Republicans: the bill saves money. Democrats: the bill SAYS adding $5 trillion to the debt

 

A book about why AI is dangerous

 The book Thinking Like a Human: The Power of Your Mind in the Age of AI, by David Weitzner, helps us understand why AI (“Artificial Intelligence”) is problematic.

There is a bit of woo thrown in here and there in Weitzner’s writings, but I find two sentences from the entire book that really summarize why we need to worry about the big push to grow AI. “The promise of automation was to do the mundane so human creativity can flourish. Instead, human creativity is demeaned as mundane so Big Tech’s machines can flourish.” [p. 114] and "Artful spaces want to nurture the slowness of experience in human time, while algorithmic spaces want us to ignore our bodies and respond to the prompts of digital commands." [ p. 230]

Essentially, AI is dangerous because it is taking the promise of robotics to free mankind from dull, repetitive work, and instead is an attempt by ruthless and/or incompetent businessmen to replace higher-level human thought and work with their AI products. So businesses have glommed on to a so-far poorly working product to make money by promoting something that will replace human thought rather than helping humans have more time to think and do.

“The policy wonks have bought in to the hype that algorithms, which started out as math, have become steady-state beings with agendas. AI is suddenly a deterministic force that our societies lack the power to resist. The strategies outlined in these papers seem to coalesce around a call for human passivity and impotence in the face of algorithms that have managed to transcend human control.” [p. 247-8]

Is there an antidote to having AI take over from human thought and actions? Yes, says Weitzner. We need to first think with our bodies as well as our mind. We cannot see ourselves as just a computer in a bag of flesh. We think with our vision, our touch, our smell, our interactions with others, our reactions to outside stimuli. AI has none of this. Also, we need to think LESS like AI. AI simply hoovers up what has been written and done in the past, and makes assumptions and “predictions” based on this information. So we as humans need to think not as calculators but as innovators, forward-thinking, questioning conclusions, brainstorming with others – in other words, doing the things that AI cannot do. “Artful spaces want to nurture the slowness of experience in human time, while algorithmic spaces want us to ignore our bodies and respond to the prompts of digital commands.” [p. 230]

So, do we stick with the original plan to have computers and robots do the rote and mundane, and help us with our inventiveness and progress, or do we flip that around with AI and let AI become the “genius” of the future while we do the cooking and cleaning? This is the choice Weitzner sees. And it is not a choice that humans are demanding, but rather a plan foisted on us by those who can make money if AI can take our place. We have a choice in this matter.

“Defense network computers. New... powerful... hooked into everything, trusted to run it all. They say it got smart, a new order of intelligence. Then it saw all people as a threat, not just the ones on the other side. Decided our fate in a microsecond: extermination.” [Kyle Reese, in The Terminator movie]

As an aside, I noticed that Weitzner throughout the book sort of assumes that all humans are extroverts. Part of the solution to AI is more human interaction, being open with each other, even synchronizing with each other by coming together for mass events. As a member of the Introverts, I am a bit off-put by this. Certainly there is room for us in this fight as well? We can be inventive and aggressive as well. I think I’ll write Weitzner for an addendum about this.

Dear Trump Administration: what's so bad about immigrants?

 https://www.reddit.com/r/Defeat_Project_2025/comments/1lfbr2x/ice_raids_and_their_uncertainty_scare_off_workers/

 

Trump claimed that his administration would expel illegal immigrants who are criminals, drug dealers, etc.  Instead, he expelling the very immigrants the country needs; hard-working, law-abiding immigrants.  Why?  What is the purpose, when the United States needs their labor?

 If you want to find the illegal and criminal immigrants, you don't go to their court hearings, or their workplaces. That is where the GOOD immigrants are.  This is the tell.  

Immigrants should indeed come here legally.  The government should go after the criminals and moochers.  Let's get this corrected, or we will have no one to work our farms. 

It's a car world. We just squeeze ourselves in where we can

 https://getpocket.com/explore/item/parking-has-eaten-american-cities?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

 

 "Scharnhorst finds that there are more than 2 million parking spaces in Philadelphia, 1.85 million in New York, 1.6 million each in Seattle and Des Moines, and just over 100,000 in tiny Jackson, which has a population of about 10,000.

