1. I feel I need to explain in detail how a Bill becomes a Law in the United States. Since a lot of people think now that the Senate passed the Big Beautiful (more like Butt-Ugly) Bill - it will now go to the House and voila, signed into Law. Uh, no, this is not how it works, folks.

But wait, another lawyer did it for me! To the tune of I'm only a Bill, just a little old bill...via School House Rock, which oversimplified it.

How A Bill Becomes a Law by Anne P. Mitchell

First and foremost: In order for a bill to be sent to the president to be signed into law the House and the Senate MUST pass *identical* versions of the bill!  This is what we are seeing happen right now with the budget bill, the House originally passed their version and sent it to the Senate. The Senate made massive changes to it, then voted on that changed version just now, so now it goes back to the House. If the House makes ANY changes, then it goes back to the Senate for them to either vote on or make additional changes.

( Here is How a Bill Becomes a Law )

The process gives me hope. It did have a lot gutted from it. Also the Senate added 800 billion to the national debt. Meanwhile various States are in the process of passing laws to withhold federal taxes, since the federal government is not representing them in a fair and reasonable manner.

2. What is in the Big Butt-Ugly Bill aka the Big Beautiful Bill that the Senate Passed? (Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder apparently?)

Here's What got in and What got cut from the Big Butt-Ugly Bill

It went from 1000 pages to 940 pages.

In the bill: ( what stayed in the Bill )

On the Medicaid Cuts, what got in and got cut out of the bill:
( Read more... )

What is left out of the bill or was cut:

Public land sales
( what they were trying to do and why it was cut )

Excise tax on wind and solar, State AI provisions (The Senate stripped a provision barring states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI). )

For a more precise and total breakdown? Go HERE - The link is NY Times article via remove pay wall.

This tells you exactly what the Senate removed from the bill, changed, altered and left in and why.

Note they removed everything that wasn't budgetary related and broke the rules.

Example?

Measure to limit court contempt powers

The parliamentarian rejected a measure in the bill that would have made it harder for courts to enforce lawsuits against the Trump administration. The measure targeted preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders issued by federal judges against Trump’s executive orders and other directives. MacDonough argued that limiting courts’ ability to hold Trump in contempt violates Senate rules.

Go HERE for complete list of no-gos that can't be in the Bill at all

Note, it's still a controversial bill.

3. Want a way to help either in the US or out of the US?

We The People Defend provides information on how.

It's a non-profit site that provides emails with contact information, and instructions on how to go about contacting Senators, White House, Congress, Etc.

You don't have to do everything or anything at all. There's no pressure. But it helps explain how the law works and how to help change what is going on in a pro-active way.

So far, folks have managed to change a lot of things by doing this, so it is working.

If however, you are too pissed off like myself to rationally call and explain in a calm manner, you might want to hang back for a bit or do something else?

4. [ETA: Folks? Be mindful of my blood pressure and please knock off the defeatist talk or keep it out of my journal. I get we're all worried, scared and angry. But it does nobody any good, including you. And I honestly have enough troubles sleeping as it is. I'm on medication for anxiety. So be mindful and keep it to yourselves?]

Actually, Jay Kuo states all of this better than I can - so I'm reposting his words below:

"Folks, some real talk.
( Read more... )

What he said.

1. Macs are not the best when it comes to saving files or organizing electronic files, or finding them later. PC's are better for that as is Windows Operating system. But Macs have less viruses and last longer.

I have both - Mac laptop at home, PC desktop at work. I flirt with getting another PC desktop for home, but I like the Mac virus protection better for home use and firewall. However, I need to get a new Mac and I don't want to. They are expensive.

2. Been fighting a sick headache all day long, no idea what is causing it. High blood pressure? (I took it - it's high, so took the diuretic which makes me woozy to bring it down). The weather? Blood sugar? Menopause? God knows. [ETA: It's better now - combination of headache (a generic excedrin), benedryl, and blood pressure diuretic, plus water, and a brownie. Seems to have done the trick.]

Also got off the computer and watched Poker Face on Peacock instead. Poker Face is basically Rian Johnson's take on Columbo, with Natasha Lyon playing the detective. ( Read more... )

I recommend for anyone who likes episodic detective stories, with a parlor room mystery style. Also Natasha Lyon. It's currently on Peacock in the US.

