Morning Update: 07/16/24

Rain is going to dominate today’s weather and impact how I feel about everything, so let’s just accept that at the front and get it out of the way. Rain started around midnight, then got a little stormy, causing the dogs to decide they needed to rearrange how everyone was positioned on the bed. I think the only one who didn’t move all night was Frankie, the smashed-face wheezer kitty. Frank doesn’t move unless Frank wants to move. I aspire to be more like Frank.
We knew yesterday was going to be hot, so Tipper and I set off to get our walking in around 8:30. We were on our way back when a fire truck whizzed past us. We were then surprised to see it pull over to a house just up the street from where we were walking. An ambulance soon followed. Tipper, being the compassionate soul that she is, was immediately concerned for the older woman who lives there. We’ve seen her several times as we’ve passed. Tipper always smiles and says hi even though the woman never responds. As it turns out, it was one of the younger residents of the home, perhaps a son or nephew, who was having difficulty breathing. The older woman was sitting outside on a bench, out of the way of the paramedics, looking at her phone. Tipper said hi. The woman didn’t look up. Tipper switched her attention to the daycare across the street. “I hope they don’t let the kids play outside today. It’s really too hot for them to be out,” she said in the most compassionate tone. That’s our girl. Always caring for everyone else.
The mail always runs late on Mondays. I assume that’s because there’s backlog from not delivering on Sundays, which seems strange in a modern world. Each morning we get a report from USPS as to what to expect in the mail that day, with scanned images of the envelopes. This informed me that I had two letters coming from Social Security. What they missed was the flat, full-sized envelope that came with them.
The first envelope announced that the date of my monthly SS deposits had changed. No big deal. The second envelope confirmed that my attorney had been paid. I’m sure he appreciates that. The third, full-sized envelope, however, was trouble. The eight-page letter attempted to explain that while I’m definitely disabled according to their judgement, I’m currently unable to receive supplemental income for two reasons:
- I live in the mind-numbingly stupid state of Indiana. Indiana, as it turns out, is one of seven states that do not pay any supplement. Nice, isn’t it? The state budget is running something like a $3 billion surplus. I guess that’s because our state legislature is a bunch of stingy old fucks.
- I, allegedly, have assets over $2,000 as of January, 2024. This is the one that has me scratching my head. I’ve looked at what the Social Security Administration considers an asset. I have none of them. No home, no car, no life insurance, no investments, nothing paying dividends, no huge retirement program… none of it.
What has me puzzled, though, is whether it is worth contacting the lawyer again (or getting a different one) and appealing the decision. If Indiana doesn’t pay a supplement anyway, is it a waste of time to appeal? I have 50 days to decide, so if anyone has any Indiana-specific information to share, let me know.
There’s also the fact that SSA considers my living with Kat and the kids as a $341/month value. What happens if I move? Do I get that extra money? I do know that any form of financial help with housing lowers your payment regardless of the source. Why? Because the government wants old people to hurry up and die so they can stop paying us what we’re owed.
Of course, it may all be a moot point if Republicans win control of the federal government. While Project 2025 doesn’t outright destroy Social Security, it does raise the retirement age to 70 and opens the door for other cuts, such as letting the system go bankrupt, firing hundreds of employees, and other policy changes that could eliminate any benefit at all.
What I do know is that Republicans are prepared to fight for Project 2025. They’re already pushing to make several sections of the plan part of the official GOP platform this week. The plan’s sponsor, The Heritage Foundation, is one of the GOP Convention’s sponsors. Their pockets run deep and they’re prepared for a fight.
That means ordinary people like you and I, who don’t have deep pockets, have to make a lot of noise about the issue to make sure that voters know how dangerous it is. One of the problems, though, is that there is a lot of misinformation floating about and many of us, myself included, have unwittingly repeated it. We need to be more careful about these things. The whole plan is online, making it easy enough to verify information for ourselves. We can’t be lazy and assume that someone else has done the work.
Honestly, the plan doesn’t have to get specific. If it achieves it’s broader guidelines of concentrating power in the presidency (king making), slashing regulations (destroying oversight on any level), and taking a hardline religious agenda (especially involving medical care), then all manner of bad things could/will happen. Republican members of Congress will consider a fall victory as an edict to implement their interpretation of the plan. Never mind that the plan doesn’t get as detailed as has been inferred. Congressional Republicans have already shown a willingness to dangerous things such as discriminate against LGBTQIA+ people, eliminating DEI funding, and permit gun storage within the Capitol. Don’t think for a second that they’ll be more rational come January of next year.
Even if Republicans don’t win in November, we have to be ready for the possibility that they will try to take power by force. My friend Tony painted a frightening scenario:
i saw a bit that made the claim that the speaker will not sit the new house on Jan3, claiming election irregularities and, with the House still under con control, refuse to certify the election on Jan6. The election then goes to the state legislatures…. 26 of which are republican controlled. See where this is going. All the pieces are in place for this coup…
Could that happen? Yeah, it could. How likely it is to happen depends on how vocal we are before the election. We have to let Republicans know that we’re not going to tolerate any nonsense on their part. If they try to usurp power that is not theirs, they have to know that we are going to make every effort to stop them, regardless of what that may mean.
Again, I know there’s a push to tone down the political rhetoric after Saturday’s alleged assassination attempt, but we don’t have to infer violence to stand up to the clowns pushing fascism in our face. We just have to be louder than they are. We can do that.
If we don’t, then why the fuck am I suffering through chemo and all this SSI bullshit? If you’re going to just give up and let whatever happens, then I might as well go ahead and die because you’re allowing the Republicans to create a life in the US that isn’t worth living. I won’t live as a slave to stupidity.
Will you?
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
Share this:
Like this: