Chicken and Politics

It always amazed me that Republicans I talked to would regularly complain about the influence of George Soros on the Democratic party while ignoring the influence of the Koch brothers or Sheldon Adelson on the Republican party. Truth is there are a LOT more billionaires funding the Republicans that those funding the Democrats. Here is the story of one…

This little-known company is a major funder of right-wing politics. You’ve probably eaten their chicken.

‘Cause we know which party can get behind animal cruelty and an unsafe food supply.

“The revolution begins today!”

No. The revolution began a while ago. You won. Now comes the executions of your “enemies”.

Mass layoffs are underway at the nation’s public health agencies

This is a disaster. American health care research is some of the best in the world, even if our actual health care system is a mess. For most of the twentieth century, the FDA, the NIH and the CDC where the gold standard for the world. I do not oppose efficiency. I welcome it. But the way to cut fat is with a scalpel not a chainsaw. Unless you aren’t actually operating on a patient, you’re butchering a hog.

Remember, all this cutting isn’t so we can pay off the debt. Nope, it’s all to pay for more tax cuts for the wealthy. Enjoy the revolution, peasants. Don’t believe me? Check out the Republican budget. BTW, the one place in the government where fraud and waste are very well documented has not really been discussed. That’s at the Pentagon. Wonder why they didn’t start there?

Why?

I mean, I know why. Do You?

Trump administration reportedly moves to ban Jackie Robinson biography from Naval Academy library

The Robinson biography is reportedly one of 900 books identified as conflicting with the order, with other examples including “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.” and “Einstein on Race and Racism.”

Never forget who these people really are. And what they represent. #beentheredonethat

Freedom of Speech

I have a few friends that have been very concerned about the first amendment to our constitution. They feel that over the last few years “freedom of speech” has been infringed on because some people get offended and they shouldn’t be (according to my friends). Also some commercial websites don’t want to have people spreading lies and slandering people. And that should be allowed because they have rights, dammit! But now we have a presidential administration that will advocate for free speech by intimidating the press, banning certain words from public releases by federal agencies, targeting law firms that defend clients suing the federal government, summarily dismissing minority members of the FTC so they can’t report on malfeasance, and deporting legal visitors for expressing an opinion that disagrees with the administration’s. Now this…

Trump order targets ‘improper ideology’ at famed US museums

“Improper ideology”? Wrong thoughts? So now we are punishing “wrong thinking”? Where have I heard that before?

Part 2

Elon Says Government Will ‘Go After’ People ‘Pushing the Propaganda’ About Tesla

“The real problem is not like the crazy guy that firebombs a Tesla dealership, it’s the people pushing the propaganda that cause that guy to do it,”

Uh, no. its the crazy guy with the fire bomb. No one is pushing “propaganda” about Tesla. People are acting out as a direct result of your actions in government. This is why business leaders have traditionally not enjoyed their forays into politics. Look, setting fire to cars or vandalizing property are serious crimes and should be punished. But it isn’t terrorism. And Elon is definitely a douche, and that isn’t propaganda.

I Need a Break

I apologize (if anyone reads this) for the rash of political stuff. It’s hard to ignore. However, on the personal front I bought one of these…

Monster Receiver

Sort of an impulse. “But wait” you say, “Doesn’t that look a lot like the one you got from Goodwill years ago for $15? (shut up)

Yeah, it’s a known quantity, that’s why. I owned a Sansui 7900z and gave it back to Goodwill because, nevermind. I’ve had that apart before, and De-Ox’d it so I’m familiar with the build quality. And you must admit it looks cool, and this one has 125 watts per channel!! Yeah!

UPDATE! – Looks like I’m not getting this one. The seller is refunding my purchase. I think he figured out he had it priced too low.

