Wednesday, October 07, 2026

Even In Connecticut

Bigoty is possible even in a Blue state.

There was a big ICE round-up in Danbury and that has polarized the states, bring out the haters from the swamp!


A white supremacist demonstration in Danbury, Connecticut, drew condemnation from residents and local and state leaders after video of the weekend march spread on social media.

About a dozen members of a group called Northeast Action began marching Saturday night outside the police station before walking into the heart of Danbury.

The group carried the message, "Keep New England White." Video released by the group and reposted by a Connecticut state legislator later circulated on social media.

"History shows what happens when we let hatred keep on growing with nothing being done about it," Danbury resident Kathleen Zoto said.
Notice that they don't show their faces.
The New Haven Register
By Peter Yankowski,
Oct 5, 2026


On Saturday night, a crowd of at least a dozen participated in a demonstration on the corner outside the city's police department. 

Shouting "white power," the group displayed a banner that said "keep New England white."

[...]

In a video posted to Reddit, a group of about a dozen people in masks can been seen at the corner of East Franklin and Main streets. The group is shown holding up the large banner, and performing a "Sieg Heil" salute.

[...]

Saturday's incident was not the first involving white supremacist groups in Connecticut. 

In 2023, residents in Trumbull and Monroe reported finding propaganda leaflets from the group NSC-131. The Southern Poverty Law Center designated the organization as a hate group. 

In February last year, a group of neo-Nazi protesters showed up outside a collectively run bookstore in New Haven. The incident ended without arrests or injuries, according to police.
The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that there are 10 hate groups here in Connecticut.
Northeast Action appears to be group behind demonstration
The banner displayed outside Danbury police headquarters referred to the group as Northeast Action. 

The group announced its existence in November 2025, according to the Counter Extremism Project. The organization said Northeast Action's "activities" included "graffiti, banner drops, boxing training, meetups, and small, flash-mob-style demonstrations."
They are one of the groups listed on the SPLC.

The Constitution allows this under the First Amendment they can preach all the bigotry they want but we can also protest against the protesters. We can speak up about these a** holes.
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A King Or A President?

Congress is investigating the Kennedy Center, and Trump is saying no. He has said he has executive privilege; you see, in Trump's mind, he is a king, and no one questions the king.


Lawyers representing Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, plaintiff in the federal Kennedy Center court case, accused the Trump administration of withholding “core financial documents” and information about Trump’s threats to demolish the venue during the discovery process, accusing the administration of an “extremely improper” attempt to wield executive privilege.

Key Facts:
Lawyers representing Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, plaintiff in the federal Kennedy Center court case, accused the Trump administration of withholding “core financial documents” and information about Trump’s threats to demolish the venue during the discovery process, accusing the administration of an “extremely improper” attempt to wield executive privilege.

[...]

  • The filing also accuses the Trump administration of refusing to produce information regarding Trump’s threats to demolish the Kennedy Center, even after a federal judge ruled Beatty could seek discovery about “two separate threats by Chairman Trump to close or demolish the Kennedy Center” that she previously submitted to the court.
  • Beatty’s lawyers claimed the administration is attempting to withhold communications involving Trump, who is the chairman of the Kennedy Center, based on an executive privilege claim, which Beatty’s lawyers called “plainly inappropriate” and has “left her without meaningful discovery in this important matter.”
So what is he hiding? What's the smoking gun that Trump doesn't want the voters to see? He wants to treat communications about running a board of trustees as if they are matters of national security, just to have a shield to hide from public view of the voters.

As Board Chairman, he has entirely different legal and fiduciary responsibilities than he does as president, and it is those specific duties that are now being called into question.
“It is simply not true, as the Department of Justice now seems to believe, that any communications that the President has with anyone are per se privileged,” Beatty’s lawyers wrote, saying there is a “careful procedural process” that must be followed to invoke executive privilege.
But now it is up to the courts to decide if we have a king who is exempt from the law or a president who is subject to the law.
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It Is The Parents

The students are fine, it is the parents that are in a tizzy! The students elected a trans girl as homecoming queen and the right-wingers and the MAGAs are having a baby who don't even live in the town!
“The whole point of homecoming king and queen is the student votes. And we voted, and Sammi is our homecoming queen.”
LGBTQ Nation
Molly Sprayregen (She/Her)
October 4, 2026


Students and teachers rallied to support a transgender high school student who was selected as homecoming queen by her peers, causing backlash from angry adults.

Sammi, a student at Pennsylvania’s Fairfield High School, was crowned queen of the annual homecoming dance the night of Saturday, September 26, after winning the most votes from her fellow upperclassmen, Your Erie reported.

[...]

“Sammi was voted by the students, and some parents didn’t like that,” student Preston Johnson told Your Erie. “I think that’s quite silly. The whole point of homecoming king and queen is the student votes. And we voted, and Sammi is our homecoming queen.”
The students know what's right.


Saturday night, Fairview High School held its annual homecoming dance, but this year, the celebration was the subject of controversy.

Prior to the dance, upperclassmen students voted a transgender girl, Sammi, as this year’s homecoming queen.

It’s a vote that didn’t sit well with some in the community, sparking what some are calling harassment on social media directed at the queen, students and school staff.

“There was a lot of hate saying that Sammi, being a transgender individual, was taking the spot from somebody who was born female,” said Logan Thompson, student council secretary. “They were behaving erratically due to the results of our homecoming court.”
So now the Board of Ed has to put in it's two cents...
In light of the backlash form those who disagreed with the vote, a Fairview teacher organized a group to attend Monday night’s school board meeting to support Sammi.

Dozens came out the meeting, leaving standing room only. Zero spoke out against Sammi being crowned queen, while Thompson spoke for the dozens who came in support.
Did you get that... no one was against her.
“Sammi was voted by the students and some parents didn’t like that,” said student Preston Johnson. “I think that’s quite silly. The whole point of homecoming king and queen is the student votes. And we voted, and Sammi is our homecoming queen.”
So what did the Board do? Nothing.

