Grapefruit and Corruption

Here is the photo of the day.  The rest of it is about the absolute disaster that was today.  Read all about it!

We are so screwed.  CISA is a cyber security agency in the US Government.  Two DOGE people are now on staff there and have access to it all.  Today CISA was told to stop any and all work related to Russia.  They can still look at Iran and China, but Russia is off the table.  CISA does a lot of work ensuring election integrity.  

This article is not paywalled.  Hit Continue at the bottom of the first page, then when you're on the donate page go back to the first page to read.

I'm going to excerpt some of this in case you can't navigate the begging.

The Trump administration has publicly and privately signaled that it does not believe Russia represents a cyber threat against US national security or critical infrastructure, marking a radical departure from longstanding intelligence assessments.

The shift in policy could make the US vulnerable to hacking attacks by Russia, experts warned, and appeared to reflect the warming of relations between Donald Trump and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.

Two recent incidents indicate the US is no longer characterizing Russia as a cyber security threat.

Liesyl Franz, deputy assistant secretary for international cybersecurity at the state department, said in a speech last week before a United Nations working group on cyber security that the US was concerned by threats perpetrated by some states but only named China and Iran, with no mention of Russia in her remarks. Franz also did not mention the Russia-based LockBit ransomware group, which the US has previously said is the most prolific ransomware group in the world and has been called out in UN forums in the past. The treasury last year said LockBit operates on a ransomeware-as-service model, in which the group licenses its ransomware software to criminals in exchange for a portion of the paid ransoms.

In contrast to Franz’s statement, representatives for US allies in the European Union and the UK focused their remarks on the threat posed by Moscow, with the UK pointing out that Russia was using offensive and malicious cyber attacks against Ukraine alongside its illegal invasion.

“It’s incomprehensible to give a speech about threats in cyberspace and not mention Russia and it’s delusional to think this will turn Russia and the FSB (the Russian security agency) into our friends,” said James Lewis, a veteran cyber expert formerly of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. “They hate the US and are still mad about losing the cold war. Pretending otherwise won’t change this.”

The US policy change has also been established behind closed doors.

A recent memo at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) set out new priorities for the agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security and monitors cyber threats against US critical infrastructure. The new directive set out priorities that included China and protecting local systems. It did not mention Russia.

A person familiar with the matter who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity said analysts at the agency were verbally informed that they were not to follow or report on Russian threats, even though this had previously been a main focus for the agency.

End excerpt.  There is more here on the subject.

The CISA news is on top of today's ambush of Zelenskyy by 47 and the VP.  If you haven't seen the footage, here is a short clip of 47 being an ass-hat.  After they withdrew for lunch, 47 and the Secretary of the Treasury decided they didn't want to talk anymore, and ordered the Ukrainians out of the building.  They did not get lunch.

The labor department is laying off a lot of their contract compliance office.  They will now be concentrating on discrimination against veterans and disabled people. Women and POCs are just out of luck.  From the WAPO we learn the following, "Plans obtained by The Post show the office will maintain 50 employees to enforce discrimination law for veterans and workers with disabilities, but it will no longer be staffed to audit companies for pay and hiring disparities for women and minority workers. Much of that work had been halted since Trump last month overturned an anti discrimination order signed by Lyndon B. Johnson, which established the office’s primary mission 60 years ago."  

The US State Department has terminated a program that has been helping Ukraine rebuild its energy grid after Russia bombs it.  Very important in the dead of winter.

This has been the worst day yet.  However, I'm sure there is more to come.  That is all I have to say about things.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Today was a ride day.  We rode well, I think we're getting stronger.  Once you're old it's difficult to add strength.  It takes awhile, but can be done.  The important thing is not to have breaks in the fitness program, which both us of have caused over the years.  Fortunately, we're good at the moment, it's all working according to spec.

Yesterday we decided to drive downtown and see what we would see on the St. Mary project.  I blogged about this here.  According to their website the following work was done.

From the article we learn, "The complete reconstruction of mainline I-10 for the segment between St. Mary’s Road and 29th Street included 6 new bridges, 17 retaining walls totaling nearly 14,000 linear feet of walls, drainage structures paralleling the corridor, and pavement design. The field investigation program conducted by NCSG included 122 borings for the various structures. A combination of drill rigs was required, including conventional truck mounted, track mounted for drilling on slopes, and difficult access rigs for the sides of steep embankment slopes."

