Black Music Sunday: Lead Belly, the virtuoso who told us to 'stay woke'

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Sunday December 07, 2025 · 7:09 AM PST

2025/12/07 · 07:09

no image description available — Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, with his 12-string guitar, Stella.

Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 290 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.

Dec. 6 marks the passing of the late, great Huddie William “Lead Belly” Ledbetter from Lou Gehrig's disease in 1949.

Christopher "Kip" Lornell at 64 Parishes details his beginnings:

Huddie William Ledbetter stands out as one of the most important grassroots musicians of the twentieth century. He was born on Jeter Plantation in Mooringsport, near the Louisiana-Texas border, around January 20, 1885, to farmers Sally and Wes Ledbetter. As a child, Ledbetter learned to play accordion and basic guitar techniques from his uncle Terrell Ledbetter, and he soon began to perform for parties, known locally as “sukey-jumps.” Ledbetter left home around 1903 and supported himself by working in the cotton fields between Dallas, Texas, and Shreveport during the week and at house parties and country dances on weekends. [...]

Beginning around 1913, Ledbetter spent eight months playing with blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson, who went on to record some of the most legendary down-home, country blues recordings of the mid- to late 1920s. While playing with Jefferson, Ledbetter heard itinerant Mexican musicians, some of whom played a large twelve-string guitar. The loud, resonant instrument impressed him and he purchased one, never to return to the smaller six-string model of his youth. [...]

In 1915 police jailed Ledbetter for assault in Harrison County, Texas, and a judge sentenced him to the chain gang. Within several months, he escaped and relocated to DeKalb County, Texas, living as “Walter Boyd.” For most of the next nineteen years, the state incarcerated Ledbetter for a variety of crimes ranging from simple assault to assault with intent to kill. In 1925, after hearing him perform at the Sugarland Prison near Houston, Texas, Governor Pat Neff granted “Lead Belly” (as he was now known) a full pardon. Ledbetter’s criminal record of rather minor altercations—many almost certainly aggravated by the fact that Ledbetter was Black—furthered his “bad man” image and helped bolster his reputation later, when he moved to New York City.

In the early 1930s, following a racially charged assault incident in Mooringsport, Ledbetter served time in Louisiana’s notorious Angola Penitentiary. His life changed forever in the summer of 1933 when he met John Lomax and his eighteen-year-old son Alan, who were touring southern prisons collecting African American folk songs for the Library of Congress. Angola’s warden recommended Ledbetter, among others, and they held a brief recording session with Lomax. Ledbetter’s music and persona so impressed Lomax that he specifically sought out the musician when he returned the next summer with improved recording equipment. For his second session, Ledbetter reworked his pardon song and addressed it to Louisiana Governor O.K. Allen. At that session, he also recorded the song that would become his trademark, “Goodnight Irene.”

The Smithsonian continues his story:

John and Alan Lomax met Lead Belly during one of their recording trips for the Library of Congress. Lead Belly was then a prison inmate, and the Lomaxes managed to secure his release. Lead Belly traveled with them, eventually settling in New York City.

Lead Belly’s repertoire included diverse African-American styles from work songs, ring chants, cowboy songs, games, and Tin Pan Alley to the Delta blues. His Folkways Records classic, the multi-volume Lead Belly’s Last Sessions, reflects this diversity. Some of his best-known songs are “Midnight Special,” “Rock Island Line,” and “Goodnight Irene.” [...]

Asch was philosophically committed to artistic freedom, something that prompted the independent-minded Lead Belly to record all types of songs in his repertoire. This generated controversy when Asch issued a record of Lead Belly singing children’s songs including “Skip to My Lou” and “Pick a Bale of Cotton.” Famed journalist Walter Winchell railed against the collection in the press, asking, “How could one issue a children’s record by a convicted murderer?” [...]

He recorded songs of social protest, among them “Bourgeois Blues,” a song that he composed after a visit to Washington, D.C., when he had been refused accommodation in a rooming house. While he performed with other social activist Folkways artists Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry, and Pete Seeger. [...]

His influence, however, was felt broadly after his death. The Weavers, with Pete Seeger, covered Lead Belly’s songs and exposed his music to wider audiences. “Goodnight Irene” became the number-one hit in the United States, selling two million records in 1950. Lead Belly’s rhythmic style of twelve-string guitar playing and his songs inspired a whole new generation of performers as diverse as Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Beach Boys.

Take a look at this behind the scenes documentary, “The Making of Leadbelly:

YouTube Video

Rev. Robert Jones narrates this WRTV Public Television mini-documentary on Ledbetter:

YouTube Video

I strongly suggest that if you get a chance, you watch “Lead Belly: The Man Who invented Rock & Roll.” I quibble with the title, but it is an excellent documentary.

Here’s the trailer:

YouTube Video

While researching this story on Ledbetter I ran across this piece of information I didn’t know, about a phrase used by the musician in a 1938 recording:

The word "woke" is broadly used to describe a state of being "aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues especially of racial and social injustice" according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. While it originated from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in the early part of the 20th century, the term has become a common part of American slang.

Its usage has evolved and grown so much that conservatives now use it as a pejorative to refer to progressives or left-leaning liberals.

The phrase "stay woke" has long been used in Black communities to indicate staying alert to others' deception--especially law enforcement--as a survival mechanism, but in 2014 "stay woke" became common usage among Black Lives Matter activists after the police killing of Michael Brown, bringing it into the wider lexicon.

Radio host Lana Quest wrote on Twitter that the first documented usage of the term "stay woke" was by Black folk singer Lead Belly when he was talking about his 1938 song "Scottsboro Boys." According to Quest, the song referred to "nine Black teens falsely accused of raping two white women in 1931, [who] were sentenced to death. NAACP forced repeated retrials. They were finally freed but never recovered."

In an interview about the song, Lead Belly—who was born Huddie Ledbetter—said, "Stay woke, keep your eyes open."

The interview with Ledbetter using stay woke is included in this video:

YouTube Video

While I’ve covered songs that were an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement here, there are others that have implored us to “be woke.” Take this R&B title tune from Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ 1975 album “Wake up Everybody,” with Teddy Pendergrass singing the lead, for example:

YouTube Video

Neo Soul artists like Erykah Badu have used the term “woke” in their music:

In her now viral MSNBC interview with host Ari Melber, the legendary Erykah Badu addressed how conservatives have twisted the term “woke” into something derogatory and weaponized it against people of color. Badu also discussed how she popularized the phrase with her 2008 song “Master Teacher” as well as on social media.

Here’s Badu’s “Master Teacher”:

YouTube Video

What songs come to your mind that encourage us all to “stay woke”?

Join me, and post them in the comments section below.

Sudan The Forgotten War(s).

rebel ga

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Sunday December 07, 2025 · 5:47 AM PST

2025/12/07 · 05:47

The history of conflict in Sudan is noted, by numerous civil wars. History Of Sudan War(s).

