The Books of Bokonon

Ordinarily, I am an optimistic person. If what I post can seem gloomy, it's because there is compelling reason to believe that all hope has been exhausted. We may not be there quite yet, but we are perhaps closer than we think. Trump's idiocy is an accelerant, but what is coming our way is decades in the making. I was a barely middle-aged man when the Great Recession happened. About a year and a half prior to the stock market crash of 2008, the warning signs were already there. I was probably unaware of much of what had been going on, but I would see headlines about an increase in foreclosures in what had been hot real estate markets. The headlines suggested that this was not quite business as usual. On a personal note, when the first news of a massive wave of mortgage defaults on subprime loans hit, I learned that a job for which I was a finalist and for which I was likely to get an offer was suddenly shelved. Something about some unexpected budget cuts. I started spending a b...

The Union is in a bit of a state right now and for the foreseeable future. Let's count the ways: 1. The US federal government is gung-ho about waging war on its own citizens and residents. That's what the ICE presence in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and elsewhere amount to. The White House now has its own paramilitary that exists to mindlessly meet quotas while terrorizing people who might merely be dropping kids off at school.  2. The efforts to build a gulag archipelago are taking shape. If this effort does not succeed, it will be our good fortune that Trump and his toadies are still idiots after all this time. 3. The "Big Bloated Bill" that was signed into law last year has dramatically increased the annual budget deficit and of course the national debt in order to transfer wealth from working folks to the Epstein Class.  4. Trump's idea of "diplomacy" has alienated the US from its usual trading partners and military allies. The kidnapping of Maduro whil...

As of this writing, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia is still on-going. This was a war started by Putin that was supposed to end in three days with perhaps a handful of weeks needed to consolidate control over Ukraine. Putin's been clear for a while that Ukraine is not a real nation or that Ukrainians have a unique culture. The Russians started with what was supposed to be a formidable military on paper and vastly outnumbered Ukrainian forces. So the conventional wisdom ahead of the war was that Ukraine did not stand a chance and that Zelinskyy needed to find the nearest exit if he wanted to remain alive. And yet here we are with a war in which the front lines have changed little since the summer of 2022. The warning signs were there in the autumn of 2021. The Russia and Belarus governments had amassed large numbers of troops and equipment along their borders with Ukraine, ostensibly as part of some sort of joint military exercise, and despite what Putin had been saying...

Given the how unreliable the US has proven itself as an ally really starting with Trump's first term, but more recently under the clown car that is Trump 2.0, rumblings of a divorce are surfacing. How would that be done? It won't happen overnight, but there are some ideas that are serious enough for consideration. Recently a Danish pension fund (it provides pensions for educators in the country) decided to sell off any US bonds in its portfolio. While just a drop in the bucket, imagine what would happen if European nations and Europe-based organization began to do so en masse? What if the EU (or at least a coalition of the willing, since Hungary is one likely roadblock to any actual collective EU action) created its own market for bonds denominated in Euros ? What if nations like Germany, which store much of their sovereign gold in the US r epatriated those gold bars back to their own capitals? What about EU reliance on US-based companies for internet platforms and cloud stora...

"As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action...Words are used to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests." Gore Vidal, Imperial America, 2004

My take is that the US has no business either starting or getting involved in another Middle-Eastern war. The ones from the "war on terror" era ended badly. This will end badly as well.

  After Helping Cost Kamala the Election, the Abandon Harris Movement Is Now Pleading to Trump for Mercy by u/Humble_Novice in LeopardsAteMyFace This was all so predictable. I have nothing but contempt for organizations like Abandon Harris, who helped set the stage for the current clusterfuck we are living with now. I don't want another war in the Middle East either, but anyone who thought Trump was an isolationist was deluded.

T om Sullivan has a post that looks at what might have been a silent protest by those military personnel tasked with marching in the parade old Donald Trump demanded take place last weekend. One measure of this regime's ability to end democracy once and for all is if Trump has the military on board. He might not after all.

ICE = GESTAPO by u/Hairy-Dog3523 in GlobalNews ICE agents kidnapping babies. This isn’t immigration enforcement, it’s state terror. by u/Winter-Stranger-3709 in GlobalNews

  Compilation of some of the footage of the no Kings protests across the US by u/oneoftheleastofthese in GlobalNews I was at one protest in my respective city and I was really happy with the turnout, which was bigger than a BLM protest held at that same location in town in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The level of energy was amazing. As I have probably stated before, showing up matters.

