We Did It Once...

...We can do it again!

We fought for our rights in '59 at Cooper’s Donuts, we fought for our rights in '65 at Dewey’s, we fought for our rights at Compton Cafeteria in' 66, and in '67 saw us at the Black Cat Café! And we were leading the way at Stonewall!

From Stonewall to now: LGBTQ+ elders on navigating fear in dark times

LGBTQ+ elders share what survival looks like under a hostile political regime and their advice to young people right now. 

The19^th News

By Orion Rummler

March 17, 2025

Karla Jay remembers joining the second night of street protests during the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City. For her, and for so many other LGBTQ+ people, something had shifted: People were angry. They didn’t want things to go back to normal — because normal meant police raids. Normal meant living underground. It meant hiding who they were at their jobs and from their families. They wanted a radical change.  

Radical change meant organizing. Jay joined a meeting with the Gay Liberation Front, which would become the incubator for the modern LGBTQ+ political movement and proliferate in chapters across the country. At those meetings, she remembers discussing what freedom could look like. Holding hands with a lover while walking down the street, without fear of getting beaten up, one person said. Another said they’d like to get married. At the time, those dreams seemed impossible. 

Jay, now 78, is worried that history will repeat itself. She’s worried that LGBTQ+ people will be put in the dark again by the draconian policies of a second Trump administration.

Today saw a rally at the Capitol in Hartford on the Day of Transgender Visibility.

The 19th spoke with several LGBTQ+ elders, including Jay, about what survival looks like under a hostile political regime and what advice they would give to young LGBTQ+ people right now. 

Many states protect LGBTQ+ people through nondiscrimination laws that ensure fair access to housing, public accommodations and employment. Supreme Court precedent does the same through Bostock v. Clayton County. Other states have passed shield laws to protect access to gender-affirming care for trans people. But to Jay, a cisgender lesbian, it all still feels precarious. The Trump administration is trying to make it harder for transgender Americans to live openly and safely, and lawmakers in more than a handful of states want to undermine marriage equality.

It is those who do not fit the Republican's imagine of a man or a woman who are being persecuted!

As Ramos watches the Trump administration use the power of the federal government to target transgender Americans and erase LGBTQ+ history, she’s not afraid for herself. She’s afraid for young LGBTQ+ people, especially young trans people who now find themselves at the center of a growing political and cultural war. If someone transitioned six months ago, she said, they now have a target on their back — and little to no experience with what that feels like. 

“They don’t know what it is like to be a soldier going into war, as far as social issues. So I fear for them,” she said. “Who wouldn’t be scared?” 

At today's rally many attendees talked to their legislators and then attended a news conference.

The National Park Service deleted all references to transgender and queer people from its web page honoring the 1969 Stonewall uprising — the most well-known moment from LGBTQ+ history in the country — leaving references to only lesbian, gay and bisexual people.  Hundreds gathered in New York City to protest. Among them was Renee Imperato, a 76-year-old trans woman and New York native. 

We will not be defeated! This 76 year-old trans woman, however health will keep me home.

---

This was in the Hartford Courant this morning...

Opinion: Reflecting on the 20th anniversary of my transition

By Tony Ferraiolo

March 31, 2025

Once you know it, you can’t un-know it. That’s something I think about when I reflect on the moment that I realized I was trans back in 2003. The fact that once I came to the true realization that I am a man, there was no turning back.

Throughout my life, I had experienced tremendous suffering and abuse at the hands of people that were supposed to have loved me. I carried it with me and it weighed on me in ways that led to self-harm, self-doubt and loneliness.

I had lived my life as a lesbian up until that point, but I wasn’t happy. There was some relief in the awareness that I was trans and that I needed to change. But there was fear and isolation. And so, suicidal ideations began, especially since I didn’t know anyone else that was trans. There was no one to help navigate this unchartered territory.

My thoughts turned to the idea of not being able to live if I was never going to be happy. I couldn’t imagine living a closeted life or a life as a trans person. At the time, you mostly heard about trans women – and people were not kind to them at all. Trans men were essentially invisible.

So, I decided there was no alternative. I went to the beach fully intending to end my life. But someone, something, had a different plan for me that day. I heard a very loud voice tell me “STOP! CREATE YOURSELF!”

I have known Tony since 2003 when he first came out, I sat next to him when he had his first public gig at Central Connecticut State University. He is one of leading trans people in Connecticut.

We Are Just A Drop In A Bucket

But we make a big splash. You would think by the way Republicans talk that we are a plague taking over the world... but,

Transgender people are about 1% of the US population. Yet they’re a political lightning rod

AP News

By  GEOFF MULVIHILL and JESSE BEDAYN

March 30, 2025

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump used contentiousness around transgender people’s access to sports and bathrooms to fire up conservative voters and sway undecideds. And in his first months back in office, Trump has pushed the issue further, erasing mention of transgender people on government websites and passports and trying to remove them from the military.

It’s a contradiction of numbers that reveals a deep cultural divide: Transgender people make up less than 1% of the U.S. population, but they have become a major piece on the political chess board — particularly Trump’s.

For transgender people and their allies — along with several judges who have ruled against Trump in response to legal challenges — it’s a matter of civil rights for a small group. But many Americans believe those rights had grown too expansive.

[...]

“What he wants is to scare us into being invisible again,” said Rachel Crandall Crocker, the executive director of Transgender Michigan who organized the first Day of Visibility 16 years ago. “We have to show him we won’t go back.”

So why has this small population found itself with such an outsized role in American politics?

Because fascism needs a scapegoat, and we are it! They need a boogeyman to scare the voters.

Zein Murib, an associate professor of political science and women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Fordham University, said there has been a decades-old effort “to reinstate Christian nationalist principles as the law of the land” that increased its focus on transgender people after a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling recognizing same-sex marriage nationwide. It took a few years, but some of the positions gained traction.

We are something like 0.5% of the population! We are the low hanging fruit.

Fact Sheet: Misleading Narratives About Transgender People and Restrooms, Locker Rooms, and Other Single-Sex Spaces

By GLAAD

March 4, 2025

Current proposals in the US that prohibit transgender people from being able to use public restrooms that align with who they are (e.g. proposals forcing transgender men to use women’s bathrooms, and trans women to use the men’s room) are constructed on intentional falsehoods. This trend of inflammatory fearmongering and demonization is a threat to the health and safety of transgender people, as well as cisgender people perceived to be trans. Safety and privacy is important to all of us, and banning transgender people from these spaces does nothing to make other people safer.

