Category: US History

A Friday Wrap-Up

Some weeks I have blogged on Friday as sort of a catch-up or catch-all about what’s happened over the past week. I do not wish to fall into that as a routine or habit. Too much is happening. I don’t want that self-inflicted pressure.

However, I will take the opportunity today to comment about a few things that stood out to me this week. Most, you have heard about. Others, probably not. No one can read and hear it all. It is not humanly possible as we are traveling through a political and social world propelling us at warp speed whether we want to be propelled or not.

I will not take the blame

According to Trump, it is my fault and the fault of people like me who dare to be critical of the tactics of ICE who caused a snipper – who was a registered Independent — to murder two ICE detainees on Wednesday in Dallas, Texas.

I beg to differ. Is it not Trump who is sending ICE agents out in over-sized face masks, sunglasses, and riot gear without badges or any identification in unmarked vehicles to snatch people off the street?

Perhaps it is the pictures and videos of the ICE agents that have fueled anger in our country.

When the person who has the loudest microphone and biggest name recognition in the entire world uses his platform every single day to call individuals and groups of people ugly names, we have reached a dangerous place not just in the United States but worldwide.

When the President of the United States verbally, in writing, and on social media daily calls people names and makes baseless accusations, does he not need to bear part of the blame for the political violence in our country?

Special Education Grants Cancelled

As the Trump Administration’s ongoing war against diversity, equity, and inclusion, the U.S. Department of Education has cancelled a grant made to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the training of future preschool teachers who want to teach students with disabilities.

Since 2011, the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the university has run the SCRIPT-NC program through which it has contributed to special education training for about 10,000 students taking classes in child care in the statewide community college system.

The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute announced in the fall of 2023 that it had received a $1 million five-year grant to help fund SCRIPT-NC. With last Friday night’s Department of Education announcement, UNC will lose $200,000 this year and apparently the funding for the remaining three years. The grant to UNC was one of 25 grants for special education teacher training programs that were abruptly cancelled by the Trump Administration last Friday night.

The cancellation notices all cited diversity, equity, inclusion, or race in the grant applications. Each of the cancellation notices concluded with the following words: “the project would be in conflict with agency policy and priorities, and so is not in the best interest of the Federal Government.”

The U.S. Department of Education claims those grants will be repurposed to support special education. Are we left to assume they will be repurposed to only help white children from wealthy families? I don’t know what else we are supposed to conclude.

The grant applications were filed while Joe Biden was President. His administration encouraged applicants to explain how grant money would be used to help underserved populations. The Trump Administration is not interested in the underserved citizens of our country.

How are any of us supposed to function when a new President comes into office and cancels everything the prior President’s administration supported and programs that the U.S. Congress funded? These grant and federal program cancellations are destroying everything from education to infrastructure to our economy.

When you can’t count on what is here today to be here tomorrow, how are you supposed to accomplish anything?

I’m glad Trump has no control over the sun or gravity. We can still count on them being here tomorrow.

My source for the information about the UNC grant: https://www.wunc.org/education.

Speak Up for Justice

Photo on Unsplash

I had the opportunity yesterday afternoon to watch and listen to another live presentation online from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. These monthly informational discussions are free to watch on Zoom.

Yesterday’s program was “Unprotected and Under Fire: State Judges at Risk as congress Weighs Action” and the panel was made up of judges from across the country.

If you aren’t aware, you need to be aware that more and more of the 30,000 judges in our country are receiving verifiable death threats. It is estimated that one-third of the state judges and their families have received such threats. This must stop!

If judges are forced out of fear to rule in a certain way on a case instead of ruling based on their interpretation of and respect for the rule of law, our democracy will crumble.

State judges do not have the protections that federal judges have. Senate Bill 2379 was introduced on July 22, 2025, to address this dangerous gap in protection of members of the state judiciaries. The short title is “Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act.”

Please urge your U.S. Senators to support this. If you wish to read the entire bill as it stands now, the text can be found at https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2379/text/is.

Domestic Terrorism Memo

ABC News reported yesterday afternoon that “President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a promised presidential memorandum implementing an administration-wide effort aimed at alleged ‘domestic terrorism’ and ‘organized political violence.’

“He said it was directed to tackle what he claimed was a rise in ‘bad people’ and ‘anarchists’ from the left and groups that he said funded them.”

He is blatantly only going after “bad people” who oppose Republicans. He isn’t going after “bad people” on the right like the ones who assassinated Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, on June 14, 2025, after attempting to assassinate John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette earlier that morning. Elected officials who are Democrats plainly don’t count in Trump’s book.

Only the people on the left side are “bad people,” according to Trump as he daily refers to us as “left-wing lunatics.”

Free Speech

Photo of a young woman with blue tape across her mouth
Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash

It seems that when it comes down to it, Trump has a corner on the free speech market. Although freedom of speech is guaranteed in the United States by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, we have witnessed an assault on free speech for several weeks.

After a public outcry, ABC put “Jimmy Kimmel Live” back on the air. We won that battle, but the war is not over.

