I write southern historical fiction, local history, and I've written a devotional book. The two novels I'm writing are set in Virginia and the Carolinas in the 1760s. My weekly blog started out to follow my journey as a writer and a reader, but in 2025 it has been greatly expanded to include current events and politics in the United States as I see our democracy under attack from within. The political science major in me cannot sit idly by and remain silent.
The advisory committee on vaccinations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were hand-picked by notorious vaccine-denier Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He just happens to be Trump’s pick for U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. He received the blessings of and confirmation by the U.S. Senate to serve in that capacity.
Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash
There are things I would like to say to and about the Senators who voted to approve Kennedy for that Cabinet position, but I will temper my remarks here. To give a person who for decades has promoted conspiracy theories about vaccines to Secretary of Health and Human Services was a travesty.
When the U.S. Senate approved the likes of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, and Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security… we get what they voted for: dangerous incompetence.
When people held their noses and voted for the likes of Donald J. Trump for U.S. President, we got what they voted for: dangerous incompetence and a colossal hatred for anyone who isn’t a rich, white male.
What we have now is a growing avalanche of physicians and other medical professions telling us not to trust anything that comes out of the CDC, the Federal Drug Administration, or Health and Human Services. Let that sink in!
On December 5, Trump said he supported the recommendations of the CDC vaccine advisory committee (many of whom are known vaccine deniers) in their recommendation that we abandon the 1991 CDC recommendation that all newborn babies in the U.S. receive the hepatitis B vaccine.
Apparently, Trump knows just as much about immunology as the quacks and Republicans on the advisory committee. Having a medical or any level of a health degree was not a prerequisite to be on the committee. Let’s just let any person off the street who supports Trump form new vaccinations policies and schedules for all Americans. What could possibly go wrong?
The hepatitis B vaccine decision flies in the face of medical data. In 1990, approximately 20,000 infants in the U.S. got hepatitis B. In 2020, twenty infants in the U.S. got hepatitis B. The vaccine not only prevents the liver damage caused by hepatitis B. It also prevents the liver cancer that can result from that liver damage.
It remains to be seen how this ill-advised new CDC policy will play out over the coming years. Will pharmaceutical companies limit production of the hepatitis B vaccine? Will parents who want their newborns to be protected from this highly-contagious disease be able to get the vaccine for their children? No one knows the answers to those questions.
A memo that Trump signed on Friday praised the new CDC recommendation and went on to endorse the new policy that instead of leading the world in health science, the CDC will now follow the lead of “peer, developed countries.”
I guess it’s fortunate that Trump’s children and grandchildren were all vaccinated as newborns before this 34-year-old mandate got scrapped last week. His future grandchildren and great-grandchildren might not be so fortunate.
When Trump promised to “drain the swamp,” we didn’t know he thought the CDC was part of the swamp.
We are left to wonder if the CDC will survive three more years of attacks by Trump and Kennedy.
Meanwhile, in Washington, DC last week…
In a move that is so blatantly racist and narcissistic, the Trump Administration removed Martin Luther King Day and Juneteenth as days that all our national parks could be visited for free and replaced them with… you are not going to believe this… Trump’s Birthday!
This is not a joke. This is the truth. You can’t make this stuff up!
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.
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
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.
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.
I’ve read that some people who blindly voted for Donald Trump are having buyer’s remorse now. As far as I know, I don’t know any of them personally. If you now wish you had not voted for Trump, please tell me.
Not a day passes that we don’t learn of another fascist step the Trump regime has taken.
It is exhausting to watch the news. It is exhausting to try to digest it and condense it into a blog post. I refuse to stop. I love my country too much to give up or give in.
I love my four young adult great nieces too much to stop watching the news and scanning the internet for multiple reputable resources. I love them too much to leave them a tyrannical government in which they are commanded to march lockstep with the-power hungry freedom haters in charge.
I worked too hard to get an education and they have worked too hard to get an education for them to be doomed to a life of barefoot and pregnant, which is what the Trumpers apparently want for them.
Wannabe dictators don’t sweep in and convert a democracy into an authoritarian state overnight. They chip away at rights bit by bit. They ban a few books today, and they ban more books tomorrow. They institute laws that make it more difficult for citizens to register to vote.
They call the press “the enemy of the people.” They attack education. They push the envelope to see what they can get away with. They attack judges. They slowly but surely undermine the citizens’ confidence in everything until those citizens start questioning their own instincts.
They normalize lies and hate.
They exaggerate civil unrest so they can bypass a state governor and send in the National Guard. They overwhelming exaggerate civil unrest so they can deploy the United States Marines to a city.
