As noted by CNN, the Trump administration’s deactivation of the website tracking climatic-related disasters has been partially alleviated by Climate Central‘s initiative.
Note: In 2025$ (deflated by CPI). Source: ClimateCentral.org
Note that 2025 is registering far ahead of previous years so far.
Gotta wonder what other data the Administration is happy to “deep six”.
See here for last post on this subject, before the Administration terminated the NOAA website.
Off topic – No lo ger jist the facade. Looks like most of the East Wing is gone.
If I were writing a novel about the end if democracy, I might use the destruction of the Capitol as a metaphor. But obviously, that’s not what’s happening in reality, so we’re good, right?
The White House? Let’s see… In my novel, I might has a president build some structure that is a monument to himself. Maybe something that reflects the biography of the president; maybe a large, garish building devoted to entertainmet, a place where his enablers would gather to revel in his power. In the process, he’d tear down something that had stood a long time, part of the tradition that was coming to and end.
That’s how I’d write it, anyway.
It’s not just the east wing of the WH. Have you noticed what he’s done with the Oval Office and that (once) beautiful fireplace where presidents would entertain visitors and talk with the press? He’s gilded the lily. Goldleaf all over the place and some hideous gold thing in front of the fireplace. Absolutely garish. Vulgar, cretin tastes. It makes the place look like something Putin would love to live in. Next it will be doors that are 20 feet high.
since the new ballroom will be funded by personal donations, no worries for when the next president sends in his demolition team. no government funds wasted. I will vote for the next president who cleans up the place.
White House says that demolishing the entire East Wing is routine modifications because Obama once had a basketball hoop installed on the edge of the tennis court.
Off topic – narco-terrorism as an excuse for state-sponsored terrorism:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10/22/us/trump-news#trump-drug-boat-strike-colombia
Along with Venezuela and the Caribbean, it’s now also Colombia and the Pacific.
The first time the felon-in-chief murdered Colombian sailors was in the Caribbean, so it could have been meant for Venezuelans. Venezuela doesn’t have a Pacific coast, so now it’s clear this is an escalation to include Colombia.
Peobably not coincidentally, there is an effort underway to link Petro to Venezuela’s Maduro:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/alliance-us-dismantled-leftist-petro-100001154.html
So maybe regime change is the new black is Latin America. In response, Colombian President Petro has turned the tables, suggesting regime change in the U.S.
Petro is a “leftie” in the sense that he opposes right-wing paramilitaries and their political influence in Colombia. He and the felon-in-chief are having a spat, naturally, since right-wing paramilitaries are the sort of people the felon admires.
Murdering Colombians is what we do, along with tearing down the White House ’cause it’s a dump.
Talk about data suppression. Remember when folks said private data sources could replace government data. It seems they can just stop providing data whenever they want.
“The payroll company ADP appears to have cut off the delivery of timely data encompassing 20 percent of all payrolls, which Fed governor Christopher Waller disclosed in an August speech. ADP and the Fed would not comment on the matter, but sources tell the Prospect that ADP was unhappy with the disclosure.”
Waller is a Trump appointee and considered a candidate for the next Fed chair.
I read with interest the Econofact on The US Ag Sector Under Stress – https://econofact.org/the-u-s-agricultural-sector-under-stress In particular – this “If government support is taken into account, overall farm net income is forecast to increase in 2025. But this is largely due to additional disaster relief authorized by Congress to compensate for losses due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024. The farm sector is showing signs of stress.” There is no planning for Climate Change extreme weather events and their impacts on U.S. agriculture by the Trump admin and in addition – they have eliminated all the Biden admin substantial efforts for conservation and sustainability of U.S. agriculture and preparing for climate change.
Quid Pro Zhao:
Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the convicted founder of the crypto currency exchange Binance, following months of efforts by Zhao to boost Trump’s own crypto company.
Expect EO any day now mandating all government transactions be in Trump crypto and be processed via paypal with only a 10% “convenience” fee.
Off-topic:
The new US sanctions on Russia are largely meaningless. They only sanction US companies and individuals that do business with the two Russian companies, and there are almost none of those anyway. When it comes to foreign companies and individuals…
“Violations of U.S. sanctions may result in the imposition of civil or criminal penalties on U.S. and foreign persons. OFAC may impose civil penalties for sanctions violations on a strict liability basis. ”
and
“In addition, foreign financial institutions that conduct or facilitate significant transactions or provide any service involving Russia’s military-industrial base, including any persons blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024, run the risk of being sanctioned by OFAC”
“May” and “run the risk of” being the key phrases.
The secondary sanctions – the ones on firms that actively trade with the two Russian companies – *might* come into effect as early as Nov. 21, not before, which of course means “buy all the Russian oil you can now while figuring out how to evade the sanctions through shell companies etc. and kissing up to Trump so they won’t happen anyway.”