One thing that has struck me about Trump’s first few weeks back in office is the lack of any action on abortion. I know DJT doesn’t care in the slightest about the issue but surely there are people around him who do (Vance, P2025 diehards, congress). Is Trump taking a principled position (gasp!) that it should not be a federal issue? Is it not a high priority issue for the pro-life people in his orbit? And why the silence from his pro-life voters? It’s weird how it’s just dropped off the radar. Any theories?
Nebraska Man Struggles to Change Daughter’s Name From ‘Unakite Thirteen Hotel’
When Jason Kilburn searched for his toddler daughter’s birth certificate, he was shocked to find that because of an error, she was legally named “Unakite Thirteen Hotel.” To make matters worse, she had no Social Security number.
What stemmed from a mix of unfortunate circumstances and bureaucratic confusion has for Mr. Kilburn turned into a monthslong back-and-forth with government agencies to procure a simple identification document for his daughter, whom he calls Caroline.
Mr. Kilburn, 49, of Valley, Neb., learned over two years ago that a woman he dated had given birth to a daughter that may have been his. The baby was born at a home in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Nov. 5, 2022. The mother, who had struggled with homelessness and drug abuse, was not in a position to care for her baby and she did not join her baby when a friend arranged for the newborn to be taken to a nearby hospital, court records said.
The hospital gave her a temporary, nonsensical name that appeared to be generated by a computer, said Mr. Kilburn’s lawyer, Joshua Livingston. The name was Unakite Thirteen Hotel.
She remained with the state authorities until custody was granted to Mr. Kilburn, after he was confirmed as her biological father. He then began a long and frustrating battle that is yet to be resolved.
“This has been a long, difficult process,” Mr. Kilburn said in a text message forwarded by his lawyer on Tuesday. “I will keep working as hard as I can to get my daughter the documents she needs.”
The name mishap is only part of the problem that Mr. Kilburn is working to get resolved. She was also never issued a Social Security number and he cannot use her birth certificate because it was labeled “for government use only,” according to court records.
Without them, Mr. Kilburn is struggling to get his daughter health insurance, child care and other necessary services.
Bureaucracy. You don’t have to love it. BTW Kilburn has since gotten a Social Security number for his daughter.
I had a name on the birth certificate issue with my son Daniel Thomas. Dear Wife gave birth to Daniel at 28.5 weeks pregnant. He was taken right to the NICU and put in one of those things for premature babies. A priest baptized Daniel and before leaving for home that night, I told a NICU nurse my son’s name. A little card was put on Daniel’s bed. It said- My name is Daniel Thomas.
To make a long story shorter, Daniel died the next morning. Dear Wife gave birth on Saturday evening after two months of hospital bedrest. She came home on Tuesday morning. In between she had a dozen or more visitors. We were grieving but not shunning friends or family.
I didn’t follow up about my son’s birth certificate till after DW came home. Then I got a big surprise- No name was given for my son by the hospital. I asked why. The idiot on the phone actually told me nobody knew it (Not true, besides the NICU name card, Daniel’s name was well known by the nurses on duty after my wife gave birth.) and that somebody came to see the wife and I and was turned away because we weren’t seeing anyone. Boy, I did I get angry. A couple loses their newborn child and a hospital doesn’t do paperwork properly and then lies to the grieving parents on top of it.
I got in touch with hospital administrators and the truth came out. It was a busy weekend at the hospital for childbirths and the hospital just forgot to check on the name. I got an apology but my treatment was uncalled for. The name on my son’s birth certificate was taken care with the help of the hospital. Daniel didn’t get a SS# so when DW and I filed our income taxes, we attached copies of Daniel’s birth and death certificates to our tax return for 2003.
Writer Joseph Wambaugh has passed away. I never read any of his books but did watch the movie version of The Onion Field. RIP.
Tony W
@Paine: In Trump’s mind it doesn’t matter anymore.
There are election issues – things we talk about to get elected, and there are legislative issues – things we do once we are safely in office.
Just like the price of eggs, there’s simply no need to do anything about abortion anymore because he’s already elected.
charontwo
Ambassador Susan Rice has a few things to say about Trump and Ukraine etc.
