SAVE ACT: Republican law would make millions stateless and unable to vote

Photo by Edmond Dantès: Pexels

Millions of cisgender women and transgender people would be kept from voting or proving their citizenship under legislation being pushed by Congressional Republicans.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would require all American citizens registering to vote or updating their registration information to present documentary proof of citizenship in person. For the vast majority of Americans, this would be a passport or an original birth certificate, American Progress reports.

Government-issued driver’s licenses—including REAL IDs—as well as military or tribal IDs do not satisfy the bill’s requirements.

Women who have taken their husbands' surnames and transgender people who have made a legal name change would not be allowed to register to vote unless they have in their possession a valid passport.

84 percent of women who marry change their surname, meaning as many as 69 million American women do not have a birth certificate with their legal name on it and thereby could not use their birth certificate to prove citizenship. The SAVE Act makes no mention of being able to show a marriage certificate or change-of-name documentation.

On November 6, 2025, Lambda Legal reports that the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that means that new passports issued by the State Department will show a person’s sex assigned at birth, rather than their gender identity. There will not be a choice of an X gender marker. This applies to new passport applications, renewals, and replacements for lost or damaged passports.

The SAVE ACT passed the House last session under the auspices of keeping republican politicans in power, but that was before Trump's goons were roaming US streets, randomly executing legal observers, using children as bait, and imprisoning US citizens who don't have a valid passport or birth certificate in their possession.

Related: Experts Warn U.S. in Early Stages of Genocide Against Trans Americans

The Save Act is a direct threat to our existence. Please call your lawmaker today. The Save Act isn't listed on the 5calls app, but it's an excellent tool to expedite the process.

HHS to stop demanding Hospitals Halt GAC While Lawsuit Moves Forward

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaking with attendees at the Memorial for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona / Wikipedia

HHS has agreed to stop threatening funding for hospitals and providers offering health care to transgender adolescents while a lawsuit by 22 states moves forward.

That means providers can keep caring for patients, and families can focus on what matters most: helping their trans kids thrive, GLAD Law said on Instagram.

However, the damage has been done as some hospitals complied in advance when threatened by HHS.

The American Academy of Pediatrics position is clear: The Prohibition of Gender-Affirming Care as a Form of Child Maltreatment.

Dr. Susan J. Kressly, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said HHS was departing from “the longstanding principle that health care policy should be grounded in scientific evidence, clinical expertise, and the needs of children and families.”

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You can comment on CMS-2451-P anonymously, if you wish, until February 17, 2026.

The following is my comment and my opinion. I submitted it on 1/11/2026 and received an email that it would be reviewed prior to publication.

"I oppose the proposed rule CMS-2451-P, a rule that would deny gender afirming care to patients under the age of 19 who are receiving this life-saving care through Medicare and Medicaid. The denial of such care is contrary to the positions of every major US medical association."

"The position of the American Academy of Pediatrics is that the prohibition of gender-affirming Care (GAC) is a form of child maltreatment, and denying GAC is medical neglect, emotional abuse, and child abuse. The weaponization of child abuse in the discourse around GAC is fallacious and counterproductive, and it has led to numerous real threats to children’s safety and well-being. (Pediatrics published December 20, 2023)

"As a transgender adult who has benefited from gender afirming care for the past 30 years, I implore U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reconsider this rule."

I realize testifying in front of your executioner is counterintuitive, but I had to take a stand for our children.

Queer woman Renée Good murdered by ICE in Cold Blood

Find a protest and go there. Say her name, Renée Good.

Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot three times through Good's car window as she drove away, has served with ICE for ten years in Minneapolis in its apprehension and deportation division. Ross, who had previously been dragged by a car, circled Good's car and stood in front of it while she was being given orders from multiple agents.

DOJ use of force policy. He broke the law and murdered a US citizen. Full stop.

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— Angry (@angrystaffer.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 10:00 AM

Minnesota county attorney says 'We have jurisdiction' in fatal ICE shooting.' However, they have been barred from doing so by the Federal Government. Without a local investigation, we will never know why Renée Good told Ross she "wasn't mad at him". Did she recognize him from a previous encounter? Was this a revenge killing?

CDC quietly changes Covid-19 recommendations for 65+ and Immunocompromised People

fernandozhiminaicela / Pixabay

With little fanfare the CDC has updated its recommendations for COVID-19 vaccinations, according to Dr. Leana S. Wen, who writes an opinion column for the Washington Post.

