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.
Although Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) emergency preparedness grants (Emergency Management Performance Grants) have always been distributed to states based on U.S. Census population figures, last week states were notified that they cannot access those funds until they adjust their population counts to reflect this year’s deportations of illegal aliens.
Photo by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash
States were notified last Tuesday, September 30, that they must submit certification of their population as of that date. They must include their methodology and confirm that individuals deported by the United States are not included in that population count.
Keep in mind that the taking of a census is a function and responsibility of the federal government and states are not set up to conduct population counts. Funds will not be released to states until FEMA has reviewed and approved the methodology used and the population certification.
“The Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) provides state, local, tribal and territorial emergency management agencies with the resources required for implementation of the National Preparedness System and works toward the National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient nation. The EMPG’s allowable costs support efforts to build and sustain core capabilities across the prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery mission areas.”
This new policy flies in the face of the purpose and objectives of the EMPG.
This new policy applies to all states but, reading between the lines, it is particularly aimed at states like North Carolina that have Democrat governors for those states are more likely to have so-called “sanctuary cities.”
However, North Carolina is growing in population and my hunch is that even after undocumented immigrants who have been deported are removed from the 2020 U.S. Census tally, North Carolina will be able to prove a net growth in population. In that case, this new Trump Administration policy just might backfire.
FEMA has not issued any guidelines telling states how these unprecedented state-conducted censuses are to be conducted or reported, which means the states are left to guess at how to go about this.
It leaves FEMA free to arbitrarily deny methodology used or to challenge population figures submitted. That is a probability coming from an administration that is accountable to no one.
Any administration that repeatedly withholds funds that were approved by the U.S. Congress cannot be trusted to ever release funds to Democrat-led states since we have been labeled “the enemy within.”
If you’re tired of reading my blog posts about Hurricane Helene, just imagine how tired of the slow road to recovery the residents of western North Carolina are.
Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene ravaging much of western North Carolina. As I wrote this on Saturday, North Carolina was in a State of Emergency in preparation for a possible hit from what was developing into Tropical Storm or Hurricane Imelda.
As you can imagine, the word “hurricane” rattles us in North Carolina – all 500 miles or so from the Outer Banks to the Tennessee line.
I have tried to include a report on the area’s recovery every Monday in my blog. You may be tired of reading about it, but I believe it is important for me to use my little blog to remind all of us that it takes years for people and a landscape to recover from a natural disaster.
We tend to have short attention spans now, and there are so many things happening in our country and world that news organizations cannot dwell on the past.
We tend to think in terms of hurricanes being a coastal threat, but most of Hurricane Helene’s rath was visited upon the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina, some 500 miles north of where it made landfall on the Gulf coast and dumped up to 31 inches of rain on a rugged, remote terrain. It was a “perfect storm” of wind and rain coming on the heels of several days of heavy rain.
It is estimated that Hurricane Helene did $60 billion in damage to North Carolina alone. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee also had damage, but my state’s damage was so severe that I have chosen to concentrate on it.
Likewise, I have primarily reported on the status of road repairs. That is not to ignore the fact that damage to homes, businesses, and lives is even more important. It is just not possible for me to gather details about the recovery of those aspects of life. I hope my weekly updates about the repair and reconstruction of our roads and highways have served as an indicator that people’s lives are still in disarray.
Today I will share with you a sampling of the damage, the progress being made, and the never-give-up spirit of the people of western North Carolina. There have been many milestones in the recovery, but there is still a long way to go.
Please don’t forget the people.
Photo by NASA on Unsplash Not Hurricane Helene.
Coal deliveries via rail
WLOS-TV in Asheville reported that a CSX coal train arrived in Spruce Pine on Thursday – the first train headed south to arrive in Spruce Pine since Hurricane Helene hit a year ago. Sixty miles of CSX railroad tracks were severely damaged in the storm.
Fish hatchery
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission reports that the Armstrong State Fish Hatchery in McDowell County, which was nearly destroyed by the hurricane, is anticipated to be fully operational in November. More than 600,000 hatchery fish died in the storm. The facility was partially operational last spring.
“Each dollar anglers spend to fish for mountain trout in North Carolina returns $1.93 to its economy and results in a $1.38 billion impact, according to new data from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC).”
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Some people are still living in FEMA housing. In fact, people are in some cases opting to purchase the FEMA trailers to continue to live in.
WBTV in Charlotte reported that “state officials estimated as of Wednesday, Sept. 24, North Carolina had received federal funds to cover about 10.6% of the state’s total $60 billion Helene damage estimate.”
The station’s online report quoted an Avery County elected official as saying, “They keep changing the goalposts.” There is growing frustration in Avery and Yancey counties after FEMA denied funding for debris removal that local officials thought were eligible for reimbursement. Mountains of tree debris create fire hazard during dry spells in such heavily wooded areas.
Local officials in mountain counties are complaining about how slow the paperwork is being processed by FEMA along with inconsistency in guidelines. A FEMA spokesperson decline an interview with WBTV and offered no explanation of the cleanup projects in Avery County.
Veterans Restoration Quarters
Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry’s decades-old transitional shelter for homeless veterans was severely damaged and uninhabitable after the hurricane.
The more than 250 residents were evacuated during the hurricane induced flooding of the Swannanoa River during the storm. Water was more than a foot deep as the last evacuation bus pulled away from the property.
The WBTV report stated, “The timeline for reopening the Veterans Restoration Quarters is likely years away and is estimated to cost at least $13 million.”
Food relief
Last week 1,800 boxes of groceries were packed by volunteers in Charlotte and distributed near Asheville by MANNA FoodBank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, and Food Lion.
The CEO of MANNA FoodBank was quoted in a WSOC-TV report as saying, “And what we’re seeing is the highest need for emergency food assistance that we’ve ever seen in our 42-year history.”
