Spontaneous Musings

CNN Aired An Exclusive Live Broadcast of the Broadway Play: Good Night and Good Luck - adapted for the stage from the film of the same name. The reason they aired it is made clear upon the airing - at the very end, Edward R Murrow, the CBS News See it Now broadcaster who famously took on McCarthy, during the Black List and McCarthy Hearings, stands front and center in front of a screen displaying multiple screens of the news. He states in a halting speech, enunciating each word, with a slight tremor to his voice, "we've seen what happens when power goes unchecked, that's not the question before us now, the question is - what will you do about it?"

I was thinking as I was watching it live on MAX (I no longer have access to CNN), that evil is like a spider, sitting in the dark corner of the room, smoking a cigar, wih a red top hat and tails smirking. And asking in a whisper of a voice, low and barely audible, "what do you want?" And indicating with a smile - "come into my parlor my dear and I shall give it to you, with a price of course".

It's insidious, and shadows egos. Self-importance. Self-righteousness. Power. Fame. Fortune. Wealth. Beware the righteous, and the self-important, and most of all the arrogant and narcissistic hunting awards and acknowledgment and power.

I don't know what I personally can do to check the power or stop it. I've been pondering it. I can write, I can post, I can draw, I can paint, I can do my job at a public agency. And I can hope people listen.

People aren't very good at listening? Have you noticed that? Too busy thinking about themselves or what they are going to say next or how they'll respond. Too filled up with thoughts to hear...ones that lie outside of their own minds and brains. I tell people a story and they tell me their own back again, and mine....slides off unheard, lost somehow within theirs? The meaning gone. And they tell me theirs and I tell them my own, and it happens all over again from the other side - with their story being lost.

I did social group therapy once - and we were for the most part forced to listen, but everyone tended to flounder at it. Either they'd ask pointed questions, correct the person's choice of words or syntax or speech (which isn't listening by the way - it's judging, and helps no one), interrupt, direct the conversation to themselves, provide advice, try to fix whatever it was, dismiss it as already solved or playing the victim, but seldom did they listen.

And once on a fan discussion board - we fell into a discussion about writing carefully, and I thought - no that's not the problem here or not that alone, we also need to learn how to read carefully. And people don't? Too busy reading quickly, flying through or past the text, to see it clearly let alone truly comprehend it? Now, for example, raise your hand if you just skimmed this passage and oh so many others? Be honest? How many have you skimmed, jumping over words and phrases and reacting to a sentence here or a paragraph there - but not seeing the whole? I know I do. Try a little experiment, if you will? Read just one paragraph of a post, or the unhidden bit. Then take a moment, and read the rest later, has your opinion of it changed?

We live in an age of content overload, and we surf and read and look at so many things simultaneously. Texts fly by. Our memory of them fleeting or garbled. And more often than not - people just read blurbs. If I post something with information below a "cut tag" - how many will read what's below the tag, and just respond to the top of the post? Losing the point of it. Or respond to the post, without reading the comments below? We don't read carefully - and most mistakes are made because of it. They were on the discussion boards. 90% of the arguments online are the result of "miscommunication" or the inability to politely ask for clarification prior to snarking, judging or condemning.

I think the flaw in the human brain is a tendency to assume everyone thinks the same and perceives things the same? When no one does? And well...a failure to communicate as a result?

**

You'll have to excuse me, I'm exhausted. But the weather is shifting, and I'm hurting less all of a sudden - which means the arthritis isn't being pinged by the human weather vane.

I'm also frustrated with my fellow humans. And perhaps with myself and my own limitations. And a touch depressed, no more than a touch, as a result. But hey at least I don't hurt as much as last night. So maybe the back brace is helping?

It's a warm spring evening. The sky has cleared of clouds, and it's sliding towards dark, from twilight. Nine PM on the East Coast. But I can still see puffs of cloud moving slowly across the pale blue sky, lit from within by moonlight. Our swiftly turning planet in the vacuum of space, surrounded by stars and galaxies which far too many of us take for granted as we bumble upon it babbling and gurgling at one another as is our way.

