politics

Why I am So Cranky…Maybe

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In 2023 The Calamities forced me to contemplate moving from beautiful North Carolina and The UNC Medical Hospital System, to rural, upstate New York. The move was to make it easier for my NY family to deal with possible death or aid in a hoped-for recovery. A factor in the move was a YMCA with a pool for rehabilitation when all went well. The Upstate City I moved to was going to build a new one (opening in 2025) less than 200 hundred yards from the apartment complex chosen for my residence. Serendipity, right? Nope. Project was ended two weeks after I arrived due to lack of funding so I drive 3 miles to the old YMCA. Very old YMCA. But at least it’s there: glass half-full.

My morning swim starts at 5:30 at the YMCA. Some people work out on machines and some swim. During those painful, disabled, pre-surgery days, one of my co-conspirators was a young man who is frequently there the same time as me. We arrive, strip naked (for all you female readers), and get into our relevant workout attire.  He then goes into the shower room and turns on the water in the ADA* shower. (Unmarked ADA shower, another story. Grrr.) Then, he goes to work out.

He does this every morning I see him.

Is he turning the shower on for himself, me, or someone else? I assume he does it all the time unless he is very considerate and is helping me.  I go into the pool area and swim for 45 minutes. When I come out to shower, the hot water is still running in the still unmarked and empty ADA shower stall. Grrr, again.

After showering I shut off the water to dry and dress. The stage is set, so here is the scene one morning when the young man re-enters the locker room after his workout:

Young man (YM): “How’s the water?”

Me: “Which one?” (Pool or shower? But I know..)

YM: “The shower. Nice and warm?”

Me: “So you turn it on and leave it on.”

YM: “Yeah.”

Me: “You know how much water that wastes?”  (The YMCA has no catchment system.)

YM: “Not much, it’s only on about 10 minutes.”

Me: Nothing. I am not ready for a fight, need to at least get pants on. Or offer him my watch.

YM: “Besides, they don’t care about money. What do they do with it all?” He is gesturing around the dirty, worn out locker room.

Me: Again, nothing. Grrr.

YM: “This place is just as corrupt as the city.”

Me. “Yep, everything is corrupt. YMCA. City. Biden. Might as well kill ourselves.” (Imagine an extremely pissy tone, to match his MRPGM** vibe.)

YM: “I don’t really care. As long as I have enough to enjoy myself and my two trucks.”

He said the last line as if dropping the mic and repeated it as he passed me on his way out. “My two trucks.”

And…scene, and yes, he did not even use the shower.

It’s easy to think he was smart enough to be making a point. But the scene revealed an attitude prevalent in America, a variation of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) labeled GMGA for Got Mine Go Away. It is the mantra of the MAGA movement.

And it’s okay. GMGA has been around since caveman days.

But that is the point: we are no longer cavemen…and cavewomen. Back then it was about survival, LIFE survival. Now, it’s about STATUS survival. In caveman days you had to eliminate threats to your actual life. Now, MAGA wants to eliminate threats to their lifestyle. Trans, Gays, Illegals, Non-Whites, and specifically those not in sync with the MAGA groupthink…not welcome.

All this because of an encounter at a YMCA?

Yeah, Sounds bad. Petty. I may be wrong about the young man and wonder if I was the same way at his age, with cars and motorcycles. Was I MAGAn 50 years before MAGA?

But even if I was, it makes the point clearer: we should grow out of it. NIMBY and GMGA, both.

As my personal guru, the estimable Steven Wright says: “Experience is something you don’t get until right after you need it.”

*Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law July 26, 1990 by Republican George H.W. Bush, a war hero and all around good, conservative man.

**Modern Republican Party Grievance Machine. See old posts.

Things Hard To Understand

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A 90,000 square-foot ball room next to the White House? In these uncertain and unnerving times when the government might be closed and DOGE is slashing budgets? After already paving over the Rose Garden and turning it into a social club for rich people? A reckoning might be coming along the lines of the French Revolution or the Domus Aurea. Ask Ai. Ask about “decadence”, too, while you’re at it.

Income inequality. Period. Aren’t rich people smart enough to know there is only so much “poor” the rest of us can take?

People who don’t want government or taxes. Really, who needs roads, police departments, fire companies, sewer systems. Maybe we can get our cities and towns professional sports teams and stars to fund everything? An outfield “star” for the New York Mets makes more money per year than the entire budget for the upstate NY city I live in. The national “tax” that keeps the NFL and others paying millions to players for a game,…think about it yourself. Don’t make me say it.

