COMMENTING GUIDE: Opposing Two Trump Regime Rules Banning Gender-Affirming Care, Deadline 2/17/26 Creator profile picture Shouldn't Need to Be a Lawyer by Matthew Cortland January 26 Edit I. Bottom Line Up Front The Trump Regime's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published two companion proposed rules designed to eliminate access to gender-affirming care for minors nationwide. Together, these rules would: Ban hospitals from providing this care (CMS-3481-P) — regardless of how the care is paid for Prohibit Medicaid and CHIP from covering this care (CMS-2451-P) — cutting off funding for lower-income families You have the opportunity to help defend trans kids by submitting comments against these vile proposed rules. Because even if a state wanted to continue covering gender-affirming care through Medicaid, the hospital rule would prevent hospitals from providing it. The two rules use different regulatory mechanisms to accomplish the same policy goal: eliminating access to gender-affirming care for anyone under 18 (or under 19 for CHIP). You should submit your comment to both dockets. The deadline is 5PM ET on February 17, 2026.

Public comment on Dr Oz's proposed rules to ban gender-affirming care for youth closes 2/17

One rule bans hospital-based care, the other eliminates Medicaid/CHIP coverage

Together they'd make care virtually unavailable nationwide, including in shield law states

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They're Coming for Our Daughters The conservative plan to shrink girls’ futures

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What If Trevor Noah Is Right About the Left and Religion? A month ago, I heard something I can’t shake.

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UK's Starmer refuses to heed calls to quit over Mandelson scandal British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signalled on Monday he would not heed calls to quit, even by the leader of his party in Scotland, after a second aide resigned from a team in crisis over the appoin...

It speaks volumes about the state of America…that the British PM is facing more serious calls to resign over Epstein than our own POTUS who was DIRECTLY linked to him… www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-...

1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.

Hundreds of kids are still detained.

We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵

Governor-hopeful Stacy Garrity says she’d work with Trump administration on Pa.’s elections Republican gubernatorial hopeful Stacy Garrity said Friday afternoon that she would cooperate with President Donald Trump’s administration in running Pennsylvania’s elections.

If this doesn't disqualify Stacy Garrity from ever getting near the PA Governor's seat, I don't know what does.

Garrity intends to hand PA elections over to Trump.
Not no but hell no, ma'am.
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Bari Weiss’s new CBS hires include ‘germ theory denialist’ doctor Dr Mark Hyman, who claimed he reduced his biological age by 20 years, brought on as a contributor

One of Bari's new hires is "a doctor" who "claimed that he has reduced his biological age by 20 years" w "therapies including cold plunges; that cod liver oil can treat autism" & "the kind of nutritional supplements" he "sells on his online store" can reverse conditions like Alzheimer’s & dementia.

Our Reporting Showed Washington Ranks Last in Green Energy Growth. Now the State Is Working to Speed It Up. The state’s departing commerce director said there’s added urgency to get the projects done after an Oregon Public Broadcasting and ProPublica investigation showed states like Iowa and Texas have made...

Washington is seeking to speed up construction of renewable energy projects through a series of actions after a ProPublica and @opb.org investigation showed the state ranks dead last in the country for green energy growth.

“Ochoa is a Border Patrol agent who joined CBP in 2018. Gutierrez joined in 2014 and works for CBP’s Office of Field Operations. He is assigned to a special response team, which conducts high-risk operations like those of police SWAT units. Records show both men are from South Texas.”

Federal agents deployed tear gas and flash bangs at peaceful protesters during a “Labor Against ICE” march in Portland on Jan 31.

Photos by Taylor Griggs

TikTok is under right wing billionaire control now. Plan your exit strategy.

Stop ice terror rally Jan 25 3pm Salmon Street Springs

Tomorrow! Emergency protest in solidarity with Minneapolis and in memory of Alex Pretti, murdered by ICE/CBP! 3pm Salmon Street Springs.

Please share. 💔

Imagine what’s happening in the camps.

Van Hollen: "They really think the American people are stupid. I mean, we can all see the video. We saw the video with Renee Good. We saw the video with Alex Pretti. The real domestic terrorists are in the White House right now."

You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.

NYT push alert: "A person was shot dead today during a struggle with federal agents in Minneapolis, according to officials."

