Month: April 2024

PC Update

The Trials and tribulations of a sick PC….

It is official my sick PC is dead from the neck up….no saving it from the graveyard.

So I spend time on Sue’s PC to find me a replacement….I decided on an Acer I have to wait for delivery….not something I am good with.

Until I get it up and running I will still be posting from my phone from drafts I have saved (always a good idea to have non-time sensitive drafts)

I will be so glad to get back to some sort of normalcy.

Thank you all the words of encouragement….I appreciate all the support I have gotten.

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Damn Gas Prices!

As Summer nears the prices of gas seem to start slowly to climb…..but why is that?

Blame Biden….not accurate….blame the Middle East….some what accurate…..blame the weather….

In other words what does control the price of gas?

Well devotees….I have an answer for you….

Between keyboard warriors and comments sections, you might have noticed conflicting (and sometimes even downright incorrect) information about how, exactly, gas prices work in America today. While some popular opinions involve blaming whatever the current administration is for increases in gas prices, the issue is far more complicated than any singular person or even any singular government. In fact, the Energy Information Administration identifies four major factors that directly correlate to the cost of gas (and none of them are the president). These factors are crude oil prices (which are set by oil-producing countries), refining costs (which are increasingly impacted by natural disasters and climate change), distribution and marketing costs (which depend on the individual retailer you purchase gas from), and taxes (federal, state, and local taxes and fees).

For starters, you’ve probably heard terms like crude oil and petroleum come up in the gas conversation. For anyone who might not know, the gasoline we currently commercially purchase for our cars (or any other vehicle) is essentially a blend of crude oil and other petroleum liquids. Petroleum refineries break down crude oil into various components in order to then reconfigure and blend them into fuel products. This refinery process is extremely important, with this factor comprising 14% of your per-gallon price at the pump. Refinery costs are impacted by demand (with summer usually the highest-demand season) as well as by climate change. Since most United States refineries are located along the Gulf Coast, this generally means hurricanes, a natural disaster that can destabilize the stock market, and by extension, the economy.

Read More: https://www.moneydigest.com/1565960/what-actually-controls-gas-prices-us/

It is probably not Biden’s fault, that is being kind, that prices are rising….so please do not use that lie to determine your vote in the coming election.

You wanted to know….you ask I provide an answer….

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Dicked Up Ribs And Crapped Out Computer

Last week ended with a bang….I tripped over my pup and banged my ribs….so pain is hanging around….

This week began with a bang…..my laptop refuses to turn on…..just enough to aggravate the Hell out of me.

So until I either repair the problem or buy a new one I will be posting from my mobile….thank goodness for the numerous drafts I have on hold….this should keep me posting until my problem is resolved.

Please bear with me until I can return to what passes for normal here on IST.

Thank you for your understanding.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Why Is Trump-Speak So Successful?

Now here is a subject that we could talk and discuss about for days even weeks and there would probably no consensus.

Was Trump’s rise to power a fluke or did he actually do some research and found his niche?

He was so unpopular in 2016 and yet he found a hidden well of votes that put him over the top from Clinton….and ever since people have been trying to find out what his secret was that lead him to victory…..and the question is today can he replicate his 2016 win?

Mid-America is the ‘forgotten’ demographic…..and this is where all our problems with our political system has originated.

If you’ve been watching television or tracking trending topics over the last few weeks, you’ve probably seen or read something about “white rural rage.” This is owed to the publication of a new book, White Rural Rage, by Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman, whose thesis is that white rural Americans, despite representing just 16 percent of the American electorate, are a “threat to the world’s oldest constitutional democracy.”

In an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Schaller gave this unvarnished assessment of the rage he sees overflowing in the heartland. Rural whites, he said, are “the most racist, xenophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-gay geo-demographic group in the country.” He called them, “the most conspiracist group,” “anti-democratic,” “white nationalist and white Christian nationalists.” On top of that, rural whites are also “most likely to excuse or justify violence as an acceptable alternative to peaceful public discourse.”

