Subscribe to My Blog
Receive an alert when a new post is added. I will never share your email address with anyone.
Write your text here...
Week of August 31, 2025
The President of the United States of America posted this on social media.
Ginger
9/7/20259 min read
Here goes...
1. Hey guess what? Appropriate info for Labor Day - If the federal minimum wage had increased at the rate of inflation & productivity since 1960 it'd be $28 (some calculations say $26) today—instead of $7.25, which, by the way, has not been increased in 16 years(!). CBS News, Cornell University) We don't have a lack of resources—we have an excess of corporate greed.
2. Also on Labor Day Trump terminated collective bargaining for over one million federal workers. (NPR)
3. “In the U.S. from 1975 to 2018, at least $50 trillion moved from the bottom 90% to the top 1%.” Heather Cox Richardson
4. Countries on track to eliminate cervical cancer because of the HPV vaccine:-Australia by 2028, Sweden by 2027, Rwanda by 2030, UK by 2040, Indonesia by 2030, Bhutan 2030 -El Salvador by 2030, Canada by 2040. (World Health Organization). In fact, 194 countries have signed on to an effort to eliminate this cancer. HPV vaccine is one Robert F Brainworm Kennedy, Director of Health and Human Sacrifice, I mean Services is trying to ban. (I must credit Jimmy Fallon for the joke)
5. Newsom cannot stop trolling Trump and it’s fantastic.
6. In a ruling that declared Trump sending the National Guard into L.A. was illegal, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said, “Trump is literally trying to build a national police force with the President as its chief.” “Breyer said in his ruling that the Trump administration used troops for functions that were barred by their own training materials, refused to “meaningfully coordinate with state and local officials” and “‘coached’” federal law enforcement agencies on the language to use when requesting the Guard’s assistance.” (The AP, WAPO) Full court ruling here.
7. FOX BUSINESS (yes, even Fox): “My goodness. $5 BILLION. Eye-popping numbers… crypto-friendly legislation coming from the president who is in turn cashing in on crypto. A conflict of interest.” Extreme, unprecedented grift and conflict of interest every single day. For the billionth time – imagine if Obama or Biden did this? And for perspective, Spiro Agnew (Nixon’s VP) resigned over $10K in a paper bag.
8. Trump on tariffs: "We've taken in almost $17 trillion of investment." 1. That would be more than half the entire US GDP (so yeah, that’s wacky), and 2. Just 2 days before he said it was 8 trillion. He lies as easily as he breathes.
9. Oh hey, the U.S. Army just admitted to spraying zinc cadmium sulfide, a chemical containing a known carcinogen, over a predominantly Black housing complex in St. Louis during the 1950s and 1960s as part of a secret Cold War experiment. The testing was done without the knowledge or consent of the residents of the Pruitt-Igoe housing development, who were told the mist was harmless. (NBC News, News Nation). This would be one example of our long history of institutional racism that impacts people still today – that so many Republicans think doesn’t exist.
10. Trump went in front of the cameras this week threatening to send the National Guard to Chicago - stating that many people in Chicago were “born to be criminals”. Born to be. Look, let’s get real. He’s talking about Black people. And again, if you do not recognize this as racism I need you to understand that this is what Whites have said to dehumanize and justify violence against Black people for pretty-much ever. He also said “They’re not going to be good in 10 years, in five years, in 20 years…” implying that they (the born criminals) don’t have the capacity for rehabilitation. Again, dehumanization at its worst. And really, how would he know that? He wouldn’t. He is making classic racist assumptions about a group of people he doesn’t know. By the way, Chicago does not want this, and their violent crime rate is at a 27-year low. The per capita murder rate is not even in the top 20 of large cities in the US. (PBS, Newsweek)
11. This is how Chicago feels about Trump’s threats.
12. Trump tells Republicans that voting to release the Epstein files would be a hostile act toward his Administration. (CNN, NBC News, The Hill) Also, he said on the Scott Jennings radio show that Rep. Massie who is leading the charge is an insurgent who should be "taken out". Taken out. 1. For the billionth time, Trump campaigned on releasing the files! 2. It’s only been a couple months since Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state representative, and her husband, Mark Hortman (and their dog!) were assassinated. He does not care that his provocative rhetoric can have dire consequences.
13. Guys, this is really something. Trump ordered a military fly over of the Capitol DURING THE PRESS CONFERENCE HELD BY EPSTEIN SURVIVORS. Eight fighter jets. Please help me with the words to describe how heinous this is. (CNN, PBS, USA Today). This was NOT a coincidence as some have reported. The press conference had been scheduled for a couple weeks. That area is a no-fly zone. The military does not - ever - do drills over the capitol. This was Trump being peak Trump. A bully. A sexual assaulter, a misogynist. A cruel, spoiled, shameless man-baby. He used the military to intimidate and humiliate survivors of sexual assault – exactly the kind of thing an abuser would do.
14. And the most bizarre thing I’ve seen in a long time (and that is really saying something, friends) House Speaker Mike Johnson said, and I quote, “When he first heard the rumor, he kicked him out of Mar-a-Lago. He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down…". (Economic Times, my apologies if there is a highly questionable ad right before the video).
