Current Issues / Long Read / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Saturday, March 1, 2025

March 1, 2025

US Becomes The Bad Guys

By now, you’ve seen the video, perhaps read the transcript, and heard different opinions. Yesterday’s argument between Ukraine’s President Zelensky and US President Shitforbrains, accompanied by VP Fuxacouch, was an unparalleled disaster the likes of which the US has never seen. Equally disturbing is the number of Republicans who somehow think that yesterday’s debacle was a good thing. Can someone please explain to me why no one is setting up guillotines on the White House lawn this morning?

Responses from Democrats is, predictably, in support of Ukraine. Here’s a few quotes via AP:

SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER, New York:
“Trump and Vance are doing Putin’s dirty work. Senate Democrats will never stop fighting for freedom and democracy.”

HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES, New York:
“Today’s White House meeting with the President of Ukraine was appalling and will only serve to further embolden Vladimir Putin, a brutal dictator. The United States must not reward Russian aggression and continue to appease Putin.”

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut:
“My strong and passionate hope is that the talks can be resumed or restored, and this event won’t derail continued support.”

“I have very strong hopes that the coalition we have in Congress — and it is a very strong bipartisan coalition — will be persuasive to the administration and others that we have a long-term national security interest in Ukraine prevailing over Putin’s brazen aggression.”

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota:
“Answer to Vance: Zelenskyy has thanked our country over and over again both privately and publicly. And our country thanks HIM and the Ukrainian patriots who have stood up to a dictator, buried their own & stopped Putin from marching right into the rest of Europe. Shame on you.”

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY, Connecticut:
“It was a planned ambush designed to embarrass President Zelenskyy in order to benefit Vladimir Putin. That was an embarrassment. That was an abomination. What you watched was American power being destroyed in the world as everybody watches President Trump become a lapdog for a brutal dictator in Moscow.”

If you’re not embarrassed to be an American this morning, I’m going to assume that you are an orange cat with no working brain cells. The president’s behavior yesterday firmly puts the US in the category of Bad Guy, along with Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and, depending on the day, Turkey. If anyone is playing around with World War III, it’s the US President, not Zelensky. Zelensky knows war. Felonious Punk doesn’t have a fucking clue.

Making the embrassment even worse, somehow a correspondent for TASS, a Russian state media organization, was among a group of hand-picked pool reporters present in the Oval Office. What the fuck? The Associated Press, a US organization, can’t be in the room but TASS, the official Russian mouthpiece, can? The reporter was later removed from the room, but only after other reporters questioned their presence.

Fortunately, Europe seems to have found a spine and strongly voiced their support for Ukraine and Zelensky. UK Prime Minister KerirStarmer’s office responded, “He retains unwavering support for Ukraine, and is doing all he can to find a path forward to a lasting peace based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine.”

Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni, however, proposed “an immediate summit” between the United States and European allies “to speak frankly about how we intend to face today’s great challenges, starting with Ukraine.” She urged the West to stay united.

“Every division of the West makes us all weaker and favors those who would like to see the decline of our civilization,” she said. “A division would not benefit anyone.”

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted directly to Selensky, “your dignity honors the bravery of the Ukrainian people. Be strong, be brave, be fearless. You are never alone, dear President.”

And Friedrich Merz, Germany’s likely next chancellor, wrote: “Dear Volodymyr @zelenskyyua, we stand with #Ukraine in good and in testing times. We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war.”

Meanwhile in Estonia, which borders Russia, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the only obstacle to peace is Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘s decision to continue the war.

“It is time for Europe to step up,” Tsahkna said in a statement. “We do not need to wait for something else to happen; Europe has enough resources, including Russia’s frozen assets, to enable Ukraine to continue fighting.”

And Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s reminded Ukraine of what’s at stake for the Nordic and Baltic countries, and others, if Russia’s aggression spreads.

“You are not only fighting for your freedom but also for all of Europe’s,” Kristersson wrote on X. European officials from Austria, he Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Spain, among others, also offered their support to Ukraine.

There’s an uncomfortable problem here, though. Yesterday’s move makes it look likely that the US could exit from membership in NATO. If we do, can the EU sufficiently defend Ukraine and itself from Russia? Ukraine is Europe’s largest military and we see how they’re faring. The next largest is France, which is four time smaller than Ukraine’s. While the UK likes to talk big, they have only a fraction of the troops they did during WWII.

See the problem?

Meanwhile, U.S. Social Security Administration cut 7,000 workers. If you’re one of many looking for or depending upon social security income, you’re screwed.

Democratic appropriators say Republicans have left US government funding talks, raising the risk of a shutdown. We already know that the GOP wants to gut the entire budget, with the exception of defense. They’re planning for war.

Impeachment threats to federal judges are increasing. This is nothing short of intimidation and it’s illegal. The fact that members of Congress are getting in on the act now is enough to have them removed, but I don’t see anyone raising that issue.

Another “list five things” email is hitting federal employees again this morning. The difference this time is that those working on classified projects were instructed to put “all of my activities are sensitive” in their email. That doesn’t make the move any less illegal.

The stock market didn’t do so well this past week and there’s growing concern of a major selloff. If the market completely tanks, large-scale layoffs will hit almost immediately. Many companies have already started.

Thomas L. Friedman writes, “This Has Never Happened With an American President Before” and James Carville is screaming that it’s time for Democrats to make a daring move. I’m not sure anyone in power is actually paying attention, though.

Ugh.

This will be the last Morning Update. I’m taking tomorrow off to work on the new site. Sunday is usually slow news/low readership anyway. When Monday hits, we’ll be over on clight.us. The content may be lean for a couple of days as we ramp up, but I think it will ultimately be a more efficient and complete way of addressing all the issues we’re facing.

We’ll also be asking for your support. I’m already -$200 in my bank account and there are still bills to pay. With social security taking a dump, we don’t have a lot of options.

We’ll post here again when/if we have more pictures or if we have something of a personal nature we need to share. Thank you for hanging with us through all the chemo. Let’s hope we never need to do that again.

All my love,
-Charles

Current Issues / Long Read / News & Comment / Photography

Oval Office Becomes Evil

February 28, 2025

Partial Transcript & Other Info

From the NY Times:

A meeting between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Friday turned into an angry shouting match at the Oval Office. At times cross talk made some comments difficult to understand. Here are key excerpts from the heated exchange.

Trump (responding to a reporter): I’m not aligned with Putin. I’m not aligned with anybody. I’m aligned with the United States of America. And for the good of the world. I’m aligned with the world. And I want to get this thing over with. You see the hatred he’s got for Putin. It’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate. He’s got tremendous hatred. And I understand that. But I can tell you the other side isn’t exactly in love with him either.

So it’s not a question of alignment. I’m aligned with the world. I want to get the thing set. I’m aligned with Europe. I want to see if we can get this thing done. You want me to be tough? I can be tougher than any human being you’ve ever seen. I’d be so tough. But you’re never going to get a deal that way. So that’s the way it goes.

Vice President JD Vance: I will respond to this. So look, for four years in the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin. And then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country. The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy. We tried the pathway of Joe Biden, of thumping our chest and pretending that the president of the United States’ words mattered more than the president of the United States’ actions.

What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That’s what President Trump is doing.

Zelensky: Yeah. OK. He occupied it, our parts. Big parts of Ukraine. Part of east and Crimea. So he occupied it on 2014. So during a lot of years, I’m not speaking about just Biden. But those times was Obama, then President Obama, then President Trump, then President Biden, now the President Trump. And God bless: Now President Trump will stop him. But during 2014, nobody stopped him. He just occupied and took. He killed people.

Trump: 2015.

Zelensky: 2014.

Vance: 2014 and 2015.

Trump: 2014. I was not here.

Zelensky: But during 2014 ’til 2022.(…) Nobody stopped him. You know that we had conversations with him, a lot of conversations. My bilateral conversation. And we signed with him. Me, like a new president. In 2019, I signed with him the deal I signed with him, Macron and Merkel. We signed cease-fire, cease-fire. All of them told me that he will never go. We signed him. Gas contract. Gas contract. But after that, he broken the cease-fire. He killed our people and he didn’t exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners, but he didn’t do it. What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?

Vance: I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.

Vance: Mr. President, Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have man power problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.

Zelensky: Have you ever been to Ukraine? You say what problems we have.

Vance: I have been to—

Zelensky: Come once.

Vance: I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you’ve had problems bringing people into your military?

Zelensky: We have problems. I will answer.

Vance: And do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?

Zelensky: A lot of questions. Let’s start from the beginning.

Vance: Sure.

Zelensky: First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now, but you will feel it in the future.

Trump: You don’t know that.

Zelensky: God bless, you will not have a war.

Trump: Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.

Zelensky: I’m not telling you.

Trump: Because you’re in no position to dictate that. Remember this: You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel. We’re going to feel very good.

Zelensky: You will feel influence. I’m telling you.

Trump: We’re going to feel very good and very strong.

Zelensky: You will feel influence.

Trump: You’re right now not in a very good position.

Trump: You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position. And he happens to be right about. You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us you start having cards.

Zelensky: I’m not playing cards. I’m very serious, Mr. President. I’m very serious. I’m the president in a war—

Trump: You’re playing cards. You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.

Vance: Have you said ‘thank you’ once this entire meeting? No. In this entire meeting, have you said ‘thank you’? You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who is trying to save your country.

Zelensky: Please. You think that if you will speak very loudly about the war, you—

Trump: He’s not speaking loudly. He’s not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble. Wait a minute.

Zelensky: Can I answer?

Trump: No. No. You’ve done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.

Zelensky: I know. I know.

Trump: You’re not winning. You’re not winning this. You have a damn good chance of coming out OK because of us.

Zelensky: Mr. President, we are staying in our country, staying strong, from the very beginning of the war, we’ve been alone, and we are thankful. I said thanks in this cabinet, and only in this cabinet.

Trump: You haven’t been alone. We gave you through this stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment. And your men are brave. But they had to use our military. If you didn’t have our military equipment—

Zelensky: You invited me—

Trump: If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.

Zelensky: In three days. I heard it from Putin: in three days.

Trump: Maybe less.

Zelensky: This is something, in two weeks. Of course. Yes.

Trump: It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this. I tell you.

Vance: Just say thank you.

Zelensky: I said it a lot of times thank you to the American people.

Vance: Accept that there are disagreements. And let’s go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media when you’re wrong. We know that you’re wrong.

Trump: But you see, I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on. I think it’s very important. That’s why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful.

Zelensky: I am thankful.

Trump: You don’t have the cards. You’re buried there, your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers.

Zelensky: Don’t, please, Mr. President.

Trump: Listen. You’re running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing. Then you tell us, ‘I don’t want a cease-fire. I don’t want a cease-fire. I want to go, and I want this.’ Look, if you could get a cease-fire right now, I’d tell you, you take it. So the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.

Zelensky: Of course we want to stop the war.

Trump: But you’re saying you don’t want a cease-fire.

Zelensky: But I said to you, with guarantees.

Trump: I want a cease-fire, because you’ll get a cease-fire faster than an agreement.

Zelensky: Ask our people about cease-fire, what they think—

Trump: There wasn’t with me. That wasn’t with me. That was with a guy named Biden who was not a smart person. That was with Obama.

Zelensky: It was your president.

Trump: Excuse me. That was with Obama, who gave you sheets, and I gave you javelins.

Zelensky: Yes.

Trump: I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets. In fact, the statement is: Obama gave sheets, and Trump gave javelins. You got to be more thankful because let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards. But without us, you don’t have any cards.

It’s going to be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change.

Reporter: What if Russia breaks cease-fire? What if Russia breaks peace talks? What do you do then? I understand that it’s a heated conversation?

Trump: What are you saying?

Vance: She’s asking: What if Russia breaks the cease-fire?

Trump: What if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now? OK? What if they broke it? I don’t know, they broke it with Biden because Biden, they didn’t respect him. They didn’t respect Obama. They respect me. Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia. You ever hear of that deal? That was a phony. That was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam. Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff. It was a Democrat scam. And he had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn’t end up in a war. And he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bedroom. It was disgusting. And then they said, ‘Oh, the laptop from hell was made by Russia.’ The 51 agents. The whole thing was a scam. And he had to put up with that.

He was being accused of all that stuff. All I can say is this: He might have broken deals with Obama and Bush, and he might have broken them with Biden. He did. Maybe. Maybe he didn’t. I don’t know what happened. But he didn’t break them with me. He wants to make a deal. I don’t know if he can make a deal.

The problem is, I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States. And your people are very brave.

Zelensky: Thank you.

Trump: But you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out.

But you don’t have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position. But you’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest. That’s not a nice thing.

All right. I think we’ve seen enough. What do you think, huh? This is going to be great television. I will say that. All right. We’ll see what we can do about putting it together. Thank you.

By the way, that transcript drove my editor nuts with all the grammatical errors.

In response, David Axlerod posted this:

CNN has the seven-minute video, but the server has been so busy that it can be slow.

Other responses:

I’m sure we’ll have more tomorrow. This is all completely unacceptable.

Current Issues / Long Read / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

February 26, 2025

Buckle Up

Most days start out rather quiet and groggy. The kids don’t talk much and don’t make a lot of noise as they get ready for school. They’re teenagers. We don’t expect them to be off autopilot until later in the morning. Today was different, though. Tipper came across the guestlist for the Indiana Comic and Pop Culture Convention (ComiCon). She was excited by names she couldn’t even pronounce correctly: Brent Spinner, Jonathan Frakes, and “Willian Shanter, who’s that?” Yeah, Bill Shatner is going to be here. There appears to be a full-scale Power Rangers reunion happening and she’s especially excited about a host of anime voice actors she never expected would appear in the States. She’s so excited that not only did she nearly miss leaving for the bus, but she continued to text me all the way to school.

I love it. It’s great when kids have something to be excited about. I love seeing their faces light up and how animated they become when talking about something that is important to them. Dad just has to figure out a way to pay for her ticket. Hmmm…

Congress, on the other hand, is sidestepping not only paying for what people want but what they need. The near-party-line vote last night was close: 217-215. One Republican joined all the House Democrats in voting against the bill. THIS shows just how important down-ballot elections are. It’s not just who one votes for president, but who we elect as Congressional representatives. Honestly, some people are voting for imbeciles.