Trump will continue to push the limits of his power to try to quiet all voices that dare to speak out against him. The first group dictators go after are the comedians. We are seeing that play out here. Intimidation. Threats. Naming which comedians are next on his list on social media.

Trump continues to go after universities and journalists. He said this week that it ought to be against the law for a journalist to say anything bad about him. I’m sure writers are on that list. Comedians, writers, and intellectuals are always on such lists. Need I go on?

Now, Democrats are supposed to remain silent as Trump and his supporters spew their hate?

Weaponization of the U.S. Justice Department

The federal indictment of former FBI Director James Comey by a grand jury yesterday afternoon will stand as a stark reminder that Trump will leave no rock unturned as he instructs the U.S. Justice Department to go after his political enemies and people who criticize him.

Trump fired the federal prosecutor who refused to bring charges against Comey. This week he appointed an insurance lawyer who used to work for him and has never prosecuted anyone in her life to prosecute Comey. Reports indicate that she has never even been involved in the prosecution of a case.

Perhaps all this is just to embarrass Comey and cost him a lot of money. If I were pressing charges against a former FBI Director, I would want an experienced prosecutor on the case. But what do I know?

Trump has named Comey and numerous others he wants indicted or arrested and has announced that they are all guilty, corrupt, bad people who should go to prison.

He told U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in a social media post on Saturday to go after Comey, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, and New York Attorney General Letitia James. As I stated in a blog post earlier this week, Trump hold grudges.

Comey is being charged with lying to Congress five years ago, but what about when Pam Bondi testified before Congress on January 15-16, 2025, that as U.S. Attorney General she would not weaponize the U.S. Justice Department, was that a lie?

In the United States today, we can only pray that the rule of law will prevail and ask God to continue to give us the strength to speak up for the Constitution.

The indictment of James Comey yesterday was shocking but not surprising. Whether Comey is guilty or not, I hope the countless accusations Trump has made in speeches and on social media against Comey will result in the unraveling of these indictments.

The United States Department of Justice is exactly what that says. It is the United States Department of Justice, not the President of the United States’ Department of Justice.

Our democracy cannot stand if we have a U.S. President who can dictate that the U.S. Department of Justice can and must go after his political adversaries. It cannot and will not stand if that is where we are.

At 8:00 p.m., Thursday night, September 25, 2025, as I write this, it feels like we are there.

Janet

Punching windmills

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that President Trump will sign an Executive Order banning ANTIFA.

ANTIFA is a catch word. ANTIFA does not exist. ANTIFA is not an organization. It is not an entity. That isn’t stopping Trump from going after “it.”

It reminded me of Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes – the only novel I ever read in Spanish. Don Quixote famously mistook windmills for giants and attempted to fight them.

Photo of three windmills in Holland
Photo by Enrique Jiménez on Unsplash

President Trump has mistaken ANTIFA for an organization that he can attack. He will probably try to take away ANTIFA’s license to broadcast. That’s his new favorite weapon. He will probably tell Attorney General Pam Bondi to arrest the ANTIFA CEO and Board of Directors so he can replace them with his rich friends.

Is anyone in Trump’s circle brave enough to tell him ANTIFA does not exist?

Here we are. We have a United States President going after entities that don’t exist. We have a U.S. President punching windmills.

Too bad there isn’t a Sancho Panza in Trump’s Cabinet or circle of advisors to offer common sense and wit.

All sarcasm aside… This is a serious matter.

“Antifa” means “anti-Fascist.”

Trump did sign the Executive Order on Monday. The fact that Antifa is not an entity did not deter Trump from labeling it as one. The title of his Executive Order is “Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization.”

Here it is, as it was published on https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/designating-antifa-as-a-domestic-terrorist-organization/.

“Section 1.  Antifa as a Terrorist Threat.  Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.  It uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals.  This campaign involves coordinated efforts to obstruct enforcement of Federal laws through armed standoffs with law enforcement, organized riots, violent assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement officers, and routine doxing of and other threats against political figures and activists.  Antifa recruits, trains, and radicalizes young Americans to engage in this violence and suppression of political activity, then employs elaborate means and mechanisms to shield the identities of its operatives, conceal its funding sources and operations in an effort to frustrate law enforcement, and recruit additional members.  Individuals associated with and acting on behalf of Antifa further coordinate with other organizations and entities for the purpose of spreading, fomenting, and advancing political violence and suppressing lawful political speech.  This organized effort designed to achieve policy objectives by coercion and intimidation is domestic terrorism.

“Sec. 2.  Designation as a Domestic Terrorist Organization.  Because of the aforementioned pattern of political violence designed to suppress lawful political activity and obstruct the rule of law, I hereby designate Antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization.”  All relevant executive departments and agencies shall utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations — especially those involving terrorist actions — conducted by Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa, or for which Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa provided material support, including necessary investigatory and prosecutorial actions against those who fund such operations. 

“Sec. 3.  General Provisions.  (a)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law.  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(b)  This order shall be published in the Federal Register.

                               DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    September 22, 2025.”

