Month: March 2025

IST Saturday News Dump–15Mar25

The Dump this week will be a bit thin for the passing of my partner, Sue, did not give me much time for research….I know most will understand and I thank you for your patience.

Personal–I would like to thank all my readers for their heartfelt words of comfort for the passing my my ‘better half’….please know that your support in this time of grief is very much appreciated….Thank You .

And now sports fans…the meat of the post….

I enjoy a good tomato and in recent years the only tasty tomatoes have come out of my garden….but could that change?

For decades, farmers have faced a trade-off between size and flavor when growing tomatoes and eggplants. The hefty tomatoes stacked in supermarkets today may be impressive in size, but many consumers lament their lack of flavor. Meanwhile, smaller, wild varieties burst with sweetness but remain impractical for large-scale farming. Now, scientists say they have cracked the genetic code to finally get the best of both worlds.

A pair of recent studies, one led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and another by scientists at the Agricultural Genomics Institute in China, reveal key genes that govern both the size and sugar content of tomatoes. By tweaking these genes, the first group grew larger tomatoes while the second made sweeter variants. This exciting series of developments could reshape global agriculture by making tomatoes and eggplants more appealing to both farmers and consumers.

https://www.zmescience.com/future/bigger-sweeter-tomatoes/

Let’s hope they can truly create a tasty tomato.

For the past 25 years or so the art of tattoo has been popular….some great artwork but could there be an ugly side…..

Using a database that tracks the health outcomes of twins, scientists have found more evidence that getting tattoos may be linked to skin cancer.

In a new paper published in the journal BMC Public Health, researchers from the University of Southern Denmark and Finland’s University of Helsinki have found that among twins, tattooed individuals are roughly 1.62 times more likely to develop skin cancer than their un-inked siblings.

Looking at data on more than 2,600 twins, the Danish scientists found that this link was even greater for people who had larger tattoos, defined as larger than palm-sized. The twins with bigger pieces were found to have skin cancer roughly three times more often than their siblings without tattoos.

(Though it’s not related explicitly to tattoos, it is worth noting that Denmark has some of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. Because the small Scandinavian country is located so far from the equator, its residents don’t get the same amount of solar radiation as their counterparts further south, and often get worse cancer-causing sunburns as a result.)

https://futurism.com/neoscope/new-research-tattoos-skin-cancer

I  cannot believe some of the crazy theories that some people believe in….always looking for a good reason….

Poor sleep can make you susceptible to a wide range of physical and mental health issues, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and anxiety. But new research indicates it may also increase the chances of yet another unwanted outcome: embracing conspiracy theories.

A team from the University of Nottingham’s School of Psychology recently conducted two experiments on a total of over 1,000 volunteers. The results, published on March 12 in the Journal of Health Psychology, suggest adding bad sleep quality on top of existing issues like depression can make people more susceptible to patently untrue conspiracies. The odds for adopting such beliefs may especially increase if tired people are exposed to conspiratorial content from outside sources as opposed to coming to similarly false conclusions on their own.

For their first study, researchers asked 540 participants to complete a standardized sleep quality assessment before reading one of two articles about the 2019 Notre Dame Cathedral fire in Paris. While some volunteers received a verified rundown of the devastating accident, others reviewed a story that falsely stated the blaze involved a cover-up conspiracy. After surveying the participants, researchers noted those who previously cited worse sleep quality entertained the Notre Dame Cathedral conspiracy more often than their well-rested counterparts.

https://www.popsci.com/health/poor-sleep-conspiracy-theory/

Another popular trend is the use of AI for…well….damn near everything….

AI slop has made its way into practically every corner of the internet. Just look at Facebook, or what’s become of Pinterest. But what about AI-written text? It may not be as flagrantly bonkers as AI images, but it’s also started to permeate the web.

In a new study that’s yet to be peer-reviewed, a team of researchers from Stanford University say they’ve managed to estimate how much writing floating around the web is the work of an AI model — and all it took was analyzing over 300 million documents, including press releases, consumer complaints, and job postings.

“We wanted to quantify how many people are using these tools,” study coauthor Yaohui Zhang, a Stanford researcher, told Fast Company.

Zhang’s team found that after the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the proportion of text that was generated or modified by LLMs in all those categories skyrocketed. With corporate press releases, for example, the number jumped from around 2 to 3 percent to around 24 percent by late 2023.

To identify AI facsimiles, the researchers used a statistical framework that analyzed texts written before the release of ChatGPT, looking for patterns such as word frequencies. Their detection model worked admirably well, they report, with a prediction error consistently lower than 3.3 percent.

“While some previous work used commercial software to detect such patterns, these studies often [have] been constrained to single domains, relied on black-box commercial AI detectors, or analyzed relatively small datasets,” the researchers wrote.