Once again, it is the outside agitators and not the town that created the problem.
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Cuckoo Award

We have another winner of the coveted Cuckoo Award... this time it once again goes to the Trump adminstrator's crazy ideas. This one is tying the drop in the birth rate to mass transportation!
The federal government is seeking to revamp a national program that supports rail and bus rapid transit.
Politico
By Sam Ogozalek
10/06/2026


Communities with high birth and marriage rates could soon gain an advantage in securing federal transit money — a long-sought goal of the Trump administration but one that a top Democratic appropriator calls “bizarre and dystopian.”

The Federal Transit Administration wants to revamp a multibillion-dollar program that helps state and local authorities fund infrastructure projects such as rail improvements and new bus lanes. Public feedback on the administration’s plan, which was rolled out Oct. 1, is being accepted through mid-November.

The idea would fulfill a priority of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to steer grant money to parts of the country with birth and marriage rates higher than the national average, a policy initiative he unveiled shortly after being sworn into office early last year.
Cuckoo... Cuckoo...
“It’s throwing a bone to these ideologues who want to incentivize child rearing and marriage,” said Peter Rogoff, who previously led Sound Transit in the Seattle area and is now a transportation consultant. “But it’s ludicrous on its face to try to achieve that goal through an infrastructure program.

“Does anyone really believe that there are couples out there saying, ‘Hey, sweetheart, you and I should get married and raise a passel of kids because a dozen years from now, maybe they’ll build light rail out to our neighborhood?’” he asked.
It's bonkers!

With great fanfare the Cuckoo award is given to Transportation Secretary Duffy!
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Tuesday, October 06, 2026

Manchurian Candidate

Did you ever see the movie? In it, there is a scene where they are “brainwashing” him, and it is just a series of rapid-fire photos—“hate… hate…”—to condition him to assassinate the target as part of a psychological conditioning process.

Trump’s ad seems to use the same kind of rapid-fire images of Trump, with the voice in the background saying, “love him.”

When I asked an AI what classic psychological manipulation techniques were being used, it replied:
Why that can feel psychologically manipulative
    • Repeated verbal cue: “love me”
    • Repeated visual cue: Trump’s face
    • Rapid editing: little time to examine any individual image
    • Positive claims: tax cuts, manufacturing, law enforcement, etc.
    • Emotional music: rather than a neutral narration
    • Authority association: Trump speaking as president
    • Patriotic imagery: flags, military, national symbols
    • Repetition: the viewer gets the same emotional association over and over
That is classic associative persuasion: repeatedly putting a person alongside positive emotional stimuli and allowing the associations to reinforce one another.
Trump and company are saying that Biden did the same thing, but once again, Trump speaks with a forked tongue. Did the Biden administration use federal funding for ads? Yes.

So, some of Biden’s ads were (from AI ChatGPT):
    • “We Can” — people of different ages saying they were eligible for vaccination and describing their plans to get vaccinated.
    • “We All Need a Boost” — encouraged COVID booster vaccination.
    • “Yes” — connected vaccination with being able to see friends, travel, socialize, etc.
    • “Party Like It’s 2019” — used partying/concert imagery to encourage vaccination.
    • “A Common Opponent” — featured college football coaches, including Jim Harbaugh and Kirby Smart, encouraging vaccination/boosters.
Do you see any of these ads saying “love me”? Do you see anything other than legitimate PSAs?

But for me, it is not about who paid for what. It is about the outright psychological manipulation of the ad.

The number one thing that stood out to me was the imagery:
    • Trump + American flag
    • Trump + military
    • Trump + prosperity
    • Trump + cheering crowds
    • Trump + strength
    • Trump + patriotic music
All the while, “Love Me” was being said as a psychological command.

I see this as an attack by Trump on his low polling numbers, as an attempt to raise those numbers.
AP News
By  ALI SWENSON
September 28, 2026


The White House has spent days fiercely defending three taxpayer-funded advertisements that glorify President Donald Trump and are nearing at least $1.5 million in public spending, calling them public service announcements like those used in past administrations.

“Don’t let the Fake News get away with their lies about our epic Public Service Announcements that have been running on tv,” White House communications director Steven Cheung posted on X on Sunday.

But the Republican administration’s ads attracted mounting criticism on Monday, including from members of Trump’s own party.

“It shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters.

“It would not have been something that I would have done. And I know that the White House is not covered by the same guidance that we are, but it’s not something that I would have done,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, another South Dakota Republican.

[…]

“You watch all three ads, they’re sheer propaganda,” said Richard Painter, a former White House ethics czar under Republican President George W. Bush. “This is increasingly looking like what authoritarian governments do to promote their leaders.”
The ads are right out of the authoritarian playbook!

Reuters reported:
Running ahead of midterm elections on November 3 that could reshape the balance of power in ​Washington, the ads tout American exceptionalism.

One includes the president saying “America will never be a communist country” as a chorus sings “love me” in the background. A second combines ​images of Mount Rushmore with shots of Trump on stage as he praises “the golden age of America.” A third describes “the final battle,” ⁠with Trump pledging to demolish the deep state “with you by my side.”

The "final battle" ad is nearly identical to one of Trump's campaign spots from 2024, with the exception of ​the disclaimer at the end.

The ads have appeared during both “Saturday Night Live” and NFL football games on Sunday.
They are the latest example of Trump flouting longstanding rules meant to prevent presidents ​from using the office for political gain, said Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush.
I think people are seeing the manipulation in these ads for what it is, and that may be exactly why they are backfiring on him. When people feel that someone is trying to manipulate them psychologically, our natural reaction is often to resist. Instead, people ask a very different question: Why is Trump trying so hard to make me love him?


