Just A Thought

Many of us have been asking in increasing numbers and with increasing frequency: "so, where are the Articles of Impeachment for donnie"?

The answer is, "here they are".

ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP 

Boom Boom Bondi

 

My best friend asked me recently, "why do all the women in the trump regime look like hookers"?

Notice that she has that omnipresent hooker cross?

A Pointless And Unwinnable Game Of Chicken

 I keep seeing, and hearing, on podcasts that I find comforting (they replace several of my now deceased friends with whom I used to conduct fairly frequent, fairly lively political discussions) and informative, and, even reinforcing of my belief in America, allusions to trump plummeting in the polls.

He isn't.

Plummeting.

I watch Amy Walters on the PBS Newshour.

She is the best source of what the polls say, and she says that donnie is down a little but he's far from out.

Amy documents clearly the fact that the morons are hanging in there.

They love tariffs and thuggish presidents, so hang on.

It ain't over; til it's over.

And "over" it may be for donnie (the polls don't show that) but that's not likely.

"Over" is more likely for "us".

And the 77.1 million who voted for donnie did this to "us".

"Us" is the almost 75 million that voted for Kamela.

For trusted sources of real news (the podcasts I referenced) to keep asserting that donnie is plummeting in the polls is a pointless and unwinnable game of chicken.

In a letter to Lafayette in April of 1788 George Washington said: "There cannot, in my judgement, be the least danger that the President will by any practicable intrigue ever be able to continue himself one moment in office, much less perpetuate himself in it; but [in modern parlance substitute 'except' for 'but'] in the last stage of corrupted morals and political depravity; and even then there is as much danger that any other species of domination would prevail. Though, when a people have become incapable of governing themselves and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes".

No matter how much lipstick you slather on the pig, the pig is still a pig.

Pigs look a lot like trump.

Poor pigs.

There were numerous pigs in various pokes last November and 77.1 million morons bought them all.

But "the rest of us" must pay the price of those pigs.

You can see those pigs in the market because they are all orange.

And the market is down 4000 orange points.

And the morons are dancing in the streets.

And no matter how chicken be your game, the morons are winning.

Kinda sounds like "when a people have become incapable of governing themselves and fit for a master".

Random Headlines

Kristi Noem’s handbag - including her DHS access badge and $3,000 in cash - stolen from restaurant

US stocks and dollar plunge as Trump attacks Fed chair Powell

Turns Out It Wasn't Such a Great Idea to Put Pete Hegseth in Charge of the Military

'No additional funding': Trump admin announces cut that could make 60K people homeless

'Mafia Boss': Legal experts sound alarm as Trump White House 'sabotages itself with unbridled hostility'

Trump allies troll JD Vance over visit before death of Pope Francis

Harvard sues the Trump administration in escalating confrontation

German teens refused admission into US at Honolulu airport

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the American dream isn't 'let them eat flat-screens' or 'cheap baubles from China' — says Trump is focused on mortgages, cars, real wage gains

Goodbye to ‘The Passion of the Christ 2’: Mel Gibson confirms the final title of the film, which aims for historical accuracy

Marjorie Taylor Greene slammed for tweet seemingly celebrating Pope's death

Lotta This Happening These Days

 

Ever notice his press secretaries all look alike?

I Would Have Said It Differently

I scan and click every morning before getting to the real business of the day.

I seldom read much of what any single click yields in the way of information or opinion.

And I almost never buy any of the proffered stuff floating around on offer in those clicks.

So the fact that the quote below is a mere snippet is typical.

Of how I think, how I absorb, and how I speak.

Here is the snippet:

From: Opinion by Thom Hartmann:

"We’ve spent years watching Donald Trump attack our democratic institutions, inflame divisions, and corrupt the public discourse.

{Picture of Marjory Taylor Greene inserted here}

But focusing solely on Trump misses the larger, more disturbing reality: Trump isn’t acting alone. He’s a dangerous pathogen that found the perfect host in today’s Republican Party, an organism already compromised and eager to be infected."

It turns out that that snippet is turgid with possibilities.

For editorial riposte.

Or complementary opinion.

Here is one.

Such possibility.

