Public
education and First Amendment advocates on Thursday celebrated the U.S.
Supreme Court's refusal to allow the nation's first religious public
charter school in Oklahoma—even though the outcome of this case doesn't
rule out the possibility of another attempt to establish such an
institution.
"Requiring
states to allow religious public schools would dismantle religious
freedom and public education as we know it," Cecillia Wang, national
legal director of the ACLU, said in a statement about the 4-4 decison.
"Today, a core American constitutional value remains in place: Public
schools must remain secular and welcome all students, regardless of
faith."
Wang's group and other partners had
filed a lawsuit over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School on
behalf of parents, faith leaders, and public school advocates. Her
colleague Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU's Program on Freedom of
Religion and Belief, declared Thursday that "the very idea of a
religious public school is a constitutional oxymoron."
The
new one-page opinion states that "the judgment is affirmed by an
equally divided court," which means the Oklahoma Supreme Court's June
2024 ruling against St. Isidore remains in place. There are nine members
of the U.S. Supreme Court, but Justice Amy Coney Barrett—who is part of
its right-wing supermajority—recused herself from this case.
For
a little while longer, we still live in a free country. I love God.
I'm a Christian. I wouldn't be here today without God. Always there
for me in the darkest times and giving me so many wonderful times, I'm
thankful and sing praise.
But
I believe in religious freedom which includes the right not to worship
at all. I have three kids -- all grown now. I would not have been
happy if they went to a religious school. Sorry. I don't farm out my
obligations as a parent on others. It's my job to teach them about
religion. No one else's.
And
I did my job. This allowed them to go to school and learn math,
science, English, social studies and so many other needed topics.
If
you want to send your child to a religious school? I respect your
choice. But I'm not paying for it. My taxes aren't paying for it.
Again, it's the parent's job to educate about religion.
You
hear these 'religious' (they're not religious) bigots screaming about
our teachers in public schools, verbally attacking them, harassing them
on Tik-Tok and elsewhere.
And yet these same bigots want their kids taught religion by teachers?
They're just lazy. Big surprise, right? Uneducated idiots who are bigots are lazy -- that's rather obvious.
Thursday, May 22, 2025. The bad bill passes the House this morning,
Chump's got a new bald spot, he's also a War Criminal and that's
apparently why the State Dept still hasn't released their annual human
rights watch report, CREW is suing for freedom of information but note
which 'independent' (partisan) group isn't, and much more.
Because he's stupid, Donald Chump destroyed the economy.
Because he's stupid and proud, he's unable to fix it. And the
country's going to suffer. Right now? Businesses are eliminating job
openings. Aliss Higham (NEWSWEEK) reports:
A
decrease in job openings typically indicates that employers are hiring
less, which can be a sign of an economic slowdown, business uncertainty,
or reduced demand for labor. For job seekers, it becomes more difficult
to find employment, and wage growth may slow due to less competition
for workers.
The
Robert Walters Global Jobs Index, published on May 20, found there was a
16.2 percent month-on-month decline in professional job vacancies in
the U.S. between March and April, due in part to President Donald
Trump's wide-ranging trade tariffs. On April 2—a day he dubbed
"Liberation Day"—he announced a minimum 10-percent tariff on all U.S.
imports and higher individualized rates on some countries.
"For
most employers, hiring additional employees is a luxury when tariffs
are raising operating costs, lowering demand, and could potentially keep
inflation and interest rates elevated," Noah Yosif, chief economist at
American Staffing Association, told Newsweek.
Didn't
help when Chump ranted and raved at Walmart for telling the truth last
week about tariffs but maybe he can rant and rave some more about how
employers will just have to 'eat it' on this and hire regardless.
Because he says so. That's not working out too well, by the way,
because he says so. US House Rep Thomas Massie has made that clear. Hafiz Rashid (THE NEW REPUBLIC) explains:
One
House Republican is calling out the Trump administration’s lies that
the “big, beautiful” budget bill won’t raise the deficit.
Speaking
to CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday, Representative Thomas Massie said that
“Under the policies of this bill, we’re going to add $20 trillion
dollars to the debt over the next 10 years, which is three and a half to
$5 trillion more than would have been added otherwise.”
When Raju told Massie about the White House’s claims that the bill is deficit neutral, Massie chuckled.
“That’s a joke,” the Kentucky congressman, whose votes often align with libertarian principles.
Earlier in the day, President Trump attacked Massie after a meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill.
“I
don’t think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he’s a
grandstander, frankly,” Trump said. “We don’t even talk to him much, I
think he should be voted out of office.”
Rep.
Thomas Massie (R-KY) made an appeal for campaign donations on social
media on Tuesday night, hours after President Donald Trump labeled him a
“grandstander.”
Massie, a longtime deficit
hawk who votes against most bills no matter which party proposes them,
said House Republicans’ spending bill will exacerbate the deficit.
Of the bill, Nikki McCann Ramirez (ROLLING STONE) notes,
"The
so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" would make permanent President
Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts, which were a boon to the wealthiest
earners in the nation. In order to pay for those cuts, the GOP plans to
kick millions of people off of Medicaid, food assistance, and other
critical social safety net programs." The bill passed this morning just
a little while ago Tuesday night on MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell
explained how these bills destroy House majorities when the midterms
roll around.
He
also noted in the video that US House Rep Chip Roy, a Republican,
always objects and always falls in line And that's just what Roy did
this morning. Republican Thomas Massie did do as he said he would and
voted against the bill.
Some reaction on BLUESKY.
Economist
Paul Krugman was on Lawrence O'Donnell's program last night. I don't
see the segment posted at MSNBC. But yesterday, Krugman wrote the following about the bill:
I have already focused
on the bill’s cruelty. It’s also deeply irresponsible, undermining
America’s hard-won reputation as a country that honors its obligations.
The cuts to Medicaid and food stamps won’t come close to offsetting the
revenue loss from the tax cuts for the rich. Neither will revenue from
tariffs. And can we all now acknowledge that DOGE’s promise to eliminate
hundreds of billions in “waste, fraud and abuse” hasn’t just failed? It
has ended up being a complete waste of time, which it has tried to
conceal with fraudulent claims of achievement, all while abusing
dedicated civil servants and driving them out of government in ways that
will impoverish America in the long run — and maybe not that long.
