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 236^th 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 236^th 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

The things I’m sick of

As usual, what I started to write for my blog today grew much longer than I anticipated. It is overwhelming to realize how many things I’m sick and tired of. You’ll be glad to know that before publishing this post, I deleted several items.

I love my country, but it has gone off the rails in a myriad of ways. I’m old enough at 72 years old to remember the 1950s and 1960s. We’ve been through some contentious times in my lifetime, but the 2020s have a different feel.

We are in a whole different era of vicious name-calling and a whole different era of too many people thinking the only way to settle a disagreement is by using a gun.

Things are coming to a head on many fronts, and it is impossible to know what the future holds.

Two American Bison fighting — Photo by Richard Lee on Unsplash

Here are a few of the things I’m sick of.

I am sick and tired and beyond disgusted at what the Trump Administration is doing to our country and the world. I’m sick of waking up every morning and dreading to turn on the TV or the computer and hear what he and his minions have done under the cover of darkness.

I am sick of seeing his orange face and hearing his word salad speeches that make no sense. I’m sick of him calling people names. I’m sick of his stupid red MAGA caps. I’m sick of seeing how he has defaced the Oval Office with gold doo-dads and gaudy picture frames. I’m sick of seeing the orange and white striped picnic table umbrellas and concrete he had installed to deface the White House Rose Garden.

I’m sick of all the misguided people who appear on news shows and defend Trump. I’m sick of the hate they spew. I’m sick of the smirks on their faces as they talk about immigrants as if they aren’t human. I’m sick of them saying it’s okay that there are more guns than people in the United States now.

I’m sick of all three of the men who “represent” me in Washington, D.C. going along with everything Trump wants, which makes them complicit.

I’m sick of the majority of Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court not standing up against Trump’s power reach.

I’m sick of the rewriting of history to fit Trump’s agenda and narrow views.

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. Gov. Stein does not control how many security officers the private company that operates the light rail hires, so let’s not blame him for Iryna Zarutska’s murder just because he is a Democrat.

I’m sick of the Trump Administration taking advantage of Iryna Zarutska’s murder to take attention off the Epstein Files. The President of the United States is calling for Decarlos Brown, Jr. to get the death penalty. Since when is having Schizophrenia a capital offense?

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.” (Yes, that’s a quote from a Facebook post by a Christian I know.) Some of the loudest conservative talking heads were quick on Wednesday afternoon to proclaim that “we are now at war.”

I’m sick of the liberals who said Charlie Kirk got what he deserved. No one deserves to be murdered for their beliefs!

I’m sick of Trump only being concerned about “beautiful” women. He put his condolences to Charlie Kirk’s “beautiful wife” on social media, which tells me that he wouldn’t have felt bad for her if she were not beautiful. I’m sick of the demeaning language that Trump and his ilk think is the only way to refer to a woman because what else could give her value as a human being except her looks? Erica Kirk had just lost her husband and the father of their two young children. Was that tragedy made worse by the fact that she is “beautiful?” I don’t think her looks will ease her grief or magnify it. Few of us can imagine the depths of her grief.

I’m sick of him saying crime only happens in cities that have a Democratic mayor.

I’m sick of him saying the American consumer is not paying for the tariffs he has placed on every country in the world except the country he loves best: Russia.

I’m sick of him saying the abuse of teenage girls by Jeffrey Epstein and his friends is a “Democrat hoax.”

I’m sick of women not being believed.

I’m sick of people only getting upset when white children are kidnapped, especially if they have blonde hair.

I’m sick of white men, who have had privileges they don’t even recognize, much less acknowledge, saying that every woman of color who is educated and serving in a position of power is there only because DEI gave them a free pass. It is those white men who often got free passes into whatever career they wanted solely because they were white males.

I’m sick of politicians offering nothing but thoughts and prayers after every school shooting.

I’m sick of people saying, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” It seems to me that guns certainly make it easier for people to kill people, and it is far too easy for people in the United States to obtain guns.