This premise has triggered a backlash towards rural voters from some on the left. Amanda Marcotte, writing for Salon, said she’s tired of handling rural voters “with kid gloves,” and time has come to pop the “racist, homophobic, sexist bubble” they all live in. Daily Beast columnist Michael Cohen agreed, writing that “these aren’t hurtful, elitist stereotypes by Acela Corridor denizens and bubble-dwelling liberals… they’re facts.” David Corn, the D.C. bureau chief at Mother Jones, piled on, agreeing that “white rural voters [are] the slice of the public that endangers the constitutional future of the republic.”

This latest obsession with rural rage is nothing new. After 2016, when rural voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania put former President Donald Trump over the top, Democrats tried to figure out why they had gone so sour on the Democratic Party. Some liberal thinkers called out the left’s reflexive condescension and dismissal of rural voters that escalated during the George W. Bush administration and peaked with Hillary Clinton’s campaign and her dismissal of Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables.” Some said the party should increase attention to rural issues and nearby rural communities.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/05/white-rural-rage-myth-00150395

Trump has tapped into the hatred, biases, and concerns of this sector….Dems have lost this sector even though the programs that are keeping rural America afloat were created by Dems.

Trump keeps feeding the concerns and biases of rural America and that could be very disastrous for this country in the coming election.

Tapping into the rage has made Trump an attractive candidate…..and a ugly candidate at the same time.

Hate-speak is a powerful political tool these days.

But can that attractiveness win over the majority?

What say you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Food For Thought

It is another lovely Sunday here in South Mississippi and I will be grilling my ass off…..burgers, sausage, and kebobs……then I thought what better subject on this day than some food thoughts…..

Some food FYI, if you will….

Since I will be cooking burgers that is where I will start….

Ever wanted to make your burgers more juicy?

There’s nothing like a good burger. Satisfying, savory, and with a variety of potential toppings, the American culinary staple and classic diner favorite is delicious at every degree of doneness. But whether your preference is a juicy, medium-rare patty or you emphatically swear by the robust flavor of a well-done patty, chances are you’ve excitedly bitten into a burger once or twice only to find it unpleasantly tough and way too chewy.

But what if there was an infallible method by which to ensure your ground beef recipe ends up juicy and tender? There is, and you likely have its main ingredient your kitchen cabinet right now: baking soda. That’s right, among the many unexpected ways to cook with baking soda, it turns out that using the familiar kitchen staple as a quick and effective meat tenderizer can preserve the juiciness of your ground beef, as well as chicken, steak, and other meats. Because baking soda neutralizes the acid in the meat and prevents it from becoming tough when cooked, using it as your go-to meat tenderizer just might be the game-changing hack to the best burger you’ve never cooked.

Read More: https://www.thedailymeal.com/1548606/browning-baking-soda-burger-meat/

I add about a 1/4 teaspoon of Bourbon to my meat as I am mixing it.

As long as I am talking about cooking meat….Have you heard about searing your steak to lock in flavor?

You might not be doing the right thing.

It’s important to sear your steak on high heat because that’s how you lock in the juices, right? Wrong: The idea that a sizzling-hot sear creates some kind of seal that holds in a meat’s moisture is considered a myth by those in the know. (This doesn’t mean searing is bad, but its advantages lie elsewhere — and we’ll touch on that later.)

The myth can partly be debunked just by looking and listening to a steak as it sears: Squeeze it downwards, and juices still seep out. The steak also sizzles the whole time it’s in the pan, and that hissing is the sound of water (i.e., juices) evaporating. That’s not definitive proof, since maybe the idea of a “seal” isn’t meant literally — but when Serious Eats put this myth to the test by searing and then roasting a cut of meat — and then trying the same in reverse — it found that the meat seared first ended up with 1.68% less juice than the one that was roasted first.

So, searing first may even make for a drier steak — and sure, that kind of tiny difference isn’t statistically significant, but if searing did what the myth claims, the end product should be noticeably juicier. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sear steak — many recipes still hold it up as an ideal cooking method for your meat, but you might still get a juicy result with other techniques.

