Political Cartoons 6-15-2025

 

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Huffington Post:  — After years of admiring autocrats like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping and envying the sort of military parade they get to enjoy, President Donald Trump is finally getting one of his own.  Despite his frequent claims of support for the armed forces and service members, Trump has a decades-long history of disrespect, even disdain, for both.  

Life Begins...

 

Brian Wilson - Help Me Rhonda

 Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) 

Wikipedia: "Help Me, Rhonda" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys, appearing first on their 1965 album The Beach Boys Today! (where it was spelled "Help Me, Ronda") and subsequently in re-recorded form on the following 1965 album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!). It was written by Brian Wilson, with additional lyrics by Mike Love. Band member Al Jardine sings the lead vocal, a rarity for this era in the Beach Boys.

According to Wilson, "Help Me, Rhonda" was not based on a real person. After it was released as an album track on Today!, Wilson revisited the song, feeling it had commercial potential. This new version, featuring a different arrangement and slightly different lyrics, was released as a single in April 1965 and appeared on Summer Days later that same year. It topped the Billboard Hot 100, making it their second number-one single following "I Get Around" (1964). It remains one of the band's most acclaimed singles commercially and critically.

Our New Reality...

 

This trans influencer received a passport with the wrong gender after Trump's executive order

A transwoman claimed that her new passport lists her as male while her other official documents recognise her as a female.

US President Donald Trump, after taking his oath, ordered that the country would recognize only two sexes, male and female. The executive order further stated that a person's sex is unchangeable. These orders from the newly installed President sparked controversy, with people sharing their thoughts for or against it. Amid these, a transwoman, who was born male but later “surgically updated to female”, has claimed that the gender on her passport was changed to “Male” under the new administration, adding that all her other documents recognise her as a “female.”

Transwoman Perysian Zaya Mekhi claims her gender was changed to male on her passport under Donald Trump's administration. (Instagram/@zayaperysian)

Transwoman Perysian Zaya Mekhi claims her gender was changed to male on her passport under Donald Trump's administration. (Instagram/@zayaperysian)

Digital creator Perysian Zaya Mekhi shared the video on Instagram. “And so it’s begun,” she wrote in her video’s caption. In the clip, she expressed that in her new passport, “they changed the gender to male because of Donald Trump.” She then shows her passport, which has the letter “M” written under the column “Sex.”

Also Read: Influencer who spent ₹14 lakh to remove 6 ribs plans to turn bones into crown: ‘I’m a kind loving trans girl’

“Now, mind you, all of my other documents are updated to female, and I’ve been fully surgically updated to female, but this is what they had to say,” Zaya says as she reads a letter she received along with her passport.

According to her, it says, “The sex was corrected on your passport application. The changes were made for one of the following reasons - to match our record.” While reading it, she further says that she received her passport as a kid, which then listed her sex as male, but she claims that she updated the details after her transition. She concludes her video by saying that she would opt for legal options to get her sex changed on her passport.

LA Protests vs Jan 6

 

 

YAHOO News: WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is warning those protesting against his unprecedented immigration crackdown in Los Angeles against targeting police officers and thousands of National Guard troops he’s deployed there, promising to exact retribution on anyone who commits violence against them.

“Nobody’s going to spit on our police officers. Nobody’s going to spit on our military,” Trump told reporters on Monday, before posting on his social media website: “IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT, and I promise you they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before. Such disrespect will not be tolerated!”

But Trump felt differently about violence against law enforcement when he issued blanket pardons earlier this year for hundreds of people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in an effort to keep him in office after his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. His pardons included those convicted of assaulting or interfering with police officers, roughly 1,000 nonviolent offenders and around 200 people accused of assaulting police. A number of those pardoned have reportedly since been rearrested for other alleged crimes.

“These are the hostages. Approximately 1,500 were pardoned. Full pardon,” Trump said after issuing the pardons on his first day in office. 

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My Note:  This is all part of Trump's plan to consoled his power, and intimidate all protest.  The authoritarian play book.   

I Love A Success Story - Airyn De Niro

Is Ready to Be Seen on Her Own Terms

By Ava Pauline Emilione

Photography by Aleck Venegas

After surviving the tabloids, the actress opens up about transitioning, visibility, and life as the daughter of Hollywood legends.