As we’ve seen over the past five weeks, just because Congress approves funding for something doesn’t mean that this White House will actually allow that funding to be administered without a fight. A judge has given the White House two days to release frozen funds for foreign aid. This is another potential setup for a constitutional crisis if the White House ignores the order. Never should approved funding be an issue. Once the budget is passed and signed, the funds must be distributed in the manner prescribed.

Of course, this budget has some pretty serious cutbacks and is going to affect a lot of people, especially those in poorer states in the South. You know, the people who voted for Felonious Punk in the first place. An $800 billion cut in healthcare spending, including Medicaid, is going to hit home fast. We’re left sitting here wondering if our medications will be remotely affordable if this bill makes it into law. I know many of my meds are incredibly expensive. If I hit the age of 65 this year and those meds are suddenly not covered, I won’t have enough income to pay for them. A lot of people my age are in the same boat.

Meanwhile, the rich get $45 trillion in tax breaks.

This whole administration is a nightmare. So much so that even DOGE troublemakers are quitting. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, perhaps the most stupid person to ever hold a congressional seat, is sitting there screaming that federal workers don’t deserve their paychecks. There are people within the administration who are actively trying to figure out a way to re-rig the Constitution so that this punk-ass president can run for a third term. At the same time, President Shitforbrains wants there to be a $5 million ‘gold card’ that people like Russian oligarchs can buy that would give them a straight path toward US citizenship. The goal is to bring more rich people into the US because that’s been going so well [/sarcasm].

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider on Wednesday an Ohio woman’s claim that she was denied a promotion and demoted because she is straight in a case that could make it easier for people from “majority backgrounds,” such as white or heterosexual people, to pursue workplace discrimination claims. Be sure that this is part of the continued assault on DEI programs. Any sane person wouldn’t have let this get past the first courtroom. That the case has made it all the way to SCOTUS shows just how broken we are as a society.

Consumer confidence is at a four-year low. As inflation continues to skyrocket, in NYC, 1 in 4 can’t afford the essentials. While that number is almost twice the national average, a 1 in 8 score isn’t really any better. People can’t buy food but SNAP benefits are being cut. Programs that help food pantries are being cut.

Air travel is in a shambles. Two significant near misses occurred yesterday as cuts to the FAA leave an already understaffed agency scrambling. And Muskrat wants the contract to fix FAA communications. This is not how a decent country operates. Government shouldn’t be enriching the richest man in the world by one cent. He’s already receiving $38 billion in government funding. If any program needs to be cut, it’s those enriching the Muskrat.

The Washington Post thinks that the resistance is beginning to wake in earnest. I suppose they could be right. There is definitely more anti-Punk activity taking place now than there was last week. Part of that is because of the time it takes to put together and file a lawsuit against any portion of the government. Another reason is that the volume of nonsense is so great that people who normally would sit on the sidelines are forced into battle to save themselves.

Wandering around online, one is likely to come across arguments that one-day boycotts, such as the one scheduled for this Friday, have little effect on businesses, especially when they know it’s coming. There is some truth to that perspective. Detractors will welcome the chance to shop without fewer people in the aisles. The shopping boycott is known well enough that managers have had time to adjust employee scheduling and take additional cost-saving measures. The pain they feel won’t be too severe.

Don’t think for a second that they won’t notice, though. They’ll see the numbers drop and that lets companies know how large a resistance their facing. They’ll begin to factor in the possibility of a longer-term boycott, one in which people buy nothing but absolute essentials. Large participation numbers will bring a level of fear into the conversation.

We have to flex our economic muscles where we can. I know there is talk of work outages and if people can be involved in that the impact on companies could be more severe than a shopping boycott. I’m concerned that too many people live on razor-thin budgets for the masses to participate. Staying home from work requires a position of privilege that most of us don’t have.

Still, every step, and every word of resistance has an effect. We can’t, for a moment, let the administration think that they’ve won. We have to fight. We have to go to battle in ways that are well outside our comfort zone. We may have to go so far as engaging in acts of violence.

Whatever it takes, we must act to save our country from the hands of oligarchs and the economically insane.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

February 25, 2025

Confusion Reigns

My phone rang at 6:45 this morning. The school called to say that the building is closed today and the kids have an e-learning day. No further explanation was given. Unfortunately, the kids were already on the bus headed downtown. They’ll have to wait until they reach the transit center and take the next bus back home.

My mind immediately started whirring with possible reasons why the school building could be closed unexpectedly. Obviously, this wasn’t a planned event or the kids would have known about it yesterday. The building itself is old, a refurbished factory building nearly 100 years of age, so things do occasionally break. Perhaps the heat went out. Perhaps there was an electrical issue. I suppose there’s also the chance of some form of water break. Those are the benign possibilities.

Late Edit: it was, indeed, a power outage that caused the school to close.

It’s difficult for me to think of the world as benign, though. The school is on the east side of town, which sees its fair share of trouble. In fact, there was a police-involved shooting early this morning that left one dead on the same street that the school is on. The location is less than a mile from the school, at a major intersection on the bus route. The ongoing police investigation into the shooting could be the reason that the school decided to close the building. That would make sense in a sad sort of way.

But this is 2025. We also have to consider the possibility of a bomb threat against the school. Less than two weeks have passed since an Indiana teen was arrested for plotting a mass school shooting. Threats of acts of violence against school students are not uncommon any more. Two Houston-area girls were accused of planning to detonate pipe bombs in their school last week. As frightening as it is to consider, school violence is a background threat every day. Yet, we still have to send our kids to school.

There’s also the possibility of ICE being at the school this morning. The school serves breakfast, as many schools do, and the timing of the closure would match the time that food service workers would be arriving to prep for the morning. There’s a lot of speculation to that possibility, though. I don’t know that any of the food service workers are immigrants. There haven’t been any credible ICE events in the city in the past couple of weeks. The odds here are pretty slim, but we live in a world where the possibility can’t be ruled out.

I hate living in this world.

Confusion and chaos over the weekend’s email to federal employees continues. There was some claim yesterday that the whole thing was a ruse. But the source of that story is highly questionable, especially considering other news. The confusion and chaos is mindboggling. HuffPost reports that the mass firings are illegal. Yet, CBS News says that Muskrat has given federal workers ‘a second chance’ to justify their jobs. At the same time, though, NPR says the administration has ‘backed off’ requiring any response at all. Federal workers have also filed suit against the email order. For federal employees, the stress is consuming. For those dependent on federal services, there is no guarantee that there’s going to be anyone left to fulfill those services. The entire situation is a mess that Felonious Punk and the Muskrat are enjoying.

Here’s the upshot, though. AP, you know, the guys not allowed in the White House, reports this morning that nearly 40% of contracts canceled by DOGE are expected to produce no savings. Federal services are being cut just for the sake of cutting. That means that US citizens ultimately pay the price for what isn’t getting done. We are less of a country than we were five weeks ago.

Through all of this, most Americans have been under the assumption that the courts would prevent anything illegal that the White House might attempt. That’s not the case. Congressional Republicans are mounting an effort to impeach federal judges who rule against the administration. The move directly undermines the rule of law and pushes us further toward a constitutional crisis. If the courts go away, if judges are not allowed to protect the Constitution, we no longer have a country in which any of us have a part.

Through all of this, the rest of the world keeps churning. The stock market appears to be continuing its downward slide this morning, though the bell hasn’t opened the NYSE yet. Fabric and craft retailer Joann to go out of business and close all of its stores after it was unable to find a buyer yesterday. I know a lot of people who are going to be upset by this move. There was another fatal crash of two small planes yesterday that raises the question of what the fuck is going on in control towers. I’m rather glad I don’t need to go anywhere at the moment.

Meanwhile, in London, there’s this:

And Rolling Stone Magazine is reporting that Elon’s Email Demand Is Being Met With ‘Very Rude’ Flood of Spam. The resistance is there and it’s having an effect. Yet, it’s not enough to prevent the administration from planning multiple immigrant detention facilities at US Air Force bases. Everywhere I look this morning shows increased chaos and confusion everywhere the federal government is involved.

This editorial cartoon by Ben Jennings sums up my feelings quite accurately.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Sunday, February 23, 2025

February 23, 2025

Think Of The Kids

We wish Tipper’s room were this clean. Too bad we can’t use AI on the real thing! 2025

The good news this morning, I suppose, is that Pope Francis is conscious, receiving supplemental oxygen, and had a peaceful night following a respiratory crisis. His condition was apparently touch-and-go for a while yesterday, enough so that Cardinals were making plans to fly to Rome. Speculation still exists as to whether he might yet resign if it appears that he will not be able to return to his normal duties. One doesn’t have to be Catholic to have an interest in the pope’s condition. The Church influences millions of worshippers worldwide and can impact political involvement in many places.

What’s new this morning is that ICE has been directed to find and deport unaccompanied migrant children. You’re reading that correctly, Felonious Punk & Co. are going after the kids. This raises the specter of ICE invading schools in an effort to find children. As a result, the question we have to ask this morning is this: Who’s going to protect the kids?

There’s no age limit on the order, so we can assume that elementary-age children, who typically don’t carry an ID of any kind, could be rounded up. How will ICE be able to tell who’s documented and who isn’t? They won’t. Any child who remotely looks as though they might be Latinx could be detained. Tipper, for example, who doesn’t have a bit of Latin blood in her, could potentially be a target of this stupidity.

This makes schools the first line of defense. Tipper’s school has already made it known that they will not allow ICE to detain any students without a warrant, and ICE rarely bothers to get warrants because of the time it takes. Thousands of other schools have similar policies. Republican-dominated state legislatures, however, are looking to complicate the matter by passing laws requiring local law officials and, in some cases, anyone else to assist ICE if requested. I’m not aware of any of those laws being passed yet, but they’re advancing through their various committees with strong partisanship outweighing objections.

We can’t all stand around outside every school waiting for a raid that doesn’t come, either. That option is neither practical nor reasonable. It is important that students not be distracted from learning and a crowd of people outside their school is one hell of a distraction.

I am bothered by the fact that children are being disregarded through this whole coup situation. Don’t think they’re not paying attention. Don’t assume they’re not scared. We are playing with their future more than our own. What we do or fail to do right now impacts their lives for the next 60-80 years, long after you and I are dust. Not only are immigrant children a target, but so are poor children who are relying on programs that are being cut, such as Medicare, SNAP, and various DEI initiatives. Their parents cannot afford to purchase care from an out-of-control capitalistic system. Without federal programs, many of these children will die before reaching adulthood.

How does that sit on your conscience?

I know the big buzz this morning is about Muskrat’s ‘requirement’ that all federal employees justify their employment by midnight. That’s all bluster and fireworks meant to distract everyone. Newly confirmed FBI director Kash Patel was quick to inform all FBI employees to not comply with the order. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Charles Ezell, Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management pushing back hard. Connolly’s letter said, in part, “The capricious dismissal threatened in Mr. M-usk’s post is illegal and cannot be tolerated. Mr. Musk’s post is an insult to federal workers and shows that he lacks a basic understanding that many federal workers will not be receiving this email in time to respond by the deadline as they may be away from their secure workstation or on medical leave. He also, disturbingly, appears to be unaware that many federal employees are locked out of their systems due to DOGE’s ongoing intrusion into federal IT infrastructure. This latest threat leveled by Mr. M-usk only makes federal workers’ jobs more difficult as they attempt to maintain continuity of services for the American people despite daily attempts by DOGE to undermine their work.” (We added the dash in M-usk so that search engines won’t pick his name out of the content).

While I’ve seen some amusing and creative responses floating around BluSky and Reddit, the fact is that this stupidity only puts more people in danger. What happens if medical staff at various federal facilities are fired because they were working their collective asses off all weekend trying to save lives? What happens if critical adjunct services supporting the military are suddenly no longer available? What happens if oversight at airports and ship docks that maintain safety have no one staffing them Monday morning? Obviously, the Muskrat didn’t think this through, but then, there’s a question as to whether he is capable of thinking at all.

The dogs let me sleep late this morning, but that doesn’t mean I’m in a good enough mood to let such ignorance and stupidity slide by. Lives are at risk. CHILDREN’S lives are at risk. We simply cannot sit by and wait to see what happens next.

Personally, I think it would be interesting if we just started setting up guillotines around DC. We don’t have to use them, yet. Just set them up in places where all these idiots can’t help seeing them every day. We need to remind them that the real power still lies with us.

Don’t make me wake these guys. The one in the middle isn’t afraid to draw blood.

Current Issues / Long Read / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary / video

Saturday, February 22, 2025

February 22, 2025

Roses Of Success

Oklahoma native Krista Tippet wrote in this morning’s On Being email, “It feels important for me to say that when I speak of the general tumult and distress of being alive now, I know we are feeling this on every side of our life together, every side (and of course there are far more than two sides) of every issue. A burning reason in my mind that we must stop fixating on distant levels of power — as that barrage would have us do — is that our country needs healing. That healing is not merely political. The American (and global) political drama is a symptom of pain and fear, of uprooting magnitudes of change, of dreams and hopes shattered and betrayed, and alienation from each other and ourselves.”

How do we heal? Take a step back. Carve time out of your day when news apps are either turned off or ignored and engage in something completely different. It really is the only way that any of us are likely to retain a semblance of sanity. Our brains need a break from the 24/7 disaster cycle that has taken over our newsfeeds. Let’s be honest: nothing you do today is likely to immediately impact anything that happened yesterday. You can take a break, go to dinner, watch a movie, have sex, or any other number of things that are not watching the news.

I thought that was what I was doing last night when I streamed the 1968 musical interpretation of Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I keep returning to the movie time and again for multiple reasons. One, the scene where Dick Van Dyke is pretending to be a puppet is some of his best work ever. Two, the Sherman brothers’ music is still pretty kick ass. Three, my initial reaction to The Child Catcher was traumatizing and I need a reminder that bad things happen to bad people. It’s also fun to go academic and draw parallels between this book and Fleming’s James Bond character.

What I’d forgotten was an interstitial piece where the elder Potts, who has been mistakenly kidnapped and assigned the task of building a flying car, is bemoaning his fate. Flying car? Why, that’s impossible! The other inventor/scientist-type characters remind him of a well-known truth: There’s a lot of failure on the road to success. The song is so much fun that I decided to share it with you this morning.

