Tag: FAFO

Munda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Recently caught two Paul Krugman articles. I read one yesterday. This was the post where he shared his tale about why he left the New York Times.

His story illuminated a lot for me. As 2024 progressed and I read his opinions, I thought, what is wrong with Paul Krugman? He is so much less insightful and he seems to be leaning toward the NYT bothsiderism plague. I often found myself begin to read him and then close it because, meh. After he left the Times and began writing on his own, I discovered that he’d regained his sharpness. I’m so much happier to have him out of the NYT yoke and free to comment on the world again, especially the Trumpworld.

Times editors — who deny this — became heavy-handed about Mr. Krugman’s opinions and insights. They rewrote his column, forcing him to rewrite the rewrites. It all became so dumbed down that it wasn’t worth reading.

But he’s back, baby.

That’s a natural transition to Mr. Krugman’s column today: Trump Is Doing Exactly What He Said He Would. Who Could Have Predicted That?

When democracies die, big business and wealthy individuals often play a crucial role in their demise. They provide a would-be strongman with financial support; their control of or influence over news media ensures that he receives favorable coverage, while his opponents are trashed. They do this because they expect to be rewarded with policies that favor their interests and imagine that they will in effect be shareholders in the new autocracy.

What comes next is familiar to anyone who studies history (which the oligarchs don’t.) Eventually it becomes clear that they don’t own the dictator they’ve helped install; he owns them. Maybe they’ll like some of his policies, maybe they won’t, but in any case they’re not in control — and they soon learn that criticizing the big man isn’t just fruitless, it’s dangerous.

In the past this script has typically taken a few years to play out, but this is the internet age, so right now in America the process seems to be taking only a few weeks.

Yep, Paul Krugman nailed it. Trump forced the GOP to be remade in his own image as the Grand Ol’ Trump Party. He brought on billionaires who are interested in having power and money. So guess what, GOP stalwarts? You guys aren’t needed any longer.

MAGA supporters? Naw, Trump can show now that he doesn’t give a shit about you, either.

Rural voters and Evangelicals who said that he shares your values, tells us like it is, and says what we’re thinking? You must have been thinking that th United States doesn’t need a democratic republic any longer. You must have thought that your freedoms and rights would be okay because Trump is like us.

If you haven’t realized yet, he is not like you, not unless you’re white, male, wealthy, selfish, racist, and sexist.

As for you folks who thought he would end wars, cut inflation, and make the United States a better place to live, man are you in for a fucking awakening. Talk ’bout woke! You’ll be woke as the deficit climbs and supply shortages and high prices gut the economy. Bet you’ll be woke as inflation rises and rises.

Those of you who wrung your hands and whined, “The Democrats don’t care about the cost of living enough, so I’m voting for Trump,” have fucked around. If you haven’t found out, you will.

I’ll take it back to Paul Krugman’s post from today to close.

As I get ready to hit the publish button, stock futures are down — but not nearly as much as the situation seems to warrant. Investors still seem to believe that there’s a good chance that Trump will use some minor concessions (about what?) to declare victory and dial the tariffs back. As I wrote about the same time Goldman and Dimon were telling us to chill out, this market complacency is a self-defeating prophecy: muted market reaction makes it likely that Trump will continue and expand his trade war.

And even if some of the tariffs prove temporary, the Rubicon has been crossed. We now know that when the United States signs an agreement, on trade or anything else, the president will treat that agreement as a mere suggestion to be ignored whenever he feels like it. That revelation in itself will do huge long-term damage.

All of this was entirely predictable. But there are none so blind as those who will not see.

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Saturda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

We have a new version of The China Syndrome happening, right here in the U.S. of A.

The original idea behind the China syndrome is a nuclear reactor meltdown that causes the nuclear plant to figuratively melt through its containment building, and keep going until it goes through the earth and emerges in China on the other side of the world. In other words, it’s a baaaddd disaster. A movie starring Jane Fonda, Jack Lemon, and Michael Douglas was made about it. Released in 1979, it’s called The China Syndrome.

