Is the federal workforce in danger? Are the cuts necessary?

A few weeks ago I read (I think it was Pew) that there are 3+ million federal employees and in another article I read that 79,000+ had been laid off or fired. I'm math challenged but with Prof. Google's help that's 2.6% of the federal workforce. Am I figuring that right? I realize that if it's your job, it's 100%, but in the big picture, that's not huge. If it's your coffee shop next to a building that is empty, you might go out of business.

Many are taking early retirement and many were probationary, and unfortunately Biden added a huge number of unnecessary administrative staff to the employment  numbers in a few short years of his administration. Federal workers increased 6% during the Biden administration according to Government Executive. It was one of his campaign promises.

 
Even 2 billion in our money cut from Harvard is not a big deal when you know that its endowment investment is $53.2 billion. That should allow enough for a few DEI courses and anti-America classes not on our dime. Plus Harvard still has all the money (full tuition) from all the foreign governments that have planted their "students" there. I think the terms are fair.

What Ken Blackwell wants in a President

Ken Blackwell is well known in Ohio (mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio (1979–1980), the Ohio State Treasurer (1994–1999), and Ohio Secretary of State (1999–2007). On Facebook he recorded a conversation he had with a friend on another platform.

"So I get into it with a friend on another platform who keeps spewing the same propaganda as if anyone who voted for Trump lost their minds and rely on him like God to make our lives better. He also accused me of being willing to sidestep democracy to get the things I want. I may have lost a friend, because my correction was as follows:

“You folks and your propaganda are nauseating. You think it’s about making my life better? It’s all about me?
You know what I wanted out of Trump?
The same damn thing I wanted out of Obama, Biden, Bush, Big Bush and  Clinton.
Those those things are the following
- Transparency
- A secure border
- Honesty
- Common sense leadership
- Doing exactly what you campaigned on
- A strong military
- An end to political indoctrination in our schools
- Respect for personal freedom
- And someone who would think about America first before giving everything to the world while his own people suffer.
Not one of them came through. Each one of them failed. Most didn’t even try. They just faked it well enough that you are still pining for their pipe dream. But guess who did come through? As flawed as he is as a person, it was freaking Trump. A man I was never a fan of personally but respect because he does the hell what he says he’s going to do or tries.
That’s what I voted for. Not some polished fake politician who pretends to be an angel but is doing the devils work as we are distracted by their platitudes and symbolic gestures that get us absolutely no where.
No one is side stepping democracy, genius. By the way, we don’t live in a democracy. We live in a constitutional republic.
But let’s go with your twisted idea of democracy.
Was it democracy when Biden coerced Big Tech into silencing millions of Americans for their opinions and thoughts?
Was it democracy when that old man lied to you and told you he didn’t know about his sons dealings and that the laptop didn’t exist? Because for many that may have changed their vote in the 2020 election if they knew then candidate Biden was compromised.
Was it democracy when he got 51 intelligence agents who we are supposed to trust, to go along with the lie and call it Russian disinformation?
Was it democracy to force people to choose between feeding their damn family and a damn shot in the arm that is causing damage to a lot of people?
Was it democracy when Biden flew in hundreds of thousands of migrants in the middle of the night without telling us and also opened the borders? Did we the American people have a say in that? No the heck we didn’t.
Was it democracy when if we question elections or vaccines that we get silenced and are forced to self sensor just to survive?
It that’s your democracy? You can keep that crap bro, respectfully.
Trump is no God or saint but it’s a damn shame it took a flawed man to do right by the American people. He’s showing you how corrupt your government truly is and I’m here for it. No regrets whatsoever.”

Social Security Numbers given by Biden

“President Trump promised mass deportations, and by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self-deport,” White House spokeswoman Elizabeth Huston said in a statement. [NYT quote]

By using the BSSN (Biden Social Security Number) which gave illegals access to many services, they were also stealing our right to vote by cancelling it. The theft of our citizenship rights is what Democrat protestors are calling "democracy,." Thanks to Doge, Democrats will have to reexamine what democracy means--and it starts with a close look at the Bill of Rights. They should also start condemning the vandalism of Teslas and the rioting on college campuses.

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2025/04/11/trump-deputies-cancel-illegal-migrants-social-security-numbers/?

Christians who defend slavery

On February 20, 2025, "the Trump administration officially designated eight Latin American cartels, including six from Mexico, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) for their major roles in drug smuggling and human trafficking into the United States." 72%, of those trafficked for sex in the U.S. are immigrants. Most of them are here illegally.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/how-us-military-action-against-drug-cartels-in-mexico-could-unfold/?

 
I'm concerned that Trump haters, many of whom are Democrat Christians, don't seem to understand the seriousness of this. Particularly the sex trafficking of women and children, as well as labor trafficking. Let's call it by a less sanitized name: slavery. Drugs are not a renewable, sustainable enterprise--slavery is. Once they sneak (or openly transport with open borders as in the Biden administration) them in, the victims and their families have to repay exorbitant prices to the cartels/smugglers. There are always more dues to pay. Some Christians are looking the other way just as they were in the 1850s-1860s or during the Jim Crow era. They waste their time with ever expanding and lucrative DEI contracts while ignoring the slavery right in front of them.

Ten or fifteen years ago there were many articles, documentaries, and meetings about this cancer. More than today. It's as though we Christians were all talk and no walk, a common failing. Now that someone is actually getting tough there's more virtue signaling, hand wringing and Lawfare.

https://www.heritage.org/border-security/commentary/fighting-human-trafficking-and-battling-bidens-open-border?

https://www.foxnews.com/us/illegal-smuggling-coyotes-now-advertising-canada-border-amid-trump-migrant-crackdown-report?

Surviving the tariff negotiations

A lot of the fallout for me from yesterday's tariff negotiations has been watching the leftist media, Dem politicians and some RINOS and no-names fall flat on their predictions. It has been a quagmire of "but he said on Monday," and "he's created chaos." I watched about 3 hours in the afternoon and thought I should stop and take a nap while the stock market soared. I've never been to an open market in Haiti, but I have been to garage sales and even the Memorial Day sale at Lakeside. I know wheeling and dealing, mind changing, watching for new merch to show up, and haggling with someone sitting on a chair that's for sale but not sold. We were watching the Art of the Deal (his 1987 book). 

 
3. Maximize the options
“I never get too attached to one deal or one approach…I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.”

5. Use your leverage
“The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead.”

8. Fight back
“In most cases I’m very easy to get along with. I’m very good to people who are good to me. But when people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard.”

11. Have fun [this is the one that drives leftists bonkers--they never see the humor in what he says or does]
“Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.”

Remember what they've put us through--Trump's first term

From Thomas DeVore FB post.

For the last 4+ years, the Democrats went scorched earth. Good thing almost 80 million of us have memories longer than a hamster.

We remember the women’s march (vagina hats and all) the day after the inauguration.
We remember the 4 years of attacks and impeachments.
We remember “not our president” and the “Resistance…”
We remember Maxine Walters telling followers to harass us in restaurants.
We remember the Presidents spokesperson being kicked out a restaurant.
We remember hundreds of Trump supporters physically attacked.
We remember Trump supporters getting Doxed, and fired from jobs.
We remember riots, and looting.
We remember “a comedian” holding up the President’s severed head.
We remember a play in Central park paid with public funding, showing the killing of President Trump.
We remember Robert de Niro yelling “F" Trump” at the Tony’s and getting a standing ovation.
We remember Nancy Pelosi tearing up the State of the Union Address.
We remember the total in the tank move on the mainstream media.
We remember the non-stop and live fact checking on our President and his supporters.
We remember non-stop in your face lies and open cover-ups from the media.
We remember the President and his staff being spied on.
We remember five House members being shot on a ballfield.
We remember every so-called comedy show turn into nothing but Trump hate fest.
We remember 95% negative coverage in the news.
We remember the state governors asking and getting everything they ask for and then blaming Trump for their problems.
We remember a Trump top aid verbally assaulted in two DC restaurants.
We remember people banging on the Supreme Court doors.
We remember that we were called every name in the book for supporting President Trump.
We remember that Hollywood said they would leave after Trump was elected but they stayed.
We remember being called Nazis
We remember being called Deplorables
We remember being called Fascists
We remember trying to put our President in prison.
We remember trying to bankrupt our President.

 
And yes, we remember trying to assassinate our President twice.

