political strength of the gay movement across the U.S. Secondly, her use of religion to promote a campaign of bigotry raised serious questions about her honesty.

After being crowned Miss Oklahoma in 1958, Bryant spent the next two decades performing at state fairs, veterans’ events, religious and charity events, and churches. She performed with Bob Hope’s U.S.O. tours and visited veterans’ hospitals. She promoted Christian living and Florida orange juice. She once said she had abundant energy because “the Lord Jesus is my Vitamin C.” 

In 1977, Bryant and husband Bob Green, a former Miami radio disc jockey, began an anti-gay campaign called “Save Our Children.” The campaign’s goal was to reverse Miami-Dade County’s policy barring discrimination against gays. She raised concerns about gay teachers in public schools.  
The Republican House recently passed a bill called the "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act" still trying to protect children from us. Out of her campaign to "Save the Children" in California came Harvey Milk in 1978 during the time of T1 purges of us. The HuffPost wrote this...
Gay brothers and sisters, you must come out. Come out to your parents. I know that it is hard and will hurt them, but think about how they will hurt you in the voting booth! Come out to your relatives. Come out to your friends, if indeed they are your friends. Come out to your neighbors, to your fellow workers, to the people who work where you eat and shop. Come out only to the people you know, and who know you, not to anyone else. But once and for all, break down the myths. Destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake. For their sake.
His words ring true for today! 
Somewhere along the way, particularly in religious environments, coming out is an act more along the lines of a confession than a natural step toward self-awareness. The result is that it makes me think long and hard before I insist that every LGBT person show their hand, knowing for certain that the church still packs a punch. It's so very difficult for the average person to hold the ground of what they know to be true about themselves against an onslaught of biblical magnitude that can be both confusing and demeaning. The reality is that most people aren't gay because it's a statement of style; it's just one portion, one quality that helps complete the picture of their own identity. Yet we live in a time when coming out often requires that one be prepared to defend their position, as if it is in some way a political statement or a religiously justifiable way of being. We are asked to debate what is, in the end, ultimately undebatable. Most of us start out with little more than the story of how we just "know." It's the story, and it's all we've got.
There are so many similarities between then and now: both instigated by Republicans and far right Churches. You can hide in your closets or you can do what Mr. Milk said, "you must come out" It was valid then and it is valid now. We licked them once and we can do it again!

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome, someday
Oh, deep in my heart
I know that I do believe
We shall overcome, someday
We shall be alright
We shall be alright
We shall be alright, someday
Oh, deep in my heart
I know that I do believe
We shall overcome, someday
We shall live in peace
We shall live in peace
We shall live in peace, someday
Oh, deep in my heart
I know that I do believe
We shall overcome, someday
We are not afraid (oh Lord)
We are not afraid (oh Lord)
We are not afraid, today
Oh, deep in my heart
I know that I do believe
We shall overcome, someday
We shall overcome (oh Lord)
We shall overcome (oh Lord)
We shall overcome, someday
Oh, deep in my heart
I know that I do believe
We shall overcome, someday
Songwriters: Jerry Peters

It Is A Train Wreck!

It is like watching a three ring circus, all that is missing is a calliope music...

First he froze all the grants and funding, then he didn't, then he kind of did. Now he halted PrEP... well now he didn't... Nobody really know the status of the grants and funding of non-profits.
Marco Rubio issued a waiver to the disbursement ban for life-saving medication
lGBTQ Nation
By Alex Bollinger
January 29, 2025


Earlier this week, the Trump administration banned organizations and doctors that receive funding under PEPFAR – a foreign aid program that works to fight global HIV/AIDS – but now says that the distribution of HIV medications can resume.

On Sunday night, the Trump administration told organizations that receive U.S. aid under PEPFAR to stop distributing HIV medication to patients “even if the drugs have already been obtained and are sitting in local clinics,” according to the New York Times. Patients were turned away from clinics on Monday.
Yup, they don't think thinks through... it is like they have blinders on and they are really surprised that people are going No F**king Way!
But on Tuesday, after public outcry, the Trump administration walked back its ban on distributing HIV medication to patients who need it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department would offer a waiver for lifesaving medication. It’s not clear if this applies to preventative medication offered by PEPFAR, like PrEP.
Meanwhile all the health agencies around the world think we are nuts.

EuroNews writes...
Global health authorities are raising the alarm after US President Donald Trump froze funding for anti-HIV programmes that cover treatment for 30 million people worldwide.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the temporary pause on all foreign aid puts access to HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) diagnostics, medicines, and treatment at risk in low and middle-income countries, which could have dire health consequences.

“A funding halt for HIV programmes can put people living with HIV at immediate increased risk of illness and death and undermine efforts to prevent transmission in communities and countries,” the WHO said in a statement.