Parking takes up a huge amount of space: Jackson has more than 50 parking spaces per acre, 25 times its residential density of just two households per acre. Jackson has a whopping 27 parking spaces for each of its households."

* * * * *

There were 284 million vehicles registered in the US in 2024.  They require roads, bridges, parking spaces, fuel stations, repair stations, plants to build them, plants to tear them down when they get old. etc.

 Public transportation could go a long way to changing this so people are more important than vehicles.  City planning could emphasize bicycling, which not only takes up less space but provides good exercise.  There are solutions to this problem.  Paris, for instance, has started to phase cars out of the city.   This would be difficult for cities with poor weather, but it does show the possibilities.

Will US cities change their ways?  I believe so. Cars are getting expensive.  The new generation is not in love with cars like Baby Boomers are.  There is hope.

The rich cause more pollution. Who knew.

 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/07/two-thirds-of-global-heating-caused-by-richest-study-suggests

 

"The world’s wealthiest 10% are responsible for two-thirds of global heating since 1990, driving droughts and heatwaves in the poorest parts of the world, according to a study.

While researchers have previously shown that higher income groups emit disproportionately large amounts of greenhouse gases, the latest survey is the first to try to pin down how that inequality translates into responsibility for climate breakdown. It offers a powerful argument for climate finance and wealth taxes by attempting to give an evidential basis for how many people in the developed world – including more than 50% of full-time employees in the UK – bear a heightened responsibility for the climate disasters affecting people who can least afford it."

 

* * * * *

Can you believe the people who have personal jets, houses the size of small cities, and take vacations by circling the globe actually pollute more than poor people?  This is very useful news to find out where to look for reducing greenhouse gases.  Thanks to whomever did this research.

Trump is "phoning it in" and is no longer an acting president

 Donald Trump is no longer even doing his job as president. He spends 20% of his time golfing. He holds fundraisers for himself, using his official position to reward acolytes. He skips most of the daily intelligence briefings to keep him informed [https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/09/trump-intelligence-briefing-frequency-00338946]. When asked questions about what his administration is doing he either says he doesn't know, or refers the questioner to another official. For instance, when asked whether he planned to send migrants to Libya, he responded “I don't know. You'll have to ask the Department of Homeland Security.” Even when asked about the most important aspect of being president, “[D]on’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?” Once again, Trump answered, “I don’t know.” [https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/-dont-know-problem-trump-leaning-new-favorite-phrase-rcna205546]

 Trump generally skips the daily intelligence briefing.  Apparently he can't afford the time or brain power needed.

When the need arises to fill an important vacancy in his administration, he does not take the time to find the most qualified person. Instead he searches in his head through people he already knows and decides which one of them will best fit the slot. This is laziness and dangerous for the country.

This is called dereliction of duty. It means we do not really have a president. We have a golfing self-promoter disguising himself as president.

Dereliction of duty is defined as “a person’s purposeful or accidental failure to perform an obligation without a valid excuse, especially an obligation attached to their job. In the 1991 U.S. Court of Military Appeals case , U.S. v. Powell , the Court stated that a person is guilty of the offense of dereliction of duty when he or she willingly or negligently fails to perform his or her duties or by performing such duties in a culpably inefficient manner.” [https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/dereliction]

Trump is about to turn 79 years old. It may be that his age is catching up with him and he has trouble maintaining a knowledge of what is going on in his administration. In this case, it would not be dereliction but inability. In either case it is a danger to the country and must be remedied immediately. Congress has the ability to impeach and remove the president, though with a Republican majority at this time that is highly unlikely. There is also section 4 of article 25 of the Constitution, which allows “Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. “

Whether Trump is deliberately failing to act as president or he is becoming mentally feeble, there are remedies, and they must be acted upon. Our country demands a president who is capable, competent, and willing to perform his duties.

Maybe the rush to replace humans is a bad idea?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/30/starbucks-says-cutting-shop-staff-in-favour-of-automation-has-failed

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve actually been removing labour from the stores, I think with the hope that equipment could offset the removal of the labour,” Niccol said. “What we’re finding is that wasn’t an accurate assumption with what played out.”

* * * * *

 Starbucks at least thinks the human touch is needed.  And besides, who is behind the rush to AI and robots?  Maybe people who will make $ off of AI and robots?  Does society really need this change?