Why aren’t firemen, teachers, police men, and even garbage men more respected than Aaron Judge? Or Juan Soto? Should public servants start their own trading cards? Allow betting on how soon a police department might catch a criminal? How much lead is in the water? Vegas will handicap anything, set odds, and offer SGPs galore. Googe it but ignore the first three examples.

Why people don’t know more about history. Because of a long-standing national cognitive crisis, we are doomed to taking one step forward in one generation and then falling two steps backward when the next generation has no idea what the preceding generation did. That is a generic statement that, however, holds true for almost all our current problems. This innate genetic and systemic fragmentation is why we still fight and argue over broken legal systems, immigration, elections, and health care systems, to name a few, after hundreds of years.

Why people don’t realize they are being manipulated? It’s time we all said this about ANY and ALL information suppliers: some of it’s true, some of it isn’t. Letters to the editors and online comments reveal most people think they have the only true source of facts and information, and everyone else is an idiot. This first appeared years ago with the new Fox viewers, but now every political ideology and fringe group has its own information supplier with its own baked-in bias. How long will it take the entire country to realize this and read each different bias and sort out the truth? Hm. That is impossible, so let’s at least admit our favorite sources of news might not be right all the time? And maybe then we can see the ones who purposely try to fool us and lead us by the nose.

The world is an interesting place if you look at it and see it. It’s human nature to let the grind of life wear us down and make us think bad thoughts but remember this is your only shot. Don’t blow it by burying your head in the sand. Look up, look out, and be aware. As the good Doctor Wright once said: “Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm,”

And for good measure: What did the grape say when the elephant sat on it? Nothing. It just let out a little whine. If you get the joke, you’ll be okay.

RICH PEOPLE ARE RUINING OUR WORLD

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It’s okay to be rich. America is designed to not only allow it but encourages it. A capitalist economy is the perfect system to reward ingenuity, inspiration, hard work, and dedication. In an ideal world. And without that “carrot”, we may not have many of the inventions making life easier and safer.

In a less-than-ideal world, however, it is the perfect place for greed and injustice to run amok, unfettered, destructive, and cruel. Think of a herd* of cute, rabid bunnies who have genetically developed to the size of Elmer Fudd. He used to call them “wascally wabbits” in the old days…when they were cute and small.

Baffling, related, but incomprehensible sidebar: The Board of Directors of Tesla have offered Elon Musk a potential (and complicated) compensation plan worth $1 TRILLION(sic).

In a macro (large) economic system, general rules apply like the relationship between supply and demand: too much demand for goods with too little supply of goods means whoever has that “supply” can raise their prices and make more money. Manufacturers, investors, consumers, the government, me, we all used to rely on this one, basic, fundamental rule. There are many more complicated rules concerning pools of money, interest rates, taxes, the size of several types of debts, and blah blah blah. It’s also enlightening to understand the costs of things, where they come from, and how long they last. At least it used to be.

In 2024 there were 23.8 “million millionaires” in the America, or 460,000 per state. We had 813 Billionaires, a record, in 2024.

In 1960 we had 306 millionaires and fewer than 10 billionaires. When America was Great, originally.

If we ignore the crippling concept of Gross Materialism** and simply focus on the amassing of wealth, what is the problem? In a real, free capitalist system, we tend to pay a price for an object determined by “what the market will bear” as long as it more than the cost of the product. (Again, an economic process simplified for this post.) The “market”, a micro system, is us: you and me. Normal people. Average Joes and Janes with “normal” pools of money. What do you think happens when millionaires’ pools of money becomes part of this micro “market”? Can millionaires “bear” to pay more than Joe or Jane?

Our economic system generates 400,000 new millionaires, or 8,000 new ones per state, yearly. That’s a lot of “money” capable of “flooding” markets with millionaires’ dollars instead of Jane or Joes. No judgement, here, but how many millionaires really care about efficient, cost effective, market-driven pricing? Yes, some do, but most don’t. If Jane and a millionaire wanted the same car, or the same house, whose offer would the seller accept? It’s a question of not only “demand” in the market, but also the available “pool” of money in that market, and the desire of all sides to be treated fairly and economically “equal”. To wit: who is in better position to pay what the seller wants, even if it is too much? Jane or the Millionaire? Imagine if you were the seller…who’s your best bet to pay the highest price?

