Month: January 2023

Should The Pentagon Be Worried?

I know I have bitched a bunch about the budget that the Pentagon gets every year…..while most programs and departments are seeing their cash flow lessen the Pentagon see an increase and without much trying on their part.

Now that we have a new Speaker he has promised to take some of their money back to help balance the budget.

After days of negotiations, Rep. Kevin McCarthy is considering cutting the Pentagon budget by $75 billion in order to gain the support of roughly two dozen Republicans who have opposed his bid to become speaker of the House, according to Bloomberg. 

The cut is reportedly part of an “emerging deal” that would cap government spending at 2022 levels, meaning that it would return defense spending to $782 billion — a sharp drop from this year’s allotment of $857 billion.

According to Andrew Lautz, Director of Federal Policy at National Taxpayers Union and regular RS contributor, this could end up being a bigger cut than people think.

“I would argue the cut would be larger than $75 billion. That’s a $75 billion cut relative to FY 2023 levels. CBO is not out with their new baseline yet but I imagine they’re now projecting a larger than $857 billion national defense topline for FY 2024,” Lautz wrote in an email after this story broke. “Relative to that new expectation, a $782 billion flat FY 2024 topline might be closer to an $100 billion cut.”

If any deal does go through, it would still represent one of the largest single-year reductions in the Pentagon’s budget in history. But that is, of course, a big “if.” It remains unclear whether the agreement will be enough to end days of battles in the House over who will serve as speaker, and it’s far from certain that McCarthy will have the power to ensure that such dramatic cuts are actually enacted. 

The proposal could earn support from some progressives in Congress, including Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), who pitched a $100 billion haircut for the Department of Defense earlier this year. But it will no doubt face serious headwinds from more hawkish members of Congress, especially given that this year’s Pentagon budget boost easily passed both the House and Senate, and progressives are unlikely to go along with the idea of across-the-board budget cuts.

McCarthy weighing $75B defense budget cut in quest for speakership (update)

Personally I do not seeing this attempt going anywhere….while I would agree with this cut in funding I think that Congress is in the pockets of the defense industry too far for it to be successful.

I want to see how the Dems handle this proposal….my bet is they will help shoot it down.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The House Sh*t Show Has Begun

It all began on 03 January 2023 when the heir apparent to the Speakership was denied his ‘rightful’ place as the head of the GOP in House.

It took 15 votes for the heir to be crowned as the supreme GOP voice in the House.

But it will not stop there…..

Kevin McCarthy’s decision to transfer powers held by the House speaker’s office to a band of GOP members ended this week’s chaos, but it caused concern—among Republicans and others—about what’s ahead. The new reality could keep the House from performing such central tasks as funding the government and finance the debt, the New York Times reports. Under one of the concessions, one House member could start the process of removing Speaker McCarthy, which could give the dissidents the clout to keep those critical measures from reaching a vote. “I think it’s a terrible decision,” said Republican Rep. Don Bacon, per the Hill.

Another involves the Rules Committee, which decides which bills can be taken up and what amendments can be proposed. McCarthy gave the far-right group that had blocked him approval over one-third of the committee members, though the bloc accounts for just 10% of all GOP lawmakers. That means the group could block any legislation, possibly by joining with committee Democrats opposed to it. And the rebels want chairmanships of subcommittees they wouldn’t otherwise be entitled to, which is unpopular among other Republicans. “Everybody has to work their way through the seniority process and earn positions on both committees and gavels and things of that nature,” said GOP Rep. Ann Wagner.

And this only the beginning.

Social programs and other safety nets for our society will be under attack from these self-styled revisionists.

In closing let me quote James Baldwin…..

It is impossible not to recognize that the people who are endlessly boasting of their freedom–we’re the best because we’re free!–loathe the very suggestion for anyone other than themselves. They are forever stitching flags, making and threatening and dropping bombs, creating instruments of torture and torture chambers and overseers and deputies and detention centers. Their notion of freedom is so strenuously calisthenic, not to say defensive, that freedom becomes a case of keeping everyone out of your backyard. Or bomb shelter: there are none, by no means incidentally, in the ghetto.

– James Baldwin, “A Letter to Prisoners”

In the end this sh*t show will harm those that believe our country is free and a democracy.