“We became a major distribution hub sharing life-saving supplies with 15,000 people a day in impacted zones from Marshall to Chimney Rock, Barnardsville, Burnsville, Spruce Pine, Pensacola, Waynesville, Marion, Old Fort, Black Mountain, Swannanoa, Asheville, and Fairview–towns big and small and mountain hollers. We shared millions of pounds of food, millions of gallons of water, and millions of necessities from hygiene, first aid, and tools for clean up and repairs.”
“We know it will take years to heal these mountains and our people. And we are committed to be here for the long-haul until the last nail. And we need people to join us in this commitment. We carry deep wounds from this storm, but we are stronger than we could have ever imagined. We know that together we can restore, heal, and rebuild this beautiful land and lift up our mountain neighbors. We invite you to join this movement to heal Appalachia.”
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue
Excerpts from Brother Wolf Animal Rescue’s newsletter last Thursday, looking back over the year since Hurricane Helene completely wiped out their facility…
“We lost neighbors, communities were swept away, and Brother Wolf’s entire campus…everything we had built since 2007, was swallowed by floodwaters. Every physical asset we relied on to save lives was gone overnight.”
“The day before the storm hit, something extraordinary happened. In just two hours, 100 animals were urgently evacuated from our shelter and carried into the arms of loving foster homes, saving them from a fate we can’t bear to think of.”
“In the days after, with no power, no water, no internet, our staff met in parking lots and drove through broken roads to orchestrate the transport of 150 animals out of the disaster zone. With partners, we treated over 1,200 injured pets—covered in fish hooks, with broken bones, sick from toxic floodwaters—and stood beside their families as they survived a nightmare.”
“These are the facts, but no list of numbers can tell the whole story. Because the hurricane did not end when the waters receded.It is still here. It is in us. It will be with us forever—a lasting scar and, somehow, a guide for what’s to come.
“And through all of it, the animals have been our compass.
“When people think of animal rescue, they often picture the animal being saved. The dog carried out of floodwaters, the sick cat adopted from an overflowing shelter. And yes—that is true, we do save them; but what is just as true is how those same animals save us.”
“Today, one year later, the world feels heavy – full of griefs far beyond our own. In this shared sorrow, we’ve discovered that even as we mourn what was lost, animals are finding new beginnings. Families are laughing again. Neighbors are still helping neighbors. And together, we are slowly healing.”
“The ASPCA opened their doors to us, temporarily sharing their space so we never had to stop helping animals. Not for One. Single. Day.”
“As we look ahead, we carry both the weight of what was lost and the bright hope of what is to come. The road to rebuilding will be long, but also filled with possibility—and we are more certain than ever that the future holds incredible things for Brother Wolf, for the animals, and for our community.
“A new chapter is unfolding for Brother Wolf, and your kind heart is woven into the fabric of our story. Your belief in us has carried us through the darkest year of our lives, and together we are stepping into a future brighter than we could have ever imagined. Our story continues, written in every life touched, and enduring beyond storms and time: in saving them, we save each other too.”
Jake Jarvis of Precision Grading
I have mentioned Jake Jarvis of Precision Grading of Saluda, North Carolina, several times on my blog since September 27, 2024. I continue to follow him on Facebook. He is still out and about with his heavy equipment in the mountains of North Carolina every day, helping people and not charging them a penny unless that have insurance money with which to pay him.
Hurricane Helene Update at the end of Year One of Recovery
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. That’s the same as last Friday’s NCDOT report. Progress seems slow, but remember that more than 1,400 roads were closed a year ago Saturday.
Of course, sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina will remain closed for another year or more, and I-40 at the Tennessee line will continue to be just two lanes at 35 miles-per-hour for a couple more years while five miles of the highway are being rebuilt in the Pigeon River Gorge.
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.
One aspect of the things the Trump Administration has cut that I have not blogged about is the Digital Equity Act.
In their slash and burn attack on the federal government to supposedly eliminate waste, Elon Musk and Donald Trump simply took a chainsaw to everything that included the word “equity” and cut it off at the ground. Then, they pulled up the roots and tossed them away.
“This bill requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to establish grant programs for promoting digital equity, supporting digital inclusion activities, and building capacity for state-led efforts to increase adoption of broadband by their residents.
“Specifically, the bill establishes the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program to make distributions to states based on their populations, demographics, and availability and adoption of broadband. The bill also establishes the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program for supporting efforts to achieve digital equity, promote digital inclusion, and stimulate adoption of broadband.”
The objective of the Digital Equity Act was to help expand broadband internet service to rural and underserved parts of the country. It was meant to help level the playing field.
Photo by Stephen Tauro on Unsplash
Trump has pulled the funding for the Act. If the rural and underserved parts of the US do not get broadband internet service, he doesn’t care.
Public libraries in underserved areas were the recipients of some of the grants until the program disappeared. Donald Trump cannot imagine being in a situation where his only access to the internet would be the local public library – which might be 25 miles or more from his home.
As he said in his campaign for office, “I love the uneducated.” Wannabe dictators love the uneducated because they are easily tricked and easily led.
No one knows what goes on in Donald Trump’s mind. Does he want to keep the populous uninformed, or is he so narcissistic and uncaring that he does not ever for one second consider the human ramifications for the services he slashes with a scratch of his pen?
Trump has loudly and proudly bragged about doing away with everything having to do with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). With the full support of the Republicans in Congress, Trump has said that anything DEI is discriminatory against white males.
White males have always been in charge in the United States, ever since they arrived and immediately started killing and pushing the indigenous peoples off the land.
White men got used to being in charge, so when black people and women of all colors started taking their rightful place as citizens in the 1960s, white men had to make some adjustments. In most cases, they did not adjust gracefully.
