Why Oh Why?

Is the Trump adminstration collecting information from ER records? Could it possible be to go after immigrants?

Trump administration demands hospitals share emergency room records

CNN

By Amanda Seitz, Maia Rosenfeld and Darius Tahir

Jul 27, 2026

A tiny federal agency tasked with protecting the public from injuries caused by lawn mowers and coffeemakers is demanding that some of the nation’s biggest health systems turn over detailed, personally identifiable medical records of all patients who seek help at their emergency rooms.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, responsible for tracking and issuing recalls of dangerous products sold in the U.S., began discreetly pressuring hospital executives this year to share personally identifiable health data with a private contractor. But hospital lawyers and other industry experts have questioned the agency’s authority to collect, its ability to safeguard such a swath of sensitive information, and whether it has followed the legal process to overhaul its surveillance system.

After KFF Health News asked the CPSC about the new system, the agency announced the program on July 21. Left unmentioned, however, is the alarm it has raised among hospital executives, as well as the nature and extent of the agency’s data demands.

What possible reason does an agency tasked with product safety want with your name, address, and social security number?

Trump administration to upgrade national consumer product injury database

The revamped surveillance system will incorporate hospital injury data from all 50 states, allowing faster product safety recalls.

Politico

By: Kelly Hooper

07/21/2026

The Trump administration is overhauling the system for tracking consumer-product-related injuries at hospitals, implementing a standardized data exchange that will help the federal government more quickly issue product safety recalls.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, in an announcement shared first with POLITICO, said the changes to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System will bring tracking for product-related injuries into the 21st century. Starting next year, the system, which has used the same manually coded data process since 1972, will automatically pull from patients’ electronic health records to flag issues with consumer product safety in near real-time.

Once again... why do they need your personal information for product safety. Unless it is a way they want to ferret out some other data... maybe like immigrants?

Democrats demand that Trump administration halt collection of patients’ ER records

Anchorage Daily News

By Amanda Seitz, Maia Rosenfeld and Darius Tahir

Published: September 10, 2026

A group of Democratic lawmakers is calling for the Trump administration to suspend a new surveillance program it quietly launched to collect the personal and identifiable health data of Americans who visit emergency rooms.

KFF Health News first reported that the Consumer Product Safety Commission — a federal agency tasked with monitoring injuries from household items — was pressuring hospitals to provide a private company with personally identifiable health information for analysis. The rollout of the program has inspired broad pushback from hospitals and privacy advocates.

This is what authoritarian governments do build databases on its citizens. 

Visions

The elections are less than a month away, and it is time to ask ourselves a very basic question: Is this the United States you envision for your country? Do you feel proud to say, “I’m an American,” or is there a persistent voice in the back of your mind whispering, “But… but…”?

We stood up in school each morning, and the promise was pounded into our heads: “liberty and justice for all” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

But then we found out “liberty and justice for all” wasn't true. We saw it on the evening news: Black people sitting at lunch counters, demanding their rights. And the people said, “Enough,” and passed nondiscrimination laws. That was their vision of America.

Now we have a government claiming those nondiscrimination laws are unconstitutional. A government telling us it is okay to suppress the Black vote as long as you don’t explicitly say that’s the reason. That it is okay to step between you and your doctor as long as they claim, “It’s to save the children!” That it is okay to round up people who don’t look like they belong and deny them their constitutional rights as long as it's disguised as targeting illegal immigration.

It is time to say, “Enough.”

Stormtrooper-clad paramilitary forces yanking people off the streets simply because they look like foreigners. Stormtrooper-clad paramilitary forces bashing the heads of peaceful protesters, while high government officials lie about it right as we watch it with our own eyes.

We have seen images like these before.

We saw them in photographs from the Jim Crow South here in America during the 1950s and ’60s.

We saw them in photographs from Germany in the 1930s. Different countries. Different circumstances. Different histories. But the images carry a universal warning: What happens when a government begins treating some people as less deserving of rights than others?

It is time to say, “Enough” this November.

Which party cares about working people and making sure they have food on the table, while the other tries to trade away parts of Yosemite National Park to build a road to million-dollar private condos? Is this your vision of our country? It is time to stop enabling policies that line the pockets of oligarchs.

Is this the America you envision?

It is time to say, “Enough,” and vote Blue.

Sat 9

Saturday 9: Eastbound and Down (1977)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…

 

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This week's song was featured in the movie Smokey and the Bandit, the surprise box office hit of 1977. Have you seen it?

Yeah, and I never liked it.

2) Though not well received by critics, Smokey and the Bandit had one very famous fan: Alfred Hitchcock. The classic film director enjoyed re-watching the movie on video at home, often while having dinner. Do you ever watch TV with your meal?

