Catch-up

 

About once a month the African Violet gets showy, then takes some time to regroup before doing such again.

Beauty Mountain ~ Fayette County -Burgess Photo
 

I have gone to several of these links to learn more and thought you might like to also...or you can just scroll on by! A special edition just published this morning...so here's the latest!

From Americans of Conscience:

Only good news

We're part of a larger movement working to change our nation for the better. Scroll down for some of the good news in recent weeks and remember that progress is happening, even when it doesn't make the headlines.

• A SCOTUS ruling may make it easier for victims of police shootings to prove in court when officers use unlawful excessive force.
• The FDA approves the first at-home HPV test as an alternative to in-office Pap tests.
• Following a lawsuit brought by farmers and environmental groups, the USDA will restore to its official website information about climate change that was removed when the current president took office.
• AL: A federal court rules that the state must abandon an unconstitutional legislative map intentionally drawn to dilute Black communities’ votes.
• CO enacts the Freedom from Intimidation in Elections Act, which will allow voters, election officials, and election workers to file suit against anyone who threatens or attempts to coerce them.
• FL: A former congressional candidate faces legal consequences for threatening his primary opponent in 2021.
• MO raises the legal age of marriage to 18, prohibits the use of nondisclosure agreements in child sexual abuse cases, and protects the assets of foster children inherited from deceased parents.
• NJ’s Attorney General Matt Platkin sues the messaging app Discord for failing to appropriately protect underage users.
• NY’s fiscal year 2026 budget includes free school meals for all of the state’s students as well as checks for residents intended to offset the costs of inflation.
• The community of Johnson, VT works together to relocate their historic public library out of a flood zone––building and all.
• Boston, MA will utilize ranked-choice voting for local elections.
• Young Pittsburgh voters can meet with mayoral primary candidates through the Allegheny Youth Vote Coalition’s civic engagement program.
• A Green Bay, WI nonprofit rescues over 7,000 pounds of food leftover from an NFL Draft event to provide food to local families in need.
• Former USAID worker Caitlin Tulloch and her team create a service that matches philanthropic donors with humanitarian aid programs that were abruptly defunded by the administration.
• A global survey of 130,000 people across 125 countries finds that 89% of people want their national government to do more to reverse climate change.
• Scientists at Montana State University build self-repairing bricks out of fungus as a sustainable alternative to concrete.
• Researchers develop a gel that “smells” good to coral and could potentially boost reef regeneration by enticing coral organisms to attach and grow in specific areas.
• Conservationists observe a record number of a rare ocelot species in a TX wildlife refuge.

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The infamous shot which was completely staged (IMHO) The main thing I am angry about is that someone else died that day.

Excerpts From Heather Cox Richardson last week:

May 24 Trump’s erratic behavior was on full display this morning when he announced that he will impose a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union on June 1, suggesting he is frustrated because his promises of a new trade deal have failed to materialize. Trump had threatened to stop negotiating and simply dictate terms, and that is apparently the direction he’s moving. “I’m not looking for a deal,” he said this afternoon. “We’ve set the deal—it’s at 50%.” Trump also threatened a 25% tariff on Apple products unless the company begins to make the iPhone in the U.S. Elisabeth Buchwald of CNN reported that three major European stock market indexes fell after Trump’s threat. U.S. stock market indexes fell for the fourth day. They rose from their lowest point after the White House said Trump’s tariff comments were not a formal statement of policy. So the president of the United States can tank world markets, only to have his own staff inform the media that his comments should not be taken seriously. Flooding in Swannanoa NC Sept 27 2024 following Hurricane Helene. And...Dr. Richardson says:  " ...the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has denied North Carolina’s request that it honor a commitment made by President Joe Biden to pay for 100% of the costs for removal of debris after Hurricane Helene devastated the western part of the state in September 2024. That storm killed 107 people in western North Carolina and destroyed or damaged 75,000 homes, as well as destroying roads and leaving mounds of debris. As Zack Colman of Politico reported yesterday, the storm hit in the last weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign, and Trump undermined FEMA’s response, lying that it was not present and telling North Carolinians that the Biden administration could not help them because it had taken money from FEMA for undocumented immigrants. None of what he was saying was true, but MAGA mouthpieces picked up his criticisms and exaggerated them, claiming that the federal government intended to steal people’s land, that Biden had directed the storm to western North Carolina, and that 28 babies had frozen to death in FEMA tents—all lies, but lies that slowed recovery as riled-up people who believed them refused assistance, threatened officials, and demanded investigations. Trump suggested he would respond more effectively to voters in North Carolina, and two of the hardest-hit counties there, Avery and Haywood, backed him in 2024 by margins of 75.7% and 61.8%, respectively, similar to those it had given him in 2016 and 2020. Once in office, though, Trump began to talk of eliminating FEMA. Now the White House has told North Carolina residents they’re on their own as they try to dig out from Hurricane Helene. Taken together, these stories from today seem to provide a snapshot of this moment in American history. They show an erratic president whose own officials discount his orders even as power is concentrating in the executive office and who won election through lies that are now being exposed as his policies disproportionately hurt the very people who backed him most enthusiastically. SOURCe: Letters from An American May 24, 2025 ----------------- Below is the letter to the Governor of North Carolina (Josh Stein, Democrat) from the "senior official performing the duties of administrator of FEMA," who for all we know could be the janitor! -------------------------- Every Friday in North Carolina there is a group of about 60 Unitarian Universalists who Zoom together to discuss something about climate change and social justice. I joined them for the first time on May 23, when they invited someone to talk about the 2 Israeli Embassy staffers killed in a DC shooting.  I plan to keep going to those Zoom meetings as much as possible. ------------------ Today's quote: "The depths of the Feminine, languorous in the sun, embraced by beautiful connective tissue that is this moss: I want to stand by the river in my finest dress. I want to sing, strong and hard, and stomp my feet with a hundred others so that the waters hum with our happiness. I want to dance for the renewal of the world.” ― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass Mandala puzzle, clay pieces mounted on burlap board, framed.