Mikey Likes It!

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Soon-Shiong and his common law wife Elon

First up, we need a laugh.

Philomena Cunk always makes me laugh. The NETFLIX episodes are something I can watch over and over.

The media is not our friend. C.I. has noted that for years and she even has friends in the media. She has noted that they will stab you in the back for a story. But she also notes its the nature of the beast and part of the free press. So when, for example, THE WASHINGTON POST attacked her while the daughter of that Talking Head was in charge of the paper -- even when the Talking Head daughter called C.I. personally to apologize, C.I. didn't take it seriously. Again, free press is her attitude and they're not they're to make you feel good. It's a basic that Donald Trump and his suck ups can't grasp. Justin Baragona (INDEPENDENT) reports:

Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong is now prohibiting “editorials containing criticism” of Donald Trump “unless they are presented side-by-side with another opinion piece representing the ‘opposing view,’” according to a memo written by the newspaper’s editors.

As Oliver Darcy first reported in his Status newsletter, the staff memo reveals that Soon-Shiong’s “meddling” of the LA Times’ coverage – especially regarding the president-elect – has “grown more pervasive than previously realized.”

[. . .]

Asserting that the billionaire owner has told the editorial board to “take a break from writing about Trump” even though the president-elect is currently shaping up his administration, the Times staffers claimed that Soon-Shiong’s preferential treatment of Trump goes beyond just one axed column.

According to the memo, Soon-Shiong “has instituted a new policy that prohibits editorials containing criticism of the president-elect unless they are presented side-by-side with another opinion piece representing the ‘opposing view,’ adding that this essentially prevents any criticism of Trump from making the paper’s pages.

“This new restriction, which appears to apply only to matters involving Trump and not to other officials or issues, has effectively killed or indefinitely delayed multiple editorials that have been written and edited but remain unpublished,” the memo continued, suggesting the owner has nixed other columns about Trump.

He and Elon Musk belong in one another's arms at the bottom of the ocean.

Soon-Shiong knows nothing about journalism or about this country and democracy. He wasn't born in a democracy. He's gutter trash who came to our country from South Africa. He loved his birth country and he loved apartheid. In fact, if apartheid hadn't been ending, Soon-Shiong would have stated in South Africa. He was part of the group carrying out the tyranny.

We really need to look at our immigration policies. For example, had I been in charge of it in 1989, I would have said "NO" to any non-Black person trying to immigrate into the US from South Africa. I would not have allowed known racists to enter our country. Yeah, I know why they wanted out, the people they'd attacked, bullied, imprisoned and denied basic rights to had finally won freedom and the Whites were scared to death they were going to be strung up in the town square. You know what? They should have been.

If you weren't fighting to end apartheid and you were a White South African, you should have been left to mob justice for all the evil you'd inflicted for decades.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, December 17, 2024. Another day, another day of Satan lying, his pick for Secretary of Defense just gets more disgusting, the right wing attacks BLUESKY, and much more.

BLUESKY continues to add users. Some of which are not wanted. Sarah Perez (TECHCRUNCH) reports:

Now with 25 million users, Bluesky is facing a test that will determine whether or not its platform will still be seen as a safe space and place of refuge from the toxicity of X. In recent days, a large number of users on Bluesky have been urging the company to ban one newcomer for his opinions and works shared both on and off the platform.

Writer and podcast host Jesse Singal joined Bluesky 12 days ago to the horror of much of the Bluesky community. Singal has been cataloged by GLAAD’s Accountability Project for his writings on transgender issues and other matters. The GLAAD project “catalogs anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and discriminatory actions of politicians, commentators, organization heads, religious leaders, and legal figures, who have used their platforms, influence, and power to spread misinformation and harm LGBTQ people.”

He is now the most blocked user on the social network, and user outrage over his participation on the platform is growing. People are demanding that Bluesky take a stand: It’s either a place that promises it won’t host bad actors, or it’s a place that promises not to inflate the reach of bad actors thanks to its various moderation tools.