Read More: https://www.chowhound.com/1560060/myth-searing-steak-juices/

Do you like fried eggs?

Eggs and toast or a fried egg sandwich, which is a true art form to get it right….

It’s hard to beat the satisfaction of a perfectly fried egg with its delightfully crispy edges and bright, creamy yolk. And while it’s definitely a dish worth mastering at home, the right technique can be frustratingly elusive. There’s a long list of ways you can go wrong, and chances are you’re making at least one mistake without even knowing it.

But have no fear, because we’re here to guide you to make fried eggs more easily than you ever thought possible. We’ll walk you through the most common mistakes people make when frying eggs and arm you with the tools you need to avoid them. Stick with us, and you’ll be serving up truly egg-cellent eggs in no time for Sunday brunch, weekday breakfasts, and every occasion in between. And now that we’ve gotten that egg pun out of our system, we promise you won’t have to endure any others to come

Read More: https://www.mashed.com/768020/big-mistakes-everyone-makes-when-frying-eggs/

Now that I have helped with your food cooking needs I will bow out for this Sunday….trying to recover from the chair incident.

I hope everyone enjoys their day and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–27Apr24

Another weekend begins and another dreadful news cycle ends and IST picks up the baton for news that has been missed by the MSM….

First, the Old Professor did it this time…..while going thru my ‘honey do’ list I tripped over the dog and hit a very strong wooden chair arm and dicked up my ribs….so I will be taking it easy for awhile the pain is tear generating.  (The dog was not hurt)…it hurts to sit, it hurts to stand, it hurts to lay down, it hurts to walk and do not get me started on the amount of pain a sneeze will inflict.

Enough of the pity party…..

I will start with the weather….

Dramatic changes in Pacific ocean temperatures threaten one of America’s ‘hottest summers on record’.

A near-nationwide heatwave could begin as soon as next month, as meteorologists sound alarm bells for weeks of extreme weather.

They blame a weakening El Nino in the eastern Pacific and a growing risk of it pendulum swinging into La Nina.

El Nino–abnormally high sea temperatures off the coast of Peru– set in last summer and grew to one of the strongest on record.

https://www.gbnews.com/weather/us-weather-heatwave-threatening-america-hottest-summer

Oh goody….we have a terrible Summer last year….66 days no rain and extreme temps as high as 123….so any thereat of beating those numbers is terrible news for us.

Food stories….the news is full of news about microplastics and here are the foods that have the most….

“How much plastic will you have for dinner, sir? And you, ma’am?” While that may seem like a line from a satirical skit on Saturday Night Live, research is showing it’s much too close to reality.

Ninety percent of animal and vegetable protein samples tested positive for microplastics, teeny polymer fragments that can range from less than 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) down to 1/25,000th of an inch (1 micrometer), according to a February 2024 study. Anything smaller than 1 micrometer is a nanoplastic that must be measured in billionths of a meter.

Even vegetarians can’t escape, according to a 2021 study. If the plastic is small enough, fruits and vegetables can absorb microplastics through their root systems and transfer those chemical bits to the plant’s stems, leaves, seeds and fruit.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/22/health/plastics-food-wellness-scn/index.html

A food giant has been accused of adding unneeded sugar to some products…..

The Nestle brand may be associated with comfort food and drink, but its infant eats are getting an uncomfortable amount of scrutiny over sugar content. Per a new report from the nonprofit Public Eye and the International Baby Food Action Network, the Swiss food conglomerate adds more sugar to its baby products sold in lower- to middle-income nations than in products sold in more affluent ones—up to 7.3 grams of added sugar per serving, while the same products in Europe have no added sugar.