I might need to be offline for a while, the more informed I am, the worse my mental state is. Good lord, are people really THIS stupid??? (I know, I know…the answer is yes.)
Evidence indicates that [Māori] ancestry (as part of the larger group of Austronesian peoples) stretches back 5,000 years, to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan
Makes this more intriguing (or alarming):
Cook Islands China deal riles allies as West’s grip loosens
The agreements are the first of their kind with a country that is not a traditional ally. They cover infrastructure, ship-building, tourism, agriculture, technology, education and, perhaps crucially, deep-sea mineral exploration.
Brown says his decisions will be based on the “long-term interests” of the Cook Islands, which are remote, resource-rich and vulnerable to climate change.
Not everyone agrees with him. The new, wide-ranging deals with Beijing have led to protests on Rarotonga – the largest Cook Island – and a vote of no confidence against Brown in parliament, which he survived earlier this week. They have also worried Australia, another powerful ally.
New Zealand said it was “blindsided” by the China deals, but Brown believes his country is independent and does not need to consult Wellington on issues he says are of no concern to them.
@CSK: Same. I had mumps when I was 5. Also awful. Luckily no measles.
Slugger
@Bill Jempty: I liked Wambaugh’s writings. He served as a reality based based counter to the image of the cop as a charismatic force for righteousness who might bend the rules of bureaucrats to achieve his goals; manly men like Harry Callahan or Popeye Doyle (RIP). His cops are very mortal. My favorite book was The Choirboys which was made into the least true to the book movie of all time. It is hard to read because it is so full of human folly and gore, but I strongly recommend it.
PS I enjoyed the Dirty Harry movies but couldn’t escape the feeling that I was been led away from my moral values by them.
I had chicken pox when I was 7, I still have memories of my mother bathing me several times a day to keep the scabs soft to prevent scarring and being miserably sick. My brother had it the next week. Mom had an awful 2 weeks that year. The next year we both got measles, fortunately avoided mumps.
I never had measles either, but my younger sister almost died of it.
Why one would deliberately expose one’s children to the utter misery of chicken pox is quite beyond my understanding.
Scott
@CSK:Born in 1954, I was told by my Mom that I had both measles and chicken pox at a real young age but I have no memory of it.
According to the CDC:
Birth before 1957 provides only presumptive evidence for measles, mumps, and rubella. Before vaccines were available, nearly everyone was infected with measles, mumps, and rubella viruses during childhood. The majority of people born before 1957 are likely to have been infected naturally and therefore are presumed to be protected against measles, mumps, and rubella. Healthcare personnel born before 1957 without laboratory evidence of immunity or disease should consider getting two doses of MMR vaccine.
I supposedly had chicken pox when I was about two years old (back in late 1962 or early 1963). Obviously I have memory of it.
MarkedMan
Heading out in a few minutes to go to a protest at a Tesla dealership. I feel that with protests like these, it’s at least possible they will have some kind of impact. Given that a lot of these billionaire Tech Bros are involved in the same racist and corrupt efforts as Musk but are less out front about it, tanking Tesla sends a message to them as well. Here’s the site where I found the local protest, if anyone else is interested.
Kathy
I remember being sick several times during childhood, but never with anything serious, nor the common childhood diseases. As far as I know, I never had chicken pox, mumps, measles, etc. My one serious bout of disease was at around 18-19 when I got pneumonia, and spiked a fever around 40C that had me hallucinating.
I did have all the recommended vaccines at the time. I remember lots of visits to the doctor for the sole purpose of getting a shot, and once an oral vaccine (polio).
There is something to be said for having a child’s regular pediatrician administer the shots. The physician has the child’s medical history and would know about allergies or any other rare counterindications for a specific shot. Also how the child fared with prior vaccinations.
CSK
Neuralink exec Shivon Zilis has given birth to Elon Musk’s 14th child–her fourth with him–a bouncing baby boy named Seldon Lycurgus.
Beats me. Lycurgus was the law giver of ancient Sparta.
I think this is Musk’s way of demonstrating how weird he is. The one he brought to the WH Oval Office is called X AE A-Xii.
