Scr*wed Again!

I am sick and tired of hearing “religious freedom” used as a justification for harm—especially when many of the states that have banned conversion therapy, including Connecticut, have done so to protect people’s health and well-being.

Supreme Court says state bans on ‘conversion therapy’ violate counselors’ free speech rights

The Los Angles Times

By David G. Savage

March 31, 2026

• The ruling in a Colorado case is likely to invalidate similar bans in California and 23 other states.
• It is the third significant defeat at the Supreme Court for LGBTQ-rights advocates in the past year.

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that state laws forbidding “conversion therapy” for minors violate the free-speech rights of licensed counselors.

The court said Colorado’s law violates the 1st Amendment, and the ruling is likely to invalidate similar laws in California and 23 other states.

In an 8-1 decision, the justices said Colorado’s ban on “talk therapy” may prevent Christian counselors from helping teens work through their feelings about sexual attractions or their gender identity.

[...]

“Colorado may regard its policy as essential to public health and safety. Certainly, censorious governments throughout history have believed the same. But the 1st Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country,” Gorsuch wrote. “... However well-intentioned, any law that suppresses speech based on viewpoint represents an ‘egregious’ assault on both of those commitments.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented alone in a 35-page opinion.

Do you know what PubMed is? It is the medical databased of peer-reviewed medical studies.

Understanding harms associated with gender identity conversion efforts among transgender and nonbinary individuals: The role of preexisting mental well-being

Int J Transgend Health

2024 Apr 4

Tural Mammadli, Jarrod Call, Darren L Whitfield, Brendon T Holloway, N Eugene Walls

Abstract

Background: Affirmation of gender identity is critical for the mental health and overall well-being of transgender and nonbinary (TNB) persons. Gender identity conversion efforts (GICE), an outlawed practice for licensed professionals in numerous U.S. jurisdictions, have been associated with negative mental health and substance use outcomes. Limited previous literature examining GICE exposure has been criticized for failing to distinguish mental well-being for TNB persons before or after GICE. Our study builds on current literature by examining differences in TNB persons' psychosocial risk indicators based on their GICE exposure, accounting for pre-GICE mental well-being. Methods: We conducted a secondary data analysis using the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (N = 25,810), the largest available national survey aimed at understanding TNB persons' experiences. Using logistic regression models, we examined how GICE exposure (disaggregated by temporal precedence of initial suicide attempts) is related to health (psychological distress, extra-medical prescription use, healthcare avoidance), socio-structural (public restroom avoidance, housing instability), and interpersonal outcomes (sexual assault, emotional and physical intimate partner violence (IPV)). Results and conclusions: Initiating a suicide attempt post-GICE or in the absence of GICE were the only consistently significant predictors of poor outcomes across all domains compared to participants who never experienced GICE or attempted suicide. Findings suggest, however, that a combination of GICE with a history of suicide attempts (pre- or post-GICE) was indicative of the highest risk across outcomes, highlighting the particularly hazardous nature of combining poor mental well-being and GICE exposures. Our study adds much-needed complexity to our understanding of how GICE exposure's role in the well-being of TNB persons may differ related to their pre-GICE mental health. Our findings add further credence to previous studies identifying harms associated with GICE exposure, regardless of pre-GICE mental well-being.

These studies consistently show that conversion therapy leads to higher psychological distress, increased substance use, greater healthcare avoidance, and a higher risk of violence and instability (such as housing insecurity).

The Supreme Court has disregarded our pain and suffering. What about our rights?

In the PubMed study “Lifetime Exposure to Conversion Therapy and Psychosocial Health Among Midlife and Older Adult Men Who Have Sex With Men,” the findings are clear: the effects last a lifetime. The study looked specifically at midlife and older adults and found links to depression, PTSD symptoms, internalized stigma, and overall poorer psychosocial health.

Yet the courts are putting “religious freedom” over our health.

The Supreme Court disregarded our pain and suffering! What about our rights? In the PubMed article "Lifetime Exposure to Conversion Therapy and Psychosocial Health Among Midlife and Older Adult Men Who Have Sex With Men" that effects last a lifetime and results in; tudy looked specifically at midlife and older adults and found links to: depression, PTSD symptoms, internalized stigma, and overall poorer psychosocial health!

Yet the courts are putting “religious freedom” over our health.

This is not "Speech" it medical care! 

---

This was delayed because of the paperwork I have to do, my identity was stolen yesterday... tons and tons of paperwork. I was at the police station filing a report.

On The Road To...

Bob Hope did a series of movies call "Road to..."

Trump is on the road to ruin... he brags about the country's 250 Anniversary and is even having a coin with his image upon it like a Roman Caesar! Well the question is will we make it to July?

Between Trump's War and what it is doing to the economy with gas prices skyrocketing and the stock market diving it sure raises the questions. In Iran Trump is going through ordnance bring down our stockpiles of missiles. There are military leaders and retirees who in private worry that with the stockpiles low that China might think it is a good time to go after Taiwan.

While others worry about the growing Christian Nationalists in the military!

Invoking faith in wartime, Pete Hegseth breaks norms and worries critics

The Washington Post

Story by Michelle Boorstein

March 29, 2026

U.S. military leaders have long understood the power and perils of invoking faith — especially in wartime.

Facing the Germans in World War II, Gen. George Patton ordered a chaplain to write an interfaith prayer for troops to say on the battlefield.

It took just a week in September 2001 for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to change the name of the campaign against terrorism from Operation Infinite Justice to Operation Enduring Freedom — a switch meant to clarify that the U.S. was not in a religious war.

[...]

But those longtime norms are being upended by the proselytizing Christian campaign of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, say multiple former high-ranking military officials and experts on religion and law. Rather than boosting cohesion through a more universal spiritual uplift, they say, the new approach violates the Constitution and undermines the bonds of mutual respect between troops that are essential, especially in wartime.

Hegseth lives in a dream world Walter Mitty and that is very, very scary! He imagines himself in armor on a white horse with a Crusader's flag!

“The American military has had a remarkable ride of equanimity and fairness and justice and all manner of good adjectives with regard to religion. It’s done this in a way that’s really remarkable — until now,” said retired Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to Colin Powell when he was secretary of state and then was chair of the Joint Chiefs. Hegseth’s actions, Wilkerson said, “are totally violative of everything that transpired before it. This has come on us in a very quick fashion.”

[...]

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Randy Manner, who was second-in-command at the National Guard from 2011 to 2012, has worked in recent years to train hundreds of interfaith military chaplains. Manner said he has talked with “dozens and dozens” of active-duty chaplains in recent weeks who say those who don’t identify with Hegseth “are being marginalized.” They feel they can’t voice their concerns to their own superiors, he said, and feel their work as the primary advocate for troops’ spiritual, mental and moral health is being threatened.

“I’ve had people tell me they’re not included in staff meetings,” Manner said.

He sees the war as a "Just" war to bring the true faith to the infidels!   

At Pentagon Christian service, Hegseth prays for violence ‘against those who deserve no mercy’

AP News

By  TIFFANY STANLEY

March 25, 2026

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, hosting his first monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began, prayed Wednesday to have “every round find its mark.”

“Every month it is fitting to be right here,” he told the gathered civilian employees and uniformed military personnel. “All the more fitting this month, at this moment, given what tens of thousands of Americans are doing right now.”

