FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINES? I wouldn't waste my money. There are other things to see. My nieces and nephews wanted to see it and Saturday we see what they want. I wasn't expecting to like it and I didn't. I was surprised how much they hated it. Again, they wanted to see it. They consider it the worst film of the year so far.
Tony Todd doesn't embarrass himself in his final role but the rest of the cast comes off like rejects from THE WB. I don't mean from their hit shows. I mean actors from forgettable shows like YOUNG AMERICANS, JACK & BOBBY. THE ARMY SHOW, YOUNG AMERICANS and GLORY DAYS.
No one's convincing and the 'surprises' don't emerge. I'll praise the cinematography but that's it.
Friday night, we stayed home -- my girlfriend and I -- and ended up going to PLUTO where we streamed THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE. It had been years since I'd seen that 90s film. It holds up and it is still funny but it's so obvious that the women are the ones delivering.
That's Shelley Long as Carol, Christine Taylor as Marcia, Jennifer Elise Cox as Jan and Jean Smart as the oversexed next door neighbor. The four males playing Brady men should have packed in after the film. They're boring and not very talented. Gary Cole is lucky to have found TV. He's Gary Collins without the personality. But Betty Thomas (director) shaped it into very funny film.
We also watched the latest episode of YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS and the first half is garbage.
'Cool Kids' freak over real shows and trash them -- especially sitcoms.
You know what I'm tired of? 'Edgy' shows that waste time with scenes that don't actually happen.
Jon Hamm's character is knocked out and has these dreams. Don't care.
Move the story along already.
The second half was worth watching but another episode like that and I'm bailing. My time matters to me.
Please read Rebecca's "novocaine really just sucks" and she's been doing a lot of movie reviews lately. She doesn't always mention them in her titles though.
C.I. texted me again to remind me about Leslie Jones. I'm too tired to get the embed code on YOUTUBE so I'm just copy and pasting it from C.I. post of it at THE COMMON ILLS.
I
really like Roy Wood Jr. When they were trying to find the new host
after Trevor Noah, he was one of my top three picks. In order it was
Leslie Jones (first), Roy (second) and Chelsea Handler (third). They
were the ones who regularly as guest host were knocking it out of the
park. Any of the three would have been great. However, none of the
three was selected.
I did not know when I wrote that Thursday evening that Leslie was going to be hosting THE DAILY SHOW that night.
Friday, May 16, 2025. Chump disgraces the country in his Middle East Whore, Walmart's announcement will effect more than just Walmart, Pete Hegseth may need to visit the Clinique counter for a new make over, and much more.
President Donald Trump's tariffs may affect your daily grocery trips.
Walmart says it must raise prices due to tariff costs after posting solid first quarter sales, the Associated Press reported. In the quarter one earnings call Thursday, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said that even at reduced levels, higher tariffs will result in higher prices.
I half-watched a report on this last night. I wasn't impressed with the report which basically just stated what the above does and then moved on.
Maybe they assumed everyone gets how important the above is? I don't think everyone does.
Walmart isn't just a minor store that a few states have. It is global. But let's just focus on the US aspect because it's all over the United States with an estimated 95% of Americans shopping there at least twice a year. Let's note DEMANDSTAGE's stats:
Walmart Statistics 2025: Top Highlights
Walmart attracts 255 million customer visits each week.
Walmart has 10,660 stores globally.
The U.S. has 4,606 Walmart stores and 600 Sam’s Club locations.
Walmart operates 5,454 stores internationally.
Walmart’s revenue reached $500.4 billion in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2025.
Walmart employs around 2.1 million people worldwide.
How Many Customers Does Walmart Have?
Walmart sees 255 million customer visits each week across its global network.
This is a notable increase from 2023, when 240 million customers visited weekly, reflecting a rise of 15 million visits between January 2023 and January 2024.
The following table displays the number of weekly customer visits to Walmart stores worldwide over the years.
Here are some additional statistics about Walmart Customers:
Nearly 19 out of 20 Americans visit Walmart at least twice a year.
The average Walmart shopper makes 67 trips annually, including visits to Sam’s Club.
On average, Walmart shoppers spend $54 on 13 items per trip.
The typical Walmart customer is a white baby boomer with an annual income of less than $80,000.
Walmart earns over $1.56 billion daily by serving millions of customers.
Every second customer worldwide spends an average of $15,288 at Walmart.
Does that impress upon you how many people this is going to impact?
We're not done.
People shop at Walmart because its cheap.
Walmart increasing prices does not mean people are going to go elsewhere for cheaper groceries.
That's not how it works.
When Walmart increases their prices, every one else will be following.
That's how it works.
There are a lot of liars in advertising -- and doing paid content as well. You'll see, for example, the lie that Aldi is cheaper than the other grocery stores. No, it actually isn't. I'm sure there are some Mom and Pop grocery stores that haven't closed yet that may have cheaper specials each week, but Walmart is cheaper than all the other chains. Go to InstaCart and use Walmart+ at the same time and look up the items and grasp that Aldi is not cheaper.
Walmart is the national store that's the cheapest and if it goes up everyone will have to follow.
Groceries are something people cannot do without. In addition, Walmart carries many other products. Some, like food, most people are going to need at some point -- that might be motor oil, that might be socks, underwear, what have you.
So Walmart all by itself increasing prices means a lot of Americans are going to be out of a lot more money even if they shop solely at Walmart. It also means that Kroger will go up, Albertsons will go up, they all will go up.
Mainly it means that Donald Chump screwed up our economy.
He railed against Joe Biden on the campaign trail. He trashed the economy.
And dumb people went along with him.
Those who actually knew about the economy were well aware that Chump and the pandemic wrecked it from 2017 through 2021. Joe came in at the start of 2021 and had the task of addressing the economy which he did. That's why we had a strong economy post-pandemic, one that was the envy of all the world.
Our economy was recovering, it had rebounded. If Joe had gotten a second term or if Kamala had been elected last November, we would have seen continued improvement.
Instead, a con artist lied repeatedly and was allowed to get away with it. Isn't that what the debates were about? Miss Sassy JD Vance basically hissed at the moderators of his debate, "I was told there would be no fact checking."
That was the first clue that the team had problems.
Our economy is in the toilet now.
That's not Joe Biden's fault.
Donald Chump is Tariff Queen. He has wrecked our economy.
Walmart's press release is nothing but a roll out, advance notice, from what's going to happen across the country at one retail outlet after another.
This is not a one-off story. This is not something minor. This is very serious and it's going to impact a lot of people -- the majority of Americans.
We're going to take a pause to deal with e-mails for a second.
'You didn't note so and so and they're my favorite and wah wah wah.'
One of those e-mailers is referring to a segment done by a YOUTUBER who we regularly note. That e-mailer is upset because the YOUTUBER had a member of Congress on and they did not get noted.
I wouldn't piss on that woman if she was on fire.
I'm the one stuck writing the bulk of what goes up here.
I can draw the line and I do.
A member of Congress should never applaud physical violence. Never.
The witch (I'm being kind) did. She applauded a public attack.
I question her sanity and values.
But what gets her banned forever?
That was an attack against my friend: Chris Rock.
