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Monday, May 4, 2026

Post #7670 M: Dumb Bleep of the Week; McClanahan on Neo-Nationalists?

 Quote of the Day

Rather than love, 
than money, 
than fame, 
give me truth.
Henry David Thoreau

Dumb Bleep of the Week Pt. I

Pt II

McClanahan on Neo-Nationalists?

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of David Horsey via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

 Hey, Girl - Freddie Scott

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Sunday, May 3, 2026

Post #7669 Social Media Digest

 Facebook

X/Twitter

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Post #7668 M: Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Trump & His MAGA Minions; SOHO Debate: Can Zohran Mamdani Make NYC Affordable?; Californians Move To Texas

 Quote of the Day

Do not waste a minute-not a second-
in trying to demonstrate to others the merits of your performance. 
If your work does not vindicate itself, 
you cannot vindicate it.
Thomas W. Higginson  

Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Trump & His MAGA Minions

SOHO Debate: Can Zohran Mamdani Make NYC Affordable?

Californians Move To Texas | Season 2 

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Matt Davies via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Green, Green - New Christy Minstrels

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Saturday, May 2, 2026

Post #7667 J

 Endemic Report

The latest COVID-19 CDC weekly stats:




The Sick Times:

The winter sure continues to fade with the virus up in one state, Arizona. Probably the most reported story was a former Fauci adviser, David Morens, being indicted:

is accused of using his private email account to intentionally circumvent public records laws while employed at the National Institutes of Health. The Justice Department alleges that he concealed or destroyed records of discussions related to COVID-19 research grants, including an effort to revive a controversial coronavirus grant.

Morens faces charges of conspiracy against the United States; destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting, according to a Justice Department news release. If convicted, he could face decades in prison. 

The indictment reflects Republicans’ long-held belief that the federal government covered up key information about COVID-19 as the pandemic unfolded. Despite numerous probes, the origins of COVID have never been proven. Scientists are unsure whether the virus jumped from an animal, as many other viruses have, or came from a laboratory accident. A U.S. intelligence analysis released in 2023 said there is insufficient evidence to prove either theory.

Blanche said Morens’ alleged conduct was part of an effort to “suppress alternative theories” about COVID-19’s origins. The Justice Department also accused Morens of having an improper relationship with a collaborator, including allegedly accepting a gift of wine and discussing COVID-19 research and potential publications in a prominent medical journal.

Other COVID-19 news items:

  • "Princeton University professors criticize COVID-19 lockdowns at Rockefeller Center event....Princeton political science professors Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee argued that COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns negatively impacted students and failed to reduce mortality rates."
  • "Long-term study of COVID lockdown and family life shows unexpected, lasting effects on fatherhood"
  • Scientists Say This Surprising OTC Medication [nasal spray] Lowers Your Risk of COVID. It may shorten how long you’re sick, too."
  • "The Beloved Grocery Store Experience [free samples] COVID-19 Nearly Killed"

Other Notes

The blog dubiously picked up thousands of pageviews over the long-term trend over the past week. I finally put out my Iran essay this past week to reach 40 posts in April. The last few essays have been difficult to rate, in part because I needed to succinctly sketch a brief history of US-Iran relations while explaining my evolution toward a more direct opposition to POTUS in the context of proactive neocon interventionism. I tried to make it comprehensive, detailed, and readable. Every writer likes a wider audience; as I write, it still hasn't reached 2 dozen readers yet. On X/Twitter, I've had a minor recovery in followers, which was trending below 200.

Well, it's easy to explain the latest topic to discuss in this segment this week. I've recently lost 2 multi-TB hard drives; I have others (I'm a professional DBA, and I'm obsessed with backups, including multiple cloud drives). Over the last several months, we've seen sharp rises in prices:

SSDs are more expensive than more traditional HDDs. For example, I bought a 2 TB SSD for about $89 on Amazon last June. Today, the same vendor sells a half-TB for a few dollars more. In contrast, you can order an internal 4-TB HDD for about $130. In early 2024, I bought a 12-TB external drive from the same HDD vendor for about $260. (Now, to be clear, the newer disks may have slightly better quality, performance, etc.; it's not just cost per TB, and HDD cost gets cheaper per TB as you scale in size, but this is still in the context of cheaper, better hardware. I remember buying my first PC clone as a junior professor for about $3000, and I bought a vastly more powerful budget "no frills" HP laptop last year for about $130. 