This scenario has “trickled down” to communities in America where Janes and Joes who research and buy responsibly are being priced out of purchasing, or at last are forced to make purchases at higher prices in a competitive situation. It is evident in housing markets and subtly infecting grocery, gas, and living essentials markets. And try buying a ticket to a professional sports game.

There is nothing legally wrong with this trend. And it is only a problem if you are not one of the existing or new millionaires living in your area. America’s current birth rate is 3.6 million new Janes and Joes per year, so do the math.

It will be a huge problem soon because as the rich “strata” grows larger it sucks all the “value” out of the “poor” first, then the lower middle class, then the real middle class, then the upper middle class until every American will be one of only two classes: very poor or very rich. Eventually, even being a millionaire won’t be rich, enough.

There are many other factors in play: inflation, regulation, wealth transfer, taxes, the end of the world, history…but can we just let this “stratification” happen? Is it already too late? Who cares?

Prediction from an older post: Rich enclaves will return to a feudal society with the Lord and Master ruling over servant’s, vassals, slaves…all of whom will be well-paid but with no place—or time–to spend the money.

Ran out of room, here, but think about how much a professional athlete gets paid, then ask the same of your teacher, fireman, policeman, or doctor.

Anyone miss the days of 10 cent cheeseburgers and 15 cents a gallon gas? Make America Cheap Again. Please.

*Yes, a bunch of rabbits is a “herd”. Conjures up a strange image of cowboy rabbit drives in the old west. Rabbitboys, then, out on the range? Wascals.

**Google it. I dare you.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect Presidency

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I know. Sorry. But this isn’t really about The President as much as it is his entire government, so this doesn’t count as Trump Derangement Syndrome. More like Derangement, period.

Ai states: “The Dunning-Kruger Effect (DKE) is a cognitive bias where people with low ability in a task overestimate their own competence and ability to do the task…this occurs because the less-skilled a person is, the less they possess the meta-cognitive ability to recognize their own incompetence.”

Pregnant Pause.

DKE was discussed in Trump’s first term, but back then he turned to established experts and administrators to fill the leadership slots in his administration. He fired most of them later, but not our point, here. This term he appointed cronies, sycophants, and Fox personalities to the leadership positions, often nominating someone just to piss off the democratic opposition. What he learned from the first term is he needed to appoint people dumber than him to run the government so he could tell them what to do. All of them. And they’d do it. He don’t need no stinking experts (sic) disagreeing with him. Ask RFK. The net result has been astounding.

DOGE “saved” tons of money. Programs and whole departments were cut, people were fired, and contracts cancelled. The Administration has been, is now, and will be sued until the cows come home*. But since nothing matters to the new administration but the Conservative Supreme Court, courts, judges, and legal actions in courts all across the country are simply the opening salvo of a legal war Trump knows his Supremes will help him win. Money, money, money, for lawyers, lawyers, lawyers.

In the meantime, the down-line ramifications of “The Doge Savings” (TDS??), means farmers, rural citizens, the poor, and anyone NOT rich are seeing services cancelled, important research ended, and entire communities thrown into chaos as properly legislated federal funding is “clawed back” to be used someplace else? Who knew all this would happen? The Heads of The Departments who fawn over Trump at their televised meetings? Ignorance is bliss.

Entire government departments are run, now, by people who have never run organizations so big and complex. Health and Human Services adjusts vaccination schedules for children in the middle of a measles outbreak. FEMA cuts funding and employees as floods and fires devastate red AND blue states. And the TDS appears to be used to send back ANY immigrant, not just the worst of the worst.

We shouldn’t be worried about DEMOCRACY as much as we should be worried about the entire country’s way of life. Farmers and small businesses, rural hospitals, cheap labor, food supplies, all in jeopardy due to this administration and DKE. Search how many times they have quietly backtracked on employee firings, program funding, and department missions. Waste??? You betcha.

Enough. If the US was your business, you’d trim the fat, not throw out the meat and bones. You’d look for savings that don’t threaten services, programs, and lives. You might even study and learn to understand the long-term effects of programs, instead of the immediate, short-term mirage-like savings. But that’s because you are smart enough to know you need help, you don’t know it all.

In another three months fecal matter is going to impact the air-mover and we’d better be ready. Personally. On our own. Our DKE government will not know enough to help. Or care.

