Notices by Augie Ray (augieray@mastodon.social), page 2

I've tried to boycott Amazon and find it difficult. But it may be time to do it again. Bezos is inserting himself into the independence of the Washington Post's editorial opinion pages. He insists they support two pillars--personal liberties and free markets--and will reject anything contrary to those pillars.

Democracy dies when billionaires subvert the media to support what is in their best economic and political interest.

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/26/washingon-post-jeff-bezo-opnion-editor-resign

First, RFK Jr ended a CDC campaign promoting the flu vaccine.

Then, he indefinitely postponed the meeting of CDC’s advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP).

Now, he's canceled an annual FDA meeting to update next season's influenza vaccines, jeopardizing the process to start manufacturing next winter's flu shots.

And he's doing this as unvaccinated children are being hospitalized and dying from measles.

If this continues, Americans will die needlessly.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-cancels-flu-vaccine-meeting/

We live in the dumbest timeline (and possibly the most dangerous).

The United States Department of Health and Human Services just informed employees they need not respond to the email demanding they share their weekly accomplishments. However, if they do respond, HHS tells them “Assume that what you write will be read by malign foreign actors.”

Concerned US park employees hung an upside-down flag—a symbol of distress or national threat—on El Capitan in Yosemite. They did so at a time when evening light illuminates Horsetail Fall, an event known as Firefall, which is a popular occasion for photographers.

“The purpose of this exercise of free speech is to disrupt without violence and draw attention to the fact that public lands in the United States are under attack… Think of it as your public lands on strike.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/parks/ar-AA1zAH9e

This is so f'ing stupid. Trump admin is removing EV chargers from federal buildings. Why pay to remove plugs that are already installed?!

https://gizmodo.com/u-s-government-removing-ev-chargers-from-all-federal-buildings-because-they-are-not-mission-critical-2000566987

The evolution of the trash icon. 😂

Posted without comment.

Ah, yes, the "law and order" party.

Jan. 6 rioters are now arguing their Trump pardons apply to crimes such as a murder plot and child pornography, some of which were discovered during investigations of the Capitol riot.

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/jan-6-released-aftermath-7e8a57a4

"Elon is not getting paid and only improving government efficiency out of the goodness of his heart." 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄

Trump claims Putin wants peace.

On Friday, a Russian drone reportedly hit and damaged the shield around Chernobyl that protects the world from its radiation. Russia, of course, denies it. Experts on site say the shelter was damaged and raises risks.

That sure sounds like something someone would do who is interested in peace, doesn't it?

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/europe/russia-ukraine-drones-chernobyl-intl-hnk/index.html

“I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.”

An Assistant US DA resigns rather than agree to dismiss the charges against NY mayor Eric Adams. Adams apparently engaged in a quid pro quo with Trump to support Trump's immigration policies within the city in exchange for the dismissal of the serious charges against him.

The GOP are seriously unserious people at a time when we desperately need sober leaders. This childishness is simply embarrassing.

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/11/greenland-red-white-blueland-trump-republicans

I got bashed for a humorous post about the Danish taking over California. The person felt we must only be serious about the threats from the Trump admin.

I blocked him. I concur we must take the issues seriously, but if you think we make a difference by only making dour posts (or that we will survive the next 3 years, 11 months without a sense of humor), you are wrong.

STOP criticizing people who care about the issues you do! Aim at the other side. We each need to survive this in our own way.

Danish citizens have launched an online petition, signed by 200,000 people, to purchase California. The petition notes that purchasing the Golden State would provide Danes with more sunshine, dominance in the tech industry, limitless avocado toast, and easy access to Disneyland. In return, California would get the rule of law, universal health care, fact-based politics, and a lifetime supply of Danish pastries.

Can they buy Wisconsin, please? I'd take that offer! 😆

https://ktla.com/news/california/thousands-of-danes-sign-petition-to-buy-california-from-u-s/

The #Tesla CyberTruck is 17 times more likely to have a fire fatality than a Ford Pinto, which was famously flawed with a gas tank behind the rear bumper that would explode in rear-end collisions.

https://fuelarc.com/evs/its-official-the-cybertruck-is-more-explosive-than-the-ford-pinto/

Why, when people have once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, do they refuse to take any viral precautions?! Today--with flu exploding, #COVID19 and RSV at high levels, and a large TB outbreak underway--you can damn well bet if I were a coach or player looking forward to the #superbowl, I'd have a mask on as much as humanly possible. Both teams have players struggling with illness, which is something they could've easily prevented or reduced. So dumb!

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/super-bowl-2025-several-eagles-reportedly-dealing-with-an-illness-ahead-of-showdown-vs-chiefs/

https://gridironheroics.com/kansas-city-chiefs-illness-super-bowl-59-news/#google_vignette

Don't look at your 401k tomorrow. As Trump's trade war heats up--which the WSJ called the “dumbest trade war in history” (https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-tariffs-25-percent-mexico-canada-trade-economy-84476fb2)--market futures are crashing. At present, the pre-market futures are down 1% for the Dow, 1.6% for the S&P500, and 2.3% for the NASDAQ.

Buckle up, it's going to get ugly.

https://www.cnn.com/markets/premarkets

"The room is empty, so I can't get a #COVID19 infection."

STUDY: "Whole genome sequencing during an outbreak suggested in-room transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to two patients admitted nearly 2 and 5 hours, respectively, after discharge of an asymptomatic infected patient. These findings suggest that airborne SARS-CoV-2 may transmit infection for over 4 hours, even in a hospital setting."

https://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(24)00162-7/abstract

A political anthropologist submitted an opinion piece to the LA Times. The newspaper, which is owned by an RFK Jr.-supporting billionaire, edited the piece and gave it an inaccurate title to make it sound optimistic that Trump and his nominees could be good for public health. Here is the complete, unedited OpEd making clear RFK Jr. is a clear danger to the health of Americans.

https://newrepublic.com/article/191030/rfk-jr-op-ed-los-angeles-times

Trump tried to fire the Inspectors General in the Federal government. They decline to be fired (since Trump cannot legally fire them.) The amount of energy and time that will go into combating Trump's illegal or unconstitutional edicts will waste a lot of time that should go to better uses.