Tag: Information

Thurzda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Many of us who oppose Trump, whether he’s running for office, in office, or just breathing, have consistently pointed out that he uses others. Yet people voted for him by remarking that he speaks for them. And we replied, “Then you’re racist. Sexist. Anti-knowledge. Anti-history. Anti-fact. Anti-science.”

PINO Trusk is proving us right. His supporters and the low-information voters may never realize it. Okay, one to three percent might. (Isn’t that two percent? Yes, and that’s based on some marketing knowledge I acquired years ago.) But what’s that about action speaking louder than words?

‘Equity,’ ‘trauma’, ‘women’, and ‘female’ are among the words that could bring research grants under scrutiny in the US. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is reviewing thousands of ongoing grants to ensure compliance with executive orders issued by former President Donald Trump during his first week in office. These orders mandate the recognition of only two genders, scale back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and have led to the creation of a list of words whose use may trigger a review of funding, according to internal documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

Can it be more clearly stated that you’re sexist if you don’t allow the word ‘women’ to be written? Over half of the population of the United States are women. A vibrant and critical part of how we arrived here as a species and civilizaton, and women can’t be mentioned in National Science Foundation reports in the new Trusk administration.

How fucking backward is that? I thought Trusk, the GOTP, and Project 2025 wanted to drive us back into the 1800s. Wrong; they’re going further than that. Women as a word has been in use since the 12th century. That’s how far back the Trusk administration and the rignions — right-wing minions — are trying to take us.

“He speaks for us, he’s one of us.” And that’s why Alabama went big for Trump in 2024.

They’re probably pretty happy about their pretty situation now.

Here’s how much NIH cuts could cost UA, Tuscaloosa

President Trump’s tariffs: Why Alabama’s thriving car industry will see biggest impact

Trump’s job reduction order could hit most at this major Huntsville employer

Trump executive order leads to $100 energy bill hike for hundreds in Alabama

Alabama Arise: Federal funding cuts could undermine healthcare, education, vital services

Yep, less than a month in, and it’s all going great for Alabama!

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Thurzda’s Theme Music

A stiff wind was rockin’ us last night in Ashlandia. As night came on shift, I watched our outside temperature drop to 34 F and then rise to 37 F. Rain fell and the temperature kept sneaking up outside as the wind barked at the moving branchs and howled at the sky. It’s not 41 F. ‘They’ have notified us that 51 F is possible as a high. The wind has skipped into a more mellow mood, sunshine has found a place in the sky, and all seems momentarily well on this day, Thurzda, Feb. 13, 2025.

Snow remains out there in force but its presence is shrinking. Bushes and trees continue their recovery. Fallen branches and trees around the city are being collected, cut up, moved away. If a bit more snow can melt off the piles lining the roads, we’re almost be back to normal.

Many are commenting on the bizarro Oval Office presentation by PINO Trusk. The elected half sat in a chair doing nothing and little vacuous. The other paced and made claims about finding and eliminating fraud. He made wild claims but stayed with the GOTP M.O. of offering no evidence or facts to back the claims. Looked like a Banana Republic Production to me. Paul Krugman did a nice take down of it in a post titled, Elon Musk Is Faking It.

Bet you saw the news that the GOTP wants to raise the debt ceiling for PINO Trusk. One reason given for the need for more debt is that ICE is running low on funds. Wow, who would’ve predicted that, right? Well, just ’bout anybody with the wits to realize the enormous costs involved with Trusk’s deportation plans. As seen on TV, the GOTP and their Project 2025 planners are purty damn witless, in addition to being lawless.

The Neurons jumped back to 1974 to find a tune to honor PINO Trusk. With all of his claims, he’s done nothing provable in quest of slaying fraud, as he claims; he’s only made us more vulnerable as a nation, broke laws and undermined justice, broke promises made to his MAGAts (see inflation and the cost of eggs), and sowed disorder and chaos on a national scale.