Photo of a semi-automatic pistol with bullets scattered around it. — Photo by Tom Def on Unsplash

I’m sick of them saying Joe Biden was unfit physically or mentally to be President while Trump is in the background speaking unintelligently about who knows what and is unable to say a complete sentence or walk in a straight line.

I’m sick of them saying there is nothing wrong or alarming when the President of the United States says and then demonstrates daily that he wants to be a dictator.

I’m sick of them saying it doesn’t bother them at all that Trump pardoned the insurrectionists and cop killers who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

I’m sick of them saying it doesn’t bother them at all that Trump tried to get the State of Georgia to “find” him 11,780 votes.

I’m sick of them saying they think it is wonderful for Trump to militarily take over the country one city at a time in the name of saving us from crime.

I’m sick of the attacks on medical and scientific research.

I’m sick of the attacks on vaccines.

I’m sick of the attacks on public education.

I’m sick of the attacks on universities.

I’m sick of the attacks on the Smithsonian Institution.

I’m sick and tired of being lied to.

I’m sick of one hundred different curve balls being thrown at us every single day to the point that we cannot keep up with what is happening, which of our rights are being trampled, and which government program has been dismantled. It is exhausting.

After reading the above list, I hope you understand why I continue to blog about the Trump Administration and societal issues in America. I don’t enjoy doing it. Life is short, and there are many things I’d rather be writing about or doing.

I cannot see injustice, the failing of societal norms, and governmental wrongdoing and say nothing.

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.

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

They would call Jesus “woke”

I do believe the right-wing conservative Christians would call Jesus “woke.” In a round about way, they are doing exactly that.

Two evangelicals have published books in the last year claiming that the Democrats are carrying empathy too far… and furthermore, that’s a sin.

I won’t name them here, because I don’t want to give them or their books free publicity. I’ll just share my thoughts on the subject.

Early in the second Trump Administration, Elon Musk stated, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” It’s sad to see people who profess to be Christians jumping on that bandwagon.

Is that why all the right-wing conservative Christian “faith leaders” who gather in the Oval Office for photo ops with Trump remained silent when his Administration dismantled USAID?

There was great fanfare when Trump established a so-called Faith Office in the White House, but what has the office done except hold an expensive banquet for themselves and their ilk – all the big names in tele-evangelism and such?

Where was that Faith Office when USAID was destroyed?

Where was that Faith Office when medical research funding was slashed?

Where was that Faith Office when childhood cancer research was halted?

Where was that Faith Office when ICE agents arrested 20-year-old nursing student Allison Bustillo and held her for more than six months in a detention center 350 miles from her home and never gave her due process. Her “crime” was fleeing violence in Honduras as an eight-year-old child, coming to America, studying nursing at a university, and caring for her younger brother who has autism. With no grounds for deportation, the U.S. Justice Department just kept her in limbo in a detention center for months on end.

The silence from the so-called Christians in the White House has been deafening.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think there should be a right-wing Christian “Faith Office” in the White House or in any other government building. There’s a reason the Constitution of the United States of America does not establish a State Religion.

But if you establish a Faith Office in the White House and fund it and advertise it and brag about it, maybe it should put its money where its mouth is and speak up for common decency that most world religions claim to be rooted in.

If you think Jesus is in favor of taking food and medicine away from sick and starving children, I believe you need to start reading a different version of the Bible. None of the versions I have paint that picture of Jesus.

Janet

Why losing subscribers isn’t the end of the world

I’ve had a net loss of three of my 1,297 blog subscribers in the last two weeks. I don’t know why, but I have a hunch it is because I have either stepped on some toes with my criticisms of Trump, or perhaps the individuals who hit the “unsubscribe” button just did not want to read about Trump anymore.

I understand, if they left for either reason. If I thought Donald Trump hung the moon and the stars and was sent by God to save the United States, I wouldn’t want to read my blog either.

If I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of the rapid dismantling of democracy in the United States, I wouldn’t want to read my blog either.

I get it.

I don’t want to write about the Trump Administration every day. That’s why I took a break from it last week. I only blogged twice.

