Rachel Hauben Combs

Alligator Atrocity An American concentration camp became operational last week, and it’s already a human rights nightmare.

Call your representatives. Demand accountability and oversight.
Alligator Atrocity open.substack.com/pub/statusku...

There are @ 59,000 people in detention right now. Around half have NO criminal record; and the majority of actual offenses are traffic violations.

ICE is 140% over capacity. So our government passed a bill that will turbo-charge arrests, detentions, and deportations with no regard for human rights.

Great Plain Theatre Commons: Spring 2025 This is "Great Plain Theatre Commons: Spring 2025" by thinkMOTION on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

GPTC uses stories to strengthen community. As we face an ever-growing need for human connection, resources we've relied upon are being withdrawn. Without reliable federal funding, we are asking you to give whatever you can.
greatplainstheatrecommons-bloom.kindful.com

vimeo.com/1072343744/4...

I once had a conversation with a colleague-a smart, educated woman-venting about how she had never experienced privilege. Multiple examples of systemic racism followed. When I got to red-lining, she said, "well, IF that's true, it was wrong." I took Wilkerson off the bookshelf but she still doubted.

RE new NEA guidelines & any federally-sourced funding - make sure you read the updated Assurance of Compliance language. It is not the same as it was. Link to the full text in comments. Looking up the full text of the referenced Executive Orders is also worth your time.
www.arts.gov/grants/legal...

The Only Way to Slow Down the Trump-Musk Coup It’s hard to think of anything less sexy and less made-for-TV than an attorney charging into a courthouse to seek a temporary injunction.

"Which means, in the aggregate, that we somehow walk around carrying two conflicting beliefs: that American democracy is both too big to fail, and also that American democracy is too intricate to fight for."

Federal Workers Are Starting to Fight Musk’s Lawless Power Grab. Is It Too Late? The anonymous plaintiffs' case rests on a statute protecting the privacy of federal workers.

Me in Slate asking whether Musk will be tripped up by a pair of lawsuits filed by federal workers based on flagrant privacy statute violations.

Corporate welfare costs taxpayers billions each year, with estimates ranging from $92 billion to $100 billion annually. Elon Musk’s companies—Tesla and SpaceX—have received billions in government contracts and subsidies. Meanwhile, USAID costs only $40 billion.

NTSB to stop emailing news outlets with updates on plane crashes, press briefings The NTSB says it will only notify the media about press conferences and investigative updates on two recent plane crashes via the social media platform X.

The National Transportation Safety Board said today it will stop e-mailing news organizations and reporters with updates about two plane crashes that occurred earlier this week. They are forcing news professionals to accept updates filtered through X. thedesk.net/2025/02/ntsb...

From Robert Hubbell:
"The story is not—as reported in the legacy media—that “Trump blamed DEI” for the collision. It is that Trump resorted to racist tropes to deflect blame from himself and gain political advantage from the deaths of innocent passengers, pilots, and crew."

I think we need to stop using the acronym. And so do the press. Make it explicit. A group of white people, mostly men, are saying that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are at the root of everything that is wrong in this country today.

www.councilofnonprofits.org/files/media/...

According to the California Dept of Water, the military did not enter California and the federal government "restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days," adding: "State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful."

Is he, though? Are you sure?

So, if the president illegally puts a "pause" on the disbursement of congressionally appropriated funds and Congress doesn't object, did the tree make a sound?

If the president can unilaterally change the Constitution & override a law passed by Congress and upheld by SCOTUS, then the entire structure is no longer viable. Of all the horrible things flowing out of DC today, this is the most terrifying. That the American experiment has finally failed.

Here's what really caused L.A. fire hydrants to run out of water As unprecedented wildfires raged through Los Angeles, some firefighters suddenly lost access to water. City officials called one shortage a “worst-case scenario”—one they expect to see again in the fu...

Amplifying facts. Please, join me. www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/...

Live updates: Trump sentenced without penalty in New York hush money case Donald Trump is scheduled to be sentenced Friday on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to an adult-film actress shortly before the 2016 election.

Breaking news: President-elected Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his hush-money case to unconditional discharge, in which a defendant is not fined, locked up or given probation.

Friday’s sentencing formalized Trump’s status as the first president or president-elect who is a felon.

Wildfire climate connection Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States during the last ...

Amplifying facts.
www.noaa.gov/noaa-wildfir...

Gee, you think?

Hi there - I was hardly ever at the one Other Place anyway.

Still waiting for the data on the number of cisgender women or girls attached by transgender women or girls in public restrooms or locker rooms. Can't recall a single instance, which is odd considering how much energy gets spent on this issue.
Excuse me. "Issue."

As the votes continue to be counted, the argument for a mandate shrinks. Last I saw, Trump was at 49.94%, and Harris was at 48.26. That's a difference of 1.68%. I'm not disputing that he won - unfortunately, he did - but to call it an overwhelming mandate to dismantle the government is ridiculous.

Not. A. Mandate.
www.salon.com/2024/11/20/w...

Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and Richard Nixon in 1972 won more than 60 percent of the popular vote; Ronald Reagan in 1984 won 58 percent. Those were landslides. This was a win, not a landslide, and certainly not a mandate.

The Sanewashing of RFK Jr. Let’s call a crank a crank.

RFK Jr is bonkers. In a position of power, he's dangerous.
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Opinion | The election was a Trump splash — but not a red wave Don’t let the electoral map fool you. Trump did not have a sweeping victory.

A win is not a landslide. This perspective is important. Because it's in the interests of Trump's agenda for us to feel overwhelmed, outnumbered, and hopeless. This was a win, yes, but not a landslide.
wapo.st/3UNmRBj