By who? Who shot the person dead? You saw the video. We all know a federal agent shot a man dead who was prone on the ground. Also, it's not "according to officials." It's according to verified video seen with your eyes. Not saying what anyone can obviously see with their eyes is a form of lying.

CANVAS Core Curriculum: A Guide to Effective Nonviolent Struggle | ICNC You may also be interested in: A Guide to Nonviolent Activism (Ekta Parishad)Ekta Parishad is a mass-based peoples’ movement for land rights with an active membership of 250,000 landless poor and is r...

We are not the first people, or the first country, to suffer under a tyrannical government that does not respect our lives, or our rights.

There is a method for how to effectively resist, and eventually topple, such a regime. We can learn from others who came before us.

This is my favorite guide.

✊

Another question I came here with was: how effective are the whistles and honking? Does it stop abductions? And the answer is, surprisingly to my cynical self, yes, and often. I have talked to so many people who have successfully interrupted kidnappings.

This is pretty bleak, but when he invokes "Christian" values in these contexts, I think of Tuam, where Catholic nuns did exactly what he's describing... into the 1970s.
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Screenshot from STAT article that says "What we're going to have is a real-world experience of when unvaccinated people get measles," he said. "What is the new incidence of hospitalization? What's the incidence of death?"

RFK Jr. appointee Kirk Milhoan has just clearly stated, out loud, that he wants to experiment on the people of the United States by seeing what happens as vaccination coverage plummets and infectious diseases spread.

"Minnesota is deeply grounded in the values of community, compassion, dignity, and solidarity. The violent actions of federal agents have had profound effects on families and communities across our city and state, creating an environment of chaos, fear, and disruption in our neighborhoods. This federal operation has made life difficult for many residents to shop for groceries, go to work, take their children to school, or keep their small businesses open. When residents are brutalized and profiled, families are torn apart, and children are arrested, our communities are not any safer. We continue to demand that ICE, and all federal agents leave our state immediately. Minnesotans have a long tradition of activism, protest, and civic engagement during significant inflection moments in our state. A broad coalition of labor organizations, faith communities, community-based organizations, students, small businesses, and workers have called for a statewide Day of Truth and Freedom as a time for solidarity, community, mutual aid, and protest. The Minneapolis City Council fully supports this action as a time to exercise your constitutional rights, to express support for our neighbors, and demand the end of this federal occupation. We acknowledge and respect the diverse ways individuals, families, essential workers, students, and businesses may choose to observe this day and support our community. Together, with our community, the City Council reaffirms our commitment to civic expression, community safety, and our immigrant neighbors. We will continue the work of ensuring justice, freedom, and dignity for all during and beyond this occupation."

Statement from the entire Minneapolis City Council in support of a General Strike and Day of Truth & Freedom on January 23rd.

We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower With Donald Trump’s actions in Greenland, Minneapolis, and Venezuela, a foreign enemy could not invent a better chain of events to wreck the standing of the United States.

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Signs about the history of slavery in the U.S. and the 9 people George Washington enslaved are being removed right now at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia, across from Independence Hall, months after the Trump administration threatend to do so.

How far we have not come in 250 years.

This is 100% FALSE. Immigration judges do NOT play any role in issuing administrative warrants. They are generated and signed by ICE officers themselves. ICE’s own training materials say they can’t be used for a search of a home!

Here’s a blank warrant form. Note who signs it.

Personalized Cancer Vaccines Are Almost Here—But Federal Funding Cuts Could Derail Them Vaccines based on mRNA can be tailored to target a cancer patient’s unique tumor mutations. But crumbling support for cancer and mRNA vaccine research has endangered this promising therapy

Personalized vaccines against cancer, made with mRNA technology, are showing promising results even five years after treatment. Go deep with our recent feature on what might come next for the technique

White House posts digitally altered image of woman arrested after ICE protest Guardian analysis shows images are the same, with Nekima Levy Armstrong looking composed in original but sobbing after alteration

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

This law group led by @rickpildes.bsky.social had me write for their 100 Ideas series on US democracy

My idea: the rule of law cannot coexist with this level of wealth concentration. Once Musk, Bezos, Zuck, & a few others bend the knee, the authoritarian consolidates too much power

The Rural Health Transformation Plan and the Language of Control How this initiative has parallels to Orwell's 1984

From this article, (it’s so good!) …”Be wary when disagreement is framed as hostility rather than participation. Propaganda doesn’t forbid questions, it makes them feel impolite.”

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