[[link removed]]

TIDBITS – MAY 15- READERS COMMENTS: WHAT’S THE LATEST GRIFT,
FOREIGN GIFT, EMOLUMENT; CONGRESS SILENT ON GAZA NIGHTMARE; YEAR’S
COST OF PUBLIC TELEVISION OR 6 HOURS OF PENTAGON BOMBS; U.S.
BANDMEMBER ARRESTED BEFORE EUROPEAN TOUR; MORE…  
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May 15, 2025
xxxxxx

*
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*
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*
*
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_ Readers Comments: What's the Latest Grift, Foreign Gift, Emolument;
Congress Silent on Gaza Nightmare; Year's Cost of Public Television or
6 Hours of Pentagon Bombs; U.S. Bandmember Arrested Before European
Tour; Mass-Care Medicare for All Conference _

Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements, Shorts, AND
cartoons - May 15, 2025, xxxxxx

 

* THE GRIFT IS DEEP  --  CARTOON BY DC CARTOONIST
* RE: WHY IS CONGRESS SILENT ON THE NIGHTMARE IN GAZA?  (VELVA
SPRIGGS)
* THIS IS A MAN-MADE FAMINE  --  CARTOON BY WEIRDMOMART
* RE: MAHMOUD KHALIL'S LETTER FROM JAIL TO HIS SON  (VICTOR
GROSSMAN; KATHE KARLSON)
* I HATE A PARADE  --  CARTOON BY JACK OHMAN
* 30 DOLLS  --  CARTOON BY ROB ROGERS
* RE: WHAT DIRECTION FOR LEO XIV AND FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?  (DAN
MORGAN)
* RE: HOW UNIONS CAN PROTECT IMMIGRANTS  (JOSHUA BARNETT)
* RE: DEMOCRATS LEARNED TO LOVE CLASS DEALIGNMENT  (CARL DAVIDSON;
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT)
* RE: HISTORY IS OUR BATTLEGROUND  (ED DELGADO)
* RE: CENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT 14TH
AMENDMENT  (DAVID WILSON)
* YEAR'S COST OF PUBLIC TELEVISION  --  CARTOON BY DAVID HORSEY
* PRESIDENT TRUMP - PLANE & SIMPLE  --  CARTOON BY DR. KEITH
KNIGHT
* CONCLAVE  --  CARTOON BY NICK ANDERSON

.SHORTS:

* A LOOK AT THE QATARI LOBBY  (CAITLIN OPRYSKO IN POLITICO)

 

* LORD BUFFALO  -  EUROPEAN TOUR CANCELLED - BY ICE

.

RESOURCES:

* RESOURCE: DATA CENTER (RESISTANCE) ORGANIZING GUIDE  -  THE
COSTS OF DATA CENTERS TO OUR COMMUNITIES AND HOW TO FIGHT BACK
 (KAIROS AND MEDIAJUSTICE)

.
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

* MASS-CARE MEDICARE FOR ALL CONFERENCE  --  WORCESTER  --  JUNE
21  (MASS-CARE)

...

...
 

THE GRIFT IS DEEP  --  CARTOON BY DC CARTOONIST

 

DC Cartoonist
May 12, 2025
DC Cartoonist
[[link removed]]

 

RE: WHY IS CONGRESS SILENT ON THE NIGHTMARE IN GAZA?
 

This is the clear genocide of a people as the world in its collective
consciousness bears witness.  We in the US and those in Israel are
the perpetrators, the worst of the witnesses, because we have funded
this madness and collaborated militarily, financially, policywise, and
in some cases, journalistically, in its justification. At times, I can
not eat myself for the knowledge that I have that a whole nation is
being deliberately starved to death.  Those American citizens and
foreign nationals who have protested have been punished in myriad
ways, jailed, and denied the Constitutional right of the freedom of
speech.  

Have the Jews forgotten about their lives in the Nazi concentration
camps?  When their mantra became, "Never again!." I guess they only
were speaking of themselves.  To exact such extreme cruelty and
degradation on others, denying them their humanity, is evidently ok. I
heavily resent the collaboration of the American government in this
genocide, this mass annulation of a people.  While Oct 7 was the date
of the precipitating event (and I do not support those killings either
by Hamas), it is evident that the trouble between these semitic
peoples, started long ago with Israel's contemptible treatment of the
Palestinians under a system of apartheid imposed by the Israelis and
their other  forms of control and maltreatment. Neither history nor
the universe will be tolerant of our role in this.  Does not America
have enough to atone for already?