Dr. Wen observed that "Careful, evidence-based vaccine guidance now arrives with little fanfare."

"One of the most common questions readers have asked me in recent months is whether older adults can receive a second dose of the 2025-2026 covid vaccine. The confusion is understandable; federal health officials have narrowed the government’s recommendations for younger and lower-risk groups, with little clarity on what those changes mean for seniors."

"As it turns out, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not only permits a second dose but recommends it. The agency quietly updated its guidance in November to encourage adults 65 and older to receive two shots of this season’s vaccine, ideally six months apart to optimize protection. (People can get them as soon as two or three months after the first shot, depending on which vaccine they received.)"

"The same guidance applies to those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, who are also eligible to receive two doses of the 2025-2026 covid vaccine. Importantly, individuals do not need documentation to prove immunocompromised status, and vaccinators are explicitly instructed not to deny vaccination because of a lack of medical records or other paperwork," Dr Wen wrote.

Arlington TX Suspends Anti-discrimination Ordinance over LGBTQ Protections

Mayor Jim Ross asked what kind of message they are sending to their children by removing these protections. "I would not be able to live with myself if I didn't vote yes on this ordinance," he said. / WFAA

The Arlington, TX City Council voted not to reinstate LGBTQ protections, and as a result, the city's entire anti-discrimination ordinance remained suspended.

The 5-4 vote gives Arlington the distinction of being the first US city to cave to Trump's demand to strip its citizens of civil rights protections, WFAA previously reported.

The vote bars language in the city’s ordinance passed in 2021 that prevents employers and lodging businesses from discriminating against people for their sexual orientation or gender identity. The council suspended the ordinance in September amid worry that more than $60 million in federal dollars the city planned to use on city services, including public safety, parks, and roads, could be lost if they kept it.

The hate group "Texas Values" lobbied against the inclusion of Sexual orientation and gender identity in the ordinance, arguing it would be in violation of state and federal laws.

Councilmember Rebecca Boxall described the 2021 ordinance as “bad policy,” saying it was a symbolic gesture at best and unenforceable at the city level. She argued existing laws give everyone the same protections.

“We already have the protections under our federal and state laws,” she said.

This is unequivocally false

Many Transgender Texans, myself included, weren't present at that council meeting because we had already left Arlington as the state legislature passed a law that invalidates our licenses. Another measure passed this year, a bathroom bill, makes overnight waits to testify against anti LGBT measures in Austin impossible. 

Another bill is pending that would make it a state felony to present yourself authentically to an employer or law enforcement.

Folk Singer Who Cancelled Kennedy Center Show to Perform Live From Home

Kristy Lee sings "Message from Kate" / Clear Wave Recording Studio

Alabama folk singer Kristy Lee, perhaps in a wake-up call to artists still scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center, announced on Monday that she was canceling her January 14 performance, citing concerns for institutional integrity. In an Instagram post, she said that instead, she would perform live online on Facebook from home on the same day.

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Powerful words from Kristy Lee:"...the legal threats that's being talked about by the Kennedy Center isn't really about contracts or damages it's about control".... "when an institution answers concious with retaliation instead of reflection, that tells you exactly what it's become, that doesn't sit right with me."

Being a new fan of Kristy Lee, I took a deep dive into her music and surfaced tears streaming, with "A message from Kate" I'm not sure who she wrote it for in 2017, but her decision to publish it now is spurred by her desire to live brave. Enjoy.

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Watch the 60 Minutes CECOT Prison Segment Censored by Bari Weiss

Department of Homeland Security Security Kristi Noem toured the prison shortly after the detainees arrived and posed in front of prisoners to thank the Salvadorian government for taking "our terrorists," leading viewers to assume that the men with MS tattoos were the Venezuelans the US had sent to CECOT. They were not.

Though Weiss moved to halt the original planned Sunday broadcast, users of the Canadian Global TV app were reportedly able to see a copy of the segment, and shared it widely online.

Who is Bari Weiss, the anti-trans, queer Trump ally who was recently appointed editor-in-chief at CBS?

 

HHS axes millions in funding to the AAP over Identity-Based Language

A protester at the Senate confirmation hearing for nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Jan. 29, 2025. / USA Today

In a seemingly inexplicable move, the Health and Human Services department has cut millions in grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics, citing its use of "identity-based language" as the reason.