Kathy
I’m torn between making bean soup and chilaquiles with shredded chicken, or a chicken and bean stew.
All told, the first option is too much food for one week. I suppose I could set aside some soup and freeze it. I think it thaws well (I know a thawed stew or soup with potatoes is a bad idea).
Either way, the idea is to cook the chicken with the beans in the instant pot. And this time I want to try a combo of white beans, barley, and chickpeas. I suppose this technically is not bean soup, but I’m calling it that anyway.
Rob1
@MarkedMan: Saw that movement forming. Perhaps selling one’s Tesla will have the impact of increasing inventory and hurt new sales. But, if someone is financially capable and of dedicated resolve, it might be more of a impact and statement, to make the sacrifice and totally scrap the vehicle for recycling of raw materials while publicly documenting the entire process.
Another possibility: keep the vehicle, paint something like “putinmobile” or “nazipowered” etc. on the sides to drive around town —- probably with a clarifying message of “elon bites” somewhere on the body. But be prepared for “keyings” and other mishaps or confrontations. After which, to recycling with social media event.
Or, have the battery removed (and recycled) and hold an old fashioned bash-a-car-with-bat fundraiser with money going to political/legal challenge. After which, to recycling with social media event.
Kingdaddy
@Sleeping Dog: “Seldon” might refer to Harry Seldon from Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. If that’s the case, it’s a perverse choice, since Seldon foretold the collapse of an empire into barbarism.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. No one is coming to save us—not politicians, not the media.
Exactly so. Time to awake from our slumber and get involved.
al Ameda
@Paine:
One thing that has struck me about Trump’s first few weeks back in office is the lack of any action on abortion. I know DJT doesn’t care in the slightest about the issue but surely there are people around him who do (Vance, P2025 diehards, congress). Is Trump taking a principled position (gasp!) that it should not be a federal issue? Is it not a high priority issue for the pro-life people in his orbit? And why the silence from his pro-life voters? It’s weird how it’s just dropped off the radar. Any theories?
————————————————————
Snark-wise: (1) he’s busy selling out the Ukraine right now, and (2) he’s busy supervising Elon Musk.
Actually, I think he views that battle as largely won, and nothing further will happen until conservatives in the states bring forward lawsuits challenging the legality of: (1) medicated abortion itself, (2) mailing anti-abortion medications to states that have severely or completely banned abortion (I believe that one is pending against a doctor in New York), and (3) the President is busy appointing people to positions who are qualified in only one respect, the ability to destroy the Federal government from within.
PS I enjoyed the Dirty Harry movies but couldn’t escape the feeling that I was been led away from my moral values by them.
Only because you weren’t raised to believe that violence is a tool. I was raised to believe that, so I had no inner conflict about the larger message.
Then again, ACAB doesn’t cause me any cognitive dissonance either.
MarkedMan
@Rob1: It may sound counterintuitive, but I think selling the car through a non-Tesla used car dealer or privately will have more of an impact. I looked at all those people at the demonstration and the wild support from the cars whizzing by and I thought to myself, “a lot of people will be trying to sell their Teslas”. If you don’t sell through Tesla, they don’t get any money, and if the price of used Teslas crash, well, if you want a Tesla why pay $50K for a new one when you can pay $15K or $20K for a two year old with low mileage?
MarkedMan
So I was at the protest about a half hour. It was growing the whole time I was there and still growing when I left. I’d say 200-300 people on the Tesla side of the street and 50-75 on the other when I departed. It’s on a busy road with a nominal 40 mph speed limit but a more realistic 50mph, and yet the beeps and shouts of approvals from the cars whizzing by were continuous. Lots of people rolling down their window and waving. And I didn’t hear a single piece of pushback.
On a practical side, Saturday’s are traditionally a car dealership’s busiest day, but only two Teslas came out of the parking lot while I was there, both from the service side. None went in. The showroom was dark and I didn’t see any Tesla personnel anywhere.
Kathy
I never had measles, as mentioned above, and I don’t think my siblings did either. I do recall plenty of classmates who did. As far as I know, none got too sick or was hospitalized, and certainly none died.
