Westerly MAGAs go nuts over trans kids and...chalk

Westerly School Committee discusses transgender student policy and the dangers of chalk rainbows

Steve Ahlquist

At the September 3 Westerly School Committee meeting, committee members once again took up the school system’s Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Transitioning Students protocol. This policy, legally mandated by state law, is meant to protect children from bullying and abuse, while allowing them to be their best and authentic selves. Committee member Lori Wycall had asked to discuss this policy at the last meeting, over concerns she had about the effect of Donald Trump’s Executive Orders regarding transgender rights and Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or education program that receives funding from the federal government.

“I had a two-hour-long conversation with our Superintendent [Marc Garceau] and one of our attorneys who was helping us rewrite our Title IX policy for the district,” said Committee Member Wycall by way of explanation. “When we went through every regulation, because I went through and looked up every regulation that [the lawyer] was referencing as to why we needed to make the changes, there was a Title 11 and a Title 34 specifically that she referenced. When I looked at them, no state regulation says we have to change the definition of sex in our Title IX policy to include sexual identity, so we left that out of our Title IX policy for the district, which [means] we are now in compliance with both the state and the federal Title IX law.”

Later, Committee Member Wycall expanded on her comments. “I’ll repeat what I said [earlier]. Based on the reasons that I mentioned, A. we’re not in compliance with Title IX, and B. we’re not technically following the details of the protocol. I want to make a motion that we task the superintendent with drafting a policy to codify what he has been doing in our district that has been working, and give us a chance to review that.”

In essence, Committee Member Wycall was asking that the current policy be scrapped, and a new policy, based on what the Westerly School District has been doing, be created. A big problem with this idea is that, according to Superintendent Garceau, the district follows the current policy, the policy works, and no changes are needed.

Orlando, FL where Trump wannabe Ron Desantis
keeps ordering rainbow chalk crossroads to be wiped out

Committee Member Angela Goethals: The problem I see with throwing out a document that has been vetted by our [State] Department of Education and using individual incidents during which this protocol has been activated to craft a new one is that it seems like we’re going to be chasing our tails. How many times has this protocol been utilized? What was the outcome? How did it look? And then, how do you build something based on a few students and their experience that’s meant to apply to everyone?

Committee Member Michael Ober: Dr. Garceau, regarding the current protocol, are you having any problems implementing or following it?

Superintendent Garceau: No, we’ve had the same protocol in place since 2017, and we’ve had no issues.

Committee Member Ober: Do you think there are any changes you need to make to the protocol or how we’re following the protocol?

Superintendent Garceau: I don’t see that there’s any need for changes based on what we’ve experienced. No.

Committee Member Peter Nero: I’m hearing Lori loud and clear, but the policy book is loaded with a whole bunch of stuff and all kinds of student discipline things, and sometimes things aren’t followed by certain teachers and students… if the superintendent is saying that it works well right now, let’s keep it that way.

Committee Chair Leslie Dunn: My concern is similar to what Angela was saying. If the protocol is there and it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing. It can be enacted in the right way, asking our administration to go back and start over again, when I would feel confident in saying we’ll probably end up back in the same space.

It’s working, together with students, families, and the district, to make sure that students are supported. I don’t feel there’s a space where handing it back to the superintendent will be productive for us to move forward, solidify our students, and say, “We see you, we want you here, and we have something to support you.”

The motion failed on a 5-2 vote. Committee Members Wycall and Joseph Jackson were the only ones to vote in the affirmative.

Near the end of the meeting, Committee member Wycall said, “I’ve never been more embarrassed by the votes that were taken at this meeting tonight. I can’t believe the things that were voted on at this meeting. And Dr. Garceau, I wish you had spoken up the way you did when you and I were having a conversation yesterday, and were more clear about what we are actually doing and what we are not actually doing with that protocol.”

Sept. 3 in Westerly: fight back against MAGA attack

The Orwellian echoes in Trump’s push for ‘Americanism’ at the Smithsonian

Trump claims it's "Woke" for the Smithsonian describe "how bad slavery was"

Laura Beers, American University

When people use the term “Orwellian,” it’s not a good sign.

It usually characterizes an action, an individual or a society that is suppressing freedom, particularly the freedom of expression. It can also describe something perverted by tyrannical power.

It’s a term used primarily to describe the present, but whose implications inevitably connect to both the future and the past.

In his second term, Donald Trump has revealed his ambitions to rewrite America’s official history to, in the words of the Organization of American Historians, “reflect a glorified narrative … while suppressing the voices of historically excluded groups.”

This ambition was manifested in efforts by the Department of Education to eradicate a “DEI agenda” from school curricula. It also included a high-profile assault on what detractors saw as “woke” universities, which culminated in Columbia University’s agreement to submit to a review of the faculty and curriculum of its Middle Eastern Studies department, with the aim of eradicating alleged pro-Palestinian bias.

