Friday, June 06, 2025

Elon Musk foolishly supported and now gets burned by the MAGA cult.

Much of the MAGA world is having to eat it's own vicious medicine. I'm not surprised that there would be a falling out between Elon Musk and Trump.

Fire brand Steve Bannon, a media personality and former Trump aid, has also entered the fight. Without our government's checks and balances, Trump could, conceivably, seize, Musk's Space X company on national security grounds; as Bannon suggests. It's likely the courts would try to stop this, however; remember Trump's bullying of Harvard.

Space X has been a very important defense and space contractor. It's been the only reliable US provider for human space flight. Without it, astronauts would have no way to get back and forth from the International Space Station; except for riding on Russia's Soyuz capsules.

The US and Russia are no longer on friendly terms either, but scientists, on the Space Station, can still work together. If scientists can work together, why can't anyone else?

Religious fanatics, politicians, media stars and much of the public engages in nasty feuds. The volume of these feuds has been in high gear as folks like Trump, Musk and Bannon keep blathering.

I remember having quite a bit of respect for Musk with his reusable rockets, but more recently, it seems like he has bought the MAGA bug and gone off the rails; his Space X company still functioning thanks to calmer minded technical staff.

Maybe, if real scientists had more say in world affairs, we would be in much better shape.

Wednesday, June 04, 2025

Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) give some Republicans worry about their image. To be honest, the choices are difficult.

Warning: This mentions death.

As Republicans struggle with lowering the federal deficit, I think the biggest slice of the spending pie is Medicare, which I rely on. So far, it's off the cutting table, but Medicaid is another large pillar of life that could be on the table.

Like political "hot rails" politicians mess who these items risk committing "political suicide." These comments from Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) give some Republicans worry about their image. To be honest, the choices are difficult.

Other big budget items include things like interest on the debt, military, veteran benefits and Homeland Security. Beyond that it's many small slices of the pie that keep the country going; such as the Weather Service.


Link to article on Yahoo News.

Tuesday, June 03, 2025

While the Democratic Party seems better at protecting status quo than Republicans, many on the left want bigger change. There seems to be little consensus for the direction of change, however.

Some people want to make big changes in the Democratic Party as the same old party lost in the past. Problem is, it seems like there is little consensus, among the American people, for which direction to change. Many people want big change, but little agreement on what the big change should be.

I see voting for the Democrats as being a way to protect democracy; somewhat like the role of a placeholder.

Transformational change is needed; especially to deal with climate change. Eventually, I hope that some clear consensus can emerge among the American people for strategies moving forward. I know what my own agenda would look like. In a nutshell; less emphasis on money and consumerism, but embrace technology and don't be too anti business. Encourage patience and healthier lifestyles. Encourage less automobile dependent planning and so forth.

I would love to see a consensus for this, but I don't see it so far. We do need some kind of consensus, if not this something at least, if we want to move the country in a new direction that sticks.

Blaming the people for our society's problems can empower the people to act differently in the marketplace and to make better choices when voting.

I tend to blame the people for our society's problems. It's mostly the people. Institutions and business play a part, but I think the people, who make up the mass markets and the voting public, are the main problem.

I would hope that this thought could empower people as we can make the changes and I think institutions would still follow; for the most part.

Rather than blaming individuals, I blame culture in mass.

In 2024, US voters chose a path toward the US becoming an oligarchy where power becomes more concentrated at the top and in one person.

I'm hoping voters will make different choices going forward if they still have a chance.

Monday, June 02, 2025

Wrongful death lawsuit says Big Oil contributed to heat wave and woman's death.

I personally doubt that a law suite against an oil company would be up-held; especially given the many Republicans on Supreme Court. If an oil company were to be fined, however, it would be like a carbon tax, which I basically favor. Raising the price of fossil fuels that gets passed on to the consumer.

The Republican Party, itself, could be target of blame for climate denial. Below I excerpted this from article.

