July 7, 2026

I have recently been overwhelmed by the number of articles addressing Social Security, and their sense of urgency. One was titled “Furman on Social Security: Attention Must Be Paid.” There was an editorial titled “Congress must act now to save Social Security.” A financial website wants me to start planning now for changes to Social Security. One feed tells me that the retirement crisis, like the tornado in “Twister,” is already here. Financial advisor, Terry Savage, whose column appears in the Springfield Republican, asks “What does insolvency mean for Social Security?” Letters to the Editor are debating whether or not to privatize Social Security. Seeing that I have a dog in this fight, I thought it would make sense to investigate what all of the hullabaloo is about.

The Social Security Trustees recently released a report on the systems finances. The numbers didn’t change much. Unless something is done, the Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program will be unable to pay full benefits starting around 2032. Without reforms that adjust the balance between incoming revenue and outgoing benefits, the system may have to cut benefits by as much as 22%.

Several factors have contributed to the potential shortfall. We have more retirees, and they are living longer. The average life expectancy is up 50% since 1940. On the revenue side, the ratio of workers to beneficiaries has fallen from 5:1 to 2.9:1. The Social Security payroll tax of 12.4% applies to less personal income today (83%) than it did in 1983 (90%), arguably due to income inequality. Trump’s anti-immigration policies are making it worse. According to the Trustees’ report, lower immigration will deepen Social Security’s financial hole because many immigrants are working-age adults who would be paying into the system for decades.

Fixing the shortfall is an easy math problem for Economics undergraduates, but it poses a Ph.D-level political problem according to Jason Furman, Harvard Economics Professor and President Barack Obama’s chief economist. The fund’s projected depletion is just the date by which something must be done politically.

Congress and the White House could easily take action to sustain America’s retirement system, but, given the current state of our politics, there is no guarantee that they will. In the past, Congress has always reached a compromise to continue funding Social Security, and changes have been phased in over time.

The Bipartisan Policy Center recommends adjusting benefits and altering the rate of taxation. The amount we pay in payroll taxes is much less than most other rich countries. However, our deficit is larger relative to our economy than any other rich country, and is larger relative to the economy than at any time in our history with a few exceptions. Congress does have options some of which will admittedly be unpopular. Congress could raise the Social Security tax rate from 12.4%. It could end the $184,500 “cap” on payroll taxes. Congress could reduce benefits proportionately so those with higher incomes (from retirement plans, dividends, interest etc.) would see their benefits reduced. Lastly, Washington could print money.

The radicals in the Republican Party have clearly declared war on entitlements, and made drastic tax cuts in order to cut off the oxygen supply to many of these programs. Who can forget “repeal and replace?” By some estimates, approximately ten to fifteen million people will lose medical coverage under the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare and Medicaid because of the OBBB aka One Big Beautiful Bill. Approximately four million recipients have lost their SNAP aka food benefits.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has vowed to make his Zombie-like Congress take a look at Social Security with an eye to cutting benefits. He says that they need to be “adjusted and fixed.” His goal is to hold Social Security hostage on behalf of Republican goals. He has not mentioned anything about increasing revenue streams through reasonable deliberations and compromise. That has been the Republican strategy all along going back to Paul Ryan and earlier. Starve the beast by cutting taxes, plead poverty because of huge deficits, and then cut benefits.

Privatization is not the answer President George W. Bush tried and failed to do that in his second term. Social Security is a guarantee. Self-directed accounts are no guarantee as we have seen from multiple market meltdowns, and Trump’s meme coin Ponzi scheme. Accounts run by money managers pose the same risks, and present enormous conflicts of interest. Until we can get politics out of the equation, Social Security will continue to be an issue. Until we can get a reasonable compromise, to paraphrase actor Charlton Heston, the government will have to take away Social Security from our “cold, dead hands.”

June 17, 2026

Attention K-Mart shoppers. We have a clean up on aisle 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

What do you do when a President has made a mess of just about everything? Fortunately, history can be a guide through the healing process. Unfortunately, the clean up will consume a lot of the time and resources of the next duly elected Democratic administration, but, as someone once unartfully said, “It is what it is,” unless, of course, “It isn’t.”

D-Trumpification will involve ridding our society, our culture, our press, our economy, our judiciary, and our politics of the stain of Trump and his MAGA ideology.

For starters, we would need put back into jail all of the January 6th rioters, who were convicted of crimes. We would have to reassess all of Trump’s pardons for evidence of conflicts of interest, bribery, and corruption. Administration officials like Secretary Pete Hegseth, who ordered extra-judicial assassinations of defenseless boats in the Caribbean, would have to face justice. Government officials like Todd Blanche, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, who are guilty of covering up the Epstein files, would also have to face justice. Military officials guilty of blowing up Iranian school children should face military tribunals for war crimes.