Now, all of this is to set the stage for a similar scam I've repeatedly seen on YouTube and Facebook over the past week, offering a 16-TB drive at a nominal price (see the first image below).  I didn't capture the pitch. The fraudsters know that  $44 is not realistic for anything near a large-capacity drive (in today's market). A more reasonable, realistic ad is in the second image below. So they try to explain the context as something like a huge order falling through, and they're stuck with inventory they're ready to dump at fire sale prices

If it sounds too good to be true... If legit, I would have backed up the truck and bought every one I could get my hands on. I tried to Google the purported reseller and found the scam seems to recycle (at least every couple of years). I've probably seen close to a dozen YouTube videos or more on offers from other scammers debunking a similar gimmick, cracking into the case to see what's in it (sometimes a small SD card like for your phone); they apparently tweak the firmware so it looks like it shows it has claimed storage, but if you try to copy big files, it like takes forever or it loops through file copy and you won't find the copy on said device.

Even Walmart's own platform has some similar gimmicks (high storage under $50 deals) I think I found near the bottom of webpages browsing through data storage (maybe sold through the site by others?) They might need to filter what others are selling to avoid unhappy customers getting scammed.

  
WARNING! THIS IS A SCAM! DO NOT BUY!





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Post #7666 M: Trump Drags Out Iran War as Hormuz Blockade Pokes Holes in the Condom Industry; Prison Doesn’t Work the Way You Think; Why is it ILLEGAL to Sell This Box?

 Quote of the Day

If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, 
and will promote the General Welfare, 
the Government is no longer a limited one, 
possessing enumerated powers, 
but an indefinite one, 
subject to particular exceptions.
James Madison  

Trump Drags Out Iran War as Hormuz Blockade Pokes Holes in the Condom Industry


Prison Doesn’t Work the Way You Think

Why is it ILLEGAL to Sell This Box?

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of M. Wuerker via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Twenty Miles - Chubby Checker

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Friday, May 1, 2026

Post #7665 M: Trump Extends Iran Ceasefire Again; McClanahan on Has the Playbook Been Revealed?; This isn't a Republic. It's a Coup.

 Quote of the Day

Let no man imagine that he has no influence. 
Whoever he may be, and wherever he may be placed, 
the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.
Henry George  

Trump Extends Iran Ceasefire Again

McClanahan on Has the Playbook Been Revealed?

This isn't a Republic. It's a Coup.

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of PX Millina via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Detroit City - Bobby Bare

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Thursday, April 30, 2026

Post #7664 Rant of the Day: Trump's War With Iran

I grew up as an Air Force brat. My Dad did isolated tours during the Korean and Vietnam wars. My folks rarely spoke politics at home. My Mom was the daughter of a MA Republican mom-and-pop grocery store owner, and I think my Dad was probably more of a conservative blue-collar (Reagan?) Democrat. I knew all 4 of the Guillemette brothers of Dad's nuclear family served in WWII or Korea. I myself was a Navy officer, but that was because Admiral Rickover, the father of the nuclear Navy, wanted line control over personnel, even math instructors like me at the Nuclear Power School in Orlando. (At the time, we were limited to a single nonrenewable 4-year appointment.) 

Philosophically. I tended to support the Catholic construct of a just war, Via Google AI:


The familiar reader may know I started college thinking I had a vocation to the Roman Catholic priesthood. I still remember we moved to family housing at an Army post in Kansas when Dad got orders for Vietnam. I was about 12, the oldest of 7. I knew Dad, as a jet mechanic, wouldn't be on the front lines, and I wasn't ready to be man of the house. I couldn't see him off at the airport; in a weird way. I figured he couldn't die because we hadn't said goodbye. I'm still not sure why or how, but Dad's orders got changed to Thailand shortly after arriving in Vietnam. My Dad did return, but he was tight-lipped about what he experienced in Southeast Asia up to my last visit before he died. Dad was never the same after that isolated tour.

 My closest post friend, Nick, an Army brat, was a die-hard Green Bay Packers fan; I was more of a baseball fan and relentlessly teased him until he cried. One day, I realized I hadn't seen Nick for a while and mentioned it to Mom. Mom told me Nick's Dad had died in the war, and his family had already moved. I felt so bad that I hadn't been there for my friend; I wanted to take back everything I had said about the Packers.

