Phlotonic

Oh, that is way too bright.
*turns down the music volume so I can see better*

The complacency of Americans comes more from a "That's not my job" or "I have to work tomorrow" mentality than one of pure complicity. We're too disillusioned by capitalism to read 3.5 million pages of billionaire smut.

Does anyone else say "I love you" instead of "Goodbye" to their family?

BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide.

This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.

Grill his ass. 😐

Pam Bondi served as the 37th Attorney General of Florida from 2011 to 2019.

I wonder what a FOIA request for documents might reveal about her tenure there... during those years with regard to the men she's currently covering for.

#EpsteinFiles

Posting this again for austerity's sake:

A question I think a lot of #America is asking right now:

Who is really trafficking humans here if the institutions are so explicitly geared toward less support and more control?

​Oklahoma’s governance style creates a cycle where poverty is criminalized, social support is dismantled, and "human trafficking" is used as a convenient political tool to expand police power while the state’s most vulnerable populations are left without a lifeline.

Instead of strengthening the support to protect these children, the state continues to prioritize prisonfare; incarcerated people—disproportionately Black and poor—are forced into labor that functions as a form of state-sanctioned involuntary servitude.

Oklahoma’s foster care system, managed by the DHS, has been criticized for losing track of dozens of children in its custody; one report noted 78 missing children, half of whom had been gone for more than three months.

The administration frequently uses "human trafficking" as a justification for its punitive measures against the marijuana industry. However, the data suggests that the state’s own institutions are part of the problem:

By blaming the industry for "bad actors" that his own administration has either enabled or failed to regulate, the Governor is effectively punishing legitimate businesses and vulnerable patients for institutional failures.

The administration has been dogged by scandals, from the Swadley’s BBQ park contract—where Stitt reportedly told the owner to put restaurants in state parks despite subsequent allegations of misappropriation—to the "stream of never-ending scandal" involving Secretary of Education Ryan Walters.

More troubling is the identity of these "bad actors." Advocacy groups like Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA) have noted that the influx of illegal grows occurred under the watch of Stitt’s own appointees.

Industry leaders and patient advocates warn that such a move would turn 315,000 licensed patients into criminals overnight and displace thousands of workers, particularly in rural areas.

Stitt characterized the industry as a "Pandora's box" plagued by "bad actors" and "foreign criminal interests". Yet, this call to destroy a legal, voter-approved industry is a stunning reversal of his pro-market rhetoric.

However, in his 2026 State of the State address, Stitt called for a total shutdown of the medical #marijuana industry—a $600 million sector that generated $47.5 million in tax revenue in FY 2025 alone.

Governor Kevin Stitt campaigned on making Oklahoma the most "pro-business" state in the nation, frequently touting historic job creation and a "Top Ten" business climate.

This administrative negligence is not a lack of resources, but a lack of priority. One in five Oklahomans relies on SNAP for food, yet the state has expanded the technology and human resources of the Department of Corrections while leaving welfare administration to wither.

Oklahoma is also staring down a massive #SNAP crisis. The state’s SNAP error rate currently stands at 10.87%, nearly double the USDA’s 6% threshold. If not corrected by October 2026, the state risks losing nearly $250 million in federal funding.

This created an immediate "benefit cliff" for working parents earning between $13 and $17 per hour—the loss of a subsidy can mean a financial hit of $800 to $1,000 per month, making employment nearly impossible for many.

While the state finds hundreds of millions for prisons, it is systematically starving its social safety net.

On November 1, 2025, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) initiated a "Childcare Subsidy Pause," removing a $5 per day COVID-era incentive and halting new applications for school-age children

The state essentially chose to entrench its carceral capacity rather than fund the support systems that might keep people out of prison in the first place.

This massive capital outlay occurred while the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) struggled with a budget hole of approximately $30.6 million and incurred $3.5 million in fines for unconstitutional wait times for competency restoration.

In 2025, the state authorized the $312 million purchase of the Lawton Correctional Facility from the private provider GEO Group.

Fiscal Impacts of the Lawton Correctional Facility Purchase Amount Total Purchase Price (FY 2026) $312,000,000 Initial Transition Operating/Payroll Budget $44,445,808 Additional Contract Bed Allocation $47,500,000 Monthly Daily Per Diem Cost (Projected) $3,661,689

The most visible sign of Oklahoma’s priorities is the state budget. While agency heads are repeatedly told to request "flat budgets" under the guise of fiscal responsibility, the actual distribution of funds reveals a clear preference for the carceral apparatus: