I cannot politely tell you how tired I am of Trump theater. I watched his refurbished 757 land, Trump coming down the stairs just as he did as president, climbing into a car one would expect to see in a presidential motorcade, and the line of cars driving off to Trump tower, just as it did when he was president. All theater designed to make him look like a powerful innocent man being victimized; and the media fell for it and covered it just as they did when he was president. Then I learned he has already raised $5 million from the White christofascists who still support Trump. I heard he wanted a mug shot so he could put it on a T-shirt and use it to raise more money. The problem with America, as I see it, is Americans themselves. If you don't see Trump as a racist, grifter, and criminal, you don't see reality. And yet millions don't. They support him, shovel money to him, and will vote for him given the chance.
Former President Trump is driven from his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Saturday. Credit: Chandan Khanna / AFP / Getty
The amount of money raised is now up to $7 million. — ed.
Former President Trump has raised more than $7 million since news of his indictment broke late Thursday — over $4 million in the first 24 hours and over $1 million in the second 24 hours, a Trump official told Axios on Saturday night.
Why it matters: The donation gusher validates the view of most top Republicans that the expected indictment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, at least in the short term, will help Trump’s effort to build a formidable lead for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
By the numbers: In announcing the initial $4 million haul, Trump’s campaign noted that over 25% of the donations came from first-time donors to him.
That figure wasn’t available for the Saturday donations.
What we’re hearing: Trump officials weren’t sure the donation bump would last past the first day.
Ron DeSantis, whom I consider one of the scummiest politicians in office today has just signed a new law that will allow anyone who can legally own a gun in Florida to carry one concealed on their person without a permit. No training. No background check. It takes effect July 1. And what do you think will be the effect of this new law? In 2022, 9,229 men, women, and children died by gunfire in Florida. My prediction, and I will track this, is that the Florida gun death rate will notably go up. The voters of Florida are about to get what they voted for.
MAGAt Republican christofascist Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Floridians will be able to carry concealed guns without a permit under a bill Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Monday, giving the governor another legislative victory as he prepares a campaign for president.
The governor signed the bill in a private ceremony in his office. His only immediate public comment was, “Constitutional Carry is in the books,” which he said in a three-paragraph news release.
The new law will allow anyone who can legally own a gun in Florida to carry one without a permit. It means training and a background check will not be required to carry concealed guns in public. It takes effect July 1.
The arguments over the legislation were divided along political lines, with Republicans saying law-abiding citizens have a right to carry guns and protect themselves. They say most people will still want to get a permit because it will allow them to carry concealed weapons in states with reciprocal agreements and to be able to purchase guns without a waiting period.
While the Republican party is blocking a woman's right to control her own body, and changing laws so anyone can carry a concealed gun, this is what Democrats are doing. You choose.
Eggs are seen at a grocery store in Washington, D.C. on January 19, 2023. Credit: Stefani Reynolds / AFP / Getty
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders this weekend renewed his call to break up agricultural monopolies after the nation’s largest egg producer reported that its quarterly profits soared more than 700%.
Cal-Maine Foods, which controls about 20% of the U.S. egg market, announced last week that its revenue for the quarter ending February 25 rose 109% to $997.5 million, while profit for the same period skyrocketed 718% to $323.2 million.
In a statement, Cal-Maine president and CEO Sherman Miller attributed the company’s soaring profits to “the ongoing epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza which has significantly reduced the nation’s egg-laying capacity.”
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, “U.S. egg inventories were 29% lower in the final week of December 2022 than at the beginning of the year,” while “more than 43 million egg-laying hens were lost to the disease itself or to depopulation since the outbreak began in February 2022.”
As I keep telling you Republicans are trying to restructure the education of children in the United States from Kindergarten to College so that they are indoctrinated into the MAGAt view of the world, not educated to think for themselves, and this strategy is well underway. It is a growing part of the Great Schism Trend, and will fundamentally change the culture of the Red and Blue states.
Florida’s public universities, unlike most others, require an SAT or ACT score for freshman admission. Republicans in the Sunshine State are seeking to purge diversity and equity programs from those schools, weaken tenure protections for professors and limit the teaching of concepts such as “critical race theory” and “radical gender theory.”
By contrast, California’s public universities ignore the test scores and avow the importance of diversity. The Democratic-led state requires them to offer abortion medication through student health centers. Tenured faculty wield immense clout within the University of California. Gender studies is not under threat in the Golden State.
With their competing visions, the two megastates spotlight an emerging red-blue divide in higher education: The culture wars are breaking public universities into polarized camps. At stake is who goes to college, whether those students feel welcome on campus and who decides what gets taught there.
If, as a result, more prospective students gravitate to what they perceive to be politically like-minded colleges, analysts say that could […]
Sharon LaFraniere, Investigative Reporter - The New York Times
Stephan:
Here is yet another tragic story about how Red state legislatures debase the quality of the healthcare available to their citizens, particularly their poorest citizens, and those of color. If you are an older person, or someone with medical issues, or have to rely on Medicaid, and you live in a Red state I urge you to get counseling on what you might face in a medical emergency. This limitation on medical care, and the closing of rural hospitals is a very nasty Red state trend.
Greenwood Leflore Hospital in Mississippi lost $17 million last year, as rural hospitals nationwide struggle to deal with population declines, soaring labor costs, and a long-term shift toward outpatient care. Credit: Erin Schaff / The New York Times
GREENWOOD, MISSISSIPPI — Since its opening in a converted wood-frame mansion 117 years ago, Greenwood Leflore Hospital had become a medical hub for this part of Mississippi’s fertile but impoverished Delta, with 208 beds, an intensive-care unit, a string of walk-in clinics and a modern brick-and-glass building.
But on a recent weekday, it counted just 13 inpatients clustered in a single ward. The I.C.U. and maternity ward were closed for lack of staffing and the rest of the building was eerily silent, all signs of a hospital savaged by too many poor patients.
Greenwood Leflore lost $17 million last year alone and is down to a few million in cash reserves, said Gary Marchand, the hospital’s interim chief executive. “We’re going away,” he said. “It’s happening.”
Rural hospitals are struggling all over the nation because of population declines, soaring labor […]
