Texas Floods

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Debate erupts over role job cuts played in weather forecasts ahead of deadly Texas floods

Short answer: probably not. While the cuts to NWS were done poorly, alerts went out in time. And since it was emergency conditions, a full compliment of staff was there. However, Trump’s cuts don’t get a full pass, more on that later. So what happened? Well, not many people in a known flash flood area had NWS radios. These radios are designed to come on and broadcast a warning to emergency areas even when they are turned off. They were designed after devastating flash floods in Texas in the 1980’s. (See Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Texas Flood”) Not having one might be forgivable for the average citizen perhaps, but not for a kids’ camp. Heck, it’s 2025, why didn’t they have a satellite phone since they were in a remote area with poor cell coverage? You had elementary school kids for God’s sake! IN A KNOWN FLASH FLOOD ZONE, no less! Water has to go somewhere when it rains, you should know where it goes in your area. That’s common sense. I sense a LOT of nasty lawsuits coming.
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And on This Day Let Us Consider…

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This is the beginning of a current article in Scientific American…

“From World War II until 2024, the US stood unchallenged as the scientific leader of the free world. Across practically every discipline — physics, materials science, astronomy, chemistry, biology, medicine, geology, etc. — American scientific missions and initiatives, often in collaboration with European, Canadian, Asian, and many other global partners, brought us new advances and breakthroughs, paving the way for generations of scientists to thrive. In a society that values facts, scientific truths, education, and the public good, this recipe led to multiple generations of continued breakthroughs and advances.
Since late January of this year, however, all of that has rapidly changed. Many of the most valuable scientific organizations in the world, including NOAA, NASA, the NSF, the CDC, the EPA, and the FDA, have experienced a set of unprecedented internal attacks.

Funding streams have been terminated.
Grants that have been successfully competed for and won have been pulled.
Fellowships and scholarships have been revoked.
Contracts have been broken.
Thousands upon thousands of employees have been terminated, often in defiance of court orders.

And now, at the start of the second half of 2025, a new budget is on the verge of becoming law, which would largely eliminate science as we know it across universities and colleges, research institutes, and national labs. This isn’t a horror story; this is a real-life nightmare for the most educated and skilled American workers of all: scientists.”

This is a sad thing indeed. And a real betrayal of our country. Hope all that “winning” was worth it Trumpers.

American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history

More of the Theater of Cruelty

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Headlines abound. Wives and Husbands of American citizens rounded up by ICE. Students on visas grabbed off the street. Workers who have been in the U.S. for years as taxpayers, active duty soldier’s parents. Cancer patients, nursing mothers, all grabbed by the President’s hand picked squad of masked, plain clothes goons, and all for the amusement of his sick followers. These awful people who have been misled into thinking that foreigners are responsible for the crappy condition of our economy and their own lack of success or, more often, the perceived lack of success of others, rather than the Republican party who has consistently screwed them since Reagan. Not that I am considering the Democrats to be free from sin either. They could have fought back, but their bread was being buttered as well. Still, have these people no human compassion for their fellow man?

Man Rushed to Help 9-Year-Old Shark Attack Victim. Days Later, ICE Arrests Him and Says He’s in the Country Illegally

Father of 3 Marines who was arrested by immigration agents raised his sons ‘to serve our country’

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Surprise! ICE Barbie is a Crook Too

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Is anyone surprised? Only the best people…

Kristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations

As Congress prepares to gut social services, not to balance the budget, but rather to give Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk a bigger tax break, as well as subsidize the fossil fuel industry by gutting clean energy programs. Is anyone surprised?

Last-minute changes to Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ stun clean energy industry (and Elon Musk)

If You Voted for Trump, Here’s a Clue You Got Fooled

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Government drops cases against ‘predatory’ financial firms

During Biden’s administration the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was led by Lina Khan, who has relentlessly pursued corporations who have preyed on consumers. Khan had earned praise from both sides of the aisle with her actions. Trump and Musk attacked it first, even though it has returned to consumers way more money than it costs to run. They falsely claimed it was waste. Now what’s left of the agency can do little to protect us. So one of Trump’s first acts was to get rid of an agency who was trying to rein in payday lenders. Folks, unless you’re rich, you were had.

