The New Air Force One

In the first administration of the orange one, it was decided that two new Air Force One planes for the president were required.  Boeing quoted the price, and 47 went ballistic at the cost.  They're complicated airplanes, they have inflight refueling, electronic war counter measures, chaff and flares, secure encrypted communications and like that.  Boeing's normal process was to build the air frames and turn them over to the company that does that kind of work.  Because it's an empty air frame it's a lot easier to install the specialized mission equipment.  But no, 47 went for a deal with Russia and bought two used, fully stuffed, passenger 747s.  Cheap!  These things have been a nightmare to customize; and yes, they're late.  Zero money over all has been saved due to the complexity of retrofitting the planes.  Boeing would have been better off sending 47 to Airbus.

So, enter Qatar, they're going to "gift" the US Air Force with a flying palace, a 12 yr old 747-800, business jet.  It, too, will have to have extensive modifications, paid for by tax payers, to the point the 47 will probably not fly on it as president.  It will take some time to remove the listening devices installed in the walls.  Then, when he leaves office, ownership will transfer to the Presidential library, which is controlled by the National Archives and Records Administration.  47 sees this as "he gets a free airplane."  The rest of us see this as a blatant violation of the Emoluments Act and just plain corrupt. 

This was said today.

President Donald Trump on Monday defended Qatar’s offer of a Boeing 747 aircraft for him to use, dismissing concerns about the ethics and constitutionality of such an arrangement.

“We’re very disappointed that it’s taking Boeing so long to build a new Air Force One,” Trump said, complaining that the current presidential plane is not in the same “ballgame” as those used by leaders of other countries.

Trump claimed Qatar offered to donate a 747 to the U.S. Defense Department for Trump to use temporarily while Boeing completes the two Air Force One planes it has a contract to build.

It's a beautiful airplane, who wouldn't want one?  However, this is wrong.

So, this is what we're outraged about today.

A Ride and More Chaos

Today we rode, it was the last good day for awhile.  Warm, breezy, overcast.

Spring is taking its own sweet time this year.  It did the same last year, it was cold into June.  Then it went straight into the 100s.  

Yesterday we went to Lowe's to buy new blades for the reciprocating saw.  There are two dead Roses of Sharon, one we're going to dig out with the help of our neighbor, the other we're just going to cut down.  It's been there for 20 years, I know there is a huge root system, and there are pressurized sprinkler lines somewhere in the area.  Now the vent from the gas fireplace will be visible from the street, but I guess I just will not look there.  They had a really pretty peony in the garden department.  It's a huge plant, the label was covered, so I'm not sure what it is.

Google lens is of no help, there are hundreds of similar plants returned by search.  It's a peony.

In no particular order, I have these topics.

The Catholics have a new pope.  He has dual citizenship, Peru and the US.  Some of the magats are already suggesting he could be arrested and deported to Peru if he comes here.  Good luck with that. Louisiana State Archives records also show the pope's maternal grandmother identified as being from New Orleans and his grandfather identified as being a native of Haiti. The pontif's maternal grandfather, Joseph Martinez, was later listed as being from the Dominican Republic.  Some people are pretty excited about his multi-cultural background.  The magats are not. Already he has come out strongly against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  That's refreshing.

As you no doubt know, RFK Jr wants to start a database of autistic people.  Why does that need to be done?  Who will collect the data, who will safe guard it.  Currently DOGE wants to merge HHS, Social Security, and IRS data into one database.   This is a terrible idea.  Currently they're separated for additional security.  Making one giant file opens it up to hacking.  Once that's combined, they know everything about everybody.  I really hate this.

Dr. Oz has said repeatedly that “It’s patriotic duty of Americans to take care of themselves. It’s important for serving in the military & healthy people don’t consume healthcare resources”  as well as "70% of the money we spend is on chronic illness and we are not getting our money's worth."  So, what does he want the chronically ill to do?  Go die?  He's verging on Nazi ideology.  Google on "useless eaters." 