Velva Spriggs

 

THIS IS A MAN-MADE FAMINE  --  CARTOON BY WEIRDMOMART

 

 

_This is a man-made famine. It’s forced starvation. Open the borders
now and stop bombing starving people!_
 

weirdmomart
May 10, 2025
weirdmomart [[link removed]]

 

RE: MAHMOUD KHALIL'S LETTER FROM JAIL TO HIS SON 
 

Unspeakably horrible and heart-wrenching! How can millions of people
see the pictures of fathers and mothers with tiny bodybags, of little
girls with amputated legs, of the continuing devastation of Gaza - its
homes, hospitals, schools, culture - even its streets and refugee tent
colonies, with the denial of food, water, fuel, medicine, sanitation -
and not recall Hiroshima-Nagasaki-Tokyo, Korea, Vietnam and yes,
Warsaw and its ghetto? How many have asked over the decades: "How
could the Germans have closed their eyes to Nazi terror against Jews?"
and then close their eyes to what is happening today? Our hearts go
out to the courageous ones who protest - especially at the
universities - but so many more are needed - here in Germany as in the
USA! And in Israel!

Hearty greetings - No pasarán!

Victor Grossman

      =====

Love in the age of a terror supported and fed by the U.S.
government!!!!

Kathe Karlson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

I HATE A PARADE  --  CARTOON BY JACK OHMAN

 

Jack Ohman
May 13, 2025
Jack Ohman’s You Betcha!
[[link removed]]

 

30 DOLLS  --  CARTOON BY ROB ROGERS

 

 

_Trump thinks his idiotic and chaotic tariffs are saving little girls
from doll hoarding. Really?_

Rob Rogers
May 9, 2025
TinyView [[link removed]]

 

RE: WHAT DIRECTION FOR LEO XIV AND FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?
 

Leo was mentored by Gustavo Gutiérrez, the leading Liberation
Theologian in Perú, according to a contact. He has spent more time in
Perú and elsewhere than in the USA. Leo XXIII defended workers'
rights, and XXIV has said he will continue Francis's work. We can be
hopeful.

Dan Morgan
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: HOW UNIONS CAN PROTECT IMMIGRANTS
 

We need to, out of class solidarity and because immigrant workers and
labor leaders were some of the strongest unionists who built the
unions in the first place.

Joshua Barnett
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: DEMOCRATS LEARNED TO LOVE CLASS DEALIGNMENT
 

I largely agree with this. But I would warn against being too
absolute. Here in my 'purple zone in Beaver County, PA, white workers
split about 60/40 in favor of Trump. that a big problem. But don't
dismiss the 40% who stuck with the Black voters, workers and others,
and voted for Harris. They're my base to work with. They haven't
disappeared. My neighbor, a construction worker who looks like
everyone's pickup truck driving image of a MAGA guy, stops me on the
street and ask, 'How are we going to get that Kluxer out of the White
House?' He's Catholic and recalls how the Klan came after his dad for
being a Catholic. And recall that the majority of white voters have
been going for the GOP since LBJ. The main reason wasn't economic, but
the perceived loss of ' white status' regarding the advances of people
of color. That was Trump's snake oil, which he sold in 2024.

Carl Davidson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

      =====

Trumpism is Clintonism's final legacy.

Eleanor Roosevelt
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: HISTORY IS OUR BATTLEGROUND
 

Nos pasarán !

Ed Delgado
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: CENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT 14TH
AMENDMENT
 

Note the typo in this otherwise useful article: the 14 Amendment was
ratified in 1868.