He read a prayer he said was first given by a military chaplain to the troops who captured then-President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.

“Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation,” Hegseth prayed during the livestreamed service. “Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

He is on the road to war crimes!

During the expanding Iran war and global conflicts, Hegseth’s Christian rhetoric has drawn renewed scrutiny, including his past defense of the Crusades, the brutal medieval wars that pitted Christians against Muslims.

Statements of faith are common in American public life, across political parties and religious traditions. Pentagon aides and Hegseth’s defenders pull examples from history, such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s support of giving Bibles to troops. Hegseth regularly cites George Washington, who pushed to establish the military chaplain corps.

Hegseth often goes beyond standard calls for God to bless the country or its troops. Last week, he asked Americans to pray for service members “in the name of Jesus Christ.” On Wednesday, he again prayed in Jesus’ name.

We are floundering we are on the road to disaster!  The Washington Post goes on to write,

Americans United earlier this week sued the Defense Department for not turning over public records requests about the Hegseth-led Christian prayer services at the Pentagon. In a release, it said Hegseth is abusing his position and taxpayer funds to impose his preferred religion.

“Even if these prayer services are presented as voluntary, there is pressure on federal employees to attend in order to appease their bosses — especially since these services occur amidst the Trump administration’s campaign to punish anyone who doesn’t comply with its Christian Nationalist agenda,” AU wrote.

Hegseth’s change comes as the Supreme Court has in recent years weakened church-state separation and supercharged the free exercise of religion. Among the concepts the justices are reexamining are what constitutes religious coercion and an illegal government “establishment” of religion.

Couple an military with a Christian Nationalist and we have a problem! A question arises, is Hegseth promoting generals with his religious views and firing those who don't?

Hegseth wrote a book called American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free! This is the cover to the book...

Hegseth’s pastor said...

“I think the morale is very high, because we don’t have admirals in dresses, who aren’t supposed to be wearing dresses. Pete’s emphasis on lethality and warrior readiness is, for the average sailor or marine — that’s just the jam,” Wilson said. “People feel like someone is running this department who wakes up in the morning knowing what he thinks.”

Hitler Youth?

I know that is a powerful headline but that is what I thought when I read this...

Scouting America moves to shed ‘woke’ label with major recommitment to military, traditional American values

Chief Scout Executive Roger Krone says about 70% of sponsoring organizations are churches and the program is 'very apolitical'

By Charles Creitz , Andrew Mark Miller  Fox News

Published March 28, 2026

Scouting America, the Texas-based national organization founded as the Boy Scouts of America, is working to shed claims it has gone "woke" in recent years as it renews its focus on training young people with life skills, providing fun and educational outdoor experiences and revitalizing its partnership with the U.S. military.

Since its inception by Lt. Gen. Robert Baden-Powell in February 1910, what is now Scouting America has remained dedicated to providing the key life tenets of faith, character and service to young people, as in one example it eliminated an otherwise recently conceived "DEI" merit badge and replaced it with a military-centric one.

Chief Scout Executive Roger Krone told Fox News Digital that scouts have been central to key moments in history, a testament to the program’s values, importance and longevity.

Boy does that sound like they want to make it into a para-military organization?

Business Insider wrote,

Merit badges that "mask" DEI "activism" have been "discontinued," he said, and a new military service badge will be added, in partnership with the Pentagon.

So they are even going to have a merit badge like the Hitler Youth Proficiency Badge of the 1930s and 40s!

Beginning in 2012, "the Boy Scouts lost their way," Hegseth said in the Friday post. "A once great organization became gravely wounded. Diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI, crept in. The name was changed to 'Scouting America.' Girls were accepted. The focus on God as the ruler of the universe was watered down to include openness to humanism and Earth centered pagan religions."

STOP RIGHT THERE! "...The focus on God as the ruler of the universe..." Does this sound like "grooming" to you? Do this sound like Hegseth wants to turn it into a para-military Christian Nationalist organization?

Tennessee

It almost feels like there’s a competition to see who can come up with the most draconian laws.

Down in Tennessee, if this bill passes, doctors will have to register child trans patients:

Tennessee House passes de facto transgender registry bill

Republican lawmakers say it’s about health data. Critics say it’s about tracking trans people.

The Advocate

Christopher Wiggins

Mar 27, 2026

Tennessee lawmakers on Thursday advanced a bill that critics say could lay the groundwork for something more sinister than its text alone suggests: a system that doesn’t just regulate transgender health care, but maps trans people.

The Tennessee House passed House Bill 754 after a charged floor debate and protests inside and outside the Capitol in Nashville, advancing legislation that would require data collection on patients receiving gender-affirming care. Supporters of the bill describe the measure as a tool for understanding medical outcomes. Opponents say it is something else entirely. They say it is a mechanism for tracking a vulnerable population.

This is something out of 1930s Germany!

The legislation would require clinics to report detailed information about gender-affirming care to the state, part of a broader effort, lawmakers say, to study treatment trends. But similar proposals in Tennessee have already raised alarms about what happens when “data collection” begins to resemble identification.

A related measure advancing through the legislature would compel providers to submit extensive details about care, including age, treatments, and geographic data, to the state, which would then publish aggregated reports. While the bill bars the release of directly identifying information, privacy experts warn that the level of detail could still make individuals identifiable, particularly in smaller communities.

Did you know that here in Connecticut, when a non-discrimination bill was being debated, Republicans introduced a proposal that would have required trans people to register with the Department of Motor Vehicles and they would keep a list of all trans people?

Back in 2011 I wrote about it here and when the bill was being debated in the Senate here, and I called it the Scarlet Letter! The amendment was...

["Sec. 501. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2011) Any person holding a motor vehicle operator's license whose gender-related identity is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or assigned sex at birth shall notify the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles of such identity and the commissioner shall indicate such identity in the electronic record maintained by the commissioner pertaining to such person's operator's license. "]

Connecticut isn’t that far from becoming a red state, we’re really more of a purple state.

Back in 2011, I wrote: “...Jerimarie and Jennifer were there from the beginning when the hate crime bill was first introduced, and we were there at the end.” But it wasn’t the end, just a waypoint in an ongoing fight for our human rights.

No Kings

The New York Times had five takeaways from the "No King" rallies...

• The war seemed to galvanize younger voters.
• Trump’s immigration crackdown remains a focus.
• Dueling protests unfolded near Mar-a-Lago. (Grab ’em by the midterms)
• Midterm candidates came out in force.
• Democrats found fresh fuel for their ‘No Kings’ slogan.

The article ends with,

In a nod to the protests, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, the chair of Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, said on Saturday that she planned to introduce a bill to bar presidents from putting their name, likeness or signature on federal property or money.

“In America,” Ms. Gillibrand said in a statement, “we do not bow to kings.”

Idiots!

Hegsith and his merry band of Crusaders planned a war and all they could think of bombs, bombs, and bigger bombs!

Did they ever consider protecting the assets in the Middle East, like radar sites or airborne radar planes? Did they even think of protecting our "eyes and ears" in the sky?

Iran Strikes U.S. Military Communication Infrastructure in Mideast

Satellite images show damage near vital equipment on sites in at least five countries.

The New York Times

By Devon LumHaley Willis and Riley Mellen

March 3, 2026

Iranian strikes conducted over the weekend and on Monday damaged structures that are part of or near communication and radar systems on at least seven U.S. military sites across the Middle East, according to a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery and verified videos.