We’re a world leader in education, science and technology that is
systematically destroying the very basis of our success.
So
we’re looking at a large increase in an already high budget deficit
when we’re already at full employment, interest rates are already at
multiyear highs, and future growth prospects are declining.
Financial
markets normally cut wealthy nations with stable governments a lot of
slack, with reason. Rich, well governed countries have immense ability
to raise revenues if needed, especially if, like the United States, you
collect a smaller percentage of GDP in taxes than almost any other
advanced economy:
In other words, until now markets have believed that the U.S. has the
resources to deal with its deficit whenever it musters the political
will. And bond buyers have been willing to assume that we are a serious
country that will eventually get its fiscal house in order.
But markets’ patience with American dysfunction isn’t unlimited. Consider how quickly things went wrong for the UK. In 2022 Liz Truss,
Britain’s Prime Minister, announced a “mini-budget” that involved
cutting taxes and blowing up the budget deficit. Markets freaked out:
long-term interest rates soared and the pound plunged. The tabloid The
Daily Star famously set up a webcam showing a photo of Truss next to a
head of iceberg lettuce wearing a wig, and asked which would last
longer.
The lettuce won, because Britain’s parliamentary system allowed it to get rid of a disastrous leader. We, unfortunately, can’t.
As
Lawrence noted Tuesday night, before the vote, the historical result
from something like this is losing the House in the midterms. Those
elections will take place in about 18 months. Control, if history
holds, of the House will go to the Democrats. Not good news for Chump.
And his disaster bill that just passed the House? If the Senate goes
along with it, it's going to further destroy the US economy.
It's
not a good time for Chump. Mike noted last night how Miss Sassy JD
Vance sounds like a raving lunatic. Yesterday's snapshot noted all the
morons Chump sent to testify before Congress on Tuesday -- all the
morons who demonstrated to the American people that they didn't
understand the law and apparently thought the Constitution was a text
unavailable in English so they not only couldn't read it, they also
couldn't refer to it. Of course, we all know that ignorance of the law
is no excuse for breaking it. And break it is all they want to do.
Let's again note US House Rep Jasmine Crockett from Tuesday's House
Judiciary Committee hearing:
US House Rep Jasmine Crockett: This entire situation could have been
avoided if people would just know their jobs and actually do their jobs
because the entire chaos that ensued, it ensued because of the unlawful
detainment and arrest of the mayor in the first place. But let me get
to my actual remarks. The Republicans have called today's hearing for
one reason purpose: To help an administration that's already rooted in
lawlessness and corruption execute their dangerous assault on American
democracy.
That's
true of everything the Chump administration does: This entire situation
coul have been avoided if people would just know their jobs and
actually do their jobs.
The
Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a
legal battle over whether the Department of Government Efficiency
(DOGE) must comply with public records requests under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA), like other federal agencies.
The
administration contends that DOGE, as a "presidential advisory body"
located within the White House, is exempt from FOIA's transparency
requirements, despite a lower court ruling that the department is likely
bound by the act.
Citizens
for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is suing. You might
think Judicial Watch was. But, no, they're scared and up in Chump's
ass. When it was then Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 National Energy
Task Force, Judicial Watch at least pretended to be about protecting
the interest of the American people. I think I like it better now that
we don't have to pretend that they were ever anything other than a
partisan op run by a steroid freak.
I
find it hilarious that Chump and his Crime Syndicate are attempting to
argue that DOGE doesn't have to be transparent when not only did both he
and Musk repeatedly insist (lie) that DOGE was going to be transparent
but DOGE had access to our medical files, to our Social Security files,
to our IRS tax filings and now we're being told that DOGE doesn't have
to be transparent or respond to Freedom of Information requests.
On
the topic of DOGE, just a reminder since I keep seeing YOUTUBERS trying
to glorify Ben Cohen -- the ugly one, not the sexy British football
player -- let's note this from Ava and my "Media: The programs we deserve, the programs we don't:"
Just a day ago, the YOUTUBE program THE MAJORITY REPORT served up
more garbage with the segment "WATCH: Ben & Jerry's Cofounder
Arrested Protesting RFK Hearing."
Ben Cohen was at the
hearing to protest Gaza. But the two hosts (Sam Seder did not host or
participate in the segment) kept praising him for protesting Medicaid
cuts and for this and for that.
And as you listened to
them lap at the crotch of Ben Cohen -- while slipping in two sentences
about unnamed AIDS activists -- you saw just how much whoring and lies
take place from people who are supposed truth tellers.
Ben was there for Gaza. They tried to pretty it up but that's what he was there to protest.
Don't believe us?
Here's what he Tweeted:
Before
I was arrested at the Capitol for protesting the slaughter of children
in Gaza, I wrote this statement to explain my actions. Thanks, @Newsweek , for publishing it.
And on May 18th, he Tweeted:
We
are expected to be good Americans and look the other way as Israel
prevents food, water, and medicine from reaching the remaining people of
Gaza. Israel is literally starving them to death…We must speak out and
demand a change in policy. We can’t be complicit in starving kids to
death.
So they distorted the intent of his protest -- they whored to make him more sympathetic.
Where in the segment do they tell everyone that our 'left' 'buddy' Ben Cohen is a supporter of Musk and a supporter of DOGE?
They
don't. Cohen isn't just praising both Musk and DOGE in the occasion
Tweet, he's started a website -- DOGE VS BLOB -- praising DOGE and
hailing it's 'work.' You know it's work, right? Lies about Social
Security has all these people ripping it off. Actions like firing
needed employees and trying to take over buildings that the federal
government does not own.
The question becomes is THE
MAJORITY REPORT just that damn stupid or are they lying to you because
they actually know Ben's gone over to the dark side?
Stupid or a whore?
It's always a question these days considering what crawled back into the Oval Office.
Marcia
told you the truth back on May 7th about Ben Cohen and his applause for
DOGE and his embrace of it. But THE MAJORIY REPORT won't and they're
not the only ones.