The current administration has been quick to disregard climate change and related jargon. Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. withdrew from the Paris climate agreement, again; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — an agency whose weather forecasting and research workforce has been gutted — will no longer track the cost of weather disasters fueled by climate change; and the Environmental Protection Agency has been called on to a rewrite its long-standing findings that determined planet-warming greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.

Another one of my thoughts is how deadly cars can be that people drive everyday. Sitting in a car, even in shade, can be deadly on a hot day if the air-conditioning is not working. If driving, its better to try and find an air-conditioned business to stop at and walk into the cool space, I guess.

I wrote this blog post after I found an article in May 29, 2025 Huntingdon Daily News. About someone from Ferndale, near Bellingham.

Got a response like this where I posted somewhere else.

Carbon taxes put the burden on working people as the rich don’t notice it and big companies just pass it on. It’s a regressive tax.

We NEED to outlaw burning of Fossil Fuel with enough lead time before it goes into effect to change over to sustainable fuels.


My reply.

It does seem like many people rebel against laws. If we kick the can down the road and outlaw fossil fuels in 10 years, it would probably still be a hardship. We may need a 10 year plan, but folks would say it's like the 5 year plans under Stalin's Soviet Union.

Back in the 1970s, there was a law for gas rationing to try and allocate the short supply during the Arab oil embargo. The wealthy were not allowed to jump the cue like in more of a market driven system. When Reagan came along, deregulation and the market became more like a god, I guess. The market and higher prices brought more oil production from shale and so forth.

In some ways, I miss the days of odd / even gas rationing. Those were my college days. Back then, I remember somewhat smugly saying, I don't drive. I can still say that today.

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Missed opportunities for meaningful dialog at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle.

In the news I read about an event and two protests in Seattle that went totally different directions than my thinking. The event was at Cal Anderson Park on Capital Hill. It was a religious rally related to the pro life movement, so I hear.

Counter protesters were pro transsexual and LGBTQ. My response to so called "pro life" is to point out the irony of pro lifers who support Republican policies of sending migrants back to dangerous countries and possibly kicking people off Medicaid. Wouldn't those policies be a threat to life?

The religious group is also, I'd guess, not friendly to us LGBTQ folks.

The religious folks sponsoring that event later held a protest at Seattle City Hall as they were upset with a message from the liberal mayor and the way the city handled the whole thing. There were arrests at both protests.

Disruptive and angry protests from either side are counterproductive. It's just people shouting past one another. Much of the protests were likely peaceful, but disruptive behavior soured the whole deal.

I still keep seeing the irony of folks saying they believe in the sanctity of life while livelihoods and healthcare are threatened for many.

The rest of the world can't afford to catch up with consumerist USA as a prerequisite before making transformational changes to greener economies.

As much of the world rises out of poverty and becomes more consumerist, somewhat like USA, the US gets tired of being blamed for climate change; a big segment of US is tired at least.

US government now turning it's back on attempts to address climate change, but much of the rest of the world is realizing that first catching up to US consumerism can't be a prerequisite for addressing the problem.

China is taking big steps to make it's economy more green. China's over 1 billion people can't afford to catch up with US consumerism before transformative changes are made; such as a surprisingly large percent of cars, sold in China, are electric. US bans imports fearing decline it it's auto industry which changes more slowly.

Where the energy comes from is still a big question, but transformational changes are being made there as well, in much of the world.

I still like life in USA with it's freedom to differ from mainstream society, but that freedom also can lead to gridlock of plans for transformational change. Rail transportation, solar, wind and nuclear power stall, in USA, do to gridlock between special interests. NIMBY fears may have sunk USA's past attempts to transform to a greener future.

I still hope we can somehow figure out a good road to the future.

Thursday, May 29, 2025

What I would like to see the Democratic Party stand for.

Policies to create more affordable housing. Talk about zoning, planning, building and so forth. Encourage local governments to reduce sprawl, less restrictive "single family" zoning. This also to address climate change.