I woke up in a decent mood and started the day, happy and carefree - yet by the end of it? Grumpy. I think the world likes to chip away at us at times?
Also it's raining, and my right leg is bothering me again. It was fine this morning - more or less, but started bugging me again at lunch time. To cheer myself up - I got a discounted Grand Central mouse pad/post-card, and a NYC 2025 Guide Book (both discounted off by 20%). Also, got a matcha latte. (I'm in love with matcha lattes - with almond milk - they are unsweetened, have almost no calories, and healthy). Sitting at home now, with a heating pad on my back.

1. The Truth About Why You Keep Waking Up at 3AM

I've basically done everything that has been suggested. I'm working on the diet bit - because I think that may be a factor. I realized that my sleep deprivation over the years is most likely why I have some of the health issues that I currently have - well that and menopause and ceiliac disease are probably factors, plus genetics. Honestly there's never one solution or one cause, if there was, the pharmaceutical industry would be out of business.

2. My Buffy Re-Watch - has made me aware of a few things? I'm still in S2.
( Read more... )

3. I do not know what to make of Amanda Palmer. I tried to unsubscribe to her Patreon, but it keeps popping up in my inbox. And I keep deleting. And she keeps talking about how all she does is love, gets browbeaten by trolls, but fights back, and can't talk about what happened until the lawsuit is over. I feel sorry for her - she gets trolled, but I also think that she's been infected by Fame and can't let go of the addiction? What I don't get is why people troll her? I get the anger? But trolling solves little? We're all flawed, let people be.

4. Bono (U2) of all people gave me a smattering of hope today.

Bono on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Kimmel asks him where he stands on the Trump vs. Springsteen issue. He's of course in Springsteen's corner...yada yada yada. But what he says that gave me a smattering of hope is this: "I founded a non-profit bipartisan foundation called ONE and it is made up of a lot of conservative and highly religious people, Anglicans, Catholics, Fundamentalist Christians, etc and they are VERY angry about what the person they voted for is doing to their country and how he is dismantling various fundamental and important life saving aid programs such as US AID and the Peace Corps which have saved millions of lives from AIDS and other diseases and poverty around the world. Taking away programs of compassion and kindness - which are what America is all about. What we are about. So angry that trust me on this, they and we are about to make a lot of good trouble."

I can't emphasize this enough to anyone who stumbles upon my journal, there are numerous coalitions forming around the United States and Globally to fight this administration and it's project 2025 plan. And they are growing daily.

5. MTA vs. the Federal Government.

Tee Hee, the MTA is winning!

MTA: The Feds want us to give up congestion pricing and tell us how to control traffic and transportation in our city. But the Federal court prevented them from vindictively punishing us by removing Federal funding. We are not giving it up. Look here? The New York Times dug deep and proved it is working.

I feel sorry for the MTA, they are fighting everybody. Including idiotic talk radio hosts who think the subways are dangerous. They are not dangerous. I take the subways twice daily, five days a week and sometimes on weekends and to doctor's appointments, basically everywhere. They are safer than cars or buses. And far less stressful. Not to mention cheaper.

Very few people die on the subway. The worst thing I've seen on the subway was a man who was scarred from third degree burns on every inch of his body and begging for money. Also once during the pandemic - a homeless man with a knife. But we were perfectly safe - the conductor stopped the train, got us all off, and called for assistance at the next station.

Good news, depending on one's perspective? It also shows how the courts check the executive branch or how the system of checks and balances works.

Prior to going into this? A nice little video about how a "bill" becomes a "law" in the US, which shows how the Legislature and Executive Branch interact and check each other. The US is a democratic Republic with a system of Checks and Balances, it's not a Parliamentary System, although the system did borrow heavily from it.

I'm Only a Bill...via School House Rock.

[For those who don't already know? School House Rock along with the Afterschool Special was ABC's response to the Children's Television Act of the 1970s and 1990s, which required American Broadcasting to provide television shows aimed at educating children and were "child" appropriate. And specifically the creation of advertising executive who decided cartoons would be a cool way to teach kids.
( Read more... )

( I'm Only a Bill..Just a Bill )

And a fun little one about our Checks and Balances known as the 3 Ring Circus, it explains in simple terms what each branch of the US government is responsible for:
( checks and balances )
Both are rather oversimplified explanations. It's more complicated than that, and if we add in the State Legislatures, Executive Branches, and Courts, it gets even more so. There's a reason you can't practice law in the US without passing both the individual State Bar Exam and the Multi-State Bar Exam (Federal). Also not every State recognizes every other State's Bar, since the regulations and laws per state vary.

