Amanda Patterson 🌻

[Samantha Power @SamanthaJPower]

Starting in early 2025, Elon Musk and the Trump administration began terminating USAID's programs and firing its staff — with Musk himself boasting about "feeding it into the woodchipper." One year ago today, USAID was officially dissolved, its remaining programs haphazardly folded into the State Department. Amid all the lies and misinformation that have followed, some facts about what has actually been lost:

• USAID saved more than 3 million lives a year at a cost of less than $10/month per American. That is what was destroyed. On purpose.
• According to Boston University's Global Impact Counter — which tracked deaths attributable to the cuts until it stopped operations in February 2026 — an estimated 781,000 people died preventable deaths in the first year, including 518,000 children.
• Global child mortality (the number of children who die before their fifth birthday) rose in 2025 for the first time in 35+ years — by 200,000 additional deaths.
• USAID's 50-country disease surveillance network — the system that cut outbreak response times from 2 weeks to 48 hours — is gone. We are now watching an unprecedented Ebola outbreak unfold in real time — with the highest first-month caseload and death rate in modern history.
• Programs reaching 93 million women and children were cut 92%. TB programs cut 56%. Water and sanitation cut 86%. Over 2,000 health facilities permanently closed.
• 25 million fewer people received humanitarian assistance in 2025. The overall humanitarian budget was slashed 74% — from $14.1 billion to $3.7 billion.
• 363 million people face acute hunger in 2026. The famine early-warning system that would have seen it coming went dark for five months.
• $1.7 billion in democracy and governance funding (election monitoring, anti-corruption work, support for independent media and civil society) was terminated.
• 360+ independent media outlets lost funding. Hundreds of legal clinics closed.
• Far from saving money, the Trump administration itself has already said the dismantlement will cost taxpayers at least $19.2 billion in cancellation fees, severance, and penalties. That's more than half of USAID's annual budget — spent on destruction and closeout, not support for vulnerable people.
• American farmers, universities, and businesses are among the casualties too. USAID partnered with more than 3,500 U.S. companies and maintained 17 university-based research labs. Its work with U.S.-based contractors and the private sector generated hundreds of thousands of American jobs and multiplied the return on every dollar spent. Those markets and partnerships are gone.

[Brody's Mom @southernwoman64]

These trees were a gift from the Japanese and the oldest in DC

When Nats Park was built, the owners purchased cherry trees specifically bred to bloom early

Planted them in the outfield and cared for them lovingly

Like these trees have been cared for for years and years

They would early in time for Opening Day

When the entire city was covered in pink blooms

Thousands of Americans plan trips to DC to see them

And the monuments

And tour the WH entering through the majestic East Wing

On tours that were managed by the First Lady’s office

Trump doesn’t give a damn about history, heritage, tradition, relationships with foreign allies

If he did, he wouldn’t have unceremoniously torn down the East Wing

Is there ANYONE in DC who will stop this bullshit?

ANYONE

[James Tate @JamesTate121]

An active-duty member of the United States military stood on the steps of the Capitol, in uniform, and called for the impeachment, conviction, and removal of Donald Trump. He was arrested.
He didn’t stumble into this. He knew exactly what he was doing.
Under Department of Defense rules and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, active-duty service members are heavily restricted from engaging in partisan political activity, especially in uniform. Depending on how this is charged, he could be facing violations like Article 92 (failure to obey orders or regulations), and for officers, even Article 88 (contempt toward officials). That’s not a slap on the wrist, that’s career-ending territory. Court-martial, loss of rank, forfeited pay, even prison time are all on the table.
He risked everything: his career, his pension, his freedom, and the future he built inside the military.
And he did it anyway.
You don’t have to agree with what he said to recognize what it took to say it. Real courage isn’t reserved for safe opinions or popular moments. It shows up when the cost is clear, and you move forward anyway.
The military demands discipline and neutrality for a reason. But history is full of moments where individuals inside institutions decided that staying silent was the greater violation.
That tension, between duty to the system and duty to conscience, is where this story lives.
Maybe you think he crossed a line. Maybe you think he drew one.
But let’s not pretend this was casual. This was deliberate. This was informed. This was someone fully aware of the consequences choosing to act anyway.
Time will decide how this moment is remembered. It always does.
But one thing is undeniable: he knew the price, and he spoke anyway. VIA!~~~ Melinda Fulton

[Women's March @womensmarch]

#creativeresistance

[PoliticsGirl @IAmPoliticsGirl]

No. Just no.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

Theodore Roosevelt said the national parks were the greatest gift this country ever gave itself, and the greatest idea we ever gave the world.