Updated: 10/7 @ 7AM

Trump has agreed to not using government funding. Question will he reimbursed us for what he spent in making them and showing them?
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Been There, Done That!

But this time I mean being persecuted. What we are facing with Trump we have faced before in the Lavender Scare. We have faced it many times including in some states that are liberal now.
Black Past
June 27, 2007 
Contributed By: Kevin Leonard


Lucy Hicks Anderson, American socialite and chef, lived the first 59 years of her life as a woman until 1945, when it was discovered that she was biologically male. Today she would be described as a transgender person, but that term did not exist during her lifetime. Throughout her life she insisted publicly that a person could appear to be of one sex but actually belong to the other.

Lucy Hicks Anderson was born Tobias Lawson in Waddy, Kentucky sometime in 1886. When Lawson entered public school she insisted on wearing dresses and began calling herself Lucy. Her mother took her to a physician, and the doctor advised her mother to rear Lucy as a girl. She did and Lucy wore girl’s clothing through her childhood before leaving school at the age of fifteen to work as a domestic. When she was in her twenties, Lucy moved west, settling in Pecos, Texas, where she worked in a hotel for a decade. In 1920 Lucy married Clarence Hicks in Silver City, New Mexico, and then moved to Oxnard, California. In Oxnard she continued to work as a domestic, but she also saved her money, purchased property near the center of town where she operated a brothel and sold illegal liquor during Prohibition.  During that time she also emerged as a socialite and hostess in the city, known among the elite as an excellent baker and chef.  When she was arrested for owning a brothel, she was bailed out of jail by the town’s leading banker.
But she had a secret! That only her husband knew… or so she thought!
Anderson challenged the authority of physicians who insisted that she was male. “I defy any doctor in the world to prove that I am not a woman,” Anderson told reporters in the midst of her perjury trial. “I have lived, dressed, acted just what I am, a woman.” Nonetheless, a jury convicted her and her marriage was declared invalid since only a man and woman could legally marry. The judge however declined to send her to prison.
But she did get sent to prison! For what will show how vindictive the government was. She was arrested for collecting VA benefits meant for widows.
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Monday, October 05, 2026

This Was In My Facebook Feeds

The thing that got my attentions was from a Huff Post article about the Time interview with Trump.
President Donald Trump found another target for his press rage ― and this one got the full f-word treatment.

“You haven’t asked me one fucking positive question,” he griped to Time magazine during their recent interview. “All of this. What about this? What about that? What about that? What about this? All negative. Why are you devoting all this time to the White House?”
Does Trump think the only "Real News" is when the press asks just softballs Questions?
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I Want To Point Out Some Facts.

100% of the people need to eat, but the price of food is skyrocketing!
100% of the people need to heat or cool their homes, but the cost of oil is out of sight!
100% of the people travel to work, but they can’t afford the gas!
0.5% of the people are trans and just want to live their lives in peace!
Will it work?
The Atlanitc
By Elaine Godfrey
October 2, 2026


Last week, as the war with Iran dragged into its seventh month, gas prices shot up to an average of $4.50 a gallon, and polling showed President Trump about twice as far underwater with American voters as he was at this point in 2018, Republican senators determined that the time had come to discuss something else entirely: youth sports. “Girls’ sports are for girls. Boys’ sports are for boys,” Senator Marsha Blackburn said in a news conference.

With 32 days to go until the midterm elections, Republicans’ closing strategy is obvious: They’re going all-in on trans. (It seems to have worked for them before, after all. More on that in a minute.) In Texas, Republicans are running an unsettling AI-generated ad that shows the Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico dressed as Maria von Trapp and singing about girls with mustaches. A spot in Iowa accuses the Senate candidate Josh Turek of supporting “sex changes for kids.” On X, former Representative Matt Gaetz offered a tidy summary of his party’s agenda: “I hate the war too,” he told a concerned voter. “But the Democrats want to trans your kids.”
People are starting to say… we don’t want your diversions!
Activists view the whole situation as an alarming shift among Democrats—one that portends worse to come. “Targeting trans people isn’t the winning strategy some people think it is,” Equality Ohio, an LGBTQ-advocacy group, told me in a statement. Childrey said that “the triangulation thought process is that we have to throw trans rights under the bus” to win elections: “We’re leaning in a direction that loses the heart and soul of what it means to be a Democrat.” In an online interview with a transgender political commentator last week, Childrey implied that she wouldn’t be voting for Acton in November, saying that activists need to show Democrats nationwide “that transphobia will not be a successful selling point.” The big risk, she explained, is that in 2028, “you’re going to have the choice between a transphobic Republican and a transphobic Democrat for president.”
Here is how I think we should answer those questions… with a question: “How many trans people are there? Do you even know? But I know people will be frozen out of their homes this winter! And I know people will be going hungry because of the price of food. Those are the issues we should be talking about!”

The voters demand answers to their urgent, basic needs for a roof over their heads, food, heat, and gas , while Republicans are overly fixated on culture-war distractions. And what gets me, is that for some their hate is more important than food on the table.

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This Is Wrong! So Very Wrong!

You turned her into a drooling vegetable.
AP New
By  KIM CHANDLER and KRISTIN M. HALL
October 1, 2026

Christa Pike was in critical condition Thursday and receiving “lifesaving care” at a hospital, her lawyers said, a day after a failed attempt to execute her pushed Tennessee’s governor to halt further executions this year and order an independent review.

[...]

“We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment,” attorney Randy Spivey said during a news conference. “But we know she is alive right now.”

The failed execution, which one death penalty expert described as unprecedented, led Republican Gov. Bill Lee to order a review, calling what happened “deeply disturbing” and indefinitely postponing Pike’s execution and another one that had been scheduled for this year. It also reignited the debate over the state’s execution procedures, including its single-drug lethal injections.
So... she might be in a state of  prolonged unconsciousness requiring a ventilator, feeding tube, nursing care, etc. due to lack of oxygen. If she is it will mean that the Tennessee's Department of Correction is responsible for providing medical care to people incarcerated in its prisons, including hospitalization and treatment when necessary. Which could run into the millions each year!