Sherrod Brown Gets It

There are few voices in the Democratic Party I feel are knowledgeable and observant of the real issues. Bernie Sanders is by far the best. Here is a guy who can go to Liberty University and get applause (to the shock of the administration there). Hillary couldn’t get applause there if she told the audience she was paying their tuition. But second to Bernie I always liked Sherrod Brown, a man who always seemed perennially wrinkled and disheveled. Brown understood that the party lost its way when it moved away from being the party of labor, the party of the working man. Brown should have won his re-election, but if he lost it should have been to a normal human like Matt Dolan, not to a slimy car salesman who kowtowed to Trump better. Oh well.
Former Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown Launches Dignity of Work Institute

Here We Go Again

Well this will impact red states more than blue ones, considering where hurricane and tornadoes tend to occur. But the idea that FEMA isn’t necessary is insane. On the heels of yesterdays revelation about “amateur hour” at the Defense department comes this great news…

As the Carolinas burn, Homeland Security head Kristie Noem says Trump administration is going to ‘eliminate’ FEMA

Trump’s only condition for employment is loyalty to Trump. Knowing your job is not important.

The Real “Trump Delusional Syndrome”

Trump said it himself back in 2016, “I could “shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters”. We’ve all see it. Once they embrace the Donald, suddenly everything he does in excusable. It’s really weird. No horrible thing he says or does seem to bother his adoring fans. He’s like Taylor Swift like that. Case in point…

ICE Took a Trump Supporter’s Wife as They Returned from Their Honeymoon. Still, He Says, ‘I Don’t Regret the Vote’

saaay what? That’s weird. Unless you consider this…

Just Another Story About the Arrogance and Stupidity of Elon Musk

Earlier this week he demands and then gets, a health care bill killed in the Senate because he didn’t understand it. Now this…

The truth about ‘condoms for Gaza’: DOGE canceled $33 million USAID contract treating 350,000 HIV patients

I mean we all knew it was a lie when Elon and Trump said it, but was all because he didn’t know there is a region of Mozambique in Africa called “Gaza”. The money was not for condoms, but was for the treatment of AIDS victims. A program designed early in the George W. Bush administration. Without the aid the health system in one of the poorest countries on Earth will collapse and thousands will die.

Great people. Remember when he fired all folks on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and then had to hire them back. As Bugs would say “What a Maroon”.

Oh and by the way, 50% of all Teslas are made in China.

R.I.P. George Foreman

I saw him on David Letterman many, many years ago. He was funny and self depreciating. But as he talked all I could think about was, “How many times did Ali get hit in the face with that fist?” Jeeze. His fist was the size of my head! He became a heavyweight champion a second time at 46, the oldest ever, then retired at 48. Through a fluke endorsement deal, he became rich and famous again for selling indoor grills. He named all his kids George (for the girls, some female variation). What a life.

George Foreman, heavyweight boxing champion, dies at 76

More DOGE insanity

It is becoming more and more apparent that Elon Musk has no idea what he is doing. But he’s sure he’s doing the right thing. However, no one who understands audits, or working at the Federal level, seems to agree with him on that. Elon is used to being the smartest guy in the room. That’s fine as long as you don’t start thinking you’re ALWAYS the smartest guy in the room. Which is where I think old Elon is right now. A poster child for the Dunning-Kruger effect.

‘It’s a Heist’: Real Federal Auditors Are Horrified by DOGE

For a better look at Musk as a person, how about the perspective of his first wife…
“I Was a Starter Wife”: Inside America’s Messiest Divorce

Killing Solar Power in Ohio

From the Plain Dealer…

Ohioans and their elected representatives have killed enough solar development to roughly power the state’s three largest cities in the three years since state lawmakers passed one of the nation’s most stringent restrictions on new solar development.

Those political efforts to block or preempt 2,000 megawatts of new energy coming online are the product of 2021 legislation that gave new power to project neighbors and local elected officials to stop development.

Many of these projects were killed by local Republican officials doing the bidding of the oil and gas industry. Just last week, developers behind a proposed 500-megawatt solar farm in Logan County withdrew their permit application, ending a $500 million development. Regulatory staff recommended the Ohio Power Siting Board reject the application, given opposition from local activists and Republican political power at the state and local level.

Enough power to power all three of Ohio’s biggest cities, with no carbon emissions. The Republican party is not a forward looking party. It is a party that holds Ohio (and the country) back. As they force America off the world stage they leave greater and greater openings for China to be a world leader.

Plain Dealer Stories (behind a paywall)
Solar development plunged in Ohio after new, restrictive state law
How NIMBYism and Republican politics killed a $500M solar farm in Ohio