Hand, CBP, and That Man

This is a scene from Spokane.  We drove down Monday looking for the new hand doctor's office.  Good thing we went to find it.  It's on the Spokane version of Pill Hill, and the area is chock full of hospitals.

Jim's trigger finger was recurring, and so once again he needed to be stabbed in the hand with cortisone.  I first discussed that here.  We also inquired if they performed Suture Suspension Arthroplasty.  They do, pretty much.  The method described in the journal article is a one incision procedure.  Theirs is two, because instead of using a suture, they take a small piece of tendon from the forearm, roll it up like a cinnamon roll and put it between the areas that are bone on bone.  We failed to ask, how important is that tendon.  Jim's thumb bone has no gap anymore between it and the bone below it.  We've been looking for a practice that does this for over a year.  We saw Jennifer Oliver who is the PA for Dr. Jennifer Bonneau who is the surgeon.  Ms Oliver was just a delight, very unlike the practice we saw last November.  Jim's position is that it will have to get a lot worse before he's ready to do surgery, but at least now we know where to go.

I just saw this on twitter.  It's just appalling.  @DemsAbroadCan put it up and the tweet is here if you're interested.

Americans living within 100 miles of the US border OR the coast… You are now officially inside the 100-mile “border enforcement zone” - a legal gray area where Customs & Border Protection (CBP) operates with expanded powers that override basic constitutional protections.   Under federal regulations, CBP asserts the authority to stop, search, and interrogate people without a warrant, or even probable cause, within 100 miles of any international border or coastal line. Buses and trains can be boarded without notice.  And if this sounds dystopian, that’s because it is. And it’s already happened before. In 2020, the Trump administration unleashed CBP tactical units into Portland (for instance) to crush protests with military-grade force.

How did we get here article is here.

Another article is here. 

The enforcement zone has been this way for awhile, but now that CPB has mass quantities of money, and ICE is likely hiring Proud Boys, it looks a whole lot more sinister.  Jim and I are not the targets of this, but Tucson is heavily Hispanic.  200 million people live in the zone, 66% of the US population.

In other news we have more pardons.

Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, convicted of fraud and tax evasion, pardoned by 47.

Less than three weeks after his mother attended a $1-million-per-person fund-raising dinner, 47 pardoned Paul Walczak, a Florida healthcare executive and convicted tax fraud felon.  This guy stole $10 million from the employees of his nursing home to buy himself a luxury yacht and Cartier watches. He PLED GUILTY. Because his Mom gave Trump $1 million, he just got a pardon. And this story barely makes the news today.The pardon application explicitly mentioned his mother’s donations to 47. 

A jury found former Culpeper County, Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins guilty of accepting more than $75,000 (£55,000) in bribes last December, in exchange for making several businessmen into law enforcement officers without them being trained.  Pardoned! 

Barry Croft and Adam Fox, the men convicted of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the summer of 2020, could be on a list for potential presidential pardons, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s new pardon attorney.  The comments came from Ed Martin Jr., a conservative activist who had been nominated as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia before having his nomination withdrawn earlier this year. Martin is now a pardon attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice.

The corruption and self dealing marches on.

So, that's it.

Hedge Trimming and the Usual

Yesterday 47 gave the commencement address at West Point Military Academy.  He was unable to locate the podium and had to be guided to it.  Once speaking, he digressed to his new story about a rich guy who retired, divorced his wife, got a trophy wife and a big yacht.  Very inspiring.  He also said, to a graduating class who all started school during the Biden administration, that "no one joined the military" on Biden's watch.  Liar.  After speaking he up and left saying he had to go deal with Russia and China, to go play golf.  Obama and Biden stayed and shook every graduating cadets' hand.  

We trimmed the hedge.  I think it was too early, the new growth was still pretty soft and often bent over rather than being cut by the hedge trimmer.  I think I'm going to wait a couple of weeks before attempting another pass.  Here is me with the weapon.

Here is yard waste.

From a distance, it doesn't look too bad.  I don't know how people get these things perfectly straight and level.

We rode to the lake today, first time in two weeks.  Although we have diligently rowed and used the spin bike, there was still loss of bicycle fitness.  Nothing crosses over with anything. It hit the upper 80's today.  It may finally be time to uncover the air conditioner.

These guys are committing a major violation of boat ramp etiquette.  One does not, under any circumstances, get in the ramp line with out having one's boat ready to go in the water, especially on a holiday weekend.  People get very testy when their launch is delayed by unprepared people.  That boat cover should have been removed prior to getting in line.  The camp hosts had a busy day marshaling the boats coming and going.  I do not miss owning a boat.

The Senate is beginning to push back on the Big Bad Bill.  They are upset about the increase to the deficit.  That's good, but there are other, more important things to be upset about.  Here are a few.

Graham and McConnell are currently talking a good line, but they'll cave.  It's that whole lack of a spine and a moral compass.

This is cool.

That's it, that's all I have.

