Back When I…

I was growing up, they didn’t test you for any learning disorders. I was labeled a “slow learner,” “dull,” “backward,” and “underachiever.”

Electronics was a godsend… it was so orderly and logical. I got all the way through college, just squeaking by… no one ever questioned why.

I went to grad school for my MSW and one of my professors’ day jobs was to evaluate convicted persons before they got incarcerated. When he handed back my midterm exam, he said, “See me after class!” Yikes… I must have bombed the midterm!

He asked if I had ever been evaluated for a learning disorder.

All it took was for him to see my writing on those 10 questions to see what I had been struggling with all my life.

You know that this blog is about the intersections of trans stuff and politics, so what’s political about this post?

Well, Trump, RFK Jr., and company all are saying learning disorders like ADHD, ADD, and ASD are a new phenomenon. They blame it on chemical food additives, preservatives, ultra-processed foods, and stuff like artificial food dyes.

Well, folks… it is the name that is new. It is the realization that it is a disorder of the brain… not laziness. Not “slow learners,” and not all the other things that they called it. It has always been here; we just called it different names.

Now we have the government and conspiracists pushing all these quack reasons for this epidemic of learning disorders, but they have been here all along, just without the names. Just like us.

Data Centers!

You all have heard the buzz about data centers. So what do data centers do?

Well, there is AI.

Then we have all the stuff you store on the cloud.

But we also have... Trump's new voter lists! Huh? What are those? Well, you know how Trump wants all the states to send him a list of their voters.

Editorial: Federal information has become suspect

September 4, 2026

By American Press Staff

President Donald Trump’s March 31 executive order on mail-in voting directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to create state by state lists of eligible voters for federal elections. DHS would use federal databases to get the names, but those databases have been considered to be controversial.

The Associated Press has reported that an immigrant rights group sued the Trump administration Wednesday to block DHS from using federal databases that it alleged are being used to target naturalized citizens who are eligible to vote.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights filed the lawsuit in U.S.  District Court in Washington. It alleges that DHS and the U.S. Justice Department are interfering with fair elections by using inaccurate federal databases in an attempt to buttress allegations of voter fraud.

Everyone but Trump & Company knows that there is no widespread voter fraud and that he is using that excuse to build a massive database on the citizens... just like China, North Korea, and Russia.  So now Trump is before the Supreme Court begging them to let him do it.

The lawsuit alleges that the administration might be comparing voter rolls with undisclosed government databases. Those systems can include outdated information and be riddled with errors, it said, and could produce inaccurate results that disproportionately affect naturalized voters.

“Comparing government databases to try and arrive at a list of noncitizen registrants has been shown to result in erroneous data,” the lawsuit said.

“Congress has never authorized such activities and in fact has prohibited invasion of voter privacy through government data matches in this way.”

I don't know about you... but this doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

The Fulcrum reports that,

Trump’s Plan to Gather Data on Every Voter Will Cripple Democracy

By Austin Sarat

Jan 17, 2026

On January 8, Texas turned over to the Justice Department a treasure trove of information about every voter in the Lone Star state. Names, addresses, voters’ party registrations, whether they had ever cast a preliminary ballot, and more, all of it to be provided in response to the Trump administration’s unprecedented demand for data on voters everywhere.

For a state that has long prided itself on its fierce independence and resistance to federal overreach, one might have expected it to put up a fight. But here, as in many other areas, partisan loyalty displaced state pride.

[...]

As an article in Texas Monthly explains, “The Justice Department last fall began asking all 50 states for their voter rolls — massive lists containing significant identifying information on every registered voter in each state — and other election-related data.” It claimed that “the effort is central to its mission of enforcing election law requiring states to regularly maintain voter lists by searching for and removing ineligible voters.”}

The United States Constitution: Article I, Section 4, Clause 1:

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. 

Not Trump! But Congress and the states.

The Fulcrum goes on to report...

The unredacted lists include “sensitive personal information, such as driver’s license and partial Social Security numbers.” Stateline’s Jonathan Shorman points out that “The administration’s lawsuits mostly target Democratic states, where election officials refused initial requests for voter data and allege the demand is unlawful….”

Why do they need all that information on us... so when they merge the databases you can link the fields.

Now Trump is going back to court to try and get his way.

Supreme Court Faces New Decision on Trump’s Mail-in Ballot USPS Changes

Newsweek

By Alex Backus

Sep 03, 2026

The Trump administration again asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow new restrictions on mail-in voting to take effect, just one day before the first mail ballots are set to go out for November’s midterm elections.

The emergency request comes as legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s executive order continue in lower courts.

The Supreme Court previously allowed the administration’s plan to move forward while litigation continues, but the justices have not yet ruled on whether the policy is legal.

Trump & Company are running scared and he could do anything... declare a national emergency! Say there is massive illegal voting by non-citizens. He can make up a thousand excuses.

The latest Supreme Court filing came hours after a federal court hearing in Boston, where a Justice Department attorney was unable to tell a judge whether the system needed to carry out the new requirements was operational.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani repeatedly pressed Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik for details about whether the Postal Service could implement the plan outlined in Trump’s executive order, which was issued last spring.

Then we have the big lie;

Asking for that information suggests that something else may be motivating the administration’s massive data mining effort. In the run-up to the 2026 elections, it may help it to precisely target Democratic voters and accuse them of election fraud or Democratic states for accusations of election irregularities.

But the plan doesn’t stop there. The Justice Department intends to share the data it gets with the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS will use it as part of its aggressive citizenship verification efforts. In addition, the department argues that “This collaboration with the DOJ will lawfully and critically enable DHS to prevent illegal aliens from corrupting our republic’s democratic process and further ensure the integrity of our elections nationwide.”

“Elections,” it insists, “exist for the American people to choose their leaders, not illegal aliens.”}

All those virtual illegal aliens voting! 

The unredacted lists include “sensitive personal information, such as driver’s license and partial Social Security numbers.” Stateline’s Jonathan Shorman points out that “The administration’s lawsuits mostly target Democratic states, where election officials refused initial requests for voter data and allege the demand is unlawful….”

Can you imagine merging data bases with like Flock's ALPRs? (See below the hash line)

That is where the real danger lies.. merging of databases!

Imagine... You are a trans person running a non-profit that helps trans people sue for their legal rights. Well the Baptist News said that Trump's administration have frequently invoked high-profile acts of violence—such as the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk—to claim that "extreme transgender ideologies" are driving a rise in left-wing domestic extremism.