So, its not just a check and balances between the Executive (enforces the laws), the Legislative (creates the laws), and the Courts (interprets the laws and determines if the newly created laws or their enforcement contradicts the US or State Constitutions and are invalid, and how they should be enforced) - it's also a checks and balances between the States vs. Federal, States vs. States, and States vs. Local, and add to all of that other countries or what is known as International Law, and International Trade and Treaties. This type of law is practiced and taught under Administrative Law (which has various regulations and policies in place to enforce the laws), and Constitutional Law, also Civil Law, Criminal Law, and Procedural Law.

Hopefully the above will give anyone who wasn't taught all of this in law school or civics courses or isn't a legal professional working with administrative laws and regulations daily - a simplified road map towards understanding what is currently happening? (shrugs)

Now, for the good news, or a demonstration of how all of this is actually working to beat back fascism and uphold our civil rights in a peaceful and non-violent manner. [As always, mileage may vary on whether this is good news and it's in the eye of the beholder.]

1.A federal court temporarily blocks the president’s unconstitutional executive order attempting to require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

https://www.votebeat.org/2025/04/24/trump-executive-order-elections-preliminary-injunction/

2. Mohsen Mahdawi, a college student arrested by ICE following his citizenship interview, is released from detention by order of a federal court while his immigration case proceeds.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/lawyers-columbia-student-detained-ice-seek-release-case/story?id=121317902

3.19 states and Washington, DC sue the Dept. of Health and Human Services and its leadership over the unconstitutional dismantling of various federal programs vital to Americans’ health.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/05/health/states-sue-trump-administration-hhs-rfk

4.A U.S. district court rules that the presidential administration cannot use an 18th-century wartime law to deport people from Venezuela living in the U.S. ( explanation of what is happening here )

5.Colorado passes a bill to uphold public school students’ access to diverse reading materials.

https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/colorado-limit-school-library-book-bans/

( the rest - not just court cases )

"Since day one of the new administration, We The People have fought in the courts, legislatures, and the streets to defend our civil rights against any attack:
( Read more... )

As stated earlier in this post - the US does have things already in place and historically embedded over 200 years, that enable us to fight back and to do so peacefully.

Another School House Rock Ditty... No More Kings - which I think explains the American character rather well, even if it leaves a lot out, unfortunately.

Also these:

* Electoral College - Send Your Vote to College

* The Constitution - the Preamble

* Declaration of Independence - Fireworks

And finally, a new protest song by Joan Baez and Janis Ian:

I feel battered by the news. To date, I've sent cards, subscribed to The Atlantic, New York Magazine, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair (Vanity Fair is by the way the cheapest at $18 a year (it's a special deal), after that it is $30 dollars a year, includes unlimited digital, print, and a tote bag. Everybody gives out tote bags. I now have more tote bags than I know what to do with. Also given to various charitable and non-profit organizations.

So finally a little good news from my sources on other social media platforms that you may not have access to.

As always, the good news may well be in the eye of the beholder, your mileage may vary on some of it.

Good news from the American Resistance and its Global Allies

1. Australia and Canada elected liberal Prime Ministers. ( Read more... )

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/03/australia/australia-election-results-albanese-dutton-intl-hnk?cid=ios_app

***

Trump’s administration is facing more than 200 lawsuits over his immigration policies, his ill-advised tariffs, his revenge against law firms, his attempts to shut down government agencies, and many more actions. Trump appears to be in deep denial. [Honestly, sometimes I think the man is either a frustrated litigator or just likes to be sued? At least we are winning most of them.]

An unprecedented in history legal blitz against the Trump Administration (No President in the History of the US has faced this many lawsuits within their first 100 days.)

The below includes items like political rallies and actors speaking out against the Doofus politically. I didn't number them, because it would require renumbering and that leads to all sorts of issues.