Visuals show damage on or close to mechanisms used to track incoming ballistic missiles, satellite dishes and radomes, which are weatherproof covers that protect sensitive equipment used by forces to communicate over long distances.

U.S. military communication infrastructure is highly classified, making it difficult to determine which exact systems may have been affected. But the targeted locations appear to indicate Iran was aiming to disrupt the U.S. military’s ability to communicate and coordinate. Iran has attacked the U.S. military’s communication capacity as recently as last June, when it struck a Qatari base it hit again over the weekend.

DUH!

Iran Claims It Struck American AWACS Aircraft In Saudi Airbase Strike

The strikes reportedly hit Prince Sultan Air Base, where the now-destroyed E3 AWACS command and control plane was stationed alongside other US military assets.

NDTV News Desk

Mar 29, 2026

Iran on Friday claimed to have significantly damaged a United States aircraft during a retaliatory missile and drone strike on an American air base in Saudi Arabia.

The strikes reportedly hit Prince Sultan Air Base, where the now-destroyed E‑3 AWACS command and control plane was stationed alongside other US military assets.

Newly released images, published by Iran's Press TV, show the body of the plane damaged, with only the head and tail intact. The attack reportedly involved six ballistic missiles and 29 drones.

At least 10 US personnel were wounded, with two reported in serious condition, Associated Press reported. The strike involved an Iranian missile and several drones targeting the base.

Multiple refuelling aircraft were also damaged in the attack, preliminary reports indicate.

DUH!

Al Jazeera reported,

On Friday Iran attacked Prince Sultan Air Base which included at least six ballistic missiles and 29 drones, according to The Associated Press. At least 15 American soldiers have been wounded and five of the injured US troops are in “serious condition”, AP reported, citing unnamed sources briefed on the strikes.

[...]

Iran’s retaliatory attacks have targeted several sites across Israel as well as oil refineries, US military bases, airports and commercial shipping across the six Gulf states and beyond.

[...]

The war has now expanded beyond Saudi Arabia. Yemen's Houthi rebels reportedly fired missiles at Israel on Saturday. Tehran has also threatened retaliatory strikes on Israeli and US universities following attacks on Iranian academic institutions.

[...]

Iran, on the other hand, is using a trifecta of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones.

Drones have delivered volume, with cheap, mass-produced Shahed drones making it difficult for radar to spot due to their ability to fly at low altitude.

DUH!

Did our Crusaders even think Iran would retaliate? Did they think the so-called “Iran terrorist organization” would just sit by and twiddle their thumbs?

Did our "Crusaders" honestly think Iran wouldn't retaliate? Did they think that  “Iran terrorist organization” would just sit by and twiddle their thumbs?

Trump's War was planned by idiots! And that is what happens when politicians plan a war! 

The Guardian writes that...

Simultaneously, faithful to his master’s desire for total domination and destruction, Hegseth announces future war crimes on live TV (“no quarter”) and encourages gratuitous cruelty: “We are punching them while they’re down.” The obscene focus on “lethality” is part of this shift towards war understood as inflicting maximum destruction and pain (as opposed to achieving strategic objectives – which the administration has of course been utterly incapable of articulating).

The reality of war itself recedes because the airwaves are filled with an endless series of entertaining images and empty talk. Hegseth, fond of laughably overwrought language and alliterations in particular (“warriors, not wokesters”), seems unable to articulate anything other than cliches (“unbreakable will”) or snippets of a Christian nationalism which flies in the face of the first amendment’s prohibiting an established religion: one cannot make it a litmus test of patriotism that citizens pray for the troops on bended knees and in the name of Jesus.

The point is not to equate the two men, but one cannot help but remember how Hannah Arendt, in her highly controversial book on the Eichmann trial, described the Nazi bureaucrat: someone utterly incapable of thinking, someone who instead just produced an endless stream of hollow phrases.

Will all this have an effect in legitimizing an illegal war? Hegseth has also created a fantasy world inside the Pentagon itself; instead of press conferences with critical questions and genuine answers, there is gentle back-and-forth between “the secretary of war” – a fantasy name, as Congress has not authorized changing the department’s name – and figures from the Epoch Times and LindellTV (the world according to “the MyPillow guy”).

Even with this extra layer of insulation from reality, Hegseth insisted that the press was not being positive enough about US attacks on Iran. Like with many Maga men performing puerile stunts for the manosphere, the fragile ego inside seems incapable of facing up to the reality of what has been unleashed so thoughtlessly.

We are being lead ideological zealots who dream of the Crusades and bring the "Bringing the end times"

I Can't Figure Them Out

[Editorial]

I can’t figure out Trump’s cabinet members… are they really that uninformed, or do they just blindly stick to the party line?

This morning, on one of the talking-head shows, I think it was the new head of Homeland Security, footage was shown of the long lines at the airports. And what did he say? That the lines have gone down! This was while a video of the very same lines was playing! He was trying to gaslight what our own eyes were clearly showing. He claimed that ICE agents were a big help, while in the background, the video showed them just standing around with coffees in their hands.

We see this pattern with all of Trump’s cabinet members... they lie.

How many times have you heard them say: the war will be over in 8 weeks, inflation is under control, unemployment is dropping, or that the elections were rigged? And yet, when you point out that Trump got elected, which seems to contradict their claim, they still insist the elections were rigged.

Our eyes and wallets tell us one thing, but the Republicans tell us the opposite and seem to think we’ll believe them over our own pocketbooks.

[/Editorial]

Oh When Will They Ever Learn?

It almost seems like they want a fight!

The courts have stuck down the same thing over and over! So now they are saying, once again, that it is obscene!

Ohio House passes bill to criminalize drag shows deemed 'obscene'

By Haley  BeMiller

Columbus Dispatch

March 25, 2026

• The Ohio House passed a bill that would restrict certain drag shows to adult entertainment venues.
• Supporters of the bill say it aims to protect children from obscene or harmful content.
• Opponents argue the legislation targets the LGBTQ community and will cause a decline in drag shows.

Ohio may soon restrict certain drag shows to bars and nightclubs.

The Ohio House voted 63-30 on March 25 to pass House Bill 249, which would criminalize performances anywhere but adult entertainment facilities if they're deemed obscene or harmful to children. It also changes the definition of public indecency, with an exception for women who are breastfeeding.

[...]

Proponents say House Bill 249 doesn't completely ban drag and will instead protect kids from explicit content. It's already a crime in Ohio to disseminate obscene materials or performances to minors.

But hey, it plays in to the bigotry of their MAGA base!

"This is about shielding the next generation from premature sexualization, from the erosion of their innocence," said Rep. Angie King, R-Celina.

Yup, right into their bigotry, fear. and ignorance!

The Buckeye Flame writes...

Anti-LGBTQ+ language in the bill would disproportionately affect LGBTQ+ performers, heavily restricting “performers or entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer’s or entertainer’s biological sex using clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical markers …”

Additionally, a separate section of the bill that substitutes the phrase “private part” for “private area” would also help criminalize trans and gender non-conforming people who use gendered public facilities during daily life.

So it is also a bathroom!

The Pink News says,

Critics warn the bill goes far beyond performances, pointing to language that targets individuals whose gender expression differs from their sex assigned at birth.

Lawmakers backing the bill have openly stated it could be used to restrict transgender people from using gendered facilities like locker rooms.

