24 hour news cycle needs a pause

 This isn't a response to anything specific, but it has occurred to me more than once, that the decline of the daily local newspaper has also been a decline in news that actually matters. Too often there seems to be some urgent necessity to report on everything immediately; whereas, I think giving the story time to breathe sometimes presents the news more fully and without talking heads filling in the holes with their best guesses. Social media, including this website, allows people the ability to spread their opinion almost instantly, if there are people who actually follow them on said social media. Much of social media should be given minimal notice or ignored, and the occasional useful story should be highlighted, but if one of the co-presidents posted "I farted" then many of today's media talking heads would be working to decipher what was meant, because obviously one does not post about flatulence if you are a president of the USA. Considering how things are going these days, either of them are likely to post such a comment and then laugh at all those looking for deeper meaning.

What are they thinking?

 It seems no one in Greenland wanted to play host to Usha Vance, so the itinerary was abbreviated with her and her husband just visiting a US military base.  Oddly, Vance decided to complain and insult Greenland.  Not sure what sort of treaty or lease exists for that base, but it these oafs really should remember that if it is a lease, there is always the possibility of it not being renewed.  There is no good reason Greenland should let a fox in the hen house, which with the rhetoric from Trump, it does sound like the US could use it for such a purpose.

I still don't understand why so many Republicans seem content to let Trump alienate the traditional allies of the US. If I recall correctly the revised NAFTA treaty was negotiated during his first term, so accusing Canada and Mexico of anything trade related is pretty much him complaining about his own negotiators.

And after all this there is still the rather ridiculous antics of co-president Musk, who has sued Twitter's former advertisers for not continuing to pump advertising money into that social media platform.  I saw a rumor today that he is also going to threaten people who criticize Tesla. Aside from being bland or downright ugly (see Cybertruck), I am not sure what people are saying. Musk just made the stupid decision to become the face of Tesla and then worked very hard to make sure much of the world was aware of his personal opinions, which they didn't happen to agree with, and now they are showing displeasure in the most obvious fashion... boycotting Tesla, and in some cases burning the product. I do seem to recall people being upset that Bud Light gave a trans person some beer and then boycotted that product, and I think Kid Rock even made a video about destroying a few cases of it with a gun. I also seem to recall that Disney has faced various boycotts over the years. Chick-fil-A has faced boycotts over the years as well, so it isn't the first time this has happened to a business, and the businesses are still operating (though I don't think Bud Light's market share has recovered). Musk should worry more about why people are picketing than that they are, but then figuring out why would require a bit of empathy, which Mr. Musk believes is a weakness.

Not just stupid men

 It seems the United States has decided to create yet another bit of political theater that is unlikely to go over well, so there can be a bit more outrage fomented. While it is common knowledge the co-presidents and vice president have little to no common sense, it is a surprise that Usha Vance is now joining that group. I am referring to the reported trip to Greenland.  If it is any more than surface level polite, I will be surprised, as I expect there to be a few demonstrations here and there, then the Trump administration complaining that those living in Greenland were not respectful to the great 2nd lady during her visit.

As for most of everything else I have read, the fact Trump is now peddling Teslas from the White House shouldn't surprise me, but what does surprise me is that there isn't a Trump edition with gold trim that Trump Enterprises doesn't get a cut from. It was nice of him to prop up his billionaire co-president, but surely, being Trump, there was also some sort of financial benefit in it for him. Neither of the two seem to view philanthropy highly, so there must be something else behind that photo op, perhaps a free cherry red car.

Childhood Mortality (and some other stuff)

 I am beginning to think Trump really enjoys hurting children, from the forced family separation of the first administration to the withholding of food aid during the current one. The main thing in common between the two is that most of the children impacted are not white, but Trump is not a racist, at least if you listen to the Republicans. There is also a measles outbreak this year, which has caused at least one death, but lack of vaccination has been an ongoing issue, as it seems people like their kids dead, perhaps because they don't act up that way.

On another note, I think Europe is at least working in the right direction for Ukraine, but one thing they need to remember is that Trump is no more trustworthy than Putin. He really would prefer for the US to be aligned with Putin, so his team can engage in a bit of self-dealing just like Putin's collection of oligarchs. Europe needs to appreciate that under Trump the United States is not a reliable ally. Trump's ego is too fragile, and his administration is about chaos and destroying long-standing expectations. Europe needs to work with Ukraine and come up with a proposal that works for them, knowing Russia won't live up to their side of it. If it becomes a peace-keeping force, then by all means make sure the United States doesn't have authority over it, because who know what mischief Trump will ask of them.