These discriminatory endeavors are part of the broader, escalating wave of attacks on basic civil rights. These attacks include attempts to ban essential health care for transgender youth and adults, restrict participation in sports, block accurate identity documents, curb freedom of expression, endanger transgender inmates by incarcerating them in institutions inconsistent with their gender identity, and suppress and even criminalize books, education, and culture by and about LGBTQ people.

All of these efforts are part of the same broader goal to roll back the clock on acceptance for transgender people, and make it increasingly difficult for transgender Americans to go about their daily lives.

Their goal is to force us back into the closet and bring back the era of "Father Knows Best" of the 1950s!

Where Else Have We Seen This? Part II

During the 1930s a bunch of industrialists supported Hitler just like now with the billionaire oligarchs supporting Trump! In LinkedIn  there is an article about "The men who financed Adolf Hitler's rise to power" in it they write,

But all the back and forth about the Anschluss with Austria isn’t really Vuillard’s main concern at all. The Order of the Day opens and closes with Vuillard’s observations about the twenty-four men who attended a secret meeting with Adolf Hitler on February 20, 1933. They were the cream of Germany industry and finance, men such as Gustav Krupp (1870-1950), Wilhelm von Opel (1871-1948), and Albert Vögler (1877-1945). They had come together at the request of the Führer‘s economic adviser, Hjalmar Schacht (1877-1970), to hear an appeal for campaign contributions from Hermann Göring and Adolf Hitler himself.

And they gave. Oh, yes, they gave, quite enough to pave the way for the little corporal to gain enough electoral support and soon proclaim himself dictator. This was “nothing more for the Krupps, Opels, and Siemenses than a perfectly ordinary business transaction, your basic fund-raising.” For these were the men who led the firms that had powered Germany into the forefront of the European economy: BASF, Bayer, Agfa, Opel, IG Farben, Siemens, Allianz, Telefunken. It was they, as much as Adolf Hitler, who eased Germany toward the Anschluss with Austria.

Back to the future... Trump's billionaire oligarchs are also bankrolling him for some choice cabinet positions! History Extra from 2019 writes...

By the early 1930s, the Nazi movement was already marked by violence as political disputes were being fought out in the streets. Yet despite this, and the stark differences in style to the existing conservative parties, there was a surprising amount of common ground between the two. “There’s a grey zone between Nazi and non-Nazi, and if you look at the conservative elites, you will find that around 90 per cent of them share close to all the negative aims of the Nazis,” says Malinowski. “What the Nazis shared most with the power elites – be they military, industry, land owners, judges, university professors – is a language of fear, of hatred, of disdain for democracy, for the republic, communists, Jews, trade unions, modern art. It was a broad set of things that they did not want and I think it is important to understand that the basis on which the Nazis and conservatives met was a basis of negativity.”

Hmm... 

Rather than seeking to combat Nazism, the elite hoped to co-opt Hitler, with chancellor Franz von Papen offering him the role of vice-chancellor. “A metaphor these people used a lot – because most of them were noble horsemen – is that they wanted to ride the Nazi movement like a horse,” says Malinowski. “They would use the momentum and the political potential of the Nazi party but still keep it at bay. The idea of ‘framing’ – to control Hitler, to keep him in a conservative ‘frame’ – was the key concept in 1933. And it was a moment of deep misery in the history of German conservatism.”

I don't know about you but this sounds like Deja Vu all over again!

Who are the billionaires, business leaders who might shape a second Trump presidency?

USA Today

By Daniel de Visé

November 6, 2024

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, formed a high-profile partnership with Donald Trump on the eve of his election to a second term as president. 

Musk spoke at Trump rallies and offered controversial $1 million giveaways to voters in swing states in an attempt to drum up support for the Republican candidate. Trump publicly offered Musk a leadership position in his second administration. 

Many other billionaires and industry titans have thrown their support behind Trump. Now, some could be in the running for cabinet posts, while others may wield influence behind the scenes. 

Are we repeating history?

Where Else Have We Seen This? Part I

RESTORING TRUTH AND SANITY TO AMERICAN HISTORY

Executive Orders

March 27, 2025

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.  Purpose and Policy.  Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.  This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.  Under this historical revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.  Rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame, disregarding the progress America has made and the ideals that continue to inspire millions around the globe.

The prior administration advanced this corrosive ideology.  At Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — where our Nation declared that all men are created equal — the prior administration sponsored training by an organization that advocates dismantling “Western foundations” and “interrogating institutional racism” and pressured National Historical Park rangers that their racial identity should dictate how they convey history to visiting Americans because America is purportedly racist. 

[...]

Sec. 4.  Restoring Truth in American History.

(a)  The Secretary of the Interior shall:

(i)    determine whether, since January 1, 2020, public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction have been removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology;

(ii)   take action to reinstate the pre-existing monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties, as appropriate and consistent with 43 U.S.C. 1451 et seq., 54 U.S.C. 100101 et seq.,and other applicable law; and

(iii)  take action, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.

So I would guess that like all the other federal agencies anything about Black history, about women's rights, and anything about us will be erased!

Trump wants to reshape the Smithsonian. Who funds the vast institution?

The Smithsonian, tasked with telling the story of America, could see changes under Trump’s unprecedented executive order. What to know about how it operates.

The Washington Post

By Kelsey Ables

March 28, 2025

The Smithsonian, a sprawling, 21-museum institution tasked with telling the story of the United States and much more, could see changes under President Donald Trump, who in a Thursday executive order set his sights on ridding the institution of ideas that he says “undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States.”

[...]

Trump’s unprecedented call to influence programming at an institution that has operated largely independently for its more than 175-year history raises questions about the fate of millions of items the country holds in what’s sometimes called “the nation’s attic.”

But who runs and funds the Smithsonian and can Trump overhaul it like he is the federal government? Here’s what to know.

He sure thinks he can!

Is the Smithsonian a government agency?

No, the Smithsonian is not a federal agency but a “trust instrumentality” of the United States, tasked with carrying out the responsibilities undertaken by Congress when it accepted Smithson’s donation. It’s overseen by the secretary, currently Lonnie G. Bunch III, who is appointed by the Board of Regents — made up of the chief justice, vice president, three members of the Senate, three members of the House and nine citizens.

I would imagine that one of the targets for Trump & Company is...