That is the worry... the massive database will be used to track down trans people! All our information will allow the government to find us. They did it in Kansas, they used databases to track us down and revoke our driver licenses! They could also use it for more sinister and nefarious reasons.

So Trump is pushing data centers, exempting them from environmental laws public and hide them form public scrutiny. Why?

---

Then we have Flock's training film...

Flock Taught Cops How to Surveil No Kings Protesters

Jason Koebler

404

Sep 3, 2026

Flock taught cops how they could surveil the No Kings protests and “small parades” using a mix of Flock’s technology and law enforcement’s own databases in a webinar last year. As Flock publicly downplays the power of its automated license plate camera network and highlights its use to solve violent crime, the company’s seemingly endless trove of webinars, training sessions, and blog posts show it offers far more invasive capabilities.

In the webinar, Flock’s director of market management Caity Peak explains how real time crime centers — which are police surveillance centers that utilize Flock cameras and other surveillance cameras — can be used for emergency response, but can also be used to surveil “established events” like 4th of July fireworks displays, parades, bike races, Mardi Gras, and protests. The webinar shows just how routine the idea of always-on surveillance has become, and how casually it is used during extremely innocuous events. 

Peak explains that police can use FlockOS, a software platform that combines Flock’s automatic license plate readers (ALPR), drones, gunshot detectors, 911 data, and other surveillance cameras (including ones Flock does not own) into a “single pane of glass” or single piece of software to look at various types of surveillance in one place during both emergencies and relatively mundane events in a city or town. 

Interlocking databases!

404 Media and the Electronic Frontier Foundation previously showed that police have specifically used Flock cameras to monitor the No Kings protests and other First Amendment-protected activity. 404 Media found California cops used Flock to monitor an “immigration protest.” The EFF found that the following law enforcement agencies ran Flock searches related to No Kings protests and rallies:

[...]

This webinar shows this type of surveillance is not anomalous, and is specifically taught by Flock. The webinar also shows that Flock’s latest public stance — that its ALPR cameras are noninvasive technology, that they take only static images at a single place and time, and that they are primarily used to solve the worst crimes — is wildly misleading. Flock has time and time again pitched itself to police as a sort of operating system to solve crime and do real-time surveillance and predictive policing. ALPRs are just one part of this broader surveillance apparatus that Flock has created, markets to police, and teaches them how to use. These real time crime centers are proving increasingly popular with police; Flock now says on its website that more than 4,800 cities around the country are running FlockOS software. 

---

My take on ALPRs and all the other monitoring systems.

Look we are not going to put the genie back in the bottle. Yes it does help solves crimes. So what I see are laws governing who cane see the photos without a warrant and for how long can they access the data. Who can link databases. At the very lease if say within 14 day only the speed cop can use the data. Anyone else needs warrant. We need to put leashes on the data.

The camera data must be the property of the municipality and not the camera company. It needs to be something like being bound by strict public records and privacy acts—meaning it cannot be harvested indefinitely, traded across state lines to federal or state agencies without oversight, or used to build a permanent commercial ledger.

Even with state laws that have all these protections data still gets traded so there needs to auditing with stiff bite. Fines should hurt their bottom line otherwise it will just be a business expense... We figured the $1000 fine in to the price of buying the data. And go after management and the Board of Directors! 

---

I started out with data centers, but data centers are being built to hold all this surveillance. Just think about the APLRs cameras... just think all the data storage they need to hold from all those cameras! 

I Write To Express Outrage!

I am writing this to express outrage at the governor... he is a bigot!

Undocumented Immigrant With CT ‘Drive Only’ License Charged In Fatal Ohio Crash

"Quite simply, your policies are killing my constituents," a U.S. Senator from Ohio wrote to CT Gov. Ned Lamont.

Michelle Tuccitto Sullo,

Patch

Sep 3, 2026

“I write to express outrage over this preventable loss of innocent life,” Moreno said, in the letter to Lamont. “If it were not for policy you championed, which allows illegal aliens to receive a ‘drive-only’ license, this young man may have reached his destination.”

“While one death alone is an inexcusable tragedy, Connecticut has granted over 60,000 such licenses to illegal aliens, putting countless Americans at risk on the roads. This insanity has to stop,” Moreno added.

Moreno wrote in the letter, “Quite simply, your policies are killing my constituents.”

A tragedy is a tragedy. But a tragedy does not automatically prove the policy you oppose caused it, nor does one person's alleged wrongdoing justify portraying 60,000 people as a threat.

This is my outrage... One out of 60,000! So, Governor, because of one person who committed this crime, you want to paint all immigrants with one brushstroke?

So, Governor, you are outraged?

You know what that shows me? It shows me that you are a xenophobe and that you are trying to stir up anger and hatred against immigrants. You are turning this woman's death into a political weapon.

That is what I find outrageous.

Me, Me, Me!

All the presidents will be there except for one. The current leader.

Former Presidents Unite to Shame Trump Over 9/11 Diva Fit

Donald Trump is snubbing a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the historic terror attacks.

The Daily Beast

Ewan Palmer

Sep. 2 2026

All four living former U.S. presidents have confirmed their attendance at a ceremony in New York next week to commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which Donald Trump has decided to skip for a typically petty reason.

Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, who was president at the time of the 9/11 attacks, will all attend the event at the World Trade Center site marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks, The New York Times reported.

Trump was initially also set to appear at the event at Ground Zero. However, the Times previously reported that the 80-year-old president bailed after being told he would not be allowed to deliver one of his rambling speeches at what is supposed to be a somber occasion to remember the nearly 3,000 people who were killed that day.

Instead, Trump will mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks at the Pentagon, which was also targeted by a plane hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists.

Okay, place your bets... how long will he talk at the Pentagon... and how many times will he say "Me?"

We can't have a drinking game because everyone will get smashed.

Trump has furiously rejected the suggestion that he bailed on the 9/11 event in New York City after being told that he could not give a speech. In a vile Truth Social post, Trump attacked New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who was one of four bylines on the original report about his upcoming absence, and claimed that she had “made up a story.”

The New York Daily News writes in an editorial

Shame on Donald Trump for skipping the Ground Zero ceremony in NYC marking 25 years since the terror attacks of 9/11/2001.

The so-called champion of law enforcement has decided to spit on the graves of the firefighters and cops who charged toward the burning buildings in Lower Manhattan to save those they could, along with the memories of thousands more. Add that insult to the disrespect he has callously shown the brave Capitol police officers in Washington who tried to hold back an angry mob he’d whipped up on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump is reportedly missing so important a day because, like other politicians before him, he wasn’t going to be given an opportunity to speak. The annual event is nonpartisan, so Trump was treated the same as other political leaders before him, including last year, when he joined in silence with Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and JD Vance.