Long COVID in Kids

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“An article recently published in JAMA Pediatrics (or, the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics) presents findings from a study suggesting that Long COVID, a condition where symptoms last at least 3 months and up to several years after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, has surpassed asthma as the most common chronic health problem affecting children.”

Summary here… Long COVID in Young Children, School-Aged Children, and Teens

Full article here… Characterizing Long COVID Symptoms During Early Childhood

Don’t bother vaccinating them, they’ll be fine.

If You Are Religious

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I tend to believe most people who claim to be religious are, in fact, hypocrites. But, assuming there are some actual Christians reading this, let Bernie put the Republican budget into perspective…

Update: In case you thought I was being uncharitable when I said most Christians are hypocrites. Please see below…

‘Christian’ Lobbyists Embrace Ohio Republican Budget That Guts Programs to Help the Poor and Hungry

Insanity

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The science behind vaccines is some of the most stringent in medicine. Double-blind tests are mandatory. Vaccines have been one of the most important developments of modern medicine; perhaps only second to antibiotics.

CDC vaccine advisers who were removed from committee by RFK Jr. speak out

NIH has been a great leader in medical research and outreach. It has made some of the best science based educational computer software out there.

Judge rules some NIH grant cuts illegal, saying he’s never seen such discrimination in 40 years

Capricious, and racist, these cuts were designed to please their fan base. This guy should know.

Trump’s former surgeon general is now one of his most pointed critics

No Kings Day

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Kent, Ohio today
Kent No Kings Day 2025

My wife and I attended the “No Kings” protest in Kent today. Nice turnout, great vibe, it felt good. I saw quite a few veterans there as well as other folks you wouldn’t expect to see at a protest. I saw two people with a sign that read something to the effect of “I have too many reasons to be here to list on this sign”. I only saw one really vulgar sign that contained the “F” word. Most of the rest were clever or just sincere. One veteran carried a sign that read “My oath did not expire. I’m still defending the constitution” which I thought was nice.

Cleveland is Pretty Great

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This Is the Most Affordable U.S. City to Live Comfortably—and Here’s Exactly How Much You Need to Earn

A few months ago I published a Youtube video from an Irish travel show on Cleveland as a vacation destination for Europeans. With one of the best art museums in the world, as well as many other fine museums, a world class symphony orchestra, something like 173 parks including a national park, a vibrant food scene and most of all cheep prices. Cleveland is pretty great. Now if we could get somebody to stop scaring away the foreign visitors we could build our brand as a vacation destination.

Jimmy Kimmel’s Monologue Last Night

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I don’t normally post Kimmel’s stuff. While I think he is usually dead on in his criticism of Trump, I frequently don’t enjoy his comedy sketches. The events in Los Angles are a welcome distraction for Trump, from his “Big Beautiful Bill” that will kick 7.7 million people off Medicaid, reduce or eliminate SNAP benefits for needy families, make most civil servants eligible to fire and replace with sycophants, and so many more dreadful things. Not to mention Elon’s casual mention of Trump being in the Epstein files (something most of us knew anyway). So Trump wants this fight. Kimmel puts the whole thing into perspective…

It is interesting that Trump’s insurgents, who broke into the Capitol and assaulted police, were “fine people” who were mistreated. But these protestors are “bad actors” and “paid protestors”.

I Could Watch This Guy for Hours

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I first heard about “Mend It Mark” when there was an outcry from the Youtube community that he had received a take down notice from a “high end” audio manufacturer called Tom Evans. It became a right to repair issue and many Youtubers posted a copy of the video and dared Tom Evans to try and take them down. Anyway, Mend It Mark is a really good channel of a very competent electronics tech doing his job. Like furniture and tool restoration videos, it is soothing. Here Mark does a quick, but thorough repair on a 90’s Technics Amp.

The Tom Evans thing is pretty neat. He basically reverse engineers a piece of audio kit that has every part “potted” (identifying numbers have been erased or covered on every component) and created his own repair manual. Amazing talent this guy has. The video was restored and is here…

The £25,000 Pre-Amp that went Wrong – Tom Evans Mastergroove SR mkIII