Stevie Wonder was found to have provided a song for the times. He called it, “You Haven’t Done Nothin'”.

We are amazed but not amused
By all the things you say that you’ll do
Though much concerned but not involved
With decisions that are made by you

But we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong
‘Cause if you really want to hear our views
“You haven’t done nothing”!

It’s not too cool to be ridiculed
But you brought this upon yourself
The world is tired of pacifiers
We want the truth and nothing else

And we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong
‘Cause if you really want to hear our views
“You haven’t done nothing”!

h/t to AZLyrics.com

I chugged some coffee earlier and I’m pretty well ready to go. Hope you have the plum-est of days imaginable, or some reasonable facsimile thereof. Let’s go get it. Cheers

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Wenzda’s Wandering Thoughts

“Watch out for those stairs.”

My wife and her friend are telling me this. Going down some steps, I’m wearing the blue and white flat sandals forced on me by my lymphedema wraps around my feet and lower legs. They’re a little clumsy to walk in but after five days, I have the measure of them.

“Be careful,” they tell me, hovering around me like I’m a toddler taking their first steps.

“Watch the snow and ice,” they proclaim as I step outside. “There’s a clearer path over there.”

Their concern strikes me as condescending. I mean, they’re with me for ten minutes; what do they think I’m doing for the other twenty-three hours and fifty minutes of the day?

“Are you okay to drive?” one asks me.

I smile and nod. I mean, I drove over there. I’ve been driving every day with these things on several times per day. Really, their concern says more about them and their fears and worries than it says about me and my condition.

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Wenzda’s Theme Music

Greetings to all on this day, Wenzda, February 12, 2025. Sunshine is blazing across a bold blue sky, dazzling off the disheveled snow comforter still in place around much of Ashlandia. It’s 24 F, up from 19 F. Gonna get up to 42, 43 F, ‘they’ tell us.

A gorgeous full moon visited last night. Light sprayed across the snow, throwing deep shadows around trees and houses. One of those wondrous sights that hold your attention and forces you to invest in deep philosophical thoughts about the nature of existence. At least, until the wine runs out.

Happy Darwin Day! “Charles Robert Darwin, who first described the process of evolution of species in the plant and animal kingdoms through natural selection, was born.
It is now celebrated as Darwin Day, when the common language of science, bridging language and culture, is recognized and appreciated.“ stolen from Scottie’s Playtime. A friend puts on a one-person play as Darwin to honor the man. We were planning to attend but with the rise of flu and other respiratory illnesses, we backed off that intention.

That’s Dr. Pepper Trail on the right.

I also have another lymphedema bandage session this afternoon. The left appendage and all of its accessories responded well and I may come out of there wearing a normal shoe on it. The right, which had the surgery, still had some space to improve.

Today’s song is “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” by Elton John with Lyrics by Bernie Taupin. Released in 1973, while I was in high school, it’s one of those songs which are easy to sing along with…if you know the words! It’s like, what is he saying? Hearing the actual lyrics cause conniptions over meanings and associations. Some seem straightforward enough but others give a ‘huuuhhh?’ moment. It’s about longing to me, though, about being in a different place and time, one where you feel more comfortable. That’s why I The Neurons have delivered it to the morning mental music stream. Reading the world’s news, especially politics in the U.S., I wondered what road we’ll need to follow to survive and free ourselves of this mess. Where is the yellow brick road?

Coffee grabbed me as I was walking by and took me into the kitchen, where I indulged a cup to wash down a lemon turnover. Hope your day goes well. Stay safe out there. Cheers

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Twozda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

The news scene is a junkyard out there. Trying to find stories of substance, truth, and facts in an age when substance, truth, and facts are dismissed by a political leader, undermined by opportunistic greedheads, and bushwhacked by right-wing schemers can be like navigating a hoarder’s apartment. Strange, confusing, unexplainable messes abound. Figuring it all out wearies me in a nano second.