Airyn De Niro

In the corner of a rustic Williamsburg café, Airyn De Niro tells me about getting locs for the first time. She recites the rhythm of the stylist’s deft fingers working through her curls: Wash, comb, retwist. Wash, comb, retwist. During a visit to Annette Roche’s beloved New York City salon, Airyn’s tender scalp ached as she listened to Black women share gossip and make small talk. Hours passed before the loctician, a stylist specifically for locs, tapped her on the shoulder. Her hair was done at last. As she left the salon, she caught a glimpse of her reflection and did not look away.

The 29-year-old’s first appointment at a Black hair salon, which she made after seeing Halle Bailey’s locs in The Little Mermaid, marks a turning point in her journey toward liberatory gender expression. An aspiring model and voice actor studying to be a mental health counselor, Airyn is taking a break from her daily grind to speak with me about navigating her transition, the entertainment industry, and the media attention that comes with being Robert De Niro’s daughter. As she enters the café, a cascade of pink locs flows down her back.

“It just felt right,” Airyn says of her locs, which look as weightless and colorful as butterfly wings against her all-black fit. “I feel like I’m meant to be doing this.”

While Airyn has been femme-presenting since middle school, her decision to begin hormone therapy last November was borne out of a desire to maintain that femininity as she got older (“Who wants to be an old man?” she asks.) After seeing successful trans women open up about their transitions, Airyn dared to imagine a similar future for herself despite feeling like a self-proclaimed “late bloomer.”

“Trans women being honest and open, especially [in] public spaces like social media and getting to see them in their success… I’m like, you know what? Maybe it's not too late for me,” she says of her internal process. “Maybe I can start.”

Embracing Black femininity in particular allows her to escape the limiting walls of desirability politics. “I think a big part of [my transition] is also the influence Black women have had on me,” she says. “I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way.”

Read More...

See also: Robert De Niro shows support for daughter Airyn after she shares she’s trans: ‘I don’t know what the big deal is’

GOP Tax Bill Would Cut...

Gender-Affirming Care From Medicaid For All Ages

The bill could threaten access to lifesaving health care for the 185,000 transgender adults on Medicaid.

By Lil Kalish

May 23, 2025

Marley Gotterer was recovering from surgery at home in New York when she first heard that House Republicans had passed a massive domestic policy package in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

She had prepared for nearly two years for her facial feminization surgery, a series of surgical procedures. She met with surgeons, therapists and case managers at Amida Care, a nonprofit health plan for LGBTQ+ Medicaid recipients and those living with HIV.

Her surgery, which was fully covered under Medicaid, has already made a huge difference in her life and for her mental health. She now feels an instant lightness when she sees herself in the mirror. She said she caught a glimpse of herself on a video call with friends and asked if someone had put a beauty filter on.

“I had intense gender euphoria and I felt at home in myself,” the 27-year-old comedian said. “I feel like there’s this new start in life that I’m excited about and hopeful for.”

But that hope has now been tempered.

The bill the House passed — called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — outlines some of the largest cuts to Medicaid in U.S. history while proposing a $4 trillion tax cut for the ultra-wealthy. The bill would bar Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program from covering gender-affirming care for adults and minors alike, and would prohibit health plans offered under the Affordable Care Act from covering such care as an essential health benefit.

If the dramatic tax bill becomes law, it could jeopardize access to care for hundreds of thousands of trans adults and minors. Around 185,000 transgender adults rely on Medicaid as their primary source of health insurance, according to a report released this month by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Another study found that nearly 25% of trans adults are on Medicaid.

Research shows that transgender people are also more likely to be uninsured, underemployed and experiencing food insecurity compared to their cisgender peers, often due to high rates of employment discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

Read More...

Dr. David Johns, the executive director of the National Black Justice Collective, called the new GOP tax bill a calculated effort to try to erase trans people from public life.

“The same bill slashes Medicaid and SNAP benefits, guts civil rights and disability enforcement, and strips millions of Americans—disproportionately Black, Brown, poor, disabled, and queer—of access to basic health services,” Johns said in a statement. “This isn’t about fiscal responsibility. It’s about using trans lives as a political wedge to force through a budget that serves billionaires and punishes the most vulnerable.”