I came of age in the early 1970s, so I met some white male backlash head-on when I entered the workforce. Now, after 50 years of advancement toward equality, it seems that Trump and his ilk have had enough. The Trump Administration has come down on diversity, equity, and inclusion with a sledgehammer.
The sledgehammer is hitting diversity, equity, and inclusion across the board with no concern for the inflicted damage. Trump and his ilk don’t see it as damage. Damage to people of color and women is not damage to them; it is just the way things should be.
One example I read about was medical research being done about a correlation between menopause and Alzheimer’s Disease. The research had to end because it only studied women. Have any studies of prostate cancer been halted? I doubt it.
It will take years for us to see the full ramifications of what the Trump Administration and his supporters have done to our society – to education, to scientific and medical research, to our military, and to our workforce. People of color and women will be passed over for college scholarships and job opportunities. It might not be as blatant as it was in the 1960s and 1970s, but it will be there. It already was there, but now the Trump Administration has put its seal of approval on the practice and once again made it “the way it is supposed to be.”
Hurricane Helene Update and the Acting FEMA Director
As of Friday, 50 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, three state highways, and 42 state roads.
I-40 near the Tennessee line remains at just one lane in both directions with a 35 mph speed limit. And, most of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina is still closed due to landslides and the downing of thousands of trees during the storm.
The long-term ramifications on the entire state of North Carolina are massive, although the hurricane only hit the western part of the state. For instance, rebuilding and repairing state highways and roads from Hurricane Helene takes that money away from regular road and bridge repairs. It is estimated that the Hurricane Helene transportation expenses for the state will amount to $1 billion, which is what the state would normally spend on highways and bridges in a three-year period.
Last Tuesday, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and various TV media reported that the Acting Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) David Richardson said he was not aware that the United States had a hurricane season.
We do. It begins on June 1 and ends on November 30. Every year. Those are the months, Mr. Richardson, when tropical storms and hurricanes are likely to form in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico due to seasonal weather patterns and the temperature of the sea waters. It’s called science and common sense. Study history, Mr. Richardson, and you might notice a trend.
Are you wondering what Mr. Richardson’s qualifications are for the job? He is a former US Marine who has been a Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for countering weapons of mass destruction. I couldn’t find that he has any experience in responding to natural disasters.
I’ll take this opportunity, since I have some new blog readers, to repeat that I know there are other places where the people are suffering from natural disasters; however, I am a North Carolinian, so I will continue to concentrate on the unprecedented damage Hurricane Helene did in western North Carolina last September.
Disasters are covered for a short time by the media, but then other matters and events grab the headlines. I want my readers to be reminded that recovery from any natural disaster is not an easy undertaking and cannot be accomplished in a short period of time.
Thank you to my loyal readers who have hung in there with me as I’ve reported on Hurricane Helene weekly for the last eight months. That will continue.
The parts of the mountains in NC that are open desperately need our support, as much of the economy there is based on tourism, So, plan your trip carefully and concentrate your travel dollars on supporting small businesses. Remember to pack patience for when you run into road construction or detours.
It was announced on Friday that Chimney Rock State Park will reopen on June 27, exactly nine months after the hurricane. It is normally open year-round.
Until my next blog post
I’m going to take two or three days off from blogging this week. I need a break, and you probably do, too! If all goes as planned, my next post will be on Friday, June 13. Let’s all try to have a pleasant week.
By the way, when you finish reading a good book, take the time to leave a brief review of it or at least a four- or five-star rating for it online. That really helps the author, especially if it is their first book.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
I usually have a brief update on Hurricane Helene recovery in western North Carolina at the end of my Monday blog posts. That’s what I had planned to do yesterday, but news from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Friday afternoon prompted me to move yesterday’s report to today.
I wish I had some photographs to include in today’s post, but I don’t want to use pictures that are not in the public domain. You can see still photos and videos of the damage left by Helene by doing online searches. Television website such as the one for WLOS in Asheville are good sources, as well as this link to the National Park Service website: https://home.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/helene-impacts-and-recovery.htm.
It has now been eight months since Hurricane Helene, and it probably is a distant memory for most Americans. However, as of Friday, 51 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, three state highways, and 43 state roads. You may recall that right after the storm, there were more than 1,200 roads closed in the state.
I failed to mention the last several weeks that I-40 near the Tennessee border is still just one lane in each direction with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit for the foreseeable future.
It is an arduous undertaking to rebuild an interstate highway down in a gorge. It took years to construct the highway through those mountains. Its reconstruction cannot be rushed.
I have driven that section of I-40 a number of times. It is not a leisurely drive as you always see recent rockslides that have been caught behind the miles of steel mesh covering the side of mountains. I always feel a sense of relief when I successfully navigate that winding stretch of highway and can loosen my grip on the steering wheel.
Most of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina is still closed for the foreseeable future. A total of approximately 95 miles of the parkway are open, but much of that is in one- to four-mile long sections The longest section in NC that is open is a 46-mile section from Balsam Gap to the road’s southern terminus at Soco Gap near Cherokee.
Rail Service
Norfolk Southern freight train service from Tennessee was restored to Asheville on April 25, a full seven months after the hurricane. In addition to rail lines being destroyed, the Newport Bridge over the Pigeon River in Newport, Tennessee had to be replaced. Due to more than 100 washouts due to the hurricane, 13 miles of train track between Newport and Asheville had to be replaced.
On May 21, The (Raleigh) News and Observer reported on the restoration of the rail service as well as the remaining rail service recovery in western North Carolina.
The newspaper reported, “Now the company is focused on 16 miles of tracks east of Asheville, between Black Mountain and Old Fort. That part of the line tops the Eastern Continental Divide with a series of horseshoe turns through rugged terrain and was heavily damaged by landslides and wash outs.