The nominee, Casey Means, for Surgeon General does not have a medical degree.  She dropped out during residency, and started a company that convinces people who do not have diabetes to buy glucose monitors.  Here is part of a Slate article about her.  I think it covers the bulk of her awfulness.  She's a wellness grifter.  Par for the course for this administration.  She's been chosen because RFK Jr likes her.

47 continues to be a nutbag.  What we're seeing as a result of 47's tariff policies is traffic in the US ports is dropping off to nothing.  Currently there are no Chinese ships on the way to here.  Thousands of dockworkers and truck drivers are worried about their jobs.  47's response to this slow down of trade, "That means we lose less money ... when you say it slowed down, that's a good thing, not a bad thing."

There was also a digression into the country of Mattel.  He threatened the "country" of Mattel Toys with a 100% tariff if they counter his policies. "Mattel— they’re the only country I’ve heard saying they’re going to go some place else. That’s okay. Let them go and we’ll put a 100% tariff on his toys. He won’t sell one toy in the US."

So, he doesn't understand trade imbalances, he thinks it's good that we won't be getting anything from China, businesses that resell stuff from China will go under, people will lose their jobs, it's all fine.

Earlier today, European leaders issued a 30 day ceasefire ULTIMATUM to Putin. Either he negotiates an end to the war, or Europe will unleash “massive” sanctions against Russia and supply Ukraine devastating weapons. Putin has 36 hours to respond.  He responded, nyet.  He's countering with direct talks between Ukraine and Russia on May 15.  However, this is also happening: "The US embassy in Kyiv put out a public warning late on Friday night that it had received intelligence of a “potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days”. It did not give further details, but it later emerged that Russia will close its airspace over the Kapustin Yar missile testing range on Monday and Tuesday, which could indicate the potential launch of ballistic missiles."  This is bad.  It's unfortunate that mass shipments of arms were not made at the beginning instead of being doled out with restrictions on what could be targeted.  I had hope earlier today, so much for that.  Good coverage here.

This is from twitter.

Here is a good thing.  "People who receive the shingles vaccine have a 23% lower risk of health problems like stroke, heart failure and heart disease."

Also good.  If you have a pacemaker, you can put it in your Will to have your pacemaker donated to a dog in need after you pass. Pacemakers cannot be donated to another human, but they can be donated to dogs with cardiac issues who would depend on it to stay alive.

If you would like to see Senator Chris Murphy take Kristi Noem to the wood shed, go here and play the video.

Spring and That Administration

Life at home has been ... shall we say, uninteresting.  We walk, we ride, we do laundry.  It's difficult to think of anything scintillating to say.  I'm having difficulty with the horror that is the current administration and their lawlessness and cruelty.

There are a few photos.  This is a Mugo pine.  They're slow growers, I think this one is probably 20 years old.  It's making yellow things, which I am assuming are part of the reproductive cycle. 

The red maple.  Someone ruthlessly pruned it a long time ago.  I'm going to have to take a little off of it because it's touching the house.  Look at that grass.  Last winter was mild, so we did not come home to patches of dead grass and some sort of fungus the neighbors call smut.  So, we have not had to plant grass seed and beg it to grow.  Once it gets hot, the grass will look bad, it always does.  PNW grass is weak.

It amuses me that I'm commenting on the beauty of the grass, since it is a stupid mono culture with few redeeming values, that wastes water and puts fertilizer run off into the environment.  The rabbits like it, they'll sit out there for hours eating.

The neighbors up the street have their usual display of blooming things.  Their yard looks very cheerful.

Moving on.  47's use of the Alien Enemies Act has been ruled unlawful, and they've been told to stop kidnapping people.  Jim heard a piece on NPR radio about how no one on that first flight to El Salvador was a terrorist or cartel member.  Their crime was one of skin color.  Despite being told to stop it, 47 turned to Libya to put people in their terrible prisons.  Libya, however, declined.  Good for them.

Nearly all of the remaining staff at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health were laid off Friday (5/3/25), multiple officials and laid-off employees told CBS News, gutting programs ranging from approvals of new safety equipment to firefighter health, to curbing the spread of measles.  NIOSH  was also responsible for testing and certifying respirators like N95s; ensuring they could provide adequate protection from smoke, hazardous debris and viral threats. Gruesome details can be found here.