What Is Happening In Sudan - Al Jazeera

Sudan Crisis Explained UNHCR (United Nations Commissioner For Refugees), The UN Refugee Agency. Established in 1950. Sudan Crisis Videos-UNHCR

Videos Youtube

Voice Of America-Sudan Wars - Images / Videos

Voices for Children Affected by Conflict The mandate of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict was created by the UN General Assembly in December 1996 to strengthen the protection of children affected by armed conflict, raise awareness, promote the collection of information about the plight of children affected by war and foster international cooperation to improve their protection.

---—

Message To The World-Save Sudan!

Speak Out About Sudan / Refugees International Images

YouTube Video

Grand Jury Refuses To Indict Letitia James

KeithDB

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Friday December 05, 2025 · 6:44 AM PST

2025/12/05 · 06:44

A grand jury today refused to indict New York Attorney General Letisha James on mortgage fraud. The return of a "no true bill" is historically exceptionally rare for federal grand juries, but is becoming more common in Trump's weaponized Department of Justice. The grand jury mandate for felony charges was put in the Constitution as a check against prosecutorial abuses, and the bumbling Trump Department of Justice is discovering that the wisdom of our Founders is working against them.

Prior charges against Letisha James were dropped because the bumbling Regime appointed the prosecutor illegally. That judge dismissed them "without prejudice," which did allow the DOJ to attempt at second indictment. Today, the grand jury said no to that.

In theory, the DOJ can try yet again, with another grand jury to secure an indictment. Such "grand jury shopping" is generally frowned upon and would amplify existing irregularities in the prosecution of this case, strengthening arguments for dismissal based on vindictive/selective prosecution.

Steve Cropper, musician, 1941-2025

Rambler797

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Wednesday December 03, 2025 · 9:54 PM PST

2025/12/03 · 21:54

Steven Lee Cropper (October 21, 1941 – December 3, 2025), sometimes known as "The Colonel", was an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. You may not know his name, but you know his sound, from Dock on the Bay (which he co-wrote with Otis Redding), Soul Man, In the Midnight Hour, Knock on Wood and Ive Been Loving You Too Long.

Cropper was born in Dora, Missouri on October 21, 1941.^[6] His family moved to Memphis at age 9. In Memphis, he was exposed to black church music, which had an impact on him musically.^[7] By the time he was 14, he had begun to play guitar. Within a few year, he formed a dance band with guitarist Charlie Freeman called the Royal Spades. This band eventually became the Mar-Keys.^[8] who in 1961 had a hit single, "Last Night". He and his band toured the Chitlin circuit behind their hit. While The Beales were trying to decide whether to stick at it and before The Rolling Stones even existed, the Mar-Keys played The Regal Theatre in Chicago (Stanley Booth, Rhythm Oil).

Cropper came off the road to play in the STAX Records* house band. He played on numerous hits, including the aforementioned Knock on Wood, Midnight Hour and Soul Man. He also collaborated with Otis Redding on Dock of the Bay and Ive been loving you too Long and with Eddie Floyd (Knock on Wood). He had hits in his own right with the Staxx house band, Booker T and the MGs on such numbers as Green Onions and Time is Tight. ‘

Cropper developed a distinctive guitar style synthesized out of black r&b and gospel. It involves the use of 3 strong chord arpegios, double stop runs and allusions to the bass line,

YouTube Video

Said Charles Murray “It favors trills and hammer-ons, and is both delicate and punchy. It is a style costum made for accompanying vocalists”. What it doesn’t feature the kind of bent horn-line notes (what Muddy Water called the string-sqeeze sound), favored by post-BB King guitar men. Jimi Hendrix, when he played rhythm, was more in the style favored by Cropper. Part of Cropper’s signature sound was a Fender Telecaster played through a Fender Amp.

Cropper left STAX in the 1970s and continued his career as a session man and producer, laying his economic but soulful licks on records by Rod Stewart, Ringo Star, Elton John, and more dubiously, the neo-blackface Blues Brothers.

Let’s let the mans music speak for itself.

Last Night

Green Onions

Soul Man

Dock of the Bay

Rest in power.

*Edit, A word about STAX Records, The label as founded by silbings Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton (hence St-Ax). Their original intent was to record country and rockabilly acts, but successes with Rufus and Carla Thomas, and urging from producer Chips Moman (“Dark End of the Street”) created momentum in that direction. They set up shop in a former movie theater. A distribution deal with Atlantic Records (1965) introduced their records to a natioanal market. In the Midnight Hour, Soul Man and other hits soon followed. White producers making records with black musicians was not unusual, but black and white musicians playing together in the house brand was less common. Likewise was the production team of Issac Hays and David Porter or business manager Al Bell, who became a co-ownwer of STAX, New South indeed.

Renewable Friday: COP30 Promised Death of Billion Duck Bites for Carbon

Mokurai

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Friday November 28, 2025 · 11:36 AM PST

2025/11/28 · 11:36

Are we at Peak Carbon? Probably. Are we at Peak Denial? Long past the worst, but still plenty bad. Did COP30 promise the end of Fossil Fuels? Sort of, without using the words. When can we talk about Net Zero? You can TALK about it all you like, any time. When can we do it? Sooner than the pundits think. Now what? The usual, but more so, as exponential growth continues to surprise everyone but the mathematicians.

COP30 declared war on climate disinformation. You can help. EVs, heat pumps, induction cookers, solar panels on roofs and balconies, and much more are all unstoppable, but lies about them all continue. We can roll back wildfires, floods, droughts, killer heat waves and other climate disasters if we set our minds on the fact that these all cost much more than saving the planet at a profit.

Too many loonburgers think they want vastly expensive, corrupt, and incompetent nuclear power, which is always over budget and far behind schedule, kills miners, and creates toxic waste. We need laws everywhere to require actual renewables to be built for every data center, and to be in operation before the computers are switched on. There are no SMRs, small nuclear reactors, that can be licensed or bought. There are no molten salt reactor products, likewise.

We need to get serious about leaving carbon in the ground, and cleaning up steel, cement, and ammonia, and planting trees, and reviving soils, and everything else we report on here.

And, as always, get your local schools to buy electric school buses and put in enough solar panels to charge them and support computers for all students. Diesel buses have caused an epidemic of asthma.

CathyM

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Friday November 28, 2025 · 11:19 AM PST

2025/11/28 · 11:19

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, despite the chaos in America and the world. And we now move into the “shopping season”, I would like to mention that many kossacks have small online businesses and we have compiled their offerings. Boycotting huge chains is right and good — but let’s also be generous and support the small business or entrepreneur, those you hear from on Daily KOS and who could use your support. Here’s a small sampling:

Support Katalogue Members

www.dailykos.com/…

Beadlady has top quality homemade quilts in her Quilts Unique Etsy Store. Handmade from start to finish with top grade cottons. Hopefully there won’t be tariffs on cotton! Free shipping.

elenacarlena draws designs to order! For wall art or to be placed on shirts, mugs, calendars, or any other items available at either her Teepublic or Zazzle shop. ..

mamajo2k runs The Heritage Photo Shoppe: where family history & photos meet digital scrapbooking...