It cannot be both.

That's reality. He's hate merchant who got propped up by a lot of hate merchants. Why isn't he staying in his cesspool? Twitter is where he belongs. His hate speech doesn't belong on BLUE SKY.. He's carved out his home on the racist, sexist and homophobic Twitter.

Well it seems sugar pants is no longer happy there. And, oh look, there's Ben Smith another piece of crap. We're going to limit this because I've just noted Ben Smith. We're going to wrap this up real quick. That garbage dump that no one would f**k without a blindfold always sucks up to right wingers and always has. We were the first ones to write about a nominee for an ambassador post -- to write about it why it wouldn't go through and it didn't go through but Ben all those years ago, elected to give credit to someone who wrote about it nearly two days later which we only found about when that person -- the right winger -- e-mailed to say he was sorry because he had read it on this site and, more to the point, in his write up at his site, he clearly gave credit to this site in the first sentence of his write up. In addition, he forwarded his e-mail to Ben and Ben's reply where the right-wing blogger explained that he had merely reported and quoted from what I wrote -- and he'd credited me for it -- so Ben needed to do a correction and Ben replied back that he didn't need to and why he didn't need to (he didn't care for THE COMMON ILLS). That's Ben Smith for you -- human garbage with a stronger stink.

We could go into so much more about Ben -- and may at a later date - but for now if you come across his garbage and think why is he attacking Sarah for the article she wrote, it's because he's garbage. There's nothing "bizarre" about what she wrote for TECHDIRT it's just that Ben Smith is dirt and always and forever will be.

Trash needs to stay at Twitter with the breasty Shamoo.

Yep, that's Elon Musk -- vain enough to have his ass hair transplanted to his head to cover up the balding but apparently too afraid to get a much needed breast reduction.

Maybe he and Satan Trump could go in and each get a much needed breast reduction procedure at the same time? Ted Johnson (DEADLINE) reports the latest on Satan's legal woes:

A New York judge ruled Monday that Donald Trump does not have immunity from his conviction on 34 felony counts in his hush money case.

Judge Juan Merchan concluded that the case did not stem from Trump’s official acts as president. Trump’s attorneys had sought to have the case dismissed based on a Supreme Court ruling last year.

The case centered on falsification of business records related to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, before Trump became president.

Merchan wrote in his ruling that the evidence in the case “relate entirely to unofficial conduct and thus, receive no immunity protections.”

Still the convicted felon -- several times over.

Holly Honderich (BBC NEWS) adds:

Now, following Justice Merchan's ruling, Trump's team is almost certain to seek further delays and appeals.

And the judge is still yet to decide whether to issue a sentence before Trump assumes office in January, after his term ends in 2029 or not at all.

Interesting.

He can do that after January 20th when he's sworn in?

Haven't presidents repeatedly argued over the years against legal issues being decided whil they're in office? Claiming that it would be a distraction to carrying out the duties of the office.

Convicted felon. It will always follow him around. That's what he is, a crook. He's a liar. Daniel Dale (CNN) did a fact check on the lies the crook told in yesterday's liary before the press:

Here are some of the false claims Trump made at the Monday event.

California and the vote count: Trump falsely claimed that “they’re still counting the vote in California.” While it’s true that California does, for various reasons, take longer than other states to finish counting votes in federal elections, it is not still counting today; the state’s secretary of state certified the 2024 election results on Friday.

Europe and pesticides: Trump falsely claimed, “Europe doesn’t use pesticides, and yet they have a better mortality rate than we do. They don’t use pesticides.” Pesticides are widely used in Europe, though some particular pesticides that are used in the US are banned in the European Union.

Conflict under Trump: Trump repeated his familiar false claim that there were “no wars” during his presidency, this time saying, “Think of it: four years ago, we had no wars.”

In fact, there were dozens of unresolved wars and armed conflicts in late 2020 and when Trump left office in early 2021. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks armed conflict in countries around the world, said in a June email that it estimates there were active armed conflicts in 51 international states in 2020 and again active armed conflicts in 51 international states in 2021.

