They Never Liked It From Day One

The Republicans have been trying to derail it from when President Johnson signed the bill. They have been throwing a monkey wrench ever since then.

The latest is deleting much of Part D coverage for prescriptions!

Trump administration to end Medicare Part D subsidy program in 2027

The prescription drug benefit is used by millions of seniors.

ABC News

ByMichelle Stoddart andArthur Jones II

July 29, 2026

The Trump administration is ending a key health insurance subsidy program that aimed to keep premiums for seniors' prescription drug plans in check, claiming that it benefits corporate insurance companies, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz.

Medicare Part D -- the government health insurance program's prescription drug benefit -- is used by tens of millions of older or disabled beneficiaries

The program's subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year, the administration announced Tuesday.

That move will likely result in higher prescription costs and increase premiums for about half of recipients, according to an administration official.

[…]

The move comes as Affordable Care Act subsidies have expired and health care costs remain a top issue for voters ahead of the midterm elections. The ACA subsidies helped lower the out-of-pocket costs for monthly premiums for people who purchased health care through the health insurance marketplace.

 The ABC News goes on to report,

President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed he wouldn't allow Medicaid to be cut, but House Republicans' bill to fund his agenda aims to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from the program that provides health care for poor, elderly and disabled Americans.

For several months, Trump has promised not to touch the program, though on Monday he urged Republicans to "UNIFY" around the "one, big beautiful bill," which plans to slash Medicaid spending by imposing work requirements for recipients, make more frequent eligibility checks, and penalize states like New York and California that offer Medicaid to illegal immigrants.

In another ABC News article,

The program's subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year, the administration announced Tuesday.

That move will likely result in higher prescription costs and increase premiums for about half of recipients, according to an administration official.

The question is why the cuts, well for one thing, NPR might have a clue,

"Project 2025 was pretty blunt about wanting to push more people into Medicare Advantage," she says, referring to the Heritage Foundation's blueprint for a second Trump presidency. "One way to really accelerate that is to make it very expensive to stay in traditional Medicare."

To avoid the higher premiums for drug coverage, patients may move away from traditional Medicare plans and toward Medicare Advantage plans. While Medicare Advantage may have lower premiums, she says there are tradeoffs, including a more limited network of providers and hospitals that accept Medicare Advantage.

Ah… that sounds more like it! Project 2025 has the fingers in it! Go Health reports that,

Key Takeaways

• Project 2025 is a policy proposal from the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation that some believe will influence the second Trump administration.
• The document suggests many policy changes that could affect people on Medicare.
• Some of the most significant ideas for Medicare in Project 2025 include shifting Original Medicare to a value-based care model, making Medicare Advantage plans the default option, and eliminating price controls for prescription drugs.

With President Donald Trump back in office, many Medicare beneficiaries wonder what changes could happen to the public health insurance program for people who are over 65 or living with disabilities.

Trump has not made any official announcements regarding his goals for Medicare, but examining Project 2025 could provide some hints. Project 2025 is an approximately 900-page policy proposal published by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation that lays out plans for transforming the U.S. government.

Conservatives have always hated it!

We have the highest medical costs in the world, and now we will have even higher costs as they disassemble Medicare and Medicaid and let their billionaire friends rake in more of our money.

Is This Our Future?

Is this what Trump’s leading us to?

How China Keeps Tabs on Foreigners

An unsecured police dashboard was a rare window into how the authorities track foreigners by collecting and aggregating vast amounts of private data.

New York Times

By Lily Kuo and Pei-Lin Wu

Aug. 2, 2026

Most days, Marc Hofer, a cybersecurity researcher and journalist based in Amsterdam, trawls the internet for clues about how China surveils its citizens, a subject that has fascinated him since he worked there as a foreign correspondent.

Mr. Hofer, 46, was doing his usual scan earlier this year when he came across something called “Dynamic Control Platform for Overseas Personnel.” It was a futuristic dashboard — like something from the movie “Minority Report” — that appeared to track foreigners in the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou, a popular skiing spot that co-hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The system’s dashboard said it tracked more than 700 foreign residents living in the city. In total, it had entries for nearly 12,000 people, which included fugitives, people from Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as more than 300 foreign journalists. Some of them had not been to Zhangjiakou.

Is this what we are starting to do here? Making us into a police state? Where I live, the crime reports show a safety grade of A, which is 74% better than the U.S. average.

But still, there were comments like this:

• Would someone please tell me what freedoms you’re losing in the name of safety? Because it sounds to me like you’re mad that you can’t speed and run stoplights
• I don't understand why people hate FLOCK cameras so much. If you’re not doing anything wrong, why does it bother you? These cameras solve crimes, find stolen cars, and help catch people who think they can get away with anything.
• There’s cameras everywhere anyway, so who cares at this point?

People are divided into two camps: those who don't think there's anything wrong with tracking citizens, as in China, as long as it reduces crime. (Of course, even now, they have no real idea what the actual crime rate is.) They don't seem to care that this approach leads society down the path toward totalitarianism. Truthout wrote back in 2015, before this discussion even began:

From 1933 through 1945, before being destroyed and dismantled, buildings here housed the Secret State Police (Gestapo), the leadership of the SS (Protection Squad of the Nazi Party) and the Reich Security Main Office. These institutions used cold and brutal methods to serve cold and brutal purposes. Following World War II, Communist Party secret police in East Germany surveilled people’s mail, telephone calls and foreigners. With 500,000 professional and civilian informants — and estimates as high as 2 million (if occasional informants are included) — to monitor a population of 17 million, the Stasi have been described the most intrusive surveillance organizations in world history.

Totalitarian regimes in Germany made widespread use of mass surveillance in order to dominate freedom and carry out horrific crimes. It is no surprise then that Germany is today a top-ranking country globally for data privacy and protection laws, that Berlin has evolved to become one of the world capitals for hackers and data privacy advocates, and that one of the first peer-to-peer computational platforms to guarantee user privacy against unwanted electronic surveillance, Enigma, is named after the tool that the Nazis used to broadcast coded messages from. Yet, ironically, the power of today’s mass surveillance systems — like those of the NSA, brought to light by Edward Snowden’s revelations — far exceed what previous totalitarian regimes could have imagined. Surveillance has spread like a pandemic.