Now, the administration has shifted its sights from formal educational institutions to one of the key sites of public history-making: the Smithsonian, a collection of 21 museums, the National Zoo and associated research centers, principally centered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

On Aug. 12, 2025, the Smithsonian’s director, Lonnie Bunch III, received a letter from the White House announcing its intent to carry out a systematic review of the institution’s holdings and exhibitions in the advance of the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026.

The review’s stated aim is to ensure that museum content adequately reflects “Americanism” through a commitment to “celebrate American exceptionalism, [and] remove divisive or partisan narratives.”

On Aug. 19, 2025, Trump escalated his attack on the Smithsonian. “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was…” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future. We are not going to allow this to happen.”

Such ambitions may sound benign, but they are deeply Orwellian. Here’s how.

Westerly School Committee weighs whether to follow Trump or the RI Education Department

Westerly School Committeemember advocates defying RIDE guidance of transgender student athletes

Steve Ahlquist

Yeah, follow Trump's orders

“At the last meeting,” said Westerly School Committee Attorney William Nardone on Wednesday, “there was a suggestion that I give a ‘presentation’ on executive orders. I’ve decided not to do that. I’m going to give you a general overview of what executive orders are and what they’re not, what the process is, and what the effect is.”

Attorney Nardone then launched into a simplified explanation of executive orders. What Attorney Nardone did not say, but was on the minds of the six school committee members in the room, was that the question he was answering in general terms was particularly about Donald Trump’s executive order banning trans children and young people from participating in sports in alignment with their gender identity.

Attorney Nardone’s presentation was extremely basic. For example:

“The first presidential executive order was issued by George Washington, so it’s been around a long time,” said Attorney Nardone. “Typically, executive orders are issued by the head of the executive branch of the government, whether that government is the United States, the State of Rhode Island, or the Town of Westerly… An executive order is a way for the [chief executive] to sidestep the legislative branch of the government. You’ve got three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial…”

Because it is important to the following discussion, I will note that Attorney Nardone also said, “Executive orders cannot create new law or amend or repeal current laws.”

I’m placing the rest of Attorney Nardone’s presentation in this footnote.¹

The school committee had a brief discussion after Attorney Nardon’s presentation:

Court Blocks Trump-Vance Administration’s Unlawful Restrictions on Violence Against Women Act Grants

Judge rules Trump was wrong to pull back grants for domestic violence prevention

ACLU of Rhode Island

A federal court in Rhode Island on August 8 issued a preliminary order blocking the Trump-Vance administration from enforcing many of the new unlawful restrictions on grants from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women. 

The ruling is a major relief for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and the state coalitions — including the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence — and service providers and community organizations that support them.

The court’s decision halts dangerous new requirements that made it impossible for many grantees to operate legally or effectively. These restrictions threatened to cut off life-saving resources to survivors, especially those from marginalized communities.

Seventeen state coalitions challenged the unlawful restrictions, arguing that the administration had overstepped its authority and violated statutory requirements established by the Violence Against Women Act.

Trump’s Dangerous Health Cabal Threatens Patients, Providers, and the Programs They Rely On

Trump and Bobby Junior fill the US Health and Human Services Dept. with quack, loonies and con artists

By Eagan Kemp

 Download the full report 457.3 KB

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is Unfit to Serve as HHS Secretary

Kennedy’s promotion of conspiracy theories and dangerous anti-science views should have disqualified him from ever being nominated for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

Even prior to his confirmation as HHS Secretary, his misleading anti-vaccine positions contributed to the dangerous rise of vaccine skepticism, which have had deadly results in some cases.^[1] He perpetuated skepticism about established scientific facts, for example that the HIV virus causes AIDS.^[2] He has touted racist pseudoscience about vaccines and COVID.^[3] His claims that environmental chemical exposures can cause children to become gay or transgender are as absurd as they are false.^[4] 

These dangerous views are just the tip of the iceberg for a man whose understanding of science is completely divorced from reality.^[5] Such anti-science views are dangerous on their own but could be catastrophic when spouted by someone serving as the top public health official in the nation.

Kennedy made clear prior to confirmation that he planned to dismantle the very public health institutions he was being nominated to lead. He publicly stated that he would de-emphasize research on drug development and infectious disease, giving them “a break for about eight years, and instead primarily focus on chronic diseases.”^[6] This would be a dangerous dereliction of duty, given the important role HHS plays in ensuring the American people are safe from infectious disease and have access to safe and effective medicines. Prior to his confirmation, Kennedy also pledged to fire hundreds of employees of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), told Food and Drug Administration (FDA) employees to “pack [their] bags,” and said he would like to clear out entire departments of the federal government, including the nutrition department of the FDA.^[7]

Even when Kennedy appears to be critiquing aspects of our broken health care system, like Big Pharma, there is reason to be skeptical of his intentions. Instead of strengthening scientific standards at the FDA to crack down on Pharma abuses, Kennedy has lowered standards and disregarded science in order to tout unproven medications and treatments.[8]

Successful health initiatives rely on public confidence. With Kennedy taking command of the HHS, Americans are presented lies and disinformation at an unprecedented scale that are capable of unwinding a century of progress on fighting disease and promoting public health.

