Tag: knowledge

Twosdaz Wandering Political Thoughts

A couple bits of political news seized my neurons last night and today. All are about Trump, one way or another.

First comes Trump’s announcement about Epstein. “Trump says he ended friendship with Epstein because he ‘stole people that worked for me'” Trump was not concerned about reports of predatory behavior, sex trafficking, rapes, and child abuse. No. Trump was upset that Epstein hired people away from Trump’s businesses. Real empathy on display there, isn’t there?

Along those lines, many of us were aghast about Trump’s word choice when talking to reporters about Epstein Island. Trump said that he never had the privilege of visiting Epstein Island. A place shrouded with horror stories, part of the fabric of the cases against Epstein and Maxwell, and Trump says he ‘never had the privilege’. He’s such a mindless, empty buffoon.

Comedians rightfully tore Trump apart on it.

“Trump was like, ‘I’m sorry, what I really meant was I never had the honor.” — JIMMY FALLON

“[imitating Epstein] ‘Hey, Donald, want go to the island this weekend?’ ‘[imitating Trump] Well, first of all, Jeffrey, thank you for thinking of me. Unfortunately, that’s the weekend that the teen pageant that I bought is installing the indoor security locker room cameras.’” — JON STEWART

“[imitating Trump] Sadly, I never had the honor of dining with Jeffrey Dahmer.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

Finally, Senator Durbin gave me some fleeting satisfaction. This was at a recent Senate Judiciary hearing where ‘esteemed’ Republican senators are eager to help give Trump cover. To do that, they want to investigate President Biden’s state of health. Durbin ably points out all the things going on which are way more critical which should be investigated, and ends with a montage of asinine Trump statements that really make you wonder about Trump’s mental health.

Senator Durbin points out that during a Trump meeting with UK personnel, Trump trumpeted that they have an agreement with the EU. UK has not been a part of the EU for five years. You’d think that the President should know that.

Trump also noted, “The kidney has a special place in the heart.”

Then there is the gem when discussing Hurricane Florence, “This is a tough hurricane, One of the wettest we’ve ever seen from the standpoint of water.” I’m glad he clarified that. I thought he might be mentioning it from the standpoint of beer, coffee, or dirt.

The Grand Old Trump Party — GOTP, for short — will never take up investigations of the Dear Leader, of course. They instead try to deflect, attempting again and again to blame Democrats and Presidents Obama and Biden for the economy, Epstein affair, or whatever draws negative attention to this. You’d think that people would be waking up.

But, no. I read a disheartening interview with Latino Trump voters in the NY Times.

Joe, 69, Colo., Republican, retired

I am also very conservative. I have a deep faith. And I think our religious freedoms are being eroded away. But I am optimistic. I think things could change.

Moderator, Kristen Soltis Anderson

What makes you optimistic that things could change?

Joe, 69, Colo., Republican, retired

We have a good president. If Congress will just get behind him and back him up, I think there’s a lot of good he could do for us.

After reading that piece and these voters’ thoughts, I remember, many will not change until something affects them personally.

Time will tell if it’ll be too late for them, and too late for us.

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The 11/22 Dream

Young, I was outside at a gathering surrounded by friends and many other festive souls. I was waiting to begin a trip, but I didn’t know any details. Seated at a small white table with matching chairs, people would come by and say hello or they’d pass and I’d call out greetings. It was all very carefree and relaxed. At one point, I decided to make some of my hair light blue. Then, tiring of it, I’d wiped the blue hair almost completely out, leaving just a streak of light blue.

On the white table were three tall glasses with ice. I knew that these had been Long Island Ice Teas, and I’d consumed them. A fourth glass was 3/4 full with another Long Island Ice Tea, but I’d decided not to drink it. Besides those was a flat white napkin thick with light blue; that had been my hair before I wiped it off.

I’d met a new person, a young man named Robert. We chatted and got along. I started calling him Rob or Robby. Then I heard someone called him Bobby. I asked him about it and he said, “Yes, I prefer Bobby.” I said, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Bobby was going away, to the same place where I was going. But Bobby had all of his details about when he was going and how, and he was leaving the next morning. People asked me, “Why does Bobby know but you don’t know. That doesn’t make sense.” I shrugged it off but it began to bother me.