But that apparently wasn’t good enough for Trump. If it’s not about him, he really isn’t interested.

The 3,000 who died. The thousands more who perished from 9/11 illness. The moms, dads, wives, husbands, daughters and sons whose lives were upended. The people who lived to tell the story. The New Yorkers who rebuilt the city.

None of them matter, not to a president who has taken self-interest to new heights.

He is pissing off millions more people and I don't mean just NYC residents but millions more when they don't see him there and then learned he gave a rambling speech at the Pentagon.

The editorial ends with:

Shame on Trump for skipping the 9/11 ceremony in his hometown. It’s time for those who haven’t yet to pay closer attention to his self-serving and dangerous game.

Please, Please Don't Do It!

If they do it... hate wins!

All around the world right-wing authoritarian parties are winning. They win by persecuting a minority and generating hate.

Germans vote in eastern state as far-right AfD eyes power

Saxony-Anhalt elections could see AfD become the first far-right party to take power at a state level since WWII.

By Al Jazeera Staff, DPA and Reuters

Published On 6 Sep 2026

6 Sep 2026

Voting is under way in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt that could see the Alternative for Germany (AfD) become the first far-right party to take power at a state level since World War II.

Recent surveys place AfD at 40 percent, ahead of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) at 23 percent.

AfD has led comfortably in the pre-election opinion polls for months and has a chance at winning an absolute majority if several smaller parties fail to clear the 5 percent threshold to enter the parliament.

I asked Gemini what platforms the party is running on... does any of this sound familiar?

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has built its electoral momentum and state-level political gains around a strongly nationalist, anti-establishment, and populist platform.

Here are the core pillars the AfD has consistently used to run its campaigns:

## 1. Strict Anti-Immigration and Border Control

* **Mass Deportations:** Advocating for the large-scale deportation of asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, and even foreign nationals who have committed crimes.

* **Border Security:** Demanding permanent, strict controls at Germany's borders to halt irregular migration entirely.

* **Cultural Preservation:** Framing high immigration as a direct threat to German cultural identity, public safety, and social cohesion.

## 2. Euroscepticism and Anti-EU Policies

* **Reforming or Leaving the EU:** Advocating for a significant reduction of the European Union's powers, or in some factions, a "Dexit" (Germany leaving the EU).

* **National Sovereignty:** Prioritizing German national law and sovereignty over EU directives, particularly regarding fiscal policy and regulations.

## 3. Opposition to the "Green Transition" and Energy Policies

* **Rejecting Climate Targets:** Campaigning heavily against Germany's green energy mandates, carbon taxes, and the phase-out of fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

* **Lower Energy Costs:** Blaming current economic hardships on climate policies and promising to restore cheap fossil fuels and Russian energy sources to lower utility bills for citizens and businesses.

## 4. Anti-Establishment and Populist Rhetoric

* **Challenging the Political Elite:** Positioning themselves as the only true voice of the "ordinary people" against a detached, corrupt political establishment in Berlin.

* **Media and Institutional Distrust:** Frequently criticizing mainstream media and public broadcasting, accusing them of bias and censorship.

* **Foreign Policy Alignment:** Often adopting a more conciliatory stance toward Russia, criticizing NATO's role, and opposing military aid to Ukraine.

---

> **Note:** The AfD's platform has led to intense polarization in Germany. While supporters view the party as a necessary corrective to mainstream policies, mainstream democratic parties and the German domestic intelligence agency have increasingly classified regional branches of the AfD as suspected or proven right-wing extremist organizations.

Then I asked Gemini about their LGBTQ+ policies...

On LGBTQ+ issues, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) promotes an ultra-conservative, traditionalist platform that stands in stark opposition to contemporary progressive policies. Their stance is a key component of their broader cultural "anti-woke" campaign.

The core elements of the AfD's platform regarding LGBTQ+ issues include:

## 1. Defense of the "Traditional Family"

* **Nuclear Family Focus:** The AfD heavily champions the traditional model of a family—consisting strictly of a mother, a father, and children. They view this structure as foundational to German society and demographic preservation.

* **Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage:** Although the party’s co-leader, Alice Weidel, is an openly gay woman living with a female partner and children, the party’s official platform has historically advocated for rolling back or challenging same-sex marriage rights, prioritizing traditional marriage frameworks instead.

## 2. Rejection of "Gender-Identity Politics" and Transition Laws

* **Opposition to the Self-Determination Law (*Selbstbestimmungsgesetz*):** The AfD fiercely opposes legal reforms that make it easier for transgender and non-binary individuals to legally change their gender.

* **Banning Gender-Neutral Language ("Gendering"):** They campaign against the use of gender-inclusive language in public administration, schools, and media, framing it as an unnecessary and ideological distortion of the German language.

* **Medical and Public Restrictions:** The party advocates for halting public funding for gender-affirming medical procedures and opposes what they describe as the "promotion" of gender and sexual diversity in schools and public institutions.

## 3. The "Culture War" and Framing Immigration

* **Anti-Woke Rhetoric:** The AfD positions itself as a bulwark against what it terms "gender mania" and "wokeness," arguing that progressive cultural shifts undermine historic European values.

* **Instrumentalizing Queer Safety:** Interestingly, figures within the party (including Alice Weidel) have at times used anti-homophobia talking points to target Muslim and non-Western immigrants. They argue that high levels of migration from conservative Islamic countries pose a direct threat to the safety of secular and LGBTQ+ individuals in Germany, blending anti-immigration arguments with selective concerns over public security.

Overall, the AfD treats LGBTQ+ policy as a battleground against progressive social change, rallying their base around the preservation of traditional social norms.

And finally I asked it: "Does this sound like Trump?

That is a very common observation. Political scientists and analysts frequently categorize the AfD as part of the broader global wave of right-wing populism that includes Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, Viktor Orbán in Hungary, and similar movements worldwide.

Several core elements tie their playbooks together:

* **The "Anti-Establishment" Outsider Persona:** Both frame themselves as fighting a corrupt, out-of-touch political and media elite on behalf of the "forgotten everyday people."

* **Nationalism as a Core Brand:** Slogans like "America First" and the AfD's equivalent focus on national sovereignty share a deep skepticism of globalism, international bodies (like the EU or UN), and multilateral agreements.