Mehmet Oz is Working to Further Privatize Medicare, Threatening Care for Millions

Oz’s dangerous views on privatization and his massive conflicts of interest should have precluded him from ever being nominated for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Even before his nomination, Oz already endorsed expanding privatized Medicare Advantage, which would leave more Americans at the whim of greedy health insurance corporations.^[9] This is particularly dangerous at a time when insurance companies and their political allies are trying to further privatize Medicare and seniors and people with disabilities are suffering as a result.[10]

Companies offering privatized Medicare Advantage plans are doing a worse job serving seniors and people with disabilities than traditional Medicare.^[11] Privatized Medicare Advantage plans make it difficult for patients to get the care they need and for doctors to provide necessary care. For example, a report from the HHS Office of the Inspector General found that privatized Medicare insurers were denying large numbers of Medicare Advantage enrollees medically necessary care.^[12] The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that patients with significant care needs, including those in the last year of their life, were more likely to drop their privatized Medicare Advantage plan and return to traditional Medicare.^[13] This indicates that these patients were unable to receive necessary care and wanted to return to traditional Medicare where their choice of provider and access to services are guaranteed.

In addition to providing inferior service, privatized Medicare is also a waste of taxpayer dollars. Just last year, these companies cost Medicare an excess of around $82 billion.^[14] One study found that, since 2007, overpayments to private Medicare companies have added up to more than $600 billion.^[15] If this trend continues, the U.S. could be overpaying insurance companies by more than $1 trillion over the next decade.^[16] Taxpayer dollars are better spent serving patients, instead of lining the coffers of greedy insurance corporations.

Medicare Advantage plans regularly deny needed care, making it difficult for low-resource hospitals to remain open to serve the public. If Oz gets his wish of further expanding Medicare Advantage, it will threaten the solvency of many hospitals, particularly rural hospitals currently at risk of closure, as they would struggle to keep their doors open because they wouldn’t have the consistent funding they need to continue serving their communities.^[17]

At the time of his nomination, Oz had massive conflicts of interest, including investments in privatized Medicare Advantage insurers. Based on disclosures from 2022, Dr. Oz owned between $280,000 and $600,000 in shares in UnitedHealth Group, a major Medicare Advantage insurer, and between $50,000 and $100,000 in shares of CVS Health.^[18] Oz also raised ethical concerns when he appeared to have violated marketing disclosure requirements in promoting the supplement company, iHerb, on social media.^[19] In addition, he previously publicly promoted supplements without sufficient evidence of their effectiveness.^[20] While Oz pledged during the confirmation process to divest some of his assets, questions remain about the extent to which his divestments will be sufficient to prevent ongoing conflicts of interest.^[21]

Oz is now helping enact the Trump Administration’s dangerous agenda, including legislation that would strip crucial health care services through Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act from millions of Americans and use that money to give tax breaks to billionaires.[22] Oz is even planning to make traditional Medicare worse by adding AI-powered prior authorization, threatening access to certain types of services for seniors and people with disabilities.[23] Dr. Oz threatens to take us backward and make health care even more difficult for Americans to access and afford.

Who needs Colbert?

Sexual abuse of children is built in to the Republican brand

Behind MAGA's noise over the "Epstein List" is a history of support for laws and policies that protect child abusers and punish children

Jesse Mackinnon for Common Dreams

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a long article, far longer than the usual we run. However, it is well worth reading. MacKinnon offers an extraordinary historical picture of laws and practices promoted by Republican politicians that essentially legalize child rape, force raped children to carry babies to term, protects child abusers and guts support systems for rape victims. In gripping fashion, MacKinnon puts the Epstein list into a context that, in my opinion, warrants your attention.   - Will Collette

By the time the U.S. Justice Department released its memo in July 2025, the faithful were already starting to turn. There was no “client list,” no smoking gun, no perverted cabal of global elites laid bare for public vengeance.

What they got instead was a cold government document and a half-mumbled shrug from Donald Trump, who barely remembered the man everyone else had turned into a folk demon. “Are people still talking about this guy, this creep?” he asked, blinking like he’d just wandered out of a golf simulator.

The betrayal was almost elegant. For years, Trump’s people had promised the black book. Attorney General Pam Bondi said it was on her desk. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel practically branded his political future with it. Counselor to the President of the United Staes Alina Habba promised flight logs and names.