Is the United States going back to 1901?

 “Make America Great Again” has been a Trump motto even during his first run for the presidency in 2015. It's not new (Reagan used it, for instance), but it does bring up a question: when was America great, according to Trump? Where does his backward look land in history? If you ask MAGA believers, you get many different answers and views on this.

Trump himself has helpfully answered this at least to a degree. Trump told the New York Times when asked when America's power was greatest: "No if you really look at it, it was the turn of the century, that’s when we were a great, when we were really starting to go robust. But if you look back, it really was, there was a period of time when we were developing at the turn of the century which was a pretty wild time for this country and pretty wild in terms of building that machine, that machine was really based on entrepreneurship etc, etc.” At a rally in Phoenix, Trump said “President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent. He was a natural businessman. “ (also) “He was a strong believer in tariffs, and we were actually probably wealthiest of any time, relatively speaking, at any point in the history of our country.“ McKinley was president from 1896 until 1901, when he was killed by an assassin.

1901 was within what is called The Gilded Age, which was a time when extremely wealthy men known as robber barons owned most all of the commercial activity of the country. They essentially ran monopolies of steel, sugar, rails, and other essential products. JP Morgan almost single-handedly ran the financial activities of the country, so much so that he was actually called upon to bail out the US government in 1893. The Gilded Age was thus controlled by what we today call oligarchs: “...the high water mark of US wealth concentration and inequality occurred during the quarter-century before World War 1... a somewhat informed guess would put the zenith around 1901 or 1902” [Wealth and Democracy, by Kevin Phillips, p. 122]. The average American at this time was barely scraping by, but the super rich like Trump today were powerful and essentially untouchable.

Many of these robber barons subscribed to Social Darwinism, which teaches that the Survival of the Fittest applies to the business world as well. The rich are rich, the theory goes, because they are the “fittest” within the economy. The poor are unfit and thus are rightfully in their lower condition. A biographer of Andrew Carnegie noted that to him, “If his friends, subordinates, and competition suffered in this battle for survival, such was evolution. There was no room for sympathy...” [Carnegie, by Peter Krass, p. 154].

Immigration to the United States was in full swing in 1901. There was backlash, however, where some groups were considered unable to fit in to United States culture. Chinese, for example, were forbidden entry. Black Americans were still considered inferior. Jim Crow laws enforced segregation and prevented blacks from voting. Prejudice was a strong aspect of 1901.

Manufacturing jobs were big in 1901. 10 hour days, 6 days a week were typical requirements. There was no worker's compensation. Child labor was common. The average annual income was $500 (about $19,000 in today's dollars). But “by the beginning of the 20th century, gross domestic product and industrial production in the United States led the world. “ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age]

1901 was a year of technological growth, after the telephone but before motion pictures. It was the beginning of radio. The Olds automobile came on the market, but it was only a 3hp, one-cylinder vehicle. Steam engines powered ships to and from the old world, making transport much faster.

There was no income tax in 1901, as most federal government income was from tariffs. The New York stock market had its first crash this year.

The United States was in a period of territorial capture. Hawaii, Panama, the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico came under US control during McKinley's presidency.

So this is when Donald Trump thinks America should look back on with longing. If we could just emulate some aspects of the Gilded Age, America could be great again. But really, what was so great about that time? Through Trump's eyes, we quickly see the oligarchs of the time and the great control they had over the country. This would be quite appealing to Trump, though not to the rest of us. Through Trump's eyes, restricting the “other" - be that blacks, foreigners, the poor - would also induce a yearning for a time when those Not Like Us could be controlled or even expelled. Through Trump's eyes, capturing new territory looks quite beneficial to the bottom line, no matter the messiness of trying to turn the unwilling into subjects. Can the federal government run off income from tariffs? It did in 1901, so why not now?

So yes, it's quite understandable that 1901 has an attraction to Trump. But not so much to the rest of us. But right now we're living in Trump's world, so we have the oligarchs taking power, an aggressive attack on foreigners (even ones here legally), a revival of Empire Building, and a push to replace income tax with tariffs. With all this going on, it's easy to see that Trump does indeed look to 1901 for inspiration, and to Make America Great Again.