At OLL (my undergraduate alma mater), Tom P., a Vietnam vet and my dorm RA, had lost one of his legs, apparently during the seesaw battle over Hamburger Hill. It reinforced my dismay with a senseless war chewing up American men. Tom often hopped around on his good leg without the prosthesis. I remember my family visited me in the dorms when Dad finished up his assignment in West Germany. My baby sister was obsessed with Tom's missing leg and loudly pointed it out.

I cooled on the idea of becoming a priest for a couple of reasons: a priest has to take a vow of celibacy (and I had started dating, enough to question the commitment); second, the Church, since Vatican II, had drifted in a more socially liberal perspective, away from an emphasis on faith and traditional liturgy. I often cite a sermon I heard while attending mass at UT (grad school), in which the homily reflected on a top Olivia Newton-John hit.

I initially intended to earn a doctorate in mathematics at UT, but I lost my graduate stipend (university politics). and decided to stop with my Master's. I initially attempted to join the USAF after my degree; they recruited me as a potential meteorologist, first doing some graduate work at Texas A&M. But I was passed over in 2 straight officer selection pools, which eliminated me from candidacy for 6 months. Someone in the interim had suggested that the Navy was hiring mathematicians. 

Whereas I, in my salad days, had issues with some of the political leadership in the general government regarding an internationalist perspective, I recall my dismay that we didn't dial back our international footprint, our 800+ military bases overseas, and questioned the anachronism of NATO and its relevant expansion at the expense of the former Warsaw Pact in the late 80s. I had transitioned from a socially liberal Democrat to a more conservative one. [I've always been a fiscal conservative with pro-life views.] When I was younger, I tended to identify more with the goals of legislation than to question its morally hazardous government means. This was particularly the case after I took (non-political) economics courses during my MBA courses in the 80s. I began to question activist domestic and international policies. I left the Democrats after becoming a young professor in the late 80s.

A key issue for me was George HW Bush'sintervention after Iraq invaded Kuwait. I think I was particularly skeptical of American intervention after our dubious experiences in Korea and Vietnam. This wasn't the acceptance of Hussein's invasion, but rather the question of whether we are the world's policemen. I didn't know how Bush's decision-making process worked. Still, I felt he had intelligence I didn't have access to and was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt (I didn't agree with it and felt there was a moral hazard in intervening on a regional issue) I also remember being confused by Bush's decision to leave Hussein in power at the end of the Gulf War; I was not really aware of the 3 major sectarian rivalries in Iraq (Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, and Kurds). In hindsight, we saw another decade of Hussein's crimes against humanity against other Iraqis. But I respect his not going beyond the mandate of his international coalition and recognizing that the US was not the world's policeman; I wish he had convinced George W. to resist intervention a decade later.

Then there was Clinton's intervention in the Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia conflict. Similar to my critique of the first Gulf War, this was largely a regional conflict, ethnic cleansing, atrocities, and some NATO members were unhappy with our intervention. My youngest brother, accompanied by his family, was stationed at an AFB in Italy at the time, and Italians opposed US intervention, Via Google AI:


One of my key reasons for supporting George W. Bush in 2000 was his critique of Clinton's nation-building:

I had a bad case of buyer's remorse during the Bush 43 Presidency, particularly in the war decisions following 9/11. I was particularly opposed to Afghanistan, especially over historical failures to occupy it, more recently including the USSR. I regarded the WMD argument in Iraq as dubious at best, and George W. Bush, in toppling Hussein, seemed to be opening the Pandora's box that his father had avoided in a country with over two-thirds Shiite Muslims, long suppressed under Hussein. More importantly, Hussein's military posed no imminent threat to the US, and we weren't the world's policemen. This is not to dispute Hussein's record of crimes against humanity, not unlike the tragic consequences of Serbian ethnic cleansing had been in Eastern Europe.

At the same time, Bush had been given fatally flawed intelligence (not limited to or unique to American sources). At the time, I wasn't confident I had the quality, nature, and extent of the information Bush had available to him when he made his disastrous decisions to intervene. Still, I couldn't believe that the man who had criticized Clinton's nation-building in Eastern Europe would blunder into multiple nation-building efforts in the Gulf region.

Still, and this is when I began to distrust  Presidential war and occupation intelligence: it was with Woodward's The War Within that I bought through a book club. Whereas Bush eventually seemed to stumble into a stabilizing surge (Petraeus) strategy from the post-Hussein chaos of a failed state (for which he was morally responsible), it was clear that Bush did not anticipate or plan for the local government meltdown. And it reinforces the need to get the decision to declare war right, and not to get involved in non-defensive, remote regional hotspots with supply constraints.