When I'm
asked about problems on our side -- the left -- I think about that. I
think about how a tiny sliver of crackpots are called by the left. A
small number. And those crackpots never include people like John
Stauber. He's anti-trans, pro-Chump, he's gone full MAGA with a war on
science and so much more. But hes also got friends still -- STILL -- on
the left and they don't want him called out. So they look the other
way.
Ben Cohen is
repugnant and not a part of the left. He made the choice when he
embraced DOGE. People like him do not need to be applauded. They need
to be called out.
While
THE MAJORITY REPORT lied and whored for Ben Cohen -- including that he
was there to protest what Robert Kennedy Jr was doing to destroy the
safety net -- they did do a sentence on AIDS activists.
Didn't name them. They were too busy raving over DOGE lover Cohen.
Here's FREE SPEECH TV doing an actual report on the AIDS activists who protested Junior
I guess they aren't 'celebrity' enough for lazy YOUTUBErs to cover.
What an embarrassment for YOUTUBErs.
Chump has become a non-stop embarrassment. And I don't just mean his hair; however, Isabel Keane (INDEPENDENT) reports, "President
Donald Trump appeared to debut a new bald spot Wednesday, much to the
amusement of the internet. Many took to social media to joke after
photos and videos taken during a contentious Oval Office meeting with
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa seemingly revealed a glowing
bald patch." Poor Chump. Balding and at the same time most of
America's learned that he can no longer get an erection. On that, an
update. Due to the fact that this dysfunction has been going on for
some time and the heart medicine he's on, he now has another south of
the beltline problem: Shrinkage. Due to the lack of blow flood, he's
complained that it's smaller. It's a button now, a little nubbing. He
can't get hard and it's about an inch long. Inch worm, inch worm.
There are so many reasons people laugh at the Convicted Felon. Mainly because he's a dirty joke. And greedy. And corrupt. Kevin Breuninger (CNBC) reports:
The
Trump administration has formally accepted a Boeing 747 jet that was
gifted to the U.S. by the government of Qatar, the Pentagon said
Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
accepted the luxury plane "in accordance with all federal rules and
regulations," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to
CNBC.
The
Wall Street Journal called out President Donald Trump over his opaque
cryptocurrency business in a new editorial all but accusing him of using
his office to enrich his family.
After
observing that “Trump likes to blur lines between personal business and
public office,” the Journal submitted that he would “help himself by
calling off his Thursday gala with the top 220 holders of his
meme-coin,” or at least by disclosing “his crypto contest’s winners so
Americans know who may be trying to buy access to the President.”
Trump
announced his intention to release a meme coin shortly before moving
back into the White House this January. And in April, he announced that
the top 220 holders of the coin would be invited to a private dinner
with him, while the top 25 would also enjoy an “ultra-exclusive private
VIP reception.”
As the influential Journal
editorial board noted, the “real identities” of the meme coin holders
are not public, though a majority of the top 220 and supermajority of
the top 25 are believed to have bought their coins on foreign exchanges.
As
Ann noted Tuesday, Senator raised that issue with State Dept Secretary
Marco Rubio in a committee hearing and Marco played dumb. Little Liar
Marco, Ann dubbed him. Hafiz Rashid (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes Marco's cry baby explosion in that hearing:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio flippantly said he does not have to listen to court orders at a Senate hearing Tuesday.
Senator
Chris Van Hollen asked Rubio about the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia,
who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador on the government’s own
admission. Rubio repeated the Trump administration’s false claims of
Abrego Garcia’s gang membership and alleged crimes.
“We
deported gang members. Gang members, including the one you had a
margarita with. And that guy is a human trafficker, and that guy is a
gang banger, and the evidence is going to be clear in the days to come,”
Rubio said, referring to Van Hollen’s visit to El Salvador last month
to verify Abrego Garcia’s well-being.
Van
Hollen interrupted and tried to refute Rubio’s lies, telling Senate
Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch that Rubio “can’t make
unsubstantiated claims like that.”
“Secretary
Rubio should take that testimony to federal court in the United States
because he hasn’t done it under oath,” Van Hollen asserted, only to be
reprimanded by Risch. Then, Rubio made his outrageous claim about the
federal judiciary.
“There is a division in our
government between the federal branch and the judicial branch. No judge,
and the judicial branch, cannot tell me or the president how to conduct
foreign policy,” Rubio said. “No judge can tell how I have to outreach
to a foreign partner or what I need to say to them. And if do reach to
that foreign partner and talk to them, I am under no obligation to share
that with the judiciary branch.”
We deported gang members! Little Liar Marco insisted. 'No judge can touch me!'
Marco
Hammer? I think he'll find out very soon that any judge can touch
him. But again, gang members? No. And our Director of National
Intelligence knew that was a lie. Did she not share her 'intelligence'
with others? Erin Banco (REUTERS) reports, "A
top adviser to Tulsi Gabbard, the U.S. director of national
intelligence, acknowledged in a March 24 email that the Venezuelan
government may not have specifically directed the activities of a gang
that the Trump administration has used to justify fast-tracking
deportation of immigrants, but argued that a link between Venezuela and
the gang was 'common sense'." No one has ever accused Tulsi Gabbard or
Chump of having common sense. So it turns out the whole lie just got
exposed. The intelligence community cannot back up Chump's allegation
that this is gang related.
No
wonder Chump disobeyed the court order halting the plane from leaving
America. If he hadn't done that, if a judge had been allowed to
actually examine and rule, it would have been clear that the whole thing
was made up. That Chump lied and that his lie destroyed lives.
New emails obtained by the NYT
erase any doubt that DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s chief of staff Joe Kent was
doing political damage control when he ordered the intel officials to
redo its analysis that contradicted President Trump’s claims about Tren
de Aragua:
“We need to do some rewriting” and
more analytic work “so this document is not used against the DNI or
POTUS,” Joe Kent, the chief of staff to Ms. Gabbard, wrote in an email
to a group of intelligence officials on April 3, using shorthand for Ms.
Gabbard’s position and for the president of the United States.