 
The Democrats having been on the attack for over 4 long years do not get a free pass with me

Are you ready to retire?

 I retired 25 years ago (Oct. 2025), and I've lived through a number of down turns in the stock market, which now is my income. Dot com bubble hit just as I was planning what I'd do with all that time. Remember that one? It was during the Clinton years, although he wasn't responsible for the bubble or the burst. I was just learning how to read the WSJ and follow the stocks! Checking daily could make one faint. For those of you about to retire, here's a reminder.

"The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Internet, resulting in a dispensation of available venture capital and the rapid growth of valuations in new dot-com startups. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, investments in the NASDAQ composite stock market index rose by 800%, only to fall 78% from its peak by October 2002, giving up all its gains during the bubble."

Repeat. Giving up all its gains during the bubble.

If you sold anything since April 2 and the tariff announcements because you were listening to the legacy media, aka the "sky is falling and it's Trump's fault" media, then you're just not ready to retire yet.

Institute of Museum and Library Services and Doge

Lots of outrage against Doge for cutting the IMLS budget--a small federal agency with some money for grants to museums and libraries. The cuts were to DC staff it seems who cut the checks, so it's not clear in the article how many were coming to work or if there is another agency to pick up the obligations. I quickly scanned the Wired article and saw nothing essential, but did notice California could lose $54,000 to 5 Indian tribes for children's books. By the time all that sifts through the layers of bureaucracy, it's not a lot of money for the kids books. Guess how much Dolly Parton has contributed to help needy children with books to read: $240,000,000!

 
Libraries and museums are primarily funded by state and local taxes, and I would not call IMLS a "key" funding source, which articles I've read have claimed. It was created in 1996 in a Republican initiative when Clinton was president and Laura Bush (who was a librarian) was a big supporter. It was created with a merger of several agencies, probably to reduce duplication.

https://www.wired.com/story/institute-museum-library-services-layoffs/

There are thousands of small or unorganized collections of memorabilia or "culturally significant" objects through out the country--some connected to a local public institution, like a library, some not. I'm sure IMLS was a source of grant money if the person or group that started it died off. To my knowledge IMLS doesn't fund our Museum of Catholic Art and History in Columbus.  https://www.catholicmuseum.org/about-us/ For years a retired priest collected "stuff" as small Catholic churches in Ohio were closed, and it was stored in an old school building. It now has its own home in an unused Catholic building. I've never been there but the website looks great. As far as I know it runs on donations and gifts from benefactors and volunteers. Another one I know about because I attended a program about it at Lakeside is a collection of a black family from Toledo. These are microcosms of our culture. I think they should be supported at the local level--not the federal. Our own Ohio History Connection may have been a recipient of such grants--I never looked in to it, but the people of Ohio need to support that and not depend on Mississippi and Arkansas.

Are we shocked by Biden's criminal behavior?

4.8 million noncitizens have been given Social Security numbers since fiscal year 2021 and Doge.com has identified 20 million deceased individuals marked alive in the Social Security database according to Elon Musk. They were looking for fraud and theft and instead found the Democrat Party attempting to take over the country by importing desperate people and gangsters. Musk was shocked. I wasn't.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/millions-of-noncitizens-received-ssns-and-some-even-voted-musk

My idea on how to save the Democrat Party

I have an idea about how to save the Democrat party. It's not original--I thought of it watching Kristi Noem's commercials. She's the former Governor of South Dakota and current Secretary of Homeland Security. Have a handsome, credible Democrat (someone as likeable as Harold Ford, Jr.) invite all the Communists and Socialists to leave the Democrat Party. That's it. Run the commercial on all Networks several times a day. Ford could be nice and not threaten to put them in a prison for thugs, even if they deserve it. They could either join the celebs who've gone to Ireland or Mexico, or they could start their own party and be open about who they are. That would leave the liberals to develop some ideas that don't include destroying the country or using all the Soviet style show trials.

Almond flour pastry

On the 26th I wrote about the low glycemic index of almond flour. Although I bought finely ground for my experiment, it's like eating bran. I guess you need the finely ground without the testa or skin. This sticks to your teeth for hours.

California is the largest grower of almonds which were developed in Asia and have been harvested since antiquity. In California, the shaker machine to knock the almonds off the trees is followed by a picker-upper machine that collects the fallen fruits. You would think an agricultural crop this ancient could find a better word than "picker-upper."