In another case in 2010, then Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough forced the removal of a film by David Wojnarowicz from a National Portrait Gallery exhibition focusing on LGBTQ artists. The film, produced in the 1980s during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, briefly featured ants crawling on a crucifix and drew criticism from right-wing lawmakers.

“My observation is that those are pretty rare circumstances,” said Redman, but he’s concerned about the language in Trump’s order, and the idea “that there should be one version of American history.

His version!

Well that is what fascists' leaders do? Control history. Hitler did it. Stalin did it. Mao Zedong of China did it, North Korea's Kim Jong Un is doing it, and now Trump!

*****

Oh... and those two old photos are of the Nazis burning the books at... the library of the Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute of Sexology,

On 6 May 1933, the Institute of Sexology, an academic foundation devoted to sexological research and the advocacy of homosexual rights, was broken into and occupied by Nazi-supporting youth. Several days later the entire contents of the library were removed and burned.

I will ask the question at the being again, "Where else have we seen this before"?

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!

Saturday 9: Can't We Talk It Over (1950)

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

This weekend I have house guests for the weekend.

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

1) In this song, The Andrews Sisters plead for verbal communication.  Is there someone you'd like to engage in a heart-to-heart conversation?

Oh there are dozens and dozens who need a talking to but I’m too polite to butt in.

2) They want to sit together for this talk. Think about the most recent personal conversation you had. Was it in person, over the phone, or via Zoom?

In person.

3) This week's tune was written by Victor Young. He was prolific, earning 22 Oscar nominations in 18 years. (His one win came after his sudden death at age 57.) Think about your friends and family. Who is the most active, productive person you know?

She’s dead.

Hmm… I wonder if there is a link… hard working… die early.

4) The lyrics were written by Ned Washington, who is perhaps best remembered for "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Disney's Pinocchio. Do you believe, like Jiminy Cricket, that dreams come true?

Not all dreams but some do cone true and as the old saying goes… be careful what you wish for!

5) This week's song is performed by The Andrews Sisters -- LaVerne, Maxine and Patty. Do you have siblings? If yes, are you the oldest, the middle child, or the baby?

Just one older one and he is making me very nervous because he has Parkinson’s Disease.

6) With more than 80 million records sold, the Andrews Sisters remain one of the most successful female vocal groups of all time. Name another girl group.

Sticking with sisters… Heart

7) In 1950, the year "Can't We Talk It Over" was released, we were introduced to the Peanuts comic strip. Without looking it up, do you know who created Peanuts?

Kindof… Schulz, I will have to google him to find out his first name.

8) In 1950, most suitcases were hard sided rectangles, with no wheels and a small handle at the top. They came in colors like tan, copper, green and blue. What does your luggage look like?

Just a standard black bag with a handle and wheels.

9) Random question: Who was the last person to phone you? Did you pick up, or did it go to voice mail?

Some spammer… with just phone number and town shown of the Caller ID.

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!

Diseases Don't Care.

Disease is an equal opportunity inflector... It doesn't care what your politics are, it doesn't care if you are rich or poor, it doesn't care if you are black or white or Asian, it doesn't care if you are straight, gay, or trans.

When HIV was brought to America it could have been brought by a straight, married religious person, but it was brought here by a gay person and because of that the Republicans labeled it a gay disease by President Reagan!

‘It’s back to drug rationing’: the end of HIV was in sight. Then came the cuts

The abrupt halt to US funding threatens to undo decades of advances, dramatically increasing infections and deaths, but some see an opportunity for Africa to lead the response

The Guardian

By Kat Lay

March 18, 2025

This year the world should have been “talking about the virtual elimination of HIV” in the near future. “Within five years,” says Prof Sharon Lewin, a leading researcher in the field. “Now that’s all very uncertain.”

Scientific advances had allowed doctors and campaigners to feel optimistic that the end of HIV as a public health threat was just around the corner.

Then came the Trump administration’s abrupt cuts to US aid funding. Now the picture is one of a return to the drugs rationing of decades ago, and of rising infections and deaths.

But experts are also talking about building a new approach that would make health services, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, less vulnerable to the whims of a foreign power.

The US has cancelled 83% of its foreign aid contracts and dismantled USAid, the agency responsible for coordinating most of them.

Let's face it it Trump is a bigot! He hates anything LGBTQ+.

He is also considering cutting domestic funding!

Trump admin mulling over cutting HIV-prevention funds in US

The cuts would seem to run counter to a first-term Trump priority.

Politico

By Sophie Gardner

March 18, 2025

The Trump administration is discussing cuts to the CDC’s domestic HIV program, including funding for prevention, according to two former HHS officials who were granted anonymity to discuss their conversations with current staff.

No decision has been made and an HHS official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said that “if this decision is even made, this work would be continued elsewhere at HHS.”

In a statement, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told POLITICO that “HHS is following the Administration’s guidance and taking a careful look at all divisions to see where there is overlap that could be streamlined to support the President’s broader efforts to restructure the federal government.”

Nixon said the aim “is to ensure that HHS better serves the American people at the highest and most efficient standard. No final decision on streamlining CDC’s HIV Prevention Division has been made.”

But wait! There's more!

The  Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) reports that,

Eliminating this funding could jeopardize recent successes in addressing the nation’s HIV epidemic, including those related to the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Initiative, which the first Trump administration created, and among other activities, bolstered HIV prevention efforts at the CDC by providing additional funding to a subset of targeted “EHE” jurisdictions.  There has been a 12% decline in HIV incidence (new infections) nationally from 2018 to 2022 and a 21% decline in EHE jurisdictions between 2017 and 2022. CDC states that “increases in preexposure prophylaxis prescriptions, viral suppression, and HIV testing likely contributed to the decline,” activities that the agency has a core role in supporting.

He is also cutting research into new HIV drugs...

Trump’s Funding Cuts Halt Rollout Of HIV Prevention Drug

A groundbreaking injectable that would curb the spread of HIV is at risk due to Donald Trump's funding cuts on foreign aid.

Black Enterprise

A groundbreaking injectable designed to curb the global spread of HIV is now at risk of being delayed due to President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders.

Lenacapavir, an innovative twice-yearly injection that prevents HIV transmission, was recognized as the breakthrough medicine of 2024. However, Trump’s decision to freeze all foreign aid funding now jeopardizes its global distribution to millions in need, Wired reports.

Linda-Gail Bekker, 62, is a medical professor from the University of Cape Town who helped identify Lenacapavir. She attended the AIDS 2024 Conference held in Munich, Germany, last July and proudly presented the groundbreaking results of the PURPOSE 1 clinical trial she led. The study revealed that the Gilead Sciences-developed Lenacapavir could prevent sexual transmission of HIV with 100% efficacy by targeting the virus’s capsid protein, a crucial component for its replication.