This is what a sh*t show is truly about….and we will have a doozy.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Return Of The “That Usual Saturday News”

I know it is Sunday but yesterday’s news about the Speaker race was too important to ignore….

It has returned!

I try to get away from the normal news that has put us all into a political coma.

My good news for 2023 is that my diabetes is now under control and my doctor has taken me off the injections…..blood is good, liver and kidney functions are good, heart is great and my cholesterol is really good  and BP as well.

A good start so far.

The most moronic conspiracy from last year….birds aren’t real….

The group “birds aren’t real”, who claim that birds are no longer real, have conducted a rally in the US, in the hope of converting others to their views.

For those uninitiated, the birds aren’t real movement claims that birds were once real but have now been replaced with drones by – you guessed it – none other than Barack Obama, back in 2001. The new robot birds are used to monitor Americans, according to the conspiracy theory.

“Where it all began. October 26th, 2001,” account Birdsarentreal wrote on Instagram, underneath the compelling evidence above. “The day the deceitful and wicked Patriot Act was passed by congress. I can’t watch these horrific videos in public, I tremble uncontrollably with rage. I sob. I can’t keep quiet.

“After the government killed off the last real bird in 2001, they released the beta versions of the first prototype bird drones, as shown in these tapes. WHAT A COINCIDENCE that on October 27th, 2001, PEARL HARBOR happened. Yet no one seems to draw the correlation. Sheep.

“Call me misinformed, call me stupid, call me under-educated, I don’t care. Just because I didn’t go to ‘high school’ doesn’t mean that I’m any less intelligent. I just haven’t been brainwashed and institutionalized like you all. I know that I am #WOKE and one day you all will see.”

https://www.iflscience.com/birds-aren-t-real-the-hot-conspiracy-theory-taking-america-by-storm-66795

I have been critical of the M-IC for many years and now even our advances in AI has its reservations….

In my eclectic reading, I came across a couple of references to ChatGPT, an experiment in artificial intelligence (AI). You ask the AI bot a question, or give it a task, and it spits out an answer, and I must say a pretty good one judging from the task I gave it.

My task to the AI bot: “Write a critical essay on the military-industrial complex.” Here’s what it generated:

The military-industrial complex refers to the relationship between a country’s military and the defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy. This relationship has been a source of concern for many people, who argue that it can lead to an unnecessary expansion of military budgets and an over-reliance on military solutions to problems.

One of the main criticisms of the military-industrial complex is that it can result in the waste of taxpayer money. Military contracts are often given to a select group of companies, which can result in overcharging for goods and services. Additionally, the military often purchases weapons and equipment that are unnecessary or not well-suited for the tasks at hand. This can lead to a tremendous amount of waste and inefficiency, as resources are poured into projects that do not provide much value.

Even AI Is Suspicious of the Military-Industrial Complex

Education really sucks in this country….there is a wide canyon between history and revision…..and the American people have seen this as well….

A new, nationwide poll revealed 71% of Americans believe their children are not receiving an honest picture of their country’s history through education, while only 13% believe they are and nearly 16% aren’t sure. The discontent is shared by various political parties and ethnicities, but it was particularly high among Asians; more than 91% said their children are not receiving an honest look at history.

The poll by the Trafalgar Group, commissioned by the Jack Miller Center, also found that more than 92% of Americans want their children to receive an honest education about the country’s historical figures, even if their views don’t align with modern day values. That includes learning about the figure’s achievements that helped shape America, despite mistakes they may have made, in what has been described as a “warts and all approach.”

The poll was released as many in American society are questioning how to teach, or whether to teach, about important figures in U.S. history. An opinion article in the Washington Post once called on George Washington University to change its name. The San Francisco School Board voted to remove the names of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln from their namesake schools.

71% of Americans say schools are not giving children an honest view of history

Finally some possible good news for people with eye problems…..

Over a decade ago, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison developed a way to grow organized clusters of cells, called organoids, that resemble the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.

They coaxed human skin cells reprogrammed to act as stem cells to develop into layers of several types of retinal cells that sense light and ultimately transmit what we see to the brain.

