Category: Public Policy

The News May Be Treason

Little Donny Do-Little has now thumped his chest and called for news reporting contrary to his lies as treason…..

US President Donald Trump late Sunday floated “treason” charges against media outlets that he accused of reporting false information about the Iran war as the human and economic costs of his illegal military assault continued to mount.

In a tirade posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that media outlets he accused of circulating “fake news” should “be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information.” The maximum penalty for treason in the US is death.

Trump specifically called out the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal for reporting over the weekend that “five US Air Force refueling planes were struck and damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia.” Citing two unnamed US officials, the Journal noted that “the tankers were hit during an Iranian missile strike on the Saudi base,” and that the planes were “damaged but not fully destroyed and are being repaired.”

The US president called the story “false reporting” without substantively refuting its content. Trump wrote that four of the refueling planes are “in service” and one “will soon be flying the skies”—none of which is inconsistent with the Journal’s reporting.

Trump, who regularly uses his social media platform to circulate AI-generated videos and photos, also complained about an AI video purportedly showing the USS Abraham Lincoln on fire. The president claimed the video was “distributed by Corrupt Media Outlets,” without offering any examples. AFP published a fact-check of the video last week, deeming it “fabricated footage.”

Trump’s latest attack on the US media came after his Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, threatened Saturday to pull the broadcasting licenses of media outlets he accused of “running hoaxes and news distortions.” Carr did not provide specific examples.

The US president said Sunday that he was “thrilled to see” Carr’s threat, railing against “Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic” news organizations.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-treason-charges-media

What’s next on Donny’s stupid list to be called ‘treason’?

The most treasonous person calling some one on treason….now that is rich.

Any thoughts my good readers?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

DHS Barbie Out On Her Ass

Noem has been fired…..I am surprised for being such a Donny enabler that she might weather this storm after her days testifying….I was mistaken.

She is gone and we await the next d/bag in line for the hallow halls of DHS.

Kristi Noem’s turbulent run atop the Department of Homeland Security is ending with a reassignment and a replacement drawn from the Senate. President Trump announced Thursday that Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma will take over as DHS secretary, calling him “highly respected,” while saying Noem will shift to a new post as “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas,” part of a Western Hemisphere security push the White House says it will roll out Saturday. The change takes effect March 31.

  • Months of speculation. The firing follows months of speculation about Noem’s future as public support for Trump’s aggressive deportation drive has eroded and even some Republicans questioned her leadership.
  • Trump “not a happy camper.” The president was unhappy with Noem about DHS’s heavily criticized surge in Minnesota, where two US citizens were fatally shot by officers, and about Noem’s Senate testimony on Tuesday defending a $200 million ad campaign that prominently featured her, sources tell the Washington Post. Noem told senators Trump had approved the campaign. GOP Sen. John Kennedy said Trump was “not a happy camper” when he spoke to him later that day. “The president’s recollection and her recollection are distinctly different,” he said.
  • Her new role. The White House says the Shield of the Americas is a regional policy initiative, guided by Trump’s “Donroe Doctrine,” to ensure security for the Western Hemisphere, the Hill reports. Noem’s role, like her role at Homeland Security, will include dealing with issues like illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Noem didn’t mention her ouster during an appearance at an event in Nashville on Thursday, but she later thanked Trump in a post on X. “In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise, I forged over the last 13 months as Secretary of Homeland Security,” she wrote.
  • Mullin. In a post on X, Mullin, whose appointment needs to be confirmed by the Senate, said, “I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the Senate and carrying out President Trump’s mission alongside the department’s many capable agencies and the thousands of patriots who keep us safe every day.” Mullin “has been a fighter for Oklahoma and will fight to keep our nation secure,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement, per the Oklahoma Voice. “There isn’t a better choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security.” He said he would appoint a “strong, small government conservative voice” to replace Mullin.
  • Democrats welcome the news. Democrats largely cheered her departure, the Post reports. Independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, called Mullin “an upgrade, absolutely,” adding that “pretty much anybody is.” Sen. Cory Booker said Noem should still be “held to account for the corruption that she has shown with the contracting” and for what he described as violations of Americans’ constitutional rights. The Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights said her departure is “long overdue,” the AP reports. “For immigrant communities across the country, her leadership represented a dangerous escalation of policies that treated families and workers as targets rather than as human beings,” the advocacy group said, adding that her replacement must ensure agencies like ICE treat immigrants with “basic human respect.”

