If
you’re keeping score at home, we trafficked children away from their
families, stuck them in virtual prisons where they were brutally
reprogrammed in such a horrible fashion that we are only now coming to a
partial reckoning with what we did. Yet, the indigenous people of this
country persevered through all of it, even turning one of those
prison-schools into a actual four-year college—which, by the way,
Karoline Leavitt, turned out roofers, bricklayers, electricians, and all
those jobs you claim the country needs more than all those “LGBTQ
graduate majors.” (God, what a contemptible pink balloons that woman
is). Now, having starved these institutions of their proper funding for
decades, the cargo-shorts brigade wants to deliver the coup de grace.
Hell, my wasi’chu bunch didn’t get here until 1904, and I feel the
spirit of Crazy Horse rising in my blood.
Rashida
Tlaib, you disaster, you piece of human filth. Are you happy with what
you've done? Palestinians are still being murdered in Gaza. And our
country is destroyed every damn day because you worked to suppress the
vote for Kamala Harris. You will never be forgiven. I don't know how
it plays out in non-Socialist White circles but in the Black community,
we loathe you. We loathe you and we will never forget what you did or
the way you destroyed our country. I'm not going to call it "your
country" because you didn't care enough about my country to defend it.
No, you and yours would talk about how your people were being killed in
Gaza.
You are someone who
worked to destroy my country and I will never forget. You are as much a
threat to this country as Donald Chump. You are two of a kind.
Ragnarok Lobster
@eclecticbrotha1.bsky.social
Rashida Tlaib is crying about what Trump's budget will do to devastate her district after she and her sister helped put him in office.
Them chickens are coming home to roost, boo.
Thursday, June 5, 2025. Chump now wants the FBI to spy on parents and
kids regarding medical treatment, he continues his war on immigrants and
the economy, and someone needs to tell ICE that masks will not be able
to hide any of the shame that they are feeling internally -- not today,
not ten years from now.
Happy Pride and goodbye democracy. Why? June is Pride
month. Goodbye democracy? That's when you have crooks in government
who don't understand medical privacy let alone the rights of parents.
What are we talking about?
Kash
Patel. With him and his monkey Dan Bongo having failed to deliver the
'truth' about the death of Epstein -- you remember him, right? the
sweatiest of The Sweathogs -- and having angered 'Truth' 'Patriots' in
the best Sally Langston manner, the two are desperate to get back in
good with the hateful haters of MAGA. So what to do.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation is encouraging the public to report
health care professionals who provide gender-affirming care to minors.
In
a post on X on Monday, the agency said, "As the Attorney General has
made clear, we will protect our children and hold accountable those who
mutilate them under the guise of gender-affirming care."
It encouraged people to report "hospitals, clinics, or practitioners performing these surgical procedures on children."
Gender-affirming
care includes mental health care, treatments like puberty blockers or
hormone therapy and, in rare instances, surgery for those diagnosed with
gender dysphoria. But it's something that is hardly ever done with
children and handled on a case-by-case basis.
It's not illegal to receive gender-affirming care, but there are some states that restrict access to it for minors.
Doctors
who spoke with the Scripps News Group in the past said providers will
not consider gender-affirming medical treatment for kids who have not
begun puberty. At most, they can offer family counseling or support.
"No
one is walking into a visit and then walking out with the hormone
prescription that same day. The other thing that takes time is actually
getting into the clinic," said Dr. Angela Kade Goepferd, Medical
Director of Children's Minnesota Gender Health Program, in a previous
interview with the Scripps News Group. "Just to have a diagnosis of
gender dysphoria, you have to have symptoms or be experiencing distress
for six months or longer. So at a minimum, it's a months-long process.
But I would say in many cases a years-long process."
SCRIPPS is doing half-assed reporting.
Where's the law?
There's no law.
There's
no law but the FBI is wasting time on this. No law has been broken.
But the FBI is wasting time on this. They're supposed to be focused on
federal law.
There's no federal law.
This
isn't their business. It's the business of the parents. No one else.
Not even the child. The child's not an adult yet. The parents are
responsible. That's been my position here from day one. I don't need
you or anyone else to tell me what kind of treatment my child may or may
not receive. I've noted before that if my children were kids --
they're adults now -- and one came to me and said they were transgender,
we'd discuss with the doctor what the options were and we'd make a
decision -- not strangers, not FBI agents, not closet cases in the US
government.
It's no one
else's damn business outside of the doctor, my child and me as the
parent. And if they're 18 or over (or an emancipated minor), it's not
even my business.
The FBI has more than enough to do without spying on people because they might be doing legal medical treatments.
Kash, what you gonna do when you fail us yet again?
The
FBI is diverting their attention from being a federal law enforcement
agency to spying on American citizens to determine what medical care
they may or may not be receiving. And, repeating, the 'suspect'
behavior is not against the law.
From last night's THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE
Stephanie
Ruhle: President Trump's focus on immigration has meant calling on
members from other agencies to assist. But NBC NEWS has reported that's
been a source of tension from some officials who feel that they've been
taken off their core national security missions.
And
now FBI resources and time are going to be diverted into spying on
Americans to see if any legal medical treatments are taking place?
I
believe David Spade said it best in REALITY BITES, "If you got time to
lean, you got time to clean." So if FBI agents now have so much time on
their hands, let's give them a broom and dustpan.
They
do have a job to do and if Chump were any decent president, he would
want to ensure that the FBI was tasked with their actual mission and not
diverted off into spying on Americans medical needs.
But Chump is a lousy president and the dementia's only making that worse.
Look
at his immigration 'policy.' People are kidnapped off the street. And
ICE agents wear masks. Not for safety but because they're humiliated
by what they're being asked to do. This isn't how it's done and they
know it. They wear masks hoping to hide from what's being done. Masks
or not, people know what's going on and they know it's wrong. You don't
send people to gulags in El Salvador. If you're part of doing that,
you can look at being a whistle-blower or look at the other two options:
Kill yourself or self-medicate with pills or booze. Those are the two
options because you know what you're doing is wrong and inhumane and you
know people are being tortured because of what you've done.
Masks won't hide that, not from others and not from yourselves.
Secretary
of State Marco Rubio has voiced that he is devoted to ensuring the
return of a Venezuelan man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador
after the Department of Homeland Security requested it.
The
deported man, who has been identified in court documents only as
"Cristian", would be the first individual to be returned to the US after
being deported to the high-security prison Salvadoran Centro de
Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, in El Salvador. He was deported
despite court-ordered protections giving him legal status to remain
within the US.
The Trump
administration announced that Rubio was personally working on the case
on Monday. Rubio, who has a long-standing relationship with El
Salvador's president Nayyib Bukele, is currently negotiating Cristian's
release with Bukele.
"Based on his deep
diplomatic experience with El Salvador and the secretary's familiarity
with political and diplomatic sensitivities in that country, he is
personally handling the discussions with the government of El Salvador
regarding persons subject to the court's order detained in El Salvador,"
the State Department said in a statement included in the filing.
Furthermore,
the statement says Rubio has "read and understands this court's order
and wants to ensure the court he is making prompt and diligent efforts"
to comply.
