2/17/25 State of the Union

Does anyone else save comic strips that they liked? I guess I am asking the question to those who still read newspapers. Anyway, I came across this Dilbert strip I saved a while back where Dilbert mentions to a colleague how someone had invented a pill that allows people to see reality for the first time. He then goes on about how all the test subjects died screaming. Dilbert’s last comment is, “Makes you think,” to which his colleague replies, “Not clearly, I hope.”

Anyway, I think that takes care of the broad picture.

Preface: Bear in mind that I finished writing everything following these first two paragraphs about the 24th of January. While Trump’s continuation of his troublemaking in the middle-east certainly comes as no surprise, I figured I probably had things covered regarding Donald Trump, but I decided to add this last-minute (Feb 6th) comment regarding Trump and his Gaza plans: First, I would like to congratulate Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu on things working out so well for you in Gaza and the West Bank, which obviously was your plan all along, unless you are both so stupid as to make Laurel and Hardy look like geniuses (their characters, of course).

So, like Elon Musk’s call for keeping the H-1B Visa program (I need to hire cheaper foreign labor because you are all too stupid), Trump’s ideas for the Gaza strip and general pandering to Israel is Trump looking out for himself, first and foremost; and a perfect example of why businessmen tend not to make good presidents, in the long run. And, never mind the fact we have fought wars to get rid of people like Trump and Netanyahu, Trump’s ethnic cleansing proposal is probably the very worst thing any US president could currently do to “improve” the security, and economic security, of the United States short of lobbing missiles into Russia or China, i.e. Joe Biden. What is the best thing he could do? No question, it would be to force Israel to withdraw all of the illegal settlements in the West Bank, end its occupation of east Jerusalem, re-confine itself to its pre-1967 border, and stay the hell away from the Al-Aqsa mosque. And if we did send troops into the Middle-East, it should be to assist the Palestinians in removing those nasty invading illegal Jewish settlers from the West Bank—who think they have some divine right to the land, when they have no such inherent right whatsoever—and keep them out. I mean, if we can do it here in the US, then we can do it over there—right? It is definitely a shame that we have a president who is willing to tackle long-standing problems here in the US, but engage in something so evil and hypocrtical abroad, but I cannot recommend anything short of immediate impeachment and removal from office (and the modernization of our democracy). Okay, that’s it, I’m done writing for this installment. Whatever bat s**t crazy stuff Trump comes up with next, you can probably guess my opinion.

Democracy

So this has nothing to do with my personal opinion regarding the US border situation, but not long after the election I happened to catch Trump’s US border czar pick exclaiming, “Don’t test us,” in regards to any opposition to Trump’s upcoming boarder policies. He also stated something to the effect, “The people have spoken, so that is what we are going to do.” Well, are you sure about that?

We have all been in that small group of people who can’t unanimously decide on something, so everyone decides to resolve the problem democratically. So everyone assumes that if at least 6 out of 10 people vote for a particular action, that is the action the group will take. That is true democracy. Now take that idea and apply it to the last United States presidential election. How many people out of 10 do you think put Donald Trump in the Whitehouse? Answer: 2. That’s right—2 out of 10, or 22% to be exact. “But that’s not fair,” you say, “You have to go by the number of US citizens rather than the entire US population.” Okay, the number, then, is about 2.5*. “But wait,” you say, “You have to go by the number of eligible voters rather than mere citizenship.” Okay, the number, then, is 3—3 out of 10 eligible voters put Trump in the Whitehouse; 34% to be exact, and that is with a higher voter turnout then there has been for quite some time.

Horrifying really, and we wonder how we keep ending up with corporate-worshiping presidents and a Congress that—over the last 50 years or so—has, not exclusively, but mostly sought to decimate the working class and make a poor country that used up its oil reserves and had to buy out, even poorer.

The Electoral College is another over-complicating factor that should, in my opinion, go the way of the horse and buggy. As part of any system of checks and balances, I think I’m safe in stating that it has not accomplished jack squat since its inception in 1787.