[...]

Equality Ohio CEO Dwayne Steward said the bill “takes regular, everyday activities and turns them into potential crimes,” while Rep. Dontavious Jarrells added: “This bill is not about children. This is about the dehumanisation of people… This bill literally singles out people who are trans, those who are gender non-conforming, and basically calls into question, ‘Should you exist in the public eye?’ That is the reality of this bill. When you talk about what this bill really is, it is an attack on human lives.”

You know that this bill is so vague that it can cover anything drag story telling to burlesque to a strip joint! Besides, laws like this have been struck down by the courts under the 1^st Amendment rights.

Crossed The Red Line?

Trump's war has expanded. A terrorist organization has joined the battle in the Middle East.

A Middle Eastern militant group has said they are prepared to attack the U.S. and Israel; they are backed by Iran.

Houthis threaten to join Iran war if these 3 red lines crossed

The Hill

by Ryan Mancini - 03/27/26

The Houthis on Friday warned that if three lines are crossed by the U.S., Israel or other Middle East countries, they will join the Iran war and fight back.

The Yemen-based group backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps released five points, issued by the Yemeni Armed Forces, regarding the conflict. They include demands for a diplomatic solution to the conflict with Iran and a “cessation of aggression against Muslim countries in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq, and the lifting of the unjust siege on Yemen.”

[...]

The Houthis also warned they would enter the conflict if vessels tried to pass the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The strait is located 1,200 miles off the Strait of Hormuz and sits between Yemen and Djibouti.

President Trump designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization shortly after he returned to the White House in January 2025.

Of course, they coined a word for that—“asymmetric warfare,” which means when a big guy beats up on a little guy.

I don’t know those fancy words. I see it as terrorism. I see it like what happened when we went into the Banana Republics. I see it like what happened when we put the Shah in Iran, and when we went into Afghanistan. Those all went well, didn’t they?

Whenever a president uses a “big stick,” it doesn’t work out well for us in the long run.

Trump just poked a hornet’s nest, and he says it is almost over—but history says, “not so fast.”

This Was Disturbing!

[Editorial]

 

 Fish tanks! That is where the invasion began.

Someone didn’t want to kill their pet goldfish, so by a unanimous family vote, they decided to give "Charlie" the goldfish his freedom. They went down to the local brook and read a proclamation freeing Charlie. By the word of "Lord Dad," they tearfully gave him his liberty—and a new invasive species was introduced into the environment!

Many of you know that I have a wetland in my backyard. We’ve had a lot of rain and snowmelt recently, so the water level is quite high. Normally, there is only a seasonal stream, but now it is a couple of feet wide and about half a foot deep with very little current.

Today, I noticed a big green mat in the middle of the brook. Upon closer inspection, I found that it is Hydrilla!

The town has been spending tens of thousands of dollars to keep this weed out of our local waters. How did it get into my backyard? It probably hitched a ride on the family living back there in the wetland: the ducks. Just like boats carrying Hydrilla between lakes, birds and animals carry it too.

How Was It "Let Loose"?

• Intentional Planting: In the early 1950s, an aquatic plant dealer in the Tampa Bay area reportedly discarded bundles of Hydrilla directly into local canals after it failed to sell.
• Aquarium Dumping: Many infestations result from individuals dumping the contents of their home aquariums—both fish and plants—into local ponds and rivers.
• Misidentification: At first, many dealers and hobbyists didn't realize how dangerous it was because it looks so similar to the native plant Elodea.

Now, we are all paying the price for exotic plants and animals being let loose. I can see the consequences right in my own backyard!

 

[/Editorial] 

Saturday 9: Indian Lake

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 to answer the questions, however, and here is today's questions!

Saturday 9: Indian Lake (1968)

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

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

1) In this song, a family gets on a bus and heads off on vacation. Think about the last trip you took. Did you travel by car, bus, train, boat, or plane?

By car. To my brother’s in New Jersey.

2) Once they get to Indian Lake, they swim, have a picnic and go canoeing. Are you looking forward to any of these activities this summer?

We used to own cottage on a lake in New Hampshire where we had a canoe, a sailboat and power boat.

But now I’m on Cape Cod during the summer.

3) "Indian Lake" became familiar to TV audiences because it was used in commercials for the Dodge Charger. In the 1960s, most households didn't have remote controls to enable viewers to mute or skip commercials. Today, we do. When a commercial comes on, do you watch or do you turn down the sound or, if possible, fast forward past it?
I don't watch it, usually I am also on the computer.

4) The Cowsills were a family singing group who had four Top 10 hits between 1967 and 1969. The brothers were self taught musicians who enjoyed playing at church and school events. When their father, Bud Cowsill, became their manager, he insisted his wife Barbara and their youngest, Susan, join the band. He wanted the Cowsills to become "a latter-day Von Trapp family." Without looking it up, do you know who the Von Trapps were?

I have seen “The Sound of Music” I have also seen the Von Trapp family lodge in Vermont when I was little.

5) The Cowsills were the inspiration for the sitcom The Partridge Family. It ran for four seasons and the fictional Partridges had three Top 10 hits, were nominated for a Grammy and made David Cassidy a star. Are you familiar with The Partridge Family?

Oh yeah, I saw the show yesterday, well not the whole show just the opening bars. It comes on after Barney Miller.

6) The Cowsills starred in an advertising campaign for the American Dairy Association. On TV and in magazine ads they proclaimed that "Milk is the lift that lasts." Decades later, oldest brother Bill recalled that he seldom drank milk. How about you? Do you often drink milk?

Yes.

I like the milk from a local farm, it is pasteurized but not homogenized. As a matter of fact I am haivng glass of hot chocolate milk and a farm-fresh chocolate chip cookie right now. By the time I finish the glass some of the cream will float to the surface… Mmm.

Remember the milkman and milk box on the porch? Well that was unhomogenized, I think it tastes a lot creamier than homogenized milk.

7) While Bud Cowsill engineered the family band's success, he also contributed to their demise. The Cowsills were scheduled to appear 10 times on the influential Ed Sullivan Show, but were fired after the second because Bud was too confrontational backstage. He also had a reputation for being abrasive with record company executives and concert promoters, and this affected the the band's ability to find work. Do you have a hard time biting your tongue or controlling your temper?

I find the older I get the mellower I get, Been there, seen that, done that...

8) In 1968, when this song was popular, Leonard Bernstein released his award-winning recording of Mahler: Symphony No. 8. Do you enjoy classical music?

No.

But I do like this…

9) Random question – Here we are in March. If you made any New Year's resolutions, have you kept them?

Yes, I am still above ground. My resolution was to make it to next New Year’s When you get old it is the simple things.

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! 

Racism? Sexism?

So what do you think?

Pete Hegseth removes two Black officers and two women from Army promotion list

The Independent

Ariana Baio

Friday 27 March 2026

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly attempting to block the promotion of four Army officers, two women and two Black men, to one-star general, according to a New York Times report.
• Hegseth allegedly removed their names from the promotion list himself after Army leaders, including Secretary Dan Driscoll, reportedly refused to do so, citing the officers' excellent records.
• Since becoming head of the Pentagon, Hegseth has sought to eliminate 'woke' policies such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, emphasizing that all promotions should be based solely on merit.
• Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell denied the New York Times story, calling it 'fake news' and asserting that promotions under Hegseth are merit-based and unbiased.
• The report also details other instances of Hegseth's influence on military personnel, including the reassignment of several high-ranking female admirals and an alleged comment by his chief of staff regarding a Black woman officer's promotion.