CathyM's has six books of poetry, a science fiction novel, Lifeline and science fiction short stores. “The Dream Hunt” can be found www.cathymcquire.com

Chloris Creator has written several novels; from Jane Austen Fan Fiction (murder mysteries)…

winifred3 is an author of speculative fiction books….

Vetwife has an album “Hey” on iTunes and Spotify and Amazon; all proceeds go to help needy veterans and their families.

Check out the katalogue and support kossacks — if not today, Boycott Friday, then over the weekend or next week.

New Day Café: Say Cheese!

Youffraita

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Friday November 28, 2025 · 8:06 AM PST

2025/11/28 · 08:06

Feeling kinda cheesy this week 😆 so enjoy a few cheesy recipes.

Cheese Dreams

Recipe. [11:42]

YouTube Video

Bernese Highlands, Switzerland ❤️🇨🇭

[image or embed]
— Nature Nomad (@naturecompass.bsky.social) November 23, 2025 at 11:50 AM

Poll

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Well...?

69 votes Vote Now!

Well...?

Cheese Dreams

3 votes

Welsh Rarebit

11 votes

4 Cheese Mac & Cheese

8 votes

Black Friday Grilled Cheese

12 votes

Cheese Enchiladas

29 votes

Cheese Puffs

6 votes

Tribal, Environmental and Delta Advocates Challenge Delta Tunnel Certification of Consistency

Dan Bacher

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Thursday November 27, 2025 · 1:14 PM PST

2025/11/27 · 13:14

Sacramento – An avalanche of appeals by Tribes, environmental justice organizations, conservation groups, the Delta Protection Commission, Delta Counties, the City of Stockton and water agencies could pause the Delta Tunnel process from moving forward if the Delta Stewardship Council upholds the appeals.

The Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) would create a 45-mile tunnel starting on the Sacramento River at the town of Hood and ending at the Bethany Reservoir west of Tracy, near the community of Mountain House in the South Delta. Opponents say the project would hasten the extinction of Sacramento River winter-run and spring-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon, white sturgeon and other fish species, as well as devastate Delta communities and Tribal cultural resources.

On November 20, a coalition of Tribes and environmental advocates said they filed a formal appeal challenging the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) Certification of Consistency for the proposed Delta Conveyance Project. They argue that the project “violates state law and poses an imminent threat to Delta communities, its ecosystem and cultural heritage,” according to a statement from the coalition.

The coalition, including the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, San Francisco Baykeeper, Center for Biological Diversity, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Little Manila Rising, Friends of the River, California Indian Environmental Alliance, Sierra Club California and Restore the Delta, are urging the Delta Stewardship Council to overturn the certification citing inconsistencies with the Delta Reform Act and Delta Plan. The group’s key concerns in the appeal include that the project would:

“Irreparably harm Tribal Cultural Resources including cultural sites, burial grounds and traditional use areas – highlighting the lack of any meaningful Tribal consultation
“Intensify environmental harm by increasing diversions from the Delta, reducing protective water flows for threatened fish species and increasing harmful algal blooms
“Worsen environmental injustices, placing disproportionate burdens on Delta residents including low-income, Tribal and Latino communities
“Increase water reliance on the Delta, directly contradicting Delta Plan requirements, and weakening water flow protections

“DWR takes every chance it gets to legitimize its ill-advised Delta Tunnel, so it should come as no surprise that it has flouted important environmental reviews by certifying its own project as compliant with the Delta Plan despite the contrary reality,” said Christie Ralston, Associate Attorney for San Francisco Baykeeper. “The Tunnel's true impacts contradict DWR's consistency determination. Instead of spending tens of billions of ratepayer and taxpayer dollars on a concrete pipe that will destroy ecosystems, fisheries, Delta economies, and communities, Californians need effective and restorative solutions that prioritize local sources of water, strengthening levees, and improving existing State Water Project infrastructure.”

“Environmental and tribal partners spent years collaborating with the DeltaStewardship Council on a report for how they would engage with environmental justice communities and Tribes,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. “It seems that they have walked away from the Council’s commitment to following their own internal processes as delineated in this report. Environmental justice and tribal collaboration seems to be for show and not for meaningful consideration by the Council.”

The coalition is calling on the Delta Stewardship Council to “reject DWR’s determination and require the state to follow the law and to uphold their commitment to protecting the already fragile Delta ecosystem, tribal rights and delta communities.”

The Delta Protection Commission, Delta Counties, water agencies, the City of Stockton, water agencies and other organizations are also appealing the certification.

The Delta Protection Commission voted 9-0 on November 17 to appeal the Department of Water Resources’s certification that the Delta Conveyance Project is “consistent” with the Delta Plan.

The Commission’s appeal contends that the Project would do lasting harm to the Delta, irrevocably altering “the rural character of the Delta, its economic pillars (agriculture and recreation), and its cultural heritage.”

It also contends that other options that don’t harm the Delta have not been adequately considered.

“The project would use thousands of acres of agricultural land during construction and leave another 1,000 permanently changed, often with industrial-looking facilities, at the four major impact areas: Hood, Twin Cities Road near I-5, Lower Roberts Island, and near the Bethany Reservoir State Recreation Area. Other permanent facilities would be built in the Delta on the tunnel route,” the Commission said in a statement.

The Delta Reform Act of 2009 establishes coequal goals for the Delta of providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem. It also states that the coequal goals “shallbe achieved in a manner that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place.”

Commissioner Patrick Hume, a Sacramento County Supervisor, said at a preliminary Commission discussion of the matter on Nov. 3: “This body is the last bastion of support for the Delta as a place. This is really the voice for the flora, the fauna, the farmers, the Flyway, the fisheries, and the economy that the Delta represents.”

The Commission’s vote to appeal was 9-0, with one abstention.

The Commission is made predominantly of elected representatives in the Delta, with 11 of its 15 members coming from county boards of supervisors, city councils, and local reclamation districts, which are responsible for flood control in the Delta’s low-lying farmland and small communities.

The remaining four members represent state agencies, and they have typically abstained on votes regarding the Delta Conveyance Project.

“Commission Chair Diane Burgis, a Contra Costa County Supervisor, did not attend the meeting and has recused herself from past discussions and votes regarding the Project. Burgis serves on the Delta Stewardship Council, which will hear the Commission’s appeal and any other appeals filed by today’s deadline,” the Commission wrote.

If the Council upholds any of the appeals, the Project could be remanded to DWR to address Delta Plan inconsistencies, the Commission noted.

The Commission’s appeal, including maps showing impact areas, can be seen here (PDF).