3. I think I figured out why I hate conflict and arguing with folks online or off - it's because it brings out the worst in me? I don't like hurting people. Or tit for tat. I don't like getting condescending. Or cursing. Or fighting. It makes me physically ill. It raises my blood pressure. It tightens my chest cavity. And it causes anxiety.

Some people get off on it, I think? But I never have. It's why I realized I couldn't be a litigator - I didn't like fighting with people. And negotiations often fell in that category as well. I don't like arguments.
I never have.

Every time it happens - my hands shake so badly, I can't type. I lose sleep. And I feel ill. I'm a writer not a debater. It's probably why I didn't become a practicing attorney. I know how to debate - but I hate doing it.

4. Meant to work on my novel this weekend - sent the info to myself and everything, but alas, I just couldn't. No bandwidth capacity - me, not the computer. Frustrating, that. At this rate - it will never be completed, or so it seems. I have all these ideas, but no physical bandwidth to get them out and in writing.

In other writing related news? I got a positive comment on a Buffy fanfic (No Regrets") that I wrote ages ago, and posted on Ao3, I didn't respond back. I learned my lesson with Ao3, don't respond to comments (positive or negative) or add any new posts - or they will find me and attack me with emails about freezing my account and taking down my stuff and how I'm not following some arcane and incredibly difficult to understand rule or other. Much better to stay quiet. But it was a nice comment.

"That was a very profound read, really interesting in depth look at what becoming human might mean for Spike into Will.
Also seeing Buffy's own thoughts on the changes in her life
I like the way that you ended it, no neat bow, but with perhaps a friendship to continue and a bit of a nostalgic laugh also."

I still get kudos from that page from time to time, which makes me think maybe I'm touching people with my writing in a good way? That I'm reaching folks that I've never met and somehow making their lives a little better, or giving them something to connect to, or making them think a little bit differently about something? I think that's all any of us want to do sometimes, is just find a way to connect with one another, and obtain a positive emotional response? To share the love? And to some degree the pain - at least to the point in which it makes us feel less alone, and connected to something bigger? To know there's someone else somewhere out there wherever they may be that feels the same way we do about this?

Life can feel very lonely at times. ( Read more... )

I think art and culture often connects us - in a good way. Television shows, music, concerts, live theater, movies, books, readings, dance, and sporting events. A way to come together and discuss things that bring us joy. But all of that can also divide. Humans are complicated organisms after all.

5. I watched some television shows.

Finished The Bear S4. The Bear does for restaurants what The Pitt does for the ER, except it has more family interaction and really delves into the individual characters deeply. Also has quite the cast - three to four members of it - have taken off since the series aired. And multiple members have gotten Emmys. Season 4, unlike the previous seasons, is really comforting and provides a sense of closure for multiple character arcs - each of the characters manages to resolve the main issue plaguing them since the beginning of the series. I may re-watch it from the beginning in July. It's not long. Just 10 episodes per season. First season had 8. And each episode is about 30 minutes. They aren't long episodes. But jam packed with information and character development.

Shows how much you can do in a short period of time.

( Read more... )

Andor - is unfortunately not as good. And I love science fiction and Star Wars (it was my first real fandom, well next to the Monkeys at any rate, and Batman and Robin, which I'm not completely sure counts). It is a different genre. But it is, alas, far too political for its own good - and a lot of time is wasted on plot mechanics, with the characters getting a bit lost in the shuffle. ( Read more... )

It's on Disney + in the US, and I don't recommend if you have brain fog, are depressed by the current political situation (and seriously who isn't?) and not really a devoted Star Wars fan?

I'll stick with it, but I may wait a bit.

I saw this quote on Facebook from a social activist that I've been following, which stated:

"Do less of passing on your fears to people."

And I thought, if less people did this? I wouldn't have social anxiety or a lot of other anxieties for that matter - most of which have been thrust onto me by other people. People can be scary.

This quote is also apropos for the episode of Buffy that I re-watched this week, entitled (per Hulu) Gingerbread, S3 Episode 11. I think it's 11. It's not an episode that I remember fondly, and have been known to skip it on past re-watches. Mainly because it focuses on a recurring theme in horror/supernatural fiction - which is well - the witch hunt. It's been explored in a lot science fiction series as well, from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to the The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" (a classic Twilight Zone Episode). And historically with the Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust - where a group of people become scapegoats and people hunt them down and kill them as if they are demons or animals with no worth. I'm not fond of the theme - because, well, I find it frightening and incredibly frustrating, not to mention annoying, especially right now. I'd rather not think about it or watch it. Out of sight, is out of mind, right? Well unfortunately not always.