The administration has shut down CDC's infection control committee HICPAC, which issued guidance about preventing the spread of infections in health care facilities.  The Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) crafted national standards for hand-washing, mask-wearing and isolating sick patients that most U.S. hospitals follow. The committee is now dead; long live hospital infections.  More is here.

If you're eligible for a covid vaccine, go get it now.  Vinay Prasad has been appointed the next director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, after Peter Marks was forced out.  It will not surprise me if we never see another covid update because of him.  This is from wikipedia.

In October 2021, Prasad prompted social media controversy when he published a blog post comparing the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic response to the beginnings of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Bioethicist Arthur L. Caplan said that Prasad's arguments were specious and ignorant, and science historian Robert N. Proctor said that Prasad was "overplaying the dangers of vaccination mandates and trivializing the genuine harms to liberty posed by 1930s fascism".^[26]

In November 2021, Prasad expressed his opinion that pediatricians should warn parents about risks of COVID immunization such as a mild form of myocarditis.^[27] However, physician Jonathan Howard noted that Prasad was selectively omitting the risks of COVID disease^[28] which would not be consistent with the tenets of medical informed consent. 

Prasad is famous on twitter for blocking doctors, and there are many, who disagree with him.  From what I have read, my opinion is that he's a wing nut.  So, of course, he's in charge of vaccines, gene therapies and the blood supply.  The fact that he's closely aligned with RFK Jr should be disqualifying.  More is here.

There is a new nominee for Surgeon General.  "Casey Means has written about how, after attending Stanford Medical School and training to become a surgeon, she opted to leave "traditional medicine" to devote her life to "tackling the root cause of why Americans are sick." She co-founded Levels, a health app that can connect to glucose monitors, and built a large following as a health and wellness influencer." She's also aligned with RFK Jr.  The CBS article is here.

More and more of the health care system in this country is now aligned with RFK Jr.  We're all going to die.

As for the future of work, what with on shoring and all, there is this.  Go to the article, watch Lutnick celebrate the future of work.  He is so excited, saying "It's time to train people not to do the jobs of the past, but to do the great jobs of the future. This is the new model where you work in these kinds of plants for the rest of your life and your kids work here and your grandkids work here. We let the auto plants go overseas."  Yep, we're all going to be working in factories for the rest of their lives.  The republicans really need some help with their messaging.

This is what's happening in Memphis.  Elon built a new AI training center or something, and is powering it with 35 methane powered generators.  There are no air pollution controls on the generators.  This is in a primarily Black area, their health is already compromised from other industries, now this.  EPA does not care.  It's fine, they're doing away with regulations and unleashing the power of capitalism.  Meanwhile, these people are suffocating.  It's a long and depressing read.

 I will end with a cool thing from Ukraine.  This is a drone that has been used to ram ships, explode, and sink the ship.  The Ukrainians have now reworked it by putting SideWinder missiles on it, and shooting down MIGs from the water's surface.  Well done.

Riding and That Man

It made it into the 80's today.  We may or may not have hit a new record high for this day.  Yesterday and today we rode.  We've cobbled together an acceptable alternative to the trail closures that has a paved parking lot (baby heads are hard on the feet), time at the lake, the two switch backs we like and a trip down a residential street that doesn't feel like we'll be killed.  It's a dead end, so there is not much traffic.  We don't have the terrible hill up to the gate, because that is behind the crime scene tape.

It's really annoying, their project plan says they're closing the trails because they occasionally have to move equipment.  How about if they put flags in the logging crews hands and make safe passage when it's needed, instead of 2.5 months of closures.   

The lake was pleasant to look at.   There is a new camp host.  He's a big, imposing looking guy, and he's very nice.  His wife is a retired police officer, so the two of them are ideal to run a boat ramp. 

Look up the hill in the distance.  They appear to be cutting a road down the hill to put houses on the waterfront.  One wonders how they will stabilize that hill, once the vegetation is off.

 

There is a quince growing on the camp host's site, it's an impressive shrub.

