Prepare for Change

  https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/trillions-for-war-pennies-for-people-how-soaring-military-spending-fails-americans   I won’t let Reagan off the hook — there was plenty of waste back then, but today it’s worse. We’ve built an expansive, “cover-the-globe” strategy, trying to be everything, everywhere at once. We’re overstretched, inefficient, and spending over half of the military budget — 54% —on Pentagon contractors. When you combine all these factors, a clear picture emerges — what we call the “Trillion Dollar War Machine” — showing where all this money is going and why it’s not actually making us more secure. William Hartung: Basically, we’re asking the smaller military to undertake missions impossible: impose democracy at the barrel of a gun, reconstruct a country at the same time it’s being destroyed. We’ve had 20-year wars in Afghanistan and Iraq where the U.S. spent more and had superior technology, but that didn’t determine the outcom...

  AI does not think for itself.  It only knows what it has been fed.  It can do amazing things WITH that information, but that's how it works.  So now, AI skeptic and musician Rick Beato has invented a musical artist out of thin air using AI.    Where do things go from here?  AI can not claim copyright.  So that's good.  But now real musicians have competition from non-existent competitors.  Is this good?    "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." [Thinking Like a Human, by David Weitzner, p. 114] 

  Imagine if a bunch of billionaires and large corporations got together and tried to push a shiny Black Box on the world. It would require that electricity production be doubled. It would take 20% of fresh water. The positive claims for it are that it would reduce work loads for humans. It would be inventive, smart, and powerful. And that’s all you know about the Black Box. Would you buy it? This is AI, or the new Artificial Intelligence. It’s promoted as a sort of one-size-fits-all panacea for mankind. AI is training the Black Box to think more like a human, but still only being a Black Box that is limited to the data it is fed. The selling point is that AI can then replace humans in jobs. “We believe that it is possible that deep learning systems are less than a decade away from superintelligence,” Pachocki added. He described superintelligence as systems smarter than humans across a large number of critical actions.  [https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/28/sa...

 Why does Trump even want to be president when he’s just tearing everything about our government down? DOGE comes along and fires thousands of employees, Russ Vought comes around and fires 4000 more, hoping to keep firing. Trump shuts down any help for states that didn’t vote for him. He tears down part of the White House. The only thing that’s doing well under him is ICE, which got a huge increase in their budget. Does he want to be president so he can destroy our government? Trump wants to absorb the powers of both the judicial and legislative branches into the executive, thus negating a key part of the Constitution. Trump’s tariffs are decimating many small businesses, from farmers to bourbon producers. Some may never recover. Make America Great Again refers to around 1901, when corporations held huge power over the country and the government was weak. This is what Trump wants; let the oligarchs do what they want and keep any potential trouble source for the...

  https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/trump-seems-to-back-off-portland-military-plan/283-e9c6bdfb-92d6-4881-bb74-09bb325a5270  Based on something he saw on TV, 79-year-old President Trump believed that a sort of war was going on in Portland, Oregon.  So he felt the need to send in National Guard troops.  But then he got a call from Oregon's governor saying that there was no war and no need for troops...   "I spoke to the governor, she was very nice," Trump said. "But I said, 'Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening? My people tell me different.' They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place...it looks like terrible." So somebody showed Trump some video on TV that convinced him Portland was on the verge of collapse.  Who did that?  What was he shown?  In another instance, Trump was convinced that all the glittery trimmings put up in the White House were actual...

What should be the guiding principle of the United States president? We know this from the Constitution, that the major duties of a president are: Commander in Chief appoint judges, ambassadors, and department heads “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” There is a guiding star for presidents written in the Constitution. But there is also a way it is being handled today. The American Way 1. “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity “ 2. I will find a way to help accomplish this. For example, a president might try to ensure that American citizens can access medical care in a quick and affordable manner. But instead we have this, The Trump Way 1. They have done something terrible to us. 2. I will react in a cruel way. For instance, Trump rails against how other countries a...

  On February 3 I posted here that “A coup has begun in the US.” A big part of that was creating the Department of Government Efficiency, which by subsuming another department, was able to waltz into many governmental departments and start slashing and destroying projects that had taken years to build up and were appropriated by Congress. Eventually Elon Musk, who was heading DOGE, left in disgrace, and it has been shown that DOGE actually made things worse instead of better. But now, almost 7 months later, how goes the coup? At this point, I don’t think you can call it a coup as much as an attempt at a complete takeover of the entire society. Trump has influenced both the Legislative and Judicial branches of the federal government, thus weakening the Constitutional tri-partate system. He has super-charged a paramilitary service called Immigration and Customs Enforcement that was originally touted as going after illegal immigrants and criminals but has somehow managed t...

  https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/07/ai-in-wyoming-may-soon-use-more-electricity-than-states-human-residents/   "The project's energy demands are difficult to overstate for Wyoming, the least populous US state. The initial 1.8-gigawatt phase, consuming 15.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually, is more than five times the electricity used by every household in the state combined. That figure represents 91 percent of the 17.3 TWh currently consumed by all of Wyoming's residential, commercial, and industrial sectors combined. At its full 10-gigawatt capacity, the proposed data center would consume 87.6 TWh of electricity annually—double the 43.2 TWh the entire state currently generates."  AI sucks up energy like a vacuum cleaner sucks up dust; it takes everything it can get.  But do we really need AI if it comes at such a cost?  Who will benefit from AI?  Who is pushing it on the public?  What are all the hidden costs?   “The ...

 

  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 produ...

  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. 

  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 ...

 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 ...

  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 i...

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?

 “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...

  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?

 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...

 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...

 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 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...

 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!

  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 threa...

 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.

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

  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? 

  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?

 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. ...

  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 distract...

  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.   * * * * * 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" 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.

  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.”   * * * * * * 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 video...

  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 .   * * * * * 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 th...

  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. * * * * * 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 ma...

  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.  * * * * * 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.      

  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 * * * * * 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 di...

 

  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.  * * * * *  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.