If Karen Hunter's off on one of her I-Hate-Chris-Rock tears, we don't highlight that Karen video. That's my right. But I never heard Karen applaud the attack.
This member of Congress did the night of the attack. Now, yes, baldie realized she was wrong. She didn't apologize. She just deleted the Tweet.
Her name may pop up here in a press release we note where she's one of 20 other Democrats calling for something but I don't type her name and I don't highlight her.
I think that would be true of any member of Congress who applauded physical violence. But it is certainly true of her who not only applauded it but also applauded it against a friend of mine.
She didn't have the character to apologize for it but she knew it was wrong and that's why she deleted her Tweet.
I don't care that you're bald, I don't care if it was by choice because you shaved it, I don't care if it was by disease, I don't care if it was -- as is usually the case -- you being too cheap to get a good weave and all those pennies you saved did was destroy your hairline. I don't care what the reason is. You're bald and nothing's changing it. Someone makes a joke? That doesn't give anyone the right for a physical attack.
Simon Rosenberg. Slimey Simon was one of the first we called out when this site started. I think it went Victoria Nuland, Dexter Filkins and then Simon. And we called him out for a reason and I stand by everything I said. But that was 20 years ago and people can change. I am viewing videos that people forward. He does seem wiser now and I don't think he would now attack reproductive choice or the LGBTQIA+ community. He hasn't in many years. People can change, people can grow. We will probably be working him in at some point.
At present, I'm still a little leery. But give it two or so more weeks and we'll probably be noting him again.
A number of e-mails are about how I didn't call out this or I didn't call out that.
Yesterday, I noted a small list of people I thought were qualified for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2028. That wasn't a full list. I also noted I'd vote in the general election for whomever got the nomination. If the election were this year, those might be the nominees, however, the election is many years off and other names will emerge. On this topic, the best e-mail was asking about people who aren't in Congress or are not governors.
That's my go-to pool always. They have the experience.
No offense to Oprah, but I wouldn't say she should run. Michael Moore's made a fool of himself since 2004 insisting she should. I'm not big on celebrity as a skill or educator for politics.
But of non-elected politicians, there is one person I would gladly support.
2024 was an important year for one person politically in my opinion: Michelle Obama.
Michelle found her voice.
She gave more rousing speeches than her husband -- someone many consider to be the best speaker of this century.
Michelle Obama spoke to and for our country.
People have suggested her before and I've always rolled my eyes.
She was basically put on restrictions in 2008 because she made a remark that upset people (for the first time in my life --). After that the handlers were all over her about how to dress and how to speak. And that was a mistake. If someone was actually offended by the remark, not upset in the moment or not pretend upset, letting Michelle speak in her true voice would have been great because people would have seen, "Oh, that's just how she speaks. There's no ill will there."
Instead, they hijacked her and it limited her.
Like all of us, she's also grown.
Michelle is something to be reckoned with.
2024 was her year and she demonstrated that.
She is a known person -- known completely, there's no baggage that'll emerge. We know her, the whole country. She's an attorney who understands the law. She's worked on many boards and charities. She knows the campaign trail. If she wanted to run, I don't think anyone else would get my support in the primaries. In the general, I'd vote for whomever got the nomination but if Michelle ran? I'd speak anywhere at anytime to get the word out on her campaign and how great she could be for our country.
I do find it telling -- sexism is all over the left -- that we keep analyzing 2024 (without ever getting honest about how 'uncommitted' was a DSA movement that lost interest in Gaza after they helped defeat Kamala) and no one else outside of this community makes the observation about how Michelle became a heavy hitter and someone who could really deliver in 2024. She really is the success story of last year.
Instead of noting that, we just get sexism.
Joe Biden.
There's a book about him. I've not read it. I'm supposedly covering up for him by not mentioning it, I'm supposedly someone who knew about his decline, I'm also somehow in league with Jake Tapper and this and that and it's this circular beast of rumors in the e-mails to the public account.
Jake Tapper. Jake's fair. He can be wrong. But he's fair.
He also is someone that if you tell him, "This was wrong," he's going to look at it. He may agree with you after he considers it, he may not. But he does take in criticism and weigh it.
I like Jake Tapper. He's not God. I'm not a groupie. But I like him and I like his work because he does try to be fair. Don't give me all your Gaza-works-the-refs nonsense, I'm not in the mood. You don't know him and you really don't know his work.
I don't think I'd like the book. I'm not interested in it. It's all been covered before. I'm sure he and his co-author go deeper and good for them but it's not something I'm focused on. Joe's not running again. We're dealing with Donald Chump now who's destroying our country. If I did read it and did a review with Ava or by myself, it probably wouldn't be a good review. I don't give A+. If you get a C for your book from me, you've gotten a good grade. If I'm going to take the time to write about a book, that means addressing its errors -- and far too many books are not being fact checked these days -- that means wrestling with the text, the conclusions, all of it.
We may at some point read it, Ava and I, and do a piece on it at THIRD or I might do it here.
But right now? It has no practical use for me. Joe is out of office. Joe is not running again. We are under threat right now from Chump.
I'm not highlighting any articles or YOUTUBE videos on the book. Our house is on fire, that's my focus.
I did not know Joe was in that kind of decline. I even was okay with the debate. Go back to the archives here, I defended him. I defended him with Ava at THIRD. A week later, Joe did his ABC interview with George. This is covered at other sites. We watched that at my house, Mike, Elaine, Betty and others were present.
As soon as the interview ended, Ava and I caught each other's eye and walked out of the room. We then discussed what we had just seen and knew we had to write about it. That was a Friday night and Sunday, at THIRD, we called for Joe to step down: "Media: It's Time For Joe To Go."
That was because the media had imposed the narrative and it was not going to go away. Joe made that happen in the ABC interview. That's where the decline was obvious. He couldn't take the topic (the debate) and spin it to another topic. Joe's done that for years. Instead, George kept asking (that's his job, I'm not slamming George and we didn't in our piece at THIRD) and Joe kept responding to the same question over and over and over.
I'm the one who thought Joe wouldn't make it to the general, yes. That's why in 2023, I said I'd vote for the nominee whomever it was. That's why as late as June 2024, I was still saying that here. I thought it was going to be a health issue like his heart that was going to make him step aside. But I never thought Joe was going to make it to the 2024 general election.
Sexism.
We need to talk about Jill Biden.
WTF?
Sam Seder did a segment entitled that.
No, we don't.
We don't need to talk about Joe Biden, we have more important things to focus on right now.
But we never need to talk about Jill.
I don't care if she did everything in the world to keep Joe's presidency alive. She's his wife, so back the hell off. She wasn't president. She held no elected office.
Her obligation was to Joe Biden, her husband.
I find it very sexist of Sam to do that segment.
I find if very off putting in terms of race as well.
We need to talk about?
That's a phrase popularized by the Black community -- a community under represented on Sam Seder's MAJORITY REPORT. So I do find it off putting that he can steal language from our culture but really can't bring us on to actually speak.
That's an example of things I don't write about immediately. I do wait to see if someone else is going to address it. Usually, they don't.
It's a funny kind of circle jerk that keeps them all indebted to one another.
Indebted and silent.
