7/12/2025

 Saturday, July 12, 2025

D+246/174/1287

1804 Alexander Hamilton dies after being shot in a pistol duel by Aaron Burr

1951 Mob tries to keep black family from moving into all-white Cicero, Illinois

1966 Start of 3 day race riot in Chicago, looting brings out National Guardsmen

1967 Race riot in Newark, New Jersey, 26 killed, 1,500 injured & over 1,000 arrested

In bed at 9, awake at 12:30, up at 1:15, thoughts of upcoming surgery, Peter's graduation party this afternoon.  67°, drizzle, high of 81°.  BP+139/80.

Meds, etc.  I'm writing this in the middle of the night and having a hard time with declining health and perseverating thoughts of the upcoming surgery   I have a hunch that the post-surgical "discomfort" after my time in the OR is going to be pretty nasty.  I also worry that this may just be the start of more urinary problems/prostate/bladder problems.  On Monday, I saw the VA psychologist about my "subdued mood."  She had me fill out two questionnaires, one about suicide and the other about anxiety.  I told her I have no anxiety.  That may have been accurate then; it isn't now.

Morning meds at 7 p.m.

A random thought:  I distrust any person who wears an American flag pin on his lapel.

"Performative" government, or, Kristi Noem's dick is bigger than Alejandro Mayorkas's was.  From yesterday's NY Times:

FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show - Two days after deadly Texas floods, the agency struggled to answer calls from survivors because of call center contracts that weren’t extended.

Two days after catastrophic floods roared through Central Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The lack of responsiveness happened because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal matters.

The agency laid off the contractors on July 5 after their contracts expired and were not extended, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who has instituted a new requirement that she personally approve expenses over $100,000, did not renew the contracts until Thursday, five days after the contracts expired. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The details on the unanswered calls on July 6, which have not been previously reported, come as FEMA faces intense scrutiny over its response to the floods in Texas that have killed more than 120 people. The agency, which President Trump has called for eliminating, has been slow to activate certain teams that coordinate response and search-and-rescue efforts.

. . . .

Most people apply for FEMA aid by calling the disaster assistance line or visiting the agency’s website, said Jeremy Edwards, a former FEMA spokesman under the Biden administration who is now at the Century Foundation, a liberal research organization. The Trump administration last month ended FEMA’s longstanding practice of going door-to-door in disaster-battered areas to help survivors apply for aid. 

Kristi Noem goes out of her way to show how tough she is.  The best example was her trip to the notorious prison in El Salvador where she made a point of parading in her form-fitting jeans and top in front of the prisoners for the news cameras.  A less sexy illustration was her announcement that no expenses over $100,000 could be incurred without her personal approval. DHS is the third-largest component of the federal government.   It has a workforce of more than 250,000 and a total budget of more than $99 billion in FY 2026.  A $100,000 expenditure constitutes 0.000001% of that budget.  I believe that rounds off to one one-billionth of the budget.  Requiring the personal approval of the Secretary of the Department for all such expenditures in a department with the scope, budget, and responsibilities of DHS, is pure showmanship, or performative government.  It's her way of showing the MAGA base (and Donald Trump) how tough Kristi Noem is and that her whachamacallit is bigger than Alejandro Mayorkas' and Joe Biden's.  We see how well this ridiculous policy works out for us, the American public, in the experience of those poor people in central Texas who suffered such terrible losses in last week's flash floods.

Peter's graduation celebration was very lovely.  I spent some time talking with Steve Whitte.  We stayed only one hour.  I forgot my hearing airds and couldn't hear much of anything being said at our table.