Improve our transportation system. Try and reduce America's dependency on private automobiles. Maybe lower the percent of commutes, by car, to 75% versus the current approx. 92% by car (so I've read).

Increase use of public transit, bicycles, walking and telecommuting. This will reduce traffic congestion and the need to devote precious urban land to parking.

Continue to promote electric cars for those who still insist on driving. Try and figure out a cleaner fuel for air travel. Serve more locations with passenger rail. Provide more frequent train service to places, like Spokane, where the only passenger service arrives late at night.

Place less emphasis on the costly pipedream of high speed rail, in USA, due to lack of available rite-of-way in congested areas.

Low population areas (like Eastern Washington) often have rail corridors that are under used while high population areas (like Seattle to Vancouver, BC) don't have land for new rail lines; especially land free of road crossings. High speed rail is a catch 22.

Resist Republican efforts to dismantle affordable healthcare.

Promote healthy lifestyles, diets and exercise.

Discuss immigration as a population issue. It's related to 8 billion people on this planet with many seeking refuge from brutal situations overseas.

Try to promote more livable situations worldwide with democratic reforms, birth control, human rights, women's rights, gay rights and so forth.

Realize the benefits of immigrates as labor and talent, but also think about the burden of increasing population on affordable housing, infrastructure and so forth.

Support reproductive rights, but try and emphasize the ideal goal of abortion being rare. Every child should be wanted. We need good birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancy and good social services welcoming people into this world. Realize that population growth effects the environment.

Support the rights of LGBTQ people. Try to accommodate transgender rights, but have rational, non punitive, discussions about the costs of care (if that is a big factor) effects on sports and so forth. Recognize that understanding of gender is evolving given new science.

Place less emphasis on people fighting over who has been treated the worst. Avoid battles between various groups which one could call "resentment politics." Avoid calling for reparations over historic wrongs from past generations. Realize that life will never be totally fair, but try to continue incrementally moving toward fairness.

Try not to fall for the strategy of "divide and conquer" as those in power (for instance Republicans) often exploit resentments between groups to divide people.

As for the age issue (given talk about the age of many in government) I would reduce institutional reliance on seniority in Congress and other institutions.

Goals have been set, internationally, to reduce carbon emissions, but countries can't seem to find ways to follow the goals. Maybe we need to set goals that help us attain the bigger, more theoretical goals of reducing carbon emissions.

How about a goal to reduce private car commutes, in USA, to 75% versus 92%?

Yes, it might create some economic displacement, for instance in auto dependent industries. That is likely a big reason why national politicians don't touch it. Not only would it disrupt auto manufacturing companies and unions, but it would also disrupt drive-in businesses that depend on the way things have been done for the past few decades.

Sunday, May 25, 2025

Protests against police may have brought the opposite of what was intended.

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the killing of George Floyd which sparked nationwide protests. I didn't participate in those protests though it was unfortunate what happened to Floyd.

In most cases, I felt, and still feel that police aren't as big a problem as some of the other problems we face in this country. Our culture has a lot of bro aggressive energy.

Since those protests, things seem to have slid more backwards away from the goals that most of the protesters advocated. We are now in the era of Trump.

Admittedly, I am speaking from my own experience, here in Bellingham which does, so I've heard, have a reputation for some of the kindest police in the country. Personally I tend to be a very cautious person anyway, so I haven't had problems with police. I notice much of American culture is driven by aggression and hostility; especially male aggression being dangerous: reckless driving, gun culture, domestic violence and so forth.

We do have lots of problems to address including a shortage of affordable housing. I would guess, from what I hear in the news, that there are some problems with policing, but I would put it pretty low on the priority list compared to many other factors that add to inequality, such as economic and political situations.

Fear of crime can create its own problems such as fear of strangers and a general lack of trust when people venture out in public. Increased fear of crime seems to have pushed society away from open hearts.