A prolonged pause on foreign assistance could take “the world back to the 1980s and 1990s when millions died of HIV every year globally”.
There are some Republicans think that it is a "Gay" disease and straight people can't get it! Diseases are not gay, straight and they keep on coming infecting people around the world.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Well The Hand Writing Was On The Wall

We knew it was coming, we knew it was only a matter of time... Trump signed an order kicking us out of the military!
CNN
By Alayna Treene, Pamela Brown, Haley Britzky and Oren Liebermann
January 27, 2025


 President Donald Trump on Monday announced he had signed four executive orders that will reshape the military, including banning transgender service members from serving in the US armed forces; gutting the military’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs; and reinstating with back pay service members who were discharged for refusing to get vaccinated from Covid-19.

Trump said he signed the executive orders while aboard Air Force One on a return flight to Washington from Florida. CNN previously reported Trump was expected to do so, according to two White House officials.

The orders, which were first reported by the New York Post, come as Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, was sworn in as secretary of defense on Saturday. Hegseth has long stated he planned to implement major cultural changes to the military, including ending DEI practices and removing “woke” service members.

[...]

Hours after being sworn in for his second term last week, Trump signed an order revoking the Biden administration’s 2021 move to allow transgender members to serve. However, the order Trump announced he had signed Monday goes even further, one of the officials said, and outlines new military standards regarding gender pronouns and state that mental and physical readiness requires transgender service members be banned from the military.
But that doesn't bother me that much because we knew it was coming what worries me more if Trump is shaping the military to be loyal to him and not the Constitution! In The Bucks County Beacon they write...
The day after the Jan. 6 domestic terrorist attack — a coup attempt supported by then-president Donald Trump and barely thwarted by law enforcement and National Guard forces — military and intelligence officers were alerted to a Guard member who worked as a Fox News host. Pete Hegseth, the Guard member in question, sported a tattoo common among white supremacists. Depicting the Latin words “Deus vult” — “God wills it” — the tattoo image depicted a Christian battle cry from the First Crusade of the Middle Ages, a maxim popular among present-day white supremacist groups, including the Proud Boys and Three Percenters. Few members of the military community, however, hold such extremist views. Concerned, Hegseth’s superiors pulled him back from Guard duty during incoming President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Perceiving himself as being targeted for his extremist views, Hegseth angrily resigned from the National Guard.
STOP RIGHT THERE... "sported a tattoo common among white supremacists" and he is now the Secretary of Defense... a white supremacist!
“See you on the battlefield,” Hegseth concludes the book. “Together, with God’s help, we will save America. Deus vult!”

Devoted to taking freedom away from many Americans and championing far right, white male, Christian “warriors” as the ideal U.S. military serviceperson, Hegseth caught the attention of Trump, who in November nominated him for Defense Secretary of U.S. military forces. But along with the nomination came scrutiny of Hegseth’s questionable past of sexual assault accusations, acknowledged heavy drinking and allegations of mismanagement and personal misconduct as the head of two veterans’ advocacy organizations. In addition, he has less military experience than any person who has previously held the office of Defense Secretary.

Trump’s authoritarian intentions have long been known and are embraced by many far-right extremists perceiving themselves to be Christians. During the past two years, hundreds of neo-Nazi rallies have taken place across the United States. “Almost every week, small white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups have been descending on downtowns, gathering in public parks or rallying on the grounds of state houses and courthouses across the country,” a November New York Times article noted.
Trump staged one Coup and now he is packing the military with white supremacists and Christian Nationalist! January 6 was just a dress rehearsal to work the bugs out... now he is setting the stage for Coup 2.0. Mark my words Trump is going to for a third term he is laying the ground work to stay in power!

No Boxes To Check.

[Editorial]

Have you ever thought to see the day when you feared getting your passport confiscated? Have you ever thought about hiding your passport in fear of it being taken away?

 Have you ever thought that you would see churches synagogues and mosques invaded by border patrol agents?

Have you ever thought that you would see citizen of our country live in fear of being picked by the border patrol because of their heritage?

Have you ever thought you would people rounded up and put in to concentration holding camps?

Right now Trump has been targeting Democratic cities to raid schools, places of worship by border patrol agents. CNN has reported that,
Immigrant advocacy groups in Chicago also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the weekend arguing officials targeted the city for being a sanctuary jurisdiction — a term broadly applied to cities that have policies in place designed to limit cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions.

The groups claimed the administration’s planned operations targeted the city for its sanctuary status and amount to a violation of their First Amendment right to free speech and Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, according to the court filing .
The peaceful Quakers have sued...
Quaker groups file suit over the end of policy restricting ICE arrests in houses of worship
The suit appears to be the first from a faith-based organization challenging the change in court.
NBC News
By Laura Strickler
January 27, 2025
 
 
A group of Quaker congregations is suing the Department of Homeland Security for changing a policy that prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from carrying out operations in so-called “sensitive locations” such as houses of worship, playgrounds, schools and hospitals without approval from supervisors.