That break freed up time for me to work on the companion journal/diary I’m creating to go along with my I Need The Light! devotional book.

*I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter*, by Janet Morrison

It gave me time to edit most of the historical short stories I plan to publish as a collection later this year.

I needed to take time to do those things for my mental and physical well-being. I hope to have more weeks in which I only blog a couple of times.

When I started blogging more than a decade ago, I was encouraged over every subscriber milestone. The numbers are not that important to me now, but I noticed I was on the verge of having 1,400 subscribers. Then, my numbers started going down. I needed to evaluate the situation and determine if I was doing something wrong.

I concluded that after a decade I have started fearlessly speaking my mind. Perhaps some of my subscribers liked the old me – the me who just blogged once-a-week about the craft of writing or the books I read. The old me struggled to think of something to blog about once-a-week.

But that’s not me anymore. I’m older, but not necessarily wiser. I’m in a place in my life’s journey where I am no longer afraid that I will offend someone who sees politics or other major issues differently than I do.

I am no longer afraid that if I blog about politics I will alienate someone who would have otherwise purchased one of my books.

I blog because it has become part of my identity. I blog because I am deeply concerned about what is happening to and in the government of the United States. I cannot turn my back on my political science degrees and my sense of patriotism.

But most of all, I blog because I thoroughly enjoy forming online relationships with other bloggers and subscribers. Readers and subscribers will come and go. Perhaps I’m finally finding my voice and my niche, and I no longer attempt to reach the masses.

What I write about will not and cannot appeal to everyone. That is a good lesson for me to remember when I publish a book!

In conclusion, it’s not really about the numbers. It’s about the relationships I have made and will continue to make through my blog. If my subscribers dwindle down to 100, it won’t bother me now because I have come to understand that it’s just about the relationships and exchange of ideas.

Thank you for being my friends.

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-20^th-century and early 21^st-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 21^st 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

Let’s put a name on ICE detention: Allison Bustillo

This is a story I have been sitting on since last Tuesday. It is impossible to make sense of what has happened here locally.

I do not personally know the young woman or her family, but hearing this family’s story on WSOC-TV in Charlotte stopped me in my tracks. I have not been able to get the report off my mind.

Her family fled violence in Honduras in 2013 when Allison Bustillo was eight years old. They found a home in North Carolina. Allison studied hard. No one in the family ever broke the law, except for staying in the United States without proper documentation.

Allison wants to be a nurse. At 20 years old, she was studying nursing on a scholarship at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, until February 2025 – the day ICE agents showed up at her house. They were looking for someone who did not live there but, in the process, they took Allison from her home. This was traumatic for her family, which includes her brother who is on the autism spectrum.

Allison was taken 350 miles from her home to the ICE Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. She tried to get released. She had broken no laws. She had been brought into the United States as an eight-year-old child.

The Stewart Detention Center is operated by CoreCivic. CoreCivic contracted with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate the prison, which has an official capacity of 1,752 inmates.

The ICE agents who arrested Allison Bustillo did not have to identify themselves. They didn’t have to show a badge or an identification. They didn’t have to show their faces. But Allison Bustillo was not allowed those privileges, so without warning or due process she was taken from her home and placed in a federal detention center hundreds of miles from her family.

But no one in the Trump Administration cared. Not even after her family secured the services of an attorney.

One of the ironies is that Allison was not eligible for voluntary deportation, but she was stuck in that detention center for six months. Imagine! Six months!

Her attorney was finally able to get permission for her to leave the detention center and leave the country without a deportation order. She will board (or already has boarded) a commercial flight to Honduras. Alone.

A 20-year-old nursing student returning to the country she fled 12 years ago as a child whose family sought a safe life.

Allison’s mother said, “The only memory my daughter has of Honduras is when someone put a gun to our heads.”

Here is a link to the local news report I saw last Tuesday, in case it is still accessible: https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/shelby-woman-forced-leave-us-after-months-ice-custody/RLPE6QKWOVGLXC6KHNEXT2Q5OU/.

My thoughts

I am embarrassed to be an American in 2025.