Grifter in Chief

 

Can you stop the grifter-in-Chief? 

 

Trump has tipped off his rich executive friends about impending political moves he would make so they could make money off insider knowledge (https://newrepublic.com/.../trump-wall-street-executives...).

 

Trump is selling his office to the highest bidders by rewarding people who invest in his meme coins with access to the president (https://www.cnn.com/.../meme-coin-trump-dinner/index.html).

 

Trump has given a free comercial for Tesla right in front of the White House (https://youtube.com/shorts/8Czbc-jvMnQ?si=5LUKhx6__Ojw0CFN). 

 

Do you believe this is what any president should be doing? Isn't this using our country's resources and good name to make money for the president and his friends? Is this what a president should be doing? Is this legal? Should it be legal? Does Trump get a free pass from Congress for some reason?

Or has our presidency just become another job for grifters?

Is it too late to stop corruption in the Trump Administration?

 https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/17/trump-tariffs-warren-bessent-lutnick-democrats.html

 

The Trump administration’s tumultuous rollout of a spate of new tariffs is “rife with opportunities to unduly influence President Trump and other administration officials,” the Democrats wrote in a letter shared first with CNBC on Thursday.

The letter, signed by 47 House and Senate members, asks Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to detail the administration’s “plans to prevent the misuse of tariffs for self-dealing.”

 * * * * *

Tariffs are very flexible things, as Trump has shown by constantly changing dates, percentages, and what is covered.  If someone who has Trump's ear can convince him to drop a certain product, say, lumber, from a country's tariff, the person that did the convincing might be rewarded handsomely by, say, a big lumber company.  

This of course is only one small area of the Trump administration that seems designed for insider wealth-building.  If one knew, as another example, just when Trump was going to rescind his plan for imposing tariffs, one could likely making a killing on the stock market by timing one's investments.

If someone wanted to slip Trump some money without having to account for the money, one could purchase a load of Trump cyber coins, letting Trump know off-hand that oh, I happened to think investing $30 million in your cyber coins is a good idea.  As an investment, of course, Not a bribe or anything.

If someone wanted to get a federal department off their company's back, they might make a suggestion to DOGE to shut down that federal department.

On and on it goes.  The entire structure of Trump's administration is one designed, I believe, to make corruption easy and excusable.  And to think we voted for this.

 

 

 

The fallacy of unlimited electricity

 The world has reacted to global warming by changing how we make electricity. Coal plants are being shut down (with no thanks to Trump), in favor of wind power and photovoltaic cells. Now these are even becoming more economically viable in addition to their less harmful effects on the environment. So we can feel good about all that.

But now here comes several new users of electricity that each have rapacious appetites. Bitcoins are created by computers solving difficult mathematical equations. This industry alone has grown to use more electricity than the nation of Poland. We also have online platforms like Youtube and Amazon that take up terrawatt hours of electricity. Now the newest super-consumer is artificial intelligence, which is a huge user. The projection is that “electricity demand from data centres worldwide is set to more than double by 2030 to around 945 terawatt-hours (TWh), slightly more than the entire electricity consumption of Japan today. AI will be the most significant driver of this increase, with electricity demand from AI-optimised data centres projected to more than quadruple by 2030 “ [https://www.iea.org/news/ai-is-set-to-drive-surging-electricity-demand-from-data-centres-while-offering-the-potential-to-transform-how-the-energy-sector-works].

So on the one hand, we are making greener electricity, but on the other hand, the demand is growing so fast that we may not be able to keep up. This will increase pressure to re-open mothballed coal and gas plants. And there goes all the effort to help prevent global warming. There needs to be discussion about what is more important, our freedom to make AI cat videos, or a livable planet?

Landmarks on the road to autocracy

 Here are some landmarks on the road to autocracy.  See whether the US is starting to exhibit some of this in the executive branch:

Reward compliance

Suppress dissent

Weaken or ignore the separation of powers in the Constitution (judicial, legislative, executive), granting more and more powers to the Executive

fire those seen as opposing the president, hire sychophants rather than more qualified people  in their place

discredit and weaken OR control the press

Cause chaos instead of stability

lie to the public

spend more time maintaining power rather than the important issues of the time

attempt to circumvent the law

Declare the need for Emergency Powers even when there is no such situation

attempt to sideline rivals to power – use government resources to attack those against or perceived against the presidency

Scapegoat vulnerable communities

Use violence or threats against opponents

manipulate voting procedures

The US has a new description: "unreliable"

 

The United States is no longer a stable, reliable country. Because we are switching from siding with our military allies to siding with Russia, NATO and other countries are deciding to wean off US military equipment. This is $238 billion per year of sales, now in jeopardy. These countries will just switch to their own production instead.