Trump officials guilty of taking bribes, trading on inside information, or otherwise profiting from major conflicts of interest should be next on the list. This would include the Trump children. Anyone who has significantly increased their personal net worth at the expense of the American tax payer should face scrutiny. Lesser offenders guilty of just carrying out the orders of their superiors should be fired, placed on probation, fined, or restricted from certain jobs. All of the attorneys in the Department of Justice, who weaponized the legal system and filed frivolous lawsuits suits against Trump’s supposed enemies, people like James Comey, Leticia James, Jerome Powell, John Bolton, E. Jean Carroll, and now Gavin Newsom, should be disbarred. Sympathizers like the board members of the John F. Kennedy Fine Arts Center or Trump appointments to the Federal Reserve should be forced to resign. Others should be dismissed.

Beyond legal remedies, D-Trumpification needs to involve the erasure, elimination, and expungement of all vestiges of the regime. This would include, but not be limited to, the $250 bill, Trump’s photo on visas, the Arch, the ballroom, the White House patio, Trump’s image on the DOJ building, the “American Flag blue” of the Reflecting Pool, the Trump golf course in D.C., the Garden of Heroes, all of the gold leaf graffiti in the White House, the Trump-class battleship, and any public funds for the Trump library. There should be a clawback of funds for all of the unnecessary trips Trump has taken to Mar-a-Lago. The Qatari jet should be impounded. Trump’s image should be expunged from all government buildings including the Presidential portrait gallery in the White House. I will let Disney make its own decision regarding the Hall of Presidents.

Culturally, we need to go back through all of the government websites, documents, and publications that have been scrubbed of references to slavery, climate change, and the like. All exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution need to be restored to pre-Trump content. Any changes made to CDC recommendations need to be reversed.The Gulf of Mexico should once again be the Gulf of Mexico, and the Department of Defense should be the Department of Defense.

The legitimate press needs to be reinstated at both the White House and the Department of Defense. The government should reimburse any institution or company that was blackmailed into making payments to the Trump administration. This would include law firms, universities, and companies with business before the federal government.

Demilitarization would include slashing the bloated military budget back to pre-Trump levels. The same should be done with the budget for ICE. ICE officials should be prosecuted for official misconduct. Any military officer deploying troops to American cities should be courtmartialed.

Lastly, the next administration needs to take a hard look at the over concentration of power in the executive branch and the President. The use of Executive Orders needs to be curtailed. The Supreme Court decision granting the President almost unlimited power and immunity needs to be reversed. If the Supreme Court refuses to do this, Congress needs to look at age and term limits. Presidential pardon power needs to be eliminated. Trump’s tax returns should be subject to legitimate audits.

As a guide, Hungary has been taking steps to eliminating any vestiges of former autocratic President Viktor Orban. Hungary has been:

Restoring democratic checks and balances and reversing systemic gerrymandering. 

2. Purging loyalists from state institutions.

3. Uprooting oligarchic cronyism.

4. Re-engaging with Europe and NATO

As we try to move forward and away from Trumpism, the challenge of D-Trumpifying will take time. Destruction of laws, norms, and guardrails happened quickly, but trying to put the genie back in the bottle without triggering a complete rule-of-law crisis of its own will be a delicate tightrope for the new government.

June 2, 2026

“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord Acton

Before I catalog the vast amount of corruption that is endemic to the Trump administration, which is exhausting, and I get accused again of having Deranged Trump Syndrome, I am going to give to my friends on the right Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company called Burisma. Clearly, had his last name been Smith or Jones, he wouldn’t have made it into the boardroom. Even though several Republican led Congressional committees couldn’t find anything that Joe Biden had done wrong, it wasn’t a good look. Hunter Biden pulled down a salary, and Joe Biden gained nothing. With the benefit of hindsight, I think you might find this “scheme” quaint for its lack of size, originality, and illegality.

And while we are it, let’s deal with the other gorilla in the room. Nancy Pelosi’s household disclosed roughly $59 million in trades over three years. The trades, executed by her husband, did extremely well. President Donald Trump disclosed up to $750 million in trades in 90 days. The U.S. Office of Government Ethics released Trump’s personal financial activity from January through March 2026. The reports document more than 3,600 individual securities transactions in 90 days — roughly 40 to 60 trades per market day. Trades included many companies that Trump had either personal dealings with or were subject to government influence, companies like Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, Intel, Amazon, Meta and Paramount.