Trump was elected partly because he promised to get the illegal alien criminals out of our country. Perhaps some of the people who voted for him thought he would use legal means to accomplish that. Perhaps they thought he would only remove the hardened criminals.

They were horribly mistaken.

He has repeatedly said that only “the worst of the worst criminals” will be arrested and deported. That is a lie. Plain and simple.

A case in point is the Guatemalan minor children he tried to deport in the middle of the night this weekend. Fortunately, a judge put a stop to that. Trump needs to understand that even an undocumented child from Guatemala has the right to due process in the United States of America.

What happened to “Give me your tired, your poor… your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” that the high school chorus used to sing?

What happened to “the land of the free and the home of the brave” from our national anthem? We have failed our national anthem this year… or, I suppose we failed it on election day last November. I don’t think I can sing it anymore.

What happened to the Republican Party?

What happened to common decency?

What happened to my country?

God, help us!

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 7^th, 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 20^th.

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

Janet

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC

Here are some snippets of just a few of the things that have taken place in and around Washington, D.C. in the last ten days or so. Most of them aren’t getting much coverage by the mainstream news media.

I’m sorry this is so long. I’m only the messenger, and it’s only Wednesday night as I put the finishing touches on this. It just might be my longest blog post ever. That in itself is indicative of the state of things in America today.

Photo of the White House, Washingon, D.C. — The White House, Washington, D.C.

Another mass school shooting in America

Yesterday’s mass shooting at a school in Minnesota was met with “thoughts and prayers” and flags lowered to half-staff at the White House. Isn’t it a shame that is all politicians can do? Their “thoughts and prayers” are not stopping the bullets.

Cruelty at the highest level

I mentioned the mysterious influence that Laura Loomer has over President Trump in my August 19, 2025, blog post, Trump and one of his “advisors”.

It seems Loomer has not gone away or tamped down her hatred for certain groups of people. She was upset that a few severely injured Palestinian children from Gaza were being brought to the United States for medical care. Children who were missing arms and legs, children with severe burns, etc. Loomer called them a “national security threat” and “Islamic invaders.”

On Friday, August 15, Loomer spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the next day the State Department announced it was pausing all visitor visas for individuals from Gaza.

Guns for National Guard Troops in Washington, DC

Last Friday evening, U.S Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC to start carrying their weapons.

National Guard troops are trained for war, not for everyday crime control on the street of America.

Trump has turned our nation’s capital into a police state and his followers think it is a beautiful thing. To them, the ends always justify the means.

That’s how far we have moved away from understanding the Constitution of the United States of America, the law, and the spirit of the law. The “party of law and order” has lost its way and lost sight of the law and is only interested in their idea of “order.”

The Posse Comitatus Act limits the federal government in the use of U.S. military personnel in the enforcement of domestic policies within the United States. First signed into law in 1878, the bill has been updated in 1956, 1981, and 2021.

The Posse Comitatus Act does not prevent the Army or the Air National Guard from acting in a law enforcement capacity in its home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state’s governor.

But, at the invitation from Trump, various state governors have fallen in line and sent their National Guard troops or promised/offered to send their National Guard troops to Washington, DC or wherever Trump chooses to send them. The letter of the law: “home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state’s governor” has fallen by the wayside.

In the meantime, National Guard personnel are being called upon to leave their families, their businesses, and their jobs to deploy to Washington, DC to do whatever Trump decides they should do.

The National Guard is being turned into a political pawn, which absolutely goes against the United States Constitution and all federal laws regarding the military.

I’ll have more about the National Guard and various other topics in my blog post tomorrow.

Hegseth fires more top military personnel

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, Head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. It just so happens that Gen. Kruse issued a report saying that the U.S. airstrikes against Iran several months ago only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months. His report contradicted Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that Iran’s nuclear program had been “obliterated.”

This is proof once more that Trump does not want the truth. He wants unquestioning loyalty like he sees dictators in North Korea, China, and Russia getting.

Hegseth also fired Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore and Rear Admiral Milton Sands. Lacore was chief officer of the Navy Reserve. Sands oversaw Naval Special Warfare Command and was a Navy SEAL.