Trump's loathing for anything LGBTQ+ is killing people!

But... But... It Is Against The Law!!!!

You all by now have heard about the flap over the classified material sent over the unclassified Signal platform... but everyone is missing the elephant in the room!

Rubio says someone made a 'big mistake' inviting journalist to Signal chat

BBC News

Summary

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio says "someone made a big mistake" inviting journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal group chat with top US officials, but he says none of the messages put the lives of service members at risk
• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticises The Atlantic's editor Goldberg as an "anti-Trump hater", as the Trump administration reacts to the fallout of the scandal
• She also repeats the Trump administration's position that there was no classified information in the leaked messages
• Messages from the group chat newly published by The Atlantic appear to show Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth sharing information about US air strikes on Yemen earlier this month
• One message from Hegseth outlines timings for "when the first bombs will definitely drop". We explain three sensitive messages from the Signal chat here
• Goldberg says he did not originally plan to publish the most sensitive messages from top US military and intelligence officials, but now wants the public to draw their own conclusions after the White House attempted to "downplay the significance" of the messages

That all misses the elephant!

Hint: The elephant is not the release of classified data.

Hint: The elephant is not that a reporter was invited into the room.

The elephant is: ‘Unlawful destruction of federal records’!

‘Unlawful destruction of federal records’: Hegseth, Rubio and others broke multiple laws by using ‘disappearing’ messaging app to discuss military strikes, watchdog says

Law & Crime

By Colin Kalmbacher

Mar 25th, 2025

Members of President Donald Trump‘s cabinet violated federal law by using the encrypted Signal messaging app to discuss military actions in the Middle East, a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington, D.C., alleges.

In a 16-page filing, nonprofit government transparency organization American Oversight alleges Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and various other Trump administration officials violated the Federal Records Act (FRA) during a multiple-day group chat about how to plan and “coordinate imminent U.S. military strikes in Yemen.”

The conversations in question occurred between March 11 and March 15, according to the lawsuit. The government’s use of the popular messaging app was first reported this week when the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, reported that he was accidentally added to the group chat by national security adviser Michael Waltz.

Here is where the crime took place...

“According to the Atlantic Article, at least one participant in the Signal chat enabled the function that makes messages disappear after set time limits,” the lawsuit claims. “Defendant Waltz set at least some messages to disappear after one week, and at least some messages to disappear after four weeks.”

That is against the law!

Not only that but it seems like with the Trump the practice of using Signal is common! Fortune writes that,

One former government security leader, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, told Fortune that all of the officials involved in the Signal group would have been required to preserve their communications under record laws.

The person added that none of the officials involved in the group chat had the authority to decide which of their communications did and didn’t apply to public record laws.

Jason R. Baron, a professor at the University of Maryland and the former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration, told The Atlantic: “Under the records laws applicable to the White House and federal agencies, all government employees are prohibited from using electronic-messaging applications such as Signal for official business unless those messages are promptly forwarded or copied to an official government account.”

The officials’ use of Signal has been criticized by other former officials, including former national security adviser under President Trump’s first administration, John Bolton.

Many of you know that I am on the Connecticut governor's advisory council and at the start of every meeting an announcement by Microsoft "Teams" says... "Recording in process." because of the FOI in Connecticut, but as usual Trump & Company ignores the laws!

---

Then the Trump administration does what it does best... lie.

The HuffPost writes...

John Ratcliffe, testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that CIA officials loaded the Signal messaging program onto his work computer on his first day on the job and told him that it was a “permissible work use” for certain purposes. “That is a practice that preceded the current administration to the Biden administration,” he said.

Former Biden officials, though, said that Signal was never permitted on their government phones.

“We were not allowed to have any messaging apps on our work phones,” said one former top national security official on the condition of anonymity. “And under no circumstances were unclassified messaging apps allowed to be used for transmission of classified material. This is misdirection at its worst.”

Just make things up! Lie, blame the other guy... but you know what people are being to see through that smoke screen. But the thing is even if Signal was used during the Biden administration why did they continue using it illegally? Two wrongs do not make a right.

“Russian professional hacking groups are employing the ‘linked devices’ feature to spy on encrypted conversations,” stated the advisory obtained by HuffPost titled “Signal Vulnerability.”

The document, which CBS also reported on Tuesday, explicitly states that “third-party messaging apps” like Signal “are NOT approved to process or store nonpublic unclassified information.”

That language suggests that the ban on using Signal on government mobile devices that existed during the Biden administration remained in effect at the time of the last month’s advisory — suggesting that the entire group chat that included Ratcliffe, Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, top White House aide Stephen Miller and a dozen others — was conducted over their personal cell phones.

This whole things sounds like something out of a Keystone Comedy movie. They didn't even think about using non-government phones, it was just second nature to them, and I have to wonder what else did they use their phones for?

---

Then we have Trump pour gas on a fire...

Transcript: Trump’s Angry Rant over Hegseth Fiasco Makes Scandal Worse

An interview with national security lawyer Bradley Moss, who explains why the stunning exposure of highly sensitive war-planning texts might have been unlawful—and reveals Trump as a disastrously failed leader.

The New Republic

By Greg Sargent

March 25, 2025

By now you may have heard that President Trump’s most senior officials discussed war plans on Signal, and that the group chat actually included Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic. Goldberg published his findings, and it caused an explosion in Washington with many Democrats calling for an investigation and even the occasional Republican slamming this as an unacceptable security breach. President Trump was asked about this, and shockingly he claimed not to know anything about it. What struck us though is what Trump didn’t say. He failed to say that he’s going to get to the bottom of this mess and that it should have never happened. Today, we’re trying to dig through all this with the perfect guest, veteran national security lawyer Bradley Moss. Brad, thanks for coming on, man.

He was probably out playing golf!

 [...]

Sargent: That brings me to the next point here: what Donald Trump had to say about this. He was asked about it, and here’s what happened.

Reporter (audio voiceover): Your reaction to the story from The Atlantic that said that some of your top Cabinet officials and aides had been discussing very sensitive material through Signal and they included in an Atlantic reporter for that? What is your response to that?

Donald Trump (audio voiceover): I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me, it’s a magazine that’s going out of business. I think it’s not much of a magazine. But I know nothing about it. You’re saying that they had what?