The “Trump slush fund,” officially called the Anti-Weaponization Fund, is a $1.8 billion taxpayer-backed pool of money. It was established through a settlement with the Department of Justice to resolve President Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. The fund is designed to provide payouts to individuals who claim they were victims of political persecution or overreach by the federal government, specifically under the Biden and Obama administrations. Concerns have been raised that the money will be used to reward political allies, such as the January 6 rioters. Former Vice President Mike Pence and others have called the fund “deeply offensive,” while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has described it as a “corrupt scheme”. The White House recently signaled a retreat on its “anti-weaponization” fund. A federal judge directed the government to temporarily halt work on the nearly $1.8 billion fund, and the Justice Department said it would abide by the order. Trump said he would not give up his immunity from IRS audits.

Donald Trump and his family have amassed hundreds of millions in cash and billions in paper wealth from their crypto venture, World Liberty Financial (WLF). Donald Trump’s entry into cryptocurrency through his personal $TRUMP meme coin and his family-run crypto platform World Liberty Financial (WLF) has drawn heavy criticism from ethics watchdogs, congressional investigators, and legal scholars, who characterize these ventures as unprecedented vehicles for presidential self-dealing, pay-to-play politics, and foreign influence.

Retail investors saw the value of the token collapse by roughly 90% from its all-time high, losing billions collectively. In May 2025, Trump hosted an exclusive dinner at his Virginia golf club for the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP coin, who spent an average of $1.8 million each to qualify. Foreign nationals, who are legally barred from contributing to U.S. political campaigns, bought massive amounts of the token to effectively buy goodwill and access to the Trump administration.

Chinese-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun invested $75 million into World Liberty Financial. Shortly after, the SEC abruptly paused its multi-year civil fraud investigation against Sun, and Sun was subsequently granted a spot at Trump’s exclusive investor dinner. A fund backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) purchased a 49% stake in a WLF-affiliated venture, funneling $187 million to the Trump family. WLF partnered with Binance to facilitate a $2 billion investment via its stablecoin, despite Binance having previously pleaded guilty to U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions violations involving Iran.

Trump used his executive powers to boost his personal portfolio. Trump announced the creation of a U.S. Strategic Crypto Reserve. This policy declaration immediately caused market surges in the exact crypto assets held by WLF and Trump insiders. Trump dissolved Biden-era crypto enforcement task forces, effectively shutting down investigations into the very marketplace he was actively profiting from.

Trump abuses the use of executive clemency. He routinely pardons political allies, wealthy donors, and controversial figures in exchange for financial or political support. I have made my opinion known about the ballroom in a previous column. There is not enough space to discuss Trump watches. Now I ask, who is deranged?

May 17, 2026

In the famous words of Ronald Reagan, “There you go again.” Once again, a Republican President is leaving a mess for a Democrat to clean up.

President Reagan, an avowed deficit hawk, promulgated policies that led to significant deficit spending, with the national debt nearly tripling from $997 billion to 2.85 trillion, making the US a debtor nation. While promising a balanced budget, deficits were driven by large tax cuts and increased military spending, and were not offset by the expected economic boom promised by “Trickle Down” economics. In1997, President Clinton reached an agreement with Republicans aimed at balancing the budget. The deal produced a budget surplus of $69 billion in 1998, which peaked at $236 billion in 2000, allowing for a reduction in the national debt. The combination of tax hikes on high earners in 1993 and capital gains cuts in 1997, along with spending restraints, led to economic expansion, and a booming stock market.

Following a familiar Republican playbook, President George W. Bush enacted tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, which were major measures aimed at stimulating the economy, reducing income taxes for all earners, cutting capital gains/dividend taxes, and doubling the child tax credit. As a result, Bush oversaw a significant increase in the federal deficit, transitioning from a projected Clinton surplus to a $1.4 trillion deficit by fiscal year 2009. Bush left office during one of the greatest financial meltdowns in U.S. history, handing his successor, Barack Obama, an unprecedented financial disaster, and an unwieldy federal deficit.

Obama was forced to address the mess that Bush left him. The Obama stimulus package was approximately $800 billion designed to combat the Great Recession. It aimed to save/create millions of jobs, provide tax relief, and invest in infrastructure, education, and healthcare. The bill was passed with minimal Republican support, drawing criticism over its cost and effectiveness. Republicans criticized the cost of the bill, and also had the unmitigated gall to criticize the tepid recovery and the relatively weak economic growth. This set the stage for Trump’s election, and his “American Carnage” inauguration speech.

