Confusion Reigns

My phone rang at 6:45 this morning. The school called to say that the building is closed today and the kids have an e-learning day. No further explanation was given. Unfortunately, the kids were already on the bus headed downtown. They’ll have to wait until they reach the transit center and take the next bus back home.
My mind immediately started whirring with possible reasons why the school building could be closed unexpectedly. Obviously, this wasn’t a planned event or the kids would have known about it yesterday. The building itself is old, a refurbished factory building nearly 100 years of age, so things do occasionally break. Perhaps the heat went out. Perhaps there was an electrical issue. I suppose there’s also the chance of some form of water break. Those are the benign possibilities.
Late Edit: it was, indeed, a power outage that caused the school to close.
It’s difficult for me to think of the world as benign, though. The school is on the east side of town, which sees its fair share of trouble. In fact, there was a police-involved shooting early this morning that left one dead on the same street that the school is on. The location is less than a mile from the school, at a major intersection on the bus route. The ongoing police investigation into the shooting could be the reason that the school decided to close the building. That would make sense in a sad sort of way.
But this is 2025. We also have to consider the possibility of a bomb threat against the school. Less than two weeks have passed since an Indiana teen was arrested for plotting a mass school shooting. Threats of acts of violence against school students are not uncommon any more. Two Houston-area girls were accused of planning to detonate pipe bombs in their school last week. As frightening as it is to consider, school violence is a background threat every day. Yet, we still have to send our kids to school.
There’s also the possibility of ICE being at the school this morning. The school serves breakfast, as many schools do, and the timing of the closure would match the time that food service workers would be arriving to prep for the morning. There’s a lot of speculation to that possibility, though. I don’t know that any of the food service workers are immigrants. There haven’t been any credible ICE events in the city in the past couple of weeks. The odds here are pretty slim, but we live in a world where the possibility can’t be ruled out.
I hate living in this world.
Confusion and chaos over the weekend’s email to federal employees continues. There was some claim yesterday that the whole thing was a ruse. But the source of that story is highly questionable, especially considering other news. The confusion and chaos is mindboggling. HuffPost reports that the mass firings are illegal. Yet, CBS News says that Muskrat has given federal workers ‘a second chance’ to justify their jobs. At the same time, though, NPR says the administration has ‘backed off’ requiring any response at all. Federal workers have also filed suit against the email order. For federal employees, the stress is consuming. For those dependent on federal services, there is no guarantee that there’s going to be anyone left to fulfill those services. The entire situation is a mess that Felonious Punk and the Muskrat are enjoying.
Here’s the upshot, though. AP, you know, the guys not allowed in the White House, reports this morning that nearly 40% of contracts canceled by DOGE are expected to produce no savings. Federal services are being cut just for the sake of cutting. That means that US citizens ultimately pay the price for what isn’t getting done. We are less of a country than we were five weeks ago.
Through all of this, most Americans have been under the assumption that the courts would prevent anything illegal that the White House might attempt. That’s not the case. Congressional Republicans are mounting an effort to impeach federal judges who rule against the administration. The move directly undermines the rule of law and pushes us further toward a constitutional crisis. If the courts go away, if judges are not allowed to protect the Constitution, we no longer have a country in which any of us have a part.
Through all of this, the rest of the world keeps churning. The stock market appears to be continuing its downward slide this morning, though the bell hasn’t opened the NYSE yet. Fabric and craft retailer Joann to go out of business and close all of its stores after it was unable to find a buyer yesterday. I know a lot of people who are going to be upset by this move. There was another fatal crash of two small planes yesterday that raises the question of what the fuck is going on in control towers. I’m rather glad I don’t need to go anywhere at the moment.
Meanwhile, in London, there’s this:

And Rolling Stone Magazine is reporting that Elon’s Email Demand Is Being Met With ‘Very Rude’ Flood of Spam. The resistance is there and it’s having an effect. Yet, it’s not enough to prevent the administration from planning multiple immigrant detention facilities at US Air Force bases. Everywhere I look this morning shows increased chaos and confusion everywhere the federal government is involved.
This editorial cartoon by Ben Jennings sums up my feelings quite accurately.

Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Buckle Up
Most days start out rather quiet and groggy. The kids don’t talk much and don’t make a lot of noise as they get ready for school. They’re teenagers. We don’t expect them to be off autopilot until later in the morning. Today was different, though. Tipper came across the guestlist for the Indiana Comic and Pop Culture Convention (ComiCon). She was excited by names she couldn’t even pronounce correctly: Brent Spinner, Jonathan Frakes, and “Willian Shanter, who’s that?” Yeah, Bill Shatner is going to be here. There appears to be a full-scale Power Rangers reunion happening and she’s especially excited about a host of anime voice actors she never expected would appear in the States. She’s so excited that not only did she nearly miss leaving for the bus, but she continued to text me all the way to school.
I love it. It’s great when kids have something to be excited about. I love seeing their faces light up and how animated they become when talking about something that is important to them. Dad just has to figure out a way to pay for her ticket. Hmmm…
Congress, on the other hand, is sidestepping not only paying for what people want but what they need. The near-party-line vote last night was close: 217-215. One Republican joined all the House Democrats in voting against the bill. THIS shows just how important down-ballot elections are. It’s not just who one votes for president, but who we elect as Congressional representatives. Honestly, some people are voting for imbeciles.
As we’ve seen over the past five weeks, just because Congress approves funding for something doesn’t mean that this White House will actually allow that funding to be administered without a fight. A judge has given the White House two days to release frozen funds for foreign aid. This is another potential setup for a constitutional crisis if the White House ignores the order. Never should approved funding be an issue. Once the budget is passed and signed, the funds must be distributed in the manner prescribed.
Of course, this budget has some pretty serious cutbacks and is going to affect a lot of people, especially those in poorer states in the South. You know, the people who voted for Felonious Punk in the first place. An $800 billion cut in healthcare spending, including Medicaid, is going to hit home fast. We’re left sitting here wondering if our medications will be remotely affordable if this bill makes it into law. I know many of my meds are incredibly expensive. If I hit the age of 65 this year and those meds are suddenly not covered, I won’t have enough income to pay for them. A lot of people my age are in the same boat.
Meanwhile, the rich get $45 trillion in tax breaks.
This whole administration is a nightmare. So much so that even DOGE troublemakers are quitting. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, perhaps the most stupid person to ever hold a congressional seat, is sitting there screaming that federal workers don’t deserve their paychecks. There are people within the administration who are actively trying to figure out a way to re-rig the Constitution so that this punk-ass president can run for a third term. At the same time, President Shitforbrains wants there to be a $5 million ‘gold card’ that people like Russian oligarchs can buy that would give them a straight path toward US citizenship. The goal is to bring more rich people into the US because that’s been going so well [/sarcasm].
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider on Wednesday an Ohio woman’s claim that she was denied a promotion and demoted because she is straight in a case that could make it easier for people from “majority backgrounds,” such as white or heterosexual people, to pursue workplace discrimination claims. Be sure that this is part of the continued assault on DEI programs. Any sane person wouldn’t have let this get past the first courtroom. That the case has made it all the way to SCOTUS shows just how broken we are as a society.
Consumer confidence is at a four-year low. As inflation continues to skyrocket, in NYC, 1 in 4 can’t afford the essentials. While that number is almost twice the national average, a 1 in 8 score isn’t really any better. People can’t buy food but SNAP benefits are being cut. Programs that help food pantries are being cut.
Air travel is in a shambles. Two significant near misses occurred yesterday as cuts to the FAA leave an already understaffed agency scrambling. And Muskrat wants the contract to fix FAA communications. This is not how a decent country operates. Government shouldn’t be enriching the richest man in the world by one cent. He’s already receiving $38 billion in government funding. If any program needs to be cut, it’s those enriching the Muskrat.
The Washington Post thinks that the resistance is beginning to wake in earnest. I suppose they could be right. There is definitely more anti-Punk activity taking place now than there was last week. Part of that is because of the time it takes to put together and file a lawsuit against any portion of the government. Another reason is that the volume of nonsense is so great that people who normally would sit on the sidelines are forced into battle to save themselves.
Wandering around online, one is likely to come across arguments that one-day boycotts, such as the one scheduled for this Friday, have little effect on businesses, especially when they know it’s coming. There is some truth to that perspective. Detractors will welcome the chance to shop without fewer people in the aisles. The shopping boycott is known well enough that managers have had time to adjust employee scheduling and take additional cost-saving measures. The pain they feel won’t be too severe.
Don’t think for a second that they won’t notice, though. They’ll see the numbers drop and that lets companies know how large a resistance their facing. They’ll begin to factor in the possibility of a longer-term boycott, one in which people buy nothing but absolute essentials. Large participation numbers will bring a level of fear into the conversation.
We have to flex our economic muscles where we can. I know there is talk of work outages and if people can be involved in that the impact on companies could be more severe than a shopping boycott. I’m concerned that too many people live on razor-thin budgets for the masses to participate. Staying home from work requires a position of privilege that most of us don’t have.
Still, every step, and every word of resistance has an effect. We can’t, for a moment, let the administration think that they’ve won. We have to fight. We have to go to battle in ways that are well outside our comfort zone. We may have to go so far as engaging in acts of violence.
Whatever it takes, we must act to save our country from the hands of oligarchs and the economically insane.
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