And are we heading down that path?

As more of our personal information moves from our own computers to cloud services, an increasing share of our digital lives is stored by third parties. That makes it potentially more accessible to ICE, CBP, and other federal agencies than when it existed only on a personal device. Combined with advances in AI and data analytics, many civil liberties advocates worry this could enable increasingly comprehensive surveillance of ordinary citizens. Previously, they had to come to your house, but when it is in the vapors of the cloud... who knows who can get access to it without your knowledge!

Do you have stuff up in the clouds? I do. I have all the slide presentations I have given, from the cultural diversity ones to the ones on trans history, on Google Drive.

Dream On, Dream On

When Trump doesn't like something, he lies. Polling numbers... they're fake!

Fuming Trump, 80, Melts Down Over Embarrassing Poll Numbers

The president is clearly unhappy with his standing among Americans.

Daily Beast

Leigh Kimmins 

Aug. 3 2026

President Donald Trump flew into a morning tantrum over his disastrous polling numbers.

As Trump’s approval ratings plunge to record lows, he pulled out one of his favorite defenses against humiliating poll figures: insisting they are simply made up.

“My REAL Polling Numbers, not those made up by the Fake News Media, are the best they have ever been,” the president, 80, contested in a Monday morning meltdown, pointing to “the biggest tax cuts and employment numbers EVER, the biggest outside Investment in America in World history, a totally secure Border, a giant Victory in Venezuela, the Denuclearization of Iran, unparalleled respect and success throughout the World, and much more.”

Psst, Donald, those are your real numbers... you're just dreaming.

He continued in a similar, ranty vein, “Don’t believe the Radical Left’s Fake Poll numbers. They are Crooked and Corrupt, just like the Country Destroying Dumocrats are Crooked and Corrupt. VOTE REPUBLICAN FOR GREATNESS IN AMERICA!”

[...]

Denying the obvious is part of Trump’s playbook. “He’s always going to project strength regardless what the numbers are, and he’ll say they’re fake anyway,” Douglas Heye, a veteran Republican strategist, told The New York Times over the weekend.

It is like they all live in their own little world of Peter Pan's Never-Never Land, where there are continuous reruns of "Father Knows Best." in their detachment from reality.

Primary Elections Next Week!

[Editorial]

It is election season, and who do you vote for? That is the question after the psychopath in power... our election process is geared to electing them.

With Trump, his promises held more sway than his actions from the first term. Why? People knew what he was like, but still they voted for him. Why?

The reason why is debatable, but I think the main reason for it was bigotry. Trump was against immigrants, and so were the voters. But they never questioned how he was going to do it.

"No more wars!" But the voters didn't question it. They just read his lips, not his actions.

So now we are in another election cycle and promises are being made: cut taxes, more houses, fix healthcare, lower electric bills, etc., etc., etc.

But not one of them has said how. In the old days, it was called buying a "pig in a poke"—meaning buying or accepting something without checking it first, which means you might get tricked or end up with something of low quality. And that is how our elections are becoming.

Here in Connecticut, we see the same thing, promises without substance! In the First District, there is a heated race. The incumbent of 27 years with a huge war chest is up against the former mayor of Hartford, who has the backing of money—millions! And one other candidate is a state representative who is not backed by any PACs.

The former mayor’s PACs have saturated the media with ads; the other day, I got three ads from him in the mail in one day! In all the ads, he claims he is going to generate change in Washington with a fresh vision for the future. However, no one knows how he is going to bring a new vision to Washington.

How are they going to lower the price of electricity? How, with the war in Iran driving up prices?

"I’m going to cut property taxes"—how will you make up for the loss in revenue? You either have to make drastic cuts in services! So where are they cutting? What services? Cuts to the senior center? Cuts to road repair? Cuts to education?

As the saying goes, “The devil is in the details.”

Our election system is based on attack ads. We have settled for “pie in the sky” promises. We vote because we are against the other guy. We don't care what they want to do because all we care about is defeating the other guy!

How many people do this small bit of research? How many of us have checked the candidates' voting records? How many of us voters have shrugged off our duties as voters? We vote party lines... we don't care how they voted, what they say, or what they don't say, as long as they are against the other party. That for many of us is our voting criteria... who they are against.

The candidate running against the governor—how many of us have googled his record? Or any other candidate’s record?

My vote in the primary will be for Gilchrest*. Why? I googled her, and this is what I found:

• Background: Gilchrest has served in the Connecticut House of Representatives since 2019, representing the 18th District (West Hartford), and has a professional background as a social worker and nonprofit executive (including leading NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut). [Ballotpedia]
• Key Issues: Her campaign centers on strong progressive policies, including Medicare for All, comprehensive healthcare reform, abortion access, and rigorous campaign finance reform to get "big money out of politics."
• The Ground Game: While she has been heavily out-raised financially by both Larson and Bronin, Gilchrest has leaned heavily on an extensive, grassroots door-knocking strategy across the district's suburbs to build momentum. [CT Mirror]

How many people have just done that… googled the candidate?

Elections are not a spectator sport.

[/Editorial]

---

*Why I am voting for her in the primary:

I first met Rep. Gilchrest when she was interning for the Connecticut Education Justice and Legal Fund (now She Leads Justice). Her office—and the NARAL office—was just down the hallway from mine. Coupled with the fact that she is a graduate of the UConn School of Social Work, I have always known her to be a genuine "people person" who will put everyday residents before corporations.