Reporter (audio voiceover): They were using Signal to coordinate on sensitive materials

Trump (audio voiceover): Having to do with what? Having to do with what? What were they talking about?

Reporter (audio voiceover): —with the Houthis.

Trump (audio voiceover): The Houthis, you mean the attack on the Houthis?

Reporter (audio voiceover): That’s correct.

Trump (audio voiceover): Well, it couldn’t have been very effective because the attack was very effective, I can tell you that. I don’t know anything about it. You’re telling me about it for the first time.

Then the article goes on to discuss the legalities of using Signal and discussing classified material and Trump has no idea what they are talking about... he is in the dark.

Sargent: Let’s go back to what you brought up earlier, which is the legality of this. It seems like it’s cause for serious investigation. It looks as if Mike Waltz, the national security adviser, coordinated this communication, so it’s possible some laws were violated, right? Can you walk us through that?

Moss: Sure. This would almost certainly violate the Espionage Act in that they were placing classified information or, more broadly, national defense information into an unauthorized location, namely the Signal chat, which is not authorized to contain classified discussions. They were disseminating it to other individuals. It’s questionable whether or not everybody in that chat had the requisite need to know; but putting that aside, they’re disseminating it to Jeffrey Goldberg. For whatever reason that these various individuals put him on, that is in and of itself a violation of the Espionage Act and a couple different statutory provisions that don’t even require willful intent but simply have to do with you gave it to an unauthorized third party.

In any other world, in any other time in D.C. politics and governance, this would be a cause for immediate congressional investigations. It would be cause for immediate internal inquiries to determine why this was allowed to happen, to what extent this is a larger problem, and to what extent people involved on these chats cross the line into civil or criminal liability. In the world of Donald Trump and his presidency, it is unlikely that any of that will happen unless and until the Democratic Party finds a way to gather itself together and win the midterms to at least have some oversight authority. I have no reason to believe it’ll happen for the next two years though.

It more and more seems like Trump is just the "front person" and has no idea what's happening.

It has taken a British media to push the question that is not being asked, of the elephant in the room.

The real problem with the Signal chat leak is it shows systemic dishonesty

Joseph Gedeon and Hugo Lowell in Washington

High-ranking officials can spill military secrets with apparent near-total immunity and no accountability

The Guardian

March 27, 2025

The problem with the now infamous Signal chat read around the world is not just that sensitive military-operations details were broadcast, but that this reveals a pattern of what appears to be institutional dishonesty inside the Trump administration and the legal ramifications that presents.

The leak exposes a system of broken accountability, where high-ranking officials can spill military secrets with apparent near-total immunity. Despite potential violations of classification protocols, federal record-keeping laws and promises of operational security, the leaders look to face no meaningful legal consequences.

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, and the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, have doubled down on the administration’s position that none of the messages in the Signal chat were classified, claiming they amounted to a “team update” that did not name intelligence-collection sources or methods.

Right now they are in "Circle the wagons" mode. The "Rally around the flag" mode or in this case "Rally around cult leader for he can do no wrong!"

A former White House official said that while many in the government use Signal for convenience, this incident can only be summed up as “complete amateur hour”, and that Hegseth’s over-sharing would have resulted in immediate security-clearance revocation in previous administrations.

A three ring circus is more like it!

More than a dozen top-level Trump administration leaders use a Signal group chat, rather than secure government communication channels that they are all well aware of, which raises additional questions about information handling.

Just a reminder... Trump fired the Department of Defense inspector general! And Congress doesn't have any backbone like they did in the Nixon era.

The immediate legal consequence is likely to come in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday that accuses Hegseth; the CIA director, John Ratcliffe; the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and others of flouting federal records retention laws.

In the 18-page suit, the watchdog group American Oversight asks a federal judge to compel the Trump administration to preserve the messages in the Signal chat, arguing that the use of a function that automatically deleted the messages after a certain time was unlawful.

It should be interesting to see what Trump has to say about these judges!

---

Update: 3/30 @ 2AM

The fallout continues!

'A bad signal': Trump team's shifting SignalGate explanation

How did The Alantic magazine's editor wind up in a group chat where officials discussed imminent airstrikes? The Trump team's explanations clash.

By Erin Mansfield

USA TODAY

March 29, 2025

To Donald Trump, the SignalGate disclosure was a mistake. The CIA director said his involvement was legal, while the director of national intelligence appeared to dodge a senator's questions about it. And the defense secretary forcefully denied sharing classified airstrike plans in a group chat − and attacked the journalist who received them.

As members of the Trump administration scrambled to answer questions this week about how, why and what they discussed on a group chat that included The Atlantic magazine's top editor, they sent different messages about who was responsible − even as the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee called for an independent investigation.

“It's difficult to tell whether this is a coordinated effort to confuse the situation or if the level of incompetence and disregard for security is so steep that they really don't know who is at fault for this mess," said Kurt Braddock, a public communication professor at American University. "It could very well be both.”

When you appoint idiots to cabinet heads you are going to get incompetent people who have no business experience you are going to get these "F**k-ups."

“It would be fair to characterize that kind of information as operationally sensitive information that should not be released outside of government channels until the operation is concluded,” said Patrick Eddington, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute who has other criticisms of Goldberg's story.

If it wasn't so serious it would almost be comical the way Trump's circus is running around in circles! But everything is going to be okay because they called in the Ace Fixer Upper... Musk!

Waltz said he was working with tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk and “the best technical minds looking at how this happened." He suggested Goldberg’s number was in his contacts under another person’s name.

But of course the Republicans do what come natural to them... lie! 

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, whom The Atlantic reported was in the chat, told a Senate panel Tuesday his contributions were “entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”

They keep digging the deeper and deeper,

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters he was on the Signal chat in order to update members of Congress and foreign allies, and that his contributions were minimal.

“Obviously someone made a mistake,” Rubio said.

And let's not forget Mr. Secretary that the use of the Signal App is illegal for government employees! It violates the Federal Records Act! So you have wonder... what are they hiding from the public?

***

HuffPost UK...

Writing for The New York Times, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton railed against the “latest in a string of self-inflicted wounds” caused by President Donald Trump’s administration this week, after The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he’d been added to a group Signal chat discussing plans to strike Yemen.

Clinton’s reaction is notable because, about a decade ago, some of the same Republicans now playing down the Signal scandal relentlessly accused her of mishandling classified information as secretary of state because she had used a private email server to send official messages.

Of course the Republicans don't think that they've done anything wrong! In another HuffPost article...