This is what we see driving home. 

47 has been busy.  I'm short on time, so I will give us the Cliff's notes on some of the awfulness.

The president's executive order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. Article is here.

 

The Trump administration has discussed transferring migrants with criminal records held in the United States to two African countries, Libya and Rwanda, multiple sources familiar with the talks told CNN.  The Wall Street Journal previously reported this month that several countries, including Libya and Rwanda, were considered as potential partners to receive migrants deported from the U.S.  An article is here.

Trump just shut down all the school mental health programs and neighborhood anti-violence programs funded by the 2022 gun bill. Millions of kids just lost their mental health worker or after school program.

This is one of the most egregious things yet.  60 minutes did a story awhile back on people in Alabama, mainly Black people, who do not have functioning sewer systems.  Raw sewage pools up in their yards, ditches, and sometimes into their homes.  Money was appropriated to fix this and put in either septic tanks or a sewer system.  47 has cancelled that project because it's DEI.  Article is here.  The Alabama health department doesn't feel like they need to address this, now no one does.

The government under President Donald Trump is bending the arc of US history in a new direction, away from the civil rights focus of the past 60 plus years.  Addressing or even acknowledging racial injustice toward people of color is out.  Separating church and state is out, according to Trump.  Exposing anti-Christian bias and being ‘anti-woke’ is in.  The Department of Justice division created by the landmark 1957 Civil Rights Act to defend American’s rights has a new mission: rooting out anti-Christian bias, antisemitism and “woke ideology,” the head of the division, Harmeet Dhillon, recently told conservative commentator Glenn Beck.  The CNN article I borrowed this from is here.

There is much much more, but I think I will stop here. 

OK, one more thing.  Judge Ketanji Brown spoke at a legal meeting and had things to say.  Go here, and read what she said.

 

Disgraceful Behavior

It's been 100 days, just feels like a century.  Since I have nothing interesting to say, I will share with you some of the stupidity found in the current administration.

Marco Rubio supported this when he was in the senate.  None of these people can remember anything, apparently.

Last time I checked 119 million is greater than 22 million.  So I'm not sure how removing 22 million pills from distribution saved 119 million people's lives.  Later, in the cabinet meeting, she upped the number to 258 million lives saved.  Math is hard!

That would be the cabinet meeting during which Marco Rubio said the following.

RubIo: "We are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries. Not just El Salvador. We are working with other countries to say, 'We want to send some of the most despicable to your countries. Will you do that as a favor to us?' And the further from the US the better."

47 did an interview with ABC this morning.  Terry Moran interviewed him and pushed back on several things 47 said.  47 is convinced that Mr. Garcia is a gang member because "he has MS13 tattooed on his knuckles."  Please.  Later in the interview 47 asserted that Canadians and Europeans are still coming here for vacation.  Numbers have dropped significantly after ICE started arresting tourists.

But here is a good thing.  One of the few, as of late.  ICE used to enjoy boarding busses and pulling off anyone with brown skin.  That started in 47's first administration. 

Other than this, I have nothing much to share.  Oh, the good news is the Bradford pear is losing its petals. 

The Embargo Has Begun

Today we went to Costco to start hoarding some things. Things like lubricating eye drops because my left cornea is bad, Tylenol for the headaches the administration is giving me, and like that.  Oh yes, toilet paper, even though it's produced in the US.

All of Spain and Portugal, and part of France had a major power and WIFI outage today.  No cause has been determined yet. 

This is from twitter.

Here is what's happening at the Port of Vancouver in Canada.

My opinion, unencumbered by facts and data, is that 47 is going to have to fall on his sword and publicly apologize to China for his tactics. 

Additionally, the DOJ elections department is being told to drop cases and stand down from the effort to protect voter rights.  Article is here.  Also this week, funding for Meals on Wheels has been pulled, as well as money for naloxone for first responders.  

That's it!  That's all the doom and gloom I have for today.

The Coming Months

This is a tweet thread put up by a user whose name is AntifaPuddin'Pop.  She runs and owns a business remodeling houses.  She's a liberal, and she's smart.  