Political Cartoons 6-8-2025

 

David Axelrod, ex-senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, on Monday bluntly criticized Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) for sarcastically saying “we are all going to die” at a town hall in response to constituents’ fears over GOP-backed Medicaid cuts.

“People will be affected, when you take seven, eight, nine million people off of Medicaid, there will be people who will die,” Axelrod told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

The stupid award of the week!

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What is a Transgender

 

Male Beauty: The Male Dress Reform Party in Interwar Britain

MDRP - (Wikipedia) The Men's Dress Reform Party (MDRP) was a reform movement in interwar Britain. While the party's main concerns were the impact of clothes on men's health and hygiene, their mission also aimed to increase the variety and choice in men's clothing

BY: JOANNA BOURKE

In 1929, the Men’s Dress Reform Party was established in response to what its founders regarded as the heinous modern age. One of them, John Carl Flugel (a psychologist from University College London), contended that, since the end of the eighteenth-century men had been progressively ignoring brighter, more elaborate, and more varied forms of masculine ornamentation by ‘making their own tailoring the more austere and ascetic of the arts’. He called this event ‘The Great Masculine Renunciation’, or the occasion when men ‘abandoned their claim to be considered beautiful’ and ‘henceforth aimed at being only useful’. In the face of inter-war feminism and the denigration of masculinity, the professionals who joined the Men’s Dress Reform Party regarded it as their duty to lobby for the aesthetic liberation of men. This blog examines male dress reform between the wars.

 

The experience of warfare between 1914 and 1918 was crucial in focusing attention on the bodies of men. Dress reform was necessary not only for the sake of enhancing masculine beauty, but also to prevent the further degeneration of the ‘British race’. Health and hygiene were high on the agenda of male dress reformers. Although they failed to achieve their more grandiose hopes, they were representative of a broader movement towards freeing men from constraints imposed by the state, employers, and the tailoring trade.

Or, as another writer had it, traditional men’s clothing was important in ‘keeping the social fabric together’. The slow evolution of changes in men’s dress ensured ‘safety’: sartorial conservatism checked social anarchy.

 

The Men’s Dress Reform Party (MDRP) had grown out of a clothing subcommittee of the New Health Society, a creation of the health radical, Sir Arbuthnot Lane. In 1929, this subcommittee consisted of a group of academics, doctors, theologians, and authors, including the Very Revd William Ralph Inge, Alfred C. Jordan, Guy Kendall, Caleb Williams Saleeby, Richard Sickert, Ernest Thesiger, and Leonard Williams. It was Lane’s pupils (Jordan and Saleeby) who wrote the report that eventually led to the establishment of the MDRP. In their report, sartorial alternatives were set out. Instead of the starched collar, they promoted the Byron collar with a tie loosely knotted. Blouses were preferred shirts, and coats should only be worn in the cold. Conventional trousers were condemned outright. Although they approved of the kilt, they decreed that modern industrial conditions made shorts the most practical type of clothing. Underclothing should be loose. Hats should only be worn as protection against the rain or sun, and sandals should replace shoes. Most importantly, they called for the exercise of greater individuality in men’s clothing.

 

Although the First World War cannot be said to have directly led to the establishment of the MDRP, the popularity of dress reform for men was an outcome of tensions harboured between 1914 and 1918. The MDRP was responding to four things, three of which they linked to men’s experiences of warfare.

I Love A Success Sttory - My Wife is Transgender...

And I LOVE her

When Zoey first came out to me, I’m not going to lie, I was a little shocked. OR WAS I?! I asked the question, but I don’t think I was quite ready for the answer. I looked into her eyes, REALLY LOOKED, and realised she was telling the truth.

All those times she’d hidden her phone or lied, ‘I’m fine!’ when I asked her if she was okay, started to make sense. She was hiding her research. She was hiding her other IG account, she was hiding Facebook groups, emails to clinics and more. All those times I’d questioned why she didn’t trust me with her phone suddenly made sense. Can you imagine finding out that way?! I don’t blame her for being secretive.

See also: My Husband Wants to be a Woman: Kelly’s Story

She’s been living with this for her whole life.

For me, it was new. Not something I didn’t know about, nor something I didn’t support (I support trans folk with all my heart), but it was new that the person I married was transgender. This was my stumbling block. Why hadn’t I worked it out? Why hadn’t she told me?

