In Hot Water

Many Americans, specifically most (?) Republican voters sit contently like frogs in boiling water. Trade war with our best ally, Canada? No problem! U.S. military running out of missiles and weapons? No problem! Americans unable to afford groceries, medication and buying gas? No problem! Measles outbreaks? No problem! American allies making new deals with China for trade and investments? No problem! Investors demanding increase in U.S. Treasury rates?No problem! American military bases in Middle East destroyed? No problem!

Ability of the Trump Administration and Congress to responsibly handle and resolve these issues: Huge problem!

Zibaldone

A zibaldone (plural zibaldoni) is an Italian word that translates to a “heap of things,” “hodgepodge,” or “miscellany.”

Couldn’t care less about Natalie Harp and what she does or doesn’t do for a doddering and feeble 80-year-old man. Just another distraction. I’m much more interested in knowing about the stories of possibly unwilling young women in Trump’s past. The failure to release the entire Epstein files and to conduct a full and transparent investigation will be viewed in history as one of the great moral and ethical failures of this time.

Way too early, but the best Democratic candidates in 2028 appear to be Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia, former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Governor Gavin Newsom of California, and Mark Kelly of Arizona. While I am impressed with Jon Ossoff, I would lean toward Mark Kelly of Arizona as the best Democratic presidential candidate today. Best VP candidate could be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Way too early, but I don’t think there are any particularly attractive Republican candidates for president. I think J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio are going to sink to the bottom of the Trump Titanic fiasco. I can’t think of a Republican who has shown backbone, integrity, and good judgment during the Trump presidential administrations. Both Vance and Rubio were highly critical of Trump in the past, and now both bow to him on their knees.

Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline, was endorsed by Trump for the South Carolina Republican Senate nomination. She is a deer in the headlights. She confessed during a recent debate that she was not familiar with national security issues, and then I realized that neither was her brother when he was in the Senate.

Is anyone remotely competent in the Trump administration and cabinet? Every day, and in every way, you see a variety of issues and problems being mismanaged. Hard to believe that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. still has his job. Astounding things that he says and believes…

So there could be a perfect storm brewing…

Rising Treasury rates as investors seek higher returns because U.S. credit is not as reliable as it once was. This could further spike inflation and make it harder to buy homes, cars, etc. In addition, I’m concerned about the prospects for AI. So much money is being invested. Could there be a correction just like there was with Internet stocks 25 or more years ago? A huge correction in the stock market would also have cataclysmic effects on retirement portfolios, personal finances, etc. Just as our military assets are being depleted, so may our financial assets in the very near future!

Every year I look forward to summer, and just about every year summer disappoints me. Too damn hot to enjoy being outside. Summer hibernation with air-conditioning.

Favorite Sports to Watch on TV

College football
Men’s college basketball
NFL football
Pickleball
Philadelphia Phillies baseball
NBA basketball
WNBA basketball — only when Caitlin Clark plays
Men’s professional tennis
1970s heavyweight boxing

Inventive Way to Win Iran War

According to various press reports, the United States military is running out of missiles and bombs. Just a suggestion, but why don’t we carpet bomb Iran with copies of Trump’s Art of the Deal book. I’m sure that we have a substantial inventory of those and if Iranian leaders read and follow the book, their unconditional surrender is guaranteed.

Some Thoughts… Without a Lot of Thought

The attacks on Dr. Fauci… I don’t get it.

Judging by some politicians—and one aging quarterback—you’d think Anthony Fauci invented the coronavirus.

Yes, his journals reveal a measure of ego and an appreciation for the spotlight. So what? In 2020 there were no easy answers. Scientists, physicians, and government leaders were navigating a once-in-a-century crisis with imperfect information.

What I remember is not a villain, but a calm and reassuring public figure trying to make sense of chaos.

The attacks on Caitlin Clark… I don’t get it.

She may not be the WNBA’s best player, but she is unquestionably its biggest attraction.

Clark has elevated television ratings, attendance, and public interest, yet she often seems to receive less respect than she has earned—from opposing players, league officials, and at times even her own organization.