**********

IMO, we are at a point of no return re: tariffs. Yes, Trump could do a few deals (maybe) or blink (again) with various countries. But that doesn't change the math. Ships take a month or more to get to the US. Once stores sell off all available domestic inventory two things will happen. The shelves will be bare of certain products for a month or more and when they return prices will skyrocket. Now compound that with overseas factories ramping down production due to a forced lack of demand. That will have to ramp back up, as well. Even if he changes course today, there will be an inventory gap. And if you think the domestic products will retain their lower prices once tariffs cause imported products' prices to evaporate or skyrocket, I have a bridge to sell you!

If you come into my replies calling me hysterical or stupid, please pony up with your masters degree in business or shut the f**k up. By way of example, my sales rep at a very large tile importer and I were discussing tariffs this morning. IDK if he even has his BA, and I don't care. He actually laughed when I mentioned tariffs. He said "A month? HA! Try months and months. We have millions of sq ft of warehouse space and saw this coming a mile away. We are stocking for the long haul." The. Sales. Guy. At. The. Store. So, what say you small businesses? Are you stocked in inventory for more than 6 months? A year? Can you survive financially for a few months with no sales? Most people would lose their house after two without income. Buckle up, Buttercups. It's gonna be a wild ride!  

**********

Fortune magazine: Cargo volumes at US ports are undergoing a precipitous drop. The drop in container shipping is the latest sign Trump's trade war is having an effect on the economy, and one group of workers poised to feel the impact first, long-haul truckers.

The decline continues: Today's update reveals another drop in container ships departing China for the U.S. over the rolling 15-day window—used shipping capacity is also falling.

So, the point of all of this is, if there is anything you can not live without for six or so months, go buy it now.  I'm thinking about getting more contact lenses and Gum soft-picks.  Contacts are made in the US from "Globally sourced material" and the soft-picks are from Germany.  Those are my two gotta-have items. 

First Spokane Bike Ride and That Man

We rode yesterday for the first time since April 11.  It's been too cold since we got back.  There has been rowing machine and spin bike but I like outside better.  When we got to where we usually park, we discovered this.

The parking lot is closed until June 30, and the entire trail between McLellan and the trail head on Carlson Road are closed as well.  That's the bulk of the trail, and all of the good hills. They're logging, they don't need to close the trail, they could just close it when they're moving equipment.  I am so pissed about this.  There are other places to ride, but the hills are either too steep, or not steep enough for my aged self to keep muscle.  I will also bet they won't be done by June 30; when they ruined the trail head by the lake they over ran that schedule by six months.  So, the first half of summer is negatively impacted.  Yes, I know, first world problems, as well as not as significant as the fact that we've become a fascist country.

The yellow flowers are out.

Today we worked in the yard pulling weeds, raking up leaves and pine needles, and spreading Preen to hold the weeds down.  Preen is a pre-emergent herbicide.  Today's key learning is to wear a nitrile glove on both hands when spreading it.

And now, from the hand of the fascist in chief we have these edicts.

The Agriculture Department will not require poultry companies to limit salmonella bacteria in their products, halting a Biden Administration effort to prevent food poisoning from contaminated meat. The rule would have required poultry companies to keep levels of salmonella bacteria under a certain threshold and test for the presence of six strains most associated with illness, including three found in turkey and three in chicken. If the levels exceeded the standard or any of those strains were found, the poultry couldn’t be sold and would be subject to recall, the proposal had said.The plan aimed to reduce an estimated 125,000 salmonella infections from chicken and 43,000 from turkey each year, according to USDA.  The article I plagiarized is here.  Knowing this, thou shalt cook poultry thoroughly and clean all surfaces touched by raw poultry thoroughly.

The Justice Department is cracking down on leaks of information to the news media, with Attorney General Pam Bondi saying prosecutors will once again have authority to use subpoenas, court orders and search warrants to hunt for government officials who make “unauthorized disclosures” to journalists.  New regulations announced by Bondi in a memo to the staff obtained by The Associated Press on Friday rescind a Biden administration policy that protected journalists from having their phone records secretly seized during leak investigations — a practice long decried by news organizations and press freedom groups.  That article is here.

