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bolverk

Certifiably Surly
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  1. Greenland officials express fury over Trump’s plan to send a delegation. Relations between Greenland and the United States sank further on Sunday as the Greenlandic prime minister erupted over what he called a “highly aggressive” delegation of senior officials the Trump administration said it would send to the island this week. Usha Vance, the second lady, and Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, are among the officials headed to the island, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, though President Trump has vowed to make it part of the United States “one way or the other.” Ms. Vance is scheduled to make a series of cultural stops after her arrival on Thursday, separate from Mr. Waltz. The national security adviser is supposed to be traveling earlier in the week with the U.S. energy secretary, Chris Wright. The prime minister, Mute B. Egede, said on Sunday that Greenlanders’ effort to be diplomatic just “bounces off Donald Trump and his administration in their mission to own and control Greenland.” He made the remarks, his angriest yet, to a Greenlandic newspaper on Sunday, and a high-ranking member of his party confirmed them. The prime minister seemed especially upset with Mr. Waltz’s involvement. “What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland?” he asked. “The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us.” “His mere presence in Greenland will no doubt fuel American belief in Trump’s mission — and the pressure will increase,” he added. Other Greenlandic officials complained about the inopportune timing of the visit, pointing out that Greenland had just held parliamentary elections and that a new government has not even been formed. “The fact that the Americans are well aware we are in the middle of negotiations,” said Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the leader of the most popular political party, “once again shows a lack of respect for the Greenlandic people.” Greenlanders have become increasingly wary of Mr. Trump’s intentions. A recent poll found that a vast majority of people on the island, which lies along the Arctic Ocean and is mostly covered in ice, do not want to become part of the United States. Still, many have also voiced a desire to improve relations with Washington. Until now, most Greenlandic officials have tried to walk a fine line, asserting their sense of sovereignty while avoiding antagonizing Mr. Trump. The Trump administration has presented the visit as friendly, saying in a statement on Sunday that Ms. Vance would travel with one of her children on Thursday and attend Greenland’s national dog-sled race, Avannaata Qimussersu, returning to the United States on Saturday. “Ms. Vance and the delegation are excited to witness this monumental race and celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity,” the statement said. Separately, Mr. Waltz is expected to tour a U.S. military base, two U.S. officials said. The United States has a small missile defense base on the northern part of the island and has kept troops on Greenland since World War II. Mr. Wright, Mr. Trump’s energy secretary, is expected to join Mr. Waltz to see the base, according to another person with knowledge of the visit, as the Trump administration eyes rare earth minerals and other resources on Greenland. Potentially lucrative resources are scattered all around the island, but extreme weather, fired-up environmentalists and other factors have tempered hopes of large-scale operations. Other senior administration officials may also visit, according to one of the officials, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the trip. A spokesman for Mr. Waltz said the visit was for gathering information and exploring local culture. “The United States has a vested security interest in the Arctic region, and it should not be a surprise the national security adviser and secretary of energy are visiting a U.S. space base to get firsthand briefings from our service members on the ground,” Brian Hughes, the National Security Council spokesman, said in a statement. “We also look forward to experiencing Greenland’s famous hospitality and are confident that this visit presents an opportunity to build on partnerships that respects Greenland’s self-determination and advances economic cooperation. This is a visit to learn about Greenland, its culture, history and people.” A White House spokesman did not answer a question about whether the officials had been invited. Mr. Trump has continued to ratchet up his talk of seizing Greenland, part of an expansionist mind-set in his second term that has also taken aim at Canada and the Panama Canal. Mr. Trump privately spoke about both in meetings during his first term, and some of his advisers explored the idea of acquiring Greenland, which had been an on-and-off national security proposal in the United States for decades. Soon after his election in 2024, he began pushing advisers to find a way to make a Greenland acquisition a reality. The idea of retaking the Panama Canal soon followed. Greenland has been connected to Denmark for more than 300 years. The Danes colonized it, but over time folded it into Denmark, and eventually granted Greenlanders more autonomy to run their own affairs. The prime minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, made clear on Sunday that neither Denmark nor Greenland had solicited the trips. “The visit from the United States cannot be seen in isolation from the public statements that have been made,” Ms. Frederiksen said. She added, “This is something we take seriously.” This will be Ms. Vance’s second solo trip internationally as second lady. The other was a visit this month to Italy leading the U.S. delegation to the Special Olympics World Winter Games. Mr. Egede did not seem placated by Ms. Vance’s stated plans to soak up Greenlandic culture. “We are now at a point where it can no longer be described as an innocent visit from a politician’s spouse,” he said, adding that “the international community must now react.”