And then the punchline: nothing. Or rather, a truckload of documents scrubbed clean and a memo telling the public to move on. The frenzy turned inward. MAGA loyalists melted down on camera. Laura Loomer called for a special counsel. Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino stopped showing up for work. Right-wing media turned on itself like rats in a pressure cooker.

But the Epstein file was never the point. The real story was not buried in a locked safe or hidden by the FBI. It was out in the open. It is still out in the open. The political movement that once pledged to drain the swamp has spent its second tour of duty building a legal and bureaucratic fortress around some of the oldest crimes in the book. Modern conservatism has come to rely not just on outrage but on inertia, and nowhere is that more visible than in its handling of child sexual abuse.

We are not talking about a secret ring or coded pizza menus. We are talking about a system that tolerates child marriage in over half the states. A system that forces raped minors to carry pregnancies to term. A system that slashes funding for shelters and trauma counseling. A system that lets rape kits pile up in warehouse back rooms while politicians pose in front of billboards about protecting kids.

This is not a moral failure or a bureaucratic oversight. It is an architecture. It is built from votes, funded by budgets, signed into law by men who say they fear God but fear losing donors more. The Epstein affair may have collapsed in a cloud of whimpering and spin, but what it revealed is far more corrosive than any one man’s crimes. The question is not why they hid the list. The question is why they need it at all when the ledger is already written in their laws.

Legalized Child Marriage as Institutional Abuse

As of mid-2025, child marriage remains legal in 37 U.S. states. In most of these jurisdictions, statutory exceptions allow minors to marry with parental consent or judicial approval. Some states permit marriage for individuals as young as 15. Others lack any explicit minimum age when certain conditions are met. These legal frameworks persist despite growing evidence of their links to coercion, abuse, and lifelong harm.

Missouri serves as a prominent example. Until recently, it permitted minors aged 15 to marry with parental consent. Testimony from survivors has revealed how this legal permission facilitated predatory relationships cloaked in legitimacy. In one case, a girl was married off to a man nearly a decade older, and the marriage became a vehicle for sustained sexual and psychological abuse. Former child brides in Missouri have since called for a statutory minimum age of 18 with no exceptions. Legislative efforts to enact such reforms have repeatedly stalled.

Tennessee offers a more recent and pointed illustration. In 2022, Republican lawmakers introduced legislation that would have created a new category of marriage not subject to age restrictions. The bill failed under public pressure, but it signaled a continued willingness by some conservative legislators to bypass modern child protection norms. Even when confronted with documentation of exploitation, physical violence, and long-term trauma, these lawmakers often frame the issue around religious liberty and parental authority.

The prevailing rhetoric in these debates centers on traditional family values. Proponents argue that restricting child marriage infringes on the rights of families to make decisions without state interference. 

In some cases, advocates for maintaining the status quo invoke Christian theological justifications or present marriage as a preferable alternative to state custody. These arguments shift the legal focus away from the vulnerability of the minor and toward the autonomy of adults, particularly parents and religious leaders.

This legal tolerance undermines the enforcement of statutory rape laws. When marriage can be used as a legal shield, older adults who would otherwise face criminal prosecution gain immunity by securing parental consent or exploiting permissive judicial channels.

In practice, the marriage license functions as retroactive permission for sexual contact with a minor. Law enforcement agencies are often reluctant to investigate allegations within a legally recognized marriage, even when age discrepancies raise clear concerns.

The persistence of child marriage statutes in conservative-controlled states is not simply a relic of outdated law. It reflects a policy choice. The choice is to preserve adult control over minors, particularly in contexts that reinforce patriarchal and religious hierarchies.

In doing so, the state becomes an active participant in the erasure of consent. Legal recognition of these unions confers legitimacy on relationships that, in other contexts, would be subject to prosecution. The result is a bifurcated legal system where a child’s age and rights are contingent on the adult interests surrounding her.

ACLU of Rhode Island sues to stop Trump from restricting housing and violence prevention grants

“These harmful funding conditions jeopardize decades of progress in how we care for survivors and prevent domestic violence”

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

A nationwide coalition of organizations serving domestic violence survivors and unhoused people — including six based in Rhode Island — is challenging new conditions on federal housing and violence prevention grants set by the Trump administration, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Rhode Island announced.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island in Providence against five federal agencies and their respective agency heads involves 22 plaintiffs in 14 states and the District of Columbia. 

They are seeking to block stricter eligibility requirements revolving around the Trump administration’s efforts not to fund programs or organizations that support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or what it dubs “gender ideology.” 

The defendants include U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner. 

Plaintiffs claim that HHS’ recent attempts to limit eligibility based on factors like diversity and gender identity is an unconstitutional maneuver that will imperil the people served by these groups, such as women and children experiencing homelessness. The plaintiffs want the court to vacate the new eligibility requirements. They are also seeking a temporary restraining order against HHS to free up funds for relevant programs.