A
request for jurisdictional discovery from a Venezuelan immigrant locked
up in a notorious Salvadoran prison has been granted, opening the door
for the release of revelatory details into the Trump administration’s
detainment deal with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
In
a wide-ranging immigration case that intersects with others that have
captured national interest, a petitioner referred to as E.D.Q.C. —
reportedly previously identified as Edicson David Quintero Chacon, 28,
argued he was not given prior notice of his planned deportation to El
Salvador, a country with which he has no affiliation, and thus unable to
raise concerns of being tortured at the country’s Terrorism Confinement
Center, otherwise known as CECOT, which is accused of ill-treatment.
Middle
District of Georgia U.S. Magistrate Judge Amelia Helmick ruled that if
such allegations of a lack of notice are true, E.D.Q.C.’s transfer to
and imprisonment in CECOT is “likely unlawful.” She also firmly rejected
arguments by the Trump administration that certain “privileges” exist
barring them from releasing information into their deal with the
Salvadoran government, saying that “the only reason El Salvador has even
entered the conversation in this case” is because the U.S. government
sent the petitioner there.
“For Respondents to
now assert that the terms of such relocation and potential detention
should be shielded from Petitioner and the Court is disingenuous,”
Helmick wrote in her Tuesday filing. “That is not to say that the entire
panoply of relations between the United States and El Salvador is open
to discovery, but the narrow matter of the terms under which Petitioner
is held in El Salvador, the degree to which the United States is
entitled to determine his ultimate disposition, and what involvement, if
any, the United States continues to have in seeking his possible
eventual repatriation to Venezuela is discoverable.”
So
they got that one wrong too. What a bunch of idiots. A lot of people think
Chump and his Merry Band of Fools are wrong regarding Maurilio Amizael Ambrocio Mendez as well. We've noted him before. Billal Rahman (NEWSWEEK) reports:
A
Florida pastor who has lived in the United States for more than two
decades was detained by federal agents during his annual immigration
check-in.
Maurilio Amizael Ambrocio Mendez, 42,
from Guatemala, was detained at the ICE field office in Tampa on April
17 at around 9 a.m., according to his family. He is currently being held
at the Glades County Detention Center.
Ambrocio
Mendez had been attending annual ICE appointments for the past 12 years
under a court-issued "stay of removal," a form of supervision allowing
him to remain in the country despite a deportation order.
According
to his daughter, 19-year-old Ashley Ambrocio, Ambrocio Mendez had
always complied with the conditions of his supervision.
"It's
truly horrible. These people are going to their appointments to make it
right. If they were the 'real criminals' Trump is supposedly deporting,
they wouldn't be representing themselves to a judge," Ashley told
Newsweek.
"My father's lawyer told my dad the
chance was high he could be detained, but my father decided to go
because he knew he was doing the right thing and obeying," she said.
So
he was doing everything he was supposed to and then some. And Chump's
trying to kick him out of the country. That's how you know -- if you
still haven't figured it out -- that Chump is not a Christian.
Christians don't work overtime to deport pastors who've broken no
laws.
The article notes:
Ashley
said that during the first few days following her father's arrest, she
became ill from the stress of what happened; she couldn't eat for three
days and struggled to sleep. She's concerned over her father's treatment
while in ICE detention and said she is feeling anxious about their
future together, especially if he ends up being deported.
"My
family is devastated. It isn't the same without him; they miss him and
wish he would come back," she said. "My mom didn't just lose the father
of her children but also her partner. She gets lonely.
"Despite all this, I have faith, and that's what keeps me going."
That's
his daughter. He has five adult children. They're suffering. Think
about that. Grasp that the one being held in detention is suffering but
so are his family and his friends. Ryan Adamczeski (THE ADVOCATE) reports:
A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to deport a transgender immigrant
after officers arrested her during her asylum hearing — but her
attorneys say they still haven't been able to contact her.
O.J.M., known only by her initials out of concerns for her safety,
was leaving a courtroom during her asylum hearing on Monday when she was
detained by ICE agents, who demanded that the court dismiss her case.
She was then taken from the courthouse in Portland, Ore. and forcibly moved across state lines to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash.
ICE
did not inform O.J.M.'s attorneys, from the immigration law firm
Innovation Law Lab, of her location after her arrest, prompting them to
file a habeas petition. The filing, obtained by Oregon Public Broadcasting,
accuses ICE officials of committing "a deceptive sleight of hand" in an
effort "to eject O.J.M. from her own asylum case, detain her, and
transfer her away from the District of Oregon so that they can rapidly
deport her.”
“Only nearly two years after O.J.M. was released from [immigration]
custody and months after she applied for asylum, [officials] commenced
removal proceedings against her in immigration court where she could
present her asylum claim under the due process rights,” the petition
reads. “O.J.M. had properly filed her asylum application, but ICE
appears to be attempting to place her in expedited removal, a rapid
deportation process with minimal protections."
Masks
are not going to hide ICE agents from their guilt. And as Nazis
learned, just doing your job is not a valid excuse when it comes to
crimes against humanity. You're 28 right now? 20 years from now when
your grandkid asks, "When you worked for ICE, you weren't art of
rounding up and harassing people, sending them off to gulags to be
tortured, were you?"
And maybe you'll lie to your
grandkid but it's only going to remind you yet again what a vile person
yuo were and are and what a War Criminal you are.
WSWS
started calling ICE agents out on day one. I didn't. I'm comfortable
doing it now. They've had time to see what's actually happening. If
they're aware and continuing to carry out these crimes against humanity,
they don't deserve sympathy. They've had plenty of 'wait and see'
time. They're now just as guilty as Chump and the guilt's not going to
go away by them conducting business as usual.
You
know the lives that are being destroyed, you know that the courts keep
objecting, you know what you're doing is wrong. If you continue down
this road, your options are limited and you guilt will not go away even
if you try to silence it with drugs. You will be haunted forever by the
actions you are taking now.
Every day in the United States, heavily armed, militarized, and
masked immigration agents—often operating without warrants or even the
pretense of due process—are seizing workers, students, parents and
long-time residents as part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing mass
deportation campaign.
Under the guise of combating “terrorism” and
“criminal gangs,” the ongoing raids overwhelmingly target workers and
their families, many of whom have filed for asylum and completed every
legal requirement for seeking residence in the United States.
In
the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) reported arresting 66,463 people and deporting 65,682.
By mid-May, nearly 49,000 individuals were being held in immigration
detention centers—most of them privately run, for-profit facilities
scattered across the United States.
To meet a White House-imposed quota of 3,000 arrests per day—set by
Trump’s fascist-minded senior advisor Stephen Miller—masked immigration
agents are appearing at courthouses, worksites, and other public spaces
to capture “illegal” immigrants.
If their “target” is not present,
the immigration Gestapo is encouraged to carry out “collateral
arrests”—detaining anyone they encounter whom they suspect of being
“illegal,” regardless of whether that person was the intended target.
In line with these directives, the right-wing New York Post—owned
by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp—reported that “2,200 illegal migrants”
were arrested in a single day on Tuesday. This came after a Monday press
conference by ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, who gloated that
immigration agents had detained 1,461 people in Massachusetts in May
alone as part of “Operation Patriot.”
Trump and his ruling class allies have repeatedly claimed that those
being targeted for deportation are the spearhead of an invasion force
aimed at destroying America. This lie is disproven every day.