The post was from January 2023.  Apparently, we missed most of the I-10 work before we came back in 2023, we left in 2021.  The remaining work seems to be the new St. Mary's underpass.  That is still closed, maybe next year.

This is heading under the railroad bridge downtown.  The yellow store is a bike shop.  This is really old Tucson.

There used to be an empty lot in front of the mural, we were always afraid it would be obscured.  However, road widening has taken care of the vacant lot, and the mural is saved.

There is a large defunct building that I think used to be cold storage.  They have a very long wall, which is painted with a mural of cows and cowboys.

It has been there forever.

Today was a beautiful day, warm and the wind wasn't bad.  We saw this yucca in some one's front yard.  I love these things, they look like aliens.

In news of 47, he hosted Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the UK, today.  When Mr. Starmer postulated that there was no bad blood between the US and Canada, 47 looked at him and said "that's enough."  That's not how one generally treats allies with whom we have a special relationship.  Mr. Starmer also countered JD Vances' statement that the UK and EU don't have free speech with a "yes we do."  JD just needs to stop talking.

Enough of them, they give me a headache.

Toasty, Stupid and Corrupt

It's 85F today, it was fairly toasty towards the end of the ride.  We're going to have to stop reading the horrible news of the day in the morning, and get up and get out of the house earlier.  It's a terrible habit that we've fallen into.  

I have written before about the beauty of a straw bale wall.  One has recently perished, more than likely due to water intrusion.  This is what they look like on the inside.

Once water gets in there, they start to rot and lose structural integrity.  The owner of this house is replacing it with cinder blocks.  It will be much more durable, but less pretty.  You don't get the surface irregularity.

Here is one that has been redone, and is currently standing. 

Other than that, we've taken out two bougainvilleas, and have not too much to say for ourselves. 

Today there was a runway incursion on the part of a small jet and a South West airlines plane.  No one was hit.  Play this youtube, in the first 15 seconds you can see the small jet ignore an order to "hold short' and move from the left to the right across the active runway, into the path of the landing South West jet.  The SW jet does a go around, it's amazing how much power these planes have to get back in the air.  One wonders what the pilot on the tiny jet saw looking out the right window.

Other than this, I have nothing interesting to say, that doesn't include the current administration.

The first two paragraphs are plagiarized from the internet.  For some reason, I did not go back and get the names associated with the text.  It's good text, so I'm going with it and asking for forgiveness.

After Monday's U.N. General Assembly vote, the United States has officially aligned itself with Russia, Belarus, Burundi, Eritrea, Mali, and Sudan. Yeah, you read that right—America just put itself in the same category as some of the world’s worst authoritarian regimes. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Israel also joined the ranks of dictatorships by voting alongside them. This is a historic disgrace. The U.S. just threw away its last shred of credibility on the global stage and cemented its place as a declining, rogue state. Welcome to the Third World Order.
The UN has adopted Ukraine’s resolution condemning Russian aggression and demanding the immediate withdrawal of Putin’s forces, marking the war’s third anniversary. The U.S. joined Russia, North Korea, Belarus, and Hungary in opposing the resolution.

U.S. President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered the shutdown of the U.S. military base in Alexandroupoli, Greece, according to Greek newspaper Dimokratia. According to Greek media, Trump’s decision to dismantle the military presence in Alexandroupoli came after a joint request from Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The base in Alexandroupoli has been a key logistical hub for U.S. and NATO operations in southeastern Europe. Its presence had been a point of contention, particularly with Turkey, which has long opposed U.S. military operations in the region. 

Trump's obedient Treasury servant Scott Bessent has published an op ed in FT, calling for US seizure of Ukrainian mineral assets without offering Ukraine anything whatsoever. These ruthless predators have no shame & no morals.

Apparently there is now a Memorandum of Understanding that gives the US 50% of Ukraine's mineral wealth, but with not security agreements on the part of the US.  Much of the minerals are in Donansk, which is currently controlled by Russia. 