Make America Great Again like it was in the 1950s

Trump is killing the National Cancer Institute

World’s Premier Cancer Institute Faces Crippling Cuts and Chaos

Rachana Pradhan and Arthur Allen 

While slashing cancer research funding, Trump is
also destroying the wind power industry. Trump
claims with absolutely no evidence that wind energy
causes cancer

The Trump administration’s broadsides against scientific research have caused unprecedented upheaval at the National Cancer Institute, the storied federal government research hub that has spearheaded advances against the disease for decades.

NCI, which has long benefited from enthusiastic bipartisan support, now faces an exodus of clinicians, scientists, and other staffers — some fired, others leaving in exasperation.

After years of accelerating progress that has reduced cancer deaths by a third since the 1990s, the institute has terminated funds nationwide for research to fight the disease, expand care, and train new oncologists. “We use the word ‘drone attack’ now regularly,” one worker said of grant terminations. “It just happens from above.”

The assault could well result in a perceptible slowing of progress in the fight against cancer.

Why does Trump and MAGA hate education?

Ignorance is the handmaiden of tyranny

Robert Reich 

Friends,

Under pressure from the Trump administration, the University of Virginia’s president of nearly seven years, James Ryan, stepped down, declaring that while he was committed to the university and inclined to fight, he could not in good conscience push back just to save his job.

The Department of Justice demanded that Ryan resign in order to resolve an investigation into whether UVA sufficiently complied with Trump’s orders banning diversity, equity, and inclusion.

UVA dissolved its DEI office in March, though Trump’s lackeys claim the university didn’t go far enough in rooting out DEI.

This is the first time the Trump regime has explicitly tied grant dollars to the resignation of a university official. It’s unlikely to be the last.

On June 30, the Trump regime said Harvard University violated federal civil rights law by failing to address the harassment of Jewish students on campus.

On July 1, the regime released $175 million in previously frozen federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania, but only after the school agreed to block transgender women athletes from female sports teams and erase the records set by swimmer Lia Thomas.

Let’s be clear: DEI, antisemitism, and transgender athletics are not the real reasons for these attacks on higher education. They’re excuses to give the Trump regime power over America’s colleges and universities.

Why do Trump and his lackeys want this power?

They’re following Hungarian President Viktor Orban’s playbook for creating an “illiberal democracy” — an authoritarian state masquerading as a democracy. The playbook goes like this:

First, take over military and intelligence operations by purging career officers and substituting ones personally loyal to you. Check.

Next, intimidate legislators by warning that if they don’t bend to your wishes, you’ll run loyalists against them. (Make sure they also worry about what your violent supporters could do to them and their families.) Check.

Next, subdue the courts by ignoring or threatening to ignore court rulings you disagree with. Check or in process.

Then focus on independent sources of information. Sue media that publish critical stories and block their access to news conferences and interviews. Check.

Then go after the universities.

Boston federal judge rules that anti-woke is just racism

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a rancid bigot.

Liz Dye

Earlier this week, a federal judge in Boston explicitly called out the Trump administration for its “palpably clear” discrimination against racial minorities and LGBTQ+ Americans in a case involving canceled grants from the National Institutes of Health.

“Have we no shame?” Judge William Young asked, in an unmistakable echo of attorney Joseph Welch, who famously punctured Joe McCarthy’s popularity with his simple plea for decency.

Seventy-five years ago, McCarthy and his sidekick Roy Cohn hunted Communists. Now, Donald Trump, who was mentored by Cohn, hunts a different kind of subversive. In executive orders signed during his first weeks in office, he targeted “Illegal DEI and DEIA policies,” claiming that they violate civil rights laws. He declared that “it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female,” and branded “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex” as discriminatory against women and girls.

This is a radical misstatement of the law. No court in the land has ever held that DEI — whatever that means — constitutes racial discrimination, or that allowing trans people to participate in society amounts to gender discrimination. It also defies the medical and scientific consensus about sex, gender, and biology. But no matter! The president redefined reality by executive fiat, and then instructed his minions to carry out a purge consistent with his edict.

And purge, they did! The administration immediately moved to kick trans service members out of the military, reorient the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to focus on “DEI-related discrimination at work,” and pulled down websites on everything from baseball icon Jackie Robinson to transgender health care.

But while the government was busy deleting pronouns from civil servants’ signature lines, it also slashed thousands of federal grants because some DOGE bro (or possibly an AI) decided that the recipient was vaguely “woke” — whatever that means. At NIH, more than a $1 billion of funding was cut because of its supposed association with “woke” ideologies.