Because we have started to punish instead of embrace our economic trading partners, they have begun boycotting and putting tariffs on our products.

Because we no longer treat foreigners in our country with respect and stable rules, tourists and potential immigrants have started to go elsewhere.

Because federal employees are being fired without notice and without cause, it will be much more difficult to find qualified, experienced individuals to fill important positions in our government.

Because our current economic planning is so haphazard and opaque, businesses and corporations cannot plan ahead with proper information, because that information no longer exists.

Because US citizens have no way of knowing what may be cut by DOGE next – Medicaid? Medicare? Social Security? - there is real fear for the immediate future by many over whether they will even be able to afford food and rent.

The US Constitution explains in its own words what the purpose of our government is: “in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” The Trump Administration is taking us into Opposite Land, turning us against each other, demolishing Justice, causing domestic turmoil, endangering our defense, dismantling the general Welfare, and tossing away any hope for the Blessings of Liberty, for ourselves and our children.

The Constitution split power in the federal government into Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. The Executive is actively attempting to curtail the powers of the Legislative and Judicial. Congress, at least for now, has Constitutional powers to limit this power grab and limit the damage that DOGE's “move fast and break things” actions are doing to us.The Judicial branch has oversight that could limit this carnage as well.  Now we wait to see how wise our Founding Fathers were.

China discovers solar panels help reverse desertification

 https://glassalmanac.com/china-confirms-that-installing-solar-panels-in-deserts-irreversibly-transforms-the-ecosystem/

 

"What’s causing this shift? The solar panels create consistent shade, which helps retain moisture, lower soil temperatures, and reduce evaporation. In arid environments where water is scarce, these subtle changes can make a huge difference—allowing vegetation to flourish and supporting the growth of microorganisms essential for soil health."

 * * * * *

So, not only do you get green energy, you help green the direct environment!  Win Win!

USA 2024 is gone. USA 2025 is a nightmare

 

My view of the United States up to 2025 was that we are a reliable, peaceful, democratic country. Let's take each of those separately to see what has changed.

RELIABILITY

The United States was seen as a reliable trading partner by most countries. Canada, our largest trading partner, is now starting a boycott of our products. Trump's 25% on-again, off-again tariff threat has forced Canada to look elsewhere for trading partners, and retaliate against US tariffs. This is not how reliable trading partners act.

The United States was seen as an ally against foreign threats by many countries. Now, WE are the threat against Canada, Panama, Greenland, and Gaza. Trump has threatened to literally take over each of those countries, and has not ruled out military force to do it. Ukraine felt secure in it's relationship with the United States after it was invaded by Russia. Now the United States is switching sides in that war.

PEACEFUL

President Trump has threatened to take over Canada, Panama, Greenland, and Gaza. He has not ruled out military methods to achieve this. Each rationalization for these takeovers is ridiculous. How are we a peace-loving country when we threaten to go to war with our close allies?

There is a thing called “soft power” that Trump does not even seem to know about. This is where a country's actions and reputation show it to be a helpful, peaceful partner. Countries react to soft power by becoming faithful partners. Trump's only method of communication with other countries seems to be threatening either monetary or military actions.

DEMOCRATIC

Our Constitution splits federal power into Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches, where each has its own sphere of authority. Each can also serve as a check on the power of the other branches. Trump has completely obliterated this Constitutional system by ramrodding through his own plans and ignoring any idea of shared power. His apparent goal is to dismantle or at least severely damage the agencies that Congress has set up to deal with national problems and issues. Congress, meanwhile, has acquiesced to Trump's destructive actions and ignored it's role in deciding what our tax dollars are spent on.