Anyway, as you’ll have seen (from blog posts and Youtube), I got my head around it all within a very short time. I realised the most important factor in it all was that…

 LOVE HER!

There’s nothing I would ever want to change about our love. I feel pretty much like she’s the person I was always meant to be with, my twin soul, my other half, my best friend. And the truth is, since coming out, we’ve grown even closer. Something I’d never expected to happen…

I thought were as close as close could be, but I was wrong. We are allies, protectors, lovers, best friends… I literally worship her. And our love has grown because we are there for each other, with unwavering support and love. She’s relaxed into herself, Zoey, the beautiful woman I married. This has pivoted our relationship into a deeper state of love, a love I struggle to even describe, because it’s a love I never thought possible.

I love the strength we’ve discovered together. I love the love we’ve discovered. I love seeing her unravel into herself, a phoenix rising from the flames. I love her confidence. I love her body (it’s beautiful to me no matter what). I love her dreamy eyes and her beautiful kisses. I love seeing her laugh, really laugh, and I love that it feels like we’ve fallen in love all over again.

So this is my love letter, if you like. My declaration of dedication, my ‘shouting it from the rooftops’ message of love, my undying love confession. I love you, Zoey Emelia Allen, and I always will.

Do you feel unconditional love for your partner?

Feminine Differential - Unremarkable

But Remarkable ...

I am always searching for a casual wearable look.  Something that is understated feminine, although will never be mistaken for androgynous. It makes mall blending in so easy because a cocktail sequin dress is not what I see, ever at the mall. Palm Beach has its share of upscale places, restaurants / boutiques, and there are always places for the ultra-feminine look. Choosing wisely to be safe and not attraction attention is a good goal.

The above Chico's  "Zenergy Scuba Cap Sleeve Tee" is great look. Graphic tees will always seem feminine especially if the image is flowers, or paisley. This top has a bungee cinchable short cap sleeves hemline for adjusting the length to a full cap sleeves. A nice feminine touch.

Chico's is a sister store for my Soma store. We share coupons and I get to use my associate discount there. Their audience is on the mature side (who am I to talk), however, I am finding their clothing to be more stylish than a few years back. Some of  their jeans are especially attractive with embroidery and decorations. If you have not visited Chico's recently, check it out. Their size are generous.  

Also, do not forget that "Summer" is just a few weeks away. Shorts anyone????

So you’d never wear a skirt in public?

 
Men, you don’t know what you’re missing

     Phineas Harper
     January 3, 2024

‘Skirts are practical, expressive and,
when worn by men, mark a small
step towards gender equality.’
Photograph: Alberte Lauriden

I started wearing them to test my sister’s lighthearted theory about feminism. Now I can’t do without their vibrant versatilit.

My sister has three questions she asks men who say they’re feminists. It only takes one “yes” to pass her test, and yet few do. The questions are: if you get married to a woman, would you (and any kids) take her surname? If you had children with a woman, would you step back from your career to be their primary carer? And, simplest of all, would you wear a skirt in public?

The questions are lighthearted, and not intended to truly cut to the heart of feminist issues, but it’s interesting to see how many men sheepishly give three “no” answers nonetheless. Despite much apparent progress towards gender equity, some conventions around how men feel they must act and dress differently to women are stubbornly persistent, from family to fashion.

Baby names and childcare arrangements are inherently fraught topics, but I’m surprised how many men say they’d never even consider wearing a skirt. Twenty years ago, the curator Andrew Bolton noted that “while women enjoy most of the advantages of a man’s wardrobe, men enjoy few of the advantages of a woman’s wardrobe”, and that “nowhere is this asymmetry more apparent than in the taboo surrounding men in skirts”. While a few celebrities, such as Brad Pitt and LA Lakers basketball player Russell Westbrook, have worn skirts to red carpet events, it’s still vanishingly rare to see normal men wear normal skirts day to day.

Blokes, you’re missing out! I began wearing skirts six years ago to see if my sister had a point, and it’s only since then I realised what I’d been missing. Skirts are fantastically versatile: thick, pleated and cosy in the winter, light and breezy for summer. They come in a vast array of shapes and characterful styles, leaving the frigid palette of blacks, blues and browns that dominates most male fashion in the dust. You’ll easily find more panache in the skirts section of M&S than in its entire menswear department.