Pretty much they didn’t show up at school for a week or so, and then they were back. In elementary school, having a week off at home was a treat. I do recall being sick and staying home. One could watch daytime TV, and sometimes there was stuff worth watching. I read a lot from the encyclopedia and other books we had at home. It was better than going to school, but I was never seriously ill.
So I wonder if people don’t remember measles as a short vacation from school and no big deal at all, especially those who never contracted it. Even those who did get it might not remember what it was like. Childhood memories are unreliable, and people tend to put bad experiences out of their minds.
This would explain not caring that much about vaccinating children.
wr
@CSK: “Why one would deliberately expose one’s children to the utter misery of chicken pox is quite beyond my understanding.”
What, you think the suffering of your children is more important than making some lib cry? Pussy.
Rob1
@MarkedMan: Tesla still has control over all its vehicles from afar. Not just parts and service, but ability to manipulate and brick it. Who wants to buy into a contol-freak’s universe. From what I’ve seen, Musk structures all his offerings that way. It’s what he’s bringing to the governance of our country —- the insensibilities of an intolerant control freak. In this he and Trump align.
If recycling Teslas through private sale or 3rd parties undermines Tesla new sales, then persist. But Musk still has the final say on the disposition of those cars —- whether they get parts, get updates, get bricked, require new agreements with manufacturer.
One of the perks of writing for kids is interacting with them when they are all grown up. Hundreds of now-adults have told us, jointly for co-authored work, and both of us separately, for our individual work, that our books literally saved their lives. We don’t take that ‘literally’, literally, we can’t or we’d start taking ourselves seriously. But I just got an email from an extremely accomplished Iranian woman asking permission to translate my books into Farsi.
Reading “Gone Series” and seeing young female (and of course male) characters taking bold and impactful actions is the best fuel for the minds of Iran’s growing generation right now.
Of course I gave permission.
Writers typically assume they are howling into the void and that we have no real world effect with our silly little stories and made-up characters. Encouragement is still appreciated. Happy to have my tiny little effect on the Ayatollahs.
I once get a letter from a man named Peter who informed me that reading my novels had gotten him through a very serious illness. I always treasured that.
Then we have to consider the changing nature of the government workforce. Losing a government job means, for many, the best or last chance to earn decent pay for graduates in fields like gender studies, DEI and environmental science. This educated class has expanded globally, with college enrollment growing by almost 80 per cent between 1970 and 2010, yet opportunities for graduates have actually been in decline. As members of what one socialist scholar described as ‘the swelling population of college graduates caught in a vice of low-paying jobs’, they will resist any attempt to cut off their last reasonable hope for a healthy career.
@JKB: No, you asshole, DOGE is creating chaos and pain for no discernible gain.
Note that I try not to use profanity at the site, but sometimes it is the best vocabulary.
CSK
Per the NYT, Andrew Cuomo has entered the NY mayoral race.
Slugger
@JKB: I don’t know if you saw my posting this Thursday; I recounted a visit to the local VA hospital. Every nurse, anesthetist, and physical therapist had received the Musk email. The hospital was full and bustling since us Vietnam era guys have entered our declining years where medical attention becomes important. I didn’t meet anyone who was working to replace you with a broad spectrum non-cis POC.
Hands off the VA. Hands off Medicaid that serves children, their mothers, and low income people in general. Hands off NOAA, the Forest Service, etc. Let’s take the chainsaw to subsidies for billionaires!
Gustopher
@JKB: It’s kind of fun how much you hate educated people, particularly when they are educated in something you don’t value. There’s a romanticism of the (non-urban, white) working class that I seldom see outside of lefty intellectual circles where they talk about workers and lifting up the proletariat, while never having held a job that left grime under their fingernails.
I assume that whatever trade school you graduated from had you read von Mises.
Also, does the self-serving bureaucracy include the national parks workers, who maintain clean and safe parks for the visitors?
Note that I try not to use profanity at the site, but sometimes it is the best vocabulary.
I will refrain from one profanity, to compensate.
Specifically, I will not respond in a genuine, heartfelt manner to the news that @CSK shared.