When Trump left office in early 2021, US troops were still deployed in combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq; civil wars in Syria, Yemen and Somalia continued, as did the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was also ongoing, as were the conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, between Israel and Syria and between Israel and Iran; Islamist insurgents continued their fight in Africa’s Sahel region; there was major violence in Mexico’s long-running drug wars; fighting continued between Ukraine and pro-Russian forces in Ukraine’s Donbas region; and there were lots of other unresolved wars and conflicts around the world.

Trump’s tax cut: Trump repeated his false claim that he signed “the biggest tax cuts in history.” Expert analyses have found that his 2017 tax cut law was not the largest in US history, either in percentage of gross domestic product or in inflation-adjusted dollars.

Tariffs on China: Trump repeated two of his regular false claims about tariffs on imported Chinese products. He falsely claimed that the US took in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs “from China” during his presidency, then falsely claimed that before his presidency, “no other president took in 10 cents, not 10 cents.”

The US was generating billions per year in revenue from tariffs on China before Trump took office; in fact, the US has had tariffs on Chinese imports since the 1700s. Second, US importers pay these tariffs, not China, and often pass on some or all of the cost to consumers. Study after study has found that Americans bore the overwhelming majority of the cost of Trump’s tariffs.

He lies and he lies again. He's a convicted felon. Michael Albert (ZNET) notes:

Trump is a pestilence, an abomination. Really. He is. No more debate. It is as evident as a cloud of locusts. It is as undeniable as his pronouncements, appointments, and Project 2025. What name should we give all that? Call it anything you like. But by any other name fascism is still fascist.

Whether from day one in an avalanche of proclamations that seek to bury all opposition in a shock and awe flash, or, less apocalyptically and more strategically, over many months in a careful slow boil that burns a bit at a time until we are all cooked, Trump and his minions mean to impose horror on all but themselves. They are preparing a carpet bombing of vile policies that range from massive anti-human deportations to incendiary anti-economic tariffs, and from suicidal drill baby drill for oil billionaires to unlimited repressive incarceration to stifle effective disobedience. That is already a whole lot, but don’t overlook the long term. Trump and his minions also mean to transform government agencies and political institutions to ensure persistent one-thug rule. Goodbye guardrails. Hello holocaust.

So, be against Trump? Of course. But how? Once mobilized, I don’t think it is rocket science. Mass movements that raise costs for elites are what can win change. Organize to generate ever-widening solidarity and understanding. Provide sanctuary to protect allies and block incarcerations. Educate to awaken ever-broader circles of resistance. Rally, boycott, occupy, and strike to block and to simultaneously develop capacity to resist further. Volunteer for or join movement organizations. Each person decide to join the collective fight, or not—and then find entry and welcome. That is the hard part, not once aligned, once prepared, what to do. That will have many answers, yes, to be sure, but only one of the plausible answers will be widely daunting and confusing.

Satan's disappointing and embarrassing administration nominees are the result of his not being qualified for the job himself. Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) reports:

One of Donald Trump's nominees was escorted on Capitol Hill by a former soldier who left the military after he was accused of brutally beating a civilian role player during a training exercise.

Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth has been accompanied this month by former Army Special Forces Master Sergeant John Jacob Hasenbein, who left the service after witnesses said he kicked, punched and hogtied a former Iraqi soldier during a 2019 training exercise, reported the New York Times.

“This guy has real anger issues,” said Ahmed Altameemi, the former member of the Iraqi Army’s elite counterterrorism service who Hasenbein was charged with assaulting. "He is not a safe man. I don’t know why they gave him this position. Don’t they do any background checks?”

The Army charged Hasenbein, who had deployed to Iraq eight times, with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, and a military jury found him guilty in a court martial in 2020. But the judge overseeing the case declared a mistrial after learning that a friend of Hasebein had been talking to a juror.