“Not only does the Old Fort line connect to Norfolk Southern’s freight network in central and eastern North Carolina, but the N.C. Department of Transportation is studying that route for possible future passenger trains between Salisbury and Asheville.
“Norfolk Southern says it expects to rebuild the Old Fort section by sometime this winter.”
In addition to Norfolk Southern, CSX and Blue Ridge Southern operate train service in western NC. The Blue Ridge Southern line connects Hendersonville and Waynesville with the Norfolk Southern railyard in Asheville.
The Raleigh newspaper report says, “CSX, whose line through the mountains is a key link between the Southeast and Midwest, is still working to rebuild about 40 miles of tracks along the North Toe and Nolichucky rivers from Spruce Pine northwest into Tennessee. The flooded rivers washed out two bridges and miles of track in the steep, remote valley.”
FEMA
The 2025 Hurricane Season begins in five days, and the word on the streets is that FEMA is not prepared.
It was reported last week by WSOC-TV in Charlotte that FEMA is allowing some people in western NC to purchase the FEMA trailers they are living in at a discount. It made me sad to see a trailer park of FEMA trailers just a few feet apart and to think that those people are faced with a decision now to pay for those “temporary” units and I guess live in them for the rest of their lives. How disheartening that must be!
On Thursday, May 22, FEMA informed NC Governor Josh Stein that it is ending the direct assistance for the US Army Corps of Engineers. Gov. Stein thanked FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers for all that’s been done to remove debris let by Hurricane Helene in western NC.
The governor said, “I am pleased that they will stay in North Carolina to finish existing missions, and my team looks forward to working closely with them to get those jobs done quickly. Together, we have removed more than 12 million cubic yards of debris from our roads and waterways. Unfortunately, there remains vast amounts of work yet to be done. Our state’s debris removal program is prepared to contract and execute the remaining debris removal and will work diligently and with urgency to complete those jobs as soon as possible.”
Also on May 22, the NC House of Representatives unanimously passed the Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 Part II, which is the fifth round of Helene relief funding. This latest bill provides $464 million for recovery efforts, bringing the NC House’s total allocations to date to a total of $1.8 billion. This bill now goes to the NC State Senate for consideration.
But then the bottom fell out on Friday afternoon. FEMA denied North Carolina’s appeal to extend 100% cost reimbursement for debris removal cost-sharing for the hurricane. It is estimated that it will cost an additional $2 billion to finish cleaning up the debris left by Hurricane Helene. That’s a huge expense for a state like North Carolina to incur with no hopes of being reimbursed by the federal government.
During his campaign last October 21, Donald Trump visited western North Carolina for some a photo ops and told the people that he would respond to their needs. He went over the top (as only he can do) with lies about how the Biden Administration had let them down. He told them that Biden was going to steal their land. He told them that Biden had directed the storm to hit western North Carolina!
He accused FEMA of only giving hurricane victims a total of $750. Of course, the $750 people who have lost their homes in a natural disaster is what FEMA gives them to meet their immediate needs until long-term assistance can be determined. Whether Trump spoke out of ignorance or intentionally lied is up for debate.
In October 2024, Trump accused the Biden administration of diverting FEMA assistance from North Carolina to house illegal immigrants. He said, “$1 billion of FEMA spending was ‘stolen’ for migrants.” None of that was true.
Out of desperation, some of the people believed him and then voted for him just two weeks later. Some of them now see this as a case of “bait and switch.”
NC Governor Josh Stein responded to Friday’s decision from FEMA with his usual grace, class, and facts: “The first step to help western North Carolina recover is to clean up all the debris. So far, we have removed more than 12 million cubic yards of debris from roads and waterways, but given the immense scale of the wreckage, we have only scratched the surface. FEMA’s denial of our appeal will cost North Carolina taxpayers potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up out west. The money we have to pay toward debris removal means less money toward supporting our small businesses, rebuilding downtown infrastructure, repairing our water and sewer systems, and other critical needs.
“Despite this news, we are going to stay the course. We will keep pushing the federal and state governments to do right by western North Carolina. We will keep working with urgency, focus, and transparency to get any appropriated money on the ground as quickly as we can to speed the recovery. We will not forget the people of western North Carolina.”
I’m embarrassed to say it, but North Carolina voted for Trump last November. Perhaps the rest of the states need to take note: This is how Trump rewards his supporters.
If you live in a “a blue state” (or “a red state”) you’d better hope you don’t have a natural disaster in the next three and a half years. Just ask the people in Missouri and Kentucky who feel abandoned by FEMA since the deadly tornadoes experienced there this month.
I hope NC’s two Republican US Senators take note. I hope our Republican US Representatives take note. Y’all have backed Trump on every turn. Did you expect help for your state in return?
We have a crisis of government spending in this country. It must be addressed; however, suddenly pulling the rug out from under citizens is not the American way.
How FEMA operates needs to be assessed but making rash decisions about how its programs are implemented in places hundreds of miles from an ocean that have been devastated by a hurricane while denying that the climate is changing might not be the best time to pull on that rug.
No one living hundreds of miles inland can prepare for 30 inches of rain accompanied by tropical storm force winds. It’s one thing to build a house where the ocean waves lap at the foundation. It’s another thing altogether when the home several hundred miles inland where multiple generations of your family have lived gets washed away.
Until my next blog post
I hope you are reading a book that has you so captivated you will stay up all night tonight to finish it.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
Donald Trump campaigned in 2024 on “Make America Wealthy Again.”
Republicans tell us to be patient. They say it’s coming. We must suffer through short-term pain while we focus on long-term gain.
The “American Dream” has always been that if you work hard enough, you can accomplish anything you want. Another part of the American Dream is that each generation will be better off than the previous one.