They invent crises so they can declare martial law.
I am trying to sound the alarm bell out of a place of low and not anger.
Last Monday, June 16: Dr. Fiona Havers, a top scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resigned because she could not in good conscience stay with the agency after Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices on June 9.
Reuters reported that Dr. Havers’ email to her colleagues said that she had lost of confidence that her team’s output would “be used objectively or evaluated with appropriate scientific rigor to make evidence-based vaccine policy decisions.”
Dr. Havers’ fear is that “a lot of Americans are going to die as a result of vaccine-preventable diseases.”
She told The New York Times, “I could not be party to legitimizing this new committee.”
On June 11, Secretary Kennedy appointed eight new members to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. Several of them have questionable qualifications for developing vaccine policy for the United States.
Last Wednesday, June 18: The Associated Press (https://www.npr.org/2025/06/19/g-s1-73572/us-resumes-visas-foreign-students-access-social-media) reported that the US State Department will restart the process of vetting foreigners who apply for student visas. The new restriction is that applicants will have to set their social media accounts to “public” so they can be reviewed by US officials.
The report said, “The department says consular officers will be looking for activity, posts and messages showing ‘any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States.’”
That would probably prevent me from coming here to study. So much for free speech.
Last Thursday, June 19: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem instituted a new policy (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/us/politics/ice-congress.html) that members of Congress must give 72 hours’ notice if they wish to fulfill their duty and responsibility to visit ICE Field Office. That is in direct violation of the annual appropriation act that states that members of Congress are not required “to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility.”
The ICE Field Offices and detention centers house undocumented immigrants, sometimes legal immigrants, and sometimes American citizens because the ICE agents who are clothed in black glasses and face masks apparently cannot see or hear well enough through all their Gestapo-reminiscent garb to tell a citizen from a non-citizen. Why don’t they just wear white hoods like many of them probably do when they are off the clock?
What do they want to hide from the members of Congress?
This is another in a long line of cases in which Trump or one of his appointees decided they don’t have to obey the law.
Also on last Thursday, June 19: Trump put on social media that we have too many holidays in the United States. Posting that on Juneteenth was no accident. He posted that “the workers don’t want it [a holiday] either.”
Photo by CDC on Unsplash
If you work for the government, at a bank, or the stock market and don’t want a paid holiday, raise your hand. Go ahead. Raise your hand.
Last Friday, June 21: Axios reported that on June 12 Trump pulled the plug on the 2023 Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement. The Biden Administration dedicated $1 billion through 2033 toward restoring salmon to the Columbia River Basin along with supporting tribal-led clean energy projects in the region. Trump called the agreement “radical environmentalism.”
Also last Friday, June 21: It came to light on several media outlets that the US Ambassador to Senegal had denied visas for two representatives of the Senegalese basketball federation, the team doctor, a physiotherapist, five players, a steward, the general manager, and the ministerial delegate. They were scheduled to come to the United States for ten days to train for the biennial AfroBasket Tournament to be played July 26 – August 3 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. No reason was given for the visa denials.
This does not bode well for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In fact, nothing that has happened since January 20 bodes well for those games.
Also last Friday, June 21: I desperately look for signs of hope. I found one on Friday. It has been reported that the section in Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” that would make it almost impossible for the Trump Administration to be sued for dictatorial behavior or almost anything else in federal court – has been removed from the bill being considered by the US Senate. The US House of Representatives passed the bill, but a few Senators and the Senate Parliamentarian have removed some parts of it. (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-parliamentarian-knocks-pieces-out-of-trump-s-megabill/ar-AA1H6dqB)
Last Saturday, June 22: In a statement that would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous, this was published by The Washington Post: “President Trump is restoring the integrity of the Executive Branch following four years of relentless abuse through weaponization, lawfare, and unelected bureaucrats running the nation via autopen,” [White House spokesperson] Harrison [Fields] said in a statement. “The President and his administration are the most transparent in American history, seamlessly executing the will of the American people in accordance with their constitutional authority.”
The article contrasted the post-Watergate actions the US Congress took to rein in the power of the president with the undoing of power of the legislative branch by Trump.
The article, written by Naftali Bendavid and which can be found at https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-undermines-watergate-laws-in-massive-shift-of-ethics-system/ar-AA1H8Xbx. The article includes this example: “Watergate-era lawmakers, furious at Nixon for refusing to spend money they had authorized, passed a law forbidding “impoundment.” Trump ignored that when he temporarily froze government grants, and he has all but dismantled an agency created by Congress, the U.S. Agency for International Development.”