( The Resistance wins lots of legal cases against the Trump Administration, along with a lot of lawsuits and court cases being filed )

Non-Court and Non-Political Related Good News

11. The Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony honored the “Six Triple Eight,” an all-Black, predominantly female unit of the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II.

( Read more... )

Learn More About the 6-Triple 8 Here

12.In the “groundbreaking” results of an immunotherapy clinical trial, most cancer patients saw their tumors disappear.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/health/cancer-immunotherapy-solid-tumors.html?unlocked_article_code=1.C08.XEHY.yLYIErw8VKKE&smid=url-share&ck_subscriber_id=2454664808

13. Dozens of miniature horses galloped for a good cause in New Zealand - their own.
( Read more... )

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2025/apr/23/great-northern-gallop-new-zealand-miniature-horses-race-in-pictures?ck_subscriber_id=2454664808

14.“A City in a Park”: Chattanooga, Tennessee, Is North America’s First National Park City.

( Read more... )

https://nicenews.com/environment/chattanooga-tennessee-first-national-park-city-north-america/

( the rest regarding environmental, the arts, animals, science, etc.. )

I hope you found something in there to smile about? If not, here's a pretty tree?

I know I do. So, found some and it made me smile today. As did the lovely blue sky, and the tulips I saw at lunch time, and the warm weather. Outside my window, it is quiet and peaceful, the trees are green and golden, with a smattering of red. And the sky is hazy blue with streaks of clouds fading slowly into twilight. Although we should still have light until at least 8pm.

It's the little things that make life worth living, I think? Not the big ones. Considering how many places around the world are war torn and struggling, I am reminded once again...there but for the grace of god, go I. I forget occasionally. I was reminded again today, by an unexpected source, who in an odd way provided me with the courage to send out the first of my cards to the US Federal Government for Project Snail Mail. Then hunted down more cards and stationary provided over the years by various charitable institutions in order to send more. (I don't know about anyone else? But I get a lot of stationary items from charitable foundations, even ones that I never give money too.)

It's scary writing these posts and making them public - since I do not know who is reading? One really never does when posting on social media. It's akin to posting on a bulletin board in the middle of Times Square. But I hope in some small way by posting them - I've made at least one person's day a little brighter? Or happier? Or put a smile on someone's face? There's a song about this, from the musical Pippin: Spread a Little Sunshine.

I can't do the rallys, protests, marches or the phone calls - that's not my bailiwick, but I am a good writer - and can write, or so I've been told. So I will do that. I can also draw and paint. And take photos. So I will do that too.

So, I'll be brave and continue...to post these lists in unlocked posts.

As always, the good news is in the eye of the beholder. With any luck some of it has brought a smile to your face or a sense of a relief, or at least a spark of hope however small in this crazy mixed up world.

Without further ado, Hopefully Spreading Sunshine and Tulips...with some Good News from the US Resistance and It's Global Allies

(  Eighty-Eight Items )

Whew. Most of that was folks standing up, pushing back and resisting. There are a few non-political, non-court related links up there - mainly environmental related.

Hope you found something above to make you smile?

If not? Here's a photo of Tulips.

[this is courtesy of a social rights activist who posts these lists on FB, I know it's accurate because I see it in AP news wire and other sources as well. I'll add links where I'm able, a lot of stuff is under paywalls.] As always, whether this is good news is in the eye of the beholder, ie. mileage may vary on these points.

1.A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enacting a policy that bans the use of “X” marker used by many nonbinary people on passports as well as the changing of gender markers.
( more court cases )
6.US scientists engineer safer LSD to treat schizophrenia and boost brain function. LSD has long been considered too unpredictable to be a viable treatment, but an altered version that “ditches the trip” could change that. Go HERE

7.Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Thursday night that he had met in San Salvador with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man whose wrongful deportation to El Salvador last month has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate and fueled a standoff between the Trump administration and the courts. ( Read more... )

8.Immigrants prove they are alive, forcing Social Security to undo death label. The immigrants are among more than 6,000 who were falsely added to a deaths database by DHS and the U.S. DOGE Service in a bid to pressure them to leave the United States.