Below is the list of parties that have appealed the California Department of Water Resources Certification of Consistency (C20257) for the Delta Conveyance Project, submitted to the Delta Stewardship Council on October 17, 2025:

C20257-A1 – Delta Protection Commission
C20257-A2 – Courtland Pear Fair
C20257-A3 – County of Sacramento and Sacramento County Water Agency
C20257-A4 – Steamboat Resort
C20257-A5 – San Francisco Baykeeper, Winnemem Wintu, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Restore the Delta, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the River, California Indian Environmental Alliance, Sierra Club California, and Little Manila Rising
C20257-A6 – Sacramento Area Sewer District
C20257-A7 – City of Stockton
C20257-A8 – South Delta Water Agency
C20257-A9 – San Joaquin County, Solano County, Yolo County, Central Delta Water Agency, and Local Agencies of the North Delta
C20257-A10 – DCC Engineering Co., Inc.

The effective date for the appeals is November 17, 2025 (23 Cal. Code Regs. § 5022, subsection (d)(2)).

Review the appeal documents here.

What I'm Thankful For in 2025

jtg

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 27, 2025 · 1:03 PM PST

2025/11/27 · 13:03

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I have to be thankful for recently.

I’ve been through a lot recently, and a year ago, it was not at all certain that I’d still be here today, nor is it certain that I’ll be here next Thanksgiving.

I’m thankful that I came through three major surgeries in the past year, with at least one more on December 22.

I’m thankful that Hair Furor hasn’t yet destroyed Medicare, yet, so I’ll be able to have the December 22 heart surgery at Stanford.

I’m thankful for the support and encouragement I’ve gotten from the fine folks here and beyond during times when I wondered if I would continue to be extant.

I’m thankful for my critters, my four dogs and four cats, and the 4-6 stray cats who depend upon my continued existence.

I’m thankful that I have been able, with a great deal of effort, to resume substitute teaching, which allows me to continue living indoors, at least for now. Every day I sub is an intense experience. I get very weak, and I’m frequently approached as I hobble across campuses by staff and students who ask with concern, “Are you alright, Mister Green?”

There are good things about subbing beyond the paycheck. As I’ve returned to classes, many kids and staff have been excited to see Mister Green again. Many thought I’d retired or just wondered where I’ve been. A lot of kids have told me how much they missed me, something a substitute teacher doesn’t normally hear as most just fade in and out of class when their regular teacher is gone. In one middle school class, I was set up with another sub as co-teacher. One student told the other sub, “Mister Green is my favorite sub ever!”

I am thankful that my YouTube efforts to get finances separate from Subbing or charity are succeeding, with two channels, Critters of Casa de Verde, and Mister Green Explains, about to go over 100 subscribers, as I proceed towards monetization. (Please go and WATCH, LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and SHARE).

I’m thankful I continue to live indoors with my critters, who have often been over the past decade or so, my incentive not to give up.

I’m thankful that I still have my mind. Senility runs in my family, as I have a first cousin, a few years older than I, who barely remembers her name, and my grandfather and several uncles were senile at their end. While I sometimes have difficulties remembering details or coming up with the right word at a moment’s notice, I’m still basically me, for now.

I turned 66 a few months ago. I likely have less time ahead of me than ahead, especially considering my health, and the possibility that Medicare will go away so that I may die in the next few years of something that is otherwise treatable, but I won't be able to afford.

I have had many life-threatening situations in my life, from cancer, heart disease and other situations. Some in my life have claimed I’m “faking it” when I refer to those situations, implying that because I survived, I was never in any danger. Just because I survived doesn’t mean I was not in danger.

Given my current age, 66, I refer to myself as a “baby senior” in that I am now undoubtedly beyond middle age, but not yet to the middle-senior or senior-senior ages of 70s and 80s, and 90s and maybe beyond.

The first time I could have died was when I was diagnosed with cancer at 34. The five-year survival rate of someone with my diagnosis at that time, 1994, was 90% death. That I survived was not a matter of my “faking it” as some have said, up to the present day. My survival was a result of the then-new chemotherapy drugs and surgical procedures, as well as having an exceptionally skilled and caring surgeon. As I put it at the time, I got Doctor B. J. Honeycutt and not Doctor Frank Burns. See MASH for those who don’t get the reference.

At that time, I thought a lot about my legacy and what I’d leave behind. I had started to write my autobiography at that time. One person said, “Don’t you think it’s egotistical to write your autobiography when you haven’t done anything”? I’ve continued to work on it over the years, and I realize that I need to produce a finished product, or at least a first draft I can update and upgrade. One of my friends from University has been telling me for decades that the key to my future is to write my autobiography. She meant that I’d make $ from book sales, and while that may be partially the case, I think that in telling my story, people will be more likely to get to know me as a person rather than a random online meme. Perhaps more people will listen to me as I share my knowledge and what passes for wisdom, and a reason for people to remember my legacy when I am extinct.

I could go on, but that will do for now.

Now you know more than you ever thought possible.

If you read through all that, thank you.

#jtg

P.S. Now some of what I’m thankful for...

Khonsu, former stray, will not put up with any more of your nonsense.

599cc3d9080b3a8427c195c4909b83e50b227db26a071d15d92ef67d3195b20c.0.gif

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Turkey

25 votes

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Only connect: how the scapegoating of trans people links "everything"

Clio2

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 25, 2025 · 12:16 AM PST

2025/11/25 · 00:16

Overlapping rainbow labels (DK image library, uploaded by Onomastic)

Mother Jones dropped a crucial analysis this week:

Very important www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
— Clio2 (@clio2.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T20:07:15.646Z

Lede:

Hours after being sworn in for a second term, President Donald Trump used his constitutionally vested powers to define “man” and “woman.” In an executive order, he said his administration would recognize only two immutable, biological sexes, determined at conception, in the name of “defending women” from a rising scourge: “gender ideology”.…

Over the last decade, the fear of “gender ideology” has been used to mobilize right-wing movements from Argentina to Poland to Turkey. Now it’s a part of American parlance, too. It appeared in federal legislation in 2022, and Republicans have wielded it ever since to attack health care, picture books, and pronouns.

Mother Jones associate editor Schuyler Mitchell traces the poisonous phrase, "gender ideology" currently to be found all over right-wing propaganda in the U S. and elsewhere, way back to conservative Latin American Catholicism in the 1990s. Then,

In a 2004 letter to bishops, the Vatican decried homosexuality, railed against feminists for making women “adversaries” of men, and reaffirmed binary masculinity and femininity as the purest expression of God’s love. Any subversion of traditional gender roles wasn’t merely sinful. It wrought a culture, the Vatican said, that corrupted society at large. [Emphasis added]

In the same way, transphobes throughout the U.S. and UK are selling trans existence as a subversive idea bundled with other ideas they dislike. And as with the election-season charge that "Haitians are eating the cats," and the false claim that ICE is targeting dangerous criminal immigrants, right-wing mouthpieces keep trying to tie trans people to high-profile shooting incidents. Any group on Project 2025's "little list" is vulnerable to parallel treatment. We're all in this together.

I'd love to quote more, but respecting "fair use," will just encourage reading the whole.

To those readers who aren't trans, and may perceive trans issues as taking up too much space: I am sorry. Trans people are in moment-to-moment existential crisis, much like immigrants, not knowing what rug-pull will happen next but knowing our government wants them not to exist and is in a hurry to make that happen. The rest of us may have a little longer.