Gustopher
@Rob1: I feel a little bad for the folks who bought a Tesla a few years ago since they just wanted an electric car, but then discovered they are driving around in a giant MAGA hat.m
I feel no sympathy for the CyberTruck owners. Elon was well into his Nazi phase by that point, and also they’re really ugly.
At least the real Nazis made good cars. It’s the enshittification of Nazis.
ETA: @Gustopher: Feel free in your mind to replace what I just said with [expletive, deleted] if you wish. And “bravo!!!” on the Cybertruck comment! World class!
Eusebio
I’ve been considering reducing Tesla’s EV market share by buying an EV from another company. EVs have seemed more attractive since we got a hybrid family car several years ago. Didn’t know how much I’d appreciate the EV mode of the hybrid–leave the car ‘on’ with the AC running, but the engine is off (for the most part) in car lines, stop and go traffic, waiting in parking lots, or pulled over at a rest area or scenic spot. I’m guessing that some other drivers of late model hybrids have likewise been inspired to consider EVs.
Kathy
I bet those were DEI birds, not white, male, straight, cisgender, real American birds.
JohnSF
I got chickenpox at age 30.
Very unpleasant indeed.
Measles parties indeed.
What next?
Polio parties?
Bloody fools.
Three centuries of medical progress being destroyed by dimwits.
Comments
49 responses to “Marching Onward Forum”
One thing that has struck me about Trump’s first few weeks back in office is the lack of any action on abortion. I know DJT doesn’t care in the slightest about the issue but surely there are people around him who do (Vance, P2025 diehards, congress). Is Trump taking a principled position (gasp!) that it should not be a federal issue? Is it not a high priority issue for the pro-life people in his orbit? And why the silence from his pro-life voters? It’s weird how it’s just dropped off the radar. Any theories?
From the NYT-
Nebraska Man Struggles to Change Daughter’s Name From ‘Unakite Thirteen Hotel’
Bureaucracy. You don’t have to love it. BTW Kilburn has since gotten a Social Security number for his daughter.
I had a name on the birth certificate issue with my son Daniel Thomas. Dear Wife gave birth to Daniel at 28.5 weeks pregnant. He was taken right to the NICU and put in one of those things for premature babies. A priest baptized Daniel and before leaving for home that night, I told a NICU nurse my son’s name. A little card was put on Daniel’s bed. It said- My name is Daniel Thomas.
To make a long story shorter, Daniel died the next morning. Dear Wife gave birth on Saturday evening after two months of hospital bedrest. She came home on Tuesday morning. In between she had a dozen or more visitors. We were grieving but not shunning friends or family.
I didn’t follow up about my son’s birth certificate till after DW came home. Then I got a big surprise- No name was given for my son by the hospital. I asked why. The idiot on the phone actually told me nobody knew it (Not true, besides the NICU name card, Daniel’s name was well known by the nurses on duty after my wife gave birth.) and that somebody came to see the wife and I and was turned away because we weren’t seeing anyone. Boy, I did I get angry. A couple loses their newborn child and a hospital doesn’t do paperwork properly and then lies to the grieving parents on top of it.
I got in touch with hospital administrators and the truth came out. It was a busy weekend at the hospital for childbirths and the hospital just forgot to check on the name. I got an apology but my treatment was uncalled for. The name on my son’s birth certificate was taken care with the help of the hospital. Daniel didn’t get a SS# so when DW and I filed our income taxes, we attached copies of Daniel’s birth and death certificates to our tax return for 2003.
Here is a long and detailed blog post about my son Daniel.
Writer Joseph Wambaugh has passed away. I never read any of his books but did watch the movie version of The Onion Field. RIP.
@Paine: In Trump’s mind it doesn’t matter anymore.
There are election issues – things we talk about to get elected, and there are legislative issues – things we do once we are safely in office.
Just like the price of eggs, there’s simply no need to do anything about abortion anymore because he’s already elected.
Ambassador Susan Rice has a few things to say about Trump and Ukraine etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWbK5gfNYd4
I…WTAF is this nonsense?
Texas official warns against “measles parties” as outbreak keeps growing
I might need to be offline for a while, the more informed I am, the worse my mental state is. Good lord, are people really THIS stupid??? (I know, I know…the answer is yes.)