Trump Says He Won't 'Fire People' Over Signal Messages, Reiterates Support Of National Security Team

President Donald Trump is making his clearest commitment to not fire anyone over an embarrassing accidental leak of his administration’s plans for an airstrike against the Houthis in Yemen.

But don't forget that the Republicans issued over 70 subpoenas and letters investigating Clinton's emails... but zero for Signal Gate!

So stay tune for the latest in the Signal gate saga.

Mini-Post: Way To Go Maine!

Go Maine!

The governor tell Trump... Stop picking on us and get your own house it order!

Janet Mills unloads on Donald Trump after he demands apology

Bangor Daily News

by Kathleen O'Brien and Billy Kobin

March 24, 2025

Gov. Janet Mills doubled down Monday, saying she stands for “the rule of law” after President Donald Trump asked her over the weekend to apologize for their February confrontation over Maine’s transgender athlete policies.

Without referring to Trump by name, Mills also said “if the current occupant of the White House wants to protect women and girls, he should start by protecting the women and teenage girls who are suffering miscarriages and dying because they can’t get basic, life-saving health care in states across this country.”

Mills, Maine’s first female governor and former attorney general, also rattled off other suggestions for Trump, such as how he should protect Social Security and Medicare for elderly women amid Trump, his “government efficiency” czar Elon Musk and GOP lawmakers eyeing the programs in their ongoing efforts to cut federal jobs and programs.

She will not back down to Trump & Company!

Mills said Monday that she does not communicate with public officials “by social media.” While criticizing Trump’s tariffs on Canada, she also noted the Constitution says the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed” and that it does not allow Trump “to make laws out of gold cloth or by tweet or Instagram posts or press release or executive order.”

[...]

“Let’s talk about the price of gas and the price of bread and automobiles,” Mills said. “Nothing’s going down. Everything’s going up.”

Way to go governor!

The Robber Barons II

Tell me does it seems like we are going backwards? Backward to the time of the Roaring Twenties and then further back to the era of the Robber Barons what do they have in common?

There are two things in common with back then and now. First all three eras started wit the concentration of wealth! Second, the end of the Robber Barons era and the end of the "Great Depression" resulted in creation of regulatory agencies. Laws like the children labor laws were created to stop young children from working in factories and on farms. The child safety laws did allow younger children to work on farms then in factories.

But now they want to repeal the age limits to work on the farms to make it even young!

Florida debates lifting some child labor laws to fill jobs vacated by undocumented immigrants

CNN

By Jordan Valinsky

March 25, 2025

Florida has been working for years to crack down on employers that hire undocumented immigrants. But that presented a problem for businesses in the state that are desperate for workers to fill low-wage and often undesirable jobs.

Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state legislature have a potential solution: children.

The state’s legislature on Tuesday advanced a bill that would loosen child labor laws, allowing children as young as 14 years old to work overnight shifts. If the new law is passed, teenagers would be able to work overnight jobs on school days. They are currently prevented from working earlier than 6:30 am or later than 11 pm per state law.

The bill passed through the Florida Senate’s Commerce and Tourism committee on Tuesday with five votes in favor of the loosened child labor restrictions and four against them. The bill will pass through two other relevant committees before being put to a vote with the full Florida Senate.

We are now entering the second era of the Robber Barons!

---

Updated: 5:00PM

Good News! Finally.

Another judge just said, "Not so fast!" lets slow it down and come to court. AP News reports that...

Transgender Americans aim to block Trump’s passport policy change

By  MICHAEL CASEY and RODRIQUE NGOWI
March 25, 2025

When Ash Lazarus Orr went to renew his passport in early January, the transgender organizer figured it would be relatively routine.

But more than two months on, Orr is waiting to get a new passport with a name change and a sex designation reflecting who he is. The delay has prevented him from traveling overseas to receive gender-affirming care this month in Ireland since he refuses to get a passport that lists an “inaccurate sex designation.”

 

[...]

 

 The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the federal government on their behalf and was in court Tuesday in Boston seeking a preliminary injunction, which would put the policy on hold while the lawsuit proceeds in court. It is the only lawsuit of its kind filed so far.

“This policy is not a passport policy. It’s an anti-trans policy and the executive order is very clear about that,” ACLU lawyer Li Nowlin-Soul, said after the court hearing. “It’s very important to take up this fight because there are so many attacks on trans people right now ... The government has given no justification for why this policy has been put in place.”

The results of that hearing...

US judge questions Trump's passport policy targeting transgender people
Reuters

By Nate Raymond
March 25, 2025

 

Summary

• Judge Julia Kobick sharply questioned Trump administration's defense of policy
• Biden administration allowed passports listing "X" for sex marker

 A federal judge pushed President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday to justify why it could lawfully refuse to issue passports to transgender and nonbinary Americans that reflect their gender identities.

U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick during a hearing in Boston appeared open to arguments by lawyers for seven transgender and nonbinary people that the policy the Department of State adopted at the Republican president's direction was discriminatory.

 

[...]

 

 Kobick, an appointee of Trump's Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, did not immediately rule on whether the policy should be blocked. But she sharply questioned a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice about why the policy was justified.

You know darn well that Trump and his cult followers will be screaming "Activist Judge!" from his "Truth Social."

Courts are Pumping the Brakes on Trump’s Anti-Trans Crusade
Scott Skinner-Thompson Associate Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School

 

In response to the Trump administration’s efforts to deny the existence of transgender people and erase them from public life, many brave transgender people and their allies went to court. Those lawsuits are already starting to pay dividends as judges recognize what is all too plain: Trump’s efforts to scapegoat transgender people are rooted in nothing more than a discriminatory bare desire to harm and, if implemented, will inflict irreparable injury on transgender people.

[...]

The reasoning of these courts builds off decades of jurisprudence protecting transgender people from intentional discrimination—including the Supreme Court’s own decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, protecting transgender people from employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Of course, there is a long road ahead and lower courts have yet to reach decisions in several pending cases regarding the Trump administration’s anti-transgender orders, including the ban on passports and participation in women’s sports. And there is no guarantee that the current Supreme Court will ultimately agree that the anti-trans executive orders are just that—anti-trans. But early indications suggest that federal courts are going to be an import bulwark—even if not ultimately a panacea—for protecting transgender rights and recognizing the humanity of transgender lives.

That is why Trump and his cult followers are jumping up and down yelling to impeach the judges!