More than 100 nations copied it.

Donald Trump looks at that gift and sees a piggy bank for his own pet projects.

This week we learned where our national park money has been going. Not to Yellowstone. Not to Yosemite. To the walkway outside his office, where Trump ripped out American flagstone and laid down Italian granite at a cost of $689,000 to taxpayers. He said he paid for it himself.

That was a lie.

To cover his vanity projects, they are robbing the parks. Spending on parks outside Washington is down $854 million. More than 900 projects went unfunded. They even pulled money from a guardrail on a Colorado cliff that the Park Service flagged as a safety hazard.

I serve on Appropriations.

The power to spend belongs to Congress, not to a king redecorating his palace. These parks are not Trump’s to loot.

They belong to all of us, and I will fight for every dollar.

[Rev. Justin Berkobien @JustinBerkobien]

If you owe a woman 5 million dollars for sexual assault you also owe the country your resignation.

[Moe Davis (U.S. Air Force, Retired) @ColMoeDavis]

Here’s an in-depth New York Times article on how Trump, his family, and his cronies are abusing their government power to line their pockets and using billions of your tax dollars to facilitate their grifting. Note that the $8.9 billion in federal money going to the 14 Trump and Lutnick companies is equal to the entire amount of federal assistance Western North Carolina has received for Hurricane Helene recovery.

Rampant corruption in plain sight . . . and Republicans see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil.

Here’s an excerpt from the article and a free link to the entire piece:

“Ahead of the deal, the Trump administration approved preliminary applications for as much as $1.6 billion in federal financing for the American company, now called Kaz Resources, which plans to break ground on the project in rural Kazakhstan.

It was not only Mr. Trump and Mr. Lutnick who saw an opportunity.

Their sons were soon doing business with partners in a deal that their fathers were negotiating, continuing a pattern of self-enrichment in the second Trump administration that has few precedents in American history.”

. . . . .

“One or both families have financial ties to at least 14 companies that are actively working with the federal government on critical mining deals, including the Kazakhstan project, according to federal filings examined by The New York Times.

All 14 of these companies have either benefited directly from offers of financial assistance from the Trump administration, or have pending permit applications before the Commerce Department, which Mr. Lutnick oversees, The Times found. The total amount of federal funding that the Trump administration has provided or is considering providing to the companies exceeds $8.9 billion, according to public statements by the companies and federal government.”

https://t.co/HvoK9qva0H

[Alex Cole @acnewsitics]

Guess which one ended up becoming a convicted felon.

[God @TheTweetOfGod]

YOU FUCKING MORON.

Passports are for U.S. citizens traveling abroad.

They are not for people who are 'welcomed'. They are for people already here.

Just melt into sludge already.

[Rep. Jamie Raskin @RepRaskin]

When President Trump illegally demolished the White House’s East Wing, he dumped the resulting 35,000 cubic yards of toxic debris on the East Potomac National Park. The administration knew it was dangerous to our people and our environment, but did it anyway. Now, we’re demanding they clean up their mess. https://t.co/7ERKtHueXr

[Jamie Bonkiewicz @JamieBonkiewicz]

“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation at all.” – Donald Trump

“Affordability is a hoax.” – Donald Trump

“Nobody gives a shit about housing.” – Donald Trump

“I love the inflation.” – Donald Trump

When people tell you who they are, believe them. Vote every Republican off the ballot. Every. Single. One.

[Willie Ross Jr. Knee Deep @RossKneeDeep]

I think it was just hate.

By Sincerely, American:

"Trump supporters say, 'We suffered 8 years under Barack Obama.'

Fair enough. Let’s take a look.

