President Trump announced on Monday that he planned to relax limits on pollution from cars, saying that the move wouldn’t “mean a damn bit of difference to the environment.”
But decades of science show that the pollution from automobile tailpipes has harmed the environment and public health, from the days when leaded gasoline sent neurotoxins into the air and soil to the carbon dioxide emissions that are heating the planet right now.
No need to read any further. ‘Decades of science’ means nothing to PINO Trusk. Those are facts. Facts do not count in Trumpworld. We’ve already seen that with vaccinations and COVID-19. Measles and vaccines. Anything and vaccines.
Trump’s vision for the United States is a dark and poisoned place.
It’s a blah day outside our windows. Winter is singing its final stanzas. Bleak ropes of gray clouds are strung together. Mists cling to the snowy mountain tops. Rain has fallen off and on, and the temperature has crept from 34 F to 41 F as a sharp wind whistles and moans.
This is Saturda, March 15, 2025, in Ashlandia.
My wife has been busy doomscrolling. She mostly goes onto Reddit and hits different forums. People who worked for the Federal government have set up many of them to tell about what’s going on in their offices around the nation. She shares tales with me. She also passes them on to her friends; they suggest that she needs to do less doomscrolling because she’d acting so dark, depressed, and pessimistic. I agree with them. But, it has a hold on her. Despite her statements that she wants to do less doomscrolling, she keeps feeding on the darkness, and it feeds on her.
The newscape is fucking bleak out there. How cheerful are we expected to be as PINO Trusk and the GOTP guts the government, slashes services, burns the U.S. Constitution, and talks about using American troops to invade other places?
How much cheerfulness should we offer as the stock market drops and drops, wiping out years of gains?
How cheerful can we be as PINO Trusk tries moving the country backwards in regards to air and water protections, civil rights, especially minority rights, trade and defense agreements?
What level of cheerfulness should we convey as greater discussions of a financial recession become more frequent?
Cheerfulness is a hard-won currency in this era. Maybe it’s just me and my wife. Maybe we’re too invested in following the news and doomscrolling. Perhaps we’re in an information silo where we’re only fed bad news, and it’s really much better. Inflation is dropping, and despite the stock market declines, people are growing happier and more satisfied. Maybe the erosion of freedoms isn’t as great as we fear.
Out of all of this, The Neurons have employed a song called “Unwell” in the morning mental music stream. “Unwell” was released in 2003 by Matchbox 20. The group’s lead vocalist, Rob Thomas, wrote the song.
On the live DVD Show: A Night in the Life of Matchbox Twenty, lead singer Rob Thomas states that he wrote the song as a metaphor for humanity in general, a song for people who are “messed up and feel alone like that. We all feel a little messed up sometimes… you’re not alone.”
I think many of us ar feeling messed up and alone. We’re also feeling frustrated, disappointed, and depressed. The future does not look good as we try to see what is to come. As the song’s lyrics go, “I’m not crazy, I’m just a little impaired.”
Coffee and I have reached another cooperative agreement. Hope your day is strong, filled with hope and optimism. Here we go. Cheers
I’m walking around on a writing break. The right side of my sinuses are unhappy. A little clear fluid from my nostril keeps me dabbing it. There’s pain in the sinus.
I’m considering the views as I walk. Sheer curtains of off-color air are being lowered over the brown mountains across the valley on the north and the tall, green-filled southern mountains.
Back at my computer, I blow my nose and check Purpleair. Yes, we’ve gone from ‘good’ numbers into the triple digit territory of ‘bad air that’s unkind to sensitive people.’ I paraphrase.
Depressing. We’d been on a such a good run. What’s causing this new issue? There’s a smell out there assaulting me.
I read that an air quality warning was issued just before 11 AM. We’re already under a high heat warning.
The day is turning a corner and going in an ugly direction.
Chilly morning at 57 F under deep blue skies. It’s Saturday, June 29, 2024. A little smoke comes in through the northern windows, irritating my eyes and forcing sneezes out of me. Several wildfires are burning within a few hours of us; don’t know of any local ones, but smoke on the wind always takes me to the net to get updates. Supposed to reach 87 F today, which is a satisfying temp, continuing a week of mild summery weather.
I asked AI where the smoke we’re experiencing is coming from. AI responded with suggestions about two old fires from several years back. I’m like, WTF, really? AI also suggested that it could be cars, fossil based fuels, or neighbors could be burning wood in their stoves and fireplaces to keep warm. Finally, AI suggested it could be manufacturing. Thanks, AI. Damn fine job.