“We wanted to use the cells from those organoids as replacement parts for the same types of cells that have been lost in the course of retinal diseases,” says David Gamm, the UW-Madison ophthalmology professor and director of the McPherson Eye Research Institute whose lab developed the organoids.

“But after being grown in a laboratory dish for months as compact clusters, the question remained—will the cells behave appropriately after we tease them apart? Because that is key to introducing them into a patient’s eye.”

During 2022, Gamm and UW-Madison collaborators published studies showing that dish-grown retinal cells called photoreceptors respond like those in a healthy retina to different wavelengths and intensities of light, and that once they are separated from adjacent cells in their organoid, they can reach out toward new neighbors with characteristic biological cords called axons.

Lab-Grown Retinal Cells Open the Door to Treat Blindness and Degenerative Eye Diseases

I am sure that greed will make it’s way into this discovery and only certain people will have access to this procedure.

There you have the news that did not make the evening news programing…..

Have a great Sunday….Be well and be safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

We Have A Winner!

I preempt my posting schedule for this breaking news…..

First let me apologize my usual post on useless news will be tomorrow….but this info was too important to pass up.

After days of chaos, of accusations, of games the House has settled on a Speaker person….it will be McCarthy….

It was 15th time lucky for Rep. Kevin McCarthy—the Republican was elected speaker of the House at around 12:30am Saturday after the longest speakership election since 1859. He received a standing ovation after getting 216 votes in the 15th round of voting. The victory followed extraordinary scenes of chaos on the House floor. After McCarthy failed to win the House speakership on a 14th ballot late Friday, tensions boiled over. McCarth had appeared poised to win but Rep. Matt Gaetz, the last holdout to vote, voted “present,” leaving McCarthy one vote short of a majority. McCarthy strode to the back of the chamber to confront Gaetz, who was sitting with Lauren Boebert and other holdouts. Fingers were pointed, words exchanged and violence apparently just averted, the AP reports.

At one point, Republican Mike Rogers of Alabama started to charge toward Gaetz before Richard Hudson physically pulled him back. “Stay civil!” someone shouted. There was a vote to adjourn—but Republicans led by McCarthy started changing their votes to stay in session, and the 15th round of voting began as the clock neared midnight. Before the 14th vote, McCarthy had flipped 15 conservative holdouts to become supporters, including the chairman of the chamber’s Freedom Caucus, leaving him just a few shy of seizing the gavel for the new Congress.

The day’s stunning turn of events came after McCarthy agreed to many of the detractors’ demands—including the reinstatement of a longstanding House rule that would allow any single member to call a vote to oust him from office. Sources tell the New York Times that after the 14th round, Gaetz and at least one other holdout changed their votes after a call from Donald Trump. McCarthy will be a weakened speaker, having given away some powers and constantly under the threat of being booted by his detractors, the AP notes. But he could also be emboldened as a survivor of one of the more brutal fights for the gavel in US history. This story has been updated with McCarthy’s victory.

Trump still throws his powers around to the mental midgets that will lick his boots every time.

After 15 votes how did McCarthy win approval?

After 11 failed attempts with near-identical results, Rep. Kevin McCarthy will be hoping for something different when the House reconvenes Friday to continue what is now the longest-running speakership election since before the Civil War. Some 20 hardline conservatives have consistently voted against McCarthy, but some opponents said late Thursday that talks with the McCarthy camp are moving forward, the Hill reports. “It’s changes that we wanted,” and the proposals are “on paper, which is a good thing,” said holdout Rep. Ralph Norman. McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes, and a few of his fiercest critics, including Reps. Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz, were not present at negotiations in the chief whip’s office Thursday.

According to the Post’s sources, “phase one” of the McCarthy team’s plan involves getting at least a few holdouts to vote for him—and if that succeeds, “phase two” will involve putting pressure on the remaining holdouts until there are only four left. After the House adjourned Thursday night, McCarthy denied that concessions including allowing a snap vote for removal weakened the power of the speakership, the New York Times reports. “The entire conference is going to have to learn how to work together,” he said. “So it’s better that we go through this process right now.” The AP reports that after the tenth and eleventh rounds of voting Thursday surpassed the nine ballots from 1923, the last time a speaker wasn’t chosen on the first ballot, McCarthy joked, “Apparently, I like to make history.”