Racist? Sexist?

Hello Folks... Did You Hear About This?

There are reports that an American air base on US soil, on the US mainland, down in  Louisiana was attacked by drones!

We it on the front page of the national newspapers? We it a breaking story on the evening news.

No, I found out about from an India newspaper! And from that I found local news articles...

Coordinated drone swarms breach Barksdale Air Force Base airspace over six-day period

Shreveport Bossier Journal

March 23, 2026

What initially appeared to be a single unauthorized drone sighting over Barksdale Air Force Base on March 9 was in fact the opening of a coordinated, week-long intrusion campaign involving multiple waves of sophisticated unmanned aircraft, according to a confidential internal military briefing document reviewed by ABC News.

The scope and nature of the incursions have raised serious national security concerns at one of the United States military’s most strategically important installations.

What Happened

A shelter-in-place order was issued at Barksdale on the morning of March 9 after a drone was detected over the airfield. The order was lifted later that day, and the incident was initially treated as an isolated event. The base’s security posture was temporarily elevated to Force Protection Condition Charlie — a designation indicating a potential threat to personnel or facilities.

But the intrusions did not stop there.

According to the confidential briefing document dated March 15, security forces at Barksdale observed multiple waves of 12 to 15 drones operating over sensitive areas of the installation between March 9 and March 15, including directly over the flight line. The drones displayed non-commercial signal characteristics, long-range control links, and resistance to electronic jamming. The briefing further noted the drones entered and exited the base in patterns that suggested deliberate attempts to avoid having their operators located, and that lights on the drones indicated the operators may have been intentionally testing the base’s security responses.

So let me get this straight... drones shut down an American air base on our soil and none of the nation news organizations covered it? WBRZ writes,

According to the confidential briefing document dated March 15, the drones came in waves and entered and exited the base in a way that may suggest attempts to “avoid the operator(s) being located.” Lights on the drones suggested the operators “may be testing security responses” at the base.

A test? Harbinger of things to come?

Trump keeps on saying that we won the war, but Iran says no? I have a very strong suspicion that Trump and Hegseth have poked a hornet's nest and they have no idea of things to come.

This Is Bad, Really Bad

[Editorial]

I worked in the nuclear industry for almost 30 years, and I find this downright scary. One thing I’ve always respected when dealing with the NRC is their professionalism. I’ve been in meetings with the head of the South Korean NRC, and I’ve also been audited by the U.S. NRC. So when I read this, it sent shivers down my spine. I’ve always believed that safety was the number one priority... but now, it seems profit is king.

DOGE Goes Nuclear: How Trump Invited Silicon Valley Into America’s Nuclear Power Regulator

Pro Publica

by Avi Asher-Schapiro

March 20, 2026

Reporting Highlights

• Fast Nuclear Buildout: The Trump administration is rapidly rewriting rules to support the development of nuclear power plants.
• Aligning With Industry: Staffers from DOGE are revamping rules in ways to ease regulations and provide financial breaks for industry.
• “No Longer Independent”: Nuclear Regulatory Commission veterans say the administration is limiting oversight in dangerous ways.

I'll tell you this, the bullet points put profits over safety!

Energy gathered at the Idaho National Laboratory, a sprawling 890-square-mile complex in the eastern desert of Idaho where the U.S. government built its first rudimentary nuclear power plant in 1951 and continues to test cutting-edge technology.

On the agenda that day: the future of nuclear energy in the Trump era. The meeting was convened by 31-year-old lawyer Seth Cohen. Just five years out of law school, Cohen brought no significant experience in nuclear law or policy; he had just entered government through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team.

As Cohen led the group through a technical conversation about licensing nuclear reactor designs, he repeatedly downplayed health and safety concerns. When staff brought up the topic of radiation exposure from nuclear test sites, Cohen broke in.

“They are testing in Utah. … I don’t know, like 70 people live there,” he said.

These people are not interested in safety! These people are in it for the profits! Safety cost $$$$!

The NRC has critics, especially in Silicon Valley, where the often-cautious commission is portrayed as an impediment to innovation. In an early salvo, President Donald Trump fired NRC Commissioner Christopher Hanson last June after Hanson spoke out about the importance of agency independence. It was the first time an NRC commissioner had been fired.

During that Idaho meeting, Cohen shot down any notion of NRC independence in the new era.

“Assume the NRC is going to do whatever we tell the NRC to do,” he said, records reviewed by ProPublica show. In November, Cohen was made chief counsel for nuclear policy at the Department of Energy, where he oversees a broad nuclear portfolio.

I’m telling you... this is bad.

Even more troubling, long-time staff have been pushed out and replaced with people who seem more interested in profits. They fired 443 seasoned employees and replaced them with just 57 handpicked newcomers.

This could lead to another Chernobyl. There, operators disabled key safety systems to carry out a test—why? To cut costs and avoid relying on expensive backup power.

Now we have a group of people who lack deep industry or safety experience, yet are under pressure to squeeze more profit out of the industry, particularly to meet the demands of energy-hungry AI systems.

A ProPublica analysis of staffing data from the NRC and the Office of Personnel Management shows a rush to the exits: Over 400 people have left the agency since Trump took office. The losses are particularly pronounced in the teams that handle reactor and nuclear materials safety and among veteran staffers with 10 or more years of experience. Meanwhile, hiring of new staff has proceeded at a snail’s pace, with nearly 60 new arrivals in the first year of the Trump administration compared with nearly 350 in the last year of the Biden administration.

Are you scared yet? I am!

[/Editorial] 

Duh!

[Editorial]

You know how we are installing Flock LPR (license plate recognition) and red light cameras everywhere?

Well, do you know how they recently targeted the Iranian leaders? Surveillance cameras! Yep, they hacked right into the network.

Iran built a vast camera network to control dissent. Israel turned it into a targeting tool

AP News

By  DAKE KANG and SAM MEDNICK

March 23, 2026

The role of Israel’s hijacking of Iran’s street cameras in the killing of the country’s supreme leader underscores how surveillance systems are increasingly being targeted by adversaries in wartime.

Hundreds of millions of cameras have been installed above shops, in homes and on street corners across the world, many connected to the internet and poorly secured. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have enabled militaries and intelligence agencies to sift through vast amounts of surveillance footage and identify targets.

On Feb. 28, Israel vividly demonstrated the potential of such systems to be hacked and used against adversaries when Israel tracked down Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with the help of Tehran’s own street cameras - despite repeated warnings that Iran’s surveillance systems had been compromised, according to interviews and an Associated Press review of leaked data, public statements and news reports.

Do you think Trump’s team has considered that this exact 'trick' could be used against us by Iran or other adversaries... to track political targets on our own soil?

Big Brother is watching you... but who knows who else is watching Big Brother?

[/Editorial]

Social Media & The LGBTQ+ Community

[Editorial]

There is a problem brewing on social media. Controlling what minors can view online is becoming another battleground. Conservatives want to block children from visiting LGBTQ+ websites, much like they have pushed to ban books with LGBTQ+ topics.

You all have probably seen the news, governments around the world are cracking down on what minors can view. But that raises questions! 

