“I will lower grocery prices on DAY ONE” has turned into “Bear with me.”
The new tariffs and the retaliatory action from those countries will hurt the bottom lines of farmers and meat producers “by billions of dollars if they stay in place a while, and consumers could quickly see higher prices for produce and ground beef.”
We all know how anti-vaccine RFK Jr. is, and he was downplaying the measles outbreak in Texas just last week.
Now he is calling the measles outbreak a “call to action” and telling people they need to get the MMR vaccine! This was in an opinion-editorial piece on FoxNews.com over the weekend.
“Kennedy, who has previously promoted widely circulated theories linking vaccines to autism, struck a different tone in his Fox News piece, writing: ‘Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons.'”
Basically, Trump is saying that if Ukraine gives us half of their rare earth minerals, they will “earn the right to keep fighting.”
What the hell?? An independent nation is invaded by a neighboring country that wants their land, and they have to “EARN” the right to fight against that?? Our president is completely delusional and has no understanding at all of what really goes into international relations. He’s already alienating all of our allies while he bows down to Putin. But giving permission for another country to defend themselves when attacked?? That’s a whole other level of stupidity and egotism!
But is anyone really surprised?
It’s the mindset of a bully: “Give us your valuables and we’ll let you live.” 🙄🤬
A.P. News reports that the Trump administration’s cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency, led by an unelected billionaire who has millions in government contracts and was not even vetted by Congress, often result in NO SAVINGS AT ALL!
Nearly 40% of the DOGE cuts, according to their own data, will not result in saving any money.
So why make these cuts? To prove that they’re in control and to traumatize federal workers. Oh, and to prove that the USA is better than everyone else by STOPPING giving aid to the poorest people in the world!
“It’s like confiscating used ammunition after it’s been shot when there’s nothing left in it. It doesn’t accomplish any policy objective,” said Charles Tiefer, a retired University of Baltimore law professor and expert on government contracting law. “Their terminating so many contracts pointlessly obviously doesn’t accomplish anything for saving money.”
The AP article, linked below, explains some of the cuts and how the money has already been spent, so no savings can result.
Iowa is rushing the HF 274 bill through quickly. It will criminalize librarians and prohibit minors from using any library that has “obscene material” in its collection.
This bill is being rushed through the process so the public does not have much opportunity to comment.
Ultra-conservatives want to block access to any library by people under 18 years old if the library contains anything that the far right considers “obscene.” Including materials about same-sex relationships or transgender people. This law would block all minors from access if the library owned a book like this.
For the record: “There are no obscene materials in public or public school libraries in the United States. This is a moral panic brought forth by the right over books they don’t like and that represent voices, stories, and perspectives outside of the rigid white, straight, able-bodied, cis gender, Christian boundaries.”
To get the votes he needed for confirmation, RFK Jr. promised that he would not change the children’s vaccine schedule.
Now, in his first speech to the Health & Human Services employees (the ones who are still left after he fired thousands of them last weekend), this anti-vax leader of our country’s public health promised that he WOULD investigate the children’s vaccine schedule! “Nothing is going to be off limits!”
And, of course, this statement was made while West Texas is having a measles outbreak among unvaccinated people. 🙄
Last night he posted this: “He who saves his country does not violate any Law.”
That’s quoting Napoleon Bonaparte, who staged a coup and declared himself emperor of France.
Whatever he claims is “saving his country” is, in his eyes, automatically above the law. Just imagine how the right would have been howling if Biden had said something like this! Republicans claim to be the party of “law and order,” but when their cult leader sets that aside, we hear nothing.
Brian Tyler Cohen explains just how dangerous this is:
This is why no qualifications were necessary for this professional wrestling performer to become the Secretary for the Department of Education.
Her job is to dismantle it.
His first task for her: “I want Linda to put herself out of a job,” Trump said.
That’s because our misguided idiot president thinks the Dept. of Education has been infiltrated by “radicals, zealots, and Marxists.” When, really, it’s the radicals and zealots that want to close it.
Whether you call it corruption or conflict of interest, the U.S. government agreeing to spend $400 million on Musk’s Tesla vehicles is clearly inappropriate. All the more since he CLAIMS to be trying to root out corruption! 🙄
“The Trump administration is expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, according to a new State Department document detailing procurement for fiscal year 2025.
“After reports circulated Wednesday night of the State Department’s intent to purchase Tesla vehicles, the document was edited, at 9:12 p.m., and now says the federal contract is for $400 million worth of “armored electric vehicles,” but the word “Tesla” was removed.”
Thursday night, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Russell Vought to lead the U.S. Office of Management & Budget. He was one of the primary architects of Project 2025, and he is now in charge of White House budget!
If you haven’t been paying attention, “Project 2025 is a White Christian Nationalist federal policy agenda and blueprint for a radical restructuring of the executive branch authored and published by former Trump administration officials in partnership with The Heritage Foundation, a longstanding conservative think tank that opposes abortion and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigrants’ rights, and racial equity. Project 2025’s largest publication, ‘Mandate For Leadership,’ is a 900-page manual for reorganizing the entire federal government agency by agency to serve a conservative agenda.
“Project 2025 includes a long list of extreme policy recommendations touching on nearly every aspect of American life, from immigration and abortion rights, to free speech and racial justice. A number of its recommendations rely on support from the executive branch and from Congress. Many other initiatives are outright unconstitutional.”
Democrat senators called Vought “Trump’s most dangerous nominee” because he helped craft this radical agenda and now will be in a place to control and implement it.
Democracy Forward read through it and broke it all down in May 2024, well before the election. Here is their explanation:
“What we discovered was a systemic, ruthless plan to undermine the quality of life of millions of Americans, remove critical protections and dismantle programs for communities across the nation, and prioritize special interests and ideological extremism over people.
From attacking overtime pay, student loans, and reproductive rights, to allowing more discrimination, pollution, and price gouging, those behind Project 2025 are preparing to go to incredible lengths to create a country only for some, not for all of us. Project 2025 is among the most profound threats to the American people.
If these plans are enacted, even without congressional approval, 4.3 million people could lose overtime protections, 40 million people could have their food assistance reduced, 220,000 American jobs could be lost, and much, much, more. The stakes are higher than ever for democracy and for people.
These threats aren’t hypothetical. These are their real plans.
The Heritage Foundation and the 100+ organizations that make up the Project 2025 Advisory Board have mapped out exactly how they will achieve their extreme ends. They aim to carry out many of the most troubling proposals through an anti-democratic president and political loyalists installed in the executive branch, without waiting for congressional action. And, while many of these plans are unlawful, winning in court is not guaranteed given that the same far-right movement that is behind Project 2025 has shaped our current court system.”