A federal judge is raising alarms that the Trump administration deported a two-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras with “no meaningful process,” even as the child’s father was frantically petitioning the courts to keep her in the country.  U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointee, said the child — identified in court papers by the initials “V.M.L.” — appeared to have been released in Honduras earlier Friday, along with her Honduran-born mother and sister, who had been detained by immigration officials earlier in the week.  That article is here.

Sitting Judge, Hannah Dugan, was arrested for allegedly trying to interfere with the arrest of an undocumented person.  Everything the CBP and ICE have said happened has been contested.  She directed the defendant to the door that opened to the main hall, she did not give him an alternate route to get away.  There, the four agents waiting for him were slow to respond.  It's on them that the lawyer and defendant made it to the elevators.  However, they're trying on fascism in the style of Hitler, and arresting judges now.   

A new memo from the Trump administration reveals something shocking: ICE agents have been told they can enter homes without a warrant to arrest migrants, based on little more than suspicion.  The March 14 directive, signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, uses an obscure 18th-century law — the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 — to give law enforcement nationwide the power to bypass basic constitutional protections.  According to the memo, agents can break into a home if getting a warrant is “impracticable,” and they don’t need a judge’s approval. Instead, immigration officers can sign their own administrative warrants. The bar for action is low — a “reasonable belief” that someone might be part of a Venezuelan gang is enough.  The article is here.  Up until now, arrests required a warrant signed by a judge, not an administrative warrant.  This will be heading to court.

47 went to the Pope's funeral.  The Vatican issued a dress code of black suit, black long tie.  So, of course, fashion maverick that he is, 47 arrived in a royal blue suit and matching tie.  He was able to bully his way into the front row for the service.  However, Zelenskyy received the applause when he went in to the service, not 47.  That had to hurt.  Zelenskyy, too, was in the front row.  Here he is, leader of the free world, sleeping during the Mass.

Finally, here is the interview that Time magazine did with 47, on the occasion of his first 100 days.  It's a long read, after about 2/3 of the way through I was skimming rather than reading.  The constant lies just roll off of that man's tongue.  It does paint the picture of how deranged he is.

Sort of Spring and the Awful

It's still cold.  The sun is out, but since it's in the 30's at night, it's a cold air mass.  I can't tell if I am coming down with something, or if the pollen is doing me in.  Tucson has a sequence of three steenking yellow trees that bloom in succession.  Spokane has many more steenking blooming trees who are blooming all at once.

One of the popular trees in the area is the Bradford Pear.  We have a huge on in the back yard, I swear it smells like something died.  I will be a happy camper when the blossoms drop off.  

I took this in the Home Depot parking lot.  They have a pear tree on every parking island. 

Yesterday we cut the deer netting off of the arborvitae.  I think we ruined a pair of scissors.  That stuff is stout.  It was a nice day, not too much wind, I was warm enough in my fleece vest.  Our neighbor's yard has interesting stuff growing in it.

 I like the yellow tree a lot.

Today, the neighbor across the street had landscaping professionals out.  They brought a lot of dirt, and a way to move said dirt.  The blue things are self powered and have gas engines.

Ok, that's the end of happy talk.

47 and Rubio have walked away from peace talks between Ukraine and Putin.  47 described Zelenskyy as the most difficult person he's ever dealt with because he does not want to give Crimea to Russia. This has given Putin free rein to bomb Kiev with ballistic missiles and bombs dropped from bombers.  The carnage is significant, entire apartment buildings have collapsed with people in them.  This is bad.  Zelenskyy also does not want to hand over all of Ukraine's mineral wealth to the US or the nuclear power plants to Russia.  47 has said that he will not even sell weapons to Ukraine, ever though they have $50B in cash.  Our defense industry needs to have a word with 47.