1. Key Policy Focus and Votes

As a social worker by background, Gilchrest’s voting record and sponsorship history consistently align with liberal and labor-aligned priorities:

• Healthcare & Reproductive Rights: Voted for and led efforts to expand and protect reproductive healthcare access in Connecticut, safeguarding abortion rights following federal rollbacks. She has consistently supported measures to lower healthcare costs and protect Medicaid coverage.  
• Social Services & Human Services: As the Chair of the Human Services Committee and a member of the Appropriations Committee, she has voted in favor of expanding state social safety nets, funding mental health initiatives, and supporting individuals with criminal records or those formerly incarcerated.
• Labor & Workplace Rights: Voted in support of legislation to expand paid family and medical leave in Connecticut and strengthen protections for working families.  
• Public Health & Civil Rights: Supported landmark measures such as legislation declaring racism a public health crisis in Connecticut and laws addressing human trafficking (she serves as chair of the CT Trafficking in Persons Council).  

2. Legislative Scorecards: Interest-group scorecards provide a look at how external organizations evaluate her voting behavior:

• Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA): Business scorecards (such as the CBIA evaluation) typically score her lower on fiscal and economic regulations, reflecting her progressive stance on labor mandates and state spending.
• Environmental and Social Advocacy Groups: She routinely receives high marks from progressive, environmental (such as the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters), and social advocacy scorecards for supporting state conservation funding and social equity bills.

How many people do this small bit of research? 

Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire

It's all about headlines, not the truth. It was blasted across the front pages and led the news broadcasts. But it was all fake... designed to grab headlines. What does that say about the bill he is trying to push? 

But the claim was fake... just another attempt to grab headlines.

President	Survey Year	Trustworthy
Barack Obama	2010	58%
George W. Bush	2006	41%
Bill Clinton	1994	46%
Donald Trump	2018	34%

He has the lowest trust rating of any president!

DHS claimed 250K noncitizens are registered to vote across 4 states. Here's the truth

Officials in California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania all disputed the allegation.

Snopes

Jack Izzo

July 28, 2026

Claim:

More than 250,000 non-U.S. citizens are registered to vote across California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Rating:

False

Context

The Department of Homeland Security did not provide any evidence supporting its claim, as with many other allegations of widespread voter fraud by President Donald Trump and his administration.

With a trust rating of 34%, nobody but his loyal MAGA followers, who kiss his feet, believes him anymore.

It's worth noting that the claim was about the alleged number of registrations, not number of ballots cast, and that the department used the phrase "there may be as many as" to describe its numbers. DHS provided no evidence supporting its conclusion, and Snopes could not reproduce the findings.

The percentage of those believers is about the same as the percentage of voters who support Trump in election polls.

You Get What You Voted For

[Editorial]

When you vote for hate, bigotry, and corruption, don't be surprised if that is what you get! You saw what he did in his first term, but it didn't matter. He was against what you are against.

His sexual exploits didn't matter.

His racism didn't matter.

His 34 convictions didn't matter.

His draft dodging didn't matter.

His bigotry didn't matter.

*****

He was against the Democrats, whom I also hated.

He was against the foreigners, whom I also hated.

He was against the gays, whom I also hated.

He was against the crime, which I also hated.

Trump was elected based on hate, and this is the result of that election—the election that was run on hate. The enemy of my enemy is my friend!

Just look at ICE and CBP... their tactics, their dress, and their holding warehouses. Who do they remind you of? I don't even have to say it because you know who I am talking about.

Tell me, what do you think of all the Automated License Plate Readers? It is amazing that the polling data shows a divide: those who see nothing wrong with all the surveillance tend to be Trump supporters.

Do you know who owns the ALPR companies? Neither do we. Why? Because they are owned by venture capitalists and private equity firms, so we don't really know who owns them other than that they are "billionaires."

You know all those "data centers" everyone is up in arms over? Well, some of those data centers are for the "Cloud" when you store your data online, guess where it goes? Yup, to a data center (hence the name). But it is not only that; it's also all the ALPR data, and not just for 60 or 90 days, but forever and ever. Can you imagine being questioned by police for a crime and they ask, "What were you doing on the night of December 28, 2024, at 1:05 AM?" The data never goes away... they just keep building more data centers.

Look at the persecution of us. The trans community was persecuted back in the 1930s in Germany, if you want to learn where the pink triangle came from, learn your history! But now we are taking advice on our elections from Putin; Trump said that Putin gave him some very good advice on mail-in ballots.

We can see the trajectory we are heading on. Will the voters see it, or will they continue to be blinded by hate?

There is no surprise in where we are today. When people vote for hate, this is what we get.

[/Editorial]

---

After I write the blog I have it proofread for grammar by an AI and then afterwards I ask it what it thought about the post. this is Gemini response in part to the question.

When marginalized communities are targeted by political movements, the infrastructure of surveillance—like the endless retention of ALPR data, private equity-backed tech, and aggressive federal policing—isn't just an abstract privacy issue; it's an existential threat. The state and corporate entities building these data pipelines are the exact ones trans people have historical reason to not trust with infinite retention of their movements and lives.

But what really got to me was I tried first to have it proofread on Perplexity and it rejected it saying was promoting racism!

It Is Having A Chilling Effect.

Trump's pogrom against LGBTQ+ people is having a chilling effect on our community.

Middletown PrideFest may have to scale back after funding losses

CT Insider

By Cassandra Day,

Aug 1, 2026

Middletown’s PrideFest, which has lost some $32,000 in sponsorships and grants over the last couple years, stands to potentially lose an additional $25,000 in funding from their partner Wesleyan University for a total projected deficit of $56,700, according to one city official.

"Prior to this year, we had approximately $20,000 from three companies," Skowera said, though she declined to name them. "We are also ineligible for $10,000 in grants as the grantor prevents recipients who have received the grant for three years in a row to apply."

                                          

The LGBTQIA+ Commission facilitates the city's Pride events, which began in June 2019. It holds the distinction of being the largest such celebration in Connecticut, and third largest in New England, behind Boston and Providence, Skowera said. It includes a large parade with over 80 marching groups down Main Street.