@Jen:
That’s like burning your house down to make it fireproof.
Ashes don’t burn. The dead don’t get sick.
@Jen: They are probably mixing it up in their pea brains with chicken pox parties which went through a thing a few years back.
Kentucky governor says he exposed his children to chickenpox instead of getting them vaccinated.
Idiots.
@Scott:
I had chicken pox when I was six; it’s awful.
In light of this:
Makes this more intriguing (or alarming):
Soft expansionism vs hard expansionism. Somebody is “marching onward” and outwards — as Trump retreats.
@CSK: Same. I had mumps when I was 5. Also awful. Luckily no measles.
@Bill Jempty: I liked Wambaugh’s writings. He served as a reality based based counter to the image of the cop as a charismatic force for righteousness who might bend the rules of bureaucrats to achieve his goals; manly men like Harry Callahan or Popeye Doyle (RIP). His cops are very mortal. My favorite book was The Choirboys which was made into the least true to the book movie of all time. It is hard to read because it is so full of human folly and gore, but I strongly recommend it.
PS I enjoyed the Dirty Harry movies but couldn’t escape the feeling that I was been led away from my moral values by them.
@CSK:
@Steven L. Taylor:
I had chicken pox when I was 7, I still have memories of my mother bathing me several times a day to keep the scabs soft to prevent scarring and being miserably sick. My brother had it the next week. Mom had an awful 2 weeks that year. The next year we both got measles, fortunately avoided mumps.
@Steven L. Taylor:
I never had measles either, but my younger sister almost died of it.
Why one would deliberately expose one’s children to the utter misery of chicken pox is quite beyond my understanding.
@CSK:Born in 1954, I was told by my Mom that I had both measles and chicken pox at a real young age but I have no memory of it.
According to the CDC:
I supposedly had chicken pox when I was about two years old (back in late 1962 or early 1963). Obviously I have memory of it.
Heading out in a few minutes to go to a protest at a Tesla dealership. I feel that with protests like these, it’s at least possible they will have some kind of impact. Given that a lot of these billionaire Tech Bros are involved in the same racist and corrupt efforts as Musk but are less out front about it, tanking Tesla sends a message to them as well. Here’s the site where I found the local protest, if anyone else is interested.
I remember being sick several times during childhood, but never with anything serious, nor the common childhood diseases. As far as I know, I never had chicken pox, mumps, measles, etc. My one serious bout of disease was at around 18-19 when I got pneumonia, and spiked a fever around 40C that had me hallucinating.
I did have all the recommended vaccines at the time. I remember lots of visits to the doctor for the sole purpose of getting a shot, and once an oral vaccine (polio).
There is something to be said for having a child’s regular pediatrician administer the shots. The physician has the child’s medical history and would know about allergies or any other rare counterindications for a specific shot. Also how the child fared with prior vaccinations.
Neuralink exec Shivon Zilis has given birth to Elon Musk’s 14th child–her fourth with him–a bouncing baby boy named Seldon Lycurgus.
@CSK:
Where to they get those names?
@Sleeping Dog:
Beats me. Lycurgus was the law giver of ancient Sparta.
I think this is Musk’s way of demonstrating how weird he is. The one he brought to the WH Oval Office is called X AE A-Xii.
I’m torn between making bean soup and chilaquiles with shredded chicken, or a chicken and bean stew.
All told, the first option is too much food for one week. I suppose I could set aside some soup and freeze it. I think it thaws well (I know a thawed stew or soup with potatoes is a bad idea).
Either way, the idea is to cook the chicken with the beans in the instant pot. And this time I want to try a combo of white beans, barley, and chickpeas. I suppose this technically is not bean soup, but I’m calling it that anyway.
@MarkedMan: Saw that movement forming. Perhaps selling one’s Tesla will have the impact of increasing inventory and hurt new sales. But, if someone is financially capable and of dedicated resolve, it might be more of a impact and statement, to make the sacrifice and totally scrap the vehicle for recycling of raw materials while publicly documenting the entire process.