The policy, which had been in place under multiple administrations — including during President Donald Trump’s first term — was rescinded last week.

[...]
 
“A week ago today, President Trump swore an oath to defend the Constitution and yet today religious institutions that have existed since the 1600s in our country are having to go to court to challenge what is a violation of every individual’s constitutional right to worship and associate freely,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which is providing the lawyers representing the Quaker groups.

Perryman said the lawsuit addresses more than churches that act as sanctuaries. “The troubling nature of the policy goes beyond just houses of worship with sanctuary programs — it is that ICE could enter religious and sacred spaces whenever it wants,” she said.
I have a feeling that you are going to see a lot more lawsuits by churches synagogues and mosques saying it is a firmly held religious beliefs to give sanctuary to the undocumented immigrants. What is Trump going to do with ICE when they claim "Religious Freedom"?

*****

The summers I live out on the tip of Cape Cod and every store, every restaurant, and grocery store hires summer people on H-2B and J-1 visas hires seasonal workers in landscaping, Camp Counselor, Au Pair, and Summer Work Travel. They all have been squashed!

WGBH Boston public media when this happen back in T45 during his first term…
At this time of the year, The Friendly Fisherman on Cape Cod is usually bustling with foreign students clearing tables and helping prepare orders of clam strips or fish and chips.

But because of a freeze on visas, Janet Demetri won't be employing the 20 or so workers this summer. So as the crowds rush back, Demetri must work with nine employees for her restaurant and market — forcing her to shutter the business twice a week.

“It's really disturbing because we are really busy,” said Demetri. “We can't keep up once the doors are open.”

The Trump administration announced last month that it was extending a ban on green cards and adding many temporary visas to the freeze, including J-1 cultural exchange visas and H-2B visas. Businesses from forestry to fisheries to hospitality depend on these visas, though there are exceptions for the food processing sector.
No one wants to work out on the Cape… minimum wage workers typically stay in shared apartments or dormitory-style housing, often subsidized or included as part of compensation packages.
Hardest hit by the ban are beach communities and mountain getaways up and down the East Coast from parts of New Hampshire to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Businesses said they want to hire Americans but are in regions with tiny labor pools that are no match for the millions of tourists visiting each summer. Companies also face the challenge of convincing unemployed workers, many who are still collecting federal benefits, to take a job in the hospitality industry amid a pandemic. Rising housing prices as well as a lack of child care amid the pandemic also pose hurdles.
This summer on the Cape will be the same Trump first term with businesses struggling to find staff… that means higher prices! In order to get American student workers they are going to not just raise salaries but raise them by a lot!
Patrick Patrick, who has relied upon 10 to 15 J-1 visa holders to work at his army navy surplus store in Provincetown, Massachusetts, got none this year. He reduced the store’s hours and isn’t offering dressing rooms or customer services.

“If you are in hospitality, accommodations or restaurants and you truly have no staff, you can’t fake it,” said Patrick, who is also the local chamber of commerce president. “We are faking it. We’re throwing merchandise on the floor and letting customers walk on it and hopefully, they buy it. You can’t do that in a restaurant.”
This is the time when you see businesses hiring for the summer but with Trump freezing work visas it is once again going to be a long hot summer while Trump “Makes America Great Again” with skyrocketing inflation!

All because of Trump’s xenophobia, he doesn’t what people from "Shithole countries" [Trump's words no mine] coming here.

[/Editorial]

This Is A Nightmare!

Did you see Trump's newest EO? Stopping all federal grants or loans? This is a huge bombshell!
AP News
By  CHRIS MEGERIAN
January 28, 2025


The White House is pausing federal grants and loans starting Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s administration begins an across-the-board ideological review of its spending, causing confusion and panic among organizations that rely on Washington for their financial lifeline.

Administration officials said the decision was necessary to ensure that all funding complies with Trump’s executive orders, which are intended to undo progressive steps on transgender rights, environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts.

They also said that federal assistance to individuals would not be affected, including Social Security, Medicare, food stamps and other such programs.

However, the funding freeze could affect trillions of dollars, at least temporarily, and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.
This is a disaster!
“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” wrote Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Look at the language he uses "Marxist equity" is designed to create fear in his loyal followers!

The non-profits and businesses are crying foul! And are suing.
CNBC
By Dan Mangan
January 28, 2025


Non-profit groups and a small-business organization filed a lawsuit on Tuesday asking a judge to temporarily block a funding freeze ordered by the Trump administration of all federal grants and loans.

The lawsuit says the freeze imposed by the Office of Management and Budget is illegal.

The suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., blasts the OMB’s action, which became known Monday night through a memo.

[...]

The suit was filed by the National Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Health Association, the Main Street Alliance and the New York-based group SAGE.
Translated from Republican Speak, "Marxist equity" means Pride centers, and other LGBTQ+ organizations like SAGE.

Forbes writes,
The move comes after Trump already garnered controversy through an executive order halting federal spending appropriated through the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—which affected funding for infrastructure projects and climate change initiative—which the Office of Management and Budget then had to clarify only applies to funding for projects that specifically deal with Trump’s directives on increasing energy production, following widespread confusion and criticism.
You know Trump and laws, he thumbs his nose are them! There is a law that sets down the procedure for impounding of funds, but you know Trump, laws are for weaklings.
After President Richard Nixon took impoundment to an extreme and canceled billions of dollars in spending, Congress passed the Impoundment Control Act, which says presidents can only use the impoundment power by submitting requests to Congress about funds they don’t want to disburse; lawmakers then have to approve those requests within 45 days, otherwise the funds are released.
But there are laws governing spending of funds already apoved,
Legal experts suggested Monday Trump was violating the Impoundment Control Act with his administration’s decision to pause all federal aid, even if it’s only temporary. “This is clearly unlawful ... it certainly violates the Impoundment Control Act,” Georgetown University law professor David A. Super said on X Monday, while Stephen Vladeck, also a law professor at Georgetown, wrote the move is a “flagrant” violation of the impoundment law. Even if he only pauses the funds temporarily and doesn’t decline to spend them at all, Vladeck noted that, under the Impoundment Control Act, Trump can only defer giving out federal funds after he’s sent a request to Congress, which so far he hasn’t done yet. Monday’s memo also suggests the funding pause may apply to some funding that the president isn’t allowed to even try to impound under the law—funding that Congress has “required” or “mandated” to be spent—Vladeck pointed out.
His rubber stamp Congress will never impeach for violating the law, they fear the "Wrath of Trump" too much.

I remember when the place that I used to volunteer got a grant from the federal and once we were awarded the grant we started to spend money on new equipment and hiring people to run the program. I can't what would have had happened if the grant was frozen after we spent tens of thousand of dollars.

Also all those employee will now be unemployed.

Oh by the way... this is all right out of Project 2025 which Trump swore that he knew nothing about!


Liar, liar, liar... pans on fired!


Connecticut and other states websites on Medicaid are down!
January 28, 2025


State Medicaid programs across the country are reporting they’ve lost access to federal payment portals one day after President Trump announced a freeze on federal grants and aid.

On Monday, acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Matthew Vaeth issued a memo stating agencies must halt “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance” to the “extent admissible by applicable law.”

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

We Have A Lot Of Baggage!

Did you know that if you are trans you are more likely to be:
  • Left handed.
  • Have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
  • Have Dyslexia
Looking back now when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s I had all the symptoms of a learning disorder, in school I was labeled... "Slow learners," a "Day dreamer," and "anti-social."
Being gender diverse is associated with greater risk for certain adverse experiences and outcomes, a new study reports.
LGBTQ Nation
By Greg Owen
January 25, 2025


The first large-scale study on the experiences of autistic transgender people finds that they are more likely to have long-term mental and physical health conditions, including alarmingly high rates of self-harm, data from the Autism Research Center at Cambridge University shows.

Researchers found that these individuals also report experiencing lower quality health care than both autistic and non-autistic people whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth.
Pub Med with is the National Institute of Health has this to say about left-handiness in trans people.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
By K J Zucker, N Beaulieu, S J Bradley, G M Grimshaw, A Wilcox
08 October 2003


Abstract
Handedness preference was assessed in 205 boys with gender identity disorder and 205 clinical control boys referred for other reasons. Boys with gender identity disorder were significantly more likely to be left-handed than the clinical control boys (19.5% vs. 8.3%, respectively). The boys with gender identity disorder, but not the clinical control boys, also had a significantly higher rate of left-handedness compared to three independent, general population studies of nonreferred boys (11.8%; N= 14,253) by Hardyck, Goldman, and Petrinovich (1975), Calnan and Richardson (1976), and Eaton, Chipperfield, Ritchot, and Kostiuk (1996). Left-handedness appears to be a behavioral marker of an underlying neurobiological process associated with gender identity disorder in boys.
Caution: our friend Ken Zucker is one of the researchers!