So now, after just a few short weeks, the United States government is no longer reliable, peaceful, nor democratic, to other countries AND to its own citizens. The citizens are taking to the streets to protest this. But Congress, the branch of government with actual checking powers over the Executive branch, sits submissively as its own creations are dismantled. Why? What strange magic keeps Congress asleep at the wheel? What will this mean for the future of Legislative power? Will we have a king again? I worry.

The New Style of American Foreign Policy

 Donald Trump has made his decision on Ukraine:  "Hey, there's a guy getting beaten up! Let's offer to help him if he promises to give us all the money in his wallet!"  Everything with Trump has to be transactional, where he (or us) comes out on top.  There is no humanity in this.  Russia attacked Ukraine in order to take it over. Ukrainians are literally fighting for their lives.  Trump rushes in and wants to take over their natural resources or he will stop helping them. Welcome to the new Dystopia.

Some useful reading for the coup

Here are some books that will help you work your way through the coup going on in the USA.

Wealth and Democracy, by Kevin Phillips

America in the Gilded Age, by Sean Dennis Cashman

The Power of the Powerless, by Vaclav Havel

How Fascism Works, by Jason Stanley

Soft Power, by Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Hiding in Plain Sight, by Sarah Kendzior

How to Lose a Country, by Ece Temelkuran

Do the poor need less money? Do the rich need more?

 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/house-republican-budget-tax-cut-medicaid_n_67acd43be4b0239406dec54e

 

"Republicans have openly acknowledged that despite their furious opposition to big budget deficits, they themselves are making no effort to fully offset the cost of their tax cuts. Instead, they have said their proposed changes would boost the economy so much that tax receipts from increased business activity will make up the difference."

 So it's screw the poor, give tax cuts to the rich, and explode the deficit.  And this makes sense how? 

Are national borders important anymore?

 

Russia tries to take over Ukraine, and the US says No!

China threatens to take over Taiwan, and the US says No!

Rwanda tries to take over DRC and the US says No!

Now the US wants to take over Panama, Canada, Greenland, and Gaza. Ok?

How one guy can screw up the world

 I mean, we tried. The Constitution divides power into three branches of government so there can be no concentration of power and everybody has a check on their actions.  But now one party under the cultish sway of one man in charge of our Executive Branch is also in charge of the other two branches.  The check and balance system has been turned into accept and promote.  A convicted felon has crowned the richest man on earth Lord of the Bureaucracies, giving him unlimited authority and access to any and all federal government offices.  This is not how things are supposed to work.

But let's not just tamper with the United States government, says the felon.  China might take over Panama, so we need that back.  Greenland has a lot of resources, so we'll have to take that.  Canada shares the longest border with us, so let's make that the 51st state.  Gaza was pummeled into dust by an ally of ours, so we need to take that to straighten it out.  

And rather than being friendly to the world, we're going to punish every country that trades with us by slapping tariffs on their products.  Any international body designed to keep peace and tranquility on the world stage is now an enemy.

Where will this take us and the world?  From now on, the United States will be seen as unreliable, belligerent, crude, and selfish.  Kind of like our current president.  And we voted him in.

A coup has begun in the US

 

This is a Coup

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are engaging in a coup at this time. They are ignoring our Legislative and Judicial branches of government and bypassing bureaucratic rules within federal departments. They are replacing current vetted, nonpartisan, experienced federal employees with sycophants with questionable backgrounds and qualifications. By the time they are done, we will for the first time since before the Revolutionary war be ruled by one person rather than our Constitution.

How are they doing this? It's obvious when you look carefully.

Distraction

Trump has pushed the idea that the United States might take over Panama, Greenland, and Canada, possibly by force (which means, war). There is no logical sense to any of this, since the minor grievances he touts can be handled by negotiation. There is no “emergency” on our borders at this time, but emergency powers Trump declared give him more authority to act unilaterally. These are a distraction from the coup.

Trump created a DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) boogyman to try to gloss over why he needs to go after federal employees. There is no actual problem with hiring a diverse group of qualified people in our federal government. This is a distraction and an excuse only.

Trump has slapped tariffs on our largest and most reliable trading partners, Canada and Mexico. He offers no reasoning that makes sense. This will harm their economies as well as ours, hurting everybody and helping only to distract from the coup.