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) reports that (According to ChatGPT):
  • The system is demonstrably fallible. Since 1973, at least 203 people who were sentenced to death have been exonerated in the United States. Tennessee itself has had three death-row exonerations. 
  • The risk isn't merely theoretical. A peer-reviewed study estimated that at least 4.1% of people sentenced to death were likely wrongfully convicted, although that is an estimate rather than a count of proven innocent people. 
  • Once an execution occurs, the error cannot be corrected. An imprisoned innocent person can theoretically be released and compensated; an executed person cannot be restored to life.
  • On deterrence, the evidence is considerably less straightforward than “states with executions have less crime.” The National Research Council concluded that existing research was not sufficient to determine whether the death penalty increases, decreases, or has no effect on homicide rates. So it would be inaccurate to claim that executions have been demonstrated to reduce murder.
  • There is also a documented problem with official misconduct in capital cases. DPIC currently identifies more than 600 capital convictions or death sentences overturned or resulting in exonerations involving prosecutorial misconduct. 
After you fry someone you can't say "Ops... sorry, we made a mistake!" There is a real question behind all the rhetoric... if all the evidence doesn't capital punishment makes any difference, why are they so eager to fry someone? Why? Could it possible for votes? I know I'm cynical.


The Nashville Tennessean writes;
Kelly Puente & Rachel Wegner
Oct. 2, 2026


An Oct. 2 emergency court filing seeks to preserve all evidence related to Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike, arguing the state botched the lethal injection procedure.

A judge was considering the request shortly after it was filed. While an unsigned document for the hearing was filed in the court system, no date or time was immediately listed.

Pike was set to be executed by the Tennessee Department of Correction on Sept. 30, but survived two doses of pentobarbital. The document, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court on Oct. 2, revealed more details about Pike's condition. It said she is intubated, on a ventilator and unconscious, and that both her arms were swollen, burned and blistered. As of the night of Oct. 1, Pike was still in critical condition at a Nashville-area hospital, the motion said.

"Hospital staff are working to save Ms. Pike's life and to clear the pentobarbital from her system," the Oct. 2 motion stated.

[...]

"Apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms. Pike's body," the emergency motion stated. "Instead of remedying this failure, TDOC elected to prepare a backup set of syringes (if they were not also prepared earlier that day) and then administered another lethal dose of pentobarbital."
That is torture!

The Eighth Amendment states:
"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
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Sunday, October 04, 2026

Why Oh Why?

Is the Trump adminstration collecting information from ER records? Could it possible be to go after immigrants?
CNN
By Amanda Seitz, Maia Rosenfeld and Darius Tahir
Jul 27, 2026


A tiny federal agency tasked with protecting the public from injuries caused by lawn mowers and coffeemakers is demanding that some of the nation’s biggest health systems turn over detailed, personally identifiable medical records of all patients who seek help at their emergency rooms.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, responsible for tracking and issuing recalls of dangerous products sold in the U.S., began discreetly pressuring hospital executives this year to share personally identifiable health data with a private contractor. But hospital lawyers and other industry experts have questioned the agency’s authority to collect, its ability to safeguard such a swath of sensitive information, and whether it has followed the legal process to overhaul its surveillance system.

After KFF Health News asked the CPSC about the new system, the agency announced the program on July 21. Left unmentioned, however, is the alarm it has raised among hospital executives, as well as the nature and extent of the agency’s data demands.
What possible reason does an agency tasked with product safety want with your name, address, and social security number?
The revamped surveillance system will incorporate hospital injury data from all 50 states, allowing faster product safety recalls.
Politico
By: Kelly Hooper
07/21/2026


The Trump administration is overhauling the system for tracking consumer-product-related injuries at hospitals, implementing a standardized data exchange that will help the federal government more quickly issue product safety recalls.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, in an announcement shared first with POLITICO, said the changes to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System will bring tracking for product-related injuries into the 21st century. Starting next year, the system, which has used the same manually coded data process since 1972, will automatically pull from patients’ electronic health records to flag issues with consumer product safety in near real-time.
Once again... why do they need your personal information for product safety. Unless it is a way they want to ferret out some other data... maybe like immigrants?
Anchorage Daily News
By Amanda Seitz, Maia Rosenfeld and Darius Tahir
Published: September 10, 2026


A group of Democratic lawmakers is calling for the Trump administration to suspend a new surveillance program it quietly launched to collect the personal and identifiable health data of Americans who visit emergency rooms.

KFF Health News first reported that the Consumer Product Safety Commission — a federal agency tasked with monitoring injuries from household items — was pressuring hospitals to provide a private company with personally identifiable health information for analysis. The rollout of the program has inspired broad pushback from hospitals and privacy advocates.
This is what authoritarian governments do build databases on its citizens. 
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Visions

The elections are less than a month away, and it is time to ask ourselves a very basic question: Is this the United States you envision for your country? Do you feel proud to say, “I’m an American,” or is there a persistent voice in the back of your mind whispering, “But… but…”?

We stood up in school each morning, and the promise was pounded into our heads: “liberty and justice for all” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

But then we found out “liberty and justice for all” wasn't true. We saw it on the evening news: Black people sitting at lunch counters, demanding their rights. And the people said, “Enough,” and passed nondiscrimination laws. That was their vision of America.

Now we have a government claiming those nondiscrimination laws are unconstitutional. A government telling us it is okay to suppress the Black vote as long as you don’t explicitly say that’s the reason. That it is okay to step between you and your doctor as long as they claim, “It’s to save the children!” That it is okay to round up people who don’t look like they belong and deny them their constitutional rights as long as it's disguised as targeting illegal immigration.

It is time to say, “Enough.”