This is also from Pub Med.
Nature Comminutions
By Varun Warrier, David M Greenberg, Elizabeth Weir, Clara Buckingham, Paula Smith, Meng-Chuan Lai, Carrie Allison, Simon Baron-Cohen
2020 Aug 7



Abstract
It is unclear whether transgender and gender-diverse individuals have elevated rates of autism diagnosis or traits related to autism compared to cisgender individuals in large non-clinic-based cohorts. To investigate this, we use five independently recruited cross-sectional datasets consisting of 641,860 individuals who completed information on gender, neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diagnoses including autism, and measures of traits related to autism (self-report measures of autistic traits, empathy, systemizing, and sensory sensitivity). Compared to cisgender individuals, transgender and gender-diverse individuals have, on average, higher rates of autism, other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diagnoses. For both autistic and non-autistic individuals, transgender and gender-diverse individuals score, on average, higher on self-report measures of autistic traits, systemizing, and sensory sensitivity, and, on average, lower on self-report measures of empathy. The results may have clinical implications for improving access to mental health care and tailoring adequate support for transgender and gender-diverse individuals.
The question that begs to be asked... why? What is going on in our brains?

Coming At Us Again!

Another day, another anti-trans bill... this one is to cut healthcare for those of us on Medicaid.
Reps. Dan Crenshaw & Marjorie Taylor Greene have tailored their bill to make it much easier to pass.
LGBTQ Nation
By Alex Bollinger
January 24, 2025


Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) have introduced a bill to ban Medicaid from covering all gender-affirming care for transgender minors, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery, The Center Square reports. Republicans are claiming that the bill should be seen as a narrow fiscal matter, meaning that it could bypass the Senate filibuster and become law more easily.

“Using Medicaid funds for unproven and irreversible procedures on minors is not only medically irresponsible but also a betrayal of public trust,” Crenshaw said in a statement after filing the “Do No Harm in Medicaid Act.” “This bill ensures that Medicaid’s limited resources are used only for evidence-based, medically necessary care.”
The Republicans are a bunch of weasel lacking any morality or humanity. They will do anything to rig the system to get power and to keep in power.
Moreover, what Medicaid covers is determined by states in accordance with federal guidelines. Crenshaw didn’t explain why so many states are covering gender-affirming if there really is no evidence to support its efficacy or why federal intervention would be needed to specifically prohibit these treatments and only for a subset of people seeking them.
All come on now we all know why the Republicans are doing this... it is to satisfied their far-right Christians voters

And don't believe them when they say that it is "to protect the children!
Donald Trump could sign it into law. He promised his followers an end to federal support for gender-affirming care “at any age” and campaigned heavily on opposition to government funding for gender-affirming care in prisons.

The bill is, effectively, a narrower version of Rep. Greene’s “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” which she has filed in the past two sessions of Congress and repeatedly advocated for over the last several years. That bill would ban transgender health care for minors entirely, make it harder for transgender adults to get such health care, and ban medical schools from teaching about it.
The Republicans are trying to ban all things LGBTQ+ and criminalize us like it was back in the 1950s. They want to make the United States into a Christian Nation but  not any Christian Nation only far-right Christians.

They want to ban:
  • Abortions. ✓
  • Define gender as only male and female. ✓
  • Trans healthcare for children ✓
  • Trans healthcare for adults.
  • Ban trans people from the military ✓
  • Marriage equality.
  • Divorce
  • "Birthright Citizenship." ✓
  • Ban contraceptive (In process)
And the lists keeps on getting longer!

They are the Christian Taliban. 



Updated: 1/29 @ 3:30PM

On the Project 2025 hit list is banning birth control pills!
Democracy Docket
By Susan Rinkunas
January 27, 2025


With Donald Trump back in the White House, access to contraception is, sadly, not something that people can bank on anymore — whether they know it or not. This issue didn’t get much airtime during the chaotic 2024 campaign, but birth control has been in conservatives’ crosshairs for years. And while Trump’s administration will undoubtedly attack it, he’ll likely have additional help from his appointees to the Supreme Court.

On Jan. 10, the justices agreed to hear a case, Braidwood v. Becerra, that threatens the Affordable Care Act’s insurance coverage of preventive care. A group of conservative Texas employers who object to paying for birth control and pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV argue that the Affordable Care Act can’t require preventive services be covered without costs like copays because the panels that determine coverage are unconstitutional. Their lawyer is Jonathan Mitchell, the same right-wing attorney and former Justice Antonin Scalia clerk who wrote the Texas bounty-hunter abortion ban, S.B. 8.

A ruling for the plaintiffs could mean employers and insurers reimposing copays and deductibles, or denying birth control coverage entirely, with patients on the hook for the full price. The end of no-cost coverage requirements would ultimately result in fewer people being able to afford the contraceptive method of their choice, including IUDs. The devices alone cost hundreds of dollars, then there’s the price of the office visit for insertion. Yes, an over-the-counter birth control pill hit stores in 2024, but people deserve options and it’s not affordable for everyone.
This is right out of Project 2025 playbook, what denied knowing about!
The Heritage Foundation-written playbook also recommends kicking trusted medical orgs off the advisory committee that determines what preventive care is covered, then having the group redo all of its existing recommendations, including on birth control. Such a revision process could affect other birth control methods beyond the morning-after pill: Religious conservatives have been trying to end mandated coverage of intrauterine devices, which they also believe cause abortions. The Supreme Court allowed some exceptions in the 2014 Hobby Lobby case, where the plaintiffs specifically opposed paying for their employees’ IUDs.
Welcome to the Christian Nation brought to you by the Republican Party!