I also think that there are lots of good people and ideas that can prevail; especially as people are realizing what bad politics can do to a society. Populism can bring bad politics if politics is dependent on who yells the loudest. I feel that anger is usually a bad strategy for bringing a more humane society.

Friday, May 23, 2025

If Trump had won in 2020, we would probably have a new president today; likely a better president.

Some people are still grumbling that the 2020 election wasn't fair and Trump should have won it.

I say maybe if he had won it, we would be done with Trump by now; unless he somehow finagled a 3rd term.

Incumbent presidents tend to become unpopular. People weren't that enthused with Biden at the end of his term. Trump's popularity is dropping. No one can satisfy the finger pointing American people. We do have to look at ourselves in the mirror.

A better scenario would have been a Harris victory, in 2024, after Biden's victory in 2020.

Loss of international students likely to add to US economic downturn.

International students are now weary of coming to USA for college. As students leave for other, more welcoming countries, their money and talent will also leave USA; a loss to the US economy. Below reprinted from part of a story on NPR Morning edition (May 23 2025).

More than 1.1 million international students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities in the 2023-'24 school year. They do not qualify for federal financial aid, and so for many colleges represent a crucial financial lifeline.

Last academic year, international students contributed more than $43 billion to the U.S. economy, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

This is one of many reasons why I think USA may be headed for an economic downturn.

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Is the land acknowledgement for native peoples, at the start a meeting, or party, a waste of time?

It does remind people that this land was basically taken from people who lived here before modern USA or Canada. That could be worth something, but it does seem like just another ritual of going through the motions to appease the guilt.

If I had more artistic skills, I could draw a cartoon about the land acknowledgement.

It's at a meeting, or better yet, a party in a politically liberal setting.

The event starts with the land acknowledgement stating that land was taken from people who came before us.

Then the person at the microphone says, "Okay, time to party."

As the participants start in on the wine and cheese, someone has a thought bubble saying, "It's like going to church on Sunday and then going to the bars and drinking 6 days a week."

Sometimes I add other things to this idea, like the mic on the stage going live again and the host announcing that there was an accident closing the freeway so after the party, folks will need to leave by another route.

Basically, life goes on in its fun, or also its potentially destructive ways.

Life for the yuppies and others continues only to pause a moment to acknowledge some guilt and use some precious time, from participants who are there, for face to face networking.

Maybe it's a waste of effort since face to face, community networking can be rare in itself.

51% worldwide commutes by car. Catching up with 92% in USA. Now over 8 billion people in the world. Likely a problem.

A new study of urban transport finds that most commuters globally are getting to work by car, fueling pollution, particularly in wealthier regions. Worldwide 51 percent of commutes are made by car, while 26 percent are made by public transit, 16 percent by bike, and 6 percent on foot. That's a big change since my college days.

In USA, I read that 92% is by car. It's been that way for decades, so in USA it hasn't changed that much compared to worldwide.

According to an article I found, electric vehicles are growing in popularity, helping to curb tailpipe pollution, but a study warned that heavy reliance on cars still contributes to urban sprawl, road traffic, and particulate pollution from wear and tear on tires. “The burden of cars in cities is huge and goes beyond the combustion of petrol,” said Prieto-Curiel. “It is also the parking space required, the driving infrastructure, the noise they produce, the toxic materials used in manufacturing and road pavement, the crashes they cause, and others.”

Interesting article that I excerpted from plus my own research about USA.

I'd like to see goals set for reducing car dependency. For instance in USA, maybe reducing car dependency to 70% from 92%. Just a small change could do a lot for relieving traffic congestion on I-5, for instance.

Goals like this at the local levels might mean more than setting worldwide targets for reducing carbon emissions. It seems like it doesn't matter where we set the carbon emission targets as they are not followed anyway. In USA, under Trump, the government has given up on carbon emission reduction goals anyway.

We need to figure out how to make these changes at our various grassroots levels in each part of the world. The various components which could add up to the large carbon emission number could be where the discussion needs to be focused.