Every single hate movement does this. They record the crimes of a targeted minority to further scapegoat them and push propaganda. Nazis did it with Jews. American white supremacists do it with Black folks. This is no different. It's eliminationist propaganda.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-19T02:55:59.355Z

They get the mainstream to play along by giving this obviously bs pretense about concern with crime statistics despite trans folks being such a small portion of the population to meaningfully affect it. Not to mention, the existence of trans men (which they don't acknowledge) cancels out overall.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-19T03:02:01.731Z

Random example of multivalent hate, one of far too many:

NEW: Evanston has released video + reports surrounding a 10/31 incident where a CBP agent threatened to shoot people + another beat a handcuffed man. We found some disturbing X posts from one of the feds, also seen in other viral videos. His name is Timothy Donahue, and it's now public record:
— unraveled (@unraveledpress.com) 2025-11-20T20:28:14.527Z

Both federal agents are seen in social media videos from the crash behaving aggressively, with Donahue pointing his service weapon at unarmed bystanders, and Parsons punching a handcuffed man on the ground. Agents reportedly also pepper sprayed onlookers, and detained three people in total before taking them to the Chicago FBI field office and then releasing them without charges

Unraveled has verified a social media account on X...belonging to Donahue. While not a prolific user, he has used the account to make disparaging remarks about women and trans people, share racist imagery, and cheer on hate crimes.

It all connects.

INTERRUPTION: Trying out the idea of a regular 7:30 p.m. Sunday column on LGBTQIA+ issues. This is the third of these experimental posts. Comments, additions, and other contributors welcome!

Next Sunday, Nov. 30, 7:30 p.m., will be as usual for the last Sunday of the month, LGBTQIA+ Literature. An amazing book about Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld and his milieu in the Weimar Republic. Hirschfeld is best known today for his ground-breaking work with trans people, but it was so much more. Hope to do the book, and its subject, justice.

Cases in point: the legal art of self-defense

A former FBI employee is suing the bureau and the Justice Department, saying he was fired for displaying a Pride flag in his workspace. David Maltinsky had worked with the FBI for more than 16 years.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T21:46:04.519Z

From them.us:

David Maltinsky, a former operations specialist who had worked at the FBI since 2009, was fired three weeks before he was set to become a special agent, according to a lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. district court on Wednesday. Maltinsky is...alleging violations of his freedom of speech and right to equal protection under the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

...Maltinsky received a letter signed by Patel that said he had “exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage” while working in the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office (LAFO). The only such “signage” in his office, Maltinsky claims, was a Progress Pride flag that was flown at the LAFO in 2021. The flag was given to him by his superiors in recognition of his past work with the Bureau Equality Committee, for which he received several internal awards, according to the suit. Maltinsky was then allegedly asked to sign a statement falsely acknowledging that he had resigned, which he refused.

This is indeed reminiscent of the "Lavender Scare" of the 1950s, in which right-wing politicians had civil servants driven out of the governent and made unemployable for being LGBTQ, or merely for being suspected of being LGBTQ, or for simple association with LGBTQ people, much as they did with alleged Communists...and indeed, associating these identities with Communism. (And here we go again.) The FBI only lifted its ban in 1995.

Everything connects.

Another necessary case of self-defense:

www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/06/anti...
— Clio2 (@clio2.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T19:05:49.817Z

“What I’m here to talk about is the child abuse, grooming, conditioning, and indoctrination by sexual predators disguised as teachers and staff at Glen Cove Elementary,” [defendent Damon] Gettier said.

“We have five plus staff and faculty conditioning, grooming, and abusing children, and no one says a thing… The teachers and staff need to teach their curriculum and not their woke, progressive ideologies,” he said...

Glen Cove Elementary School Assistant Principal Tobie McPhail, who filed the lawsuit last month, referred to Gettier’s claims as false and harmful, having caused her emotional distress and damaged her career.

Btw, this was the Roanoke County, Va., school board. It's in the southwest part of the state, very "Red." As of 2020, about 97,000 people lived in Roanoke County (growing), 82% of them white (shrinking).

Other parents spoke at the meeting against LGBTQ+ people, but Gettier was the only one who named specific members of the staff and accused them of grooming children.

Self-defense of another sort:

www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/11/the-...
— Clio2 (@clio2.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T19:45:25.967Z

As the 2024 presidential election ramped up,...Robyn McCutcheon saw the writing on the wall. The retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer applied for permanent residency in Kazakhstan, where she had served for many years and still had friends....

McCutcheon did not come out to State Department colleagues until she was in her fifties....There was...no way to know how anyone would react or if she could even keep her job.

In fact, when rumors of her identity began to swirl, she lost an assignment in Moscow. Her superiors felt information on her gender identity (which was available in her recent divorce filings) would make her vulnerable to Russian blackmail.

Now she is prepared to live in exile, perhaps indefinitely. Altogether one heck of a story.

But those still here in the States may face barriers to leaving at all:

Already, the Trump administration declared passports must show gender as registered at birth.

We now have a story on this
— Jane MIgliara Brigham (@jane.theneedlenews.com) 2025-11-18T21:05:25.456Z

A convo here further clarifies the problems:

This is basically making it so trans people who were adopted and had their birth records sealed cannot obtain a passport at all. This will also ensnare cis people who were adopted and have clerical errors on their records or are suspected of being trans.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-18T18:45:34.038Z

A friend was born intersex w/ ambiguous bits and “corrected” to the wrong gender. He transitioned pretty early in life because his parents accepted that they guessed incorrectly. He already had to deal with passport fuckery under Trump 1. 😔
— Em aka Red 🦋 🍂 (@huttsleia.bsky.social) 2025-11-18T19:28:52.612Z

You get a new birth certificate when you’re adopted, though. It has your new name and new parents. Both my kiddos got them. Only their originals are court sealed. Now, because he was born in TX, my son can’t get his gender changed, just his name.
— Reese Ourso (@reeseourso.bsky.social) 2025-11-18T19:06:09.075Z

Right, but that's not sufficient. They want birth certificates issued around the time of birth, not adoption. The new birth certificate isn't sufficient, which is the problem.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-18T19:09:10.554Z

They put us in mortal danger by demonizing us and stripping away our protections, and then trap us here. This country is fucking evil.
— NmblLtlGoat (@nmblltlgoat.bsky.social) 2025-11-18T19:09:52.959Z

So what even happens if you *do* have an original certificate but the information on it doesn't match your legal name, state issued ID, or social security information. This is designed to ensnare *any* person they suspect of being trans who has an amended birth certificate.
— Power, The 📠🎄💃🏃‍♀️‍➡️🍷🏃‍♀️‍➡️🤮 (@agp.ceo) 2025-11-20T01:41:08.132Z

Right. And it will also "ensnare" cis adoptees whose original documents are sealed or otherwise unobtainable, even if a replacement was issued. Such a level of f*ckery. The use of double-binds is consistent with how they treat immigrants, of course.