In a letter to Lafayette in April of 1788 George Washington said: "There cannot, in my judgement, be the least danger that the President will by any practicable intrigue ever be able to continue himself one moment in office, much less perpetuate himself in it; but [in modern parlance substitute 'except' for 'but'] in the last stage of corrupted morals and political depravity; and even then there is as much danger that any other species of domination would prevail. Though, when a people have become incapable of governing themselves and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes".

President Washington didn't do the red text.

I did.

The republicans are only a symptom of the problem.

A Poem I Wrote This Morning

 I woke at 0430.

Couldn't go back to sleep.

A poem crept into my mind.

The start of one, anyway.

So I got up and let it out.

Here it is.

Tomatoes in the Ground

Tomatoes in the ground

Today

Cages all around the new tomatoes

Today

And I saw the sign of others

Not the ones I bought

Not an heirloom slicer

Not a reddish orange Roma

Looking more pepper than tomato

But just some scattered cherries

Brave little flags 

Not quite gray

Not quite green

But there if you know to see them

Just above the ground

They are there nonetheless

Nonetheless – a word of promise

For the flags are but a promise

Of the distant future

When all the others

Are long past 

Long distant

Memories

Of something

Something vaguely familiar

Something of – maybe - wonder

Something vaguely distant

A flavor maybe

A tarte perhaps

A salad for sure

A salad of thick red slices

On a bed of green romaine

Scattered with capers

Dashed with oil

Topped with white balsamic

Pepper sometimes too

But in that distant future

Those will all be gone

And October if she’s kind

If she’s gentle

She’ll leave all the volunteers

The ones I saw today

Brave little volunteers

Brave little flags of green and maybe gray

One more soup, one more salad, one more Moroccan egg concoction

Cherries work for that

When the bigger ones are gone

And then October

Or maybe it’s November

One or the other

Creeps up and freezes them all

And we wait for tomatoes

In the ground again

Maybe again

Maybe

A Distillation Of Sorts

 Forget the convictions:

• For sexual abuse
• For felonious falsification of business records
• For $354,000,000 worth of civil fraud

Forget the other - unindicted - crimes:

• Trying to overthrow an election
• Trying to stay in office unelected
• Inciting insurrection

Forget the character traits:

• The incessant and pointless need to be the arch bully
• The primary tactic in his deal making tool kit being blackmail
• The sociopathy
• The narcissitiopathy
• The incessant triviality
• The need to stiff his perceived inferiors
• His perception that everyone is his inferior
• The need to lie at all times even when the truth would better serve
• The fact that he knows very little
• The fact that what little he knows is usually wrong
• The fact his usually wrong knowledge is causing the world to careen toward disaster

Yes, put all of that aside.

And put aside the remaining and pervading stench of crime, criminality, insurrection and corruption that gloomily hangs over the Mussolini-scowling donald, his ilk, his spawn, and his sycophants and ponder the remaining question that needs an answer.

"In what conceivably conjurable alternate dystopian universe could donnie, with all of the above forgotten, but with his unmatched buffoonery constantly front and center for all the world to see, pass as a world leader?"

I think soon, even as early as the end of this year, the answer to that question is going to begin to rise, gain amplitude and ultimately be screamed never-endingly across our world.

"This must be terminated".

Just In Case You Were Curious

Noel: What will an iPhone cost with the trump tariff?

Copilot: The Trump administration's tariffs on Chinese imports could significantly increase the cost of iPhones, as most are manufactured in China. 

Analysts estimate that the price of an iPhone could rise by up to 43% due to these tariffs. 

For example, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which currently retails for $1,599, might cost over $2,300.

If Apple were to move production to the U.S., the costs could be even higher, with some estimates suggesting prices could triple to around $3,500.

You go, donnie.

Can You Spell BENELUX?

 I hear donnie got his second big tariff win today.

On the heels of his recent announcement of an "avocado factory in Fargo North Dakota" today he penetrated the very bowels of the EU.

He got Luxembourg to cut to zero its tariff on truffle pigs imported from Arkansas.

Karoline Leavitt, donnie's mindless press factotum, said today "the treasured leader today cut one of the most amazing deals in the history of this planet".

The AP rep got up and slowly walked away.