* **The Culture War and Anti-"Woke" Stance:** Both heavily weaponize cultural issues—pushing back against progressive gender policies, LGBTQ+ initiatives, and green energy transitions—framing them as threats to traditional values and common sense.

* **Weaponizing Grievances Over Immigration:** Both place border security and strict restrictions on immigration at the absolute center of their political appeal, often linking demographic shifts to domestic security and economic strain.

* **Distrust of Mainstream Media:** Labeling critical mainstream news outlets as "fake news" or biased establishment mouthpieces is a staple of communication for both groups.

While the institutional frameworks and histories of the U.S. and Germany are very different—and the AfD operates within a multi-party parliamentary system rather than a two-party presidential one—the underlying populist strategy, rhetoric, and cultural targets bear a striking resemblance. In fact, figures within the AfD and parts of the modern U.S. conservative movement have actively built political ties and expressed mutual admiration.

Do any of these policies sound familiar... they should. They are the rallying cry of authoritarian regimes everywhere: Pick a minority and make them the scapegoat of all the countries "ills'. Slogans like "America First" if you are with us then you must an enemy of the state! Attack the media... they are the real enemies! 

It Is A Vicious Cycle We Are In.

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

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

WMTV

By Shaina Nijhawan

Sep. 1, 2026

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

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

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

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

But she wasn’t the only one attacked.

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

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

Aug 31, 2026, 4:30 pm

Mia Kortright

Tucson Sentinel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Sanctuary State"

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

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

PBS News reported that;

Castro is accused of firing gun through door of home

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

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

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

AP News

By  MICHAEL GONZALEZ, VALERIE GONZALEZ and SUDHIN THANAWALA

August 27, 2026

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

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

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

But now it has escalated to another level:

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

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

Propublica

by Megan Rose and Andy Mannix

September 2, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

The Hill reports that;

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

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

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

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

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

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

Different Needs.

[Editorial]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[/Editorial]

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is"

Who remembers who uttered those words and why?

 

It was President Bill Clinton. During his grand jury testimony on August 17, 1998 about his affair in the White House with Monica Lewinsky. Now fast forward to Natalie Harp.
 

The Daily Beast writes,

 Melania Trump is locked in a secret power struggle with Donald Trump’s 35-year-old assistant, according to the president’s biographer.

White House aide Natalie Harp has become seemingly inseparable from President Donald Trump, and her near-constant presence is made all the more striking by Melania’s conspicuous absence.

 

[...]

 

 Melania is steering clear of her 80-year-old husband because she has little interest in sharing his side with Harp, according to Trump biographer Michael Wolff.

In a new post on his Substack newsletter Howl, Wolff wrote that Harp’s “central presence” in Trump’s life helped explain why Melania rarely appeared alongside him on the 2024 campaign trail.

Um... so where is the Republican Congress's rage? 

 

Wink, Wink, Nod, Nod

He didn’t come out and say it but he threw out hints to his MAGA base.

Donald Trump says transgender people will “end” if GOP keeps Congress in midterms
The Fox host he was talking to didn’t push him to explain what he meant.
LGBTQ Nation
Alex Bollinger
August 31, 2026

Donald Trump said in an interview yesterday that voters should treat the 2026 midterms as if he is on the ballot, while bringing up how he is going to make “transgender… end.”

Former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), who is now a Fox News host, asked Trump on his show yesterday about the upcoming midterms, in which it seems likely that Republicans will lose ground in Congress.

“I think we’re gonna do very well,” Trump said. “I’m gonna take a lot of time, and I’m going to help people get elected, if I can.”

[…]

“We’ve done a great job; we’re the most respected country right now in the world; we’re more respected than we ever were, and I think people wanna keep it that way, so I think we’re gonna win.”

What has he been smoking “the most respected country right now in the world”?

 

Is this Trump’s “Final Solution?” The elimination of the trans community?

---

Updated: 3:30PM

The Pink News reported that,

It remains unclear what Trump specifically meant by saying “transgender” will “end”, but transgender people themselves are obviously not going anywhere. Trans people have existed throughout history and across cultures, and there is no evidence that political repression or efforts to force people to suppress their identities can eliminate being transgender.

For Trump, however, the issue is clearly still part of his pitch to Republican voters. His message to them is essentially that the fight over transgender people’s rights should be treated as a reason to turn out for the GOP in November.

And with the midterms approaching, Trump appears to be making an agenda around trans people and trans issues a huge part of the case for keeping Republicans in power.

Do You Have A Warm Fuzzy Feeling?

I don't... this is from Axios,

 Two key reasons led to Army Secretary Dan Driscoll's resignation, announced Monday: the feeling that his modernization initiatives were being blocked, and the chaos created by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's firing of senior generals.

Why it matters: Driscoll's wartime resignation, on top of Hegseth's firing of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George this spring, leaves the military's largest service without Senate-confirmed leadership, civilian or uniformed.

The last sentence is what got my attention. With this administration in the middle of a war... it is now all Hegseth's cronies and that doesn't sit well with me. Especially with a critical election coming up and all the threats Trump made about the election and using the military. No... this doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

---

Updated: 9/2 @ 5:00AM  

CBS New just published a list of fired officers and civilians.

Here are the military and civilian leaders who've been fired, forced out or resigned since Hegseth became defense secretary

By Eleanor Watson

September 1, 2026 / 9:43 PM EDT / CBS News

At least 20 generals, admirals and civilian defense leaders have been fired or have departed their jobs since Pete Hegseth became defense secretary at the beginning of the second Trump administration. 

Some of the military's most decorated leaders have either been fired by Hegseth and President Trump or have retired with little explanation, including the Army, Navy and Air Force's highest-ranking officers and the leaders of key units. The Army and Navy's top civilian leaders have also either been forced out or resigned.

Before becoming defense secretary, Hegseth had criticized military officers, accusing them of being too focused on diversity initiatives and insufficiently supportive of frontline service members. Before he was nominated, he said on a podcast that "any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI woke s*** has got to go."  

The Trump administration has pushed out top female and Black officers, and Black and female officers have been disproportionately removed from promotion lists, a source familiar with the lists told CBS News. There are currently no active four-star women generals or admirals in the military. Many of those who failed to secure promotions have left the military.

My worries are that the "new" generals are loyal to Hegseth and not the Consitution

There Is A Pattern

There is a pattern

[Editorial]

Trump is known for stalling, and his administration is doing the same. Back in the first part of the year, a judge ordered the ban on unescorted media access to be lifted. Here it is in August, and they still have no unescorted access. Why? Because of legal wrangling; the Pentagon won a key legal appeal in July. Now that is being adjudicated in the courts.

