The next couple of days will be different. I have to attend a funeral for a close relative. She was ninety-seven and so I’m travelling both closer to my geographical origin and back in time to my childhood. I’ll be going back to the Catholic church I attended as a child and seeing the neighborhood I lived in. And a lot of my cousins will be there and my siblings. I probably will also see some old acquaintances for the last time on this Earth. And that is a thought that gives me pause. This is the second death of that generation in the last few weeks. Those folks had a lot of vitality. All of them on that side of the family have reached their nineties. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about that legacy. It’s not an unmixed “blessing.”
I’ll look over the old neighborhood. Last time I was there it had become a Southeast Asian enclave of one sort or another. I’ll be interested to see if the homeless and the illegal aliens have shown up to any degree. I suspect things will look worse than even it looked a decade ago when I passed through. The only thing that seems to have endured since my childhood is an old-fashioned Italian bakery that somehow has endured. The family still runs it and from what I’ve been told they still make crumb cake and crème doughnuts that are worth buying. So, after the wake and the mass I intend to stop by that store and buy some pastries to bring home to Camera Girl. She’s partial to good crumb cake and I like it too.
When I get back, we’ll have some good coffee and enjoy some pastries while I tell her what the old neighborhood looks like. And I’ll tell her who showed up for the funeral and who didn’t. What everybody looked like and any family news for good or bad. And hopefully, there won’t be any new feuds breaking out to report. At this point in the cycle, I’m hoping everybody is looking to let bygones be bygones and go quietly into that good night. But you never know. I come from some pretty ornery stock. There are old feuds that go back well over a hundred years that I’ve heard about and as far as I know are still being honored. But hopefully those folks won’t be showing up for this family gathering.
And in fact, I know of at least one party who will attempt to spark a gathering of the clan for a summer party sometime in the summer. I used to have one every summer about a decade ago at the Compound but people got older and travelling became more difficult so it subsided. Maybe this will revive the custom.
So, I’ll see what I can do to keep this site active while I’m on the road. At the very least there will be pictures and quotes. I’ll see if I can get one more post scheduled after this one to fill in the gap. But we’ll see.
I will be out of pocket most of today and tomorrow. I have scheduled content to fill the gap in my attendance. I’ll try to pop in as circumstances allow. Now on with the show.
Do you know what movie is the front-runner for Best Picture and Best Actress Oscar Awards? It’s a musical called Emilia Pérez. It’s the story of a Mexican cartel kingpin named Manitas Del Monte who decides to undergo a sex change operation and become a woman named (you guessed it) Emilia Pérez. And as you might imagine problems crop up. He wants to keep tabs on his wife and children (who think he is dead). And when his wife resumes an affair with one of his henchmen well, that’s going to be a problem. Eventually everyone ends up dead, so it’s kind of a cautionary tale about sex changes I guess. But it’s a musical so I’m sure it’s a lot of fun.
Now of course the best bit is the “actress” playing Emilia Pérez is, of course a man who has had his manly bits hacked off and now wears a dress and wig. So, this is the year when a man will win the Best Actress Award.
Another milestone!
I guess you’re asking yourself where is he going with this? What is there to say?
It’s a fair question. After all this is just the logical conclusion to the progression in Hollywood for the last twenty years or so. The proportion of movies that are strictly message movies and lack any entertainment value has been increasing steadily for two decades to the point where whole years can pass without anything appearing in theaters that general audiences can enjoy. Of late even the superhero and Star Wars movies have been saturated with gender and racial equity messaging to such a point that these once bullet-proof box-office money makers have been crashing and burning. Disney has had a string of flops that instead of making billions as they used to aren’t even breaking even.
Well, I think with Emilia Pérez we’ve reached the edge of the cliff. If Hollywood gives the Best Picture and Best Actress awards to Emilia Pérez they will have passed into self-parody and forfeited any hope of recovery. I have seen outtakes from this film. There is a whole song devoted to vaginoplasty. This is not the work of sane people. This makes “Springtime for Hitler,” the farcical play within a play from Mel Brooks’ “The Producers,” look like Shakespeare.
