In Massachusetts, they require the foster parents to respect each child’s chosen name, their pronouns, and their gender expression, prohibiting any attempts to change a youth’s identity. This is especially important to prevent "Christians" who want to perform harmful "conversion therapy" on kids.

The Supreme Court has recently heard a case where "Christians" claim religious freedom violations because of the many state bans on "conversion therapy." We should receive a decision on that case by June, but we also need to monitor these harmful ADF cases that are working their way through the courts.🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Here's France24's news coverage about the arrest warrant: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20251107-turkey-issues-genocide-arrest-warrant-against-netanyahu

The USA has $38T in debt, gaining the fastest $1T since the pandemic. Trump's “Big Beautiful Bill” will nearly double the debt, at a time when our interest payments on the debt is approaching our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Twenty-two states are already in a recession. Consumers are also drowning in debt, and so car repossessions are rapidly increasing with a $1.66T auto debt crisis. The average price of a car is now $50,000. Average monthly payments for new vehicles exceed $750, with about one in five borrowers facing payments over $1,000 per month. Car insurance premiums have jumped 19% in the past year, and car repair costs are up 33% since 2020. An rapidly increasing percentage of borrowers are delinquent in their auto loans leading to repossession. Many car owners are “underwater” where they owe more than the car is worth. Student loan debts hit a record high of $1.65T with nearly 10% of those debt payments being more than 90 days overdue, and the delinquency problem is growing. Total household debt has reached $18.59T.

One-half of workers are relying on their debt just to buy the essentials, so we also have a $1T credit card debt crisis. The average credit card debt is $7,321 while the credit card rates just hit a 13 year high. Half of Americans have their paycheck gone in just 2 days, and many of the high-earners are living paycheck to paycheck. Electricity bills are up 11%. Foreclosures have surged 17%, as the housing market hits a 30 year low. Insurance rates have skyrocketing with some companies leaving entire states behind. In California, the companies fled because of the wildfire risk, and in Florida they fled because of the hurricanes and flooding risk. There is no affordable housing to be found, and the price of food has soared because of tariffs and inflation. Wages haven't even come close to keeping up with the rapid rise in inflation and cost of living. Many young people are having to put off marriage because they can't afford to start a family. People also can't afford their pets, so animal surrenders at the shelters have increased.

Health care costs have made medical care unobtainable by millions of Americans, and rural hospitals have been closing their doors. Doctors are no longer able to be recruited because of the $100,000 H1-B visa fee and crackdown on legal immigration. Prescription drug prices are too high and going up, ACA premiums rose 30%, and in some states by much more. Medical costs  now outpace inflation by 40%.

Our economy is in danger because many companies that have been around for decades are closing up shop. Even the large and profitable companies are laying off employees by the thousands. They've already passed on over half of the tariffs to the consumer, while trying to absorb the rest. In order to retain their profitability, companies either will have to pass all of it on the the consumer and/or greatly reduce their staff and investments in the future. And when prices go up, they rarely come back down. 81% of Gen X will rely on Social Security, and the experts say that it will be insolvent by 2033. The problem is much greater because of the immigration crackdown and our birth rate. Immigrants pay into the system and keep it afloat for the rest of us. Without a reversal of course, I think we'll see a social security crisis before 2033.

Farmers really got screwed over (but they overwhelming voted for it). The US bailed out Argentina by exchanging $40B with their pesos. That is an investment we'll likely never make back. Beef prices are up 16% this year, so Trump is ordering beef from Argentina to be imported. The price of bananas is up 5%. In the latest big “deal” Trump made with Xi, China has reduced the tariffs on some goods while keeping the tariff on imported soybeans at 16%. Meanwhile, this administration is spending $3B to bailout the farmers from a self-created crisis. Despite the bailout, 500,000 farm families are still facing bankruptcy. “Shrinkflation” has been happening across the board, as companies reduce the size of their packaging, or use deceptive packaging to make it seem like you are buying the same amount of product for the same price.

What is the government doing address these problems? Trump has remodeled the Lincoln bathroom, demolished the entire White House east wing to build a $300M ballroom, and is preparing to build a ridiculous arch in front of the Lincoln Memorial. DHS, police, and the military are way over-funded with most of the money going to private military contractors. Both parties have committed the sin of giving almost unlimited funds to the military industrial complex while the people are struggling to make ends meet. On Halloween, while millions of Americans were waiting in lines at the food pantry because of the suspension of SNAP benefits and the longest government shutdown in history, Trump held a “Great Gatsby” ball at Mar-a-Lago where they used the theme from a song from the movie that's called "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody".

