If we convince Vance that war is going to make it harder to get eyeliner; Will he invoke the 25th amendment?
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Trump 47
- Thread starter PF5
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PJ-OSU
Deputy
Counselor, please be more succinct.
PJ-OSU
Deputy
Polds4OSU
Marshall
Trump admin requests millions of federal agents' medical records
Donald Trump's administration has issued a request for the medical details of millions of federal workers.A notice from the Office of Personnel Management could be changed drastically, with both current and retired federal workers' details requested. The proposal has shaken some insurers and health policy experts, who questioned why the Trump admin would want the details of current and previous employees. The OPM could simply be analyzing costs and improving its internal system, according to health law expert Sharona Hoffman, who spoke to CBS about the change.
The change does have a worrying caveat, though, with Hoffman saying, "They are going to get very, very detailed and granular data about everything that happens. The concern here is the more information they have, they could use it to discipline or target people who are not cooperating politically."
The OPM notice asked insurers that offer Federal Employees Health Benefits or Postal Service Health Benefits plans to furnish "service use and cost data," including "medical claims, pharmacy claims, encounter data, and provider data."
This notice landed with insurers in December, and public comment has since been lodged against the decision by Michael Martinez, senior counsel at Democracy Forward, an advocacy organization.
Martinez, who previously worked at OPM, said, "You can anticipate a scenario where this information on 8 million Americans is now in the hands of OPM and there's a real concern of how they use it.
"They've given no information about how they would treat that information once they have it." Hoffman added that a major concern would be over the ability of the Trump admin and the agency to look at "anything and everything".
OPM argues in its notice that it is entitled to the information from insurers "for oversight activities." Jodi Daniel, a digital health strategist, suggested the notice from OPM would be sufficient and in-line with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
The HIPAA requires certain organizations that maintain identifiable health information, including hospitals and insurers, to protect it from being disclosed without patient consent.
"The language in it seems quite broad and encompasses potentially a lot of information and data and is sort of light on justification," he said.
To support your point… confrontation between “regular Christian’s Republicans” and whacko church leaders has been well-documented.
Polds4OSU
Marshall
The Pentagon Threatened Pope Leo XIV’s Ambassador With the Avignon Papacy
The Free Press has documented a closed-door Pentagon meeting in which a senior Trump official lectured Pope Leo XIV’s ambassador on American military supremacy.
www.thelettersfromleo.com
SHOCK REPORT: Did the Trump administration threaten the Pope's life?!
The Vatican has shelved plans for Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States after what officials describe as a deeply alarming confrontation with the Pentagon.
A stunning new report — now independently confirmed the publication Letters from Leo — reveals that a top U.S. official summoned the Pope’s then-ambassador, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and delivered a stark warning: America has the military power to do whatever it wants — and the Church “had better take its side.”
Even more shocking, officials reportedly invoked the Avignon Papacy — a dark chapter when secular powers used force to control the Catholic Church — a reference some in the Vatican interpreted as a veiled military threat against the Holy See.
The confrontation came after Pope Leo publicly condemned a world driven by “a diplomacy based on force” and a growing “zeal for war” — remarks that reportedly enraged Pete Hegseth Pentagon officials, who viewed them as a direct challenge to the U.S.
The fallout has been immediate and significant. The Vatican has indefinitely postponed a planned U.S. visit. And instead of coming to America, Leo will spend July 4, 2026 in Lampedusa, standing with migrants, a powerful and deliberate rebuke. For the first time in modern history, the Pentagon offered no Good Friday services for Catholics this year.
Journalist Christopher Hale notes: "Earlier this year, Pete Hegseth invited his pastor to speak at the Pentagon. That pastor has called for banning public expressions of Catholicism in the United States."
While tensions escalated behind closed doors, Pope Leo didn’t back down. He doubled down.
This is an extraordinary moment and one that could reshape the relationship between the United States and the Catholic Church for years to come.
The Free Press has documented a closed-door Pentagon meeting in which a senior Trump official lectured Pope Leo XIV’s ambassador on American military supremacy.
The Pentagon Threatened Pope Leo XIV’s Ambassador With the Avignon Papacy
The Free Press has documented a closed-door Pentagon meeting in which a senior Trump official lectured Pope Leo XIV’s ambassador on American military supremacy.
www.thelettersfromleo.com
SHOCK REPORT: Did the Trump administration threaten the Pope's life?!
The Vatican has shelved plans for Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States after what officials describe as a deeply alarming confrontation with the Pentagon.
A stunning new report — now independently confirmed the publication Letters from Leo — reveals that a top U.S. official summoned the Pope’s then-ambassador, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and delivered a stark warning: America has the military power to do whatever it wants — and the Church “had better take its side.”
Even more shocking, officials reportedly invoked the Avignon Papacy — a dark chapter when secular powers used force to control the Catholic Church — a reference some in the Vatican interpreted as a veiled military threat against the Holy See.
