Two weeks into the government shutdown, the Trump administration has frozen or canceled nearly $28 billion that had been reserved for more than 200 projects primarily located in Democratic-led cities, congressional districts and states,” the New York Times reports.

“Each of these infrastructure projects had received federal aid, sometimes after officials spent years pleading in Washington — only to see that money halted as President Trump has looked to punish Democrats over the course of the fiscal stalemate.”

A pair of decades-old promises from Congress — ensuring disabled students receive a free and appropriate education and protecting all pupils from discrimination in schools — have been thrown into doubt after a round of sweeping layoffs at the Education Department,” the New York Times reports.

“The department’s Office of Special Education Programs was decimated by the cuts, which the Trump administration issued on Friday in its latest reduction of the federal work force. The special education office has been the principal government arm overseeing billions of dollars that support about 10 percent of the nation’s school-aged children, but will have fewer than a half-dozen employees, a reduction of about 95 percent since the start of the year.

Washington Post: “Some 22 million Americans are set to lose health insurance subsidies by the end of the year…”

“About 80 percent of the people who benefit from them live in states that Donald Trump won in the 2024 presidential election. Many have no idea that their health insurance costs are on track to go up.

I've recently reestablished an old rule I had used for a while to keep my place clean. But over the years it disappeared, and I no longer adhered to that rule. Now that everything is messy again, I was reminded of the rule once more.

Rule of 2. Pick up two things every time you enter a room, leave your car, etc.

This is such a helpful rule. And I need to get used to it again. Every place can benefit from it; the same is true for coding. Here I try to clean up a file; I update code in it. But this has limits. If the code changes I need to make will create a massive PR just to complete the feature, I try to focus only on the feature. Just to make the work not harder for every reviewer.

39 of #100DaysToOffload
#log
Thoughts?

Nos engañamos pensando que semejanzas y diferencias son nuestras identidades.

La inercia de la comodidad desangra la potencia de nuestro espíritu.

Dans l’ombre du Général de Gaulle se cache un homme que l’Histoire a oublié, mais sans qui l’appel du 18 juin n’aurait peut-être eu lieu.

Paul Reynaud, né à Barcelonnette (Alpes de Haute-Provence), joue un rôle essentiel dans le départ de de Gaulle pour Londres. En mars 1940, Reynaud est nommé Président du conseil (équivalent de Premier ministre) et ministre des Affaires étrangères. Il forme un gouvernement d'union nationale, dans lequel il nomme de Gaulle Sous-secrétaire d'État à la Guerre le 5 juin 1940. Reynaud approuve, de longue date,la stratégie du Général sur l’usage des divisions blindées pour défendre la nation, contre l’avis de l’État major des armées. Mais il est trop tard pour un changement de paradigme de dernière minute : l'armée française est en déroute face aux assauts allemands. Paul Reynaud se bat pour continuer la Résistance, avec l'intention de poursuivre le combat depuis la Bretagne ou l'empire colonial français. Malheureusement, au sein du gouvernement, les partisans de l'armistice l'emportent. Reynaud démissionne donc le 16 juin 1940.

Paul Reynaud, soutien du Général de Gaulle, président du conseil démissionnaire le 17 juin 1940

De Gaulle, mandaté par Churchill, tente de convaincre Reynaud de poursuivre la lutte en se rapprochant de l'Angleterre, mais Reynaud a déjà démissionné. Bien que ce dernier ne rejoignit pas de Gaulle à Londres, il lui apporta son soutien moral et financier en lui confiant notamment 100 000 francs de fonds secrets, facilitant ainsi la mission de de Gaulle à Londres.

Paul Reynaud sera ensuite interné, sur ordre du maréchal Pétain, puis envoyé au camp de Sachsenhausen et enfin dans le Tyrol dont il ne reviendra qu'en 1945. Il continuera, après-guerre, à participer à la vie politique du pays. Mort en 1966 à Paris, les obsèques nationales ne lui seront pas accordées.

An independent clause is a clause or sentence phrase that stands alone. We use it in sentence diagrams. Its antithesis is a dependent clause. An example of an independent clause is, “A cat eats a rat.”

A dependent clause is a clause or a sentence phrase that never stands alone. In sentence diagrams, we grammatically call a dependent clause a fragment. An example of a dependent clause is “Because the rats are pests”. The sentence structure sounds like a fragment (even if you were typing on a word-processor application on a computer, it would show a green or blue underline, which requires a grammar check).

Independent and dependent clauses, beyond their grammatical function, symbolize living beings and objects in pairs. A pair, in this context, is two dependent clauses merged into an independent clause. This symbolic representation extends to shoes, socks, animals, and living beings, all of which are pairs.

