5/27/2025

 Tuesday, May27, 2025

D+181/126

2012 A NATO airstrike in Afghanistan killed a family of eight, including six children

In bed before 10 and up at 5.  49°, high of 61°, cloudy day.  Morning mystery: the shepherd's crook supporting the suet cakes is pushed/pulled over to a 45° angle.  Deer?  Squirrels?😳   Turns out its supporting leg broke off, 

Prednisone, day 377; 1 mg., day 19/21; Kevzara, day 1/14; CGM, day 10/15; Trulicity, day 5/7.  Prednisone at 5:13 a.m.  Other meds at 6:50 a.m.  Eye drops at  5:30 a.m. and 5!10 p.m.

Geri returned from Kate's at 2:45 this afternoon, a 5 hour drive with one stop.

Shame, shame.  From today's Washington Post, At Veterans Affairs, plan for sweeping cuts tanks morale." by  Meryl Kornfield and Lisa Rein.

VA Secretary Douglas A. Collins has signaled plans to shrink the agency’s workforce by 15 percent — or about 83,000 employees. Although agency officials insist front-line health-care workers and claims processors will be spared, the vague and shifting details of the Trump administration’s downsizing plan have only fueled anxiety and speculation within VA’s massive workforce.

The uncertainty is already taking a toll.

Thousands of employees across VA’s health and benefits systems have opted for early retirement in two waves, which would pay them through Sept. 30 to get them to leave, according to internal data reviewed by The Washington Post. Many of these employees said they are opting to leave out of fear that they would be laid off anyway. . . . 

In response to questions from The Post, VA spokesman Peter Kasperowicz pointed to problems in the agency that have existed for years.

“During the Biden Administration, VA failed to address nearly all of its most serious problems, such as benefits backlogs, rising health-care wait times and major issues with survivor benefits,” Kasperowicz said in a statement. “The far-left Washington Post refused to cover these failures because it would have made the Biden Administration look bad.” 

With almost 500,000 employees, VA is the second-largest federal agency behind the Department of Defense and is in charge of providing health care to more than 9 million veterans through 170 VA medical centers and 1,193 outpatient clinics. In recent years, VA’s budget and workforce have grown significantly — in part to accommodate the PACT Act, which caused disability claims and enrollment in the health-care system to surge.

Many people involved in planning the reductions have been required to sign nondisclosure agreements, leaving details about the looming cutbacks unclear. Some familiar with the plans said initial cuts will target the agency’s central office, steps from the White House, where 19,000 people work administering the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration and the National Cemetery System.

But that would still leave tens of thousands of jobs at hospitals and clinics under threat of future cuts. Collins — under pressure from his workforce, Congress and veterans groups — has attempted to quell concerns by saying that he’s seeking alternative cost-cutting measures in addition to layoffs and might not need to reach the initial proposal of 15 percent. 

I mailed the Poblocki contract this afternoon.  $$$$ 

Off center today and don't know why, ever more conscious of my age and failing resources.