This from earlier in the month... ABC News writes,

As Donald Trump seeks to reshape the federal government at breakneck speed, his administration has encountered a flood of litigation challenging the legality of its early actions in office.

With more than 100 federal lawsuits filed since the inauguration, Trump and his administration have effectively been sued three times for every business day he has occupied the Oval Office.

Approximately 30 of the 100 lawsuits relate to Trump's immigration policies, while more than 20 of the cases directly challenge the actions of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. Ten of the cases challenge Trump policies relating to transgender people, and more than 20 cases oppose the president's unilateral changes to federal funding, government hiring and the structure of agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In Congress Representatives Andrew Clyde and Andy Ogles have submitted resolutions to impeach judges who have ruled against Trump's initiatives, such as deportations under the Alien Enemies Act

Arm Twisting!

You can really blame them, lose of federal funding can make the difference between a hospital staying open or closing. The law firm that caved in; yeah, I can blame them but not the hospitals. The hospitals are vital for a community, it is not just us that will be affected by the extortion (It is extortion pure and simple.) but everyone who lives in the area.

What happens when a Chicago hospital bows to federal pressure on trans care for teens

NPR News

By Kristen Schorsch

March 25, 2025

He's 17 and lives in the Chicago suburbs. He loves theater and recently helped direct a play at his high school. He takes competitive AP courses and is working on his Eagle Scout project.

And he's been on a journey for four years.

But then along came Trump on his pogrom to erase us!

His mom, Jane, waited for a call to schedule the surgery at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital. Then, she received a voicemail from the hospital. Before she even listened to it, she knew what they would say — the surgery wouldn't happen.

They are extorting medical facilities with the loss of funding and the medical centers are running scared!

"We are being threatened," she said. "The trans community is being threatened and parents are being threatened. … We will do what we need to do to take care of our children."

[...]

These families fear that they eventually could lose access to all gender-affirming care, such as therapy, puberty blockers and hormones. They've also questioned why Illinois state officials who have vowed to protect transgender rights have been quiet on what's happening at Lurie and elsewhere. Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago has also stopped surgeries for minors, families tell NPR.

---

The Times Union from Albany NY writes,

Many transgender and gender-expansive New Yorkers rely on Medicaid for lifesaving care, including hormone therapy and surgery. These services are not optional; they are essential: They help trans individuals live authentically and reduce their risk of suicide, depression and other mental health challenges. And yet gender-affirming care is directly in the crosshairs of a right-wing agenda determined to erase protections for transgender people.

A federal Medicaid ban on gender affirming care would disproportionately harm a community already facing higher rates of HIV, homelessness and discrimination. It would also undermine decades of progress in public health and LGBTQ+ rights.

The Republicans don't care who they hurt as they push their political agenda on us!

Creating an alternative funding pool to cover gender-affirming care, strengthening shield laws, and expanding the Lorena Borjas Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund are not just the right things to do; they will save lives and reaffirm our state’s leadership in the fight for equality.

There is a program in Connecticut that I'm trying to find more about that pays for those who come out of state for trans healthcare will get reimbursed for their motel bills.

It is not just our healthcare being affected but also research as AP News writes...

A surge of grant cancellations hit researchers focused on the health of gay, lesbian and transgender people last week, as the Trump administration continues to target what it describes as ideologically driven science.

Last week the U.S. government terminated at least 68 grants to 46 institutions totaling nearly $40 million when awarded, according to a government website. Some of the grant money has already been spent, but at least $1.36 million in future support was yanked as a result of the cuts, a significant undercount because estimates were available for less than a third of grants.

Most were in some way related to sexual minorities, including research focused on HIV prevention. Other canceled studies centered on cancer, youth suicide and bone health.

Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon said the agency is “dedicated to restoring our agencies to their tradition of upholding gold-standard, evidence-based science.” The grants were awarded by the National Institutes of Health, an agency under HHS.

That is Nineteen Eighty-Four "Newspeak" is that we cut all funding to anything LGBTQ+ including research for communicable diseases!

Mini-Post: If You Can't Control It... Delete It.

The Trump administration has been getting defeated in the courts so as part their usual MO attack those who they don't like, so true to form...

US House Speaker Johnson says Congress can 'eliminate' district courts

Reuters

By David Morgan and Nate Raymond

March 25, 2025

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday warned that Congress' authority over the federal judiciary includes the power to eliminate entire district courts, as the White House rails against "activist" judges blocking Republican President Donald Trump's agenda.

Johnson, the top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, told reporters the numerous injunctions issued by judges nationally that have stymied Trump's initiatives were part of a "dangerous trend."

"It violates separation of powers when a judge thinks that they can enjoin something that a president is doing, that the American people voted for," Johnson said during his weekly press conference.

He said the House Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing next week "to highlight these abuses" and had recently advanced legislation that would prevent district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions blocking policies.

This is typical Republican behavior!

We Don't Have Any Choices...

... On picking our parents sometimes we luck out, while other times... Well you could have Elon Musk for a father.

Elon Musk's Estranged Daughter Recalls How the CEO's Reaction to Her Coming Out as Trans Differed from Mom Justine Wilson

Vivian Wilson came out as transgender through an Instagram Stories post in 2020

People

By Nicholas Rice 

March 23, 2025

Vivian Wilson, the daughter of Elon Musk and Justine Wilson, is recalling the differing reactions she got from her parents when she came out as transgender.

Vivian, 20, told Teen Vogue in an interview published on March 20 that her mom was more supportive than the Tesla CEO, 53, when she confirmed her gender identity to them in 2020.

"She was very supportive of my transition," Vivian told the outlet of mom Justine, 52. "She is a published writer of supernatural romance fiction, which is where I get all my Vivian-isms."

"When I came out to her, she was like, 'Yeah, that figures.' She kind of [pieced it together], so when I came out, she pretended to be slightly surprised for 30 seconds and then was like, 'Yeah, honey. Okay,' " she continued.

As for Musk, Vivian told Teen Vogue, "He was not as supportive as my mom," adding: "First of all, I had not talked to him in months — in months — so I had to get f------ parental consent to get testosterone blockers and [hormone replacement therapy]."

We all share "Coming Out" to our parents or family. One time at the beginning of Fantasia Fair (Now TransWeek) the B&B where we stayed had a number of women still there from Women's Week and we were all sitting in the wine & chesses hour at the B&B. The trans people on one side and the lesbians on the other side and it was our coming out stories that brought us together.

