Some nice features, but what an eyesore, inside and out. Though outside is a little better.

Charles Borges, the chief data officer at the Social Security Administration, resigned Friday — days after filing a whistleblower complaint about Department of Government Efficiency employees at the SSA. He said in the complaint that the DOGE employees had uploaded a copy of the entire country's Social Security information to a "vulnerable cloud environment." Borges' resignation from the SSA was confirmed by the Government Accountability Project, which is providing his legal representation. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-security-admin-chief-data-officer-resigns-after-filing-whistleblower-complaint/

Froome is a great in the cycling world. Sad this happened. Just to make this about me; I bought a mountain bike in Tucson. Read that a guy my age asked about bike crashes. He was told, "You might live." Think I will consign the bike when I get back to Tucson.

Donald Trump has revoked Secret Service protection for the former vice-president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, according to a letter obtained by CNN and confirmed to the Guardian by a senior White House official. The letter, dated on Thursday and titled “Memorandum for the Secretary of Homeland Security”, instructs the Secret Service to “discontinue any security-related procedures beyond those required by law” effective 1 September 2025. Under federal law, former vice-presidents are entitled to receive Secret Service protection for six months after leaving office. For Harris, that period ended on 21 July. However, CNN reports that her protection had been extended for an additional year under an undisclosed directive signed by then president Joe Biden before leaving office. Trump’s new directive cancels that extension. “You are hereby authorized to discontinue any security-related procedures previously authorized by Executive Memorandum, beyond those required by law, for the following individual, effective September 1, 2025: Former Vice President Kamala D. Harris,” the letter reads. The Secret Service did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/29/kamala-harris-secret-service-trump-biden

Recently started 2 1/2 men for our before bedtime fluff comedy...

Here's the whole Pew report: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/08/14/trumps-tariffs-and-one-big-beautiful-bill-face-more-opposition-than-support-as-his-job-rating-slips/

Add Mexico to the list. Mexico said Wednesday its postal service was suspending package shipments to the United States ahead of an end to the exemption on tariff duties for low-value packages by the Trump administration. The announcement follows similar moves by postal services from the European Union and several other countries to pause shipping as they await more clarity on the U.S. measure. It also comes during monthslong negotiations between the Mexican government and the Trump administration to avoid wider tariffs. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/28/mexico-suspends-postal-shipments-to-united-states-over-tariff-confusion-00533242

Maybe people should not be so picky about things that really don't matter much.

Also today's Krugman blog post: https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/why-arent-markets-freaking-out?publication_id=277517&post_id=172134133&isFreemail=true&r=53zo0e&triedRedirect=true

It's allowed in the ornithological sense. Fanny pack is a bum bag here. Like Daniels sling bag. We still use underpants(boxers/y-fronts/nickers) but have lost (the quite obvious use of) pants as you commonly use the word. Rubber is still used in art contexts. I say condom. But then, I'm getting a bit long in the tooth.

Denmark's foreign minister had the top U.S. diplomat in the country summoned for talks after the main national public broadcaster reported Wednesday that at least three people with connections to President Trump have been carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland. On Wednesday, Danish public broadcaster DR reported that government and security sources, which it didn't name, as well as unidentified sources in Greenland and the U.S., believe that at least three Americans with connections to Mr. Trump have been carrying out covert influence operations in the territory. It said its story was based on information from a total of eight sources, who believe the goal is to weaken relations with Denmark from within Greenlandic society. DR said it had been unable to clarify whether the Americans were working at their own initiative or on orders from someone else. The network said it sources believed one of the Americans has been compiling lists of Greenlandic citizens for and against Mr. Trump's overtures, in a bid to build a list of citizens on the island who could potentially be recruited for a Greenlandic secession movement. The other Americans, according to DR, "have tried to cultivate contacts with politicians, businesspeople and citizens, and the sources' concern is that these contacts could secretly be used to support Donald Trump's desire to take over Greenland." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/denmark-us-greenland-trump-covert-influence-operations-report/

AI is getting quite good at music composition. There was a music history teacher who asked me, decades ago, why I chose another major field study other than music. I wonder what she would say today.