Findings: The report looked most closely at sugar content in Cerelac instant cereal and Nido powdered milk, two big sellers that brought in more than $2.5 billion in sales in 2022 in poorer countries. Public Eye found Cerelac in Thailand, Ethiopia, South Africa, Pakistan, and India had up to 6 grams of added sugar, while the same brand sold in the UK and Germany had zero. In some nations, including Nigeria, Senegal, and the Philippines, added sugar content wasn’t listed at all. Nido products also had added sugar in poorer nations, though to a “lesser degree,” per the Post.

Probes: After Public Eye’s report, both Bangladesh and India announced they’d launch investigations, per the Business Standard and Economic Times. A spokesperson for Nestle India adds that the company has reduced added sugar in its products there by up to 30% over the past five years, “depending on the variant.” The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India says it will take “stringent action” against Nestle if the accusations are found to be true.

You just cannot trust corporations….PERIOD!

Did you know that here is a doctor that claims we men are urinating all wrong?

A survey conducted last year analysed the way different men from across the globe position themselves when they relieve their bladders.

However, it found that many men in the US aren’t peeing in the most effective or most health-conscious way.

The survey conducted last year by YouGov investigated ‘where in the world […] men sit down to wee’.A survey has revealed the position that many US men wee in and a urology doctor has weighed in.

A survey conducted last year analysed the way different men from across the globe position themselves when they relieve their bladders.

However, it found that many men in the US aren’t peeing in the most effective or most health-conscious way.

The survey conducted last year by YouGov investigated ‘where in the world […] men sit down to wee’.

“Thinking about times where you go to the toilet to ONLY urinate (i.e. only having a pee, not also having a poo), how often do you sit down in order to do so? percent of men in each country,” it explains.

https://www.unilad.com/news/health/peeing-sitting-down-as-a-man-better-806567-20240415

Did you see the Matrix trilogy?

Could that sort of thing be true?

What if everything we know to be true is a lie? What if our thoughts and decisions are not in our control, much less the things happening around us? This fascinating possibility, known as “simulation theory”, states that all of us are living in a powerful computer program created and run by someone or something outside of this realm of reality, per BuiltIn. Recently, simulation theory has gotten even more credence. In a recently published study, physicist Melvin Vopson, from the University of Portsmouth, UK, offered a proof of how the theory could be real.

As per Vopson, a new law of physics might support the fact that the world is indeed a physical simulation. “Any normal person will think, could it be that maybe we already are in some kind of digital virtual reality world?” Vopson explains in a YouTube video posted about the theory on the university’s channel. “It’s not farfetched to assume that an advanced civilization or maybe ourselves in the future, we reach the technological level where we can simulate our world or the whole universe and it’s indistinguishable from the reality.”

https://scoop.upworthy.com/this-researcher-has-shocked-the-world-by-proving-that-we-might-be-living-in-a-simulation

There is a video attached to the link that explains his guy thoughts on his assumption.

Finally, did you know that some of our most common phrases have racist origins?

Even the most nonsensical idioms in the English language originated somewhere. Some terms, like silver lining and tomfoolery, have innocuous roots, while other sayings date back to the darkest chapters in U.S. history. While these common phrases are rarely used in their original contexts today, knowing their racist origins casts them in a different light.

1. Tipping Point

This common phrase describes the critical point when a change that had been a possibility becomes inevitable. When it was popularized, according to Merriam-Webster, it was applied to one phenomenon in particular: white flight. In the 1950s, as white people abandoned urban areas for the suburbs in huge numbers, journalists began using the phrase tipping point in relation to the percentage of non-white neighbors it took to trigger this reaction in white city residents. Tipping point wasn’t coined in the 1950s (it first appeared in print in the 19th century), but it did enter everyday speech during the decade thanks to this topic. 

There are more….read on….

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-racist-origins-of-7-common-phrases

 

 

Recycle Or Not

I am one of those ‘tree huggers’ that recycles and have been for decades….but in recent years with so many reports about the useless trend of recycling has got me wondering if I should continue to do so.

There are a bunch of disturbing reports about plastic waste…..