The confrontation came after Pope Leo publicly condemned a world driven by “a diplomacy based on force” and a growing “zeal for war” — remarks that reportedly enraged Pete Hegseth Pentagon officials, who viewed them as a direct challenge to the U.S.
The fallout has been immediate and significant. The Vatican has indefinitely postponed a planned U.S. visit. And instead of coming to America, Leo will spend July 4, 2026 in Lampedusa, standing with migrants, a powerful and deliberate rebuke. For the first time in modern history, the Pentagon offered no Good Friday services for Catholics this year.
Journalist Christopher Hale notes: "Earlier this year, Pete Hegseth invited his pastor to speak at the Pentagon. That pastor has called for banning public expressions of Catholicism in the United States."
While tensions escalated behind closed doors, Pope Leo didn’t back down. He doubled down.
This is an extraordinary moment and one that could reshape the relationship between the United States and the Catholic Church for years to come.
Give it a minute and he’ll forget it again.
Polds4OSU
Marshall
President Trump has championed the U.S. steel industry, promising to strengthen it and to impose stiff tariffs on foreign metals to shield manufacturers from overseas competitors. Yet the White House is said to have secured tens of millions of dollars worth of donated foreign steel from ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg-based firm, for Trump’s $400 million ballroom project. Trump said last October that he had been offered a donation of steel for the ballroom valued at $37 million. Trump's comments came just days before the White House made adjustments to its tariffs that could benefit ArcelorMittal. Read more: https://nyti.ms/4ssuGKD
Because don't you know all politicians lie so it's ok for him.
Polds4OSU
Marshall
Trump promised to cut electric costs in half. Bills in energy-rich West Virginia now more expensive than Home mortgages
RAINELLE, W.Va. (AP) — Every month, Rebecca Michalski takes a deep breath before opening her electric bill. She lives on a fixed income, and heating her small house this winter has been staggering: Her February charge was $940.08 — more than her check.
It makes no sense. She turns the lights off during the day and only burns one lamp with an energy-efficient bulb in the living room at night, but she keeps falling further behind on payments. In desperation, she took out a loan after getting a cut-off notice during an extended arctic blast that kept the state’s heaters cranking when temperatures regularly dipped below zero.
“Every time you see that power bill, you’re just sick,” Michalski said, rifling through a stack of statements totaling thousands of dollars. “I already know before I open it. I just dread seeing how much.”
She’s taken to social media, demanding answers alongside thousands of other West Virginians who have been posting screenshots of their monthly charges. They are angry and perplexed over soaring utility costs that are surpassing rents and mortgages in one of the most energy-rich, yet poorest, corners of America, where some families have been forced to choose between paying for food or heat.
President Donald Trump, as part of his campaign pitch to “make America affordable again,” promised to cut Americans’ electricity bills by half during his first year to 18 months in the White House.
“And if it doesn’t work out, you’ll say, ‘Oh well, I voted for him, I still got them down a lot,’” he said. “You will never have had energy so low as you will under a certain gentleman known as Donald J. Trump.”
It hasn’t worked out.
Instead, electricity increased 4.8% in February nationwide and piped natural gas prices rose 10.9%, both compared with a year earlier, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index. That surpassed inflation even before the attacks on Iran by the U.S. and Israel sent energy costs ballooning.
It’s becoming an increasingly aggravating issue for some voters. Rising electricity bills emerged as a campaign issue in recent elections, including during gubernatorial races won by Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia. Cost concerns are expected to surface during midterms this fall, and an analysis by the nonprofit PowerLines found residents are not likely to get a break any time soon because new gas and electricity rate hike requests could affect more than 80 million Americans. An AP-NORC poll conducted in March also found 35% of U.S. adults were “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford electricity in the next few months.
“It’s breaking me. And there’s nothing that can be done for it, unless the president does something,” Michalski said about her skyrocketing power bills, adding she no longer supports Trump. “And I don’t see him doing it. He’s had plenty of time.”
Increased demand, extreme weather and events, upgrading and maintaining aging infrastructure and rising natural gas prices are pushing electricity bills higher. Rising energy costs — including gas pump sticker shock now topping an average $4 per gallon nationally — could further be exacerbated by the war in Iran along with the Trump administration’s push to export higher volumes of liquefied natural gas — which, in turn, depletes domestic supply. Ratepayers are also wary as more power-gobbling data centers for artificial intelligence and cloud computing are being built or warmly embraced by politicians in places like West Virginia — where residents deep in Trump country have gone from having the cheapest electricity rate nationwide in 2005, to experiencing one of the fastest increases in the country, far outpacing the national average, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
MUCH more on this story...link via The AP https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/t...1&cvid=69d7accad24c4abca03c187834939669&ei=23
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