The Weekly Readlines April 12
From the Editor’s Desk: Not long ago, when people said, “It can’t happen here,” we believed it. But now it sounds like parents telling their children there’s nothing under the bed just before a claw reaches up and pulls them under. That sound you hear is the crunching of their bones. It can happen here, and it is happening here. The police state has arrived. The American Stasi now abducts people off the street for their ideas, and uses the labels of sympathizer, terrorist or just gang member to obliterate their Constitutional rights. Meanwhile, for most of us our daily lives look normal, as if none of this is happening to us. But it is. All it takes now is calling us gang members, and we will vanish. We will be herded into psychological detention centers, if not literal ones, relegated to pockets of passivity while the United States as a country we recognize is obliterated. Take your pictures now. – Mark
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S STOP STORIES
Trump Tanks World Economy, Cashes In, Tanks It Again
A child this destructive would be sent to a reformatory
CDC’s Cruise Ship Inspectors Laid Off Amid Bad Year For Outbreaks
Washy washy! Bonus points if you know what that means
State Dept Launches “Anti-Christian Bias” Snitch Line
Snitches and witches everywhere now
Social Security Admin Will Only Communicate with the Public on X
The agency has been taken hostage and no witnesses will be left alive
LGBTQ
Los Angeles LGBT Center to Close West Hollywood Clinic After Nearly a Decade of Service
Police Seize Dozens Of Titles With LGBT Themes From St. Petersburg, Russia, Bookstore
Texas A&M President Rejects LGBT Class for University’s Core Curriculum
U.S. AND BEYOND
US Government Fails To Comply With Court Order On Wrongly Deported Migrant
UK: ‘Section 28 made me feel alone growing up, we need to fight returning censorship’
US Removes Commander In Greenland Following Vance’s Controversial Visit | CNN Politics
State Dept. Gives El Salvador A Massive Upgrade As It Disappears U.S. Immigrants
5-Year Lifeline Could Save PEPFAR And Millions Of Children From HIV
HEALTH AND AGING
New York Democrats Demand Meeting With RFK Jr. Over Trump Health Funding Cuts
’Not Just Measles”: Whooping Cough Cases Are Soaring as Vaccine Rates Decline
Obesity May Accelerate Brain Aging and Cognitive Loss – Neuroscience News
TRAVEL
Travel Strikes Are Impacting Europe: What You Need To Know
DC Worldpride Weighs Travel Warning For Transgender Visitors – Advocate.Com
FINANCES AND RETIREMENT
The Stock Market Has Been Down. What Should You Do With Your 401(K)? – USA Today
SCIENCE
Aging Former Research Chimps Move To Chimp Haven – NPR
Crows Are Good at Geometry. Don’t Look So Surprised
ENTERTAINMENT / CULTURE
Elton Celebrates ‘Extraordinary’ 10th Number One Album
Elton and Madonna Heal Rift Decades After Everyone Forgot About It
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
This Week’s Recommendation
Hat tip to my sister Cathy for turning me onto this. I LOVE IT! These two women are hilarious, and very liberal. “They tell us we’re talking down to MAGA. Damn right I am!”
The show’s title plays into the episodes, with callers saying what they’ve “had it” with, from people leaving their trash for someone else to pick up, to the constant drumbeat of Democrats having to understand the poor, forgotten right while MAGA lies, cheats, and mocks with impunity. This show is a laugh-fest antidote to the dreary American dystopia we’ve found ourselves living in. MUST LISTEN, gets my 5 Headphones rating.
Join Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan and their special guests on “I’ve Had It” and let this comedic, feel-good podcast expose you to all the things you didn’t know you’ve had it with! Don’t ask them to bring a casserole to your event or to celebrate international snow cone day with you because they’ve HAD IT.