Monday, January 27, 2025

Never Forgive Them

In their arrogance, blinded by their hate, and lack of basic biology they made themselves the laughing stock of the educated. You all saw the Executive Order the Trump signed it stupid! Just in case you haven't seen it...
Trump's definition of 'male,' 'female' criticized by medical and legal experts
President Trump issued an executive order limiting gender definitions on Monday.
ABC News
ByKiara Alfonseca
January 23, 2025
 

On his first day back in office on Monday, President Trump issued an executive order declaring that the U.S. government would only recognize a person's sex assigned at birth, limit the definition of a "male" or "female" to their reproductive cells and potentially withhold federal funding from programs that acknowledge transgender people or "gender ideology."

Medical and legal experts say the executive order rejects the reality of sexual and gender diversity, and are concerned about the implications it will have for intersex, nonbinary and transgender Americans.

The executive order declares there are only "two sexes, male and female" and defines a "female" as "a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell." The order defines "male" as "a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell."
 
[...]
 
Baker also notes that sexual differentiation via reproductive cells doesn't take place until about six weeks after conception, contrary to the definition stated by the executive order.
It is totally idiotic, lacking the basic understanding of biology. They are locked in the biblical definition of sex and gender totally ignoring and when you talk about biological science to them their eyes glaze over.
Neuropsychopharmacol
09 April 2020


Abstract
Transgender individuals (TIs) show brain-structural alterations that differ from their biological sex as well as their perceived gender. To substantiate evidence that the brain structure of TIs differs from male and female, we use a combined multivariate and univariate approach. Gray matter segments resulting from voxel-based morphometry preprocessing of N = 1753 cisgender (CG) healthy participants were used to train (N = 1402) and validate (20% holdout N = 351) a support-vector machine classifying the biological sex. As a second validation, we classified N = 1104 patients with depression. A third validation was performed using the matched CG sample of the transgender women (TW) application sample. Subsequently, the classifier was applied to N = 26 TW. Finally, we compared brain volumes of CG-men, women, and TW-pre/post treatment cross-sex hormone treatment (CHT) in a univariate analysis controlling for sexual orientation, age, and total brain volume. The application of our biological sex classifier to the transgender sample resulted in a significantly lower true positive rate (TPR-male = 56.0%). The TPR did not differ between CG-individuals with (TPR-male = 86.9%) and without depression (TPR-male = 88.5%). The univariate analysis of the transgender application-sample revealed that TW-pre/post treatment show brain-structural differences from CG-women and CG-men in the putamen and insula, as well as the whole-brain analysis. Our results support the hypothesis that brain structure in TW differs from brain structure of their biological sex (male) as well as their perceived gender (female). This finding substantiates evidence that TIs show specific brain-structural alterations leading to a different pattern of brain structure than CG-individuals.

[...]

Conclusions
In this study, we present a highly accurate biological sex classifier in CG-individuals that shows a significantly decreased accuracy in TIs after CHT. Our results underline that the brain structure of TIs is similar to both, the brain structure of their perceived gender and biological sex. This implies that brain structure of TW differs from both CG-men and -women. Based on our brain-structural data, we suggest a dimensional rather than binary gender construct which will contribute to the destigmatization of TIs.
For the right-wing conservatives when you say that the brain structure of transgender women is the same as a cis-women they fall back on XX is a female and XY is a male. That a woman with Alpha-5-reductase deficiency is a XY female, they fall back on their mantra... boy are XY and Girls are XX.

The same thing happen when you mention Androgen insensitivity syndrome females. They reply "god make Adam and Eve! Well Mother Nature had the last word on the subject and she created an infinite variety of combinations. She is constantly trying different combinations!

They don't want to hear that we are born this way because then they can't justify their persecution of us. They are stuck back in the 1950s with a biblical view of sex and gender. 

 

Black & White ... Red & Blue

Here are two bills... one submitted by a Republican and one submitted by a Democrat. I am not going to tell you who submitted the bill or what party, at the end there is a poll so you can say which party submitted the bill.

Bill #1
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
1 That the general statutes be amended to require that public school
2 libraries prevent minors from access to any material that depicts (1)
3 pornography, (2) sexually explicit conduct, (3) touching a person's
4 clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person is
5 a female, breast, (4) a nude performance, (5) a person in a state of sexual
6 excitement, or (6) sado-masochistic abuse or masturbation.
Statement of Purpose:
To prevent student access to sexually explicit material in public school
libraries.

