I don’t want to appear clairvoyant or a braggart but I warned MAGA loyalists that Trump would dismiss them once he had their vote.
Browsing: Opinions
There was a time not too long ago when American scientists and American research facilities were the envy of the world. In those days, our scientists typically swept Nobel and other international prizes. Not anymore; the Trump administration’s drastic cuts in scientific personnel and budgets will “essentially end America’s longstanding role as the world leader in science and innovation,” said Toby Smith, senior vice president for government relations and public policy at the Association of American Universities.
Between Elon Musk’s brief, disastrous tenure with the misnamed “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) and the Republicans’ mad rush to gut health care and food assistance for millions of lower-income Americans, you’d think they’d just discovered a massive cabal of diehard leftist criminals committing “fraud, waste, and abuse” in the federal budget. Of course, any pretext that all this was in the interest of reducing the deficit was belied when Trump’s Big Ugly Bill handed the giant corporations and the richest among us billions in tax cuts they don’t need.
Humanity has a serious nuclear weapons problem. We have created a weapon that is so powerful that it poses an existential threat to us as a species. Not surprisingly, the use of nuclear weapons in war has been a redline, not crossed since they obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
This metaphorical caption that Democracy is being “Gang-Raped provides a graphic description of how the principles and core values of Democracy perceptibly faces violation and abuse. The abusers in this metaphor are political Officials, supporters, and wealthy oligarchs. Who bears witness to this abomination? Who is the leader of this gang?
A change has got to come
Donald Trump doesn’t hate the media because it lies. He hates it because it tells the truth—and the truth frightens him. Despite nonstop lying, he’s managed to stay ahead of reality. But his grip is slipping. (See Epstein, Jeffrey.)
In Miracles and Wonder – the Historical Mystery of Jesus, Princeton historian and professor of religion, Elaine Pagels explains how and why Christianity appealed to so many people. After 2,000 years, it still captivates some 28 percent of the world population–more than any other faith or declared secularists. Unlike religious leaders before him, Jesus’s message brought hope to the masses, hope that, through love and mercy, they too could find happiness, if not in this world, then certainly in an afterlife.
It’s important to note that each country’s primary motivation is national security, not concern about climate change or protection of the environment. Trump wants US “energy dominance” to avoid dependence on foreign powers. Directly and indirectly subsidizing the fossil fuel industries has top priority. He’s willing to drill everywhere, most recently opening huge areas of the Tongass and other national forests while at the same time eliminating hundreds of environmental protection regulations.
Dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, it’s nothing more than a collection of tents on an old airstrip in a swamp. It has already flooded. It cost $450 million. For reference, that’s what it costs to build a skyscraper in New York City. While the State of Florida paid out for it, they plan to get refunded from FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. In other words: you’re paying for it.