Blog: If I understand this

Does Trump support the troops?  Note: He has called them “suckers and losers.”

And, his VA eyeing 35,000 health care job cuts, drawing rebuke from veterans’ groups.

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Trump, about the Brown University shooting: “Things can happen.”

Trump, about murder of Rob Reiner and wife:  “He caused anger with his Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

When Charlie Kirk was murdered:  “Lower all flags to half-mast.”

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I guess there is no more singular/plural agreement in Australia, either (or they also don’t know what a collective noun is):

“The Jewish community are hurting today,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters Monday at a memorial on Bondi Beach. – CBS News

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I am still getting “Holiday Sales” offers from our Quest Lab.  Don’t you need some sort of assessment for the holidays?  30% off if we stick your arm this week!  Don’t recall ever getting any “medical discount” offers before.

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Something I believe:  Laws are only as good as their enforcement.

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Part of an article in The Atlantic:  . . . In effect, the United States was declaring that it would no longer oppose Russian influence campaigns, Chinese manipulation of local politics, or Iranian extremist recruitment drives. Nor would the American government use any resources to help anyone else do so either.

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Here’s a topic that I don’t see much about anymore:  The Population of the World.

Some say there’s nothing to do about it, or there’s plenty of room and resources.  I think we would all be better off if we could:

1.  Stabilize the world’s population by having smaller families.
2. Reduce it slowly, same method.

Let’s consider the good of doing that – Less strain on the environment; more resources for all; cheaper housing; less congestion in cities; more ability to provide for the children you do have; fewer cars on the road; cheaper sports/concert tickets; smaller crowds at airports.

And some negative:  Housing speculators would eventually not make as much; it might be harder to provide retirement income with fewer younger workers; some companies would not make as much (infant clothiers, for example); some religions would not like it.

If I am correct that we would all be better off with a stable population then, how do we go about it?  Some countries have just about a zero growth now.  What works?  My thoughts:

Education on the benefits of smaller families.

Education and availability of birth control, cheap or free to all.

Political push.

Reward those with smaller families or no child couples, i.e., through tax incentives, etc.

Find religious leaders who understand that “go forth and multiply” does not mean to the point of eventual extinction – that God gave us brains to use, including on this subject.   One point – how many children did Mary and Joseph have?

I could write more, but enough of this for now.

Oh, and if Elon Musk says we can colonize Mars, I’m all for it – provided he goes first.

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I did not recall it, but I do use a Calibri font.  Can’t believe there is a fuss over that now, except that if it helped some folks (like damn dyslexics) read, then yeah, get rid of it!

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Dateline Tuesday:  Trump says he will address the nation tomorrow night.  Be afraid, be very afraid!  Especially if you are in Venezuela.  Wife’s guess is that he will promise money to all, and say it comes from tariffs (by which he means from foreign countries, not Americans).

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If you were a journalist and could ask anyone one question, who and what would it be?  Me:

Marjorie T. Green:  Have you found the source of the Jewish space lasers yet?

Pete Hegseth:  Do you realize that Sen. Kelly outranks you?

Pam Bondi:  Did you get that copy of the Constitution I sent you?

Donald Trump:  Have your bone spurs healed yet?

Speaker Mike Johnson:  How does Trump’s a** taste?

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We have hummingbirds here and some feeders.  The other day I saw one “sharpening” his beak on the branches of a tree right outside my window.  Except that Google says he was not “sharpening” it but cleaning it, i.e., rubbing off excess pollen, etc.  I wonder if other birds have any fear of the little guys stabbing them with their swordlike beaks?

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What do you call a can opener that doesn’t work?

A can’t opener.

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Baseball fans:  You know about the so-called salary cap and how to exceed it, or “what’s wrong with Major League Baseball:  NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers will pay a record $169.4 million luxury tax after winning their second straight World Series title, raising their two-year total to $272.4 million.  And yes, Virginia, you can buy a championship – in baseball.

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Let’s get it straight about the checks Trump said he is giving the military:  Trump teased ‘warrior dividend’ checks. The money had been already been allotted by Congress for housing costs.

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Writing to make sure you saw the news that Trump and VA Secretary Collins are eliminating 35,000 health care jobs — doctors and nurses — at the VA.

That’s after they cut 30,000 jobs already.

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You Knew This Would Happen Dep. (and I told you so):  The Justice Department released thousands of new records on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, but at least 550 pages in the documents are fully redacted, CBS News has found.  And:  A photo in the latest batch of Justice Department files related to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein showed a table drawer with photos of Trump inside. Now the file is gone.  Gee, surprised?  I keep hoping that some staffer somewhere has made copies of the whole file . . . kinda like the Pentagon Papers . . .

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What happens if it rains on Christmas Eve?

Santa uses his rain gear.

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So, once again, we get that “Sign and Drive” commercial for new cars.  Something new?  Amazing, you just go to the dealer, sign a paper and drive off with anything on the lot!  Not even a credit check?  Wait.  If memory serves, every car I’ve ever bought, new or used, involved signing some papers!

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College Sports Fans Trivia (Has to be true ‘cause I looked it up):  The lowest NCAA Men’s BB team to win March Madness was an 8 seed, Villanova.  The lowest ranked FB team to win a championship (mythical or not) was 1981 Clemson, who started the season unranked.

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Useless Trivia:  Boston had a subway line before New York did.

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One more (can’t resist today):  In January 1915, about six months after the first transcontinental telephone line was installed, a three-minute call from New York City to San Francisco cost a whopping $20.70, the equivalent of more than $600 today.

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Two of the regular online writers I read regularly, and get emails from, are Robert Reich and Andy Borowitz.  Andy does mostly political satire, and Robert is a retired economics professor.  Reich served in three administrations, two Democrat and one Republican. Both know their stuff.  Robert keeps telling his readers to fight on, don’t give up, etc.  I won’t list their exact addresses to sign on, but they are easy to find.  The basics are free, but if you want to spend a little (I think I give them about $25. A year) each, you get more access.   I try to put more faith in the youngsters, whatzit now, Gen X, Y or Z? but we shall see.

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Have a great Christmas, if you celebrate that!

And all take care,

Kevin