Men who’ve never worn them will often claim skirts are impractical, but this simply isn’t true. Free from complex gussets, skirts are less likely to tear than trousers, but easier to mend and usually straightforward to adapt. “What about pockets?” you cry. True, there’s a long and sexist history in women’s fashion of clothes made without pockets, but times have changed. Margaret Howell and Vivienne Westwood were putting pockets in their skirts decades ago – and these days you can find skirts with decent pockets in Toast, LK Bennett, Cos, and even H&M.

Male fashion is hardly rooted in practicality, either. I love a snappy tie, but it’s hard to think of a more ostentatiously impractical garment than a silk scarf elaborately knotted around the neck. And while blue jeans were once tough workwear, the pairs men buy today are pre-bleached and distressed in factories, with rivets added purely for show. Ultimately, men’s fashion is just as much about aesthetics as women’s, so why not have more fun with it?

Read more here...

Skirts are practical, expressive and, when worn by men, mark a small step towards gender equality no less valuable than women’s long-fought battle to wear trousers. If you need a gateway drug, buy a black kilt on eBay and build your skirt collection from there.

Modern menswear is too often a parade of gloomy conformity, produced by an industry that contemptuously sees male shoppers as predictable and dull. But you don’t have to follow the crowd to be stylish – a man in a skirt signals self-assurance and inner confidence, which are always in fashion.

Phineas Harper is chief executive of the charity Open City

Toxic masculinity, crossdressing, and acceptance

Beyond the closet

  By:Stephanie Moga

Stephanie Moga
A woman and a writer trying to find her voice.
 Mystic. Radical Gender activist.
 Self-destructive pain in the ass.

My Note: This is an extremely well written piece.  This descries our fears and coming to grip with who we are.  Thank your Stephanie.

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Years ago, I was an extra in Verdi’s opera, Aida. It is set in Egypt, and the male and female extras were required to line their eyes with black eyeliner. So I am doing my eyes next to a man about my age, and he turns to me and says, “I have never put on makeup before. Am I gay now?”

I replied: “Do you like to go home and have sex with your wife? Are you having sex with men”?

Wearing makeup will not make you gay. But, worrying about it, that’s the patriarchy we live in.

Last weekend my best friend and I went to a ‘ghouls night out,’ a dance for transgender and gender non-conforming folks. In the end, we were the only two out, full-time transgender women there. The people were friendly, but it was not my crowd. As a writer, I took it as an opportunity to learn more about the cross-dressing community since I have been ‘out of the loop.’

For many attendees, it was their one and only chance to get out and dressed in feminine attire all year. In my 20s, I lived on my own in the big city. For me, Halloween was the cross-dresser’s “Holy day of obligation.” It was the chance to walk out the door in a dress and not be asked what I was wearing. Or maybe at least it lowered the possibility that I would be harassed. It was one night of relative safety.

I spoke to the sponsor of the event, Scarlett T., about the main motivation of these folks to attend a function like this, and she said: “ It’s not about finding community or making connections.”

“It’s about finding a safe place to express their femininity.”

Can you imagine living your life and worrying so much about expressing your truth because you don’t have a safe place to do so?

The masculine culture is so fragile. Many men have been raised to see the slightest bit of femininity as abhorrent. Men police themselves; men police other men for any violations of 100% guy. Long before I came out, I posted on Facebook that I bake cookies with my kids, and some bro replied, “that’s because I was gay.” Seriously? If connecting with your kids meant I was queer, I was happy to accept that label. Queer me up, baby. The grip of the patriarchy is painfully tenuous and so so desperately tight.

I have known crossdressers who kept it all completely under wraps for decades. Separating from their male lives, they rented a storage unit, dressed only on business trips and in hotel rooms, and kept it out of sight from their spouse and family. It’s clean and compartmentalized. You live one life here; you live a different life there. And yet, I know many who would have transitioned if there was/is greater social acceptance.

The LGBTQ community is not exactly the most welcoming place. Some folks fit into the norms of what’s acceptable, but there are a lot of folks who are not exactly welcomed with open arms. The cross-dressing community is one of those groups. As the acceptability of being transgender has risen, crossdressing has become more marginalized. As attacks on trans folks have increased, there has been the tendency to say, “I am not a pervert; I identify as a woman.”