That’s not the new message now from the Trump Administration.
Trump said he isn’t worried about empty store shelves.
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who has a permanent smile on his face, has said that with all the manufacturing facilities supposedly returning to the US, multiple generations in a family can look forward to working in the same factory.
That’s definitely a new twist on the American Dream of each generation being better off than the one before.
The Huffington Post quoted Lutnick as saying, “This is the new model, where you work in these kinds of plants for the rest of your life, and your kids work here, and your grandkids work here.”
That sounds bleak to me. It sounds more like a nightmare than a dream.
Trump Administration considers suspending habeas corpus
According to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller on Friday, the Trump Administration is considering suspending habeas corpus.
Habeas corpus is a legal procedure by which a report can be made to a court alleging the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and requesting that the court order the individual’s custodian to bring the prisoner to court, to determine whether their detention is lawful.
We were a nation of laws until January 20, 2025. For any member of the Trump Administration to lecture us about the US Constitution is rich!
Mr. Miller, the United States of America has not been invaded. Illegal border crossings by people fleeing corrupt governments is not what the US Constitution means when it invokes the word “invasion,” and anyone with an ounce of common sense knows it.
Yes, we have a border problem, but we have not been “invaded” in the truest sense of the word.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been nabbing people and whisking them away in unmarked black vehicles for weeks now. The ICE officers are reportedly not usually in uniform. They present no identification. They rough up any bystanders who dare to ask them to show identification.
I have seen videos of some of the arrests. They look like the Gestapo, and they look a lot like the Proud Boys who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. We’ve never had law enforcement look like this in the United States, and it is unsettling to say the least. People, including young women as young as 16 are slammed face down on the ground or asphalt, handcuffed, and shoved into black military-style heavy vehicles.
People are being arrested and detained in undisclosed locations, usually hundreds of miles from home. The Trump Administration has ignored habeas corpus since he took office on January 20. The difference, if he decides to suspend it, will mean that his thugs can then legally arrest and detain people without a chance of a court hearing.
What has America become?
A Tufts University graduate student, Rumeysa Ozturk of Turkey, was ordered to be released by a Vermont judge on Friday. She had spent six weeks in a detention facility in Louisiana after being arrested on the street by ICE. It was all caught on video. ICE accused her of supporting Hamas. Judge William K. Sessions III ruled that the government did not have enough evidence to hold her. Their only “evidence” was that she co-wrote an op-ed in the Tufts Daily newspaper last year. The op-ed encouraged the university to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and “divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.”
Rumeysa Ozturk’s case is proof that the Trump Administration is ignoring habeas corpus. If it can be ignored in cases against international students, it can be ignored for anyone.
Miscellaneous news from the Trump Administration
Via email last Thursday night, President Trump fired Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress. The Library of Congress is our national library. It houses the world’s largest collection of books, films, photographs, and manuscripts. It is the home of the US Copyright Office.
Dr. Hayden is a professional librarian and had been the Librarian of Congress since 2016. I cringe to think who from Fox News Trump will replace her. Fox News is functioning as Trump’s human resources department.
Apparently, Trump got wind of the fact that Dr. Hayden had worked to add more works from minorities into the library’s collections. He’ll have none of that!
But on Monday, when Trump tried to put his former personal lawyer and current Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, in as acting Librarian of Congress, the library staff would have nothing of it! Yea! Staff said Congress has a say in who holds that position, and they refused to let two top Department of Justice officials picked by Blanche to even enter the building! Way to go, librarians!
On Friday, US Copyright Register Shira Perlmutter had denied Elon Musk access to “troves” of copyrighted materials for the purpose of training Artificial Intelligence. It is no coincidence that she was fired by President Trump less than 24 hours later.
Perlmutter had been Register of Copyrights since October 2020. She had concerns about releasing copyright material for use by AI technology. As a holder of seven copyrights, I appreciate her efforts.
When I tried to look her up on the US Copyright Office website at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, all her information was already gone.
Looking elsewhere online, I found that Ms. Perlmutter is no slouch. She hold a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and has been a law professor. She has stated that copyright laws need to keep pace with technology. She was the chief policy officer and director for international affairs at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
She has been executive vice president for global legal policy at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and vice president and general counsel for intellectual property policy at Time Warner.
No doubt, the guardrails protecting copyrighted material from AI will be off when Trump puts his choice in Perlmutter’s place. He is all in favor of AI. He has no concept of intellectual property and how copyrights work.
Seeing live video at 2:00 pm Eastern Time yesterday of the US President being whisked away at 9:00 at night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in a souped-up shiny black golf cart driven by a Saudi with two perhaps US Secret Service agents anxiously hanging on in the back seat was more than a little unsettling. I guess the Qataris, the Saudis, and the Iranians are Trump’s new besties. I enjoy writing fiction, but I don’t have enough imagination to make this stuff up.
The day after stating in sworn testimony before a Congressional committee, Acting Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Cameron Hamilton, was fired by Trump. In the hearing, said, “I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” The Trump appointee and former US Navy SEAL was fired on Thursday.
The newest Trump hire from Fox News is Jeanine Ferris Pirro. Although she had a career in the court system in New York more than 20 years ago, her real claim to fame has been serving as a TV host on the Fox News network. On Thursday, May 8, Trump appointed her as interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.
It is beside the point that Jeanine Pirro was one of the defendants in Smartmatic’s February 2021 defamation lawsuit against For News (Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network) because she made false accusations on the air about the voting machines being rigged against Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Fox News paid Smartmatic $787.5 million to settle out of court and was required to acknowledge that the statements made on air were false.
It is also apparently beside the point that she was charged with driving 119 miles per hour in the 65 mile-per-hour zone.
Now the attorneys working under Ms. Pirro will be expected to respect and abide by her directions and leadership.