Also, I remembered Gingerbread being somewhat cliche and eye-rolling in places. (It's not. I was mistaken.)

I was surprised by how cleverly written this episode actually is, and how it manages to involve all of the main contracted cast, with the exception of Faith (who isn't a lead cast member and recurring).

It manages to take a well-known fairy tale and flips it on its head, in a way no one else has done before or since. What if the villains in the fairy tale were in reality the protagonists or victims, and they weren't what they seemed?

( spoilers for well anyone who hasn't seen the show in the last 25 years and still wants to...when do spoilers expire anyhow, probably never? )

I found this episode, like all the other episodes in s3, to date rather well - and to cross-over well into the modern age, in that we've always had this problem. And it is an universal one. People get afraid of something or someone - and feel the need to tell everyone else about it - to share this anxiety or fear. Right now it's immigrants - and the fear that the immigrants will take away their jobs, their homes, and their way of life. Irrational as this fear is, they believe it is a real threat and they must fight to make sure it doesn't happen by any means necessary.

I once had a frightening debate with a poster named peasant in my journal way back in 2017. Peasant, a Brit, was convinced that the evil immigrants were coming to take away their job, home, and everything they held dear, and they had to stop them. That the evil socialists would help the evil immigrants. Fascism was better in Peasant's view than the alternative. And Capitalism was the best approach, everyone was happier under that. Peasant was terrified of socialism. Peasant's political views scared me, not just the views themselves, mind you, which were scary in of themselves, but the fact that someone actually thought that way? That they had demonized a group of people in their head to that extent. An otherwise rational and from what I saw kind person who cared about animals, gardened, etc - felt like this? That scared me. Peasant scared me, not the immigrants. I was afraid of Peasant. And I'm not an immigrant - my ancestors came to the United States in the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s, both my parents, grand-parents, and for the most part great grandparents and great great grandparents are US Citizens. I was afraid for the immigrants, Peasant hated, and the their view that fascism was the better choice. That scared me. So badly, that I eventually blocked them from my journal.

Fear divides people and unites people - it also starts wars, and kills millions. It causes debilitating anxiety.

Peasant in attempting to pass their fears on to me, much like Joyce does to the other adults in town including Willow's mother - caused me to block them and ended our correspondence.

Another example? JK Rowlings fear of transgender has resulted in various people distancing themselves from her, and book stores no longer selling her books and removing them from their shelves. I don't see them at all in area book stores any longer. She has been deemed a lost cause, and repeals people with her hate and fear, and her attempts to pass it on to other people. Even those who agree with her, such as Musk, have attempted to reign her in on Twitter (aka X).

Passing fear on to others - may be rewarding in the short term, but it isn't in the long term. It did Joyce no favors - at the end of the episode, it is implied not shown by Buffy that Joyce has retreated to her gallery, and (potentially her booze), appalled at her actions, and her friends have disassociated themselves from her. This is shown with wry humor in the episode, but at the same time - as a kind of twisted morality lesson? Not to take things at face value, to question fears, and to try not to instigate a lynch mob.

More news on the Buffy Reboot, per Vanity Fair Interview with Gellar at a Film Festival in Italy (Seriously that actress is living the life of a multi-millionaire - I personally think they pay television actors far too much.)

"Gellar was convinced to step back into the vampire slayer’s shoes by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao, whose pitch forms the basis of the show. “For so many years, I said no to a possible return of the series,” she said. “I didn’t want to reintroduce something we had already seen. I waited for the right time to come. Then Chloé, a big Buffy fan, proposed the project to me, and I accepted. The gestation was long. It’s been three years, and we’re still working on it.” But soon filming will begin.

The star, who will be joined in the series by young actor Ryan Kiera Armstrong, revealed some details about the series as well: “It will be lighter than the last few seasons of the original. We will try to find a balance between new and old characters. My dream is to bring back everyone who has died, but space will have to be made for new stories as well.”

“One of the surprising aspects of Buffy is that it’s always been a crossover series,” Gellar added. “We’re trying to figure out how to modernize the themes of the series, especially what it means to feel like an outsider in a world dominated by social media. What we want to explore are the space-time boundaries that affect society today.”

[It was a short interview.]