It goes on to say, “In response to Nixon’s push to replace civil servants with political loyalists, Congress created the Merit Systems Protection Board in 1978 to hear cases of federal employees claiming unjust termination. Trump, who wants to force out thousands of workers, has dismissed a key member of the board and sought to neutralize it.”
On Monday, June 23: The US Supreme Court struck down a lower court ruling and said that it is perfectly find for the Trump Administration (and, therefore, all future administrations) to deport eight immigrants from various countries, including Vietnam and Cuba, to South Sudan even though none of them are from that country.
Photo by Brad Weaver on Unsplash
Imagine being deported to a country where you know no one and don’t speak that language! It turns out the eight people had already been deported to Djibouti before the US Supreme Court handed down its 6-3 ruling on Monday.
Until my next blog post
I will give you my weekly post-Hurricane Helene in North Carolina road update when I blog about my historical fiction writing and the little about the devotional book I’ve written but not yet published.
I hope you are reading a book that has you so captivated you can’t put it down except long enough to read my blog!
Don’t take anything or anyone for granted.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
I hope you read my March 31, 2025, blog post. It was about the 298 words that The New York Times published on March 4, 2025, that the Trump Regime does not want US Government agencies to use.
PEN Americais a nonprofit organization that works to defend free expression in the United States and around the world through the advancement of literature and human rights. The PEN America list repeats most of the words on The New York Times list.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
My blog post today draws your attention (I hope!) to the words and topics from PEN America that were not on the New York Times list. Here they are:
abortion
accessibility
autism
Black and latinx
Cancer Moonshot
continuum
Covid-19
definition
dietary guidelines/ultraprocessed foods
disabled
discussion of federal policies
diversity and inclusion
diversity/equity efforts
EEJ
EJ
entitlement
elderly
equitable
equitableness
evidence-based
fetus
fluoride
gay
H5N1/bird flu
hate
hispanic
ideology
indigenous people
inequity
intersex
issues concerning pending legislation
male dominated
marijuana
measles
minority serving institution
MSI
NCI budget
obesity
opioids
peanut allergies
promote
science-based
self-assessed
socioeconomic status
special populations
stem cell or fetal tissue research
topics of federal investigations
topics that have received recent attention from Congress
topics that have received widespread or critical media attention
understudied
vaccines
vulnerable
woman
PEN America’s comments
PEN America’s article, “Federal Government’s Growing Banned Words List Is Chilling Act of Censorship,” is self-described as “most assuredly incomplete.”
The article goes on to say, “These policies’ tentacles already extend beyond government websites, though removing HIV resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, regardless of whether they mentioned ‘gender ideology’ or other banned terms, is bad enough. Reports say scientists are self-censoring in hopes of improving their chances of getting government grants.
“That’s exactly the sort of response the administration is hoping for, and it will immeasurably limit the research and other work supported by the federal government, universities and more, on the public’s behalf.”
The PEN America article said these restrictions on words “represent a dystopian effort to control what Americans think and say, despite President Trump’s lip service to ‘freedom of speech and ending federal censorship.’ There’s nothing ‘free’ about banning words or ideas.”
Some of the abbreviations are elusive
I had to look up EEJ, EJ, MSI, and NCI budget. In case you’re not familiar with them either, I’ll save you the trouble.
EEJ is, apparently, electroejaculation. EJ is, apparently, environmental justice. MSI is either Microsoft Installer or Micro-Star International Co., Ltd, a Taiwanese multinational information technology corporation. NCI budget is the US National Cancer Institute budget.
My two-cents’ worth
I won’t take time to comment on each word, word combination, or topic, but the following from the list leave me gobsmacked, to borrow a British word:
autism – This is a real thing. Thousands of children and adults (and their caregivers) deal with it every day. You can’t erase it by erasing the name.
Cancer Moonshot – President Biden’s plan to try to find cures for cancer
Covid-19 – Outlawing the name of a pandemic doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
dietary guidelines/ultraprocessed foods – So how are you going to “Make America Healthy Again” without dietary guidelines?
disabled – Sort of like autism… You can’t erase it, although Nazi Germany tried to.
discussion of federal policies -This just defies reason! Does it mean I can no longer blog about federal policies?
diversity and inclusion – Dog whistle for hiring people of color and women.
diversity/equity efforts – Ditto.
elderly – Okay. I’m 72 years old. That makes me a “baby boomer,” but doesn’t it also make me elderly?
evidence-based – Another one that defies reason.
fetus – Ditto!
fluoride – I know RFKjr. doesn’t want cities to put fluoride in their water, but come on!
gay – Please don’t outlaw this word. I have a friend whose name is Gay, and we’ve already found out voters didn’t like it when you had references to the Enola Gay taken down from the Department of Defense. Give it up!
