The World As I Know It

The text of emails sent to Senators Jon Husted(R-OH) and Bernie Moreno(R-OH). In a letter signed by over 750 current and former employees of health agencies in the US, Secretary Kennedy and Congress were called on to end Kennedy’s campaign of misinformation and disinformation, characterizing him as an “existential threat to public health. He has NO medical training of any kind. He relies not on established best practices in medical science nor on data and peer-reviewed studies, which contradict his… quite frankly…insane narrative. Instead, he listens to those looking to make a quick buck peddling the modern equivalent of snake oil and the voices in his head. Earlier this August, Kennedy cut $500 MILLION in funding for research on mRNA vaccines, citing junk science and the voices in his head. He falsely stated that mRNA vaccines failed to protect against COVID-19 infection effectively and were “unsafe”. This, and other actions on Kennedy’s part, are going to lead to the needl...

We live in parlous times, here in America. We have an increasingly authoritarian, utterly corrupt, absolutely morally bankrupt administration busily undermining the Constitution and rule of law in Washington, DC. And, too many people are standing around, scratching their heads...feeling isolated and alone and uncertain of what to do next. Firstly, Donnie and his kakistocracy want you to feel isolated and alone. It is their route to absolute and unquestioned power. Secondly, there are things you can do to effect change. However, it will be a group effort. It will be a peaceful, non-violent effort on our part. And that is the key...non-violence. Non-violent resistance to authoritarian regimes is successful more than twice as often as violent opposition and can draw from a larger potential member base than any violent resistance can hope to. It is precisely this dynamic, drawing from the diversity of our population and its dynamism that, working together, can put a stop to the insanity ...

I wrote this to Husted's and Moreno's contact pages. Both are Trump tools, and both will vote in favor of this travesty of a budget bill. Any Republican voting for this bill should seek the political equivalent of a fallout shelter when the people who actuallvoted for their sorry asses begin losing their access to medical care and medications for themselves and/or their children. Bad as it is for the working poor, the disabled, the elderly and children, being stripped of access to healthcare for the benefit of the GOP's donor class, there is this... "An overlooked provision in the “Big Beautiful Bill” passed by the House of Representatives would strip the power of the courts to hold the executive branch in contempt, at least for current lawsuits against the Trump administration." ...

By the time I retired in February, I had been an RN for more than 25 years. Along the way, I earned my BSN and MSN. I had planned on retiring on January 1st, but after the election in November of 2024, I cancelled my retirement plans indefinitely. I thought I could keep going for another year or two, or until we decided it was time to get the fuck out of Trump's America. I thought I could do it, but...I just couldn't. Between hospital administration pretending everything was just peachy, the declining quality of nursing care coming from the floors and ICU's to our unit for procedures and, in the backgound of it all...the drive for revenue. From my end, this came in the form of tests...expensive and often inappropriate tests...being ordered by ED physicians. Too often, those tests were ordered in the total absence of any documentation justifying the order. There were no labs...no EKG's...no progress note documenting the rationale for the exam. And I worked for a large,...

With all the biblical literalist, or at least those claiming to be so, I have a question for them. If the Bible tells you that you should kill someone, would you...really? There are many such instance in the Bible, but let's get specific with Deuteronomy 13:6-11, which states... 6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people...

It can be said, with more than a little justification, that "Christian" nationalism is nothing more than white nationalism in Bible drag. But the issue is more complex than that, and starkly reveals exactly why the Founders erected a wall between church and state. While the term has been in use since the 1800's, it took on new significane in 2015 with the rise of Donald Trump, and the enthusiastic support of that rise by self-styled evangelical "Christians". I use "Christians" parenthetically as I find that these "Christians" pay little more than lip-service to the teachings of Christ. Their support for Trump is rooted in the mistaken assumption that...despite decades of debauchery and depravity...he somehow shares their values. Which leads me to question exactly what their values are. To support their claims that America is a Christian nation founded, not upon the historical records and writings of the Founders regarding the religiousity...