All the time! Mainly the news… or a western. The Lone Ranger ride again!

3) Jerry Reed not only wrote and performed the movie's theme, he appeared in the movie as truck driver Cledus "Snowman" Snow. Have you ever driven, or ridden in, a big rig?

YES! YES!

Back in my high school summer job (Do they even have those now-a-days?) I worked in a warehouse. The factory was about five miles away. So we loaded the “Big Rig” and that day I have my brother’s MGB. The driver said “Kid you drive a standard?” You want to drive the “Big Rig” over to the factory? And of course I didn’t say no.

4) He sings, "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there." Have you recently felt rushed?

All the time

5) Director Hal Needham asked Jerry Reed for a song that explained the plot of the movie. He wrote this overnight and always considered it a happy accident. Can you think of a time when something turned out better than you expected?

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Instead of wrapping up ham and chicken, I sliced the chicken in half instead of butterflying it. In a 16oz. Rankin I place the one half of the flatten chicken breast, then the ham steak, Swiss cheese and then the other half of the breast. Plastered a little mayo on top and sprinkled Panko bread crumbs on top. Voilà! It came out so moist! 

6) Reed was born in Atlanta and, coincidentally, he mentions Atlanta in the lyrics. Has your hometown been immortalized in song?

Nope!

7) Jerry met Priscilla Mitchell at Capitol Records, where Jerry was a session musician and Priscilla was backup singer. Though she was only 18 when they wed, it seems their union was a happy one and they were together until his death almost 50 years later. If a newly engaged 18-year-old asked you for advice, what would you say?

Don’t ever lie!

8) In 1977, when "Eastbound and Down" was on the radio, nostalgia for the 1950s topped the TV ratings. The two most popular shows that year were Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. If you magically transported back to the 1950s, what do you think you'd like about it? What do you think you'd miss about your life in 2026?

Well knowing what going to happen in the future “Plastics”

What would in miss? Having all the worlds knowledge at your fingertips and word processors! Do you know how many hours I spent at the card files and in “The stacks” at college?

9) Random question: Were you ever afraid of monsters in your closet or under your bed?

Yeah… a real monster slept on the lower bunk… my brother!

 

---

 

I'm still here in CT... life conspired to keep me here... just little things to putting the drive tot he Cape off. Plus a good dose of procrastination.

 

Also last weekend's Nor'easter had a part in the delay. The outer Cape got hammered with gale force winds.

 

Here is a photo on my backyard in CT that I posted on Facebook.

 

 Updated: 12:30PM

Oh, the hooks. I use them to hang hurricane lanterns with citronella lamp oil. As you can guess I get a lot of biting insects from the swamp wetlands when I am having cookout.

Breaking News: Inquiring Minds Want To Know...

… The Russian connection?

Do you remember the wedding that was financed in part by someone from the Kremlin inner circle?

Do you know the steel mill coming to Iowa is financed in part by someone from the Kremlin inner circle?

Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it!

Republican senator calls for probe of Trump Jr. after wedding party bankrolled by Russian oligarch

AP News

By — Joey Cappelletti, & Mary Clare Jalonick

Sep 22, 2026

Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah is calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Donald Trump Jr. used his proximity to the presidency for financial benefit, after his recent wedding party was partially bankrolled by a Russian oligarch.

In a letter sent Tuesday, Curtis called on the committee to subpoena Trump Jr. over his business dealings, relationships with foreign individuals and entities, gifts or other benefits he has received and any instances in which his relationship to President Donald Trump, a Republican, "was invoked or understood to provide value." Curtis called for the same scrutiny of Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

"The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president," Curtis wrote in the letter addressed to GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the committee, and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee.

Then we have the mill in Iowa… it also has a Kremlin connection!

Indian firm building $15bn Trump-announced steel mill has deep Russia ties

Russian cash helped Essar, the firm behind the steel factory, manage major debts. Now the group is investing in the US.
Al Jazeera

By Yashraj Sharma and Charu Sudan Kasturi

29 Sep 2026

As United States President Donald Trump announced a $15bn steel megaplant while seated at his Oval Office desk on Monday, he had a lineup of mostly US politicians standing behind him – from cabinet members to elected representatives from Iowa, where the mill is to be built. There was one exception: an Indian man with a receding hairline and a lilac pocket handkerchief, standing behind the US president’s right shoulder.

Ravi Ruia is a cofounder of the Essar Group, which owns Mesabi Metallics, the Minnesota-based firm that is building the steel mill, expected to be the US’s largest. A decade earlier, in October 2016, his brother Shashi was in the photo frame with a different president during the signing of another major deal: Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Curiouser & curiouser.