I’ve winnowed down my news feed to a trusted few. 1440 is my main daily news source. Several blogs augment it with insights and links to stories. Paul Krugman, Robert Hubble, Peter Sage, Diane Ravitch, and Heather Cox Richardson add depth, relevance, and historic insights. Blue Sky provides me with a buffet of other opinions and stories. But a more recent find has proven enormously effective.

I’m not sure how I stumbled onto Breaking News USA.com. I love their format. So simple. Straightforward. No popups, no ads crowding in to obscure information, no videos about other stories running.

Click on Firehose. A list of posts with links and headlines are revealed.

Stay on the main page. Breaking news up top. Simple font.

Then, below, different sources with links to three stories from each. Daily Kos. Crooks and Liars. The New Republic. ProPublica. Wonkette. The Nation. That’s just a few of them. There are a few missing which I’d like to see included but I’ll take what they give and look up the rest. Their site is so functional, informative, and useful, its beautiful.

I hope it lasts. Check it out. It could be of use to you, too.

Unless you enjoy those messy piles of news.

Update: Dang it, I forgot to mention that Oliver Willis maintains the site. So, thank you, Oliver Willis. Cheers

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Twozda’s Wandering Thoughts

I encountered a friend while I was out this morning. I hadn’t seen him in a while. Spotting my blue and white open-toe ortho sandals with their velcro straps that were forced on me for my lymphedema treatment, he asked, “What’s going on there? You okay?”

“Oh, yeah, sure. These are my new Nikes. They’re the latest in footwear. AI designed. And they are so comfortable. Really amazing. I know they don’t look like much….”

“No, they don’t.”

“No, but they’re actually this very sophisticated series of layered ‘smart’ materials that shape to your feet and adjust for your activity. Kind of expensive, too. I got these for about a hundred eighty dollars on Amazon.”

Shock rode into his expression. “Really?”

“No. I made all that up.” Turning off my brain’s bullshit center — the bullshitis centritis — I revealed the truth.

Then we had a good laugh about the fiction I’d spun.

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Yes!

Daily writing prompt
You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?
View all responses

I’ve thought about what I’d do if I got some great, amazingly fanastic news before. In fact, back in 1994, I bough a lottery ticket. The jackpot was some ridiculously high amount. A co-worker asked, “What will you do if you win?”

And I said, “I will shout, yes! Yes! Fuck yes! And I’ll punch my fist in the air for emphasis.”

That, I think is what my response will be to any great, amazingly fantastic news that I get. Then I’ll tell my wife so she can share my excitement.

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Raise Your Voice

Some Critical Info to Help Us Fight the Coup Against the People: Please Share Widely!!

Annieasksyou and tengrain at MPS are sharing resources for letting the Trusk administation know that We The People are pissed.

Annie’s points are worth pulling from her post and plopping here for added emphasis.

For anyone you know who doubts the importance of government services, perusing the links below will also be an education.

It takes a little patience to navigate among the agencies listed, and you’ll need to ignore an “Access Denied” notice.

If you appreciate this effort, there’s a request for donations to help the folks who are making this possible. All donations are tax-deductible.

I see the circulation of this information as a potentially massive citizen rebellion against Trump’s Second Attempted Coup to make us feel we have no power to oppose him and his ilk.

Let’s all fight back using our nonviolent weapons: our computers and smartphones. Please share on your blogs, social media, emails, and any other way you can think of. If you don’t want to keep all the links, you can save the instructions for adapting a government URL to reach the Wayback version.

And please, if you have Republican elected officials, contact them and tell them they must stop this wreckage. If enough Republicans can be barraged continually by their constituents, they may begin to deliver a message that even Trump can’t ignore.

Share widely. Persist. Resist.

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Mundaz’s Wandering Political Thoughts

The FAFO tide is rising. Who knows what impact it will have? PINO Trusk is an obtuse and ignorant beast. His (their) decisions and actions keep reinforcing that impression.

