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Arkansas Non-Profit Cancels Purchase of Homeless Shelter for LGBT Youth After Threat

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Potential Neighbor Threatened to Publicly Disclose Location

Lucie’s Place, an Arkansas non-profit organization, was forced to cancel its purchase of a home in Little Rock that it had hoped would harbor homeless LGBT youth after receiving a threatening, anonymous email from a potential neighbor.

The organization, self-described as a “non-profit organization in Little Rock working with and assisting LGBT young adults experiencing homelessness in Central Arkansas,” provides LGBT youth with bus passes, cell phones, toiletries, clothes, referrals to other programs and case management.

“Individuals are able to utilize the drop-in center to work on job applications, resumes, continuing education, or as a place to hang out during the day when they have nowhere else to go,” their website reads. “For many, this center is the only physical place in town where they can go without fear of discrimination, harassment or violence.”

Lucie’s Place currently has a four-bedroom home to help LGBT youth, and had nearly completed its purchase of a second, seven-bedroom home, when they were forced to cancel the sale.

“Penelope Poppers, executive director of Lucie’s Place, said the nonprofit was midway through the sale and was prepared to close on the property as soon as it received the use permit from the city,” the Arkansas Times reported. “Poppers said the group initially received some pushback from neighbors unhappy about the idea of a homeless shelter in their neighborhood but were able to allay those concerns by explaining its nature: a small residential setting for formerly homeless young people to develop life skills and get back on their feet.”

Poppers told the outlet that pushback had come “before we had a chance to disseminate the correct information,” noting that “once we did, the tide shifted… [neighbors] understood we weren’t going to house a hundred people in this house, that there are rules and guidelines.”

Then Poppers received the following email:

I just received notification that there is some sort of halfway house or homeless shelter being proposed on Harmon [Drive], For LGBTQ persons who are at risk of being homeless. We are supposed to make clear if we oppose or support this idea.

We are completely and 100% opposed to this happening in our neighborhood! While I am completely in support of helping any who are in the situation of homelessness, and used to run a shelter myself in Houston, I am absolutely opposed to this happening in our residential neighborhood. We purchased a home in this neighborhood specifically because it was safe for our children. I do not want to live anywhere near a home like this. Since I have personal experience running a home like this, I am aware of the dangers involved, from a resident disclosing the location of the home, to a person tracking them down, to sneaking drugs in, to having a criminal background that’s undisclosed, etc. This is a terrible idea for our neighborhood! If this passes, I will make it my personal mission to get all of our neighbors involved in disclosing the location of this home to anyone that we can and fighting the forward motion of this plan. This is absolutely unacceptable for this area. I’ve talked to all the neighbors within 500 feet of our house, and every single one of them feels the same way. We will all be attending the meeting to voice our opposition, but if this goes through we will disclose the location of this home to anyone who wants to know, and will fight this every step of the way. I cannot even believe that you would be considering opening a home of this nature in a residential neighborhood, that has many many children all around it. Not to mention elderly, Christians who completely oppose that lifestyle, etc. please take this idea and plant it elsewhere. I think it’s a wonderful idea, just not in this neighborhood!

“One of the important ways in which we protect the residents is not disclosing the location of our house,” the executive director said. “We emphasized in a document [to neighbors] that the privacy of the home is very important. So by saying she would make it her personal mission to disclose the location of the home … she was threatening to take away one of the tools we have to ensure the safety and security of our residents.”

Poppers noted that Lucie’s Place intentionally makes their houses “look just like other houses in the neighborhood” to preserve their anonymity. “We don’t put up any signs or anything like that. That’s why that’s a big deal: because it just can’t be widely known where our houses are. It makes us targets for vandalism, for people driving by, or any one of a million horrible things.”

According to the Times, the group has already made an offer on another house in a different neighborhood. You can learn more about the organization, or donate to their cause, by visiting their website.

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News

Revealed: The Real Reason Kristi Noem Was Fired

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March 5, 2026

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The rumor mill was spinning fast on Thursday as news reports from multiple outlets revealed President Donald Trump was considering firing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Within hours, he did, announcing the nomination of U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as her replacement.

Some critics pointed to Noem’s damaging testimony before Congress this week, when she declared that President Trump had approved her spending $220 million in an ad campaign that, as one GOP senator said, boosted her name recognition. On Thursday, Trump told Reuters, “I never knew anything about it.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that the “final straw for Trump was Noem’s combative hearing Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The president watched the testimony and was apoplectic about her performance, telling advisers that evening he would remove her from the job, according to people familiar with the matter.”

READ MORE: ‘Dereliction of Duty’: Trump Officials Slammed Over Failure to ‘Keep Americans Safe’

But according to NBC News, Noem was not fired only because of her testimony.

“An administration official told NBC News that the president decided to fire Noem due to ‘a culmination of her many unfortunate leadership failures including the fallout in Minnesota, the ad campaign, the allegations of infidelity, the mismanagement of her staff, and her constant feuding with the heads of other agencies, including CBP and ICE,'” the news outlet reported.