Her ousting was more about taking the heat off Donny than her….she will not go far for as an enabler Donny needs her close.

I do not believe this will be a new chapter for DHS just a continuation of the Donny policies.

Whatcha you think?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is DHS Barbie On The Ropes?

DHS and its Goon Platoon have been wrecking havoc across many states in the last year…..and now after her testimony there is rumblings that Donny has had enough of her antics.

Is Kristi Noem’s job in jeopardy as head of Homeland Security? Punchbowl News reports that President Trump has been “quietly” calling top Republicans on Capitol Hill to ask if he should fire her. The development comes after Noem spent two grueling days being grilled by the Senate and House judiciary panels over DHS tactics, including the fatal shooting of two protesters. The outlet reports that House Speaker Mike Johnson also has mused behind closed doors about the possibility of a shake-up at DHS.

Earlier this month, Trump publicly backed Noem and said her job was safe, Politico reported at the time. “They were saying about Kristi Noem yesterday … ‘Sir, are you going to relieve Kristi Noem from her duties?’ No. Why would I do that?” Trump said. “We have the strongest border in the history of our country. We have the best crime numbers we’ve ever had, going back to the year 1900, that’s 125 years.”

But Punchbowl News, citing anonymous Republicans, suggests the sentiment is shifting as the bad press continues. What appears to have especially irritated Trump: Noem’s insistence under questioning from Sen. John Kennedy this week that the president personally signed off on a $220 million national ad campaign that prominently features her. The spots, filmed at Mount Rushmore and produced by a firm run by the husband of a former DHS spokesperson, have been criticized as boosting Noem’s political profile on the taxpayers’ dime. Kennedy warned the campaign put Trump “in a terribly awkward spot.”

Shake up the DHS?  What crap!

DHS is doing the hard lift for Dear Donny so what would a DHS shake up look like?

Personally I do not think she capable of independent thinking so anything she has done is the track Donny envisions.

Any thoughts?

I Reads, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Dismantling Civil Rights

This subject may be obvious to some and not so much to others…..

I just one year our Clueless Leader has set about dismantling the rights that we all have cherished for decades and the truly sad part is that there are those brain dead drones that cheer him on at every turn.

This is for those idiots that have turned a blind eye to this assault on our rights…..

• On its first day in office, announced the end of all federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs, including diversity officers, equity plans and related grants and contracts.

• Shut down or sharply cut funding for federal programs aimed at reducing inequality, including offices focused on minority health, minority-owned businesses, fair federal contracting, environmental justice and closing the digital divide in broadband.

• Warned schools that diversity programs could jeopardize their federal funding, opened investigations into colleges offering scholarships to students protected under DACA – the Obama-era policy providing deportation protection for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children – and signaled that colleges risk losing federal student aid if their accrediting agencies consider diversity.

• Revoked security clearances and access to federal buildings for employees at law firms with diversity policies. The FCC investigated media companies for promoting diversity and threatened to block mergers by companies with similar programs, leading several companies to drop their initiatives.

Issued a government-wide memo labeling common best practices in hiring, admissions and other selection and evaluation processes – such as compiling diverse applicant pools, valuing cultural competence, considering first-generation or low-income status and seeking geographic and demographic representation – as potentially legally suspect. The memo warned that federal funding could be cut to schools, employers and state and local governments using such practices. Federal prosecutors reportedly investigated federal contractors that consider diversity, characterizing such initiatives as fraud.

• Weakened enforcement against discrimination by ordering agencies to stop using disparate impact analysis. That kind of analysis identifies disparities in outcomes, assesses whether they are justified by legitimate objectives, and intervenes when they are not. The Department of Justice, the EEOC, the National Credit Union Administration and other agencies complied and dropped disparate impact analysis. Because algorithmic systems typically operate without explicit intent, eliminating disparate impact analysis reduces federal agencies’ ability to detect and address discriminatory outcomes produced by increasingly automated government and private-sector decision-making.

Rescinded an executive order that barred discrimination by federal contractors, required steps to ensure nondiscriminatory hiring and employment, and subjected contractors to federal compliance reviews and record-keeping. This weakened a key mechanism used since 1965 to detect and remedy workplace discrimination.

• Eliminated data used to track inequality, including rolling back guidance encouraging schools to collect data on racial disparities in discipline and special education. The administration also removed data used to identify racial disparities in environmental harms.

• Dismantled or sharply reduced civil rights offices across federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Education. About three-quarters of lawyers in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division left.