Part of Trump’s “big, beautiful budget” is slowly working its way through Congressional committees and small snippets of it are coming to light. I’m angered that the budget proposal calls for four oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge over the next ten years.
This Administration’s wholesale disregard for wildlife and the beauty and global importance of pristine areas is stunning in its greed, ignorance, and short-sightedness.
The leasing of 6,250 square miles of public land is mandated in his budget proposal to apparently help the coal industry. The world adopts solar and wind power as the US reverts to the filthy air of the 1950s and 1960s.
Coincidentally, Trump has cut off federal funding to support coal miners who suffer from Black Lung even as he pushes for more coal mining jobs and a resurgence of coal-burning power plants.
Voice of America Update
On a brighter note, CNN reported on Saturday that the US is bringing back Voice of America. That’s good news. Too bad the Trump Administration shut it down completely on a whim just two or three weeks ago. They had no appreciation of its 83-year history. We were supposed to get “tired of winning,” but so far we’re just tired of “losing” and being jerked around.
Trump takes a sledgehammer to an agency one day and then tries to resurrect it later. That’s no way to run a country. It is no way to run a business either, but I wish he’d give up his day job and go back to his businesses.
Another glimmer of hope
On Monday some two dozen clergy linked arms and stood outside the gate of the Delaney Hall ICE Detention Center in New Jersey where the Mayor of Newark was arrested on Friday and there was a confrontation between three Congress members and ICE security officers. The clergy spoke against what is going on at the detention center. One of them was quoted as saying that “what’s going on inside the center violates the tenets that God has laid down on this Earth.”
Until my next blog post
With librarians, park rangers, and clergy standing up to Trump, I have some hope that our current nightmare might eventually be stopped.
I hope you have a good book to read.
Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina. Eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina were rattled by an unusually strong (4.1 magnitude) earthquake on Saturday morning. They must be wondering what’s next!
Are you as tired as I am of being bombarded with the news of the day? And yet I feel called to lay out 16 more instances today of not just cracks in our system of government but some basic failings and actions that fly in the face of the US Constitution and common decency. You can thank me now or you can thank me later for deleting three items from today’s list.
Many of the items on today’s list are not being covered in the media. I hear or read a snippet of a story, and then I look for more information and documentation. I use reliable sources, and I don’t deal in conspiracy theories.
I used to not know or care what political party someone else aligned with, but we live in an era now where that seems to be the first thing someone wants you to know about them. That literally wear in on their heads and post it in their yards. There is little tolerance for anyone who does not agree with them, so it is tempting to keep one’s mouth shut.
Our current situation in the US is exhausting everyone who treasures democracy. I am exhausted, but when I learn about something that blatantly runs contrary to the US Constitution and is so viciously forced on the American people, I can’t seem to stay quiet.
For good measure, I’m including a couple of things that you just might not have heard about. Lots of things are slipping under the news cycle radar because too much is happening too fast.
Each thing considered by itself might not seem so bad or dangerous, but when digested together patterns appear.
The Kremlin has confirmed that Russian President Valdimir Putin has gifted Donald Trump with a portrait he commissioned by a Russian artist. US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, was giddy talking about it on TV. After all, Witkoff’s diplomatic experience could fit on the head of a pin with room left over. His qualifications for being US Special Envoy to the Middle East – which apparently includes Moscow? – are that he is an American billionaire real estate investor. The portrait? Who knows better how to flatter and gain the confidence of Donald Trump than ex-KGB Agent Vladimir Putin?
The Associated Press reported, “The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has proposed gutting the State Department’s budget by almost 50%, closing a number of overseas diplomatic missions, slashing the number of diplomatic staff, and eliminating funding for nearly all international organizations, including the United Nations, many of its agencies and for NATO headquarters, officials said. The proposal, which was presented to the State Department last week and is still in a highly preliminary phase, is not expected to pass muster with either the department’s leadership or Congress, which will ultimately be asked to vote on the entire federal budget in the coming months.” It depends on if Congress grows a spine. Stay tuned!
Trump has cancelled almost all 1,200 current grants issued by the National Endowment for the Humanities to reappropriate the money to his pet project of a garden of statues of 250 people in American history he deems heroes. I shudder to think whom he would choose for the honor… and whom he will not select. It takes no imagination to come up with both lists. It’s just too bad for the individuals and organizations who were promised funds for their projects and now the rug has been pulled out from under them. Did you enjoy the PBS film series The Civil War, by Ken Burns? Guess where Burns got some of his funding. This is an insidious way for Trump to kill the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). He wants to pull all federal funds from PBS and now he has moved money from a major source of funding for much of the system’s programming. According to the website for the National Endowment for the Humanities, it is an independent federal agency. I guess it isn’t “independent” anymore.
It should be no surprise that US Secretary of Health and Human Resources Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. chose David Geier, a person without a medical degree, to conduct a study of possible links between vaccines and autism. Geier his late father published six papers claiming there is a connection between the two. Geier has a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology. The Maryland Board of Physicians charged him with practicing medicine without a license. Anyone want to bet on what Geier’s conclusion will be?
A glimmer of Congressional backbone? US House and US Senate versions of a bi-partisan Trade Review Act of 2025 have been introduced which would give Congress the authority to end a tariff ordered by the President after 60 days.
It should have come as no surprise that North Carolina’s request for an extension of 100% matching funds for Hurricane Helene recovery was denied, since US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has said she wants to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). NC Governor Josh Stein received the news, ironically, while he was in Avery County with country music star and North Carolina native Eric Church at the groundbreaking for a 40-home development for people who lost their homes in the storm. Eric Church’s foundation spearheaded the project. North Carolina suffered $60 billion in damage from Hurricane Helene last September, and the need for assistance is still great. In February, the State of Georgia’s request for an extension from FEMA was also denied. “Senior Official Performing the Duties of FEMA Administrator” (yes, that is his official title, according to the FEMA website) Cameron Hamilton said in his denial communication to Gov. Stein that the request was “not warranted.” The hurricane recovery aid to NC will continue as a 90% match to what the state spends.