What this seems to say: Trump is directing any and all federal government agencies to go after anyone who participates in or contributes to any organization that is anti-Fascist. Am I wrong?

It leaves me to conclude: Trump is targeting any organization or individual that is anti-Trump. Am I wrong?

If that’s not the purpose of this Executive Order, I don’t know what is.

Once again, Antifa is not an organization. Antifa is not an entity. Antifa is a word created to mean “anti-Fascism.”

Antifa is all of us who are anti-Fascist.

Trump’s speech at the United Nations

There is much I could say about Trump’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, but where would I start?

If you missed the speech live (as I did), you can find it online. It’s on YouTube and other places, I’m sure.

It was just another one of his braggadocious lists of how great he is and what he has accomplished all by himself. He lectured the UN member countries about how slack they are, how they have not only not helped him end wars but they have created many of the world’s problems.

Photo of the UN Building in New York City with flags of member nations at the base of it.
United Nations Headquarters in New York City
Photo by Nils Huenerfuerst on Unsplash

He criticized the 21st century renovation of the United Nations Headquarters and the materials used. He bragged that he bid on the job and would have built it better and grander. He would have “given you” marble floors.” He never forgets or forgives a slight. The fact that his company was not selected to renovate the UN Headquarters is at the root of his hatred from the UN. Make no mistake. He took the awarding of that construction contract in the early 2000s as a personal affront, and he will never put on his big boy pants and get over it. He holds grudges.

He bragged about how rich the United States is. He bragged about how we have the biggest, best, most powerful, and greatest weapons of war the world has ever seen.

He claimed grocery prices are going down. Just ask any middle- or low-income person in America about that. They will not say grocery prices are going down.

He said that climate change is the biggest con the world has ever seen. He had to punch at windmills. He couldn’t help himself.

He spoke for an hour, and the items I have mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg.

He cannot open his mouth without bragging about himself and berating someone else. It is who he is. It is unfortunate that he has access to the world stage.

Janet

#OnThisDay: Nathan Hale Hanged, 1776

I don’t know whether American students still learn about Nathan Hale. I’ve heard that students are now taught that U.S. History began when George Washington became President.

I hope that is an urban myth. If a child isn’t taught that there was an American Revolution, a Revolutionary War, and why those came about, it will not mean anything to them to know that George Washington was our first President.

In case you need a refresher about who Nathan Hale was, I’ll give a brief summary.

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was born in Connecticut in 1755. He graduated from Yale University in 1773 and became a teacher. He joined a Connecticut regiment in 1775 and was commissioned as a captain the next year.

Hale went behind enemy lines on Long Island during the siege of New York. Deemed guilty of spying, he was captured on September 21, 1776. He was hanged by the British in Manhattan on September 22, 1776.

He was barely 21 years old! I did not realize he was that young until I was doing some research to write today’s blog post.

Things were not going well for the Americans, so leaders used Nathan Hale’s hanging as a rallying cry.

Hale has often been quoted as saying, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country,” but there is no proof that he uttered those words. British Captain Frederick Macenzie, who witnessed the hanging, wrote in his diary that Hale’s last words were, “it is the duty of every good officer to obey any orders given him by his commander-in-chief.”

Hurricane Helene Update, 51.5 weeks after the disaster

As of Friday, 38 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, two state highways, and 31 state roads.

Interstate 40 is, of course, still just two lanes, 35 miles-per-hour.

If you are planning a trip to drive on the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, be sure and check on the road’s status before you go: https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm. There are sections that are still closed. Some of them will be closed for another year. Hurricane Helene recovery project details can be found at https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/helene-recovery-projects-at-a-glance.htm.

Don’t hesitate to travel to western North Carolina. Just be aware that there are still spotty road closures. The area needs tourists to support all the small businesses struggling to recover from this September 26, 2024, natural disaster. Eat at a diner instead of a fast-food chain restaurant. Make sure the souvenir you buy was handmade by a local artisan and not mass-produced by a large corporation.

A Note in Closing

I’m pleased to announce the publication of I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary to go along with I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter. Both books are available on Amazon.

We are living in strange times. Pay attention to what is happening. Ignore the attacks on free speech at your own peril.

Janet

The irony on Constitution Day

It has been a shocking 24 hours in America.

Yesterday, on the 238th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution, Brandon Carr, the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) went on a podcast and showed his true MAGA colors. He did Trump’s bidding. Using the language of a mob boss, he threatened ABC if the network did not fire late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.

Meme states I saw the death of free speech in America in real time last night.
Meme created by Janet Morrison

Trump once again publicly announced his disdain for the ABC network before he left from Great Britain on Tuesday.

Instead of finally showing a backbone and not caving in to pressure from the Trump Regime, ABC kowtowed to Donald Trump and his minions once again. Trump’s minion du jour yesterday was Brandon Carr.

These people have no shame. Carr was wearing a U.S. Flag on his lapel as he did Trump’s work on that podcast. I’m surprised he wasn’t wearing a big cross necklace like so many of Trump’s people do as they spout hate.