9.Audubon is sponsoring Assembly Bill 454 because it maintains crucial and effective protections for California’s migratory birds. This bill would restore essential safeguards and ensure California remains a stronghold for birds on the move. Go HERE

10.Scientists Find Promising Indication of Extraterrestrial Life—124 Light-Years Away: Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope confirmed that the planet K2-18b has traces of dimethyl sulfide, a potential biosignature of marine microorganisms.

11. A new bill is designed to curtail book-banning in Delaware libraries - those open to the public, and those in public schools. House Bill 119 is known as the Freedom to Read Act. Public schools and libraries would be required to adopt policies in developing their collections that prohibit removal of materials based on an author's background, or for partisan, ideological or religious objections. The legislation sets up a clear review procedure for challenging or removing materials. Go HERE

12.American Oversight secured a significant legal victory after a Georgia court denied State Election Board member Janice Johnston’s motion to dismiss in its ongoing transparency lawsuit against the Georgia State Election Board. Go HERE

13.A man experiencing homelessness won a $1Million jackpot in San Luis Obispo, CA. On the evening of April 6, the man bought two $5 Triple Red 777 scratchers, along with some smaller tickets, for a total of $25.
After checking one of the scratchers, he found he had won $200, but the real surprise came when he scratched the second one. Initially thinking he’d won $100,000, he was shocked to learn it was actually a $1 million prize.

14. A vocational training center in Maryland offers more than the usual trade classes — it gives underserved individuals a second chance. Veterans, formerly incarcerated people, and those emerging from homelessness or addiction can enroll in free certification sessions, as well as classes about financial literacy, job retention, and communication. “The most important thing that will change is your internal, how you feel about who you are,” said executive director Walter Billips. “From going to a hopeless situation [to] now you have hope.” GO HERE

15. In a world first, a baby was born after being conceived through a robot-controlled version of IVF. Go HERE. ("The startup company that developed the robot, Overture Life, says its device is an initial step toward automating in vitro fertilization, or IVF, and potentially making the procedure less expensive and far more common than it is today.")

16.A pet tortoise was reunited with his family in Mississippi after going missing during a tornado last month. Go HERE

( the rest )

That's it. Have a lovely day.

If you were born in the USA and should need to get a copy of your birth certificate for any reason? It's now rather easy. Go HERE.

I just did it. I need a copy for retirement purposes. Although with any luck, Retirement is still four to five years away. Still, I've been worrying over the birth certificate thing for the past two years now, so it's a bit of a relief to realize it's rather easy to get it, and doesn't require calling the State, or mailing in a form with a copy of my passport and Real ID.
***

The social activists I follow on FB, announced that there is also a lot of good news. Except they included the controversial bit about the Dire Wolves, which after reading various other posts on social media, and articles, I've since come to the conclusion that the Dire Wolves were better off remaining extinct? And just because we can do something, maybe we shouldn't?

The Dire Wolf is Back?

(Yes, yes, I am getting to the actual good news..be patient. Although, as in all things in this day and age apparently, everyone's mileage on Good News may vary?)

70 Bits of Good News That Happened Within the Last Few Weeks in the US and Around the World (to the tune of ..."the Revolution Will Not Be Televised")

1. The Yurok Tribe lays 11,500 pounds of native plant seeds along the Klamath River. Go HERE

2. Arizona: A circuit court strikes down two state laws intended to suppress voters. Go Here

3.Rural organizers and grassroots leaders in the U.S. form the Rural Defenders Union to support under-resourced anti-authoritarian actions. Go Here

4.The digital media company theSkimm republishes the contents of reproductiverights.gov after it disappeared off the web on the president’s second day in office. Don't fret. It's no longer over there, it's now - OVER HERE. They republished it on their own site, so the idiotic White House can't take it down again.

5.Mission of Mary Cooperative in Dayton, OH uses church vacant land to produce 65,000 pounds of produce for the community. Go Here
( the rest - there's about 70 this go around.. )


Well, putting together that list (mainly copying from the individual who posts it on FB and hunting down links where possible) cheered me up considerably on a cold rainy night, with the radiators blasting.