From everything I’ve seen, she has handled herself with remarkable composure while avoiding needless controversy. Whatever one thinks of her game, the label “coward” is as absurd as it is undeserved.

How is Trump still president?

People lose their jobs every day for poor performance, erratic behavior, or simply failing to meet expectations. Yet somehow the presidency appears exempt from the standards applied to almost every other occupation.

Political arguments

I’ve largely stopped discussing politics, especially with committed Trump supporters.

The experience reminds me of trying to shoo flies out of the house. You wave them away, they circle back, and after a while you realize you’re wasting more energy than they are.

The Age of Incongruity

A preening president, smiling from an air-conditioned luxury box at the World Cup final, enjoys the spectacle while American soldiers in the Middle East sit exposed to incoming missiles and artillery. The contrast is jarring: comfort and applause for those at the top, danger and sacrifice for those at the bottom.

The incongruities multiply.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services, whose public profile has long overshadowed his scientific credentials, dispenses medical advice while Dr. Andrew Fauci—an 85-year-old physician and career public servant who helped lead the nation’s response to COVID-19 and other infectious disease threats—is hauled before congressional critics more interested in campaign clips than sober inquiry. Washington has become a theater where expertise is booed from the stage while confidence, however unearned, receives a standing ovation.

If you are Donald Trump, a member of his family, a political insider, or the CEO of a corporation eager to flatter the administration, the economy may look quite favorable. Outside that circle, the picture is less rosy. Families contend with expensive gasoline, rising food and health-care costs, and for some, the growing anxiety that an expanding conflict could one day place their sons and daughters in uniform.

According to recent polling, only about one-third of Americans support military action against Iran. Yet the machinery grinds on while Congress performs its favorite civic duty: watching. It occasionally stirs itself—not to confront the nation’s most pressing problems, but to stage another hearing destined to produce more fundraising emails than useful legislation.

The nation may eventually run short of fuel, but there is no danger of running short of hot air. Washington produces it in inexhaustible quantities. I remember the gasoline rationing of the 1970s. At the current pace, one wonders whether history is preparing an encore.

Nothing to “Crowe” About?

Band booed for shutting down ‘U.S.A.’ chant. ‘Don’t know what you have to be so proud of right now.’

Rock band The Black Crowes drew loud boos and fans left a recent concert after frontman Chris Robinson mocked audience members who started “U.S.A.” chants.

“Thanks for the geography lesson, I don’t know what you have to be so proud of right now,” Robinson told the crowd, according to reports.

When fans began booing, Robinson said, “For those of you f—ing booing us, some of us are not afraid, and we most assuredly are not f—ing ignorant, so thank you.

Gas prices can easily rise to over $6 per gallon in the next week or so as our oil reserves are at a very low level. Iran continues to pull the chains of Trump, Hegseth and Rubio in negotiations to end the war. The White House, between the UFC fight stage and the ballroom, looks like one of the deserted Atlantic City casino buildings Trump left by Steel Pier. Trump officials stonewall on Epstein files, Trump’s insider stock trades and proposed $1.8 billion for reparations for January 6 vandals.

There still exists a sizable part of the population who supports Trump for reasons that I can’t fathom at this stage.

Snipes, Sneers and Asides

No One Wants to Work for Trump

Roughly one in five lawyers who worked in the government at the end of 2024 had left by March of this year, according to a New York Times analysis of federal employment data.

Along with the usual retirements and turnover in the federal work force, the last year saw deep staffing cuts and the resignations of some staff members who objected to Mr. Trump’s policies. Their departures show how rapidly the president has eroded the image of the federal government as the gold standard for lawyers seeking public service roles.

Trump Administration Sees Striking Exodus of Legal Talent NY Times

*****

Trump Urges Canceling Freedom 250 Concerts After Artists Drop Out

At the moment, the United States is negotiating with a regime that President Trump claimed we had already changed, to open a strait that was supposed to be open last month, and to end a nuclear program that we said we had obliterated… Not only was Iran able to immediately and decisively close the Strait of Hormuz; it’s now clear that the Iranian regime inflicted significant damage on American bases in the region and significant damage on oil and natural gas production around the Persian Gulf. In addition, in spite of U.S. air superiority, the Islamic republic was able to damage or destroy at least 42 manned and unmanned American aircraft.