Once you give in to a bully, that bully owns you. Most people learn that on the playground when they’re five years old. The executives of the large corporations, universities, museums, law firms, etc. in the United States did not learn that lesson as children or young adults. They are learning it in 2025, and it is a hideous thing to watch because it means the destruction of the Constitution of the United States.

Yesterday, on the 238th anniversary of the September 17, 1787, signing of the Constitution of the United States of America, the United States reverted to our colonial rule under King George when criticizing the king was against the law.

Here we are. Half the voters voted for this last November. When you vote for a person who has no understanding of right and wrong, no understanding of the Constitution of the United States, and only understands the power of money, this is what you get.

Half of you voted for it and the rest of us are getting slammed with it. Speaking to those of you who are happy about government censorship of free expression, I feel sorry for you because you have no appreciation for the incredible freedoms and opportunities you were handed at birth just by being born in the United States.

When a wannabe dictator tells you he is “going to be a dictator on Day One,” you should believe him.

In the coming days, we will either see Republicans in Congress grow a backbone and speak up for free speech and reel in the FCC, or we will see them continue to be complicit in the dismantling of the Bill of Rights.

Since the official responses from the White House and Trump and his family have been to celebrate, I am not hopeful. There is an old saying in America: “Monkey see, monkey do.”

I’ll keep sounding the alarm as long as I’m allowed to. This is not the country I knew from 1953 through 2024.

Every time I think things can’t get worse….

Janet

Today’s death of free speech

Original meme that says I saw the death of free speech in America in real time tonight.
Meme created by Janet Morrison

Shocked, but not surprised.

One more pillar of the Constitution of the United States of America taken down by the Trump Regime.

Right before our eyes.

They have no shame.

They will not stop.

Janet

No interest in James Fenimore Cooper’s Birthday, 1789

Last fall and winter as I planned the topics for my blog for 2025, all I came up with to write about on Monday, September 15 was James Fenimore Cooper’s 236th birthday.

Last year, I was trying to blog about my journey as a writer, a history buff, and a reader. I planned to continue my routine of blogging every Monday. Even at that pace, I came up sorely lacking for a topic for today’s blog post.

Nevertheless, I left James Fenimore Cooper’s birthday on my editorial calendar for today.

Little did I know what 2025 held for all of us. Little did I know what last week held for us.

James Fennimore Cooper is one of most-celebrated Early American writers, but I will not blog about him today. His 236th birthday holds no interest for me.

Photo of a hand holding a pencil poised on a blank writing tablet
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

We find ourselves in a volatile time not just in the United States but around the world.

There is inflamed political speech in the United States. It might not be worse than ever before, but it is being fueled like never before due to social media and around-the-clock television. (Yes, young people, the TV networks used to sign off at midnight or 1 a.m. The national anthem was played, and then a “test pattern” filled the screen until morning. I’m not making that up!)

Today I will follow up on a couple of things I included in my blog on Friday.

The murder of Iryna Zarutska

In my blog post on Friday, September 12, I shared a long list of things I am sick of. One of them was,” I’m sick of politicians like J.D. Vance blaming North Carolina Governor Josh Stein for the August 23 murder of Iryna Zarutska by Decarlos Brown, Jr. on a light rail train in Charlotte after Gov. Stein said we needed more law enforcement officers.”

If you somehow missed hearing about this case, Iryna Zarutska was a 23-year-old Ukrainian who fled the war there and settled in Charlotte. She got off work that night, boarded the Blue Line light rail in Southend, just south of uptown Charlotte, took an aisle seat, got out her cell phone, and had her earbuds in.

Ms. Zarutska had bought a car, but she couldn’t get an appointment with the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles to get her driver’s license until October. So she was taking the light rail to and from her job at a pizza parlor.

Mr. Brown was in the window seat on the row directly behind her, but no one was sitting in the aisle seat next to him.

Less than five minutes later, Mr. Brown unfolded a pocket knife, jumped up, and stabbed Ms. Zarutska in the neck without hesitation or warning.

Three weeks after Ms. Zarutska’s cold-blooded unprovoked murder, a reporter drew it to Trump’s attention. It immediately became a flashpoint and battle cry for the Trump Administration.

What I didn’t go on and say in Friday’s blog post was that Decarlos Brown, Jr. is suffering from Schizophrenia and his mother has tried to get him the treatment he needs. Mr. Brown is 34 years old. His mother cannot force him into treatment, and she should not be held responsible for his actions. That part of the story is not getting the attention it needs because, as a country, we don’t want to talk about mental illness – much less do anything about it.

It is the lack of a mental health system in the United States that meant that Decarlos Brown, Jr. was on the train that night and not in a treatment facility. He was convinced that Iryna Zarutska was “reading his mind,” according to his sister. He told police that he was controlled by things in his body. That is not Gov. Stein’s fault, so let’s just stop blaming Democratic governors and mayors for all our societal failures.