On
Wednesday, CNN reported that the Trump administration is reviving its
notorious child separation policy and has already taken approximately
500 children into government custody—removing them from previously
vetted family sponsors. During Trump’s first term, more than 5,500
children were separated from their parents in a cruel and inhumane
effort to deter immigrants and asylum seekers. As of 2024, according to
Human Rights Watch, over 1,000 of those children had still not been
reunited with their families.
Every day brings new outrages. On Tuesday, KTLA in Los Angeles
reported that Martir Gracia Lara, a fourth-grade student at Torrance
Elementary School, and his father attended an immigration hearing in
Houston, Texas, at which point both were detained and separated by ICE
agents.
There is growing popular opposition to the Trump
administration’s vicious assault on immigrants and their families.
Demonstrations against the administration’s policies are becoming more
frequent and militant, reflecting a deepening mood of resistance.
And
if you're an ICE agent, you know about that opposition because you feel
it in your heart. You know what you're doing is wrong and disgusting
and vile. You know this isn't how you were raised to be. That's why
you need the masks, to try to hide from yourself, from the voice inside
that tells you right from wrong.
Chump's not going to help you, he's not even going to defend you.
As
Lawrence O'Donnell noted last night on MSNBC, Dementia Donnie is silent
with regards to the attacks he is now getting from Musk.
Why?
Because Chump is a coward.
Because Chump is a fake.
Because Chump is a fraud.
He's a poor man with a mountain of debt and he needs the world to believe he's huge -- huge -- hugely wealthy.
Wealthy
people don't have to leave NYC because society turned a back on them.
But that's what happened. Chump's seen as the money grubber he truly is
and the con artist he's always been. He had to move to Florida --
Jimmy Buffett land -- in order to have a social life.
Everything about him is fake.
And
right now, as his tough guy' pose crumbles in front of the nation,
Chump stays silent as he tries to calculate whether or not he's lost
Musk forever. He needs the money, Chump always needs the money. And
he'll act the little bitch on the national stage for it.
Trump
said his aggressive program of tariffs would spark a manufacturing boom
but he appears to have been wrong. U.S. manufacturers are warning that
the president is creating a crisis akin to the disruption the COVID
pandemic caused with his tariffs. Manufacturers have reported longer
lead times for supplies, higher prices, and disruptions to
production—even as demand dries up, Axios reported.
Some of the the slowdown has been fueled by the on-again, off-again
nature of Trump’s levies which have left some suppliers either delaying
deliveries or scrapping them altogether.
Trump
administration officials delayed and redacted a government forecast
because it predicts an increase in the nation’s trade deficit in farm
goods later this year, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The
numbers run counter to President Donald Trump’s messaging that his
economic policies, including tariffs, will reduce U.S. trade imbalances.
The politically inconvenient data prompted administration officials to
block publication of the written analysis normally attached to the
report because they disliked what it said about the deficit.
It’s not clear when or if the written analysis portion will be released.
The
previous forecast, published in February, projected a deficit of $49
billion for the current fiscal year, an increase from the November 2024
report. The new analysis revises the projection to a record $49.5
billion, beating the previous record of $31.8 billion in fiscal 2024.
Republicans
used the quarterly report’s rising trade deficit projections during the
Biden administration to accuse then-Secretary Tom Vilsack of not doing
enough to promote U.S. farm exports. Agriculture secretaries
historically have used the forecasts to promote policy initiatives.
The
May report reflects Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs, the people
said. The president has announced sharply higher tariffs on China and
“reciprocal” levies of at least 10 percent on most U.S. trading
partners.
The
sweeping Republican bill for President Donald Trump's domestic agenda
is projected to add $2.4 trillion to the national debt over the next 10
years, according to a new estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional
Budget Office.
It is slightly higher than an earlier version of the bill, which the CBO projected to add $2.3 trillion in new debt.
The
long-awaited new score factors in a series of last-minute revisions GOP
leaders made to placate holdouts before the House passed the
legislation last month. The changes include a higher state and local tax
(SALT) deduction and a provision that triggers the Medicaid work
requirements sooner than the original legislation did.
Overall,
CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation found that over a 10-year
period, the legislation would decrease revenues by $3.7 trillion, while
cutting net spending by $1.3 trillion — for a total of $2.4 trillion in
new red ink.
The legislation would also
increase the number of people without health insurance by 9.1 million by
2034, CBO projected. That includes 7.8 million fewer covered due to the
Medicaid changes.
Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey was slapped with 18 health code violations, Forbes reported on Wednesday — including some truly gross ones.
Overall, the facility scored just 32 out of 100 in its health
inspection, the lowest grade in all of Somerset County. Moreover, nine
out of the 18 violations were deemed to be the most serious category,
posing an "unacceptable health risk" to people at the establishment.
Among
the violations at the Bedminster club were failing "all three
requirements in the 'food protected from contamination' category, with
violations including expired milk, raw meat stored improperly and a
dishwasher that may not reach the required temperature," noted the
report. "The inspector also cited four separate hand-washing violations,
including sinks without soap or paper towels, one lacking a required
sign and another used to store a sanitizer bucket."
If
you're not getting it, he's a slum lord. That's why, despite years of
trying, he couldn't buy his way into NYC society and has to nurse his
wounds in Florida. It's why I worry for Vietnam when I find out they're
going to be doing construction with him.
Does
no one remember the coverage of Chump's casinos? How they fall apart
and never get fixed. Leaky roof? Put a buck out to catch the water --
year after year. He's a slum lord. That's all he's ever been and all
he ever will be.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
Murray: “You didn’t do an actual analysis to determine what the effects of this would be?”
McMahon: “No.”
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s Q&A with Sec. McMahon***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, questioned
Department of Education (ED) Secretary Linda McMahon at a Senate
Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related
Agencies Subcommittee hearing
on the president’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for the Department.
Senator Murray pressed Secretary McMahon on the indiscriminate mass
firings of employees across the Department, the lack of transparency
from the Department as it illegally withholds funds that were already
appropriated by Congress, and how the Trump administration talks a big
game about tackling antisemitism in schools but is actually dismantling
the very office charged with investigating it and enforcing federal
civil rights laws for students.
In opening comments, Vice Chair Murray said:
“Good morning, Secretary McMahon. You know, President Trump
has made clear that he wants to abolish the very department that you
lead. And we know here that you cannot eliminate the Department of
Education without an act of Congress—but I’m afraid that has not stopped
you from preventing the Department from actually doing its job.
“You have indiscriminately shuttered offices and pushed out
half of the Department’s staff. And under your leadership, we have seen
critical research to improve student outcomes axed overnight—and funding
for mental health services and teacher training, among a whole lot,
abruptly cut off and discontinued.
“Now, today you come before this Committee to request massive
funding cuts that do, in my opinion, nothing to help improve
opportunities for students in our public schools throughout the country.
You are proposing to slash Pell grants and much more.
“Now, you and the president say this isn’t about cutting
education funding but all about ‘returning education to the states.’ But
actually, that couldn’t be farther from the truth—because the reality
is this administration is actually taking unprecedented steps to extort
schools and universities, and hold federal funding hostage if they don’t
conform with your agenda.