From what I’ve heard, Mexico is up in arms. Apparently, the honor of the narco-trafficantes has been besmirched by the premise of the movie. I’m amazed that the producers don’t fear that they may end up as heads in a duffel bag somewhere in a cartel stronghold in Mexico. And personally, I don’t see how we could blame them for taking offense. After all it’s kind of like misgendering in a way. And we all know how bad that is.
But seriously, if there is still any doubt that conservatives could easily make excellent money by opening up a half-decent movie studio and provide the public with even mediocre entertainment, this is the proof. The idiots in Hollywood have lost their damn minds and nobody wants to watch what they are producing and awarding.
Right now, a studio using ten-year-old CGI technology and century old plots could be picking up most of the billions that Marvel and Lucas Films are leaving on the table by being woke. Something like Dune or any space opera from the 1940s would sell tickets all day long just by providing teenagers with a hero saves the princess plot. After all that’s what Star Wars was based on and they printed money for forty years until they screwed it up with the woke crap they had to inject into it.
Let me recommend that you not go to see Emilia Pérez. In fact, let me recommend that you not watch this year’s Oscars (not that you would). But who I am really talking to is Elon Musk and other deep pockets guys who have the wherewithal to take advantage of others’ mistakes. Hire a few of the better movie screenwriters and tell them to write a Star Wars rip-off. Except make it for normal people. Then film it and make a billion dollars. No brainer.
One step forward two steps back. Ah, the slings and arrows or outrageous fortune. Last week the mainframe that I keep my photos and editing software on died a terrible death. I had hoped at first that maybe the power supply had given out. I sent it off to the local computer geeks with this dream of a call back the next day about how a wire had come loose or a fuse had blown and all was well. Yeah. Not so much.
I received the dreaded news that, “The motherboard is fried and all you can reuse is the case, drives and the fans.”
The horror.
Well, at least my photos didn’t go up the chimney so that’s good. But this has put a kink in my photo-editing schedule. For the last week I’ve been scouring my camera memory card for stuff to post and I’m reaching the bottom of the barrel. I’ll need some more stuff really soon. Plus, I can’t use my favorite editing software or the big monitors I usually use. Well maybe I can, but I’d have to fiddle around with the wires and I’m too lazy to do it as a one-off. But I must be stoic. As the bard reminds us, “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.”
Or something like that.
But not everything was bad this week. I decided on a path forward for my story. If you remember in the last installment, I had my good guys strike back at the vicious President of the United States who had hurled a 10-megaton nuke into their underground retreat. As a counter attack they undermined the White House, the US Capitol, the Pentagon and a few other key federal buildings and sent them hurtling hundreds of feet into the underground abyss. This effectively decapitated the United States federal government. Specifically, the president, vice president, the congress and the cabinet secretaries are all dead.
What I’ve decided to do is arrange for the only honest man in the FBI to be selected to succeed the president. And this is the guy who I’ve been using to track down my protagonist and his sponsors.
So, the antagonist I have who has been hunting for the sniper is selected for succession to the presidency. In part he is selected for the knowledge he’s gained hunting the sniper and the organization supporting him. But because the head of the FBI had been assassinated earlier, he was also the acting head of the bureau. Of course, that isn’t technically in the line of succession for the presidency but with all the legitimate successors dead, the military and the supreme court put their heads together and after doing an inventory of who was left and who was willing, they chose my guy.
Now this is an outrageous scenario. And so, it’s really a lot of fun to poke around with. And because it’s so outlandish I can do more or less whatever seems like fun with it. I have the poor schnook summoned to a military base and he’s thinking that he’s about to be blamed for the catastrophic failure of the manhunt for the sniper and instead he’s being asked if he will accept the presidency. That’s a pretty great scene. I think I’m going to have him ask if he can work remote from home. That would be a nice touch. I think that’s what I would ask for.
So anyway, the story is moving forward. So that’s good.
Camera Girl laid down the law today and had me put the weatherstripping around the basement door. She found where I had hidden the supplies and brought them out to me. So, I grumbled and dragged myself over to the door and did it. And you know, it really made a big difference. But I really did a lousy job installing it and I’m planning to redo it and add a sweep to the bottom of the door. Funny how these home improvement projects can grow on you.