I’m not the only one to wonder about this…  a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability released this is from last May…

Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, demanded answers after new reporting revealed that Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, who has close ties to Vladimir Putin, spent hundreds of thousands bankrolling Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding earlier this year. Oversight Democrats opened an investigation into the payments with letters to the White House and Donald Trump Jr.

“A Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin spent hundreds of thousands of dollars bankrolling Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding. It’s baffling that the son of a President would even think about allowing a Russian oligarch to bankroll his wedding. Is this why President Trump skipped his son’s wedding? Oversight Democrats are investigating and demanding answers immediately,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.

In the letter to Donald Trump Jr., Ranking Member Robert Garcia wrote, “Oversight Democrats are investigating the numerous ways in which you have sought to enrich yourself and your family on the basis of your proximity to President Donald Trump. However, your ties to your self-described “dear friend” Mr. Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch responsible for bankrolling your May 24, 2026, wedding celebrations in the Bahamas, may be the most serious allegation against you to date. As the son of President Donald Trump and the part-owner and major investor of multiple companies with extensive Department of Defense contracts, your praise of such an “extraordinarily generous wedding gift” from a member of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s inner circle raises serious questions about pay-to-play schemes and foreign intelligence infiltration of the President’s family. I request you immediately preserve all records, documents, and communications concerning your relationship to Mr. Kremlev, including any communications with the White House regarding financing or attendance at your wedding celebrations.”

Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it!

Using Religion To Justify Hate.

[Editorial]

I am non-denominational… I believe in God but not in anyone religion.

Mainstream religion is not the problem… it is the radical that are the problem. If you look around the world all the religions of the world has for their beliefs the “Golden Rule” which basically says to treat people as you want to be treated.

But it the extremists that cause the problems. Here in the US it is the evangelicals who practice… the fire and brimstone religion and preach hate of "others".

It is the conservative religions the in the US that is the problem here. And the courts are backing their “religious freedom,” the courts gave them a blank check to discriminate. The cake shop in Colorado said the magic words… “it is against my religion!”

It is those magic words that allow people to discriminate against us, there is no way to counter it, no way to prove that it isn’t.

But they courts have put limits on “religious freedom” they don’t allow human sacrifice. They don’t allow drugs. They don’t allow bigamy. So saying it is okay to discriminate against us… is bull!

The thing is many conservatives think being LGBTQ+ is a choice. They totally ignore all the medical research calling propaganda!

But we are only the tip of the iceberg!

Take a look at JD Vance and Peter Hegseth. They are both far-right Christians Hegseth has even gone so far at to tattoo himself in Crusader’s symbols.

The far-right Christians believe a wife should not work (Hint: Hegseth’s firing of women generals and not promoting women officers).

They are against divorce.

Of course we know their position on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.

We have seen cases where they claim religious discrimination because they had to work on their holy day even though they knew it was a requirement.

So what would I change?

Nothing!

What?

In the past, there were several tests used by the Supreme Court to determine whether a law improperly burdened or discriminated against religion.…

The Sherbert test:

In Sherbert v. Verner (1963), the Court developed a test for laws that substantially burden someone's religious practice. The basic approach was:

    • Does the law substantially burden the person's religious exercise?

    • If so, does the government have a compelling interest for imposing that burden?

    • Is the law using the least restrictive means of achieving that interest?

The Lemon test asked whether:

    • The law had a secular purpose;

    • Its primary effect neither advanced nor inhibited religion; and

    • It avoided excessive government entanglement with religion.

But Trump’s court toss those tests out! The Supreme Court abandoned the Lemon framework in 2022 and adopted their own test.

I would go back to the Lemon and Sherbert tests.

If a religious sect want a court for their disciples… fine. But secular law prevails and there can be no double jeopardy between the religious and secular courts. In other words if a person murder a LGBTQ+ person and they trial him in religious court and the court finds him innocent because of their sect’s belief. That cannot stop a secular courts trying him on murder. Lastly, a religious court can not prosecute a non-believer.

Religious freedom means the government shouldn't tell you what to believe or unnecessarily interfere with your religious practice. It doesn't mean your religious beliefs automatically determine what everyone else must do.

[/Editorial] 

Facts:

Fact: The strategic military weapon reserves has been depleted.

Fact: The notional strategic oil reserves are being pumped.

Fact: Now the strategic diesel reserves are being pumped.

U.S. and Allies Agree to Release Diesel Reserves as Prices Soar

The Group of 7, which includes Britain, France and Japan, announced the release of 100 million barrels over four months, effective immediately.

