Folks — this is not a normal government shutdown. Let me explain the stakes and how we got here.

He said what he said

The South Korean Ministry of Defense has awarded medals of merit to 11 officers for disobeying direct orders of superiors during the martial law fiasco, orders that they deemed to be contrary to the constitution and endangerment to democracy. www.chosun.com/english/nati...

@jimmykimmel.com #jimmykimmel

I bend down while boarding, so I am grammatically correct IN the plane now. @kellycarlin.bsky.social

It's the time to stop the hate and send a sign of love and respect. We're in this together. @hcrichardson.bsky.social (Picture made by Google Gemini)

I suspect some drugs on billionaires yachts....

With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably. Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie youtu.be/K5Po40kvI9c

Enjoying the last days of summer...

There are just two things that money can't buy and that's true love and homegrown tomatoes!

Remarkable open letter from Bill Burns. "If intelligence analysts at the CIA saw our rivals engage in this kind of great-power suicide, we would break out the bourbon. Instead, the sound we hear is of champagne glasses clinking in the Kremlin and Zhongnanhai." theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

If you don't know Lisa, you might not recognize it as satire... By now we' ve seen worse on actual 'news'.

CARTOON OF THE DAY (By John Deering)

Sachsens CDU hat Brosius-Gersdorf 2015 übrigens mit an den Landesverfassungsgerichtshof gewählt. Sie bekam mit 94 Prozent Zustimmung damals das beste Ergebnis aller Kandidaten. Neun Jahre lang war sie stellvertretende Verfassungsrichterin in Sachsen, Kritik an Entscheidungen ist nicht bekannt. #FBG

@hcrichardson.bsky.social encouraged us on Thursday to make some memes. Here is my take on invented crises ...

The floods ripped through Texas on July 4. On July 5, FEMA received 3000 calls from survivors. 1% were unanswered. That night, Trump/Noem fired the people who answer the calls. On July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls. 65% unanswered. July 7: 85%. Sick.

Adesso Digital Day 2025 in Düsseldorf .. lots of interesting stuff about the latest AI applications and, this year very prominently, digital sovereignty.

Yesterday in Munich ... The cologne dialect band BAP played for 3 hours and 15 minutes straight... All songs were at least 40 years old. Verdamp lang her...!

Literally zero men in this picture are named Zohran.

"For the child born this summer in Texas, whose parents receive no documents, whose name never appears in any system, and who grows up asking why she can’t go on field trips, apply for scholarships, or open a bank account, the consequences are not legal theory. They are her life."

Representing their constituents.

On public holidays, our local commuter train is on an hourly schedule. On Whitsun, the empty slots are used for a historic steam train on this single track route. Yes, there is a diesel engine supporting the train, espacially in the hills. Music "Steam locomotive" by Oleksii Kalyna

One woman holding an American flag, shouting at federal agencies here in Paramount, CA. Still lots of chemical munitions, pepper balls, foam batons.

The World doesn't wait...

www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int... Thanks to Ilse @igr-brln.bsky.social for pointing me to this good afternoon read! Without empathy, what kind of creature are you? I miss the Arderns and Marins in politics.

My first Puffins! They are so cute... Greetings from Iceland!

apnews.com/video/episco... Church says it won't help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status in US

What a beautiful spring day for tour on the bike...

staffers are still cleaning up the Kristi Noem mess after she got gutted/filleted by @chrismurphyct.bsky.social this is A MOMENT. #MustWatch 🧢 @trumpfile.org

Today we had a short, but severe thunderstorm. I received a warning for severe weather 60 min in advance on my mobile phone. Enough time to secure lose items, shelter the freshly planted flower boxes and drive the car into the garage. Public Weather Service is no fraud, waste or abuse. Nowhere.

Or ... the Catcher finally leaves the Rye.

Collateral damage of DOGE or purposely weakening or cyber defense? thehackernews.com/2025/04/us-g...

This is a concession by the U.S. government that its “arrangement” with El Salvador is irrevocable. To me this has to be grounds to argue that the arrangement itself is unconstitutional under the Fifth and Eighth Amendments

Dear Europe ... please don't kiss ass...

Deutsche Welle may become for the US what Voice of America used to be for the USSR. youtu.be/geRic3w01ng?...

“With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured…the first thought forbidden…the first freedom denied – chains us all irrevocably” (Jean-Luc Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie)

Greetings from my extended weekend trip to Amsterdam!

Carney: "The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over."

Today’s Judiciary markup was 👊🇺🇸🔥

Very well written... Trump Has Gone From Unconstitutional to Anti-Constitutional www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/o...

Trump: Gutting National Parks—And Hiding the Evidence National parks hit 331M visits, but Trump officials don’t want you to know. A leaked memo bans the Park Service from promoting the numbers—while firing rangers, closing visitor centers, and cutting safety. This won’t go well—we love our parks.

This sums it up quite well... youtube.com/shorts/IX1vw...

Gregg is a former Marine and Forest Service ranger. He's saved the lives of hikers dangling off a cliff or going through cardiac arrest, and he's bravely fought forest fires to save small rural towns. 100% of his salary is paid by WA state. Elon fired him. Share his story.