This is the doing of one person and his attack on the LGBTQ+ community—his transphobic and homophobic use of government to exert financial pressure designed to destroy the community.

This is not only hurting Pride events, but also pride centers, through direct attacks on their federal funding... The Los Angeles LGBT Center reported that;

“This is a critical win—not only for the nine organizations we represent, but for LGBTQ communities and people living with HIV across the country,” said Jose Abrigo, Lambda Legal’s HIV Project Director and Senior Attorney on the case. “The Court blocked anti-equity and anti-LGBTQ executive orders that seek to erase transgender people from public life, dismantle DEI efforts, and silence nonprofits delivering life-saving services. Today’s ruling acknowledges the immense harm these policies inflict on these organizations and the people they serve and stops Trump’s orders in their tracks.”

The legal win will protect the nine nonprofit organizations across the country from having to shutter programs or silence their advocacy for fear of losing critical federal support while the case proceeds. The ruling ensures organizations such as San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Los Angeles and New York LGBTQ Centers can continue to operate, advocate, serve people, and save lives without further censorship or threats to their funding.

Beyond this, private businesses are also cutting back on their donations.

LGBTQ+ groups face alarming funding crisis as Republican anti-trans attacks mount, new report finds

A sharp drop in grants leaves queer and trans groups struggling to fight unprecedented legislative attacks.

The Advocate

Christopher Wiggins

Jul 08, 2025

Philanthropic support for LGBTQ+ causes is collapsing just as queer and trans communities face an escalating national crisis. New data from Funders for LGBTQ Issues shows foundation funding for LGBTQ+ organizations in the U.S. dropped sharply to $209.4 million in 2023. That’s a staggering decline of nearly $49 million, or 19 percent, from 2022. When adjusted for inflation, that cut deepens to 22 percent.

Even as the funding picture grows increasingly dire, many philanthropic institutions are opting to remain anonymous. The report omits the names of top funders and grantees for the first time in decades, reflecting a growing trend among donors who fear political retaliation and the increased hostility toward progressive causes under the current administration..

Gemini - Question: Who are they fearing when they request anonymity? And what does it say about our government under Trump?

Who are they fearing when they request anonymity?

Philanthropic foundations, corporate donors, and individual grant-makers are requesting anonymity primarily out of fear of political retaliation, targeted harassment, and financial or legal targeting from the federal government under the Trump administration.

Specifically, donors fear:

• Government investigations and audits: Utilizing federal agencies, regulatory bodies, or tax-exempt status reviews to penalize organizations that support progressive or LGBTQ+ causes.

• Public blacklisting or smear campaigns: Being singled out by administration officials, political allies, or state-level lawmakers, which can damage a business's brand, alienate customer bases, or incite hostile public backlash.

• Loss of partnerships or institutional security: Universities, corporate sponsors, and non-profits face immense pressure to distance themselves from anything labeled "DEI" or "gender ideology" to protect their own institutional funding and survival.

What does it say about our government under Trump?

The fact that philanthropic organizations—traditionally bold and vocal champions of social causes—are forced into hiding reflects an alarming democratic backslide. It suggests several key things about the current administration:

1. The Weaponization of State Power: It indicates a political environment where government authority is perceived—and actively used—as a punitive instrument to suppress dissent, marginalize specific minority populations, and force ideological compliance.

2. A "Chilling Effect" on Free Speech and Association: When civil society organizations and private citizens feel they cannot safely exercise their right to donate to marginalized communities without fear of state reprisal, it creates an atmosphere of authoritarian intimidation.

3. Erosion of Pluralism: By signaling that supporting LGBTQ+ people, reproductive rights, or diversity initiatives makes an entity a target, the administration's policies effectively seek to drive these communities back into the shadows, undermining the foundational American principles of equal protection and pluralism.

It Is Official!

I have played Bingo at a senior center! So that makes me officially a senior.

I love BINGO. In these days of funding cuts to the LGBTQ+ community, what about bringing back Bingo? We used to play Bingo hosted by the HGLHC (now known as The Health Collective), and it was so much fun. We went out to dinner first and then to Bingo. We had a table, and it was a great night out with friends.

This Is What Happens When You Hire For Loyality

And not knowledge!

We are the laughing stock of the world!

Thank you, Donald!

Trump's Credit Card

Trump is maxing out our national debt... During his second term, Donald Trump has added $3.16 trillion to the gross national debt in his first 18 months, outpacing the raw dollar accumulation rate of any previous president during an equivalent opening timeframe (Donald Trump Built a National Debt So Big (Even Before the Pandemic) That It’ll Weigh Down the Economy for Years)

Saturday 9!

Saturday 9: Coconut (1971)

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

 

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

This month Saturday 9 will be tasty, featuring songs with food in the title.

 

1) This song is about a woman who complains of a belly ache. How's your tummy this morning?

My stomach is doing very good right now, knock on wood. (But my back is a different story.)

2) She responds to this malady by calling the doctor. What if you chose to address the problem yourself? Are there currently any OTC digestive aids in your medicine chest? 

An old bottle of anti-acid. What is interesting is as I brought my blood sugar down I needed them a lot less. Now I haven’t taken any in years.

3) Coconut was once a popular ice cream flavor, but no more. It's not on the list of top sellers at Baskin Robbins or Cold Stone. When you last had ice cream, what flavor was it?

I’m hooked on chocolate milkshakes.  Calcium. My Calcium was low and the doc said take more Calcium so I drink milkshakes. So far my Calcium is around normal for my age.

4) Coconut remains popular in baking. It's easy to find recipes for coconut pie, coconut cheesecake, coconut cookies ... you get the idea. Have you recently tried a new recipe? If yes, how did it turn out?

No, haven’t cooked with  coconut.

5) This week's featured artist, Harry Nilsson, was a well known free spirit. He liked to party and had a reputation for not adhering to a schedule. Therefore it's a little surprising that one of his first jobs was in the conservative atmosphere of a small bank. Do you prefer a more structured workplace? 

