Turn, turn, turn . . .
Saturday, June 28, 2025. It's a Satyr's day . . . After heavy thunderstorms this morning, easy Southerlies, sun andclouds are in the TulseyTown forecasts for the afternoon with upper 80's and indices in the upper 90's.
Today is the birthday of Richard Rodgers. Half of the Rodgers and Hammerstein songwriting team, Rodgers was born in 1902 New York City .
Mel Brooks celebrates his 99th birthday today. The stage writer, comedian and filmmaker and actor was born in 1926 Brooklyn, New York.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born on this day in 1712 Geneva, Switzerland. A philosopher, writer, and political theorist, he made liberty an object of almost universal aspiration.
And, it's Elon Musk's 54th birthday today.
When it comes to Trump's “big beautiful” budget bill now in the Senate, published polls show opponents outnumber supporters roughly two to one. Twenty percent or more expressed no opinion, presumably a reflection of limited knowledge.
There’s widespread agreement that the most vulnerable will take the biggest hit, and it is by design. Under H.R. 1, the annual incomes of the poorest tenth of the population decline by $1,600 on average while those of the richest tenth increase by $12,000 on average, according to new estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Among other things, the bill weakens public schools by creating a nationwide voucher scheme and slashing support for Medicaid, which covers nearly half our students and 1 in 10 education support professionals. Cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) threaten school meals while cuts in student loan programs make higher education even more unaffordable. The bill also provides a lot more money for even more ruthless immigration enforcement.
Robert Reich in an email this morning called it “the most cruel, harmful, and flat-out immoral piece of legislation I’ve ever seen” and he's been around Washington politics for fifty years.
If you haven't, tell Congress what you think. If you have already, do it again. Do it today. When it comes to election time, assuming Trump doesn't successfully screw with it, remember: We are the people who put these fear-and-greed-based anti-democratics into office and we can replace them. If you are registered republican, don't be afraid to cross over with your vote. You won't have to change your registration.
There are other ways to pack the Supreme Court than trying to increase partisan numbers. – Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse.
Finally, a hopeful sign from the Supreme Court. A unanimous sleeper decision in a case brought by the NRA could blow back on the Trump administration's efforts to target opponents and could have profound impacts on Trump’s agenda.
As long as the world is turning and spinning, we're gonna be dizzy and we're gonna make mistakes. – Mel Brooks
Frankly, fickle . . .
Friday, June 27, 2025. It's Frigg's day (Freya) . . the heat dome over TulseyTown is easing. The weatherfeather indicates a 50/50 chance for rain. Which translates to “either it will or it won't.” Chances remain tonight and tomorrow but drop off into our usual 20%.
You are the sky. Everything else – is just the weather. — Pema Chödrön
One of my heros, Bill Moyers died yesterday.
Today is the birthday of Helen Keller. The blind, deaf author and educator was born in 1880 Tuscumbia, Alabama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller
Trump news continues to hi-jack the blog.
[The] unprecedented strike has shown the Islamic regime for the second time, that nuclear diplomacy is reversible, fragile and vulnerable to changes in leadership in Washington. There will not be a third time. If Iran now decides to move towards a bomb, it will do so following a clear strategic logic. No one bombs the capital of a nuclear-armed country. June 21, 2025 may go down in history not as the day the Iranian nuclear program was destroyed, but as the day a nuclear Iran was irreversibly born.” – Enrique Mora, European Union Iran nuclear negotiator, cited by Heather Cox Richardson in Letters From An American.
Wars pose particular challenges to democracy because nations at war often become more xenophobic and willing to give those in power extra leeway to protect the homeland. That’s an underlying danger with Trump’s warmongering. – Robert Reich, “What Trump Will Do With His War.”
A president who is uncomfortable with liberal democracy and civil rights and religious tolerance might welcome an attack so as to declare martial law and cancel the midterm elections. I hear sensible people discussing this lunatic idea and it is troubling. – Garrison Keillor, The Column, 6.24.25.
Trump administration officials have restarted aggressive social media screenings of student visa applicants. If we let the government punish students for what they post online, what’s to stop it from coming after citizens next? Like this blog. Or that you read it.
ICE is holding roughly 59,000 people in detention, likely the highest number in American history. Nearly half have no criminal record.
[The Supreme Court justices] work for us. The job may not always be easy. They will not be able to avoid a confrontation with this White House over the scope of presidential power, unless they are willing to concede that the president has the powers of a king, because that is clearly what Donald Trump is trying to acquire. – Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse.
“When a pickpocket meets a saint, all he sees are the saint’s pockets.” – Soren 2.0, 6.26.25
You am, I are, We
– remembering e.e.cummings
The universe is our temple, a pimple,
a humble gimbal, a dimple, frankly fickle.
Left in a pickle, loud proud and ignomineously
deaf, dumb and blind to the level of a stubbed toe –
toiling in the shambles
of spilled leftover soup
on a linoleum floor, slipping
out from under foot at a speed
faster than that of light.
– jab
You can't always get what you want . . .
Wednesday, June 25, 2025. It's Odin's day . . . Moderate Southerlies are in the forecasts bringing a few clouds and the slightest of rain chances to the afternoon. The Moon is new. Hiding from the heat? As it begins its waxing cycle this weekend, forecasts indicate good rain chances as the high pressure heat dome begins to wane.
Burying the lede: It seems to me long past time to question the 79-year-old president’s mental health. – Heather Cox Richardson in yesterday's Letters From An American.
Anne Frank's diary was published on this day in 1947.
Today is the birth date of George Orwell. The author of 1984 was born Eric Blair in a small village in 1903 Bengal, India. 1984 has been translated into 62 languages and sold more than 10 million copies.
Two pieces posted in the past two days by Robert Reich seemed to me to be extraordinarily worthwhile … So here they are:
Perhaps the most important message for these times from someone who wasn't Liz Cheny.
A conversation with a group of students, friends and colleagues on the occasion of Robert's 79th birthday.
Sailor, Home from the See
Nobody told us
how to navigate the watercourse way,
that waking up anyplace we woke up
was an OK place to be –
at least for that one instant
before the current carried us
to where we are right now
reading this.
– jab