“So, it’s pretty clear that ‘returning education to the
states’ actually means letting states, colleges, and local communities
pick up the tab. And I just don’t believe that’s how things should work
in America—I don’t believe that’s good for our students and I don’t
believe it is good for our families.”
[MASS FIRINGS AT ED]
Senator Murray began by pressing Secretary McMahon on the indiscriminate mass firings across the Department: “Secretary
McMahon, as I mentioned, you have set out to eliminate nearly half of
your Department’s workforce. And that includes pushing out the door more
than half of the staff at the Office for Civil Rights, the entire staff
responsible for managing grant operations and contract procurement, and
employees who actually prevent students from getting ripped off by
predatory colleges. The Department cannot do its basic job to execute
the law given how many staff have been pushed out. And it is our
students and our teachers who will suffer the consequences. So, I want
to know from you: before you cut that much staff, did you conduct any
analysis to assess whether or not it would degrade support and services
for students and our schools? Or how the Department would still be able
to execute the law after losing so many employees?”
Secretary McMahon responded, “Yes, we did talk to the Department itself, OCR.”
“But did you do an actual analysis?” Senator Murray pressed.
“What we looked at across was, how can we restructure the
Department so that we can maximize the use of the people who are there?
So, what we did was in, like, training manuals and things of that
nature, to look at it and say, okay, we can better operate if we focus
on—” SecretaryMcMahon replied.
“So, this was a conversation. You didn’t do an actual analysis to
determine what the effects of this would be?” Senator Murray clarified.
“No,” replied Secretary McMahon.
“So, no study was done. They were just fired, and you assumed that it would work?” Senator Murray asked.
Secretary McMahonreplied, “No, obviously not. I have been in the
private sector and done restructuring before in companies, and it’s
painful to do.”
“It is painful, but normally companies look ahead and say:
what are our goals and what will be the impact if these employees are
gone from this Department? That’s why I asked. But you’ve not done an
analysis, and my time is short, so let me continue,” said Senator Murray.
[REFUSAL TO DETAIL HOW ED IS SPENDING FUNDING]
Senator Murray turned to the lack of transparency from the Department
about how it is spending funding that has already been provided: “You
were required—by law—to submit an operating plan 45 days after
enactment of the full-year CR detailing exactly how you are spending
funding Congress provided this year. You didn’t do that. The purported
‘operating plan’ that you did submit told us virtually nothing about how
you are spending taxpayer dollars right now, at this very moment. And
that really raises concerns about when—and actually if—you are going get
funding that Congress did provide for FY25 out the door. For example:
your FY26 budget request zeroes out dedicated funding for literacy
education programs, and your operating plan for this year describes this
funding as ‘unallocated.’ So, will you allocate the $220 million for
literacy programs that Congress appropriated for FY25?”
Secretary McMahon refused to commit to spending the funding Congress provided for literacy programs, stating: “Well,
Senator, as I mentioned earlier, we are looking at the unallocated
dollars now to determine which of those programs we can best spend those
dollars on. And I would be happy to get back to you. And we want to
work with Congress on those unallocated dollars to see where they could
be spent the best.”
Senator Murray pressed on whether ED will release the funds: “Well,
what is your plan to make sure that, that funding actually gets to the
schools and students is intended to support? We’re running out of time
here.”
“Well, to look at those programs and then to allocate them to the
states. If those programs, we believe is the best interests…” said
Secretary McMahon.
“Those funds were appropriated by Congress. Your department
was to allocate them, and it really looks to me like the Department is
illegally impounding funding that would help our students succeed with
plans that don’t exist—and just day after day going by here. And that’s
our concern,” saidSenator Murray.
Secretary McMahon replied, “Well, let us work more with you as we update those allocations, as we did before.”
“When do you plan to have those funds out by?” pushed Senator Murray.
“Well, the funds that we are approving will go out in this year,” Secretary McMahon responded.
Senator Murray replied, “Like in this next month, or..?”
“In the fiscal year,” saidSecretary McMahon.
“You’re running out of time. So, we need to see what the plan is if you can provide it,” said Senator Murray.
Senator Murray and House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro sent a letter
to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought last week
calling out the Trump administration’s lack of transparency about how
it is spending funds provided by Congress for this year—noting the
complete inadequacy of the spend plan, required by law, that the
Department of Education submitted.
[DISMANTLING THE OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS]
Senator Murray then addressed how the Trump administration has been
dismantling the Office for Civil Rights, which is the office charged
with enforcing federal civil rights laws in schools and investigating
discrimination, noncompliance with federal law and more. Under Secretary
McMahon’s leadership, half of OCR’s staff have been eliminated and
investigations have been hamstrung, and President Trump has requested a
nearly 36% cut to OCR’s budget. She began: “Secretary McMahon,
the Administration says that one of its priorities is tackling
antisemitism in our schools—that’s correct, right?”
“Correct,” replied Secretary McMahon.
“Well, the Office for Civil Rights at your Department takes
the leading role in preventing antisemitism and enforcing our nation’s
civil rights law. It is really an important mission. But as you
hopefully know, that office is under water. What is the current backlog
at OCR, can you tell us that?” inquired Senator Murray.
Secretary McMahon said, “We inherited about a 20,000 backlog
from the Biden administration. One of the things that we found is some
of those cases were like one-page complaints, and we’ve really been able
to get rid of many of them and we are fulfilling…we absolutely are
fulfilling all of our statutory requirements—have not failed to do any
of those. And not only are we reducing the backlog, but we are keeping
up with the current amount with a reduced staff because we are doing it
efficiently.”
“If you don’t have the staff, you can’t do them,” Senator Murray pressed.
“If you have an efficient staff that has changed programs and
you are addressing all of the issues, then you are being successful.
So, I am answering your question by completely answering it,” replied Secretary McMahon.
“Actually, Madam Secretary, my question is what is the current backlog?” asked Senator Murray.
Secretary McMahon replied, “The current backlog is probably about—let’s see I’m looking at my numbers now—about 25,000 cases.”
“25,000, and how many are you processing per month? Do you have any sense?” Senator Murray asked.
“Well, we’re catching up with the backlog. And keeping current on the ones that are coming in,” dodged Secretary McMahon.
Senator Murray pressed, “But you don’t know how many you are processing every month? You can’t tell us so we can get an idea?”
“I can get back to you with that,” said Secretary McMahon.
“Would you? If you could commit to giving us quarterly
reports so we can know whether OCR is simply dismissing these cases
or doing its job,” replied Senator Murray.
Secretary McMahon responded in part, “I would be happy to do that.”
CNN
anchor Abby Phillip torched President Donald Trump and Secretary of
Defense Pete Hegseth for erasing “women and people of color” from
history while honoring “Confederate traitors.”
News
broke Tuesday that Hegseth has ordered the renaming of a ship that
honored Navy veteran and Civil Rights icon Harvey Milk, and is
considering doing the same for ships honoring Thurgood Marshall, Ruth
Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman, Dolores Huerta, Lucy Stone, Cesar
Chavez, Medgar Evers, and others.
I
read about disgusting Hegseth renaming the Harvey Milk ship in Ava and
C.I.'s "MEDIA: Happy Pride" but I wasn't aware he was also gunning for the others. He's
disgusting. I picture a mob of ants stomping on him one summer.