On April 3, US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins declared 112 million acres of national forests to be in an emergency situation due to their high risk of wildfires and hazardous tree conditions, allowing them to be open for logging. That’s 59% of our national forest acreage. The emergency designation allows the US Forest Service to bypass environmental laws. Trees in our national forests are logged, so that’s not anything new; however, the 59% percent is troubling and declaring an emergency situation so environmental regulations can be ignored also concerns me.
Trump issued a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-4) which gives the Department of Defense authority to take control of federal lands to carry out military operation to repel invasions and seal the border. This includes national wildlife refuges and national forests. Indian reservations are excluded. The military can designate those areas as National Defense Areas, closing off public access indefinitely. Using “national security” to override environmental protections and civilian control of public lands can then easily be applied elsewhere. All Trump needs to do is call something a “national emergency.” This is a very slippery slope in the hands of a man who has absolutely no appreciation for nature or the American citizens.
Trump and Musk shut down the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To put a human face on this… Dr. Erik Svendsen, Director of the division, is known for his studies of the effects of the chlorine spill that resulted from a train wreck in 2005 a Graniteville, South Carolina. When the office was suddenly closed by the Trump Administration, Svendsen had to end his participation in a childhood lead investigation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and notify his employees who were working in western North Carolina where Hurricane Helene caused the worst flooding in the state’s history. Water and sewer infrastructure had been ripped apart in September and the area is still dealing with the environmental damage. Too bad! And too bad for state and local health departments across the country that depended on the expertise of Dr. Svendsen and his staff. Too bad for the localities across the nation that were being aided in children’s lead poisoning issues. The division was also in charge of the national asthma control program and other important environmental health tracking networks. The division helped states struggling to make sure private wells are properly built and free of contamination. It was Dr. Svendsen’s division in 2023 that helped health officials in North Carolina unravel a connection between children eating a certain type of applesauce and elevated lead levels in their blood. That work a few years ago resulted in Dr. Svendsen’s division launching efforts that identified 500 additional cases nationally. The result was a national recall of the applesauce polluted with a South American cinnamon high in lead content. An article about this CDC division’s closure in The State newspaper in Columbia, SC quotes Louisiana Sanders, a resident of Graniteville and former SC Department of Health and Environmental Control board member, as saying, “This is going to set us back another 20 or 30 years.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a deal with Guyana, a neighbor and enemy of Venezuela, to share intelligence information and come to the aid of Guyana if it is invaded by Venezuela. Venezuela wants the oil resources in Guyana. In response, on April 11, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro called Rubio an “imbecile.” I almost missed reading about this whole thing. We might need to just be aware.
Deportations on steroids: There have been quite a few heartbreaking and frightening stories about actions and inactions of the US Government over the last 12 weeks. (Has it only been 12 weeks since January 20th?) The most heart-wrenching stories so far have been about deportations. People being kidnapped on the street and forced into unmarked vans. University students forced out of the country because their visas are inexplicably revoked. American citizens receiving emails in the middle of the night telling them they have seven days to leave their country. (There are no instructions for just which country they are supposed to escape to. They are being told their “paroles” have been revoked. These are American citizens who have never sought a “parole” because, after all, they were born in the US and have always lived in the US.) One American citizen who received one of those emails from Homeland Security is an immigration attorney! The report I read said that the Trump Administration is revoking the parole of 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who came to the US under a Biden-era humanitarian parole program. The immigration attorney in Massachusetts does not fall into any of those categories.
I wish I could share with you the details about what happened to an Australian who has lived in the US for more than five years on a work visa, but I can’t write several thousand words about it. I invite you to do an online search and read the gory details for yourself. In a nutshell, he took his sister’s ashes to scatter them in Australia in March. When his return plane landed in Houston, Texas, he was detained, called names, accused of being a drug dealer, and was put on a flight back to Australia after 36 miserable hours of detention. Everything he owns except two changes of clothes are at his home in the US. He is barred from returning to the US for five years. The details are scary, but they can be found at https://www.theguardian.com/ if you want to read them. I’ve only heard his side of the story, but it appears he was denied due process of law. There is an alarming pattern that the Trump Administration only wants due process when it is a member of the administration who needs due process. The rest of us, not so much.
In an apparent effort to ward off Trump taking back the Panama Canal, an agreement has been quietly reached in which US troops will be able to deploy to a bunch of bases along the canal.
The National Museum of African America History and Culture opened nine years ago. It has been praised for exhibiting the good and the bad in African American history. But Trump said the museum is part of a “widespread effort to rewrite our nation’s history.” I have learned that one of his recent Executive Orders in which he attacked museums and national parks stated, “Museums in our nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn ‒ not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history.” Trump says there are exhibits in the Smithsonian museums that make America look bad. He singled out the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Slavery is part of our national history, Mr. Trump, whether you like it or not. It is an ugly part of our history, but you cannot change the fact that it existed. The museums of the Smithsonian Institution are the envy of the world. At least they were until Trump came along.
This pales in comparison to Trump’s numerous threats to our democracy, but it deserves inclusion on my list. Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer arrived for a private appointment with President Trump on April 9 to discuss her concerns about the effects the tariffs will have on her State. Instead of being taken into the Oval Office for their meeting, she was blindsided by being ushered into the room for the signing of an Executive Order calling for the investigation of two high level people in the Biden Administration, Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor. Trump, who has never before had a kind word to say about Whitmer, took that opportunity before cameras to praise the Governor and thereby humiliate her in a public setting and set her up for knee-jerk criticism from her own political party. Can anyone say, “Con man?”