1 Corinthians 11:11 states that: “in the innermost, however, a woman is not independent of a man, nor is a man independent of a woman”. I state: “By divine will, a man is dependent on a woman, and a woman is dependent on a man.” Thereby, a man and a woman are a pair of beings.

A male and a female are also a pair, each needing the other in a mutual and respectful relationship. A male needs a female, and a female needs a male. Elohim made a man and a woman for each other. Every man has a female aspect; likewise, every woman has a male aspect, emphasizing the mutual respect and understanding in their relationship.

Lo and behold: A man is never a man without a woman. Likewise, a woman is never a woman without a man.

A man, or male, is a dependent clause. Similarly, a woman, or female, is also a dependent clause. However, when these two dependent clauses unite as male (man) and female (woman), they create an independent clause. This independent clause symbolizes the will to return to the kingdom of his innermost, a metaphorical interpretation of unity and gender.

Me and E had an incredibly tense emotional night last night, and today was also fairly rough because we were both emotionally beyond drained and pretty close to capacities. But we still spent time today, even though it was stressful for me, and she did not really want to. She told me that the reason she did it is because even though it made her kind of uncomfortable and anxious, she understood that it would be important for reassurance for me. She said that it wasn’t fair that I sacrifice things for her emotional reassurance if she does not do the same. She didn’t phrase it like that or mean it like that really, but I’m too lazy to edit it now so that’s what I’m writing I guess lol. She might not fully understand how to navigate intense emotional situations or things over text yet, but she absolutely puts in effort and cares. Hell, even while she was overwhelmed and anxious and struggling, she still got me the water bottle that she has that I like. I’m scared because it hasn’t even been a month of us dating and I feel incredibly close with her and I care about her a lot and she’s a big part of my life. I hope that isn’t unhealthy,

uno sabe que hasta cierto punto eso que llaman alegría no es sino la punta del iceberg de una gran estupidez un derroche desbordados / vencidos / atontados porque la alegría del corazón es una emoción estable pacífica / inexpresable pero quién sabe

hijos de mamá tigra no eran tres sino treintaitrés tampoco tigres sino tigritos y no comían trigo sino espárragos trigueros / nunca tristes sino estresados por los triángulos de la trigonometría

si el silencio tuviera apellido probablemente sería Árbol / al hacerlo leña traquearía

This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on September 20, 2025.

The Savage Sword of Conan #6

By Jason Aaron (Writer), Geof Isherwood (Artist), Matthew John (Writer), Michael Downs (Writer), and Piotr Kowalski (Artist) – Titan Comics – December 18, 2024

Review by Robin Marx

Issue #6 of The Savage Sword of Conan features the conclusion of the lengthy King Conan comic “The Ensorcelled,” a short Conan story by Matthew John, and a new self-contained comic starring Dark Agnes de Chastillon.

Once again penned by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Geof Isherwood, the second half of “The Ensorcelled” takes up the lion’s share of the issue. When we last left King Conan, he was far from home, in Aquilonia’s neighboring kingdom of Brythunia. Despite taking a direct role in the capture of Xyleena, the infamous Witch of Graskaal, Conan finds himself disgusted by the way she was railroaded through a sham trial by his host, King Fabiano. Conan rescues the witch from her impending execution, a bold act that makes him an enemy of the ruthless witchfinders known as the Brethren of the Briar. Despite his distrust of sorcery, Conan throws in his lot with Xyleena, taking up arms against the hateful zealot Father Flail. He soon learns that the Brethren possess body-warping magic of their own, however. Spanning a combined length of 103 pages across two magazine issues, “The Ensorcelled” still feels a little on the long side—as a Savage Sword reader I would rather have multiple self-contained stories and leave serialized adventures to the monthly Conan the Barbarian title—but the second half is stronger than the first. It features some gnarly body horror, exciting combat, and an amusing epilogue. Geof Isherwood’s artwork impresses, and it’s clearly legible in monochrome, which can’t always be said for contributions by artists more accustomed to working in color. With their tangled, thorny masks Isherwood gives the Brethren of the Briar a cool and distinctive appearance, and he’s no slouch when it comes to rendering the gory bits of the tale as well.

Written by occasional Grimdark Magazine contributor Matthew John, “Madness on the Mound” is the first prose story to be included in The Savage Sword of Conan since issue #3’s excerpt from Conan and the Living Plague, published as part of John C. Hocking’s Conan: City of the Dead omnibus. This story takes place in the frozen north, shortly after Conan’s encounter with the demigoddess Atali, the Frost Giant’s Daughter (an episode recounted in Conan the Barbarian #15). Conan and the exhausted remnants of the Æsir war band led by Niord stop by an isolated village hoping for a brief respite. Conan is instantly on edge when he finds the hamlet left undefended, the bulk of the menfolk having left to search for a missing hunting party. A terrified boy rushes back to the village to report an attack by Vanir warriors, and Conan and his comrades set out to meet their foes. Instead of an enemy encampment, however, the men are confronted by a still-glowing fallen star. Fleshy roots have burst from the massive rock, and Conan soon discovers that the tendrils terminate in the bodies of the dead Vanir, wending through them and animating them like grotesque puppets. What follows is a bloody and grim little tale that emphasizes the horror aspect commonly found in Sword & Sorcery. It feels very much a companion to the creepy fantasy-horror stories collected by John in To Walk on Worlds and his contribution to Old Moon Quarterly, Vol. 7. The editing could have been a little tighter—“spore” is used when the word “spoor” is intended, and “below” instead of “bellow”—but John packs quite a bit of adventure in two short pages. John’s portrayal of Conan feels authentic, and supporting character Niord also has some good character moments.

