Riding and News From the Swamp

How are we doing?  I'm feeling extremely despondent over the inevitable fall of our democracy, which we can lay at the feet of the Supreme Court and Project 2025.  We need a hobby to take our minds off of this, but I can't think of anything. 

Anyway, Monday we had a very successful ride.  We both felt good on the hills.  When we were on the road back to the house, Jim made a right onto a road with plenty of room to spare, this pickup truck took offense and roared up on us, changed lanes and got in front of us.  I guess he owned the libs.

Today's ride was extremely sub-optimal.  Based on the weather forecast, we left a little later than we did Monday.  Lordy it was hot.  Even through a thick cloud cover, the sun was strong and boring holes in my head.  I bailed on the long steep hill towards the Morin trailhead, too hot.  We will make a note not to believe the forecast.

This was last night, it was an interesting sky.  The vertical elements are old contrails, or chem trails according to RFKJr.

A couple of days ago, Phoenix had a pretty impressive haboob.  Glad to have missed it.  The second photo was taken at Sky Harbor International Airport.

The orange dictator in waiting has been active this week.

There was the three hour, 15 minute Cabinet meeting, wherein he babbled a bunch, and the cabinet members humiliated themselves groveling and kowtowing to his wonderfulness.  During this meeting he was heard to say that since he is the President he can do anything he wants.  This would include firing Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve.  He is is demanding the public arrest of George Soros and his son Alex, accusing them of RICO violations and financing violent unrest across the country. He branded the Soros family as “psychopathic” and vowed he will never let them tear America apart.  He fired the Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner and is taking over Union Station.  He believes that the federal government can run it better.  Perhaps if they'd been funding it all this time, it might be in better order.  RFK Jr and 47 have announced that they will be banning mRNA vaccines in a couple of months.  Hopefully, we'll get the fall booster, and then hopefully a court will rule that they can't do this.

47 has signed an executive order creating the “National Rapid Response Task Force,” a specialized National Guard unit designed to deploy to any American city within an hour to suppress riots or Democrat unrest. I guess republicans never protest what's being done to this country.  Anyway, apparently this is what he has in mind for the blue cities.

Then this happened.  This was done by the teenager whose userid is Big Balls.  Very mature, eh?  The data is on a SSA cloud server, but it doesn't have the level of security it had prior to being moved.  This kid should go to jail.  I can not comprehend changing the SSN of everybody in this country.

According to The New York Times, the Social Security Administration's chief date officer Charles Borges has revealed that Doge uploaded a massive database that contains every single Social Security number issued by the government — including full names, home addresses, birthdays, and other personal details — to a vulnerable digital location. This sensitive information can now be easily accessed and weaponized by hackers to steal the identities of unsuspecting Americans. In his complaint, Borges said that the upload "potentially violated multiple federal statutes" and might ultimately result in a "catastrophic impact" on Social Security as a whole. “Should bad actors gain access to this cloud environment, Americans may be susceptible to widespread identity theft, may lose vital health care and food benefits, and the government may be responsible for reissuing every American a new Social Security number at great cost," Borges wrote. 

This was posted on twitter five hours ago.  I don't know if it applies to those over 65 who were approved for the vax or what.  RFK Jr announced new limits on who can get COVID vaccines, even as the Stratus variant surges. Patients must now see a doctor before getting vaccinated, instead of booking directly at a pharmacy “The emergency use authorizations for COVID vaccines…are now rescinded,” Kennedy said.

According to this article, 65 and up people do not need the prescription.  So middle aged people will need to plan ahead to get a prescription for a covid booster.  This is not good.  In the news of what is good, the FDA has extended Novavax’s shelf life from 3 months to 6 months as part of today’s supplemental BLA approval.

CDC Director Susan Monarez has been ousted after RFK Jr. demanded she change her policy on the COVID vaccine. Top officials from the Vaccine Unit, Zoonotic Division, and the Chief Medical Officer are resigning, per reports. 

There has been another mass shooting in Minnesota.  Two dead, multiple wounded.  They were in church, praying, so it does not appear that thoughts and prayers are doing much to prevent this.  

Chief Justice Roberts says the rule of law is eroding like we've rarely seen. Maybe he should've thought of that before ruling the president is above the law. You don't get to burn the house down and act shocked it's on fire.

Ok, that's enough.  I'm ending with an account that mocks the orange one, much like Sarah Cooper used to do.

This is amusing, these kids have great facial expressions.  Click on it!