A supervisor alleged that Hasenbein, now 45, rubbed Altameemi’s face into a concrete pillar, kicked him and repeatedly struck him with “hammer-fist” blows to his ribs and “knee strikes” to his face.

“The other guys realized things were wrong and started to calm down,” said another company employee involved in the exercise. "[Hasenbein] didn’t calm down — he never calmed down."

That is yet another action the renders Hegseth unfit for the position of Secretary of Defense. He's a disgrace and he's not able to meet a higher standard of leadership. He's a drunk and a liar and he assaults women. Now we know that he would rather be seen with someone who should be in prison than with the upstanding members of the US military.

In other news, Senator Elizabeth Warren's office issued the following:

“The U.S. government’s record with AI/AN children has eroded Tribal communities’ trust in the traditional child welfare system.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study into child abuse and neglect in indigenous communities to help inform Congress’ work to support Tribal child welfare programs.

Historically, American Indian (AI) and Alaskan Native (AN) communities have been subjected to trauma by the United States government. In the 19th and 20th centuries, hundreds of thousands of children were displaced into over 500 boarding schools, where they experienced physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Then between the 1950s and 1970s, an estimated 25 to 35 percent of all AI/AN children were removed from their families and placed by child welfare agencies in foster care far from their tribal communities or were adopted, primarily by non-Indian families. Even today, AI/AN children are over-represented in the foster care system.

Tribal child welfare programs are systematically underfunded. In August 2016, GAO published a report revealing that over half of the Tribes interviewed lacked adequate resources for their foster care programs. These funding gaps have led to a lack of adequate child welfare infrastructure, including a shortage of trained child welfare professionals, inadequate technology for maintaining child case records, and a lack of emergency intervention services.

“To best support Tribal child welfare programs, we need to better understand the common barriers Tribes face in accessing federal and state child welfare funding and technical assistance, the best practices that Tribal child welfare programs employ, and the gaps in federal data on AI/AN child abuse,” wrote the senators.

The lawmakers urged GAO to consult with Tribes to examine existing child abuse and neglect prevention programs and resources, and produce a report with recommendations on how to better support Tribes’ child welfare programs.

“The federal government has a responsibility to invest in Tribal child welfare programs and to not repeat the harms of the past. This research is critical to better understanding those programs’ urgent needs,” concluded the senators.

###

And we'll wind down with this from THE BLACK COMMENTATOR:

The Black Commentator Issue #1020 is now Online

December 12, 2024

Read issue 1020

Our email address is BlackCommentator@gmail.com

Our voicemail number is 856.823.1739

Take me off the email list

The Black Commenentator | P.O. Box 2635, A weekly publication dedicated to economic justice, social justice and peace.,
Tarpon Springs, FL 34688-2635

The following sites updated:

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Incredible Dionne, disgusting Donald

Starting with a video.

That's Dionne Warwick. My daughter is a big fan of Kylie Minouge and others. But when she first started leaving children's records behind, it was because of Dionne Warwick. She saw the cover of some 60s Dionne album and loved it and that's how she became a fan. She's now got pretty much everything Dionne's ever put on vinyl. And that's the first artist she really embraced.

My ten favorite Dionne tracks:

1) "Walk On By"

2) "Anyone Who Had A Heart"

3) "Heartbreaker"

4) "Message To Michael"

5) "Planes and Trains and Automobiles"

6) "I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again"

7) "That's What Friends Are For"

8) "Plastic City"

9) "Valley of the Dolls"

10) "You'll Never Get To Heaven"

From the beauty of Dionne's music to the ugly of the world we live in, Donald Satan Trump is eager for January to get here already so he can focus on destroying the country. Suzanne Blake (NEWSWEEK) notes:

A majority of Americans are bracing themselves for President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs, according to a poll that was published on Monday.

In a WalletHub Fed Rate survey of 200 Americans this month, 74 percent of Americans said Trump's possible tariffs would likely lead to more inflation down the line as it remains above the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target.

[. . .]

Trump centered his presidential campaign on his strong economic policies, often calling into question the Joe Biden's administration's impact on the U.S. economy and high inflation.

