Prepare for Change

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...