There was a case of Schizophrenia in my extended family. This family member’s father did everything humanly possible under the law to get his adult child help. The system prevented this adult from being kept in a mental health facility long enough for them to get the treatment that was needed.

If an adult is not seen as a threat to themselves or to someone else, they cannot be held in a mental health facility against their will. The irony is that people who need mental health care often do not know they need help.

The irony is that once a person with some mental health issues is treated and is on a medication that helps control their symptoms, they often conclude that they are cured or that nothing was wrong with them to begin with and they stop taking their medications.

How many times do we have to hear that? How many times do we have to see it with our own eyes?

I don’t know what the answer is but if there had been a law enforcement officer sitting in front of or near Ms. Zarutska, they probably could not have prevented her murder. It happened just that fast, and it happened from behind without warning. Just because Mr. Brown was restless and sometimes talking to himself, that’s not against the law.

President Trump has called for Mr. Brown to receive the death penalty. Since when is having Schizophrenia a capital offense?

Until our country finds the courage, will, compassion, and wisdom to address mental illness, this will not be the last tragic murder. We find the money to develop weapons to defend ourselves against other countries, but we don’t find the money or the will to truly care for our fellow Americans who are ill due to no fault of their own.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk

Another item on my list on Friday was, “I’m sick of Trump’s followers claiming that every Democrat is rejoicing in Wednesday’s assassination of Charlie Kirk and that they “should all burn in hell forever.” Some of the loudest conservative talking heads were quick on Wednesday afternoon to proclaim that “we are now at war.”

What I did not go on and say on Friday was that Charlie Kirk had extreme political views, but he had a right to those views and he had the right of free speech to voice his views – just like I have the right to write my views in my blog.

Political violence has no place in the United States, but it certainly is a part of our history. I don’t know that one political party has a monopoly on political assassinations and attempted assassinations. People are quick to point fingers and place blame.

Instead of speaking on television on Wednesday night to call for a lowering of political hate speech, Trump spoke of tracking down anyone and everyone who had anything to do with the assassination. He immediately blamed the “far Left” and the news media for spouting hateful rhetoric that caused this assassination.

The person or people involved in Charlie Kirk’s assassination do need to be brought to justice, but we need a U.S. President who has the wisdom and self-awareness to recognize that he is partly to blame for the vicious political rhetoric in our country today.

We should be able to voice our opinions on politics, religion, and anything else without fear of being murdered. A sign of an advanced society is the free exchange of ideas. I thought I was living in such a society, but maybe I have been naïve the first 72 years of my life.

I think we’re at a turning point, and the arrow is not pointing in a good direction.

Hurricane Helene Update

As of Friday, 38 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, two state highways, and 31 state roads.

As I reported two weeks ago, the rebuilding of five miles of I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge in North Carolina at the Tennessee line is expected to be completed by the end of 2028 at a cost of $1.3 billion. One lane in each direction at 35 miles-per-hour continues since the partial reopening.

As fall approaches, visitors are encouraged to plan trips to the mountains in western North Carolina. Just be aware that portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway and some other roads remain closed. Check routes online when planning your trip.

Janet

#OnThisDay: September 11, 2001

Never forget.

World Trade Center. Photo by Tomas Martinez on Unsplash

Never forget those who died in that terrorist attack.

Photo by Julien Maculan on Unsplash

Never forget the first responders who gave their lives on that day and over the 24 years since that day because of the service they rendered.

9/11 Memorial on site of the World Trade Center. Photo by Aaron Lee on Unsplash

Ncver forget that feeling of unity Americans felt after the attack.

Do what you can to bring that feeling of unity back.

Never forget the countries that came to our aid and wept by our sides after the attack.

Do what you can to regain that level of respect we had from other countries.

Janet

#OnThisDay: Galveston Hurricane of 1900

Until this year, I could not imagine a world in which a hurricane could sneak up on a country. I have been blessed to grow up in a country where meteorologists tracked weather systems and, with growing precision every year, could forecast where such a storm would make landfall and how wide an area would likely experience hurricane-force or tropical storm-force wind.

With a few exceptions, with the support of the National Weather Bureau, meteorologists have been able to predict within a margin of error how much rain and the wind velocity localities can expect from a hurricane.

The Trump Administration sees no benefit in science, and that includes the work of the National Weather Bureau. If the National Weather Bureau is dismantled, we will not be much better off than the people of Galveston, Texas were in 1900.

A NASA photo looking down on a hurricane
Note: Not the hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900, of course. Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Galveston, Texas, in 1900

Galveston, Texas was a thriving city of 37,700 people in 1900. It claimed to be the “third richest city in the United States in proportion to population.” The seaport was booming. Sixty percent of the cotton grown in Texas was being exported through the port at Galveston.

Victorian mansions and public buildings were being built with elaborate architecture. The banking industry was booming. Grand social events filled the calendars of the elite citizens. All the modern conveniences of the time could be enjoyed in Galveston.

Things couldn’t have been going better!

In fact, things were going so well that residents became complacent, ignoring the fact that their city was on an island in the Gulf of Mexico and it’s highest point was just nine feet above sea level.

