A Windy Day on Twitter

It was really windy today.  It was the kind of wind we usually get in April due to convective heating.  Since there was so much dust in the air, we did not go outside to bike or hike.  Instead we had a restorative trip to Home Goods and Trader Joe's.  Home Goods here is interesting, they do not sell any skillets with lids.  No, none, not any lids.  They also did not have any non stick 3 quart pans.  Everything is stainless steel.  I find this odd.  So, I got another 15 inch sheet pan to take back to Spokane.  Both of ours up there are sticking, I won't miss them because they warp like crazy.

This was today in twitter.

Lindsey Graham said this:

 The Danish ambassador to the US responded thusly:

Then Gunnar Gran who owns Haltbakk Bunkers said this:

No gas for you!  Gossip has it that a US sub was turned away today, wanting to get diesel for their generator. Update to post: Apparently The USS Delaware (SSN-791), a Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine, found itself stranded off Norway’s coast after Haltbakk Bunkers (HB), one of the country’s largest marine fuel suppliers, refused to refuel it.

After yesterday's disaster in the White House, JD Vance took his wife and three children to Sugarbush, Vermont for some skiing.  It did not go well for them.

The Vance family has retired to an undisclosed location.  Apparently skiing in jeans is a mortal ski sin.  Who knew? 

Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy went to the UK where he was received by Prime Minister Keir Starmer with a big hug.  He also got to say hi to King Charles.

47 played golf at Mar a Largo.  I believe child rapist and sex trafficker Andrew Tate is visiting this weekend.

It's likely that no more weapons will be shipped from the US to Ukraine.  Before he was elected, 47 got the republicans to put a hold on a shipment authorized by President Biden.  Money is flowing to Ukraine, so hopefully they will not lose any forward momentum.

That's it, that's all I have.

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.