Stopping a Bully

10 Monday Mar 2025

Posted by in Bullying, President Trump

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

        What do you do with bullies who only think more about themselves? What do you do about a fifth grade bully that takes the lunch money from third graders by threat of force? What can little kids do when the teachers and parents look the other way? The only way is for the third graders to band together and force him to act decently or face group responses.

            We know bullies in grade school continue their behavior into high school and start carrying lethal weapons. Profilers have found a large percentage of school bullies become criminals with guns because they weren’t stopped earlier when they could be changed.

            Today we have a President who thinks he is the World’s Bully and can do as he wishes since the Congress is scared of his verbal wrath. Currently it is just verbal because he has just gotten control of the Justice Department and the military. Trump has stated repeatedly he will go after anyone opposing him with the F.B.I.

            He has threatened Canada and Mexico with tariffs, taking Greenland by however needed, and retaking the Panama Canal. If I were the leader of one of those countries I would band together all those countries he has already threatened and those he has said he will discipline to curb his bullying.

            Canada and Mexico should move all customs and Immigration people away from the U.S. Borders and put an export tax on all items crossing the border. Trudeau should put all American Military and civilians on buses back to America. Greenland should do the same thing and then put the bases up for sale. They would be worth tens of billions. Panama should stop all American Military ships from crossing and put a platoon on all American Flagged or owned ships transiting the canal. Each ship would be thoroughly searched for explosives. The rest of the world could simply stop buying bonds and threaten to sell the ones they now own. His billionaire friends would be scared, especially Musk.

            That is how a bully is stopped before he advances into military solutions to his threats. Remember, Hitler could have been stopped when he sent his little army to invade the Rhineland. Look what his bulling caused! True Americans must stop him.      

Time Is Running Out 

08 Saturday Mar 2025

Posted by in Climate Change

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

   

Imagine being on a train speeding down the rails towards a tunnel through a mountain. Various devices have been installed to tell the engineer to slow down before reaching the tunnel. A rock slide has closed off the tunnel but crews and equipment are working to clean the tracks so our train can safely pass through. Now imagine those devices are being dismantled allowing the train to speed back up. In addition the work at the tunnel entrance has been slowed and maybe stopped. Time is running short and unless the engineer applies the brakes quickly the train will be wrecked with disastrous consequences to the passengers. The rails are climate change.      

This imaginative teaching scenario is an accurate description of what is happening here regarding efforts to deeply reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. If we don’t do it quickly the effects of climate change will become unbearable. We have known for almost 250 years that carbon dioxide kept the planet warm. We have known for almost a hundred that the level of the gas was increasing but at a slow rate so scientists studying the rise were not very concerned.

About 50 years ago they started getting concerned. About this time the scientists told their bosses at the major oil companies that they were causing a substantial increase which would lead to an uncontrollable warming of the planet. The companies managed to dissuade and con people into thinking it wasn’t true. Millions of Americans still believe their propaganda, and they just put in a President who either ignores the facts or just doesn’t care. He has said many times he wants to produce more fossil fuels and cut regulations on burning them. He wants to reduce government spending on combating the efforts to use wind and solar power.

Scientists said a 3.5 degree rise over the start of the industrial age was a tipping point and we are very near that point. We are about to hit those rocks at a high speed. How many people will survive…if any?

Taxes Opens Doors

05 Wednesday Mar 2025

Posted by in Morality

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

        As I was driving past a sandwich shop in a semi-rural community in Northern Illinois I noticed several signs on a building about playing the slots inside. A thought flashed through my mind of trip we took through Nevada five decades ago. We stopped off in a big casino, at that time, and played the nickel slots for a couple of dollars and continued on to Pasadena. It was before interstates in the area so we took regular highways with some signs for places of legal prostitution.

            Now as I drove around Illinois and other states I see casinos and signs for slot machines, and betting places. Bets can be placed without leaving home. Many states, including Illinois, allow for sales of narcotics like Marijuana to anyone old enough to comply with that state’s laws. It is heavily taxed just as gambling so communities and states can have money without the usual taxes.

            A few years later we took a trip east and I played Blackjack until I lost the budgeted fifty dollars. My wife finally lost twenty playing the slots. It was fun and we got free drinks. Oddly there was a lot of water and mixers but not much alcohol.

            As I drove past the sandwich shop, I saw the indoor shooting range sign. It then occurred to me – the next time I go past a prostitution sign could fit in just as Vegas in the seventies. Is that the road many states are on to get more tax money? How many tax dollars would it bring in to balance a budget? The Religious Right was against legal gambling but some of their big name leaders visited with expensive call girls and so forget the moral issue.

Saving Money

01 Saturday Mar 2025

Posted by in U.S. Budget

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

        The Federal Budget is 6.9 Trillion. President Donald Trump and his billionaire cohorts want to cut the spending. I have some ideas.