Conclusion: Here in the United States, we have but one pubic office that is elected by the people, for the people, of the country as a whole, but it is a currently a work of fiction. Offhand, the idea of having multiple choices to choose from when voting for high public offices makes sense, but it doesn’t work out in the end: You easily end up with minority groups essentially running the country. At the time I write this, I haven’t had time to investigate what the situation is like with each Congressional state or district. But we obviously need to get more people engaged in the political process, and a political process that hopefully results in at least a little more than half of the eligible voters in the US electing a president, or more than half of a particular Congressman’s constituents, etc., etc. (See my “platform,” entry #1)

I, for one, am tired of half-right presidents. I want an all-right president. We deserve an all-right president, for a change. And, man, have we ever had some half-rights, lately. It is time to modernize and stream-line our election process.

*This is an educated guess; searches for “number of US citizens” etc. typically brings up population figures instead, and outdated information otherwise.

Note: The vote tally jumped a little after I wrote this article, so the actual percentages might also be a digit higher.

Duh . . . why did we lose, George, why did we lose?

After the election, I kept hearing how the democrats were busy trying to figure out why they lost. Well, because you are all dumb as rocks I guess—if you really don’t know. You lost because you thumbed your nose completely at the other side—turning the southern border into a disaster, among other things. Now we have yet another president who thinks he is king, and a personality cult of rich-worshipping subjects who treat him as such, all due to this election process we call a democracy. But the same fate will befall the Republican Party come the next election, as happened in 2020, as happend to the Democrats in 2024, if this president completely ignores the other side. They never seem to learn.

Donald Trump

So obviously, if you have read my “platform,” you know that I support some of Donald Trump’s policies. And I have to hand it to him for attempting to tackle big problems that never should have arisen in the first place, and braving the dangers of the office. But I, for one, refuse to “sell my soul to the devil.” I didn’t vote for him in 2016, 2020, or 2024 because of the more-than-obvious Donald Trump law of physics: (With every correct action there is an equal and opposite disaster in the making.) And then, of course, Joe Biden quickly proves to be cut from the same mold, only made of “Jell-O” instead of “cookie dough.”

It is still too early to predict what successes Trump might pull off and what disasters he will create, of course. And I could rant about his latest presidential acts and speculate what might happen down the road, but everyone should know what to expect this time around without my input. Last time he was president, he only claimed he was going to “drain the swamp” while giving the rich yet another tax break; started a new war in the Middle-East (threw a proverbial match on the proverbial dry-brush pile) that has resulted in tens of thousands of dead and maimed kids, just to mention the collateral damage; tried to start a trade war with China after claiming he was going to proceed with caution; could have—with his big mouth—gotten a female US foreign diplomat murdered; enacted policies that separated the children of illegal immigrants from their parents; likely hastened the spread of a deadly disease by withholding the truth; and lastly, caused a riot at the US Capital that caused the death of at least two people by blabbering a bunch of malarkey that he could not possibly have known anything about at the time. I will leave it up to someone else to list what they think his successes were. At any rate, I do hope he does better, and everything he does is a positive for the United States and a positive for the rest of the world, but I have serious doubts he is ultimately capable—my “BS alarm” and “imminent- disaster alarm” has already gone off several times.

Jimmy Carter

An underrated president, often outright lied about by various Republicans, and bashed by Zionists for his stance against Israel expansionism. A man that towers over Trump, in virtue and mindfullness, like a 200-story building. He called himself a Christian and acted like one, unlike so many who call themselves Christian and act like, well, a--holes, quite frankly. RIP.

Tarrifs

So for weeks after the election, all I heard was how Trump’s proposed tariffs were going to cause inflation. Granted, Trumps proposal of 25% tariffs is ludicrous (Trump disaster #562.57 . . . in the making?) Sudden seismic shifts of any sort in an economy are obviously detrimental—that has been proven over and over again—but not once did I hear a single reporter mention any of the positive aspects that tariffs-in-general could provide, such as turning around trade deficits that have been building for years, which costs every man woman and child in the United States; or mention how those revenues collected could be used to help reduce the cost of those goods affected by helping to ensure production here, which would create jobs, all while reducing the national debt. It’s one of those problems that took many years to create, and is going to take many years to reverse, providing we continue to elect a president willing to keep working on it. Incidentally, the trade-deficit situation improved a little under Biden.