Stormtrooper-clad paramilitary forces yanking people off the streets simply because they look like foreigners. Stormtrooper-clad paramilitary forces bashing the heads of peaceful protesters, while high government officials lie about it right as we watch it with our own eyes.

We have seen images like these before.

We saw them in photographs from the Jim Crow South here in America during the 1950s and ’60s.

We saw them in photographs from Germany in the 1930s. Different countries. Different circumstances. Different histories. But the images carry a universal warning: What happens when a government begins treating some people as less deserving of rights than others?

It is time to say, “Enough” this November.

Which party cares about working people and making sure they have food on the table, while the other tries to trade away parts of Yosemite National Park to build a road to million-dollar private condos? Is this your vision of our country? It is time to stop enabling policies that line the pockets of oligarchs.

Is this the America you envision?

It is time to say, “Enough,” and vote Blue.
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Saturday, October 03, 2026

Sat 9

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

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

1) This week's song was featured in the movie Smokey and the Bandit, the surprise box office hit of 1977. Have you seen it?
Yeah, and I never liked it.

2) Though not well received by critics, Smokey and the Bandit had one very famous fan: Alfred Hitchcock. The classic film director enjoyed re-watching the movie on video at home, often while having dinner. Do you ever watch TV with your meal?
All the time! Mainly the news… or a western. The Lone Ranger ride again!

3) Jerry Reed not only wrote and performed the movie's theme, he appeared in the movie as truck driver Cledus "Snowman" Snow. Have you ever driven, or ridden in, a big rig?
YES! YES!
Back in my high school summer job (Do they even have those now-a-days?) I worked in a warehouse. The factory was about five miles away. So we loaded the “Big Rig” and that day I have my brother’s MGB. The driver said “Kid you drive a standard?” You want to drive the “Big Rig” over to the factory? And of course I didn’t say no.

4) He sings, "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there." Have you recently felt rushed?
All the time

5) Director Hal Needham asked Jerry Reed for a song that explained the plot of the movie. He wrote this overnight and always considered it a happy accident. Can you think of a time when something turned out better than you expected?
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Instead of wrapping up ham and chicken, I sliced the chicken in half instead of butterflying it. In a 16oz. Rankin I place the one half of the flatten chicken breast, then the ham steak, Swiss cheese and then the other half of the breast. Plastered a little mayo on top and sprinkled Panko bread crumbs on top. Voilà! It came out so moist! 

6) Reed was born in Atlanta and, coincidentally, he mentions Atlanta in the lyrics. Has your hometown been immortalized in song?
Nope!

7) Jerry met Priscilla Mitchell at Capitol Records, where Jerry was a session musician and Priscilla was backup singer. Though she was only 18 when they wed, it seems their union was a happy one and they were together until his death almost 50 years later. If a newly engaged 18-year-old asked you for advice, what would you say?
Don’t ever lie!

8) In 1977, when "Eastbound and Down" was on the radio, nostalgia for the 1950s topped the TV ratings. The two most popular shows that year were Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. If you magically transported back to the 1950s, what do you think you'd like about it? What do you think you'd miss about your life in 2026?
Well knowing what going to happen in the future “Plastics”
What would in miss? Having all the worlds knowledge at your fingertips and word processors! Do you know how many hours I spent at the card files and in “The stacks” at college?

9) Random question: Were you ever afraid of monsters in your closet or under your bed?
Yeah… a real monster slept on the lower bunk… my brother!
 
 
I'm still here in CT... life conspired to keep me here... just little things to putting the drive tot he Cape off. Plus a good dose of procrastination.
 
Also last weekend's Nor'easter had a part in the delay. The outer Cape got hammered with gale force winds.
 
Here is a photo on my backyard in CT that I posted on Facebook.
 

 Updated: 12:30PM

Oh, the hooks. I use them to hang hurricane lanterns with citronella lamp oil. As you can guess I get a lot of biting insects from the swamp wetlands when I am having cookout.
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Breaking News: Inquiring Minds Want To Know...

… The Russian connection?

Do you remember the wedding that was financed in part by someone from the Kremlin inner circle?
Do you know the steel mill coming to Iowa is financed in part by someone from the Kremlin inner circle?
Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it!
AP News
By — Joey Cappelletti, & Mary Clare Jalonick
Sep 22, 2026


Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah is calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Donald Trump Jr. used his proximity to the presidency for financial benefit, after his recent wedding party was partially bankrolled by a Russian oligarch.

In a letter sent Tuesday, Curtis called on the committee to subpoena Trump Jr. over his business dealings, relationships with foreign individuals and entities, gifts or other benefits he has received and any instances in which his relationship to President Donald Trump, a Republican, "was invoked or understood to provide value." Curtis called for the same scrutiny of Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

"The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president," Curtis wrote in the letter addressed to GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the committee, and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee.
Then we have the mill in Iowa… it also has a Kremlin connection!
Indian firm building $15bn Trump-announced steel mill has deep Russia ties
By Yashraj Sharma and Charu Sudan Kasturi
29 Sep 2026


As United States President Donald Trump announced a $15bn steel megaplant while seated at his Oval Office desk on Monday, he had a lineup of mostly US politicians standing behind him – from cabinet members to elected representatives from Iowa, where the mill is to be built. There was one exception: an Indian man with a receding hairline and a lilac pocket handkerchief, standing behind the US president’s right shoulder.

Ravi Ruia is a cofounder of the Essar Group, which owns Mesabi Metallics, the Minnesota-based firm that is building the steel mill, expected to be the US’s largest. A decade earlier, in October 2016, his brother Shashi was in the photo frame with a different president during the signing of another major deal: Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Curiouser & curiouser.

I’m not the only one to wonder about this…  a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability released this is from last May…
Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, demanded answers after new reporting revealed that Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, who has close ties to Vladimir Putin, spent hundreds of thousands bankrolling Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding earlier this year. Oversight Democrats opened an investigation into the payments with letters to the White House and Donald Trump Jr.