In a deja vu moment, and showing an inability to learn from recent history, Republicans, despite a strong economy, immediately enacted another tax cut for the wealthy and corporations. The federal budget deficit increased significantly, rising from roughly $585 billion in FY2016 to nearly a $1 trillion in 2019. Despite that, real GDP grew at an average annual rate of roughly 2.3% to 2.5% before the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp contraction, which was only slightly higher than the final years of the Obama administration. Trump left his successor with the mishandling of the COVID epidemic, and another Republican economic recession.

President Biden, apparently learning the lessons from the Obama years, decided to go big or go home. Biden’s key economic pillars included massive public investment in infrastructure, clean energy, and semiconductor manufacturing, alongside strengthening the social safety net, increasing worker power, and raising taxes on corporations and high-income earners via the American Rescue Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS, and the Inflation Reduction Act. According to the Center for Public Policy and Research, “Biden turned around an economy in shambles due to the pandemic, and handed off an economy that was the envy of the world.” However, Biden was criticized for too much stimulus and rising inflation, which gave rise to Trump 2.0.

Now we have the Iran mess created by Donald Trump. Per The New York Times, the United States has burned through around 1,100 of its long-range stealth cruise missiles built for a war with China, close to the total number remaining in the U.S. stockpile. The military has fired off more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, roughly 10 times the number it currently buys each year. The Pentagon has used more than 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles at more than $4 million a piece, and more than 1,000 Precision Strike, ground-based missiles, leaving inventories worrisomely low, according to internal Defense Department estimates and congressional officials. The drawdowns have left us less ready to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China. Officials say that it may take years, well past the time that Trump leaves office, to rebuild our inventories.

In summary, Reagan left massive, tax-cut induced deficits for Clinton; Clinton left a budget surplus for Bush; Bush left even more tax-cut induced deficits and a Great Recession for Obama; Obama left a solid economy for Trump; Trump left a a pandemic and a recession for Biden; Biden left a healthy economy for Trump; and now Trump is leaving a depleted military for his successor. It’s time to take the keys away from the Republican Party.

April 29, 2026

Trump put his ballroom back in play after claiming that it was the only way to keep Presidents safe from the hostile, left-wing, fake media and Communist, violence-endorsing, gun-hating Democrats at future White House Correspondents’ Dinners. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is still saying not so fast, and a federal judge has stopped the construction pending Congressional approval, but the ballroom seems as inevitable as death and taxes.

In the spirit of the Parthenon built by the Athenians in 432 BCE as a monument to the gods, and Versailles built by Louis XIV, the Sun King, circa 1710, Trump is building what will be a historical and everlasting monument to his own ego and vanity. The New York Times called it “unscrutinized.” Architecture critics say it should be stopped as an offense to good taste. The problem becomes what do you with a 90,000 square foot edifice complex once it is built. Even though it should be razed, it’s seems like that would be a waste of the hundreds of millions of dollars that billionaires looking for favors have poured into it. Here are some possible appropriate uses for the space.

Trump sent in ICE to clean up the streets of Washington, D.C., but what do you with the thousands of criminals they rounded up? Let’s repurpose the Trump Ballroom (TB) into the Trump Immigration Detention Center (TIDCDC.) Rather than building detention centers in remote parts of the United States, the Department of Homeland Insecurity could probably squeeze 10,000 or more detainees into the TIDCDC.

Trump is constantly complaining about what a Democratic hell hole Washington, D.C. is. Homelessness is a problem. There are approximately five thousand homeless people in D.C. Despite recent federal efforts to clear encampments, homelessness remains a persistent issue with a high concentration among Black residents. We could turn the Trump Ballroom into the Trump Shelter for the Homeless (TSH.) It could also double as a walk-in drug clinic for all of the fentanyl addicts in D.C.

Or maybe it could be a school for the disabled like the people Trump likes to make fun of. You know, for people like Serge Kovaleski, the reporter who has arthrogryposis, a congenital condition that causes joint contractures, affecting the movement of his right arm and hand. Or for people dealing with dyslexia like Governor Gavin Newsom of California, who Trump likes to call “Newscum.” Clever. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “Honestly, I’m all for people with learning disabilities, but not for my president. I think a president should not have learning disabilities.”

Or it could be used to help veterans, who have been injured in war like the ones Trump famously wants out of the frame. Trump may hate these ideas, but it might earn him the much-coveted Nobel Peace Prize from the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee. Pope Leo XIV might even confer sainthood on him.