Then there is the case of Stars and Stripes. The newspaper has a special law from Congress dictating its independence from the military. The Secretary of Defense, Hegseth, fired editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, publisher Max Lederer, and reporter Lara Korte because they printed a story on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

Then there is this, reported in The Intercept:

U.S. Central Command maintains a secret directory of journalists who have been blacklisted by the press office, according to an official with CENTCOM public affairs. The disclosure comes amid a failed war in Iran, a “cover-up” of U.S. casualties from that conflict, and repeated refusals by CENTCOM to address questions about civilian deaths in Iran, including the killing of a family recently disclosed by The Intercept.

The CENTCOM official who revealed the existence of the list threatened that this reporter could be added to it for calling the command too often.

“You’ll be put on a list of people to disregard,” Richard Allee, an executive assistant with CENTCOM public affairs, told this reporter. When asked for clarification — “You have a list of people to disregard?” — he confirmed it with an emphatic “Yes.” When asked which reporters or outlets were currently on the list, he replied, “I’m not privy to give you that information.”

Remember the sayings: “No news is good news” and “Whoever controls the press controls the mind.” Well, the current administration keeps the news close to its chest.

It was the conditions of the USS Abraham Lincoln coming to light that started the chain of events.

The story breaks; sailors jump ship.

Why?

Lack of food, sanitary system backups, low morale.

Why?

Resupply bases bombed, supplies destroyed, causing ships to have shortages.

Why was the ship deployed so long?

The war is going on longer than planned.

Did firing the planners and the logistics people have anything to do with it?

This whole thing reminds me of the song “For the Want of a Nail.”

I would say that this whole war is a clusterfuck, since even before the planning started, and I think the real reason they want to cover it up is their own incompetence.

[/Editorial'

---

Updated: 9/2 @ 5:00AM  

CBS New just published a list of fired officers and civilians.

Here are the military and civilian leaders who've been fired, forced out or resigned since Hegseth became defense secretary

By Eleanor Watson

September 1, 2026 / 9:43 PM EDT / CBS News

At least 20 generals, admirals and civilian defense leaders have been fired or have departed their jobs since Pete Hegseth became defense secretary at the beginning of the second Trump administration. 

Some of the military's most decorated leaders have either been fired by Hegseth and President Trump or have retired with little explanation, including the Army, Navy and Air Force's highest-ranking officers and the leaders of key units. The Army and Navy's top civilian leaders have also either been forced out or resigned.

Before becoming defense secretary, Hegseth had criticized military officers, accusing them of being too focused on diversity initiatives and insufficiently supportive of frontline service members. Before he was nominated, he said on a podcast that "any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI woke s*** has got to go."  

The Trump administration has pushed out top female and Black officers, and Black and female officers have been disproportionately removed from promotion lists, a source familiar with the lists told CBS News. There are currently no active four-star women generals or admirals in the military. Many of those who failed to secure promotions have left the military.

My worries are that the "new" generals are loyal to Hegseth and not the Consitution

Figures Do Not Lie.

And you know the rest of the saying…

Well, Trump & Company came out with a report linking us to violence!

New Trump administration report links trans support to political violence

The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services has released a new report claiming that support for transgender rights is associated with “left-wing authoritarianism” and a greater willingness to justify political violence.

Pink News

Siân Thompson

Aug 28

Critics have dismissed the 20-page report released on 27 August as “junk science” and accused the administration of using taxpayer money to manufacture a justification for targeting trans people and their allies.

The Human Rights Campaign released a statement the same day as the report, writing: “The entities that conducted the supposed ‘research,’ the Manhattan Institute and the Network Contagion Research Institute, are both known conservative-leaning think tanks with track records of producing reports that align with extremist right-wing positions.”

[...]

The report then attempted to connect those views with support for political violence by asking participants about things including damaging property, attacking police and the killings of political and business figures, namely Charlie Kirk and Brian Thompson.

The survey also included 13 statements that respondents were asked to rate their agreement with on a seven-point scale to measure their “left-wing authoritarian tendencies”. Statements included “America would be much better off if all of the rich people were at the bottom of the social ladder”, “We need to replace the established order by any means necessary”, and “Getting rid of inequality is more important than protecting the so-called ‘right’ to free speech”.

You know what this reminds me of? The 2018 study by Lisa Littman, a researcher at Brown University, on “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD), and the 2024 Cass Review.

A key principle in any research is where you draw your subjects from. The population you study and the way you recruit participants should have a direct bearing on the question you are trying to answer. In this case, you can see the potential for bias just from the name of one of the research organizations: the Network Contagion Research Institute.

“Contagion”? Being trans is not contagious. We are born this way!

Researchers created their own “Clinical Gender Affirmation Scale” to measure support for trans people, asking participants whether they agreed with statements about respecting transgender identities, names, pronouns, gender expression and children exploring their gender.

The report then attempted to connect those views with support for political violence by asking participants about things including damaging property, attacking police and the killings of political and business figures, namely Charlie Kirk and Brian Thompson.

Okay, I was a researcher on a study funded by HHS through the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale. I was an MSW intern on the study, and I had to be certified to work with human subjects.

One of the things we had to do as part of the study was “validate” our measures—to make sure they were actually measuring what we intended them to measure.

Somehow, I have very serious doubts that those questions were properly validated.

Critics say the broader concern is not simply the report itself, but how its findings could be used. Certain right-leaning media outlets have already begun citing it as evidence that trans people and their allies pose a threat to American society at large.

As a trans person, this scares the crap out of me.

In Germany in the 1930s, the Nazis did something similar with Jewish people: they portrayed them as a threat to the nation and ultimately declared them enemies of the state.

That history is precisely why I find this kind of rhetoric so frightening. When a group of people is repeatedly portrayed as dangerous, diseased, contagious, or a threat to society, I think we should all be paying very close attention.

---

I was using ChatGPT to research this topic when this message popped up!

This content can’t be shown for safety reasons. Learn more about our intended model behavior in our Model Spec.

Now I was research a legitimate in how history is repeating but it is being censored! It appears to be censoring topics  

It Is Not A Spectator Sport

We are in a quagmire! Going to hell in a hand-basket! Or whatever other clichés you want to use, we are in another election cycle and the same thing is happening now as it did in 2024, and the election before, and before that, and…

Take a look at the current crop of political ads. Do any of these sound familiar?