Their statistical framework revealed a trend similar in all the examined sectors. Approximately 18 percent of financial consumer complaints appear to be at least in part generated with AI. In job postings on LinkedIn, the share was up 10 percent for small firms, with newer companies exhibiting even higher rates of in part AI use.

Even UN press releases showed a marked uptick to 14 percent being LLM-generated or assisted — a clear sign of the “growing institutional adoption of AI for regulatory, policy, and public outreach efforts,” the researchers wrote.

“Our study shows the emergence of a new reality in which firms, consumers and even international organizations substantially rely on generative AI for communications,” the researchers added.

Generally, Zhang and his team found that AI adoption followed the same pattern: a three to four month “lag” following ChatGPT’s release — the calm before the storm — and then a surge of usage. This growth stabilized by late 2023 and kept a steady course in 2024. That could be a sign of AI slop hitting a saturation point — or more insidiously, becoming too subtle to detect, the researchers suggest.

“I think [generative AI] is somehow constraining the creativity of humans,” Zhang told Fast Company.

(popularscience.com)

 

Showing Their True Colors?

In my post from yesterday when the GOP and the Dems were in talks for the spending bill to avoid a government shutdown I asked the question….

“This is a problem….do they show backbone and fight the new spending bill which they will be accused of causing a government shutdown or do they support and betray a lot of what they say the are for?”

Last not my question was answered and answered predictably….

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday that he’ll vote to advance the Republican funding bill and bring enough Democrats with him to avert a government shutdown. “For sure the Republican bill is a terrible option,” Schumer said, per the Washington Post. Democrats have called the bill a power grab by President Trump and Republicans. “But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take … much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.” He added, “I will vote to keep the government open.”

The only other Senate Democrat so far to clearly state he’ll back the GOP bill is Sen. John Fetterman. But Schumer’s decision will give political cover to other Democrats, the Hill reports. He said that there weren’t enough votes in his caucus to pass the measure as of Wednesday but that many members were undecided. Schumer announced his switch during Democratic luncheon, shocking many of his senators, per the New York Times. Democrats in the Senate, House, and elsewhere, as well as party activists, have been pushing hard for Schumer’s caucus to block the bill and defy Trump.

But there are fears among Democrats that a government shutdown would give Trump and Elon Musk an opening to make greater cuts to the government, by decreeing which employees are essential and must work through a shutdown and which are nonessential. Senate Democrats have been wrestling with which option is worse. “For Donald Trump,” Schumer told the group, per the AP, “a shutdown would be a gift.” The procedural vote to which Schumer committed is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

The passage is not set in stone….but the leadership of the Dems proved my point ….time for a change.

In answer to ,y and others criticisms Schumer has taking to pen and paper….

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised enough Democratic support to pass the Republican funding bill that will avoid a government shutdown, despite admitting the bill is “terrible.” In a guest essay at the New York Times, he explains himself while calling President Trump a “nihilist” who’s “taken a blowtorch to our country” and now “wants full control over government spending.” Though the Republican bill is “deeply partisan” and, yes, “terrible,” it is the lesser of two evils, Schumer writes, arguing a government shutdown would give Trump and his billionaire advisor Elon Musk—who is reportedly very much in favor of a shutdown—”permission to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now.”

The administration “would have wide-ranging authority to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel nonessential” and “congressional Republicans could weaponize their majorities … to reopen only their favored departments and agencies while leaving other vital services that they don’t like to languish,” writes the New York Democrat. In other words, fighting the six-month government funding bill would be playing into Republicans’ hands. In backing the bill to avoid a shutdown, Democrats can at least avoid piling more suffering for “the most vulnerable Americans, those who rely on federal programs to feed their families, get medical care and stay financially afloat.”

But Schumer’s arguments are unlikely to sway some Senate Democrats, particularly those in the party’s liberal and progressive wings, who Schumer has ironically worked hard to appease over the last five years, per Politico. Elizabeth Warren said the bill, with $12 billion in cuts to non-defense programs, offers Trump and Musk “a blank check to spend your taxpayer money however they want,” while Bernie Sanders said it would “literally take food out of the mouths of hungry children, take healthcare away from seniors, and give a huge tax break to the wealthiest people on the planet,” per the Hill. One senator anonymously tells the outlet, “I think people will see this as a massive sellout to an authoritarian president. You don’t stop a bully by handing over all of your lunch money.”

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Jive Talkin’

The US-Ukraine-Russia mash-up has been in the news lately…..

After all the back and forth between the three [parties recently the Trump admin came up with a plan…Zelensky balked….then he was open to the talks between US and Russia to help end the war with a ceasefire…

But Zelensky held on to his strict policy of no territory for peace….