  • As an old farm boy, I know what it means “when the cows come home”, which they always did. But Ai says: “it is an idiom meaning for a very long time, often with the implication something will be lengthy, tedious, or even pointless.” Huh. Pertinent?

Three Sentences…Again

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The Texas redistricting story highlights the idiocy of modern politics since every state and party gerrymanders at a certain, justifiable time. Modern Republicans see the handwriting on the wall and will do anything, now, to change the inevitable future, including tying themselves in knots to justify their actions. Their Prime Directive**, misunderstood by a Texas politician: “We’re doing it now because we can.”

I’ve often postulated America is 30% Conservative, 30% Liberal, and 40% Independent. Trump was (mainly) elected by his motivated Conservative 30%. Wonder if the other 70% of America will be motivated in the 2026 elections…

One More Trump, thing and this sentence doesn’t count. He is building a 90,000 square-foot ballroom addition to the White House, has already gilded most of the White House offices, and paved over the Rose Garden. Joni Mitchell’s “Big, Yellow, Taxi”** comes to mind. Is there anyone other than his 30 per cent that thinks these are good things?

A recent conversation with a friend reminded us both of how prescient Star Trak was and is, even now. My friend recounted*** an episode where Chekhov, the engineer, had trouble communicating with an “older” computer system on an alien planet. “Ancient Aliens”**, anyone?

Another old friend helped me remember an old plan I had for America. The Retirement Years are ages 20 to 25 when we don’t need to work and can do whatever we want. At age 26 we enter the workforce and work until we die.

In trying to understand the recent political scene, it appears conservatives are inspired and motivated to be Republicans even though they don’t fully understand the Party. Democrats become Democrats simply because they don’t want to be Republicans. In a two-party system, what choice is there?

My opinion (as stated years ago) is the Republican Party is the party of GMGA, or “Got mine Go Away” and includes several “ladder pullers” like Clarence Thomas. The Democrats acronym will be “YHTMGSTSE”, or “You Have Too Much Give Some To Someone Else.” Yikes?

A sentence no one pays attention to anymore, should be drilled into all our heads as soon as possible: “No one is perfect.” As noted above, when we segregate (and hate) over party lines instead of human issues, our entire world suffers. It’s past time for good republicans, good democrats, and good independents to put the world back on track.

Nothing will come from the above 3 sentences until females take over the world. Men are too caught up in being men to see we need males to be good citizens, not power brokers and Alphas. If you want to see real male heroes, watch old TV Westerns like “Tales of Wells Fargo” or “The Lone Ranger” and watch characters Like Matt Dillon, Jim Hardy, and even 1960’s Andy Griffith.

Unrelated to anything, there is an Andy Griffith Show episode, “The Manicurist”, (Season 2 episode 16) featuring a young Barbara Eden. The episode highlights the power females have over males. And you don’t have to be old as me to appreciate real beauty.

** google it, google everything. Ai, too…just for fun. Its free, so…

*** It is always amazing to hear how avid fans of Star Trek, Star Wars, and other programs remember their favorites, even after many years. The Human Brain. Wow.

PS Everything is three sentences but this post should be better. Spent too much time on structure and not enough on content. Sue me.

Whims and Ghosts and Perceived Slights, oh my…

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“When you die people cry and beg for you to come back, but when you do, there’s the running and the screaming.”-Facebook someone.

“Whim: a sudden desire or change of mind, especially one that is unusual or unexplained.”-Oxford English Dictionary.

“Perceived Slight” per Ai: “It’s about the FEELING of being slighted rather than the objective reality of an intentional slight. These feelings arise when someone believes they’ve been treated with less consideration or importance than they deserve.”

America has become the land of Whims and Ghosts and Perceived Slights. Our current governing philosophy is do whatever we want and if things don’t work out, blame it on some “others”, some dead, some alive. The Epstein Files story is a perfect example. If you don’t know it, imagine a rich man doing what he wants with sex, drugs, lots of free time, and lots of young ladies. Some very young ladies. And imagine, the rich and powerful friends who help him and/or play with him. Then imagine the crap hitting the fan years later and the rich man dying. The MAGAns in our country are right to be offended by this story but what part? It appears the “participation” of many rich and famous people in the past was not what you think…or was it? Daily reporting of this saga reads like a whimsical cavalcade of saucy but unreasonably innocent comments, denials, and blame for an individual unable to say anything about it. Imagine “the running and the screaming” if his ghost came back to set the record straight.