Another possibility: keep the vehicle, paint something like “putinmobile” or “nazipowered” etc. on the sides to drive around town —- probably with a clarifying message of “elon bites” somewhere on the body. But be prepared for “keyings” and other mishaps or confrontations. After which, to recycling with social media event.
Or, have the battery removed (and recycled) and hold an old fashioned bash-a-car-with-bat fundraiser with money going to political/legal challenge. After which, to recycling with social media event.
@Sleeping Dog: “Seldon” might refer to Harry Seldon from Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. If that’s the case, it’s a perverse choice, since Seldon foretold the collapse of an empire into barbarism.
@MarkedMan: The protest is huge!
@Kingdaddy:
The image of Musk wielding a chainsaw on stage comes to mind.
@MarkedMan:
From the link to Teska Takedown:
Exactly so. Time to awake from our slumber and get involved.
@Paine:
One thing that has struck me about Trump’s first few weeks back in office is the lack of any action on abortion. I know DJT doesn’t care in the slightest about the issue but surely there are people around him who do (Vance, P2025 diehards, congress). Is Trump taking a principled position (gasp!) that it should not be a federal issue? Is it not a high priority issue for the pro-life people in his orbit? And why the silence from his pro-life voters? It’s weird how it’s just dropped off the radar. Any theories?
————————————————————
Snark-wise: (1) he’s busy selling out the Ukraine right now, and (2) he’s busy supervising Elon Musk.
Actually, I think he views that battle as largely won, and nothing further will happen until conservatives in the states bring forward lawsuits challenging the legality of: (1) medicated abortion itself, (2) mailing anti-abortion medications to states that have severely or completely banned abortion (I believe that one is pending against a doctor in New York), and (3) the President is busy appointing people to positions who are qualified in only one respect, the ability to destroy the Federal government from within.
@Slugger:
Only because you weren’t raised to believe that violence is a tool. I was raised to believe that, so I had no inner conflict about the larger message.
Then again, ACAB doesn’t cause me any cognitive dissonance either.
@Rob1: It may sound counterintuitive, but I think selling the car through a non-Tesla used car dealer or privately will have more of an impact. I looked at all those people at the demonstration and the wild support from the cars whizzing by and I thought to myself, “a lot of people will be trying to sell their Teslas”. If you don’t sell through Tesla, they don’t get any money, and if the price of used Teslas crash, well, if you want a Tesla why pay $50K for a new one when you can pay $15K or $20K for a two year old with low mileage?
So I was at the protest about a half hour. It was growing the whole time I was there and still growing when I left. I’d say 200-300 people on the Tesla side of the street and 50-75 on the other when I departed. It’s on a busy road with a nominal 40 mph speed limit but a more realistic 50mph, and yet the beeps and shouts of approvals from the cars whizzing by were continuous. Lots of people rolling down their window and waving. And I didn’t hear a single piece of pushback.
On a practical side, Saturday’s are traditionally a car dealership’s busiest day, but only two Teslas came out of the parking lot while I was there, both from the service side. None went in. The showroom was dark and I didn’t see any Tesla personnel anywhere.
I never had measles, as mentioned above, and I don’t think my siblings did either. I do recall plenty of classmates who did. As far as I know, none got too sick or was hospitalized, and certainly none died.
Pretty much they didn’t show up at school for a week or so, and then they were back. In elementary school, having a week off at home was a treat. I do recall being sick and staying home. One could watch daytime TV, and sometimes there was stuff worth watching. I read a lot from the encyclopedia and other books we had at home. It was better than going to school, but I was never seriously ill.
So I wonder if people don’t remember measles as a short vacation from school and no big deal at all, especially those who never contracted it. Even those who did get it might not remember what it was like. Childhood memories are unreliable, and people tend to put bad experiences out of their minds.
This would explain not caring that much about vaccinating children.
@CSK: “Why one would deliberately expose one’s children to the utter misery of chicken pox is quite beyond my understanding.”
What, you think the suffering of your children is more important than making some lib cry? Pussy.