• Pressured the Smithsonian to remove exhibits about racial injustice, restored Confederate monuments and military base names, and barred schools and teacher training programs from including material the administration labeled divisive, such as unconscious bias.

• Declared English the nation’s only official language, repealed a requirement that federal agencies provide meaningful access to government programs and services for people with limited English proficiency, and prompted the General Services Admininistration and the departments of Justice, Education and other agencies to scale back language-assistance requirements and services.

• Attempted to limit birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, and adopted practices that treat ethnicity and non-English accents as legitimate reasons for immigration stops.

https://theconversation.com/12-ways-the-trump-administration-dismantled-civil-rights-law-and-the-foundations-of-inclusive-democracy-in-its-first-year-273433

If you cannot see what this assault is doing to this country then I ask were you ever a true American?

In my mind you were not and are not an American.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The ICE Man Goeth

There has been a shake up as well all know within ICE…..some think it is because of the massive protests and public outcry…..I am skeptical to be honest…..but there are some changes that seem to be for the better….like ICE Goons will be wearing body cams now…..they may wear them but will they be turned on?

Body cameras are about to become standard gear for federal immigration officers working the streets of Minneapolis, NBC News reports. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that every DHS officer in the field there will now be equipped with body-worn cameras, a move she framed on X as a step toward greater transparency. She added that DHS plans to expand the program to agents across the country as money becomes available. She promised a “rapid” rollout of the program nationwide, CNN reports.

The decision follows intense criticism of immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis, where federal agents have been conducting what officials call a “surge.” Two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed in separate encounters with federal officers on Jan. 7 and Jan. 24, respectively. Bystander recordings from both incidents have raised questions about earlier descriptions from Noem and other officials regarding what happened.

Sorry but I do not trust any of these fools.  How about you?

Part of the growing concern for ICE accountability has been shown by a court statement….where it is said that they, ICE, has violated a 100 or so court orders while in Minneapolis.

Then there are the complete LIES that the morons keep telling and the idiots keep believing….like Vance who said…..

JD Vance just got outed pushing an allegedly bogus account of an encounter between immigration enforcement agents and protesters in Minnesota.

“When I was in Minneapolis, I heard a number of crazy stories,” the vice president posted this week, outlining one incident “near the top of the list.”

Vance claimed that off-duty ICE agents and officers with Customs and Border Protection had stopped for dinner at a restaurant in the Twin Cities earlier this month.

According to him, they were “doxed and their location revealed, and the restaurant was then mobbed,” with the federal agents then supposedly “locked in” at the premises as “local police refused to respond to their pleas for help.”

“This is just a taste of what’s happening in Minneapolis,” Vance wrote.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jd-vances-crazy-story-about-ice-agents-in-minneapolis-shredded-as-total-bs/

Then the mastermind of ICE, Noem, out to be outdone by the slow witted Vance stated….and hers is even more disjointed….

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wildly claimed in an interview with Fox & Friends that DHS operations have “saved hundreds of millions of lives” over the past year, even after ICE and Border Patrol agents shot and killed two individuals in Minneapolis this month.

“We’ve got the Department of Homeland Security, which is coming off its most successful year, under his leadership, in the history of the department,” she began.

“We have secured the border. We have driven down the murder rates and the crime rates to historic lows in this country, saved hundreds of millions of lives by interdicting drugs across the country and at our maritime borders,” she added.

https://www.themirror.com/news/politics/kristi-noem-wildly-claims-hundreds-1656528

Everything she stated is nothing more than wishful thinking…..and what sane person thinks that ICE has had a productive year?

It just keeps getting worse.   Where will ICE Goons hit next…..which city will become a battleground against these fascist POS?

Time for the public to act…..the time for passive onlooking is gone….you either love this country or you bow down to Donny and the racist pigs around him.

Which will it be?

+++This is in!+++

Federal immigration agents are starting to leave Minnesota. Border adviser Tom Homan said Wednesday that roughly 700 federal agents will be pulled out of the state, part of a broader effort to wind down “Operation Metro Surge” in Minneapolis, which has brought more than 3,000 agents into a city with just 600 local officers, per NBC News. Homeland Security officials say about 3,000 undocumented immigrants have been arrested during the two-month operation. The drawdown, accompanied by a consolidated chain of command in Minneapolis, follows nationwide protests and intense scrutiny after federal agents fatally shot two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Top officials initially labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist” before any full investigation; Trump later called the killing “very unfortunate” and spoke of “de-escalation,” though he went on to describe Pretti as an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist” on Friday after video showed Pretti kicking an immigration enforcement vehicle. Homan cited increased collaboration and “a safer environment” for the change, per the AP. But tensions remain high, with near-daily viral videos of clashes in the city. On Tuesday, immigration agents drew guns as they arrested activists who’d been tailing them. Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was previously arrested while covering a protest in a church, raising fears about First Amendment violations. There have also been reports of tear gas used on peaceful protesters and children.