President Volodymyr Zelensky explained his understanding of the ceasefire proposed by Ukrainian and American officials this week, saying his country would not make any territorial concessions. Additionally, Kiev expects “strong steps” from President Donald Trump should Moscow reject the plan.

Discussing the ceasefire proposal on Wednesday, Zelensky said, “We are fighting for our independence. Therefore, we will not recognize any occupied territories as Russia’s,” adding, “Our people have fought for this, our heroes died. How many injured, how many passed. No one will forget about it… This is the most important red line. We will not let anyone forget about this crime against Ukraine.”

Zelensky’s refusal to give up territory makes it unlikely the Kremlin will agree to the ceasefire, as Russian officials insist the five Ukrainian provinces annexed by Moscow will never be returned to Kiev. Additionally, Russia says it is seeking a permanent end to the conflict, not a short-term truce.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/zelensky-kiev-wont-cede-territory-wants-strong-us-response-if-russia-rejects-ceasefire/

Then Putin said that he was open to the proposal of a ceasefire ‘but with condition’….

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled that he’s open to a ceasefire in Ukraine but that he has “questions” about the 30-day US-Ukraine proposal that need to be discussed.

“The idea itself is the right one, and we definitely support it,” Putin said, according to The New York Times. “But there are questions that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to talk them through with our American colleagues and partners.”

The Russian leader listed potential conditions for a 30-day truce, including a guarantee that Ukraine wouldn’t be supplied with more weapons. “We also want guarantees that during the 30-day ceasefire, Ukraine will not conduct mobilization, will not train soldiers, and will not receive weapons,” he said, according to RT.

Putin also questioned who would monitor the ceasefire. “Who will determine where and who has violated a potential ceasefire agreement along a 2,000-kilometer line? Who will attribute blame for any violations? These are all questions that require thorough examination from both sides,” he said.

The Russian leader said any long-term peace deal needs to address the “root causes” of the war. He made the comments as US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Russia to discuss the proposal. Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin official, said Witkoff would be holding a closed-door meeting with Putin.

(antiwar.con)

Then this happened….A joint statement between the US and Ukraine that was released after talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday said that Ukraine had “expressed readiness to accept the US proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation.”

All this back and forth…will he, won’t he made me think of the song by the BeeGees….Jive Talking.

This will fall apart because I do not think anyone really wants an end to this thing….Russia agreed to lift some of the sanctions and Zelensky agrees to keep the aid flowing…..but that is not a true reason for a ceasefire just a lull.

Is this real or is it just a dangerous game?

More to come.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

How Do Tariffs Work?

The popular meme these days is the word ‘tariffs’….it is the weapon of choice by the president in his economic war with trading partners…some will applaud these actions and others, including myself, do not think it is the save all that we are told almost daily.

Donny the Man has upped the tariffs on 3 of our trading partners….and many Americans are confused.

Purely as an FYI post for those that do not completely understand what is involved with tariffs I offer this explanation….

Like the Townshend Acts and Bacon’s Rebellion, tariffs are one of those topics you may vaguely remember from high school history class. Let’s take another look at how tariffs work—and what happens to the economy when they don’t.

Tariffs are taxes imposed on imports or exports. If the U.S. government imposes a 25 percent tariff on imports of, say, Canadian timber, it means that American companies buying timber from Canada will have to pay a quarter of the price of timber to the U.S. government.

Tariffs can be imposed for a number of reasons, not all of them economic. Because they make importing more expensive, they can be used to promote the development of domestic industries. They can also be used as a geopolitical weapon to exert pressure on trading partners or to punish non-allies. Like all kinds of taxes, they are also a means of generating government revenue.

Crucially, none of these measures is foolproof. If the U.S. imposes tariffs on Canada, for example, Canada may simply start trading with countries that don’t impose tariffs, cutting the U.S. out of the equation. That could then weaken the U.S. economy and its ability to engage in international trade.

Tariffs impact companies that rely on imports as well as ordinary consumers. If a country that imposes tariffs fails to develop domestic production and find new trade partners—a process that can take years, if not decades—tariffs are bound to raise consumer prices, because the importers will need to recuperate the additional costs they pay to the government through higher markups on the products they sell. As a result, tariffs have often resulted in economic recessions in the countries that impose them.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/how-do-tariffs-work

I hope this article will everyone understand what is at risk by imposing them….and make up your mind (if that is possible) on whether you support or oppose these actions by the president.

Please read it carefully and just the parts that you think you know….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Democrats Are In Trouble

Dems are facing a quandary….low voter confidence and now the new spending bill….

