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.

Tucson to Bullhead City, Arizona

We are back at the Holiday Inn Express.  It's still a nice hotel.  The drive today sort of sucked.  Phoenix traffic was bad, there was one longish hold up due to a gaper's block.  A semi departed the roadway, leaving a fair amount of tread on the road.  After Phoenix there is AZ60, the road surface there is deteriorating. and then US93, which is also bad until you hit I40.  We are going to consider yet another route.  You can read more about Bullhead City here.

I went to the dollar store we stopped at on the way down to Tucson last year, to buy socks.  Three pairs for $4.  Not too bad.  They're not as padded as the Wright socks I've been wearing, but they have a better seam across the toe.  Less intrusive.  It's the little things.

Here we have a deer in the neighbor's front yard.  These are very relaxed deer. 

We saw these two people somewhere.  It's interesting that they're both towing, and with two bicycles.

This is the road into Bullhead City.  Note the warning about the possibility of a dead stop at the bottom.  It's a 12 mile 6% descent.  When we had the RV it used to scare the snot out of me.   This not because Jim was a bad driver, but the RV weighed 35,000 pounds with the weight of the truck we were towing pushing us down hill.  One can't use the foot pedal brakes, it's all engine braking.  When you're the passenger, you're powerless.

More scenic beauty.

Things in the administration continue to go to hell in a hand basket.  I'm just going to leave that there.

 

Departing Tucson

We are leaving in the morning.  Depending on the goodness of hotel wifi, I may be posting. 

Here is the palm tree in the afternoon sun yesterday.

And here is the back of the car.  Space Saver bags are a good thing for long stays.  This was much easier in an RV.

That's it, we're leaving.

There was a tiny sunset.  We got there late.

Last Bike Ride and Crazy Stuff

We were up and out at 8:30 this morning on the bikes.  Hot!  It is forecast to hit 100F (37.8C) today.  I believe that will be a new record for earliest 100 degree day if it happens.  We will celebrate with melting ice cream.  This is a Blue Palo Verde.  My pictures are not great because I was pointing the cell phone into the sun.  The Blue ones have bigger blossoms than the Foothill Palo Verdes.  Theirs are very tiny.

This is the etched glass I was talking about in a previous post.  There are many in the neighborhood. 

Here are things I have scraped off of twitter.  The administration has been very busy.

NASA’s science budget could be cut nearly in half under an early version of President Donald Trump’s budget proposal to Congress, a move that would terminate billions of dollars’ worth of ongoing and future missions, according to two individuals with direct knowledge of the administration’s plan.

The Trump administration plans to eliminate the research arm of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, close all weather and climate labs and eviscerate its budget along with several other NOAA offices, according to internal documents obtained by CNN https://cnn.it/4jxREfo

All of the full-time employees in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vessel Sanitation Program are now off the job, multiple officials tell CBS News, gutting the agency's ability to investigate outbreaks and conduct health inspections on cruise ships. A smaller group of 12 U.S. Public Health Service officers will remain.  The steep cuts to the program's inspectors baffled CDC officials since the small team's staff is not paid for by taxpayer dollars. Fees from cruise ships companies pay for the program, which is supposed to inspect large vessels at least twice a year.  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-cruise-ship-inspectors-layoffs-outbreaks-norovirus/

China to increase tariffs on ALL U.S. goods from 84% to 125%, effective tomorrow. THIS CUTS OFF virtually ALL US exports to China, including tens of billion of dollars in soybeans, corn, beef and pork.

Trump’s Transportation Secretary blames Elon Musk and DOGE for the rise in fatal crashes under his watch. Duffy was already reported to be feuding in private with Musk but this takes it public. MAGA is at war with itself.

China has just HALTED all liquified natural gas imports from the United States. This leaves tankers in limbo with BILLIONS of dollars of contracts. China will now go with Australia for their natural gas needs instead. Australia is inking new deals throughout Asia and may soon turn to Europe and cut American gas out of the picture entirely. Trump has turned Australia from an ally into a competitor.

At a hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, Judge Paula Xinis told the government that she will require "daily updates" on their efforts to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The hearing followed last night's 9-0 ruling from SCOTUS, which held that the Trump administration must facilitate Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador.

And finally, Cabinet members have traded their American flag lapel pins for this.

That's it!  That's enough terrible for one day.

 

Later today:

 

 

Furnace Filters and No Manufacturing for You

In yesterday's post I forgot to mention the other thing we did yesterday.  We replaced the HVAC filters.  I first discussed this here.  Yesterday I was really hoping to video the filters levitating into position, but both my hands were required.  The force of negative pressure is a wonderful thing when it's running.  The key learning yesterday was to have the rubber mallet at hand.  When the grate swings up, it does not always go precisely where it needs to be, encouragement is required.

Here they are, nothing is supporting their weight.  Jim reports that the filters lift off his hand about 8 inches out from the air return.  So, have the mallet ready.

Why manufacturing is not coming back to the US.  Go here and read this.  It was illuminating. Angus linked to it on his post.  It's long, but interesting.

Or, you could go here, and learn about the first women programmers who programmed the ENIAC computer before there were keyboards.