There are so many things on any given day that we could cover and there are so many more things that I do not know about. If you feel something's being missed, feel free to say so. But I'm never going to be able to cover everything and I'm not interested in 2024. I'm tried of being honest while others get to lie. I'm tired of being attacked repeatedly for telling the truth but making the mistake of doing so several weeks before the truth has caught up with the general public.
And while Trump continues to sell out his country, it isn’t the entire story. It certainly isn’t the most egregious part of the story.
Donald Trump stood up in Saudi Arabia and lavished praise on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He called him “an incredible man” and a “great guy” and declared that he liked him “too much.”
MBS, sitting in the first row of attendees while Trump made his speech, smiled and waved. Let the record show that the CIA named MBS as the mastermind behind the murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi. Joe Biden wouldn’t meet with the man, but Trump is making deals right and left with the guy he likes “too much.” The press? We’ve pretty much ignored that unsettling fact. Almost like we’ve been cowered into submission by Der Leader.
So much for free speech and the right to dissent. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller (who some in the White House refer to as “Pee Wee German”) told us last week the administration is eliminating the Department of Education so we can teach young American children the right way to think. No one is talking about Khashoggi’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, however. He’s dead, buried and apparently forgotten.
Presidential Pep Secretary Karoline Leavitt, meanwhile, suffered her latest humiliation as she talked herself into a knot trying to defend Trump’s yard sale. Sure, she said, “The president is abiding by all conflict of interest laws,” but he’s obviously not. She can say that it’s “ridiculous” to suggest that “President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit,” but that’s obviously his first concern. He’s leveraging the Middle East to pad his own pocket. The question remains: Will he change U.S. policy to favor his bottom line? It’s not a question that requires a lot of deep thought. Trump has spent a lifetime in his narcissistic pursuit of doing what’s best for him at the expense of everyone else.
There’s plenty of evidence to show us what the yard sale is doing for Trump.
Within the last month, Eric Trump announced plans for an 80-story Trump Tower in Dubai, the UAE’s largest city. He also attended a recent cryptocurrency conference there with Zach Witkoff, a founder of the Trump family crypto company, World Liberty Financial, and son of Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.
He was a public disgrace. He broke bread with terrorists, with murders and did so to line his own pockets. In a review of what was and wasn't accomplished by Chump and his trip, Shahram Akbarzadeh (NATIONAL SECURITY JOURNAL) notes:
Trump skirted the ongoing tragedy in Gaza and offered no plans for a diplomatic solution to the war, which drags on with no end in sight.
The president did note his desire to see a normalisation of relations between Arab states and Israel, without acknowledging the key stumbling block.
While Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have no love for Hamas, the Gaza war and the misery inflicted on the Palestinians have made it impossible for them to overlook the issue. They cannot simply leapfrog Gaza to normalise relations with Israel.
In his first term, Trump hoped the Palestinian issue could be pushed aside to achieve normalisation of relations between Arab states and Israel. This was partially achieved with the Abraham Accords, which saw the UAE and three other Muslim-majority nations normalise relations with Israel.
Trump no doubt believed the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreed to just before his inauguration would stick – he promised as much during the US election campaign.
But after Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire in March, vowing to press on with its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, he’s learned the hard way the Palestinian question cannot easily be solved or brushed under the carpet.
The Palestinian aspiration for statehood needs to be addressed as an indispensable step towards a lasting peace and regional stability.
On a trip to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, President Donald Trump heaped praise on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, years after the U.S. intelligence community found that the prince ordered the assassination and dismemberment of a Washington Post journalist.
At the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum held at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, many of the world’s powerful CEOs, like Tesla’s (and presidential advisor) Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and BlackRock‘s Larry Fink, were in attendance, CNBC reported.
Trump walked onstage while Len Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” played on. The president then began a 50-minute speech focused on domestic affairs and his friendship with the crown prince, the network wrote. Trump called him Saudi Arabia’s “greatest representative.”
“Mohammed, do you sleep at night?” Trump at one point asked. “How do you sleep? Critics doubted that it was possible, what you’ve done, but over the past eight years, Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally wrong.”
In response, Bin Salman smiled and placed his hand over his heart, CNBC wrote.
“And if I didn’t like him, I’d get out of here so fast,” Trump continued. “You know that, don’t you? He knows me well. I do — I like him a lot. I like him too much. That’s why we give so much, you know? Too much. I like you too much."
The man Chump's praising ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Who? BBC NEWS:
For more than two weeks, Saudi Arabia consistently denied any knowledge of Khashoggi's fate.
Prince Mohammed told Bloomberg News that the journalist had left the consulate "after a few minutes or one hour". "We have nothing to hide," he added.
But in a change of tune on 20 October, the Saudi government said a preliminary investigation by prosecutors had concluded that the journalist died during a "fight" after resisting attempts to return him to Saudi Arabia. Later, a Saudi official attributed the death to a chokehold.
[. . .]
What does Turkey say happened?
Turkish officials said that a team of 15 Saudi agents, assisted by three intelligence officers, arrived in Istanbul in the days before the murder, and that the group removed the security cameras and surveillance footage from the consulate before Khashoggi's arrival.
Istanbul's chief prosecutor, Irfan Fidan, said on 31 October 2018 that the journalist was suffocated almost as soon as entered the consulate, and that his body was dismembered and destroyed.
Writing in the Washington Post on 2 November, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared it had been established that Khashoggi "was killed in cold blood by a death squad" and "that his murder was premeditated".
"Yet there are other, no less significant questions whose answers will contribute to our understanding of this deplorable act" he added. "Where is Khashoggi's body? Who is the 'local collaborator' to whom Saudi officials claimed to have handed over Khashoggi's remains? Who gave the order to kill this kind soul? Unfortunately, the Saudi authorities have refused to answer those questions."
That is who Chump praised, the man who ordered Khashoggi's murder.
Chump is a disgrace, a money grubbing whore with no ethics. He disgraced the country on the international stage and left the impression that, like him, we are all for sale to the highest bidder.
Several Democratic senators are questioning Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over President Trump’s acceptance of a jet from Qatar, stressing in a letter the national security risks and counterintelligence concerns inherent in such a transaction.
“The American people deserve to understand this administration’s plans for securing this aircraft, the vulnerabilities its use will present to our national security and the price tag they will be asked to pay for President Trump’s decision to integrate this aircraft into our most sensitive fleet,” the group of lawmakers, led by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) wrote in the letter dated Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Trump said he would accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jet from the Qatari government. The aircraft would be received by the Defense Department in what the president described as a “very public and transparent transaction.”
But the move has been met with criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike.
Democrats, in the letter, deemed it “unconstitutional” and expressed concerns about threats to the president’s safety. The group of lawmakers argued it “provides a dangerous opportunity to exploit for foreign intelligence agencies and adversaries seeking to do harm to the United States.”
“An unsecure and unprotected Air Force One presents clear dangers to our national security,” the lawmakers continued.
Pete Hegseth is being slammed online after telling American troops at an air base in Qatar that they're "in the business of warfighting" despite the U.S. not currently being directly involved in any active conflicts around the world.
He took the opportunity to rail against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as well as political correctness and climate change as he told troops they should only be focusing on four things — "accountability, standards, warriors and lethality."
He went on to screech, "We're restoring the warrior ethos!" How he thinks he's doing that wearing more make up than Tammy Faye and Boy George combined is a mystery. Maybe it's hypocrisy? Maybe it's Maybelline?