Chump put those 300 men into slavery. They were kidnapped in this country
and shipped to a gulag in El Salvador. And he lied. He lied. Grasp
that. This is the stuff of War Crimes.
As
we've noted repeatedly, human rights are not an issue that matters to
the Convicted Felon. He proved that yet again with his Middle East
whore last week as he played footsie with terrorists and despots. Now TIME's Debbie Sharnak explains that the US State Dept's annual human rights report is on hold for 'changes:'
When
they are released, these reports will now reportedly exclude
information on issues such as government efforts to deny freedom of
movement and peaceful assembly, failures to retain or provide due
process for political prisoners, and the harassment of human rights
organizations. The Trump Administration has also signaled it will cut
sections about the rights of women, the disabled, and the LGBTQ+
community.
These Country Reports offer a
detailed account of the state of every country’s human rights practices
and are meant to inform congressional decisions on foreign aid
allocations and security assistance. The reports have taken on added
importance over the years. They’re increasingly used as a tool to
pressure governments to improve their practices, while advocacy
organizations and lawyers rely on them to aid in asylum cases and
demonstrate fear of persecution. By revising and cutting out substantial
sections addressing an array of rights concerns that the U.S. has cared
about for almost five decades, the Trump Administration is undermining
the definition of human rights as a concept.
These
State Department reports were first introduced at a key moment in U.S.
human rights history—although they did not arrive without controversy.
As human rights grew as an important organizing concept in the 1960s and
the 1970s around the world, U.S. presidents were largely resistant to
incorporating it into U.S. foreign policy decision-making. President
Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford’s powerful Secretary of State, Henry
Kissinger, encapsulated this opposition by claiming that taking into
account morality or human rights in foreign policy was “totally devoid
of contacts with reality and would lead to empty posturing.” Instead,
Kissinger’s State Department was dominated by Cold War concerns that
relied on a realist approach to foreign policy and focused on great
power politics that eschewed concerns like human rights.
Chump's a tyrant himself and he demonstrates it with his lack of respect for human rights.
He
served up more crazy drama on the world stage yesterday as he carried
out a planned ambush on the president of South Africa. Tom Bogoioni (RAW STORY) reports:
CNN
host Dana Bash and fact-checker Daniel Dale pounced on Donald Trump
Wednesday afternoon after the U.S. president "ambushed" South Africa
President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office with patently false claims
of murders of white farmers in his country.
After
Trump showed a highly manipulative video disparaging South Africa, he
followed up by making sweeping assertions and arguing with the African
leader, which seemed to have stunned CNN's Bash.
Cutting
away, Bash told her audience, "Okay we're going to continue to monitor
what has been a truly extraordinary what? Half an hour plus inside the
Oval Office. I just, I want to go back to Daniel Dale because there's a
lot of fact-checking to do."
:
Dale
jumped in, explaining, "The last nine months of 2024 in South Africa:
19,696 murders. How many of them occurred on farms? 36."
"36
about 0.2 percent," he re-emphasized. "That includes employees like
security staff, farm workers. How many of them were actual farmers?
Seven out of more than 19,000 and it's not even clear that those are all
white farmers. Contrary to what the president said, many farmers in
South Africa are Black."
"Even the white ones
who have been victims of crime, it's not clear, have been targeted for
racial reasons," he elaborated. "Experts and white farmers themselves in
South Africa have repeatedly told media outlets and think tanks that
they feel they are often targeted for robbery and even attacks because
they are geographically isolated and therefore vulnerable."
During
a high-profile meeting at the White House today with South African
President Cyril Ramaphosa, Trump inaccurately described a private
memorial in South Africa, the Witkruis Monument, as a "burial site" for
white farmers. Referencing a video of the monument, Trump stated, "These
are burial sites, over 1000 of white farmers... both sides of the road,
you have crosses."
In
reality, the Witkruis Monument, located in Limpopo province, is a
symbolic memorial, not a cemetery. It features thousands of
white-painted metal crosses meant to represent victims of farm
attacks—arranged across a private plot but containing no graves. Trump's
comments are the latest in a series of controversial statements that
have drawn criticism for misrepresenting the scope and nature of rural
violence in South Africa.
The
monument itself has long faced scrutiny for its narrow focus on white
victims, despite farm attacks impacting South Africans of all races.
Critics argue the site promotes a racially selective narrative that
overlooks the broader context of rural crime.
He is an idiot, he is a racist, he is an enemy of democracy. We have to take back the House in the 2026 mid-terms.
We
didn't have room yesterday for a press release from Senator Patty
Murray's office in full. I noted that I would post it later Wednesday.
I just realized I did not do that. We don't really have room for it
today but let's wind down with it:
READ MORE — CNN: After NIH staffing cuts, cancer patient in clinical trial worries she may lose crucial time; Washington Post: NIH scientists have a cancer breakthrough. Layoffs are delaying it.
Senator Murray: “If RFK Jr.’s mass firings
weren’t having an impact on clinical care at NIH, he would provide those
details and tell us which positions he’s eliminated. He’s not—because
he knows that if he did, he would be caught lying. This isn’t just about
Natalie, this is about the millions of Americans like her who are
already being harmed by the destruction Secretary Kennedy is causing at
HHS, or will be soon.”
****FROM TODAY – WATCH and READ: Senator Murray’s exchange with RFK Jr.***
***FROM LAST WEEK –WATCH: Senator Murray rebuts Secretary Kennedy’s claims about her constituent, Natalie***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the
following statement on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s outburst during today’s Senate
Appropriations hearing, where Secretary Kennedy repeatedly lied, dodged
Senator Murray’s questions, and made a number of totally unfounded
allegations, in particular relating to Senator Murray’s constituent,
Natalie, who is suffering from Stage Four colorectal cancer and whose
care was delayed as a direct result of the Trump administration’s
staffing cuts across HHS. Senator Murray brought up Natalie’s story to
Secretary Kennedy at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
(HELP) Committee hearing last week; additional background on that
exchange is below.