Was it McCarty’s plan or was it toeing the line for Donald the Orange?

Will Gaetz do as promised and resign if a GOP moderate is elected Speaker?

(I think not)

Now with a new Speaker the GOP can get to work trying to destroy all social safety nets.

If you voted for any of these ‘people’ then you should be pleased…..if not you should be afraid.

Let the political comedy begin.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A ‘Useless Entity’

“Useless Entity”?

And we are just now noticing how useless they are?

That is what many are saying about the chaos in the House of Representatives as they try to find a leader, a Speaker…..but I have been saying that for decades.

I believe that there has been 11 votes and so far no leader.

What some critics would argue is the usual state of affairs is currently the official reality in the House of Representatives: With no speaker chosen, the chamber is a “useless entity,” unable to swear in its members, let alone conduct other business including passing laws or forming committees, the New York Times reports. As things stand, the House doesn’t even have representatives, only representatives-elect. “If there’s a real emergency, we couldn’t respond,” says Democratic Rep. (or Rep.-elect) Jerrold Nadler, per the Times. “Either the Republicans don’t understand that, or they do understand that and they don’t care. I don’t know which is worse, but it is a profound danger to the country as long as it lasts.”

The speakerless House is a situation unprecedented in living memory—the last time a speaker wasn’t elected on the first ballot was in 1923. In that year, it took three days to elect a speaker. Thursday will be the third day of voting for a speaker in the 118th Congress, and some analysts predict the deadlock among Republicans will continue for a fourth day and beyond. The AP reports that the lack of a speaker and uncertainty about the rules added to the “surreal, looser-than usual atmosphere on the House floor” on Wednesday, when members were seen taking photos, which is normally banned. Clerk Cheryl Johnson has been the one holding the gavel, and Republican lawmaker Chip Roy called her “Madam speaker” Wednesday before correcting himself.

“I think more people need to be aware of the institutional damage that’s going on here,” a House procedural expert speaking on condition of anonymity tells the Washington Post. “If one of those branches is so hamstringed, so paralyzed, as it is right now, do you really have the three equal branches of government that our Constitution has set out?” The representatives-elect say they’re confused about many issues, including whether they’re going to get paid if the stalemate drags on. The Post reports that when Greg Pence, brother of the former vice president, was asked who was in charge Wednesday, he pointed to the ceiling and said “God.

The House has been a clown show for decades so to say it is now useless is just silly….it has been that way for many decades.

The one thing I can say is that at least our much needed programs are safe….at least for now.

Any thoughts on our House performance…then now and in the future?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Russian Sanctions

The big push these days is for a cleaner energy and the dash toward nuclear power is growing in anticipation.

For this renewed interest will take uranium and this is where this post picks up….

Remember when the Ukraine invasion started and the US and its allies first attack was to put massive sanctions in place to punish the invader.

What about all the uranium that the west gets from Russia for its nuclear programs?

Many world powers have sped-up plans to introduce new nuclear power plants in a bid to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and decarbonise. Due to the high energy demand, many countries around the globe view renewable energy as insufficient in the mid-term to provide enough energy to meet the needs of the growing world population. However, nuclear power could provide a low-carbon alternative, offering abundant energy and low emissions. However, experts now worry that the global reliance on Russian uranium to power many of these projects could put many world leaders in a quandary, having already introduced sanctions on Russian energy and attempted to reduce their reliance on Russia.  Earlier this year, the U.S. announced a $6 billion bailout for its existing nuclear plants. The government and the Department of Energy (DoE) partnered on a scheme to help nuclear plants across the country facing severe economic challenges to support the longevity of U.S. nuclear power, as part of the country’s green transition. Despite being controversial, nuclear power is considered carbon neutral, and therefore key to transitioning away from fossil fuels. Since then, the launch of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has encouraged greater investment in the nuclear energy sector. It offers a variety of subsidies, including a production tax credit to help preserve the existing fleet of nuclear plants and tax incentives for the development of new nuclear reactors.  