And looking around at the Trump juggernaut I see he’s making headway in all directions. He’s travelling to North Carolina and Los Angeles to get involved with the hurricane and fire victims. And tonight, JD Vance was the tie-breaking vote in the Senate to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Collins, Murkowski and good old Mitch McConnell were the holdouts that made Vance’s vote necessary. Well, that’s why we needed the other Senate pickups last November. But things are looking up everywhere in Trump world.
According to Elon Musk the big project is man going to Mars. According to Donald Trump it’s Big AI. So, which do I think is the next Manhattan Project? Well, neither of those.
Mars will have to wait until there is a compelling reason to send men there. Sure, send some really advanced drones and bring home some Mars rocks (or Martians if you can find them). Heck, send a lander to Titan or Ganymede. I’m all for that. Even capture an asteroid made of gold and platinum and break off chunks and throw them into the desert or the ocean. All good clean fun. But that’s not the Manhattan Project.
And neither is AI. That’s just more of the same. That’s management reducing the payroll to a minimum. Sure, it’s a stunning tool that will enhance the ability of all kinds of projects. And it will make a lot of us redundant too. So, I don’t look at it as some big breakthrough for humanity. At least not as advertised at the moment. Maybe when we get the AI implants, I’ll change my mind.
No, the Manhattan Project for the 2030s is the changeover of the American power grid to nuclear plants. We have a window of opportunity while the current fossil fuel reserves are still relatively robust to begin systematically designing and optimizing fission plants to make them as close to foolproof as humanly possible. We have about fifty years to achieve this before we run out of fuel and based on how the French have been using them for about seventy years without a catastrophe I’m confident that within thirty years more than fifty percent of the American power capacity could be converted to fission plants. And after that it would be a short time until the only other plants would be hydroelectric and some exotics like solar panels in the desert.
Now the real problem is managing the wastes and breeding more fuel. A lot more work needs to be done on optimizing the life cycle of the radioactive materials in both the fuels and the wastes. Long term storage and recycling materials for reuse are still underdeveloped areas of study. Just dumping depleted fuel rods in an underground mine under a mountain in the Nevada desert is a pretty crude plan for the materials produced by the reactor. Often the byproducts of the reactor can be reclaimed and even transmuted into useful fissionable material.
But we are still in the infancy of nuclear technology. Combustion is almost as old as hominid life on the planet. Neanderthal possessed fire. Now we have to make the leap to domesticating the neutron. What’s needed is a push in the right direction. A pilot project sponsored by the federal government to design a plant that can be tested under the most disastrous set of circumstances imaginable and proven safe. This will provide the American public with the confidence that their bogeymen from the Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl events are long dead and buried.
Right now, it wouldn’t have to be some trillion-dollar boondoggle. Use reasonable resources to build the test case. Tap into the existing designs and the recent innovations that are going on in China and India and then let the big brains at the big engineering firms show what they can do. Who knows, maybe Elon Musk could be convinced to put his Mars mission on hold to bring forward the future of human energy production. Surely, he would consider that a worthy project. And it would make his dopey electric cars a lot cheaper to charge.
Donald Trump said he’d end affirmative action and he did. Below I’ve copied Donald Trump’s executive order for, “ENDING ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION AND RESTORING MERIT-BASED OPPORTUNITY”
This is amazing! This is what we’ve needed for generations since the nightmare of the Civil Rights legislation was rolled out in the 1960s.
And I expect the blue state judges and other progressives will fight this tooth and nail. And if Trump wants to secure his legacy in the eyes of his countrymen, he needs to fight back with every bit of power that the office of the presidency provides him. Because this is exactly the policy that will make this country powerful again. Companies hiring the smartest candidate. Police and military authorities requiring applicants for demanding assignments to pass grueling physical tests. No more 5’ 4,” 90 lb. women pretending to be firefighters who can go into a burning building and haul a 200 lb. man to safety.
