(Not) Short notice, (not) short message
But too little sleep will get to you and eventually you’ll re-use a subject line…
Hi neighbors, I’m still here;
Protest: Tuesday March 18, just down the street from the County Courthouse in New City, on the scenic corner of New Hempstead and Main.
New developments this week – a few are ‘good’, in that the courts can still be counted on to deliver rulings that aren’t stamps of approval, though I don’t think Trump’s record of compliance with those rulings has improved. The rest, a continuing onslaught. The general state of our nation isn’t great for holding back the Administration’s scattered fantasies:
- the military has problems above and beyond Musk’s chaos and the understandable recalcitrance of Zelenskyy:
- We’re screwing the veterans again: Republicans are cutting $22.8 BILLION from the PACT Act:
- Between Trump’s war on foreigners, science, and research, and his wholly unAmerican censorship campaign, our nation’s Universities are toast. These are just a tiny sample:
- https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/03/umass-disbands-its-entering-biomed-graduate-class-over-trump-funding-chaos/
- https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-440828980a4ee7bf4ddcf3d123e02b3e
- https://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2025/03/just-48-hours-later-the-trump-gangsters-have-yanked-400-million-in-contracts-and-grants-from-columbia-university-seri.html
- and yes, Leiter is Jewish and authors “The world’s most popular philosophy blog, since 2003”
- and yes, Leiter is Jewish and authors “The world’s most popular philosophy blog, since 2003”
- Elementary schools, toast also:
- Trump & Musk cut ONE BILLION from school lunches and food banks: https://apnews.com/article/school-lunch-usda-trump-c1485f824573913fe9a734bbf1273e26
- tacking air quality and public safety on in here too: https://lailluminator.com/2025/03/08/co2-pipeline/
- Elections? What elections?
- https://www.npr.org/2025/03/12/nx-s1-5301676/save-act-explainer-voter-registration
- https://cyberscoop.com/cisa-election-security-review-lacks-transparency/
- https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/13/cisa_red_team_layoffs/
from The Register article in case you’re tired of clicking thru:
Former CISA employee Christopher Chenoweth, a senior penetration tester, said via LinkedIn that he and more than 100 others had their government contracts terminated on February 28, as ordered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He said this comprised his entire red team and all support roles, and the following Wednesday (March 5) a second red team tasked with “mission-critical work” was also cut.
The EI-ISAC’s role was to advise election officials and voting machine makers about cybersecurity risks that could impact the integrity of elections. It isn’t the first move made by the current US administration to loosen oversight on election security.
Also confirmed this week to be shut down is the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), which was similarly tasked with informing responses to threats against local and national elections.
“Many state and local election offices rely on EI-ISAC as their only source of federal cybersecurity support, so cutting it puts entire counties at risk. Defunding EI-ISAC doesn’t just weaken election security, it leaves communities wide open to cyberattacks on schools, emergency services, and local governments,” he added.
That was only the first half of the week; I pretty much gave up after that. I heard the new mission of the former Environmental Protection Agency was a low point: “to make it cheaper to buy cars, heat homes and run businesses.” And the kidnapping of Mahmoud Khalil was perhaps the bottom, though more similar horror stories are ‘developing.’
The only really positive thing I can say is that our kids and grandkids – while they haven’t been joining us old folks in our hand-wringing and feeble protests – aren’t hesitating to stand up when it’s necessary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSq8nTjUpms&pp=ygUgamV3aXNoIHByb3Rlc3RlcnMgYXQgVHJ1bXAgVG93ZXI%3D
We had better hope they decide soon that this is their battle too. And if they do, we had better have their backs this time.
--
p.s. Schumer needs to go. Find and sign one or several of the many petitions on line!