The government will shut down at midnight Friday unless Congress passes a spending measure before then, and the deadline is putting Senate Democrats in a bind: They don’t want to vote for the GOP-authored resolution before them, but they fear the alternative of triggering a shutdown is worse. Coverage:

  • Punchbowl News reports that the most likely scenario, for now, is that Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer will settle for a face-saving measure to avert a shutdown. He’ll demand votes on amendments, including a separate vote on the Democrats’ own continuing resolution. “It’s theater,” the outlet notes, given that the Democratic plan has no chance of passing. But it would allow Schumer to say Democrats were trying to fight back.
  • The Hill similarly reports that Senate Democrats were saying privately they will not allow a shutdown to happen, meaning they would ultimately have to vote in favor of the six-month Republican plan—despite pressure from the party’s progressive wing. As Axios puts it, “Schumer is balancing his deep distaste for a shutdown against pressure from the grassroots to do more to stand up to Trump.”
  • One fear among Democrats is that a shutdown would leave federal employees even more vulnerable to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, per CNN. “If it shuts down, what is Elon Musk going to allow to open back up?” asked Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona. “That’s a big concern of mine. How many more veterans is Elon, and this administration, going to fire? So, there’s not a good option here.” Independent Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, called it a “choice between two terrible alternatives.”
  • Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania is already on board publicly with voting for the GOP plan, reports the Washington Post. A shutdown would “absolutely punish millions, millions of Americans,” Fetterman said this week. Senate Majority Leader John Thune says the GOP measure, which already has passed the House, is the only route to keeping the government open. “The question of whether or not it stays funded now is up to the Democrats,” said the Republican leader.

This is a problem….do they show backbone and fight the new spending bill which they will be accused of causing a government shutdown or do they support and betray a lot of what they say the are for?

The Dems are in trouble.

For decades now the Dems have been losing support among the working class….the slide started, in my opinion, with Bubba Clinton and his embrace of big business and then it became more about the cash than the policies that would benefit the American people.

And now the studies show that it is getting to its lowest levels of support….for me I lost all confidence, what little I had back then, with the 1980 election….

Voters still have a sour view of Democrats six weeks after President Donald Trump and Republicans swept into Washington with control of all branches of the federal government, according to a new poll.

A plurality of voters — 40 percent — said the Democratic Party doesn’t have any strategy whatsoever for responding to Trump, according to the survey by the liberal firm Blueprint that was shared first with POLITICO. Another 24 percent said Democrats have a game plan, but it’s a bad one.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/06/poll-democrats-trump-disarray-00215291

The most recent study shows a serious lack of support…..

Out of power in Washington, Democrats are looking for ways to win voters back. A new poll suggests they have their work cut out for them. The Quinnipiac University survey found that 31% of registered voters have a favorable opinion of their party, while 43% have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party. That amounts to the largest advantage in favorability the GOP has enjoyed since 2008, Axios reports. A CNN poll released last week had similar results.

The flip side in Quinnipiac’s poll was no more encouraging for Democrats, with 57% of registered voters reporting an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party and 45% feeling the same way about the GOP. The findings, for which the pollsters report a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, alone aren’t evidence that Democrats need despair, Aaron Blake writes in a Washington Post analysis. The same polls showed Republicans were less popular in the first year of President Trump’s first term than Democrats are now, he points out. A Quinnipiac poll had Republicans with a 67% unfavorable rating in August 2017.

In addition, another poll released this week found that some of Trump’s early actions aren’t popular, per Reuters. Most respondents of both parties oppose his moves to end the practice of granting citizenship to children born in the US regardless of the parents’ immigration status, for instance. Overall, the share of respondents who disapproved of Trump’s performance rose from 39% to 46% since the first two days of his second term. The Reuters/Ipsos poll reported a margin of error of about 4 percentage points. “While it does seem Trump is getting a honeymoon to some extent, his numbers are still not impressive by historical standards,” said Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

I will admit that the Progressive Caucus does have a bit of concern for the working person and they are showing their disdain for the more conservative colleagues……

The head of a leading U.S. progressive group on Thursday accused the Democratic National Committee—which will choose new leadership this weekend—of trying to silence rank-and-file activists and voters, showing that the Democratic Party’s governing body is failing to connect with the working-class Americans who helped deliver the White House and Congress to Republicans.

“This moment demands a Democratic Party that provides more than just reactive opposition to an administration bent on rigging our economic and political systems in favor of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals on Earth,” Joseph Geevarghese, the executive director of Our Revolution, an offshoot of Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ (I-Vt.) 2016 presidential campaign, said in a statement ahead of Thursday evening’s final DNC candidate forum. “It demands leaders who put the party’s grassroots base ahead of the donor class and articulate a real vision that rejects [Republican President] Donald Trump’s corporate rule—starting with renouncing corporate money themselves.”