Yale study I found at.

https://e360.yale.edu/digest/cars-commutes-study
E360 Digest, March 19, 2024, More Than Half of Commutes Globally Made by Car, Study Finds.

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Violence is a bad strategy for overcoming oppression because oppressors usually have the biggest weapons and will win in the end.

Violence is usually a bad strategy for overcoming oppression because those with the most powerful weapons are the one's who usually prevail. The violence that Hamas brought against Israel was met by a far more powerful response from Israel killing many times more people.

There are better strategies. New inventions and economic conditions can disrupt established orders and bring big changes.

The gradual change that the gay liberation movement and feminism has brought in American culture, over the past few decades, is another example. These things are sometimes thought of as subversive ways to gradually erode and change an existing order.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Things seem to be improving in Syria.

I'm hoping normalization of relations between US and Syria is a good idea. Things seem to be better in Syria since the brutal Assad Regime was overthrown a while back. My information just from following news.

Monday, May 12, 2025

Yes, population growth is a problem as most people in poor countries aspire to consume more; eventually becoming more like Americans.

Some people say that criticizing population growth is unfair to poorer countries as they think the main problem is over consumption in rich countries.

Problem is, it seems like most people, in poor countries, aspire to consume more. China is a good example. It now has a higher carbon footprint than USA due to 1.3 billion people industrializing, versus USA's 0.34 billion. Of course much of China's manufacturing is consumed in USA and other countries, however.

Still 1.3 billion has a big footprint even when the average Chinese citizen still consumes less than the average American. They do still have billionaires, in China, as do many other countries, in the world, including third world nations.

One big change that has happened in the last 50 years, since I entered college, is a huge rise in the consumption levels of people all over the world. Many folks have risen out of poverty in China and other places. This is a bigger change than the population growth, itself, though world population has doubled since then. Over the same time period, consumption has gone up far more.

Population growth is now slowing down, but it is still growing.

Even though many folks, in USA, feel guilty about our level of consumption, I don't see a huge trend toward voluntary simplicity. That can still happen and some folks embrace voluntary simplicity, but it doesn't seem to catch on in a big enough way.

These days, China may be doing more than USA to make it's economy greener. High speed rail, solar power, electric cars, even nuclear power. China has an easier time organizing on a big scale. In USA there are lots of citizen groups who fight changes.

I'd still rather live in USA in spite of democracy's inefficiencies, but it would be better if our self interests could bend a little more for common good.

Let us build that green infrastructure, for the most part at least. We are kind of gridlocked when it comes to making transformational changes. Trump wants to break the gridlock, but he and his supporters want to take us back in the wrong direction.

Saturday, May 10, 2025

What would my past self think of my life today?

If the Robert of my senior year in high school were to see how my life has turned out now, the first thought might be disappointment. I had visions of a career in radio. Possibly being a talk show host. Comparing some high school visions to my life now is like comparing apples and oranges, however. The world and what they call the media landscape has changed dramatically. What they call social media didn't even exist back then.

Besides a tinge of disappointment, my high school self would also be fascinated in how the world and technology has changed. That self would be full of questions.

My big desire, back then, was to express my opinions and share of my authentic self; something that's done on social media. The ability to share thousands of my photos and observations, on a media channel that's worldwide at practically no cost, was inconceivable back then. I can pretty much say whatever I want without a boss looking over my shoulder, or the need for catering to a market. The audience is, most likely, a lot smaller, however. Again, it's a case of comparing apples to oranges.

Back in high school, I had visions of maybe someday being a talk show host, or a news commentator on a station like KGO, in San Francisco. It had an audience in the hundreds of thousands reaching up and down the entire west coast, at night, due to ionospheric skip.

Today, my signal can reach around the world, but do very many people tune in, given the millions and millions of other channels bombarding the world with their messages?

Transmitter power is no longer as relevant as it was back then; in fact, the entire AM radio band is almost fading into obscurity.