Every time Trump, White House Press Secretary Leavitt, or anyone else in Trump’s orbit or on TV calls a judge “rogue,” like Leavitt did yesterday, they are putting all judges at risk. They are not only undermining our justice system, they are encouraging their followers and listeners to pick up a gun or make a bomb to intimidate or murder a judge or someone in a judge’s family. We all need to value and stand up for the rule of law and freedom of the press. We could lose both in the blink of an eye.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have time to read a good book, and I hope you can concentrate enough to read it. I can’t.
Perhaps next week will be the week I only blog once instead of the recent four or five times. We can hope!
Remember the people of Myanmar, Ukraine, Kentucky, 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.
Perhaps you need to be of a certain age to recognize the name of Hyman G. Rickover. Or perhaps you are not aware that he was born in Russia on this date in the year 1900.
His parents made the decision to leave Russia and settle their family in Chicago in 1906. When I read that, it struck me how just one decision made by an individual or a couple can change the course of history.
Rickover graduated from the US. Naval Academy. He went on to work his way up through the ranks to head the Naval Reactors Branch of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and head of the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Power Division. He was instrumental in the design and construction of the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine.
He was known as a blunt man who sometimes butted heads with political leaders. Nevertheless, he went down in history as “Father of the Nuclear Navy.” The Soviet Union was unable to match the nuclear power held by the US military during the Cold War, and Admiral Rickover’s contributions and service were very much credited with that standing.
Admiral Rickover served in the United States Navy for 63 years, retiring in 1982.
Imagine how world history might have taken a different turn in the 1950s and beyond if Rickover’s parents had decided to stay in Russia in 1906.
Some reflections
After thinking about how one decision can change or set the path for the rest of our lives, as it did for Hyman G. Rickover and his parents, I thought about the decision made by my ancestors.
What about the day in the mid-1700s when my Morrison great-great-great-great-grandparents decided to leave Scotland and sail to America?
What about the day they decided to purchase land in the wilderness of North Carolina and set out down the Great Wagon Road from Pennsylvania?
What about the day my father applied for a job at Martin Aircraft in Middle River, Maryland and uproot his young family at the start of World War II?
What about the day he and Mama decided to move back to North Carolina as soon as the war was over?
What about the day Grandpa Morrison decided how to divide his farm among his three sons. His decision about what land to give his youngest son determined where I grew up and once again live today!
If my father had inherited the land Grandpa left to Uncle Gene, my parent’s house would have been destroyed by a tornado in the 1940s.
If my father had inherited that part of the farm instead of Uncle Gene, he would have rebuilt that house after the tornado just as Uncle Gene and Aunt Louise did. In that case, I would now be faced with the imminent construction of an 1,100-house development literally in my back yard. Thanks to Grandpa’s decision, I will live around the corner from that massive development and will, for the time being, still enjoy the beauty, tranquility, and wildlife of the woods behind my house.
Decisions.
And those are just examples from my Morrisons. My life and world view have been molded by the thousands of decisions made by all my ancestors. The same is true for you. Have you ever stopped to think about that?
Sometimes we agonize over a decision, and sometimes we make a choice on a whim. We usually have no idea how our decisions will affect those who come after us. We can make their lives easier or more difficult. We all just do the best we can with the information we have at the time.
Try not to judge your ancestors, and grant yourself forgiveness and grace for the choices you wish you hadn’t made. You did the best you could at the time. Like your ancestors, you did not have a crystal ball to see into the future.
Hurricane Helene Update
At the request of NC Gov. Josh Stein, FEMA’s Transitional Shelter Assistance program extended coverage of temporary housing in rental units/motels until May 26, 2025, for people who lost their homes in September in western NC due to Hurricane Helene. The coverage had been scheduled to end on January 18. With sub-zero temperatures and windchills in the negative double digits for days, people being turned out of temporary rental housing would have been another disaster for those individuals and families. Temporary housing assistance will not automatically be extended for everyone. Each case is periodically reviewed.
President Trump visited the Asheville area on Friday and talked about water in California, making Canada the 51st state, and what a good-looking guy Franklin Graham is. When he managed to focus on where he was, he said several times that he would be going out “to the site,” which sounds like the disaster was limited to one location. It actually covers hundreds of square miles of pockets of destruction in a challenging terrain.
Trump also said that NC had been treated “very unfairly” by FEMA, but the mayor of Asheville said she wasn’t sure what he was basing that remark on. Trump said he wants to overhaul FEMA or perhaps get rid of it. He left the impression that FEMA hasn’t done anything to help western NC since Hurricane Helene. He wants money to go through “us” (did he mean him? He said, “through us”) directly to the states and not through FEMA. He also talked about putting a litmus test on states before they could get federal disaster funds.
(I’m sure FEMA is not perfect, but to claim the agency has failed NC just is not true. There is confusion over what FEMA’s role is in a disaster. It will be interesting to see how disasters in the future are addressed if FEMA is overhauled or dismantled. There’s always room for improvement.)
As of Friday, 183 roads in North Carolina are still closed due to Hurricane Helene, including Interstate 40 near the Tennessee line. There is no estimate for when the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina will be fully reopened.
In these remaining 183 cases, it’s not just a matter of resurfacing a road, some cases involve reconstructing entire roadbeds (many on the side of mountains), reconstruction of infrastructure, and reconstruction of bridges. County roads, state highways, and Interstates 26 and 40 have been affected.
Until my next blog post
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.
I hope you are reading a good book. I just finished reading The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
What decision(s) have you and your ancestors made that you realize now had long-range and perhaps unanticipated ramifications?
Remember the people of Ukraine, western North Carolina, and Los Angeles County.
Janet's Writing Blog 