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#janetmills

5 posts4 participants0 posts today
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DoomsdaysCW

#Maine takes #Trump administration to court in first lawsuit over #TitleIX dispute

The lawsuit, filed Monday by Attorney General Aaron Frey, challenges the U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision to halt federal funds over Maine's policy regarding #TransgenderAthletes.

April 7, 2025

"Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration Monday challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to withhold federal funds over Maine’s policy allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls high school sports.
Frey’s office said funds withheld by the administration are used to feed children in schools, child care centers and after-school programming, as well as disabled adults in congregate settings.

"It is the first lawsuit to result from the Trump administration’s actions targeting Maine over trans athletes.

"'Under the banner of keeping children safe, the Trump administration is illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed,' Frey said in a written statement. 'This is just another example where no law or consequence appears to restrain the administration as it seeks capitulation to its lawlessness. The President and his cabinet secretaries do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the President that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.'"

Read more:
pressherald.com/2025/04/07/mai

Archived version:
archive.md/5pQdU
#MaineResists #SeeYouInCourt #JanetMills #ProtectTransYouth #ProtectTransKids #TransgenderRights #Resistance #TrumpIsABully #USPol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet

Press Herald · Maine sues Trump administration in 1st case involving Title IX disputeThe lawsuit, filed Monday by Attorney General Aaron Frey, challenges the USDA decision to halt federal funds because Maine allows transgender athletes to compete in girls sports.
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DoomsdaysCW

Live updates: #Mainers rally across the state to protest #Trump policies

On Saturday, more than a dozen '#HandsOff' rallies were set to be held throughout Maine as part of a national day of action targeting the new Trump administration.

"On Saturday, more than a dozen rallies were set to be held throughout Maine as part of a national day of action to protest the policies of President Donald Trump.
The “Hands Off” rallies were scheduled from #WellsME to as far north as #LubecME. In Portland, protesters gathered in Monument Square at 11 a.m., while one of the day’s first protests began in Freeport just after 8 a.m.

"Portland police said they were aware of the Monument Square demonstration in advance and would 'be giving it special attention as we do all protests that we are aware of within the city,' department spokesperson Brad Nadeau said in an email Friday afternoon.

"Saturday’s protests were focused on President Donald Trump and billionaire adviser #ElonMusk’s efforts to cut the federal workforce through mass firings, rumored threats to safety-net programs like Social Security and Medicaid, and heightened action by immigration officers as part of a massive deportation effort.

"Though Saturday’s demonstrations were expected to be relatively large, Mainers have been taking to the streets for weeks. In addition to those protesting the federal government’s policies, hundreds have also called for Maine Gov. #JanetMills to relent following her high-profile clash with Trump."

Original article:
pressherald.com/2025/04/05/liv

Archived version:
archive.md/DQ48b
#PortlandME #AugustaME #FreeportME
#SouthPortlandME #SouthParisME #AuburnME #MaineResists #HandsOff2025 #April5th #BadDOGE

Press Herald · Live updates: Mainers rally across the state to protest Trump policiesAround 1,000 protesters gathered both in Portland's Monument Square and near the State House in Augusta, while other 'Hands Off' protests were held in Auburn, Freeport, South Paris, South Portland and elsewhere.
Continued thread
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AnarchoNinaAnalyzes

As I mentioned in the post above, the Trump regime's war on the existence of trans people is clearly important enough to them ideologically and politically, to enact a series of punishments on the entire state of Maine, to cow their governor Janet Mills into submission. That's not just my interpretation as a trans woman, we literally just caught the acting Social Security Administration Commissioner admitting as much in writing:

commondreams.org/news/leland-d

"The top Democrat on the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Wednesday led calls for the resignation of acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Leland Dudek following the revelation of internal emails confirming that the SSA canceled contracts with the state of Maine as political payback after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills publicly defied President Donald Trump in support of transgender student athletes.

The emails—which were obtained by House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.)—show that Dudek ordered the cancellation of enumeration at birth and electronic death registration contracts with Maine, even though SSAd subordinates warned that such action "would result in improper payments and potential for identity theft."