As I sat here last night watching that song, I found it impossible to not correlate it with the ongoing disaster that is the United States government. The Friday Night Massacre at the Pentagon alone is enough to think that our world is hopeless. We’re sitting in a dungeon of despair wondering how we’re ever going to make this car/country fly. Nothing anyone has done seems to be slowing the constant barrage of illegal activities being perpetrated by this White House.

Yet, there is still hope. The Supreme Court won’t allow Felonious Punk to immediately fire the head of the whistleblower office. That’s a win, a small step forward to getting the country back. Another judge blocked executive orders eliminating DEI initiatives. And still, a different Judge upholds a ban on DOGE accessing sensitive Treasury information. See? It’s not that nothing is happening, we’re just having difficulty seeing the small steps forward because of the explosions coming from the administration.

Then, there was Punk’s exchange with Maine’s Gov. Janet Mills at yesterday’s Governors Conference. When President Shitforbrains threatened to take all federal funding away from her state, the Governor simply replied, “See you in court.” Those four words were a win. She stood up to the bully when no one else in the room dared do so. Oh, but that’s not the end of the story.

Allegedly, the Department of Education opened an investigation into Maine shortly after the exchange. The Governor responded, “Maine may be 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.”

Felonious Punk underestimates the power and determination of women all the time. I’m sure he’s thinking that he can just bully the Governor into falling in step with the president’s ridiculous stance on trans athletes. Gov. Mills didn’t get where she is by taking that kind of bullshit from anyone. Have you ever met anyone from Maine? They’re a unique group of people whose attitudes are hardened by the natural challenges that come with living in that far Northern state. They don’t put up with nonsense. They are extremely defensive of their rights. I have no question that they will go to war with the White House if necessary.

Okay, so Coffee Prices Are at a 50-Year High. I don’t like the headline or the reasons the problem exists. The coffee in my mug this morning isn’t high-end, but it’s good and hot, and keeping my eyes open long enough to type this update. I don’t expect anything major to happen over the weekend, so I’m planning on continuing to take a break from the news and finding other odd things to enjoy. There are plenty of possibilities.

Dare to enjoy the day.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Friday, February 21, 2025

February 21, 2025

Well Isn’t That Special

Senators stayed up all night debating and voting on amendments before finally passing the framework for a budget bill that would significantly increase border spending. The bill passed along party lines, 52-48. Note that this is a totally separate budget plan from the one in the House that would severely cut Medicaid and other social programs. This comes, of course, at a time when the President is allowing DOGE to slash and cut previously approved budgets, a move that has resulted in over 70 lawsuits currently making their way through the courts.

TGIF.

Now, the propaganda parade begins. You’ll see it in the headlines of every major news source as they attempt to put their own spin on what has happened this week. For example, Reuters is running a story about US conversations in Russia taking place in Switzerland as if it had never been done before. Yes, we’re right to be concerned about any conversation between the US and Russia, but side meetings like this are a standard part of the diplomatic process. If these small meetings didn’t take place, the big meetings would go nowhere.

Sinn Féin leaders Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill have announced they will not attend this year’s St. Patrick’s Day events at the White House in protest against U.S. President Felonious Punk’s comments on Gaza. The move is largely proformative, more propaganda than content, but be sure that this president will take note and look for some form of retribution. He likely doesn’t remember Sinn Féin’s terrorist past. The Irish are one bear that is definitely better left unpoked.

Uber with guns has arrived, The service that provides armed guards and vehicles with heavy window tinting is only in a couple of cities, including New York, at the present time, but they have aggressive growth plans. This is straight capitalism, folks, preying on people’s fears not only about the government but imaginary foes as well. The app might come in handy should recently confirmed FBI director Kash Patel begin working off an alleged ‘enemies list,’ but if you’re not a federal judge or in the media you’re probably safe. For now.

President Shitforbrains did give Ukraine’s President Zelensky a nice poll bump. When the Felon lied about Zelensky’s popularity, it was actually at 57%. This morning, however, it’s at 63% as Ukrainians rally around their democratically elected president. Be sure that were it possible to get accurate polls out of Russia and the US, neither of their leaders would come in above 50%.

Perhaps the item of biggest concern that I’m seeing this morning is one of those stories that gets shoved to the inside pages and skipped by most people. A Mississippi judge has ordered a Clarksville newspaper to remove an editorial from its website. The article, which is critical of the Clarksville City Council, appears to be standard reporting about an error in the city clerk’s office, a mistake to which the clerk has already admitted. The newspaper is challenging the decision on First Amendment grounds, but the fact that any judge anywhere would insert themselves into such blatant censorship should be alarming to everyone.

But then, there’s not much in Mississippi that isn’t alarming.

Seriously, there is so much spin in this morning’s headlines that it’s making me dizzy. Be careful what you read this weekend. Even normally trustworthy news sources are challenged to fill space. Let’s hope the weekend stays quiet.

Yeah, right.

Current Issues / Long Read / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics

Thursday, February 20, 2025

February 20, 2025

Disaster Status

Much of the US is waking up to a fresh layer of snow on the ground and colder temperatures in the air. In fact, in many places, it is colder in Greenland than in the US. As I’m typing, the outdoor temperature is a whopping three degrees Fahrenheit. We’re keeping the kids home because their bus has been running late all week and they don’t need to be breathing such cold air. If only keeping them home would also protect them from what some are calling the most stupid empire collapse in history.

Yes, some people are standing up to Felonious Punk and his cronies, but you have to look outside national media to find them. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who just happens to be Jewish, was delivering his State of the State address yesterday when he said, “After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities — once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends — after that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next?” he asked.

“All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history, then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it,” Pritzker said. “It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours, and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.”

Someone asked me last night where Bernie is in all this mayhem. I found him, but the source is Pravda, of all places. The Ukrainian-based paper quotes Senator Sanders as saying, “Yesterday, we witnessed an extremely sad moment in American history. We saw the president of the United States aligning himself with the dictator of Russia, Vladimir Putin, to undermine the independence of Ukraine and its democracy. Let’s be clear: Trump is showing us that he sees one of the world’s most brutal dictators as his friend, and our long-time democratic allies in Europe as his enemies. He wants a world that is safe for authoritarians and oligarchs but extremely dangerous for democracies. It will not surprise you when I tell you that Trump is lying – as he so often does.”

Rep. Jasmine Crockett has been an outspoken opponent as well. Speaking on MSNBC, she said, “It’s just that they’re idiots. These are the same guys as it relates to our nuclear stockpile, they’re like, ‘Oh, wait a minute, we needed those guys? Can we get them back? Oh, we don’t know how to.’ I don’t know how anyone can look at this administration & feel a semblance of confidence.”

And while President Shitforbrains incorrectly states the popularity of Ukraine’s Zelensky, his own popularity at home continues to shrink. Sure, the numbers are not dropping by huge amounts yet, but as the administration’s cuts continue to affect people in poorer Southern (and heavily Republican) states, his approval rating will continue to shrink and it will take more than a one-time $5K check to get it back.

Yet, guess what the banner headline is on the Moscow Times this morning. Kremlin Says It ‘Absolutely Agrees’ With Donald Trump on Ukraine. WTF? I can’t remember the last time the US and Russia were in lockstep like this! If one of the world’s most cruel and murderous governments agrees with the direction we’re taking, there’s no question that we’re going the wrong way!

Oh, and then there was this moment yesterday.

The White House even posted that picture on their own social media pages! Are we supposed to see this as some kind of joke? Hardly. We can see where he’s going and it doesn’t look good for democracy. The backlash has been relatively severe, but the move shows us his true intent.

Some are asking why none of the former presidents have spoken up. The answer lies in the fact that anything a former president says is instantly politicized. The Punk has already eliminated their morning briefings and some Secret Service details, so we know he’s afraid of them, but if/when they do stand up, they’ll need to be ready to take on the mantle of leading the revolution, something neither Clinton nor Bush is physically up to doing.

What may be upsetting me the most this morning is seeing multiple social media posts from parents asking whether it is worth continuing to live, and more frightening, whether their children should continue to live as well. I understand their concern and appreciate the resulting depression. Our situation as a country is bad and it’s not going to get any better as long as the status quo is allowed to endure. However, do we dare go so far as to completely give up any hope?

I’m deeply concerned that people are so quickly past any determination to fight and going straight to complete surrender. How do we stop the world from crumbling if our own inaction is contributing to the decay of our democracy? I understand that not everyone is as willing to put a gun to the head of every GOP politician as I am, but if we are at the point of providing no resistance at all, we not only doom ourselves but the entire world! This is not a matter of which our own desires are at stake.

I choose to believe that the resistance is growing. Perhaps it’s not moving as quickly as I might like, but as more people lose their jobs, as prices continue to rise, and the cost of living continues to soar, we must realize that, unlike natural disasters that happen no matter what we do, this is one disaster that we can stop. We need a leader to step up and unify the resistance, someone who can lead the charge, and then we need the will to fight as though our lives depend on it because they do.

No fun and games exist here. We’re dealing with a dictator and the only way to do so is to depose him and everyone in his administration.

Current Issues / News & Comment / Personal / Politics

URGENT UPDATE! PLEASE READ & RESPOND

February 19, 2025

AN ATTEMPT AT DICTATORSHIP HAS BEEN MADE

The next step is martial law and at this rate, we could be there by the end of the week. What the fuck am I talking about? An executive order signed late yesterday titled ‘Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies.‘ When I first read it last night, my initial reaction was, “Huh?” On its surface, the order appears to be laying out a chain of accountability for government agencies. That would be redundant, however, given that accountability for all branches of government is outlined in the Constitution. So, I asked for help. It took a while, which is why this post is running so late. After reading it, I didn’t think this should wait until morning.

When we brush past the legal speak, here’s what this order actually does:

All federal agencies, including independent regulatory commissions, are now subject to direct White House control.
Regulations cannot be issued without presidential approval.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) can now withhold funding from independent agencies if they don’t align with White House priorities.
All federal employees must follow the President’s and Attorney General’s interpretation of the law, eliminating legal independence.
A White House Liaison is to be installed in every independent regulatory agency to enforce direct presidential control.

This is a massive power grab on the part of the White House. It effectively seeks to either bypass or override the authorities of both the Congress and the Supreme Court. Just a refresher for those of you who skipped Civics class, the Constitution requires Congress to control the nation’s purse strings. There is zero allowance for the OMB or the President to preempt Congress’ funding decisions in any way. The Constitution also demonstrably states that it is the Supreme Court that interprets the law for the entire country, including all portions of government. There is zero allowance for the President or the Attorney General to even get involved with that discussion.

Several agencies that are meant to operate independently of political considerations include the SEC, FTC, FCC, FEC, FDA, EPA, and all consumer protection-oriented agencies. They will now have a ‘White House Liason,’ essentially an enforcement officer, that occupies space in every department and oversees their actions to ensure that they align with the plans of the White House. There is no more independence anywhere. Even the stock market can now be controlled by the President.

Think: insider trading is on the table. Enforcement of antitrust laws now depends in part on who is in favor with the President. Political opponents can be directly targeted through regulatory agencies. Entire states could, in theory, be stripped of all federal funds simply because their governors stood up to the President.

Scientific research and new drug approval must now have the approval of the White House before it can be released. If the President chooses to not believe in Climate Change, and we already know he doesn’t, then he can kill the publication of any research that warns of impending disaster and remove environmental protections where they exist.

How does the President shut down the Department of Education without Congress? This gives him the power to defund any federal department for any reason, or no reason at all. How does the President gain the power to run for a third term? This gives him complete power to control elections, who can be in them, and whether they happen at all.

Remember how we warned against Project 2025? The recently confirmed head of OMB is Russel Vought, one of the primary authors of Project 2025. This order now gives him sufficient power to implement every aspect of that horrendous document without any oversight. Congress can’t stop him. SCOTUS won’t stop him.

The Attorney General’s opinions override those of the Justice Department. The Justice Department, which includes the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, and all federal courts, is completely sidelined to interpret and enforce laws that might run against the wishes of the President.

THE PRESIDENT HAS COMPLETE AND TOTAL CONTROL.

Sure, Congress and SCOTUS still exist, but only for the feel-good purpose of rubber stamping what the President wants. If that sounds familiar, it is exactly the type of government found in both Russia and China.

Ladies and Gentlemen, democracy died with this executive order.

For now, the Second Amendment is still in play. I strongly recommend using it. Any hope for keeping this country even relatively free depends on our use of that Amendment to take back the government.

I’ll talk more about it in the morning.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

February 19, 2025

The Pot Simmers

Let’s start this morning by everyone waving at the Chinese bots that routinely check every new post except for Sundays. Why bots need to take Sunday off, I don’t know, but they do. Smile and say “Xi is a criminal” as you wave. We don’t want them to get the mistaken assumption that we’re going to be friendly with them just because we’re pissed about our own government.

There’s a lot of fake news running around and, sadly, much of it is coming from the White House. Here’s some of the top bullshit.

Felonious Punk claims that Ukraine started the war with Russia. The truth is that the current conflict in Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 when Russian military forces entered the country from Belarus, Russia, and Crimea.
Felonious Punk claims that Ukraine’s President Zelensky has an approval rating of only 4%. Swing and a miss. Zelensky’s approval rating sits at 57%, considerably higher than that of the American dictator.
No matter what you hear, or what the source, Tens of millions of dead people aren’t getting Social Security checks. I’ve talked about this before but the extreme right keeps bringing it back up. Among other reasons the claim is wrong is that funeral directors typically submit form SSA-271 to the Social Security Administration when someone dies. This isn’t new. Stop being stupid.
Late breaking last night is the charge that Brazil’s former leader, Jair Bolsonaro, approved a plan to poison the current president. What does the Punk do? He has his media company sue the judge, the one in Brazil. The claim is that a judge’s order in Brazil violates the First Amendment in the US. I’m not sure exactly when our Idiot-In-Chief decided that Brazil has to honor our Constitution, but he’s clearly and painfully wrong.

There is so much that is bothering me this morning. Were you aware that DOGE Reportedly Cuts FDA Employees Investigating Neuralink? This is the company that wants to implant chips in people’s heads. The FDA previously found Musk’s company was engaging in “objectionable conditions or practices.”