The Department of Health and Human Services has terminated seven grants totaling millions of dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics, including for initiatives on reducing sudden infant deaths, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome, and identifying autism early, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

“The sudden withdrawal of these funds will directly impact and potentially harm infants, children, youth, and their families in communities across the United States,” Mark Del Monte, AAP’s chief executive and executive vice president, said in a statement to The Post. The organization is exploring options to push back, he said, including a legal challenge.

What is identity-based language?

Identity-based language refers to using words that center a person's identity, like "autistic person," or "trans person," rather than separating the person from their characteristic, as in "person with autism" (person-first language) or "person with transgender history".

While not everyone prefers identity-based language, it is a powerful tool for self-identification, promoting pride, and asserting that traits like disability, race, sexuality, or gender identity are integral, not deficits, with many communities, especially in the disability rights movement, advocating for identity-first phrasing to challenge norms and claim their experiences.

Bondi tells FBI to put a bounty on Anti-Fascists and Trans Advocates

Bondi during her first press conference as attorney general in February 2025 / Wikipedia

In a memo dated December 5, Attorney General Pam Bondi instructs the FBI to create a “cash reward system” to incentivize providing information against domestic terrorists. However, it also makes it clear that the targets of such domestic terrorist investigations will be “Antifa-aligned extremists,” including those promoting “radical gender ideology,” LGBTQ Nation Reports.

This, quite frankly, has terrified some of the transgender community, and that is what Bondi intended. As much as the Trump administration would like it to be, none of the shooters or the pipe bomber was transgender or antifa.

So what's a fascist puppet to do? Trump is obviously breathing down her neck to produce someone, anyone, to justify his war on the American people. Perhaps she wrote this memo hoping to prod someone living on the edge into doing something unforeseen. Don't take the bait. Keep living authentically, lawfully, and in three years, this will all be a memory.

Texas Trans Bathroom Ban: Ladies' Room Guarded By State Troopers

Photo / Salgu Wissmath for The Texas Tribune

Texas began enforcing its newly enacted Bathroom Bill on Dec 6, by stationing State Police at women's restrooms at the State Capitol. However, no officers were present at the men's rooms, the Texas Tribune reports.

The officers were seen asking some of the women who entered for identification, and letting others pass without presenting IDs. Of those who presented identification, all had female or X indicated as their gender, including women who publicly identified as trans or non-binary, and they too were allowed to enter.

For transgender and nonbinary people, that reprieve is only temporary with the signing of HB229 and SB 1188. These laws require that the sex assigned at birth be recorded on Birth certificates and prohibit courts from ordering gender marker changes as they have done in the past. This enables State AG Ken Paxton's vendetta against trans people, as he has previously sent letters directing the DPS department to discontinue updating gender markers, possibly retroactively changing state IDs that have previously been updated.

Yes, Texas has a list of people who have updated their gender markers.

Texas first tried to pass a bathroom bill in 2017, but that effort failed. I was at the state capitol with educators, police chiefs, and mayors from across the state to protest and testify against it. Eventually, that bill died in special session thanks to moderate Republicans. Governor Abbott has since primaried those republicans and replaced them with politicians who will advance his far-right agenda.

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Anti-LGBTQ Activist Arrested for Kidnaping her Daughter

Anti-LGBTQ Christian activist Tamara "Tammi" Hamby has been charged with orchestrating the kidnapping, zip-tying of her daughter to a tree, and leaving her for dead.

For dead? According to the arrest warrant Hamby was to watch from afar and "rescue" her daughter when she felt she had learned her lesson. She wasn't there during the kidnapping and apparently was not there when her traumatized daughter broke free and ran to a nearby house. So yes, for dead.

Her daughter eventually freed herself, according to CBS, and ran to a nearby home, where the residents called the police.

Hamby told police that she did it to teach her intellectually challenged daughter a lesson after she allegedly talked with someone online. Jeffery Hamby, a Van Buren family physician, told CBS News that he didn't know in advance about his wife's failed "intervention".

In 2022, Tammi Hamby helped remove LGBTQ-themed books and those featuring people of color from her library system because they were offensive to her Christian sensibilities and she wanted to protect children.