That’s not quite what we’re talking now. Instead, we’re talking the nuclear family and some wrong-headed ideas about population growth. One of these wrong-headed ideas that China had was that they could control and direct their nation’s population growth by laws. See, their population was growing too much and too fast. Pursuing efforts to stop it, China’s government implemented ‘The One-Child Policy’. it was wickedly wrong in many ways, including what happened to female children because families wanted a male as their one child. Males were more highly prized than females in that society.

Now China faces a problem caused by an aging society. Oh, gosh, how did that happen? Could limiting child births have anything to do with that? Why, yes, of course.

And so we saw another edition of ‘unintended consequences’ demonstrated to us. You’d think that would make others think about trying such efforts.

But not everyone is willing to think and learn from the mistake of others. That’s the new China Syndrome.

All this comes to mind because of a new memo from the new Trump administration. New DOT Memo Directs Funds To Communities With Higher ‘Marriage And Birth Rates’.

WASHINGTON ― The federal Department of Transportation has issued a memo ordering programs supported by the agency to prioritize funding projects for communities with “marriage and birth rates higher than the national average.”

The article later notes:

Newly confirmed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy buried his agency’s oddly specific requirement by describing the memo as focused on economic growth ― rather than population growth ― and echoed Trump’s criticisms of programs to improve diversity, equity and inclusion.

“The American people deserve an efficient, safe and pro-growth transportation system based on sound decision-making, not political ideologies,” Duffy said of the memo.

Ha,ha,ha, see what old Sean Duffy did there? He’s using ideology to make decisions and pretending otherwise. And he’s apparently doing it without any irony or self-awareness that he’s doing it.

Cause, gosh, the declining population growth in the U.S. probably doesn’t have anything to do with stagnant wages and misplaced priorities, such as pretending climate change doesn’t exist even as droughts, wildfire, and extreme weather events wipe out crops and housing, causing increased housing and food costs. Yes, and the low population growth probably has nothing to do with the healthcare insurance industry and their record profits and the high price of having a child. Nor does the low population growth have anything to do with the need to have both parents work because wages suck and the cost of everything is so high.

But no, let’s pretend that those things don’t matter. Have a child, get a road! There we go, that’ll increase the population. Makes total fucking sense. At least, in Trumpworld.

Sounds like more FAFO will be forthcoming.

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Frieda’s Theme Music

And on the last day of January of 2025, rain fell on Ashlandia.

Yes, it’s Frieda, January 31, 2025, and rain is peppering Ashlandia. 41 F outside, ‘they’ inform us that it’ll edge close to 50 F before day surrenders to night. Visibility is limited by low, white clouds. Can’t look across the valley to see what’s happening there, or further up the southern range, to see if this precipitation has cast its lot with snow anywhere.

I’m happy with the rain, but not all in the household share the pleasure. Papi has traveled in and out in search of better weather. My wife said that at one point, she opened the door for him to come back in, but he acted like he wanted her to come outside. “I think he was saying, it’s raining, come out here and change the weather,” she related.

Alas, we don’t have the weather change app yet so we couldn’t help him. That forces him to go out and in and forces us to open and close doors for his travels. It’s become stale after ten rounds. We might be starkers by mid-afternoon.

Spending of starkers — no, I’m not going into politics yet. Too damn early to burst my spirit with tales from the dark side. I will say that I read that one Trump supporter, a Muslim, approves of Trump’s first days of activity. I’m waiting for the other shoe on that FAFO situation to drop. Like that man who wholly supported Trump’s actions until they came and took his wife away. Then, suddenly, he is crying, woe is me, and personally begging Trump himself to not take his wife away. They just don’t get it, do they? Trump and his minions care for no one but themselves. For that matter, Trump only cares about Trump. And he’ll lie in a breath without a thought. He’ll also speak without a thought, too, as he keeps proving. On further evidence, Trump supporters are like Trump in many ways, unaffected by these policies until it hits them, thinking only of themselves until it hits them, blissfully oblivious to what they say and do until it comes back and bites them in the ass.