September 8, 1900

Although the U.S. Weather Bureau issued a hurricane warning on September 4, most Galveston residents ignored it.

Accustomed to weathering tropical storms, the residents paid little attention to the downpours of rain on the morning of September 8, 1900, even as Isaac Cline, the chief meteorologist at the Galveston Weather Bureau went door-to-door to warn people of the imminent danger. By afternoon, though, the tide was rising at an alarming rate and the wind had picked up.

By mid-afternoon, much of the city was flooded, but the worst was yet to come. It is now estimated that sustained winds reached at least 145 miles per hour that evening and there was a fifteen-foot storm surge.

When the next morning came, the sea was calm but 3,600 houses and businesses were gone. Entire blocks closest to the beach had been wiped away, and more than 6,000 people had died.

With all transportation and communication with the mainland destroyed, Galveston was cut off from the outside world for days as the survivors faced the grim task of disposing of bodies.

After burials at sea turned out to be unsatisfactory, funeral pyres were put up along the beach and bodies were burned for weeks after the storm.

After the Galveston hurricane

A seventeen-foot seawall was constructed in Galveston, which saved the city during future hurricane.

On a wider scope, the hurricane drew focus on the need for improved weather forecasting and warning systems. Weather stations were established through the Caribbean, and ships started tracking storms.

Late-20th-century and early 21st-century technological advances have made hurricane tracking and route predictions more precise, yet Mother Nature is a force stronger than any system of predictions. Even with all the various computer models that predict the path a hurricane will take, they are so large and so powerful that there is still uncertainty.

No one predicted the speed with which Hurricane Hugo would plow across South Carolina and the southern piedmont of North Carolina 200 miles inland in 1989. And no one predicted the extent of flooding and damage Hurricane Helene would do more than 500 miles inland in September 2024.

Even with the best technology, we are still vulnerable to hurricanes, but the warning system we have had in place in the 21st century is light years ahead of the warnings that were possible in 1900.

One hundred and twenty-five years later, the September 8, 1900, hurricane that hit Galveston still holds the record as the worst natural disaster to ever hit the United States, in terms of lives lost.

In 2025, we must fight for the National Weather Bureau to remain intact so no city is walloped with little warning like Galveston was in 1900.

Speaking of hurricanes…

Hurricane Helene Update

As of Friday, 37 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene, which hit the mountains in the western part of the state on September 26, 2024. That count includes five US highways, two state highways, and 30 state roads.

Janet

Blog topics keep dropping in my lap

One of these days I hope to be able to enjoy reading fiction again. I miss the days when I wanted to read every historical novel that was published. I can’t remember the last one I read. I’m pretty sure it was before Inauguration Day 2025.

I miss not having books I’ve read to blog about the first Monday of each month. I read parts of several books in August, but I didn’t finish reading any of them.

I settled down at the computer on Friday evening after supper to look for that afternoon’s weekly update on the status of road repairs in western North Carolina since Hurricane Helene a full eleven months ago. I can’t imagine the stress the people who live or work along some of those roads must be under at this point.

For eleven months, I have tried to give an update on Mondays of the progress being made in repairing western North Carolina since the hurricane. Roads are not the most important things being repaired or needing to be repaired. People lost family members, their homes, their businesses, their friends, their communities, and their sense of security. But I don’t know how to report on how those losses are being coped with or healed. I report the progress being made in rebuilding roads and highways because that is something tangible that I can find statistics about. I hope in some way it reminds people in other parts of the United States that just because Hurricane Helene is no longer in the headlines, it doesn’t mean it is over.

On Friday evening, I didn’t know what I was going to blog about today, but I knew I needed to include my weekly update about the roads. I sat down at the computer to get that part of today’s blog written.

But before I could put anything in the search engine, a disturbing piece of breaking news popped up. Although the announcement was put online shortly before 6:30 p.m., the national news channel I watched at 6:30 did not mention it. I guess it was more important to talk about this being Labor Day weekend and how that would specifically bring in lots of business for a particular convenience store chain on steroids.

The free publicity the network gave that convenience store chain was bizarre. It was the kind of story one would expect on “a slow day for news.” But we have not had “a slow day for news” in this country in eight months.

Instead of reporting on how busy the franchises in that convenience store chain would be over the long holiday weekend, I wish that network had reported on what the U.S. Supreme Court did on Friday.

National Institutes of Health

Photo of a woman in a white lab coat looking into a microscope.

The piece of news that was not reported is devastating to a lot of people. In a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump Administration can indeed cut $783 million in National Institutes of Health grants connected to diversity programs. Thus, the injunction that a federal judge had put on the action has been lifted.

Too bad that 90,000-square foot ballroom that’s going to dwarf the White House isn’t in place. I’m sure lots of people in The White House would love to go dancing to celebrate this victory over medical research and diversity.

Voice of America

Photo of a silver microphone.
Photo by Jono Hirst on Unsplash

Another thing Trump could celebrate over the Labor Day weekend was the firing of more than 500 employees of Voice of America and its parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, on Friday night. It comes across as, “Happy Labor Day! You’re fired!”

