The bed was crowded this morning. Queen Bit, licking at my hair, woke me five minutes before the alarm. Solaris was on my head. Gabby was in my lap. Frankie, the smashed-face wheezer kitty, was on my feet. Both dogs were at my side, snuggled in close. Kat had Fat Guy and Kronk snuggling with her. Hunger was the only motivator for anyone to move. Once I’m up, the cats know food is coming next.
Once the cats are fed, it’s time to take the dogs out. Hamilton prances impatiently as I get dressed. He doesn’t understand that with a windchill of 0, I need a fleece below the twenty-pound overcoat. Putting on the coat is a little painful this morning. Once we’re outside, though, I’m glad I have it. The wind blows from the Northwest, pushing the fur from the collar onto my face. The ground crunches beneath each step. Hamilton loves the cold and does a couple of quick laps around the yard. Belvedere does what he came to do and then returns to my side, anxious to go back indoors. A gust of wind tries to take the hat off my head.
With the dogs fed and coffee in hand, I sit down and wake up the computer. A number of AP alerts pop up from overnight. Biden pardons 1,500. Time selects a demon as its Person of the Year. North Carolina seals a five-year deal with Bill Belichick. Hannah Kobayashi is found safe. The importance of any story depends on what one has at stake. Are you harmed? Are you threatened? Do you benefit?
A shooter arrested for killing a CEO fights extradition. Is he a hero? Do insurance workers have a reason to be afraid? Opinions try to keep some balance on the highwire of morality. The demonization of insurance companies comes easily. Yet, it is legislatures that deal the most damage. Indiana state code could threaten health coverage for 754,000 Hoosiers. Yes, we are included in that number. The US House passed a defense bill that denies coverage for transgender minors. We have friends who are affected.
Meanwhile, CEOs are tripping. Literally. They’re high as fuck.
If killing one CEO strikes fear into the insurance industry, what might it take to deliver the same level of fear to Congress? We complain about insurance companies, and rightfully so, but the solution of Universal Healthcare has to come from the idiots you elected to Congress and the bunch being seated in January isn’t likely to be cooperative on the subject without some motivation. Is targeted violence an answer? Nothing else has worked. We need to look carefully at the options.
Putting this update together is being complicated and painful. I’m sure I’ve seen a story this morning about rising cancer costs, but I can’t find it. That happens a lot. My head still hurts, focus and memory are shakey at best. I sit here struggling with what to write.
Do I care that more teens are looking at porn? Only to the extent that what they’re watching tends to be more violent. When parents fail to provide honest answers and never have reasonable conversations about sex, then yeah, kids are going to look to porn for that information. Teens have questions but they’re finding adults don’t have answers. Want a better outcome? Provide a better resource.
Totally unrelated to anything, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that reality TV contestants are technically employees. Yeah, that’s going to affect what we see next year.
If you came here from Facebook, you may want to be aware that Meta, FB’s parent company, donated $1 million to the Felon’s inauguration. Google+, where are you when we need you?
Another alert pops up, this time from the bank. They’re insisting that I need to put $186 in my account to bring the balance to $0. The only thing I can do about that is this: Venmo: @C_I_Letbetter. CashApp: $ciletbetter. Other than that, I’m just screwed until the first of the year.
The animals have all settled down for their morning nap. I need some hot cereal and my meds. That means I should stop typing now.
Is this even useful to anyone? I wonder. Maybe I’m just typing words.
Stop believing everything you read on the Internet. 
Don’t rely on the computer to help you make friends.
Do something you’ve never done before.
Vote the bums out.
Read something longer than a damn list.
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Disaster Status
Much of the US is waking up to a fresh layer of snow on the ground and colder temperatures in the air. In fact, in many places, it is colder in Greenland than in the US. As I’m typing, the outdoor temperature is a whopping three degrees Fahrenheit. We’re keeping the kids home because their bus has been running late all week and they don’t need to be breathing such cold air. If only keeping them home would also protect them from what some are calling the most stupid empire collapse in history.