Like, under Trusk’s guidance, funding has been cut to research projects at universities. Why, that only affects blue states, elites, and libruls, right? No! Not according to some red state folks like Alabama’s junior senator Katie Britt.

Britt loves her some Trump. “One candidate has already proven he’s more than up for the job – because he’s done the job successfully,” Britt wrote. “There is one candidate I know will secure the border — because he’s done it. There is one candidate I know will achieve peace through strength — because he’s done it. And that’s why President Donald Trump has my endorsement to be our 47th President.” Britt didn’t drink the Kool-aid (yes, a dated reference, so I hope you get it), she opened the package and poured it straight into her mouth, chewed and swallowed. Yum!

But those cuts PINO Trusk has made. Yikes!

Katie Britt vows to work with RFK Jr. after NIH funding cuts cause concern in Alabama. “While the administration works to achieve this goal at NIH, a smart, targeted approach is needed in order to not hinder life-saving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutions like those in Alabama,” Britt told AL.com.

So don’t cut funds to her state. Cut it in those blue states. They’re not conducting life-saving, groundbreaking research, no sir, nope. Oh, the idiocy, the selffishness, the myopic views, paint a picture of ignorance personified.

As PINO Trusk attacks clean energy programs, news report after news report shows that red states will lose more. Trump Is Freezing Money for Clean Energy. Red States Have the Most to Lose. “About 80 percent of manufacturing investments spurred by a Biden-era climate law have flowed to Republican districts. Efforts to stop federal payments are already causing pain.”

What? No way. I don’t understand. Trusk ran on the promise to gut these programs. So those red states didn’t vote for him and cuts to the programs running in their states…did they? Well, I’m sure they had good reasons to vote him and his promise to cut those nasty green energy programs.

PINO Trusk’s decision to shut down U.S.A.I.D. is having repercussions among the Trusk faithful, too. How Christian Groups Are Responding to Trump’s Foreign-Aid Freeze. “Among the organizations that lost funding are such Christian behemoths as World Vision, International Justice Mission, Samaritan’s Purse, and Catholic Relief Services, which at $476 million, was the largest USAID recipient in 2024.” Oh, no, who could’ve thunk it? FAFO, right? Sure you’re right.

And surprise, Gutting USAID threatens billions of dollars for U.S. farms, businesses! Well, that can’t be too bad, can it? After all, Trusk is a genius. He would’ve known that farmers and U.S. businesses and workers depend on that U.S.A.I.D. funds, right? Of course! So those businesss, farmers, and workers must all be wasteful, or the genius wouldn’t have cut their funding.

“USAID oversees projects such as food aid, disaster relief and health programs in over 100 countries with a staff of more than 10,000 and a budget of around $40 billion. Billions of those dollars flowed back into the American economy until President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day freeze on foreign-aid spending last month.

“Now U.S. businesses that sold goods and services to USAID are in limbo. That includes American farms, which supply about 41 percent of the food aid that the agency, working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sends around the world each year, according to a 2021 report by the Congressional Research Service. In 2020, the U.S. government bought $2.1 billion in food aid from American farmers.”

I’m sure that none of that will affect the unemployment rate, or other economic factors.

Trump should ‘get rid’ of FEMA, Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem says. Wow, Trusk is really going after that waste! Look how much was wasted by FEMA just last year when they helped states hit by wildfires, hurricanes, tornados, and flooding!

“We still need the resources and the funds and the finances to go to people who have these types of disasters like Hurricane Helene and the fires in California,” Noem told CNN’s Dana Bash. “But you need to let the local officials make the decisions on how that is deployed so it can be deployed much quicker.”

Sure! Because local officials without electricity, water, or resources on hand like temporary housing will just be able to snap their fingers and fix it all!

Somehow, this reminds me of that time when President 45 cut the pandemic response time back in 2020.

That worked out real well, didn’t it?

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