Staying in the closet is a painfully easy way to go.

I know being in the closet hurts. How could it not? How could you not feel conflicted when part of you stays in a box, and you dust it off once a year? It made me crazy. It made me suicidal.

I understand there’s an appeal to keeping your male privilege, male friends, beautiful spouse, secure job, and standing as a respectable community member. Why give those things up? Why walk away from all that? These men can still go to the bar with their friends, hear homophobic jokes, and go on hunting and fishing trips with the guys. Their father-in-law, employers, clients, bosses, and sometimes even their spouses think they are just regular guys.

And the fact of the matter is, they are just regular guys.

The question is: could society ever see them as such?

Right here on Medium, I recently was called a “gender non-conforming male” by a lovely anonymous TERF. Now, I think crossdressers are gender non-conforming males. When you give up your male card and live out and visible in the world, you become something entirely different. Ask those employers who refused to hire me. Tell it to the people who refused to rent to me. Tell it to the divorce court judge. It’s not the same.

And yet, I would never go back into that luxuriously appointed closet I came out of. And I sympathize with those who must abide by the rigid constructs of masculine society and constantly prove that they are man enough. It’s a shame that cross-dressing is as stigmatized as ever.

If I could add a short P.S.

I realize that it is toxic attitudes from both cis males and females that keep people in the closet. Don’t tell me that there aren’t women who prefer that their partners stay in the closet out of shame, discomfort, and embarrassment to be married to that…

Political Cartoons 6-1-2025

 

Do not miss your opportunity:  "National Wear A Dress Day"!

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Enjoy The Little Things...

 

The Intimate Lives of Genoa’s 1960s Trans Community

Photographer Lisetta Carmi who sensitively documented the lives of her friends

This article first appeared in Frieze Masters issue 8 with the headline ‘A Sense of Community’.

Lisetta Carmi, I Travestiti, Genova
 (The Transvestites, Genoa), 1965–71
 photograph. Courtesy: © the artist,
Galeria d'arte Martini & Ronchetti,
Genoa, and Galerie Antoine Levi, Paris 

 In Pictures: Juliet Jacques profiles the phots The Intimate Lives of Genoa’s 1960s Trans Community

Carmi’s portraits are intimate and empathetic, giving the subjects a rare chance to reveal themselves: sometimes literally, as in the photograph of an unnamed transvestite hitching up her skirt to expose the top of her stockings, or another pulling down a part of her dress to reveal her breast, the lighting and angle (most likely deliberately) making it impossible to tell if she is a cross-dresser or transsexual. 

The important thing, which Carmi manages to convey, is her subjects’ mixed feelings: not about their gender identities, but about the joy of finding a time to express it, and about capturing it in a photograph that will record a moment that cannot be permanently lived, at least not without painful social consequences. Such bittersweet emotions frequently spring from loneliness, but Carmi was careful to portray something often absent from early representations of trans women: a sense of community. Her subjects are seen helping each other with their dress and make-up, smiling and hugging one another, tenderly expressing their love for each other in their bedrooms, or enjoying the embrace of a man.

After meeting a guru in Jaipur in 1976, Carmi founded an ashram in Cisternino three years later and retired from photography altogether in 1984.

 Her images of Pound may have remained famous, but her portraits of the previously voiceless trans women of Genoa deserve to be far better known – slowly, the world is starting to see the same humanity in them, and people like them, as did Carmi.

7 Brutal Ways Trump Cuts Hurt Everyday Americans

Robert Reich

The former Labor Secretary summed it up as "chainsaw-induced chaos.

I have been affected.  The Government agency that helped with my $2,200 copay for my wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) eye injections has been eliminated. I have been told by my doctor that the copay will go to over $2000 per injection. This is after the insurance pays their part. This is beyond what I can afford each month. I am done.  

Google AI: Here are the facts on this treatment: Overall, the cost of wet AMD treatment can range from $8,814 to $23,400 per year, and even $32,491 to $70,200 after three years of treatment. (I have been under treatment for two years using Eylea.)

Filing my taxes this year was limited with IRS filing tools being problematic. Last year it was so simple and straight forward. This year, although I have e-filed and authorized payment, for over two months now there is no verification of acceptance and my ACH payment has not been taken out of my bank. Calling the IRS just drops my call to a busy signal.   