Meanwhile, some electoral politics:

Maine:

Maine www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/11/gay-...
— Clio2 (@clio2.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T19:20:48.634Z

Jordan Wood, candidate for Congress from Maine, was busy last week switching gears from a crowded field challenging Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) for her Senate seat to becoming the presumptive frontrunner to represent Maine’s 2nd congressional district.

He brings over $1 million to the fight from his Senate campaign.

And then there is:

"to run for Congress in New York’s Eighth Congressional District, which is currently represented by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)" On the other hand, reportedly neither Mamdani nor AOC are in his corner, so.... www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/11/gay-...
— Clio2 (@clio2.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T19:59:34.160Z

...IDK how significant this candidacy is likely to be.

A couple reactions to the story, on Bluesky, took me a little aback.

One person (while posting a link to the LGBTQ Nation piece):

But why are we focusing on him being gay? He's much more than gay.He's 27 yo. A Black/ African Caribbean. And he's Socialist Democrat.

[The article says all that!]

And then her first commenter goes:

Cause LGBT nation is covering the story but I agree

["Don't mention the war!"] *

*If you know Fawlty Towers

Oh, well, someone is always being weird on the internet.

Solidarity

www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/11/cis-...
— Clio2 (@clio2.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T19:30:13.762Z

Multiple cisgender women have turned down spots on a list of the top female cyclists in the U.K. because the organization compiling the list banned trans women.

BAM!

We're all in this together.

Trans people have exhaustively detailed the links between the anti-trans and anti-abortion movements, we warned that transphobia was a wedge issue for the religious right to roll back women's rights, only for us to be ignored, and of course UK TERFs are setting their sights on abortion.
— Casey Explosion (@caseyexplosion.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T12:55:19.278Z

International affairs

As you know, this last Thursday was Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Dr. Christy Pérez reminds us that the names so solemnly recited are an undercount.

The candles burn brightly in New York and Los Angeles, but their light too often stops at the border.

The silence that follows is not neutral; it is a form of colonial violence in death that mirrors the erasure trans people endure in life.

When we examine how these lists are assembled, we begin to see the problem. In many countries, identifying a victim as trans can endanger surviving friends or family. Police reports often misgender victims. Journalists lack the vocabulary (or the courage) to call transphobia by its name. English-language media rarely translate stories published in Spanish, Portuguese, Tagalog, or Swahili. The result is that when TDOR arrives, we recite only a fraction of the truth.

A moving testament and needed corrective.

More connectivities

Pardon, please if some of this seems random. I find it rather difficult to organize all this material on a phone about 2 inches (poetic license) wide. Brainy as you are, I'm sure no one needs it done perfectly. :-)

Health care

The decision ignores the stark reality that underserved communities experience greater negative impacts from caregiving, from financial hardships to worse health outcomes, advocates say.
— 19thnews (@19thnews.org) 2025-11-20T21:13:17.064943191Z

Three years after the release of the first comprehensive roadmap to address difficulties faced by family caregivers of older adults and people with disabilities, the Trump administration has quietly erased transgender caregivers and caregivers of color from a list of underserved or hard-to-reach populations, The 19th has exclusively learned.

Dozens of changes were quietly made this year to the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers, which was first released in 2022 after years of work by government officials and community stakeholders.

Vaccines

This is the exact phrase used on trans people and our healthcare. Now it's being used to eliminate access to vaccines and kill children with preventable diseases.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-20T13:03:39.323Z

More Drumphemism:

They straight up execute LGBTQ people simply for existing. This is ultimately what the Trump administration wants, listen to how envious he sounds of the Saudis here.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-20T21:27:59.153Z

The HHS report on gender affirming care released it's updated report showing they stacked its authors with anti-trans hate-group affiliated members, several of whom aren't even doctors with any sort of clinical experience. They selected their own ideologically friendly peer reviewers. It's a joke.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-19T20:45:27.244Z

The Washington Post Editorial Board is literally praising Trump's pseudoscientific "review" which deadnames trans people and which was constructed by numerous hate group talking heads as being good science. God how far it has fallen. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) 2025-11-20T19:11:30.202Z

Hater of the Week

"I just say, ‘You know, it’s hard for me to care about Riley Gaines tying for fifth when my swim coach is accused of raping my teammates.” Gaines never talks about her teammates who were raped by her coach that she supported. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-20T14:17:45.814Z

And now Pablo Torre is tearing into her as well. youtu.be/iKUl8lkuGOc?...
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-20T14:23:50.844Z

It tracks since Riley Gaines was best buddies with the coach who allegedly raped her teammates and has said almost nothing about it. She is very quiet about that despite being so outspoken about trans people.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-21T14:41:28.585Z

Riley Gaines is grateful for Megyn Kelly, the woman who was openly defending pedophilia and child sex trafficking last week.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-21T14:38:16.800Z

The parlous state of the UK

This is according to a leaked document from the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Read 👉 buff.ly/n8WSIPg #GCNnews
— Gay Community News (@gcnmag.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T19:00:30.765Z

The UK is considering a policy that would effectively segregate trans people from society. It would bar trans people from "single sex spaces" even when they use the facility of their sex assigned at birth. This is a full on policy of segregation without even the benefit of separate facilities.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-19T22:29:20.514Z

In other words, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

What is being done to trans youth in the UK is monstrous.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-19T13:49:43.479Z

And New Zealand now going along :-(

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
— Clio2 (@clio2.bsky.social) 2025-11-24T00:24:33.153Z

Despite everything, let us demand a little frivolity when we can get it. Frivolous poll follows (based on a comment last time):

Poll

61 votes Show Results

If I could be a were-animal, I'd like to be...

61 votes Vote Now!

If I could be a were-animal, I'd like to be...

Wolf/Coyote/Jackal

3 votes

Rabbit/Hare

4 votes

Snail/Sea urchin

1 vote

Lion/Tiger/Leopard

5 votes

Deer/Antelope/Bison

1 vote

Ferret/Otter/Ermine

5 votes

House cat/Dog

9 votes

Frog/chameleon

3 votes

Raven/hawk

13 votes

Bear

3 votes

Other

10 votes

Magpie

4 votes

Obfuscate Much, President Trump?

rebel ga

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday November 22, 2025 · 11:06 PM PST

2025/11/22 · 23:06

Too Much Crazy! I Keep Advising You. Crazy, Not Good.

Obfuscate

First Of All Donald, You Are Only The President. You Take Yourself, Way, Too Seriously.

Three (3) Years and your back amongst us, your constituents, (the people you were elected to represent).

I told you so. But you don’t listen. In America, The Power, Is With The People!

Presidential Powers-What A President Can And Cannot Do.

The President’s powers are limited, as outlined in the US Constitution. The President can do nothing that is contrary to the Constitution.

Executive (presidential) orders may be countermanded by Congress and by the Courts.

The President cannot just pass laws. Congress does that.

