I want to make sure I understand what has transpired in the last 24 hours that is new. Tell me if I am wrong about any of this.

1. Funding for all non-time sensitive,  non-essential governmental functions expires on September 30. The Republicans want to kick the can down th road until November 21. The Democrats are willing to kick the can if they can obtain some lessening of the legislated reductions to health care coverage over that period of time. The Republicans refuse to even talk to the Democrats about this, and the Republican leadership has shut down Congress until the currently funded period has ended and the government has shut down. Each side will blame the other, but it is the GOP which sent everyone home.
2. The president wants Congressional approval to order the death of presumed “narco-terrorists”, wherever in the world they may be, without having to involve anyone else, demonstrate any proof at any level, or provide any due process whatsoever.
3. The Pentagon wants to have journalists sign a pledge not to report any news not approved by the Pentagon for reportage, on fear of losing their credentials.
4. Anyone coming into this country on an H-1B work visa will be admitted only if their employer pays a fee of $100,000, maybe annually.
5. The US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia has been forced to resign because he has not found sufficient basis to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James for mortgage fraud. Meanwhile, the government case against Fed Governor Lisa Cook on mortgage fraud charges seems to have fallen apart.
6. The president has attacked his attorney general Pam Bondi on not moving fast enough in going after his perceived enemies.
7. It has been reported that the administration shut down a bribery investigation against Border Tsar Tom Homan, and kept the existence of the investigation secret. Homan, it is said, kept a $50,000 cash payment made so that the payor would get special access and favors.
8. Trump pledges to take back Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, whether or not Afghanistan approves.
9. The National Parks confirmed that all references relating to climate change, Japanese internment, and slavery are being removed.

This is all within the past 24 hours.

We ignored everything yesterday by having lunch at the Kountry Korner in Thurmont MD, visiting Ft. Ritchie in Cascade MD, and wandering through the Antique Mall in Emmitsburg MD.

Ft. Ritchie, located just south of the PA line west of Emmitsburg was a Maryland National Guard training site, taken over by the US military in 1942. It served as a prisoner of war holding site, and as the training site for bilingual and multilingual American military personnel to learn, among other things, how to translate for and interrogate prisoners, both from Europe and the Pacific. A lot has been written about the Ritchie Boys, and a museum dedicated to them was opened about 18 months ago.

The site now includes as well an art studio, a restaurant, a bakery shop, a wellness studio, and former barracks now converted into residential units. The military had closed the facility in 1998. It is well worth a visit.