mastodon 4.7.2he/him/it. Old white bi guy. Currently in Raymore, MO. Looking to move back to #Arizona Retired. Former PR pro. Former state level PIO (Nebraska). Thick skin wearing thin online, but still hanging on.
Re-living first years as DJ by collecting more records than is healthy. #NowPlaying #Music #Vinyl
Surviving son of UNL Prof of #Journalism James M. Neal, Jr & Caroline Becker.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee will be in Florida Tuesday to hold a hearing with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. It's what's known as a shadow hearing, one organized by the minority party, and it's the first time we will hear from survivors testifying publicly under oath about what happened to them. #Epstein
Pope Thumbs Nose At Trump: Dares him to ICE out new bishop: Pope Leo on Friday named a formerly undocumented immigrant who was smuggled into the United States in a car trunk to be bishop of West Virginia; he also elevated to bishop Howard University’s chaplain, who has called attacks on diversity “un-American” and “un-Christian.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2026/05/01/pope-leo-bishops-menjivar-boxie
Mr. Trump’s remarks came amid a tourism downturn in Las Vegas, which recorded an 11 percent decline in visitors last year. Mr. Trump’s immigration raids have rattled service workers, and his tariffs and foreign policy threats have angered international tourists — in particular, Canadians, the largest group of international visitors to the city.
(NYT) With the world’s attention focused on the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and its proxies, extremist settlers acting with seeming impunity have intensified their attacks on Palestinians across the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Their campaign of violence and intimidation is emptying out entire villages and leaving countless Palestinians fearing what each nightfall might bring. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/world/middleeast/israel-palestinians-west-bank-settler-violence-iran-war.html
BTW "Ballroom Blitz" was based on a true story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-bUYx1ZP_k&t=520s
Rudy's deathbed confessions . . .
Him: I agree to stay in custody.
Prosecutors: We still want a hearing to argue he needs to remain in custody.
Judge: No. Seriously No. But I'll bite. Why?
Prosecutors: Daddy told us to take every opportunity to promote his ballroom bunker.
And the man at the back said, "Everyone, attack"
And it turned into a ballroom blitz
And the girl in the corner said, "Boy, I wanna warn ya
It'll turn into a ballroom blitz"
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
Ballroom blitz
You'd think Melania would be going after Silver Penny for making her look as old as her husband - and dressing her like a Democrat . . . Old, gray haired Melania . . . Wearing Biden's Aviators. Come on . . .
Probably a good idea to assume we don't know everything about the human body, that anything we think of as "not important" probably is - we just don't know how or why. #health https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/05/03/thymus-longevity-cancer-research/
Hey, Hey, DJT
who you gonna hate today?
“we’re having some fake inflation because of the fuel, the energy prices.” - DJT https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/16/us/politics/trump-taxes-fuel-las-vegas.html
"All the intel agencies use Anthropic. Every agency except War wants to. That's because Anthropic doesn't want to kill people and War's position is 'don't tell us what the f*** to do.' But if you're the Department of Energy, you don't give a f*** about that. You're worried about the Chinese attacking the energy grid. So you want Anthropic," the first administration official said. https://www.axios.com/2026/04/16/white-house-anthropic-ai-mythos-government-national-security
America may still have a heart, but clearly it's 1,000's of miles from D.C. "DHS starts deportation of woman whose loved one died in the Baltimore bridge collapse."
After once backing liberal causes, the Google co-founder has praised President Trump, donated to Republicans and spent $57 million to try to block a California billionaire tax. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/27/us/politics/sergey-brin-gg-soto-trump-california-billionaire-tax.html
Tomorrow's News Today: Trump embraces new, forward thinking construction reqs. allowing for 2x3 construction, 24" on center, zero insulation, single pane windows & lowlands development Builders say it's all good (but in the long run, it'll cost ya). It's the Trump pre mid-terms construction boom
He's getting worse
The world is paying for it
Congress not helping
The world paying for it
His cabinet is enabling
The world, it pays.
Farmers are foundering
Small businesses erased
Children needlessly dying
Cars soon be idling
Transport trucks idle.
Wind farms shut
while Democracy's razed
paved over, painted blue
Choked in gold
Now a billboard
to just one man
And we're supposed to worry
About Iran.
Leaving MAGA
The incident was one of at least 780 in which staff members at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities used physical force or chemical agents to control immigrant detainees during the first year of the Trump administration, a Washington Post investigation has found, based on a trove of ICE records obtained from a government employee. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/05/04/ice-detention-centers-force/
the new artificial intelligence tool that Austin, Texas, is using to pre‑review residential applications is showing strong early results, city staff say.
as of early April, through 190 submissions, no negative feedback or customer comments have been shared, and it has reduced application review time for city staff by about 50%.
City officials said the software can speed up reviews by "as much as one review cycle," which could "trim days to weeks off the review time"
Probably a light-hearted moment during the latest Trump-Putin phone call . . .
Trump: I'm sending them to Africa!
Putin: I'm sending them FROM Africa
to die in Ukraine!
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/world/africa/ukraine-russia-war-african-soldiers.html
Trump's "Department of War" Retreats - Trump to downsize U.S. military presence in Germany. The decision coincides with a deepening feud between the president and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has criticized the U.S. war in Iran.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/05/01/us-troops-germany-trump-merz/.
President Trump was present one floor below . . .
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-rebukes-prosecutors-accused-correspondents-dinner-gunman