@MarkedMan: Tesla still has control over all its vehicles from afar. Not just parts and service, but ability to manipulate and brick it. Who wants to buy into a contol-freak’s universe. From what I’ve seen, Musk structures all his offerings that way. It’s what he’s bringing to the governance of our country —- the insensibilities of an intolerant control freak. In this he and Trump align.
If recycling Teslas through private sale or 3rd parties undermines Tesla new sales, then persist. But Musk still has the final say on the disposition of those cars —- whether they get parts, get updates, get bricked, require new agreements with manufacturer.
@wr:
Meow.
One of the perks of writing for kids is interacting with them when they are all grown up. Hundreds of now-adults have told us, jointly for co-authored work, and both of us separately, for our individual work, that our books literally saved their lives. We don’t take that ‘literally’, literally, we can’t or we’d start taking ourselves seriously. But I just got an email from an extremely accomplished Iranian woman asking permission to translate my books into Farsi.
Of course I gave permission.
Writers typically assume they are howling into the void and that we have no real world effect with our silly little stories and made-up characters. Encouragement is still appreciated. Happy to have my tiny little effect on the Ayatollahs.
@Michael Reynolds:
I once get a letter from a man named Peter who informed me that reading my novels had gotten him through a very serious illness. I always treasured that.
Why the screams are so loud inside the Beltway
DOGE is waging a class war on America’s new clerisy
Elon Musk’s department represents a significant challenge to the entitled, well-paid and self-serving bureaucracy.
By Joel Kotkin
@JKB: No, you asshole, DOGE is creating chaos and pain for no discernible gain.
Note that I try not to use profanity at the site, but sometimes it is the best vocabulary.
Per the NYT, Andrew Cuomo has entered the NY mayoral race.
@JKB: I don’t know if you saw my posting this Thursday; I recounted a visit to the local VA hospital. Every nurse, anesthetist, and physical therapist had received the Musk email. The hospital was full and bustling since us Vietnam era guys have entered our declining years where medical attention becomes important. I didn’t meet anyone who was working to replace you with a broad spectrum non-cis POC.
Hands off the VA. Hands off Medicaid that serves children, their mothers, and low income people in general. Hands off NOAA, the Forest Service, etc. Let’s take the chainsaw to subsidies for billionaires!
@JKB: It’s kind of fun how much you hate educated people, particularly when they are educated in something you don’t value. There’s a romanticism of the (non-urban, white) working class that I seldom see outside of lefty intellectual circles where they talk about workers and lifting up the proletariat, while never having held a job that left grime under their fingernails.
I assume that whatever trade school you graduated from had you read von Mises.
Also, does the self-serving bureaucracy include the national parks workers, who maintain clean and safe parks for the visitors?
@Steven L. Taylor:
I will refrain from one profanity, to compensate.
Specifically, I will not respond in a genuine, heartfelt manner to the news that @CSK shared.
@Rob1: I feel a little bad for the folks who bought a Tesla a few years ago since they just wanted an electric car, but then discovered they are driving around in a giant MAGA hat.m
I feel no sympathy for the CyberTruck owners. Elon was well into his Nazi phase by that point, and also they’re really ugly.
At least the real Nazis made good cars. It’s the enshittification of Nazis.
@CSK: Just what NYC needs. 🙁
ETA: @Gustopher: Feel free in your mind to replace what I just said with [expletive, deleted] if you wish. And “bravo!!!” on the Cybertruck comment! World class!
I’ve been considering reducing Tesla’s EV market share by buying an EV from another company. EVs have seemed more attractive since we got a hybrid family car several years ago. Didn’t know how much I’d appreciate the EV mode of the hybrid–leave the car ‘on’ with the AC running, but the engine is off (for the most part) in car lines, stop and go traffic, waiting in parking lots, or pulled over at a rest area or scenic spot. I’m guessing that some other drivers of late model hybrids have likewise been inspired to consider EVs.
I bet those were DEI birds, not white, male, straight, cisgender, real American birds.
I got chickenpox at age 30.
Very unpleasant indeed.
Measles parties indeed.
What next?
Polio parties?
Bloody fools.
Three centuries of medical progress being destroyed by dimwits.
@Gustopher: Maintaining the karmic balance of profanity is appreciated!