And what does it mean to “set the record straight”? With a Department of Justice doing what our insecure and petty President tells it to do, we appear to be enforcing the law by the Power of His Whim, a whim informed by his perceived slights. In fact, it appears everything our government does these days is whimsical, depending on who is not obeying the Whim of the moment or not “working hard” enough to correct a past slight. Example: 14 immigration judges are “fired” while 3 million immigration cases (or more) need adjudication, and the Big Beautiful Bill allocates billions to the immigration brain trust to hire and train new judges. Why did they fire the old ones? Whim? Ghosts? Perceived slights?

Sadly, the biggest loss surrounding Government by Whim, Ghosts and Perceived Slights is The Truth. In the Whim System nothing is true except what we say is true, a remarkably fun way to govern, if you think about it. Imagine doing anything you want, to anyone, anytime, especially those who you perceive slighted you.

 The entire charade is supported by new people in power who feel the same. Whimsical Purity. Entire Departments of the Unted States Government, established well over 100 years ago, gone by whimsical and revengeful fiat.

It leads to the rest of us, and even some MAGAns, now, wondering “What’s Next”? Who will be the current government’s target in an hour or two? Next week? It is a tough time when the smartest man in the world gets to make all the decisions about everything, no matter science or history. Trump wants to change an entire, historical White House to add a…ballroom. Someone call DOGE, unless the dance hall really will be financed by “private money”. Shouldn’t we call that a “bribe”? Ah, it’s just an example of rich people satisfying a whim instead of fixing a country, Or lowering prices. Let them eat cake…google it.

Who cares, anyway. 77 million people voted for and “mandated” this type of government. They knew who he was. The 250 million people, otherwise known as the rest of us, should just sit back and enjoy it.

Buyer’s remorse? The Texas redistricting ploy is a sign maybe someone cares, after all, even if The Rest of Us don’t. Texas’s plan isn’t a whim but a hysterically desperate effort by the Modern Republican Party Grievance Machine (MRPGM) to change the future.

Will American Voters let MRPGM get away with it?

My not-so-whimsical guess is yes…

How to Fix The American Political System Part 1

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The Citizens United Case in 2010 reversed centuries-old regulations and norms governing electoral financing mechanisms. Since then, money has become the American Electoral Currency, and spawned a non-productive system of consultants, advisors, think tanks, pod-casters, and big-mouth know-it-alls. None of whom do any real work but make a lot of money. Here are some ideas to sort the mess out. And, no, none of them will ever be considered, but what if…

  1. In any election, the Candidate with the most money automatically loses. Saves time voting and counting ballots. ALL unused money from every campaign goes to a charity of the winner’s choice.
  2. Mandate no legislator can vote for his party over 80 per cent of the time on “consequential” legislation. Naming Post Offices does not count.
  3. No Majority and Minority Whips. They sound cruel, anyway.
  4. Outlaw consultants and advisors. Use reports from Bi-Partisan appointed committees of legislators or independent personnel, for guidance on bills. Committees would be made of equal bias and report both sides of a bill or issue for both sides to read. Perfect use of inexpensive, existing Artificial Intelligence.
  5. Mandate “result’s oriented” committee investigations. Any committee investigation not culminating in a previously defined result, loses one member from the instigating party on the committee. Scoring political points does not count unless specifically noted. For example, Hillary Clinton and Benghazi multiple investigation’s purpose? Among many others from both sides.
  6. Set Term Limits with “laddered” terms so the same number of seats come up for election each year. Phase in necessary?
  7. Any candidate who does not complete their term is replaced by a candidate appointed by the opposing party to complete the term. Death or serious illness are exceptions. Keep in mind if we do Number 4, most politicians will have nowhere to go to do nothing and get paid for it, so they may stay to term.
  8. Every legislator files “open and on time” tax returns for every year in office. A separate tax preparation firm can be employed if used by ALL legislators.
  9. IRS sets specific guidelines for auditing legislators. Everyone gets audited at least once during their term. Yes, a second audit could be done for good cause.

I’ve run out of space, but the point is, governing for the entire country should not be bound and gagged by monetary demands. If implementing these steps means only poor, ethical people can run for office, is that so bad? We could use all the new ICE agents to help enforce the new rules, too,

A lot of these ideas are terrible but one thing to remember: when most politicians get into office, these days, the only thing they are worried about—and work hard for–is getting re-elected.

How does that help make our country ok, again?