A report released Thursday estimates that countries worldwide are on pace to generate 220 million tonnes of total plastic waste this year, a finding that comes as governments are set to convene in Ottawa, Canada later this month to hash out a binding global treaty to limit the toxic pollution that is inundating waterways and communities across the planet.

The new report from EA – Earth Action (EA) projects that Plastic Overshoot Day—the point at which the amount of plastic waste produced exceeds the capacity of global management systems—will arrive on September 5 this year. Over a third of the total plastic waste created this year will end up in nature, according to the analysis.

On average, each person globally contributes 28 kilograms of plastic pollution per year. Previous research has shown that just 20 companies are responsible for more than half of the world’s total single-use plastic waste.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/plastic-waste-2024

That is a scary amount of waste….but there is always recycling, right?

The most recent article shows me that we all may have been ‘hoodwinked’ by big oil….

The petrochemical industry—including major oil companies like ExxonMobil—knew for decades that recycling was not a sustainable solution to the problem of plastic waste, yet continued to promote it in order to avoid regulation and deceive consumers into continuing to buy and use their products, a report released Thursday by the Center for Climate Integrity reveals.

The report, titled The Fraud of Plastic Recycling: How Big Oil and the Plastics Industry Deceived the Public for Decades and Caused the Plastic Waste Crisis, includes newly disclosed industry documents proving that companies and trade groups knew that plastics could not be recycled indefinitely in the 1980s and 90s even as they launched a massive public relations campaign to sell voters and policymakers on the process.

“This evidence shows that many of the same fossil fuel companies that knew and lied for decades about how their products cause climate change have also known and lied to the public about plastic recycling,” Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) president Richard Wiles said in a statement. “The oil industry’s lies are at the heart of the two most catastrophic pollution crises in human history.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/plastics-industry-lie-recycling

Here is another link to this study….

Explosive new report accuses major corporations of lying for decades: ‘It’s clearly fraud they’re engaged in’

I believe there is a term being thrown around these days….’greenwashing’…..WTF?

Greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or misleading information about how a company’s products are environmentally sound. Greenwashing involves making an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are environmentally friendly or have a greater positive environmental impact than they actually do.

In addition, greenwashing may occur when a company attempts to emphasize sustainable aspects of a product to overshadow the company’s involvement in environmentally damaging practices. Performed through the use of environmental imagery, misleading labels, and hiding tradeoffs, greenwashing is a play on the term “whitewashing,” which means using false information to intentionally hide wrongdoing, error, or an unpleasant situation in an attempt to make it seem less bad than it is.

So should we continue to recycle?

“No,” Cirino told Salon. “Even if plastic recycling rates were higher, recycling alone could never come close to solving the serious and wide-ranging health, justice, socio-economic, and environmental crises caused by industries’ continued plastic production and plastic pollution, which go hand in hand.” Cirino argued that, given how plastic production has grown exponentially and its pollution problems have likewise worsened, emphasizing recycling over meaningful solutions is at best irresponsible.

“It’s clear recycling is not enough to solve the plastic pollution crisis,” Cirino concluded. “The fossil fuel industry, governments, and corporations really need to turn off the plastic tap, and the UN Plastics Treaty could be an opportunity to do so on a global level—if member states can come together and form a treaty with real ambition. Ultimately, our world must decide what it values: money or life.”

(salon.com)

A couple of years ago I wrote about recycling here on IST….

Do You Recycle?

Ultimately this is one of those issues that the individual has to decide what is best (pause here for side splitting laughter….like most have no care what happens as long as their Mtn Dew is cold)

Me? My family has already started dialing back the amount of plastic we discard…..we care what happens if you do not then that is your problem.

Be Samrt!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

SCOTUS Takes On Trumpism

Does the president have absolute immunity?

That is the question before the US Supreme Court.

The day had many twists and turns….