The
actress-singer, daughter of country music icons Tim McGraw and Faith
Hill, came out as queer in a June 2 social media post celebrating Pride
Month, which kicked off on June 1.
McGraw, 28,
shared a post from another user on her Instagram story, which read,
"Everyone get more gay now!" Alongside the pro-LGBTQ graphic, McGraw
wrote, "Happy freaking Pride. I love being queer."
Congratulations
to her and congratulations to her parents. I hope life is a little
easier for her now that she's come out and wish her all good things on
her journey through life.
Now can I hiss? Shakira.
I've
been told Shakira's 'emergency' that caused her to drop out of three
Pride events was her deciding she didn't want to support Pride. If
that's the case, screw her. In fact, until she comes out and denies
this rumor, screw her. She's an idiot anyway -- remember 'I hate BARBIE
because I don't feel my son is represented in it.' She's just trash
and pure MAGA.
Carl
Nassib, the first openly gay player to appear in an NFL regular season
game, was honored in a new exhibit at the National Museum of American
History on Tuesday, commemorating a historic moment for LGBTQ+ athletes
amid the Trump administration’s attack on diversity, equity and
inclusion initiatives.
The
exhibit features his No. 94 Las Vegas Raiders jersey from the 2021
season opener, when his strip sack in overtime keyed a 33-27 victory
over the Baltimore Ravens.
“I thought it was
really important that gay stories get told and remembered,” Nassib said
Tuesday as D.C. hosts WorldPride, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ gathering.
Nassib,
32, said that he wasn’t “really impacted” by the administration’s
policies targeting DEI efforts and that his enshrinement felt “kind of
siloed, kind of personal.”
A 6-foot-7 defensive
end who also played for Tampa Bay and Cleveland during a seven-year NFL
career, Nassib said he was inspired by learning about Bayard Rustin,
the gay social rights advocate who was the principal organizer of the
March on Washington in 1963. They had, Nassib discovered, grown up in
the same hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and the local high
school was named after Rustin.
Good
for Carl. He's a part of history and someone we can all applaud. And
I love what he's saying about stories getting told. Ava and C.I. made
that point in their piece:
People of color were part of the storytelling and kids could grow up
seeing actors who looked like them in films that they watched.
This is true of LGBTQ+ people as well.
In
the sixties, there were real efforts at bringing LGBTQ+ characters into
the conversation. THE CHILDREN'S HOUR, THE FOX, THE DETECTIVE,
MIDNIGHT COWBOY, WOMEN IN LOVE, etc. The seventies saw Paul Newman
repeatedly try to tun Patrica Nell Warren's THE FRONT RUNNER into a film
but the reluctance of many (including Robert Redford who has forever
been skittish about being gay on the screen) buried that project.
Even
so, the films of John Waters as well as films like THE BOYS IN THE
BAND, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES and THE ROCKY HORROR
PICTURE SHOW resulted in a more expansive cinema world. The 80s brought
SILKWOOD, PERSONAL BEST, MAKING LOVE, LAWS OF DESIRE, PRICK UP YOUR
EARS, VICTOR/VICTORIA, COME BACK TO THE FIVE AND DIME JIMMY DEAN JIMMY
DEAN. TONGUES UNITED, DESERT HEARTS and PARTING GLANCES -- among
others. The 90s saw an explosion of independent films, we saw feature
films from studios with big budgets as well as more personal statements
from auteurs with stories they couldn't wait to put on film resulting in
great movies like GO FISH, TRICK, KISS ME GUIDO, PHILADELPHIA, PARIS
IS BURNING, THE WATERMELON WOMAN, HEAVENLY CREATURES, MY OWN PRIVATE
IDAHO, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, BOUND, CHASING AMY, THE CRYING GAME, HIGH
ART, BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER, THE BIRDCAGE, THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION, IN
& OUT, MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL, LONGTIME COMPANION,
THE OPPOSITE OF SEX, BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN TEST, CHOCOLATE BABIES,
THE LIVING END, I SHOT ANDY WARHOL, EDGE OF SEVENTEEN, CHASING AMY, THE
WEDDING BANQUET, SET IT OFF, etc.
Now in the 21st century,
we've had even more: BROS, MILK, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, DEAR WHITE
PEOPLE, MOONLIGHT, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, TRANSAMERICA, FAR FROM HEAVEN, Y
TU MAMA TAMBIEN, CAROL, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, BOOKSMART, BOTTOMS,
SINGLE ALL THE WAY, DISCLOSURE, NORMAL, SOLDIER'S GIRL, I LOVE YOU
PHILIP MORRIS, ALL OF US STRANGERS, THE DREAMERS, FEMME, MONSTER, THE
KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, NYAD, YOU PEOPLE, RUSTIN, TAR, etc.
LGBTQ+
people are not going away no matter how hard Pete Hegseth rubs the tiny
lump in the front of his pants. Their stories are our stories. They
are not outsiders and they can no longer be othered.
We can all boo and hiss Dez Bryant.
The failed football player is having a fit over Pride month. You know
what, if I was an adult on a pro football team and got arrested for
beating up my mother, I think I'd just shut my mouth before I tried to
stand in judgment on anyone. I see Dez also trashes his rentals. Royce
West is a great guy. He's in the Texas state senate. I met him and
the late Eddie Bernice Johnson (Congresswoman in the US House -- who
loved to wear white anytime of year and could pull it off) when I went
with Ava and C.I. to speak in the DFW area several years ago (C.I. knows
everyone). And Royce West is a good guy -- highest praise from me is
for a man to be a good guy. I see in WIKIPEDIA that Royce had to sue
trashy Dez for destruction of property. And if you're still not getting
what scum of the earth Dez is, he endorsed Hitler lover Kanye for
president in 2020.
Edmund
White, a pioneering author who chronicled gay life and thumbed his own
sexual experiences for literature that was at times arrestingly candid,
died Tuesday. He was 85.
White's agent, Bill
Clegg, told USA TODAY June 4 that the author had died June 3 in his New
York City home of natural causes. White was diagnosed with H.I.V. in
1985 and survived multiple strokes and a heart attack, continuing to add
ink to his prolific literary catalogue even in his later years.
With
a singular voice, White wrote honestly about the queer experience – his
1980 work "States of Desire: Travels in Gay America" becoming a tome
for an oppressed but vibrant culture just before the AIDS epidemic
befell it.
I'll
probably be noting Pride in posts throughout the month. If I can
remember, I'll do it every post. My brother is gay. I write about him
here all the time. He's my hero. When he came out to me it was very
important. I was the first one in the family that he told. I realized
how important this moment was to him even when I was a kid. For him and
everyone else in the LGBTQ+ community, I wish you the best Pride month
ever.
Wednesday, June 4, 2025. Dementia Donald continues to wreck the economy
while making plans for blaming it on others, Homeland Security and ICE
tell one lie after another, Glenneth Greenwald's kink shame desires that
led him to dress up as a maid say a great deal about his hatred of
women, and much more.
Let's open with a PSA.
You
should see THELMA and if you have a loved one who is older and lives by
themselves, you should get them to see it. It's a good movie, yes.
