The Chat Group

By now, most people watching the Trump Administration closely would have heard about the chat group set up by the Hegseth Defense Department, which accidentally included a journalist. That really doesn't look like carelessness to me; it was intentional, possibly sabotage.  Or one of them wants to claim sabotage on a future date. 

AOC and Bernie Sanders were in Arizona, at a rally in Tucson.  This is heartening news.  The important thing for young people to remember—those who are too young to remember the Vietnam War (pushed misguidedly and deceitfully by various members of the government), and the enormous efforts it took to get out of Vietnam, and the Civil Rights movement, and what it took to get equitable laws passed, will be amazed at how much determination and patience it takes to oppose a stubborn enemy, such as the Maga movement.  States will have to take over the safeguards that the federal government was responsible for before Trump/Musk.  Some states might pass laws for this purpose, but the so- called Red States won't, and they'll be great fodder for opportunists. 

At least a few of the consequences of the 'cost savings' that Musk has instituted will affect the poorer citizens who voted for Trump, but perhaps there aren't very many such people.  A lot of rich maga business owners will be happy.  I don't know about farmers.  (Trump's people will claim that it was Biden's quick response to the Avian Flu threat that ruined the poultry business.)

I'm angry about the destruction of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) which the Administration gleefully destroyed.  It was a promising way of fighting against unfair business practices.  For that alone, I think Musk should be beheaded. 

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Sex, Gender, and Dis-Something

There is a word to describe the condition of being uncomfortable with the gender assigned at birth: dysphoria? something like that; and I just realized that trans women—that's former guys who have undergone some sort of gender conversion to become women—and who get sent to prison for some law they have broken, are put in women's prison.  This seems uncomfortable for the natural women in those prisons, who may be required to do things alongside Trans women at certain times of the day. 

I have generally considered that, well, who really cares what happens in jail?  Those inmates deserve what happens to them.  But these days, all sorts of people I consider innocent are often sent to prison, and it could be months or years before they're released. 

Why this issue has come up is because Trump has issued an order saying that trans women sent to prison should be put in a men's prison.  Many people are apparently against this. 

Actually, I can see how many people could be against putting these former guys in women's prison, too.  Getting a gender transition causes so much trouble, that I think—and I'm no legal expert, so my attitude towards this issue could be considered based on prejudice, but nevertheless a strongly held opinion—I think these 'women' should be given 20 lashes, and then sent home.  It's a bit much that they can disrupt the prison system, ɓy first getting gender transition, and then breaking the law.  Their punishment should be twice as severe as it would normally be. 

I really wonder how many of these women exist; trans jailbirds.

This is one of the few 'edicts' from Trumpie that I'm in favor of. 

Well.  Just on Saturday, my wife and I participated in a protest against the Tesla dealership in the town where I was visiting family in Arizona.  Along with many others, we rejoice when Musk loses money in the stock market, the more money the better, because we do, too, and unlike him, being retired, we depend on our stocks for our income.  (He uses his stocks to acquire more companies, such as Twitter.  Which he then mismanages.)

However, though we are happy to apply pressure on the Tesla dealerships, we're not hostile to Tesla owners.  They must have acquired their cars with the most enlightened motives (while the rest of us made do with buying hybrids), and we can't fault them.  There are dealerships in Britain, whose employees have displayed placards reading 'WE HATE HIM TOO!'  The highly excitable Wall Street types might see the protests taking place at the dealerships, and sell their Tesla stocks.  That would be fabulous.  Meanwhile, the Dow is on a downward plunge, not because of anything we do, but because of the Musk-Trump foolishness.  One set of Trumpadvisers want to sabotage government, generally.  Another set of them want the stock market to do well, as an endorsement of Trump's (mythical) financial ability.  Well, they can't have both.  Wall Street wants stability.  The Stable Genius only knows to generate instability. 

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Permanent Damage

Some things that Musk and Trump are doing can be reversed: Laws; Social Security; Education Department, and so on.  Immunization rules, trade deals.

But some damage is permanent: selling off National Parks to lumber companies; preservation of monuments; it's too demoralizing to list the possible damage.

Democrats and Liberals are non-violent people; like Quakers, Mennonites, people of strong principles, they prefer to make peaceful, non-violent protests; sit-ins, occupations.  Burning in effigy.

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Glued to their Phones

Something I have said often:  one benefit of going to college is to learn ways of keeping yourself amused in your free time. 

Why do kids these days have their faces glued to their phones?  They're bored.  Their interests are few.  Some have no interests, and just need to check in with their classmates. 

I didn't have a cellphone when I was 12, and my parents were around 40 at that time, and probably would not have given me one (even if available).  I just went home after school, and read the book I was in the middle of reading: Hardy Boys, probably.  They were really too short!

Kids are difficult to keep amused.  But adults, too, are all too easily bored.  The smartest people are less likely to get bored.  On the other hand, smart 'kids' get bored, too.  The important thing is to have a ton of ideas in your head, so that any idea that happens to cross your mind connects up with related ideas that are already there, waiting for it. 

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Fresh Viewpoint: Guest Post

I was thinking it's time for a guest blogger, when what to my wondering eye should appear but a suitable essay!