The “case is submitted.” With those words, Chief Justice John Roberts wrapped up Thursday’s historic testimony about absolute presidential immunity—and whether Donald Trump can be prosecuted for actions taken while he was in office, reports CNN. The gist of early coverage is that Trump will be pleased with the eventual outcome, even though he may lose the main thrust of the case. Details:

  • A Trump loss: At least five of the justices seemed likely to reject Trump’s claim of absolute immunity, reports the AP. (Especially given extreme hypotheticals such as having a rival assassinated.)
  • But a Trump win: Both the New York Times and the Washington Post agree the court is on track to reject absolute immunity, but both say the court also seems poised to send the matter back to a lower court for clarification between public and private actions. That would likely delay Trump’s federal trial on charges he tried to subvert the 2020 election for months, perhaps until after this year’s vote—an outcome that would “amount to a victory for Trump,” per Politico. For one thing, he could effectively torpedo the case should he win reelection.
  • Key exchange: “Without presidential immunity from criminal prosecution there can be no presidency as we know it,” Trump attorney D. John Sauer told the court, per the Wall Street Journal. To which Samuel Alito responded, “My question is whether the very robust form of immunity that you’re advocating is really necessary.”
  • Roberts’ concern: Roberts “clearly believes that the lower courts did not do enough to suss out exactly what is an official act versus a private act,” says CNN legal analyst Paula Reid. “So what they’re setting up here is likely the justices are going to come up with some sort of test, and then send it back down to the lower courts for more litigation.”
  • Decision: Typically, the court would issue its decision in late June or early July, notes the Times, but the justices may speed things up given the circumstances.
  • Irrelevant? Trump’s lawyers have long expected to lose the main argument, according to Rolling Stone. But merely getting the Supreme Court to hear the case in the first place—and thus delay special prosecutor Jack Smith’s case against the former president—was reason enough for celebration, per the story. They were “literally popping champagne” when the court agreed to take the case, the story says.

The Justices asked some key questions….

  • Justice Elena Kagan: Kagan said the framers of the Constitution clearly didn’t want a “monarch” to run the country, CNN reports. “Wasn’t the whole point that the president was not a monarch, and the president was not supposed to be above the law?” she asked.
  • Justice Sonia Sotomayor: “If the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person and he orders the military … to assassinate him, is that within his official acts for which he can get immunity?” she asked Trump lawyer D. John Sauer. The Washington Post reports that Sauer said immunity was possible. “It would depend on the hypothetical that we can see,” he said. “That could well be an official act. It could.” He gave a similar answer when Kagan presented the hypothetical case of a president who’d ordered a military coup.
  • Justice Amy Coney Barrett: Barrett took issue with the Trump team’s argument that a former president needs to be impeached and convicted by the Senate before a court can convict them, the AP reports. “There are many other people who are subject to impeachment, including the nine sitting on this bench, and I don’t think anyone has ever suggested that impeachment would have to be the gateway to criminal prosecution for any of the many other officers subject to impeachment,” she said. “So why is the president different when the impeachment clause doesn’t say so?”
  • Justice Neil Gorsuch: Gorsuch asked whether presidents can pardon themselves, noting that the court has “happily” never had to deal with such questions. The New York Times reports that Sauer deflected the question, saying the main concern is that a president should be able to make bold decisions without fearing prosecution.
  • Chief Justice John Roberts: During discussion of what constitutes an official act, Roberts gave the example of a president appointing an ambassador in return for a bribe, asking, “How do you analyze that?” Sauer said it would be up to “the court’s discretion,” per the Post.

If my meager breakdown is not enough then maybe this will help you along….

https://www.vox.com/scotus/24140309/supreme-court-donald-trump-immunity-jack-smith

This is proving interesting but I think I already know what will come out of this session….how about you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Young Are The Problem

We have an election coming our way in just a matter of months and I have noticed the interest in it is not very good and seems to be waning daily.

In years past an election was a time for the exchange of ideas and debate….these days it is a time for yawns and head shaking.

I am not thrilled with the choice of candidates but I am old and set in my ways…..but the real problem is the younger voter…..it seems they are turned off by Biden and Trump both….

David Brooks, a shill for special interests, thinks Biden has a problem…..