Several things I did know was that I was leaving on 11/22, and that was a week away, and I was flying, and someone else was making my arrangements. I decided to try to find out more. I brought out my laptop and then inserted my hard drive, which I’d removed for safety. But then, I lost interest in knowing, thinking, they will tell me and there’s no hurry.

Dream end.

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Satyrda’s Wandering Thoughts

Not too long ago, I learned more about sudoriferous or sudoriparous glands. These are basically our sweat glands, if you’re human. My reading instructed me about the apocrine sweat glands, and eccrine sweat glands. I never gave sweat glands much thought before, but this was related to something I was writing, in a really thin tangenital way. I don’t want to get all pedantic about it because most of your probably already learned these things that I’m just coming upon, but all sweat is not the same. I kind of guessed that from the smell and feel of sweat in my armpits and groin area versus everywhere else there where sweat glands reside. Also, check out how tiny these sweat glands are on this photo of a fingerprint. Pretty amazing, right?

Human sweat gland pores on the ridges of a finger pad

In an aside, it’s good to have the net available to provide this info. I ding the net for not being perfect but it really can be helpful.

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Saturda’s Wandering Thoughts

I learned more new stuff yesterday. I’d never heard of ‘reverse harem’. So I looked it up: romance where a woman has multiple love interests.

In the course of exploring that, I discovered vore, a shortening of vorarephilia: an erotic desire to be eaten or to consume someone. I’ve never had such a desire and it’s alien to me. But I can see how it can be a part of a character or plot. Imagine building this into stories about aliens or time travel. How ’bout a vore time-traveler with an erotic interest in eating other time-travelers? Or a human with a desire to be eaten by aliens?

Then I learned about agnotology: the study of deliberate, culturally induced ignorance or doubt.

I’m constantly amazed by how little I know. I definitely need to expand my spheres of thinking and socializing.

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Munda’s Theme Music

A cold night surrendered to blue skies and warming sunshine. It’s 62 F now. The sun is promoting a high of 76 F. It’s said that we’ll see 81 F tomorrow. This is Munda, May 5, 2025 in Ashlandia. This is spring in Ashlandia.

Our trip last week gifted us a few things. One, my sciatica kicked in on Saturday. Too much time in a car seat. I’ve been dealing with it off and on since I was 20. I can usually feel it developing and head it off with stretching exercises. My early warning system failed me this time. I didn’t medicate but my wife suggested a Salon Pas. I slapped that thing on. I couldn’t believe the ensuing burning. I was in a recliner watching telly. The heat grew so intense, I pulled the patch off. On a whim, I popped it on my belly.

Well, call me Steve if I wasn’t surprised by the results. I suffer belly bloat. That Salon Pas patch remarkably reduced it. So I did it again yesterday. Same result. I was truly astonished and impressed and put another one on today. Only drawback from the patch at this point is hair. Yes, I’m a hairy boi. Getting that patch off required scissors and delicacy. The end result was a belly Brazil.

That’s my side. My wife could hardly get out of a chair on Friday night. She’d been complaining about pain and using different methods to address inflamation and pain. Epsom paths. Salon Pas. Valtaren. Red light therapy. Bed rest. Diet. But her weakness scared me. She’s better today but related that when we were on vacation, she worried about getting out of the bathtub. Fortunately, handles were available. Here an home, she reported a similar problem.

Her problems dig into my psyche as my sister peppers me with updates on Mom. “Mom is really debilitated. She’s confused about dates and other things.” Mom went and stayed with sis. “Mom said that she had to pee. Then she stood and began peeing. I went to help her, asking her what she needs. Mom said, I’m going to fall. I dropped everything and rushed over and caught her, keeping her from falling.” There are good answers about what to do but none are simple. Guilt spreads through me because I seem to recover. My sciatica did a quick and silent goodbye while Mom and my wife both endure. I can do little for either.

Politics again inspired The Neurons for today’s music. A conversation with my wife was the catalyst. She was reading about Conservatives complaining that the root of all of today’s problems in the USA is letting white women go to college and having the right to vote. Apparently, all those women going to college are getting liberal arts degrees and daring to think, and college screws up their thinking.