David Wilson

 

YEAR'S COST OF PUBLIC TELEVISION  --  CARTOON BY DAVID HORSEY

 

David Horsey
May 7, 2025
Syracuse.com
[[link removed]]

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP - PLANE & SIMPLE  --  CARTOON BY DR. KEITH KNIGHT

 

Dr. Keith Knight
May 16, 2025
The Keef Knight Project
[[link removed]]

 

CONCLAVE  --  CARTOON BY NICK ANDERSON

 

_Maybe it should be a puff of orange smoke..._

Nick Anderson
May 5, 2025
Pen Strokes [[link removed]]

 

A Look at the Qatari Lobby
 

By Caitlin Oprysko, with help from Daniel Lippman

May 14, 2025
Politico
[[link removed]]
 
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani welcomes President
Donald Trump during an official welcoming ceremony at the Amiri Diwan
in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025.  (Alex Brandon/AP photo  //
 Marietta Times)
WHO’S ON QATAR’S PAYROLL: White House press secretary KAROLINE
LEAVITT said this week there’s “absolutely nothing” Qatar might
be expecting in return for the $400 million luxury jet it’s poised
to gift President DONALD TRUMP to use as Air Force One and then be
transferred to his presidential library once he leaves office.

— But Qatar, where the president touched down today, has plenty at
stake in Trump’s presidency. That’s especially true after his
first term in office, when Trump declined to intervene
[[link removed]] in
a diplomatic blockade against Qatar led by regional rivals Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Doha has also endured years of
attacks from conservatives for serving as the home base of Hamas’
political leadership amid the war between Israel and Gaza.

— The Qatari government has built up an army of lobbyists and PR
gurus in the U.S. in recent years in an effort to turn its reputation
around. That group once even included Attorney General PAM BONDI, who
signed off on the legality of Trump accepting the plane, triggering
scrutiny from congressional Democrats
[[link removed]].

— Doha has further supplemented its influence operation in recent
months with allies of the president, according to a PI analysis of DOJ
filings. The Qatari government currently has about three dozen
lobbying and PR firms on its payroll, including MERCURY PUBLIC
AFFAIRS, the former K Street home of White House chief of staff SUSIE
WILES (though Wiles herself never lobbied for Qatar). There are
several former members of Congress on Qatar’s roster of lobbyists,
too, including Republican TOM DAVIS, who’s now at HOLLAND &
KNIGHT, and Democrat JIM MORAN, who now runs his own lobbying firm.
Other top K Street shops working for Qatar include BGR
GROUP and VENABLE.

— Over the past year, Qatar has also paid GOP strategist GARRETT
VENTRY more than $500,000 for work that has included highlighting
Doha’s role
[[link removed]] as
the chief mediator of ceasefires and hostage releases between Israel
and Hamas, according to DOJ filings.

— In March, the Qatari Embassy inked a deal with CORNERSTONE
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS. The team of lobbyists working on the account
includes DAVID PLANNING, a former special assistant to Trump,
and CHRIS HODGSON, a former aide to former Vice President MIKE
PENCE and House Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE.

— The following month, the embassy hired a firm founded by former
New York police chief BERNARD KERIK, a Trump ally whom Trump pardoned
at the end of his first term. The yearlong contract is worth nearly $1
million, according to a copy filed with the Justice Department, and
stipulates that Kerik “shall be personally and substantially engaged
in performance of the Services.” Trump announced plans to stop in
Qatar during his Middle East swing weeks later.

 

LORD BUFFALO  -  EUROPEAN TOUR CANCELLED - BY ICE

 

 

UPDATE: Thank you for your outpouring of support it means the world to
us. Our drummer has secured the legal representation he needs and we
are waiting to hear what comes next. We want to reiterate that we
truly don’t know what’s going on. We have more questions than
answers, but we will keep you posted as much as we can. At this time
the family asks for privacy as they navigate the situation. 
We are heartbroken to announce we have to cancel our upcoming European
tour. Our drummer, who is a Mexican citizen and lawful permanent
resident of the United States (green card holder) was forcibly removed
from our flight to Europe by Customs and Border Patrol at Dallas/Fort
Worth International Airport on Monday May 12. He has not been
released, and we have been unable to contact him. We are currently
working with an immigration lawyer to find out more information and to
attempt to secure his release. We are devastated to cancel this tour,
but we are focusing all of our energy and resources on Yamal’s
safety and freedom. We are hopeful that this is a temporary setback
and that it could be safe for us to reschedule this tour in the
future. In our absence, our touring partners Orsak:Oslo
[[link removed]] will continue to perform the
tour. We urge everyone to go see this amazing band and support them
over the next couple weeks.