He was what now? An FBI informant? Hahahahahahahahah (takes big breath) hahahahahahaha. And this is the first we are hearing it? Trump would be bragging about that night and day. He is physically unable not to brag about himself. And Trump said himself the reason he kicked Epstein out of Mar-a -Lago was because he stole one of his spa employees – who by the way was an underage girl! (and don’t forget the Katie Johnson affidavit which I would like to forget, which describes what Epstein AND Trump did to her). An FBI informant my ass (sorry mom).
15. The Surgeon General in Florida is trying to end all vaccine mandates including those in SCHOOLS. (ABC News, NBC News, BBC, Science.org). “Owning the Libs” by bringing back the iron lung. Is it really possible that we have been so successful at eradicating childhood disease that people really don’t know (or remember) how awful they were? Here’s a little truth bomb about measles. Also, I wonder what they think about this at Disney World?
16. Apparently Republican Senator Susan Collins accepted $2 million from a billionaire private equity executive the day before she voted to advance Trump's truly awful (and embarrassingly named) Big Beautiful Bill. (Rolling Stone)
17. The Trump Administration fired a missile at a boat in the Caribbean killing 11 people, destroying the boat (obviously) and any evidence. (Reuters, NPR, Yahoo News) Honestly, this is very strange and I’m not entirely sure what Trump is up to (although I have theories) but we will probably never get the whole story. But it sure does seem to be an extrajudicial killing which is illegal under both national and international law. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed to reporters that the US could have intercepted the boat, but Trump gave the order to blow it up instead. (WaPo)
18. Good news alert: Washington, Oregon, and California have formed a vaccine alliance that will issue science-based recommendations separate from the CDC. Late breaking news is that Hawaii is joining. I honestly think it is time for blue states to secede. I’m not kidding. I’m really done with subsidizing the fuckery in Red states (because as you probably know, most blue states give more in taxes than they receive in services and it is the opposite in red states. Time Magazine, AP News, MoneyGeek, TaxProf Blog, etc)
19. More good news (no, really!) A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from freezing Harvard funding and said the administration is using antisemitism as a “smokescreen.” “In her ruling, (U.S. District Judge Allison ) Burroughs called the Trump administration's actions part of a "government-initiated onslaught" against the school that was "much more about promoting a governmental orthodoxy in violation of the First Amendment than about anything else, including fighting antisemitism." (BBC, NPR, Reuters)
20. Louisiana got rid of its last 2 Planned Parenthood offices. Guess what, these two offices provide contraception, STD screening, prenatal care, and cancer prevention for poor women and HAVE NEVER performed abortions. (WDSU News, Louisiana Illuminator)
21. John Deere laying off hundreds of employees because it has 300 million dollars in losses due to trump's tariffs. (Newsweek, CNBC, NYT)
22. Trump rescinded a Biden-era rule that required airlines to compensate you when they screw up your flight. (USA Today, ABC News, Reuters).
23. Back to Epstein: DOJ Deputy Chief Joseph Schnitt was filmed saying that the government will "redact every republican" and "leave all the liberal, democratic people” on the Epstein client list. He also said Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to a minimum-security prison as "a benefit to keep her mouth shut." (Newsweek, The New Republic). No surprise here. Even if they do release the files they will be useless now.
24. Ron DeSantis’s crews removed a “BLACK HISTORY MATTERS” mural from the street outside the Carter G. Woodson African American Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Newsweek, Axios). It was repainted overnight, but damn, WTAF is wrong with these people? Again, like the rainbow memorial for the 49 people shot to death at the Pulse Nightclub, all he had to do was nothing. But he chose to be an asshole.
25. Despite Trump firing the head statistician at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and installing a loyalist, the jobs report is just brutal. Just 22,000 jobs added in August. Unemployment rises to 4.3%. Broader jobless rate jumps to 8.1%. Slowest 4-month growth since 2020. Plus, downward revisions for June and July of -21,000. (CNN, CNBC, Fox Business). The value of the US dollar against other currencies has declined 11%, the largest drop in 50 years since Trump took office. (Politifact, Morgan Stanley) The economy is crashing folks. Just 9 months ago we had the best post COVID economy in the world, which Trump supporters refused to believe despite all of the readily available economic evidence and data. And Remember when 16 Nobel prize-winning economists signed a letter warning that the U.S. economy would suffer if Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election?
26. Federal agents detained over 450 workers in an ICE raid at Hyundai’s EV battery plant site in Georgia. This is one of the largest workplace raids in recent U.S. history. (The AP, CBS News, Reuters). Well, this is sure to inspire companies to build their factories in the US, amiright?
27. Trump sent in a Seal Team to North Korea during his first term to bug Kim Jong Un's communications. The mission was a failure, and the Seals killed civilian fishermen. Congress was never notified. (NYT, sorry about the paywall, ABC News,)
28. Trump posted this ridiculous AI picture basically declaring war on an American city. In any other time this would be impeachable at minimum, treasonous more likely. I mean - a picture of an American city going up in flames at the hands of the President? But these are strange times. Again, the crime rate in Chicago is down, the people do not want or need him. He doesn't care about the people of Chicago, he hates them. And he thinks shit like this makes him look like a tough guy to his base, meanwhile humiliating himself and our country.
29. Massive protests in Chicago (getting very little coverage).
30. Chicago is deploying its entire fleet of salt trucks to help protect people against ICE. Ah, a sense of humor while resisting tyranny. Awesome. They are also using cranes.
In the words of Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton, "So what did I miss?"