But in southern California yesterday, a 93 year old woman would still
have $10,000 dollars if she'd seen the movie. We were getting ready to
speak with a group when I noticed someone was really bothered. I went
over to say hello and make sure everything was okay. His mother was
calling asking for $20,000 on questions asked. He couldn't figure it
out. I told him about THELMA, just making conversation and how she's
told over the phone that her grandson is in trouble and to send money to
this address. It's a scam. While we were talking and taking
questions, I saw the man step out to take a call. When he came back in,
I asked if everything was okay? He said, "It's like that movie you were
talking about." His mother got a call and she was told that her
grandson was hurt -- and apparently someone was moaning in the
background. and she thought it was her grandson The caller could help
but it was going to take $30,000 with ten thousand right now. She went
to her bank and took the money out and a man came by to pick it up. She
only had a couple hundred over ten thousand. So now she needed to
borrow 20,000. She thought it was real because the caller knew about
her grandson, knew about her daughter (grandson's mother), knew all of
this stuff. People can find everything out on social media but, in her
case, her son thinks it's because a local paper did a profile on her
about three weeks ago. She's 93, she's a fitness instructor, she's a
human interest story. He told everyone assembled to make sure that
their loved ones saw the movie I had told him about. Again, it came out
last year, it's THELMA. A 93 year old rushed to save her grandson -- a
great thing -- but it was a con and she's now out of ten thousand
dollars. Hopefully, she'll go to the police. The son says there are
security cameras all over the place where she lives so hopefully someone
caught the man's face on camera. So that is your PSA.
The
US and global economy are losing steam, and a key forecaster said
President Donald Trump's trade tariffs were part of the reason.
In
its latest Economic Outlook, released on Tuesday, the Paris-based
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development cut its forecast
for US economic growth in 2025, pointing to the fallout from the
administration's trade policies. The 2.8% rate it predicted in March has
now been reduced to 1.6%.
The OECD warned that
these tariffs, which have pushed the effective US import rate to 15.4% —
the highest since 1938 — were not only affecting US growth but
reverberating across the global economy too.
Global growth was now projected to slow to 2.9% in both 2025 and 2026, down from 3.3% in 2024.
The
OECD said the slowdown in growth was concentrated in the US, Canada,
Mexico, and China. Growth in China, the world's second-largest economy,
was expected to fall to 4.7% in 2025, down from 5% last year, and come
in at 4.3% in 2026.
As of May 27, a blanket 10% tariff applies to all goods imported into the US, with some limited exemptions.
Last night, the topic was addressed on MSNBC's THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE
Why are markets beginning to treat America as unreliable? It’s not
just the debt numbers. Yes, we have large debts, but we’re an immensely
wealthy country that, among other things, has lower average taxes than
most of our peers. So we certainly have the resources to honor our
debts.
But do we have the political will? Maybe even more important, do we have the political seriousness?
Like
many economists, I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing the substance of
Trump’s tariffs — how much they are likely to raise prices and reduce
trade volumes. I’ve also written about the impacts of policy
uncertainty, about how hard it is for businesses to make plans when they
have little idea what tariff rates will be even a few months from now,
let alone over the next few years.
But I wonder whether we’ve spent enough time looking at the policy process
— how decisions get made in Trump’s America. Consider: On April 2,
“Liberation Day,” Trump announced extremely high tariffs on many
countries, the biggest tariff hike in U.S. history. The tariff rates —
which differed hugely from country to country — were determined by a
formula universally panned as stupid and ridiculous. And this tariff
announcement was made with so little planning and forethought that it
included taxes on imports from remote islands inhabited only by penguins.
Then,
a week later, these tariffs were replaced by a completely different set
of tariffs. How did that happen? Two of Trump’s cabinet members were
able to beard him in the Oval Office while Peter Navarro, responsible
for the original tariffs, was in another meeting.
Does this sound like policymaking in a serious country?
President
Donald Trump’s trade tariff policy has seen America’s favorability
plummet while China’s has risen, a new global analysis has found.
Since
Trump entered office in January, “the overwhelming majority of
countries simultaneously exhibit worsening views of the United States
and improving views of China,” according to the analysis by technology
research firm Morning Consult, and first reported by Axios.
America’s
drop in favorability among the 41 countries surveyed comes as fewer
visitors are traveling to the U.S. in part because of the Trump
administration’s aggressive immigration policies.
The
analysis as of the end of May found China had an 8.8 net favorability
rating versus –1.5 for the USA. By comparison, in January 2024 the U.S.
was above 20 while China was in the negative.
He's
destroying the US economy. But he's not worried. No, he has no plan
to fix the economy. But he is plotting how to blame his failures on
other people. Klaus Marre (WHO WHAT WHY) reports:
Donald
Trump is a master at making his own achievements — no matter how
unremarkable they are — sound like they are the most amazing
accomplishments in history; taking credit for the successes of others;
and blaming everybody but himself for his own failures.
That
is how an average US economy during his first term became the “greatest
in history,” which is a claim so laughable that one look at any
statistical category shows that it is false.
Of course, when you brag about being the greatest, and then find yourself in the Oval Office again, you have to deliver.
And
that’s Trump’s current dilemma because, while he inherited a robust
economy from Joe Biden, his erratic tariff policies are posing a real
threat to everything from gross domestic product growth, unemployment,
and inflation.
So far, the economy is still
cruising along in some of those areas. However, most of the tariffs have
also not yet gone into effect, and there is a very real chance that
they will do great harm to the economy and, by extension, the American
people.
Plenty of warning signs are already
flashing. The US just lost its perfect rating from Moody’s, growth is
stagnating, and consumers are concerned.
In
addition, if congressional Republicans further balloon the debt by
passing Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” there is a good chance that bond
markets will react poorly, which is going to add to the current economic
uncertainty.
He
will blame it on others because that's what he always does. He will
not take accountability. Even with all the people publicly warning him
for months now that he is destroying the economy, Chump doesn't care in
part because he thinks he'll evade responsibility for his actions. Alex Henderson files a dispatch from Chump Land:
On
Friday afternoon, May 30, President Donald Trump held a media event in
the White House Oval Office to thank Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for
his work with his administration and the South African
centibillionaire's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But
critics of the mass layoffs of federal government workers being carried
out by the Trump administration with DOGE's help are not feeling
thankful. As they see it, layoffs at the U.S. Social Security
Administration (SSA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other agencies
are a recipe for major problems — not something to celebrate.
Another agency experiencing major layoffs is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In an article published on June 2,
the Philadelphia Inquirer's Jason Nark details the problems that Army
Corps cuts are having in Pennsylvania thanks to campsite closings along
Raystown Lake in Huntingdon County.
"The
lake's Seven Points, Susquehannock, and Nancy's Boat-to-Shore
Campgrounds — all popular and often booked out far ahead of summer —
were closed, and the Army Corps began refunding campers who had made
reservations," Nark reports. "In addition, farther north in Tioga
County, Tompkins Campground on Tioga-Hammond and Cowanesque Lakes also
closed, along with its swim beach and boat ramp. Tompkins has
approximately 125 sites."
Nark points to
81-year-old Judy Norris, who has owned Seven Points Bait & Grocery
for 49 years, as an example of a Pennsylvania business owner who is
hurting because of Army Corps cuts and campsite closings. According to
Norris, business was way down on Memorial Day Weekend.
The
American Dream was a great tourism attraction. Democracy. Freedom.
