Twozdaz Theme Music

Good morning to the world once again. This time, it’s Twozda, September 30, 2025. Blustery day for September’s final shout, chilly and wet in Ashlandia. 46 F outside. Summer has packed its bags. Autumn has slid in. 62 F will be Ashlandia’s high.

I hoped Trump doesn’t read about the Taliban’s move. 1440 tells me, “Taliban severs fiber optic connections across Afghanistan in its first nationwide internet shutdown amid morality crackdown”. That sort of morality move has a TACO vibe. I could see him making an announcement that he’s shutting down the Internet without understanding of the rippling effect across the nation and world, blaming the Democrats for making him do it or some shit.

I also couldn’t avoid the news that Bad Bunny is the next Superbowl halftime headliner. While congratulations to Bad Bunny are extended, I’m indifferent to the halftime show and typically just walk away. I’m not actually deep into watching the game unless my team is in it. I do casually tune in if my team is not. My wife, who is a social observer, does like to clock the commercials for the freshest and most interesting, an outgrowth of her time in the advertising industry over a quarter century ago.

One must wonder if the NFL knew that Bad Bunny would be a controversial choice.

Bad Bunny Being Chosen for Super Bowl Halftime Show Sparks MAGA Fury

The Superbowl halftime show used to have a ‘theme’. The last theme listed in Wikipedia’s list of shows was in 2004, when the theme was Use or Lose, an MTV effort to encourage people in the United States to register and vote. I think it ironic, given Trump and the GOP’s efforts to curtail the vote by making it harder by doing things like challenging mail-in ballots and baselessly screaming about voter fraud and stolen elections. Trump understands, though, scream loud enough and often enough, and people will begin believing, contrary to the old adage about people crying wolf too many times.

Maybe this year’s Superbowl theme is, Screw You, Donald Trump. It’d be great if there was a Jumbotron display of Donald J. and his BFF, Jeffrey Epstein, and their mates during the show. Wouldn’t that be great?

Today’s theme music comes from a juxtaposition gumbo. Like Trump’s declining ratings, the arguments washing around the looming Federal gubmint shutdown, frustrations with a Pandora’s box of personal matters that aren’t about me, per se, and about generalizations about enshittification of modern U.S. first world life. Although yes, I read that Trump’s approval rating has mildly ticked up recently, an abomination of common sense and critical thinking, but that’s how he was elected to start. Overall, I hold to a sense of free fallin’, hence the Tom Petty song choice today from 1989, “Free Fallin'”.

Got my lucky shirt on so I have hopes for the day. But I’m not sure about the providence of my other garments, particularly my underwear. They’re newish, and unproven. Here’s hopes that grace and peace find their way out of the woods and into our lives once again. Till then, cheers.

Trump is Crashing Another Piece of Democracy

FEMA cancelled BRIC projects.

April 8, 2025. Friday, FEMA announced that it is ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and canceling all BRIC applications from Fiscal Years 2020-2023. If grant funds have not been distributed to states, tribes, territories and local communities, funds will be immediately returned either to the Disaster Relief Fund or the U.S. Treasury. It has also canceled the fiscal year 2024 notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), where $750 million in grants was to be allocated. 

FEMA’s press release says ‘President Trump’ and Kristi Noem eliminated waste.

Ending this program will help ensure that grant funding aligns with the President’s Executive Orders and Secretary Noem’s direction and best support states and local communities in disaster planning, response and recovery. 

Just a reminder, but BRIC was established and funded by Congress. The canceled projects were jointly developed by state, Federal, and local officials using history, engineering, insights, and science to identify problems and develop ways to mitigate the potential impact.

But these projects don’t meet Donald Trump’s understanding of how government is supposed to work in the United States. He has no empathy, and as he often does, he looks backward. He’s not forward thinking. His actions are not those of a President. They are not the actions of a servant of We the People.

Peruse this abbreviated list of the many projects, states, and communities affected. And call your Congressman.

Let them know that the United States is not the sole domain of one citizen.

Funding cut to Austin’s flood mitigation program

Grants Pass loses $50 million grant for water plant as FEMA program is killed

FEMA cancels grant program, funding for projects in Tulsa, Stillwater

Conway scrambles for new funding after FEMA halts grant for flood prevention project

Loss of $20 million in FEMA infrastructure grants ‘devastating’ to North Dakota communities

FEMA slashes $300 million in flooding, hurricane relief projects in Florida

Update: Baton Rouge flood projects paused after FEMA program cut

Mapleton Water District faces setback due to cancellation of FEMA’s BRIC program

N.C. town hit hard by floods could lose millions in federal dollars

Catskills town hit by Irene loses FEMA assistance after federal program cut

Trump cuts upend major NJ storm protection projects

FEMA Cuts Will Stop Flood Mitigation Projects in Brooklyn

Elected officials blast Trump over FEMA cuts affecting Queens flood mitigation

FEMA cuts $30 million grant earmarked to improve flooding, drainage issues in Savannah

Napa County ‘Deeply Concerned’ As FEMA Cancels $35M Wildfire Resilience Grant

Puerto Rico Loses FEMA Funds for Climate Adaptation



Monday’s Theme Music

Mood: Mondossified

Today is Monday, August 19, 2024. Our cool weather continues. Cloudy, just 56 F now, only go to pop another 21 degrees today. Only expected to crack 80 F tomorrow. Clear air also continues for us, which is awesome for us.

We get the Democratic National Convention this week, live from Chicago. The countdown to the elections continues. Continuing their tit-for-tat politics, the GOP is trying to make a case for corruption against President Biden. They have become the party that can’t think straight. Chaos, deflection, and hyprocrisy are their tools. Their only plan is to connive, distract, lie, and accuse.

Puerto Rico continues recovering from Hurricane Ernesto. Meanwhile, news of a mercury bomb in the Arctic area broke cover. Oh, good, that’s what the world needs.

Over on the political big screen, extreme right-wingers like Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens, and Laura Loomer are complaining that Trump hasn’t slid to the right enough yet, and has softened. They believe, apparently a hardline is called for to suck in some undecideds. They don’t mention the gibberish he often spews, lack of coherent policies, or his inability to remember people and places as a reason why he might not be a good POTUS; he’s just too soft for them. That’s why his polls are slumping.

Right.

Staying with colors in the song title as my theme, I spun the wheel of fate. It landed on white. “Nights in White Satin!” The Neurons screamed. “Whiter Shade of Pale! White Wedding! White Punks on Dope! Black or White! White Rabbit!”

“Calm down,” I told them. “Have some coffee. It’ll help you relax.” By then, “Dirty White Boy,” a 1979 rocker by Foreigner about Elvis Presley was already occupying the morning mental music stream (Trademark dirty). So that’s that.

Stay positive, be strong, have some coffee, and vote blue. Here’s the music. Cheers

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