Yes, I don't know how they can work at home. Work is also social. If I had to got to for something in purchasing, I stopped and chatted with the people in there. Now. It is just Zoom!

6) Harry met Micky Dolenz when The Monkees recorded his song, "Cuddly Toy" and they became fast and life-long friends. Can you think of someone you met and quickly "clicked" with?

Peter Tork used to live in Connecticut and he would pop in "open mics"

 

7) In 1971, when this song was on the radio, detective shows were popular on TV. Mannix, Ironside and Cannon were all in the Top 20. Do you think you'd make a good private investigator?

Naw, you have to be a people person. But I was investigated by a "Private Eye" once—it was so funny. I needed security clearance for a job at work.

Now, there was this car sitting at the end of the street. It looked like something Columbo might drive. There it was, parked in the grocery store parking lot. Down the street at my parents' house: the old, beat-up green car. Over at a friend's house... there it was down the street. This thing was that old beat up car stuck out in a middle class neighborhood.

Well, after 40 years, I guess I can tell you: we made security systems for nuke plants. Back at the start of the '90s, it was high-tech! It was so neat! We had a mockup of the system... it was right out of a James Bond movie.

8) England's Princess Anne turned 21 in 1971 and the occasion was commemorated with an official portrait taken by fashion photographer Norman Parkinson. Who took the most recent photo of you?

A friend at lunch last week. 

9) Random question: You can redecorate any one room in your home, money is no object. But only one room. Which room do you pick?

The kitchen. It is too small and while I'm a remodeling mood, a sun room that heats my bedroom during the day.

 

---

 

Today, I'm up in Vermont for the gathering of the tribe. A trans support group is having a cookout on a farm in southern Vermont for the weekend, and I came back from Cape Cod just for it. Last night, I made Pineapple and Shrimp Macaroni Salad, and today I'm also making Cream cheese roll-ups to bring up.

In the old days, I stayed overnight at a B&B, but they allowed one-night stays, whereas the new B&B requires a minimum of two nights. It's shooting themselves in the foot. There used to be five of us who stayed one night, and the B&B could easily fill the place for a night. But now, only one couple stays the two nights.

Around noon, I'm driving up in my car, and a friend is driving my car back so I won't have to face another four-hour drive after the four-hour drive down from the Cape yesterday.

Smaller Government.

Wasn't that the Republican manta? How they want to get the government out of you lives. Well now that want to pass a law governing what you can wear to work!

NC GOP lawmaker says she’ll propose law to restrict attire for trans teachers 

News & Observer

By T. Keung Hui

July 28, 2026

State Rep. Erin Paré is proposing legislation to regulate what transgender school employees wear in school after she says the Wake County school system hired a transgender music teacher. In posts Monday on Facebook and X, Paré said she had received emails and phone calls about “the hiring of a transgender biological male, who dresses as a woman music teacher, in one of our local elementary schools.” Paré, a Wake County Republican, said she had contacted the Wake school system to raise concerns about the teacher’s attire on campus.

In posts Monday on Facebook and X, Paré said she had received emails and phone calls about “the hiring of a transgender biological male, who dresses as a woman music teacher, in one of our local elementary schools.” Paré, a Wake County Republican, said she had contacted the Wake school system to raise concerns about the teacher’s attire on campus.

[...]

The Wake County school system responded with a statement Tuesday to The News & Observer. “Under Board Policy 1710, the district prohibits unlawful discrimination while taking into account all requirements in state and federal law,” Wake’s statement said.

Now they are going to spend valuable time in the legislature debating this draconian bill.

Who Put The Bug In Trump's Ear?

Rigged elections... Mail-in ballots... Fraudulent voting machines... Where did Trump get that idea? We don't know, but we do know who reinforced the idea for him... FactCheck reported...

At a press briefing with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office later in the day, Trump said he was working on an executive order “to end mail-in ballots because they’re corrupt. And you know that we’re the only country in the world, I believe, I may be wrong, but just about the only country in the world that uses it because of what’s happened, massive fraud all over the place.”

During an Aug. 15 interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him during their summit meeting in Alaska, “‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting. … No country has mail-in voting.'”

We don’t know what Putin might have told Trump about mail-in voting in other nations. But we do know that many countries besides the United States utilize mail-in voting in their elections.

Wait a minute... Trump is taking advice from the authoritarian Putin?

A Voting Power Grab, with a Nod to Putin

Free and fair elections in 2026 could be at stake.

Brennan Center for Justice

Michael Waldman

August 19, 2025

After his Friday meeting with Vladimir Putin, President Trump bragged that the dictator had backed one of his conspiracy theories. According to Trump, Putin said, “You can’t have an honest election with mail-in voting.” (You don’t need to be a former KGB agent to know how to woo our chief executive.)

Then yesterday, perhaps emboldened by his encounter with a real-life autocrat, Trump announced a major effort to seize control of American elections.

In a Truth Social post, he declared that he would sign “an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections” and “lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS.” 

You know, when you stop and think about it... Trump believes Putin!

Attempting to implement any of these policies via executive order would be flagrantly illegal and flatly unconstitutional — a power grab. Already, earlier this year, Trump tried to seize control of elections with an executive order requiring Americans to produce a passport or another citizenship document to register to vote using the federal form. The Brennan Center and others sued, and judges blocked the worst part of that move. The new threatened executive order, too, could turn out to be vapor, essentially a malevolent press release.

Yep. It was shot down, and then shot down again by the appeals court. But you know Trump... he's taking it to the Supreme Court. The thing is, there are only 76 days until North Carolina's in-person early voting starts on Oct. 15, 2026.

Trump administration urges Supreme Court to allow order targeting mail-in voting before midterms

AP News

By  LINDSAY WHITEHURST

July 27, 2026

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to clear the way for an executive order from President Donald Trump that could dramatically change mail-in voting ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The Justice Department asked the justices to halt for now lower court decisions blocking the sweeping changes in nearly half the country.

