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.

Saturday, March 1, 2025
US Becomes The Bad Guys
By now, you’ve seen the video, perhaps read the transcript, and heard different opinions. Yesterday’s argument between Ukraine’s President Zelensky and US President Shitforbrains, accompanied by VP Fuxacouch, was an unparalleled disaster the likes of which the US has never seen. Equally disturbing is the number of Republicans who somehow think that yesterday’s debacle was a good thing. Can someone please explain to me why no one is setting up guillotines on the White House lawn this morning?
Responses from Democrats is, predictably, in support of Ukraine. Here’s a few quotes via AP:
SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER, New York:
“Trump and Vance are doing Putin’s dirty work. Senate Democrats will never stop fighting for freedom and democracy.”
HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES, New York:
“Today’s White House meeting with the President of Ukraine was appalling and will only serve to further embolden Vladimir Putin, a brutal dictator. The United States must not reward Russian aggression and continue to appease Putin.”
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut:
“My strong and passionate hope is that the talks can be resumed or restored, and this event won’t derail continued support.”
“I have very strong hopes that the coalition we have in Congress — and it is a very strong bipartisan coalition — will be persuasive to the administration and others that we have a long-term national security interest in Ukraine prevailing over Putin’s brazen aggression.”
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota:
“Answer to Vance: Zelenskyy has thanked our country over and over again both privately and publicly. And our country thanks HIM and the Ukrainian patriots who have stood up to a dictator, buried their own & stopped Putin from marching right into the rest of Europe. Shame on you.”
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY, Connecticut:
“It was a planned ambush designed to embarrass President Zelenskyy in order to benefit Vladimir Putin. That was an embarrassment. That was an abomination. What you watched was American power being destroyed in the world as everybody watches President Trump become a lapdog for a brutal dictator in Moscow.”
If you’re not embarrassed to be an American this morning, I’m going to assume that you are an orange cat with no working brain cells. The president’s behavior yesterday firmly puts the US in the category of Bad Guy, along with Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and, depending on the day, Turkey. If anyone is playing around with World War III, it’s the US President, not Zelensky. Zelensky knows war. Felonious Punk doesn’t have a fucking clue.
Making the embrassment even worse, somehow a correspondent for TASS, a Russian state media organization, was among a group of hand-picked pool reporters present in the Oval Office. What the fuck? The Associated Press, a US organization, can’t be in the room but TASS, the official Russian mouthpiece, can? The reporter was later removed from the room, but only after other reporters questioned their presence.
Fortunately, Europe seems to have found a spine and strongly voiced their support for Ukraine and Zelensky. UK Prime Minister KerirStarmer’s office responded, “He retains unwavering support for Ukraine, and is doing all he can to find a path forward to a lasting peace based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine.”
Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni, however, proposed “an immediate summit” between the United States and European allies “to speak frankly about how we intend to face today’s great challenges, starting with Ukraine.” She urged the West to stay united.
“Every division of the West makes us all weaker and favors those who would like to see the decline of our civilization,” she said. “A division would not benefit anyone.”
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted directly to Selensky, “your dignity honors the bravery of the Ukrainian people. Be strong, be brave, be fearless. You are never alone, dear President.”
And Friedrich Merz, Germany’s likely next chancellor, wrote: “Dear Volodymyr @zelenskyyua, we stand with #Ukraine in good and in testing times. We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war.”
Meanwhile in Estonia, which borders Russia, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the only obstacle to peace is Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘s decision to continue the war.
“It is time for Europe to step up,” Tsahkna said in a statement. “We do not need to wait for something else to happen; Europe has enough resources, including Russia’s frozen assets, to enable Ukraine to continue fighting.”
And Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s reminded Ukraine of what’s at stake for the Nordic and Baltic countries, and others, if Russia’s aggression spreads.
“You are not only fighting for your freedom but also for all of Europe’s,” Kristersson wrote on X. European officials from Austria, he Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Spain, among others, also offered their support to Ukraine.
There’s an uncomfortable problem here, though. Yesterday’s move makes it look likely that the US could exit from membership in NATO. If we do, can the EU sufficiently defend Ukraine and itself from Russia? Ukraine is Europe’s largest military and we see how they’re faring. The next largest is France, which is four time smaller than Ukraine’s. While the UK likes to talk big, they have only a fraction of the troops they did during WWII.
See the problem?
Meanwhile, U.S. Social Security Administration cut 7,000 workers. If you’re one of many looking for or depending upon social security income, you’re screwed.
Democratic appropriators say Republicans have left US government funding talks, raising the risk of a shutdown. We already know that the GOP wants to gut the entire budget, with the exception of defense. They’re planning for war.
Impeachment threats to federal judges are increasing. This is nothing short of intimidation and it’s illegal. The fact that members of Congress are getting in on the act now is enough to have them removed, but I don’t see anyone raising that issue.
Another “list five things” email is hitting federal employees again this morning. The difference this time is that those working on classified projects were instructed to put “all of my activities are sensitive” in their email. That doesn’t make the move any less illegal.
The stock market didn’t do so well this past week and there’s growing concern of a major selloff. If the market completely tanks, large-scale layoffs will hit almost immediately. Many companies have already started.
Thomas L. Friedman writes, “This Has Never Happened With an American President Before” and James Carville is screaming that it’s time for Democrats to make a daring move. I’m not sure anyone in power is actually paying attention, though.
Ugh.
This will be the last Morning Update. I’m taking tomorrow off to work on the new site. Sunday is usually slow news/low readership anyway. When Monday hits, we’ll be over on clight.us. The content may be lean for a couple of days as we ramp up, but I think it will ultimately be a more efficient and complete way of addressing all the issues we’re facing.
We’ll also be asking for your support. I’m already -$200 in my bank account and there are still bills to pay. With social security taking a dump, we don’t have a lot of options.
We’ll post here again when/if we have more pictures or if we have something of a personal nature we need to share. Thank you for hanging with us through all the chemo. Let’s hope we never need to do that again.
All my love,
-Charles
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