Blanket termination letters informed recipients that their funding was being cut, often in the middle of a multi-year grant, for vague thought crimes:

Research programs based primarily on artificial and non-scientific categories, including amorphous equity objectives, are antithetical to the scientific inquiry, do nothing to expand our knowledge of living systems, provide low returns on investment, and ultimately do not enhance health, lengthen life, or reduce illness. Worse, so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) studies are often used to support unlawful discrimination on the basis of race and other protected characteristics, which harms the health of Americans. Therefore, it is the policy of NIH not to prioritize such research programs.

Trump’s disturbing flagpole event

Trump shows more cognitive decline while installing the flagpole

By his own words, Trump shows his unfitness

By Bill Addis for Daily Kos

He talked a lot. He probably shouldn't have. He makes mistakes of memory and coherence every time he speaks without a script. This time was no different.

Trump: So the White House opened about 1800, a little bit before that, just a tad. And I've always said, why doesn't it have a flagpole from the grass? They have a little one on top, very little one.

It's not that little. It's 36 ft tall.

Trump: ... we also have one that's going on what's called the front, or the north. We have one going there, identical. So we'll have one this side of the building and will have one on that side of the building, properly placed.

Nobody told him that he just created a flying hazard for Marine One. It may be able to find a place to land, but it won't be easy, and if there's wind, forget about it.

Trump: We thought we'd put it near --- I mean, it always looks the best when it's near a Doral. I put it right near --- I have a similar poll and these are the best poles anywhere in the country, or in the world actually.

Doral is his golf resort in Miami. He's forgotten that he's in Washington at the White House.

Trump: We'll be putting it up at 11:00 here and a couple of minutes later, on the other side. We'll start here at 11:00. So that'll be very nice and very patriotic. We're doing very well as a country, If the Fed would ever lower rates, would buy debt for a lot less. It's a shame, this guy --- I have a guy --- do you ever have a guy that's not a smart person and you're dealing with him and he's not a smart guy.

He's talking about the flagpole, and there is no transition at all into talking about interest rates. We have no idea what guy he's talking about. He's the one who has the guy but he's not a smart person. Would have been nice if he mentioned who it was about. Maybe Jerome Powell, but who the hell knows?

Trump: I got a call Congress last night, sir, there's a problem. I said, what is it? Money is pouring in. We don't know how to account for it. I said, check the tariffs, $88 billion came in from tariffs, no inflation.

He has this fixation about thinking that $88 billion dollars is going to make up for the trillions he's cost since he started messing with the economy. No brain. Not smart. I have to stop here because he goes on for way too long. Then he talks about the workers raising the flagpole.

Trump: But remember this, somewhere in this group, there's somebody that's going to captivate a movie producer, not Harvey Weinstein. Harvey's seen a better day. So it won't be Harvey, but it'll be somebody.

Trump has a brain fart. The only movie producer he could think of is Harvey Weinstein. What does that tell you about Trump?

Trump: Anyway, let's have a good --- they call it a lifting. They also use another word, but I'm not going to use that word. You know what it is, the word? It starts with an E. You know what the word is? If I ever used it, I'd be run out of town by you people. So enjoy it. Doug, you're going to get some good --- he's going to win another Nobel Prize, I think, for this picture.

Starts with an E. He's thinking of "erection" instead of "erecting." But his brain can't process the difference. And you don't get a Nobel Prize for a picture. He must be thinking of a Pulitzer Prize. But he doesn't want to say that because he's still got that stupid lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize board over the New York Times and The Washington Post getting them for reporting correctly about him on the Russia, Russia, Russia story.

Reporter: [Do] you believe the US is moving closer to striking Iranian nuclear facilities? Where is your mindset on that?

Trump: Well, obviously I can't say that, right? You don't seriously think I'm going to answer that question? Will you strike the Iranian nuclear component? And what time exactly, sir? Sir, would you strike it? Will you please inform us so we can be there and watch?

Then he rambles on forever about how he had given Iran time to make an agreement and they didn't during his 60 days and the 61st of course Israel attacked. Then when he is asked if it's too late, the subject turns to "Too Late Powell" instead of Iran.

Reporter: A question on deportations, Mr. President. You said last week that changes would be coming for farmers who have seen a lot of their workers they rely on taken away. But then DHS said this week that worksite enforcement would remain in place.

Trump: Well, everybody's right. Look, we got to get the bad people hold of here first and we're doing that. We're taking them out by the thousands, murderous, drug dealers, people that are mentally insane, from insane asylums.

Everybody's right?  That's not possible when there's completely opposing statements.

Trump: They'll be checking you. Your whole life will be destroyed because of this press conference, watch. They'll destroy these people. I didn't want to tell them that before they start, but they'll end up being, oh, he's a so-and-so. This one is from, you know where, no, I think you're going to be okay and I'll be right behind you.

He was apparently talking about the workers who were installing the flagpole. Even if that is correct, still doesn't make much sense.