            Since the President is a multi-billionaire, or at least he says so, why am I paying for his life in The White House and his salary? He could easily afford to pay for the staff and food. He should pick up the tab for all those parties he likes to throw to impress himself. He always paid for his own plane and crew so he shouldn’t he pay for Air Force One and its flight crew? He should pay for his own medical costs like the people who voted for him must do. He had his own guards before he got Secret Service people for the rest of his life so shouldn’t he pay for them? As he keeps moving around we have to pay for all the security facilities and guards. I bet all that would save the tax payer over a billion dollars.

            Elon Musk doesn’t need to poke around Washington D.C. to cut money. He could simply tell NASA to cut all funding and people having to do with sending Astronauts to Mars. The human body can’t live in a zero gravity for very long and definitely not the years it will take to get to Mars, stay for a while, and get back. Hollywood isn’t making factual movies. That would save 100 to 500 Billion for each trip, plus a billion per ton in equipment and supplies.

            He will probably want to cut the auditors at the IRS so they can’t check his huge income statement. His and Trump’s firing those people checking their statements will mean they will get away from having to pay tens to hundreds of millions less. Remember President Trump’s first term and fights with the IRS. Will he and Musk get to pick the Auditors?

WIMP

01 Saturday Mar 2025

Posted by in President Trump, Wimp

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

        If you are into Physics then you know WIMP is short for Weak Interactive Massive Particle. It is part of the basic structure of everything. Few Americans have ever heard of WIMPs. Another meaning for WIMP is Weak In Moral Patriotism. We currently have a major political party which is a great example of being a WIMP in more ways than one.

            The WIMPy Republican members of Congress, both Representatives and Senators, have given up their constitutional role in government to allow the President and an unofficial group to take control of the Federal Government’s operation which Congress has funded.

            Why have they relinquished control? The main reason is their fear of losing their next primary election because of President Trump’s threats and Elon Musk’s money, along with his threat to use 100 million dollars against them. This is public extortion but don’t expect the Justice Department to act since Trump has complete control of the country’s Federal Justice Departments. Of course, the President can always pardon Musk for anything he or his group does.

            Congress’ problem is once they wimped out they don’t know how to get back moral patriotism they have expounded upon for the last few decades. Many know they have signed on to the egomaniac that thirsts for power and are cowed by his threats. Others not only want to stay in their office but want to increase their power. The newbies are just going along with what their leadership is telling them to do.            
A point of 1930’s German History is the Großdeutscher Reichstag thought they could control Hitler after they allowed him to be Chancellor, then President, and then Führer which was too late. It only took about 100 days. History has a habit of repeating itself, doesn’t it?

FICO/CUFO

17 Monday Feb 2025

Posted by in Automobile Exiting

≈ Leave a comment

        I bought my first car when I was nineteen and going to junior college. It was a two years old 1965 GTO with 11,000 miles on it. I frequently drove it 150 mph on a six mile straight stretch at night. My current and hopefully last car is a 2014 Jeep Cherokee. I bought it new and it now has over 90,000 miles on it.

            In between we have had a Cutlass, Olds Regency, Cadillac, Kia, two Town Cars, two vans, a Chevy C10 pick-up, and Jeep Cherokee. We gave the pick-up to a relative and a town car to a friend. The rest were sold or traded. The Regency Olds, Cutlass, Pick-Up, Gray Van, and Jeep were bought new. The others came from dealerships with 6,000 to 21,000 miles on them. None were more than two years old.

            I have driven over 1,015,000 miles mostly in cars that I fell into and climbed out of. At the time, it didn‘t occur to me I was doing that because I was much younger. The pick-up, both vans, the Kia, and the Cherokee are different. When I got in I stepped up and either stepped down or slid down to get out. The later makes getting in and especially out of much easier. Hence, the FICO (fall in/climb out), and the CUFO, (climb up/fall out). As the knees and hips get older along with the rest of the body CUFO is much better for the body.

            I see a lot of seniors driving FICO cars but they are usually much shorter than I am and perhaps with better bodies. If I ever buy another vehicle it will be another CUFO.

Déjà Vu

17 Monday Feb 2025

Posted by in Déjà Vu

≈ Leave a comment

        As a news junkie with a good memory, I can see a terrible similarity with Trump’s talk about another term and Putin’s changing the Russian Constitution allowing him to be President-For-Life. Trump has little regard for the United States Constitution and has said different parts are too restrictive, not valid, and don’t agree with his plans for America.

            He says he knows best what should be used and what should be ignored. He once said it should be rewritten along his line of thought. Putin has the Russian Constitution rewritten to reflect his thoughts. Those thoughts drove the Russian people back to the days of the Soviet Union under Stalin. Trump’s current behavior is trending towards Putin’s early days in his second term.

            Putin’s second terms had an enemies’ list, banned the free media from any contact with the government, mysterious deaths, and used every opportunity to enrich himself. He surrounded himself with the Russian Oligarchs. The Russian citizens voted for him, now they wish they hadn’t or soon will.

            Remember his Supreme Court said anything Trump did as President was not a crime and could only be removed by his Congress and Senate so he has no boundaries! He may have already broken laws but his sycophants are in charge of the Justice Department and many of his appointed judges would have to sign go against him. Both he and Putin are following the Adolf Hitler grab.