Almond hulls and almond by-products | Feedipedia

Signal chat-gate--adding a leftist editor by mistake

Recently I was added by mistake to a chat group of relatives discussing the next family reunion. Except I wasn't part of the clan, nor could I figure out how or why I was added. Not all names are readable, and some people use nicknames, or a collection of letters. I finally figured out the person was the wife of a step cousin, and I'd never met her. Probably she added contacts to her phone from her husband's phone and to my knowledge he and I had only met once years ago and I never saw him again. It may have been at the wedding that made us shirt tail cousins. My name has probably been shared through "reply all" to set up the next reunion.

Someone asks, if you realize you've been mistakenly added to a chat group, when would you mention it. Especially if it involved a sensitive matter, like war. Yes, let's put the responsibility on the Editor Jeffrey Goldberg of Atlantic. Would he be ethical enough to delete himself from the group, or would he use it against the man he hates? Obviously, he'll side with hate. He didn't speak out to my knowledge or object to having a man with dementia running the war effort in the last administration, and every enemy of the U.S. saw that daily on the TV. In fact, two wars were started and thousands have died because Biden showed the world what was wrong with him.

Goldberg not commenting on relationship with Mike Waltz after Signal chat leak

Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at The Ohio State University

Here in Columbus, Ohio, at The Ohio State University we now have the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society. The new center was funded as part of a $24 million allocation for intellectual diversity centers in Ohio Senate Bill 117. I sincerely hope it can balance the DEI ideology with intellectual diversity. Today the Columbus Dispatch (Democrat controlled) contained an article about the first event on March 25. The co-sponsors were The Center for Ethics and Human Values, the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. Four other Ohio universities have these centers, but I'm not sure they all have the Chase name.

The article states that confidence in higher education in America has slumped in recent years. It's my personal opinion that the Obama and Biden administrations (12 years) has contributed to this,
"A Gallup poll published in July 2024 found that Americans are nearly equally divided on their confidence levels in higher education. Those who have a lot of confidence in higher education, about 36%, just barely outweigh those who have some confidence (32%) and those with little or no confidence (32%) in higher education. That is in stark contrast to when Gallup first measured confidence in higher education in 2015, when 57% had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence and only 10% had little or none."

And one of those reasons for the falling confidence was not in the article but in the advertisement that popped up in the middle of the digital version. Maybe the Dispatch and Ohio State had no control over the LGBTQ ad for transition and affirmative care to change the physical appearance of those with gender dysphoria at Cleveland's University Hospital. I scrolled through it and in the small print it said it's for over 18 (that's still high school), but I'm sure that is a soft landing and there are many "farm clubs" contributing to its customer base. Another reason for low confidence is the funding all universities accept to "educate" foreign students. We're seeing that play out now with Trump trying to deport a professional trouble maker.

The Johns Hopkins president was concerned about the "drift to authoritarianism" and a number of students led a protest and wanted OSU President Carter to join them.

 
And we're off to the races to turn this Center to the Left. That's what has happened to so many foundations and NGO's funded by conservatives and patriots.

I used to blog about Lily and her treatment

 I loved reading this story about Lily and Lily's Garden.  She's now 23, and I blogged about her childhood cancer and her relapse years ago because I met her grandparents and aunt when I began blogging in 2003. 

https://issuu.com/vanderbilt-ingram/docs/vicc_momentum_winter_2025/s/66101244?

Collecting My Thoughts: Lily’s Leukemia battle

Collecting My Thoughts: Larisa’s report on Lily’s Leukemia

Collecting My Thoughts: Update from Larisa on Lily’s leukemia

Collecting My Thoughts: An update on Lily, Leukemia survivor, from her mother

Collecting My Thoughts: Childhood cancer--a grandmother's guest blog

Who was the first president of the United States?

Have you ever listened to the spring break interviews on civics or history? Jesse Watters on Fox has a side kick named Johnny, and I think that's how he started when he worked with Bill O'Reilly. He asks the questions of the man on the street, or on the beach. They would be hilarious if they weren't so scary. My hope is they ask a thousand intelligent students before they find dumb and dumber ones to show on TV. If they don't know who the first president of the U.S.* was or what country we defeated in the Revolutionary War, why should they understand what a tariff is? Or what Elon Musk is doing to keep their future safe? It's so scary to think the Democrats will recruit them to vote but refuse to educate them.