Loretta Swit, star of “M*A*S*H," dies at 87 by u/PayCharacter1504 in 70s

  Senator Chris Murphy to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem: "Your dept is out of control. You are spending like you don't have a budget. You're on the verge of running out of money for the fiscal year... You are ignoring the immigration laws of this nation... and routinely violating the rights of immigrants" by u/xamo76 in RealTwitterAccounts It's a sight to behold. Noem looks completely blank while Sen. Murphy gives her the pointed lecture of her failure to do her job. From the looks of her, the lights are on but nobody's home.

I'd say this video about sums it up:   This video is from earlier in the week, but it will remain relevant for a long time to come.

  Today's   May Day . If you're curious about the origins of May Day,   read here . It may well be the most ancient religious festival worldwide - primarily a homage to fertility goddesses as well as the renewal of life that we see in the spring time. In more modern times, May Day is significant as   the original labor day , and is tied with the   struggle   by organized labor movements to get the 8-hour work day that many of us take for granted recognized today. A number of years ago, I read John Ross' book   Murdered By Capitalism , in which the author discussed the labor movement in US history. In that book, I was reminded that by the middle of the 20th century May 1 was officially designated "Law Day" - making us unique in that we're supposed to celebrate those who smashed organized efforts to improve labor conditions. Then again, there are always those on the US and elsewhere who will use this occasion to use the specter of communism as a bogeyma...

Today is May Day, which is recognized an international workers' day practically everywhere but the US. May Day protests are also something of an international tradition. Why not here as well? There are events all around the US . And if you don't have a protest nearby today, there will be more to come. Bookmark 50501 to stay in the loop. H/t Tom Sullivan at Digby's blog for image and the reminder.  

This seems like a pretty good frame of reference for sorting out how at risk you are in the US as long as the Trump regime exists. I am probably more in the "keep your eyes peeled" category for now. Let's just say that when I go through airport security now, I make sure my phone is turned completely off. Otherwise due to my line of work, I am definitely not valued as a citizen. I would prefer not to expatriate at this time simply due to age. But if I had to, I am already preparing. Always good to have a backup plan just in case.

There are times when truth really is stranger than fiction. Want to know where Trump found the "intellectual" backing for his insanely awful tariff plan? Rachel Maddow spells it out. Turns out that Peter Navarro, Trump's crackpot trade hawk, cited an individual in his books named Ron Vara as his basis for promoting tariffs. Here's the thing: Ron Vara doesn't exist. He is a work of fiction by Navarro himself. Ron Vara is an anagram of Navarro. Yep. In the academic world, we would refer to this as fraud. We shun those who commit fraud in the academy with good reason. In the current White House, fraud is considered a positive. Crikey.

Johnathan Last of The Bulwark goes into just how self-destructive the current White House regime truly is - in the process declaring the American Age is over . When we keep in mind that Trump's big idea for decades has been to reimpose the sorts of tariffs only a Gilded Age president would love (McKinley, anyone?). We now are dealing with a tariff regime that makes no sense. Ask the penguins in isolated Antarctic islands that got caught up in this mess - well actually don't because penguins cannot talk or trade goods and services.  The tariff regime has led the current Canadian Prime Minister (and likely future Prime Minister following elections in the near future) to declare the era of American leadership to be effectively over. As a great power, the US is finished. We just don't quite know the scope of what has been done just yet. The way the tariffs were rolled out had no real coherence. The end result in addition to possible (or probably) plunging all involved into a gl...

It's too soon to say with any certainty, but today is one that is cause for cautious optimism at the very least. I posted the live feed to Cory Booker's record-breaking 25 hour Senate floor speech last night when he had only been on a few hours. At the time I would have had no way of predicting how long he would hold the floor. His action beat the previous record of Strom Thurmond (an old-school segregationist) that went back to the 1950s, who needed to swept into the dustbin of history anyway. This speech was more than a form of performance art. Senator Booker tackled substantive issues throughout the 25 hours and four minutes he held the floor. He was joined by Democratic colleagues along the way - a number of whom asked questions to give Senator Booker's voice a rest. And those questions were substantive. For those who question whether or not the Democratic Party can meet the moment, hopefully this day will offer reason to hope. There were a number of special elections ...