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues to stop Muslim housing project in North Texas

by Alejandro Serrano, The Texas Tribune
December 5, 2025

Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday sued the East Plano Islamic Center and its leaders in North Texas for alleged securities fraud after months of fierce scrutiny from GOP officials and commentators over a planned Muslim community.

The East Plano Islamic Center has pitched a residential development, formerly called EPIC City, with more than 1,000 residential units, a mosque, a K-12 faith-based school and retail shops outside of Dallas. The project drew numerous state investigations earlier this year — some for unclear reasons — including one from Paxton, who said in March he was looking into potential violations of consumer protection laws.

On Friday, Paxton accused Community Capital Partners — a private group he alleged EPIC founded — of failing to register as a securities dealer and committing securities fraud by misrepresenting the proposed development’s location and its leader’s compensation in relation to the project, according to the suit.

Paxton filed the suit in Collin County, where part of the development is planned, a month and a half after he wrote to the Texas Secu­ri­ties Board about violations his office had uncovered while investigating the development. He asked the board to review those findings and get back to him so that he could sue. 

The development is no longer called EPIC City and is instead called The Meadow. EPIC could not be reached for comment Friday night.

“The leaders behind EPIC City have engaged in a radical plot to destroy hundreds of acres of beautiful Texas land and line their own pockets,” Paxton said in a statement, vowing to stop the development. “I will relentlessly bring the full force of the law against anyone who thinks they can ignore the rules and hurt Texans.”

The legal action is the latest development to bring attention to the community, which has been the recipient of Islamaphic vitriol for months. 

This summer, the U.S. Department of Justice quietly closed a probe into the housing project — saying that the developers had agreed to follow federal fair housing laws.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

Pipe Bomber told FBI that he believed Trump, elections were stolen

Brian Cole / Injustice Department

During interviews with the FBI, the suspect arrested in the pipe bomb probe told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen, according to CNN and NBC.

The FBI arrested Brian Cole, 30, on Thursday on charges that he planted pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the 2021 US Capitol riot.

The FBI and the DOJ have yet to comment.

Did Cole plant the bombs to bring the system down and to avenge Trump? It would be easy to conclude that. However, DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro told CBS News that he was an equal opportunity bomber:

“He was disappointed in various aspects of the election, but this guy was an equal opportunity bomber,” Pirro said. “He was disappointed to a great deal in the system. Both sides of the system.”

Trump's New Media Offender website Rated Right Biased Fake News

Screenshot of Trump's Media Bias Webpage

On Friday, Donald Trump, using taxpayer money, launched a media bias tracker, which an actual media bias fact checker website rated as extremely right-biased, that spreads propaganda and conspiracy theories.

Media Bias Fact Check.com, the gold standard for unbiased media site reviews, had this to say about Donald Trump's latest attempt:

"A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact-checked on a per-article basis. Please note sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source. See all Questionable Sources."

•  Overall, we rate whitehouse.gov as Right-biased based on one-sided positive reporting on the Trump Administration. We also rate them as Questionable due to the promotion of one-sided propaganda that does not offer balanced viewpoints, republishing false statements by President Trump, and conspiratorial messaging.

Even the Washington Post wasn't immune from criticism, publishing "Trump ramps up reporter attacks with White House media bias tracker." Jeff Bazo, you need to know Trump doesn't give a shit about you or any of the boot-licking billionaires who have given millions to his nazi regime. History repeats itself. Trump will use all of you and throw you away when he is finished. Get on the right side of this before it's too late.

I attended the First Unitarian Church ALBQ TDOR and I was shocked

I came completely unprepared to the TDOR service held before US Representative Melanie Stansbury's address at First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, last Sunday. As I explained at the door, I am more political than religious and came to the 9:00 am service mainly as a courtesy.

I was shocked at how many young people, some in their early teens, had given up hope. I am appreciative that the church utilized the TransLivesMatter website, which counts suicides as the result of violence. And I was appalled that the US has so many trans murders, second now only to Brazil.

More trans teens attempted suicide after states passed anti-trans laws, a study shows.

My story.

See, I fought against the legislation in Texas for 10 years that sought to make our people outcasts, rejected, marginalized, and excluded from society. Eventually, Gov. Abbott succeeded in passing these bills, making my existence illegal.