After firing the Chief of Staff, Hegseth fired three senior JAG officers.  There is a dark reason for this, the ending of "posse comitatus."  That's the law that forbids the use of the military against US citizens.  JAG officers would be the ones who tell the military if an order is legal or not.  Clearly 47 is looking ahead, to when he wants to unleash the military on all of us.  Can't wait.  More is here.

So, that's all I have to say about things.

Odds and Ends

I had planned on writing a well reasoned, and organized post, but it's late in the day and I am unmotivated.  So, here is what I've put in my "to be blogged" file in no particular order.

One of the crypto currencies was hacked, $1.5B was stolen.  This is why it probably should nor replace gold as the basis for our currency.  Here is an article on that subject.  I personally find the whole thing astonishing and ridiculous.

Why you might need a measles booster.  It depends on what type of original shot you got, and how old you are.  I got the MMR a few years ago, and am happy about that.  This is from the article, "But public health experts say there are some adults who should consider getting revaccinated. That includes older adults who were born after 1957 and were vaccinated before 1968.  That's because early versions of the measles vaccine were made from an inactivated (killed) virus, which didn't work particularly well, Offit says. That's why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone vaccinated before 1968 get at least one dose of the live attenuated vaccine."

Read this, we've become jackals.  

We saw this the last time we rode the mountain bikes.  Pretty cool, eh? 

These are known as jellyfish clouds. They're altocumulus clouds with virga "tails". There's just enough moisture for those clouds to produce rain, but it evaporates quickly.

Musk put out an edict that government workers must send a list of five things they did that week.  Twitter users and bloggers are rising to the challenge.

Liam Nissan is a parody account.  However, it's amazing how many republicans think he is Liam Neeson.  He apologizes to Mr. Neeson about once a month.

Welp, blogger just quit wrapping text again, so I guess I'm done typing.

Plants and Stupid

This morning I had the thought that it was a beautiful day, the sun was out, the birds were chirping, and perhaps I would write a cheerful post that did not include anything about that man.  Hah.  Hah Hah Hah.

I'll start with the pretty photos.  Parts of our back yard, and the neighbor's to the south of us do not have irrigation.  Only the hardy plants survive.  Yesterday I noticed a large swath of these plants.  Google Lens identifies it as a Kalanchoe, but I don't know what kind.  It amazes me that something this fleshy can grow back there with no water.

This is a tall cactus that grows in the front yard.  If you look at the top, you can see flower buds emerging.

At the base, you can see four new arms growing.  The one on the right is hard to see, but he's there.

The cheerful Brittle Bush is blooming.   He's on irrigation, he's happy.

So, that was the nice stuff.  

47 is a firm believer in the unitary executive theory, meaning that he alone controls the executive branch.  He can hire and fire at will.  We're starting to see him manifest this.  DeJoy has stepped down from running USPS.  47 is planning to dissolve the board of directors, and fold USPS into the Commerce Department.  What could go wrong?  All of the people who actually know something will be fired, service will suffer.  This will really impact the people who live in small rural towns.  It will hurt e-commerce, drugs by mail, and the mailing of baby chicks.  Vote by mail will no longer be reliable.  This is bad.  Here is a short article, and here is a WAPO article which is better, but is pay walled. 

Park Service employees are being laid off in staggering numbers. Wait times at the Grand Canyon are awful, and it's still cold up there.  Wait until summer.  Alec McGillis on twitter reports that at California’s Yosemite National Park, the Trump administration fired the only locksmith on staff on Friday. He was the sole employee with the keys and the institutional knowledge needed to rescue visitors from locked restrooms.  Lines to get in Arches are going to be horrendous.  Forget ranger led hikes, that's over.

There there is this from the Wall Street Journal.

47 has said that Ukraine started the war with Russia, they should have "taken the deal" and let Russia take what they wanted.  Treasury Secretary Bessent took a contract to Zelensky to sign that would have given the US 50% of their mineral wealth, in perpetuity.  He gave him an hour to think about it, Zelensky said no.  47 has decided that he wants the money that Biden spent on Ukraine back.  So, Putin and 47 will concoct some horrendous future for Ukraine.  Europe needs to stand up right now.

Housing and Urban Development has always been a mystery to me as to what they do.  One of the things they do is rebuilding after disasters.  This is from a Housing Wire article.  They're paywalled, and this is all of the text I could get, but it lays it out pretty well.