This was cut and pasted from twitter -
ICE Signs $30 Million Contract With Palantir to Build ‘ImmigrationOS’ ICE has awarded Palantir Technologies a $30 million contract to develop a new software platform to expand its surveillance and enforcement operations, building on Palantir’s decade-long collaboration with ICE. Key features and functions:
➤ ImmigrationOS will give ICE “real-time visibility” into visa overstays, self-deportation cases, and individuals flagged for removal, including foreign students flagged for removal for protesting US-Israeli genocide.
➤ ImmigrationOS will integrate data from multiple government database systems, helping ICE track immigration violators and coordinate with agencies like Customs and Border Protection.
➤ The platform is designed to streamline the entire immigration enforcement process—from identification to removal—aiming to reduce time, labor, and resource costs.

Nowhere is due process mentioned.

The Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality control program for testing milk and other dairy products. The agency is citing reduced capacity. It has 20,000 fewer employees as a result of the DOGE cuts under Trump and Musk.  The FDA this month also suspended existing and developing programs that ensured accurate testing for bird flu in milk and cheese and pathogens like the parasite Cyclospora in other food products.  Articles are here and here.  This is particularly bad for people who drink raw milk.

This is one of the worst so far.  "The National Institutes of Health will begin collecting Americans' private health records as part of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s controversial plan to discover a cause and a cure for autism. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told a panel of experts about the plan this week.  The NIH plans to gather information from a wide range of private sources, including pharmacy chains, hospitals and wearable devices with health sensors, like smartwatches."  They want to violate HIPAA and create a tracking database of autistic people.  Why?  Why do they want to do this?  Parallels are being drawn between this and what Hitler did prior to WWII.  I do not see how this will shed any light on why some people are on the spectrum and some aren't.  Apparently he's also interested in people who have Tourette's.  Where does it stop?  Hopefully this will be tied up in court forever.  Article is here.

You may have heard about the US citizen who allegedly walked up to CBP and said he was in the country illegally.  He was arrested and put in detention for 10 days.  That was a complete and utter bald faced lie, the actual story is told here.  It's very different from what the government said.

 Goldman Sachs says we will lose 90 billion in tourism this year and Elon has saved 11 billion. Now can you understand how Trump went bankrupt 6 times. That’s a net loss of 79 billion dollars. Florida is going to be the biggest loser most likely.

 

Attorney General Bondi has started a Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias.  There will be a snitch line where people can call in and report their co-workers.  How is this even legal?

 

Meanwhile, Abrego Garcia remains in the gulag in El Salvador, while 47 ignores an order from SCOTUS to bring him back.

 

Every day it's something new and more awful.  

Merry Happy Easter

It's Easter.  It always feels weird, knowing that everything is closed because it's a high holy day for one of the religions.  Hopefully everyone else got their errands and shopping done before today.  We went to Home Goods yesterday for a new non-stick pot.  Our old Spokane house non-stick black pot is missing.  The lid is in the drawer, but no pot.  How is it that neither of us can remember what happened to the pot?  It's been gone for over a year, so it's well and truly not coming back.  Anyway, trying to leave, we hit grid lock in the Safeway parking lot.  It was just amazing how many people were there buying Easter joy.

Last night we had a pretty good sunset.

Here is the obligatory cute Easter rabbit picture, which has nothing to do with the theology of the day.

If you celebrate, or not, enjoy the day, or not, with whatever your ritual is.  We went for a walk up the hill, we should have worn more clothing.  Spring has retreated here.

More Untruths on the Internet

The White House has taken down the original Covid web site.  The one that used to provide case count information, what strains were rising, good sciency stuff like that.  Now we have this.

It's at covid.gov.  And it's just pathetic.

Still Unpacking and the Administration

I think today's lesson is that we packed too much for cold weather.  Even if it had been cold, there was too much.  Jim brought way too many socks.  I brought way too many warm shirts.  So, I will make a note of that.  The mother of all loads of laundry is sitting in the dryer, it will probably sleep there.

Our tulip is up.

This is from a Wall Street Journal article.  This is how trade policy is being made.

Per WSJ, Hassett scheduled a meeting with Navarro on the opposite side of the WH and then Bessent and Lutnick mysteriously knew that was the right time to go stand over Trump and make him roll back the “reciprocal” plan.