Gaby De Vale has an interesting take on the DEI purge. She’s of the opinion that all the DEI talk is a smokescreen for a war on the Civil Rights Movement itself using WWI-era eugenics principles. After reading her article this morning, I’m not seeing any major problems with her claim. This should be alarming on an incalculable scale.

This just happened: French President Emmanuel Macron called a second emergency meeting of European allies on Wednesday to devise a united response to President Punk’s remarks embracing Vladimir Putin’s narrative that Ukraine is to blame for the war. All of Europe is now of the opinion that Felonious Punk is in Putin’s pocket and they’re adjusting policies accordingly.

Threats of a 25% tariff on cars, drugs, and chips are causing a lot of people to begin stockpiling items they fear might be affected. Even Walmart is affected, though don’t worry, the Walton family is still making obscene amounts of money.

I’m bothered that the West Texas measles outbreak isn’t getting more attention. The count is now up to 58 cases and includes vaccinated people for the first time. This is not something that anyone needs to ignore. Outbreaks like this can explode exponentially in just a few days’ time.

All of this is overwhelming and that’s exactly what the administration wants. Fighting on multiple fronts is exhausting and most of us have neither the time nor the energy to fully engage in any of it. Sure, people are upset. Yesterday, a Southern Indiana man was arrested for making threats online against the Muskrat. The dude happens to own an AR-15, so he’s being held without bail. That’s where we’re at.

But then, one can argue that the whole of society is in the shitter. One local school is being charged with claims that it cultivates an ‘atmosphere of violence.‘ This is the same school from which Kat graduated. It hasn’t been a great school ever, but when bloodshed becomes an everyday occurrence then we have to question not only what is wrong with government, but what is wrong with us.

This is not the life we wanted. If we want it to change, we have to start acting in uncharacteristically aggressive methods. I’m over anyone telling me to ‘let it go’ or that ‘love will find a way.’ That might work in your personal relationship, but it’s not going to cause the world’s three strongest dictators, Punk, Putin, and Xi, to back off their atrocious plans.

Can I get real for a second? Canada was already making plans for war with the US over the whole statehood question. Now, all of Europe is banding together to prepare to take on the Axis powers of the US, Russia, and China. We are no longer the good guys.

Inevitably, this leads us to the question: What are you willing to do to get our country back?

I encourage you to think outside your comfort zone. Being comfortable will get you killed.

We are at war.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

February 18, 2025

Between The Cracks

How would you feel if I started adding small updates during the day? There are times when I feel that by the time morning comes around, stories such as the Delta plane that flipped over on a Toronto runway are old news. Yes, we’re glad that none of the 80 passengers on board were killed, but when we look at the number of airplane accidents in the past three weeks, we kinda have to worry about our air space. I know that, personally, I’m not going anywhere. But then, I never do, so there’s that.

As I’m typing (6:52 AM EST), the Russia/US talks in Saudi Arabia are on a lunch break. The fact that neither Ukraine nor any representative of the EU is included, has both groups feeling like they’ve been placed at the kids’ table. In yesterday’s meeting in Paris, EU leaders worried that they’re going to be caught picking up the bill, or worse having to do the cleanup. The US is acting more like an adversary than an ally toward Europe and decades of defense spending cuts put the continent in a vulnerable position. What’s not helping: Russian propaganda undercutting support for Ukraine. As right-wing groups grow, misinformation is as much a problem across Europe as it is in the US.

Did you know that the US has drones flying secret missions over Mexico? I guess it’s not too much of a secret if the NYTimes is carrying the news that the CIA is expanding the program. Supposedly, the flights are searching for fentanyl labs. Fentanyl has been a problem in the US for a few years now and there’s no sign that law enforcement is getting any closer to having a handle on the issue. Most of the supply comes from outside the US, making it as much of a border issue as immigration.

Speaking of immigration, hundreds of immigrants are stuck in Panama. The White House has asked the Panamanian government to hold them there because they can’t easily be sent back to their home countries. Of course, with this many upset people from various countries crowded into the same place, the chances that it will blow up in our faces are significant. The mass deportation policy remains one of questionable legality, but no one is stopping it and this administration has no issue with breaking the law. Human rights are in tatters.

This one from the “Florida Man” file has me rolling my eyes hard this morning. A Jewish man mistook two Israeli tourists for Palestinians and opened fire on them in Miami. The AP version of this story leaves the fact that this was a Jew-on-Jew crime (how rare is that?) out of its headline. There’s all kinds of subtext to be read here, namely that the war that has now surpassed 500 days is one of the most ridiculous to ever be fought. Religious mythology leads people to do stupid things, though, especially in Florida. I swear there’s something in the water down there besides radioactive crocodiles.

Tom Homan, the White House’s ‘border czar’ (they really need to stop using the word czar) verbally attacked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) over her many activities letting immigrants in her district know what to do in case ICE shows up. The information is completely legal and helps calm nerves in neighborhoods with high immigrant populations. You know AOC didn’t take Homan’s criticism lightly. “This is why you fight these cowards. The moment you stand up to them, they crumble,” she wrote. “Homan has nothing. The Fourth Amendment is clear and I am well within my duties to educate people of their rights. He can threaten me with jail & call names all he wants. He’s got nothing else.” Yet more proof that this administration is hell-bent on ignoring the Constitution.

Politico’s Europe office is raising an uncomfortable question: Are LGBTQIA+ individuals safe anywhere? As right-wing organizations have made LGBTQIA+ rights a frequent target, violence has increased and many protections previously in place have been removed. This isn’t just a US thing, it’s a global problem. As this issue hits especially close to home, I’m not afraid to tell you that we’re more than mildly concerned. Just know that we will find a way to protect those living in our home. I’m pricing shotguns.

Apparently, a 2.4 magnitude earthquake just hit Portugal. The headline just hit, so I apologize for not having more information.

A British couple who were detained in Iran while on a round-the-world motorcycle trip have been charged with espionage, according to the Iranian judiciary news agency. This comes as tensions between Iran and Israel continue to intensify. So yeah, this is totally a political move on Iran’s part. They’re looking for leverage against whatever Netanyahu might try to through at them. Maybe this isn’t a particularly good time to do any globe-trotting.

Are we setting up a death watch for the Pope? That’s how it feels with the latest announcement that the religious leader has a ‘complex’ respiratory infection. The Pope is 88. The risks of any infection at his age are high. Given the way the universe has been treating the world this year, nothing is going to surprise me here.

It’s not 8:00 EST yet, which means the president likely isn’t awake. There are a number of known issues on the horizon today, including whether DOGE gets access to IRS data. The talks in Saudi Arabia have now concluded. I guess they all needed a nap after lunch.

I’m not going to promise any updates later because the past two days my body has not allowed me much time to be awake. But I have a bad feeling about what’s coming this week, and I’m not talking about the weather.

Stay warm, friends.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics

Sunday, February 16, 2025

February 16, 2025

Everyone Wants To Be Emperor

First published on Caglecartoons.com, Feb. 13, 2025 | By Graeme MacKay

There are times when news spreads especially fast across all social media platforms. One of those times came yesterday when Felonious Punk tweeted, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” Responses came fast, the most damning comparing the statement to those of similar intent made by past dictators, including both Napoleon and Hitler. The linked NYTimes article gives plenty of context as to just how deep the shit runs in that statement, which is now pinned at the top of Punk’s Truth Social account. I’ll let you read that separately.

I hadn’t gotten past Friday’s statement by RFK, Jr. that said, “The government would assess the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, [and] mood stabilizers.” Kennedy said he planned to dedicate money generated from a sales tax on cannabis products to “creating wellness farms—drug rehabilitation farms, in rural areas all over this country.” He added, “I’m going to create these wellness farms where they can go to get off of illegal drugs, off of opiates, but also illegal drugs, other psychiatric drugs, if they want to, to get off of SSRIs, to get off of benzos, to get off of Adderall, and to spend time as much time as they need—three or four years if they need it—to learn to get reparented, to reconnect with communities.” The farm residents would grow their own organic food because, he suggested, many of their underlying problems could be “food-related.”

This is exactly why 15,000 doctors signed a letter against Kennedy’s confirmation.

Rain turned into snow overnight. That’s not the non-sequitur one might think. Bear with me. It was raining hard enough last night that the dogs refused to go outside for their last potty run. They both went to the door and backed up as if the rain might damage their fur. That meant there was no delaying taking them out this morning. Coffee was still brewing when I coated up and took them out into the white stuff. The wind was strong enough that facing North hurt my face. The neighborhood looks other-worldly in this environment. To a limited extent, it looks like something out of a Star Wars movie that Lucas/Spielberg have yet to make.

There’s just one big plot hole: there’s no emperor pulling strings in the background. Felonious Punk may want to be that emperor, but he doesn’t have the backbone to stand up against his Darth Vader (Musk), much less anyone with fierce determination. Neither does Putin nor Xi; both derive their power from shadowed puppet masters in their individual regimes. Remove any one of them or all of them, and another version pops up in their place. The only way to get rid of them is to completely destroy the empire. Sounds scary, doesn’t it?

Unofficially, European heads of state are meeting in Paris tomorrow to discuss a response to all the chaos. UK Prime Minister Starmer has confirmed he’s attending, but no one in Paris is confirming that the meeting’s actually happening. European countries will not create one united army, says Poland’s Sikorski, but Finland’s leaders still insist that the EU needs a seat at the table for any discussion of a Russia/Ukraine solution. Everyone has an agenda and unless they can all get on one page, there’s not much chance they’ll be a viable rebel alliance.

The following image popped up in my BluSky feed this morning. There was no originating attribution so I can’t make any claim as to its accuracy. Still…

11.7 million divided by 50 states gives us 2.34 million people protesting in each state. It’s winter. That’s not going to happen. Alaska wouldn’t be able to produce that many protestors even in good weather. Does that mean we’re screwed?

Not necessarily. Protest comes in many forms. What’s important is that we not give the administration any sense that they might have stable footing. Share the memes. Block right-wing posters on every platform. Block ads (all of them). Defy stupid laws (you’re just ‘saving the country,’ right?) Challenge Republican authority on every level. If you have hacking skills, use ’em. Bring back the rebellious anti-establishment music of the 60s, or write new stuff. Use any platform you can find, not just for one day, but over and over and over and over and over again until the sounds of the protest are so loud, the vibrations are so strong, that we knock this wanna-be empire off its feet.

And yeah, I’m still holding the door open to using violence. If they build ‘wellness farms,” we have an obligation to break people out of them and destroy the farms. I’m of the opinion that we should already be disrupting those flights taking immigrants to Cuba or Venezuela. We have to be willing to kill the stormtroopers that stand in our way. Don’t think for a second that we can do this without getting messy.

I know, that’s big talk from a guy who doesn’t drive and can’t walk without a cane. I don’t have a light saber and I can’t float or evaporate into thin air. Lame, isn’t it?

I have faith in you, though. You can do what I can’t. Be strong and of good courage. History is on the side of justice and freedom.

Thank you for your service.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics

Saturday, February 15, 2025

February 15, 2025

There Is No Weekend

How is today different from any other? It isn’t. The insanity and illegal takeover of our country continues. Felonious Punk may go golfing, but that doesn’t stop him from signing ridiculous executive orders such as barring federal funding from schools with COVID-19 vaccination mandates. We’re in territory now where it takes someone well-versed in the detection of fake imagery (NOT me) to help us determine what’s real and factual. The fact that we’re already here, less than 30 days after the inauguration, is a disturbing statement on how evil this administration is.

Hitting especially close to the heart was the news that 850 employees of the Indian Health Service were among those laid off yesterday. Why is that important? Not only does it mean that health service to Native Americans is diminished, but it shows that this administration is willing to break long-standing treaties that the tribes fought hard to obtain. Here’s why:

The United States fulfills its trust and treaty obligations through both the direct delivery of Tribal programs and services and through provision of federal funding to Tribal Nations and Tribal organizations serving Tribal Nations. Essential services provided by Federal employees include healthcare services through IHS, law enforcement and public safety through the BIA, and educational services through the BIE—not to mention countless other essential and legally mandated services. These programs are not discretionary; they are legal obligations rooted in treaties, trust obligations, the U.S. Constitution, and long-standing federal statutes.

I support a complete takeover of the US by Indigenous tribes. I always have. This is their land and this 400-year-long European invasion is but a blip in the history of tribal occupation of what is currently known as North America. The historical and scientific record shows that tribes dominated this continent some 40,000-50,000 years ago. That’s long before your Adam & Eve story, or your Moses, or your Mohammed, or your Buddha. We were here. This land is ours. We need to take it all back through any means necessary.

Meanwhile, the West Texas measles outbreak is up to 48 confirmed cases. This is what’s coming. People in West Texas were already stupid enough to not vaccinate their children. The rest of the US could see even larger outbreaks of childhood disease if RFK, Jr. isn’t prevented from implementing his demented ideology. What’s interesting is that West Texas also felt a nice 5.0 magnitude earthquake this week. Religious mythologies might interpret that as the deities demonstrating their anger toward human stupidity.

A few hundred folks in Boston protested the administration’s actions yesterday, but, as I’ve said before, smaller protests have little effect on anything beyond tying up traffic. We need to re-think our tactics, include more people, and disrupt the people who are tearing apart our government. Think barricades blocking entrance into federal buildings. Think 100,000 people storming the White House. Think in terms of physically expelling those doing the damage.

Some selective beheadings might not be a bad idea, either.

Utah’s Governor, Spencer Cox, showed how little simple protesting affects the outcome. Yesterday, this fucking idiot signed the nation’s most restrictive labor ban, prohibiting collective bargaining on the part of teachers, firefighters, police officers, transit workers, and other public employees. Sure, the unions protested loud and strong. Yes, those same unions have the power to kick the governor out on his ass in the next election. But none of that stopped a fool from being a fool. Stronger methods are required.

Our Vice President (emphasis on the vice part) is being rebuked by Germany’s defense minister after Vance accused them of “censoring free speech” in their approach to nazism. Ukraine’s President Zelinsky also said that his country would not recognize any ‘deal’ made behind their backs. We’re not making any friends across Europe and Felonious Punk is too stupid to realize how dangerous that is.