Free Speech

You have probably read in the history books how the Civil War officially began in 1861 at Fort Sumter, over actions carried out by the south following the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, as if the north woke up one day and decided to jump on its proverbial “high-horse” and put a stop to slavery, with really no previous provocation from the south or its supporters. But the truth is that abolitionists were targeted and harassed, in the north, long before the start of the Civil War; and my own ancestors were among them.

One tactic used by the pro-slavers was the suppression of any speech promoting abolition. It culminated in angry mobs carrying out physical attacks on individuals for speaking their mind, and even preachers were not spared. It is, indeed one of the first tactics reached for in the fascist’s tool bag. I would even go as far as calling it a defacto declaration of war. So I state again to anyone whose people have been persecuted, you will never get revenge on those that might criticize, insult, or persecute you by censoring them--in the spirit of complete arrogance and communism--and attacking freedoms that your ancestors fought for. Those who would persecute, displace, or even kill, will jump on your calls and run with them, as they have done countless times in the past, and as they are doing now. And, in the end, you will prove more dangerous to your cause than the ones whose voices you fear.

Health Care

So a big story that all the news outlets were clamoring about was a phone poll conducted by Emerson College that showed how “41 % of 18-29 year-olds in the US believe the killing of United Health CEO, Brian Thompson, was justified.” Well, I contacted Emerson College Polling on Jan 16th, 2025 and asked exactly how many of the 1000 people contacted were in the 18-29 age group, which was one of no less than six age groups. I also asked if there was geographic information for those surveyed. One month later, I have yet to receive a reply, but I would point out that if the number was, hypothetically, 200 individuals, compared to the US population of that age group, around 60 million, or so, it is really utter-crap science.

As for anyone who actually thinks that way, I am sorry your parents raised such unscrupulous human trash. There is an honorable procedure for affecting change, and it does not involve shooting someone in the back: First you protest and speak you mind—rights guaranteed in our constitution. When you protest, there will probably be a few (in every crowd) who might destroy property or harass people. Your detractors will use them to their full advantage to discredit you—labeling you terrorists, troublemakers, and the like. And always be alert for such persons implanted in your protests by the opposition. They will try to shut you down, and shut you up, but you must persevere, unarmed, until they start shooting at you.

One of two things will happen at that point: The country’s highest powers will step in and say, this has gone too far, and begin implementing the change you desire, or they will come after you and try to stamp out your movement, at which point you have the right to defend yourselves.

In regards to health care in the US, our entrenched capitalist system has created treatments for probably a million types of illness, some that would have caused prolonged suffering and death only a century ago. But, of course, those million* new treatments mean a million new costs—currently managed by corporations who have stockholders to worry about in addition to sick people. It is also a system with no inherent motivation to cure a genetic disease at the source—as in, at the genetic level (so no treatments will ever be needed again). It would seem obvious, to me anyway, that it is not a sustainable situation.

Side note: Have you ever noticed that every time the US health care system gets some bad press, a bunch of heavily-biased web pages mysteriously appear trashing Canada’s health care system—articles that do not even mention or compare the negative (or positive) aspects of our health care system to Canada’s?

*This is just a number I made up off the top of my head

AI

Don’t know what to say about it, except, true, it might lead to some remarkable medical and technological innovations, but I think if we were smart, we would utterly bury it and keep it buried for a long while; and in the meantime, focus on improving our individual intelligence, as opposed to creating any machines that think for us.

I keep hearing now how AI is going to “create jobs.” It all reminds me of an earlier time, when—for many years—the words “create jobs” were constantly repeated in the media over and over again to describe offshoring and outsourcing. I don’t remember any reporter ever questioning the assertion or asking for details—until our manufacturing base had been gutted, and those jobs either replaced by lower paying jobs, or not replaced at all. This is shaping up to be another “giant sucking sound,” on steroids, and not just jobs floating away, but our very grip on reality, as well. And that might not be the worst of it.

Lastly, I really wanted to post a new diagram that compares the United States recent NIIP (Net International Investment Position) with other countries (see 2_17_20_State_of_the_Union.html) in this entry. And I really wanted to touch on another big present and potential future problem, being utility companies passing the costs of energy-independent households and energy conserving households onto their remaining customers, but I ran out of time. I might post a mid-year State of . . . so, anyway, stay tuned . . .

References:https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_candidates,_2024