All this "Age Verification" bills could be bypassed be a ten year old! Fair Play wrote;

Our legal analysis of the Kids Online Safety Act

by Haley Hinkle, Fairplay Policy Counsel

Fairplay has been a vocal champion of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) because of the many ways the bill will create a safer, less manipulative internet for kids and teens. Critics have highlighted two primary concerns with the bill: That it enables widespread censorship, and that it will lead to age verification and identification checks across the internet. Today, we wanted to share our analysis of these issues and explain why we believe both outcomes are highly unlikely.

Censorship

Critics of KOSA have argued that the bill’s Duty of Care will lead to widespread content censorship online, including censorship of content from and about the LGBTQ+ community. These critics contend that in order to comply with KOSA and avoid lawsuits from state attorneys general, companies will remove entire categories of content from their platforms. One critic has gone so far as to claim, “If KOSA passes, all the benefits of accurate health information, social networking, community, and access to help in a questioning or crisis situation will be eliminated for all LGBTQ youth.”1

Contrary to such hyperbolic claims, the text of the bill does not create a basis for content censorship, as we have previously outlined.2 The Duty of Care in Section 3 requires covered platforms to examine the impact of the design and operation of any product, service, or feature on specific, enumerated harms. Covered platforms are required to take reasonable measures to prevent and mitigate those harms. The listed harms are clearly defined and connected to the demonstrated harms children and teens face online every day. Section 3 also includes a limiting principle that says nothing in the Duty of Care shall be construed to prevent “any minor from deliberately and independently searching for, or specifically requesting, content.” The bill text is clear: a platform’s obligations under the Duty of Care are not about any individual piece of content’s existence or removal.

Critics have not provided a basis for their assertion that platforms will comply with KOSA’s Duty of Care requirements by engaging in widespread censorship. There are countless examples of design choices and product offerings that would be subject to scrutiny under KOSA. Products such as Snapchat and Meta’s AI chatbots, which target young users in order to maximize engagement,3 and the expansion of Meta’s Horizon Worlds VR to teenagers, and now, preteens4 would have to be assessed for their potential impact on kids and teens before they are launched and harm young users. Further, Big Tech would be required to assess the impact of design features such as endless scroll and autoplay as well as content recommendation algorithms and to mitigate the impact of those features on the enumerated harms.5 [For the footnotes see the article]

That is what I wonder about, what will happen to us the trans community? When I was growing up all I could find an trans stuff. When I leaned the word "Transsexual" I looked it in the libraries' card files. The only thing that I could find was "pervert" and "mental disorder" Will we going back to that?

The ACLU writes,

As jazz music, which began in Black communities, spread across the nation in the 1920s, more than 60 cities adopted rules limiting or outright banning it in dancehalls. Clergy and civic reformers claimed its rhythms promoted sexual freedom and interracial dancing among the youth.

Jazz was just the beginning. In the 1950s, the government set up investigations into crime, horror, and excess violence in comic books, calling on the industry to introduce rating systems and encouraging a ban on extreme violence. A few years later, Santa Cruz police shut down a dance for “highly suggestive, stimulating and tantalizing motions.” The kids were dancing to rock ‘n’ roll, which the city ultimately banned along with “frenzied forms.”

[...]

Legislatures around the country are responding to growing concerns about the potential harms of social media for children and teenagers. They’ve introduced bills with a hodgepodge of strategies to target these potential harms, including requiring people to verify their age before using social media, getting verified parental consent for minors, and mandating social media platforms to block material that the government deems harmful for kids. But whether it’s banning jazz or content on social media, broad attempts to regulate speech fail to protect children and violate the First Amendment in the process.

But still they do it! Why? Because they know that the other side will say that they are anti-children, So instead they will pass feel good legislation... see we are doing something!

My take on all of this is, the person who is paying for the phones gets to rule what their children can access! Not the government! Simple when you get internet or a phone you check off when you can access. The rallying cry for the Republican's is "Parental Rights" but they also have "Parental Duties!" So why does the Republicans want impose this on everyone and not the parents?

All you need when you get internet or a phone...

• ✓ I want this phone to block websites with adult material
• ✓ I want this phone to block social media
• ✓ I want this phone to allow parent monitoring

That is what they need! Not some fancy laws, not laws where right-wing bigots can can block anything LGBTQ+

[/Editorial]

 

Special Rights?

I tell you Hegseth is reshaping the military into a "Christian" army!

Hegseth says military chaplains will no longer display rank

BrieAnna J. Frank

USA TODAY

March 24, 2026

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced two major changes to the military's chaplaincy corps on March 24, one of which will mean chaplains will no longer wear their rank insignia.

They will instead display their religious insignia while retaining their rank as officers. They "will be seen among the highest ranks because of their divine calling," Hegseth said in a video posted to X.

The change reflects Hegseth's wider effort to infuse the chaplaincy, and the military more broadly, with more explicitly religious sentiments.

WTF! "will be seen among the highest ranks because of their divine calling,"!!!!

A smaller, more streamlined system will support chaplains in "minister(ing) to service members in a way that aligns with that service member’s faith background and religious practice," said Hegseth, adding that the Pentagon is "not even close to being done" in taking steps toward "restoring the esteemed position of chaplain."

Stars and Stripes writes,

Since 2017, the Defense Department has recognized 221 groups as religious denominations or belief systems, ranging from mainstream to obscure Christian sects, Wiccans and atheists. That system was impractical and unusual, Hegseth said this week. Moving forward, the Pentagon will use 31 religious affiliation codes. “This brings the codes in line with its original purpose: giving chaplains clear, usable information, so they can minister to service members in a way that aligns with that service member’s faith background and religious practice,” he said.

Will only conservative religions will be covered? That liberal religions will be pushed aside?

 

So does that mean... a gay or lesbian servicemember comes it that they will try to make them straight? Or want about a woman who is having an abortion what will the chaplain more "explicitly religious sentiments" try to talk her out of having an abortion?

Meanwhile...

Pete Hegseth’s Christian rhetoric draws renewed scrutiny after the U.S. goes to war with Iran

Los Angles Times

By Tiffany Stanley

March 20, 2026

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has brought conservative Christian values into Pentagon operations, from monthly worship services to plans reshaping the military chaplain corps.
• As the U.S. enters war with Iran, critics warn Hegseth’s religious rhetoric risks inflaming tensions and compromising the military’s secular, pluralistic mission.
• Unverified allegations that military commanders invoked biblical prophecies to troops have drawn congressional attention, though watchdog groups haven’t independently confirmed complaints.

 Since becoming Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth has found no shortage of ways to bring his strand of conservative evangelicalism into the Pentagon.

He hosts monthly Christian worship services for employees. His department’s promotional videos have displayed Bible verses alongside military footage. In speeches and interviews, he often argues the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and troops should embrace God, potentially risking the military’s secular mission and hard-won pluralism.

[...]

Hegseth has a history of defending the Crusades, the brutal medieval wars that pitted Christians against Muslims. In his 2020 book “American Crusade,” he wrote that those who enjoy Western civilization should “thank a crusader.” Two of his tattoos draw from crusader imagery: the Jerusalem Cross and the phrase “Deus Vult,” or “God wills it,” which Hegseth has called “the rallying cry of Christian knights as they marched to Jerusalem.”

I am afraid of him! I am afraid he is creating a military who doesn't answer to the Constitution but to the Bible!

The Republican Answer!