People came to this country to sight-see. Now it's a fright-see and
travel is down. People aren't eager to come here because they're
worried what could happen. Maybe Chump sicks ICE on them and they end
up deported -- but not back home to, say France, no, instead to a gulag
in El Salvador. A lot of Americans depend upon the income tourism
brings this country. But even on the border towns to the north, tourism
is down, Canadians aren't rushing to come into our country. This is
the Chump effect and it's destroying the economy as surely as it
destroys our image.
Two
young men emerged from the Richard C. White Federal Building in
Downtown El Paso on Thursday, laughing together as they turned left onto
San Antonio Avenue. It was 1:50 p.m. and 99 degrees.
As
they reached the corner of South Florence Street just a few steps away,
a group of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents converged on
them and grabbed Yasmir Marquez by the elbow. The two men were quickly
surrounded by more federal law enforcement agents, one of whom showed
Marquez a document. He turned to give his friend a hug before he was
hustled into a waiting white van. Once inside, he was handcuffed.
Within
three minutes, the other man stood alone on the sidewalk under the
blazing sun watching in disbelief as the van drove away with his friend
inside. “What the f— just happened?” asked the man, who was not
arrested.
The courthouse arrests are a new
tactic under the Trump administration’s efforts to scale up
deportations, targeting migrants at immigration courts immediately after
their court-ordered hearings. The migrants are ordered deported or have
their cases dismissed and are then arrested by immigration agents as
they leave the courtroom or the buildings, which allows for swift
removal, the New York Times reported last week.
The
Times obtained an internal ICE memo circulated on May 20 that the news
organization reported instructed government prosecutors to help
deportation officers with the operation to identify people whose pending
immigration court case could be dismissed. Without their case pending
in court, the migrants could be subject to expedited removal that
doesn’t require a hearing before a judge.
Marquez’s arrest was the same day that a video from a San Antonio immigration court
showing families arrested outside immigration court and their hands
zip-tied went viral. Many more videos emerged showing similar ICE
arrests at federal courthouses in Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle,
Miami and Las Vegas.
[. . .]
“This
strategy is becoming more prevalent now, especially since this
administration did away with the sensitive location protections,” said
Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human
Rights group in El Paso. “This is very troubling because now these
people need to make a decision about whether to comply with a court
order or not.”
Garcia referred to the Trump
administration reversing a policy that, since 2011, put sensitive areas
such as churches, schools and courthouses largely off limits to
immigration enforcement actions. The protections were lifted when Trump
took office Jan. 20.
The
cruelty emerges from the top. And, by the way, I've figured out who
Stephen Miller looks like -- Jim Rash -- the guy who played Dean Craig
Pelton on COMMUNITY. Pedro Camacho (LATIN TIMES) reports:
Top
Trump administration officials are unhappy about how ICE officials are
currently enforcing the highly publicized immigration crackdown,
according to a new report by the Washington Examiner.
The
outlet quoted sources who took part or talked with people who were in a
tense meeting between White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller,
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and dozens of senior U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement officials in Washington in late May.
The
meeting in question had been reported last week by Axios, which
confirmed its combative tone and noted that that Miller and Noem
demanded ICE target 3,000 arrests per day—triple the daily average from
early in Trump's first term. Two sources added back then that Miller's
tone left attendees feeling their jobs could be at risk if goals weren't
met. A third source characterized the tone as an attempt to motivate.
According
to the Examiner, Miller "eviscerated everyone," telling the room: "you
guys aren't doing a good job," and "you're horrible leaders." One
official said Miller asked , "Why aren't you at Home Depot? Why aren't
you at 7-Eleven?"
See, people build
on their strengths. And immigrants and homeless men are often
approached at Lowe's, Home Depot and 7-11 by adult White men who want to
'hire' the males for some bedroom 'fun.' Either 'fun' with the wife or
solo. Clearly, cuck Stephen Miller was using his own data base built
up by who knows what to offer suggestions on where to lurk.
Still
on immigration, US House Rep Dan Goldman has attempted to get an answer
as to why ICE is wearing masks in public. He's even asked them and
been lied to by one who said because it was cold -- in the building.
Whether it's true or not, a new explanation has emerged. M.B. Mack (LATIN TIMES) reports:
ICE
Acting Director Todd Lyons defended the use of masks by federal agents
during immigration enforcement operations, citing a sharp rise in online
harassment and threats against officers and their families.
At
a Monday press conference in Boston, officials announced that nearly
1,500 people had been arrested across Massachusetts in May alone. There,
Lyons said agents have been "doxed," stalked online and targeted with
death threats, according to the Associated Press.
The
press conference had largely wrapped up when a reporter asked why ICE
officers frequently wear masks during arrests. Lyons returned to the
podium to answer directly.
"They are wearing
those masks because we ran an operation with the Secret Service where we
arrested someone that was going online, taking their photos, posting
their families', their kids' Instagram, their kids' Facebooks and
targeting them," he said.
The claim also insists that attacks on ICE agents have significantly increased. Real attacks or Alina
Habba lies where she claims members of Congress and mayors attack ICE
agents? They tell so many lies there's no reason for anyone believe any
statement from that department. Secret Service is not wearing masks.
Nor should they be. This is the administration that is outraged when
protesters on campuses wear masks or even just some traditional scarf
coverage reflecting religious beliefs. You can't have it both ways and
you shouldn't.
ICE agents need to be hidden away?
Seems they're in the wrong line of work.
They
put everyone at risk when they wear masks. Your face is supposed to be
visible and you're supposed to be able to prove to the public that
you're part of law enforcement.
Though Chump would love one, we don't have a secret police in this country. Nor are we going to start one.
Conservative
commentator and longtime political strategist Bill Kristol blasted
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for wearing masks
during recent operations, calling the practice a tool of fear—not
protection.
Appearing on CNN’s NewsNight on
Monday, Kristol—best known for serving as chief of staff to Vice
President Dan Quayle under President George H. W. Bush—dismissed ICE’s
justification for the coverings, dismissing the practice as “ridiculous”
and “pathetic.”
“I
mean, it’s pathetic to pretend that, ‘Oh, we’re so concerned about
their safety, they have to wear masks,’” Kristol, the co-founder of the
nonprofit Defending Democracy Together, said.
“I
grew up in New York City—40,000 cops, extremely dangerous
circumstances. None of them were masked except in extremely rare
occasions when they were going after some gang leader who might have
relatives who go after them. ICE agents have functioned in this country.
They didn’t wear masks. They shouldn’t wear masks.
“It’s total nonsense, and it’s for intimidation. It’s not really for their protection. It’s ridiculous.”
And
repeating, ICE and Homeland Security and Alina Habba all lie so much,
no one should believe a word out of their trashy mouths.
A
claim by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that an immigrant
threatened the life of President Trump has begun to unravel.
Noem
announced an arrest of a 54-year-old man who was living in the U.S.
illegally, saying he had written a letter threatening to kill Trump and
would then return to Mexico. The story received a flood of media
attention and was highlighted by the White House and Trump's allies.
But
investigators actually believe the man may have been framed so that he
would be arrested and deported from the U.S. before he got a chance to
testify in a trial as a victim of assault, a person familiar with the
matter told the Associated Press. The person could not publicly discuss
details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of
anonymity.