House Republicans’ radical new budget planproposes requiring states to implement Medicaid work reporting requirements for adults enrolled through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion. Under this proposal, nonpregnant, nondisabled, noncaregiver adults ages 19 to 64 would be required to document at least 80 hours per month of work or qualifying activities (such as volunteering) in order to maintain their Medicaid coverage. Otherwise, they would need to seek approval for a qualifying exemption.
Nearly everyone with Medicaid coverage who is able to work already is. Data from KFF shows that 92 percent of adult Medicaid enrollees in 2023 were either working; in school; serving as a caregiver; or unable to work due to illness or disability. As a result, evidence from prior state-level implementations show that bureaucratic paperwork requirements do not increase employment but do result in large-scale coverage losses—even among those who are working or should be exempt from the requirements. Work reporting requirements would have an outsized impact on women, the vast majority of whom work full- or part-time or have caregiving responsibilities that should allow them to be exempt.
The consequences of such coverage losses, however, are not just administrative: For thousands of Americans, they would be deadly. New estimates from the Center for American Progress show that 6.9 million people losing coverage by 2034 as a result of congressional Republicans’ proposed paperwork requirements would lead to more than 21,600 avoidable deaths nationally each year. This translates to lives lost in every congressional district with Medicaid expansion enrollees. In some districts, such as Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District and New York’s 11th Congressional District, the annual death toll could reach into the hundreds as a result of House Republicans’ proposed Medicaid work reporting requirements.
According to estimates from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), if Congress imposes paperwork requirements for Medicaid expansion enrollees ages 19 to 64*, 6.9 million people across Medicaid expansion states would lose coverage by 2034. CBPP based these estimates on Arkansas’ experience implementing paperwork requirements and assumed that 72 percent of expansion enrollees not automatically exempted would lose coverage due to the policy. CBPP’s analysis also assumes that parents would be exempt.
A 2017 study by health economist Benjamin D. Sommers found that Medicaid expansion was associated with “one life saved annually for every 239 to 316 adults gaining insurance.” Applying the more conservative end of Sommers’ range to CBPP’s coverage loss projections, CAP estimates that imposing work reporting requirements as proposed by the House Energy and Commerce bill would lead to avoidable deaths in each congressional district with Medicaid expansion enrollees—as many as hundreds in some. For example, each year, 212 avoidable deaths would occur in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District; 187 avoidable deaths would occur in Delaware’s only congressional district; and 130 avoidable deaths would occur in New York’s 11th Congressional District.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the official organization of the Democratic Party, and the vice chairs are essentially the leadership team. If the DNC’s chair is the CEO, then the vice chairs are the board members. Hogg serves alongside Artie Blanco, a Latina, and 34-year-old Malcolm Kenyatta, the first openly gay Black man elected to the Pennsylvania legislature.
After taking his seat, Hogg was asked to sign a “neutrality pledge.” Basically, anyone in a leadership role is supposed to remain neutral on the party’s political candidates. If two Democrats seek the same seat, the party is not supposed to put its thumb on the scale. While neutrality is antithetical to Hogg’s entire mission, it's not like he was forced to serve as vice chair because he was a first-round pick in the Democratic Party draft lottery; he volunteered for the role.
But while he is not related to Boss Hogg, he is white, so the rules don’t apply to him.
Hogg refused.
What does it have to do with Jim Clyburn?
The Democrats’ new, young, diverse leadership team signaled a change from old-head Democratic power brokers like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. However, during a recent appearance on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher, Hogg angered many Black Democratic voters.
Apparently intoxicated from inhaling white, liberal, know-it-all secondhand smugness from Bill Maher, Hogg mentioned a few Democrats who need to “get over themselves” and retire from public service.
Second, Anthony Conwright. He made an important video and in a comment I left yesterday, I noted that I'd note it here.
Here's Anthony' video in full.
Third, this video we did note a couple of hours after it went up but I did mean to put it in the snapshot.
The people responsible for the content above deserve high praise for truth telling and doing it so very well. The following sites updated:
CNN has renewed HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU for a third season.
I did not watch the show or know of the show until two weeks ago when
C.I. noted it at THE COMMON ILLS and she also noted it last weekend as
well. I remember Roy Wood Jr. was supposed to be doing a humor show for
CNN after leaving THE DAILY SHOW. And that's it. They have not done a
good job promoting this. In fact, C.I. only noted it the last two
weekends because a friend with the show asked her to note it. She
wasn't aware of the program herself.
Here's a taste.
It airs on CNN each Saturday at 9:00 pm EST.
I
really like Roy Wood Jr. When they were trying to find the new host
after Trevor Noah, he was one of my top three picks. In order it was
Leslie Jones (first), Roy (second) and Chelsea Handler (third). They
were the ones who regularly as guest host were knocking it out of the
park. Any of the three would have been great. However, none of the
three was selected.
And I'm not a Chelsea fan. She'd really started to
get on my nerves and I'd forgotten how funny she could be until she
started guest hosting on THE DAILY SHOW.
Marjorie
Taylor Greene: I have people come up to me and say crazy things to me
out of the blue in public places that they believe because they read it
on the internet.
Chelsea
Handler: Well if that's not the pot calling the kettle QAnon. This
woman thought 9/11 was a hoax, that the Clintons killed JFK Jr. and that
Jews are in charge of space lasers. But please, don't come at her with
some crazy ideas -- she might believe them.
If you're looking for a show to sample, I'd urge you to give HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU a try.
No, it wasn't. It will be back next year as WIKIPEDIA notes, " In March 2025, the series was renewed for an eighth and final season, which will air in the 2025–26 television season." Dumb Ass Jessica McBride needs to learn how to read and write.
The Neighborhood, After Midnight, The Summit, and Poppa's House were also cancelled, Glamour reported.Young Sheldon is being cancelled too, Rotten Tomatoes reported.
YOUNG SHELDON ended in May of 2024. What a stupid idiot.
And she doesn't note the seasons on THE NEIGHBORHOOD which you can compare to:
In addition, The Handmaid's Tale is ending "after a sixth, and final, season," Rotten Tomatoes reported. The site added that Life & Beth is also being cancelled.
[. . .]
They are Solar Opposites, which will end after Season 6, How to Die Alone,Wayne Brady: The Family Remix, and Extraordinary.
[. . .]
In addition, The Empress was renewed for a third season, but it will be the show's final one, according to Screen Geek.
[. . .]
Squid Game will end after Season 3, and Stranger Things will end after five seasons. You is also ending.
Rotten Tomatoes also reported that the Netflix shows Big Mouth and Kaos were cancelled and that Cobra Kai will end "after the sixth, and final, season." Outer Banks was cancelled after five seasons, Rotten Tomatoes reported,
None of the shows she names seassons for ran eight seasons like THE NEIGHBORHOOD. It's cute -- and telling how she opts to describe shows with Black casts (go to the link and read her stupid article) and with a cast with leads that are Black and White -- although the cast is all Black except for three characters when you bring in the supporting actors. Let's all pretend that the Karen's not a racist.
We already know she's an idiot. She also maintains, "La Brea is being cancelled "after a third, and final, season," according to Rotten Tomatoes." LA BREA went off the air in February 2024.