At the appropriations hearing today, Secretary Kennedy claimed to Senator Murray: “You
told me two or three days ago, four days ago that we had cut a clinical
trial in your state and it turned out what you said turned out to be
completely untrue and you knew it was not true because you
corresponded.” This was not at all what Senator Murray suggested or
what happened. At the HELP hearing on May 14th, Senator Murray laid out
how Natalie’s treatment in a trial at the NIH Clinical Center had been
delayed by the staffing cuts, according to her doctors at NIH, and then
she asked Secretary Kennedy directly how many staff were cut from the
NIH’s Clinical Center. Video and transcript of their initial exchange
on May 14th is HERE. A full transcript of their exchange today is available HERE.
“RFK Jr. is a shameless liar and a dangerous conspiracy
theorist—he should have never been confirmed. As much as he lies and
deflects, I’m not going to stop holding him accountable for the real
harm he is inflicting on people in this country.
“Natalie’s care has been complicated, but here’s what’s not:
her NIH doctor told her twice that her care was explicitly delayed due
to NIH staffing cuts—specifically, that she would have to wait eight
weeks rather than four to have her cells re-infused. On the question of
credibility, I will trust an NIH doctor over an anti-vaccine conspiracy
theorist every day.
“After an initial contact with RFK Jr.’s office last
Wednesday, it was complete radio silence with no answers until about an
hour before today’s hearing. It should not take me raising this issue
with RFK Jr. face-to-face to make sure NIH is working the way it’s
supposed to.
“I still have no answer about how many NIH clinical staff
have been fired. I still have no answer why Natalie was told by her NIH
doctor that her care was being delayed due to staffing cuts. For weeks,
my staff has been demanding answers about agency staffing cuts.
“Meanwhile, my staff has been in constant touch over the past
three weeks with dedicated career staff at NIH and FDA—the same people
the Trump administration is trying to push out the door—to address
Natalie’s case. But it has been no thanks to RFK Jr. or HHS political
leadership.”
“If RFK Jr.’s mass firings weren’t having an impact on
clinical care at NIH, he would provide those details and tell us which
positions he’s eliminated. He’s not—because he knows that if he did, he
would be caught lying. This isn’t just about Natalie, this is about the
millions of Americans like her who are already being harmed by the
destruction Secretary Kennedy is causing at HHS, or will be soon.”
__________________________________
At last week’s HELP Committee hearing
with Secretary Kennedy, Murray grilled Kennedy on the Trump
administration’s moves to slash staff and block funding at the National
Institute of Health (NIH), and laid out how is affecting one of her
constituents, Natalie Phelps of Washington state: “One of my
constituents, Natalie Phelps—a mom of two from Bainbridge Island in
Washington state. She has been fighting aggressive Stage Four colorectal
cancer for nearly five years now. Her best hope now is a clinical trial
at the NIH Clinical Center. She flew out to the NIH just a few weeks
ago for her first appointment, and her care team wanted her to come back
in four weeks to start treatment. But because of the thoughtless, mass
firing of thousands of critical employees across NIH and HHS that you
have carried out, Natalie’s doctors at that clinical center have told
her that they have no choice but to delay her treatment by an additional
four weeks. Now, an extra four weeks may not sound like a long time
but, I will tell you, for Stage Four cancer patients like Natalie, this
could mean the difference between life and death.” Video of the full
exchange between Senator Murray and Secretary Kennedy is available HERE.
Later in the hearing, Secretary Kennedy asserted that Natalie was
ineligible for her clinical trial and called her story a “canard,”
saying: “Senator Murray had raised the issue of a constituent of
hers who she said had been denied a place in a clinical trial in
Washington due to the RIF. We’ve been able to run down that case. The
patient was medically ineligible for that trial. It had nothing to do
with the RIF. And NIH has been trying to get her into another clinical
trial, but none of our clinical trials have been shut down because of
the RIF. That was a canard.”
Senator Murray returned to the hearing to respond directly to Secretary Kennedy: “Secretary
Kennedy came back and said my constituent, who I spoke about earlier,
[her care] was not delayed by staffing cuts. First off, she is already enrolled
in that clinical trial. It’s not a question of eligibility—the issue,
as I stated clearly, was the delay in care that she got. And what you
stated, Secretary Kennedy, is not true.”
“I spoke with Natalie, actually, last night. She asked her NIH doctor directly why, when she was informed of the delay, and her doctor at NIH said very plainly TWICE: her care was delayed because of staffing cuts. And
Mr. Chairman, I think it’s important for the record to show, my staff
has put in inquiries with HHS leadership and they’ve been unresponsive
so far.And, just to make clear, this is just one case of many. But those
are the facts,” Senator Murray said.
Senator Murray has been a leading voice in Congress raising the alarm over HHS’ unilateral reorganization plan and slamming the closure
of the HHS Region 10 office in Seattle and the CDC’s National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Spokane Research Laboratory.
Senator Murray has sent oversight letters and hosted numerous press conferences and events
to lay out how the administration’s reckless gutting of HHS is risking
Americans health and safety and will set our country back decades, and
lifting up the voices of HHS employees who were fired for no reason and
through no fault of their own.
In particular, Senator Murray has been leadingthe charge against
the Trump administration’s efforts to gut lifesaving research at NIH
and pushed out nearly 5,000 NIH skilled scientists, grants
administrators, and other employees at the agency. When the Trump
administration attempted to illegally cap indirect cost rates at 15
percent, Senator Murray immediately and forcefully condemned the move, led the entire Senate Democratic caucus in a letter decrying the proposed change, and introduced amendments to Senate Republicans’ budget resolution to reverse it, which Republicans blocked.
Murray has led Congressional efforts to boost biomedical research.
Previously, over her years as Chair of the Labor-HHS Appropriations
Subcommittee, Senator Murray secured billions of dollars in increases
for biomedical research at NIH, and during her time as Chair of the HELP
Committee she established the new ARPA-H research agency as part of her PREVENT Pandemics Act to
advance some of the most cutting-edge research in the field. Senator
Murray was also the lead Democratic negotiator of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, which delivered a major federal investment to boost NIH research, among many other investments.