Blues Funeral Recordings [[link removed]]

 

RESOURCE: DATA CENTER (RESISTANCE) ORGANIZING GUIDE  -  THE COSTS OF
DATA CENTERS TO OUR COMMUNITIES AND HOW TO FIGHT BACK  (KAIROS AND
MEDIAJUSTICE)

 

You may have recently heard about data centers: huge warehouses of
computer servers that are the physical infrastructure of our digital
lives. Big Tech needs more and more data centers for its unending
extraction schemes, particularly the rapid expansion of AI.

What you may not have heard about is how Big Tech is rapidly expanding
its data center build-out by stealing critical resources and tax
dollars from our communities—at no proven benefit for us

This guide includes:

*
A comprehensive overview of data centers’ costs to our communities -
from our health, to our wallets, to our air and water

*
An analysis of who data centers benefit (spoiler: not us!)

*
A call to action, including specific actions you can take to fight
back

We believe data centers, as the physical infrastructure Big Tech
requires to support its unending extraction schemes (including AI),
are a critical site of contestation. We invite you to join us in
building power, understanding, and organizing around data centers as a
critical site of struggle. Please feel free to use and widely share
this guide!

If you have any questions or ideas of how to fight back, please feel
free to reach out to us at [email protected] and
[email protected]. For more info about national
coordination efforts, please reach out to Vincent Acuña at
[email protected].

Data centers, Big Tech’s latest extraction scheme, are the physical
manifestation of our digital activity: giant warehouses full of
computer servers, chips, and equipment that power AI and other
technologies. IN THE PROCESS, DATA CENTERS CONSUME IMMENSE AMOUNTS OF
ELECTRICITY, WATER, AND LAND.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ORGANIZER GUIDE.
[[link removed]]

IF YOU WANT TO PRINT THIS GUIDE CLICK HERE FOR A PRINT VERSION.
[[link removed]]

 

MASS-CARE MEDICARE FOR ALL CONFERENCE  --  WORCESTER  --  JUNE 21
 (MASS-CARE)

 

[[link removed]]

Saturday, June 21
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Clark University
Higgins University Center
950 Main Street
Worcester

Mass-Care is hosting a state-wide strategy and working conference on
June 21 from 10am to 4pm at Clark University in Worcester  -
 Medicare for All in Massachusetts: The Future is Now!
[[link removed]] 

We all know the health care crisis that exists in Massachusetts:
already exorbitant insurance rates are soaring by an additional 12%
this year, and the bankruptcy of Steward Hospitals has left minority
and working class communities without access to hospitals.  Medicare
for All is the only solution that will provide complete coverage to
all Massachusetts residents and save money for all.

The core of the conference will be breakout sessions, by sector,
throughout the day:  *Healthcare workers, *Labor unions, *Businesses,
*Municipal and elected officials and *Community organizations and
organizers

Each of these sectors have a unique relationship with the private
health insurance system. Bringing those common experiences together
will help define and carry out a stronger action-oriented
organizational effort to enact Medicare for All, however we win it,
through a legislative vote or by a binding referendum vote by the
people. The breakout sessions are designed to build activism and
deepen all aspects of the commitment and to embolden the movement for
Medicare for All in MA.  

Registration includes morning beverages and pastries and a box lunch.
This doesn’t completely cover the cost of the conference so extra
donations are welcome. 

We hope you or your organization will join us as we collectively work
to “up the ante” on our elected leaders to save our healthcare and
enact Medicare for All in Massachusetts.

More information - click here
[[link removed]]

Tickets are non-refundable
[[link removed]].
 

* Reader Comments
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* Donald Trump
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* Trump 2.0
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* grift
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* corruption
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* political corruption
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* Emoluments
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* Qatar
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* Qatari Lobby
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* Gaza
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* war crimes
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* Ceasefire
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* Genocide
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* Israel-Gaza War
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* Israel
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* Palestine
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* Palestinians
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* Hamas
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* Oct. 7
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* public television
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* PBS
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* Immigration
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* deportations
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* DHS
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* homeland security
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* Mahmoud Khalil
[[link removed]]
* Data Centers
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* Medicare for All
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* M4A
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* Healthcare
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* Cartoons
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* resources
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* Announcements
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*
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*
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*
*
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INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

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