1. The Hands Off Protests - had an estimated turn out of anywhere between 10-20 million. It is estimated the 5 Million people turned out on the West Coast and Big Cities alone, and we already know the East Coast was even bigger - since the biggest turn outs were in DC, NYC, Boston, and Florida, but also in the Midwest - with Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis, not to mention the Southwest. Please believe me when I state that I am not exaggerating when I inform you that every single state, plus the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico came out en mass to protest in HANDS OFF yesterday. Cities, towns, suburbs, and even rural areas - along highways, came out in all the states. Places with just under 2000 residents, came out with over a thousand. People who had never protested in their lives, protested. They did in the rain (Kentucky has had flooding and is in emergency crisis - but protested anyhow, NY it rained most of the day - and was in the forties and fifties, and over 200,000 protested in NYC, and that's not counting the thousands across the state), they did it Vegas, in LA, in Oklahoma City, in Topeka, Kansas, in Kansas City, in Indiana, in JD Vance's home town of Middletown, Ohio, they did it Fort Myers Florida, and in Alabama, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Main, Wisconsin, Arkansas, every single state. They protested and flooded DC. They protested in Canada, and in Europe. They protested in Mexico and the US Virgin Islands.

It was huge.

Hmmm...they even showed up in Conservative Heavy Long Island... Mineola had 2,000 people show up (it has a population of about 4,000 if that).

[See previous post for links]

I told Bro.

Bro - glad someone went, I don't go to protests, I'm too tall - they'd point the laser canon at my head. [Bro also has to stay home with his cat.]

[I didn't go either - I can't handle massive crowds of people. I did the Women's March and decided, yeah, no, not doing that ever again. I'll do other things.]

2. On the heels of terminating 10,000 jobs from the Department of Health and Human Services this week, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News on Thursday some programs would soon be reinstated because they were mistakenly cut.

Go Here

3. The list of famous auto industry flops is long and storied, topped by stinkers like Ford’s Edsel and exploding Pinto and General Motors’s unsightly Pontiac Aztek crossover SUV. Even John Delorean’s sleek, stainless steel DMC-12, iconic from its role in the “Back To The Future” films, was a sales dud that drove the company to bankruptcy.
Elon Musk’s pet project, the dumpster-driving Tesla Cybertruck, now tops that list.

AND The just-released production and delivery report was Tesla’s worst in three years. Dan Ives of Wedbush said in a note to clients that Tesla is seeing soft demand in the United States and China, as well as facing pressure in Europe. “The brand crisis issues are clearly having a negative impact on Tesla...there is no debate,” he said. Ives said that Wall Street and analysts alike knew that the first-quarter figures were likely to be bad, but that it was even worse than expected. “We are not going to look at these numbers with rose-colored glasses...they were a disaster on every metric,” he said.

Go Here


4.The global under-five mortality rate has fallen by over 50% since 1990 according to a new report by the United Nations. The report highlights five “exemplar” countries - India, Nepal, Senegal, Ghana, and Burundi - that, despite resource constraints and diverse contexts, have surpassed global declines through a common cocktail of strong governance, data-driven policies, expanded immunization, and innovative health financing.

5. Illinois has returned stolen land to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation The federal government ceded the land to Potawatomi Chief Shab-eh-nay in 1829, but then sold it to white settlers 20 years later. Governor JB Pritzker has now signed a law restoring the 1,500-acre Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area back to Potawatomi ownership. The land will stay open to the public as a park.

6. Thailand prohibits all corporal punishment of children. Thailand has enacted full prohibition of all corporal punishment of children, making itself the 68th state worldwide to protect children from violent punishment. With a child population of 14,131,000, prohibition in Thailand brings the total number of children worldwide protected by law from corporal punishment to approximately 343 million, or 15% of the global child population.

7. California pilots a solar-over-canal system to combat drought. Project Nexus will cover canals with solar panels, generating clean energy while preventing water evaporation. The $20 million pilot follows UC Merced research showing potential for 13 GW of annual energy—one-sixth of state capacity—while saving 50,000 acres of land. There's more solar canals coming, too. Go HERE

8. Research shows that community groups and small farmers restore land 6 to 20 times more effectively than international NGOs or governments and deliver more sustainable and equitable results.From Mexican fishers who have planted 1.8 million mangroves to locals in Guyana that are protecting a rare bird, here are 10 community-led conservation solutions that are working around the world.

