Blog: If I understand this

The U.S. is — and should be — the largest donor to help children in the world. Yet, with the latest announced cuts in federal spending, many of the programs that have helped people in need across the globe are at risk, such as the AIDS relief effort credited with saving 25 million lives, mostly in Africa. — MSNBC — Me: Is that Trump’s problem, aiding Africa? Better if it was Norway, maybe.

………………………………………

If the postal service gets privatized, what will happen to rural mail?  Will people have to pay the real cost of delivery to remote places?  There is a reason that companies like UPS will often deliver to a PO, and let them take it the rest of the way to the address.

…………………………………………

Frank Lloyd Wright‘s greatest legacy is easily his modern homes built into nature. From more obvious examples like Fallingwater in Pennsylvania . . . ok, but Fallingwater is leaking badly!  Fans of it are trying to raise $10M to save it from falling into the stream it straddles.  To me, the first job of an architect is to design a stable, safe structure.  Wright failed.  The ancient Egyptians did better. And, as I read, if the technology at the time wasn’t good enough to build it there, then he should not have done so!

…………………………………………

From MSNBC:  The “full America First agenda” that Trump is so jazzed about will cost around $4.8 trillion, a combination of lower revenue and spending cuts. The vast majority of that — $4.5 trillion — comes as tax cuts, mostly an extension of the 2017 tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefited wealthy Americans.  Yeah, maybe my taxes will go up again, like in 2017, so that Warren Buffet will have more money that he does not need.

…………………………………………..

About Mitch McConnell’s retirement:  The lowlights of his career include his abuse of the filibuster, his willingness to allow Trump to escape conviction for his impeachments, blocking one Supreme Court seat vacancy during an election year before rushing another mere days ahead of another, and his quest to allow endless dark money to flow into Washington.  And I would add that bit about him saying his job was to make sure Obama was a one-term president.

…………………………………………

The Philadelphia Mint can make 1.8 million coins an hour, 32 million coins per day, and 13.5 billion coins every year. The Philadelphia facility is the largest mint in the world. Provided by FactRetriever.com  Well, dunno if they make pennies, I assume so – and that might stop and I think I am okay with that.  Dunno how much trouble it will be to do things like reprogram cash registers to round money off to the nearest nickel. 

…………………………………………..

I have a reason to send someone a copy of Steinbeck’s book, Travels with Charley (1962).  I read it long ago, and for a while was reading most of his work – not just Grapes of Wrath, but stuff like Tortilla Flat.  I think he might be an underappreciated author, kinda like Jack London or James Thurber, two others I like a lot.  Maybe I have a bit of their styles in me – tell what happened and let the reader decide what it means . . . with a gentle push or two.  Useless fact:  The first James Bond movie also premiered in 1962, with Sean Connery as agent 007 in Dr. No.  Connery will always be the best Bond to me – partly because he was the first, and partly because he went to sea — in the British navy.

……………………………………………………..

I might have mentioned Novica to you before.  It is an international collection of craftsmen.  They do a gift catalog.  I have ordered ornaments from Africa, jewelry from India, and a year ago, a painted gourd from Peru that is a birdhouse.  The gourd is hanging outside my window.  It looks nice, but has no tenants.  I think the hole is way too big.  Some of our birds, like the hummers, are not traditionally cavity nesters anyway.  I want to contact the artist and tell him to offer a smaller version!

…………………………………………………….

Just in:  Musk’s directive to federal employees to justify their jobs falls flat as the Office of Personnel Management says it’s safe to disregard his message. – At last, is there one person in the administration with a brain?  Or who has read the Constitution?  Or realizes that Musk is not an official and the Dept. of Government Efficiency does not lawfully exist?

……………………………………………………

If you are old enough to remember Bonanza on TV, you might be interested to know that it ran for 14 years, but does not hold the longevity record for a Western.  What show beat it?  Gunsmoke, which ran for 20 years!  And yeah, I can still hear the theme song in my head from Bonanza.  Didja know there were words to it?  And that the lead actors, all of whom could sing, were originally going to sing it?  They went with the music alone.  Maybe that’s good.  Might ruin the image of the tough cowboys to be singing . . . but don’t say that about “The Singing Cowboy,” Gene Autry, who was one of my heroes growing up.

……………………………………………………

Speaking of weird, didja know that there have been train robberies lately?  In the deserts of Ca. and AZ.  Stealing sneakers!  Some of the sneakers were new and retail over $200. each.  Many of the thieves have been caught, using GPS devices hidden in the shoes.  You might have thought train robberies were gone from history with the Hole in the Wall gang, but no!  Do we need the Pinkertons back?

…………………………………………………….

Dunno how true this is, but it worries me:  A report from JAMA Pediatrics shows that children aged 0-8 spend an average of over three and a half hours a day using screens, which affects their physical and mental growth.  I am reminded of many Calvin and Hobbes cartoons (one of my favorites) wherein the mom just throws him outside, literally, with his (he thinks real) stuffed tiger, usually after watching too much TV.

………………………………………………………

From Huffpost:  Dan Bongino, the new deputy director of the FBI, is a highly influential conservative media figure and a “significant shareholder” of the right-wing video platform Rumble. – Me:  But he’s not a Fox personality?  Must be okay, then, right?

…………………………………………………….

Oops! Trump Accidentally Fired FDA Medical Device Reviewers

The Food and Drug Administration is scrambling to bring back hundreds of critical workers laid off en masse by DOGE.

…………………………………………………….

Headline I saw: “What’s The Difference Between $50 Jeans And $500 Jeans?”
Duh!  $450.

……………………………………………………

I saw this: “A separate idea is that Trump could, perhaps, run for vice president in 2028 and then be elevated to the presidency by a resignation.” –- is that possible?  Scary thought.

……………………………………………………….

Enough out of me for now. And I realize that I well could be the only person you know who has both a Donald Trump and a Sigmund Freud action figure!

All take care,

Kevin