Israel and Hamas Finished the 6th Exchange of Hostages for Prisoners early this morning, so that likely means that Punk will roll out some other means of broadening the war in the Middle East. Unsubstantiated rumors are rolling around on social media claiming that ‘it’ is going to hit on Tuesday of next week, the 18th. No one seems to be able to define ‘it,’ though, which is a significant problem. IF there is any truth to the rumors, I’m sure that the element of surprise is intentional. Catching us off guard diminishes our ability to respond effectively.

In a featured piece in this morning’s NYTimes, Democratic Senator Reuben Gallego charges that Democrats are “always afraid.” He’s not wrong. There was every chance to stop this chaos before it started and no one in our nation’s capitol had the guts to stand up and do something. All we get are angry speeches full of meaningless words.

If anyone is going to stop this nonsense, it has to be us. You and me. We have to topple the oligarchy in ways that make sure it doesn’t come back. Ever. We have to be strong. We have to be fearless. We have to be willing to defy all the bullshit coming from the White House.

There is no weekend break. We have to keep fighting.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics

Thursday, February 13, 2025

February 13, 2025

Start Killing The Nazis

Memory is a funny thing. I can’t remember what I did five minutes ago, but I still clearly remember playing with plastic army men on the front ‘porch’ of our home in Towanda, KS. I am liberally calling it a porch; it was a 4’x4′ raised concrete slab that faced the West. Raised about two feet off the ground, my mother was blown off that porch more than once by fierce winds from the North. On one occasion, she held my baby brother in her arms as they flew through the air. Yet, it was still one of the safest places for me to play.

When playing with those plastic army men, they were always divided between two sides: the blue vs. the green. I hadn’t seen many real military members and television in those days was still black and white. Still, I knew that US military field uniforms were, at the time, green (as opposed to the various digital camo designs used today). So, for my purposes, the blue soldiers were the Nazis and the green soldiers were the Americans. Hint: the blue soldiers always lost.

Mind you, by the time I was born, WWII had been over for 25 years. Yet, there was still no question in my mind, based on overheard conversations between adults, that Nazis were the bad guys and that Russia was a threat to American freedoms. No one questioned that perspective throughout most of my childhood. I was an adult by the time the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union broke apart, and we started pretending to play nice with Russia.

So, when I heard that Felonious Punk had a 90-minute phone call with Vladimir Putin yesterday, I was concerned. By all accounts, and I’ve read multiple now, the call was far too cordial and accommodating. There’s little question that the two leaders like each other, which raises the question as to where Felonious Punk’s loyalties truly lie. Then came the news that US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, told NATO that it is “unreasonable” to think that Ukraine might return to its traditional, pre-2014 borders. Why? because it wouldn’t be ‘fair’ to Russia.

So, we’re siding with the bad guys now.

Oh, but then we embraced Nazism at home. You see, Hitler laid out a plan for destroying what had once been a democratic country. He did a lot more than just kill three million Jews. He absolutely decimated the German government. So, when Elon Musk calls for the US government to ‘delete entire agencies,’ the first thing that pops into my mind is, “That’s a Nazi move.” When the dismissed EEOC commissioner warns that Trump plans to ‘erase the existence of trans people’, there can be no alternative other than “That’s a Nazi move.” And when the FCC opens a probe into NBC-parent Comcast over the promotion of DEI programs, that, too, is a Nazi move.

Flashback again to my childhood. This time, I’m a little older, sitting in my bedroom in Coffeyville, KS, reading Marvel and DC comics. One of my favorites was Captain America, whose most persistent enemy was a nazi terror known as The Red Skull. While the stories themselves were fictional, they represented a specific perspective of how WWII had gone. Nazis were vile, evil people who craved power at any cost. Captain America championed the power of Democracy and outsmarted Red Skull at every turn. Captain America would never have thought of partnering with Red Skull. At least, not in the issues that I was reading.

The message held in my mind was clear: We kill nazis. No questions asked. You see one, you kill it. Period.

So, when Elon Musk, who runs a fictional office, plans to replace humans with AI, what’s my response? Kill the Nazi. When I’m told that the US government plans to spend $400 million on (checking notes) ‘armored Teslas,’ (WTF?) how can I not respond with “Kill the Nazi.” When I read that Felonious Punk instructed Middle Eastern leaders to come up with a plan for repatriating Palestinians from Gaza, we simply must say, “Kill the fucking Nazi.”

Do I need to say it louder?

KILL THE FUCKING NAZIS!

Those in the German government tried working with Hitler, tried holding him accountable to existing laws, and tried to reign in the unbelievable tyranny that befell the country. Do you know what happened to those people? They were all killed by Hitler’s henchmen. There is no placating Nazis. There is no ‘reasonable response’ to Nazis. There is no waiting for the next election with Nazis. There’s only one solution:

KILL THE FUCKING NAZIS!

Don’t just kill the ones at the federal level, either. Kill the Nazis at the state level. Kill the Nazis at the county level. Kill Nazis at the city level if you see them. They ALL have to go if we are going to remain true to our Constitution and protect human rights.

Yeah, I know this all sounds absurd. None of us ever thought that we’d have to deal with Nazis here. Yet, the reality is staring us right in the face and if we delay in responding appropriately we’ll end up exactly where Germany was 90 years ago.

So, someone grab some guns and ammo and pick me up. No Captain America is coming to our rescue. We have to do this on our own.

It’s time to kill some Nazis.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

February 12, 2025

Letting Pictures Talk

Do you ever read through the news and get the feeling that you’re missing something, that somehow all the context isn’t there? That’s where I’m at this morning. The new stories feel incomplete and, since I’m not sitting in every newsroom worldwide, I can’t easily push for more info. I’m frustrated. There’s too much going on that’s fundamentally important while we’re simultaneously being bombarded with bullshit such as the Gulf of MEXICO.

Where I do find some clarity is in the different images and editorial cartoons that cross my path. I can’t share some of them because I can’t validate their core premise. But for those that I can confirm, let me give you a taste of what I’m seeing.

Last one:

I did have a long and interesting conversation with G yesterday afternoon. I know it’s easy to think that the kids aren’t paying attention to what’s going on in politics, and some don’t, but here are some of the topics our 16-year-old raised:

The relationship between advanced math and critical thinking skills.
The importance of the Department of Education
The need for colleges (all of ’em) to provide vocational education in addition to traditional courses of study
The basic illegality of DOGE and everything it does
How ads that are more entertaining than informative hold your attention longer
The reality of teachers being unable to police mistreatment of non-cis students

They see what we’re doing to their country. More than once he mentioned that it is his generation that has to deal with the fallout from the stupidity of my generation. He’s not wrong. We’re leaving the kids a world that is inherently fucked up and not letting them have the resources to fix it.

He’s convinced that by the time he’s 30, the US as we know it will not exist.

The kids are paying attention and know more than you think.

Current Issues / Long Read / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / science

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

February 11, 2025

Save The Date

We may finally have a start date for Armageddon: Saturday, February 15, 12:00 PM EST. What that means is that if you love someone, even if you just like them a lot, you might as well go ahead and tell them on Friday. Buy the chocolate. Eat the fancy dinner. Go to that concert you can’t afford. Indulge. This could be your last chance.

Am I fear-mongering a bit? Yes, intentionally to make a point. In the past three and a half weeks, we’ve already become so accustomed to one alarming headline after another that we’re starting to ignore the ones that don’t appear to directly affect us. As a result, developments that could genuinely bring about the beginning of the end go ignored because they’re not sitting in your back door, don’t have an immediate effect on your pocketbook, and may not disturb your spring break plans. As stressful as it is, though, we need to pay more attention.

Here’s what’s happened in the past twenty-four hours:

Hamas says it’s putting additional hostage releases ‘on pause.’ This immediately puts the entire ceasefire truce in danger.
Israel fatally shot a pregnant Palestinian woman in the West Bank. Tensions were already high in the region and this incident, accident or not, put residents more on edge.
Felonious Punk warns ‘all hell is going to break out’ if Gaza hostages are not returned by Hamas. He arbitrarily set a deadline for noon on Saturday, about the time the Punk finishes his first Big Mac.
Hamas brushes off Punk and insists all parties must be committed to a ceasefire. Someone is playing into the other’s hand, but I’m not sure which side is likely to win. I do know that both are equally heartless and stupid.
Punk Says He May Cut Aid if Jordan and Egypt Don’t Take Displaced Gazans. The danger here isn’t necessarily a lack of aid to the two countries, but with whom they will ally in its absence. Don’t expect it to be anyone who likes us.

King Abdullah II of Jordan is scheduled to meet with Punk in Washington later this morning. Expect the toughest possible diplomatic language to be thrown about. Jordan’s laws prohibit taking refugees. Since Punk has no respect for anyone’s laws, including our own, he’s taking a ‘don’t give a fuck’ attitude. Plans for an upcoming visit by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt appear to have been scrapped, according to Arab media. El-Sisi isn’t inclined to play games with the US presidork and will turn to Iran and Russia in a heartbeat.

Are you beginning to see how this all could blow up in our faces? The more Punk pushes, the more Middle East and adjacent countries are balking. The decades of diplomacy necessary to keep a shaky level of peace in the region are coming undone just to placate the ego of a maniac.

Worst case scenario: noon passes on Saturday, which is about sundown in Israel (which is important), and Israel decides the abandon the ceasefire and bomb ‘the hell’ out of Gaza. Iran retaliates and brings both Egypt and Jordan into the fight, possibly along with Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Turkey’s involvement would put pressure on European NATO countries to be involved. Putin hates NATO, so if they become involved then so will Russia, initially sending weapons and ammo, but troops if the conflict grows. Should Russia become directly involved, it’s doubtful that the Punk-In-Chief is going to sit on the sidelines. This would be the excuse for war that he’s been wanting. Once the US is directly involved, it’s WWIII and all bets are off the table.

But we have the superior armed forces, right? Uhm, about that…

Ebola cases in Uganda have risen to 9, while 265 others are being monitored under quarantine. This is the level at which it begins to spread to other countries, including the US.

Scientists warn Punk’s medical research cuts endanger patients as judge blocks the move for now. Remember how quickly a vaccine was found for the last pandemic? Punk would remove funding for the agencies that can prevent millions of people from dying. So much for healthy troops.

Fifteen cases of measles were reported in a small West Texas county with a high rate of vaccine exemptions. Do stupid things, get stupid results. However, 15 cases in one county are alarming and are almost certainly going to spread to adjacent counties.

AND THEN, A new strain of bird flu is detected in a Nevada dairy worker. Because, you know, the two strains that we already had going weren’t enough, apparently.

Now put all that together, let all those bacterium mix and mingle around in the human body. Anyone is sufficiently deadly on its own. In any combination, the lethality is something no health organization in the world is ready to fight. Troop strength, across the board, plummets quickly as everyone is at risk.

Now there’s some fear-mongering for you. This is all hyperbole. There is a decent chance that absolutely nothing will happen. Saturday will come and go as we rant and rail about more irrelevant and idiotic executive orders being handed down. The sun might even shine.

So, why write about it at all? Because in the flood of nonsense coming out of Washington, we easily lose our ability to think critically and strategically. One tends to not worry about the rain when being swept away by the water. We look to secure our personal security first and when that appears to be at such high risk, we become ignorant of larger, more dangerous monsters sneaking up on our backside. While worst-case scenarios are highly speculative, we still have to acknowledge the possibilities and, at least in the back of our minds, have an adequate response waiting.

The Internet is full of comparisons between this administration and the rise of Nazism in Germany. Too many of them are accurate. It has gotten so bad that yesterday, the American Bar Association felt that it needed to release a statement supporting the Rule of Law. One would think that attorneys supporting the Rule of Law would be a given, but the situation in DC has gotten so out of hand that they need to make sure everyone’s on the same page.

Today, we’ll likely see how the administration responds to a federal judge saying that the White House ignored his ruling on aid spending. There’s that whole Rule of Law issue, again. There’s so much going on that no one seems to be standing up to the ‘pause’ in federal law prohibiting foreign bribes. A new survey of global corruption shows the US slipping from a score of 69 to 65, putting us in 28th place. Who’s the least corrupt? Denmark, Finland, Singapore, and New Zealand, in that order, to no one’s surprise.

I was out with the dogs last night, trying to get Hamilton to tire out a bit before settling down for the night. We were roughhousing and playing when I took a hard faceplant. My first thought was to call out for help, but I didn’t. Everyone had a tough day. No one needed to add me to their list of problems. Nothing was injured beyond my pride. As both dogs came running to make sure I was okay, I picked myself up, brushed off the mud, came inside, and changed out of my clothes.

This morning, I’m in pain. I’m hoping meds and a hot shower will help. Perhaps this is a metaphor for where we are as a country. We’ve fallen, but the safeguards that would normally help us up are missing. We’ve endured so much that we’re in pain, hoping that we can fix everything that’s wrong by taking a hot shower and hoping that the Rule of Law makes everything better.

I’m not sure which is worse: too little fear or too much. Both are dangerous. Good luck finding the balance point.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal

Monday, February 10, 2025

February 10, 2025

But Seriously…

Something tells me there will be serious changes to the KC Chiefs’ O-line during the offseason. Too bad we can’t trade politicians the same way. Or, stay with me now, an annual draft where we get to choose from the best of people based on how they scored at a political combine. We need a president who can run a 4-40, right? Something obvious needs to change because even two years is too long to hold on to the disastrous team we have on the field right now.

It’s still early, so I’m not going to comment a lot this morning. The warm-up headlines aren’t looking good, though. I’m expecting yet another poor performance from the demented QB who keeps calling the wrong plays. His backfield stinks as well. Here’s what I’m seeing this morning:

Felonious Punk says he’ll levy a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports regardless of their point of origin. Most of those imports come from allies. Not cool.
The Clown-in-chief says he is serious about Canada becoming the 51st state in a Super Bowl interview. This son of a bitch doesn’t seem to realize that Canada is geographically larger than the US. It’s a distraction, though. Don’t fall for it.
Vance and Musk question the authority of the courts as Trump’s agenda faces legal pushback. They don’t understand the whole division of power thing. More proof that the inmates are running the asylum.
Five Former Treasury Secretaries: It Is Time to Sound the Alarm. That is, if anyone actually has the guts to do something forceful.