The Office of Community Planning and Development inside the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is poised to be drastically reduced in size through cuts to a vast majority of its staff, according to a report published Thursday by The New York Times.

Citing a document obtained by the outlet, the office that helps communities rebuild following natural disasters — most recently and visibly observed in the federal response to hurricanes Helene and Milton in North Carolina and Florida, respectively — would see its headcount shrink to about 150 workers, down from 936 immediately prior to Donald Trump’s transition to the White House last month. This equates to a staff reduction of 84%, the Times reported.

This is so bad, Helene left so much damage, and now there will not be money to rebuild.

Finally, here is an article from The Bulwark, about how bad things are and how much
worse they will get. 

Blogger is doing something weird with text wrapping and spacing, so I am now giving up. 
Sorry about all the white space at the bottom.  I don't seem to be able to delete it, even after
deleting all the breaks out of the html.  Very weird.

Walks in the Desert and More Stupid

It's been since the 12th that I've posted.  I feel like my life force is being drained, as well as my intellect, by the stupid that currently inhabits our government.  Just like the first time he was president, every day I think it can't get any worse, and every day it does.

There has been riding, there have been restorative hikes in the desert.  What there has not been is much mingling with our fellow citizens.  Have you been keeping track of this year's flu?  Apparently it's horrible, people in the hospital are being proned, or put on vents, or in a couple of cases on ECMO.  This is not your father's flu.

Today we hiked, it was eerily warm.  Up until today, the sun would be out, but the air would still be cold.  Today the air was warm, it's only February.  We walked up to the saddle between Golden Gate and Bren.  It's a stair master hike, goes straight up, and then back down.  This is a pile of rocks on a big rock we saw as we started up the climb.  It's a nice job of balancing rocks.

Here is a large rock formation.  It looks like it flowed here.  Tucson is in a caldera, so it's possible.  In the Tucson Mountain Park there are many different types of rock.

Look mid-photo.  Those are cholla, backlit by the sun, glowing.  They're really pretty when they do that.  Still deadly, but pretty.

View from the top.

This hillside is a Saguaro rich environment.

So, while we were on the way up, we saw a couple of young men going the opposite direction.  We both acknowledged what a beautiful day it was.  One of them said, Jesus gave me another day, so I'm going to enjoy it.  Ok.  They were the only people we saw on the trail.  When we got back down, the nicely balanced pile of rocks had been knocked over.  I wonder if they did it, and if so, why.  Jim rebuilt it a little. 

It's not nice to knock over other people's efforts, no matter how inconsequential you think it is.

I can't make rice.  We don't have a rice cooker here, won't fit in the car.  My rice is a complete and total failure, I am a rice fail.  However, you can buy this at Costco.  Twelve packages for about $10.  Nuke for 90 seconds, and there is rice.

President Musk continues with the purge.  The investigative staff at CDC, gone. A large part of the Despartment of Education, gone.  His minions are now into the IRS files, doing who knows what.

From an Associated Press article we learn, "The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal mid-air collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Probationary workers were targeted in late night emails Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement."

Note the use of the word "probationary" in the second sentence.  Musk and his people think that word means they are new employees, who can be let go easily.  That's one meaning.  It also refers to people who were recently promoted, they go into probationary status so that in the event the promotion doesn't work out, they go back to their old position.  Due to this lack of understanding, many senior people, with decades of experience, have been let go.  This has happened a lot in the NIH.  

Secretary of Transportation Duffy is very concerned about our current Air Traffic control system.  That would be the one that just lost radar techs, controllers and other people due to Musk.  So, today he said this on twitter.

America deserves safe, state-of-the-art air travel, and President Trump has ordered that I deliver a new, world-class air traffic control system that will be the envy of the world.  To do that, I need advice from the brightest minds in America. I’m asking for help from any high-tech American developer or company that is willing to give back to our country.
Tomorrow, members of the

SpaceX team will be visiting the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in VA to get a firsthand look at the current system, learn what air traffic controllers like and dislike about their current tools, and envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system.

He's asking for volunteers!  Hey, come on down, write some code.  Air Traffic Control is one of the most complicated systems there is, and he thinks he'll just get some guys in, drink a little Mountain Dew, and make a new one.  I can't stand the stupidity.