The day Obama took office, the Dow closed at 7,949 points. Eight years later, the Dow had almost tripled.

General Motors and Chrysler were on the brink of bankruptcy, with Ford not far behind, and their failure, along with their supply chains, would have meant the loss of millions of jobs. Obama pushed through a controversial, $80 billion bailout to save the car industry. The U.S. car industry survived, started making money again, and the entire $80 billion was paid back, with interest.

While we remain vulnerable to lone-wolf attacks, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully executed a mass attack here since 9/11.

Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

He drew down the number of troops from 180,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan to just 15,000, and increased funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

He launched a program called Opening Doors which, since 2010, has led to a 47 percent decline in the number of homeless veterans. He set a record 73 straight months of private-sector job growth.

Due to Obama’s regulatory policies, greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 12%, production of renewable energy more than doubled, and our dependence on foreign oil was cut in half.

He signed The Lilly Ledbetter Act, making it easier for women to sue employers for unequal pay.

His Omnibus Public Lands Management Act designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, creating thousands of miles of trails and protecting over 1,000 miles of rivers.

He reduced the federal deficit from 9.8 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3.2 percent in 2016.

For all the inadequacies of the Affordable Care Act, we seem to have forgotten that, before the ACA, you could be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition and kids could not stay on their parents’ policies up to age 26.

Obama approved a $14.5 billion system to rebuild the levees in New Orleans.

All this, even as our own Mitch McConnell famously asserted that his singular mission would be to block anything President Obama tried to do.

While Obama failed on his campaign pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, that prison’s population decreased from 242 to around 50.

He expanded funding for embryonic stem cell research, supporting ground breaking advancement in areas like spinal injury treatment and cancer.

Credit card companies can no longer charge hidden fees or raise interest rates without advance notice.
Most years, Obama threw a 4th of July party for military families. He held babies, played games with children, served barbecue, and led the singing of “Happy Birthday” to his daughter Malia, who was born on July 4.

Welfare spending is down: for every 100 poor families, just 24 receive cash assistance, compared with 64 in 1996.

Obama comforted families and communities following more than a dozen mass shootings. After Sandy Hook, he said, “The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.”

Yet, he never took away anyone’s guns........

He sang Amazing Grace, spontaneously, at the altar.

He was the first president since Eisenhower to serve two terms without personal or political scandal.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

President Obama was not perfect, as no man and no president is, and you can certainly disagree with his political ideologies. But to say we suffered?

If that’s the argument, if this is how we suffered for 8 years under Barack Obama, I have one wish: May we be so fortunate as to suffer 8 more."

[Hunter📈🌈📊 @StatisticUrban]

The Trump admin is proposing a huge rule change to the Endangered Species Act, redefining "harm" to mean ONLY actual physical killing or injuring of protected species, and NOT loss of habitat, interference w/ breeding, etc.

Enormous negative consequences for endangered wildlife.

[HealthRanger @HealthRanger]

Does anybody else find it odd that SCOTUS ended Roe vs. Wade with the argument that an unborn child is a life worth protecting, yet that same court also decided that pesticide and herbicide corporations have an unlimited right to kill children, adults and the elderly?

[Spiritually New Afrikan: The Negro Subversive @negrosubversive]

“Four Haitian women who were deported from the United States in February were found beheaded and dumped in a river several months later, lawyers said in court documents.”

[Rebekah Jones @GeoRebekah]

The Bible Belt is also:

The divorce belt
The teen pregnancy belt
The obesity belt
The murder belt
The poverty belt
The high-school dropout belt
The uneducated belt
The MAGA belt
The prison belt
The disease belt

None of these are a coincidence. They are not simply correlation.

This is cause and effect.

[PoliticsGirl @IAmPoliticsGirl]

Every accusation is a confession.

[Sarah Ironside 💙 @SarahIronside6]

They hate sick people, poor people, disabled people, minorities, immigrants, gay people, trans people, women, and anyone who cares about protecting the rights of every American. Stop voting for republicans.

[Molly Ploofkins @Mollyploofkins]

Video captures the moment vandals caused a 350-foot gash in the Reflecting Pool's sealant