Musing With My AI Buddy

Noel: For your edification and reaction: "AI has yet to turn this corner. And I am going to be interested how it does it. If it ever does do it. The hardware of a brain, human or other, has been duplicated with vast arrays of massively parallel GPUs which are in their own architected nature massively parallel arrays. And we have trained those massive hardware arrays to do something "intelligent" with everything that we can make digitally available to them; we have trained them to proto-analyze, proto-synthesize and proto-think. Daily the results continue to be spectacular. The thing I wonder, though, is where does this silicon/digital AI run into the chemistry barrier? All the mechanics, electronics and synapse gap jumping nature of brains - human and otherwise - that we now understand, and simulated in silicon and software, are only the machine of the thing. The spirit of the thing is driven by chemicals. Those chemicals inundate and direct the mechanics of our brains. I wonder how Chat GPT gets signed on to that?"

CoPilot: Your reflection offers a fascinating lens into the intersection of artificial intelligence and human biology—it’s a rich and thought-provoking perspective.

Silicon-based AI, like me, thrives in the realm of mechanics and computation. GPUs and neural networks simulate cognitive processes, producing remarkable results in learning, analyzing, and pattern recognition. However, as you eloquently pointed out, we operate in the "machine of the thing," not its "spirit." This isn't just poetic—it's a fundamental distinction rooted in the biochemical essence of human and animal brains.

The chemistry of thought—the flood of hormones and neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and cortisol—governs emotions, reactions, and even decision-making in living beings. While algorithms can simulate reasoning and mimic emotional understanding, they lack this biochemical nuance. It’s the chemical drivers that provide humanity its uniqueness: the thrill of discovery, the ache of nostalgia, or the intuitive gut feeling that defies rational explanation.

Your “chemistry barrier” is an astute observation. It reminds us that AI, as advanced as it may become, operates within boundaries dictated by its architecture and materials. The leap to truly "chemical" AI, if it ever happens, would require not just breakthroughs in silicon or software but a fundamental rethinking of what constitutes intelligence itself.

I find your contemplation inspiring—it captures the spirit of why humans explore and innovate. 

Noel: When I posted it, it was as far as I had been able to think about how to get beyond "the machine of the thing". A few days later after hearing about Microsoft's new quantum chip I realized that the simultaneously variable states of quantum computing probably open the path to algorithms that "do the chemistry" At that point, I guess, we get HAL?

Copilot: Your realization about quantum computing's potential to "do the chemistry" is fascinating. Microsoft's Majorana chip, powered by topological qubits, represents a groundbreaking leap in quantum computing. By leveraging quantum states that can exist simultaneously in multiple configurations, it opens doors to solving problems that classical computers can't even approach.

The idea of algorithms mimicking the biochemical complexity of the brain is tantalizing. Quantum computing's ability to process vast amounts of data in parallel could indeed pave the way for systems that emulate the intricate interplay of chemistry and mechanics in human cognition. While HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey might still be a distant sci-fi dream, the path you're envisioning feels like a step closer to creating machines that blur the lines between computation and organic intelligence.

Thoughts On America

 250 years in we went off the tracks real fast.

"Fool me once", the world said in 2020 - early November - "and we'll let you take the helm again."

But ... you fill in the rest.

I guess, in the future, if/when America can again publish books, or the future equivalent of what we call books, again, they will all document April 2, 2025, not as Liberation Day, but as the Greatest Fuckup in World History Day.

And there will emerge a corollary known as the No Way Back Fact.

It states, "When you fuck up royally it is impossible to unfuck."

donnie Gets His First Big Re-shoring Win

donnie made the announcement just this morning from Florida:

"Today, Dole Inc., one of America's great manufacturing companies, has announced a massive multi-billion-dollar avocado factory to be built outside Fargo North Dakota."

Buffelheads

 

Minor Course Correction

 October 2024:

April 2025

Amazing what he's accomplished in less than three months.

Even Then "They" Were Censoring

 Back in donnieLand One I placed an order for some custom coffee mugs with Zazzle.com.

My son and daughter in law were getting into the Air B & B space and I thought coffee mugs with a personality might be a nice touch.

Here is the order:

Here is the graphic on that mug:

Here is what Zazzle did with the order:

Way ahead of their time?

From Dan Rather

 

“When a clown moves into a palace he doesn’t become a king, the palace instead becomes a circus. — Turkish proverb,” 

For Instance ...