In Three Sentences…or Less

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It’s a sleepless night caused by our new Trumpistic (sic) societal norms. And surgical recovery. And wonderful, open-windows weather in upstate NY.

Our leader’s insecurity is on full display with the new Wall Street Journal lawsuit. Sticks and stones will break his bones but words…will hurt his ego. Sue the bastiges.**

ICE and DHS (google them) are over their annual budget already. Wondering about waste, fraud, and abuse? Me, too, DOGE..

Closing the border and deportation are two different things. Success at the border, then disaster using “worst of the worst, only” deportation. What?

It’s funny DHS and ICE agents want to protect their identities. As they surround and detain illegal immigrants, who is the “worst of the worst”, then? Maybe ICE should call ahead and tell their targets to mask-up as well, just to be fair.

Incongruity and hypocrisy are highlighted when illegal immigrants are rounded up from American businesses that then have to close because the businesses can’t find workers. Raise your hand if you think this is the first time America has taken advantage of “foreign labor” to make a profit. In a few years, if not already, you may not be able to learn about slavery, sweatshops, and rich men taking advantage of entire classes of foreign people as we Make America Great Again.

The Texas Hill Country Tragedy does not need to be politicized, it came with the rain. Years of denials about warning systems by elected officials are public record as they say “on record” they don’t want to “hear sirens in the middle of the night” or take “Biden Money”. Texas is a blueprint for our future if we allow it.

You hear a lot about common sense from politicians. So, if DOGE fires/lays off workers from national weather services and disaster warning agencies, what is it called if disaster strikes the very areas that need those services and agencies more than ever? I can think of a word.

A politician in North Carolina ran on a platform of de-regulation and was elected. When a family member got seriously hurt during an “unregulated” recreational activity, that same politician filed a bill to regulate it. Now that’s common sense, except for the timing.

A lot is made of Trump, chaos theory, and his ability to play “four-dimensional chess”. It’s time to realize he is in over his head and bouncing from crisis to crisis, winging it. Since he can’t be re-elected, it’s hard to understand since he doesn’t have to make anyone happy, anymore, but himself.

Common sense and Epstein. Before you make any assumptions, read all the records publicly available, including the 2008 “special” deal made by a Geroge Bush appointed Republican Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who was then appointed Secretary of Labor in Trump’s first term. Maybe MAGA is finally right about something.

When you’re in recovery from surgery, with a drug protocol full of painkillers and anti-somethings, it’s best not to think too much with the free time you spend sitting around “recovering”. This is the third post written during recovery and my sense of humor has “left the building”.

Whether that’s Trump’s fault or mine, I hope it comes back. Humor is all we have left. Enjoy it when you find it.

** See a Michael Keaton movie from 1984 for translation. And humor.

Many Big, Beautiful Questions

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One. Big. Beautiful. Bill (OBBB). WTF? If the Republicans crammed all Trump’s legislative plans into OBBB are they done working for the rest of his term? What else is there for them to do? Investigate The Bidens? The Obamas? The details of OBBB will matter, soon, but right now, the sheer foolishness of putting so much legislation in one legislative bill makes you wonder why? Nearly every Small Ugly Bill (SUB) usually has one or two things a legislator can vote for and one or two things he/she is against, so imagine the love/hate salad of OBBB. The chutzpah of the Republican OBBB effort is astounding and revealing. Insecurity is the driving force of the Modern Republican Party Grievance Machine (MRPGM) and that insecurity is highlighted by OBBB. MRPGM knows they only have this year to get things done before voters correct themselves in 2026, just like they did in 2018. The MRPGM has to take a big bite of the political apple now, while they can. Plus, with all the legislative work done in 2025, MRPGM members are free to spend all of 2026 campaigning and spinning the damage assessments, and trying to get re-elected with more smoke and mirrors.**

Why are ICE and DHS making so many mistakes in their deportation zeal? Time will tell how much it is going to cost to fix the lives of present and future American Citizens who have been unlawfully detained and even deported. Wouldn’t a slower, steadier, and more measured deportation process make more sense in the long run? In fact, their idea of paying people to self-deport is probably the better way. It’s fair to guess some immigrants who are here legally, might not want to be here, anymore, America is so great, now. Note, too, all the stories about the troubles our tourism industry is having, these days.

And where were local law enforcement agencies when all the illegal immigrant murderers and rapists and drug dealers were allegedly cavorting freely in our towns and cities?