“Unfortunately,” Geevarghese lamented, “Democratic leadership is failing disastrously to meet this urgent mandate. Ahead of tonight’s forum, the DNC is actively working to silence rank-and-file Democratic activists and base voters calling for a ban on dark money in primaries and the rejection of corporate funding. In a last-minute move, they shut the event off from the public and even deliberately shared the wrong address for where grassroots supporters are allowed to gather.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/progressives-dnc

For me I would like to see the Dems grow a spine and get down to doing what needs to be done….but their actions in the first days of the new admin does not bode well for the country….they are too mamby pamby….

https://www.commondreams.org/news/democrats-prepared-to-oppose-trump-s-unqualified-cabinet-picks

I have bee a Progressive since the beginning of my political life but in those days we were insulted by morons that have the IQ of a garden slug. 

For me there are two major policies that the Dems should push and push hard….at least for now….

Implementing Universal Health Coverage (UHC). That is, a publicly administered system that guarantees that all people have access to the full range of quality health services when and where they need them. Financing of UHC could come entirely from broad-based tax revenues. Coverage would be universal and automatic. Covered services would include inpatient, outpatient, dental, mental health, and long-term health, as well as prescription drugs. All three levels of the U.S. government (federal, state, and local) would be involved in the health care system.

Cutting military spending. The United States spent $820 billion on national
defense during the fiscal year 2023. It spends nearly 8.4 times as much on its
military as Russia does and more than three times the amount of China. While the U.S. comprises just over 4 percent of the world’s population, it accounts for nearly 40 percent of global military spending. Between 2001 and 2022, the U.S. spent $8 trillion on war. The notion that such enormous defense spending is important for national security questions is utterly absurd. The U.S. homeland has never been invaded and no nation threatens U.S. national security. The obscene amount of money that the U.S. spends on defense, which different methodologies estimated to be above $1.5 trillion for the fiscal year 2022. Money saved from cuts in
the defense budget can go towards supporting social programs and/or for
reducing the national debt. Arguing for reforms in Social Security and Medicare when the country spends so much money on the military is morally indefensible and will become politically unacceptable if people realize how wasteful and harmful military sending is.There are other policies that need attention but these two, for now, would illustrate the the Dems are truly fighting for the working class.

The Dems are truly in trouble because very few people think the party will make a difference without some change in tactics.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Hard Post

I have written some difficult post in my time blogging but this one will be by far my hardest.

A week ago Sue was unresponsive in the morning and I called for an ambulance and she was emitted to the hospital with pneumonia and after 3 days she was released to come home and the doctor told me that she was in end stage cancer and she may have months to live.

She came home Monday and by Tuesday night she was gone at 11:45 in the evening.

It has been a kick in the gut for after 18 years I will be existing without her….she has always been my better half and she will be missed until I join her.

I want to thank all those readers that sent her well wishes and heart felt hopes…..thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I will take some time from writing for I have about 25 drafts in waiting so for the time being I will post one of them everyday until I can get my stuff together.

I will try to write a fitting tribute to the woman I love for all those years.

I will be back just do not know when….so please bear with me.

Thank you all so very much all your kind words they will be remembered.

chuq

 

What Can We Do?

I have seen many people that are just throwing their hands up when it comes to the things the Trump and his band of minor thugs are doing to our country….I have even heard people say what can we do?

There are many theories and opinions on what can be done to counter the Trumpian agenda….

As the new year begins, any honest progressive knows the political outlook is bleak. But if we’re going to limit the damage that President-elect Donald Trump inflicts on the country, then despair is not an option. The real question, as Democracy Alliance President Gara LaMarche recently said, “is how you fight intelligently and strategically when every house is burning down.”

Indeed, with Trump and Republicans in Congress aggressively pushing a right-wing agenda, progressives will need to invest their resources and attention where they can do the most good — both now and over the next four years. With that in mind, here are three steps to take to resist and rebuild as the Trump administration gets underway.

First, while strong national leadership is certainly important, progressives must recognize that the most significant resistance to Trump won’t take place in Washington. It’s going to happen in the streets led by grass-roots activists, and in communities, city halls and statehouses nationwide.

How progressives can fight against Trump's agenda

Believe me since the 1970s when I was wholly involved in Left politics, there is always something we can….

The administrative spectacle now unfolding in Washington exceeds all expectations. How should we respond? What is appropriate? I remember Abbie Hoffman and the general inclination of those New Left times, and other situations as well, when people tried to extinguish evil with ridicule and satire, with facts and debate, or with ridicule and facts both at once.

But what Donald Trump and his allies undertake, with who knows what precise calculations, is beyond the beyond. How should we respond to that?