The request comes shortly after Trump delivered a primetime address elevating his yearslong push to raise doubts about the legitimacy of elections, and could be one of several voting-related challenges before the court ahead of the high-stakes midterm contest.

Trump ordered the government in March to create a “state citizenship list” of eligible voters and deliver mail ballots only to people on that list.

So that is where we stand right now!

The odds are that the will refuse to hear the case saying that it was too close to the elections.

The Best Government Money Can Buy!

Yeah, I know that title is getting used a lot but... 

You Think We Have It Bad

Can you imagine being in Ukraine and being trans? Being questioned to see if you transitioned to get out of the service.

Trans women now find it more difficult to obtain a diagnosis: Stereotypes, corruption and other challenges facing transgender people during wartime

Zmina

Date: 28 July 2026

Author: Olha Madzhumdar

As part of Pride Month, the three-day Trans Forum 2026 took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, in early June 2026, bringing together transgender people, activists and allies of the community. Today, the trans community in Ukraine faces a range of challenges – from corruption in healthcare and shortages of hormone medication to mobilisation-related problems and the risks posed by the new draft Civil Code.

Is the gender transition procedure in Ukraine really simpler than in European countries?

• Does being transgender constitute grounds for exemption from mobilisation, and how does this work in practice?
• What does the process of legal gender change in Ukraine currently involve?
• What could change once Ukraine transitions to ICD-11 – the latest revision of the International Classification of Diseases?

ZMINA discussed these and other issues with Emiliia Kovalenko, a trans woman and head of NGO “Emancipation”, Salvador Stryzh, a trans man and communications manager at NGO Resistance, and Nick, a community representative.

[…]

In addition to facing prejudice and a lack of understanding from officers of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and staff of the Territorial Centre of Recruitment and Social Support (TCR and SS), trans people must also jump through numerous bureaucratic hoops to be removed from the military register, says Emiliia Kovalenko:

It must be hard to transition with a war, in such an unstably environment.

Turns To Dust

Have you noticed that everything Trump touches turns to S**t! One business after another he drove into the ground. Just like he is doing to our country.

President Trump 'Damaged' Important Soccer Fields With His Helicopter

The Spun

Tzvi Machlin

July 29, 2026

President Donald Trump might have made enemies out of an entire soccer team’s fanbase after he and some other world leaders damaged their field with helicopters.

According to the Mirror, President Trump and other leaders landed their helicopters on a French soccer field for the G7 Summit, damaging the fields in the process. That field was going to be used by the Premier League’s Brighton & Hove Albion FC for preseason training.

Per the report, the damage was so extensive that Brighton have been forced to cancel their trip to France for preseason training and move it to Austria instead.

Need I say more?

Remember The Reflecting Pool Fiasco?

Well, wait for round two... with a new, improved paint for the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB). Trump is going to paint over the granite because he doesn't like the color. It looks ugly.

Preservationists Move to Stop Trump from Testing New Paint on Iconic 1800s Landmark He Called ‘Ugly’ (Exclusive)

A law firm plans to seek an emergency injunction to block paint testing on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building

People

By Angelique Brenes

July 30, 2026

NEED TO KNOW

• Preservationists are seeking an emergency injunction to stop the Trump administration from testing paint on the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building
• The proposed testing is part of Donald Trump’s plan to paint the National Historic Landmark white as part of a broader renovation effort
• “This is a terrible idea,” preservation attorney Greg Werkheiser said as opponents argue the project could permanently damage the iconic building

Preservationists are taking their fight against Donald Trump’s proposed makeover of one of Washington, D.C.’s most recognizable buildings back to court.

Groups challenging Trump’s plan to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) plan to file a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction on Thursday, July 30. They are asking a federal court to halt paint testing that could begin as early as Aug. 3 while the legality of the project is resolved, Cultural Heritage Partners said in a statement shared exclusively with PEOPLE ahead of the filing.

Cultural Heritage Partners said the planned motion comes after the White House announced its intention to begin a paint feasibility study on portions of the landmark. The group also said the administration had previously assured the court that no such work would move forward before complying with federal historic preservation and environmental laws.

Trump is like a bull in a china shop; he doesn't care what he breaks or who he breaks.

Trump has long defended the proposal, arguing a fresh coat of paint would improve the appearance of the historic building.

During an appearance on The Ingraham Angle in November 2025, Trump displayed a rendering of the proposed renovation.

“You know it was always considered an ugly building, and it’s actually one of the most beautiful buildings ever built,” Trump said.

The Washington Post writes;

Kelley is one of more than two dozen experts in preservation, materials and heritage arguing in district court against the Trump administration’s plan to paint the massive EEOB white, to match the nearby White House. It is unnecessary, costly and it could damage the stone, they say, leading to a “taxpayers’ nightmare,” as the building would have to be regularly repainted, keeping it potentially under scaffolding in perpetuity.

You see, the problem is no one knows what a coat of paint would do to the granite—will it stick or will it damage the granite? No one knows, so the National Park Service is testing the paint, but it is not fast enough for little Donny; he is sooo... impatient!

Trump plan to use ‘magic’ paint will ruin Eisenhower building, restoration experts say

Silicate paint won’t strengthen the exterior granite or keep water out, as President Trump has claimed, 25 specialists say in a Q&A prepared by preservationists suing to stop the renovation project.

Construction Drive

Robert Freedman

April 16, 2026

 A plan by President Donald Trump to paint the granite facade of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House with a white mineral silicate-based masonry paint that he has called a “magic paint” won’t work in the way he has said, according to 25 restoration specialists.

“Mineral silicate paints are not suited for use on granite,” the specialists said in a Q&A prepared by preservationists seeking to stop the plan. “These paints do not chemically bond to granite in the manner necessary to activate their powers to strengthen and protect underlying stone.” 

Um... ah... um... Just like the paint that peeled off the Reflecting Pool!

Cultural Heritage Partners, the D.C. Preservation League and others sued President Trump, the General Services Administration and the National Park Service in November for violating federal laws that require work on a historically significant building to be undertaken only after public notice and in consultation with stakeholders.  

In the Q&A they prepared, the plaintiffs say President Trump has asserted there exists a “‘magic paint with silicate’” that, if applied to the exterior granite of the building, would strengthen the stone, keep water out, prevent staining, be easy to apply and rarely require repainting. None of those claims is true, according to the specialists.

That means nothing to Trump literally and figuratively... he just doesn't care if it comes out as crap.

Stay tuned for Round II of little Dutch Boy Donny with his can of paint!

Pollute!, Pollute Brother, Pollute

Question #1: What is a power plant?

A. A place where steam is made.

B. A place where make energy to run a factory.

C. A hydro electric dam.

D. All the above.

Question #2: Does a power plant have to feed the electrical grid?

Yes

No

Just about everyone knows that the answers are D and No. The only ones who don't agree are the ones who own stock in data centers, like Trump. Trump owns stock in companies that are allied to data centers, like chip manufacturers.

EPA exempts data center power plants from pollution limits seeking to prevent acid rain

The Hill

by Rachel Frazin

07/27/26

The Trump administration announced Monday that it is exempting power plants that only serve data centers and do not connect to the broader grid from pollution limits that seek to prevent acid rain.

The administration announced new guidance on Monday clarifying that these “islanded” power plants do not have to be part of the Clean Air Act’s Acid Rain Program (ARP).

This program requires power plants to reduce emissions of acid rain precursors sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. 

Acid rain can cause environmental damage, including to aquatic wildlife, such as fish. In addition, exposure to sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can worsen respiratory issues in humans.

"Acid in Rain Found Up Sharply in East" — The New York Times (June 13, 1974)

Trump pledge on data center power supplies draws skepticism

Reuters

By Jacob Bogage , Jarrett Renshaw and Tim McLaughlin

July 24, 2026

Summary

• Trump says tech companies have committed to fund or build infrastructure to meet their power needs
• Consumer anger at data centers' power use and rising electricity bills an issue for November midterm elections
• Data centers account for nearly 40% of grid operator PJM's capacity charges in latest auction
• Critics note that pledge is non-binding, call it a 'pinky promise'

President Donald Trump announced a non-binding pledge by U.S. power producers and ‌data centers on Thursday to fund or build energy infrastructure that would meet massive AI-related power needs while shielding consumers from high electricity costs.

Consumer advocacy groups and other administration critics, however, dismissed the pledge as an empty promise to consumers as Trump tries to balance his support for power-guzzling data centers against public anger over rising utility bills.

Trump has been pushing an aggressive build-out of AI-related infrastructure, as part of an economic agenda that includes winning the AI race against China.

But data centers' demands on overloaded transmission lines, compounded by the power sector's labor shortages and plant retirements, have made rising energy costs a volatile issue for ⁠voters going into November's midterm elections.

"Studies Warn About Menace of 'Acid Rain'" — The Washington Post (May 31, 1978).

Trump Disclosed Entergy Purchases Before Expanded Meta Data Center Deal

Quiver Quantitative

By: Matthew Kerr, Quiver Data Analyst

July 28, 2026

President Donald Trump disclosed three purchases of Entergy ($ETR) securities in 2026, including two before the utility announced a major expansion of its power agreement with Meta Platforms ($META). The investments were executed through third-party discretionary accounts described as independently managed.

• Trump’s accounts purchased $15,001–$50,000 of Entergy on March 10 and $1,001–$15,000 on March 16.
• On March 27, Entergy announced seven additional gas plants totaling more than 5,200 megawatts and approximately 240 miles of transmission infrastructure supporting Meta’s Louisiana data center.
• Entergy shares have risen about 10% since the announcement. A third purchase worth $1,001–$15,000 occurred May 15.
• Entergy signed the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge and modeled its Fair Share Plus program on the administration’s framework. The utility projects approximately $7 billion in customer benefits, including $2.6 billion tied to Meta’s project.
• Entergy and its outside firms reported approximately $2.05 million in federal lobbying during the first half of 2026, covering AI, transmission, permitting, data centers, grid buildout and ratepayer policy.
• Meta and its outside firms reported approximately $15.13 million during the same period. Meta’s filings named AI, energy permitting, the Ratepayer Protection Act and outreach to the White House, DOE and FERC.
• USAspending lists multiple Entergy utility contracts since 2025 involving DHS, DOJ, Interior and the Department of Defense.

If there is a buck to be made... Trump is going to be in on it!

"Man-Made Air Pollution Blamed for Acid Rain" — The Washington Post (1983)

When I use to go to my summer job in Hartford in the early seventies, when I drove into Hartford I could see that there was a brownish haze over the city. And now we are returning to "those thrilling days of yesteryear." where acid rain was killing fish.

They are rolling back environmental laws...

Trump administration admits grants for clean energy were canceled based on politics

AP News

By  MATTHEW DALY

July 24, 2026

The Trump administration has acknowledged in court documents that it canceled $7.6 billion in grants for hundreds of clean energy projects “based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state” — in this case, 16 states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

The statement contradicts repeated assertions by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other officials that the projects were canceled because they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs or had other problems that made them a poor investment of taxpayer dollars.

Democrats and environmental groups seized on the court filing Friday, saying the administration had “weaponized” the federal government to kill good jobs and punish working families because of their political views.

"New Report Calls Acid Rain a Problem in Most of U.S. and Canada" (1984)

Anything that Trump touches turns to sh*t. Now he is making a buck off the very air we breathe!

If You Can't Win Honestly... Cheat

Trump is getting nervous. I mean really nervous, that his whole house of card could start tumbling down!

Transcript: Angry Trump Urges GOP to Rig Midterms as Polls Turn Brutal

As a striking Fox News poll suggests the GOP midterm position is deteriorating, a voting rights expert walks us through what Trump is really gearing up to attempt this fall—and how to defeat it.

The New Republic

Greg Sargent

July 24, 2026

Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.