It’s a Saturday and the news cycle is slow. Supremes are saying that we should have a ruling on Trump’s immunity case on Monday. I’m eager to read and hear how that goes as there are tremendous ramifications associated with it. All the lower courts said as directly and quickly as possible, “No, you don’t have immunity,” but it’s hard to say what to expect with this Supreme Court. A heavily conservative court, they manage to really twist history, logic, and law. Besides that, three appointments on the court owe their positions to Trump, so there are questions about how objective these appointees can be.
Besides that, one, Justice Thomas, has been receiving high-end luxury vacations given to him by wealthy Republicans. He didn’t bother reporting most of these and seems arrogantly indignant that any of this could be tit-for-tat payments. Doesn’t help his image that his wife, Ginni, is a MAGA who insists that the 2020 election was stolen, and actively engaged with others to come up with ways to keep Trump in the White House.
Besides, we have Justice Samuel Alito who gives all kinds of appearances of being partial to right wing ideology and a willingness to aid and advance right wing causes. He and his wife flew the US flag upside down at their house to show their distress about the 2020 election being stolen and lied about how it happened. Sam, being a noble fellow, blamed his wife and said he had nothing to do with it and couldn’t do anything about it. They also flew a MAGA sympathizing flag at their vacation place for a few weeks, but he knows nothing ’bout it. That would be enough for many to wonder about Sam’s objectivity in cases regarding Trump, but to seal concerns, he was caught on tape showing more of his right-wing, religious ideology.
After all these red flags and how this Supreme Court has thrown previous legal precedents out the window, we’re all left wondering what they’ll decide.
The house floofs inspired my morning mental music stream (Trademark riffing) inhabitant. Tucker and Papi teamed up to drag me out of bed. I needed dragging because I wanted more sleep. Nope, wasn’t happening. Papi, per his habit, enters the room and yells a request and then goes down the hall. Tucker gets more personal and proximal about it. After bellowing yowls, he gets on the bed, walks up to my head, and starts tapping me, grumbling as he does. I mollified him with some sleepy scritches. He settled down and purred. I headed back to sleep but Papi revisited, yelling several times that he needed something.
With that background, I was head mumbling about how the cats get what they want, which led to The Neurons playing the part of “Heart and Soul” where Huey Lewis sings, “You see, she what she wants.” As I acknowledged the song’s presence, Huey Lewis and the News began doing their whole 1984 cover of the song. So that’s today’s theme music.
Be strong, lean forward, Vote Blue, and stay positive. Here’s the music; sorry, the coffee is already gone, circulating among the neurons. Cheers
Today is August of 2021’s final day, the 31st, a Tuesday. Tuesday’s child – what are they, full of grace? Or maybe they’re lost, out in space.
Sun popped in on us at 6:34 AM. Expect it to hang around and bring moderate warmth — in the eighties — until about 7:47 PM.
A strong and sustained wind blew in from the west yesterday. Cleared the air. Improved our air quality all the way from an extremely unhealthy rating to a moderate. Woo hoo. This was an hour before sunset. Dinner had been et. So we went for a walk. My wife only wanted to go so far due to her RA foot issues but I pressed on. Ended up walking two and a half miles. Coming back, walking toward the east, a huge smoke bank was visible. Gray and blue highlighted with air. My guess is this was the smoke being blown out of our valley. Horrifying, fascinating sight. If the wind shifted to the other direction, that would all pour back in on us. Also, while we were free, how people in that area must be suffering. Wasn’t far: just the end of town. Less than a mile straight down 99. Also, what of all the places in California, Oregon, et al, still on fire. Places where homes, businesses, and forests were still burning down. Also, places where the animals fled, where people evacuated. Couldn’t help but contemplate how miserable, worried, and anxious all of them must be.
I had several crazy dreams last night. Reflecting upon them as breakfast was made and consume and coffee brewed, I thought of crazy songs. Like “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley and friends. Patsy Cline. Ozzy with “Crazy Train”. “Let’s Go Crazy” — Prince. “Crazy in Love”. FYC with “She Drives Me Crazy”. But out of the shuffling came Aerosmith with “Crazy”. Crazy, isn’t it? I thought I’d go with it. Just felt right.
Stay positive, test negative, wear the mask as needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music and my coffee. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 