No more surgeons or airline pilots selected to their positions based on their skin color or sex (or worse, their sexual deviancy). No more Navy Seals or Army Rangers who can’t do ten pull ups or carry an eighty-pound pack and a rifle. And best of all, no more government programs or agencies endlessly telling us that diversity is our strength. In fact, the executive order requires all of these agencies to strip away all of those buzz words; diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. All that jibber jabber has to go. For example, from the text below:
“(ii) Excise references to DEI and DEIA principles, under whatever name they may appear, from Federal acquisition, contracting, grants, and financial assistance procedures to streamline those procedures, improve speed and efficiency, lower costs, and comply with civil-rights laws; and
(iii) Terminate all “diversity,” “equity,” “equitable decision-making,” “equitable deployment of financial and technical assistance,” “advancing equity,” and like mandates, requirements, programs, or activities, as appropriate.”
And this order has all sorts of clauses to allow the government to go after corporations that employ affirmative action in their hiring and advancement policies. Honestly there are goodies in here everywhere I look. For instance:
“Sec. 4. Encouraging the Private Sector to End Illegal DEI Discrimination and Preferences. (a) The heads of all agencies, with the assistance of the Attorney General, shall take all appropriate action with respect to the operations of their agencies to advance in the private sector the policy of individual initiative, excellence, and hard work identified in section 2 of this order.
………………
(b) To further inform and advise me so that my Administration may formulate appropriate and effective civil-rights policy, the Attorney General, within 120 days of this order, in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies and in coordination with the Director of OMB, shall submit a report to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy containing recommendations for enforcing Federal civil-rights laws and taking other appropriate measures to encourage the private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI. The report shall contain a proposed strategic enforcement plan identifying:
…………………
(iii) A plan of specific steps or measures to deter DEI programs or principles (whether specifically denominated “DEI” or otherwise) that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences. As a part of this plan, each agency shall identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars;”
Etc., etc., etc.
And just to make sure the colleges are held accountable:
Sec. 5. Other Actions. Within 120 days of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education shall jointly issue guidance to all State and local educational agencies that receive Federal funds, as well as all institutions of higher education that receive Federal grants or participate in the Federal student loan assistance program under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq., regarding the measures and practices required to comply with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023).
So, all in all, this is like some kind of dream come true for the Right. Now will all this become law without a fight? Hell no. There will be a knock down, drag out fight for every sentence and phrase. I expect screaming women to march around the White House for the next ten years on account of some angry identity group whose feelings have been hurt.
Federal judges in every blue jurisdiction will declare this order unconstitutional. But I predict the Supreme Court will come down on his side. And that is as it should be. Trump has taken the initiative and he has justice and sanity on his side. Let him continue to act in this spirit and he may end up on Mount Rushmore after all. Well done.
For your ease of access I’ve copied the executive action in its entirety below. I recommend going through the whole thing. It’s very well written. I find it very enjoyable just reading it. It’s a form of therapy. And even for that Donald Trump deserves my thanks.
Presidential Actions
ENDING ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION AND
RESTORING MERIT-BASED OPPORTUNITY
January 21, 2025
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. Longstanding Federal civil-rights laws protect individual Americans from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. These civil-rights protections serve as a bedrock supporting equality of opportunity for all Americans. As President, I have a solemn duty to ensure that these laws are enforced for the benefit of all Americans.
Yet today, roughly 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, critical and influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) or “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation.
Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system. Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex.
These illegal DEI and DEIA policies also threaten the safety of American men, women, and children across the Nation by diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination when selecting people for jobs and services in key sectors of American society, including all levels of government, and the medical, aviation, and law-enforcement communities. Yet in case after tragic case, the American people have witnessed first-hand the disastrous consequences of illegal, pernicious discrimination that has prioritized how people were born instead of what they were capable of doing.
The Federal Government is charged with enforcing our civil-rights laws. The purpose of this order is to ensure that it does so by ending illegal preferences and discrimination.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to protect the civil rights of all Americans and to promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work. I therefore order all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements. I further order all agencies to enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws and to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.