Still Cold and Wet and The Big Bad Bill

Another wretched weather day.  It rained off and on all day, and was cold.  I guess May is not spring anymore.  The first year we were here in May it was delightful, but that appears to be over.  The guys that cut the grass come today, they're schedule driven.  Hopefully it won't be too hard on the grass.

Yesterday we went for a hike starting from the parking lot we've been parking in to ride, since the trail is still closed.  It is not a repeater, at all.  Much of it is full of baby heads, I hate walking on them.  A baby head is a mountain bike term to describe rocks that resemble babies buried in the ground so that only the top couple of inches of their heads are exposed.  Plus there were mosquitoes.

The rhodies have started to bloom.  We need to cut those back this year.

Here is the walkway with the new boxwood, and the terrible Rose of Sharon gone. 

With any luck, that's the last tree we'll be removing.

Today, the White House took down all of the transcripts of things 47 has said.  All they're putting up now is edited video clips.  Clips where he's not mangling the language and grammar.  Seems like this would violate the Presidential Records Act.  Of course, laws have no meaning in this country.  They're trying to disguise his disordered speech patterns.

The was today from Trump: "It’s going to be massive numbers… it's going to have a huge impact. So big that nobody can calculate it. So it will affect everything. It will affect your whole life. The amount of money you're going to be saving is going to be incalculable. Nobody can believe I had the courage to do it. I think it would have been courage not to do it."

He's talking about reducing pharmaceutical prices by threatening other countries.   This is a big problem for other countries who order transcripts and translate them into their languages.  

This morning the administration removed Harvard's ability to host foreign students.  Their visas will be revoked unless they transfer to another school.  Ten minutes later a federal judge put a hold on that.  Also blocked today, 47's plans to do away with the Department of Education.

Lawrence H. Summers, who is a big deal in the finance commentary space had this to say,  "The U.S. country risk trade is back as bonds, stocks and the dollar all fell sharply today. A few more days like today and recession will be likely. And financial accident risk is rising as well. President Trump needs to retreat on taxes just as he did on tariffs."  Mortgage rates are up to 7% or so, which is as high as they've been in years.

The House passed the Big Bad Bill by one vote..  If Gerry Connolly, Raul Grijalva, and Slyvester Turner had not died while in office, we wouldn't be here.  Instead we will have terrible things put in place, and huge cuts to food subsidies, Medicare and Medicaid.  Such a deal.

So that's it, another great day in the US of A.

46 and 47

Here is a picture of the failing and faltering 46th President of the United States, taken March 23, 2025.  Notice the lack of a cane, walker or wheel chair.  Yes, the man is old, yes his stutter is a little more apparent than it used to be.  However, go out to Youtube and play this video, or this one.  The second video was made on the 100th day of 47's horrible administration.  I haven't read it, but I don't believe Jake Tapper's book.  I do believe he had it in for Hunter Biden, and by extension, Joe, because Hunter would not agree to call Tapper immediately upon Beau's death so he could scoop the other networks.  There's history there.

As to the cancer diagnosis.  "Aggressive cancer" has a specific meaning.  It's not like normal prostate cancer that's slow growing, and can take a decade to kill you.  The Gleason score of 9 tells you it's a poorly differentiated cancer.  That type of tumor does does not secrete prostate specific antigens like a non-aggressive tumor.  There are less.  So, the last PSA Biden did in 2014, in accordance with guidelines for older men, would not have shown this cancer.  I don't know, because some of  the literature is opaque to me, if it would have shown the tumor before he left office.  Here's the thing.  He's a private citizen now, and I am sick and fucking tired of people trying to make this a scandal and throw shit on what was a very successful administration.  

Biden was not perfect, I believe his premature declaration that Covid was over bordered on criminal negligence.  Currently one person dies of Covid every 11 minutes, so no, not over.  Likewise, I think Obama's failure to stop Putin in Crimea was a terrible, wrong headed decision.   Democrats are not perfect, but they are way better than what we have now.

So, that is what I have to say about that.

In other news, the Big Bad Bill will increase the deficit to the point that there is likely to be 500 BILLION dollars cut from Medicare over the next ten years.  Medicad will suffer more cuts.   All this while adding $4 trillion to our current $37 trillion debt.

Today 47 hosted the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa.  He spent the press time talking over Mr. Ramaphosa and accusing him of committing genocide on the Afrikaners. This is not true.  It's a lie pushed by Elon Musk.  South Africa does have a high crime rate, but white people are not victims of genocide.  They still own just about everything.  There is an NPR article that did fact checking.  47 made a complete ass of himself.  He told Peter Alexander he was not smart enough to be a reporter when asked about the gift 747 from Qatar.  Once again, I am embarrassed to be a citizen of the US.

 

Spring and Malfeasance

This spring totally sucks!  It's cold, it's rainy, and we're bored spitless.  We did get a new boxwood for the side yard after our nice neighbor dug out the Rose of Sharon that was dead.  Home Depot did not have a good distribution of sizes, the pots were either really big, or smaller than we wanted.  Our dirt lies upon a significant layer of clay-like soil which is a pain to dig in, so we went with the smaller plant.  It will grow.  We got it planted in between rain showers.  It was a dismal day, as is today. 