 

Well, now we know that Trump isn't very smart. Understatement is the way to go here, because ranting just turns people off. But I want to bring up some interesting coincidences I have noticed.

Remember how fixated Trump was about the size of Arnold Palmer's junk? and how he kept saying that Hilary Clinton "got shlonged"? He knew very well that "shlong" is penis in Yiddish, he's not that dumb (really). I think that in a way, Trump and Putin are exact opposites, because Putin is a small man with a big dick, and Trump is a big man with a small - well, Marco Rubio said it first, whatever he meant.  See how this works?  All very dick sensitive.

Okay, we're going to have to do something drastic here. Invoke the 25^th amendment because the

T is clearly off his rocker, or the 2^nd because we could get people to aim at his other ear or (if they

are really accurate) whatever he has in his crotch. It would be great if someone could hack into the

Justice Department system (which should be quite easy now because all the systems are blown wide open by Nylon's little boys) and get a pardon for the joker who trimmed DJT's ear.

The Democrats really, really need a kick up their ass. They're still crawling about moaning about the

last election. I watched Hakeem Jefferies talk dithering bullshit to avoid having to admit that the

Old Guard are the lead weights sinking the ship. The leaders of the next generation are already here, but they are getting zero dollars from the party coffers. 

 

I'm ambivalent about John Fetterman, although Bill Maher seems to think that he's the future of the party. Just think, if the dems could recruit a Hollywood star like Dwayne Johnson (awesome talent in dozens of disciplines) or a basketball star like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (genius IQ, has written novels) or Lady Gaga (staggeringly

competent and a genius)? I'd vote for a ticket with Gavin Newsome and Pete Buttigieg; Newsome for the great smile, and Buttigieg for the great brain.

Now, if Tiny Dick stops the arms shipments to Ukraine (which will seriously piss off the arms manufacturers who pay big bucks to senators), then Ukraine doesn't have to worry about keeping to the limits originally placed on them. Like, they could take all their HIMARS guns, put on Russian uniforms (good thing most Ukrainians speak Russian) and merrily drive right up to the Kremlin and blast it at short range. That would really annoy the cleaning staff. And the KGB/GRU/whatever guys probably won't have a clue. The Ukrainians could even draft North Koreans to help them, since those guys are just waiting for orders and don't know who's supposed to give them.

Somebody, do something.

Some Things Wrong With Life in the USA

I know: everybody knows some things. 

I don't have simple solutions (In the face of this Trump-type disaster, all these things pale into insignificance.   But it's still useful to keep an eye on these smallish problems, on the off chance that we can surmount this Maga disaster).

I was just reading a post about a programme in the Netherlands, where they show kids how to repair broken toys.  An adult volunteer fixes their toy equipment while they watch.   Someone had made a comment: It will never work in the US; they'll have to first pry their phones out of their hands!

At first I was sadly agreeing with that attitude; a large proportion of the families we know find it easier to succumb to the kids demand for phones, than to resist them.  Honestly, I don't know how to deal with that problem; cell phones weren't invented when my daughter was a kid. 

Then I thought: the diversity of family cultures in the US is really vast.  We see little kids with their eyes glued to their cellphones all around us, and we assume that it's a universal thing, but I'm willing to bet that in some homes, giving kids cellphones is not a thing taken for granted.  

Part of the problem—at least in families where both parents work—is that both parents are really exhausted when they come home after work.  I'm convinced this is an American thing; in some countries, workplaces do not extract every bit of productivity from every worker, so that parents can come home with some energy left over to give their kids. 

There is, evidently, a place in Tucson, AZ, where kids can repair their toys or equipment in a sort of workshop environment.

Unfortunately, we're only too quick to speak out on behalf our employers, that the slave labor conditions at work are right and proper, and ordained by God. 

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Some Immigrants are More Equal than Others

Everybody seems agreed that we should put the brakes on the volume of illegal immigrants coming across the southern border.   I don't want to imply that all illegal immigrants come across the southern border, but—the public generally wants to slow down their numbers, or stop them entirely. 

Then, many voters don't want the total volume of immigrants to remain this high.  There was a feeling that recent administrations were lax about immigrants in general. 

A third class of immigrants is skilled immigrants, who present their special qualifications or training as part of their case for being granted immigrant status. 

Well, a lot Trump's helpers in the administration seem to be of this description, and chief among them is, of course, Musk.  As Musk stretches the limits of the tolerance for skilled immigrants among the population, might xenophobic Republicans begin to view all women and minorities in the Trump camp with disfavor and dislike?  Tulsa Gabbard, Vivek Kumaraswamy, Kash Patel are all among Trump Administration members who might be viewed as targets of the recent conservative hostility: women, birthright citizenship, skilled immigrants, etc. 

One group that has escaped particular notice is the group that shows large capital resources, which qualified them to be citizens because of their capital resources.  Musk seems to be one of those. 

But of course, Trump has prided himself on being inconsistent.  'Keep 'em guessing,' has been his motto.  But his supporters are far more consistent, at least on some matters.  This might spell problems for the Republicans in future elections. 

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