Like, WTF, seriously? Do those men really believe that? Pretty damn galling to that these people, these obviously sexist and biased shallow thinkers, think they have the right to deprive others of rights.

Included in the responses was a woman being interviewed. She said she could never vote for a woman to be POTUS. Because of hormones. What? Yes, because of hormones. If they’re going through menopause, their mood will change and they’ll go off and start a war.

The male interviewer responded, “But haven’t all the wars been started by men so far?”

The woman went wide eye and still. The video ended.

Talking about this thread of crazo thinking, we remarked, so many people underestimate others’ contributions. Maybe they learn and forget.

And that encouraged The Neurons to begin The Who and “Eminence Front” in the morning mental music stream.

Drinks flow
People forget
That big wheel spins, the hair thins
People forget
Forget they’re hiding
The news slows
People forget
Their shares crash, hopes are dashed
People forget
Forget they’re hiding

h/t to Americansongwriter.com

Off to drink more coffee and employ my neurons in some writing. Hope your energy is up and pulls you safely through another day. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Thirstda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Once again, without much urging, I think, what fucking idiots.

Unfortunately, I’m in that frame of mind many times as I read the news. This time, the fucking idiots are lawyers.

Lawyers are supposedly smart people. That’s what I’ve always been told. Admittedly, the few lawyers I’ve personally encountered did reduce my appreciation for lawyers’ intelligence. Now, after watching the news for the last five years, I feel that they standards have been steadily dropping. Did you read their arguments about the ‘stolen election’? Did you see their performance in Trump’s trials? Did you read about the Roberts Court decision that Trump has immunity for his acts as POTUS? Sure, they tried to write around it and explain that it’s not absolute. You can bet your ass that Trump is thinking, “I’m President, and I’m making these decisions, and the Supreme Court said that I can’t be tried for that.”

Yes, it was a stupid fucking decision.

I’m telling you, lawyers are dumbing down. Soon, the requirements for being a lawyer will be, “Do you speak English, have five million dollars, and will vow allegiance to the great and mighty sacred god, Donald Trump? Here you go: you’re a lawyer.”

The kickoff for this new round of low regard for lawyers was a New York Times headline:

Law Firms Made Deals With Trump. Now He Wants More From Them.

“To avoid retribution, big firms agreed to provide free legal services for uncontroversial causes. To the White House, that could mean negotiating trade deals — or even defending the president and his allies.“

Absolute fucking fools, I think. Fucking idiots. Have these lawyers not been awake and aware of Donald fucking Trump for the last twenty years? He lacks honor. Has gone back on his word several times, describing it as being ‘flexible’. His only principle is, “How can I further enrich myself?” Secondary to that is, “How can I make others pay for making fun of me and not worshipping me as the greatest ever?” The man is a documented liar. He violated his marriage vows with affairs. He will cheat these law firms out of every fucking dollar and shred of dignity they have.

Capitulating to Trump is not the answer. Reading and thinking individuals know this. Michael Cohen warned us. So I want to know: how did these lawyers get their degrees and pass the bar without being able to fucking read and think?

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Frida’s Wandering Political Thoughts

I’m trying to decide: are we living in the New Dark Ages, or the Chaos Era?

I think it might be both.

It could also be that the Chaos Era is the New Dark Ages intro. Too early for mere mortals to decide. Historians or AI will call it at some future date.

The news churn stays heavy. Stock market swings and bond selloffs, inflation, and tariff wars suck up most of the oxygen, followed by Trump administration emergency appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, and docket rulings. I’m forced to hunt for updates to stories which I follow, like the U.S. measles outbreaks.

West Texas has 541 reported measles cases but ‘only’ 30 of them are still able to spread. The U.S. has over 700 cases now. Six states are reporting measles outbreaks. The U.S. is reporting 90 new cases in one week in the nation, the highest since 2019.

Trump was POTUS for that 2019 outbreak, too. I think there might be a pattern there…

With vaccination rates down, measles cases have been reported in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington.

Under RFK Jr’s guidance, the Federal government’s response is spotty. That reminds me that we already had the Anti-science Age and Misinformation Age under way, along with the Conspiracy Era.

Donald Trump may have put the name on the period for us: “I couldn’t care less.”