Law enforcement officials believe
the man, Ramon Morales Reyes, never wrote a letter that Noem and her
department shared with a message written in light blue ink expressing
anger over Trump’s deportations and threatening to shoot him in the head
with a rifle at a rally. Noem also shared the letter on X along with a
photo of Morales Reyes, and the White House also shared it on its social
media accounts. The letter was mailed to an Immigration and Customs
Enforcement office along with the FBI and other agencies, the person
said.
As
part of the investigation, officials had contacted Morales Reyes and
asked for a handwriting sample and concluded that his handwriting and
the threatening letter didn’t match and that the threat was not
credible, the person said. It’s not clear why Homeland Security
officials still decided to send a release making that claim.
Why?
Because they are liars. They are not interested in serving the
American people -- they're not interested in doing their job -- instead
they want to lie and try to frighten people into submission. They're
liars. And they think lying protects and shields them. It does not.
It only makes it clear that they cannot be trusted. Glenn Kessler (WASHINGTON POST) explains:
“We’re
also identifying shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in
the Social Security program for our seniors, and that our seniors and
people that we love rely on. Believe it or not, government databases
list … 3.47 million people from ages 120 to 129, 3.9 million people from
ages 130 to 139. 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149. And money is
being paid to many of them.”
— President Donald Trump, in a speech to Congress, March 4
This is an example of how, even after falsehoods are exposed, the spin machine keeps working.
By
the time Trump delivered his speech to Congress falsely saying that
millions of people above the age of 120 were getting Social Security
payments, The Washington Post on Feb. 19 had already published a
detailed article that documented how claims of such payments —
originally circulated by billionaire Elon Musk, then head of the
cost-cutting U.S. DOGE Service — were wrong. (We never rated them, but
they’re worthy of Four Pinocchios.)
Social
Security databases rely on COBOL, a nearly 70-year-old computer
programming language, and COBOL doesn’t have a standardized way to store
dates. So a default date, such as 1875, was chosen for people lacking
birth information. But when Musk’s team entered Social Security’s
systems, they were shocked to find people listed in the system with
absurd ages because of the limitations of an old programming language.
The
problem was well known to people familiar with Social Security’s
systems. In fact, since 2015, the Social Security Administration has
automated the termination of benefits to people once they reach age 115 —
and no American has ever lived to be 120 years old. Moreover, a 2023
report from the administration’s inspector general found that the vast
majority of beneficiaries who lacked a birth date had died.
The
IG in 2023 recommended a cleanup of the system so that the deaths were
permanently recorded. But the Social Security Administration rejected
the idea, saying that “correcting records for non-beneficiaries would
divert resources from work necessary to administer and manage its
programs,” especially because doing so “would have limited or no benefit
to the administration of SSA programs, and would be costly to
implement.” Errors might also be introduced in the process, the agency
said.
They lie and then they lie again.
Next topic . . .
What?
Doesn't every guy want to dress up as the TV maid Hazel as part of a
sex fantasy? Yes, we've arrived at Glenneth Greenwald. What about the
porn? One e-mail after another asks about that. And I actually think
there's more than one reason to note it again and in depth.
First, the told you so dance -- one minute and thirty seconds in.
So
Glenneth was paying a man to dominate and humiliate him. Hmm. I seem
to recall us noting several times here the rumor that Glenneth was doing
just that online with a MAGA mether who actually went behind bars for
his part in the January 6th insurrection. Don't confuse him with a porn
star. He wasn't. He was an online 'finmasster' and he is ugly and was
ugly then. Looked like he needed a flea dip. And that's who Glenneth
was interested in. So let's do the told-you-so dance.
In
the video, Glenneth is paying for this behavior. He's trying to pass
it off as just two consenting adults. Well one was consenting.
Glenneth was paying.
Third, he's wearing a plaid skirt.
A plaid skirt.
So
there's the cross dressing aspect. And the cross dressing aspect from a
gay man who hates trans women and trashes them nonstop, from a freak
who's part of the LGB-no-T movement.
A plaid
skirt. I'm a woman and I don't own a plaid skirt. Most of us don't.
They're usually uncomfortable and not something you'd want to be wearing
if you had to be on the floor for an extended period of time (because
he's on the floor as he licks the man's feet). Glenn had to have spent
significant time picking that little outfit.
We have noted her for decades that Glenn is a disgusting sexist.
And he is.
But at various times people have tried to defend him and insist that he's not.
He is.
And that goes to that little fantasy of his.
He wants to be humiliated.
Okay.
But how is he humiliated?
By wearing a skirt and being treated (in his sick mind) as a woman.
That's what he thinks women should get.
Again, he's a sexist.
It's the Israeli government!!!!!
Glenn's
fellow whores are lying like crazy that this video has been released to
silence him regarding Gaza and it was released by the Israeli
government!!!!!
Gaza?
Check the news cycle, no one really cares. Not to report on it, not to protest it.
Glenn's claiming he's a victim (and probably beating off while he makes that claim since humiliation is his kink).
Mary, when you let the man you're with film your act, you're not a victim.
You
may be stupid (Glenneth certainly is that) but you're not a victim.
What goes before the camera usually comes out at some point.
Glenneth's
living in shame and every month is Shame Month and every month is Shame
Year. His friends are embarrassed for him so they rush forward to
invent lies about this being a government plot and blah blah blah.
Own your s**t. Own your kink.
Don't be an embarrassment like Glenneth Greenwald.
Happy Pride.
In "MEDIA: Happy Pride,"
Ava and I note various attacks on the LGBTQ+ community and how those
attacks are out of step and destined to fail. Progress has come and the
country's not going to return to letting hate merchants dictate
thought.
We note in our piece, and I'll note here now, this from the VFW:
WASHINGTON -- June is Pride Month, and the Veterans of
Foreign Wars (VFW) stands with our fellow Americans honoring the
invaluable contributions and sacrifices of all who have served our
nation, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ)
veterans.
It is estimated that there are a little more than 1 million LGBTQ
veterans in the United States. They are among us, counted with us and
are one of the less than 1% of us who serve or have served our great
nation. Our veterans, regardless of their background or identity, have
stepped forward to protect our country, bravely defending the freedoms
we all cherish. Their dedication, courage and selfless commitment are
foundational to our nation's strength and security.
The VFW believes that the bond forged in service transcends all
differences. Our mission remains steadfast: to foster camaraderie among
veterans, to advocate for their earned benefits, and to perpetuate the
memory and history of our fallen brothers and sisters-in-arms. We are
dedicated to ensuring that every veteran feels valued and has access to
the resources and community they deserve.
This June, the VFW encourages all Americans to reflect on the diverse
tapestry of service members and veterans who have contributed to our
nation's defense. It is through recognizing and valuing the service of
all who have served that we truly uphold the ideals of liberty and
justice for everyone.
The more than 1.4 million members of the VFW and its Auxiliary salute
all LGBTQ veterans, past, present, and future, and say “thank you” for
your service to our great nation.
The
hate merchants are doing their last gasps as they die out. Their
desperation attacks go to the fact that they have lost. It's already
over, they just don't know it.
If you're
LGBTQ+, know that you are part of this country and part of the world and
you always have been. We've progressed enough as a society to realize
that and embrace it. Celebrate this month and celebrate yourself.