“A Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin spent hundreds of thousands of dollars bankrolling Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding. It’s baffling that the son of a President would even think about allowing a Russian oligarch to bankroll his wedding. Is this why President Trump skipped his son’s wedding? Oversight Democrats are investigating and demanding answers immediately,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.

In the letter to Donald Trump Jr., Ranking Member Robert Garcia wrote, “Oversight Democrats are investigating the numerous ways in which you have sought to enrich yourself and your family on the basis of your proximity to President Donald Trump. However, your ties to your self-described “dear friend” Mr. Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch responsible for bankrolling your May 24, 2026, wedding celebrations in the Bahamas, may be the most serious allegation against you to date. As the son of President Donald Trump and the part-owner and major investor of multiple companies with extensive Department of Defense contracts, your praise of such an “extraordinarily generous wedding gift” from a member of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s inner circle raises serious questions about pay-to-play schemes and foreign intelligence infiltration of the President’s family. I request you immediately preserve all records, documents, and communications concerning your relationship to Mr. Kremlev, including any communications with the White House regarding financing or attendance at your wedding celebrations.”
Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it!
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Friday, October 02, 2026

Using Religion To Justify Hate.

[Editorial]

I am non-denominational… I believe in God but not in anyone religion.

Mainstream religion is not the problem… it is the radical that are the problem. If you look around the world all the religions of the world has for their beliefs the “Golden Rule” which basically says to treat people as you want to be treated.

But it the extremists that cause the problems. Here in the US it is the evangelicals who practice… the fire and brimstone religion and preach hate of "others".

It is the conservative religions the in the US that is the problem here. And the courts are backing their “religious freedom,” the courts gave them a blank check to discriminate. The cake shop in Colorado said the magic words… “it is against my religion!”

It is those magic words that allow people to discriminate against us, there is no way to counter it, no way to prove that it isn’t.

But they courts have put limits on “religious freedom” they don’t allow human sacrifice. They don’t allow drugs. They don’t allow bigamy. So saying it is okay to discriminate against us… is bull!

The thing is many conservatives think being LGBTQ+ is a choice. They totally ignore all the medical research calling propaganda!

But we are only the tip of the iceberg!

Take a look at JD Vance and Peter Hegseth. They are both far-right Christians Hegseth has even gone so far at to tattoo himself in Crusader’s symbols.

The far-right Christians believe a wife should not work (Hint: Hegseth’s firing of women generals and not promoting women officers).

They are against divorce.

Of course we know their position on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.

We have seen cases where they claim religious discrimination because they had to work on their holy day even though they knew it was a requirement.

So what would I change?

Nothing!

What?

In the past, there were several tests used by the Supreme Court to determine whether a law improperly burdened or discriminated against religion.…

The Sherbert test:
In Sherbert v. Verner (1963), the Court developed a test for laws that substantially burden someone's religious practice. The basic approach was:
    • Does the law substantially burden the person's religious exercise?
    • If so, does the government have a compelling interest for imposing that burden?
    • Is the law using the least restrictive means of achieving that interest?

The Lemon test asked whether:
    • The law had a secular purpose;
    • Its primary effect neither advanced nor inhibited religion; and
    • It avoided excessive government entanglement with religion.

But Trump’s court toss those tests out! The Supreme Court abandoned the Lemon framework in 2022 and adopted their own test.

I would go back to the Lemon and Sherbert tests.

If a religious sect want a court for their disciples… fine. But secular law prevails and there can be no double jeopardy between the religious and secular courts. In other words if a person murder a LGBTQ+ person and they trial him in religious court and the court finds him innocent because of their sect’s belief. That cannot stop a secular courts trying him on murder. Lastly, a religious court can not prosecute a non-believer.

Religious freedom means the government shouldn't tell you what to believe or unnecessarily interfere with your religious practice. It doesn't mean your religious beliefs automatically determine what everyone else must do.

[/Editorial] 

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Facts:

Fact: The strategic military weapon reserves has been depleted.
Fact: The notional strategic oil reserves are being pumped.
Fact: Now the strategic diesel reserves are being pumped.
The Group of 7, which includes Britain, France and Japan, announced the release of 100 million barrels over four months, effective immediately.
The New York Times
By Lisa Friedman and Rebecca F. Elliott
Oct. 2, 2026


The world’s wealthiest industrial nations agreed on Friday to release diesel from their reserve stockpiles to help ease a growing crisis over record-high prices driven mostly by the war in Iran.

Under the plan, the Group of 7 nations — the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Britain and Canada — will release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude from their strategic stockpiles over the coming four months. That is equivalent to around one day’s worth of global oil demand. The effort will be coordinated by the International Energy Agency.

Calling the plan “decisive, coordinated measures to stabilize immediate energy supplies” and curb price spikes, the Group of 7 nations said in a statement that they also will make a “substantial” release of diesel within 20 days.
Tell me... as war carries on and on and on, and the reserves are all use dup... then what?

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Disabilities

It is almost like he doesn't want to see any disabled people! Why else would he cut funding and remove anything about the disabled?


For nearly 50 years, the federal government has said people with disabilities should live, work and learn in the most integrated setting possible rather than be segregated in institutions like nursing homes.

The Trump administration just took its most concrete step yet to reverse that position.

Last week, a federal judge agreed to strip out mentions of "integration" from federal regulations tied to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, a landmark civil rights law that prohibits disability discrimination. The judge did so after the Justice Department declined to defend its own rules in a lawsuit brought by several states challenging the legality of those rules.

Part of what is so striking about Texas v. Kennedy is that the federal government was originally the defendant in that lawsuit, brought by states fighting what's known as the integration mandate. Then, it switched sides and agreed with the states that the requirement should be undone.
It is almost like he can't stand looking at a person in a wheelchair!
The court's decision removes regulations from Section 504 that explicitly required federally funded programs to provide services in the "most integrated setting."