H5N1/bird flu – So what are scientists and physicians to call it if not H5N1?
hate – I’m sorry, but some people are full of hate. Some of them live and work on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC.
hispanic – I’ll let people of Spanish descent handle this one.
indigenous people – I guess I should let indigenous people handle this one, too.
issues concerning pending legislation – What are you thinking?
male dominated – No, we wouldn’t want anyone to say that any levels of government or business are male-dominated, would we? (By the way, you forgot the hyphen.)
marijuana – What word are we supposed to call this plant?
measles – Been there, done that in the second grade. Wish there had been a vaccine then. I know researchers and physicians know it as rubella, but what’s wrong with laypeople calling it measles?
obesity – We have an obesity epidemic in America, so maybe you need to rethink banning this word.
opioids – We also have a opioids epidemic in America. Fentanyl is a synthetic piperidine opioid. Isn’t that the root of the President’s attacks on Mexico and Canada?
peanut allergies – Peanut allergies are a real thing.
science-based – Here we go again down the same path as evidence-based.
topics of federal investigations – Does this just apply to government employees or does it also apply to reporters?
topics that have received recent attention from Congress – Ditto.
topics that have received widespread or critical media attention – Does this just apply to government employees or can regular citizens no longer discuss amongst ourselves things we heard on the news or read online?
vaccines – I think I know who we have to thank for this one. After dedicating your entire adult life to outlawing vaccines, at least now you’ve convinced the powers that be to ban the use of the word.
vulnerable – The way things are going, I feel like most people living here now are vulnerable. When it applies to the majority of a population, does it qualify for a new word. “Vulnerable” is starting to lose its punch.
woman – I don’t know what to say about this one. First you ban the word, then it makes it easier to ban the woman.
If today’s list and the list I shared on March 31, 2025, don’t send a shiver down your spine, you must not have a spine.
Some of you are, no doubt, laughing at these lists and at me for being concerned about them.
Some of you are, no doubt, in denial. (“Surely, a United States President would not encourage or instruct US Government employees to “limit or avoid” these words or topics. That’s just silly!”)
Keep in mind that censorship was an important weapon in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. Censorship is not laughing matter. Censorship is not silly.
A brief message about western North Carolina and South Carolina fires
I failed to mention in my blog about Hurricane Helene recovery in western NC on March 26, 2025, that firefighters had poured in from across the United States to fight the numerous wildfires in our mountains. Some of the fires are in the exact areas that were hit so hard six months ago by the hurricane.
I understand that firefighters from Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming have come to help North Carolinians fight these fires!
Thank you, each of you!
I learned on Sunday that FEMA had awarded Polk County a Fire Management Assistance Grant. It will cover up to 75% of eligible firefighting costs.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (I’m glad we still have one of those on the state level!) issued a Code Red Air Quality Action Day for Henderson, Transylvania, and Polk counties on Sunday due to extreme smoke.
Much-needed rain fell over the area on Sunday and Monday, alleviating the fire situation and allowing some 300 firefighters to take a break. The terrain is challenging and most of it is still littered by the millions (yes, millions!) of trees that came down during the hurricane. In addition to hampering firefighters in gaining access, the downed trees are feeding the fires.
As of yesterday afternoon, the Table Rock Fire in South Carolina was only 30% contained. Arson charges have been filed by the SC Forestry Commission against two 18-year-olds and a 19-year-old who were smoking cigarettes and, through their negligence, started the 13,000-acre Table Rock Fire. A juvenile suspect in the case has been charged and released into the custody of his parents. It is the largest fire in South Carolina’s history.
It renews my faith in some of my fellow Americans to know that in times of trouble, there are still people who will go to another state’s aid not caring whether most people in that state voted for a Republican or a Democrat.
The statewide burn ban in NC will be lifted at 8 a.m. today, except the ban still exists for fires within 100 feet of a residence.
Until my next blog post tomorrow
Pay attention to what’s happening.
Watch for my blog post tomorrow about words that the United States Department of Agriculture is not allowed to use now.
Keep reading reputable nonfiction and fiction.
Don’t compromise your principles.
Remember the people of Myanmar, Thailand, Ukraine, and western North Carolina.
Janet, a disgruntled political science major
P.S. No, I didn’t even mention the tariffs that took effect today. I can’t address everything.
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