Senator Murray forcefully opposed the
nomination of notorious anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. to be Secretary
of HHS, and she has long worked to combat vaccine skepticism and highlight the importance of scientific research and vaccines. Murray was also a leading voice against the nomination of Dr. Dave Weldon to lead CDC, repeatedlyspeaking up about her serious concerns with the nominee immediately after their meeting. In 2019, Senator Murray co-led a bipartisan hearing in
the HELP Committee on vaccine hesitancy and spoke about the importance
of addressing vaccine skepticism and getting people the facts they need
to keep their families and communities safe and healthy. Ahead of the
2019 hearing, as multiple states were facing measles outbreaks in
under-vaccinated areas, Murray sent a bipartisan letter with
former HELP Committee Chair Lamar Alexander pressing Trump’s CDC
Director and HHS Assistant Secretary for Health on their efforts to
promote vaccination and vaccine confidence.
Senator Murray’s opening remarks at today’s hearing, as delivered, are below:
“Secretary Kennedy—things are not going well. It is clear what you
are doing across HHS is devastating to children, families, seniors, and
the millions of Americans HHS programs support.
“You were required to send us an operating plan detailing how you’re
spending funds that Congress provided for programs families rely on. You
sent us what you titled the ‘Hill Version,’ which had over 530
asterisks in place of funding levels.
“Mr. Secretary, we need the real version with actual funding
levels. This committee needs to know how you are spending taxpayer
dollars right now—and what programs you’re cutting and eliminating.
“You are blocking billions in funding that Congress appropriated from
going out the door, including $3 billion at NIH, and $1 billion in Head
Start and $3 billion in child care funding alone.
“And that’s on top of all of the other funding you’ve illegally
ripped away: $11 billion from state and local health departments, $1
billion supporting local substance use and mental health programs, and
$66 million in Title X funds for cancer screenings, birth control, and
preventive care.
“You are dismantling HHS, throwing away generations of investments in
our health care system and firing critical employees. We’re talking
about the people who administer Head Start, LIHEAP, and Meals on Wheels.
Or entire teams working on preventing chronic disease and Alzheimer’s,
tracking IVF success rates and safety, maternal health, and much more.
“On top of all of this, you propose a budget with truly devastating cuts that would leave America sicker and weaker.
“But you’re not waiting to see whether Congress approves that budget
proposal. This administration is starting to unilaterally implement it
right now—in defiance of Congress and the laws we have passed. If you
aren’t already, you are sprinting down the road of illegally impounding
billions in funding, through intentional action and through
incompetence.
“To my colleagues on this dais: We heard several weeks ago, what we
risk by ceding American leadership on biomedical research. If we bless
these staffing and funding cuts across HHS, that means deciding we are
comfortable with China leading the future development of every drug,
device, and vaccine. The supply chain challenges we faced during the
pandemic will be the new normal. Our access to the latest treatments and
cures will depend on other countries.
“It’s time to stand up and assert Congress’ authority. This Committee
has dedicated itself in a bipartisan manner over decades to make sure
we are the global leader in research and development. And now all of us
know this administration is setting us back where it may take decades to
regain that position.
“If we don’t, decades of scientific breakthroughs and medical
discovery—and the bipartisan work to support them—risks being burned to
the ground, and it will be very hard to rebuild.”
Already
decimated honeybee colonies are the latest victims of President Donald
Trump’s policies, a new report revealed Wednesday.
Since
June last year, the U.S.’s honeybee industry has seen its worst period
ever, The Atlantic reported. More than 60 percent of the insects
mysteriously perished.
It threatened devastation for
the industry that ships millions of colonies of the pollinators to farms
and orchards across the country.
The
government stepped in, sending samples to the Department of
Agriculture’s five bee-research laboratories in a desperate effort to
find the cause.
“Now
scientists, farmers, and beekeepers alike are racing to recover and
prevent the next massive die-off before it’s too late,” The Atlantic
reported.
The cuts put the whole industry is in
limbo, unable to rebuild wiped out colonies or treat surviving bees
because beekeepers have no idea of the cause of the deaths, the magazine
stated.
Joanna Thompson is the author of THE ATLANTIC article and she notes:
Without
fully funded and staffed USDA labs, experts fear that beekeepers won’t
know why their colonies are dying the next time disaster strikes.
Beekeepers are relieved that Cornell has stepped in this year, but
asking outside labs to pick up the agency’s slack “isn’t sustainable in
the long run,” Katie Lee, a honeybee researcher at the University of
Minnesota, told me. For one thing, Cornell is one of a small handful of
institutions in the country that have the equipment to test dead
colonies for pesticides. Plus, the USDA has years’ worth of data and
well-established partnerships with beekeepers, universities, and
nonprofits; nongovernmental agencies would have a hard time
coordinating, communicating, and responding at the same scale. And aside
from Cornell’s anonymous benefactor, deep-pocketed donors have not
exactly been coming out of the woodwork to fund entomology research.
The
Department of Agriculture still has a few precious weeks to finish its
research and distribute funds before many American beekeepers will be in
real trouble. At the very least, the Trump administration is making
beekeepers’ jobs more complicated at a precarious moment. One chaotic
year will likely not spell the end of American beekeeping, but if the
upheaval continues, it will bring real risks. More than 90 commercial
crops in the U.S. are pollinated by bees, including staples such as
apples and squash. Even a modest reduction in crop yields, courtesy of
honeybees dying off or beekeepers quitting the business, would force the
U.S. to import more produce—which, with tariffs looming, is unlikely to
come cheap.
The responsibility to keep food
production stable through the ongoing bee crisis is putting immense
stress on commercial beekeepers, most of whom operate relatively small
family businesses. Every year for the past two decades, they have had to
rebuild from some level of mass bee death. Carrying on is beginning to
feel Sisyphean. “We’re seeing a lot of commercial beekeepers quitting
the field,” Nathalie Steinhauer, an entomologist at Oregon State
University, told me. Shook said that many of the beekeepers he works
with now face bankruptcy. Still, a number of them plan to hold out for
one more year, in hopes that this winter was a fluke, that federal
funding will stabilize, that researchers will somehow figure out what
killed their bees so it doesn’t bring the American food system down too.
