«I was getting tired of being told what to do. Self-determination was a pain in the ass sometimes but it beat the alternative by a lot.

I made sure my collar was folded down so you could see my data port (though anybody who tried to stick a combat override module in there was going to get a violent surprise) and walked calmly out of the bunkroom into the galley. Amena was sitting on the table, frowning at me. She said, “What are you two fighting about now?”

ART said, I made SecUnit’s uniform too nice.

Amena nodded. “You do look great.”

I’m not even going to dignify that with a reaction.»

“Network Effect: A Murderbot Novel (The Murderbot Diaries Book 5)” by Martha Wells.

It just occurred to me that there’s no way any teevee show can capture this, unless it is 100% pure finest uncut art, which it won’t be.

https://www.statnews.com/2025/03/13/trump-administration-withdraws-dave-weldon-cdc-nomination/

Whoa. Everybody who called or emailed their Senators: good work, y’all!!

https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/trump-and-musk-are-building-a-new

Waivers and favors.

Long term, the market always goes up, so the current trend will (probably) resume, but it won’t be due to Trump.

«“It would be a capitulation to the Trump style of democracy, which is the movement of democracy to dictatorship,” said Rep. Hank Johnson, a typically mild-mannered Democrat from Georgia, when asked what happened if Senate Democrats allowed the spending bill to become law.»

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/11/politics/democrats-gop-government-funding-bill/index.html

«And Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, who faces a potentially tough reelection next year, told CNN a shutdown is “not in our nation’s interests” and “we will see what comes out of the House.”»

…

«“If Chuck Schumer can’t get us a better vote, he should resign,” one centrist House Democrat told CNN, who lamented the party was being too cautious even as Trump trampled over Congress’ powers. “What’s the plan? What’s the strategy? There isn’t one.”»

…

«Even moderate Blue Dog members do not plan to bail out Johnson on the vote if he can’t reach the 217 votes needed on his own, according to a person familiar with the members’ thinking.»

Good.

«Asked what happens if eight Democrats back the plan in the Senate, Jayapal retorted: “That’s not going to happen.”»

I hope she’s right.

«“If you are healthy, it’s almost impossible for you to be killed by an infectious disease in modern times,” Kennedy falsely told Fox News’s Marc Siegel in an interview last week. He’d had “a very, very emotional and long conversation” with the family of the child who had died, he said; and later added that “malnutrition may have been an issue in her death.”»

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/03/texas-measles-outbreak-death-family/681985/?gift=ly-h2TZGdDJyaoFv6n-KaVja-o65EJUbDu2g1HRm3o0&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share (gift)

What a shit. Sorry for my bad language, but it fits.

«The death of his daughter, Peter told me, was God’s will. God created measles. God allowed the disease to take his daughter’s life. “Everybody has to die,” he said. Peter’s eyes closed, and he struggled to continue talking. “It’s very hard, very hard,” he said at last. “It’s a big hole.” His voice quavered and trailed off.»

Ok. I’m really sorry for their loss, but God gave us brains and free will.

«After lunch, I made the six-hour drive back to Austin, where I live, past the pumpjacks slowly bobbing for oil and the towering wind farms. There’s nothing I heard in Seminole that I haven’t also heard from crunchy liberal friends at home who choose not to vaccinate their kids because they believe that vaccines contain toxins that cause autism or that childhood diseases bolster the immune system. [Emphasis mine. – John.] (For the record, the 1998 paper that purported to show a link between vaccines and autism has been retracted, and research indicates that contracting measles can degrade your body’s ability to fight other infections.) Nor are Peter’s views that unusual in conservative corners of the country. A recent poll found that nearly one-third of all Republican and Republican-leaning voters, for instance, think that routine inoculations are “more dangerous than the diseases they are designed to prevent.” That’s the gist of what I heard from multiple Mennonites I interviewed. They are far from alone.»

…

«At one point in the parking lot, Peter had asked me why his daughter matters to the rest of the country. I’d struggled in the moment to come up with an answer.»

https://www.ft.com/content/ea5b09e7-1b05-4b62-9aad-64705170d6a9

«After he took his four-year-old son, X, to the White House last month, insiders say Trump asked for the HMS Resolute desk to be disinfected. The boy felt just as at home as his father.»

I had forgotten Trump is a germophobe.