The Neurons have brought up a 1993 Billy Joel tune. “The River of Dreams” is playing in the morning mental music stream. It has a sort of Gospel/spiritual flavor infusing it. The Neurons offered it to the stream after I’d gotten up in the middle of the night. Yes, a cat was involved. After taking care of the cat need, I had several needs, involving trips to the kitchen and the bathroom. I hadn’t turned on any lights, but we have several recessed night lights installed. Anyway, I also wandered to the window to check on the rain. That’s when the song came in. Joel sings, “In the middle of the night, I go walking in my sleep.” Seemed kinda apt at the time, in The Neurons’ opinion. Yes, although there are millions of them, the usually speak with one collective opinion.

Coffee is making its way through my systems, delivering whatever help it can. Time to fly. Hope your day is up to your hopes and aspirations wherever you might travel or whatever you do.* Here we go. Cheers

*Certain restrictions may apply.

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More FAFO News

The “Letter from God” website has some deets about Trump’s Federal freezes and the MAGAs. Here are some insightful excerpts.

1. Conservative Churches Hit By Freeze

Trump, in his infinite idiocy and corruption, decided to freeze ALL federal grants and loans. This includes SNAP/EBT, TANF, WIC, federal student loans, and other critical programs. In addition, “Mr. Drain-The-Swamp” just fired 15 Inspectors General, the watchdogs responsible for rooting out corruption and ensuring funds are properly used. It’s looting in broad daylight.

But while liberals have been warning about Trump’s cruelty for years, MAGA supporters are only now realizing—too late—that they’ve been played.

2. MAGA Tears Are Delicious

Whether it be freezing funding, deportations, tarrifs, or ending DEI programs, Trump’s voters thought they were electing a savior to punish everyone they hate. Instead, they’re the ones bearing the brunt of his policies.

Did you know that white women were the prime beneficiaries of DEI programs, by far? Lots of Trump supporters in that group.

Get thee on over there. It’s worth the click to read.

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Twosda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

The FAFO moments are beginning to stack. In this corner, we have a Republican out of Nebraska calling ‘foul’ on one of Trump’s executive orders.

This would be Rep. Don Bacon. He’s upset about Trump’s executive order cutting off the money from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Act.

“You just can’t determine what laws you want to execute and what you don’t,” Bacon said, adding that executive orders from presidents representing both parties have “gotten out of hand.”

How quickly Bacon bounced to bothsiderisms, right? This is emerging as a reflex. Whenever someone supported Trump and suddenly is upset by what he’s doing, they add a bothsides qualifier. Anyway, Bacon was okay with the executive order cutting off funds before it hit his project. He claimed OMB told him that his project wasn’t affected. Gosh, now that it is, he’s really upset.

I expect to see more out of this one. As communities see the monies appropriated for their local improvements cut off, they’ll begin calling out the issue to their reps. They’re keeping a close eye on it in Tennessee. Officials in West Virginia have contacted the White House to ensure their projects will still get their money.

Over in engineering and construction circles, they might be getting upset. Back in November, Brian Turmail, Associated General Contractors of America vice president of public affairs and workforce, was quoted saying, “Killing construction jobs after an election where the winner was elected thanks in large part to votes from people who do construction just doesn’t seem very likely.” 

Is that hilarious? Tragically so, IMO, since these voters clearly didn’t understand the man they were putting into office. They assigned him common sense that he completely lacks.

So yep, they FA. Now they’ll FO.

Am I enjoying this a little too much? Probably! They are fellow Americans. Fellow humans. But they ignored everything we warned them. Laughed at us and dismissed what they were being told. So, yes, I’m bitterly jubilant that Trump is showing them that we were right.

So yes, I will keep posting FAFO. Those in the Trumpissphere will never acknowledge how he’s screwing them. Most will probably never know. Many who do realize they’re being screwed will rationalize it. They will also pull out the bothsides card. Blame the Dems for not being there for them.

They’ll say and do everything except take responsibility for their own narrow, shallow thinking. Just like their glorious leader.

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Munda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Saw this posted on Facebook yesterday.