No reasons were given for the firings, and no public announcements were made by the Defense Department. They were just quietly done late on a Friday when the public is not supposed to be paying attention.

600+ cuts at CDC

More than 600 researchers and other employees of the Centers for Disease Control are expected to receive their notices of termination this week. This is all part of the Trump Administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign.

It is ironic that the entire CDC Division of Violence Prevention is being eliminated as part of this wave of firings just days after a gunman who thought the COVID vaccine had made him sick sprayed the campus of the CDC with more than 500 bullets.

New CDC Director fired

Centers for Disease Control Director Susan Monarez was fired yesterday just four weeks and one day after obtaining Congressional approval for the position. In her confirmation hearings she seemed to struggle to champion vaccines, knowing that was contradicting the long-held beliefs Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., holds.

New CDC Director fired

Within minutes of Monarez’s firing, Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Demetre Daskalakis, and Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases turned in their resignations.

Established on July 1, 1946, the Centers for Disease Control has saved countless lives around the world. It is truly a global tragedy to see what the Trump Administration has done to it.

Threats of ABC and NBC broadcast licenses revoked

On social media on Sunday, Trump all but called for ABC and NBC to lose their broadcast licenses. He said he would support that move by the Federal Communications Commission. He called the two TV networks arms of the Democratic Party and claimed that their reporting is 97% negative about him.

We are moving into extremely dangerous territory as Trump wants to eliminate the free press.

Meanwhile, my Congressman’s newsletters get more disgusting

My “Representative” in the U.S. House of Representatives is on a tear now to stop parents from taking their minor daughters across state lines to get an abortion. It is called the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. He says, “this should be the first of many steps Congress takes to end the tragedy of abortion and preying on the vulnerable.”

If he cared one iota for that pregnant minor child, he would work on legislation to go after the low life man who got that child pregnant. But no! He wants to go after her parents and he wants to force that child to have a baby.

In the same newsletter he claimed that Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will result in “annual wages in North Carolina rising by roughly $5,500 to $10,500 in the long term.” He does not explain how the “big, beautiful bill” will make that happen, nor does he define “long term.” Ten years? 45 years?

That probably sounds great to his constituents who hang on his every word and trust him since he is a Southern Baptist preacher.

This is the same man I could not email about the starving children in Gaza or any of my other concerns while Congress was on vacation the last week of July and the entire month of August because there was “no server available to receive your email.”

He disgusts me.

Russia bombs American manufacturing plant in Ukraine

Two Russian missiles hit an American-owned electronic manufacturing plan in Ukraine.

Ever the tough guy against Russia, Trump responded: “I told [Putin] I’m not happy about it.”

Wow! Putin will be afraid to do that again!

$4 billion wind farm halted by Trump Administration

Trump continues to spit in the face of sources of renewable energy.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management cited “national security interests” when it ordered the developers of Revolution Wind to “halt all ongoing activities” off the coast of Rhode Island.

The Department of the Interior does not recognize windmills as a “reasonable use of the exclusive economic zone.”

Plans to the 65-turbine windfarm were approved on November 17, 2023, and the project is 80% complete.

If the windfarm’s construction had been allowed completion, beginning in the spring of 2026 it would have generated enough electricity to power 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Another crypto scheme

I use the word “scheme” in the true American use of the term. In the U.S., the word “scheme” carries negative connotations.

It seems that Trump keeps tricking his supporters into investing in crypto. I do not feel sorry for them. The pattern is that he promotes a new crypto investment, calling it a “crypto treasury” firm. People invest, Trump cashes out, and everyone else loses.

The Wall Street Journal commented that there is a pattern here.

Trump invests in corporate and government bonds

It has been reported that Trump has invested more than $100 million in corporate and government bonds since January 20. No wonder he keeps pressuring The Fed to lower interest rates. When that happens, he will make out like a bandit.

Can anyone say, “blackmail”?

