#ron wyden

[juneries]

in the wake of Lindsey Graham’s death and Mitch McConnell’s sudden revival, I would like to introduce an elite and exclusive category of politicians that have been specially selected based off of my own opinions called:

The Pastry Politicians. Politicians that bear a striking resemblance to bland baked goods.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden = scone.

Former South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham = gooey butter cake

Somewhat Alive Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell = shortbread

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Democrat Says Trump Admin Plan To Test Drinking Water Suggests A ‘Darker Reality’

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden is demanding answers from the EPA after an extreme move that could hinder access to abortion and birth control pil

Alanna Vagianos at HuffPost:

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) is demanding answers from the Environmental Protection Agency following an extreme move that could hinder access to abortion and birth control pills. The Trump administration’s EPA recommended earlier this month that states begin testing drinking water for certain forms of abortion pills and contraceptives — a worrisome move that comes after a yearslong pressure campaign from anti-abortion organizations weaponizing environmental regulations to further undermine access to care. “While you claim these benchmarks are merely to ‘empower local decision makers,’ your own statements suggest a darker reality: this is laying the groundwork for sweeping state and federal restrictions on reproductive health care,” Wyden wrote in the Monday letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. “While it is critical that the federal government work to monitor and assess the risk of pharmaceuticals in drinking water,” he continued, “the inclusion of these reproductive health medications is clearly a coordinated, politically motivated attempt to restrict women’s freedom under the guise of ‘drinking water safety.’”

The guidance for testing drinking water is a “backdoor attempt to strip access to reproductive health care,” Wyden wrote, adding that it “amounts to ‘uterus surveillance.’” Earlier this month, the EPA released a list of 374 drugs that states and counties should monitor. The agency also advised local governments to create “human health benchmarks,” which would dictate how much of a medication can exist in water systems before it is defined as a contaminant. The list does not include mifepristone — the main abortion pill that has been at the center of abortion debates — but it does include misoprostol and methotrexate, two drugs used for medication abortions and other health issues, as well as several forms of daily birth control pills and the NuvaRing.

The list is not meant to lead to an all-out ban on any medications, the EPA said, but the agency acknowledged it could pave the way for restrictions. “The human health benchmarks for pharmaceuticals are not regulations and are not enforceable on their own, but they are a vital resource, empowering local decision-makers to evaluate risks and protect their communities when pharmaceutical contamination is detected at concerning levels,” the EPA said in an April 2 statement. [...] The EPA’s decision to include certain abortion pills and contraceptives on this list is one of the first real material wins for national anti-abortion groups utilizing environmental laws to further restrict abortion access. Anti-abortion organizations have used this strategy for years, but it recently gained steam when Students for Life, one of the largest anti-abortion organizations in the country, championed the issue and aligned it with the Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. Students for Life and other anti-abortion groups have gone even further than suggesting abortion pills possibly contaminate drinking water. Student for Life’s head of policy Kristi Hamrick told Politico last year that “people need to understand that they are likely drinking other people’s abortions,” claiming that medication abortion waste, such as placental tissue and fetal remains, can be found in drinking water. The controversial claims are unsubstantiated and rife with anti-abortion misinformation. And yet, the campaign has been so successful that House Republicans introduced a bill last month to require every pregnant person using abortion pills to use toilet “catch kits” when ending a pregnancy to ensure no medical waste is flushed.

“The fact is, the abortion pill ingredients used to starve a pre-born child remain active and unfiltered in our water treatments,” Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) said after introducing the Clean Water For All Life Act. “That means families across the nation may be unknowingly ingesting abortion-related chemicals in their drinking water, exposing them to potential health risks like infertility and cancer.” Although the bill is unlikely to pass, it currently has 18 co-sponsors in the House.

The Trump Regime’s EPA has dark plans to conduct water testing for abortion medications based on anti-abortion pseudoscience about wastewater being contaminated because of abortion pills.

[jennywritespdx]

In 2002, Jeffrey Alan Wyden, brother of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, died at a hospital in California. He was 51.

Jeffrey Wyden struggled with schizophrenia for 30 years and had been living in a halfway house before his untimely death at Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California.

When Jeff Wyden died, Congressman Ron Wyden was told the cause of his brother's death had not yet been determined. 😯⁉️

Jeffrey Wyden’s illness was chronicled in a moving book written by the Wyden brothers’ father, Peter Wyden, titled Conquering Schizophrenia: A Father, His Son and a Medical Breakthrough.

“Jeff was an inspiration to all who knew him. He was a courageous fighter against his disease. He never gave up fighting it,” Sen. Wyden said of his brother.

@jennywritespdx

Posted March 25, 2026

[floorcharts]

Who: Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon)

X: https://x.com/RonWyden

When: April 2025

What: Tariffs

Watch on C-SPAN

Read the Congressional Record

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Democratic Senators Give Cryptic Warning About CIA Activities

Ron Wyden has previously warned about spy abuses before they were public. Now he and Mark Warner say something else is up.

Arthur Delaney at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON ― Two senior members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are warning they know about potential misconduct by the Central Intelligence Agency, but they can’t say what it is. In a public letter to CIA director John Ratcliffe, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) revealed on Wednesday he’d sent another letter, apparently classified, expressing alarm about something the agency is doing. “I write to alert you to a classified letter I sent you earlier today, in which I express deep concerns about CIA activities,” Wyden said in the letter, which his office released Wednesday afternoon. “Thank you for your attention to this important matter.” That’s all the letter says. Wyden previously delivered cryptic warnings about the CIA’s sister agency, the National Security Agency. “I want to deliver a warning this afternoon,” he said in a Senate floor speech in 2011. “When the American people find out how their government has secretly interpreted the Patriot Act, they will be stunned and they will be angry.”

[...] Joining Wyden’s is the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner (Va.). A spokesperson for Warner said the senator “shares many of the concerns expressed by Senator Wyden in his letter, and in fact he has expressed them to DCIA Ratcliffe himself.”

Democratic Senators Ron Wyden (OR) and Mark Warner (VA) give a cryptic yet frightening warning in a letter sent to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

[newsandstuffisee]

[curmemini]

well that's ominous

[newsandstuffisee]