Executive orders are subject to Judicial review and interpretation. What Courts Can Do If the Trump Administration Defies Court Orders. Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law 2025-FB

The legislative and judicial branches have specific power to deny or impede the executive branch's actions. Branches Of The US Government / The legislative branch can override presidential vetoes with a two-thirds vote of both houses.

Presidential Powers-Don’t Include deciding how federal money will be spent without Senate approval.

-----

*For the past few weeks, I keep reading about how Trump is going to make all recipients re-apply for SNAP, (food stamp) benefits. Takes weeks to complete application. Extensive. Requesting, collecting, receiving, sending proofs, filling out application.

Now past week news saying maybe, whatever. So having just finished my own re-determination and exhausted from the stress and exertion. I’m like oh fk, no you won’t, donald. And started researching if Trump could even do that.

Technically, Trump could try to get this SNAP Food Stamp re-application idea going.

Sounds like more Trump threats, to take the attention off, his immigration raids and other issues. Hundreds Of Charlotte Students Protest Border Patrol With School Walkouts. Youtube

Midterms are not that far away and it’s not in Trump’s or GOP’s best interest to make any more problems for the hungry in the US. Hungry people remember!

Voting, The Informed Way. "Knowledge, Is Power!"

-----

From my research, as of now, Trump got a Congressional ok to do a survey of food stamp information, from every US state. Cost $50,000 per state. According to news, only 29 states have complied.

I think this is more “Trump crazy.” With administrative costs. A SNAP, full re-application process, would mean states have to process hundreds of thousands, of renewal applications. That would cost, millions of dollars. in staff time and administrative resources.

Trump, supposedly looking for fraud. Then, his “plan,” would be to present a case to Congress. For the millions in funding, it would cost for a SNAP re-certifican process.

*Funding for these surveys, is all Congress has approved so far.

Congress creates the rules and funds the SNAP program through legislation. Congress has to approve any major changes to food stamp program. Food Stamps SNAP is administered by Congress and the president-(USDA).

The President's administration, specifically the USDA, controls its day-to-day administration and can influence how the program operates.

Apparently, Trump was able to bring back the work requirements. ie Work, training, school. As if these people didn’t still need food stamps even working.

SCSEP Employment Training-Older Worker Program And Social Security Work Incentive Programs-Pass Plan, Ticket To Work. A Program For Anyone Over 55 Years Old, Who Meets The Financial Requirements. It Provides Paid, Job Training.

Congress sets the overall structure and funding for SNAP (food stamps), but the President, through the USDA, has significant power over implementing rules or changes, mandated by new laws.

Hey GOP Congress, Why Are You, Afraid Of Trump? He Can't Do Anything, Without You.

-----

Trump really wants to take the attention off himself. One way, tell people they have to reapply for food stamps.

Trump knows, threatening to starve the Country, gets a reaction.

* I don’t understand how there can be so much fraud when applicants need to submit numerous up to date proofs, from official agencies to get applied or re-certified.

Applying for Snap (food stamps), is a grueling job the first time. I just got re-certified.

Applicant has to send DHHS, copies of bank statements, social security benefit letter, or job, pay, or, tax records, electrical and heating costs. I can’t remember what else too stressful.

And this year they wanted a copy of my lease or rental agreement and for me to finish some part of the re-determination, of the re-certification online. I had a computer problem and so for me it was even more stressful.

Every State has a periodic recertification process for SNAP benefits, which involves checking the eligibility of existing recipients.

Administrative costs A full re-application process would mean states have to process thousands of new applications, which will cost millions of dollars in staff time and administrative resources.

-----

Office of the Clerk US Capitol Congress.gov

How To Make A Phone Call To An Elected Official Youtube auto plays

How To, What To Say. Fact Sheet

Contact Congress - House.gov / Senate.gov

White House Comment Line

♥**Civil Disobedience Training Manual**♥

-----

Obfuscation Politics

Dog Whistle (Politics)

Loaded Language

Current Protests Against ICE Raids.

The Rachel Maddow Show 11/17/25

“Doesn't Feel American.” Border Patrol Operation In Charlotte. Youtube

---—

Resources To Help Immigrants Learn About US Immigration. Laws, Rules, Links, Videos, etc.

This is where Democratic law makers need to fight Trump. Trump thinks, he can control how people eat, or not eat, if they don’t let him run amuck?

---—

-----

While conducting my research, I searched my State Website, knowing it would have any information regarding this “Trump plan-every food stamp beneficiary to get re-certified.”

I just finished this year’s, re-certification, in October.

It takes weeks to get all the necessary proofs, copies and to send them. And a month to process. For seniors with limited access ,this is a daunting effort.

-----

State Website's Nationwide Find Your State's Official Website

-----

State Dept Of Health And Human Services DHHS Website's Nationwide

-----

While reviewing my State Website, I saw, their Facebook page.

I found this, post, on my State’s fb page.

November 17 SNAP Recipients -November SNAP benefits have been issued, and December SNAP will be available as usual on December 5th.

You DO NOT need to re-certify for SNAP, unless you were due for a redetermination and you got a notice in the mail from DHHS.

DHHS. will never ask you to verify your information by text!

-----

*(Note I stopped linking to Facebook). Because about two months ago, I clicked on that little, messages bell and got a pop up, screaming, phishing ad.

Saying “I was banned from fb forever due to, suspicious activity.” I laughed. It had a link-button marked-saying, Click-Ignore. Tricky. And big lettering saying, “don’t turn off your computer.”

*Never click on any links in pop up ads. Don’t believe anything they say

Just go to top of page and exit the page. I just x’d off the page.

Two months Later No Problems Accessing Facebook. I knew it was a fake, but it still scared the heck out of me.

Facebook does not notify users of banning with a screaming pop up. And I never heard of anyone being permanently banned either. I’m on fb 18 years.

But I’m no longer linking to, or recommending Facebook. I wouldn’t expose anyone to that.

Now I only go to Facebook to visit friends or leave a post.

None of my posts on Facebook are radical. Just my usual stuff. I keep the heavy-duty politics mostly to Daily Kos where it’s appreciated. Facebook is a Tool. Dkos is a Community, a Home.

I got temporarily banned from fb, when I first started blogging over 15 years ago. I posted one of my social services blogs on too many strangers pages.

There was a banner or something on my front page and I had to identify other friends to prove I wasn't a robot.

These phishing ads, get in websites through regular, ads.

They tried that on Dkos, maybe three years ago. But the Help Desk chased them off and haven’t seen anything here since. I don't get ads as a subscriber so it’s an aggressive pop up. But no match for Daily Kos. Thank you all!

-----

Nationwide Local Daily Forecasts MSN Weather / Weather Forecast Washington DC.

50501 - Search By ZIP Code, Address, Key Words.

50 Protests 50 States 1 Movement. The People’s Movement.

Indivisable Team / Wikipedia

-----

God's Love, We Deliver. The tri-state area's leading provider of nutritious, individually tailored meals to people who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves. GLWD never, ever, have a waiting list and will never charge a client for their meals. FB

♥Joan Rivers Forever In Our Hearts♥ (pay no attention, to trump). Youtube auto plays Yes, Now Her Charity, Is Known All Over The World! “God’s Love We Deliver!”