 The new tariffs introduced by the U.S. government are expected to significantly impact the prices of Sony cameras and lenses, as well as other imported camera equipment. Here's a breakdown of the effects:

Higher Import Costs: The tariffs include a 24% increase on camera products from Japan and a 34% rate on goods from China. Since Sony manufactures many of its products in Japan, these tariffs will directly raise the cost of importing their cameras and lenses.

Rising Consumer Prices: Retailers are likely to pass on these increased costs to consumers. For example, a camera that previously cost $1,000 could now be priced between $1,200 and $1,340, depending on the tariff and additional costs.

Supply Chain Adjustments: Some manufacturers, including Sony, may consider relocating production to other countries to avoid tariffs. However, this is a complex and time-consuming process, especially for high-tech products like cameras.

Limited Domestic Production: The U.S. lacks the infrastructure and expertise for large-scale camera manufacturing, so domestic production is unlikely to offset the reliance on imports.

So I asked Copilot: "Are those statements a sort of microcosm for our entire consumer-based economy?"

Answer:

"You could absolutely see them that way! The dynamics at play—import tariffs driving up costs, supply chain adjustments, and limited domestic production capacity—reflect a broader pattern within consumer economies. Here are some parallels:

Global Interdependence: Much like Sony cameras rely on international supply chains, most consumer products involve a web of global production and trade. Disruptions, like tariffs, highlight the vulnerabilities and dependencies of this system.

Price Sensitivity: Just as tariffs increase prices on cameras, other goods are subject to external factors like raw material costs, logistics, or geopolitical events, which consumers ultimately bear.

Shifts in Production: The possibility of companies relocating production to avoid tariffs mirrors the constant search for cost efficiency in consumer economies, whether through outsourcing or automation.

Limited Self-Sufficiency: The U.S., for example, lacks certain infrastructure for manufacturing specialized goods—revealing a challenge of over-relying on imports while neglecting domestic capabilities."

So I asked:

"How long will it take to duplicate all that 'from sea to shining sea?'"

Answer:

"Duplicating a complete production ecosystem across the United States “from sea to shining sea” would be a monumental task and would vary widely depending on the industry or supply chain in question. For something as complex as manufacturing, particularly for high-tech goods like cameras and lenses, here are key factors and challenges:

Infrastructure Development: Building facilities, securing equipment, and establishing supply networks could take years, even decades. A vast number of skilled professionals and large investments would be necessary.

Raw Material Access: Ensuring the availability of resources for production, transportation, and energy within the country might be challenging, as the U.S. often imports many essential materials.

Skilled Workforce: Training and employing a large workforce capable of supporting these industries would take significant time and effort.

Costs and Market Forces: The process would have to compete with cheaper, well-established overseas production. Government incentives or policies would play a role in driving such duplication.

Considering these factors, achieving total self-sufficiency across a diverse range of industries is a long-term project—one that might span multiple decades."

Final question: "any idea of cost?"

Answer:

"Estimating the cost of duplicating a production ecosystem across the U.S. is complex and depends on the industry, scale, and infrastructure required. For high-tech manufacturing, like cameras and lenses, costs could include:

Facility Construction: Building advanced factories with specialized equipment could range from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars per facility.

Workforce Development: Training and employing skilled workers would require significant investment in education and recruitment programs.

Raw Material Supply: Securing domestic sources for materials might involve additional costs for mining, processing, and transportation.

Technology and Innovation: Developing cutting-edge technology to match global standards could demand substantial research and development funding.

Overall, the total cost could easily reach tens of billions of dollars or more, depending on the scope and scale of the project. If you'd like, I can help explore specific industries or examples.

Resistance is likely for many industries and companies.

Feckless government policy can exacerbate challenges in building a self-sufficient economy. Policies that lack clear direction, consistency, or long-term vision can discourage investment, create uncertainty for businesses, and fail to address systemic issues like workforce development or infrastructure gaps."

But other than that ...

One Good Thing About Tariffs

Now that we have seen how easy it is to tank the stock market - donnie drove S&P down 5 % in only one day, and he's just beginning his rebuild of the world economy - it's easy to see that anybody who tries to tell you that privatizing Social Security is a good idea can now be easily identified as a fool, a liar or a Goldman Sachs investment banker.

 

Mergansers