This is going to be a disjointed sort of column, I have to warn everyone in advance. It will be nothing more than a few random thoughts strung together on one subject, in no particular order. This is because my brain is rather frazzled right now, here at the end of tax season.

As Benjamin Franklin once said, the only things that are certain in life are death and taxes. Taxes are what we pay to keep society humming along and providing governmental services to its citizens. That's the basic theory, at any rate.

Read Complete Article »

Human beings set a record this week for reaching the farthest distance away from Earth ever, as Artemis II looped around the far side of the moon. Hopefully the astronauts will safely splash down in the Pacific Ocean later today. The whole space mission was a bright spot in the news this week -- in a week that sorely needed some positivity.

This week also saw the president of the United States threatening to commit war crimes in his war of choice with Iran. Even this wasn't enough for him, as he quickly moved on to threatening crimes against humanity. Thankfully, neither actually happened, because he chickened out at the last minute.

Read Complete Article »

It's pretty clear by now that Donald Trump sees war as nothing more than a video game. Having avoided going to war as a young man (by paying a doctor to lie about his non-existent "bone spurs"), he has no concept of what a real war is like. Nor is he interested in finding out. His daily briefings reportedly include a two-minute video of American bombs and missiles "blowin' stuff up." And he has no overall plan or even any clear objectives left in his war of choice against Iran. He's just making it up as he goes along, while attempting to gaslight the country to believe his own warped reality.

Read Complete Article »

It was a very busy week in politics and we've got a lot to get to, but let's start out on a happy note for once, shall we? NASA's Artemis II mission is on its way to circle the moon, the first time humans have done so in over 50 years. So check out some awesome photos the astronauts took of Earth, including one that shows some Northern Lights (at the very edge of image). Out of this world! Something America can be proud of (during a time when that is rare indeed)....

Speaking of things quickly rocketing upward, this week the average national price of a gallon of gasoline blew through the "four bucks a gallon" milestone and hit $4.10 today. To which we can only say: "Ouch!"

Read Complete Article »

Last year on this date, Donald Trump wanted to proclaim his "Liberation Day" tariffs to the world. Saner heads prevailed at the White House, and Trump was talked into postponing his announcement for a day. This year, those saner heads obviously weren't available, so Trump is going to address the nation today (of all days) on the state of his war of choice with Iran, with gas prices heading north of $4.00 a gallon. How could anyone live almost 80 years in America without realizing the cultural significance of this date on the calendar? It's a mystery, that's for sure.

Personally, I think it'd be amusing if Trump took to the airwaves tonight and boldly announced he was resigning the office of the presidency at midnight tonight. Then just before the clock struck twelve, he could put out a statement on social media saying: "April Fool's! Gotcha!"

Read Complete Article »

California voters were supposed to see a gubernatorial debate this evening (well... early evening -- for some reason it was scheduled to run at 5:00 P.M., when most people aren't even home from work yet, but whatever...), but it has now been cancelled. The University of Southern California announced this morning that it was cancelling the debate due to criticism over who would have been allowed on stage and who would have been excluded.

Read Complete Article »

Donald Trump seems to be determined to break as many campaign promises as he possibly can, in the shortest period of time possible. Conveniently (for Democrats), he is doing all of this right at the start of the midterm campaign season, as the first states conduct their primaries. This seems like a rather spectacular way to commit political suicide, but then again Trump is a master at avoiding consequences, so who really knows how it will all play out?

Read Complete Article »

As every day of Trump's War progresses, it becomes more and more apparent that Trump and his entire administration are completely clueless about what they are doing. Which (it will come as no surprise to learn) they truly have no one to blame for but themselves. Six months ago, as NOTUS reports, "the Department of State fired its oil and gas experts... the administration laid off staff who would have been responsible for gaming out possible scenarios if the Strait of Hormuz was closed."

Read Complete Article »

It has been interesting (to me, at least) to hear how both the media and politicians are speaking about the price of gas these days. The mainstream media seems to be somewhat downplaying the continuing rise in the price at the pump, but (to be fair) this could be because of the editorial process taking so much time that by the time the story runs, the price has risen even further. Politicians, of course, have their own biases -- Republicans want to downplay the rise as much as they can get away with, while Democrats want to make it sound as alarmist as possible. But even Democrats aren't really using the right scale.

Read Complete Article »

America is at war again. This time, just like the last time (Venezuela), the war has seemingly been launched completely on a whim from the Oval Office. Little or no effort was made by Donald Trump (or anyone in his administration) to explain to the American public the reasons for launching a war right now, the objectives of this war, or any expectations whatsoever about how it will be fought, how long it will be fought, and what is supposed to come afterwards. Perhaps Trump has just completely given up on his fervent wish for a Nobel Peace Prize? It's hard to figure -- just like pretty much everything about this war.

Read Complete Article »