  2. Wordle 1,374 3/6 ⬛🟨🟨⬛🟩 🟩🟨⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #652 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🙂 Daily Quordle 1155 5️⃣6️⃣ 7️⃣4️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
  3. Wordle 1,373 5/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟩🟨⬛🟨 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #651 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🙂 Daily Quordle 1154 8️⃣5️⃣ 4️⃣7️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟨⬜🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
  4. Kinda late to the party(?) on this whole WTF because, ironically, I just spent the evening with a good buddy who voted for TFG this past November and whom I’ve known since the 6th grade (1981-1982 era). He's got a golden heart, but he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He's mechanically inclined but also has an incredible taste for good music, still discovering non-mainstream bands in his early 50s. His name is Mike, and he fixes up old cars for fun in his free time. It's been his thing since high school when our group gave him the moniker Mike the Mechanic (he also earned Mike-guyver when he once fixed my overheating car with a razor blade and a dime coming back from Dallas -- also in high school). The dude's got a car addiction. Between his gigantic garage with its own autobody paintshop and his backyard, I'd guess he's got about a dozen broken-down, beat-up cars right now, but that '69 Mach 1 sitting in his garage right now is one sweet-looking ride. I can't wait to go out with him in it and still remember the fun times we had back in the day cruising in his old powder blue VW minibus, his MG, his little red '70 Opel Kadett station wagon, and his old Mini Cooper (late 60s model). Those last two were awesome little rally cars that could do some damage to a cotton field. Anyway, he works out in the oil patch -- makes really good money monitoring wells and storage tanks. Drives around all day, listening to fucked up right-wing talk radio between tunes, and unfortunately, It got its hooks in him. He's the one I mentioned a week or so ago in this or another thread who said he's now "alarmed" by all the shit going down. He also knows exactly how I feel because I haven't been shy about it, but I never, ever bring up politics first. I honestly feel like he does on his end because he's got a guilty conscience and keeps telling me he's a "humanitarian" and didn't want to hurt anyone. He just had a vague sense we were about to lose our country from all the shit he listens to. He's not there yet (again, I don't preach to or bitch at him). This place is my release for that. Anyway, I brought him a cheeseburger from an old school drive-in kind of place and kept him company in the hospital after undergoing knee surgery earlier today, and we talked and watched some TV together for a little while. There wasn't much talk about doom tonight, but there were a lot of smiles and laughs.
  5. Story about new Social Security requirements for accessing everything through a website and the effects on old folks in a small West Virginia town. Lots of confused seniors. New Social Security requirements pose barriers to rural communities without internet, transportation Good snippet on cuts and process: “I don’t understand a lot of the stuff that’s going on right now, and I just can’t pinpoint things together, you know,” said Brenda Hughes, 72, who said she usually goes to the Social Security office in person anyway because she said she’s found it difficult to get a hold of the call center. “But maybe it’s meant to be like that.” Mary Weaver, 72, said she doesn’t approve of Trump giving Elon Musk so much leeway to cut and change services, and she doesn’t see those measures helping McDowell County. “He gone run for president, and he’s going to get the presidency, but he’s going to let someone else tell him how to run the country?” she asked, criticizing Trump’s relationship with Musk. Other residents aren’t concerned. Barbara Lester, 64, said she wishes she could sit down with Trump and Musk and tell them they’re doing a fantastic job. “And with all the money they’re saving from the fraud, they could afford to give their senior citizens an increase,” said Lester, who is retired from construction work.
  6. "Reagan proved deficits don't matter." ~ Dick Cheney (2002) That game was given away a looong time ago. It's a wonder we've continued to play make-believe that the GOP actually gives a shit when in power all these years later, but here we are still playing it because the lie works.