While developing its nuclear assets demonstrates a step forward in the movement to carbon neutrality, the U.S. has one very big challenge to overcome for its nuclear power plants to be a success – its reliance on Russian uranium. The type of uranium that U.S. nuclear reactors require to run is only sold commercially by one company in the world, a subsidiary of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (ROSATOM). At present, U.S. nuclear firms buy around half of the uranium they use from state-owned companies in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Scott Melbye, Executive Vice President at Uranium Energy Corp., stated “We estimate that there is more than $1 billion in annual U.S. dollar purchases of nuclear fuel flowing to ROSATOM.” 

(oilprice.com)

As usual these sanctions are not as sweeping and all inclusive as they would have you believe.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

2022 Scientific Breakthrough

The ‘Holy Grail’ for scientist has been the search for ‘fusion’ reactor and the 2022 big news is that finally a breakthrough by some brainiacs in California….

But is it all that and a bag of chips?

There was great hoopla—largely unquestioned by media—with the announcement this week by the U.S. Department of Energy of a “major scientific breakthrough” in the development of fusion energy.

“This is a landmark achievement,” declared Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. Her department’s press release said the experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California “produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it” and will “provide invaluable insights into the prospects of clean fusion energy.”

“Nuclear fusion technology has been around since the creation of the hydrogen bomb,” noted a CBS News article covering the announcement. “Nuclear fusion has been considered the holy grail of energy creation.” And “now fusion’s moment appears to be finally here,” said the CBS piece.

But, as Dr. Daniel Jassby, for 25 years principal research physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab working on fusion energy research and development, concluded in a 2017 article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, fusion power “is something to be shunned.”

Fusion. Really?

Some are saying do not believe the hype.

In a dramatic scientific and engineering breakthrough, researchers at the Bay Area’s Lawrence Livermore National Lab recently achieved the long-sought goal of generating a nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than was directly injected into a tiny reactor vessel. By the very next day, pundits well across the political spectrum were touting that breakthrough as a harbinger of a new era in energy production, suggesting that a future of limitless, low-impact fusion energy was perhaps a few decades away. In reality, however, commercially viable nuclear fusion is only infinitesimally closer than it was back in the 1980s when a contained fusion reaction – i.e. not occurring in the sun or from a bomb – was first achieved.

While most honest writers have at least acknowledged the obstacles to commercially-scaled fusion, they typically still underestimate them – as much so today as back in the 1980s. We are told that a fusion reaction would have to occur “many times a second” to produce usable amounts of energy. But the blast of energy from the LLNL fusion reactor actually only lasted one tenth of a nanosecond – that’s a ten-billionth of a second. Apparently other fusion reactions (with a net energy loss) have operated for a few nanoseconds, but reproducing this reaction over a billion times every second is far beyond what researchers are even contemplating.

Nuclear Fusion:  Don’t Believe the Hype!

So my question is….was this the ‘big’ story that it was hyped up to be?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

The McCarthy “Limbo”

Kinda looks like the heir apparent is not so apparent….Kevin McCarthy has lost his bid for speaker for the last 6 votes……

Wednesday’s fourth vote for House speaker ended up with Democrat Hakeem Jeffries in the lead, as did the fifth vote—and then the sixth. With 201 votes in the fourth, fifth, and sixth votes, Kevin McCarthy ended up some 16 votes shy of the 217 votes that are needed (down one from Tuesday because Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz, who voted for McCarthy in the first three rounds, has voted “present” on Wednesday). GOP Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida garnered 20 votes in the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds. Jeffries had 212 votes all three times. All three were nominated in the sixth round. In nominating McCarthy, Rep. Kat Cammack called it “Groundhog Day, again.” The House has now adjourned until 8pm Eastern, which will give McCarthy a few hours to try to make deals, the Guardian reports.

In nominating Donalds, Rep. Lauren Boebert called on former President Trump to urge McCarthy to pull out of the race; earlier in the day, Trump told the GOP to get behind McCarthy. “The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that sir you do not have the votes and it’s time to withdraw,” she said, per the Hill. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports former congressman Justin Amash, a Republican who later decamped for the Libertarian Party, “is wandering around the House side of the Capitol and just offered himself as an alternative candidate for speaker.”

Damn this seems like a long process…..longer than normal, right?