Imagine you hear his press secretary. She says she exists to tell the truth. About a minute later she brazenly lies. She says $50 million goes from Joe Biden to Hamas for condoms that Hamas then turns into bombs. Could any satirist come up with that? How should we respond to that?

Or suppose you hear Trump’s medical guru who accurately says processed foods kill kids, and two minutes later delivers bubble gum-level commentary that, despite having no medical provenance, would bring back polio and measles. How should we respond to that?

What’s Our Appropriate Response to Donald’s Insanity?

You want to fight?

Then join the Progressive movement and learn what to do…

Politically, this is surely a strange and disturbing time, but one of its oddest, most discouraging features is to watch Donald Trump operate as an agent of systemic change while his panicky opponents try to defend an obsolescent status quo.  Like Franklin D.  Roosevelt’s right-wing enemies, they cry for help from the courts to prevent an activist, mission-driven president from violating established political and moral norms.

Help! Trump is using all his presidential powers, including some that he may not constitutionally possess, and has reduced Congress’s role to that of a cheering section.

 Help! Trump is slashing the federal bureaucracy, closing Congressionally created agencies, and throwing lots of good people out of work. 

Help! Trump is changing U.S. foreign policy, redefining enemies and allies, and cuddling up to dictators.

Help!  Trump is putting pressure on the press, the schools, and the cultural establishment to adopt conservative nationalist cultural values.    

And so on.  All these charges are arguably accurate, but what they really amount to is an allegation that Trump and his cohorts are politically serious actors – representatives of a mass movement for change – who are committing the ab-normal act of doing what they promised they would do if they took power.  As the Democrats’ cries for help mount to the skies, it is unclear whether what they are complaining about is the content of the MAGA program or Trump’s disrespect for established procedures.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/02/20/learning-from-trump-how-progressives-can-become-the-party-of-change/

Dems need to grow a pair and fight for the people they are pretending to care about….

It’s easy to be disgusted with the Democratic party right now. Donald Trump is running roughshod over the rule of law, treating the US constitution like toilet paper. His trusty pal Elon Musk is the arsonist in chief, burning down worthy democratic institutions and installing his minions in the heart of government where they have gained access to citizens’ private information. Much of what’s happening is illegal and unconstitutional.

And the Democrats, mostly, look less like an opposition party and more like stunned bystanders. As my Guardian colleague Moira Donegan put it, they are “out of touch, opportunistic and cowardly”.

But not all. Some Democrats in a new generation are punching back hard, and in so doing, showing their colleagues how to overcome their reputation for spineless dithering.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/07/heres-how-democrats-should-fight-back-against-trump

The DNC has a new leader and the promise to take back the working class….we will see just how serious they are on this dream….most are too deep in special interest pockets to do much more than collect their blood money for the next election….and the working class is staring poverty and hunger in the face while they talk and promise and do very little.

Just recently James Carville, Dem startegist, tells Dem how to handle Trump…

Democratic strategist James Carville offers an unexpected strategy for his party in these early days of the Trump administration: “roll over and play dead.” In his New York Times essay, Carville writes that it’s futile to go “toe to toe” with the president at the moment. But he’s equally sure that Trump and his “incompetent” Cabinet will crater in popularity relatively soon because of their policies and take the Republican party down with them. Carville calls it “the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party,” likening it to a military “tactical pause” or a boxer’s “rope-a-dope” tactic.

An example of how this would play out is in the upcoming budget talks, in which “the most radical thing we can do is nothing at all.” The GOP can’t decide what it wants, he writes, and Democrats should let them duke it out internally without entering the fray.

  • “Simply step away and let ’em flirt with a default. Just when they’ve pushed themselves to the brink, and it appears they could collapse the global economy—come in and save the day. Be the competent party and not the chaos party.”

Carville figures the “Trump honeymoon” will be over in the next 30 days or by Memorial Day at the latest. Then “we start turning the tide.”

(Read the full column.)

Do nothing?

Something the Dems excel at….doing nothing.

The Dems have been doing that for 30 years and look what it has wrought.

The Left needs another Eugene Debs….a fireball that lives his promises.

Any thoughts on this?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ero scribo”

Is That A Recession On The Horizon?

The prospect of one those damnable recessions may be on the horizon….even Donny concedes that it is a possibility…may be ot started sooner than expected….

he US stock market’s sell-off cut deeper on Monday as Wall Street questioned how much pain President Trump will let the economy endure endure through tariffs and other policies in order to get what he wants.

  • The S&P 500 fell 155.64 points, or 2.7%, to 5,614.56.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 890.01 points, or 2.1%, to 41,911.71.
  • The Nasdaq composite fell 727.90 points, or 4%, to 17,468.32.