However, Trump's policies, especially his plans to implement tariffs on different countries, like China, Canada and Mexico, could cause prices to rise across a variety of sectors.

By the way, read the article. Trump's cracking down on immigration from Canada. Outside of THE PROPOSAL, who's saying this is a big problem?

I love THE PROPOSAL. Sandra Bullock's funny and always makes me laugh. She ends up trying to marry Ryan Reynolds to stay in the country when she discovers she's about to be deported back to Canada.

It's a funny movie. I went to CBS NEWS and the numbers have increased over the last four years but, no, it's still not a problem.

Anyway, Trump can't wait to destroy the economy. Sam Sutton (POLITICO) notes that crazy Trump doesn't know what he's doing and the only way to do what he claims he will do is to start gutting Medicare and other programs. He's an idiot and so is MAGA. Dace Potas (USA TODAY) notes:

Donald Trump and his supporters seem to have one major goal heading into his second term: revenge.

Whether it be election officials who supposedly stole the 2020 election from Trump or those who held him accountable for his response to that election lie, Trump has promised to make his enemies pay, often criminally.

Republicans would be wise to focus their priorities elsewhere or they risk putting all of their eggs in the MAGA basket of retribution – making the same mistake they have made for the past eight years. Americans voted for Trump because they couldn't afford groceries, not because they want former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney to be prosecuted.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Monday, December 16, 2024. Satan Trump makes clear he will not be the president of all Americans in his second effort to destroy the United States of America.

Let's start with Joseph William's latest at THE CHICAGO DEFENDER:

Four years ago, a white man suffocated George Floyd, a Black man, to death on a gritty Minneapolis street corner as bystanders begged for mercy. That brutal killing of an unarmed Floyd — caught on camera — turbocharged the Black Lives Matter movement, put the phrase “white privilege” into the national lexicon and inspired philanthropists to throw bushels of money at social justice nonprofits.

A year later, Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer whose job included training rookies, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 22 years and 6 months in prison — a rare instance of accountability and introspection in America’s long history of racist, systemic violence.

Monday brought us yet another reminder of how fleeting that reckoning truly was when a white man was found not guilty of suffocating Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Black man, to death on the floor of a grimy New York subway train as bystanders called for mercy.

The acquittal of Daniel Penny — already a vigilante hero among the far right — comes just weeks after Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris for the presidency in a racist campaign, Walmart became the biggest U.S. employer to shut down its DEI program, and social justice nonprofits realized philanthropists are closing their checkbooks to avoid Trump’s enemies list.

The Manhattan jury trying the second-degree murder case unanimously agreed with Penny: Neely, a homeless man dealing with mental illness and substance abuse, was a threat to others on the subway car that day, and Penny, a former Marine with a lethal chokehold, should not be held criminally responsible for killing him.

“What are we going to do, people? What’s going to happen to us now? I’ve had enough of this. The system is rigged.”

– Andre Zachary Neely’s father

Never mind that the killing happened in broad daylight, in front of many eyewitnesses, and was also recorded on a cellphone camera. Or that when Penny attacked him, Neely hadn’t committed an actual crime or put hands on anyone. Or that Neely was unarmed, that no lives were in danger, that passengers pleaded for Penny to let Neely go, that Penny kept McNeely in a chokehold for nearly five full minutes, maintaining it long after McNeely stopped struggling.

The jury saw and heard and processed all that evidence and — following roughly 17 hours of deliberation, including deadlocking over a lesser charge — collectively shrugged.

Satan Trump will never be the president of all Americans and that's a result of his choices and actions.

Penny killed McNeely.

We can argue many things but that is not in dispute. But for Penny being on the subway that day, McNeely would be alive.

This quickly became an issue with FOX "NEWS" and the others on the fright-wing insisting Black man got what was coming to him and White man a savior. That is how they played it and don't pretend otherwise. McNeely was Black and so, in their eyes, he had it coming. As Amercian history shows, decade over decade, killing people of color always results in less consequences than killing a White person.