Today a Delta flight from Minnesota crashed on landing in Toronto.  Notice the wings are off that plane.  Anyway, no one died, there are injuries.  If you google "cabin attendants walking on the ceiling of the delta airplane" you can see footage of cabin crew herding people towards the door on Instagram. Or you can go here, footage starts at about one minute.

So, that's it for me, for now.

End of Painting and Stupid

Painting is done!  Yay!  For the first time ever, I got no, none, not any paint on me or my clothing.  Yay me.  Here is Jim painting, under the overcast sky, next to the grapefruit tree.  I find it amazing that we have citrus trees that are producing fruit in our yard. 

The orange tree appears to be winding down, but there are many grapefruits left to eat.

Ok, on to the nightmare that is our current administration.

Things are going well in our nation's capital.  Secretary of Defense Hegseth has been interfering with the recruiting process.  From The New Republic we learn the following:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to withdraw Army recruiters from the nation’s top Black engineering event has ushered blunt criticism from military leadership.

“It’s fucking racist,” one active duty Army general told Military.com on the condition of anonymity. “For the Army now, it’s ‘Blacks need not apply’ and it breaks my heart.”

The Baltimore-based Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) has historically been a key event for the Pentagon to recruit high-caliber STEM talent. One Army recruiter told the service member news outlet that BEYA is one of the “most talent-dense events we do,” and that the branch “need[s] the talent.” BEYA, in turn, recognizes on its website that the “U.S. military is one of the largest STEM employers in the nation.”

The military is having difficulty making their recruiting targets as it is.  This will not make things better.

This will not improve things, either.  From Task and Purpose we learn: 

Air Force officers who have volunteered their own free time to make life in the service safer for those on active duty and less daunting for families during and after deployments say they are watching years of work be wiped away by the current crackdown on diversity initiatives.

At one of the Air Force’s largest bases, an annual Family Readiness Summit scheduled for Feb. 20 was canceled, according to emails obtained by Task & Purpose, even though it was funded, like the one held in February 2024, by the Air & Space Forces Association, an independent non-profit that receives donations from its members. Discussions about addiction at the 2024 Summit led the Air Force to begin selling Narcan, which can reverse an opioid overdose within minutes, at base exchanges.

This is being done under the guise of doing away with DEI and being woke.  It's hurting families, it's hurting service people, and it's just flat out wrong.  The military has a long history of being a difficult place for the families, these people were going the extra mile to help out, now they're shut down.

But here, is the worst thing I have read today.  This fills me with dread and makes me wonder if the republic really is going to fall.  I don't know if the article is behind a paywall, I subscribe to Wired.  So, I will cut and paste some of it.  Musk is bringing in people from Silicon Valley and making them CIOs of various departments.  The article is here.

The Trump administration is replacing some of the nation’s top tech officials with Silicon Valley talent tied to Elon Musk and companies associated with Peter Thiel. This could make it easier for Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) engineers to gain access to sensitive government systems, sources and experts say.

Over the past few weeks, several Musk-aligned tech leaders have been installed as chief information officers, or CIOs, at the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Department of Energy. CIOs manage an agency’s information technology and oversee access to sensitive databases and systems, including classified ones.

"Federal agency CIOs have authority over all agency asset management, which includes software used to monitor civil servant laptops and phones,” a former Biden official with firsthand knowledge of a CIO’s capabilities tells WIRED. “CIO shops manage and control IT access to all agency databases and systems, and have oversight over all the IT contracts per FITARA [the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act]. They have lots of IT budget and head count that Musk might want to take over. In agencies, CIOs are functionally as powerful as OIGs [the Office of Inspectors General].”

So, they're bringing in adults, and giving them this much power.  Palintir is a software platform that does data analysis, and is already tightly integrated with the military.  What could go wrong?

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been closed.  They were put in place after the 2008 financial disaster caused by unregulated credit default swaps.  We were lucky not to lose the country that time.  Anyway, President Musk wants twitter to get involved in payment systems.  This would bring it under CFPB oversight, they over see things having to do with money.  So, just like that, they're toast.

 

There's so much more, I think this is already long enough.