Dudek—who is leading the SSA while the Senate considers Trump's nomination of financial services executive Frank Bisignano—replied to the staffer: "Please cancel the contracts. While our improper payments will go up, and fraudsters may compromise identities, no money will go from the public trust to a petulant child."

He was referring to Mills, who stood up to Trump in February after the president threatened to suspend federal funding for Maine unless the state banned transgender girls and women from participating on female scholastic sports teams."

I mean good on Connolly to call for Dudek's resignation, but are centrist party strategists even paying attention to what's going on here? I can't stress how degrading it is to keep having to remind powerful cis people who were happy to promote supporting trans rights as a brand eight years ago, that the fascist Trump regime's anti-trans pogrom is going to affect everyone who isn't a fascist negatively, not just trans people. But also, that's exactly what's happening, and even as we speak these same people point to opinion polling as an excuse for leaving trans people and their civil rights to the tender mercies of guys like Stephen fucking Miller.

Common Dreams · Emails Show Trump Official Targeted Maine Social Security Services as Political Revenge | Common Dreams"Trump is clearly comfortable weaponizing Social Security for political purposes, and we fear that this is only the beginning," said one critic.
#Fascism#TransRights#Trump
Continued thread
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AnarchoNinaAnalyzes

So, is the fascist's ongoing anti-trans pogrom still a "culture war distraction" when it's affecting education funding for the State of Maine - because their Governor won't ban trans women from school sports in deference to the Trump regime's stated quest to erase trans people from public life?

truthout.org/articles/usda-sus

USDA Suspends Maine Education Funds Over State’s Support for Trans Athletes

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Wednesday that it is suspending federal funding for select education programs in Maine, citing the state’s refusal to comply with President Donald Trump’s anti-trans directive to exclude transgender students from girls’ and women’s sports.

In a letter to Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the funding freeze would affect “certain administrative and technological functions in schools,” and warned that “[t]his is only the beginning.”

Rollins also noted that the USDA is reviewing Maine’s research and education-related funding to assess compliance with the U.S. Constitution, federal law, and the Trump administration’s anti-trans policy agenda. She specifically invoked Title IX — which the White House has weaponized against trans people — and Title VI, which the administration has distorted to go after diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts."

You might be tempted to scoff at this story because Department of Agriculture funding is a narrow application of force by the regime, to try and dictate Maine's compliance with Trump's executive order, but as the article notes this is part of a much larger attack on Maine's education funding to force the state's compliance with the regime's persecution of trans people via an executive order that is being challenged in court still. I have no idea if we even have laws or constitutional rights in this country anymore, but if SCOTUS doesn't want to play Calvinball, Trump's order is almost certainly unconstitutional and shouldn't survive legal challenges. Given the existence of a 6-3 fascist high SCOTUS that is quite happy to make up the law as it goes to support the Trump regime's agenda however, you'll forgive me if I don't have a lot of confidence in the courts to save trans folks, particularly trans women like me.

Speaking more broadly, I'm sharing this article to point out how shortsighted and utterly ineffective the liberal establishment's plan to stop talking about trans rights is, even in the face of an anti-trans pogrom, because they think doing so will win them elections that might not even happen or be fair at all. The fact is the anti-trans pogrom is a foundational plank in the Trump regime's larger fascist agenda; it doesn't matter if bougie lib politicians want to talk about it, they're going to make you folks either help them eliminate trans people, or talk about why the rights of trans people are human rights and must be protected. You don't get to opt out, they're pushing this agenda whether you want to talk about it or not.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills speaks during the Maine Democratic convention at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on June 1, 2024.
Truthout · USDA Suspends Maine Education Funds Over State’s Support for Trans AthletesMaine’s Democratic Governor Janet Mills warned that the “rule of law in our country” is at stake.
#Fascism#TransRights#Trump
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Nonilex

…the #SocialSecurity Admin briefly ended a contract that had allowed parents of newborn babies in #Maine to sign their children up for a SSN at the hospital, instead requiring them to do so in person at an office. Dudek said he had ordered the move after watching #JanetMills, ME’s Democratic governor, clash w/ #Trump….

