Saturday, August 9, 2025

The Slow and Inevitable Collapse of Trump World

 


Can you feel it? This Administration is falling apart. All they have left are mostly hollow threats, empty bluster and never ending victimhood whining. A strong leader could care less about what comedians or cartoon shows say about them. Hopefully, they have more important things to deal with but not this crew! “Take that off the air or I'll sue!” Nobody can  make fun of me! This Administration is devoid of Any leadership skills whatsoever. The walls are closing inevitably and relentlessly. I'm not sure what this will look like going forward. But I can assure you it won't be pretty. Let's examine tariff chicken and TACO Trump, the ongoing ICE fiasco and possibly the final nail in the MAGA coffin, the Epstein saga.


You don't have to be a rocket scientist or an economist to understand tariffs are bad for the economy. What makes it even worse is the on again and off again nature based apparently on the president's mood. In order to thrive business needs stability. They need to know the rules will not suddenly change based on an autocrat’s mood. If you know even the slightest about business, you understand they pass expenses on to customers. They are simply not going to take losses out of a sense of patriotism. And I call bullshit but all of these so-called “trade deals.” Real trade deals between something as large and complicated as two nation states take months or even years to hammer out. Trade agreements are much more than social media posts. Several hundred changes in a few months only inject instability into the system. Sooner or later the bill will come due. Ripping people off the street by goons wearing masks without due process is much more than just a bad look.


What's going to happen when the people who work our farms stop showing up? The best case may be price spikes along with some going hungry. With the people who do our building afraid to show up to work (along with tariffs on materials) will pretty much kill construction efforts.  I never thought I would see the day in the United States where police wear masks and send people off to literal concentration camps. Please understand what can happen to our most vulnerable, can happen to any of us. Also be assured they will not stop with illegal black and brown people. Authoritarians must always have enemies! Where are you on their list? Where are your family and friends on that list? Consider it carefully and here's one more thing.


The Epstein nightmare is an albatross that will hang around Trump's neck until he is in the grave. No amount of Obama bashing or digging up dirt on Hillary will make this go away. Jingling shiny keys will no longer work. Sooner or later there will be investigations and much of the truth will come out. Sadly, I don't think this means justice for the victims. Our imperfect system simply will not allow for any Elite to face consequences. This scandal will further shred the Republican Party and maybe even the Democrats before it's over. There's no amount of distraction or whining that can make this story "go away."


 Trump says a lot of things. That's a far cry from what actually happens. So called “executive orders” get shot down on the courts. “Trade Agreements” are in actuality nothing more than a social media post. Lawsuit after lawsuit gets dismissed. Given Trump's obvious and rapid mental decline, things will only get worse. I have a bad feeling the infighting and power struggles within the White House are off the charts! So much for consistency and stability.


Thursday, August 7, 2025

Good News 8.7.2025

 



“Democratic governors advise strong counteroffensive on redistricting”

Africa 'brimming with hope and possibility': Guterres


Saturday, August 2, 2025

Reality Does Not Care About Your Feelings

 


Passing laws against the words climate change will not stop climate change. Passing laws against climate science, climate reports and sea level rise will not stop climate change. Asking other countries to repeal rules for e environmental protections will also not stop climate change. All the money, profits and wishful thinking does not change what is happening to our atmosphere. Climate Change is not something you believe in, it's rather something you understand. You may (or may not) believe in God but you understand gravity. Powerful elites and the politicians they buy want to deny reality. (Still, you have to wonder why some are building doomsday bunkers.) The longer we put off addressing climate change, the worse it will be. The consequences of climate change are already happening.


How many superstorms, tornadoes, fires and droughts will it take for people to accept the reality of human caused climate change? I can give you a hint, for some it is directly related to their wallet. The status quo is a way to maximize profits. The greedy are perfectly willing to wreck the environment for future generations to get maximum short-term profits. Exxon was one of the first organizations to understand climate change and its implications. Dependent on large donor politicians cannot see beyond the next election cycle and are also willing to sacrifice the future. This is another reason money in politics is so dangerous. Money must be a hell of a drug for some! Then there is the “it doesn't affect me” crowd.  


So what if there are record floods several states away or in another country? There are no fires where I am! Droughts always come and go. Summers are supposed to be hot! For this crew, who are being told everything is fine and nothing should change, it is easy to downplay or ignore climate disasters going on all around us. They tend to consume more propaganda than actual news. They let the money crowd listed above tell them what to think. Yet, there's even a worse bunch, the Greenwashers.


The Greenwashers are companies and organizations that pretend to care about climate change for the sake of profit. It is more important to look good than do things that address the issue. Car companies, restaurant chains, energy companies and even fashion companies have all jumped on the greenwashing bandwagon. Sure, getting rid of a few plastic straws, having a few electric car options and making tiny investments in green energy tech for self-promotion will fix everything! Their idea of sustainability only goes as far as this quarter's bottom line. Rather than commit to real change, they blame individuals. Hey, it's up to you to recycle, drive less and plant more trees while they effectively do nothing.

Yes, we all have a part to play. Our individual efforts are only a drop in the ocean when compared to what large corporations can and should do. It will never be too late to take climate change seriously. But the longer we wait, the more costly it will be. Here in the US, some states are trying to do their part. While others are going backwards. Getting anything done collectively at the national level seems like a lost cause for the next four years. Currently, there is no way to calculate the suffering, damage and loss of life the loss of these four years will impose.