"That lack of clarity will impact people's rights. It will likely impact what states do and how they behave," says Jennifer Mathis, a disability rights lawyer who helps lead the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.
That all changed with Trump!
In recent months, the federal government, under President Donald Trump, began to publicly change its position: First, in June, the Justice Department issued an opinion saying it no longer interpreted disability law to "require states to treat mentally disabled patients in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs." The memo even noted its position is "out of step with the common understanding" of the Olmstead decision.

Then in July, the Justice Department announced it would stop relying on its own longstanding guidance explaining how it enforces the integration mandate.
Out of sight... out of mind.
Changes could result in undercounting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
STAT News
By O. Rose Broderick
Oct. 1, 2026


A proposed redesign of the federal government’s annual health survey would result in significant undercounting of Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to advocates for the vulnerable population.

The National Health Interview Survey has historically undercounted people with disabilities, but the changes are a “head-scratcher,” said Katy Neas, CEO of The Arc, an advocacy group. “If we don’t have the government as a trusted source of data, asking questions about real people and what their real experiences are, we’re never going to get better [health outcomes],” she said.

[...]

“It just feels like there’s one hit after another [from the Trump administration] and this particular hit would make it so that we know less about who is disabled in America and what their experiences are, and therefore we don’t have to worry about providing programs or supports for them,” said Jean Hall, disability scholar and professor emerita at the University of Kansas.
The PilieroMazza law firm writes;
Effective September 21, 2026, a final rule adopted by the United States Department of Labor (DOL)’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) will eliminate several compliance requirements under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 503). This follows a pattern of recent final rules issued by the OFCCP signaling the dismantling of protections afforded to minorities, women, and now, individuals with disabilities.

Self-Identification for Individuals with Disabilities Is No Longer Required
Takeaway: Federal contractors should remove Form CC-305 from their application packages and employee paperwork and should no longer require that applicants or employees self-identify their disability status.

OFCCP’s 7% Utilization Goal for Individuals with Disabilities is Eliminated
Takeaway: Federal contractors should no longer conduct a utilization analysis related to individuals with disabilities with the purpose of determining if they have hit the 7% utilization goal.
Other takeaways were...
Takeaway: Federal contractors should no longer document, collect, and maintain the following data:
The number of applicants who self-identified as individuals with disabilities;
The total number of job openings and jobs filled;
The total number of applicants;
The number of applicants with disabilities hired; and
The total number of applicants hired.
Regarding Trump's monstrosity, the Ballroom, it is not known if it had building code inspections and if it meets the codes for accessibility. We do know that that ballroom for several hundred people only had seven stalls for women! There is nothing known about whether any of them were accessible/ADA-compliant stalls.

Trump only wants to surround himself with beautiful people.

Nobody in wheelchairs.
No Blacks.
No Hispanics.
No flaming gays.
No trans people.
Only beautiful people!

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Thursday, October 01, 2026

Harassment!

There is a difference between political differences and harassment. Boycotts and pickets have a long history of protests, but...
Montano’s Restaurant in Truro has been subject to online threats, harassment, and hoax 911 calls
Boston Herald
By Tim Dunn
September 26, 2026


A popular Cape Cod restaurant has been inundated by online threats and harassment, even a hoax 911 call resulting in a massive emergency response, in retaliation for hosting a fundraiser for two Massachusetts Republican political candidates.

Montano’s Restaurant hosted Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue and a GOP congressional candidate last week for a fundraising event as the November general election draws closer.

“We’ve been getting all kinds of hate mail, and I mean hate. A lot of responses on social media saying, ‘hope your building burns down,’ and other threats directed at me. It’s ridiculous,” Montano’s owner Ed Medeiros told the Herald over the phone.

“I don’t understand it, these people down here, you know? I tolerate a lot of outbursts at the restaurant from different people and everybody who comes in. My restaurant is welcome to everyone. I don’t discriminate. I don’t do any of that. And for this to [happen], it just shows that it’s (society) become if you don’t share my opinion then you need to go,” he said.

The harassment began almost immediately, with a hoax 911 call being placed just two days later reporting a pregnant woman in labor lost in the woods behind the restaurant. The subsequent law enforcement response saw scores of emergency vehicles and even a Massachusetts State Police helicopter respond to search for the supposed victim.
Besides tying up valuable resources it is also illegal!

Another restaurant felt the fallout from supporting Trump...


The owner of a long-time restaurant in Eastham says his reputation is on the line after attending the President's speech in Washington, D.C. last week. "I've done nothing wrong, I'm guilty of stupidity," said Nate Nickerson, owner of Arnold's Lobster and Clam Bar.

He says he attended the rally at the invitation of a friend and was far back in the crowd, barely able to hear the president's words. But now he's the subject of death threats and threats to boycott his Cape Cod restaurant because he says he's been associated with the rioters. "I've been called a domestic terrorist, Hitler, that I went there to promote civil war," he said.
Harassment is never the answer!

The tip of the Cape is changing... big money is coming... private jets are lined up at P'town airport. And with big-money comes conservatives.

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Fake News Or...

Is it Trump stirring up trouble again?
New York Post
By Ryan King
Sep. 28, 2026


 President Trump taunted the press Sunday by suggesting he might convert the White House’s James S. Brady Press Briefing Room back to an indoor swimming pool, as it originally was under former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, amid his feud with the media.

The president posted before-and-after images on Truth Social depicting the White House press briefing room getting transformed into a gold-adorned swimming pool.
Is this Trump stirring up controversy?

But one project he’s shown no interest in is the idea of fixing up the White House press briefing room.

“I don’t want to do that,” Trump said when asked by a reporter last year about rennovating the briefing room.
“I don’t want you to be comfortable,” he quipped. “No, I don’t want to make life comfortable.”
Is this his way of thumbing his nose at the press corps?
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The Christian Nationalist!

