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Even the Trees Have to Pick a Side Now
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So you decide to check the Mt. Hood National Forest website. Maybe you want to see if a trail is open, or if the fall colors are peaking. You’re looking for a small escape from the noise, a digital breath of fresh air before you get the real thing.
Instead, you get a bright red banner screaming at you.
It’s not a fire warning. It’s not a trail closure. It’s a political press release, blaming "The Radical Left Democrats" for the government shutdown. It helpfully informs you that "President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open."
You have to laugh. It's the kind of dark, hollow laugh that gets stuck in your throat. This is where we are. Even the goddamn trees have to pick a side. Smokey the Bear is now a registered Republican.
When Political Hacks Hijack a .gov Domain
Your Tax Dollars at Work: Propaganda Edition
Let’s be real. This isn’t a public service announcement. This is a hostage note written on taxpayer-funded letterhead. The message, which appeared on October 1st, just as the government was grinding to a halt, wasn’t some rogue webmaster’s idea of a joke. Oh no. The text originated from the top, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service. They posted a nearly identical message. The Department of Housing and Urban Development got in on the act, too.
This is a coordinated campaign. It’s a deliberate choice to turn neutral, informational government portals into partisan billboards.
And for what? To score a few cheap points in a funding squabble while an estimated 750,000 federal workers are sitting at home, wondering if they’re going to make rent? It’s pathetic. No, 'pathetic' doesn't cover it—this is a five-alarm dumpster fire of political malpractice. They’re using the digital equivalent of a park ranger’s office to plaster up campaign signs.
The most telling part is what didn't happen elsewhere. I checked. The National Park Service? They put up a boring, standard message about the shutdown. Service limitations, potential closures, the usual stuff. The Bureau of Land Management? Same deal. Professional. Non-political. Informative.
So what’s the difference? Why does the Park Service get to act like a government agency while the Forest Service has to carry water for the administration? It tells you everything you need to know about which departments are being run by professionals and which are being run by political hacks. They just slap this stuff up there, assuming we're all too stupid or too tired to care, and honestly...
Your Tax Dollars at Work: Turning a Map Into a Megaphone
The New Digital Camouflage
This whole thing reminds me of every terrible corporate website redesign I've ever seen. You know the type. Some new VP of "synergy" comes in, decides the old, functional site isn't "dynamic" enough, and replaces it with a mess of pop-ups, autoplay videos, and mission statements that sound like they were written by a malfunctioning AI. The goal is never to help the user. It's to push an agenda.
That's what this is. The Forest Service website is supposed to be a tool. It's for hikers, campers, families, scientists. It’s supposed to provide data about forest health, trail access, and fire risk. Simple.
But now, it’s a weapon.
The message even did a little disappearing act on Wednesday morning, vanishing from some pages around 10 a.m. Pacific, only to reappear later. I don’t know if that was a technical glitch or some mid-level manager having a brief crisis of conscience before being told to get back in line. Details on that little hiccup are, offcourse, nonexistent. The banner was back up on the main USFS homepage soon enough, red and angry as ever. Which makes perfect since, because this ain't about informing the public. It's about dominating every screen you look at.
I tried to find some massive public outcry, some digital pitchforks-and-torches mob. But there wasn't one. A few grumbles on niche forums, some angry posts that got buried in the algorithm. I guess we’re just expected to swallow this. Another day, another sacredly neutral space gets colonized by politics.
Then again, who am I kidding? Maybe this is just what we do now. Maybe I'm the one who's out of touch, expecting a website about trees to just be about... trees.
Your National Parks, Now Brought to You by Propaganda
A Walk in the Woods Is No Longer Just a Walk in the Woods
During shutdowns, the parks and forests usually stay open. The gates are unlocked. But the services disappear. The trash cans overflow, the restrooms are locked, the trails go unmaintained. It’s a perfect metaphor for what’s happening here online. The website is still "open," but the service it’s supposed to provide—neutral, factual information—has been trashed. It’s been replaced by political garbage.
You can still go for a hike, but you have to step over the mess they’ve left behind.
The message is clear. There are no apolitical spaces left. Not in our government, not in our culture, and now, not even in the digital gateway to our public lands. Every square inch of digital real estate is a battleground. They’re not just fighting over budgets in D.C.; they’re fighting for the right to put their talking points in front of your eyeballs when all you wanted to know was whether you needed to pack bear spray.
It’s exhausting. It’s corrosive. And it works.
The Rot Goes All The Way Down
This isn't a glitch. It's the feature. This is the government we have now—one where the institutions we pay for are rented out as advertising space for the party in power. They’re not just shutting down the government; they’re trying to shut down reality and replace it with their own. And they’re starting with the trees.
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