That's it!  That's all I've got.

 

House, Yard, Stupid

The back yard and the house continue to provide entertainment.  Saturday we went out, intending to do some grooming on a patch of really ugly aloe.  A few minutes of that convinced us that was a terrible idea.  So we removed it.  It's a lot like digging up day lilies, which we did at the Spokane house.  Lots of roots, they're close together and they're a pain to get out.  The first photo is mid-massacre.  I didn't get a good before photo.

Now they are gone.  Doesn't that look better?  We were able to cannibalize enough rocks from th e back of the yard to fill in the hole left by the departed aloes.  There was a lot of crispy dead vegetation to clean up.



Yesterday we rode from Christopher Columbus park.  Tucson is in the process to naming it something else, but it seems to have stalled.  These things take time.

Today started with plugging yet another free flowing drip line.  It was putting water up in the air, so that had to be done.  Then it was time for my favorite thing in the whole world to do.  Painting.  I hate painting.  I especially hate painting over my head, trying not to get paint on my yard work hat.  Yes, I know my shorts are a little big, but they're comfortable.

You can see where I cut in the edges if you look over Jim's head.  There was rotten wood that was replaced this summer when the roof was replaced.  The primer is done, now to get two coats of paint on the new wood.

 This morning was over cast, much better for taking photos.  This is the wooly cactus in the front yard.

So, what's fearless leader doing these days?  He went to the Super Bowl yesterday, got booed bigly, and then left early.  International coverage had the booing, US coverage used canned applause.  That's what I read, since I didn't watch it, I'm not a reliable source.  He left early, after spending millions of taxpayer dollars ($15M to $20M) to get there & back.  His team lost.

Tariffs on aluminum and steel are back, 25%, only this time it's on all exporting countries.  In several interviews, 47 has said "Gaza will be mine."  So, is that like his personal property?  Where did the residents go? He's not helping the cease fire and return of hostages with this stupid rhetoric.

This is an interesting read.  Here is a piece of the article.

Today, the National Security Agency (NSA) is planning a "Big Delete" of websites and internal network content that contain any of 27 banned words, including "privilege," "bias," and "inclusion." The "Big Delete," according to an NSA source and internal correspondence reviewed by Popular Information, is creating unintended consequences. Although the websites and other content are purportedly being deleted to comply with President Trump's executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion, or "DEI," the dragnet is taking down "mission-related" work. According to the NSA source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, the process is "very chaotic," but is plowing ahead anyway.

Italics are mine.  They're going through a list of words and deleting the web site that used them, to satisfy the no DEI requirement put forth.  This is so stupid it makes my stomach hurt.

So, that's all I have to say about things.

The Yard and Current Events

The wildlife people have been flying helicopters very low to the ground.  As it turns out, they're doing deer management.  So, they fly really low, when they spot a deer they shoot it with a tranquilizer dart.  Then one guy jumps out, attaches an ear tag and a radio collar.  Pretty cool.  We had two in the back yard yesterday, no collars were seen, however.

Look at the size of those ears.

Now that the saga of the irrigation system is done for now, we don't have much to do in the yard.  Since we don't know if we're going to be rendered poverty stricken by President Elon, we're holding off on the rock refresh until next year.  Our rock is looking pretty sparse, it gets ground into the ground and eventually you have to put more rock down.  Our irrigation guy also does rock, I am too old for that.  So, today we washed the car, cleaned some in the house, went back out, washed the bikes and then it was time to use the rowing machine.  It was a productive day.

This is the Brittlebush I mentioned awhile back.  It's hard to get a decent photo, the sun is too strong.  It looks like it will bloom soon.  You can sort of see the hints of yellow.  He's very happy to be on a drip line.  The neighbor's looks like it's half dead.

This is some sort of a cactus.  The long white curly things are its protection from herbivores.  It, too, is difficult to photograph.  I'm pretty sure it's alive, it's tough to know.

Oleanders, highly allergenic and poisonous.  The roots, stems, leaves, flowers, seeds, fruit, nectar and sap are all incredibly toxic to people and dogs.  I guess maybe I should wear gloves when pruning.  They make good hedges and they flower.  These were planted to screen the utility boxes in the corner of the yard.  We also have big ones in the back, who are much happier with their lot now that the giant Sages are no longer blocking the light, and they're on drip lines, too.