Thursday, May 15, 2025. So much to cover today, Chump continues his
Middle East whore, at home in efforts to gut Medicaid continue, Tulsi
Gabbard sends the wrong message to those in intelligence (one that puts
us all at risk), Bruce Springsteen speaks the truth that Chump fears,
racists from South Africa posing as victims begin arriving in the US,
and much more.
Everything had to be put on hold
yesterday to address a topic that was about deceptions, lies, racism and
sexism. So let's start this snapshot noting an award.
That's Katie Couric interviewing Ben, Brett and Jordan Meiselas and Marni Rose McFall (NEWSWEEK) reports on the brothers and the award they just won:
The MeidasTouch Podcast, a show critical of President Donald Trump, has won Podcast of the Year at the Webby Awards.
Ben Meiselas, co-founder of The MeidasTouch Podcast, said in an email shared with Newsweek:
"We're honored to receive the top award for all podcasts at the
Webbys—especially as an independent media network. It's a testament to
the incredible community that rallied behind us and helped share the
show with the world."
The left-leaning MeidasTouch
Podcast has been dominating the podcast charts since the beginning of
Trump's second term in office, after overtaking popular podcasts
including former No1 Joe Rogan. It has held firm as the country's most
downloaded podcast, indicating a shift in what the American people want
to hear.
The 29th Webby Awards were held in New York last night, hosted by actress Ilana Glazer.
Founded
in 2020 by three brothers Ben, Brett and Jordy Meiselas, who describe
the podcast as "a pro-democracy news network," the organization began by
creating viral videos and political ads opposing Trump and supporting
Democratic candidates.
So congratulations to them, they've more than earned it.
Now
let's dive in the cesspool that is Chump Land. We know who's ruining
the country but can someone figure out who's running it?
9/11
was an awful day. A tragedy. And it could happen again. That was the
whole point of the 9/11 commission and it was the point of various
reforms.
So when Chump
refuses to take part in intelligence briefings because he wants to watch
porn on his cellphone or when he appoints people to security posts who
are not qualified to those posts, he puts us all at risk. Pete Hegseth
is not qualified to be Secretary of Defense and his Singal chats have
demonstrated he does not grasp that classified information must be kept
secret. Tulsi Gabbard was put into the post of Director of
Intelligence. Not only is she unqualified but it's also true that this
post was created after 9/11 because it was felt that it was sorely
needed to prevent another 9/11.
As
NBC News reported last week, a declassified memo drafted by the
National Intelligence Council — the top entity for analyzing classified
intelligence and providing secret assessments to policymakers —
explained that Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuelan regime is not orchestrating
Tren de Aragua’s operations in the United States. (The document came to
light by way of a Freedom of Information Act request by the Freedom of
the Press Foundation, a nonprofit organization.)
A
week later, as The Washington Post reported, Trump’s highly
controversial and wildly unqualified national intelligence director
decided to fire the leaders of the National Intelligence Council — the
office that dared to tell the White House what it didn’t want to hear.
The
official line from Gabbard is that she’s combatting the
“politicization” of the intelligence community, a conspiratorial line
embraced by partisans who disapprove of the extent to which intelligence
agencies have presented evidence the president doesn’t like.
Indeed,
as the Post noted, Gabbard has actually “removed or sidelined officials
perceived to not support Trump’s political agenda.”
Or
put another way, if anyone is “politicizing” U.S. intelligence, it’s
Gabbard and her Team Trump colleagues. What’s more, the DNI’s latest
purge sends a dangerous signal to intelligence officials throughout the
government: Produce reports that make the president happy, regardless of
the facts, or you might be next.
National
Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard fired two senior officials at the
National Intelligence Council after it released a report concluding the
Venezuelan government is unlikely to be directing the activities of Tren
de Aragua, in sharp contrast to President Donald Trump’s countless
claims to the contrary.
Trump
has repeatedly asserted, while offering no evidence, that Venezuela is
somehow guiding the actions of the street gang. Trump also invoked Tren
de Aragua to justify invoking the Alien Enemies Act shortly after taking
office, leaning on the 1798 law to deport people without due process.
Michael
Collins, the acting chair of the National Intelligence Council, and
deputy Maria Langan-Riekhof were fired Tuesday, a source told CNN. It’s
unclear what role, if any, Collins and Langan-Riekhof played in
producing the analysis.
The firings come a week
after an intelligence assessment produced by the Office of the Director
of National Intelligence found Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s
government probably isn’t involved in Tren de Aragua’s operations in the
U.S.
Do you grasp what that unqualified stooge did?
She did not like the intelligence and the assessment so
she fired them. No, that is not how it's supposed to go. She has now
made clear to the people she pretends to supervise that if they want to
keep their jobs then they better tell her what she wants to hear.
That's no way for intel to be run. She was never qualified.
If
and when there's another attack, it needs to be noted that Chump let
our intel chain rot and did so knowingly and willingly.
And Trashy Garbage -- as Trina's
dubbed Tulsi -- was never qualified to head anything, let alone to be
over the nation's national security. Her latest move proves it. Intel
is not an area where you want yes-people who just tell you what you want
to hear. I cant imagine any area of work that would benefit from just
yes-people but intel is supposed to be following everything, analyzing
it all, offering possible outcomes, etc. You need various opinions
being expressed and someone at the top capable of taking it all in and
making the call regarding what's being offered, what's the most
pertinent and how do we need to proceed.
Tulsi has failed at her job.
She
better pray that there's not another 9/11 because if there is? Her head
and Chump's head are going to be the first the American people are
going to be calling for.
She is not up to the job. She never was. The United States is in danger while incompetents like her remain over intel.
We should all be alarmed.
Bruce Springsteen is in on tour. He made a public call to let freedom ring this week.
It
seems to have been going on much longer, but it has been only one month
since Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day,” when he did his big reset on the
world’s economy by raising tariffs on goods exported to this country to
10 percent, with higher “reciprocal” tariffs of up to 50 percent on 57
countries. The tariffs were supposed to take effect on April 9, but
Trump chose that day to suspend for 90 days all the reciprocal tariffs
except those on China, which he raised to 145 percent, because, he said
on Truth Social, China had been “ripping off the U.S.A.”
Fifty-seven
countries and the rest of the world had waited, and Trump caved, a
grand total of seven days after stock markets around the world crashed
and the dread “R” word, recession, began being uttered by cable news
hosts and hitting newspaper headlines.
It
took only 30 more days for Trump to cave on his China tariffs. On Monday
morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the U.S. and
China would be suspending the reciprocal tariffs of 125 percent the two
nations had imposed on one another. The original 10 percent U.S. tariff
would remain, with China maintaining its 10 percent tariff that had been
imposed in answer to Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff. The U.S. is
maintaining some kind of 20 percent “fentanyl” tariff on China, but that
one is likely not long for this world,
What happened
in the intervening month? China just waited. Reports of empty shipping
berths at ports all along the West Coast began appearing. Talk of “empty
shelves” started to hit the airwaves. Trump, pressed on what kind of
Christmas American kids were going to have with all shipping from China
at a standstill, began babbling about girls having to settle for “two”
dolls rather than “thirty,” and “five” pencils instead of “250.” Where
the hell he came up with dolls and pencils and those specific numbers
was never explained.