The discussion of Iran must start with the dubious involvement of the CIA in toppling the democratically elected government in 1953, basically backing the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In the mid-1960's, the Shah implemented the White Revolution, including modernization, secularization, and a controversial land reform:

The current American distrust of Iran has its roots in the 1979 hostage crisis:

Since the 1981 hostage release:

As to Trump on Iran, recall that in 2011, he accused Obama, who had been elected on the principle that he had the judgment not to invade Iraq, of a wag-the-dog strategy of invading Iran: Via Politico:


So, what did The Art of the Deal POTUS do in his first term (which I, of course, opposed)?:
  • As the post above pointed out, Trump canceled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), "significantly reducing its enriched uranium stockpile and centrifuges" in response to the relaxation of economic sanctions; Trump then reimposed sanctions, his "maximum pressure" campaign
  • Trump hypocritically ordered the 2020 assassination of the Iranian government leader Qassem Soleimani, technically an act of war.
Trump had argued that Obama's deal hadn't been comprehensive or good enough (e.g., Iran's alleged support of terror groups around the region). Still, it's difficult to argue that Trump had improved the alleged nuclear pretext for starting the war early this year. Given the decades of troubled relations with the US, Iran probably viewed Trump as a bad-faith negotiator. Trump has exacerbated existing US/Iran tensions since 1978.

The second term of Trump continued the trend. Once again, my fundamental position against Trump's Iran policy has 3  underlying principles:
  • The US is not the world's policeman. There are at least 8 other nuclear powers, and we have no moral authority to intervene against another nation's self-defense. One can argue that nuclear nonproliferation is a worthy goal.
  • Iran is not a serious military threat to the US, and it has no historical record of international aggression in the modern era. 
    Via Google AI

  • Trump does not have legal or constitutional authority to engage in unilateral, nondefensive military action. Only Congress can declare war. No, the War Powers Act does not give the President a 60-day wildcard; Congress cannot delegate its authority to declare war. We, taxpayers, should not be forced to pay Hegseth's high budget price for Trump's war of choice.
Trump had already engaged in unprovoked war activities last year:


 The current illegal, unconstitutional war started in late February. Via Wikipedia:

I, of course, have agreed with the last sentence of the preceding excerpt. In fact, I call on Congress to end the war and impeach/convict Trump of this impeachable crime.
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Post #7663 M: Trump’s Unnecessary War Drags On; Why the COVID Reckoning Doesn't Go Far Enough; End California’s Nuclear Energy Ban!

 Quote of the Day

I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, 
the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, 
is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause 
and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious. - 
Vince Lombardi  

Trump’s Unnecessary War Drags On

Why the COVID Reckoning Doesn't Go Far Enough

End California’s Nuclear Energy Ban!

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits 

 Maria Elena - Los Indios Tabajaras

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Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Post #7662 M: Jon Stewart Dissects Trump’s “Art of the Deal” Iran Strategy; McClanahan on St. Abraham the Wise; Stossel on Government Actions Made the Great Depression and Recession Worse

 Quote of the Day

If a diplomat says yes, he means maybe. 
If a diplomat says maybe, he means no. 
If a diplomat says no, he ain't no diplomat!
Andre Gabor 

Jon Stewart Dissects Trump’s “Art of the Deal” Iran Strategy

McClanahan on St. Abraham the Wise

Stossel on  Government Actions Made the Great Depression and Recession Worse

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Pat Bagley via Politico 

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

 Part Time Love - Little Johnny Taylor

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Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Post #7661 M: A Just War Of Words With The Pope; Dumb Bleep of the Week;

 Quote of the Day

To love is to stop comparing.
Bernard Grasset

A Just War Of Words With The Pope

Dumb Bleep of the Week Pt. I

Pt. II

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Matt Davies via Politico 

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Abilene - George Hamilton IV

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Monday, April 27, 2026

Post #7660 M: JD Vance: The Pope Should Be Careful; The Enduring Failures of Rent Control; Everything is GEN0ClDE Now?!?

 Quote of the Day

People need to be reminded more often 
than they need to be instructed.
Samuel Johnson

JD Vance: The Pope Should Be Careful

The Enduring Failures of Rent Control

Everything is GEN0ClDE Now?!?

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Musical Interlude:1963 Top 100 Hits

Wonderful Wonderful - Tymes

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Sunday, April 26, 2026

Post #7659 Social Media Digest

 Facebook

X/Twitter

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