Yes, some people are standing up to Felonious Punk and his cronies, but you have to look outside national media to find them. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who just happens to be Jewish, was delivering his State of the State address yesterday when he said, “After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities — once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends — after that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next?” he asked.
“All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history, then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it,” Pritzker said. “It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours, and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.”
Someone asked me last night where Bernie is in all this mayhem. I found him, but the source is Pravda, of all places. The Ukrainian-based paper quotes Senator Sanders as saying, “Yesterday, we witnessed an extremely sad moment in American history. We saw the president of the United States aligning himself with the dictator of Russia, Vladimir Putin, to undermine the independence of Ukraine and its democracy. Let’s be clear: Trump is showing us that he sees one of the world’s most brutal dictators as his friend, and our long-time democratic allies in Europe as his enemies. He wants a world that is safe for authoritarians and oligarchs but extremely dangerous for democracies. It will not surprise you when I tell you that Trump is lying – as he so often does.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett has been an outspoken opponent as well. Speaking on MSNBC, she said, “It’s just that they’re idiots. These are the same guys as it relates to our nuclear stockpile, they’re like, ‘Oh, wait a minute, we needed those guys? Can we get them back? Oh, we don’t know how to.’ I don’t know how anyone can look at this administration & feel a semblance of confidence.”
And while President Shitforbrains incorrectly states the popularity of Ukraine’s Zelensky, his own popularity at home continues to shrink. Sure, the numbers are not dropping by huge amounts yet, but as the administration’s cuts continue to affect people in poorer Southern (and heavily Republican) states, his approval rating will continue to shrink and it will take more than a one-time $5K check to get it back.
Yet, guess what the banner headline is on the Moscow Times this morning. Kremlin Says It ‘Absolutely Agrees’ With Donald Trump on Ukraine. WTF? I can’t remember the last time the US and Russia were in lockstep like this! If one of the world’s most cruel and murderous governments agrees with the direction we’re taking, there’s no question that we’re going the wrong way!
Oh, and then there was this moment yesterday.
The White House even posted that picture on their own social media pages! Are we supposed to see this as some kind of joke? Hardly. We can see where he’s going and it doesn’t look good for democracy. The backlash has been relatively severe, but the move shows us his true intent.
Some are asking why none of the former presidents have spoken up. The answer lies in the fact that anything a former president says is instantly politicized. The Punk has already eliminated their morning briefings and some Secret Service details, so we know he’s afraid of them, but if/when they do stand up, they’ll need to be ready to take on the mantle of leading the revolution, something neither Clinton nor Bush is physically up to doing.
What may be upsetting me the most this morning is seeing multiple social media posts from parents asking whether it is worth continuing to live, and more frightening, whether their children should continue to live as well. I understand their concern and appreciate the resulting depression. Our situation as a country is bad and it’s not going to get any better as long as the status quo is allowed to endure. However, do we dare go so far as to completely give up any hope?
I’m deeply concerned that people are so quickly past any determination to fight and going straight to complete surrender. How do we stop the world from crumbling if our own inaction is contributing to the decay of our democracy? I understand that not everyone is as willing to put a gun to the head of every GOP politician as I am, but if we are at the point of providing no resistance at all, we not only doom ourselves but the entire world! This is not a matter of which our own desires are at stake.
I choose to believe that the resistance is growing. Perhaps it’s not moving as quickly as I might like, but as more people lose their jobs, as prices continue to rise, and the cost of living continues to soar, we must realize that, unlike natural disasters that happen no matter what we do, this is one disaster that we can stop. We need a leader to step up and unify the resistance, someone who can lead the charge, and then we need the will to fight as though our lives depend on it because they do.
No fun and games exist here. We’re dealing with a dictator and the only way to do so is to depose him and everyone in his administration.
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