Donald Trump exploded at Senate GOP leader John Thune during a Wednesday rally, demanding that Republicans pass voter suppression legislation immediately. This prompted an angry response from Thune, which in turn triggered MAGA rage in response. It’s no accident that this comes amid new polls showing the GOP midterm position deteriorating, including in a major Fox News survey. Trump thinks voter suppression can save the party. This is all coming to a head because the House just passed something, and the pressure on the Senate is getting brutal.

This whole situation has gotten weird and complex, so to really understand it, we’re talking to the great voting rights reporter Ari Berman of Mother Jones. Ari, always good to have you on.

[...]

Sargent: So basically, what this is starting to look like is the House is passing $10 billion to use to essentially try to get states to pass by themselves, in their state legislatures, these things in the SAVE Act.

Voter suppression mechanisms like ending vote by mail, requiring proof of citizenship. You’d do all these things through the states, and the House would try and incentivize that.

Berman: Yeah, they’re basically paying states to do voter suppression. That’s the simplest way I can explain what the House is doing.

Also the clock is running out! There is only 98 days until the elections begins and many states their elections start in October.

So you know that the courts will block it saying it is too close to the elections to require everyone to get IDs. Also other states have said the requiring a passport or a birth certificate amounts to a poll tax.

Sargent: Yeah. It looks as if Donald Trump has just gotten it into his head that if he can get this passed, it saves the midterms for Republicans. He’s just simply not capable of grasping the situation at a very fundamental level, as he so often is not, right?

Berman: Number one, every time that Trump is about to lose or on the verge of losing, he starts blaming the mechanics of voting for his loss. We saw this in 2020 with mail voting. We’re seeing it again now with the SAVE America Act.

Secondly—and this is my real concern about all of this, Greg—is that I believe he’s using the SAVE America Act as a pretext to challenge the legitimacy of the midterms. So if it does not pass, which it won’t pass, he’s going to say, we don’t have the SAVE America Act, therefore the elections were rigged, therefore I have no choice but to challenge the legitimacy of the midterms. And he’s going to point to that crazy speech he gave and say, I laid out all the evidence—even though he laid out no evidence, but he’s going to say, I laid out all the evidence, the elections were rigged, the Congress didn’t act on this, therefore I have no choice but to issue a national emergency executive order, or seize voting machines, or take some kind of dramatic intervention to mess with the midterms.

I worry what Trump will do when he is boxed it and realizes the election is lost and this time he might actually be convicted and impeached.

The Draft!

There has been some talk about bringing back the draft because of Iran.

Stop right there... WHAT?

This just found its way onto my news feeds. I guess this was from March. But now, with Trump's war going down the tubes, it is getting more attention.

Could the Iran war trigger a military draft? Why experts say it’s unlikely

Comments about keeping military ‘options’ open sparked confusion online, but reinstating the draft would require Congress and remains highly unlikely

Poynter

By: Louis Jacobson and Zoe Weyand

March 11, 2026

The United States’ military attacks against Iran were barely a week old when a controversial topic surfaced: Could the war require the first military draft since the early 1970s?

After White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo March 8, some portrayed her comments as President Donald Trump opening the door to a military draft.

Here’s the exchange:

Bartiromo: “Mothers out there are worried that we’re going to have a draft — that they’re going to see their sons and daughters get involved in this. What do you want to say about the president’s plans for troops on the ground? As we know, it’s been largely an air campaign up until now.”

Leavitt: “It has been, and it will continue to be, and President Trump, wisely, does not remove options off of the table. I know a lot of politicians like to do that quickly, but the president, as commander in chief, wants to continue to assess the success of this military operation. It’s not part of the current plan right now, but the president, again, wisely keeps his options on the table.”

Now, with Trump's War going badly and Trump threatening to blow Iran out of existence... well, it kind of makes you think, with all the rhetoric, that it could be true.

Trump weighed in on ground troops — but not a draft — during March 7 remarks to reporters on Air Force One. Responding to a question about ground troops, he said, “Could there be? Possibly, for a very good reason. Have to be a very good reason.”

Now five months latter????? Will it hold true? Vox wrote last week,

The latest US casualties are a grim reminder that — for all the talk of drones and precision missiles — wars are still fought by actual, human people.

But major military powers are running short on soldiers: The US, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan have all recently struggled to recruit troops. And the forces driving that shortage aren’t easily reversed.

For starters, falling birth rates and aging populations have left many countries with fewer military-age adults. Being the right age is also only half of the equation. In the US, factors including weight, drug use and physical or mental health conditions would disqualify an estimated three-quarters of young Americans from military service.

Then there’s the military’s image problem: Polls show that young people around the world are becoming less willing to fight for their respective countries. And young Americans, in particular, have more negative views of both the military and the war in Iran than do their parents or grandparents.

There is another way to fill the ranks, of course…but it isn’t popular. The US ended its draft in 1973, and most Western militaries have similarly transitioned to all-volunteer forces. If the US did ever need to restart its draft, both the politics and the logistics could prove formidable.

I sure hope that they do bring back the draft!

Huh? What are you talking about? No way do we want a draft! Exactly! Nobody wants the draft again, so I am happy to see them talking about it now.

I wrote back in April:

The Vietnam war... why did we leave?

The protests? No!

The atrocities? No!

We were losing? No!

It was because of the draft! All of a sudden, little Johnny was being drafted!

All the White kids got college deferments (Including me.)

So now all these rich Republicans are saying "What wait a minute!" You're starting a daft again because of your war in Iran. Even though they are not drafting anyone... yet! They hear the silent "yet" and we are the Vietnam generation, we know where this leads!

If they do start a draft... it will probably be a lottery because of past history.

So it will be in November that in the voting booth... you're not getting my grandchild like you did me! It’s not just memories—it’s institutional memory with a human face.

It is true: if Trump & Company try to impose a draft for Trump's War in Iran, there will be a terrible backlash, and it could doom the Republican Party.