*Before we were the United States we had a Continental Congress and it had a President, Peyton Randolph, so technically you could call him first. But there were others, even though the office was very different then.  The 14 Men Who Were President Before George Washington.  Other sources say there were 6 and since some served more than once they don't get counted twice.

Almond flour pie crusts and other recipies

 Easy Low Carb Diabetic Almond Flour Crust - The Naked Diabetic

"Extra Fine Ground Almond Flour – This type of almond flour works best for recipes calling for sifting. When you want a more packed crust, always choose the finest grind available. Extra Finely ground almond flour is ideal for pie crusts and crusts that you want to cover the sides of a pie plate. The finest grinds also work better in cake and bar recipes,."

20 Best Low Carb Almond flour recipes for diabetics

"Living with diabetes doesn’t mean giving up delicious foods. With the right ingredients and recipes, you can still enjoy mouthwatering meals while managing your blood sugar levels. Almond flour is one such diabetic-friendly ingredient. In this article, we’ll explore 20 of my favourite almond flour recipes all crafted with diabetes management in mind. . . 

Almond flour or almond meal and ground almonds, is rich in healthy fats, protein, essential nutrients and fibre. Unlike refined white all purpose flour, almond flour has a lower glycemic index, meaning it doesn’t cause spikes in blood sugar levels. Making almond flour a great option for those watching their carbohydrate intake."

The lonely letter c

I did it again. I was looking at a dictionary and my eyes found the page no one ever reads--the list of how to pronounce English. There were 10 selections for "a" (although it didn't list Aaron) and none for "c" which has no sound of its own. It showed K and S and sh (-cion). It's why English has about a million words--the sun never set on the Union Jack. And this was an American list--probably if the editors had tossed in Canada, India, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand and Australia they would have needed a few pages for "a"; but still nothing for "c".

Ashley Mason and sleep routines

After I experienced sleep/back problems yesterday I opened the podcast by Peter Attia and it was advice about sleep hygiene. "In this episode, Ashley Mason provides a masterclass on cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), detailing techniques like time in bed restriction, stimulus control, and cognitive restructuring to improve sleep. She explains how to manage racing thoughts and anxiety, optimize sleep environments, and use practical tools like sleep diaries to track progress. She also offers detailed guidance on sleep hygiene, explores the impact of temperature regulation, blue light exposure, and bedtime routines." We learned a lot and refreshed our memories on things we knew but weren't doing, 

The Peter Attia Drive: #341 - Overcoming insomnia: improving sleep hygiene and treating disordered sleep with cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia | Ashley Mason, Ph.D.

One thing she mentioned was don't listen to podcasts in bed--oops! (or watch TV or read a book or read e-mail) Last night we stayed up until 11 and finished watching Chip and Joanna redecorate a hotel before going to bed.

Apricot pastry bites

I think it's been about 10 years since I "gave up" anything for Lent, but this year I did think I could be sugar free. About 2 weeks after Ash Wednesday I was sort of hankering for something sweet, and a friend brought over a wonderful pie. I resisted (mostly, except for a sliver). But then I made a pastry bite--I like pies more than cookies or cake. I made the crust, cut it out with grandma's pastry cutter, and after baking it, I put a dollop of "Simply Fruit" jam on it. Tasted pretty good. Next time I'll make the crust thicker and maybe larger (comes in a set of 3) because I make a flaky crust, and it was hard to handle. Notice from the photo I had to eat a few to make sure they were OK. Apricot.

 

Harold Ford, Jr. on Fox News

Although I've never met him, I just love Harold Ford, Jr. He seems to be the only Democrat who has common sense, compassion and calmness. He's never said he likes Trump, but he did say he's the most powerful president of his lifetime. He is an African American who is one of the "liberals" on the Fox panel at 5 p.m., The Five. He now lives in New York but for years was a representative from Tennessee, as was his father. But I noticed today as he was interviewed about Schumer that reasonable Democrats do sound like fence sitters or maybe passive aggressive. What do you think? Do you like him too?