I don't know Daniel Penny and I wouldn't want to at this point. When the verdict was delivered, I had nothing against Penny. He clearly killed Jordan Neely. Did he mean to? Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. I had no idea. Terrible things happen especially in a country where if a person of color is disruptive, a White person is encouraged to attack the person of color. Racism is not just ingrained into the American culture, it is encouraged and taught.

In his mind, Penny might be trying to address his own actions. Serious actions because he killed Jordan Neely.

He might be.

I've shared before about being a child and being kidnapped from school and taken off and raped. I was a kid, a very young kid. And as soon as the kidnapper went to sleep, I grabbed a sharp object (I pretended to be asleep before that) and drove it repeatedly into the man's leg over and over, blood everywhere and then ran out screaming calling for the cops. Did I kill him? Because he's dead. And he was dead by the time the authorities were there. I would guess I did kill him. (Guess? The police were outraged by what had taken place. From time to time, it was suggested over the years that the man was denied medical assistance.)

That man terrorized me and raped me.

And I'm glad he's dead. I can't imagine going through life with him being alive -- I'm being honest here. But there are times when I think about that and think about taking someone's life.

Grasp that I was less than ten years old. Grasp that he intentionally sought me out. Grasp that he beat and then he raped me.

And then there's Penny. Who clearly killed Jordan Neely.

The verdict comes down and he goes to the bar to 'celebrate' with his attorneys. Not a good look. And then, days after, this.

Days after the verdict, he's a guest of Satan and JD Vance at a football game?

You killed a man. You may have gotten off without prison time, but you still killed a man. Someone who did you know physical harm is dead because of you.

And you're out having fun and celebrating? What? Getting away with murder, that's what.

Horrible mistakes happen every day. And Penny's actions with Neely could have been a horrible mistake.

But not when you turn that into political cash. For FOX "NEWS" and the fright-wing, this was always about Big White man killed man of color. It was always a racist attack. And that's why they rushed to defend Penny from the start.

And that's why he got celebrated and treated like a hero instead of either a killer or a very unfortunate person.

He's given up the right, in the court of public opinion, to be seen as a very unfortunate person.

When he should have been home contemplating the life he took, he was instead out in public with racist Trump and racist JD. He chose where he wanted to be.

And Satan and JD chose where they wanted him to be.

He got away with killing Jordan Neely. That's what Penny, Satan and JD were celebrating, in front of the whole world.

This wasn't some kid who'd won a science fair, this wasn't some athlete who'd delivered an amazing performance. This was a killer who beat the rap for murdering a Black man.

At COMMON DREAMS, Ralph Nader writes:

Now is the time to prepare anticipatory strategies against what the vengeful, avaricious, lawless Trump and his Trumpsters have boasted out loud about daily. Don’t wait until Trump’s inauguration. A short list of suggestions follows:

No link to trash.

Now is the time?

Now, Ralph?

No the time to prepare was ahead of the presidential election -- you know, back when you were attacking Kamala Harris week after week while you

Ralph is a lot like Daniel Penny.

His actions in 2000? The Iraq War is something he helped create. Millions are dead as a result. But, week after week, on air and in print, he can never express remorse for his actions or take accountability for his part in starting the Iraq War.

. Back on December 6th, I noted:

The Supreme Court is probably going to deliver a severe attack on trans rights. They heard the case this week. We've noted many videos here about it -- and no one laid it out better than Danielle Moodie -- that's why we included her video in yesterday's snapshot.

I haven't written about this case here (but did two pieces for community newsletters) and the reason is, I just can't. I don't know if it's a scene from a film I'm recalling or something from news footage that's blurred in my mind long ago. But it's black and white when I dream and it's a child and they identify as female so some hateful thugs -- adults, not peers -- shaves her hair and beats her up. And it was popping up in dreams and I've not been able to sleep and now carry it over to waking moments. This isn't a topic I can address right now myself.