Sec. 3. Terminating Illegal Discrimination in the Federal Government. (a) The following executive actions are hereby revoked: (i) Executive Order 12898 of February 11, 1994 (Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations); (ii) Executive Order 13583 of August 18, 2011 (Establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce); (iii) Executive Order 13672 of July 21, 2014 (Further Amendments to Executive Order 11478, Equal Employment Opportunity in the Federal Government, and Executive Order 11246, Equal Employment Opportunity); and (iv) The Presidential Memorandum of October 5, 2016 (Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the National Security Workforce). (b) The Federal contracting process shall be streamlined to enhance speed and efficiency, reduce costs, and require Federal contractors and subcontractors to comply with our civil-rights laws. Accordingly: (i) Executive Order 11246 of September 24, 1965 (Equal Employment Opportunity), is hereby revoked. For 90 days from the date of this order, Federal contractors may continue to comply with the regulatory scheme in effect on January 20, 2025. (ii) The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs within the Department of Labor shall immediately cease: (A) Promoting “diversity”; (B) Holding Federal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking “affirmative action”; and (C) Allowing or encouraging Federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin. (iii) In accordance with Executive Order 13279 of December 12, 2002 (Equal Protection of the Laws for Faith-Based and Community Organizations), the employment, procurement, and contracting practices of Federal contractors and subcontractors shall not consider race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin in ways that violate the Nation’s civil rights laws. (iv) The head of each agency shall include in every contract or grant award: (A) A term requiring the contractual counterparty or grant recipient to agree that its compliance in all respects with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws is material to the government’s payment decisions for purposes of section 3729(b)(4) of title 31, United States Code; and (B) A term requiring such counterparty or recipient to certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws. (c) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), with the assistance of the Attorney General as requested, shall: (i) Review and revise, as appropriate, all Government-wide processes, directives, and guidance; (ii) Excise references to DEI and DEIA principles, under whatever name they may appear, from Federal acquisition, contracting, grants, and financial assistance procedures to streamline those procedures, improve speed and efficiency, lower costs, and comply with civil-rights laws; and (iii) Terminate all “diversity,” “equity,” “equitable decision-making,” “equitable deployment of financial and technical assistance,” “advancing equity,” and like mandates, requirements, programs, or activities, as appropriate.
Sec. 4. Encouraging the Private Sector to End Illegal DEI Discrimination and Preferences. (a) The heads of all agencies, with the assistance of the Attorney General, shall take all appropriate action with respect to the operations of their agencies to advance in the private sector the policy of individual initiative, excellence, and hard work identified in section 2 of this order. (b) To further inform and advise me so that my Administration may formulate appropriate and effective civil-rights policy, the Attorney General, within 120 days of this order, in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies and in coordination with the Director of OMB, shall submit a report to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy containing recommendations for enforcing Federal civil-rights laws and taking other appropriate measures to encourage the private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI. The report shall contain a proposed strategic enforcement plan identifying: (i) Key sectors of concern within each agency’s jurisdiction; (ii) The most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners in each sector of concern; (iii) A plan of specific steps or measures to deter DEI programs or principles (whether specifically denominated “DEI” or otherwise) that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences. As a part of this plan, each agency shall identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars; (iv) Other strategies to encourage the private sector to end illegal DEI discrimination and preferences and comply with all Federal civil-rights laws; (v) Litigation that would be potentially appropriate for Federal lawsuits, intervention, or statements of interest; and (vi) Potential regulatory action and sub-regulatory guidance.
Sec. 5. Other Actions. Within 120 days of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education shall jointly issue guidance to all State and local educational agencies that receive Federal funds, as well as all institutions of higher education that receive Federal grants or participate in the Federal student loan assistance program under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq., regarding the measures and practices required to comply with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023).
Sec. 6. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 7. Scope. (a) This order does not apply to lawful Federal or private-sector employment and contracting preferences for veterans of the U.S. armed forces or persons protected by the Randolph-Sheppard Act, 20 U.S.C. 107 et seq. (b) This order does not prevent State or local governments, Federal contractors, or Federally-funded State and local educational agencies or institutions of higher education from engaging in First Amendment-protected speech. (c) This order does not prohibit persons teaching at a Federally funded institution of higher education as part of a larger course of academic instruction from advocating for, endorsing, or promoting the unlawful employment or contracting practices prohibited by this order.
Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This order is not intended to and does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. THE WHITE HOUSE, January 21, 2025.
Thank you, Donald Trump. Watching your show on Monday and Tuesday was like a canteen of cold clean water to a man dying of thirst in the desert. I feel I’ve been paid back for any trouble I’ve taken on your behalf in the last four years. Hallelujah and amen.
Okay now it’s up to Trump and his merry band of madmen to fix Washington and fix the country and do that list of a million impossible things that he said he’s going to do. Have at it, boys. Give ‘em hell.
So, what’s for me to talk about tonight? Well, I’ve got to talk about what’s chasing around my head tonight. First off, I’m grumbling about how damn cold it is today. The heating system at the Compound is undersized. Or maybe the insulation should be the focus. When the outside temperature dips below zero Fahrenheit, it won’t hold a set point above seventy. And that’s too bad because I hate being cold inside my own home. Camera Girl holds me directly responsible because I never put the weatherstripping around two of the external doors. I explained to her that these small insulation problems are only a minor part of the problem and that I’m addressing the problem holistically by spending considerable time thinking deeply about all the ways that a solution can be reached. I’ve considered the thermodynamic aspects of the problem. The psychological ramifications of the fear of cold. The physiological mechanisms by which the human body adapts to hypothermia. The cultural involvement of cold in the human industries that are called clothing and shelter. The quantum meaning of absolute zero. And finally, the latest bill from the heating oil company. All these things I showed her and admonished her to have patience and faith in my stewardship of the Compound’s Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient (U). None of this registered with her at all. She made certain primitive Sicilian gestures with her face and hand that I won’t dignify with detail. Suffice it to say they were not helpful in the least. I’m going out tomorrow for other reasons. But I may also pick up some weatherstripping. Maybe.
I was recently in a discussion about General Relativity with a friend. The question of the curvature of space came up. I told him I’ve never been convinced of the idea that mass curves space-time. I stated that what is the difference if gravity bends the path of light and matter when it comes close to an object like the sun but space is unaffected? How would we know the difference? After all, how the hell can you bend something that isn’t even there? It’s empty space. Now sure, particles are always popping into existence because of quantum effects. But by definition those things aren’t empty space they’re matter. So how the hell can something that’s nothing bend? Anyway, after the argument got us nowhere, I got hold of a book on general relativity and started reading it. But my mathematical skills have degraded so I’ve had to break out a book on vector analysis to try and remember what tensor notation means. Oh, my aching head. I had an old advanced calculus test from my undergraduate days that would be very helpful on some points but then I remembered I threw it out (stupidly) about thirteen years ago when I moved. I was going to buy it used and was amazed how expensive text books have gotten. Yikes!
So anyway, I’m ensconced with the Kronecker delta, the curl and the Laplacian. And I think I’ve made a big mistake. I predict by the end I’ll have nothing but a murky idea of the meaning of the proofs of relativity but no explanation as to why we would think of space as being curved. I think the idea that space is curved is just a figure of speech. The reality is “space’ goes on endlessly in every direction. I don’t think it loops back around behind us or anything like that. It just keeps going. It’s the same as physicists saying that the beginning of the universe was the Big Bang. Well, what about five seconds before that?
So here I am with my cave man cosmogeny and cosmology trying to relearn Einstein’s equations (at my age!). Well, why not? Trump’s fixing the country. The least I can do is straighten out the theoretical physicists. Camera Girl! Where’s my slide rule?
We got the promised four inches of snow last night so I had to clear it this morning. I didn’t get out there until ten-thirty so I was busy when Trump was sworn in. After a shower and lunch, I put on the video and listened.
Well, Donald Trump did his thing. He gave a half hour address and he surely went to town. I think he touched almost all the bases. He left out the J6 pardons which did surprise me. But other than that (and I guess Greenland) he went through the litany of actions and policies that he promised during the campaign. And I gotta tell ya, it was pretty great.