“I was ticked at the governor of Maine for not being real cordial to the president,” Dudek said…. “I screwed up. I’ll admit I screwed up.”

nytimes.com/2025/03/24/us/poli

The New York Times · Social Security, Buffeted by Turmoil, Awaits a New LeaderBy Andrew Duehren
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DoomsdaysCW

#Trump is such a pathetic, petty man-child (much like his first buddy). Stand strong, #GovernorJanetMills !

Petulant Trump Demands Groveling From Governor Who Stood Up to Him

by Liam Archacki, Sat, March 22, 2025

"President Donald Trump suggested he would continue to punish #Maine until the state’s governor offers a 'full throated apology' for standing up to him on #TransRights and promises never to 'challenge' him again.

"Gov. #JanetMills went viral after she took on Trump in a fiery verbal exchange at a meeting of the National Governors Association last month. After the president called her out for not complying with an executive order against transgender athletes, Mills retorted, 'We’ll see you in court.'

"On Saturday, Trump—who has sicced multiple federal agencies on Maine as retaliation—took to Truth Social to demand that Mills grovel."

Read more:
yahoo.com/news/petulant-trump-
#TrumpIsABully #USPol #MaineResists #MaineResistance #SeeYouInCourt #ProtectTransYouth #FuckTrump
#TransRightsAreHumanRights #Resist #Authoritarianism

Yahoo News · Petulant Trump Demands Groveling From Governor Who Stood Up to HimBy Liam Archacki
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MorriganAzure 🧙🏻‍♀️🔮🪄

Did anyone else see this?
My jaw dropped.
I expect nothing more of #felon47, of course, but this was just a perfect example of what an unprofessional, nasty, bombastic bully this guy is.

If Gov. Mills were male, I'll bet his tone would have been different.

cnn.com/2025/02/21/politics/vi

CNN · Trump threatens Maine’s federal funding in tense exchange with state’s governor | CNN PoliticsIn a tense exchange with Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, President Donald Trump threatened to strip Maine of its federal funding if the state refuses to comply with his executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports. CNN’s Jeff Zeleny reports.
#uspoli#janetmills
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DoomsdaysCW

#GovernorJanetMills just told off #TrumptyDumpty when it comes to the rights of #TransPeople ! FUCK YEAH!

Mills' statement after the exchange:

"'I have spent my career — as a District Attorney, as Attorney General, and now as Governor — standing up for the rule of law in Maine and America. To me, that is fundamentally what is at stake here: the rule of law in our country.

'No President — Republican or Democrat — can withhold Federal funding authorized and appropriated by Congress and paid for by Maine taxpayers in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will. It is a violation of our Constitution and of our laws, which I took an oath to uphold.

'#Maine may one of the first states to undergo an investigation by his Administration, but we won’t be the last. Today, the President of the United States has targeted one particular group on one particular issue which Maine law has addressed. But you must ask yourself: who and what will he target next, and what will he do? Will it be you? Will it be because of your race or your religion? Will it be because you look different or think differently? Where does it end? In America, the President is neither a King nor a dictator, as much as this one tries to act like it – and it is the rule of law that prevents him from being so.

'I imagine that the outcome of this politically directed investigation is all but predetermined. My Administration will begin work with the Attorney General to defend the interests of Maine people in the court of law. But do not be misled: this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation. I believe he cannot.'"

'See you in court': Trump and Maine's governor spar over trans athlete order
February 21, 2025

npr.org/2025/02/21/nx-s1-53051
#TransRightsAreHumanRights #StandUpAgainstFascism! #USPol #MainePol #JanetMills

Continued thread
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Nonilex

The #Education Dept launched a probe into #Maine’s #transgender student sports participation policy after #Trump threatened the state’s #funding at a meeting of governors…

During the event Trump touted his #ExecutiveOrder that barred transgender students from competing in women’s sports & the effect it has had on the NCAA. Soon after he threatened Maine’s federal funding & singled out Maine Gov #JanetMills (D) & her state’s policies after she refused to say whether she would comply w/his order.

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