Bill #2
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
1 That the general statutes be amended to (1) prohibit public and school
2 libraries from excluding or censoring books because of the origin,
3 background or views of the material or of its authors, or solely because
4 a person finds such books offensive; (2) require local school boards and
5 the governing bodies of public libraries to set up policies for book
6 curation and the removal of library materials, including a way to
7 address concerns over certain items; (3) provide a librarian and other
8 library staff member with immunity from criminal and civil liability
9 arising from good faith actions performed pursuant to state law; and (4)
10 provide a civil cause of action to a librarian and other library staff
11 member for emotional distress, defamation, libel, slander, damage to
12 reputation or any other relevant tort, against any person who harasses
13 a librarian or library staff member from compliance with state law.

Statement of Purpose:
To protect state residents by prohibiting public and school libraries from
censoring books and providing librarians and other library staff
members with legal protections, including immunity from criminal and
civil liability, for carrying out work-related duties in accordance with
state law.

Okay which is the Democratic bill and which is the Republican bill? The difference between the Red bill and the Blue is in Black and White.



The Arrogance

He had the never to preach to religious leaders!

I see a difference between giving a sermon in your church and telling a church how it should preach. 
Vance, who converted to the Catholic Church five years ago, called on a group of bishops to “do better” after they criticized the White House’s immigration policies.
The Daily Beast
By Corbin Bolies
Jan. 26 2025


Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan pressed Vance, a Catholic convert, over the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' condemnation of President Donald Trump’s various immigration-related executive orders. The group said on Wednesday Trump’s orders, some of which allow the government to raid churches for undocumented immigrants, were “deeply troubling” and “will harm the most vulnerable among us. It continued a trend of religious leaders criticizing the administration’s approach to immigration.

“Do you personally support the idea of conducting a raid or enforcement action in a church service, at a school?” Brennan asked.
Now this was a group of bishops in the church that Vance is a member of and he wants to impose his beliefs upon them. Boy that wasn't very smart, what he is saying that he pick and chooses what parts of the Bible to follow and love thy neighbor isn't one of them.
Vance bashed the organization, claiming that as “a practicing Catholic, ” he was “heartbroken” by the statement. He questioned whether the church was more focused on money than its religious values.

“I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” Vance said.
Do you believe that? He is defending his right to discriminate against minorities and LGBTQ+ people!

So there is only one true religion and that is the religion that the Republican party preaches!

USA Today wrote that Catholic criticized Trump action on the immigrant but praised his action against us!
USA TODAY has reached out to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for comment. Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a separate statement also criticized some of Trump's wide-reaching executive orders on immigration.
So it is okay to persecute us but not another minority!

However, he did applaud Trump's executive action on the federal government's handling of gender.


My prediction: Not only will Trump go after new outlets but will also go after churches who preach against him.

Sunday, January 26, 2025

All Rise For The Honorable...

This is going all the way to the Supreme Court that is what they want with this case.

I read Martin Niemöller poem and I knew that the gays and lesbians would be next after us…
An Idaho House committee will consider a formal statement asking the U.S. Supreme Court to end same-sex marriage nationwide and allow the state to restore its ban on such unions. Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, proposed the measure that calls the 2015 decision from the nation’s highest court to legalize same-sex marriage an “illegitimate overreach.” It asked the court to reinstate the “natural definition of marriage” — saying that is between one man and one woman.
You see, now they are hoping that the Supreme Court and Trump crony judges will throw us back to the 1950s!
But the Supreme Court’s decision came by a 5-4 vote, and three new conservative justices were appointed by Republican President Donald Trump during his first term, shifting the court to the right. Two of the court’s most hard-line conservatives, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, have previously written that the Obergefell decision should be reconsidered. “The purpose of this resolution is just to affirm our state authority to regulate marriage,” Scott said at Tuesday’s hearing.
You see, these conservatives are not really deep thinkers.

If they were deep thinkers then they would have realized that unlike abortions (Or rather like abortions) people can travel… so they can travel to the beautiful state of Connecticut get a marriage license and get married. But that is what's difference from abortions in a marriage there is a signed contract!

The Constitution states very plainly that…
Article IV, Section 1:

Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.
That is why in Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) interracial marriage became legal across the country.

But in their narrow-mindedness of all things LGBTQ+ they forget the little details like the Constitution.

Me, Me, Me, Me...

I don't know what political persuasion he is but have you ever noticed that for Republican it is always about them! Just look how Trump replied to Bishop Budde sermon. Or look at the flag at half staff for President Cater... it was all about Trump. It seems like some people just lack empathy, for instant take the owner of a dealership who is flying an oversize flag.
WITN
By Dave Jordan
Jan. 23, 2025


The CEO of Camping World has responded to the City of Greenville’s notice of violation letter regarding the giant American flag at his business, saying the flag is not coming down.