• "Lowering costs for working families," "bringing down the price of everyday goods," and "making the American Dream affordable again."
• "Bringing back American manufacturing," "putting American workers first," and "building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up."
• "Bringing common sense back to Washington," "fighting for the forgotten communities," and "taking on special interests."
•  “I will stand up to Trump!,” "Standing up to executive overreach," "Protecting our democratic norms and institutions," and "Serving as a check and balance in Washington."

How many of these have you heard just today?

Okay, let me ask you a question… how are they going to do it? As they say, the devil is in the details! Yet the campaigns tell you nothing about the how. They purposely don’t tell you. Because if they don't, your mind fills in the blanks: "Yeah, cutting my taxes!" or "Yeah, they are going to make billionaires pay their fair share!" But the moment they specify what they actually want to do, they risk losing the other half of the voters who think the opposite. So, they keep voters in the dark by relying strictly on buzzwords.

Also, have you noticed that they don’t even mention their party anymore? It happens for the exact same reason they use empty buzzwords. If a candidate says the party name out loud, half of the voters immediately turn off their message. A mental buzzer goes off: "Oh, that's from the party I don't vote for," and they tune out completely. So, candidates now drop the party label altogether.

Meanwhile, the local newspaper gives candidates space to write about the upcoming election. But what do they write about? My two kids, Dick and Jane, our lovely dog Spot, and how they know the issues facing the town firsthand because their kids are in school! Um… okay. So what are the actual issues, and how will you deal with them? Zip.

Boycotting elections is self-defeating because it just hands power to the status quo, and staying silent leaves you vulnerable to manipulation by buzzwords. So how do we actually push back against the cycle? How do we bring substance back to elections?

The answer is looking at you in the mirror.

It is you!

Elections are not a spectator sport—you have to get off your couch and do the research! What has the candidate done in the past? If they have never run before and have no track record, and tell you nothing except platitudes, that also tells you a lot.

When I wanted to look up candidates, I started with Ballotpedia. When I found out who was running against Governor Lamont & Ryan Fazio, I checked his background, and then looked up his voting record on the Connecticut General Assembly's website. 

Well, there is this fabulous new tool called AI, where you can ask weird questions like, "How do I find a candidate's voting record?" Seconds later, I had direct pointers to official government portals and tracking resources:

•     The Connecticut General Assembly website for official bill tracking and session votes.
•     The LegiScan Connecticut Page to view sponsored legislation and past roll call votes.
•     Public legislative tracking databases like BillTrack50.

WOW! That was easy.

I then asked it a couple of follow-up questions: "Has Ryan Fazio said anything on abortion?" and "Has Ryan Fazio said anything on trans rights?" For the second question, it replied that he joined other Greenwich officials in condemning hateful signs at Town Hall, but otherwise, his primary legislative record and platform steer clear of culture-war debates, focusing instead on state economics and local policy.

The thing is habit and tribal loyalty are powerful forces. When people feel overwhelmed by work, life, and daily stress, falling back on party lines feels like a safe shortcut, even if it means buying into the exact buzzwords and empty promises you write about.

The bottom line is that you cannot sit on your butt and vote based on who has the prettiest ad on TV. We have to stop falling for family photo-ops and start digging into actual records.

A Tail Of Two States

A Synopsis:

In the first state, an ICE agent shot a man and lied about it. ICE argues that agents have “absolute immunity” for their actions on duty and then spirits the agent away to another state.

The first state indicts the agent for assault and falsely reporting a crime and sends an extradition order to the state where ICE shipped him. That state says, “We will think about it,” and releases the agent from custody.

So that is where we are now: The ICE agent is somewhere, maybe even in Mexico.

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

AP News

By MICHAEL GONZALEZ, VALERIE GONZALEZ and SUDHIN THANAWALA

August 27, 2026

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

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

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

And no way in hell will Trump extradite him!

But this goes way beyond this case. Texas and other Republican states have been trying to get health care records on women having abortions and children going to trans clinics in other states. Some see this as tit for tat.

The decision is alarming because it injects politics into the extradition process, said Marsh Halberg, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor in Minnesota.

“Something that’s been a routine process may now turn into a political card,” he said in a phone interview.

In recent months, California and New York have rejected extradition requests from Louisiana for doctors accused of mailing abortion pills.

But legal scholars say those cases are different because the doctors weren’t in Louisiana and never fled the state and became fugitives.

Is Texas looking the other way in a case of perjury and attempted murder because of the denial of a witch-hunt for medical records?

But it gets even more convoluted… the feds jump in!

Judge denies Minnesota's request to halt release of ICE officer charged in Minneapolis shooting

CBS News

By Aki Nace, Stephen Swanson

August 26, 2026

A federal judge on Wednesday denied Minnesota's request for a temporary restraining order to halt the release of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent sought for extradition in a shooting earlier this year in north Minneapolis amid Operation Metro Surge, and then lying about the circumstances under oath.

[…]

In U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr.'s 13-page ruling, he denied Minnesota's request because the "matter does not present an issue ripe for adjudication," saying Minnesota's case is based on claims that Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has violated the Extradition Act by refusing to sign Castro's rendition warrant.

"The record reflects only that Governor Abbott has neither agreed nor refused to sign the rendition warrant as to Castro. Instead, Governor Abbott has requested that the Texas Secretary of State 'investigate [Minnesota's] demand and report to [the Governor] concerning Mr. Castro's situation and circumstances and whether he ought to be surrendered,'" Rodriguez wrote in his ruling.

So that’s where we are now… in limbo.

A Disturbing Trend

[Editorial]

Have you noticed that the Trump administration is going after care for minorities?

First, it was getting the homeless off the streets in Washington, D.C. Now it is the disabled. Home care has revolutionized the lives of senior citizens. No longer do they have to be institutionalized in nursing homes; they can live in their own homes. But that program is being cut.

The latest attack is focused on home care for the mentally and physically disabled. It is cheaper to institutionalize them. What the Trump administration is trying to do is what Project 2025 said to do: do away with federal mandates, like the number of nurses required per patient. Instead, they want to throw a block of money at the states with no strings attached and say, “Go to it!”

Lawmakers Knew All Along They Were Voting to Cut Medicaid for Older Adults

Justice in Aging

March 4, 2026

Last July, Congress voted to pass the Budget Reconciliation Act of 2025 (H.R. 1) and enact the largest Medicaid cuts in history. For months before the vote, advocates, older adults, and people with disabilities repeatedly warned lawmakers that cutting federal Medicaid funding would put home and community-based services (HCBS) first on the chopping block. But lawmakers took to the airwaves dismissing these claims, asserting they were only cutting “wasteful” spending, and promising that key Medicaid programs, including HCBS, would be protected and even strengthened as they cut federal Medicaid funding to states by $1 trillion. This was always an empty promise.