[Editorial]

With the price of gas going through the roof—thanks to Trump’s war and the shutting down of the straits—the Republicans are using high gas prices as an excuse to cut gas taxes.

What a great idea!

But not so fast… cuts in the gas tax mean cuts elsewhere! The devil is in the details: where do they want to cut? Why, it’s their favorite… social services!

So they want to help the middle class keep driving their gas guzzlers by cutting funding. Where are they going to cut so that their constituents can drive around in their Tahoes and Escalades?

The car I drive is a Prius Plug-in. For this tank of gas, I am getting 125 mpg! I have around 97,000 miles on the car… it says I am averaging 82.1 mpg! Compare that to Tahoes (~16–18 mpg), Escalades (~16–17 mpg), and Ford F-150s or Chevy Silverados (around 18–25 mpg). I am a survivor of the 1973 Oil Crisis, and I remember “Even–Odd!” “I Can’t Drive 55!”

What was done back then was targeted to spread the pain over everyone, while today it is targeted at lower-income families and those just scraping by. The political parties worked together to solve the crisis instead of trying to stab the Democrats in the back in a “gotcha” maneuver.

Back then, it was the Yom Kippur War that caused the crisis. Now we can thank Trump for all of this! You would think that with all the bright generals Hesith replaced the others with—his hand-picked generals—and all the military analysis that DOGE fired, someone in Trump’s cabinet would have asked the obvious question: “What happens when the Strait of Hormuz is blocked?” You think someone would have asked, “What happens when we stop the flow of oil?”

So the Connecticut Republicans chose to help the rich and screw the rest of us by cutting social services. And remember... "It's the Economy Stupid!"

[/Editorial]

I Was All Alone...

... I used to feel like I was the only one who felt the way I did. Then, this song came on the radio one Saturday morning while I was washing my car for a date.

Girls will be boys and boys will be girls

It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, except for Lola

La-la-la-la Lola

At the time, whenever I encountered the word "transsexual," I researched it, but what I found never seemed to apply to me. No way could I be trans—the definitions back then only used words like "pervert" and "sexual deviant."

Then I heard about Lola, and my world changed.

Recently, however, the lens has shifted. The Guardian reported this week (March 23, 2026) that,

Kinks guitarist Dave Davies hits back at Moby for calling 1970 single Lola ‘gross and transphobic’

The band’s co-founder responded to the US musician’s comments, defending the song and saying they are ‘not transphobic’

by Laura Snapes

Mon 23 Mar 2026

The Kinks co-founder and guitarist Dave Davies hit back at Moby after the US electronic musician said that he could no longer listen to the band’s 1970 hit Lola on the grounds that he found it “gross and transphobic”.

Moby told the Guardian Saturday magazine’s Honest Playlist feature that he was repulsed by the song after it came up on a Spotify playlist. “I like their early music, but I was really taken aback at how unevolved the lyrics are,” he said.

The song details a young man in a nightclub falling for a figure who “walked like a woman but talked like a man”. It concludes: “Girls will be boys and boys will be girls / It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world / Except for Lola.”

Davies responded on X: “I am highly insulted that Moby would accuse my brother” – Kinks songwriter Ray Davies – “of being ‘unevolved’ or transphobic in any way.” In another post, he continued: “I don’t wanna show the guy up, but Moby should be careful what he says.”

It’s a strange conflict of eras. As Bob Dylan wrote, "The Times They Are A-Changin'." They were changing in the seventies, and they are still changing today—and so is our vocabulary. Back then, the community was amazed that a song like "Lola" would even be played on the radio. It was avant-garde; it broke the ice. As punk icon Jayne County once wrote,

In the letter, County described herself as “thrilled and amazed” that the Kinks would write such a song, and wondered if other listeners had clocked its subject. “Lola will always be one of those songs that for me ‘broke the ice’ so to speak! A song that breaks down barriers and brings a used to be, hush, hush subject to the forefront and makes it sound perfectly natural to be singing a song about a ‘girl’ named Lola!”

She said that the song had propelled the Kinks into “the modern world. The REAL world! A world full of all kinds of people! Bisexual, gay, trans, not just a world full of straight heterosexuals!”

The LGBTQ+ subject matter of Lola was not without precedent for the Kinks. In 1965, their song See My Friends centred on a man unsure of his sexual orientation. Dave Davies also wrote in his 1996 autobiography Kink about having had affairs with musician Long John Baldry and producer Michael Aldred.

And sometime our lens change color!

Mini-Save Act

Trump wants the SAVE Act to save him! He knows that he and the Republican Party are getting clobbered in the polls and losing elections even in Republican districts. They see the handwriting on the wall, and they are scared!

Florida Democrats flip two seats in special legislative elections

In the shocker of the night, Democrat Brian Nathan defeated Republican Josie Tomkow in the Senate District 14 race by 408 votes.

Florida Phoenix

By: Mitch Perry

March 24, 2026

Florida Democrats flipped two legislative seats Tuesday night in their biggest election night in years.

In the only state Senate election on the ballot, Democrat Brian Nathan, a Navy veteran, union organizer, and first-time candidate, shocked Republican state Rep. Josie Tomkow in the Hillsborough County Senate District 14 contest, winning by just 408 votes, taking 50.25% of the vote to Tomkow 49.75%.

Tomkow said she will run again for the seat in November.

The seat has been vacant since August, when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed GOP incumbent Jay Collins to serve as his lieutenant governor.

[...]

In the Palm Beach County House District 87 race that includes Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, Democrat Emily Gregory, a first-time candidate with a public-health background, defeated Republican financial adviser Jon Maples, 51%-49%, in a district that Trump won by more than 10 points in 2024.

It’s a seat that was formerly held by Rep. Mike Caruso, one of Ron DeSantis’ closest allies in the House whom he elevated to the county clerk of the court position last summer. Caruso won the seat by 19 points in 2024.

That is why the Republicans are pushing the SAVE Act! They are scared s**tless that the Democrats will control Congress and impeach Trump!

The AARP had this to say about the act:

Key Takeaways

• A proposed federal bill would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote and photo ID at the polls, making voting tougher for many older adults
• Millions lack easy access to passports or birth certificates, and older adults face added complications from name changes, moves or expired IDs
• The changes could complicate mail-in voting and create new avenues for identity theft

Older adults are a force in deciding U.S. elections.

Voters 65 and older have had the highest turnout of any age group since 1988, with 72 percent casting ballots in 2020. For the 2024 election, voters 50 and older made up 55 percent of the electorate.

But a bill that passed the House of Representatives could make it harder for U.S. citizens 50 and older to exercise these rights. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE America Act, would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, even though citizenship is already a requirement to vote. The proposal would also compel voters to show valid photo identification at the polls or submit a copy of their ID when mailing a ballot. The bill is awaiting a vote in the Senate.

The AARP is warning about the dangers of the SAVE Act!

Only a few documents, such as a U.S. passport or a birth certificate in conjunction with a valid form of photo ID, will satisfy the proposed requirements in the SAVE America Act. The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy organization, estimates that more than 21 million Americans of voting age don’t have easy access to documents that confirm citizenship. Roughly half of Americans 65 and older lack a passport, according to a YouGov survey from 2023. If your passport has expired, you will need weeks (and must pay a fee) to renew it. Older Americans who have moved often over the span of their lives, or have moved out of their homes and into nursing or assisted living facilities, may have an especially tough time gathering the required proof of eligibility.