Over in China,
in Xi Jinping’s office, no explanation was necessary. Trump was
panicking. So Xi and his trade representatives sat by the phone. Last
week, it rang. Who knows what Trump’s trade representative said, but it
had to be some version of “can we talk, please?”
Yes,
Chump created the mess -- and wrecked the economy -- and, yes, he did
not have 'victory.' He caved this week in a desperate attempt to save
face but his face is broke.
As
recently as Thursday, JD Vance appeared on Fox News, and while he
expressed concern about the intensifying conflict between India and
Pakistan, the vice president added that the violent escalation between the two countries was “fundamentally none of our business.”
It
was a difficult position to take seriously — when two nuclear-armed
countries are launching attacks on one another, potentially
destabilizing the region, the conflict is absolutely the business of global leaders — and Vance’s rhetoric soon looked even worse when Trump declared two days later that his administration had negotiated “a full and immediate ceasefire.”
But that proved problematic in part because, a day later, there was evidence the ceasefire was not holding, and also because India’s foreign minister downplayed the United States’ role in the negotiations.
Nevertheless,
while in Saudi Arabia, Trump was eager to boast about how effective his
strategy was with India and Pakistan. “I said, ‘Come on, we’re going to
do a lot of trade with you guys. Let’s stop it. Let’s stop it. If you
stop it, we’ll do a trade. If you don’t stop it, we’re not going to do
any trade,’” the Republican claimed. “And all of a sudden, they said, ‘I
think we’re going to stop.’”
According to India, Trump didn’t know what he was talking about. NBC News reported:
“The
issue of trade didn’t come up in any of these discussions,” Jaiswal
said, referring to the conversations with Trump administration
officials.
It
serves as a timely reminder: Trump sometimes takes credit for
accomplishments that don’t exist, and he sometimes takes credit for
accomplishments for which he’s not actually responsible.
Chump's
lies, like his greed, not going away. It's who he is. And the
American people are really seeing his corruption streak with the plane
bribe from Qatar. Lawrence O'Donnell addressed this last night on
MSNBC.
He is greedy. This is bribe and no one needs to pretend
otherwise. No one should. But there is also the issue of being the
president of the United States and disrespecting this country by wanting
a cast-off from a foreign government.
America, we are not his choice.
America, we are not good enough for him.
Chump's
Middle East visit this week has been all about corruption and about
embracing people the US government has labeled as tyrants and/or
terrorists. His actions and remarks will result in blowback to our
country for many, many years to come. Eric Martin (BLOOMBERG NEWS) points out:
President Donald Trump sent a message to the world in Saudi Arabia: make business deals and the US won’t meddle in your affairs.
Trump,
on the first overseas visit of his second term, praised the country’s
leadership for its modernization push and said Iran, Lebanon and Syria
all had the opportunity for a brighter future. The Middle East would be
“defined by commerce, not chaos,” he said.
Fulfilling the wishes of many of his MAGA base, Trump rejected notions
of nation-building and pressure on human rights that other US presidents
once championed. Of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump said, “I
like him a lot — I like him too much.”
While
Chump frolics in the Middle East and delivers one lap dance after
another, his plan to gut Medicaid continues in the Congress. The attack
on Medicaid is an attack on America and attack on millions of
Americans' healthcare. The attack on Medicaid and CHIP (Children's
Health Insurance Program) is about denying healthcare and putting
approximately 80 million Americans at risk.
Chump's
soaking up every foreign dollar a terrorist or tyrant can slip in his
g-string right now but he wants to rip the healthcare from those in
need, from children, from the challenged and disabled, etc, etc. Nikki McCann Ramirez and Andrew Perez (ROLLING STONE) report:
The
chief priority of congressional Republicans is to make permanent an
extension of Trump's first-term tax cuts. The version of the tax bill
currently being considered by Republicans on the House Ways and Means
Committee preserves much of the 2017 legislation while folding in some
of Trump's 2024 campaign promises, including no taxes on tips, no taxes
on overtime, and even less taxes for the wealthy.
However,
just like the 2017 cuts, this new tax bill would add trillions to the
deficit - and it would once again disproportionately benefit the rich.
The poorest Americans, meanwhile, could see a tax increase. In order to
pay for the legislation, Republican lawmakers won't look toward the
people who are hoarding the vast majority of the wealth in this nation,
but will instead take a hacksaw to social services and safety-net
programs that help the nation's poorest families survive, as well as
raise taxes on universities, charities, and nonprofits.
According
to the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, the GOP's proposed tax
provisions would increase the national debt by $5.3 trillion. It's a
phenomenal cost that Republicans intend to offset, to some degree, by
forcing 10 million Americans off Medicaid, pushing millions off food
stamps, and increasing health care costs for many.
There
will likely be several weeks of debate and negotiations to finalize
what will surely be Trump's signature second-term legislation.
Here are 10 of the worst policy changes in the president's "big, beautiful" super bill.
Keeping taxes low on the rich
For
one brief moment, it seemed that the president was entertaining the
possibility of raising taxes on the highest incomes in the nation. It
took less than a week for him to discard the idea.
The
planned extension of Trump's 2017 cuts would make permanent the income
boons the president gave to Americans during his first term, which
heavily favored the highest income brackets in the country - giving the
rich big tax cuts while doing little to nothing for the nation's lowest
earners. This time around, the tax bill is expected to raise the average
tax rate, by roughly one percent, on Americans earning less than
$15,000 next year, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Millionaires would see a three percent tax cut.
Meanwhile,
the legislation would also boost the wealthiest Americans' families
when they die, raising the estate tax exemption up to $15 million.
The
Congressional Budget Office — legislators’ official scorekeeper on the
effects of legislation — estimates the bill would cut federal spending
on healthcare by more than $700 billion over a decade, or what
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon called Monday “the largest Medicaid
cut in history.”
[. . .]
The
financial pain could also extend to institutions that rely on Medicaid
dollars, including hospitals that treat large numbers of low-income
patients and insurance companies that run Medicaid health plans in
dozens of states.
Hospitals that serve poor and
rural areas in high-enrollment states receive extra funding to help
cover the gap between what Medicaid pays and what care actually costs.
These dollars often come through supplemental payments and provider tax
arrangements that allow states to draw more federal matching funds.
The
bill would sharply restrict both mechanisms by barring states from
paying Medicaid providers more than Medicare rates unless they can
justify the difference. It also tightens rules on provider taxes, or
fees paid by hospitals to fund the state’s share of Medicaid, which
would mean less federal money supporting healthcare providers.
Hospital
companies that could be impacted by these changes include HCA
Healthcare Inc. Tenet Healthcare Corp. and Universal Health Services
Inc.
Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following:
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray
(D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Maria Cantwell (D-WA),
and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) joined Planned Parenthood Action Fund President
Alexis McGill Johnson and Planned Parenthood advocates in holding a
press conference on the Republicans’ partisan reconciliation bill that
includes provisions to “defund” Planned Parenthood and make the largest-ever cut to Medicaid in history.
