Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Miss Sassy Transitioning to Miss Pussy?"
That went up Friday and I need to note Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Propaganda Pig."
That one went up on Thursday.
Kip e-mailed to note this post's recipe -- it's Good Housekeeping's recipe for Roasted Cauliflower Pasta:
Ingredients
- 12 oz.
bucatini pasta
- 1 Tbsp.
finely grated lemon zest, plus 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1
small cauliflower (about 2 lbs; cut into small florets)
- 4
anchovies, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp.
capers, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp.
olive oil
- 3
cloves garlic, pressed
Pinch red pepper flakes
Chopped parsley, for serving
Directions:
News? Wow. Read C.I.'s "Tesla Takedown actions" for coverage of many of the protests across the US on Saturday I also want to notice this from an important essay at LGBTQ Nation by Sarah P:
I can’t stop shivering. For the past nine weeks, my anxiety has steadily increased, and the past few days it’s been through the roof. On day one of his term, Donald Trump signed an order to roll back the rights of gender diverse people in the US. Since then, there have been many more executive orders, and states are introducing and passing anti-trans legislation at an alarming rate. These orders have threatened my family directly and could uproot our very way of life.
My transgender son turned 18 in January. We live in a deeply conservative rural area of the United States. Physically, we are fairly safe. It might surprise some of you, but our small town barely noticed when my son announced, at 14, that he was a boy.
I am a person of faith; I was raised a conservative Christian, and though I have strayed from the conservative part, I still follow Jesus’ teachings and pray regularly. In my prayers since my son came out, I consistently hear God comforting me using the words of Matthew 3:17(NKJV): “And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” The one thing I have always known is I am to love my son the way God already loves him: unconditionally.
If you knew my son, if you had even met him briefly, here are some things you would know about him: He is sweet and caring, funny and creative. He dotes on his four cats and cares diligently for over 50 houseplants. He spent his own money on a 40-gallon aquarium for the goldfish he got for free 6 years ago at the county fair because he wanted them to have the best life possible if they were going to live in a tank. He gets interested in a topic and goes on a deep dive on Youtube to learn everything he can about any little thing, from home organizing to auto detailing to political science. He is taking a class through the local community college. Most of his classmates are middle-aged women; they dote on him, and when I run into one of them in town, she tells me how kind and smart he is, and it makes my heart swell.
My son and I discuss world events, the small conflicts he has with friends, and local drama that we read about on our community Facebook page. His insights expand my mind and help me grow in understanding, and he is growing right alongside me. He’s been working with a wonderful therapist for more than 3 years, and he puts the things she teaches him into practice. He gets grumpy with me when I do things that annoy him, but then he apologizes and hugs me and says, “But could you please not?”
Please read the entire essay.
Added: Noting all the latest posts from each of the community sites:
This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for Friday:
Heinrich slams Trump Administration intelligence officials for lying under oath: “Incredibly disappointing”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, appeared on MSNBC with Jen Psaki yesterday, where he reacted to Trump Administration intelligence officials lying under oath to his question during Tuesday’s hearing on whether intelligence officials’ Signal group chat included precise information on weapons packages, targets, or timing.
On the Signal chat transcript:
Jen Psaki: Senator, I know you’ve been living this, trying to get more information, trying to ask very valid legitimate questions. But you hadn’t seen those text messages until this morning.
Senator Heinrich: Nope, just like everyone else.
Psaki: What did you think when you read them?
Heinrich: Well, I thought, how can you come and testify in front of Congress, and not think, given everything that's gone on, that the details would come out? When you have the Director of the CIA, when you have the DNI, just brazenly lying to Congress, how could they not think that this wasn't going to come out at some point, or that we wouldn't get to the bottom of it? It is deeply disappointing.
On Trump Administration officials lying under oath to Heinrich’s question about contents of Signal chat:
Psaki: Secretary Hegseth also lied about this. They [Directors Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe] weren't the only people lying about it. They were sitting there under oath testifying in Congress.
Heinrich: Yes.
Psaki: It was a text chain they were on. Hard to imagine they didn't remember those details. Did they lie to you?
Heinrich: Yeah, they did lie to us. It's hard to imagine for me that they didn't all go over the text chain the night before. Or in the run up to even the morning, knowing that this was in the news already. So, it's incredibly disappointing to see how cavalierly they misrepresented this. And obviously I hadn't seen those parts of the text chain at that point. But I suspected, and what we would normally really be concerned about showing up outside of what we call the high side, the secure communications infrastructure that we use. Are these operational details? Because that is what can put service members at risk, and this is a case where real lives are on the line. There were intelligence details in these exchanges that may well have put peoples' lives at risk.
Psaki: Yeah, the General is making this point that they're still at risk now. And this now gives the Houthis a better understanding of how these communications happen.
Heinrich: That’s exactly right.
On an expedited Inspector General investigation into the situation:
Psaki: Let me ask you: Senator Roger Wicker said today that the Senate Armed Services Committee is seeking an expedited IG investigation. He's a Republican senator. We haven't heard that from a lot of other Republican senators or any others that I'm aware of publicly at this point, but you talk to them privately. Do you think more could come out? Is there more who might call for that?
Heinrich: I hope. I really hope more [Republican senators] do come out, because the private conversations are: People know this was wrong. People know that it was reckless. No one wants to defend this in the public. Even if you watch the Worldwide Annual Threat Assessment hearing in its totality, you didn't hear Republicans coming to the defense of this kind of recklessness. We'll just have to see. You know, there's this palpable fear of saying anything critical of Team Trump. And to his credit, I think Roger Wicker did what anyone would normally do in this situation, which is just to say, “Let's get to the bottom of it.”
Psaki: That's what IGs are supposed to do. Hence why it's so problematic that a number of them were fired. Senator, thank you so much, and thank you for continuing to press on this issue. I know there's many, many more questions out there.
Heinrich: We're not done yet.
A recap of Tuesday’s hearing on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence can be found here.
###
Newspaper and news website headlines across the continent, however, have not.
Chump looks as ineffective and as indecisive as Emperor Nero.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) sent a letter to the Acting Inspector General of the Department of Defense regarding their bipartisan concern and interest about the Signal group chat involving senior members of the Trump Administration.
Full text of the letter follows:
Mr. Steven A. Stebbins
Acting Inspector General
U.S. Department of Defense – Office of Inspector General
4800 Mark Center Drive
Alexandria, VA 22350-1500
Dear Mr. Stebbins,
On March 11, 2025, Jeffrey Goldberg, the Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was reportedly included on a group chat on the commercially available communications application called Signal, which included members of the National Security Council. This chat was alleged to have included classified information pertaining to sensitive military actions in Yemen. If true, this reporting raises questions as to the use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information, as well as the sharing of such information with those who do not have proper clearance and need to know.
Accordingly, we ask that you conduct an inquiry into, and provide us with an assessment of, the following:
1. The facts and circumstances surrounding the above referenced Signal chat incident, including an accounting of what was communicated and any remedial actions taken as a result;
2. Department of Defense (DOD) policies and adherence to policies relating to government officers and employees sharing sensitive and classified information on non-government networks and electronic applications;
3. An assessment of DOD classification and declassification policies and processes and whether these policies and processes were adhered to;
4. How the policies of the White House, Department of Defense, the intelligence community, and other Departments and agencies represented on the National Security Council on this subject differ, if at all;
5. An assessment of whether any individuals transferred classified information, including operational details, from classified systems to unclassified systems, and if so, how;
6. Any recommendations to address potential issues identified.
Please include a classified annex to these responses as needed. The Senate Armed Services Committee will work with you to schedule a briefing immediately upon completion of your review.
Respectfully,