Then he rolls into his standard speech about how 11,888 murderers were in the United States and they murdered more than one person. 50% of them killed more than one person. From the Congo. From Venezuela.

Reporter: Can you comment on the impact of a Trump card, how much revenue [inaudible].

Trump: Yeah, we have a thing called the Trump card. This has not been done before or thought of and for 5 million dollars, this is usually people that would either be working for companies like Apple, I think is going to buy a lot of them, because they can't get people into the country. If you come in through the southern border, you have no problem.

Sure, Apple is going to pay $5 million for every new employee. At that point, they couldn't afford to pay the worker anything at all for a decade. But if you come in through the southern border, you don't have to pay the $5 million. So, what he is saying is that people should ignore the $5 million card and come in like the murderers, drug dealers and rapists.

Trump: They'll be paid for by universities. Look at Harvard, they've got $53 billion. That whole thing is coming to an end. It's amazing what we found out. What a disgrace... Harvard wants to make a deal more than Iran wants to make a deal, and Iran wants to make a deal.

Trump thinks that Harvard now is going to pay $5 million so a student can come to the university. The deal man. If it walks like a deal, and talks like a deal, don't let that fool you, it really is a deal.

Trump: What he's done to this country --- it's not him. He had no idea what was going on. Everybody knows that. It's other people. It's Lisa and this one and that --- all these people, all the scum that was around the Oval Office or around the beautiful Resolute desk telling this guy, here, do this, do that and not even telling. They just go over to the autopen and sign whatever the hell they wanted to sign. To say what you want about Biden, he wasn't for open borders.

Talking about Biden, but not knowing about it until the end. And then to prove that the autopen was actually running the show, he says that Biden was not for open borders, when for the last 4 years he's been saying Biden was for open borders

Trump: He wasn't for transgender for everybody. He wasn't for men playing in women's sports, but he has no idea what the hell --- he has no idea and they were very upset. They wanted Bernie Sanders. And after about a week of this guy, they say wait a minute, we hit gold. This guy has no clue. He'll do anything we tell him. And then they realize that they don't even have to get permission. They just go up to the autopen. That's a subversion. That's a takeover of out government and you people ought to take a look at it.

Transgender for everybody. Not one reporter has asked what that means. Then, no transition to Joe Biden and the autopen without ever saying his name. They had a Chuck Grassley run Senate hearing about Joe's fitness in office that was ridiculous. Democrats almost all boycotted it. Then, without skipping a beat:

Trump: Not only did they cheat. I guess you saw yesterday came out with China and the license plates, tens of thousands of cards. They used those cards to vote in my second election, my second, in 2020.

He rambles off once more into how he won the 2020 election. License plates? One of his staff put up a post on his Truth Social about some uncorroborated nonsense Patel dug up and gave to Grassley that the Chinese brought in 20,000 fake drivers licenses to allow people to vote. Never happened. Finally back to the flagpole.

Reporter: Any adjustments that need to be made to Marine One departures and arrival?

Trump: No, no, we put it so Marine One is very far away. We did it in conjunction with the Air Force, with everybody and everybody signed off on it. No, we have to have it very far away. It's very far from --- Marine One's out there. It's out on the field, so you have a certain distance. We're about three times that distance.

Looking at the position of the pole yesterday and a shot of Marine One flying out to land on the South Lawn, Marine One's helicopter blades would easily hit the pole. I expect problems on the first flight in. I'd really like to hear what the Air Force really said. Maybe the Marines, too. But he makes it seem that there's adequate space by calling it a field instead of a lawn. Still making mistakes in every sentence. Former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney also sees a problem with the flagpole.

Much later, after going on and on about the sand the flagpole is in, he talks about the high speed rail in California, then about the wildfires and how they need to sweep the floor. Then to how he saved Los Angeles by sending in the National Guard.

Then it back to his routine about breaking up the concrete, the totally imaginary bricks being thrown. Chunks of concrete, yes. No bricks.

A reporter asks Trump about the Paramount and Skydance acquisition and he instead answers with the 60 Minutes and Kamala Harris interview. Basically saying to FCC Chair Bendan Carr to block the deal unless he gets his extortion from Paramount-CBS.

Reporter: What are you telling Senators, because the New York Republicans on the House side are making clear that's a red line for them as well. [On the SALT (State And Local Taxes) deduction in the Big Ugly Bill].

Trump: Well, if it were a redline, then, uh, get ready for a 68% tax increase and 1929, because we're taking care with that issue too. You know what that is, that's debt ceiling. We have to move the debt. If we don't move the debt, you violate governance. It's a terrible thing. Actually, Pocahontas agreed with me on that. She's been wanting to get rid of the debt ceiling because she's said it's too violent. It is, it's violent.