There are some signs of pushback. These three are worth noting:

Turkey’s Erdogan again rejects US proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza. Our joke of a president isn’t the negotiator Ike was. I don’t expect anyone but Israel to go along with his plan.
‘No thanks’: White South Africans turn down Punk’s immigration offer. This might be funny if it weren’t so humiliating.
Punk Killed a Major Report on Nature. They’re Trying to Publish It Anyway. This is critical information as the planet continues to get warmer. How far away are we from truly deadly summers and withering crops? It would be nice to know.

Then, there was this ad last night:

In fact, there were DEI messages all through last night’s ads. One of the best came from the NFL itself, a 60-second ad of players leading children in the ‘I Am Somebody’ affirmations. Unfortunately, they won’t let me share that with you here. You’ll have to look it up on your own. In fact, I can’t share anything posted by the NFL, money-hungry bastards. The pre-game music featuring Ledisi, Trombone Shorty, and Jon Baptiste was on point as well.

I don’t expect today to go well. Until someone actually denies entry to DOGE workers and raises a complete stink about the whole thing, this administration will continue to think they’re infallible. Personally, I think that if someone were to start shooting DOGE workers like one might do to Nazi soldiers, conversations in DC would change quickly. I’m not supposed to say things like that, though, am I?

Yeah, right. We have infants in charge of the government. They need to be changed.

Current Issues / Long Read / Morning Update / Mythology

Sunday, February 9, 2025

February 9, 2025

Fatal Flaws & Bad Religion

For more than two years I purposely ingested poison every day to prevent myself from dying. That cancer is a complete bitch is not new news for anyone. Practically everyone knows of someone who died from the disease. When someone tells us that they have cancer, our first response is to anticipate the worst and hope we’re wrong. We inherently understand that left untreated, cancer kills. We’ve seen many survive treatment and go on to live productive lives. We’ve also seen those for whom treatment was insufficient and shed tears watching their lives fade away. Few question the science. Cancer is bad.

So why, then, do we not respond the same to a severe outbreak of the flu? Almost everyone blows it off until they get it and, much to their surprise, it nearly kills them. We are fortunate to have plenty of medications that treat the flu, depending on the variety. Yet, as I’m typing, 4-year-old Ruby Swain is on the verge of dying from a case of Flu A. We hope that she’ll recover, but there are no guarantees. There never have been. The flu is pretty fucking dangerous.

Among this morning’s headlines, Avian flu is suspected in up to 15 bird deaths at New York City zoos. A dairy worker in Nevada has tested positive for H5N1 bird flu, the first human case identified in the state. Both strains are different from the bird flu, which has kept egg prices increasing across the country. As we mentioned yesterday, this is the worst flu outbreak in 15 years. The odds of one form or another developing into a full-scale pandemic are too high to ignore.

So, naturally, Felonious Punk, the questionably-elected leader of our tattered country, decides this would be a good time to start removing critical health information from government websites. Specifically, information related to the particular health issues of women and people of color has gone missing. Funding for medical research has been frozen or abolished. The Centers For Disease Control is bracing for layoffs.

Sit back, I’m gonna make this personal.

In the Spring of 1974, I got the flu. The timing sucked. I was supposed to play Pomp & Circumstance for Jr. High graduation. There were finals to take at school. Things were not going well at the church Poppa pastored and he was actively looking at his options. For a while, we ignored the fever and other symptoms and I kept on plugging away. I could barely see the music as I played for the graduation. I couldn’t concentrate enough to take tests. Because Mother was a trusted teacher, she was allowed to administer my tests at home, but that didn’t help. I grew increasingly sick.

Finally, when my fever hit 105, my parents decided to break down and take me to the doctor. The problem there, and the reason for their hesitancy, was that our local small-town doctor was on vacation. He had made arrangements with another physician in the next town over to see any emergency cases. My parents weren’t sure they wanted to trust this unknown doctor, but when my fever wouldn’t come down, they decided they had to call. At 9:00 at night.

Remember, this was the 70s in rural Oklahoma. There were no urgent care centers. Hospitals largely shut down after 6:00 PM. Going to the ER was out of the question. When Mother called the first time, the doctor was audibly perturbed at the lateness of the call. He told her to give me aspirin (Tylenol wasn’t a big thing yet) and make an appointment for the next morning.

I took the aspirin. My fever continued to rise. At 11:30, Mother called the doctor again. I was in desperate need of help. I was having trouble breathing. The doctor balked, insisting that we would have to wait for normal office hours the next day. Then, Poppa got on the phone. I have no idea what he said to the doctor, but the next thing I knew I was bundled in a blanket and on my way to the doctor’s office.

After seeing my condition, the doctor apologized for the delay. He had not imagined that my condition could possibly be this bad. I remember getting two shots in my butt. Mother would later tell me that I was four. By morning, my fever had gone down to 102, but it stubbornly stayed there for the next four weeks. We would end up moving to Tahlequah before I was completely well. I never saw any of my classmates or friends again.

Only years later would Mother admit that they had erred by not taking me to the doctor sooner. They had relied on faith. Praying like crazy that God would heal me and make me better. Surely, if they waited long enough, this flu would just go away for me like it did for everyone else. It didn’t. If science hadn’t prevailed, I would have died.

Not since then have I had a case of the flu that laid me out as badly as that one. We learned from the experience. At the first sign of a fever, we were off to the doctor. There would be other years when the flu would hit the household pretty hard, but never again was it as life-threatening. The lesson I came away with was two-fold: Don’t take health matters lightly, and don’t expect God to intervene.

So, when Felonious Punk announced this week that he was creating a White House Faith Office and putting Paula White-Cain at its head, a knot started growing in the pit of my stomach. When he signed an executive order alleging to protect against anti-Christian bias, that knot started bouncing around, causing me to feel ill. I fear that these are precursors to a change in government that puts everyone at risk and blatantly defies the Constitution.

The problem is that Paula White-Cain is a fraud. That’s not surprising, given the company she keeps. Newspapers have labeled her as a ‘prosperity gospel’ proponent, one who thinks that there’s a connection between salvation and how much one gives to the church. While that’s true, there’s an even darker side to her beliefs. White-Cain is part of a movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, which is a Christian Nationalist movement bent on putting like-minded religious fruit cakes in all government offices. They’re willing to completely ignore the whole of the First Amendment. Women’s rights? Nah. They need to stay home. Religious freedom? Nope. If you’re not their brand of Christian your faith is invalid. Science over myth? Not even close. They look at things such as science, math, and rational thinking as damaging to one’s faith and are therefore sinful. These are the people who label empathy as sinful. They bend and contort scripture so far out of context that Jesus Christ himself wouldn’t recognize the bullshit they’re preaching.

The movement is far from new, though it hasn’t always had this name. It has seen a resurgence over the last fifteen years, though. There are books both supporting and debunking the philosophy at almost any bookstore. The tenets of the movement are at the crux of any debate between conservative and progressive churches.

Worse yet, they’re getting what they want. At the start of the new legislative session, a group of North Dakota legislators put forward a blatantly unconstitutional resolution that would have the state “acknowledge the Kingship of Jesus Christ.”

“Whereas, the founding fathers of this great state begin the constitution with the words, ‘We’, the people of North Dakota, grateful to Almighty God … We desire there shall be a recognition of Almighty God as the source of authority; of the Lord Jesus Christ as the rightful ruler of nations…” the text for House Concurrent Resolution 3020 reads.

Should this resolution pass, and should courts ultimately uphold it, the entirety of the First Amendment would become null and void. Other states, such as Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, and Arkansas, would almost immediately follow suit. As more states bend to the idiocy of this movement, the entire Constitution fractures as Amendments are as misinterpreted as are Bible scriptures. The United States as we know it would cease to exist.

I wish I knew what I could do to convince all people that every religion, any of them, is mythological at its base. Their concepts of deity are based on a gross Neanderthal ignorance of the universe. Nothing in any of their holy books holds truth, though they do occasionally give some decent advice about being kind, forgiving, and accepting; you know all the things this administration ignores. Adhering to religious faith above a growing knowledge of the universe, earth, its elements, and its dangers, is the type of foolishness that results in the end of humankind.

Have you ever wondered why humans are the only creatures on the planet who believe in a deity? A 2016 study showed that bonobos not only have more gray matter in the amygdala and insula, regions involved in perceiving emotions in self and others, but they also have a larger pathway linking the amygdala with the anterior cingulate cortex, which is implicated in top-down control of aggressive impulses. Moreover, a study released this past week shows that when bonobos realize they know something human partners don’t, they attempt to communicate and ‘teach’ the human. Great apes don’t rely on mythology, they rely on proven information.

Given that information, who is the lesser species here? Why are we taking governmental instructions from people who not only believe in myths but completely distort them in an effort to extort power?

I grew up thinking that people have a right to believe whatever the fuck they want. I’m no longer of that mind. If what you believe puts other people’s lives in danger, your beliefs are wrong. If what you believe denies established facts, you are wrong. If what you believe diminishes the humanity of others based on gender, sexuality, or perceived race, you are wrong. Period. No excuses.

We can no longer afford to tolerate such ignorance and stupidity, especially in our country’s highest offices. Gay rights are human rights. Trans rights are human rights. All people, everywhere, have a right to the best medical care available. No one should be dying from the flu!

Fuck Christianity. Fuck all religions. I’d just as soon see every last one of their churches, synagogues, and temples burn to the ground. You are a danger to humanity and to this country. I’m done being tolerant of ignorance. Burn it all to the ground.

Current Issues / Long Read / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Saturday, February 8, 2025

February 8, 2025

Off With Their Heads!

Coffee may not be enough to keep me going this morning. I had wanted to sleep late but Jack Jack, our mane coon mix, decided to not only wake me up at 5:45 AM, but both dogs as well. The dogs woke up and realized they were hungry and needed to poop. Going back to sleep wasn’t an option. My head feels as though it is about to implode. Today shows no sign of being as relaxing as I want.

I’m picking up on a couple of items that may have flown under everyone’s radar in the past 24 hours. Let’s start by acknowledging that Flu season in the US is the most intense it’s been in at least 15 years. This isn’t political so if you go trying to blame one side or the other I’m going to slap you. This year’s flu is bad to the bone, literally. While one can speculate on the effects of climate change being responsible, the bottom line is that flu strains have been growing in strength for a while. If you’re as old as I am, get the damn flu shot. The rest of you, be honest with yourself about how you’re feeling. If you’re showing any signs of the flu, stay the fuck home.

I’m also aware that claims about USAID funding are spreading online. Many are not based on facts. What bothers me most about this situation is that much of the misinformation I’m seeing isn’t coming from this insane federal administration. Instead, it’s the idiots sitting next to us who are spouting lies amidst gleeful vitriol over “burning this hellhole of a country to the ground.” They’ve yet to realize the effect that all the cuts and canceling of services are going to have. By the time the pain starts hitting home, it may be too late to do anything about it.

Sure, there was some rejoicing when a judge blocked Punk from placing thousands of USAID workers on leave and giving them a 30-day deadline. A different Federal judge blocked Elon Musk’s DOGE from accessing sensitive US Treasury Department material. However, a US judge declined to block DOGE from Labor Department systems. And late yesterday afternoon, Punk said he’s firing the Kennedy Center board of trustees members and naming himself chairman. No, he does not have the power to do that, but he’s certainly making it an issue.

Both MSNBC and CNN have reported about a defiant letter from someone within the FBI. Here’s the full text of the letter. Please, read it carefully.

Uncommon Sense was a Common Vice

Those with knowledge of the United States Marine Corps will recognize the irony of this title. I wish its words were not true, but as I write this, I believe they are.

Currently, there is an effort to cull a significant number of career Special Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is an unthinkable action that will gravely undermine the security of the nation well beyond what many of our citizens are aware. For those seeking to raise their awareness, I offer this vignette, free of political bias or moral judgment. It is not about any one person, but an amalgamation of multiple FBI Special Agents.

I am the coach of your child’s soccer team. I sit next to you on occasion in religious devotion. I am a member of the PTA. With friends, you celebrated my birthday. I collected your mail and took out your trash while you were away from home. I played a round of golf with you. I am a veteran. I am the average neighbor in your community. This is who you see and know. However, there is a part of my life that is a mystery to you, and prompts a natural curiosity about my profession.

This is the quiet side of me that you do not know: I orchestrated a clandestine operation to secure the release of an allied soldier held captive by the Taliban. I prevented an ISIS terrorist from boarding a commercial aircraft. I spent 3 months listening to phone intercepts in real time to gather evidence needed to dismantle a violent drug gang. I recruited a source to provide critical intelligence on Russian military activities in Africa. I rescued a citizen being tortured to near death by members of an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. I interceded and stopped a juvenile planning to conduct a school shooting. I spent multiple years monitoring the activities of deep-cover foreign intelligence officers, leading to their arrest and deportation. I endured extensive hardship to infiltrate a global child trafficking organization. I have been shot in the line of duty.

Something else about me, I was assigned to investigate a potential crime. Like all previous cases I have investigated, this one met every legal standard of predication and procedure. Without bias, I upheld my oath to this country and the Constitution and collected the facts. I collected the facts in a manner to neither prove innocence nor guilt, but to arrive at resolution.

I am now sitting in my home, listening to my children play and laugh in the backyard, oblivious to the prospect that their father may be fired in a few days. Fired for conducting a legally authorized investigation. Fired for doing the job that he was hired to do. I have to wonder, when I am gone, who will do the quiet work that is behind the facade of your average neighbor?

How long are we willing to let this mess continue? Why are we ‘waiting to see how it all plays out’ when by the time it all plays out hundreds of thousands of people could be in foreign jails without any access to justice? Why are we content with temporary blocks on illegal power grabs? When Democratic members of Congress were denied access to the Department of Education, why did no one knock down the damn door? Where’s the real anger and outrage?

The entire world is in trouble. Right-wing extremism is growing everywhere and I’m not seeing anyone, anywhere, who has a legitimate chance of stopping it. We’re too content with making phone calls, sending letters, and threatening to vote against people who may not let us vote at all.

This is a call to arms. This is the moment when we have to decide whether we are going to defend our country and our freedoms against fascism and tyranny. That critical moment is here.

THIS is what real resistance looks like:

Prepare the barricades and let’s see who joins in the fight.

Camera / Current Issues / Long Read / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Photography

Friday, February 7, 2025

February 7, 2025

More Bark, Toothless Bites.