The “American Dream” as we've always know it is completely dead now, and we have problems that will take many generations to resolve. Our current trajectory is simply not sustainable, and so major changes will have to be made. Who will be the courageous leaders who will guide us out of this mess? Only time will tell. Empires rise, and empires fall. By nearly every measure the USA is a failed nation-state. The current iteration of the American Empire and experiment in democracy lasted 250 years. Let's hope the next iteration is more stable, equitable, and democratic - but for now I pronounce the USA is dead and this blog post serves as its autopsy.

“Due to the recent increase in ICE enforcement actions across the country, criminal actors are using ICE’s enhanced public profile and media coverage to their advantage to target vulnerable communities and commit criminal activity. This not only effects the victims and communities but also has broader negative consequences on law enforcement agencies.”

“These criminal impersonations make it difficult for the community to distinguish between legitimate officers conducting lawful law enforcement action and imposters engaging in criminal activity, which damages trust between the local community and law enforcement officers.”

I don't see the FBI bulletin posted on their website yet, but Property of the People has lots of other good documents of interest that they've obtained through FOIA.

Hackers have done their jobs by penetrating all of the Israeli systems and providing evidence of their crimes, but nation-state actors are also involved, and they are altering and sometimes completely fabricating the evidence. A good source for reliable hacked files is DDOSecrets.

Last month, US Army veteran Anthony Aguilar held a discussion where he described the war crimes that he personally witnessed as a security subcontractor for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. He is a highly decorated former Special Forces Green Beret who spent 25 years in the Army, and received a Purple Heart for his wounds suffered in combat. He recently disrupted a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing to denounce the US complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Aguilar has been meeting with lawmakers, protesting major speeches over US complicity in war crimes, and continuing to speak out about the abuses he witnessed first-hand. In this livestream recording, he is hosted by Chip Gibbons of Defending Rights & Dissent who frequently reports on whistleblowers and those who sound the alarm on human rights abuses committed in the name of national security.

Here's a recording of the livestream: https://www.rightsanddissent.org/news/event-anthony-aguilar-on-gazas-death-traps-live-in-washington-d-c/

The seven steps are:

1. Politicizing independent institutions: Authoritarians attack independent functions of the government, such as the judiciary, intelligence agencies, law enforcement, and central banks. The goal is to capture or neutralize these checks on their power.
2. Spreading disinformation: While politicians may engage in "spin," authoritarians systematically propagate and amplify falsehoods to confuse the public and undermine the notion of objective truth. This disinformation often takes the form of coordinated efforts through aligned media outlets and other channels.
3. Aggrandizing executive power: Authoritarians weaken the other branches of government—such as legislatures and courts—and justify expanding their own power. This can involve rewriting rules or simply staffing competing institutions with loyalists.
4. Quashing dissent: Aspiring autocrats seek to silence opposition and criticism from a strong, independent press and political opponents. This can take many forms, from rhetoric to punitive actions.
5. Scapegoating vulnerable communities: Authoritarians attack marginalized or minority groups to sow division and turn parts of the population against one another. This strategy reinforces solidarity among their own supporters and demonizes those deemed "outsiders".
6. Corrupting elections: Rather than openly rigging elections, modern authoritarians maintain the facade of democracy while tilting the rules in their favor. This can include suppressing votes, biasing election administration, and even attempting to overturn results.
7. Stoking violence: Autocrats can use or deliberately turn a blind eye to political violence. This tactic can intimidate opponents, justify new restrictions on civil liberties, and discourage voters from participating.

Reporting from BBC on the changes for refugees: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy40jj71243o

Here's the full order from the 7th Circuit: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71559589/154/chicago-headline-club-v-noem/
 

Here's reporting on the ICE abuse of Souvannarath: https://www.tag24.com/politics/refugees/ice-overrides-court-order-to-deport-alabama-father-to-laos-3433507

Reporting on the NDAs: U.S. Troops Reportedly Required To Sign NDA Before Taking Part In Campaign In The Caribbean

Reporting on the pilot plot: U.S. Officer Sought To Convince Maduro's Pilot To Divert His Flight So He'd Be Taken By American Forces, Report Claims

Reporting on the capture of CIA agents: Venezuela Claims Capture of Alleged CIA-Linked Mercenaries As U.S. Conducts Naval Drills Near Its Coast

Reporting from BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c891ex72nj7t

Media coverage from Latin Times: Venezuela Claims Capture of Alleged CIA-Linked Mercenaries As U.S. Conducts Naval Drills Near Its Coast

Here's the Notice of Alleged Violation filing in federal court.

Media Coverage: Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino accused of violating restraining order by throwing tear gas in Little Village - CBS Chicago