The New York Times

By Lisa Friedman and Rebecca F. Elliott

Oct. 2, 2026

The world’s wealthiest industrial nations agreed on Friday to release diesel from their reserve stockpiles to help ease a growing crisis over record-high prices driven mostly by the war in Iran.

Under the plan, the Group of 7 nations — the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Britain and Canada — will release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude from their strategic stockpiles over the coming four months. That is equivalent to around one day’s worth of global oil demand. The effort will be coordinated by the International Energy Agency.

Calling the plan “decisive, coordinated measures to stabilize immediate energy supplies” and curb price spikes, the Group of 7 nations said in a statement that they also will make a “substantial” release of diesel within 20 days.

Tell me... as war carries on and on and on, and the reserves are all use dup... then what?

Disabilities

It is almost like he doesn't want to see any disabled people! Why else would he cut funding and remove anything about the disabled?

Trump administration reverses stance on integration of people with disabilities

NPR | By Jonaki Mehta

Published October 1, 2026

For nearly 50 years, the federal government has said people with disabilities should live, work and learn in the most integrated setting possible rather than be segregated in institutions like nursing homes.

The Trump administration just took its most concrete step yet to reverse that position.

Last week, a federal judge agreed to strip out mentions of "integration" from federal regulations tied to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, a landmark civil rights law that prohibits disability discrimination. The judge did so after the Justice Department declined to defend its own rules in a lawsuit brought by several states challenging the legality of those rules.

Part of what is so striking about Texas v. Kennedy is that the federal government was originally the defendant in that lawsuit, brought by states fighting what's known as the integration mandate. Then, it switched sides and agreed with the states that the requirement should be undone.

It is almost like he can't stand looking at a person in a wheelchair!

The court's decision removes regulations from Section 504 that explicitly required federally funded programs to provide services in the "most integrated setting."

"That lack of clarity will impact people's rights. It will likely impact what states do and how they behave," says Jennifer Mathis, a disability rights lawyer who helps lead the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.

That all changed with Trump!

In recent months, the federal government, under President Donald Trump, began to publicly change its position: First, in June, the Justice Department issued an opinion saying it no longer interpreted disability law to "require states to treat mentally disabled patients in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs." The memo even noted its position is "out of step with the common understanding" of the Olmstead decision.

Then in July, the Justice Department announced it would stop relying on its own longstanding guidance explaining how it enforces the integration mandate.

Out of sight... out of mind.

As CDC redesigns annual health survey, it removes questions about disabilities

Changes could result in undercounting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities

STAT News

By O. Rose Broderick

Oct. 1, 2026

A proposed redesign of the federal government’s annual health survey would result in significant undercounting of Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to advocates for the vulnerable population.

The National Health Interview Survey has historically undercounted people with disabilities, but the changes are a “head-scratcher,” said Katy Neas, CEO of The Arc, an advocacy group. “If we don’t have the government as a trusted source of data, asking questions about real people and what their real experiences are, we’re never going to get better [health outcomes],” she said.

[...]

“It just feels like there’s one hit after another [from the Trump administration] and this particular hit would make it so that we know less about who is disabled in America and what their experiences are, and therefore we don’t have to worry about providing programs or supports for them,” said Jean Hall, disability scholar and professor emerita at the University of Kansas.

The PilieroMazza law firm writes;

Effective September 21, 2026, a final rule adopted by the United States Department of Labor (DOL)’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) will eliminate several compliance requirements under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 503). This follows a pattern of recent final rules issued by the OFCCP signaling the dismantling of protections afforded to minorities, women, and now, individuals with disabilities.

Self-Identification for Individuals with Disabilities Is No Longer Required

Takeaway: Federal contractors should remove Form CC-305 from their application packages and employee paperwork and should no longer require that applicants or employees self-identify their disability status.

OFCCP’s 7% Utilization Goal for Individuals with Disabilities is Eliminated

Takeaway: Federal contractors should no longer conduct a utilization analysis related to individuals with disabilities with the purpose of determining if they have hit the 7% utilization goal.

Other takeaways were...

Takeaway: Federal contractors should no longer document, collect, and maintain the following data:

The number of applicants who self-identified as individuals with disabilities;

The total number of job openings and jobs filled;

The total number of applicants;

The number of applicants with disabilities hired; and

The total number of applicants hired.

Regarding Trump's monstrosity, the Ballroom, it is not known if it had building code inspections and if it meets the codes for accessibility. We do know that that ballroom for several hundred people only had seven stalls for women! There is nothing known about whether any of them were accessible/ADA-compliant stalls.

Trump only wants to surround himself with beautiful people.

Nobody in wheelchairs.

No Blacks.

No Hispanics.

No flaming gays.

No trans people.

Only beautiful people!