And remember: regarding voter fraud, the Brennan Center found "...meticulously studied for voter fraud, and found incident rates between 0.0003 percent and 0.0025 percent."The SAVE Act exists for only one thing: to protect the Republican Party—even Trump said it! The Dispatch reported that,

Many pugilists in the debate over the SAVE America Act assume that a proof-of-citizenship requirement would yield a Republican electoral advantage. Trump said that the Democrats “know if we get [the SAVE America Act], they probably won’t win an election for 50 years.” Sen. Mike Lee of Utah warned that Republicans will lose power—“likely for a long time”—if Congress doesn’t pass it (although Trump won in 2016 and 2024 without the legislation, and Utah, Lee’s home state, does not require documented proof of citizenship for voter registration).

Why do they know they will win if the SAVE Act is passed? Because they already tried a "mini-SAVE Act," and it did exactly what it was supposed to do: disenfranchise voters!

What happened when Kansas tried a version of Trump's SAVE Act? Chaos

As the Senate considers President Donald Trump's stringent anti-voter fraud measure, legal experts say Kansas's offers a troubling case study

By Josh Meyer

USA TODAY

Updated March 19, 2026

If you want to understand what might happen nationwide if President Donald Trump's SAVE America Act goes into effect, ask lawyer Lauren Bonds, who fought − and defeated − a similar statewide law in Kansas nearly a decade ago.

Bonds was part of a legal team that sued Kansas and its secretary of state, Kris Kobach, after they implemented a voter registration law that required proof of citizenship to register to vote, as Trump's proposal would.

A federal judge ruled that the state law was unconstitutional and violated federal election laws designed to protect people from being disenfranchised, or unfairly denied the ability to vote.

By then, though, the damage had been done. At least 31,000 people were barred from registering to vote, according to the judge’s findings, including in a key statewide election in 2014 in which incumbent Republican Gov. Sam Brownback narrowly defeated Democrat Paul Davis.

Thirty-one thousand voters denied the right to vote!!!

Bonds and other voting rights advocates said that if Republicans manage to pass the SAVE America Act, or SAVE Act for short, it could disenfranchise vast numbers of eligible voters.

"It was tens of thousands of people in Kansas," Bonds, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas at the time, told USA TODAY. "Obviously, if you multiply that nationally, it could really deprive a bunch of people who are undoubtedly lawfully authorized to vote from being able to cast their ballot."

This entire SAVE Act is for one thing, and one thing only: to keep the Republicans in power forever and ever!

---

The Save Act also bans mail-in ballots!

Trump, Who Says Voting by Mail Is 'Cheating,' Casts Mail-In Ballot in Florida as He Seeks to Block the Option for Others

Palm Beach County records show that Trump, 79, voted via mail ahead of this week’s special election in the state, according to reports

People

By Becca Longmire

Published on March 24, 2026

President Donald Trump has reportedly cast another ballot via mail, despite his constant criticism of mail-in voting.

Earlier this month, Trump, 79, voted in this week’s special election for House District 87 in Florida, which includes his Mar-a-Lago residence, CNN reported, citing Palm Beach County records.

Public records suggest that the president’s mail ballot had been counted and received by election officials in Palm Beach County, per NBC News. Trump is registered to vote in the area.

Do as I say, not as I do!

So Where Did Trump Get The Amazing Idea Of ICE In Airports?

What could possibly go wrong?

Where did the "bright idea" of putting untrained ICE agents in airports actually come from?

ICE officers go to TSA checkpoints at Trump’s direction, while long wait times at airports persist

The LA Times

By Wyatte Grantham-Philips

March 23, 2026

• President Trump is deploying hundreds of ICE officers to major U.S. airports to support TSA checkpoints strained by a government shutdown.
• TSA and other Homeland Security workers have labored without pay since February, prompting many to call in sick or resign.
• Labor unions warn that ICE’s immigration enforcement role could distract from airport security and escalate tensions with travelers.

Armed federal immigration officers in tactical gear moved through terminals at some of the busiest U.S. airports Monday, standing near security lines and checkpoints after President Trump ordered their deployment during a partial government shutdown that has disrupted air travel nationwide.

The officers were not making arrests or screening passengers. The Trump administration vaguely said they would supplement Transportation Security Administration staffing at certain airports. But after a year of intensified immigration enforcement and protests in cities across the country, their appearance at airport checkpoints has unsettled some travelers and raised new questions about how far their presence might extend.

The first thought that popped into my head was: "Why do they need tactical gear in an airport?" Talk about escalation!

So whose idea was it? Well it all seems to funnel back to a right-wing radio talk show!

Opinion | Was a conservative radio caller behind the idea to send ICE agents into airports?

A suggestion from ‘Linda from Arizona’ on The Clay and Buck Show made its way to Fox News and, soon after, into White House policy

Poynter

By: Tom Jones

March 24, 2026

On Monday, ICE agents were deployed to 14 airports throughout the country to, in theory, help ease the long lines because of a shortage of Transportation Security Administration agents. Many TSA agents have quit during this latest partial government shutdown, and thousands called out of work because they are not being paid.

[...]

So, where did President Donald Trump get the idea to send ICE into airports to help the TSA? It might have been …

Linda from Arizona.

Several media observers — including Semafor’s Ben Smith and CNN’s Brian Stelter — noted that a woman named Linda called into Clay Travis’ conservative radio show last Friday and made the suggestion to deploy ICE to airports.

Linda told “The Clay and Buck Show,” “I think I have a solution to the TSA problem. … We need to bring in ICE agents.” Travis replied, “Linda, I have to say that’s kind of a brilliant idea.”

So here’s where the story gets a little more suspect. That night, Travis appeared on Trump’s favorite network — Fox News — and passed along the idea. Less than 24 hours later, Trump announced the plan to send in ICE agents.

Now, it’s entirely possible that more folks than just Linda from Arizona had this idea, and it’s possible that some of those people work in the White House.

So it was a radio talk show caller that put armed tactical gear ICE agents in airports! And other right-wing pundits jumped on the bandwagon!

The Democratic Docket wrote,

Steve Bannon suggested that President Donald Trump deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to major U.S. airports as part of a “test run” for using them to meddle in upcoming elections.

“We can use this as a test run, as a test case, to really perfect ICE’s involvement in the 2026 midterms,” Bannon, a close Trump ally, said on his War Room podcast Monday.

Last month, Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist during the opening months of Trump’s first term and who remains an influential figure in the current administration, urged the president to send immigration officers to voting sites during this year’s midterms.

He baselessly claimed that the tactic would prevent Democrats from “stealing” elections. In reality, the move is clearly meant to intimidate voters and poll workers and artificially influence election outcomes. 

The White House and leaders of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, have never definitively ruled out the tactic, even though federal law expressly bars the stationing of law enforcement officers or members of the military at polling places.

Are you scared yet? Because it looks like the groundwork is being laid to rig the elections.

But here is the "minor" fact that all of these pundits are ignoring: The Law.

18 U.S. Code § 592 - Troops at polls

Cornell Law School

Whoever, being an officer of the Army or Navy, or other person in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States, orders, brings, keeps, or has under his authority or control any troops or armed men at any place where a general or special election is held, unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both; and be disqualified from holding any office of honor, profit, or trust under the United States.

Hey Trump... 5 years! You still want to bring ICE to the polls?