I’ve protested two of the past three days, and I’m achy and grumpy and going to breakfast soon as this page is published. When I come back, I’ll try to write something as light and fluffy as the hotcakes better be. No guarantees.
Meanwhile:
AND NOW THE NEWS
#486
February 18, 2025
Social Security head steps down over DOGE access of recipient information, AP sources say
So they’re coming for Social Security.
And why did Acting SocSec Commissioner Michelle King resign in protest? The hell does that accomplish? You’re the commissioner, you could tell the wrecking crew to pound sand, and they’d have to arrest you to get the keys. But no, instead it’s, “Well, I quit, and here are the keys.”
Please god, don’t make me have to frickin’ defend tedious obedient mainstream media like 60 Minutes.
RFK Jr’s HHS is coming for drugs that treat depression, anxiety, and mood disorders
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF DYSTOPIA
Actress Julianne Moore wrote a kids’ book about the difficulties of being a freckle-faced redhead, and it’s been banned by the Defense Department, or so Ms Moore says.
Not that I particularly doubt her — it’s utterly on brand for the Trump administration — but the coverage all across the media is only about Moore being outraged. Can’t find any coverage or announcement that the book was actually banned. Does the Defense Dept care about literature?
One report said the original alert came from PEN America, the anti-censorship group, but searching their site finds only two mentions of Ms Moore, one from 2010 and one from 2020. So I’m not sure this is actual news, but there’s no line between truth and fiction any more anyway.
Motor neuron disease took woman’s voice; company unplugged her artificial voice for saying ‘arse’
OUR FRIENDS, THE DEMOCRATS
Democrats revel in their powerlessness as Trump flexes authority
Excerpt: Rep. Sean Casten, a Democrat from Illinois… said that activist leaders have told him and colleagues that they fear protests against Trump might eventually be used as a predicate for declaring martial law. Other House Democrats echoed this privately, and several left-leaning activist group leaders told CNN directly that their own safety concerns for participants have risen since the president’s blanket pardons for January 6 rioters.
“It only took 50 days for Hitler to destroy democracy in Germany,” Casten said, arguing that there are direct parallels to those moves and much of what Trump is doing. “Part of our job right now as Democrats in Washington inside of this is to be Churchillian, very clear-eyed about what the stakes of this moment are, what the parallels in history are, remind people that the majority of Americans are good people, and that the way you shut a bully down is to punch back.”
Me again: Rep. Sean Casten (D-Illinois), cordially but disrespectfully: Martial law is coming — that’s part of fascism. If you use “martial law is coming” as an argument against protest, you might as well surrender now.
MEDIA MALFEASANCE
Government workers cannot be fired for their political views
This article from The Atlantic is well-argued, well-written, and moot. Government workers are being fired for their political views. Rule of law has been replaced with rule of Trump, and it’s downright quaint that mainstream journalism still pretends precedent, illegality, or the constitution are factors that matter.
THE LOCAL REPORT
Inside Seattle’s fight against graffiti: Millions of dollars and lots of paint
Graffiti is art and any city needs more public art. Art ought to be encouraged, not whitewashed.
First and most obviously, there should be public walls at every city park, for the express purpose of graffiti. Any business or residential building that remains vacant for more than 90 days should be considered a public graffiti canvas. Billboard companies should be required to surrender at least 1/3 of their otherwise-ugly signs for beautiful graffiti. Give the people more graffiti, not less!
“An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have but that he – for some reason – thinks it would be a good idea to give them.” –Andy Warhol
2/18/2025
Logo illustration by Jeff Meyer. Tip ‘o the hat to the Anderson Valley Advertiser, Bleepity-Bleep, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I’ve stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration.
Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Joey Jo Jo emeritus, Jeff Meyer, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and proved that the world isn’t always shitty.
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