Did DOGE members label anything they didn’t understand as “waste, fraud, or abuse (WFA)’? Did the DOGE people understand any of what they were looking at? Did DOGE know the long-term benefits of the WFA they stopped? A program in my hometown is closing because DOGE has convinced Trump’s Office of Management and Budget not to spend the money already allocated to this program. It is a Grandparent Mentoring Program where grandparents “adopt” an elementary student and help the student learn both educationally and socially with in-school activities. It helped both students and grandparents for years. But not this coming school year. WFA?

Does the average American understand most of the WFA “discovered” by DOGE was legally researched, proposed, and voted on by elected American Senators and Representatives who knew why they were approving the expenditure and how important it might be? For example, due to cuts in “climate change research”–a favorite MRPGM bugaboo–farmers will no longer have current and extended weather forecasts to help them plan for crop planting, harvesting and even selection. WFA?

A reread of these questions points to one thing in common: lack of critical thinking. The Political Power Surge felt by the MRPGM, along with the knowledge The Surge won’t last long, has spurred the MRPGM into hasty, poorly thought out and even dangerous actions. One last question: WHY????

In Proverbs 12:19 King Solomon states: “Truthful words stand the test of time but lies are soon exposed.”

Let’s hope so.

** and the Democrats, too. lets hope someone learns…

Benign Bemusements

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After years of complaining about drivers’ inability to understand and use a well-known and researched free life-saving safety device, blinkers, it is time for empathy, time to walk a mile in their shoes. This past Monday, the 13-mile, mainly four-lane highway drive from my home to the Fitness Center at Turning Stone was the time and place. I intended to drive the entire route without ever touching the turn signal arm. It is a drive of very few turns so…and it was performed at 4:30 AM so there were few witnesses…and victims…but…

The first 12 miles were glorious: the sheer audacity and freedom was intoxicating. I changed lanes on a whim. I made my one right turn onto the highway with total abandon and when the two lanes narrowed to one, I shifted over with a youthful, carefree exuberance. That joy filled my soul and I lost myself in it until in anticipation of a left turn into the parking garage, my now-unattended brain fired the nerve(s?) of my left arm. The left hand fell off the steering wheel, my eyes dropped to watch, and the left-hand fingers descended perfectly onto the turn signal lever. Could I catch myself in time to prevent disaster or was I doomed to repeat the past? Would the turn signal lever be strong enough to resist? Would it count if the light bulb was burned out and never flashed? Is Trump ruining the entire world?

I’ll try, again, on the way home.

Speaking of Trump, is it strange he decimates social, educational, medical, and scientific services in the name of “balancing the budget” and then spends billions on immigration deportations, domestic military policing, and parades? The American Public is (are?) the idiot(s) for allowing this to happen, and by electing him in the first place. Will we do anything about it?

Immigration reform is needed, but if we assume 1 in a 10,000 Americans is a criminal, it’s safe to assume 1 in 10,000 immigrants is a criminal, right? So we are deporting them all? Indiscriminately? Court cases alone will cost billions. It is a classic case of mismanagement made sadder by the hurt it is causing innocents. And is a perfect example of baby and bathwater. It is proof we need experienced professionals running our government who understand nuance or at least are willing to learn. HHS Chief RFK firing all 17 members of an advisory board to the CDC? He don’t need no stinkin’ advice.

Political doublespeak and the attendant physical contortions are not unique to the Republican Party, or to this day and age. Democrats are participants, too, as well as being quick learners. But I just watched Republican Representative Loeren Boebert in a US House hearing perfectly detail the causes, actions, and repercussions involved in an “insurrection”. Finally, I said to myself, someone on the Republican side sees it. Finally. But she was talking about Los Angeles. Find it on you tube and watch. It is the perfect example of political…umm…selective memory? Ignorance? Oblivion? She was innocently outraged, positive about all facts, and sure anyone who didn’t agree with her was stupid, unpatriotic, and un-American. Plus, she was shrill, one of her unique skills.  Unfortunately, I cannot remember a Democrat display so completely tone-deaf and absurd, but there probably is one, someplace. It is what politicians do and we reward them for it. Let’s vote them all out next time. All new for the future.

There are so many odd, sad, funny thoughts and things happening to us old people. This post was supposed to be about those things. But Ai is ruining everything, including my brain. Politics is an ear worm, now. Anyone know a cure? Maybe if politicians stopped being stupid and self-serving…?

See? Funny things.