Mr Toodles says...

This Week In The Big Picture It may not feel like it most days, but Donald Trump’s authoritarian ambitions have been seriously kneecapped by the courts.

Trump’s getting blocked in court, and MAGA’s losing its grip on the culture. Two stories this week that show how the tide is turning. thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/week-big-p...

Opinion | The White House's sweeping overhaul of ICE is creating a Frankenstein force The recent wave of ICE senior official reassignments has a clear motive.

www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
"... It isn't ICE. It isn't CBP. It's a Frankenstein force, stitched together from multiple agencies but loyal to none. Its purpose is to create a community response designed for social media clicks, rather than to keep communities safe..."
This is fascism

Purge continues: 20-year veteran FBI leader fired for having worked Trump cases: news4sanantonio.com/news/local/s...

'Alone and warming his five wits, the white owl in the belfry sits.' Tennyson was a great fan of William Webbe who painted this exquisite picture in 1856. Though Webbe is included in Percy Bate's early study of the Pre Raphaelite movement, he remains a mysterious figure.

taskandpurpose.com/news/vet-gro...

On this day 225 years ago, John Adams moved into the still-not-quite-complete White House, becoming the first president to occupy it. His blessing was carved into the State Dining Room mantel in 1945: "May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof.”

Deep time in heaven and on Earth. White Rocks, Skull Valley, Utah May 16, 2020

Peak - From Bill (ridingrobots.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2j2Q8hs

From MeidasTouch Legal AF: The Convicted FElon DOJ is now deleting court documents on J6 terrorists who have been in trouble with law repeatedly. The DOJ was caught when a judge noticed a document missing on a J6'er, who wanted to bomb Obama's home & was convicted for it. I bet these are ICE now.

etching, aquatint - sea of spherical white dandelions on spiky green stems in a vast field with deep blue night sky

Phil Greenwood
Welsh artist

Dream Clocks

Samhain🌿

Can’t Look Away: The Case Against Social Media A documentary film explores the real-world consequences of tech companies’ digital practices and widespread concerns over harmful algorithms.

A documentary film explores the real-world consequences of tech companies’ digital practices and widespread concerns over harmful algorithms.

FUN FACT: Drugs do not need to be advertised on TV and Congress could end this practice, which isn’t permitted in most countries.

Having been in the industry for most of my professional career I can tell you (many know) that the majority of that profit goes to sales and marketing and not R&D as they love to proclaim.

I had emergency surgery in Germany. Included 10 days in the hospital, physical therapy, MRIs, private room, delicious gourmet level meals, all for $18K. I was completely cured. My American insurance company was delighted. They said the same surgery would have cost $80K-$100K in the US.

Paxlovid from Pfizer costs $15 to make and now retails for $1500.

Insane

The way he rubs his inhumanity in Americans” face never ceases to stun me.

He’s illegally refusing to pay food stamp benefits…

…while he throws a ridiculously over the top Gatsby party for his right wing millionaire and corporate friends.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The thing about Johnson not swearing in Grijalva is that’s it a test for 2026.

If you think they will accept an outcome they don’t like, they will just Grijalva it.

So what’s the plan when the GOP says “we ain’t leaving, fuck you, make us.”

Because that IS what they are going to say.

Shoud we be worried that Mark Zuckerberg built a multimillion dollar bunker in Hawaii. That Tr*mp is fortifying the White House bunker. And that several Tr*mp regime members moved onto military bases?

The basic argument from the pollsters, an attendee told CNN, "healthcare is the right fight in this moment... people still feel more pain and impact of higher healthcare costs than impact from the shutdown." 5/

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

BREAKING: A Source close to the White House has told the NYPost:

“Maduro is ending and a free and prosperous Venezuela is dawning. Within days, Maduro will exist only in the past tense and in history’s judgment."

I didn't vote for a new war, did you?

a tree is silhouetted against a starry night sky with a website url visible ALT: a tree is silhouetted against a starry night sky with a website url visible

For the Celts, the night of November 1st marked the boundary to winter and thus to the dark season. The boundary to the otherworld was also considered particularly permeable on that night. They believed that the fairy mounds could open and the fairies could appear to people.

How the US sets its poverty rate is shocking It's so horrible, it should actually piss you off

open.substack.com/pub/kellysca...
The fact of the matter is that helping people costs money and that is just not popular with corporations that, for all practical purposes, own a vast number of congresspersons.
Get money out of politics and we can move onward and upward
#EndCitizensUnited

A systematic review of 511 studies showed that immunisation against COVID-19, RSV, and influenza was safe and effective in people of all ages.

The group chat pings around school drop-off and dismissal time. “All quiet at [Elementary School X],” one message says, or “smooth sailing at [Middle School Y].” Neighbors are on heightened alert because a federal government helicopter has been doing laps over our communities…

Meiselas: Right now, this idea of the bully has been glorified, and we have to disabuse people of that notion and say, “Nah, that’s weakness.” Stop blaming your problems marginalized groups.

We have to proudly support communities that have been under attack—’cause they’re human beings, dammit.

FBI: "We didn't zip tie children."

REPORTER: "Here's a photo of a zip tied 14 year old."

FBI" "OK, we didn't zip tie YOUNG children."