Pete Hegseth confirmed and our new defense secretary 👏👏

JD broke the tied vote (51-50). Pete deserves this appointment and I’m confident he will do great things for our beloved military members and veterans. These men and women deserve someone that has their back first and foremost.

The U.S. and citizens will be safer because of this man. 2025 will be a great year at this pace.

Sad to see the vote so partisan but not surprised one bit.

Pretty much what I think many MAGAts are thinking and saying. Fed by Fox and the right-wing media, they actually believe this tripe. Most bitter for me, the cited words were written by a nephew.

Here we go, America. FAFO on a huge magnitude. SMFH.

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More FAFO News!

Hi! More news has surfaced of people voting for Trump and then having voter regrets, or donating mullah to the mango guy’s inauguration fleshtivities and paying the consquences. Let’s do a shallow deep dive.

The Fraternal Order of Police endorsed Trump for Prez back in September, 2024.

“Public safety and border security will be important issues in the last months of this campaign,” Yoes said.  “Our members carefully considered the positions of the candidates on the issues and there was no doubt—zero doubt—as to who they want as our President for the next four years: Donald J. Trump.” 

Well, looky here, the FOP has flipflopped on their enthusiastic endorsement of Trump just four days into the new term. How can that be when they have no doubt — zero doubt — about ‘who they want as our President for the next four years‘.

My gosh, what caused this? I admit that I was surprised and shocked by their endorsement of a felon for the highest office in the land, the person who ensures laws are enforced. I couldn’t imagine them endorsing him after the Jan 6 Capitol riots which he encouraged. What could possible cause a change of heart for the FOP?

Why, it was Trump’s pardoning of the 1500 or more Jan 6 insurrectionists. But in true bothsidesism fashion, they also dissed on President Biden for pardoning Native American activist Leonard Peltier for his alleged killing of two FBI agents in 1975.

At any rate, their change of heart means jack, given that the election was held months ago. They are some forward thinkers, aren’t they?

In San Fransisco, the owners of George’s Donuts & Merriment are getting backlash after the one part-owner donated a mill to Trump’s inauguration fete. Andrew Dudum decided to FAFO what his California patrons think of his political leanings. Many of their customers are reporting on Yelp that they will not support a business who supports Trump.

Which, you know, makes sense as Trump threatens to withhold Federal aid for rebuilding California from the wildfires still burning in the state. Of course, as ICE makes raids to arrest immigrants and migrant workers, Trump et al are going to FAFO that the agriculture and meat packing industries depend on these workers. Then we’ll witness some serious inflation, and there will be more FAFO news.

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Tursda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Good morning! Hope you’re doing well! Probably not feelin’ too good if you’re a senior citizen watching their mone who voted for Trump!

Over on Crooks & Liars, Red Painter offers a nice FAFO summary of how Trump is looking out for seniors and the poor by wiping out former President Biden’s drug price cuts! Well, they were warned. And, like many others, they are reaping what they sowed.

Of course, eliminating these price cuts will mean less money for other important things, like food, utilities, housing, and clothing. But no worries! Trump is fixin’ inflation, so all that will be coming down. Yes, he’s ordering the Federal Executive Branch to lower inflation! Will it work? Well, he’ll claimed it did! Who will the MAGAts believe, him or their pocketbooks? Why, him! Of course!

Part of his plan is to just order more housing! Yes, he make it happen. The Federal government can’t create those houses, so it sounds like this free-market capitalist is planning on using the Federal gubmint’s power to make it so.

And those tariffs he’s ordering? That won’t affect inflation at all, no sir! Cuz, he’s ordering the rest of the world to pay for them, setting up a new agency, the External Revenue Agency, to collect the monies. Sure, it has everyone confused because it’s bizarro land in its thinking. And sure, it will increase the size of the government and add to the cost of government, because he’s adding more — another department, more people, more technology. And yes, it probably won’t be an effective agency, because it’s Trump! Just like Trump Air, Trump Steaks, Trump University, and all those other Trump-failed endeavors.

But we’ll just need to wait for the next issue of FAFO to emerge for us to know. Shouldn’t be long, though.

Should not be long.

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