Chaos is not governing
This is not Razzle dazzle it is dark destruction
I anguish each day to decide what to write about and it is not easy. The chaos that is DC and trump and musk and vance is so pervasive that we often lose track of the hidden challenges and movements from cabinets and congress. Yes, we are angry over El Salvador and the shipping of innocent Americans to their torture camps. We know about the fights with the courts and the attack on our justice system which includes reduction in FBI and CIA although we have less information about what is happening in those agencies. We see musk wearing a cheesehead and handing out hundred-dollar checks. But these actions as gross as they are also hide what else is happening.
Mine Safety and Health Administration wants to reverse the regulation that protects miners from Silica dust. OSHA still can tell us the truth (for how long?) “Breathing in very small ("respirable") crystalline silica particles, causes multiple diseases, including silicosis, an incurable lung disease that leads to disability and death. Respirable crystalline silica also causes lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and kidney disease.”
The Department of Health and Human Services intends to reverse rulings that require nursing homes to have medical staff on hand. Statista tells us – “As of 2024, there were around 1.2 million residents in nursing homes across the United States” And then we face a measle epidemic – something that we knew in the 1950’s but with the wrong Kennedy now serving the white house we don’t want vaccines and are looking for the recommendations of Galen and all the Middle Ages medical teams instead of modern medicine. Heaven forbid that we look to science instead of incantations.
And we don’t need all those people in the FAA! https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Order/3350.2C.pdf “FAA, like most organizations, experiences changes in workload, technology, consolidations, budget, and the makeup of its work force. Such changes sometimes require a decrease in the numbers of employees in certain installations or occupations. The policies and procedures set forth in this order enable the agency to accomplish work force reductions in an orderly and equitable manner and with the least possible impact.” Frances Kay Dolan. And to prove we don’t need these people Fox 4 in Dallas reports – “The Brief
There have been 32 deadly aviation crashes in the United States in 2025.
Before 2025, the most recent deadly plane crash involving a U.S. airliner was in 2009.
At least 126 people have died in the 2025 aviation crashes.”
I wrote my last essay about the attacks on the environment. Jeff Rennicke in his Substack – Little Dipper covered the impact on National Parks today. He is the director of Friends of the Apostle Islands. He responded to my note with this – “I met with the superintendent here at Apostle Islands yesterday. She is one of 142 National Park Superintendents who are getting out. That's over 25% of all our parks without someone at the helm. We've hired only 17 of the usual 32 seasonals. We are in the fight of ourl lives for our parks.” And of course that is true of the BLM, National Forests, National Monuments, Wildlife Refuges and public lands in general. They want to fire people, sell the land, drill and mine and generally undo all the efforts of all the presidents that we have had.
I do not want to make this essay too long, so here are a few facts from the New York Times:
Reductions so far ( I left off many of the departments that have not had the severe cuts yet).
U.S. Agency for International Development More than 99%
Voice of America (U.S. Agency for Global Media) More than 99%
Education 46%
Health and Human Services 24%
Energy 13%
Internal Revenue Service (Treasury) 13%
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 12%
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Commerce) 11%
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 10%
National Science Foundation 10%
“Federal agencies are facing a deadline on Monday to present their plans for another round of mass firings, the next step in the Trump administration’s drive to shrink the government that figures to further reshape a civil service that has endured tens of thousands of departures.”
Follow the headlines, but go further – learn about the various cabinet movements and the small items that impact us, but don’t make it to the front page.