Trump keeps saying that if his 2017 tax breaks aren't kept in place, everybody's tax goes up 68%. Ridiculous. Move the debt. He means raising the debt ceiling. Both he and Sen. Warren want to just get rid of the debt ceiling because it causes problems no matter who is in power. But calling her Pocahontas is really racist. Once she mentioned she had some Native American blood and Trump can't forget it. But what about the debt ceiling is violent? What word was he looking for there and failed?

His hatred of California continues with beating their law that by 2035, they would no longer allow gas cars to be sold. He mis-states 2030. Then it's gas prices and eggs.

Reporter: Mr. President. Some of his supporters are split on the US response to -—

Trump: Who are you?

Reporter: CNN.

Trump: Fake news. Fortunately nobody watches.

Reporter: But my question is -—

Trump: Is anybody watching CNN these days? I haven't seen it in a long time.

Reporter: But some of your supporters are wary of the US getting involved in another ---

Trump: Oh, I haven't seen that, no, no. Do you ever ask a positive question at CNN?

He never answers the question. He just goes off into ya-ya land talking about how he won the election and how he took the seven swing states, and how he won in a landslide by millions and millions.

The reporter than follows up and asks again about his supporters not wanting a war that will last long. He responds by saying he's got a great approval numbers before finally saying:

Trump: All I'm saying is you can't have a nuclear weapon and I tried to do it nicely. And then on day 61, I said let's go because we can't let that happen and I've been saying it for 20 years.

Trump just said he gave Israel the go ahead to attack on day 61.

Trump: OK. I'm going to leave. Thank you very much.

Later, he came back out for the raising of the flag and talked for just over one minute.

Trump: We picked the right location. [inaudible] Picking the right location [inaudible]

No, he didn't. It would have been so easy to put them flanking the White House.

Reporter: What intelligence do you have --- do you have any intelligence that Iran is targeting -—

Trump: A lot of intelligence  [inaudible] Have you?

Reporter: [laughs]  --- that Iran is targeting any assets?

Trump: we're doing very well. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Press, Karoline.

Karoline: Thank you press. Thank you.

Trump went back into the White House.

This was still another unscripted disaster with Trump not answering questions and speaking at length about old stuff he's said many times before. He trots out the claims of the past to fill the time until the next old gripe shows up.

This is the guy with control of nuclear weapons, ready to start a bigger war in the Middle East than Israel has made it. Khamenei laughed at his unconditional surrender demand. Congress is telling him straight out that he has to come to them first to join Israel. But with his "mandate" and his feeling of invincibility, and his complete disregard of the Constitution, he thinks it doesn't apply to him.

What the military will do now is in question if Trump gives the command and Congress hasn't approved. The National Guard and Marines went to Los Angeles under illegal orders. Will commanders and soldiers finally say no? Their oath is to the Constitution, not the commander in Chief. Will they know the difference?

Trump's brain is fried. He looks physically unwell, fat, hunched over, puffy eyes and now starting to fall on stairs getting into Air Force One. He's making bad decisions, just shown with the flagpoles placements.

And that's on a good day.

Federal Judge Deems Trump Administration’s Termination of NIH Grants Illegal

Order killing medical research grants is "void and illegal" but does Trump care?

By Annie Waldman

What Happened: A federal judge ruled on June 16 that the Trump administration’s termination of hundreds of grants by the National Institutes of Health was “void and illegal,” ordering some of them to be reinstated, including many profiled by ProPublica in recent months.

District Judge William G. Young made the ruling in two lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s directives and cancellations: One case was brought by more than a dozen states’ attorneys general, and the other was led by the American Public Health Association alongside several other organizations and researchers.

In Monday’s ruling, the judge determined that the directives that led to the grant terminations were “arbitrary and capricious” and said they had “no force and effect.” The judge’s ruling ordered the funding of the grants to be restored. It only covers grants that have been identified by the plaintiffs in the cases.

‘Who controls the present controls the past’: What Orwell’s ‘1984’ explains about the twisting of history to control the public

Trump attacks on history are part of the brainwashing of America

Laura Beers, American University

When people use the term “Orwellian,” it’s not a good sign.

It usually characterizes an action, an individual or a society that is suppressing freedom, particularly the freedom of expression. It can also describe something perverted by tyrannical power.

It’s a term used primarily to describe the present, but whose implications inevitably connect to both the future and the past.

In his second term, President Donald Trump has revealed his ambitions to rewrite America’s official history to, in the words of the Organization of American Historians, “reflect a glorified narrative … while suppressing the voices of historically excluded groups.”

Such ambitions are deeply Orwellian. Here’s how.

Author George Orwell believed in objective, historical truth. Writing in 1946, he attributed his youthful desire to become an author in part to a “historical impulse,” or “the desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.”

But while Orwell believed in the existence of an objective truth about history, he did not necessarily believe that truth would prevail.