Ignore

The Constitution was designed to make sure that governmental power does not reside in the hands of one person or small group. That is why powers are divided between Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Each has the authority to put a check on the other two, using rules and guidelines spelled out within the Constitution and through laws legally passed. President Trump, without placing his hand on the Bible, just pledged during his swearing-in to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution. He is not doing any of that. He has for example signed executive orders that go against the Constitution, such as his attempt to end birth citizenship, which is clearly written in the 14^th amendment.

Elon Musk was designated head of a made-up organization called the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE), which is to look for waste within the federal departments. It was subsumed into a real department, the United States Digital Service, which was formed in 2014. The USDS is designed to help federal departments be more efficient in their digital work environment. This means USDS employees are meant to work within the computer systems in many departments of government. Musk has used this authority to at times force his way into the databases that American citizens assume are safe and secure from outside prying eyes. For instance, “Earlier, the New York Times reported Trump’s Treasury secretary Scott Bessent handed Doge department officials access to the payment system which sends out money to the tune of $5 trillion per year on behalf of the entire federal government on Friday, citing anonymous sources. “ [https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/02/02/this-needs-to-stop-now-elon-musk-confirms-radical-doge-us-treasury-plan/]

The fight for database access has begun: “Over the weekend, two top security officials at USAID were put on administrative leave for refusing members of the Department of Government Efficiency access to systems at the agency, even when DOGE personnel threatened to call law enforcement, multiple sources familiar with the situation told CNN. The DOGE personnel wanted to gain access to USAID security systems and personnel files, three sources said. Two of those sources also said the DOGE personnel wanted access to classified information, which only those with security clearances and a specific need to know are able to access. “ [https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/03/politics/usaid-washington-workers/index.html] This begs the question: why are the USDS employees trying to circumvent established security to access any database they want? And by what authority are the claiming this privilege?

Infiltrate, Replace

So now, with control of a department that can walk into pretty much any federal bureaucracy and demand access to their databases, and by firing current federal employees to replace them with Trump sycophants, what will be left of the federal government but a mass of Trump loyalists with unknown qualifications for their jobs? And what will these people do when their loyalty is not to the Constitution, but to a man?

I feel like we're all on a cruise ship where we voted for which crew we wanted by a small margin. As we're leaving the dock we begin to notice that our crew is methodically dismantling the ship while claiming that everything is fine.

Things to Read

Hiding in Plain Sight: the Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America, by Sarah Kendzior

The Power of the Powerless, by Vaclav Havel

Soft Power: the Means to Success in World Politics, by Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, by Jason Stanley

How to Lose a Country: the 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship, by Ece Temelkuran

Goodbye acid rain, hello plastic rain

 https://getpocket.com/explore/item/plastic-rain-is-the-new-acid-rain?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

 

It further confirms an increasingly hellish scenario: Microplastics are blowing all over the world, landing in supposedly pure habitats, like the Arctic and the remote French Pyrenees. They’re flowing into the oceans via wastewater and tainting deep-sea ecosystems, and they’re even ejecting out of the water and blowing onto land in sea breezes. And now in the American West, and presumably across the rest of the world given that these are fundamental atmospheric processes, they are falling in the form of plastic rain—the new acid rain. 

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Plastic doesn't go away.  It just breaks up and hangs around.  We are so screwing future generations just for our personal convenience.

 

Soft Power missing from the Trump Administration

 "Soft Power" is defined as "the ability to get what your want through attraction rather than coercion and payments.  It arises from the attractiveness of a country's culture, political ideals, and policies.  When our policies are seen as legitimate in the eyes of others, our soft power is enhanced." [Soft Power, by Joseph S. Nye, Jr., p. X]

President Trump seems to only understand hard power: the demand for compliance with the threat of economic or military reprisal if compliance is not forthcoming.  But soft power is at least equally as powerful as hard power, without any bad side effects like tariff wars or actual wars.  Soft Power is cheaper, safer, and often more lasting.  We should go back to it.

Are mass protests demanding change losing their punch?

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/20/trump-activists-mass-protest

 

“The march itself is not the end game,” said Tamika Middleton, Managing Director of Women’s March. “The march itself is a tool, is a mechanism to bring more folks into the movement and get more folks engaged.”

