Pat Darling

I just read this in a NYT article!

Minnesota said it was locked out of a Medicaid system and could not submit a request for $408 million.

bsky.app/profile/smit...

Let there be peace and love!

DOGE software approval alarms Labor Department employees Elon Musk’s DOGE subordinates received approval to use software at the Labor Department that could be used to transfer large amounts of data, two employees said.

The public needs to know who actually owns agency records if they are transferred to DOGE.

If DOGE takes ownership, it may inappropriately try to hide records with the Presidential Records Act, making the public fight harder for access under FOIA.

Israel's ban on UNRWA in Jerusalem and the West Bank comes into effect A ban preventing UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, from operating in Occupied East Jerusalem and Israel has come into force today.

Israel's ban on UNRWA in Jerusalem and the West Bank comes into effect

Exclusive: USDA inspector general escorted out of her office after defying White House Security agents escorted the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture out of her office on Monday after she refused to comply with her firing by the Trump administration, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Exclusive: Security agents escorted the inspector general of the US Department of Agriculture out of her office on Monday after she refused to comply with her firing by the Trump administration reut.rs/4hfG4Vp

Hundreds of USAID internal contractors put on leave, terminated amid US freeze on global aid Hundreds of internal contractors working for the U.S. Agency for International Development are being put on unpaid leave and some are being terminated after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a sweeping freeze on U.S. foreign aid worldwide.

Hundreds of internal contractors working for the US Agency for International Development are being put on unpaid leave and some are being terminated after US President Donald Trump imposed a sweeping freeze on US foreign aid worldwide reut.rs/4aF8WE7

Bagley Cartoon: A Mighty Wind Check out Pat Bagley's latest cartoon: A Mighty Wind

Check out Pat Bagley's latest cartoon: A Mighty Wind

The Best-Selling Novelist Kaveh Akbar Leans Into His Poetic Roots With the dawn of a ceasefire in Gaza, the writer reflects on collections by Palestinian poets that don’t lose sight of love and wonder in the face of exile and destruction.

Kaveh Akbar most recently published a novel, “Martyr!”, but he began his career as a poet. He recommends four collections by Palestinian writers, each of which grapples with the status of being Palestinian in the world.

‘Mormon Land’: Amid national attacks on transgender rights, a former stake president tells her story Excommunicated Latter-day Saint Laurie Lee Hall, a former bishop, stake president and temple architect, discusses her new biography, "Dictates of Conscience: From Mormon High Priest to My New Life as a Woman.”

Excommunicated Latter-day Saint Laurie Lee Hall, a former bishop, stake president and temple architect, discusses her new biography, "Dictates of Conscience: From Mormon High Priest to My New Life as a Woman.”

‘Aliens’ and ‘animals’ – language of hate used by Trump and others can be part of a violent design Hateful language used to demonize particular groups of people had been used long before the era of Donald Trump, including by the Nazis.

Trump and his supporters often dehumanize #immigrants as “animals” or “aliens.” A human rights scholar warns that dismissing such rhetoric as bluster overlooks how words are a first step toward discriminatory and violent policies. https://buff.ly/4aEiUW8 (@niezen.bsky.social)

Guantánamo Bay: the US prison camp in Cuba Trump is eyeing for illegal migrants The facility has in the past two decades been used to deal with prisoners accused of terrorism-related offences with few ever charged or convicted As part of his administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, US president Donald Trump has announced…

Guantánamo Bay: the US prison camp in Cuba Trump is eyeing for illegal migrants

Trump orders Education Department to guide states on use of federal funds for school choice • Ohio Capital Journal President Donald Trump signed executive orders Wednesday that prioritize school choice funding and seek to end what the administration sees as “radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling.”

President Donald Trump signed executive orders Wednesday that prioritize school choice funding and seek to end what the administration sees as “radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling.”

Pentagon agency pauses celebrations for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month and more The Defense Department intelligence agency has paused observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance and other cultural or historical annual events in response t...

apnews.com/article/trum...

Trump Fires at Least 12 Inspectors General in Late-Night Purge The internal government watchdogs were believed to have been dismissed at several major agencies, though the Justice Department’s was not said to have been among them.

This is what you do when you don’t want someone watching what you’re doing…
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/u...

This week, the Trump administration paused funding for a program that fights the spread of HIV and AIDS and saves lives worldwide.

Halting one of the most successful global health programs is a significant risk to public health.

Today we solemnly remember the lives stolen from our world during the Holocaust.

Over 7 million people were exterminated from our Earth systematically—today we remember and reflect on the wicked hate that fueled this travesty, and recommit ourselves to the promise, “never again.”

bsky.app/profile/schu...

🚨BREAKING🚨

Leonard Peltier Granted Executive Clemency

After 50 years of unjust incarceration and the tireless efforts of intergenerational grassroots organizing and advocacy, our elder and relative Leonard Peltier has been granted executive clemency.

National Resilience Strategy | The White House To read the National Resilience Strategy, please click this link here: National Resilience Strategy ###

The White House released the National Resilience Strategy: www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo..., building on the earlier resilience framework. Download it and use it to help inform state and local climate resilience efforts. 🔌💡

From my own reporting: X wouldn’t even show up for a hearing about foreign state actors trying to influence elections in Musk’s home country.

An X official who had agreed to appear suddenly resigned before the hearing.

Musk is to the EU what Yevgeny Prigozhin was to the US; Trump’s chef.

I saw Deb Haaland speak once. it made me keenly aware that I had never before, and perhaps never would again, see a globally powerful person on a stage who looks like my mother. I hate to diminish Haaland to her identity, but it was a profound moment for me (and for my mother, sitting next to me).

Thousands of people attended the People’s March in Washington on Saturday, days before President-elect Trump’s inauguration, to rally against his hard-right plans for the U.S. and show support for causes like racial justice, immigration and gun violence prevention. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/u...

Had an okay Birthday weekend even though trapped inside. Polar vortex weekend.

Anna Purna's Mystical Harvest by Amy Cordova Boone.jpg
A woman's work is never done.

It's -10 out there. Here's where I be.

L.A.’s Burned Houses Weren’t Just Homes, They Were Workplaces for Thousands House cleaners, gardeners and dog walkers won’t easily be able to replace clients and trust built up over years.

After the Los Angeles fires, house cleaners, gardeners and dog walkers won’t easily be able to replace clients built up over years