Medicaid’s coverage of HCBS is not a luxury. For most people, it’s the only option for at-home care. HCBS help with everyday activities like dressing, bathing, cooking, and taking medications that allow older adults and people with disabilities to remain at home and part of their communities. HCBS save money too, relieving costs for families who can’t afford to pay for care out of pocket and avoiding far more expensive institutional care that Medicaid would otherwise have to pay for. Research shows people who need but don’t receive HCBS are far more likely to have to go into nursing facilities.

At the same time, they are driving seniors out of their homes and into long-term care (LTC) facilities, such as nursing homes. The Center for Medicare Advocacy reports that;

LTC) facilities such are nursing homes. The Center for Medicare Advocacy reports that;

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) repeals the 2024 nurse staffing rule, specifically, the numerical staffing requirements (3.48 hours per resident day, divided among various categories of nurses) and the requirement for registered nurses 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The numerical requirement reflected a modest change and would have required additional staffing, primarily in nursing homes that have the lowest nurse staffing levels. The registered nurse requirement reflected a recommendation made by experts for many decades.

The staffing rule was a key component of a comprehensive nursing home reform agenda in 2022. The rule and reform agenda responded to the hundreds of thousands of residents and staff who died during the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing problems in nursing homes that could not be ignored. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania calculated that implementation of the final staffing rule would save 13,000 residents’ lives each year and reduce residents’ adverse health outcomes.

It is a squeeze play, forcing seniors and the mentally and physically disabled out of their homes and into institutions while, at the same time, cutting staffing!

NPR in "They grew up with disability rights. Now, they're fighting to keep them" talks about how disability rights are once again under attack;

And in 1999, the year Cody was born, the Supreme Court handed down the Olmstead decision. It reinforced the ADA's integration mandate, which says people with disabilities should get to learn, live and work in their communities rather than in institutions. The government made that promise after people with disabilities fought against segregation in institutions, which have a long history of abuse and neglect.

"That affects everything," said Kaleigh. "The integrated setting affects school. It affects where you can work. It affects community-based programs like what my brother uses."

Now, the integration mandate — and an entire system of community-based disability services that more than 8 million Americans rely on — are being challenged.

The Trump adminstration is running it like a business: minimize costs, maximize profits! And not like a government that cares about its citizens.

[/Editorial]

Why Do They Hate Us?

All that comes out of Trump's mouth are lies about us, designed to cause fear and anxiety in our community while creating hatred against us.

Trump and Linda McMahon lie about trans kids — in front of schoolchildren

The president and Linda McMahon turned a back-to-school celebration into a barrage of falsehoods about transgender students, education and vaccines.

The Advocate

Christopher Wiggins

Aug 25, 2026

President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon used a White House back-to-school celebration Monday to spread lies about transgender children and education in front of students. Trump then inexplicably invited attendees to tour the construction of his helipad and ballroom, returning to his White House construction obsession.

And now come the lies:

“Every public school in America is now on notice that if they tell a child that they’re trapped in the wrong body, they are committing child abuse,” Trump said.

That’s not true. No Biden policy forced children to identify as transgender, and Trump cited no law making affirmation abuse—the targeted policies concern names, pronouns and privacy — not medical treatment.

And more lies:

McMahon repeated the lie that schools secretly transition children and threatened their federal funding over supposed “radical experiments.”

“After the Biden administration allowed schools to secretly transition students without parents’ knowledge, President Trump is defending parental rights like never before,” McMahon said. “At his direction, we are working hand in hand with the Department of Justice to ensure no school district ever has more power over a child than their own parents.”

Trump repeatedly lies about us, using those lies to create fear and anxiety in our community while fueling hatred toward us.

The mainstream media are complicit in this by not calling Trump and his administration out on these lies. FactCheck.org reported:

Trump Misleads on Transgender Issues

By Catalina Jaramillo

April 7, 2025

On the first day of his administration, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the federal government to no longer consider a person’s gender and to recognize people as either male or female, as defined by the size of their reproductive cells.

The directive served as a basis for a series of subsequent orders that called for defunding medical or educational institutions that have protections for transgender students, provide gender-affirming medical care to transgender youth or allow transgender girls or women to participate in women’s sports. Another order attempted to ban transgender people from the military. 

But some of those orders — and Trump’s later comments — lack context or include incorrect or misleading statements.

“For four long years, we had an administration that tried to abolish the very concept of womanhood and replace it with radical gender ideology,” Trump said on March 26 at a Woman’s History Month event at the White House.

Is it just for political gain that he is willing to cause harm to children? I don't know what is worse: the fact that he is using us for political gain, the fact that he is willing to accept that children will suffer lifelong consequences from not receiving appropriate medical care, or the fact that he is willing to accept that some children might harm themselves.

Duh!

[Editorial]

It’s the economy, stupid!

That was the gist of the 2024 election. The economy was the #1 issue, according to voters.

Then he started all his tariffs in 2025.

Then he started a war with Iran that choked off oil supplies and used up all the bombs and rockets.

Now he has added a 50% tariff on our number-one trading partner.

Meanwhile, they can’t feed the troops.

They hide the true material losses.

Warships are breaking down and need to be towed.

The guy is a total basket case! And still, his MAGA-loyal followers worship at his feet.

[/Editorial]

They’re Not Pawns

[Editorial]

Before I retired, I ran an electronic test department. At its peak, I managed 24 techs, including an Air Force master tech. Every once in a while, he would vanish for a month or two. So I had to hire a “Rent-A-Tech,” and we paid the difference in salaries.

When he came back in the middle of winter with a tan, all he said was, “There was a lot of sand.” But in the news, we knew that the military had sent troops to the Afghanistan area.

The thing is, he was a vital person on my team. His loss was felt!

It cost the company to hire a temp!

The company covered the difference in salaries, but many businesses do not, so it is a hardship on the families!

We didn’t mind because he was being used for what he signed up for, but… picking up trash in Washington, D.C., is wrong. Trump doesn’t care. He is using the Guard as pawns in a chess match. He doesn’t care about the hardships he is causing.

Now he is pissed off about a report that showed that the National Guard is not making any difference, and Trump is pissed. And, true to form, he is attacking the media.