The Republican Party is not the party of your parents... it is a party controlled by far-right Christian nationalists.

Pete Hegseth... his pastor thinks a woman's place is in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth invited Pastor Doug Wilson to give a sermon at the Pentagon in February as part of Hegseth's monthly Christian worship service.

The pastor's appearance was controversial.

Wilson is a self-described Christian nationalist who wants to repeal a woman's right to vote, has defended slavery and believes homosexuality should be a crime.

His beliefs are extreme, and not long ago they were considered fringe. But today, Wilson's teachings are entering the mainstream, according to religion and history scholars, including Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne.
Meanwhile, JD has a few choice words about women...
Newsweek
By Jordan King
Jul 17, 2024


Another quote being spoken about is from a 2021 interview with Spectrum News, where Vance was asked about his stance on abortion and whether a woman should be forced to carry a pregnancy to full term after she had been a victim of rape or incest.

He said: "I think two wrongs don't make a right. At the end of the day, we're talking about an unborn baby. What kind of society do we want to have? Do we want to have a society that sees unborn babies as inconveniences to be discarded?"

Vance went on: "It's not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term, it's whether a child should be allowed to live, even though the circumstances of that child's birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society. The question really, to me, is about the baby."
Then, besides opposing abortion, they are also going after divorce!
NPR News
Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday
Ayesha Rascoe, 
July 7, 2024


After decades of no-fault divorce law, some conservatives want to make it harder to end marriages on the basis of irreconcilable differences. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Joanna Grossman of Southern Methodist University about the push-back.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Some conservatives, including high-profile commentators and Republican state lawmakers, have set their sights on ending or restricting no-fault divorce laws. These laws are on the books in all 50 states. No-fault divorce allows anyone who wants to end their marriage to do so without blaming their spouse for doing anything wrong, like adultery or domestic abuse. But critics of no-fault divorce say it undermines the sanctity of marriage and hurts men. We're joined now by Joanna Grossman. She's a law professor who specializes in family law at Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law. Professor Grossman, welcome to the program.
When Republicans talk about family values, they mean their values that they want to force upon us. By “family values,” they mean marriage, heterosexual parenting, traditional gender roles, and opposition to things like abortion or easy divorce.

When they say Christian, they don’t mean churches like the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, or Unitarian Universalist congregations; they mean fire-and-brimstone churches.



Updated: 2:45AM

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Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Gotch!

If that's how Congress is supposed to work... putting a zinger over on a colleague?

This morning I wrote about the congressional hearing with Jack Smith... I want to talk about the drama surrounding the hearing.

They were gleeful... “We got him now!”

Why are they so set on getting Jack Smith?

Why... because Trump wills it!
 Viral slow zoom on Katie Britt says it all as she realizes Jack Smith gotcha moment is going up in flames
The exchange unravelled after Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt mistook a Caitlin Clark college basketball game in Maryland for an NBA game in Atlanta Jasmine 
Independent 
Fernández
30 September 2026
 
 
 A video of Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt looking visibly stunned during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing circulated on social media after her colleague, Senator Eric Schmitt, stumbled in his questioning of former special counsel Jack Smith.

Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, attempted to corner Smith over an alleged 2024 trip to an Atlanta Hawks basketball game, suggesting the trip pointed to coordination with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in the prosecution of Donald Trump. During the exchange, Schmitt accused Smith of committing perjury.

“You will go down as a total dirtbag,” Schmitt said.

Smith corrected him, pointing out that Schmitt had mistaken the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks for the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team.
They were gleeful... we got him now!
 
Why are they so set in getting Jack Smith?
 
 
Why... because Trump wills it!
 
Reuters reported that,
 Former US special counsel Jack Smith told senators on Tuesday that he will not be silenced by threats of prosecution, as ​he faced Republican accusations of abuse of power in his investigations of President Donald Trump.

Smith brought two since-dismissed criminal cases against Trump over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 ‌election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents after his first term.
That is what started this witch-hunt... his nerve in investigating their cult leader.
 Republican lawmakers, who have repeatedly blasted Smith for what they see ​as vindictive, politically driven prosecutions of Trump and his allies, alleged Smith abused his authority and used his investigations to obtain information from a variety of Republican officials and groups.
And now they had him! Perjury! So once again, they drag him before a hearing! Since they do it, they think everyone does it!
 “This wasn't a normal prosecution,” Grassley said. "Mr. Smith's operation was a partisan weapon that broke the rules."
That would be quite natural for the Republicans to think that. This is the evidence! We got the goods on him...
 Based on text messages Schmitt said his office had viewed, he accused Smith of attending an Atlanta ​Hawks basketball game, suggesting that would have placed him in the city where local prosecutor Fani Willis was also trying to prosecute Trump.
So if Mr. Smith was there in the same city where Willis was, in their mind, that was enough evidence... in the same city with over a quarter of a million people... collusion! We got him!
 Republican efforts to hold Smith responsible for his alleged abuse of power have picked up in the past year, though no charges against him have been filed. Smith gave closed-door testimony to a Republican-led House committee in December, saying the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot “does not happen” without Trump. Smith then gave public testimony before the same committee in January.
They dug through not just his call list but also all the texts that he sent. They smelled blood, and that was enough for them.
 Much of the Republican criticism of Smith has focused on records his investigators obtained involving members of Congress. Smith obtained phone call logs from several ​Republican senators around the time of the Capitol ​riot. In July, Republican senators revealed that ⁠Smith also reviewed texts from 44 US lawmakers as part of a review of material from White House aides.
They thought they had a "GOTCHA." They were not looking for the truth but rather something to get him on. In other words, they were looking for something to justify their searches of his life, to prove Trump was right, that this was an attack on him.

This was personal to Trump. It certainly looked less like a search for the truth than a search for something, anything, that could be used against Smith.
 

 

Update: 4:15PM

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