From what I've been seeing from Instagram (I follow various Buffy actors), and who has reached out to Gellar, and is still friends and in contact with her - not to mention the actors seen going to fan conventions recently [no, I've never been to a fan convention - I don't do conventions - rather have a colonoscopy to be honest], together, my guess is that we will most likely see the return of the following:

Spike (Marsters is more than open to it and close with Gellar), Cordelia (Chase has a Cordelia podcast, where she watches shows as Cordelia more or less), Oz (Green has been going to Buffy conventions again), Darla, Drusilla (Landau has a rewatch Buffy podcast), Tara, Joyce, Wesley Wyndam-Price (Denisof is available and I'm certain Hannigan pitched it to Gellar), and possibly Angel (Boreanze did state on social media he would not be opposed to revisiting the character and has been attending conventions again) and Willow (Hannigan has been doing a charity thing with Gellar). It's unlikely Giles will return, but possible. I know Chase, Benze, and Landau reached out. And Gellar is suddenly openly friends with Hannigan again. Also Marsters has been losing weight, looks great, and keeps alluding to it.

Who I do not think will reappear is Xander (Brendan is persona non gratis at fan conventions (he was barred), and no one is in connection with him or wants to be, also the character did not age well, new viewers don't like him at all - basically he was cancelled just like Joss Whedon was, but for different and more severe reasons (which you, trust me, really don't want to know about - I wish I didn't - it makes it hard to watch Xander now) ), Warren (he'll stay dead), Dawn (they won't recast - if Trachenberg had lived - she'd be in it, definitely but not now, which is tragic), not sure about Jenny Calendar. Doubt we'll see anyone but Angel, Spike, Wes, and Cordy from the Angel show. Also she wants to make room for new characters.

While that's great? I've mixed feelings. Lighter tone - not sure about, Buffy worked well with a combination of light and dark, and slanting towards humorous horror.

But, she's probably right to swing away from some of the darker content in the series.

I have a feeling it may be more episodic in nature and less serial, which the series kind of became in later seasons.

The temperature dropped outside. It's now in the 70s. As Breaking Bad put it - night and day outside today.

At work, I ran into a neighbor in the lobby of my building (it's all Crazy Org).

He saw me, first. Told me this was his last day - he was retiring. (I honestly thought he was retired. He is definitely older than me.) We pass all the time in the laundry room and elevator - he lives across the hall from me with his family. He has a dog, and a neurodivergent son, who I think has either Touretts or Ausbergers?

Apparently he was a legal investigator for one of the agencies in Crazy Org since roughly 1993. I was somewhat envious - it sounded more interesting than editing legal documents and financial analysis and negotiations. I'm admittedly bored and frustrated at the moment. It's making me cranky? Well that and struggling with sleep, lingering chest congestion, and brain fog.

Below is a photo of Crazy Org today, standing tall against a gray sky.



It was bound to happen - that I'd run into a neighbor as they are retiring, considering Crazy Org employs over 75,000 New Yorkers.

I took a walk at lunch - it was mild, pleasant even, and overcast - also the last day of school in New York, apparently, so not that many tourists wandering about mucking up the works. Or many bikes for that matter.

And I saw a wild turkey in Battery City Park. Breaking Bad and I decided that the turkey probably escaped from Staten Island via the Ferry. [ETA: Where the turkey came from was/is a joke. We've no clue. We were just joking that it escaped a farm in Staten Island and came by ferry. (Which didn't happen). And since the photo is horrible - no I did not approach the wild turkey.]

( bad photo of a turkey )

Other than that the day was slow. So slow, I worked on my novel, played with spreadsheets, and played on my phone. Art History Major is off to see her family in Ohio.

***

Some good news?

The Senate Parliamentarian managed to take a hatchet to the Big Shitty Bill. Apparently you can't just add everything you like to a reconciliation bill which is meant to balance the government's budget. It's basically an accounting bill - that gets quickly passed because it's needed to balance a budget. They tried to add a bunch of stuff that had zip to do with that to the bill, which is in violation of the Senate's rules.

Parliamentarian removes medicaid cuts from Reconciliation Big Beautiful Bill

Violations Continue to Mount on Big Beautiful Bill

As one commentator aptly put it - adding the things the Republicans did to the Bill would be akin to balancing your household budget and adding a fancy new car for yourself.

For those who have raised valid concern following the Parliamentarian rulings knocking out some of the worst aspects of the GOP’s budget bill, Thune has reiterated no overruling.