So Chump hates bees, hates our ecosystem, hates our farmers and hates our small business owners.
That's the reality of Donald Chump.
If you're someone who plants/gardens, Nicole Jackson (ANIMALKO) has a list of plants
that honey bees like. My daughter always plants lavender because honey
bees like it. C.I. told her an added benefit: Wasps hate it. I wonder
if that's because it attracts honey bees? But last summer, my daughter
kept getting wasp nests and C.I. told her to get some lavender and pots
and put it near where the wasps were and they would abandon the nests.
Which they did. This year, she not only has lavender plants but also
started spraying lavender oil in the areas the wasps built last year.
Wasp nests are not fun. Have you noticed how Chump's ugly hair (is it a wig?) looks like a wasp's nest?
President
Trump's campaign to dismantle FEMA is on the verge of a high-stakes
stress test, as the U.S. hurtles toward peak disaster season under
uniquely dangerous conditions.
Why it matters:
Extreme weather is growing deadlier and more destructive. But instead of
strengthening the systems that help states respond, the Trump
administration is gutting FEMA, banning climate change research and
urging governors to go it alone.
State of play:
With less than two weeks until the start of Atlantic hurricane season,
leaks from inside the government continue to suggest that FEMA is
understaffed, underfunded and underprepared.
Acting
FEMA head Cameron Hamilton was fired earlier this month after
testifying to Congress that eliminating the agency — as Trump has called
for — is not "in the best interests of the American people."
His
successor, David Richardson, has no experience managing natural
disasters and acknowledged in private meetings that the agency doesn't
yet have a fully formed hurricane response plan, the Wall Street Journal
reported.
"As FEMA transforms to a smaller footprint, the
intent for this hurricane season is not well understood," warned an
internal review obtained by CNN. "Thus FEMA is not ready."
The
big picture: Trump — whose budget proposes more than $646 million in
cuts to FEMA — has signed executive orders aimed at streamlining the
federal disaster agency and shifting more responsibility to the states.
Again,
he won't be happy until he kills us all. And then Jared and Don Junior
will show up with a plan to build condos on our graves. Annie Grayer and Ella Nilsen (CNN) reports:
The
Trump administration significantly cut funding for flood prevention
projects in blue states across the country while creating new water
construction opportunities in red states, undoing a Biden-era budget
proposal that would have allocated money more evenly, according to a
data analysis prepared by Democratic staffers.
California
and the state of Washington lost the most funds, with the
administration cutting water construction budget for those states by a
combined $606 million, according to the analysis, which was shared with
CNN. Texas, meanwhile, gained $206 million.
Democrats
decried the moves, saying the administration was slashing essential
projects in the name of political retribution. Collectively, states with
Democratic senators lost over $436 million in funding compared to what
they would have received under the last proposed budget of President Joe
Biden’s administration, the data analysis shows. Republican-led states
gained more than $257 million, the analysis shows.
“President
Trump is blatantly playing politics with critical Army Corps
construction investments and punishing the American people for the way
their states have voted,” House Appropriations Committee ranking member
Rosa DeLauro and fellow Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur said in a joint
statement to CNN.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025. It's as though Chump and his appointees set
out yesterday to prove over and over just how ignorant of the law they
are. Jasmine Crockett lays it out, Patty Murray, Maggie Hassan,
Elizabeth Warren and Chris Murphy expose the ignorance of Chump's
Cabinet in a series of questioning at one hearing yesterday after
another.
Does it matter? Yes, it does. US House Rep
Jasmine Crockett outlined why yesterday at a House Judiciary Committee
hearing on ICE.
US House Rep Jasmine Crockett: This
entire situation could have been avoided if people would just know their
jobs and actually do their jobs because the entire chaos that ensued,
it ensued because of the unlawful detainment and arrest of the mayor in
the first place. But let me get to my actual remarks. The Republicans
have called today's hearing for one reason purpose: To help an
administration that's already rooted in lawlessness and corruption
execute their dangerous assault on American democracy.
The
fat and impotent Donald Chump is clearly unbalanced but long before all
that, he was just stupid. He remains ignorant to this day. And that
explains the losers and liars he's used to assemble a Cabinet. Never
has a team of less qualified people been put together and allowed to do
so much destruction.
The worst of the worst -- that's the best description for Chump's Cabinet and, goodness, has it been on display.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's 'experience' was pretty much limited to killing her dog and publicly humiliating her husband.
Needless to say, that did not prepare her for the office she currently holds.
Senator
Maggie Hassan: Secretary Noem, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff
recently said that the Trump administration is actively looking at
suspending habeas corpus. Last week, you were asked about this and I
want to clarify your position because it's obviously really important to
get this right. So, Secretary Noem, what is habeas corpus?
Secretary Kristi Noem: Well,
habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be
able to remove people from this country and --
Senator Maggie Hassan: No. No. Let me -- let me stop you, ma'am. Habeas corpus, excuse me, that's
incorrect.
Secretary Kristi Noem: President Lincoln used it.
Senator
Maggie Hassan: Excuse me. Habeas corpus is the legal principle that
requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and
imprisoning people. If not for that protection, the government could
simply arrest people -- including American citizens -- and hold them
indefinitely for no reason. Habeas corpus is the foundational
right that separates free societies like America from police states like
North Korea. As a Senator from the Live Free or Die state, this matters
a lot to me and my constituents and to all Americans.
We're
all aware that Kristi didn't
graduate college, not really. In real time, she dropped out. Years and
years later, after she was in Congress, she went back and they gave her
course credit for serving in Congress at the time. Without those extra
breaks and extra credits, Kristi could not have graduated So
the point here is, Kristi's not a lawyer. She's taken no classes in
the law. She doesn't know the law. If you want a dog shot, Kristi's
your killer but if you want someone who understands the law and the
Constitution, you'd be better off looking for a fifth grader who even
half-assed applies themselves to their studies.
Kristi
Noem was grilled on the concept of habeas corpus during a Senate
hearing, weeks after White House deputy chief of staff for policy
Stephen Miller floated suspending the due process for migrants.