David Brooks says he still thinks President Biden is the Democrats’ strongest candidate for president, but he’s getting more pessimistic about his chances of beating Donald Trump in November. For starters, Brooks writes at the New York Times, many voters simply prefer Republicans “on key issues like inflation and immigration.” But Biden also has a big problem with young voters, Brooks writes. He cites a recent NBC News poll that found only 64% of voters are highly interested in the election, down from 77% in 2020—and among voters 18 to 34, the figure is just 36%.

That might be partly due to the advanced age of both candidates, Brooks writes, but “part of it is also about Biden’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war,” which has been more strongly criticized by young people than other groups. “I think what we’re seeing at Columbia and on other elite campuses is a precursor to what we’re going to see at the Democratic convention in Chicago,” writes Brooks. He characterizes the clashes between police and leftist protesters at the 1968 Democratic convention as an “early marker of the differences between the more-educated and less-educated classes. They were part of the trend that sent working-class voters to the GOP.”

If there are similar clashes at the August convention, “the chaos will reinforce Trump’s core law-and-order message,” Brooks writes. “It will make Biden look weak and hapless.” Click for his full piece. The NBC poll found that Biden and Trump are “essentially tied” among voters 18 to 34, with Biden at 44% and Trump at 43%. Biden’s problem with younger Americans isn’t just about Gaza, writes Philip Bump at the Washington Post. He notes that YouGov polling of registered voters going back to 2021 shows big swings in support for Biden among younger voters—but Gallup polling of all Americans shows younger people “are consistently less approving of Biden than Americans overall.”

A fearmongering piece….trying to influence people with suppositions.

I can understand why the young have a problem with Biden….for I have a problem with his old ass….but where will the young put their vote that is if they bother to vote?

One tactic was the student loan debacle….trying to get on the good side of young voters.

Will it work?

Will they vote for Trump?

Interesting demographic that could make the difference in this election.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Don’t Let The Door Hit You In The Ass

This is news from Africa…..

I recently wrote about the failure of our War on Terror in Africa….that it had created more problems than it solved….

Is Africa A Failure?

Then there was a coup in Niger and the coup leaders told the US to vacate….

Dressed in green military fatigues and a blue garrison cap, Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane, a spokesperson for Niger’s ruling junta, took to local television last month to criticize the United States and sever the long-standing military partnership between the two countries. “The government of Niger, taking into account the aspirations and interests of its people, revokes, with immediate effect, the agreement concerning the status of United States military personnel and civilian Defense Department employees,” he said, insisting that their 12-year-old security pact violated Niger’s constitution.

Another sometime Nigerien spokesperson, Insa Garba Saidou, put it in blunter terms: “The American bases and civilian personnel cannot stay on Nigerien soil any longer.”

(antiwar.com)

I understand that US will leave Niger….”The US Department of State agreed to pull out about 1,000 troops from the country that has been under military rule since July 2023….

Now it seems that another nation in Africa is fed up with US presence….Chad….

Chad is threatening to scrap an agreement with the US that allows American troops to operate in the country, signaling the US might lose even more of its military footprint in Africa after Niger ordered a US withdrawal.

According to CNN, Chad’s government sent a letter to the US earlier this month that said it could end the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The letter didn’t directly order the US military to leave, but US officials said that if the agreement were canceled, US forces would have to leave a French military base where they were stationed.

Reuters also reported on the letter and said Chad ordered the US to halt activity at the Adji Kossei Air Base because the US had failed to provide documents justifying their presence there. The US has a small military presence in Chad, with CNN putting the number of US troops in the country below 100.

US officials told CNN that the letter could be a negotiating tactic to get a more favorable deal, but the expulsion of US forces would follow a pattern of Western countries losing their foothold in the region.

(antiwar.com)

By all accounts the War on Terror in Africa is an epic failure….for it has created more problems than it has solved.

How many more African nations will follow suit?

I could say this would save the taxpayer some money but reality and the War Department will just piss it away on Ukraine and Israel.

Time for all this to change….and now!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”