The President Is Giving a Master Class in What Not to Do by David French

Six in 10 Americans (59%) say they read at least one book in 2025, a new YouGov survey finds. That’s in line with similar YouGov surveys in 2024 and 2023. Most Americans who did read books only finished a handful of books, while a minority of Americans were plowing through the pages. Here’s what YouGov found about Americans’ 2025 book-reading habits:

Besides the 40% of Americans who didn’t read any books in 2025, another 27% read one to four books. And 13% read five to nine books. That leaves 19% of Americans who read 10 or more books, including 9% who read 10 to 19 books, 6% who read 20 to 49 books, and 4% who say they read 50 or more books.

(I am surprised that 10% of Americans read more than 20 books per year. I don’t know many in my circle of friends and acquaintenances who have read even five books a year.)

American Backbone?

Science is going to have to research whatever happened to the American backbone. Was it removed from many U.S. babies beginning in the 1950’s? Someone who has been away from this country in the past two years would not recognize or understand what has happened. Total capitulation by the Congress and many of the American public!

I.R.S. to Drop Audits of Trump and Family

Prison to Pardons to Payouts: Jan. 6 Rioters Are Elated at Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

Trump’s Spring Revenge Tour Routed G.O.P. Foes.

Trump Blurts Stunning Gas Price Rant Amid Sinking Polls: ‘This is Peanuts!

Monsters We Elected

I’ve never had much appetite for horror—neither on the screen nor on the page. Tales of cruelty, suffering, and human rot hold little charm for me. And yet, each morning, with a kind of reluctant curiosity, I scan the headlines. That’s where the real horror lives now—brewing not in some gothic castle, but in Washington, D.C..

Consider this week’s “trailers”:

About 6 in 10 say they try to avoid Trump news
U.S. debt tops 100% of GDP
Inflation spikes to 3.5% as conflict with Iran drives prices higher
The U.S. military was losing its edge—after Iran, everyone knows it
Americans struggle under rising health insurance premiums after Congress declines to extend tax credits
Trump delivers a word-salad response when asked about congressional approval for war

It would be comforting to dismiss all this as fiction. But unlike a novel by Stephen King, there is no final chapter, no closing of the book—only the uneasy sense that the plot is still unraveling.

The bitter truth is this: the public, in its wisdom or folly, has had a hand in conjuring these monsters. Not with the dramatic panic of Martians descending from the skies, but with ballots cast, loyalties hardened, and reason often set aside.

In Congress, the spectacle borders on the servile. One is reminded less of statesmen and more of Renfield, ever watchful, ever obedient, fearful above all of displeasing the Master.

And the public? There is protest, yes—but it is largely polite, contained, almost quaint. Handmade signs. Chants that echo briefly and fade. No torches, no reckoning—just a low, persistent murmur of discontent.

Meanwhile, the monsters do what monsters do: they carry on, untroubled, perhaps even amused. The republic searches for its kryptonite—and has yet to find it.

Modern Day Sodom and Gomorrah

I feel like I am a family member whose father has gone on a drunken murder spree and murdered innocent women and children randomly in the streets. To make it worse, other members of my family support him and make excuses for his insane actions.

“We are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly — very shortly,” he said. “We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”

Donald J. Trump 4/1/26 Address to nation

Washington has become the court of Nero, a fiery emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled jester in charge of purging the civil service…Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy. Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally. Never has anyone trampled on the American Constitution, issued so many illegal decrees, dismissed judges who could have prevented him from doing so, dismissed the military general staff in one fell swoop, weakened all checks and balances, and taken control of social media.

Claude Malhuet on the End of American Democracy, speaking in the French Senate, Tuesday, March 4, 2025.

Most of America is exhausted with all the lies, buffoonery, hypocrisy, incompetence and delusions in Washington. With all the firings (Bondi, Noem etc.) can we fire Donald Trump too? Then we must seriously question the judgment of the people who voted for and still support him.