I was absolutely not kidding about museums:
«The order he signed behind closed doors puts Vice President JD Vance, who serves on the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents, in charge of overseeing efforts to “remove improper ideology” from all areas of the institution, including its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.»
https://www.wired.com/story/doge-rebuild-social-security-administration-cobol-benefits/
😳
60 million lines of COBOL.
Perfect. Big Balls and AI. What could go wrong?
«They once again were making it clear they were going to send us home with no help – so my boyfriend blocked the door and said he was NOT taking me home until they ran additional tests. He had to use his large physical presence to get attention – he got loud and said “if I take her home she’s going to die.” They threatened to call security but he held his ground and said they could call whoever they wanted – we weren’t leaving without tests.
This tactic may not be safe for everyone. We were fortunate that this occurred in Canada and that he was white… the situation never escalated to physical violence. It absolutely could have and I’m grateful every day that it didn’t. They did threaten to call the police for ‘trespassing’ but he sternly told them that if they did that he would tell the police that they had been refusing me even the most basic of tests.
Thankfully – a doctor overheard the exchange and finally came to see me. At this point we had only seen nurses and security guards. This doctor took one look at me – pale, sweaty, breathless and curled up in the fetal position – and immediately ordered an ultrasound and extensive lab work.
As soon as the ultrasound and blood work came back I was being injected with high doses of IV antibiotics, pain medication and rushed for a CT scan. I had a flurry of doctors and nurses around me and most looked panicked. It turns out they saw a large shadow on the scan that indicated either a perforated bowel or abscess and my blood work showed I had a life threatening infection and needed another round of blood transfusions.
It had become so serious that the hospital we were at couldn’t even treat me – and I had to be transported to a larger hospital nearby.»
https://www.disabledginger.com/p/my-most-dangerous-er-experience-and
I just kind of skimmed until I got to that part. 😮
So, this was years ago, but even so: you’d think if somebody had been to the ER four times after surgery with complaints but no tests, they’d run a test. Patients need advocates, I guess.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/billionaires-need-tax-cut-so-food
«Martha Ross, 78, a nice lady having a meal at a community center in Charleston, noticed the tiny donations and joked, “I guess we’ll get real skinny.”
Reuters very inconsiderately didn’t ask Ms. Ross how (or whether) she voted, denying us the chance to declare whether she deserves to suffer or not. How about nobody deserves to go hungry except the evil deceitful fuckers who are directly responsible for this?»
«“The president is a true mercantilist [, a man of the land, the common clay of the new West,] and just isn’t going to believe forecasts about how bad this can get,” said Michael Strain, head of economic-policy studies at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. “He needs to put his hand to the hot stove and leave it there until he can’t bear it. The question is how long will that take?”»
«House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) threatened to eliminate specific courts altogether. “We do have authority over the federal courts. As you know, we can, we can eliminate an entire district court,” he said this week. “We have power, funding over the courts and all these other things. But desperate times call for desperate measures and Congress is going to act so stay tuned for that.”»
That’s awesome, Mike! I’m so glad to hear you are prepared to exercise your constitutional power of the purse to reign in… wait, the JUDICIAL branch?
«“They make these cuts to the point where Social Security is unable to operate, where people get their checks months and months late,” Pingree said. “It’s like if they drive it into the ground, then they can say ‘See, this doesn’t work anymore, so let’s turn it over to the private sector.’”»
From earlier in article:
«Dudek was a midlevel manager at Social Security before being elevated to the acting commissioner job by the Trump administration after Dudek expressed support for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency work at Social Security.»
#Kakistocracy
Nothing but the best from our #kakistocracy.
«$150 million in alleged unjust enrichment plus a penalty»
For a man worth $300 BILLION, that’s chump change.
https://www.vox.com/politics/405489/trump-deportations-gang-pro-palestine-spech-power-grab
«“Oh, so you oppose sending people to be tortured in a Salvadoran prison camp without due process? Guess you must support Tren de Aragua killing little girls.”»
…
«The Trump administration’s rhetoric doesn’t just attempt to link their opponents in general to gang members and terrorists. They also attempt to link judges and other nonpartisan authorities to Democrats.
…
Eminent Holocaust historian Christopher Browning has written several essays in the New York Review of Books that document what he calls “troubling similarities” between interwar Germany and America today. One of Browning’s key points is that the rise of Nazism was, in large part, a cautionary tale about “hyperpolarization.” The German center-right elite hated the left parties so much that they preferred Hitler, who was extreme even to their tastes — and were willing to hand him exceptional powers to crack down on civil liberties in service of crushing socialism and communism.
While Browning focuses his ire on conservative elites — he compares Sen. Mitch McConnell to Paul von Hindenburg, the German president who made Hitler chancellor — social science tells us that polarization can have a similar effect on ordinary voters.…
Using unusually high-quality data, Svolik and Graham were able to show that vanishingly few Americans — roughly 3.45 percent — were willing to vote against a candidate from their preferred party even if that candidate engaged in clear anti-democratic behavior.»
Yeehaa.
«This analysis was critically important to understanding why Trump could win in 2024 even after the stain of January 6. Today, it helps us understand how Trump’s rhetorical strategies hope to numb Americans — and especially fellow Republicans — to an assault on their fundamental liberties.»
So, the thing is (and this has been said before): it is a VERY long way to the bottom before die-hard Trump voters are suffering directly. I think we need an appeal to morality way before that.
“Have you no decency? At long last, have you no decency?”
Here, Read This 