Rather than putting the Trump Library in a bathroom in Mar-a-Lago, we could turn the Trump Ballroom into an actual public library, and call it the Trump Library (TL.) All of the books that Trump has read could have their own special shelf. The library would be free of any books referencing slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, freedom marches, the Civil Rights Act, DEI, or Barack Obama. Another good use for the space would be to create a museum of all of the great Americans that Trump has defamed…John McCain, Robert Mueller, any number of Supreme Court Justices, Obama, Clinton, Bush, Carter, Comey, Powell. And all of the women that he has insulted and abused… Hillary Clinton, Stormy Daniels, E. Jean Carroll, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, Carly Fiorina, Liz Cheney, Nikki Haley, Megyn Kelly, Mika Brzezinski, Katy Tur, Arianna Huffington, Maureen Dowd, Kaitlan Collins, Rosie O’Donnell, Heidi Cruz, Cher and Kim Kardashian among others.

Being the religious guy that he is, I don’t think Trump would object if we turned the Trump Ballroom into the Trump Christian Nationalist Mega Church (TCNMC.) Jerry Falwell, Jr. may be still looking for work after his sex scandal at Liberty University. Trump could get on his knees everyday, and thank god and the Supreme Court that he wasn’t in jail.

The TB could be a multi-purpose facility occupied by Planned Parenthood, PBS/NPR, and USAID. Lastly, it could be a home for wayward young girls where Trump could keep an eye on them from the Lincoln bedroom.

April 23, 2026

Here are some sayings that I have fashioned over the years.

Life is like a pebble in a turbulent stream. It starts out rough, but smooths out over time.

It is what it is unless it isn’t.

Great minds think alike. Greater minds think independently.

When in doubt, go out. Even if there is no doubt, still go out.

Golf is a good life spoiled.

Don’t count on the hare stopping.

Shoot first and ask questions later is protected by the Second Amendment.

It takes two plus a dance teacher to tango.

If two is company, and three is a crowd, what the hell is four?

It’s mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

Greater fools have theories?

When the going gets tough, men still don’t ask for directions.

If records are made to be broken, what about iPods?

All that glitters is not gold, but I’ll still take the gold.

I think animal testing should be left up to local school boards.

Politics is too important to be left to people.

Going to the dogs? You should be so lucky.

Looking at a menu online is like learning the sex of your baby before birth.

If you flatulate with headphones on, does it make a sound?

Every time you fail, you are one step closer to slitting your wrists.

I am a Latin lover, but nobody understands me.

You can seize the day as long as you leave me the night.

Creativity is the dreams you remember.

Before getting a tattoo, go to a fine arts museum to see what art really looks like.

Plagiarism is the sincerest form of floutery.

Perfection takes way too much time.

It takes a lot of hard work to be a genius.

Never look at a menu until you have finished your first drink.

If it wasn’t for the weather, Florida would have no reason to exist.

The rules of golf are difficult to understand, but easy to ignore.

I was dreaming about blackjack so my wife hit me.

If you want a friend, get a friend. Don’t get a dog.

It’s almost impossible to be original and be on the internet.

I don’t have all the answers, but I do know most of the questions.

Mens sana in corpore insano.

Golf is like a bad marriage. It breaks your heart, and takes all your money.

I killed two birds with one stone, and got arrested.

If it’s so damn easy, why can’t I make a pie?

The acorn doesn’t fall far from the apple tree.

A rolling stoner gathers moss.

Step on my foot, and my mouth opens.

A bird in the hand is very messy.

I just got caught in the “likability” trap. It can be spelled two ways.

Photoshopped pictures are fauxtography.

Two lefts don’t make a right.

Outer space is over my head.

If the shoe fits, buy another pair.

April 17, 2026

Much like the Trump’s administration’s undeclared war against Iran, the Republican Party and the members of the radical right have been waging a long time, undeclared war against science. It is not totally clear when the war started, but some observers trace it to the infamous Scopes “Monkey” Trial. The Scopes Trial of 1925 was a legal case in which a high school teacher was accused of teaching human evolution in Tennessee. The trial set progressives, who believed evolution could be consistent with religion, against fundamentalists, who believed the word of God as revealed in the Bible took priority over all human knowledge. Famed criminal attorney Clarence Darrow argued the case, which was overturned on a technicality. Regardless, the battle was joined, and continues to this day in one form or another.

For some unknown reason, the MAGA right is openly hostile to science. Trump and his followers are applying a chokehold to academic research. Trump’s attacks on universities like Harvard are well-documented. His point of leverage is federal funding of research grants where the federal government and research universities had shared a productive partnership for decades. Per Nobel laureate and economist, Paul Krugman, large numbers of existing grants have been frozen or terminated, especially in the study of infectious diseases. The United States is already lagging both China and Europe in the publication of articles in highly ranked scientific journals. This, when combined with the sharp drop in visas issued to foreign students who play a direct role in research, are doing immediate damage, and there will be lasting damage well past the time that Trump’s term in office is over.

Climate change may be the most serious scientific issue facing the United States and the world, yet Trump is still saying “burn, baby, burn” and let’s dig for more “beautiful coal.” One of his first acts as President 1.0 was to pull us out of the the Paris Agreement, which had been negotiated by the Obama administration. He withdrew again in 2025 after the Biden administration rejoined in 2021. The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 195 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France, on December 12, 2015. As of January 27, 2026, there were 194 parties to the Paris Agreement. It’s goal is to hold the overall increase in global temperatures to 2 degrees centigrade or below.

The second Trump administration has aggressively rolled back federal clean energy support, aiming to hinder wind, solar, and electric vehicle projects through regulatory hurdles, funding cancellations, and massive payouts to terminate offshore wind leases. The administration prioritizes fossil fuel, particularly natural gas and coal, while eliminating tax credits for renewables. 

The administration has initiated a near-complete shutdown of new offshore wind projects. They have made drastic funding cuts at the EPA and the DOE for clean energy programs. They have instituted a nearly complete moratorium on new solar and wind projects. Federal support is being redirected toward expanding oil, gas, and coal even as AI data center demand for energy grows. States are trying to fill the gap, but it’s an uphill battle. Trump’s policies are projected to increase electricity costs and increase air pollution at the same time that he is driving up the cost of oil with his war in Iran.

China is the world’s largest producer and installer of renewable energy, exceeding 2.34 TW of installed capacity by end-2025, with wind and solar driving rapid growth. China accounted for over 30% of global clean energy investment in 2024, spending roughly $625 billion. China dominates the global electric vehicle (EV) market through massive, state-supported, AI-driven automation, with BYD overtaking rivals as a top producer with over $230 billion in government subsidies.

In 2025, Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. His father must be rolling over in his grave. His Wikipedia page lists him a “conspiracy theorist” and “anti-vaccine activist.” Critics and health experts have described Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership of HHS as a “wrecking ball” for the U.S. healthcare system. Kennedy oversaw the firing of approximately 10,000 employees across key agencies. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices reversed long-standing recommendations for the Hepatitis B birth shot and declined to recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. He canceled billions in scientific research grants, including $500 million for mRNA vaccine development. He used the official CDC website to promote debunked links between vaccines and autism, while also pushing unproven connections between Tylenol and autism. His tenure has coincided with major measles outbreaks in states like Texas and South Carolina.

To put a cherry on the cake, science education under the Trump administration has made efforts to change curricula, targeting topics like climate change and evolution. Trump is drafting your children and grandchildren to help wage his war on science.

April 12, 2026

According to Donald Trump, there are millions of undocumented immigrants planning on voting illegally in the next mid-term elections and beyond. He is essentially saying that these people left all manner of deprivation and fear in their home countries to come here on a perilous trip, get a job, maybe buy a home, pay taxes, and send their children to school. And, after going through all of this, they are willing to risk losing it all so that they can cast an illegal vote, possibly get caught, be deported, and maybe be incarcerated in a hell hole somewhere like Florida. Trump wants us to believe that these people are willing to lose it all to do something that even 40% of naturalized Americans are not willing to do. Sadly, way too many supposedly smart people are willing to buy into this ridiculous theory.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, “Politicians at all levels of government have repeatedly, and falsely, claimed the 2016, 2018, and 2020 elections were marred by large numbers of people voting illegally. However, extensive research shows that fraud is very rare, voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent, and many instances of alleged fraud are, in fact, mistakes by voters or administrators. The same is true for mail ballots, which are secure and were essential to holding a safe election amid the coronavirus pandemic. Noncitizens are not permitted to vote in state and federal elections. It’s a federal crime for noncitizens to register or vote in federal elections, and it’s a crime under every state’s laws, punishable by a $10,000 fine, five years in prison, or both. So it should come as no surprise that every legitimate study ever done on the question shows that voting by noncitizens in state and federal elections is exceedingly rare.”

Now comes the SAVE Act. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act is a proposed United States law that would require “documentary proof of United States citizenship” to register to vote in federal elections.