Marcus Lemonis also posted on “X” in response to the violation notice from the city, “You can fine me all you want City of Greenville North Carolina. #NoAmericanFlagIsTooBig.
So he is giving the one finger salute to law and to the neighbors... me, me, me!
Earlier this month city council denied a request for Camping World to allow the flag after it says the company put it up knowingly in violation of the regulations regarding the size of the pole and the size of the flag.

The controversy over the American Flag measuring 3,200 square-feet and rising 120 feet above Evans Street on Camping World’s property began in October when city officials notified Camping World that the flag and flagpole size violated city ordinances.

The flag is nearly 15 times bigger than the allowable flag on non-residential property in the city, while the pole cannot exceed 70 feet.
He knowingly put up an oversize flag! He knew it was against the law but he put in up anyway but it always about him. Newsbreak reported...
A concerned citizen pointed out the violation to city officials, who first informed Camping World it was in violation in October. Camping World submitted a text amendment request to modify the city’s flag ordinance to allow the flag to remain in place.
 Where I grew up there was a school on the block behind us and on a summer with the windows open I could hear the snapping and popping of the flag, and it was just a normal size flag. Just imagine what an oversize sounds like?

These people who think they are above the law and don't care what they are doing to others, it is all about me!


Saturday, January 25, 2025

Saturday 9

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

I have been debating whether to play today or not… the last week I haven’t felt like doing anything and I’ve been down in the dumps… I think that it is a mild depression.


Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
 
1) Are you enjoying winter? Or do you daydream about summer? 
Actually, I been dreaming of winter… how I used to go skiing. I miss it now but… when I went leaf peeking this fall, I saw the prices for a day ticket it is crazy. $129 for a week day pass!
Back in my day (I can officially say that because I am a certified senior! I got my certification for playing Bingo at a senior center,) the bus, a lift ticket were all around $30. 

2) In this week's song, trees sway in the breeze. Is it windy where you are today?
No, last week was crazy with the wind, bur not today.

3) There's rain outside their window. Have you more recently seen rain or snow?
No, and that is the problem here in the northeast we are in a mild drought.

4) This week's artists are the duo Chad and Jeremy. As a teen, Chad Stuart was very versatile in the arts. While he enjoyed drawing, he showed real promise in music and won a scholarship to London's Central School of Speech and Drama. When you were a teenager, what were your best classes?
Science.

5) Between 1965 and 1966, Chad and Jeremy played British pop stars on a variety of American TV shows, including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Patty Duke Show, and Batman. Which of those series do you remember?
All of them! It would be nice if those cable channels would carry them again. Now they show Dragnet, Adam 12, and Highway Patrol. Another channel has McHale's Navy, Barney Miller, The Partridge Family, Hazel… etc.

6) While those TV appearances were good for the duo's record sales, they sowed the seeds of dissent between the friends. Jeremy Clyde realized he enjoyed acting far more than music and began threatening to leave the act. Chad finally got tired of dissuading him. Between Jeremy's dramatic aspirations and contract disputes, they broke up. Later they both admitted they regretted the split, but as Chad said, "we were just kids." Is there an old friend you've drifted away from but miss?
Yeah… my high school gang.

7) In 1964, when "A Summer Song" was popular, the #1 movie in the country was Mary Poppins. Have you seen it?
Nope.

8) One of the biggest news stories of 1964 was Elizabeth Taylor's wedding to Richard Burton. The bride wore yellow, with yellow and white flowers in her hair. The groom wore a dark suit, red tie and yellow boutonniere. What did you wear last time you got dressed up?
Well when you are retired  there not too many occasions to dress up any more. For Zoom meetings all you need is a blouse. I might half to shortly… I probably have to testify on a bill that I am pushing, a senior bill of rights for nursing homes and long term care facilities.

9) Random question: When you're in the backseat, do you wear a seatbelt?
Always! Back in December 1970 I tried going through the windshield and decided I didn't like it. It could really ruin your day.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

*****



I don’t like bring politics here but I am worried about our country and what the future will bring for us. I am worried about WWIII with China and Russia. Are we becoming a fascist nation run by oligarchs. I am worried that I might have to flee the country of my birth.

Oh by the way... expect produce prices to go through the roof and massive shortages. In California almost three quarters of the pickers haven't shown up to pick the crops and fruits and vegetables are rotting in fields due to labor shortages in agriculture. Other states like Florida and Texas also have shortages of workers but not as bad a California.

My brother has been wonderful... he been checking up on me, seeing how I am doing and just talking.

I remember an old proverb… “My you live in interesting times”