"It was 11:00 p.m., and I was like, I know for a fact I am trans. I had known for a few months at that point, and I was like, I cannot f------ do this anymore," she said. "That was the point where puberty was really picking up and everything in my life was completely falling apart."

"I was constantly having mental breakdowns in the middle of class. I could not get through days. I didn't want to wake up, I didn't want to do anything," Vivian continued. "I just wanted to rot, pretty much."

She added: "It was like, I cannot do this anymore. If I stay in the closet anymore, this is going to take me down a very destructive path."

For me I curled up and cried for hours when I realized that I had to transition.

As for where her relationship with her father stands currently, Vivian and the SpaceX founder are estranged. In the past, Musk has said that he was "tricked" into allowing Vivian to undergo transgender-related medical treatment when she was 16 — a claim that Vivian, who legally filed to change her name and gender in 2022 at age 18, denied in an interview with NBC News, referring to it as a "lie."

That is probably one of the motivating factors that Trump & Company are attacking on the trans community!

Mini-Post: Those Who Control The Media

During World War II, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels controlled the media during World War II and now the Republicans following in his footsteps...

Opinion | Today’s ‘anti-American’ hearing could wreck public media

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s hearing kicks off today, with PBS and NPR leaders set to testify amid growing calls to defund public media

Poynter

By: Tom Jones

March 26, 2025

Today is a big day on Capitol Hill as leaders from PBS and NPR face Congress in a DOGE subcommittee hearing being called — how’s this for grim? — “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.” Even more ominous, it’s headed up by Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Greene is planning to call Paula Kerger, the chief executive of PBS, and Katherine Maher, the chief executive of NPR, to testify. Greene is also pushing to defund PBS and NPR, which has plenty of support among Republicans.

[...]

Greene said, “I think the important thing for Americans to ask is: Is this where our taxpayer money needs to go? To extremely left-leaning broadcasting and political bias that doesn’t represent all of America?”

The thing is... to the Republicans "Fair and Balanced" means Fox News! ChatGPT says this about NPR & PBS to the question: How does PBS and NPR stack up against the rest of the media?

While no media organization is completely free from bias, studies and analyses suggest that PBS and NPR strive for neutrality in their coverage, though they are sometimes criticized for being more liberal-leaning on certain social issues. However, they tend to be less sensational than commercial outlets.

Political Donations or Extortion?

You have to wonder if this is the 1890s all over again? Take a look at the political cartoons from the era it could very well be now. The way that the oligarchs were broken was first with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, Theodore Roosevelt used the law to break up the monopolies and he was nicknamed "trust-busting" Roosevelt. The other weapon used to break up the monopolies were... TAXES.

The income tax was created in 1914 (You remember that Al Capone was busted for income tax evasion.)

Musk donates thousands to GOP members of Congress pushing to impeach judge who oppose Trump: Report

Trump push to impeach judges come as administration is accused of defying federal court order on deportation flights

Independent

By Josh Marcus

20 March 2025

Elon Musk has reportedly donated to seven Republican members of Congress, all of whom support the Trump administration’s calls to impeach or ignore federal judges who have halted parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Musk, who has claimed in recent days that such judges are leading a “judicial coup,” gave thousands of dollars in donations each to Representatives Eli Crane of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin and Brandon Gill of Texas, and Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, according to The New York Times.

The reported recipients are among the loudest voices in Congress pushing to impeach or to otherwise constrain the judges.

"Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching!"

The Republicans lawmakers are quacking in their boots to keep on the right side of Musk.

If the lawmakers don't follow the party line then just like the 1930 the enforcers take over...

Republicans terrified of crossing Trump due to physical threats, Democrat says

Eric Swalwell says threats to them and their families are stopping GOP officials from criticizing president

The Guardian

By Robert Tait

Thu 27 Feb 2025

Republicans on Capitol Hill are shying away from criticizing Donald Trump’s policies over fears for their physical safety and that of their families, a Democratic member of Congress has said.

Eric Swalwell, a Democratic representative from California, said his Republican colleagues were “terrified” of crossing Trump not only because of the negative impact on their political careers, but also from anxiety that it might provoke physical threats that could cause personal upheaval and require them to hire round-the-clock security as protection.

[...]

“I have a lot of friends who are Republicans,” he said. “They are terrified of being the tallest poppy in the field, and it’s not as simple as being afraid of being primaried and losing their job. They know that that can happen.

History has a lot to tell from the 1890s and the 1930s

I will not say that "We have the best government can buy" because this is more like extortion.

Extortion!

That is what it is... pure and simple extortion. You give me what I want and I will not tie you up in court. That is Trump's MO and it worked.

Legal community shaken by a powerful law firm's decision to give in to Trump's demands

President Donald Trump rescinded his executive order targeting Paul Weiss — after the law firm agreed to certain conditions.

NBC News

By Ryan J. Reilly and Lawrence Hurley

March 21, 2025

On Thursday, the powerful law firm Paul Weiss caved.

It agreed to give Donald Trump’s administration $40 million in free legal work for causes the president supports and, according to a social media post from Trump, get rid of any internal diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

In response, Trump rescinded his executive order that targeted the firm and could have cost it significant business.

STOP Right there! "...rescinded his executive order that targeted..." to me that sounds an awful lot like extortion.

The agreement shocked many in the legal community, and for Rachel Cohen, an associate at another large firm — Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP — it was the final straw.

Yeah, well it shocks me! And it is not just me that's upset... it is the legal profession!

---

Now the dean of Columbia University said...

Columbia Journalism Dean Says His Comments on Self Censorship Were Meant to Protect Foreign Students

Jelani Cobb told students, “nobody can protect you. These are dangerous times” in a meeting earlier this week 

The Wrap

By Ross A. Lincoln

March 13, 2025

In a statement Thursday night Jelani Cobb, dean of Columbia Journalism School, said that comments he made this week that critics blasted as effective surrender to Donald Trump’s war on immigrants and the press were taken out of context by the New York Times. They were intended to protect foreign students, he says, and not intended as a directive to journalist.

On Wednesday, the New York Times published an account of an off-the-record meeting held Tuesday at Columbia with journalim students, where Cobb and adjuct professor Stuart Karle addressed concerns about Trump’s attacks on the university, and his administration’s detainment of recent Columbia grad Mahmoud Khalil.

During the meeting, Karle warned students with foreign visas, “if you have a social media page, make sure it is not filled with commentary on the Middle East.” According to NYT, when one Palestinian student objected, Cobb said, “Nobody can protect you. These are dangerous times.”

Killing the First Amendment!