Yes, it’s the Careless Age of Misinformation and Chaos. CAMAC. A place of chaos, misinformation, declining personal freedom, drooping consumer confidence, rising prices, growing ignorance, increasing disease, less trust, more danger, and mushrooming lawlessness.

Also known as Trumpworld.

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What An Idiot

A Refill of Stupid?

What an absolutely brainless sack of meat Tommy Tuberville reveals to be again anagain anagain. That doesn’t paint his constituents as a very bright crowd, either.

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Saturda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

We’re witness to the Great Undoing. Anyone fired from a job or who suffers loss from a death that alters their routines know about the undoing. Habits and routines created by job needs or the deceased one are now changed. Those gaps yawn before you. You exercise mental thought processes… “Oh, I don’t need to leap out of bed at six AM, hurry through a shower, dressing, and breakfast to jump on the highway to commute to work to get into the office by — ” Fill in your times.

Likewise, when someone who is part of your regular circles passes, you’re face to face with the change: “Oh, they’re not there to greet me. I don’t need to stop and speak with them, or check on them. They’re not there.”

Many in the United States are working through forms of undoing. Federal workers are suddenly enduring the shock of not having to roll out of bed, dress, and do the morning work dance. They’ve been fired. Terminated. Let go by Imperial Presidential Executive Orders.

Around the country, the monies provided by U.S.AID are gone. The routines associated with getting children to school where they’re provided a meal are over. Churches and charities dependent on that fund stream are going through undoing because the money isn’t there. If the money is gone, so is the food and shelter. Workers and employees suddenly endure the undoing as the routines of helping the impoverished are ended by Imperial Presidential Executive Order. Not just in foreign countries but here in the U.S., too.

Contracts to provide new buildings and essential services have been ended by Imperial Presidential Executive Order. The great undoing commences as workers are released from those projects. Buildings stand unfinished. National Park Visitor Centers stayed closed and dark. Trash goes uncollected. Nobody mans the towers to watch for fires.

Trump’s Hiring Freeze Throws Wildfire Fighters Into Disarray

As anti-vaccination is encouraged the health and safety enjoyed by communities across the nation go through an undoing. Children and the vulnerable elderly are closely watched for signs of diseases long ago stamped out by vaccinations, more victims of limited intelligence, less compassion, and Imperial Presidential Executive Orders.

Air travel is adjusted as staff are cut. More undoing. Traffic congestion in New York leaps up again. Accident rates rise. Confidence in government systems fall, part of the undoing of having regulations and requirements slashed away, along with inspectors to see what went wrong to prevent it from happening again. People become skeptical, leery of these systems…use falls. Airlines see the results.

From DC to Arizona: Why are so many planes crashing in 2025?

Farmers study crop prices and markets and endure the bitter undoing. Veterans protected by DEI programs are released from work positions and begin undoing their daily functions. Students helped by grant programs begin undoing their education hopes and dreams. Children affected by the undoing no longer go into facilities to play, learn how to socialize, visit with friends, and hearing stories read to them, undoings of things just begun.

Billions of Dollars at Stake for Farmers Hit by Trump Funding Freeze, Pause on Foreign Aid

Financial and economic experts study revenue and spending trends, note the stability created by an intelligent network of regulations developed after previous financial disasters and begin preparing their clients and institutions for the undoing, unsure how it will play out, as this is early days. Stock prices drop.

Walmart stock tumbles after the retailer lowers its sales outlook: “We are in an uncertain time”

All part of the Great Undoing undertaken by a group of people dismissing the government’s influence as overbearing, dismissing history as wrong, insisting scientists and professionals don’t know what they are doing. They know better.

Science under siege: Trump cuts threaten to undermine decades of research

And so, as Imperial Presidential Executive Orders destroy the government’s ability to function, as the United States withdraws from treaties, alliances, trade agreements, and mutual assistance organizations, the Great Undoing spreads, fallout from the Great Shitstorm of 2025, the result of the 2024 U.S. elections.

As Imperial Presidential Executive Orders are issued, undoing the work of Congress and previous administrations, we will see what happens with our constitutional system of checks and balances. Will it hold?

Freshman Congressman tells constituent he is powerless to stop Musk’s budget cuts

Or will the Great Undoing be the United States’ undoing?

2

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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