While I had some big dreams during my childhood, I also had lots of doubts and anxieties. I wasn't sure I would even make it through college. These days there are more terms for these conditions such as anxiety disorder and autism spectrum. Much of the time, during my childhood, I felt like I wouldn't be up to the task for great success anyway.

Since those days, I have seen many more flaws in the places I aspired to as well. Touring some radio / TV stations left me with a feeling that they can be stressful workplaces. With my mental condition, I probably couldn't work there anyway. Expressing one's authentic self would be difficult as well. Working one's way up from the bottom of a large organization was seen as a common route to more authentic self expression, after one gets closer to the top. I now have a somewhat more cynical view of the world around me.

Meanwhile, what happened to KGO Radio would be more of a dissapointment. It's kind of imploded, or at least it's not what it once was. It went to a sports gambling format that didn't last long. Last I saw, on news websites, it has new call letters and right wing talk from a national network. See article from my column in a small local publication called The Betty Pages about KGO.

Where I have ended up does make sense to me, given what I have learned along the way. Things don't necessarily turn out the way one expects, but I feel like excepting how the journey has been turning out is, at least, okay.

It has been an interesting journey so I'd hope that my high school self would be more full of questions and interest, in what the future has brought, than full of harsh judgements.

Thursday, May 08, 2025

Supporting LGBTQ rights and other human rights might be the best way to boost your country's population. Talented workers will be seeking refuge in your country.

So many folks have been trying to get into Europe, Canada and USA that it's overwhelmed the borders.

On the otherhand, many countries, such as Russia, are trying to raise their birth rates. Who wants to live there? Not me, for sure. Talented people, who think outside the box, are trying to flee that country.

Some folks, like Elon Musk and Puin worry about low birthrates. They worry that there may not be enough young workers, being born, to pay for the social security and drive economic growth as world populations age.

My solution, to the so called problem of underpopulation, is to make one's country a place where people want to immigrate to.

There are certain countries, such as USA (before Trump) Canada, Australia and many European countries that have been overwhelmed by millions of folks trying to immigrate there. People don't want to immigrate to places like Russia in search of personal dignaty and human rights. It can be said that USA might never have a shortage of young workers because all it would have to do is open the borders and they will come. There is the phrase, "vote with your feet."

Ironically, many of the most desirable countries, to live in, are closing their borders, or at least they are restricting immigration. Are too many young folks wanting to live in these desirable countries? It's true, so many have been coming that it's overwhelmed the infrastructure and the affordable housing.

Rather than promoting births, I would rather see the nations of the world strive to become places where people want to live. Ironically, supporting LGBTQ rights might be the best way to increase one's population. Persecuted people are likely to be seeking refugee status in those countries.

I still think the environment would be in better shape if there were less people on the planet, but there is a legitimate worry that there may not be enough young workers, to pay for social security as populations age.

Making your country a desirable place to live is the solution. This should be the strategy for each nation on the national scale. On the global scale, the environment would still be easier to protet with less people on the planet as a whole.

The world would be better if, rather than a race to the bottom, countries competed with one another in creating desirable places to live. If there was ever a shortage of people, the most desirable countries would win in terms of attracting taleted workers to their economies.

Democracies would have an advantage if there was ever a shortage of people because they would have less shortage of people when people choose where they would prefer to live. Betty Pages article.

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Having a family is often given as an excuse for having a car.

I often tell people I have never driven or owned a car. They often say, "That is admirable for health and the environment." Then the next thing they say is, "But we have a family." "we have to get kids to soccer practice and so forth, so we can't live that way."

Friday, April 25, 2025

Neurodivergent possibly a better term than autism.

I haven't been diagnosed officially, but several people have said that I may be on the autism spectrum. I think that a better term to describe this is neurodivergent; someone who's brain works differently than average.