Voice of America was founded by the United States in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda. Every week for 83 years, it has delivered news to 420 million people in 63 languages in more than 100 countries.

But the Trump Administration does not see the need for it and has been working for eight months to destroy it. One of his Executive Orders in March placed more than 1,000 journalists on indefinite administrative leave.

Kari Lake, an Arizona politician, is tasked by Trump to dismantle Voice of America. She fired 500 contractors in May and tried to fire 600 federal employees in June.

Trump says the Voice of America is speaking for our adversaries and not for the American people. He has produced no evidence. By “our adversaries” does he mean North Korea, China, and Russia? Or does he mean his Democratic political adversaries? I tend to think he means the Democrats. He cannot tolerate people speaking the truth.

Some tariffs ruled illegal

Photo of letters on wooden blocks spelling out: USA Tarriffs.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that some of the tariffs ordered by the Trump Administration are illegal. We haven’t heard the last of this. Like a dog with a bone, Trump won’t let go without a fight.

Chicago prepares for Trump

Photo of a huge dome-like reflective sculpture in Chicago reflecting the sky and buildings
Photo by Sawyer Bengtson on Unsplash

The City of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois prepare for an invasion by Trump’s military this week. The mayor of Chicago vows to not roll over and play dead.

Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an order on Saturday stating that the Chicago police will not “collaborate with federal agents on joint law enforcement patrols, arrest operations, or other law enforcement duties including civil immigration enforcement.”

The mayor’s order “urges” federal officers in Chicago “to refrain from wearing masks, to wear and use body cameras and to identify themselves to members of the public with names and badge numbers.”

That is what local law enforcement officers do, so why shouldn’t federal officers be required to do the same? The argument that Trump’s thugs must wear masks because their lives are in danger doesn’t hold water. Every law enforcement officer’s life is in danger when they are on the job, but they don’t get to hide behind masks like Trump’s people or the Ku Klux Klan.

Hurricane Helene Update

As of Friday, of the 1,469 roads and highways that had to be closed in western North Carolina due to Hurricane Helene, 33 were still closed and 38 have partial access.

A temporary US-64/US-74 between Chimney Rock and Bat Cave opened last week.

Another section of the Blue Ridge Parkway reopened on Friday, meaning that the 85 miles from Asheville to the parkway’s southern terminus near Cherokee are now open! Work continues on various sections of the road north of Asheville.

It was announced last Thursday that the rebuilding of I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge North Carolina at the Tennessee line is expected to be completed by the end of 2028. That’s not a typo. 2028.

The NC Department of Transportation is constructing a retaining wall along the Pigeon River below the highway, which will be 30 feet thick and 100 feet tall in some places.

A temporary wall now allows two lanes (one in each direction) to be open with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit. Monitoring devices are in place to alert drivers to possible landslides.

The reconstruction of five miles of the interstate in the gorge is expected to cost $1.3 billion.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Alert Update

US-441/Newfound Gap Road in the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is expected to be repaired and reopened by September 30. Earlier estimates were in October. Heavy rainfall caused the undercutting a section of the road between Mile Marker 12 and Mile Mark 13 during flooding on August 2.

Hurricane Erin Update

NC-12 on the north end of Ocracoke Island, NC reopened last Monday and ferry service to Hatteras Island resumed. By the end of last week, what was left of Hurricane Erin was lashing the Butt of Lewis on the northern tip of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Erin did not give up easily.

Too much news

In less than 24 hours from Friday night until midday on Saturday, I went from not knowing what I could blog about today to having an abundance of topics vying for my attention. I miss the good old days of 2024 when there wasn’t much news on weekends.

Janet

Another “Word Salad” from Trump

On live TV from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said many things. There were so many things that did not make any sense that I grabbed a pen and started making notes. I know I missed some things, but today’s blog post is a sampling.

I you think Donald Trump is a stable person after you read the following, then maybe you need to see a medial professional and get checked out.

Photo of the White House, Washington, D.C.
The White House, Washington, D.C.
Photo by Kristina Volgenau on Unsplash

Trump said, “Maybe some people are saying they like a dictator. I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with great common sense. I’m a smart person.” How many more times must he say that before we all fall for it?

Was it a coincidence that the same day Trump talked about dictators a giant banner of his portrait was hung on the outside of the offices of the U.S. Department of Labor? How dictatorship-like!

He said Washington, D.C. will be “spotless.” He said people have been spending millions of dollars repaving the streets, but he is going to do it for two dollars. I hope Clark Construction was listening. He just said they’re only getting two dollars.

In the same rambling remarks, Trump said that some of the people that have been arrested in Washington, D.C. are in “solid confinement.” I wonder if that is anything like solitary confinement.

He signed several Executive Orders and bragged about his signature. He turned to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and asked her to confirm that his is a great signature.

He called Governor Pritzker of Illinois “a slob” and said he needed to spend more time at the gym. He said he would send troops to Chicago and end crime there in three days, but then he said he won’t send troops to Chicago.

