Clay Williams

Getting off the Wire, Part 3 Repairing the Breach

The final post in my "Getting Off the Wire" series is now live.
open.substack.com/pub/thesutur...

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
—DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

Getting Off the Wire, Part 2 Reducing the Harm

My next Substack essay is now live! thesuture.substack.com/p/getting-of...

Me too.

In the midst of WTF times, please continue to share your insights on AI. I really loved "The AI Mirror."

Community building Wednesday—fine folks to follow! @bill-maxwell.bsky.social @bluthrunthru.bsky.social @fireeyebooks.bsky.social @theogccd.bsky.social @raykwong.bsky.social @qm-b.bsky.social @fredbluevoter.bsky.social @ltwlauren.bsky.social @bluestormcomin1.bsky.social @markymark757.bsky.social

Getting Off the Wire, Part 1 Preparing to Reduce the Harm

Check out my new Substack essay, first in a three part series on reducing the harm being cause by the Trump administration. open.substack.com/pub/thesutur...

Great crowd - I love this! Here is NYC.

“Power wants your body softening in a chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.” -- Timothy Snyder, "On Tyranny" lesson #13 #HandsOff #April5 #Resist

I’m joining hundreds of activists at #AIDSWatch from Mar 31-Apr 2, 2025, where we will organize and visit Capitol Hill 🏛️ to argue for HIV/AIDS policies that are grounded in science 🧬and compassion 🙏 and to remind Congress: Nothing For Us, Without Us! 💯

Arrived to this inauspicious but unsurprising news, and an equally inauspicious jumbo screen during opening remarks, proudly displaying this *deeply* messed up AI-generated cat

How a Canadian scientist and a venomous lizard helped pave the way for Ozempic - National | Globalnews.ca In 1984, Dr. Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist from the University of Toronto, discovered a hormone that helped pave the way for popular diabetes drugs such as Ozempic.

This is the most relevant article to NIH and research cuts I’ve seen.

Imagine if this was today , how many people would be saying “Why are we studying Gila Monsters and their impact on diabetes ? That’s wasted money !”

globalnews.ca/news/9793403...

Generally speaking, slashing government funding for Christian organizations like Catholic Relief Services, attacking Lutheran charities, and maligning the US Conference of Catholic Bishops isn't especially pro-Christian.

There is so much to stand against right now. So today I’m feeling a strong urge to stand FOR justice, compassion, inclusion, and community.

Thinking of you fondly, friends.

[saw this sign in NYC this week while visiting and found it moving]

Harlem Night Song Come, Let us roam the night together Singing. I love you. Across The Harlem roof-tops Moon is shining Night sky is blue. Stars are great drops Of golden dew. In the cabaret The jazz-band’s playing. I love you. Come, Let us roam the night together Singing.

.
"Let us roam the night together..."
—Langston Hughes

#blackhistorymonth #poetry #ForgottenPoets

Cultivating the Ground of Goodness Restoring Ourselves

Today, I published part 2 in a series on how Trump won and what we can do. This essay focuses on how we manage our mental health and well-being.

Crockett: "If feels as if y'all have just decided that y'all are gonna castrate your constitutional duty & hand it over to someone who was unelected. It doesn't matter how many cheerleaders he had on the field campaigning for him. That doesn't mean he gets to go in and sit atop any of our agencies"

FAA Administrator Quit on Jan. 20 After Elon Musk Told Him to Resign The Federal Aviation Administration’s leader stepped down on Jan. 20, months after Elon Musk demanded that he quit. The move by Michael Whitaker means the FAA has no Senate-confirmed leader for one of...

Details: news.yahoo.com/news/faa-adm...

This needs to go viral. #musk #coup

To be clear, I 100% believe that the primary barrier to Elon Musk gaining control of the Treasury payments system is COBOL

“We set up conditions for our happiness and become trapped. Happiness can come to us at any time if we’re free.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh

Contact your senators and representative and tell them that congress must act immediately to repair the harm caused by this security breach.

Elon Musk vows to cancel grants after gaining access to US Treasury payment system System disburses trillions of dollars in US government spending each year, including social security

Elon Musk has not taken an official role in the US Government, meaning he is merely a Republican political operative. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has authorized a massive breach of security by granting Musk and his team access to mission critical government systems.

www.ft.com/content/27ba...

Yes! Not also that he missed God on the list of who we love.

State Department Permits Distribution of H.I.V. Medications to Resume — for Now Experts fear a resurgence of infections in low-income countries if the ban were to continue. The waiver remains in place, while officials review foreign aid programs.

Some good news, but uncertainty about the long term fate of PEPFAR remains.

What can we do?
1. Contact you senators and representative and tell them to push back against this decision. Both parties should be open to this message. I can provide neutral and factual sample language if needed.
2. Make other folks in your network aware of this crisis and of the need to act.

One study estimated that if PEPFAR were to end, as many as 600,000 lives would be lost over the next decade in South Africa alone.

With loss of access to medications, those who were on them may develop resistant forms of HIV, and those who are untreated will eventually progress to full-blown AIDS and die.

PEPFAR is a program that was created by the George W. Bush administration. It has been credited with saving over 25M people. The Trump administration has paused it, and they are also taking the computer systems that support PEPFAR offline, which is likely a sign that the program will not return.

Trump Administration Halts H.I.V. Drug Distribution in Poor Countries PEPFAR’s computer systems also are being taken offline, a sign that the program may not return, as Republican critics had hoped.

Trump Administration Halts H.I.V. Drug Distribution in Poor Countries www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/h...

How do they not know that the evil just oozes through this kind of talk?