  7. German Mennonites If you haven't been following the saga, this is a good place to get caught up: https://www.surlyhorns.com/board/topic/38992-covidinfluenzablack-death-2024-and-beyond/?do=findComment&comment=6875056
  8. The math: $8 million to Musk each day ÷ $65 per day to the average senior = 123,077 Social Security recipients
  9. In other news, fuck dem vets. Trump and DOGE Propel V.A. Mental Health System into Turmoil A chaotic restructuring ordered threatens to degrade services for veterans of wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Late in February, as the Trump administration ramped up its quest to transform the federal government, a psychiatrist who treats veterans was directed to her new workstation — and was incredulous. She was required, under a new return-to-office policy, to conduct virtual psychotherapy with her patients from one of 13 cubicles in a large open office space, the kind of setup used for call centers. Other staff might overhear the sessions, or appear on the patient’s screen as they passed on their way to the bathroom and break room. The psychiatrist was stunned. Her patients suffered from disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Treating them from her home office, it had taken many months to earn their trust. This new arrangement, she said, violated a core ethical tenet of mental health care: the guarantee of privacy. When the doctor asked how she was expected to safeguard patient privacy, a supervisor suggested she purchase privacy screens and a white noise machine. “I’m ready to walk away if it comes to it,” she wrote to her manager, in a text message shared with The New York Times. “I get it,” the manager replied. “Many of us are ready to walk away.” Scenes like this have been unfolding in Veterans Affairs facilities across the country in recent weeks, as therapy and other mental health services have been thrown into turmoil amid the dramatic changes ordered by President Trump and pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Among the most consequential orders is the requirement that thousands of mental health providers, including many who were hired for fully remote positions, now work full time from federal office space. This is a jarring policy reversal for the V.A., which pioneered the practice of virtual health care two decades ago as a way to reach isolated veterans, long before the pandemic made telehealth the preferred mode of treatment for many Americans. As the first wave of providers reports to offices where there is simply not enough room to accommodate them, many found no way to ensure patient privacy, health workers said. Some have filed complaints, warning that the arrangement violates ethics regulations and medical privacy laws. At the same time, layoffs of at least 1,900 probationary employees are thinning out already stressed services that assist veterans who are homeless or suicidal. In more than three dozen interviews, current and recently terminated mental health workers at the V.A. described a period of rapid, chaotic behind-the-scenes change. Many agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because they want to continue to serve veterans, and feared retribution from the Trump administration. Clinicians warn that the changes will degrade mental health treatment at the V.A., which already has severe staffing shortages. Some expect to see a mass exodus of sought-after specialists, like psychiatrists and psychologists. They expect wait times to increase, and veterans to eventually seek treatment outside the agency.cont'd:
  10. Meanwhile, in China, they’re celebrating. Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts are leaving a vacuum that China can fill. When President Trump announced on Friday that the United States would move ahead with a long-debated project to build a stealthy next-generation fighter jet, the message to China was clear: The United States plans to spend tens of billions of dollars over the next decade, probably far longer, to contain Beijing’s ability to dominate the skies over the Pacific. But here on earth, the reality has been very different. As the Department of Government Efficiency roars through agencies across government, its targets have included some of the organizations that Beijing worried about most, or actively sought to subvert. And, as with much that Elon Musk’s DOGE has dismembered, there has been no published study of the costs and benefits of losing those capabilities — and no discussion of how the roles, arguably as important as a manned fighter, might be replaced. On the list of capabilities on life support is Radio Free Asia, a 29-year-old nonprofit that estimates its news broadcasts reach 60 million people in Asia each week, from China to Myanmar, and across the Pacific islands where the United States has been struggling to counter China’s narratives about the world. It furloughed all but 75 of its Washington staff members on Friday, trying to stay on the air while court cases develop on Trump officials’ moves to defund U.S. government-supported media. At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth eliminated the Office of Net Assessment, an internal think-tank. With an annual budget that accounted for a few seconds of Pentagon spending each year, the office tried to think ahead about the challenges the United States would face a decade or two in the future — such as the new capabilities of artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons and the hidden vulnerabilities of supply chains for military contractors. It was a revered institution, what a Wall Street Journal editorial this past week called “The Office that Won the Cold War.” Mr. Hegseth said in a statement that it would be reconstituted in some unspecified way “in alignment with the Department’s strategic priorities,” though its value was that it challenged conventional thinking about those priorities. Over at the Department of Homeland Security, a series of cyberdefenses have been stripped away, at a moment when China’s state-backed hackers have been more successful than at any time in recent memory. Among those dissolved, at least for the time being, is the Cyber Safety Review Board, created on the model of the National Transportation Safety Board, which examines aircraft accidents and tries to extract lessons learned. The cybersecurity board was just beginning to take testimony on how Chinese intelligence bored deep inside America’s largest telecommunications firms, including the system the Justice Department uses to monitor its “lawful intercept” system, which places wiretaps on people suspected of committing crimes or spying — including Chinese spies. Now the board has been disbanded. No one at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency seems able to say what has happened to the investigation into one of the most successful penetrations of American networks, or who is now responsible for figuring out why American telecommunications firms were caught unawares, for more than a year, by China’s Ministry of State Security. The list goes on, more evidence that in its first two months the new administration has been devastatingly efficient in tearing things down, but painfully slow to explain how their actions fit into their broader strategy. All this has the Chinese celebrating. As the Voice of America was being dismantled and fell silent, The Global Times, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, wrote that “the so-called beacon of freedom, VOA, has now been discarded by its own government like a dirty rag.”cont'd:
  11. Read correctly, this is an implied threat. If you complain, we’re coming after you.
  12. I could say, but you’d have to tell us your old username first.
  13. Wordle 1,372 3/6 ⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ 🟨🟨⬛🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #650 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟦🟨🟨 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🙂 Daily Quordle 1153 4️⃣7️⃣ 8️⃣5️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
  14. No surprise she/you is being set up to run for Congress -- it's what we've all expected for a couple of years now. But to answer your question: If you haven't noticed, a lot of really fucking terrible shit's going down in our country right now, and that inconsequential cunt is the least of our concerns. If you're Kelly, go troll for attention somewhere else, or better yet, tend to your poor, neglected daughter instead of being such a pathetic excuse for a mom.
  15. It sounds like doctors up in Lubbock are ready to give up on a mass vaccination effort and are now resigned to the fact that this is just going to spread. Against stupidity, we are defenseless. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/health/measles-outbreak-texas.html
  16. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/us/politics/trump-cornell-student-ice.html
  17. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/us/politics/trump-tesla-vandalism-prison.html
  18. Krasnov will 100% usurp the Crown and claim the entire Commonwealth as our new empire.
  19. 80 Teslas damaged at Hamilton dealership
  20. Sorry about that. Gift link because it has a couple of videos: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/weather/dust-storm.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5k4.Fjln.BDjXYxAt3cN0&smid=url-share
  21. Same corruption playbook. In just this week in Washington, Mr. Trump called for the impeachment of a federal judge who was seeking basic information about his mass deportation efforts, fired two Democratic commissioners of an independent trade commission and was rebuked by a judge who said his administration’s gutting of the agency in charge of foreign aid most likely violated the Constitution. This week in Jerusalem, Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet fired Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet, Israel’s equivalent of the F.B.I., after the agency started investigations into the prime minister’s aides. Among other claims, the aides are accused of mishandling classified information and leaking a document to a foreign newspaper. Mr. Netanyahu’s office has strongly denied the allegations. ***** Like Mr. Trump, Mr. Netanyahu is seeking to rein in domestic watchdogs and judicial authorities that, like in the United States, have pursued investigations against him or his allies. Like Mr. Trump, the Israeli prime minister has faced criminal charges that he says are false claims fomented by left-leaning and unelected bureaucrats. In Mr. Netanyahu’s case, he is standing trial in a yearslong corruption case that requires him to appear in court several times a month. ***** Alon Pinkas, a political commentator and Israel’s former consul-general in New York, said it was doubtful Mr. Netanyahu would have moved against the Shin Bet chief had Mr. Trump not been president. The two leaders were kindred spirits politically, he said, and had “both adopted an identical language that would make George Orwell cringe with envy.” Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu also regularly use this language to discredit the news media, another institution they often view with contempt. Israel’s national broadcaster, Kan, reported this week that it was during a meeting with Mr. Trump in Washington last month when Mr. Netanyahu was inspired to fire Mr. Bar. Asked to comment on that report, Mr. Netanyahu’s spokesman, Omer Dostri, responded with a terse text message: “fake news.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/us/politics/trump-netanyahu-israel-political-strategy.html
  22. Effects of USDA cuts by DOGE hitting the food banks. Key passage: The halt to the funds, which was first reported by Politico, comes in addition to other recent cuts to federal food assistance. Earlier this month, the Agriculture Department halted two other programs that distributed food to banks and schools. Lawmakers are also mulling cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps, which were used by about 42 million people in the 2023 fiscal year. Food bank directors fear that an across-the-board contraction to federal food assistance could drive more people to food banks just as they are losing access to critical supplementary funds. “This is perhaps the first moment in the history of food banking that we have seen record low unemployment and record high demand at food banks,” Mr. Hall said. “Any circumstance that would cause even a modest increase in demand at food distributions will result in a food crisis.” Representatives of the Agriculture Department did not respond to requests for comment. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/food-banks-usda.html https://archive.is/2MZ2s
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