Musk’s Budget Cutting

06 Thursday Feb 2025

Posted by in elon-musk, First To Cut, Politics

≈ Leave a comment

        Elon Musk wants to cut government spending so nothing should be off the non-mandatory expense and that includes his Space-X Program. The moon takes a few days to get to and a few to get back. Maybe a few weeks on the moon is possible but not much more time.  It is not possible due to the lack of gravity. We can’t keep sending a new base crew every couple of months. The cost would soon eat up the entire budget.

            Even more expensive is the Mars Project. The plans for that program will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. It takes two years to get there and two to get back. The Astronaut’s muscles will be like jelly. Their bones will be soft and many organs may not function back on Earth. A permanent station is just a dream so save that money for the uses we will need on a warming planet Earth.

            If Musk wants people’s support then the first cuts should be to cut his own programs or fund it himself. How can we support the effort if the richest man on Earth wants to cut help to the rest of Americans and not help to himself?

How Do Legislatures React?

31 Friday Jan 2025

Posted by in Climate Change, Heat

≈ Leave a comment

        Global warning has become a matter of fact to the vast majority of Americans. It is how we are reacting to the change that is interesting.

            We know the Greenland glaciers are melting and raising the North Atlantic Sea levels and the warmer water raises the levels even more. The rising water temperature creates more powerful coastal storms and hurricanes on the east and the Gulf coasts. The realtors in North Carolina thought talking about it would depress prices or make properties unsellable so they persuaded the state legislature to make it illegal to discuss the effects of global warming. After some of the recent storms people actually said nobody had told them they were buying in a danger zone.

            The warming climate means summers start earlier and are more dangerous causing more people to die from the heat than any other weather-related cause. The heat is hard on people who have to work outside in ditches, fields, or other high exposure areas. Dallas and Houston passed laws on how to protect those workers. Protections like water breaks, shaded rest areas, and depending on how heat reduced hours of exposure were enacted. This is most needed early in the season before the body becomes more accustomed. Those laws were overridden by the Texas legislature. Florida passed a law preventing any worker heat protection laws. Both are primarily aimed at the people who pick crops in vegetable fields.

            These are just two states that are more concerned about where their personal and campaign money comes from than the people we need working for us at low wages. Is it just me or do we treat those people with brown skins like we treated those with black skin a couple of centuries ago?

Think Before Buying

30 Thursday Jan 2025

Posted by in Building a House, Climate Change, Moving, Real Estate Planning

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

        I bought the lot I built my house on in 1977 when I was thirty years old. It was the last rural lot we could find in our county of about 32,000. At that time I knew the lot would require a well and a septic system. With houses all around me it didn’t occur to me to check on anything else.

            We are about thirty feet above the Illinois River thanks to the glaciers melting and dropping their load of sand and gravel. We are located on forty-seven feet of sand and gravel. The house across the street, to the southeast, and next door to the south (end of the block) is not on the sand and gravel and those wells are over 300 feet deep verses my forty-five. After a heavy rain the lot to the south holds water on their North side next to mine. It flows over to the front of my lot and in an hour has dropped into my sand and gravel.

            As I have gotten older and more aware of where not to locate I have put together a list of check points and with today’s climate change they are even more important.

  1. Check with the local insurance companies about the potential to flood with a six inch rain. How prone is the area and especially access roads?
  2. Elevation above sea level because the ocean’s are rising and pushing rivers higher. Even areas tens of miles inland could be affected. Charleston, South Carolina is going to build a New Orleans style levee. Lots of homes will be outside it. It’s illegal to say a listed house is subject to global warming in North Carolina.
  3. Check with local taxing departments for what tax you will pay plus any other charges you might incur. Developers sometimes put costs onto the buyer who doesn’t know until the tax bill arrives. It isn’t called a tax.
  4. Check with the local Police Department for crime statistics.
  5. Check distance to nearest medical facility and its level.
  6. Check for any specialist you might need now and in the future.
  7. Is the area known for high winds that damage a roof? Hurricanes damage roofs far from the coast. Lower angle roofs are more susceptible to damage.
  8. As you get older exterior and interior steps become a greater inconvenience and hazard. In tornado prone areas, a lower level or basement is a necessary inconvenience. Tornadoes are getting stronger and more common.
  9. Look at distance to shopping, grocery stores, and restaurants.
  10. Outside maintenance should be a major consideration as one gets older.
  11. How dependable are the utilities? If power is a problem very often or in an area with frequent storms a generator might be an additional cost. A generator costs several thousand dollars.
  12. House and car insurance may be much higher than you currently pay if available from a reputable company or from the state like in Florida.
  13. What are the local electric and water rates? Especially if the property is all electric. Is internet and phone service available?
  14. An area with low or no real estate taxes and or income taxes get their operating money from somewhere and is the amount dependable for the future? (My real estate tax jumped when the huge power plant closed. The tax increase pusher said the plant would pay the increase.)
  15. Check on what churches, clubs, and organizations are in the area to assist in making friends.

These are just the first questions you should ask and many more should be on your list.