The allegations of infidelity were in full swing during her congressional testimony, as U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) grilled the DHS chief.

“Secretary Noem, at any time during your tenure…have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?” the Congresswoman asked.

“That is garbage and it is offensive that you have brought that up,” Noem responded..

“It is about your judgment and decision-making,” Kamlager-Dove replied.

Lewandowski, according to Fox News, is also expected to exit DHS.

READ MORE: Trump’s Iran War Triggers Gas Price Shock — Especially in Red America

 

Image via Reuters

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‘Bad to Worse’: Mockery Ensues as Trump Trades Noem for ‘Erratic’ Mullin

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14 hours ago

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March 5, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s announcement that Republican U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin will become the new Secretary of Homeland Security — replacing embattled Kristi Noem — is drawing mockery.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported that “Trump loves watching Mullin on TV and often praises him, which was a factor in this decision.”

Calling him “erratic” and “unstable,” California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom slammed Mullin’s nomination.

“Markwayne Mullin could not remember if we were at war THIS WEEK,” he said. “His state has one of the highest crime rates in the country — with a murder rate 40% higher than California’s. He literally tried to fight union workers during a hearing and told them to ‘shut your mouth.’ And said ‘I don’t want reality’ at a Senate hearing about race.”

The president may have another challenge ahead of him.

After dodging increasing calls for Noem’s impeachment over her controversial congressional testimony on Wednesday, he wrote that Mullin will be the new DHS Secretary as of March 31. Politico’s Kyle Cheney notes there are other factors at work.

According to Cheney, “it’s not clear how Trump can simply announce this is effective on March 31. Mullin is not Senate-confirmed and not eligible to become acting secretary under laws governing cabinet-level vacancies.”

If it’s a matter of getting enough Democrats to support Mullin, Trump can already count on the Senator from Pennsylvania.

“As a member of the Homeland Security Committee + Ranking Member of Subcommittee on Border Security: I’m not sure how many fellow Democrats will vote to support our colleague  @SenMullin as the next DHS Secretary, but I am AYE,” Democratic Senator John Fetterman wrote.

Meanwhile, critics continued to express opposition to the decision to hand the reins of the more than $100 billion federal agency to Mullin.

“Firing Noem to hire Markwayne Mullin is the definition of going from bad to worse,” declared Democratic strategist Max Burns.

Some pointed out that Mullin is the only current U.S. Senator to not hold a bachelor’s degree.

Others noted that he is “the same guy who was hiding from MAGA rioters during the January 6th insurrection.”

And some pointed to reports “showing him in violation of the STOCK Act.”

The progressive social media account The Tennessee Holler called Mullin “one of the biggest Trump sycophants in Congress.”

The Atlantic’s Norman Ornstein added, “That Markwayne Mullin is the dumbest member of the Senate was a qualification for Trump to choose him to head DHS.”

 

Image via Reuters

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Trump’s Iran War Triggers Gas Price Shock — Especially in Red America

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15 hours ago

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March 5, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s war against Iran is having harsh effects on the price of gas for consumers, but no one is being harder hit than his red-state base.

According to Patrick De Haan, the widely-cited head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, as of Thursday morning, the national average price of gasoline stands at $3.24 per gallon.

“That’s now just 1.4 cents shy of its highest national average since 2024 — and, based on GasBuddy’s tracking, the highest national average so far during President Trump’s two terms,” De Haan writes.

What that means is collectively, he says, Americans are paying about $90 million more at the pump than just one week ago.

At the state level, 49 out of 50 states have seen at least a ten-cent increase since last week. And twelve states are seeing at least a 30-cent increase in just the past week.

READ MORE: ‘Total Scumbag Move’: MAGA Rages as Trump Faces Demands to End Texas GOP War

Who is being hit the hardest?

Nine of the top ten highest price increases are being seen in red states.

De Haan says that Louisiana is being hit the hardest, with a 39.7-cent per gallon increase over last week.

Georgia is seeing a 37.5 cent increase. Iowa, Indiana, and West Virginia are all in the 35-cent range. Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Ohio in the 34-cent range. South Dakota comes in at a 32.6-cent increase. And Illinois, a blue state, comes in at number ten, at 31.1 cents per gallon.

According to Michael Gunther, senior vice president at Consumer Edge, the “pain isn’t evenly distributed.”

He says that “customers of value-oriented, drive-dependent brands — Dollar General, Jack in the Box, Boot Barn — allocate the highest share of their wallet to gas. Lower-income, suburban consumers with very little cushion to absorb a sustained spike.”

De Haan adds that gas prices will continue to climb.

“While the national average gas price is seeing a slower climb today, increases will likely throttle back up soon as wholesale gasoline prices jump again,” he notes.

READ MORE: Trump Uses Voter ID Push to Stoke Base With ‘Men in Women’s Sports’ Claim

 

Image via Reuters 

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