Good riddance!  Most of these Goons belong in prison!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Sacrificial Lambs

With all the chaos created in Minneapolis has stared getting out of hand our Little Donny steps in to crush his own people….

Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem met with President Trump in the Oval Office for two hours Monday evening, reports the New York Times. It’s seen as the latest sign of Trump’s quick pivot on Minneapolis after a bipartisan backlash over the shooting of protester Alex Pretti. Noem’s job appears safe, according to the Times, but she has been essentially replaced in Minneapolis by border czar Tom Homan. Also out of Minneapolis is Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino. Both he and Noem, along with Stephen Miller, had quickly painted Pretti as a domestic terrorist out to kill federal agents, but the backlash ensued when video and eyewitnesses contradicted that narrative.

Trump fielded calls on Sunday from Republicans including Sen. Lindsey Graham warning him that the White House’s immigration agenda was at risk because of the grim TV images, and that Trump needed to make moves quickly, reports the Wall Street Journal. Getting rid of Bovino was an easy first step, per Axios. “He’s a cowboy, and it was a mess,” a source familiar with the president’s thinking tells the outlet. “It was only escalation, and no one was going to back down. Homan going in is a good thing. Someone needed to step in.”

Trump also adopted a much friendlier tone toward Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after the two spoke by phone on Monday. The Journal reports on part of a deal they struck: Trump would pull some federal agents out of the city if Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey provided more cooperation to the remaining agents who are trying to arrest people in the US illegally. The first agents are expected to leave on Tuesday. House Democrats, meanwhile, plan to open an investigation into Noem next week as part of a push to impeach her, reports the Washington Post.

What is this sick game Donny is playing?

He creates chaos and then when it goes too far he tries to look concerned and sacrifices some people around him…..

Or does create chaos first in LA then Chicago and other points until the disaster of Minneapolis and then he calls off his goons and moves them to the next victim city….is this a tactic to make a case for the Insurrection Act?

How much more pathetic can Donny get…..don’t answer that we know he is not finished.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

New Power For ICE?

America has its band of legal thugs called ICE….they can do whatever they want with no oversight…..they can detain citizens, jail citizens, arrest protesters, all in all just intimidate the citizenry….and now there is a new power the Gestapo has in its hands….

Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by the AP, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches. The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities. The shift comes as the Trump administration dramatically expands immigration arrests nationwide, deploying thousands of officers under a mass deportation campaign that is already reshaping enforcement tactics in cities such as Minneapolis.

For years, immigrant advocates, legal aid groups, and local governments have urged people not to open their doors to immigration agents unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval. The ICE directive directly undercuts that advice at a time when arrests are accelerating under the administration’s immigration crackdown. The memo itself has not been widely shared within the agency, according to a whistleblower complaint, but its contents have been used to train new ICE officers who are being deployed into cities and towns to implement the president’s immigration crackdown. New ICE hires and those still in training are being told to follow the memo’s guidance instead of written training materials that actually contradict the memo, according to the whistleblower disclosure.

It is unclear how broadly the directive has been applied in immigration enforcement operations. The AP witnessed ICE officers ramming through the front door of the home of a Liberian man, Garrison Gibson, with a deportation order from 2023 in Minneapolis on Jan. 11, wearing heavy tactical gear and with their rifles drawn. Documents reviewed by the AP revealed that the agents only had an administrative warrant—meaning there was no judge who authorized the raid on private property. Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in an e-mailed statement to the AP that everyone the department serves with an administrative warrant has already had “full due process and a final order of removal.”

(Click for the AP’s full story.)

How much longer will Americans tolerate these actions by a pack of cowardly goons that hide their identities and show no concern for the Constitution.

Any American that condones these tactics and violations is no more American that my Hyundai auto.

Time to flood the streets of Minneapolis with people…..true American patriots not the bozos that worship the Orange dickhead.

************************************************************************

Personal note:

My daughter has to work two days a week in New Orleans…..her mother is Thai and of course I am a whitey she appears more Hispanic than Asian and I am always concerned that she may get caught up in of of the damn stupid ‘sweeps’…..for that reason I have her text me every two hours and immediately if she gets caught up in some illegal sweep.