Autism is in the news with HHS Secretary Kennedy's wish to study it. I doubt that it's related to vaccines. My own assumption is that autism seems more prevalent, these days, due to more awareness. Back during my childhood, people weren't aware of it.

These days, it seems like lots more people are on that spectrum, probably because, in the past, it just wasn't articulated. Some folks have always been a bit strange and had some trouble plugging into mainstream jobs, schools and so forth, but describing it as autism wasn't done.

When I first started hearing about it, I thought that one could call it a "catchall disease." One can be different in many ways so just toss it into that category.

Thinking of it as a disease can be problematic though I hear there is a spectrum from high functioning to severely limited. In some cases it can even be a virtue given what mix of skills one might have, or not have.

The term neurodivergent seems to work better, in my opinion. There are lots of different kinds of people and there are many attempts, especially in recent times, to find ways for divergent people to connect with jobs, schooling and so forth. It takes some flexibility in things like school lessons, resumes and so forth.

Thursday, April 24, 2025

The virtues and tradeoffs of local sourcing. Short term propserity is not one of them.

There are many values in life beyond things that are counted by money and prosperity. Things like free time, peace of mind, rest, health, friends, hobbies and interests.

The economy of money is important, but it's not the whole story. It does seem like today's prosperity relies on international trade and ironically, President Trump, in the name of increasing economic prosperity, has thrown a monkey wrench into trade and the economy. We are likely experiencing higher prices and an economic downturn.

Local sourcing for manufacturing is a virtue in itself, but not likely to bring short term prosperity. Voters, who want results quickly, are likely to be disappointed.

Local sourcing is something that a lot of people, on the left, have talked about also; for instance local sourcing of food. Many folks complain about foods shipped from thousands of miles; such as the opposition to the "thousand mile salad." They want "locally produced," such as, supposedly, at places like the Bellingham Farmer's Market. Then they buy some coffee; not grown locally. Ironically the wide variety of fresh vegies in salads need to be sourced from far places when it isn't the growing season for fresh things locally. We could rely more on canned goods, I guess.

Problem is, we can't have it all. American people are somewhat spoiled.

Local, community values, time and money are all factors we have to balance each day. I think in terms of things being tradeoffs rather than zero sum games.

Sunday, April 20, 2025

The job slashers at DOGE forget that many skilled people are on probation so they get fired while some of the dead wood is not on probation so it remains. That's not a strategy based on merit.

Elon Musk's DOGE government cuts seems like the Peter Principle to me. That principle about mediocracy rising to the top.

I hear only 4% of the budget is staff and they keep saying, "Laid off employees are put on administrative leave with pay;" I guess. They are not saving much money and still paying salaries just to not have the work done?

Then they are laying off new staff that is still on probation. This seems like seniority over skill. Why not layoff those deemed less competent and forget about seniority? Much as they talk about tearing things down and disliking unions, maybe that's a bridge too far? If it isn't politically easy to slash folks with highest pay and seniority, in favor of keeping new hires possibly based on merit, it's just the old order wielding a new meataxe.

Thursday, April 10, 2025

The reaction against immigration is a reaction to overpopulation, but the reaction could even be worse than the problem itself.

The reaction against immigration, in much of the world including USA, is like a symptom of a disease. The disease is over population, but the symptom could be worse than the disease, itself. It's like an auto immune disease where the reaction is worse than the disease itself.

The world could accommodate it's 8+ billion people better than it does today, but the reaction against new arrivals is pretty strong. The reaction indicates that there is a problem of too many people, but the reaction, itself, is likely worse than the actual problem.

Republican Party brand is losing popularity.

A silver lining in all this world economic chaos is that the Republican Party brand is losing popularity.

It looks like Trump has painted himself in to a corner.

Monday, April 07, 2025

April 5th protest in Bellingham.

Hands off protest against Trump on April 5 2025 had an estimated 3,000 people show up at City Hall in Bellingham. Many showed up at the old Federal Building at Cornwall and Magnolia as well.