 Apparently, the last person to talk to him wins.

RFKJr gave an emotional speech about how autistic kids never play baseball, will never have a job, will never toilet unaided.  He has since tried to walk back what he said, but it's on the internet, it's eternal.  This is a response to that.

So, there you go. 

Butte to Spokane, Washington

We're back.  We're tired.  The bathroom stuff is put away, so we can engage in personal hygiene.  There are still six space saver bags to deal with.  Tomorrow.

Much of today was Montana.  Much of it looks like this.

We stopped for lunch in Wallace, Idaho.  Their claim to fame is they were the last city in Idaho to have bordellos.  It's old.

This morning in Butte, there was zero snow.  Most of the storm went to Billings.  It was cold, however.

The weather here in Spokane is unbelievable.  This time last year it was cold and grizzly.  It's spring here, the peonies are up, the trees are in bloom and the yard is covered in weeds.  There will be sitting on the ground with a weed sticker in our futures.

Well, I am tired, so I will stop writing now.  I'm behind on my complaining about the current administration.

Spanish Fork to Butte, Montana

Oddly enough, today was also interminable.  It was 6 miles longer than yesterday.  The drive is a straight shot up I15, but it is long.  I drove about half of it.  I can't believe that when we moved from Tucson to Spokane, I drove all of it, because Jim was driving a 25 foot truck and towing the Jeep on a car transporter.  However, I was younger then.

It's cold in Butte, and windy.  We kept wondering if they had missed the forecast for terrible weather because it was pleasant and warmish for most of the drive.  But no, they got it right.  In the morning it will be in the 20s and maybe snowing.  Today, I accelerated in an attempt to pass a semi, with inadequate lane left to do it, and ended up slamming on the brakes.  The brakes are really good, car came almost to a complete stop, no fish tailing, and the seat belt tensioners did their job.  Everything in the back of the car moved to the front.  However, that allowed me to get to my warmer shoes, so it was a net win.  We really need to figure out a restraint system for the stuff in the back of the car, or perhaps maybe not bring so much.  It's hard, it can snow in Tucson.  Which climate do we pack for?

Jim just asked me if I can hear the wind moaning, why yes, I can.  Here is an older post of being in Butte.

Here are some photos.  These are all between Dubois, Idaho and the run into Butte.

This was interesting.  We both saw a lot of blowing dust moving across the road.  When we got there, there was no dust.  It was a mirage from the light and shadows.

A dead tree at the rest stop where we ate lunch.

This is close to Butte, there's weather up there.

Tomorrow is the last driving day.  We are very happy about that.

Bullhead City to Spanish Fork, Utah

Today was interminable.  The route was 466 miles.  Southern Utah seems like it stretches on forever.  Parts are really pretty, and parts are not.  We're in Spanish Fork, it's just south of Salt Lake City.  We've been here before and I wrote about it here. 

The route took us through the always lovely Virgin Gorge.  It was carved eons ago by the Virgin River.  Jim read somewhere that the stretch of highway was one of the most expensive of any piece of freeway in the US.

Please disregard smears on the wind shield, many bugs died today.  It's such a beautiful place.  Unfortunately there are zero pull outs, so all photos are through the glass.

Once you're out of the gorge, the terrain flattens out.

This was taken in Spanish Fork, these are the Wasatch Mountains.  They go on for miles.  It's amazing to me how they just spring out of the dirt.

Tomorrow we're headed for Butte, Montana, where it's going to be cold, windy and there will be snow.  We do not have the appropriate clothing for this.  I did bring warm shoes, but the down side to space saver bags and garbage bags is that they are all slippery.  Everything has shifted, and my carefully planned access to my shoes is blocked.  So, it'll be Hokas with mesh tops for me in 20F weather.  Yippee kay ai!

This is a new forecast, apparently there is a system moving down from the north bringing bad weather.  In Spokane, they're having unseasonably warm weather. 

Did you know Harvard has a $41B endowment?  They've told 47 to stick it and he's with holding their $2B worth of funding.  All they have to do is self fund for four years.