According to the radical, left wing, anti-American League of Women Voters, citizens, instead of simply needing a driver’s license to register to vote, will instead need an “enhanced” driver’s license or their US birth certificate. This requirement makes it extra difficult for people of color and individuals with name changes (women) to register to vote. Additionally, the SAVE Act would also impose an effective ban on both third-party voter registration and online registration. The bill’s requirement of a document, such as a passport or birth certificate, to prove American citizenship to register to vote in federal elections is unnecessary. It creates one more barrier to the voting process, as many eligible voters do not have easy access to the necessary documents. Legislation like the SAVE Act is another in a long list of tactics, like strict voter photo ID requirements, which seek to make it more difficult for voters of color and naturalized citizens to vote. More than 21 million Americans will have difficulty in accessing these extra documents, which may lead to a decrease in the size of the eligible electorate. Ultimately, Americans do not need more obstacles to vote. In fact, we need to make it easier for citizens to vote.

It’s not like Trump wants to bring back poll taxes, literacy tests, and property requirements, or wants to disenfranchise women and blacks again. If people, regardless of their status, are not voting illegally, then what is Trump’s motivation? According to the New York Times, President Trump has deemed this bill to tighten voter identification and registration rules to be essential to his agenda and the future of the Republican Party.

The Supreme Court has done immeasurable damage to voting rights in this country. The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 to ensure state and local governments do not pass laws or policies that deny American citizens the equal right to vote based on race. On June 25, 2013, the Supreme Court swept away a key provision of this landmark civil rights law in Shelby County v. Holder. Now, the Supreme Court appears ready to overturn a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by, and then received within five business days of, Election Day. A majority of justices seemed to agree with the challengers that the Mississippi law conflicts with federal laws that set the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the “election day.” For the record, Donald Trump votes by mail.

The United States ranks approximately 31st among 50 developed countries in the percentage of our citizens who vote. We hover around 60%. Why is Donald Trump trying to make it more difficult for people to vote? I think we know the answer, and Viktor Orban does too.

March 28, 2026

As I begin this column, Spring has sprung, the first robins have arrived, and Red Sox won their opening day game. I leave for a golf vacation soon, which assumes that one can actually take a vacation when retired. More accurately, I will be traveling. I have a side hustle as a panelist for Golf Digest magazine, which affords me the opportunity to travel, and evaluate some of the best golf courses in America and abroad, if I ever get there. After all, someone has to do it. The trip, not by design, is an ode to blue state America. I leave my home here, drive to Bradley, catch a flight to JFK before making a connecting flight to one of Dante’s rings of progressive hell called San Francisco. After two days visiting with my college roommate in Bezerkley, I drive to Pebble Beach for five days of golf. From there, I will fly to blue state Mecca known as Hawaii for even more golf. Given the fact that I will be spending some twenty four hours on airplanes, I thought it would be a good use of my time to jot down some random thoughts as a form of mental Spring cleaning.

I just had my six month COVID booster, which seems to be an act of political courage these days. Ironically, five conservative talk show hosts have died of COVID.

Speaking of vaccines, I wish RFK, Jr. would allow the NIH to come up with a vaccine for Obama Derangement Syndrome because Trump has a lethal case. In 2015, President Obama, along with the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, negotiated the Iran nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which limited Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons. One of Trump’s first official acts as President in Trump 1.0 was to walk away from the agreement just because Obama burned him at the Washington Correspondents Dinner in 2011. Trump needs to learn to take a joke rather than just being one. And I am not even going to mention Trump’s unhealthy obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to Obama.

A friend of mine often quotes a famous maxim from the Thucydides’ Melian Dialogue (c. 416 BC). “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” It describes the Athenian ultimatum to the neutral island of Melos during the Peloponessian War. Or, as Donald Trump might eloquently say, “What are ya goin’ to do about it?”

One of the major issues that was the undoing of President Johnson during the Vietnam War was “Guns and Butter.” Despite increased military spending, Johnson refused to reduce spending on domestic goods and services and/or raise taxes. Trump wants another $200B to pay for his war in Iran, but he doesn’t want anyone to pay for it. By the way, if someone murdered your father, mother, wife, and son, what would you do? I am just asking the question. This is not over by a long shot.

We are about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Rather than military parades, fly overs, and ceremonial arches, Trump should ask everyone to read it. He should read it on a nationally televised broadcast. Every student should be required to read it, and then write a one page essay in class (with no AI) about what the Declaration of Independence means to them. Maybe we could set a national goal of 90% voter participation in November, up from 60%, rather than trying to pass the SAVE Act in our race to the bottom.