On a side note, because of Musk's over-bearing influence on Trump's administration, I do thing all of his companies should be banned from being granted any new contracts and any extensions on current contracts, since then taxpayers would be sure he didn't benefit from his time as a Ginormous Ego.

Humiliator in Chief

 While many people seemed to expect that the President of Ukraine would be happy with the public extortion of minerals that Trump was pushing for him to sign. I am not sure if this agreement was for future aid or something else, but any sort of peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia should, at minimum, have Ukraine and Russia both at the negotiating table. The current farce taking place between the United States and Russia regarding Ukraine, is really more of the United States giving Putin whatever it is that Russia wants, or at least as much as Trump thinks he can pass off on the world stage. Trump won't really be happy until the United States is viewed as a client state of Putin and Russia. Trump and Vance are unhappy that Zelenskyy didn't get on his knees and polish their shoes, thus showing proper appreciation for the ritual humiliation that Trump loves to serve. Maybe my history is a bit messed up, but normally reparations are sought from the aggressor rather than the attacked. Be that as it may, Trump making an ass of himself is nothing new, and it will likely continue on the world stage for the 3.5+ years left of his term, since everyone knows the Republicans in Congress really just want to collect a paycheck without doing much in the way of legislation.

Cockalorum Trump and his lickspittle Musk

 I had actually been looking for an insult using cockle, and found a lovely Merriam-Webster page on older insults, and found a new one, cockalorum, and a favorite that I haven't seen in a while, lickspittle. The last month or so I have been wondering about appropriate names for the Decorative Presidency of Donald Trump, by which I mean he is the President, but he has basically off-loaded all the work to Elon Musk. Off-loading the decisions also means off-loading a percentage of bad press, though I honestly think all that is happening is that Musk is tarnishing whatever good name he may have had.  Not every government department is overstaffed, and his blindness, or should I say rather, willful ignorance that such a thing could be possible is obvious.

The fact that DOGE (Department of Ginormous Egos) can't even properly record what they are doing makes all the havoc that much more unnecessary. It really is too bad the whole thing is about making headlines rather than making good government. Blaming an endless need for clicks on is too easy, but it is certainly one way to look at it. Trump and Musk both live and breath social media, so they want a lot of chatter about them, so much so, that it seems Musk is taking offense when people correct lies proffered.

One thing for myself at least is that while I will likely comment on things periodically, it isn't something I want to do constantly, as it is too tedious with negativity. I have yet to hear either of them say something that offers hope and good will to the entirety of people living in this country.

Long time, no chatter

 Wow... should I be impressed or depressed that is has been almost 4 years since my last post - probably depressed, but I don't want to go on any meds, so I will just say it has been a bit.

Anyway, I think the current US President has done an excellent job in showing how to sell access to the office. Elon and Jeff and so many others gave a fabulous amount of cash, which will somehow make it into the families private coffers, so we know that as long a the "voters" don't complain too loudly, an executive order or three that benefits their businesses can be created.

I really don't have much more to add, except that for some reason at work, rather than something innocuous like Bloomberg, it has been Fox News, and I have to say those opinion people really need to remember they are entertainment and not news.  Some of my colleague don't seem to appreciate me laughing  at them, but seriously, from what I can read, since we don't play it with sound (thank goodness), the opinion hosts must truly decide on a topic for the day and then every show hammers it, over and over again, ad nauseam. Any angle Laura might have had has been pretty much blunted since everyone else slices and dices the same story, often with the same perspective... yawn!

Today's big news is that even with a Senate majority, those poor elephants needed a Vance vote to get the highly questionable defense secretary nominee confirmed into office. Really... you have the majority and your nominee is so lousy you can't get him into office without a tie breaker.  Oh well, as with many recent Republican Presidents, he didn't win the majority of votes cast (something like 49.8% of the votes cast) so he hardly has any sort of mandate, so trouble with the legislative branch is to be expected.

#Trump, #Stupid, #Republican, #FoxNews