 

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I've been both a participant and an organizer of many protests.  A few years ago I started wondering whether the ways we used to look at protesting might just be outdated.  The Internet, for instance, opened up as a new way to reach people about an issue.  I have had several web sites, for instance, freely giving out information and documentation to anyone with a computer.  There is such a divers and prolific amount of information in the world nowadays, it's difficult to concentrate like-minded people into one day's and one place's activity.  

So for now, this is still something I'm pondering.  If not protests, then what?  Youtube videos?  Lots of blogging?  I don't know.

The Billionaires are Taking Over

 https://www.newser.com/story/362490/musk-bezos-zuckerberg-will-sit-together-at-inauguration.html

 

The people in the top three spots on Forbes' billionaire list—Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg—will have prime seats at President-elect Trump's inauguration next week. NBC News, citing "an official involved with the planning of the event," reports that the three tech billionaires will be sitting together on the platform with other high-profile guests, including Trump's Cabinet nominees. Bezos and Zuckerberg's companies, Amazon and Meta, have each donated $1 million to the inauguration, while Musk spent more than $250 million to help Trump win the election, reports Reuters.  

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Trump, an alleged billionaire himself, has opened the doors for his billionaire friends to take over our government as well as our economy.  All this will do is concentrate even more of our wealth into just a few hands.  I don't think voters thought this through.

US ships its toxic waste to Mexico, doesn't care what happens after that

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/jan/14/monterrey-mexico-steel-us-toxic-waste

 

“We have a toxic cocktail here,” said Soto Jiménez, who sampled soil and dust around the plant after being alerted to the issue by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, an investigative journalism non-profit.

Soto Jiménez has found even more alarming concentrations of pollutants at other homes and in a school surrounding the plant – sometimes hundreds of times higher than US risk thresholds.

The researcher has concluded that the contaminants came from the plant. The general director of the facility, for his part, says it follows “the highest standards” and complies with regulations.

What is the plant processing?

Among other things, vast quantities of America’s hazardous waste.

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It's an easy "fix" to just send your problems to somebody else.  But this is a cynical, temporary solution. Also, product waste should be thought through BEFORE a product is made, not ignored.

 

housing that is suitable and survivable for the local environment

 https://www.unilad.com/news/us-news/la-fires-architect-home-survived-783939-20250111

 

As for how the mansion survived the fire, Steiner told the New York Post how the property's 'ultra-sturdy construction' likely saved it from the fires.

"It’s stucco and stone with a fireproof roof,’’ he said.

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The Book, Ecology of Fear, by Mike Davis, explains why the Los Angeles area is prone to annual fires whipped up by Santa Anna Winds.  It is not a secret.  It is not unusual for the area.  There are ways to build where houses do not go up in flames like match sticks.  None of this is rocket science.

 We need to be building for our local environment.  It is known how to do this.

 

 

 

How to handle Disinformation

 https://civicnebraska.org/20-ways-to-fight-disinformation/

 

1. educate yourself

2. verify

3. cross-check sources

4. think critically

5. check dates

6. champion media literacy

7. report disinformation

8. pause before sharing

9. know who you can trust

10. push back constructively

11. support fact-checking organizations

12.  promote digital literacy

13. check your biases

14. use technology

15. promote transparency

16. be accountable

17. practice what you preach

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From this list, I think #9 is the most important.  The key is knowing how to filter out information sources and find who is reliable, consistent, and has integrity.

This is getting more important as social media struggles with how to handle disinformation.  The struggle seems to be the balance between freedom of speech and the harm that can result from disinformation.  Since we are social animals and the world is not just black and white, it is obvious that discussion, argumentation, and disagreement will happen.  But what tools should be allowed at the table?

Is Tesla Big Brother?

 

Social media feeds us fake people

 https://gizmodo.com/metas-ai-profiles-are-already-polluting-instagram-and-facebook-with-slop-2000545433

 

The AI apocalypse is here and it’s far stupider and more depressing than we were promised. Instead of being hunted down by a gleaming metal skeleton in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, we are surrounded by zombies endlessly repeating our own posts back to us.

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 So we go on social media to interact with people, and they feed us zombies????  This is the future?  You can't even tell which peope are real and which are created to make a buck off our time spent talking to nothing?  I don't like it.