A chill was back in the air this morning as I took the dogs out for their morning poop. A stiff wind out of the North hints at chances of freezing rain over the weekend. Our dogs can be aggressive and of late, that aggressiveness has increased some, mostly from Belvedere, the English Hound. He doesn’t like cars—any of them. He’ll stand in the yard when we’re out in the afternoon and voice his displeasure. He’s quiet when we’re out in the morning, though. He seems to understand that no one wants to hear his voice when it’s still dark. The dog understands more about getting along with neighbors than some people do.

ABC News seems to be the only major news outlet addressing a memo from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) yesterday warning that cameras made in China could be ‘spying’ on the US. I laughed. From the moment they were invented, cameras have been used by almost every nation to spy on others, including their own people. We didn’t need digital cameras for that, nor did we need internet-connected cameras. As far back as WWII, miniaturized cameras were used to convey troop movements and other aspects of war. Nothing is going on that hasn’t been happening for decades.

What the memo specifically warns about are cameras that are ‘internet-connected.’ Again, I laughed. Cameras don’t just connect to the nearest Internet signal on their own. They have to be manually connected to a specific and the camera has to be turned on. This has been a feature on digital cameras for a couple of decades now. I never use it because it’s a pain in the ass to set up and the benefits are negligible if one isn’t close to a connected laptop or other computer. No photographer just walks around with the camera turned on, either, because a) it kills battery life, and b) most cameras automatically turn off if they’ve not been used for more than a minute or two.

There’s also the fact that few legitimate US photographers use Chinese gear. Canon, Sony, and Nikon still dominate the US market. I couldn’t even think of a Chinese brand. When I dug around a bit, I found this list of the ten most popular cameras made in China. I’ve not heard of nor encountered any of them. These are the brands I might expect to find on the bottom shelf of a ‘discount’ electronics store. They’re made largely of plastic and the quality of the glass is questionable at best. It would be a really lousy spy or a really shitty photographer who would use one of these brands.

This begs the question: why release such a useless memo? Only ABC News took the bait. Everyone else ignored it because it was meaningless. Granted, over the past three weeks, we’ve seen dozens of meaningless memos from various government agencies. Most are performative, at best, and some read as though they were written by children, which, in this administration, is quite possible. Many have been rescinded within twenty-four hours of being released.

What this memo has the potential to do, however, is make life difficult for legitimate photographers, especially photojournalists. I remember how it felt in the days immediately following 9/11, especially in New York. Simply taking my camera out of its bag on a street corner was enough to cause people to not only stare but contact the nearest beat cop. I frequently had to explain myself, though only once did it ever cause any problem (another story for another time). Now, everyone’s cell phone has a camera stronger than I had back then, and cell phones are connected to networks by default but no one bats an eye. Photojournalists, however, rarely rely on their cell phones to get the best shots. A good camera with a 200mm to 500mm zoom stands out and tends to indicate that the person holding the device knows what they’re doing (not always the case). From my perspective, the only purpose I can see in this memo is to make photojournalists targets. Yes, it’s insane, but then, so are most of the memos and edicts we’ve seen handed down the past three weeks. Sanity is not this administration’s strong suit.

There are also signs of a pushback against the illegal aspects of the administration’s overreach. A Judge temporarily blocked the Punk’s plan offering incentives for federal workers to resign. 13 states sued over DOGE access to government payment systems containing personal data. The US border czar blames leaks for hindering immigration raids in Colorado suburbs. Egypt lobbies against Punk’s plan to empty Gaza of Palestinians. Iran’s supreme leader says US talks ‘not intelligent, wise or honorable,’ Members of the U.S. House Progressive Caucus held a news conference on Thursday vowing to fire Elon Musk. There is finally some action from Democrats, but there’s still plenty of room for them to step up and do something. Anything. Just don’t expect it to happen this weekend.

Yeah, I’m aware of the hilarious (sort of) order to fight ‘anti-Christian bias.’ I’m fairly sure the only thing that order will achieve is increasing the anti-Christian bias that the church itself has created through its neverending hypocrisy. This is the Punk’s attempt to keep a dwindling evangelical movement at his side. There will ultimately be a First Amendment clash over this.

We’re going into a weekend where more people would rather complain about the dominance of the Eagles and Chiefs rather than the government. There will be tons of expensive chicken wings devoured and more than a little beer spilled. Ads will most likely be disappointing (from what I’ve seen so far). Monday could be designated as ‘National Hangover Day.’

This is a good time to be kind to yourself. Go ahead and take that nap. Indulge in your favorite comfort foods if you can. Read a good book. For all the danger we’re in, even the nut jobs in DC have trouble competing with the Super Bowl. Relax for a minute. We’ll have plenty to address next week.

Enjoy the coffee.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

February 5, 2025

Life In The Stupid Lane.

The shock on the faces of White House Chief of Staff Suzie Wiles and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu let everyone know: Felonious Punk did not discuss the takeover of Gaza before opening his mouth. Everyone in the room was shocked. Allies and adversaries both quickly rejected the idea like they did the first time Punk made the suggestion. For Palestinian people, however, his statement has a horrible sense of deja vu. It was a mass expulsion in 1948 that created the Jewish-dominated country of Israel. The move was wrong then, and it’s just as wrong now. But then, right and wrong don’t seem to matter to this administration.

In a move that surprises no one, the administration pulled almost all USAID workers off the job worldwide. Aid for Palestinian refugees was completely eliminated. Funding for the mission attempting to reign in Haiti’s gangs has been zeroed out. The net effect is likely to be a higher level of global chaos as competing anti-government groups worldwide ramp up acts of terror in an attempt to gain control. The solution that Felonious Punk is likely to propose is that the US simply take over all the problem areas.

All of them. Forcefully if necessary. The international community is worried. Some say such moves violate international law, and they’re probably correct. But then, many of the administration’s domestic moves are illegal as well but that’s not stopping them. We are being governed by a group of self-serving billionaire thugs. Nothing is going to get better until we find an effective way to fight back.

One of the most stupid moves made in the past twenty-four hours was essentially firing almost everyone in the CIA. Technically, the entire staff was offered contract buyouts. Either way, the results are the same: we lose our eyes and ears around the world. Assets that have prevented untold disasters will be gone. There will be no one protecting US interests, nor the rule of law, anywhere in the world. Who benefits? Terrorists. Without the CIA on the ground, there’s damn near no one left to stop them. We are likely to be attacked both at home and abroad. We are inherently weaker now than we were yesterday.

Don’t think all this isn’t going to affect folks at home as well. Several Head Start preschools may need to close temporarily because they’ve been locked out of their federal funding. Good luck finding someone to watch the kids while you go to work, parents! And those of you who regularly shop Temu and/or Shein will want to know that the US Postal Service suspended inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong. It doesn’t matter that you’ve already paid for the goods. They’re now stuck for an unknown period of time, perhaps permanently. The same is likely to apply for some purchases made on Amazon if the origin point is either China or Hong Kong. Fast fashion, laptops and toys are likely to cost more due to US tariffs on Chinese imports. These are the things that are going to hit your pocketbook now.

What are we going to do? Yeah, I know protests are planned for today in all 50 states. They are occurring in every state’s capitol at noon, local times. I had planned on attending the one here, but I’ll be sitting in my oncologist’s office instead. Freezing rain forecast for much of the Midwest is likely to dampen attendence numbers as well. Protests are nice and all, but when faced with a person who brazenly defies laws, are protests enough? We’ve seen politicians stand in front of microphones, but none of them are having any success actually stopping any of Punk’s actions. We need a forceful plan that hits back at the administration with all the fear and furry they’ve put on us the past two weeks.

I have my moments of doubt. As G was getting ready for school this morning, I had him double check to make sure he had his house key with him. While I should be back from the doctor before he gets home, there are no guarantees even for the simple things anymore. G and I had an interesting conversation about the advantages of attending both trade school and college, given the uncertainty of the future. He’s thinking in the right direction, but part of me wonders if there’s any amount of education in any field that is going to adequately prepapre our kids for the future being dumped on them. Both will, presumably, graduate high school before the next presidential election. I don’t know how to advise them anymore. I can’t promise them anything will be left. I can’t guarantee that options available today will still be available when they graduate. Nothing is certain.

As much as I’d love to have grandchildren, I’d hate to encourage anyone to bring a child into this mess. A dear friend recently had a beautiful baby girl and I know that she’ll do everything within her power to protect that child and raise her well, but what options will she have? Will education still exist in the forms with which we are accustomed? Will appropriate pediatric medical care be available and affordable during her formative years? Could food and clothing be a challenge? This isn’t a first-time mom. She has resources. She knows what she’s doing. Still, raising this child could be dramatically different from her older siblings.

With all the different rumors and arguments I’m seeing and hearing, I have little hope for anyone forming a ‘well regulated militia’ capable of fighting back against the government with any real force. In fact, that line in the Second Amendment is practically useless in our current situation.

No matter what, we must resist.

Image credit: Alt. National Park Service

Cancer Update / Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

February 4, 2025

Brace For Impact

I was notified via text late yesterday morning that today’s oncology appointment had been moved to tomorrow. I double-checked with my inside person at the cancer center, and she confirmed the change but said no reason was listed, which is unusual. I’m concerned. This should be the visit that tells me I can stop taking chemo pills. My oncologist is Indian. His nurse practitioner is female. The hematology staff is all female and primarily Black. Community Health Network, of which the cancer center is a part, has long had a progressive DEI stance. However, in the past two weeks, we’ve seen multiple federal agencies, including the CDC, drop and eliminate DEI initiatives. Companies that refuse to drop DEI programs have come under fire from Republicans.

I’m concerned.

Meanwhile, Kat has been working to help address the winter needs of homeless people living near the salon. She passes three homeless encampments on her way into town. She’s been working diligently with others to provide hats, scarves, gloves, and blankets. As aid for displaced people has become increasingly nonexistent, she knows that many of these people would not survive without a little bit of help.

The America in which we’re living right now is insane. I think the most disturbing headline I’ve seen this morning is Rubio says El Salvador offers to accept deportees from the US of any nationality, including Americans. President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador confirmed the unusual and possibly illegal arrangement, saying El Salvador has “offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system.” He said his country would accept only “convicted criminals” and would charge a fee that “would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”

Yeah, you read that correctly. The Secretary of State has entered the US into an agreement for deporting American citizens to Salvadoran prisons in a country where civil rights are routinely ignored. If you thought this was just about immigration, you were wrong.

There is some pushback. The AFL-CIO and other pro-labor organizations have filed suit against the Treasury Department for allowing Musk’s stooges to have access to sensitive personal information. That lawsuit, like anything going through the court system, is going to take time, though. In the interim, these are the nutjobs that have access to your information:

I’ve said this before; I’ll say it again: Elon Musk is an Apartheid-loving traitor who came to the US illegally because the South African government wouldn’t let his white ass get away with the crimes he’s committing here. The Felonious Punk attack on South Africa exposes divisions over race and land and is fueled wholly by Musk’s hatred for his home country, the people who were holding him accountable for his racist actions.

I don’t have the emotional bandwidth to type a lot this morning. I’ve been trying to pull a video clip from Sen. Schumer’s remarks yesterday, but it’s taking too damn long. I’m pretty sure they’re posted all over social media anyway.

If you can’t see where all this is headed, you’ll likely become one of its first victims. There are protests schedule in all 50 state capitals for noon tomorrow. I’ll be at the cancer center at that time, but if you can, please go.

Current Issues / Long Read / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Monday, February 03, 2025

February 3, 2025

You’re Going To Feel A Little Pinch

Image credit: Bruce MacKinnon for Halifax Chronicle Herald

Another Monday is here and, to be totally honest, there’s so much in my news feeds this morning that I’m tempted just to throw up my hands and walk away. I’m not, because talking about all this shit is probably the only thing keeping me marginally sane. I know a lot of people have stopped reading/watching the news, but I can’t do that. If I’m going to be mowed down by an out-of-control government, I want to see it coming. I may not be able to stop the inevitable, but I’m not going to close my eyes and pretend it isn’t happening.

At the same time, I have to pay attention to what’s going on right around me. Kat was almost in a car accident over the weekend and when I say ‘almost’ I mean that her instinctive reflexes were the only thing that prevented her from being involved. She was on I-465N, in the middle lane, with a Jeep to her left, and a semi to her right. Traffic on that part of I-465 typically runs around 65 mph but apparently, that just wasn’t fast enough for a blue car that came up from behind the Jeep and hit it, knocking the Jeep into the semi. Kat had smelled burning rubber from the approaching car and slowed down. Had she been the slightest bit more forward, the Jeep would have hit her and knocked her into the semi. Physically, she was unharmed, but she spent the rest of the weekend fighting the emotions from the near miss.

Against that backdrop, I’m fighting against my own anger in an attempt to find words that are coherent and meaningful. I spent much of yesterday in bed with the phone and computer off. When I did come up for air (and food), I was disgusted by most of what I saw. I’m increasingly seeing less and less of an option for survival that doesn’t involve killing people. I don’t like those options, but in a me vs. them situation, I’m choosing me and my family. I’m afraid that’s going to force me into some decisions that I don’t want to make, but we can’t repeat the mistakes Germans made as the Nazis took over their country. If we do that, none of us survive.

Among the most disturbing of headlines this morning:

USAID staffers were told to stay out of Washington headquarters after Musk said Felonious Punk agreed to close it. 600 workers reported being locked out overnight. This is highly illegal, but no one in law enforcement has the guts to do anything about it.
Punk wants to undo diversity programs. Some agencies react by scrubbing US history and culture. What this means in the long term is that parents have to teach history and culture at home. Start buying the books now because they may not be available within a few months.
Global shares slip as worries grow about Punk’s tariffs. The markets haven’t opened in the US, but they have in other places around the world and it’s not looking good. Expect a severe sell-off when the US markets open. Yes, your 401K is going to take a hit. You might want to consider other options.
Punk plans to invoke obscure 18th-century wartime law in a bid for mass deportations. The law would allow for mass deportations without the benefit of a court hearing. The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, intended to be used only in times of war, allows for the deportation of anyone involved in an “invasion or predatory incursion.”
In Panama, Marco Rubio Escalates Confrontation Over Canal. Shoring up the US’s position as a global bully, the Secretary of State threatened to “intervene” if Panama doesn’t make it more difficult for Chinese ships to pass through the locks.

