Musings:
•The Sins of Donald J. Trump (chapter three): He has:
Weakened tailpipe-emission standards;
Eliminated all electric-vehicle policies;
Declared a “national emergency” designed to weaken environmental standards;
Gutted the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as a prelude to a status of “independence”;
Began work to abolish Department of Education and force the states to fund its policies;
Required all Federal employees to return to their offices or face dismissal;
Fired the Archivist of the United States who was a Joe Biden appointee;
Halted funding by the Environmental Protection Agency to minorities and low-income persons;
Threatened to reduce funding of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations;
Proposed to “buy” the Gaza Strip in Palestine and convert it into a “beautiful real-estate development”;
Withdrew a plan to impose limits on PFAS in industrial waste-water;
Fired the probationary staff of the Small Business Administration.
•The Aurora chapter of Make America Trump Free welcomes Mr. Dave Hoehne to our ranks. In as much as B.S. has seen fit to call him a liar in a recent diatribe, we have dispensed with the application for membership and enrolled Mr. Hoehne automatically. Welcome to our burgeoning group, Dave! (And B.S. knows what he can do with those pink slips!)
•The money saved by the abolition of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force can be used to solve the problem of highly efficient transportation throughout the country. The chief mode has long been the automobile. That device is not at all efficient and is a major source of air pollution. The costs of maintaining an automobile are huge, second only to home ownership, and yet it dominates our culture like no other object can. Subconsciously, it is seen as an extension of the human body; to be deprived of one (by whatever means) is akin to impotence and/or castration. Clearly, we need a new paradigm, lest we poison ourselves and our planet beyond repair.
The Chas recommends the construction of a nation-wide system of high-speed intercity trains, the so-called “bullet trains” employed in France and Japan, crisscrossing the country and connecting all of the major cities to one another. For instance, picture the “Mississippi Corridor” – Minneapolis/St. Paul to Milwaukee to Chicago to St. Louis to Memphis to New Orleans.
Those factories which had been manufacturing war materiel and will be closed when the demand for the same is reduced will be re-tooled to create the “bullet trains” – designed to resemble the old Burlington Zephyrs – the railways, and the necessary infrastructure. Those workers who have lost their jobs will be re-trained to manufacture the new transportation system. The financing of the re-tooling and the re-training will be through interest-free loans from the Federal Department of Transportation.
The railways themselves will be elevated to fourteen feet above ground in order to minimize damage to the environment.
Fares will be set upon a non-profit basis, yet sufficient enough to cover the costs of operation and maintenance. Upon producing the proper ID, all active military personnel, veterans, disabled persons, and senior citizens will ride free of charge.
•It has been reported that the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE – pronounced “doggie”) has increased its staff and its funding in order to root out “waste,” even while it has been reducing staff and funding in all other government agencies. Makes you wonder where Muskville’s priorities lie, doesn’t it, dear reader? Charity is not the only thing which should begin at home, eh?
How not to make friends and influence people: president Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine came to Washington in order to sign a minerals-mining agreement and to ask for further armament in his war against Russia. He had no idea with whom he was dealing, until it was too late. It wasn’t enough for T. Rump to debase him via social media; His Majesty Trump elected to debase him in person on live TV. Zelensky was given to know that he hasn’t been sufficiently grateful for the assistance already provided and that, unless he change his ways, there would be no deal. One supposes that T. Rump expected him to kneel before him and beg forgiveness for his apostasy. The meeting devolved into a shouting match – with His Majesty being the Shouter-in-Chief – and Zelensky was “escorted” out of the White House.
Oh, the shame of it all!
Just a thought.