Democrat Governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, invited the President to came to Baltimore and join in a “public safety walk” with him and the city’s mayor and other law enforcement officials. In response, Trump said Moore needed to clean up the crime in the city or he would send in the National Guard and possibly withhold federal funds for the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key bridge that was rammed and heavily damaged by a barge last year.

Trump quietly stations U.S. military off the coast of Venezuela

Three U.S. Navy Aegis guided-missile destroyers and other military ships and planes have been sent to the coast of Venezuela. The official White House explanation is that it is an anti-illegal drug operation, but it is no secret that Trump wants to overthrow the Maduro regime. After all, this month he issued a $50 million bounty for Maduro’s capture. Trump tried unsuccessfully to overthrow Maduro during his first term in office.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security in violation of the law

In violation of the Federal Records Act, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is not maintaining any text messages generated since April 9, 2025. All federal agencies are required to keep all records of government operations and transactions. So far, though, there are no ramifications.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wanted her own plane several months ago. Now she wants the department to have its own fleet of planes to use to deport people.

Alligator Alcatraz closing?

The “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center in Florida was built and operated at a cost of $400 million. After being operational for two months, Gov. DeSantis says it isn’t needed any more because Homeland Security has done such a great job of deporting people.

I plan a blog post on Tuesday about one of those individuals who has been forced to leave the United States.

Federal Reserve Board of Governors

On Monday, Trump attempted to fire Lisa Cook, a member of the Board of Governors of the quasi-private Federal Reserve. She said she isn’t leaving her position and is suing the Trump Administration. Ms. Cook is the first African-American woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

FEMA employees put on administrative leave

A letter signed by 180 current and former employees of the Federal Emergency Management Administration went to the FEMA Review Council and Congress on Monday. The letter sounded the alarm that recent cuts to FEMA staff and programs have greatly diminished the government’s capacity to respond to a major disaster.

On Tuesday night, at least two of the signers of the letter were placed on administrative leave indefinitely.

Still attacking Harvard University

On Tuesday, Trump instructed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to get $500 million from Harvard University and not to negotiate that figure.

Union Station in Washington, DC

A week after Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Hegseth, and White House Assistant Chief of Staff Stephen Miller were booed at a photo op with National Guard troops at the train station in Washington, DC, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced that the federal government is taking control of the train station.

White House Tours Suspended

Without any advance warning, all public tours of the White House have been halted indefinitely.

The White House tours webpage of the National Park Service has been taken down and replaced with, “We’re working on this page. Please check back later.”

This means that school groups and tourists will not be allowed inside the White House until further notice. It does not matter to Trump that these tours are usually schedule months in advance.

There is speculation this came about due to the start of construction of Trump’s 90,000-square-foot $200 million ballroom slated for September 1.

So, “The People’s House” is now closed to “The People.” I can’t help but wonder if it will ever be open to “the people” again. If Trump can figure out a way to charge admission, I’m sure he will.

Just when we thought the baseball caps couldn’t get worse…

Last Friday, Trump paraded around Washington and inside the Oval Office in front of TV cameras wearing a new edition of his baseball caps. “Make America Great Again” wasn’t bad enough.

Trump’s new bright red cap screams out in all capital letters, “Trump Was Right About Everything.”

How sad it is to see a U.S. President wearing a baseball cap so much of the time. Apparently, his wealthy up-bringing failed to tell him that men should not wear a hat inside a building… much less a baseball cap with a ridiculous falsehood on it – inside the Oval Office. I cannot un-see it.

This is the same man who publicly berated Ukrainian President Zelenskyy earlier this year for not wearing a suit to the White House. Yet, he thinks wearing a bright red baseball cap with a huge lie on it while wearing a navy blue suit and sitting behind his desk is appropriate attire for the U.S. President. The only thing that could make it worse would be a bright red suit.

There is apparently a new MAGA cap. It says, “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again.” MASGA. Please tell me this is a joke.

How embarrassing for those of us who see all this for the farce it is. This is tackiness on steroids.

My apologies for the things I forgot to mention, the things I don’t know about, and the things that happened since I scheduled this post last night.

Janet

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