----

Never Be Bullied Into Silence.

Never Allow Yourself To Be Made A Victim.

Accept No One's Definition Of Your Life.

Define Yourself! Robert Frost

The common mistake that bullies make, is presuming that because someone is nice that they’re weak. Those traits have nothing to do with each other. In Actuality, it takes considerable strength and character to be a good person. Mary Elizabeth Williams

-----

“A Cautionary Tale.” / Social Justice-The belief that people should have equal rights and opportunities, regardless of their race, gender, or economic status. A community effort to create a fair and equitable society. Ethics Philosophy

Recognition Injustice When the role or value of a social group is disregarded, disrespected or ignored.

"Framing" Psychology The framing effect is a type of cognitive bias or error in thinking.

Framing, refers to, whether an option is presented as a loss-negative, or a gain-positive.

People are generally biased toward choosing an option, that they view as a gain, over one they view as a loss, even if both options lead to the same result. Belief Perseverance

Epistemology The study of knowledge. Including what it is, how we know it, and its limitations. Also known as The Theory Of Knowledge.

---—

Reverend Billy And The Stop Shopping Gospel Choir / Wikipedia
Political Street Theater
Reverand Billy And The Stop Shopping Choir / Cronies In The Boardroom / The First Amendment Youtube

---—

YouTube Video

I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look. Wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there.

Wherever there's a cop beating up a guy, I'll be there.

I'll be in the way guys yell, when they're mad.

I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready.

And when the people are eating the stuff, they raise and living in the houses they build, I'll be there, too. Tom Joad, Grapes Of Wrath. I saw this film in Media class. We cried all the way through.

UPDATE: Cancellation of Trump regime cancels naturalization ceremonies in upstate New York counties

xaxnar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 20, 2025 · 8:37 AM PST

2025/11/20 · 08:37

Becoming a U.S. citizen just got harder - photo from DK library

UPDATE: Friday, Nov 21, 2025 · 5:24:26 PM +00:00 · xaxnar

The cancellation of naturalization ceremonies in upstate New York has been overturned. Via ABC7 out of NYC:

WESTCHESTER COUNTY (WABC) -- Congressman Mike Lawler announced that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will reverse its recent cancellation of naturalization ceremonies in Rockland and Westchester counties and across New York State.

The decision comes following Lawler's letter to USCIS Director Joseph Edlow and subsequent calls with Director Edlow.

"After raising this issue directly with USCIS and speaking to Director Edlow, I'm pleased to share that the agency will reverse its decision and allow naturalization ceremonies in Rockland and Westchester to resume immediately," stated Congressman Lawler. "Our communities are strengthened by the contributions of new citizens every single day."

Other counties in upstate New York had been affected as well:

Schenectady, Onondaga, Tompkins, Broome, Washington, Westchester, and Rockland Counties were notified of cancelled ceremonies. The congressman [Mike Lawler] shared the reasoning behind why the ceremonies were cancelled in the first place.

“There were questions about the court’s jurisdiction and whether or not county courts were participating in the ceremonies, and I was able to walk him through the actual information.”

Other state leaders, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also called for the decision to be reversed. Schenectady County Clerk Cara Ackerley spoke about the importance of having these types of ceremonies.

“These ceremonies are a culmination of years of effort and study and time. This is supposed to be joyous and a celebration of everything that the American Dream is,” said Ackerley.

While this is good news, what must not be lost sight of is the determination of the Trump regime to impose an agenda of white nationalism through any means they can find. The reversal of this move is a small but important win.

My thanks to the Daily Kos administrators for bringing this to my attention in this matter so that I could update this post. I apologize if anyone was inconvenienced or misinformed due to the delay in doing so.

UPDATE: Thursday, Nov 20, 2025 · 6:35:01 PM +00:00 · xaxnar

Thanks to everyone who republished this to so many different groups. This story may herald some new regime efforts in their war on immigrants, as noted in comments.

Via WSYR:

Trump administration cancels citizenship ceremonies in Upstate New York, claiming county courts don’t meet legal requirements

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The federal government will no longer allow county courts or state supreme court justices to preside over citizenship ceremonies and has cancelled many swearing-ins already scheduled, including in Onondaga County.

Sources first informed NewsChannel 9 of naturalization ceremonies being cancelled by the federal government without explanation across New York counties.

A spokesperson for the federal government gave NewsChannel 9 the reason: “After reviewing the jurisdiction of certain New York county courts under the Immigration and Nationality Act, we have determined that these courts do not meet the statutory requirements to conduct naturalization ceremonies. As a result, USCIS will transition from judicial to administrative ceremonies to ensure compliance with the law.”

This is likely the latest move by the regime’s Stephen Miller, who has been using his position to pursue aggressive anti-immigrant policies. This targets people who are fully in compliance with the law — but are not the kind of people Miller thinks should be here.

Here, via WSYR, is the regime statement on this:

Full Statement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

USCIS is dedicated to ensuring that all aspects of the naturalization process comply with federal law. After reviewing the jurisdiction of certain New York county courts under the Immigration and Nationality Act, we have determined that these courts do not meet the statutory requirements to conduct naturalization ceremonies. As a result, USCIS will transition from judicial to administrative ceremonies to ensure compliance with the law. Aliens scheduled for ceremonies at these courts will be rescheduled, and their naturalization process will continue.

Matthew Tragesser, spokesperson for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

There is no word if ICE agents will be on hand at the approved locations to screen people for possible deportation — but it would not be a surprise. Having a green card is not sufficient protection. Already having citizenship is not always enough either. (Homeland Security claims reports of citizens being deported are fake news.)

Trump and Republicans have repeatedly claimed — without evidence — that millions of illegal aliens are voting in elections. Additionally they claim — also without evidence - that Democrats are deliberately bringing them in to become Democratic voters.

Republicans have been deliberately pursuing policies making it harder to vote in order to suppress turnout. How much of this latest move against people seeking to become citizens — and legally able to vote — is driven by the recent blue wave election wins is not known, but is likely a factor.

A bigger factor is the Republican Party embrace of the Great Replacement theory, one of the key beliefs of the white nationalist movement — along with antisemitism.

A search of the Internet appears to suggest that this policy change is limited to certain counties in New York State at the moment — although there would not appear to be anything to keep it from being applied across the country.

We will have to keep a watch on this. If anyone sees this happening elsewhere, please add a comment about it.

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So many questions.

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So many questions.

Is this a test case to see if this can be used elsewhere?

73 votes

Is it a deliberate tactic targeting a blue state?

48 votes

Is this part of an effort to discourage people from becoming citizens?

22 votes

Is this part of a larger strategy as Republicans prepare for the midterm elections?

6 votes

All of the above?

1003 votes

See my thoughts.

2 votes

Pie.

16 votes

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