The headline infuriating me the most, however, is Punk says Americans could feel ‘some pain’ from tariffs as he threatens more import taxes. We could feel some pain? This isn’t like we’re sitting in the doctor’s office waiting for an injection of some kind. In fact, I have to say that as often as I get stuck by a needle, nurses have become amazingly good at minimizing the pain of a needle going into one’s arm. I find it absolutely insulting that he expects the American people to endure ‘some pain’ while he and his billionaire buddies sit back and reap the profits. Too many American people have been hurting for too long, going all the way back to Punk’s first administration. This is a level of egotistical bullshit that no one should tolerate.

Oh, but there’s still more. A bill to eliminate OSHA has been Introduced in the House of Representatives. Say goodbye to those nasty regulations that require things such as handrails on staircases, fire escapes in multi-story buildings, fire suppression systems, and all the other things that keep one from dying while they’re at work. I would like to think that there’s no chance of this bill making it out of committee, but remember that we’re dealing with gang warfare here. Republicans that don’t support bills backed by the administration are threatened with being challenged in the primaries next year. To a one, they’re fallingn in line, goose-stepping all the way to hell.

THEN, Rep. Thomas Massie Reintroduces H.R. 899 to Abolish the Federal Department of Education. We saw this one coming. It was part of Punk’s stump speech in the runup to the election. People voted for him anyway. If you thought there was any way it wouldn’t happen, think again. Education is under attack on every government level. Fewer children will have access to quality education and fewer schools will teach anything beyond the basic skills necessary to make them worker slaves in the coming regime.

You know it’s a bad day when even the Assistant Director of the FBI’s New York field office tells agents there that they are ‘at war.’ This explains why they’re not doing anything to stop the onslaught of crimes against the country; they’re too busy having to save their jobs! Don’t think for a moment that this wasn’t part of the plan coming into this administration. By taking law enforcement out of the picture, there’s no one left to stop them.

Over on r/AskHistorians subreddit, someone asked the question, “How long did it take for (1) it to be hard to leave the country and (2) most people to start starving in Nazi-controlled Europe after Hitler took over?” The primary answer is worth sharing.

That answer depends entirely on who you were.

The Nazis were keenly aware that widespread hunger in the population led to the defeat in 1918, so they did everything they could to prevent the German population from starving too much. Poor Germans were chronically undernourished, the rest did okay-ish, all luxuries were more and more cut off. Germans did better than other Europeans by starving other countries to death.

1944/45 was a hunger winter, but in general the worst starvation for Germans was the hunger winter of 1946. ’46 had polar vortex conditions in a bombed out country with no shelter and no heating materials. People died of exposure and hunger.

It took a few years post-war to stabilize the food in Germany and elsewhere. For example: The UK didn’t come off rations until 1954, partially, because they were also feeding the German population in the British zone.

If you were French, Dutch, rations were stricter than in Germany since the beginning of their respective invasions. Aryanness had its perks and a non-aryan couldn’t do better than them. Hunger was definitely a weapon and the Dutch almost starved to death in ’43, but due to a confluence of factors continued starving post-Market Garden ’44. Food stabilized in ’45. So, it really is different from country to country.

If you were slavic, you fell under Generalplan Ost which stated that you will be starved to death and the food used to feed Germans. Except for the Polish and Czech, who would be starved, but kept alive enough for slave labor.

In general food was a problem for the middle and working class throughout the war.

If you were Jewish, your mobility was slowly curtailed. Part of the problem was that money and assets were frozen by Eichmann around the Austrian occupation and other countries don’t like destitute migrants. So while people still left, it was mostly people with means.

After the pogrom in November 1938 it was kind of your final chance to get out, but it involved money and luck and it wasn’t easy. As of the invasion of Poland, it was game over. All exits were closed for Jews. ETA: Pardon, 1941, when the Holocaust was decided was game over. That order halting migration came in October and the conference was in January 1942. However, between ’39 to ’41 it was extremely difficult to leave.

If you were of a nationality which was not slated for death-through-starvation, annihilation, or slave labor, you could move through Europe as long as those nations let you through.

There are also many people in the public, embassies and even in the highest Nazi admin offices who helped forge passports for Jews, who transported Jewish kids on trains to safety, who saved the Jews of Denmark by leaking the plans and then sabotaging harbor patrol, by nannies hiding kids, and in the case of Schindler, saved a list of workers in Auschwitz.

Historians now believe that the resistance of the public by refusing to come apathetic and the small time admin and clerks refusing or sabotaging lists, would have prevented a lot of deaths. We know nothing happened to police officers who refused to shoot Jews in Eastern Europe as part of the Holocaust, for example.

Some sources: Aly Götz for how Nazis bought the compliance of Germans with stolen goods; the cohort around Tim Snyder on Generalplan Ost (Mark Mazower, Hitler’s Empire), ushmm on Denmark https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/denmark, Hannah Arendt on Eichmann and how the small time administrator did the most evil, Browning on policebattalion 101.

We have to resist. Even small actions make a difference. In last Friday’s post I have a link to a booklet from WWII that was used to sabotage the Germans. I find it largely appropriate now and strongly encourage everyone to read it. Many of the methods require very little effort, which is, sadly, what most people are willing to give. Don’t give in to the fear. Be angry. Be decisive. Be protective. We can still prevent the worst from happening.

Just don’t forget the coffee.

Cancer Update / Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Sunday, February 2, 2025

February 2, 2025

I Dissent

Actor Ben Stein was formerly, in real life, a conservative lawyer and economist. So, when doing this now-famous classroom scene for the movie Farris Bueller’s Day Off, he made sure that the facts being presented in his famous, dry, deadpan style, were accurate. Here’s a reminder of what he said:

What he’s talking about is the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act of 1932. The Republican-held Congress thought they could help alleviate the Great Depression by creating an environment more conducive to domestic production. They were wrong in every way possible. So much so that when the 1934 elections came around, the majority of those Republicans, including Hawley and Smoot, were not re-elected. Tariffs have never helped long-term economics, which is why most intelligent lawmakers avoid them.

Notice the expressions on the faces of the students in the class, though. That’s the exact same expression one gets from the MAGA crowd today when trying to explain why Felonious Punk’s tariff move is bad for the country. They’re just as bored, disinterested, and dumbfounded as adults as they were as teens in the 80s.

When Punk’s tariffs hit yesterday afternoon, no one was surprised when both Mexico and Canada immediately announced retaliatory tariffs of their own. China is taking a slightly different stance, invoking the regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Should the WTO find that the tariffs are indeed illegal, the entire world could levy additional fines and tariffs on the US. Given the anti-US sentiment that seems pervasive across much of the globe, don’t be surprised when the WTO follows China’s lead on this one.

Sadly, the net result of all this action is most likely to result in a global depression. This would be the kind of economic disaster that pushes countries more heavily toward war as they struggle to provide goods and services for their own people. While one might speculate whether this is exactly the type of chaos Punk wants, we can be quite sure he’s unprepared for the reality of yet a third world war, especially one where China, Russia, and quite possibly India, all three of which are nuclear powers, could unite against us.

Meanwhile, the US Airways are not safe. As of this writing, 7:52 AM EST, the “Notice to Air Mission” or NOTAM system, is down. The NOTAM system provides pilots, flight crews, and other users of U.S. airspace with critical safety notices. It could include items like taxiway lights being out at an airport, nearby parachute activity, or a specific runway being closed for construction. At the moment, no major airlines are reporting any delays or problems because of the outage. However, this comes at the end of a week where multiple deadly accidents have frequent flyers questioning how safe the skies are. What doesn’t help is knowing that Air traffic controllers were initially offered buyouts and told to consider leaving the government.

We also have to deal with the fact that Elon Musk has access to your Social Security number. All of them. The NYTimes broke the news yesterday that DOGE had gained access to the US Treasury’s payment system. Remember that DOGE is not a government-authorized entity; it’s just something Punk made up to take the power of the purse away from Congress. This means that anyone who gets any form of government payment, from Social Security and Medicaid to any company contracted by the US for things such as road improvements, healthcare, and thousands of other things, could see an illegal disruption. Again, this pushes the US closer to the brink of complete economic collapse.

The next shoe to drop is likely to come when the stock markets open in the morning. The markets were already nervous, anticipating a tech sell-off and possibly negative employment numbers. The tariffs could cause prices to plummet across the board, however. Companies are bracing for impact. Yet, even here, this could play right into Punk’s hands. A market crash would allow his billionaire buddies to scoop up valuable stocks for pennies on the dollar, putting even more wealth in the hands of those who already have too much.

I had to pause to take the dogs outside. While we were out, an incredibly large murder of crows, easily over 100 birds in size, flew over the house making so much noise that the dogs felt obligated to bark back at them.

Shortly after I started typing this morning, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, handlers say, predicting 6 more weeks of wintry weather.

Atmospheric river conditions could bring multiple feet of snow to the Sierra Nevadas and as much as 15 inches of rain to other parts of Northern California.

The warning signs of impending doom are not lost on me. Superstitions aside, I have no expectation that headlines are going to get any better. In fact, I’m seeing plenty of ways in which our lives and our government could get a lot worse. I’m thinking federal control over local police and the potential deputization of right-right groups such as the Patriot Front, who have already been seen out marching around in smaller cities. The SEC has already positioned itself to take tighter control over the stock market. The FCC is bullying news networks. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is all but dead.

Put all this together and I have to question whether staying alive is worth the effort. I’m not considering suicide, understand. I’m just wondering if I really want to keep taking this pile of medicine sitting in front of me. I have visits with my oncology team on Tuesday and then a thyroid biopsy on Thursday. Should either of those come out negative, I’ll have to seriously consider just how hard I want to fight. We already know healthcare isn’t going to get any better. Is it worth pushing through the pain to continue living in a country that already considers people like me to be worthless?

Maybe I just need another biscuit.

And more coffee.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / science / Social Commentary

Saturday, February 1, 2025

February 1, 2025

Rodentia

Rats. You remember them, don’t you? We’ve seen them train turtles to be ninjas, drag large pieces of pizza upstairs, and… oh yeah, they were partially responsible for the black plague that devastated most of Europe. Over the ensuing years, cities and health agencies have made a huge push to rid cities of the large rodents, and overall they’ve been successful. However, thanks to the specter of climate change, they’re set to return in larger numbers than ever.

While the fact that Washington has been singled out as one of the cities where an explosive rat population is most dangerous is somewhat humorous, the realities are frightening. “When rodent populations are high, people get sick, motor vehicles become disabled, mental health declines, fires are started and foods fouled,” said Houston rat expert Michael Parsons, who wasn’t part of the study. People are rightly bothered by rats because of “an innate fear caused by an organism that can make us sick.”

This comes at a time when government health information is disappearing from websites. Exercising extremely questionable authority, Musk aides have locked out a number of federal employees from critical computer systems. And then, there’s that whole mess with RFK, Jr. wanting to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

Que sounds of ominous music as Morgan Freeman says, “They were not safe. No one was safe.”

Oh, and that’s not the only terrifying health news this morning. Mosquitos. Yeah, we’ve not seen them in North America for a couple of months thanks to the cold. They’re coming back, though, and we’re finding that high-altitude winds help them spread diseases far and wide. So, what may start in some remote village deep in Central Africa could easily spread around the world carried by the high winds of the jet stream. Isn’t that fun news?

On top of everything else, we woke this morning to news of yet another plane crash, this time in Philadelphia, killing at least six. There’s still a severe lack of information regarding this flight and multiple fires have delayed determining whether anyone on the ground was killed. The plane crashed less than a minute after takeoff but explanations for why are still nothing more than speculation.

Both AOC and Mark Cuban are asking people to keep a lid on cynical and insulting rhetoric. I understand their position, trying to go high when everyone else is going low. I will, again, pose the same question I’m asking everyone, though: How many people have to die before we’re willing to get aggressive about stopping the insanity? Would another global plague do the trick? Are concentration camps in Colorado and Guantanamo not already enough?

WHAT THE FUCK IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO GET ASSES OUT OF CHAIRS AND INTO THE STREETS?

The most logical thing to do would have been to hit back hard on Day One of this administration. Every time Felonious Punk issues a new edict, the American people should forcefully fling it back in his face with all the power we can muster. That would have made sense and possibly at least slowed down the barrage of criminality we’ve seen from the White House.

Instead, we’re waiting to see exactly what tariffs get imposed on Canada and Mexico later today. Business leaders could be calling the members of Congress they have in their pockets, but they’re not. Everyone’s just clutching pearls and buying avocados.

This was posted yesterday:

How much of your life are you willing to sacrifice to the goons in DC? What is it going to take before you stand up for yourself?

We have no military support. We’re losing legal support. Even local police are increasingly helpless. No one else is coming to help us.

What’s it going to take?

Current Issues

US Becomes The Bad Guys

Share this:

Like this:

Partial Transcript & Other Info

Share this:

Like this:

Buckle Up

Share this:

Like this:

Confusion Reigns

Share this:

Like this:

Think Of The Kids

Share this:

Like this:

Roses Of Success

Share this:

Like this:

Well Isn’t That Special

Share this:

Like this:

Disaster Status

Share this:

Like this:

AN ATTEMPT AT DICTATORSHIP HAS BEEN MADE

Share this:

Like this:

The Pot Simmers

Share this:

Like this:

Between The Cracks

Share this:

Like this:

Everyone Wants To Be Emperor

Share this:

Like this:

There Is No Weekend

Share this:

Like this:

Start Killing The Nazis

KILL THE FUCKING NAZIS!

Share this:

Like this:

Letting Pictures Talk

Share this:

Like this:

Save The Date

Share this:

Like this:

But Seriously…

Share this:

Like this:

Fatal Flaws & Bad Religion

Share this:

Like this:

Off With Their Heads!

Share this:

Like this:

More Bark, Toothless Bites.

Share this:

Like this:

Life In The Stupid Lane.

Share this:

Like this:

Brace For Impact

Share this:

Like this:

You’re Going To Feel A Little Pinch

Share this:

Like this:

I Dissent

Share this:

Like this:

Rodentia

Share this:

Like this:

Don't Miss A Thing!

Login

Follow Us