There have been wild life sightings.  

This is a female turkey that's roaming the neighborhood.  It's odd, she's the only turkey we've seen this year.  Usually there is a flock in the area.  She's a big bird.  The lady up the street thinks she must have a nest somewhere.  What do turkeys eat?  Anything they can get into their mouth.  That's according to the internet.

One of the murderous robins.  They locate worms by sound.  He's listening for them to move through the dirt.

The always adorable rabbit.  He chewed a shoe sized hole in the grass, right down to the ground.  We may have to start shooing him.  I wouldn't mind it if he'd keep moving while eating, but he likes to remain in one place and chew.

So, former President Biden has prostate cancer that has moved to the bones.  It's amazing how many MAGAts just have to weigh in on stuff they know nothing about.  They should all have a plague of boils and hives.  It should be enough to wish him well and zip it.

From twitter we learn The Big Beautiful Bill which is moving through congress does the following, in addition to taking healthcare away from 14 million people.  It's way more than a budget bill, it's an end to the world as we know it bill.

- Closure of the U.S. Department of Education 

- 25% expansion of logging in national forests, bypassing environmental reviews and fast-tracking timber production 

 - Rollbacks on clean energy incentives, cutting tax credits for EVs and renewables, gutting key climate provisions

 - More public lands opened up for drilling, mining, and logging, with royalty breaks for fossil fuel companies 

- Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, ending U.S. participation in global climate efforts  

- Executive Order 14215, forcing independent federal agencies to follow White House legal interpretations and centralizing authority under the presidency  

 - Pension changes for federal workers hired before 2014, cutting take-home pay by raising required contributions, reducing future payouts, and eliminating early retirement supplements

 - REINS Act-style regulation repeal, where major federal rules expire unless Congress re-approves them every 5 years allowing Trump to quietly erase protections without rewriting laws  

- Expanded executive control over agency budgets, allowing the White House to move federal funds internally without explicit congressional approval

 - Restoration of impoundment powers, giving Trump the ability to block or delay spending already passed by Congress reviving powers stripped after Watergate  

 - Creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), placing White House–aligned teams inside every federal agency with access to internal systems and influence over hiring and daily operations 

 - Sharp cuts in regulatory enforcement, with agencies like the EPA, CFPB, and Labor and Transportation Departments halting enforcement of key safety, environmental, and anti-discrimination rules  

 - Trump’s personal control over economic policy, strengthening his power to direct tariffs, pressure private companies, and dictate pricing with little resistance treating the U.S. economy like his own business

Sounds great, does it not?

This is funny, in these days one must take funny where one finds it.

That's it, that's all I've got.

Two Trees Gone and That Man

Yesterday and the day before were spent removing two Roses of Sharon.  The winter of 2022/23 finished them off.  Last year they looked like hell, this year they were not sprouting anything.  This is the big one.

We had to take it down in stages.  It was extremely tedious.  It had to be cut up in small pieces so it would all fit in the green can.  The reciprocating saw was used on the larger bottom branches.  Fortunately, our nice neighbor has a chain saw, and he came over and cut it off at ground level.  We had no way to do that.  Then our other neighbor dug the small Rose of Sharon out for us.  That neighbor is a very strong guy, he digs up pine tree stumps for fun.  So, we're probably not planting in the corner, the fireplace exhaust will be visible.  If it bothers the next owner, they can plant something.  Yet another boxwood will go in where the small hibiscus was.  I don't know why people plant those trees here, it can get really cold.  The HOA president lost 6 of those trees due to the extreme cold. 

The branches foreground are what was removed.  That's where the new boxwood will go.  I love those plants, deer don't eat them, they're always green, and they're cold hardy.  What more can you ask for?

The weather is bad.  It rained all night, and just recently stopped.  It's cold, it's gloomy.  I feel Seasonal Affective Disorder coming on.

47 went to the Middle East and thoroughly humiliated himself.  He fell asleep, then he got up and walked past the table where he was supposed to sign something, and had to be led back to the chair.  It was just sad.  At one point he launched into a riff about we're going to add an engine to the F35 airplanes, because he likes two engines.  There is no possible way that can ever be done.  He's just making up stuff.

47 has directed Federal Departments to purchase and erect huge banners of his face on all federal buildings at an estimated cost of $184 million. Trump says: "they do it in North Korea and China to show respect for their supreme leaders, so why shouldn't we."  And yet we can't fund Meals on Wheels.

This is what dictators do.

Click the link, play the video.  It's a brief news report on how 47 got hornswoggled with the "free" air plane.  Such a master deal maker, that one.

SCOTUS has returned yet another 7-2 decision that Venezuelans may not be deported without a trial.  Presently they are hearing arguments about doing away with birthright citizenship.  That one is huge, hopefully another 7-2 will uphold the constitution.

Moody's has downgraded US credit.  This is bad.

That's it, that's all I have to report.