***

R.I.P Bill Moyers

"Legendary journalist Bill Moyers has died at age 91. Moyers was the former White House press secretary under President Lyndon B. Johnson, and leaves behind a distinguished legacy in American journalism. Over five decades, he became known for his in-depth interviews and thoughtful documentaries on programs such as Bill Moyers Journal and Now with Bill Moyers. A champion of public broadcasting, Moyers received more than 30 Emmy Awards, nine Peabody Awards, and the National Humanities Medal for his contributions to civic discourse. Rest in peace, Bill."

1. How do we overthrow a dictatorship?

Apparently by hiring a bunch of extremely smart constitutional law attorneys and judges who can give the dictatorship just enough rope to hang itself, while at the same time protecting the rest of us. It's highly more productive than how they overthrew the Nazi's in WWII, which didn't exactly end well for anyone - it resulted in an extremely high cost of human life - which we can all agree that we do not want to repeat at any point. [Note the Star Wars approach - we do not want. Star Trek yes, Star Wars no.]

I'm following a bunch of constitutional and immigration attorneys of FB, and they are amusing me to no end, also keeping my spirits up.

My favorite is Ann P. Mitchell - whose an attorney based out in California, and is quite logical. Also, she was at one point asking people for a humane way to get rid of katydids from her garden, which further endeared her to me.

Per Mitchell:
( The Government asks a Judge to put a Stay in the Kilmer Abrego-Garcia case - to basically save the federal government from itself - since it may suffer irreparable harm completely of its own making )

That's the long one, here's the gist: A federal judge in Tennessee just denied the government’s request to keep Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia locked up while it appeals his release. Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. upheld the magistrate’s order to free Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month, while he awaits trial on human smuggling charges (fake charges cooked up by the Trump administration).

FB is finally paying me back for joining it back in 2008 to follow political issues and social justice. Who knew?

2. So, the Mayoral Primary race resulted in an upset, of sorts?

"This was supposed to be former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s fifth act, his triumphant return to New York politics after a long stint in the wilderness. Instead, New York City delivered an electoral shocker by choosing a socialist Muslim immigrant as its Democratic mayoral candidate, immediately making Zohran Mamdani the front-runner in this heavily Democratic city.

And it wasn’t even close. With 93 percent of the precincts reporting as of this morning, Mamdani leads Cuomo by over seven percentage points."

It was 44% to 38% this morning.
( commentary and concern over the evil Republican Candidate )

3. Now, I know why the heat is zapping me.

If you are on any of these medications - the heat will affect you more than most.

Heat affects everyone, but did you know some medications cause patients to have a higher intolerance to heat?

Be sure to increase hydration and decrease full exposure to sun if your medication is on the list. [I have three on the list - it's my high blood pressure medication - it means I'm intolerant to head now. Lovely.]



4. Big Beautiful Ugly Bill - the Budget Bill that the Trump Administration wants passed by July 4.

Per Anne P. Mitchell:

"Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has struck down the clause in Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' that tried to hamstring the courts from holding defendants (read as "Trump and others in his administration") in contempt. (Ironic as Trump clearly holds the courts in contempt.)
Remember when I told you that clause would never have passed constitutional muster anyways? (That's also incorporated in my pinned post.) Meaning that *had* it passed, the courts would have struck it down faster than you can say "nice try". But it's good that they won't have to deal with those shenanigans, as they already have their plates full with holding the rule of law against the onslaught that is the Trump administration.
Parliamentarian MacDonough held that the clause, along with some others, including withholding the already-approved funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the larger cuts to SNAP, violate the Byrd Rule. You see, budget reconciliation bills, such as the Big Beautiful Bill, only need a simple majority to be passed, which is *why* the BBB was introduced as a budget reconciliation bill.
BUT, the Byrd Rule says that any budget reconciliation bill must deal with, and *only* deal with, you know... *the budget*. No policy items dressed up as budgetary items allowed! Sneaking policy into a budget reconciliation bill so that the policy only needs a simple majority to be passed and enacted, rather than a 60+ vote majority of the full senate, is a no no. And so the Parliamentarian has told the Republican senators "No, no."

Senate Parlimentarian's No List - 12 Things Struck from the Big Beautiful Bill per the Hill

( excerpts )

Off to watch my soap. I'm trying to get my living room lower than 80 degrees and failing. I'm not sure if I need another A/C or if I need to get a new one. The one in the bedroom - is keeping the bedroom at whatever temperature I set it. So I may require two. But I'd rather not.

Oh well, the heat wave is breaking tomorrow. NYC is not set up for blistering heat. It's used to milder temperatures - it's like London in that respect.