So I formed a plan a few years ago and acted on it a couple of months ago. I fled to New Mexico, but not before I was attacked and left for dead, and had the displeasure of having a high school football squad block a sidewalk. and a hater I have dealt with for years, emboldened by Cruz's anti trans election ads, shout disparaging remarks at me as I entered a store across the street from my apartment.

An alternative to life I never seriously considered because I had a dear friend in Albuquerque who encouraged me to move and gave me hope. I had no idea that she was suffering from a terminal illness through all of that. Sadly, she died before I could make it to the land of Enchantment, but I have made a friend of her spouse. It seems as if she somehow knew we would connect.

Live long the burque in all of your welcoming, quirky uniqueness. And Rest In Peace all 367 trans and non-binary folks who died worldwide during the 2024-2025 reporting period.

Homeland Security Deported A Trans Woman Against Court Orders

Officials admit ‘inadvertent removal’ after court ruled Britania Uriostegui Rios should not be sent to Mexico.

Officials acknowledged in a court filing that Britania Uriostegui Rios, a transgender woman, was deported to Mexico in violation of a March court order, which ruled that she was likely to face torture if she returned there.

Related Breaking: Noem made decision not to turn around deportation flights bound for El Salvador after judge’s order, DOJ says

Britanna was offered readmission by Homeland Security if she could make it back to the border and if she agreed to be put back into immigration detention. Britania, who has a lengthy criminal record, has sued Noem to be allowed to remain in the United States and out of detention.

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Maria Corina Machado Wins The Nobel Peace Prize

The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado speaks in Caracas. Photograph: Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images

Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize for "leading the struggle for democracy in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela".

trump, a self discribed "white Nationalist" has commented that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

If Ms. Machado were a US citizen, she may have been classified as ANTIFA, originally meaning anti-fascist but co-opted by the Trump administration to encapsulate anyone who's opposing his attempted authoritarian takeover.

In 2023 she announced her candidacy for president in the 2024 presidential election. When she was blocked from running, she supported the opposition’s alternative candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. The opposition mobilised widely and collected systematic documentation that it was the true winner of the election. The regime declared victory and tightened its grip on power.

Ms Machado is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize first and foremost for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela. But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy – understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast one’s vote and to be represented in elective government – is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries.

Trump: Transgender Healthcare Ban Or Gov Shutdown

MSNBC Screen Grab: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) hold a press briefing.

Trump is demanding that an all-ages transgender healthcare ban be included in the government funding measure, or he will shut down the United States Government.

The Republicans are responsible if the Government is shut down, as they are the ones who included ideological demands in a routine government funding measure.

The Senate will vote on Wednesday, September 30, 2025, which is today. The Republicans can't pass this without Democratic votes

Call your Senator this morning and tell him not to allow this to happen.

Talking point: First off, you voted for them and they work for you! Secondly: Every major medical association agrees that transgender-affirming healthcare is lifesaving healthcare.

“These are not budgetary measures; they are ideological attacks.”

One person on Reddit, Pink News reports, called on members of the public to “contact your senators and house reps asap”, urging them to protect “the rights and dignity of LGBTQ+ Americans”.

They went on to say: “These are not budgetary measures, they are ideological attacks [that] would erase protections, endanger lives and weaponise federal funding to coerce institutions into abandoning care. For many, access to HRT and affirming care is not optional, it’s life-saving.

“Democrats have the power to stop all this from happening if they hold the line in the Senate.”

Call your Senator this morning and urge them to hold the line.

Anti-Trans Lawmaker Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charges

RJ May faces up to 20 years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000, and at least five years of supervised release to follow any term of imprisonment.

Anti Transgender South Carolina State Legislator and "Freedom Caucus" founder Republican RJ May, 38, pleaded guilty Friday to avoid a trial on charges that he distributed videos of child pornography.

Prosecutors say May exchanged more than 200 explicit files of toddlers and young children on the Kik social media app during several days in spring 2024.

May resigned from the South Carolina House of Representatives last month.

May told the House in January 2024 regarding transgender issues and children: "We as legislators have an obligation to insure that our children have no harm done to them"

In January 2024, the South Carolina House of Representatives debated and passed a bill prohibiting medical professionals from performing gender-transition surgeries or prescribing puberty blockers and hormone treatments to minors.

This as it comes to light that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson would prefer a government shutdown than allowing a House vote on releasing the Epstein Files that could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Donald Trump is a pedophile.