The issue is rounded out by “The Head of St. Denis,” written by Michael Downs and illustrated by Piotr Kowalski. It focuses on 16th century French swordswoman Agnes de Chastillon. Dark Agnes hasn’t had the best track record in Titan Comics; a modified version of her origin story appeared in The Savage Sword of Conan #4 with the baffling choice of anime style artwork, and she also had a fairly unsatisfying role in the Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Black Stone crossover event miniseries. This brief comic is almost a character study for Dark Agnes. Separated from her companion Etienne and pursued by enemies, she stumbles through a wooden marsh until she encounters an apparition of the decapitated martyr St. Denis of Paris. The episode feels a bit like a scene from a Hellboy comic (indeed, Kowalski’s artwork looks like a blend of Mike Mignola and woodcut prints) and not much happens beyond the reader getting a sense of Agnes’ fierce determination, but this is the best depiction the character has gotten in Titan Comics to date. I don’t envy modern day creators trying to work with Dark Agnes. She only appeared in two unpublished Robert E. Howard stories and a fragment, and there isn’t much substance to the character beyond “talented swordswoman who rejects patriarchy.” Maybe this episode will launch better stories for Dark Agnes in the future, but if the intent is to promote a Howardian heroine I think Conan’s former companions Valeria or Bêlit would make more interesting protagonists.

While it feels like creators continue to struggle with Dark Agnes and I would’ve preferred the page count be devoted to shorter standalone stories rather than sprawling multi-issue epics, The Savage Sword of Conan #6 marks a strong conclusion to the black and white magazine’s first year at Titan Comics. The artwork was excellent throughout and action scenes abundant. I appreciate seeing prose stories appear alongside the comics, and despite its impressive brevity Matthew John’s “Madness on the Mound” was the highlight of the issue.

#ReviewArchive #ComicReview #Fantasy #SwordAndSorcery #JasonAaron #GeofIsherwood #MatthewJohn #MichaelDowns #PiotrKowalski #TitanComics #ConanTheBarbarian #TheSavageSwordOfConan #GrimdarkMagazine #GdM

Hello there. I hope you are well.

POTUS and the members of his party hate having the government provide any kind of insurance. Whether it's Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, or the Affordable Care Act that covers you and lets you see the doctors you need, all are in peril of losing funding. In a few weeks people will be choosing which programs to enroll in. Some will chose private providers of Medicare or Medicaid. Others will be buying their insurance through the marketplaces under state Obamacare programs.

In all these cases people are depending on assistance from the government to pay for the care they need since Congress has never been able to put together a national healthcare program for the citizens of the wealthiest country on earth.

Now one political party refuses to even talk about providing the funding people need, and the other won't re-open the government without assured funding for the same people. So where do the uninsured and under-insured end up in this situation – without insurance protection when flu season is upon us and Covid lingers in the shadows.

Now is not the time to go without any insurance. Purchase whatever coverage you can afford, and hope for the best.

POTUS Roaster

Be well and say “Hi” to your neighbors. If you want to leave a comment please send us an email at potusroaster@gmail.com

If you would like to read more of this blog go to write.as/potusroaster/archive/

Hello again. I hope all is well in your world.

POTUS has begun to divide the nation into regions he likes and those he doesn't. He has decided that parts of the nation which did not bow to his ego by voting for him, should be punished by having important federal programs taken away.

So, if you are living in the “Blue” areas of the country, the parts that POTUS hates, you are going to be losing these programs. POTUS has either frozen or canceled $28 Billion in infrastructure programs. If you have a failing bridge or an airport in need and you live in a “Blue” area, you can probably forget about things getting better during this administration. It's the POTUS version of firing an employee he doesn't like.

So, what can you do in the meantime while waiting for a change in political power? Well try to keep off the failing bridges and try driving rather than flying. Be safe and keep your family safe too.

POTUS Roaster

I hope you are well and thanks for reading what I write. Please say 'Hi' to your neighbors. If you would like to send us a comment send an email to us at potusroaster@gmail.com

If you would like to read more go to write.as/potusroaster/archive/