I worry for her safety.

Somebody needs to do something…..I would say Congress but they only offer lip service….then who?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is Life Great Again?

++++Today is another hospital ordeal…..my biopsy to start at 0700 and god knows when it will end…..for that reason this will be my only offering today and hopefully everything will be good for tomorrow.++++

Donny has a tendency to spews crap and the best manure he spreads is how life has gotten better for us mere peasants (in his eyes)….but is his outlook accurate?

Let’s look at life thanks to commondreams.org…..there are 47 ways that we are worse off thanx to Donny and his Band of Goons…..

The first section highlights that Trump (1) cut the minimum wage for nearly 400,000 federal contractors, (2) ended enforcement of protections for workers illegally classified as independent contractors, (3) slashed wages of migrant farmworkers in the H-2A program, (4) deprived in-home healthcare workers of minimum wage and overtime pay, and (5) facilitated the inclusion of cryptocurrencies among 401(k) investment options.

On the job creation front, the president (6) paused funding for projects authorized under a bipartisan infrastructure law, (7) signed the Laken Riley Act as part of his mass deportation agenda, (8) revoked an executive order that created a federal interagency working group focused on expanding apprenticeships, (9) is trying to shutter Job Corps centers operated by federal contractors, and (10) disrupted manufacturing supply chains with chaotic trade policy.

In addition to (11) attacking the union rights of over 1 million government employees, Trump (12) delayed enforcement of the silica rule for coal miners, (13) proposed limiting the scope of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s general duty clause, (14) fired National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, (15) stripped work permits and temporary protections from immigrants lawfully in the country, and (16) deterred worker organizing with immigration enforcement actions.

Trump’s assault on workers’ rights has included (17) nominating Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who has pursued a deregulatory agenda, (18) illegally firing Gwynne Wilcox from the NLRB, (19) ending funding to fight human trafficking and child and forced labor globally, and (20) terminating International Labor Affairs Bureau grants.

Chavez-DeRemer isn’t Trump’s only controversial pick for a key labor post. He’s also nominated (20) Jonathan Berry as solicitor of labor, (21) Crystal Carey as NLRB general counsel, (22) Scott Mayer as an NLRB board member, and (23) Daniel Aronowitz to lead the Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Trump has also (24) weakened workplace safety penalties for smaller businesses, (25) nominated Andrea Lucas as Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) chair, (26) revoked an executive order promoting strong labor standards on projects receiving federal funds, (27) appointed Elisabeth Messenger, the former leader of an anti-union group, to head the Office of Labor-Management Standards, (28) fired EEOC Commissioners Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, and (29) conducted systematic worksite raids that punished workers rather than improving wages and working conditions.

The president’s various “deliberate actions to weaken the federal government” have included (30) politicizing career Senior Executive Service officials, (31) firing most staff at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, (32) nominating Brittany Panuccio as an EEOC commissioner, (33) and picking Project 2025 architect Russell Vought as Office of Management and Budget director.

He has also fired (34) Federal Labor Relations Authority Chair Susan Tsui Grundmann and (35) Merit Systems Protection Board Member Cathy Harris, and (36) tried to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, whose case is set to be argued before the US Supreme Court next week. Trump further (37) fired Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer over accurate economic data, and is attempting to shut down (38) the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and (39) the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Additionally, the president (40) directed federal agencies to end the use of disparate impact liability, (41) put independent agencies under his supervision, (42) signed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act that transfers wealth from working families to the ultrarich, (43) proposed a rule that would make it easier to fire federal employees for political reasons, and (44) issued an executive order on apprenticeships that does not require the government to consult with labor groups.

Finally, since returning to the White House, the Republican has (45) gutted the federal workforce, (46) directed US Attorney General Pam Bondi to challenge state laws that would regulate artificial intelligence technologies, and (47) fired 17 inspectors general.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-affordability

Did they miss anything?

Just the tip of what is to come from the thugs in DC.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Economy Is Booming!

+++Today I return to the chemo chair so I do not know how I shall feel afterwards so this may be my only offering for today.  I apologize.+++

 

I am really sick of these bastards that push this mound of fecal matter….the media and especially Donny…the average person sees NO benefit from the economy that we are told is going great guns.

The only sector that is ‘booming’ are those financial twats that manipulate the markets…..they are making money….but Betty Jo is not and she is paying 20% more for just about everything.