9.In the U.K., “Safe Spaces” in banks and pharmacies give domestic abuse victims a lifeline to seek support — and start again. QT gas stations have safe spaces in the US. Signs posted near the pumps and indoors. Ask the managers and they will shelter you and get help.

10. Every generation in the United States has a lower risk of dementia than the last. While previous projections estimated U.S. dementia cases would double by 2050, a new analysis finds that age-adjusted prevalence has dropped by 67% over the past 40 years. If this trend continues, total cases may rise by only 25% instead of doubling.

( 59 items )

Should go to bed. I bought a "Hand's Off" T-Shirt, but it won't arrive until Monday. Along with a compost bin, a new bag, and a light.

Some news?

* The Tariff thing resulted in Billionaires losing $208 Billion today because of the Tariffs, and Tech shareholders losing 3.5 trillion yesterday.

( excerpt )

The Biggest Billionaire lost 3.5 Trillion

( The Value of All S&P 500 Companies dropped 3.3 Trillion since Trump took office )

* The The US Dollar Has Lost It's Currency Value and is Diving

* Hip-Hop is Shaking Up Politics in Senegal

( Read more... )

* The US was forced to admit they deported the wrong guy to a harsh prison in El Salvadore.. But they say, they will do nothing to get him back. It's just his tough luck, and his wife and little kids' tough luck. Go HERE.

* The Wall Street Journal reports on the MAGA Backlash arriving...and that it may be shorter termed than it thought
( Read more... )

* NY Landmarks Lit Pink White and Blue for Transgender Day of Visibility

*A federal judge in Rhode Island froze a Trump administration plan to cut more than $11 billion in public health grants to state and local health departments that Congress allocated during the pandemic.

* Wealthy Americans have a death rates on par with poor Europeans. Some wealthy Europeans have death rates 35% lower than the richest Americans. The findings are a stark reminder that even the wealthiest Americans are not shielded from the systemic issues in the US contributing to lower life expectancy.

*Democratic senators call for privacy act reform in response to DOGE take over. As Elon Musk’s DOGE continues to slash through the federal government, Democrats in the US Senate are calling for an update to 1974 legislation to restrict government use of personal data and introduce new penalties, including prison time, for violations.

*If you find yourself in Reykjavik, you might want to go to the Icelandic Phallological Museum. Located in the city's Hafnartorg district, the museum can be found in a relatively modern-looking office block.

*The FDA has approved a new medication to treat uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) in women and girls aged 12 or older. It is the first in a new class of oral antibiotics approved for this condition in nearly 30 years. UTIs are common bladder infections and 30% may face recurring infections. Treating these recurrences can be challenging when standard antibiotics fail due to antibiotic resistance, highlighting the need for new treatment options. The drug, known as gepotidacin but sold under the name Blujepa, works in a unique way by blocking two key enzymes that bacteria need to grow and multiply. This dual-targeted action makes it harder for bacteria to develop resistance quickly, providing a promising option for treating infections that may no longer respond to standard antibiotics.
( the rest )

ME: You ever feel like every time you get a glimmer of hope that yes, today you will finally kick that foot ball, and then someone comes along and pulls it away at the last minute?

Mother: I don't know, you have a lot going for you.

Me: So did Charlie Brown.

Mother: Charlie Brown was likable.

Me: And Lucy wasn't.

Mother: Lucy was a bully.

***

After Cory Booker made history - breaking segregationist Strum Thurmond's previous filibuster record - the Senators from Idaho and Iowa got up to get Witaker (an incompetent nitwit) confirmed as NATO Secretary. Sigh, there's always a Lucy in the crowd.

Booker did state that we should not give into hate.

Go Here

( Excerpt )

That was my moment of hope on this sunny, if somewhat crisp April Fools Day. Never been much of a fan of April Fools. Too many Lucy's jumping about, and I've always been a bit of a Charlie Brown or Marcy.

Don't take my moment of hope away, Universe. I want it for a few seconds longer.
***

Leaving you all with a picture from my walk at lunch time around the financial district of Manhattan, NY.