One of the Executive Orders is for Hegseth to set up specialized National Guard units around the country to “deal with public order issues.”

He claimed that people are burning the American flag all over the country. One of his Executive Orders says if you burn the flag, you will spend one year in jail. He claimed that many flag burners are paid by the “radical left.” What about the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that burning the U.S. flag is a legal act of protest?

He said the United States is the most respected country in the world now.

He said he is being called “the President of Europe” and he considers that “a great honor.” I have no idea who called him that!

As he has said hundreds of times recently, he repeated that the U.S. was “dead” a year ago and now it is “the hottest country in the world.” I don’t know what that means.

Director of the U.S. Marshall Service presented Trump with an honorary U.S. Marshall service badge and a handcuff key. He profusely thanked Trump for everything he’s done and claimed that all law enforcement personnel in the country thank him.

He said he prefers for cities to invite him to send in the National Guard because otherwise he will go in and then be criticized. The guy doesn’t want to be criticized! But a few minutes later, he said he didn’t want to send troops into cities because then he would be praised.

He claimed there hadn’t been a murder in D.C. in 11 days and that hasn’t happened “in 200 years.” (Actually, it happened in February/March of this year.) He said, “The real people” in D.C. “want us here.” (Who are the “real people”?)

He went on and on about fake news. He talked about how he won the election. He said the reporters in the room know he is right but they won’t report it that way.

He bragged that the U.S. is not sending any money to Ukraine now and he got $1 trillion in rare earth minerals from Ukraine for the U.S. No other U.S. President in my lifetime would have blackmailed Ukraine into giving up its rare earth minerals, much less boast about it.

He called former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie “a slob.” He said, “I think he got away with murder.” He said he might have Pam Bondi investigate him. (Christie used to support Trump. In fact, Christie helped prep Trump for at least one of his debates. But now Christie is critical of Trump, so it is not surprising that Trump is threatening to investigate him.”

 He repeated that he’s going to decrease prescription drug prices “by 1,400 or 1,500 percent.” I’m not very good at math but, no matter how many times Trump says that, it still doesn’t make sense to me.

He said that Putin said if Trump had been President, there never would have been a war with Ukraine.

He said that he has stopped seven wars by using tariffs this year. He says that some people saw he has stopped ten wars this year. He claims the U.S. is making billions of dollars from the tariffs. He also said that “tariff” was not a word until the 1870s. One of my sources says the word dates by to before 1595.

Before the day was over, as he met with the President of South Korea in the Oval Office, he bragged about what a great relationship he has with Kim Jong Un.

He said Obama “used to talk about the O-zone layers but then he would fly to Hawaii in a 747.”

He said he has a feeling he and Hegseth will be changing the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War. He said that will probably happen in the next week. He said “everybody wants it.” He also then insinuated that the U.S. won World War I and World War II because it was called the Department of War then.

He called John Bolton “a stupid person who liked killing people.”

He repeated, “We are the hottest country in the world. By far.” Whatever that means.

He said, “Nobody can forget October 7th, but a lot of people forget about it.” He said he thinks the war between Israel and Gaza will probably end in two or three weeks.

He said, “We will soon have more magnets than we know what to do with.”

You can’t make this stuff up. But Trump can.

Then came Tuesday…

Trump voluntarily brought up the word “dictator” twice on Tuesday. He uses the word lightly. He uses is often now. On Tuesday, he said that people are saying they don’t care if he is a dictator as long as he is stopping crime.

I don’t know who these people are who are saying that. If they exist, it is frightening that they value freedom and democracy as little as Trump does. If they want to live in an autocracy, perhaps they should live in North Korea for a while and see how they like it before advocating for a dictatorship in the United States. I heard a couple of Trump supporters on TV saying on Tuesday night that they didn’t care what it was called as long as crime was eliminated.

It is a sad thing to see people being brainwashed.

And the Love Fest at the White House on Tuesday afternoon lasted three hours and seventeen minutes. Trump said he would lose his political career if he called U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi “beautiful.” How demeaning and completely inappropriate! It was officially called a Cabinet Meeting, but it was nothing but a love fest as each Cabinet member praised Dear Leader ad nauseam.

It was the kind of thing one would expect if Kim Jong Un got all his staff around a table to prop up his ego and avoid being executed.

It was an alarming thing to see at the White House. Cabinet members’ blind loyalty is a dangerous thing. Tuesday’s meeting was alarming and indicative of the state of the U.S. Government.

Trump also took an opportunity to belittle federal employees (which includes the Secret Service agents who put their lives on the line for him) when he said that federal employees are “not very productive” and they get paid to “do nothing.” As if morale among federal employees could get any lower than it already is as he gleefully fires them without cause or thought. I hope every Secret Service Agent and every White House staff member now knows how little he thinks of them and the work they do.

On Tuesday, Trump also said that he is President of the United States and he can do anything he wants to. I think we’ve all known that since January 20th.

There is nothing normal about anything in this blog post. Absolutely nothing.

Janet