How about you?  How do you feel about food safety?  How about flying with not as many air traffic controllers?  Are we better off today than we were a year ago? 

Mercedes Club Weekend Event - Car Museum

 

Two weekends ago my Mercedes Club visited the Grey Motorsports Museum in Jupiter FL. What a treat with 43,000 sq feet of classic and vintage cars from the early 1900s to a classic '65 GTO, ++, New and vintage Corvettes a plenty and fully restored 1955, 1956 and 1957 Chevys. I did not count all the cars, however, my best guess between 35 and 50.

That floor is really that shiny and clean

Growing up I had a '65 Impala 327 and a '69 SS396 Chevelle. The museum had a '64 SS Impala convertible 409, and a '69 SS396 Chevelle. What a nostalgic walk down memory lane.

This is not just a storage facility, it is a true museum, Wall facades depicting streets and stores of the period for the car being displayed. Downstairs and upstairs restaurant quality bars with walls lined with racing trophies.

Johnny C Grey, the former Funny Car and Pro Stock driver raced competitively in various arenas. A businessman from Artesia, NM, he joined the professional racing ranks in 1993, and claimed his first win in 2011.Gray has been racing in various forms of motorsports for nearly half a century; he began drag racing in the early 1990s, climbing the ladder from the National Hot Rod Association's Competition Eliminator division to Pro Stock and later, the Funny Car category with Don Schumacher Racing. Gray retired in 2013 to support the Pro Stock efforts of his son, Shane, and grandson, Tanner. Tanner went on to win the NHRA Pro Stock title in 2018 before moving on to stock car racing, (Wikipedia)

We had the Museum curator, Craig, answer question all morning during our over two hour visit. He is not just a car enthusiast himself, but a master mechanic and machinist that keeps all the cars in running condition. Yes, drivable on any day. Other than the track cars, all are registered, licensed and are driven regularly. Craig even makes parts that are obsolete to keep the the older vintage cars roadworthy. What a dream job!

 

White After Memorial Day...

Google AI:  The tradition of reserving white for the summer months between Memorial Day and Labor Day stems from the wealthy who wore white during the summer and then transitioned to darker, more formal attire as the season changed. However, with the increasing fluidity of fashion and the move towards more casual and comfortable styles, the "no white after Labor Day" rule has largely fallen into disuse. 

So, do you have your outfit picked out?

 

Memorial Day '25

 

Let us never forget.

Many have made the ultimate sacrificed defending our freedoms. 

 We all have a responsibility and a part in preserving them! 

Political Cartoons 5-25-2025

 

Who I Am

 

I love A Success Story - Kai Schreiber

Liev Schreiber shows his support for his trans daughter: ‘Kai is such a fighter’

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

Published 10:18 AM EDT, Fri May 9, 2025

Kai Schreiber and Liev Schreiber

CNN

 — 

Liev Schreiber is opening up about his 16-year-old daughter, Kai, who is transgender.

The “Ray Donovan” star talked to Variety about the teen joining him and his wife, Taylor, for the Ali Forney Center’s A Place at the Table Gala being held Friday night in New York City. The center provides housing and support for homeless LGBTQ youth. The goal of the event is to “make a lasting impact and continue our mission to uplift and empower young people in need,” according to the center’s social media.

Schreiber revealed that his daughter never actually came out to him and her mother, actress Naomi Watts, as trans.

“Kai was always who Kai is. But I suppose the most profound moment was her asking us to change her pronouns,” he said. “To be honest with you, it didn’t feel like that big of a deal to me only because Kai had been so feminine for so long.”

He had words of praise for his daughter, who has modeled for Valentino.

“Kai is such a fighter,” he said. “It’s important that she goes, ‘Hey, I am trans,’ and, ‘Look at me.’”

When asked if he had any advice for other parents with trans children, Schreiber said, “I don’t know the answer for your kid.”

“I don’t know what it’s like for you to be a trans dad. I don’t know how you were brought up,” he said. “I don’t know what religion you encountered or what your spirituality is. And for me to tell you what I think about my kid feels like an overstep.”

He then added, “I guess if I would say anything to someone who’s having trouble with their trans teen or their adolescent trans kid it’s ‘Teenagers are a headache. They’re hard.’”