Republicans’ reconciliation bill, which only requires a simple
majority to pass in each chamber of Congress, would result in at least 13.7 million
people losing health insurance by 2034, according to the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office (CBO)—this figure is a result of Republican
cuts to Medicaid combined with Republicans’ refusal to extend Affordable
Care Act tax credits and the Trump administration’s sabotage of the ACA
marketplace. CBO estimates that the provision in House Republicans’
legislation defunding Planned Parenthood would increase the deficit by $300 million.
“Republicans are gearing [up] to kick more
than 8.6 million people off their health insurance, and while they are
moving heaven and earth to extend tax cuts for the richest people on the
planet, they are not so much as lifting a finger to save the health
plan tax credits for working families—something that will push yet
another 4 million people off their insurance… Because the brutal reality
is that Republicans are not just taking away people’s health coverage,
they also want to shut the doors on one of the biggest health care
providers in the country. They want to defund Planned Parenthood,” said Senator Murray.“About
three in four people say they oppose defunding Planned Parenthood
health centers. But Republicans do not care—they need to appease their
far-right, anti-choice fringe. Now this is going to hurt their own
constituents, seeing as one in three women have been to a Planned
Parenthood health center for care. But Republicans don’t care—after all,
billionaire tax cuts won’t pay for themselves! Although the irony is,
in this case, defunding Planned Parenthood would actually cost our
country more money in the long term. CBO estimated yesterday that one provision
in House Republicans’ bill would actually increase the deficit by $300
million dollars! And, defunding Planned Parenthood will cut off millions
of patients from basic health care like cancer screenings, pap tests,
birth control. But Republicans just don’t care—whatever Donald Trump
wants, comes first for them. Well, I want everyone to know, Democrats do
care. And we are not going to let Republicans blow past all the warning
signs. Saving people’s access to basic health care—saving Planned
Parenthood—is just too important.”
One in three women have been to a Planned Parenthood health center
for care and for many people, Planned Parenthood health centers are
their only source of health care. Planned Parenthood is more popular
than any elected official or party, and nearly three-quarters of
voters, including more than half of Trump voters, oppose Congress taking
away funds from Planned Parenthood health centers for providing birth
control, wellness exams, and cancer screenings.
“Make no mistake: The House’s reconciliation
bill is targeting Planned Parenthood. By moving full steam ahead to
push a dangerously unpopular agenda, House Republicans have shown they
aren’t concerned about their constituents or cutting costs. This effort
to ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood will threaten Americans’ health and
futures, and leave a gap in care no other provider can fill. We cannot
allow these lawmakers to play politics with health care. Planned
Parenthood Action Fund is showing up every day with reproductive freedom
champions like Sen. Patty Murray until we defeat this outrageous
attack,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, President, Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
“In the State of Washington, Planned Parenthood serves about
100,000 patients annually. So that just tells you, where are those
100,000 people going to go if you don’t have Medicaid as a reimbursement
mechanism? About half of those patients rely on Medicaid,” Senator Cantwell said. “Small
communities like Pullman, Washington, and other parts of Eastern
Washington — where there are no other choices to deliver this kind of
care — you’re asking people then to either do without care that might
tell us something about a very pressing health care condition, or make
you have to give up job time, or drive miles and miles and miles and
miles, just to get the care you deserve.”
“Plain and simple: Republicans are putting health care
further out of reach for Americans, all because they need to give tax
handouts to their rich friends. Planned Parenthood is a health care
provider – they do cancer screenings, regular checkups, and so much
more, but Republicans refuse to accept that and would rather try to
score political points, so they are going to take that essential health
care away from American families. It’s wrong and we are going to fight
it,” said Senator Baldwin.
Senator Murray is a longtime leader in the fight to protect and expand access to reproductive health care and abortion rights and is widely credited with holdingthe line against any budget deal that would cut funding for Planned Parenthood in 2011 and leading the fight to uphold President Obama’s policy requiring insurers to cover birth control as part of the Affordable Care Act. Murray has led Congressional efforts to fight back after the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision overturning Roe v. Wade, introducingmorethan a dozen pieces of legislation to protect reproductive rights from further attacks, protect providers, and help ensure women get the care they
need; Murray has led efforts to push for passage of these bills on the
floor multiple times. Last year, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Murray led her colleagues in
hosting a “State of Abortion Rights” briefing with women who have
suffered firsthand from Republican abortion bans, and last June, she
chaired a HELP Committee hearing titled “The Assault on Women’s Freedoms: How Abortion Bans Have Created a Health Care Nightmare Across America.” Murray helped lead efforts to force Republicans on the record on votes to protect access to contraception and access to IVF (twice), and led her colleagues in
raising the alarm about the threat a second Trump administration poses
to reproductive rights and abortion access in every state, as outlined in Project 2025.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below and HERE:
“Well, thank you all so much for joining us. We are here to raise the
alarm as Republicans are now moving heaven and earth to gut health care
in this country.
“You know the saying ‘women and children first?’ Well for
Republicans, billionaires go first—and women and children go overboard.
“That’s essentially the principle they are writing into their reconciliation bill right now.
“Despite all the warnings from families across the country—despite
warnings from themselves, Republicans are gearing [up] to kick more than
8.6 million people off their health insurance.
“And while they are moving heaven and earth to extend tax cuts for
the richest people on the planet, they are not so much as lifting a
finger to save the health plan tax credits for working families,
something that will push yet another 4 million people off their
insurance.
“But it gets worse—much worse—and that’s what I want to remind everyone here today now.
“Because the brutal reality is that Republicans are not just taking
away people’s health coverage, they also want to shut the doors on one
of the biggest health care providers in our country.
“They want to defund Planned Parenthood.
“That is wildly unpopular—about three in four people say they oppose
defunding Planned Parenthood health centers. But Republicans do not
care—they need to appease their far-right, anti-choice fringe.
“Now this is going to hurt their own constituents, seeing as one in
three women have been to a Planned Parenthood health center for care.
But Republicans don’t care—after all, billionaire tax cuts won’t pay for
themselves!
“Although the irony is, in this case, defunding Planned Parenthood
would actually cost our country more money in the long term. CBO
estimated yesterday that one provision in House Republicans’ bill would
actually increase the deficit by $300 million dollars!
“And, defunding Planned Parenthood will cut off millions of patients
from basic health care like cancer screenings, pap tests, birth control.
But Republicans just don’t care—whatever Donald Trump wants, comes
first.
“Well I want everyone to know, Democrats do care. And we are
not going to let Republicans blow past all the warning signs. Saving
people’s access to basic health care—saving Planned Parenthood—is just
too important.
“We don’t have to guess at the stakes here—we already know from
experience. We have seen exactly what has happened when Republican
states have defunded Planned Parenthood: health care outcomes—worse,
fewer patients receive care.
“The fact of the matter is, if Republicans get their way—if they
succeed in shutting the doors of Planned Parenthood clinics across the
country—millions of women will have nowhere else to turn.
“After all, two-thirds of Planned Parenthood health centers are in
rural and medically underserved areas—places where there’s already a
shortage of clinics and health care professionals. And for a lot of
these patients, Planned Parenthood is literally the only provider in
reach and in budget. They literally can’t afford to lose this care.
“So, we are not going to stand by as Republicans try to cut off this
lifeline, just so they can cut a massive check to billionaires like
Trump and Elon Musk.