Not really…..in the past it has taken a lot longer (yep one of my famous history lessons)….

The vote to elect a House speaker in the new Congress is in its second day — the first time that has happened in a century — as Republican leader Kevin McCarthy struggles to get a majority of votes to wield the gavel.

The House can conduct no other business until a speaker is chosen. But the current limbo is nowhere near the longest-ever speaker vote, which occurred in 1855 and 1856.

The record for most rounds of votes, according to the Office of the Historian of the House, is the 34th Congress, when Rep. Nathaniel Prentice Banks of Massachusetts was only elected speaker after 133 rounds and some two months of voting.

(abcnews.com)

The good thing is that no business can happen in the House until a leader is found….that means our social programs are safe for now.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Who Owns The Moon?

The US has walked on the Moon and all the predictions are that we shall return to doing so in the very near future…..

But apparently word has been issued by China that the US would not be allowed to walk on the Moon….yes you read that right….”not allowed”….

There is a new space race happening more than five decades after the United States beat Russia to become the first nation to ever put on a human on the moon. This time, the contenders are the U.S. and China. And if China wins, it could cause serious trouble for the rest of the world, according to NASA chief Bill Nelon.

During an interview with Politico, Nelson and several other experts expressed concern over China’s attempt to land on the moon before NASA’s expected 2025 touchdown. They believe that the country could stake a claim on areas that are rich in minerals and other resources and block other countries from making a lunar journey.

“There is potentially mischief China can do on the moon,” warned Terry Virts, the former commander of the International Space Station. “If they set up infrastructure there they could potentially deny communications, for example. Having them there doesn’t make things easier. There is real concern about Chinese meddling.”

The chief and the others from NASA worry that China is attempting to reach the moon “under the guise of scientific research.” But nations should worry that their work is actually a power tactic.

https://outsider.com/news/nasa-chief-issues-warning-about-china-banning-us-astronauts-from-landing-moon/

My question is when did China take ownership of the Moon?

But is China that advanced that they now control the Moon?

“It is a fact: We’re in a space race,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told Politico in a recent interview. And it’s not just about politics and bragging rights—there are both national security and practical implications, according to many US officials. “We better watch out that [the Chinese] don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research,” Nelson added. “It is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.'” Meanwhile, America’s space agency got almost all the money it wanted from Congress, including full funding for key components of the Artemis program, which seeks to put a permanent human presence on the moon by 2025. Much depends on whether SpaceX delivers on its promises.

Artemis may be ambitious, but it’s the Chinese program that has developed in “stunningly fast” fashion and with “enormous success and advances,” particularly in the past decade. As Fortunereported last month, construction of the Tiangong (“heavenly palace”) space station is complete, and the first three-person team of “taikonauts” are in orbit conducting science experiments. Unlike the collaborative International Space Station, Tiangong is entirely managed by one nation, highlighting China’s “self-reliance” as it works toward its “larger space ambitions.” As for moon exploration, China has already expressed its “pioneering ability” by collecting samples and establishing communications from the far side of the moon, per Politico.

American scientists and military officials have expressed a fair amount of concern about Chinese ambitions, based in part on how China has asserted itself in the Pacific around the disputed Spratly Islands. China vehemently rejects suggestions that it intends to lay claim to any celestial real estate, and some experts say existing treaties—together with more friendly, collaborative engagement—should be sufficient to keep the peace. Still, there are practical matters at stake, including competition for a limited number of good moon-landing sites with access to water and other resources.

This Moon thing will be interesting to watch…..But first I guess we have to get beyond the South China Sea thing…..

Watch and Learn!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

2023–The Year Ahead

A new year and what do we Americans expect for the year ahead?

New year, new country? Not the way most Americans see it, according to Gallup. Given the partisan politics and economic struggles of 2022, a new poll finds Americans are “largely pessimistic” about the state of the US in the coming year. Some 80% expect economic difficulty, with tax increases and a growing federal deficit; 85% expect international discord; and 90% expect internal political conflict, per the Washington Times. In the web survey of 1,803 members of Gallup’s probability-based panel, 72% said the crime rate would climb, 72% said China’s power would increase, and 64% said the US would decline as a global power.