It was the worst day yet in a stretch where the S&P 500 has swung more than 1%, up or down, seven time in eight days because of Trump’s on-and-off again tariffs. The worry is that the whipsaw moves will either hurt the economy directly or create enough uncertainty to drive US companies and consumers into an economy-freezing paralysis, the AP reports.

The S&P 500 is down roughly 9% from its all-time high set on Feb. 19. The economy has already given some signals of weakening, mostly through surveys showing increased pessimism. And a widely followed collection of real-time indicators compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta suggests the US economy may already be shrinking. Asked over the weekend whether he was expecting a recession in 2025, Trump said: “I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America. That’s a big thing.” He then added, “It takes a little time. It takes a little time.”

Incase just in case this was usual (?) burp in the trading…..

President Trump would not rule out the possibility of a recession this year during an interview aired Sunday, saying it “takes a little time” for the economy and Americans to see the benefits of his new tariffs. He discounted the recent stock market losses, contending “you have to do what’s right” whether the markets like it or not, the Washington Post reports. Trump made the comments an interview for Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. He also discounted concerns that businesses need clarity and before making decisions about investments.

Businesses always say they need clarity, Trump said, calling it “almost a sound bite.” He added that US tariffs “may go up. I don’t think we’ll go down.” Asked by host Maria Bartiromo about the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s forecast that US economic output will shrink 2.8% this quarter, after growing for almost three years, Trump did not push back. “I hate to predict things like that,” he said, per the AP. “There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America.”

Is there any optimism that it can be avoided?

Wall Street started the new trading week in a foul mood on Monday, with the Dow tumbling about 500 points and the benchmark S&P 500 index down more than 2%. It’s a continuation of last week’s selloff blamed on tariff uncertainty, but Monday’s pain appears to have been worsened over the weekend by President Trump’s comments about a possible recession. In short, he declined to rule out the possibility in 2025, though his own commerce secretary disagreed. Related coverage:

  • Bankers’ pessimism: The Wall Street Journal reports that big banks are growing more worried about a recession. JPMorgan Chase says the chances are now 40%, up from 30% at the year’s start. Goldman Sachs also raised the risk (from 15% to 20%), as did Morgan Stanley, which also revised downward its economic growth forecasts for 2025 and 2026.
  • China’s move: The market’s wobbling comes as China’s retaliatory tariffs on a slew of American farm products took effect on Monday, reports the New York Times. Chicken, wheat, and corn were among the products affected. It’s another escalation of the trade fight between the US and Beijing, with China accusing Trump of disrupting “the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains” through his tariffs.
  • Tesla, other giants: The companies seen as the “Magnificent Seven” on Wall Street were having less-than-magnificent Mondays, notes CNBC. Leading the losses were Tesla (down 8%), Nvidia (5%), Meta (5%), and Alphabet (4%). In fact, the tech-focused Nasdaq index was down more than 3% in early trading. One big fear is that a trade war will drive up prices, making it less likely the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.
  • Effect on Musk: Tesla’s decline has hit the fortunes of Elon Musk, whose net worth is down $121 billion from its high of $464 billion in December, according to Forbes. His remaining $343 billion, however, still makes him the world’s richest person.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news…..but you have what all are thinking so please prepare for the worse.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine Mineral Deal

Remember that was why Zelenskyy came to DC to sign a mineral deal between the US and Ukraine….and then there was that planned mash-up by Trump and mini me, Vance attacking the Z Man……and the deal was off because Z left DC without signing the deal.

Well it seems, according to Speaker Johnson, Zelenskyy has changed course….

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said during a radio interview that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has done a complete “about-face” on the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal that was not signed after a heated meeting between the two delegations late last month.

“I’m really grateful and glad that Zelensky, in the last several days, has done an about-face. He’s effectively apologized for all that. And he said, ‘Oh no, no, we would like that deal after all.’ I think he had a rude awakening,” Johnson said during his Saturday appearance on John Catsimatidis’s radio show “Cats Roundtable” on WABC 770 AM.

“I think a lot of the people in his country were upset with the way that was handled. Certainly we all were, but we’ve got to get him back to the table,” Johnson told Catsimatidis.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/5184547-johnson-says-zelensky-has-done-about-face-on-mineral-deal/

I know some people were worried that with this deal Russia or China would get these minerals that are needed for our electronics industry.

This is a super plus for American industry, right?

What could go wrong?

To begin with, the contentious 28 February Oval Office meeting can’t be understood without a crucial piece of context: there are no deposits of rare-earth ore in Ukraine known to be minable in an economically viable way. And that would be true even if full-scale warfare were not raging in the country’s east, where a great deal of its mineral resources are concentrated.