Today, John Russell (LGBTQ NATION) reports:

The ACLU of Florida is suing the state’s Department of Corrections over a new anti-transgender policy that will restrict trans prisoners’ access to gender-affirming medical care as well as their ability to express their gender identity.

According to a report from The Marshall Project and the Tampa Bay Times, a federal judge in Tallahassee held a preliminary hearing in the case on December 9. The ACLU of Florida has asked the judge to block enforcement of the policy, calling it an unconstitutional ban on gender-affirming care. A ruling is expected in the weeks ahead.

[. . .]

In court filings and interviews, incarcerated trans women in Florida prisons also reported being subjected to breast examinations to determine whether or not they would still be allowed access to bras.

“It felt like I was being treated less than human,” Josie Takach, a trans inmate at a Florida men’s facility, said of the examination. Takach said her undergarments, now considered contraband, were confiscated. “I feel like I’m 12 years old again, sneaking around wearing a bra.”

Sara Maatsch, who is also incarcerated in a Florida men’s prison, said that her gender dysphoria diagnosis was now considered a serious psychiatric illness. She was told she would have to be moved to a more restrictive facility with fewer work and programming opportunities to continue receiving treatment.

Mariko Sundwall told The Marshall Project that after spending 10 days in solitary confinement for refusing to cut her hair, a prison barber buzzed her hair short while she was handcuffed.

“I’m very sad and depressed. I feel like they’re taking away my identity,” Jada Edwards, another trans inmate, said of the buzz cut she was forced to receive.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) reintroduced the BUY GREEN Act, legislation to establish $1.5 trillion in federal procurement commitments for our clean energy future. The funds would be used to purchase American-made clean, renewable, and emission-free energy products for federal, state, and local use and to establish grant funding for U.S. companies to invest in clean energy manufacturing.

The federal government spends $500 billion annually to purchase goods and services. Many of these products have significant environmental impacts, including transportation equipment, building infrastructure, and electronics.

“America needs to invest in clean energy like our future depends on it,” said Senator Warren. “This bill will help grow our green economy and establish America as a world leader in clean energy.”

"As we face the urgent challenges of the climate crisis, I'm proud to introduce a bill that represents a transformative step toward a cleaner, more sustainable future," said Representative Huffman. "By investing in supporting American-made clean energy products, we are not only driving the transition to renewable and emission-free energy but also creating opportunities for innovation and good-paying jobs here at home."

A 2021 poll showed that 59% of voters support this bill. This strong bipartisan support suggests that our country is ready for us to make big investments to save our planet and build back greener.

Specifically, the bill would:

Establish a "Clean Energy Fund" at the Department of Energy (DOE) for green procurement by authorizing the DOE to provide funding to federal agencies for clean energy purchases and creating a competitive federal grant program for state, local, and tribal governments to purchase clean energy products.
Reduce carbon pollution by providing enough funds to electrify the entire federal fleet, including postal service vehicles; providing enough funds to electrify all public transit and school buses; and providing funds to design, build, and retrofit buildings, including federal, childcare, educational, and manufacturing facilities, to be more energy efficient.
Boost the green economy and clean energy sector by establishing a grant program for U.S. companies to invest in clean energy manufacturing by retrofitting or building facilities that produce covered products and bolstering our ability to create clean energy products that can then be exported globally to make the U.S. a leader in green innovation.
Support workers and frontline communities by including strong labor provisions to ensure jobs provide strong wages, benefits, and worker protections by and directing 40% of state, local, and tribal grant funding to purchases that benefit frontline, disadvantaged, and vulnerable communities that have been environmentally neglected.
Protect taxpayer funds from fraud, waste, and abuse by forming a Green Procurement Oversight Advisory Board that will ensure the use of funds is compliant with clean energy and labor provisions and by directing the U.S. Comptroller General to conduct oversight of the use of funds and to publicly report on program efficacy each year.

In the Senate, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) cosponsored this legislation.