“It doesn’t matter whether they’re trans or not because you’ll come out of this,” he said. “But a trans teen is going to be a teen. They’re such a pain so much of the time, and Kai is as feisty and outspoken as they come.”

Schreiber said he tries not to “dwell” on the current political climate, which includes the Supreme Court recently ruling that the Trump administration can enforce a ban on transgender service members in the military.

“To some degree, I feel like I don’t want to overcook that fear or that anxiety,” the actor said. “There’s enough in the world to be anxious and afraid about.”

In the Beginning

 

What to do with Polka Dot Pants?

 And not look like you are wearing PJs... 

By the pool on a Florida spring day. 

A few evening ago I was in my local mall checking on my Soma work schedule. Recently I have take off a few medical days. Talbots is right next door and I saw the side zip polka Dot pants shown above. My Polka Dot obsession is legendary in my mall shops, so how could I resist?

The problem is; I have Soma Cool Nights PJs that have Polka Dot pants. It is hard not thinking I am getting ready for bed with polka dot pants. FYI: the Soma Cool Nights PJ brand is the best. Sexy - can be. Functional and comfortable - absolutely.

I have several casual events upcoming, so will give the above combinations a try.  Pinterest has many suggestions and inspired the above layout that is almost completely out of my closet. My photos is also a fun alternative look. 

The pants - Talbots Chatham Ankle Pants - Garden Dot.  Almost all sold out online, but maybe still available on store sales rack, 40% off.

Talbots Chatham Ankle Pants

Barbie's foot...

 Why does it matter that Barbie is on her tiptoes?

Despite the design of the Barbie doll's foot evolving over the years, her association with the impossible arch has endured.  Watch the CNN Video

Have They No Sense of Decency?

Some action are to egregious to ignore

My Note:  The Palm Beach County School System has been bullied into changing its policies. Although they are making an effort to dissuade us into thinking  "values and commitment have not changed", the facts of the changes will be evident. I am not blaming the school system. Taking care of kids must be a priority. Loosing 300 million for low income students aid was untannable. Much of this money was to go for free breakfasts and lunches for low income students. Possibly the child's only meals of the day. 

The School System's logos states "Educate. Affirm. Inspire". With the change in policy it is the "Affirm" part that will suffer. The Bullies will rule until we stop them. "Where is the humanity"? 

_________________

The School District Of Palm Beach County's public statement: 

The School District remains committed to supporting all students and staff and to providing a high-quality education in a respectful and supportive environment. That commitment has not changed.

In response to recent directives from the U.S. and Florida Departments of Education, the Palm Beach County School Board was required to take emergency action to update certain District policies. Compliance with these directives is necessary to protect approximately $300 million in federal funding that supports essential services for our students. This includes funding to support students from low-income families, services for students with disabilities, free breakfast and lunch programs, professional development for teachers, and more.

The recent policy updates do not change the core values of respect and opportunity that are expected in our classrooms. They do not impact what is taught in classrooms, the educational opportunities available to students, or the School District’s ongoing commitment to anti-discrimination practices. Please note, an Equal Employment Opportunity Policy (Policy 3.05) remains fully in place and prohibits discrimination in the School District. 

As part of the updates, the School Board also updated its policy on Small Business Enterprises (SBE) by adopting a comprehensive small business program into policy. This builds on practices the School District has followed since 2017 and maintains the support provided to small businesses by the School District. In addition, language referencing contracting preferences based on race/gender was removed from School Board policies. We also removed language that used race, ethnicity, and national origin as factors that give an advantage or disadvantage in employment, contracting, student placement, and District decision-making. Our goal is to ensure School Board policies remain aligned with local, state, and federal laws, practices and procedures.

These emergency policy changes are in effect for 90 days and must undergo a rulemaking process before becoming permanent. The values of fairness, opportunity, and respect for every student continue to guide our work.

Thank you for understanding the precarious situation we are in and rest assured that our values and commitment have not changed!

Thanks Rand Hock (Palm Beach County HRC) for including me in the School's less than reassuring communication.  

Political Cartoons 5-18-2025

 

Size Obsessed

Lawrence: It takes 'Trump-level stupidity' to beg for a $400M jet while advocating Medicaid cuts