Ukraine is believed to have four areas with substantial deposits of rare earth ores, according to Erik Jonsson, senior geologist with the Geological Survey of Sweden. “There are four slightly bigger deposits: Yastrubetske, Novopoltavske, Azovske, and Mazurivske. All but one of them seem to be now within or near the zone that the Russians control, as far as I can tell,” says Jonsson. “And when it comes to resources in those deposits, I mean, we have numbers; yes, that’s nice. But we have no real, detailed, outline of how those numbers were arrived at.” The numbers are believed to come from Soviet surveys dating as far back as the 1960s.

“The rare-earth deposits don’t look that relevant,” Jonsson concludes. “I mean, I wouldn’t go for them.” Two of the deposits are dominated by a mineral called britholite, he notes, which is not desirable because it has not been processed for rare earths, which means that almost nothing exists in the way of process chemistry and equipment.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/ukraine-rare-earth-minerals

If this deal was not the viable at this time what was all this drama about?

Was it another show?

Is it cover for something else going on?

Was this another of the misdirection plans that this administration has?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Look At Homelessness

This is a growing problem in our society that most politicians want to ignore for it is a lose-lose proposition for their political lives.

You have heard all the BS that the homeless are alcoholics, drug users, mental disabled or mentally ill, etc etc…. but is there a more true and more accurate reason for this grow stain on our society?

Most what you hear from those lay-abouts in politics is myth….that is righgt it is bullsh*t from the get go….

Here Padgett debunks some of the most common homelessness myths:

1. Most are mentally ill

“Decades of epidemiological research reveals that one-third, at most, have a serious mental illness. Many initially believed de-institutionalization or closure of mental hospitals a prime cause of homelessness, but this occurred well before the sharp increase in the 1980s.”

2. The majority abuse drugs and alcohol

“Experts believe only about 20% to 40% of people who are homeless have a substance abuse issue. In fact, abuse is rarely the sole cause of homelessness and more often is a response to it because living on the street puts the person in frequent contact with users and dealers.”

Let’s take a quick look at the issue….

Homelessness is also concentrated among minorities and groups with severe income deprivation. According to the latest survey, 32 percent of the homeless identify as Black and 31 percent as Hispanic/Latin. American Indian, Alaska Native and Indigenous populations suffer a particularly high rate of homelessness (83 out of 10,000 people in 2023). 33 percent of the homeless were in families with children, while 19 percent were under 18. A recent study found that the income of people experiencing homelessness remained persistently very low for a decade surrounding the period of homelessness, although nearly half of homeless adults had formal employment in the year they were observed as homeless and nearly all sheltered homeless adults either worked or were reached by at least one safety net program. This suggests that homelessness tends to arise in the context of long-term, severe deprivation rather than large and sudden losses of income. A recent cross-country analysis found that about two thirds of adult homeless people suffer some form of mental illness, with the rate in the US being particularly high.

While individuals may become homeless for many reasons, overall variations in homelessness are closely associated with the availability of affordable housing. The decline in homelessness following the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 occurred alongside substantial declines in home prices and rents relative to family income. The rise in homelessness since then coincides with the subsequent sharp rise in housing costs relative to income (see chart). The geographical pattern is similar. States with high homelessness tend to be those with a shortage of affordable housing, as measured by an annual survey of the availability of affordable rental homes conducted by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. Similar patterns have also been found in Europe, where national studies have found that rising homelessness coincides with reduced availability of affordable housing.

Now for what has been learned about homelessness….

A new study from Case Western Reserve University, a nonprofit research university in Ohio, is shedding light on a leading cause of homelessness in America.

Meagan Ray-Novak — a research assistant at the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School’s Center on Poverty and Community Development — led the research by conducting 40 extensive interviews with people in her community experiencing homelessness.

She says the study challenges outdated assumptions about homelessness.

“We were asking people very broadly what life was like before they became homeless, and what we found is that the majority of the population had actually experienced some type of loss,” Ray-Novak told News 5 Cleveland — a local ABC News outlet.

“Some kind of death, divorce, separation, and caretaking responsibilities that had significantly impacted their ability to stay in their home.”

Ray-Novak went on to explain that the study didn’t just show that grief was a unifying theme for people who were chronically homeless (living unhoused for more than 12 months at a time).

The study also uncovered how major trauma like this often comes at the cost of someone’s personal care.

More specifically, the death of an immediate family member or friend was often precipitated by the individual compromising their own wellbeing and livelihood to help a loved one.

https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/new-study-leading-cause-of-homelessness

So when you hear some wannabe know it all tell you their reasons for homelessness you can throw facts into the face and maybe get them to stop spreading the lies of politicians.

Or not.

Next we should do all we can to keep the truth out there and debunk that morons that will lie to avoid finding an adequate solution.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”