The BUY GREEN Act has been endorsed by Sunrise Movement, MoveOn, GreenLatinos, Sierra Club, Green New Deal Network, Center for Progressive Reform, League of Conservation Voters, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, New Consensus, Public Citizen, Climate Hawks Vote, and Zero Hour.

Senator Warren has long worked to protect taxpayer money and ensure strong implementation of climate policy:

In November 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren reintroduced the Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act. The bill proposes streamlining the process for people in communities affected by natural disasters seeking housing assistance.
In November 2024, Senator Warren and Representative Jared Huffman reintroduced the National Institutes of Clean Energy Act (NICE), legislation that would invest $400 billion over the next decade to establish and operate a new system of clean energy institutes at the Department of Energy (DOE) focused on research and development of advanced clean energy technologies.
In September 2024, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Angus King, along with Representatives Ro Khanna, Alma Adams, Pramila Jayapal, and Jan Schakowsky, wrote to the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), urging the agencies to develop strong guardrails for the 45Q tax credit, which is designed to encourage carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects.
In June 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Sean Casten led a letter to the Federal Reserve Board (Fed), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), urging regulators to stop their obstruction of global financial regulators’ work to tackle climate-related financial risks. The lawmakers also called out the weaknesses revealed by the Fed’s 2023 “pilot scenario analysis” exploring six major banks’ resilience to climate-related financial risks.
In May 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Robert Garcia reintroduced the BUILD GREEN Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which would authorize the U.S. Department of Transportation to distribute $500 billion over ten years to electrify and modernize public vehicles and rail and build new electric transportation infrastructure across the country. The bill would also create 1 million new jobs, save $100 billion annually in health damages, and prevent 4,200 deaths per year from air pollution.
In April 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representatives Sean Casten and Veronica Escobar, urged the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council, composed of the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to finalize the Federal Supplier Climate Risks and Resilience Rule as quickly as possible.
In March 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren, released a statement describing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) finalized climate risk disclosure rule as “the bare minimum.”
In September 2023, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Martin Heinrich, Ed Markey, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Jeff Merkley called on the Treasury Department to take key actions pertaining to climate and climate-related financial risk to avert the impending environmental and economic crises.
In September 2023, at a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren urged Chair Gensler to quickly finalize a strong climate risk disclosure rule, reminding him that he has a mandate to protect investors and strong public support.
In March 2023, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Representatives Dan Goldman and Jamie Raskin and 47 of their colleagues sent a letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, urging him to protect investors and finalize a strong climate disclosure rule without further delay.
In September 2022, at a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren called on SEC Chair Gary Gensler to protect investors and stand up to fossil fuel lobbying by issuing a strong climate risk disclosure rule quickly.
In June 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren led a comment letter with Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Brian Schatz on the SEC’s mandatory climate disclosure rule, highlighting several areas for improvement and key elements that the SEC should preserve in its final rule, including strong Scope 3 emissions disclosure requirements.
In March 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren led a letter with Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Brian Schatz urging the SEC to require disclosure of anti-climate lobbying activities in the Commission’s rule.
In May 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren and then-Congressman Andy Levin introduced the Buy Green Act to use the enormous breadth of U.S. federal procurement to help fight the climate crisis, spur innovation, and boost demand for American-made clean energy products at home and in the rapidly-growing markets for green products abroad.
In May 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren and then-Congressman Andy Levin introduced the National Institutes of Clean Energy Act of 2021, legislation that would invest $400 billion over the next ten years to establish and operate a new system of institutes at the Department of Energy dedicated to research and development (R&D) of advanced clean energy technologies.
In April 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Sean Casten reintroduced the Climate Risk Disclosure Act of 2021 which would reduce the chances of environmental and financial catastrophe by requiring public companies to disclose more information about their exposure to climate-related risks.
In March 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren unveiled the BUILD GREEN Infrastructure and Jobs Act which would invest $500 billion over ten years in state, local, and tribal projects to jumpstart the transition to all electric public vehicles and rail and help modernize the nation's crumbling infrastructure.