I agree with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito that abortion is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution. However, it is also a procedure not prevented by the Constitution. It is tough being an Originalist.

Dinosaurs failed to adapt and died. Now, current day dinosaurs are failing to adapt to climate change as they encourage the burning of fossil fuels, and the killing of renewable energy projects. Ironic.

Slavery, the Jim Crow laws, and Plessy vs. Ferguson were affirmative actions.

Donald Trump has lost a step to first base, and has lost the zip on his fast ball. The Yankees could probably use him.

The NRA has a mental health issue when it comes to guns.

Is Richard Nixon’s secretary responsible for destroying 7 hours of phone logs during the January 6th excursion, and misplacing the Epstein files related to Trump?

When I get back, there will unfortunately still be a lot of stuff to write about. It looks like Iran, affordability, immigration, voting rights, abortion, Venezuela, Cuba, Ukraine, fraud, waste and abuse, and personal enrichment are issues among others that are not going away anytime soon. “I’ll see you in the funny papers.”

A Question of Immigration

Donald Trump set the world record for the longest State of the Union address at one hour and forty-seven minutes, which is about as significant as Joey Chestnut holding the world record for eating 76 hot dogs in ten minutes. At least the hot dog record was a lot shorter and a lot more entertaining. Speaking of dogs, one of the most prominent aspects of the SOTU speech was, in the words of Arthur Conan Doyle, “the dog that didn’t bark.” There was no mention of ICE. Coincidentally, in a recently released e-mail provided to the House of Representatives, Jeffrey Epstein referred to Donald Trump as “the dog that hasn’t barked” because Trump’s name had not surfaced publicly in connection with Epstein’s trafficking network despite Epstein claiming that Trump had spent hours with one of his victims. The other dog that didn’t bark was the silence surrounding the Epstein victims in the audience. Now we learn that the FBI memos involving one of Trump’s accusers have miraculously disappeared. Nixon’s secretary would be proud.

Immigration did come up. In a childish and premeditated maneuver, Trump asked everyone to stand if they favored protecting American citizens over illegal immigrants. It was a set up, and a no win for the Democrats. Either way, the Democrats were going to be called out. You might as well have asked everyone to raise their hands if they had stopped beating their wives.

The reality is that the question Trump asked is not the question that the American people are asking. Republicans have been very adept at framing the argument. However, no one is in favor of the immigration system as it is presently constructed. Everyone is in favor of catching and deporting the criminals, drug dealers, gang bangers, narco terrorists, and rapists that Trump warned us about in 2015 as he came down the Golden Escalator. The salient question that people are asking is are we in favor of the way Donald Trump, Steven Miller, Kristi Noem, and ICE are doing their jobs? Are we in favor of illegal enforcement in the pursuit of illegal immigrants? Is it okay to kill Americans, who make it inconvenient? The polls say no.

We are not just rounding up the worst of the worst, which constitute a small percentage of the apprehensions. As an aside, a quick Google search of America’s top ten serial murderers doesn’t show any illegal immigrants or people of color. We complain about immigrants taking advantage of the benefits meant for Americans, and maintain that they are just bad people. But where are we finding these bad people? We are capturing these lazy people at their places of employment where they do the jobs no one else wants, and they work for less, which we are okay with. By and large, their employers face no consequences for hiring these people. We are capturing these godless people in places of worship. We are capturing their unmotivated children at their schools where they are trying to learn English. We are capturing these people at stores where they are trying to support their local economies. We are not capturing illegal immigrants loitering on street corners selling drugs, or in pool halls, or in casinos, or in meth labs, or in welfare lines.

What are we really dealing with, which is another good question? I have redacted a portion of a blog that can be found at World Politics News as follows.

Judge Joseph Goodwin wrote an opinion in an immigrant case in West Virginia. The petition was for a person who was detained by ICE officers. Goodwin’s opinion began with this paragraph:

“Antiseptic judicial rhetoric cannot do justice to what is happening. Across the interior of the United States, agents of the federal government— masked, anonymous, armed with military weapons, operating from unmarked vehicles, acting without warrants of any kind—are seizing persons for civil immigration violations and imprisoning them without any semblance of due process. The systematic character of this practice and its deliberate elimination of every structural feature that distinguishes constitutional authority from raw force place it beyond the reach of ordinary legal description. It is an assault on the constitutional order. It is what the Fourth Amendment was written to prevent. It is what the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment forbids.”

I

The real question becomes who do we want to be when we finally grow up? The man-child in the White House asks a lot of dumb questions, but he has no smart answers. Donald Trump, “Raise your hand if you have stopped molesting children.”