Then if you want sticker shock then I suggest you try grocery shopping…..then telling that the economy is booming.

A year into President Trump’s second term, the grocery checkout line is telling a very different story than the one coming from the White House. While Trump told a Detroit crowd this week that “grocery prices are starting to go rapidly down,” federal data released the same day show the cost of food at home is still climbing—and at the fastest monthly pace in years, the New York Times reports. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, supermarket prices rose 2.4% over the past year and 0.7% in December, the sharpest monthly jump since October 2022. Dining out costs rose by about the same amount last month, the biggest monthly jump since 2022, per Axios.

Some staples have surged far more: beef is up 16.4% from a year ago, coffee nearly 20%, lettuce 7.3%, and frozen fish 8.6%. Ground beef hit a record $6.69 a pound in December; it was $5.61 a year prior. Eggs are a rare bright spot, down about 21%, and many dairy prices have slipped—but five of six major grocery categories are higher, and overall food prices are now almost 26% above where they were five years ago. NPR has tracked Walmart grocery prices at a Georgia location since 2018, and reports that on average, prices of the staples they track went up 5% over the past year.

Experts say there’s no single culprit. Weather, fertilizer, machinery, fuel, and shifting consumer tastes all play a role, while a yearslong drop in cattle herds is keeping beef prices elevated. Trump’s own policies are also in the mix: tariffs have made imported items like coffee, bananas, and some tropical produce more expensive and pushed up the cost of packaging materials such as aluminum. Immigration crackdowns have also tightened farm labor in some regions, forcing crops to rot in fields in some states.

Low-income shoppers are feeling the increases first and hardest, especially those who temporarily lost SNAP benefits during last year’s government shutdown. Grocery executives say many are trading steak for ground beef, stocking up less, shifting to store brands, and chasing promotions—and they’re now seeing similar behavior from middle-income households. With the Agriculture Department expecting roughly similar grocery inflation again next year, Democrats are leaning into affordability ahead of November’s midterms, arguing that Republicans presiding over still-rising food costs can’t credibly claim victory over inflation. As Axios reports, “broad inflation relief is little consolation for Americans if they aren’t seeing it reflected in grocery bills.”

And to make things worse that idiot that sits in the Golden Throne keeps lying his ass off about prices are dropping rapidly….would someone please tell him to STFU or provide PROOF…..which he cannot do for there is no proof for his damn lies.

If you support that man please inform me to why it is that you think he deserves your support.  (I doubt there will be any truthful answers just regurgitation from the morons in DC)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Project 2025–What Has It Done So Far?

We start a new year, a year where a person put a radical political agenda into force, Project 2025…..but in that year how has the plan made out?

In the months leading up to his election, President Donald Trump insisted that he had nothing to do with the far-right vision for his second administration known as Project 2025, a Christian-nationalist blueprint to remake the federal government. As the year draws to a close, a crowd-sourced effort, as well as trackers from advocacy organizations and labor unions, show that his administration has implemented roughly half of the goals laid out in the document’s 920 pages.

Project 2025 is rooted in injecting narrower interpretations of gender, sexuality and race in federal policy. It calls for ending nearly all of the U.S. government’s efforts to achieve equity, including the collection of data that could be used to track such outcomes across the public and private sectors.

It suggested eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. It also recommended removing out of every rule and regulation terms like sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender equity and gender awareness, along with abortion, reproductive health and reproductive rights.

The blueprint also suggested transforming the FBI into a politically motivated entity, abolishing the Department of Education and dismantling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).

The White House has made progress on all these fronts — through a series of executive orders and also politically motivated hirings, firings and restructurings that have fundamentally expanded the president’s influence and power across all branches of government.

There is a saying in Washington, D.C., that personnel is policy: the people put in charge of implementing key policies shape their ideologies. Russell Vought, one of Project 2025’s key architects, heads Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, which he has likened to the “nerve center” through which a president can exert their influence across the federal government. Peter Navarro, who wrote Project 2025’s section on trade, is a top trade adviser to Trump. Brendan Carr, who wrote a section suggesting reforms to the Federal Communications Commission, is now in charge of the agency.

Here are some specifics on parts of Project 2025 that have been implemented and how they could impact women and LGBTQ+ Americans:

Reproductive rights

(READ ON)

How much of Project 2025 has actually been accomplished this year?

I would say for someone who did not know what the plan entailed has done a damn good job of destroying everything the Heritage Foundation wanted destroyed.

Keep in mind Donny is not through yet….more attempts to come I am sure.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”