Noem
falsely claimed that "habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the
president has to be able to remove people from this country."
Instead
habeas corpus guarantees a person's constitutional right to challenge,
in a court of law, their detention by the government.
Grasp
that this idiot doesn't know what habeas corpus is and, worse, she's so
stupid, she's convinced herself that the US Constitution says it is a
right granted to the president.
Do we all get how
stupid she is? She wasn't qualified for the office and she's been in it
for months acting under the mistaken belief that habeaus corpus is a
right of the US president and that this is via the Constitution. If she
were an attorney, that kind of 'error' and the way she has applied it
could get her disbarred.
Secretary Kristi is only one
of the many idiots in the Chump administration. Billy Long? He's
another idiot that Chump's nominated. 69-year-old Billy. Billy. That
doesn't give anyone pause, right?
How about this --
like Krsti-with-an-i, Billy is another college school drop out --
woah-woah. But he is a certified auctioneer. Only the worst and the
dimest for Donald Chump. But, hey, WIKIPEDIA notes that, in 2023, "he
attended a three-day course offered by a Florida tax consultancy."
And this is the fool that Chump wants to head the IRS (someone who has spoken of wanting to abolish the IRS, by the way).
Yesterday, Senator Elizabeth Warren had some questions for Little Billy.
We'll
note the senator's statement in full in a post later today we do not
have room in The Snapshot, sorry. On the transcripts above, I did the
first one. The other three I'm taking from official press releases.
We saw the incompetence of Chump's administration of full display. The worst and the dimest.
President
Trump on Tuesday lambasted Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) over
allegations she assaulted an officer in a clash outside an immigration
detention facility.
“Oh, give me a break. Did you see her? She was out of control,” Trump told reporters during a visit to the Capitol.
“The
days of woke are over. That woman — I have no idea who she is. That
woman was out of control,” Trump added. “She was shoving federal agents —
she was out of control. The days of that crap are over in this country.
We’re going to have law and order.”
Yet
again, Fat Boy doesn't know the first thing about being a president.
He has no intelligence so let's use artificial intelligence. This is
now a criminal case. And Chump's commenting.
Generally,
presidents are not supposed to comment on individual criminal cases.
The judiciary and prosecutor's office should be free from presidential
interference in the conduct of individual cases. However, the president
may comment on criminal justice policy in general, and may even have the
authority to pardon individuals convicted of federal crimes.
We
used AI because we know Chump's an idiot with no intelligence of his
own. So next time before he speaks, maybe he can Google first and let
AI explain it to him.
LaMonica broke no laws. I'm low on space and we're short on time but Elaines covered this topic so we'll just swipe from her:
If you missed today's primary lesson, it may be do not
waste your money sending your children to Widener University
Commonwealth Law School. Their graduates are apparently remedial level
as evidenced by. Alina Habba. The deluded fool is charging a member of
Congress, LaMonica McIver, with assault because Alina's a racist. Matthew Chapman (RAW STORY) reports:
"That
conduct cannot be overlooked by the chief federal law enforcement
official in the State of New Jersey, and it is my Constitutional
obligation to ensure that our federal law enforcement is protected when
executing their duties," wrote Habba. "I have persistently made efforts
to address these issues without bringing criminal charges and have given
Representative McIver every opportunity to come to a resolution, but
she has unfortunately declined."
In a statement, McIver called the charges politically motivated and an effort to impede congressional oversight.
"We
were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of
Congress have done many times before, and our visit should have been
peaceful and short," wrote McIver. "This administration will never stop
me from working for the people in our district and standing up for what
is right. I am thankful for the outpouring of support I have received
and I look forward to the truth being laid out clearly in court."
Further
complicating the issue, legal analyst Lisa Rubin noted on X that the
charges Habba has supposedly filed against McIver are not currently
available on the public docket.
Michael Luciano (MEDIAITE) notes, "McIver,
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) and Reps. Rob Menendez (D-NJ)and Bonnie
Watson Coleman (D-NJ) visited the center on May 9. Baraka was arrested
on that day, and shortly afterward, Habba hailed his arrest. But on
Monday, Habba announced she is dropping the charges against the mayor
and will proceed with the prosecution of McIver, alleging the lawmaker
'assaulted, impeded, and interfered with law enforcement'." Alex Woodward (INDEPENDENT) adds,
"Criminal charges against a sitting member of Congress escalate threats
from the Trump administration under an emboldened Justice Department to
target his political enemies. Last week, Democratic House Minority
Leader Hakeem Jeffries called federal law enforcement agencies targeting
members of Congress a 'red line'."
Habba's
eager to go through the rest of her life without a law license. She
may be able to bully and intimidate and break the law while the
overweight and impotent Donald Chump occupies the White House. But he's
out the door January 2029 and Habba will be 44 years old. No law
degree. Maybe she'll go back to Iraq where her extended family's known
to have attacked Black Iraqis repeatedly over the years?
If you're confused about the law on this, maybe Habba is, US House Rep Jason Crow outlined it recently in a letter to Homeland Security's Secretary Kristi Dog Killer Noem and the acting and faking director of ICE Patrick Lyons:
Members
of Congress possess explicit statutory authority to conduct unannounced
oversight visits to facilities operated by or for the Department of
Homeland Security. This was outlined in the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2020 (Public Law 116-93), Division D – Department of Homeland
Security Appropriations Act, 2020, Sec. 532 and re-affirmed in each year
since, including Section 527(a) of the Department of Homeland Security
Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118–47), which stipulates:
None
of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department
of Homeland Security by this Act may be used to prevent…a Member of
Congress…from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any
facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland
Security
used to detain or otherwise house aliens… [nor] to make any temporary
modification at any such facility that in any way alters what is
observed by a visiting Member of Congress… compared to what would be
observed in the absence of such modification.
Furthermore,
subsection (b) clarifies that nothing in this section requires a Member
of Congress to provide prior notice of intent to enter such a facility
for oversight purposes.
Such a sad site to see idiots placed in jobs they can't grasp as they struggle to pretend they're qualified.
Yesterday was Chump and his appointees and would be appointees demonstrating over and over how they do not understand the law.