There was only one of 13 areas in which a majority of Americans expected what the Times calls “a positive outcome,” meaning a decline in Russia’s power, with 62% predicting that would occur in 2023. This is “likely a reflection of that country’s recent setbacks in its war against Ukraine,” Gallup said. Otherwise, “Americans are greeting 2023 with great skepticism and little expectation that the economic struggles that closed out 2022 will abate.” More than 60% of respondents said consumer prices would continue to rise at a “high rate” and the stock market would continue its fall. More than 50% said unemployment would increase and 56% predicted “many strikes by labor unions.”

Republicans were more pessimistic than Democrats, though, with “Democrats more likely than Republicans to offer positive predictions for all of the dimensions,” per Gallup. “This is a typical phenomenon whereby Americas who identify with the sitting president’s party are more positive in general in their outlook for the year ahead.” Some 69% of Democrats predicted full or increasing employment (compared to 23% of Republicans), 56% expected an increase in US power (compared to 11%), 53% expected the stock market to rise (compared to 15%), and 53% predicted a reasonable rise in prices (compared to 16%). The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Do you agree with these ‘predictions’?

If not….what are yours?

Plus the House cannot find a leader after 3 rounds of voting….

After a chaotic first day of the 118th Congress, the House has voted to adjourn for the day, with no speaker of the House elected. GOP frontrunner Kevin McCarthy lost all three rounds of voting Tuesday, with 19 conservative Republicans voting against him the first two rounds and 20 in the third. The swearing-in of new House members was delayed due to the stalemate and family members of lawmakers, including children, fell asleep or left the chamber as the voting dragged on, the Hill reports. This is only the eighth time in history that a House speaker hasn’t been chosen after three rounds of voting, and it’s the first time since 1923 that it has taken more than one ballot, CBS reports. In 1923, there were nine ballots over three days.

Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries got all 212 Democratic votes in the three ballots. “House Dems are united and ready to get to work,” he tweeted. “Complete chaos on the other side of the aisle.” The House will reconvene at noon on Wednesday. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the most recent speaker of the House, denied that Democrats would cut a deal with Republicans to give McCarthy a majority, the New York Times reports. “That may be a Republican rumor that has no currency among Democrats,” she said. McCarthy vowed to continue seeking the gavel, saying, “We stay in until we win,” the Washington Post reports.

The Republican who switched from McCarthy to Rep. Jim Jordan in the third round was Rep. Byron Donalds. His vote made it 20 for Jordan, who had urged Republicans to vote for McCarthy. “The reality is Rep. Kevin McCarthy doesn’t have the votes,” Donalds tweeted after voting in the third round. “I committed my support to him publicly and for two votes on the House Floor. 218 is the number, and currently, no one is there.” He added: “Our conference needs to recess and huddle and find someone or work out the next step but these continuous votes aren’t working for anyone.”

If not McCarthy then who?

After a historic day in the House of Representatives that ended with the legislative body adjourning without having elected a Speaker, it’s not clear what will happen next—other than the fact that representatives will reconvene at noon Wednesday, PBS reports. A fourth round of voting is expected at that point, USA Today reports, but as the Hill puts it, Kevin McCarthy’s failure to secure the necessary votes after three rounds “will lead to questions about whether Republicans need to move to a different candidate to unite their members.” The site looks at three lawmakers who could possibly take his place: Steve Scalise, the House Majority Leader; Jim Jordan, “widely considered the leading conservative in the House”; and Patrick McHenry, who was Scalise’s deputy whip when Paul Ryan was House Speaker.

While it’s technically possible for a non-House member to become Speaker, the Hill says most find that possibility “extremely unlikely.” The site also reports that McCarthy on Tuesday night floated the idea that he could win the position with less than the 218 votes he currently needs. If lawmakers are absent, or vote simply “present” rather than voting for a particular candidate, the threshold goes down: “Democrats have 212 votes. You get 213 votes, and the others don’t say another name, that’s how you can win,” he said. But it’s not clear how he’d convince at least 11 people who voted against him to vote for him, and then convince the other nine to decline to name a candidate in their votes.

Chaos looks like the agenda for this first year of the 118th Congress.

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