“We are here today to put a bright and burning spotlight on the full
extent of the destruction Republicans are planning. And to lift up the
voices Republicans are most afraid of—the patients who they are trying
to cut off from health care.”
###
One of the worst crimes of
the 20th century -- there were many, the Holocaust being top of the list
-- took place in South Africa and was supported by the US and UK
governments among others. A White population ruled via apartheid which
denied Black people rights. The objection to this racist and illegal
system built slowly but it did build. As early as 1964, singer Dusty
Springfield was refusing to let the South African government make her
perform to segregated audiences. Dusty was a huge international star
and the spotlight she shined can't be denied. Many people first learned
of the heroic Nelson Mandela as a result of this spotlight. Others had
spoken out before and others would do so later on building the
opposition outside of South Africa to apartheid. It was a case of human
rights and Desmond Tutu and so many others were able to educate the
world on that. Finally apartheid fell.
White
racist Donald Chump was a supporter of apartheid. Now he wants to bring
White South Africans to the US. He's denying refugee claims of all
people with color but he relates to the self-presenting 'victims' of
South Africa. He lies with them and he lies for them. They have a lot
of money so of course he gets in bed with them.
South
Africa's president pushed back against U.S. President Donald Trump's
claims that white South Africans are facing a "genocide," following
their admittance as refugees.
"Those people who
are being enticed to go to the United States do not fit the definition
of a refugee," President Cyril Ramaphosa said during the Africa CEO
Forum's annual summit Monday. He emphasized that those in question are
not victims of persecution, but rather "a fringe grouping" who oppose
South Africa's post-apartheid reform.
"They
are leaving ostensibly because they don't want to embrace the changes
that are taking place in our country," Ramaphosa said, adding that those
individuals "would actually like to see South Africa go back to
apartheid."
Trump defended his administration's
resettlement plan during remarks at the White House on Monday, stating
that white farmers in South Africa are being "brutally killed" and their
land "confiscated." He called it "a genocide," and criticized reporters
for ignoring what he portrayed as a racially motivated crisis.
Trump,
influenced by another South African immigrant, Elon Musk, has joined
many on the right who have have accused that country’s government of
enacting anti-white legislation and policies that have fueled violence
against white landowners in the nation that for decades was ruled by a
white minority that subjugated the country’s majority Black population
until 1991.
The numbers suggest much has gone
unchanged since the end of apartheid. Whites still own three-quarters of
private land and have about 20 times the wealth of the Black majority,
according to international academic journal the Review of Political
Economy.
Less than 10 percent of white South Africans are out of work, compared with more than a third of their Black counterparts.
In
order to close those disparities, South Africa last month passed a new
law regulating property expropriation. Trump accused the ruling party,
without evidence, of illegally confiscating land from white farmers,
according to Agence France-Presse. That in turn gave new life to claims
about white farmers being murdered, though experts maintain all racial
groups have been targeted of the approximately 50 farmers killed
annually in South Africa, AFP reports.
[. . .]
White
South African journalist Simon Ateba went even further, saying the
refugees’ real fear is not violence, “but equality,” noting that 70
percent of the country’s resources are controlled by whites, who make up
just 7 percent of South Africa’s population. Adding, “That’s not
persecution that’s privilege on a guilt trip.”
Persecution complex? That's MAGA and that's Chump. And they're stamping their feet. Brett Samuels (THE HILL) notes, "The
White House has directed federal agencies to stop work with the
upcoming Group of 20 (G20) conference slated to be held later this year
in South Africa amid outcry from President Trump over the treatment of
white South African farmers." AFP reports that the White House has attacked the Episcopal Church:
On
Monday, the church had said it would wind up its refugee resettlement
grant agreements -- amounting to more than $50 million annually -- with
the US federal government rather than comply with Trump's orders.
In
a statement, the church's presiding bishop was scathing in his
criticism of the administration's decision to grant the white South
Africans refugee status.
"It has been painful
to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner,
receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in
refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years," said Sean W. Rowe.
Under
eligibility guidelines published by the US embassy, applicants for US
resettlement must either be of Afrikaner ethnicity or belong to a racial
minority in South Africa.
The Episcopal Church
said that it could not comply with Trump's order "in light of our
church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation."
The
Episcopal Church made the only ethical choice available. Chump can't
understand that because for him money is always supreme, it is his god.
Okay, winding down with e-mails. Stacey Abrams is popping up in
the e-mails because she's 'not going to run a third time.' Or she's
being told not to. Not a Stacey fan. Stacey will run if she wants to.
No one's going to talk her out of running if she wants to. She's a
strong person. Why am I not a fan? Stacey's personable and likeable.
But she's lousy when it comes to hiring campaign staff. She is a
natural candidate. She communicates with ease.
She
does not understand campaign strategy, however, and she hires useless
people who won't say, "Stacey, I hear what you're saying but that's not
going to help you and let me explain why." Instead, they defer to her
and, again, she is no good with campaign strategy. If she does run
again -- and that's her decision -- she needs to look for a campaign
manager who will challenge her, not someone who's going to go along with
whatever she wants. If you're candidate's Bill Clinton, sure, go along
with what they want. They know campaign strategy. Bill's also someone
who is a natural candidate when it comes to communicating and
interacting with people. Few are Bill Clinton. Most need help with one
or the other. If they need help with both, they really shouldn't be
running for office to start with.
On
e-mails, I'm not backing AOC for the Democratic Party's presidential
nominee in 2028. I'm not backing anyone at this time. It could be
AOC. And if it is, I will vote for her. In case it is, we need to be
having real, grown up conversations and having them right now. FOX
"NEWS" and the others will not just attack her as a Socialist (which she
is), they will twist that into Communist. Now is the time for the left
to have the needed conversations so we're on the same page or a similar
page and can address the attacks that will surely come.
I'll vote for whomever the nominee is. Some I'll vote more gladly for: JB, AOC, Andy, Elizabeth, Cory, Jasmine . . .
Others?
Gavin Newsom, to the courtesy phone, Bea Arthur's calling from the great beyond and she wants her hairstyle back.
He finally changes his hair -- as I've advocated for him to do for years and to his face -- and that's what he comes up with?
The
move to attack trans people and immigrants mean I won't campaign for
him in the primary and won't vote for him in the primary; however, if he
gets the nomination I would vote for him in the general. I don't see
how he would get the nomination. The right has made him the poster boy
of all that is wrong in the country. The homeless rate has soared.
He's done nothing to address that in the state and now he's penalizing
the homeless. The right will make a big deal about homelessness and
theft. Probably try to get Roseanne Barr to do some commercials (she
hates Gavin) where she mocks and makes fun of him and, sad thing is,
what are seen as his failures are so well known that they won't need to
do a lot of introductory work to set up Roseanne's jokes.
If
you're supporting AOC and you're a Socialist, the best thing you can do
is make sure those around you know you're a Socialist. Put a face on
the term. If you're supporting AOC and are not a Socialist, you should
be thinking in terms of "Why we need a Socialist in the White House at
this time in history." Come up with the answers to that question and
prepare to deploy them if she runs because she will be attacked in the
primaries. The GOP will make Socialism her crime. Her supporters need
to hit just as strongly on why it actually makes her the best candidate.
