Author | Lightnews

Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 8h

It is far past time for Trump's minions to be held accountable for their blatant violations of the law and their serial lying in court. Bovino need to be held in contempt and sentenced accordingly.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 8h

Update: More than two dozen Democratic State Attorneys General are suing the Trump Administration / Dept. of Agriculture to force the release of contingency funds to keep SNAP going.

Trump is cutting off SNAP because he WANTS to cause pain in the hope that people blame the Democrats.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 14h

To Trump, Americans--including his base--are nothing more than "losers" and pawns in his power games. He is refusing to use the SNAP contingency fund because he wants Americans to suffer and hopes to convince his base that it is all the Democrats' fault.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 16h

While I have worked with some dedicated, and honest ICE agents in the past, I fear that Trump has now broken the organization beyond all repair. Its ranks are now packed with far-right fanatics who openly break their oath of office daily.

IF the US survives this challenge, ICE must be replaced.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

It is good to remind people that tariffs don't just raise the price of imported goods; they raise the price of domestic goods as well.

If the price of foreign competitors' products jumps 20%, domestic producers can raise prices by 15% and still enjoy a bigger market share. It's that simple.

Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

Trump has a plan: cause people to go hungry, suffer, and lose their homes while focusing all resources on convincing them it is all the Democrats' fault.

Trump lies. It's what he does. Sadly, far too many people are willing, or even anxious, to believe his lies.

Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not sure they care.

The GOP concern is NOT ensuring that their constituents are treated fairly, are able to eat, or have health care. Instead, they deliberately hurt Americans in the hopes that they can convince them that it is all the Democrats fault.

Sadly, that approach often works.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

While the contingency reserve fund would not completely fund SNAP, it would (and was designed to) help millions of Americans for another 3 weeks.

Trump does not want to help Americans. He wants to cause pain in the hopes that he can dupe people into believing it is all the Democrats' fault.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

The Trump Adm is also exploring steps to prevent people with unused SNAP benefits from using those funds after Nov 1. The money in EBT accounts has already been appropriated and expended, so blocking their use does not save a dime. It just hurts Americans.

For Trump, hurting people is the goal.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

Plus, of course, you can also see where Trump got his (atrocious, anti-democratic) taste in decorating.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

I knew Yanukovych when he was a corrupt member of the Rada (parliament) who worked with Russian oligarchs to siphon hundreds of millions of dollars from Ukraine's energy sector. He looked and sounded the part of the thug so perfectly that he could have made a career in Hollywood. A Russian stooge.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

You are right. It could be an accidental launch. It could also be a false alarm. In 1983, for example, the USSR detected what they thought was the launch of a multiple-warhead US ICBM toward Russia. The Kremlin could have responded by launching an immediate counter-strike. Luckily they didn't.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

Trump's 'Golden Dome' is a very dangerous delusion because it leads to the false hope that the US could effectively thwart a massed nuclear attack. That false presumption is likely to lead to increasingly risky behavior.

Israel's 'Iron Dome' protects against theater missiles, not MIRV'ed ICBMs.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

While the film mis-portrays current operating protocols, which call for a minimum of 4 interceptors per target rather than 2, the reality is that there is NO effective defense against a massed ICBM attack. Delivery vehicles are already designed to evade anti-missile tech.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

In Portland, OR, I chaired the committee that recommended scrapping the city's 100+ year-old system of at-large, winner-take-all elections in favor of ranked choice voting in multi-member geographic districts. The voters approved the change. The is more representation than ever before.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

Congratulations on the book!

The sad reality is that Trump is following Putin's playbook here in the USA, starting with the oligarch takeover of media to silence critics, on through the active persecution of independent journalists, and finally the persecution of anyone who dares to speak out.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

Cruelty is the purpose, not a side effect. Like authoritarians before him from around the world, he equates cruelty with strength. He also hopes to convince his base that the cruelty is all someone else's (the Democrats') fault.

Don't believe the lies. Question every assertion from the White House.

Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

It does not matter what Rand Paull calls the strikes. What matters is the simple and obvious reality that under international maritime law and the US Uniform Code of Military Justice, the strikes are illegal extrajudicial killings.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

Sadly, now even @theguardian.com is using tepid euphemisms rather than stating the simple truth. The headline to the story about Rand Paul should have stated plainly:

"Republican Senator acknowledges that Trump's military airstrikes are extrajudicial killings"

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Republican senator calls Trump’s military airstrikes ‘extrajudicial killings’

Rand Paul’s comments come days after president claimed US lawmakers wouldn’t take issue with Venezuelan strikes

www.theguardian.com

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

Not just "look like ISIS." The longer the war goes on, the most the Kremlin has become ISIS -- a dictatorship with feigned religious roots that is really only about power, kleptocracy, and a reactionary vision of the world.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

Some states, like NM, are stressing the risk that the Trump Administration will make it impossible to spend existing EBT balances so that residents are not caught unaware. Other states are more hopeful that Trump will not (or cannot, legally) order retailers to stop accepting existing EBT credits.

Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

You are placing blame in the wrong place. The NM government has warned SNAP recipients that they may not be able to use their existing EBT balances after Nov 1 because the Trump Administration has announced that they plan to ban retailers from accepting EBT. NM has no control over that.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

Congress established a contingency fund for SNAP benefits specifically to ensure that benefits continue during a shutdown. Trump decided to block the use of that contingency fund because he wants people to suffer in the hope that they will believe this lie that is the Democrats fault.

Trump lies.

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

$40 billion US taxpayer dollars to prop up a dictator who used part of that money to undercut American farmers, leaving many facing ruin and the loss of their farms.

Trump's real plan is "Americans Last, Dictators First."

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Ambassador Ken Fairfax @portlandken.bsky.social · 1d

Decades of mismanagement in Red states, particularly underinvestment in education, the environment, and infrastructure, have directly caused poor economic performance and low wages for workers. Red states only survive because of subsidies from better managed Blue states.

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