Here is a quote from Steve's blog that resonates with me.  I am not going to write about this every day. I am not, I am not, I am not.  And yet, these are things that I will want to recall later.  When I go back to what I wrote in the first reign of terror, it's interesting how much I don't remember.  So, here are highlights.

Feb. 5

Musk people invade NOAA.  NOAA employees receive a directive not to talk to or work with foreign nationals.  47 wants to sell NOAA off, and make people pay for weather reports. 
Musk people are in the Medicare and Medicaid payment software.
Head of DOT says this:

47 now says Palestinians won't be relocated permanently, they'll be able to come back.  He has changed this story about building a Gaza Riviera, I think it's a distraction.
The CIA sent an unencrypted email to the White House listing every person they've hired in the last two years.  This is a major security breach.
The US Military Academy, West Point, has disbanded clubs for women and minorities because no DEI.  I assume the KKK club is still OK.  This is just cruel, petty bullshit.  Cadets need a safe place to congregate.

Feb. 6

A 23-year-old representative from Elon Musk’s DOGE was granted access to the Energy Department’s IT system on Wednesday by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, sources told CNN. This despite objections from people in the agency, which controls access to info about the US nuclear weapons.
47 says we're going to replace the Air Traffic Control system.  All at once, using a single vendor.  What could go wrong?

The dismantling of USAID continues to reverberate. 

So, that's $2B that will not be paid to US farmers.  People will starve, kids will die.  But hey, it was a corrupt agency.  Not.

That's it!  That's all I have to say.  There's more, much more that could be said.

A Walk and More Complaining

It's warm!  It's abnormally warm for February.  This is a screen shot of my phone weather screen.  One wonders if winter is over for good. 

Today we went to Walmart.  I do believe we'll be shopping there more, as much as it offends my sense of how employees should be treated.  We got supplies for painting, and I got a pair of cotton shorts so I can sit in the dirt.  As I have mentioned, when I packed I spaced out yard work.  Anyway, they're lovely shorts from the men's department, so they have pockets (!) and they were $10.  I've given up on clothes for women, no pockets.  

Coming back we saw this.  It's going to be a new neighborhood.  The birth rate is declining, where are all of these people coming from?  I don't get it.  They are hard at work, scraping the desert.

After Walmart we went for a restorative walk in the desert.  It's bleak out there, it needs rain.  The Cactus Wrens have not been his friend.  They make holes for nests, allowing fluids to leak out.

So, what horrible things happened today.

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, met with the leader of El Salvador who graciously agreed to take US citizens and put them in his 40,000 person jail.  Most of them are gang members and are very bad people.  It's unlikely that our criminals would last long there.  So, deporting citizens to save jail space.  Article is here.

47 is planning to sign an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education.  What could go wrong?  Do we really need an educated work force and electorate?

From Jared Ryan Sears on twtter:
For anyone about to claim that Trump accomplished something with his tariff threats: 
-Mexico put 10,000 troops at the border under Biden without the threat of tariffs.
-Canada already announced $1.3 billion for enhanced border security before Trump took office.
Trump caused confusion, a major drop in stock markets, and destroyed our relationship with other nations to gain absolutely nothing. And if tariffs were so amazing that they would make America rich and lower taxes, what is the plan to solve America's debt now that Trump has abandoned tariffs? It is all a show to mask Trump's ineptitude.

From The New Republic, we learn the following.

Wired, citing two unnamed sources, reports that Elez has the ability to write code on the Payment Automation Manager and Secure Payment System at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which control government payments that amount to more than a fifth of the U.S. economy. Elez’s level of access could allow him to bypass security measures and possibly cause irreversible damage to these systems. Talking Points Memo further reports that Elez has already used his power to significantly rewrite code for the payment systems.

Elez is one of Musk's boys.  Originally we were told that their access would be read only.  This is not the case.  Elez has admin privileges, he can do anything he wants to do.  He could take everyone's Social Security payments and put them in that Sovereign Wealth fund, or send them to Elon, or anything.  None of which would be good.  This has worried me more than anything else, so far.

But hey!  Egg prices are down.

So, that's what I wanted to complain about today.