Sunday, July 27, 2025

Unpeople in Wars



While we remain focused on fresh new horrors coming out of the Trump Administration daily, the rest of the world is going on. Let's take a moment to consider the un-people of conflicts around the world raging as you read this. Those who suffer the most in war always tend to be the poorest who don't even have the wherewithal to become refugees. Relocating takes time and resources many simply do not have. Western media focuses on the war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza. I have trouble calling a conflict a war when one side cannot defend itself at all and is on the receiving side of genocide. Let's also take a closer look at two conflicts that garner far less media attention, the Civil War in Sudan and the Civil War in Miramar. Also, let's not forget all the un-people in Ukraine and Gaza. 


There are those (even on the left) who want to defend what Russia is doing. Somehow, this is all NATO’s fault. Let's not forget Russia has the largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world. No one is going to invade Russia, not NATO, China or the USA. These same defenders of Russia politely ignore her well documented war crimes such as blowing up apartment buildings and hospitals. I'm sure Ukraine is not perfect either.  Wars brings out the worst in everybody. However, from where I sit, Ukraine at least tries to adhere to modern rules of war. They don't purposely bomb civilians or kidnap children. If we are not careful, we can give in to hate. I think of it this way, I love the Russian people but hate their current government. Their casualties in the war have crossed the 1 million mark. A country in terminal demographic collapse already can ill afford this. It's hard to find a number for total Ukrainian casualties but they too are in a similar demographic situation and can ill afford such wasteful loss. Let's keep in mind such figures are only a small part of the story. Behind each death is a set family and friends whose lives will never be the same. (Collecting the dead) Like all wars this one too will end one day leaving behind countless maimed and traumatized people. With the war still ongoing, it's impossible to know the outcome. So too is the outcome of Israel's genocide in Gaza.


On October 7th 2023 Hamas and other militant groups launched a horrific terrorist attack into Israel. They knew Israel would respond with a heavy hand and hoped  other Arab states and groups would join in the fight against Israel. Unfortunately, for Hamas, this did not happen. In my opinion, Hamas was quite happy to sacrifice countless Palestinians to get what they wanted. Israel, under Netanyahu, has flipped the script if you will and turned this into an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. While looking on in horror,  the USA and the rest of the world has basically just sat on their hands. Well, that's not completely true, the USA has provided much of the weaponry used. We are enablers of genocide. The election of Donald J. is not going to change this. If anything, it will only make it worse. Let's keep in mind there are numerous other conflicts going on as we speak. Two other major wars that don't get a lot of press here are the Civil Wars in Sudan and Miramar.

 

Sudan is no stranger to conflict. Civil Wars have raged there off and on going back to the mid 1950s. Different religious and ethnic groups vie for power in a seemingly never-ending struggle that goes on to this day. Countries far from Sudan only exacerbate an already terrible situation by fighting proxy wars inside Sudan with each other. Russia  uses the conflict to extract Sudanese gold to help fund their war in Ukraine. Russia is far from alone. Numerous other nations in the region are also participating in fueling the conflict and complicating efforts for peace. Iran, U.A.E., Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and a host of other nations have no problem with pouring fuel on the fire of an already horrific war. All of these states are pursuing their own national interests regardless of the suffering they are complicit in creating. Many of the participants have committed multiple war crimes and created a nightmarish refugee situation. The conflict going on now started in 2023 and if you would like a deeper dive you can read here. Sadly, as of this writing in late July 2025, there seems to be no end in sight. The major powers that could help are all distracted right now. The U.S., under Trump (who at the moment is being consumed by the Epstein mess) is dealing with too many internal divisions to be concerned about conflicts far from her borders. The European powers are mostly focused on the conflict in Ukraine, fearing they may be next. China's role in Sudan is unclear but they are certainly interested in expanding power and influence into Africa. Myanmar has also been embroiled and off and on conflict going all the way back to the early 1960s.


The most recent conflict in Miramar started in 2021 with a military coup. Mass protests of this coup led to people taking up arms against the military. In time the various groups started to cooperate more and more. The Junta (the leadership of the military)  started losing more and more territory. Thailand and China, fearing a refugee tidal wave, started to supply The Junta with arms and support. Now the conflict is settled into a grim stalemate. This is also a very large war that gets little western media attention. Just a little digging reveals a number of ongoing war crimes- torture, sexual assaults, ethnic cleansing And the targeting of schools and hospitals to name a few.  Like in Sudan, intervention from outside powers only complicates the prospects for peace. So far just since 2021 many thousands have been killed and several million displaced. The Junta  keeps promising elections only to renege again and again postponing the date. This is another underreported war with no end in sight.




What are some conclusions and what can we do? When outside powers get involved, conflict resolution becomes much more difficult because it is no longer only about the interests of those involved directly in the fighting. Outside powers typically are willing to sacrifice others for their own interests. The U.S. helping Israel only insures  continued terrorism and wars or at least another generation or two. What Israel is doing is unsustainable. Being at constant war with your neighbors is not the path to prosperity for anyone. Instead of fueling other conflicts, powerful Nations should focus on assisting in negotiations and humanitarian relief. Fueling conflicts only encourages the growth of instability that sooner or later affects us all. I think an important first step is building awareness. I hope that's the main point of this post. Once enough people are aware of what's going on in the world around them, we can push for change. 



Thursday, July 24, 2025

New Book- The Arroyo

 


The Arroyo


Many years ago these characters started talking to me, asking me to tell their story. I found Pick half frozen in a post-apocalyptic, winter hellscape. Shortly afterward, Blue Raven showed up, rescued Pick and introduced herself.  The story they shared was not one of surviving your typical Wednesday afternoon apocalypse but rather those who were born and grew up afterwards. They met others along the way who indeed knew the world as it was before. Much to my surprise, the story they shared with me was one of hope and redemption in the darkest of times. They answer the question: what does it look like when humanity wins over fears,  prejudices and distrust? If you ever wondered what the world may look like a few decades after this one has ended, Pick and I invite you to check it out!