Trump threatens lawsuit against nonprofit that questioned whether National Guard plan lessened crime

AP News

By  GARY FIELDS

August 21, 2026

President Donald Trump is threatening to sue a left-leaning think tank unless it retracts a report that said his National Guard deployments to various cities did not reduce crime as he said.

The letter gave the Washington, D.C.-based Center for American Progress until the end of business Friday to issue the retraction or face a $5 billion lawsuit. The center declined.

The nonprofit’s president and chief executive, Neera Tanden, said in a statement that the lawsuit “is a transparent attempt to silence us. We will neither cower nor bend in the face of it.”

The report, published July 13, criticized the administration for taking credit for a historic drop in violent crime at a time when that decline was already underway. The analysis concluded that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard “had no measurable effect on violent crime trends.”

In typical Trump fashion……. ATTACK!

Before, he used to short his subs on construction jobs. Now he has the full weight of the U.S. government behind him. The FCC is attacking Disney/ABC. The Defense Department went after Stars and Stripes for publishing the article about the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. The First Amendment be damned! When asked about the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the reports were "fake news" and the conditions "completely misrepresented," and insisted the Pentagon makes sure "every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment." So instead of focusing on fixing the problem he went after the media.

The thing is… these are people’s lives. They signed up to defend the Constitution, not to be used as some political pawns, not as cannon fodder for Trump’s political ambitions and to gather more wealth for the Trump family. 

[/Editorial]

---

Updated: 8/26 @ 6AM

I just came across this NPR article: In candid interviews, National Guard members speak out about D.C. deployment and they write,

Thousands of armed National Guard members have been patrolling Washington, D.C., for more than a year now. But central voices have been missing from the public discourse around that deployment, and that's the Guard members themselves. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf has been speaking with some of them, and they say they're worried that this is a new norm of armed troops patrolling American cities. Kat's with me now. Good morning.

[...]

FADEL: So what did they tell you?

LONSDORF: Well, all three spoke really bluntly about how they didn't buy the justification for the deployment by this administration, which, remember, came after President Trump declared a crime emergency despite a 30-year low in violent crime in the city. They all said that reasoning was confusing to them in the beginning but even more so now, as the deployment has been extended for several years.

One Guard member said, quote, "it feels like the Guard is being exploited, being used for political narratives by the administration." Another told me that he hopes there will be some kind of official reckoning someday about why the Guard is here and whether it was worth it. And another Guard member told me that it, quote, "embarrasses" him to be involved in any way with the deployment.

They feel the same way I wrote... that they are nothing but pawns!

"Lock 'em up"

And throw away the key, the is the Republican philosophy. They're "Tough On Crime" however it doesn't work!

Scotland was the 'murder capital of Europe'. Then it started treating violence like a disease

BBC News

29 June 2026

Eve Livingston

In the early 2000s you were three times more likely to be assaulted in Scotland than in the US. But when the Scottish authorities started looking at violent crime as a public health problem, levels plummeted and the country now ranks among some of the safest in the world.

It was no ordinary day in court. There was no jury, no witnesses or defendants at Glasgow Sheriff Court on 24 October 2008. Instead, in front of the judge, who was dressed in full regalia, were 85 rival gang members from the east end of Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city.

For decades, the area had been plagued by territorial youth gangs, organised crime and fights over drugs and weapons, with knife crime an almost daily occurrence.

Despite their ongoing feuds, the assembled gang members fell silent as they were addressed in turn by a range of speakers. A mother described seeing her son's unrecognisable face after a gang-related machete attack at age 13. An American basketball player recalled losing his brother to gun violence. Doctors and surgeons described brutal lacerations and permanent disfigurements.

The message was clear: the violence has to stop.

But it is not the message that the Republicans push!

In Idaho they are tough on drugs! But it can snare unsuspecting women who get caught in their traps!

How THC tests have landed more than a thousand new mothers onto child abuse registries

CBS Sunday Morning

By Erin Moriarty

August 9, 2026

Giving birth to her fourth child in January of 2021 was life-changing, says Nicole Hamann, but not in the way she ever imagined. While still at the hospital, Hamann was informed that both she and her newborn tested positive for a trace amount of THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana. [A urine test is given to mothers, which is followed up by testing the umbilical cord.] "I felt like, all of the sudden, I was a criminal," Hamann said.

"Through all of my pregnancies, I took very good care of myself and my body. Now all of the sudden, I have these people making me feel guilt and shame and fear."

Hamann lives in Idaho, where marijuana is illegal. But a month before giving birth, Hamann, who has no criminal record, says she accidentally ate a pot-laced brownie at a relative's home in Oregon, where marijuana is legal. She says no one was interested in hearing her explanation of why she had THC in her system.

But that was enough to sic the hounds on her!

Child and Family Services began an investigation immediately, because in Idaho (and a number of other states), a single positive test result of THC in a newborn is considered presumptive evidence of child abuse.

"They knocked on my door, and there was an officer standing with them, a police officer," Hamann said.

Here in Connecticut it would have been handled a lot different! It wouldn't have escalated to criminal charges right off the bat!

Take a look at Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire verses Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas.

Maine recorded just 100.1 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. New Hampshire recorded 110.1, and Connecticut 136.0. Massachusetts was higher at 314.7, but still below the national rate of 359.1. Now look at the four states we're putting in the “lock ’em up” category; Louisiana recorded 519.8 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Arkansas recorded 579.4, Tennessee 592.3, and Texas 389.4. Put another way, the violent-crime rate in Tennessee was almost six times the rate in Maine. Arkansas was nearly six times Maine's rate. Louisiana's rate was more than five times Maine's.

Now just look at Texas, they had a violent-crime rate almost four times that of Maine and more than three times that of Connecticut.

But perhaps the most important numbers aren't the violent-crime rates. They're the incarceration rates.

The Prison Policy Initiative's 2024 state data show an incarceration rate of 272 per 100,000 residents in Maine, 278 in New Hampshire, 326 in Connecticut, and 241 in Massachusetts.

Compare that with 1,067 in Louisiana, 912 in Arkansas, 817 in Tennessee, and 751 in Texas.

There it is.

The states in our “lock ’em up” group are incarcerating people at dramatically higher rates than the four New England states.

And yet they are not safer. In fact, three of the four, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee, have violent-crime rates substantially higher than the national average. Texas is also above the national average. Meanwhile, Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut have among the lowest violent-crime rates in the country. Massachusetts is below the national average as well.

But when the Republican cry "We are tough on crime, unlike those pansy liberals!" Their MAGA crowd all cheer on.