Now I have to be honest, I do get tired of all the pauses for applause. They’re not really necessary. But some of them were justified. When he said he was going to end government racial and sexual interference in people’s lives I’m pretty sure I gave off a whoop. And when he said that he was going to restore freedom of speech by putting a stop to all government interference with speech I smiled. And when he said that there are officially two genders (he meant sexes) recognized by the United States government I think I may have clapped.
He said the government would put an end to the sexual struggle sessions in the military. And he said he would be declaring a national emergency at the southern border. He said he will be reinstating the stay in Mexico policy for people seeking asylum. He said he’s taking the Panama Canal back and he said he’s declaring the cartels terrorist organizations. He said he’s ending the Green New Deal and the Electric Car subsidies. He said he’s going to “drill baby drill.” He said he’s going to restore impartial justice and end lawfare. And he said that God saved his life to give him the chance to restore America to greatness.
He said everything. He didn’t take a swing at Joe Biden but nobody’s perfect.
Alright, good. He got his say and all those applause lines and he criticized his opponents and their awful policies. Splendid.
But Inauguration Day is one day. Tomorrow, I want to hear what you’ve done for me lately. We all went to a lot of trouble to drag our butts down to the Middle School cafeteria to vote for you. We did that even though we believed there was a better than even chance that the Democrats would steal this election too. So, we’ve gone out on a limb to look like saps for you Mr. President, so it’s time for you to have your minions sweep up the confetti and busted balloons and roll up their sleeves and actually check off one or two items off of that list of promises you made today.
And how about starting with the J6 pardons? That’s the one that is most urgent. These people have been shut away for years for misdemeanors or for nothing in some cases. Setting them free is the right thing to do and it’s the smart thing to do too. He shouldn’t wait. He owes them that.
After that, shut down the FBI. That’s a no-brainer. After that just start putting the wheels in motion for all of the stuff that takes time to get moving. Call up the yahoos in the Senate and get your appointees confirmed and let’s get this show on the road. The time for speeches is over.
Update:
I saw last night that he did sign pardons for about 1,500 J6 prisoners. Good.
The snow is falling pretty fast here in Dunwich. It’s starting to cover the ice over the swamp and pretty soon it will force the lycanthropes back into their caves along the bases of the hills. And that will quiet the howling that kept me up last week. It’s always annoying when the moon is full. Between the howling and the scratching at the door and the screaming of the stranded motorists who get eaten alive while walking down the road for help it’s a real pain. I mean come on, have some consideration for other people. Either be eaten alive in stoic silence or bring a revolver loaded with silver bullets. It’s not that complicated. Read the town ordinances. Your survivors are going to be fined for the after-hours noise violation so use your head.
Trump says he is going to un-classify and reveal the remaining records from the Kennedy (JFK and RFK) and King assassinations. Now that’s pretty great. People have been teasing these things for scores of years. Of course, I’m not assuming that the records are the truth. Probably they don’t say anything definitive about anything. But the veil of secrecy has been used like some magic spell to keep us wondering what the people in the know don’t want us to know since we were kids. At this point I doubt we’ll ever know what actually happened but at least they can stop acting like we’re peons who can’t be trusted with the higher mysteries of the cult. But right now, I am excited to hope maybe there are names like Castro or Khruschev or the CIA or the Mob. That would be like a Tom Clancey novel instead of that nit-wit Oswald.
It’s funny. A month ago, if you asked me whether I thought I’d be excited about Trump’s inauguration I’d’ve said absolutely not. But I’m surprised to say that’s not the case. I am looking forward to it and excited about the prospect of someone on my side taking over and beginning the daunting task of chopping away at the roots of the monster that ate the United States. I just read today that this year Argentina had its first budget surplus in fourteen years. Wouldn’t it be a miracle if Trump could make that happen in 2026?
And maybe tomorrow he’ll hand out pardons to the J6 prisoners. That would breathe life into the base and bring tears to the eyes of Garland and his stooges. And while he’s at it he should use an executive order to provide recompense and apologies to anyone the US government punished for not getting a COVID shot. Now that’s overdue.
But before anything else, give Kash Patel the keys to the J Edgar Hoover Building and have him begin the process of emptying the offices of all the creeps and thugs that the FBI employed over the last twenty-five years to spy on and persecute American citizens. And he should quickly cancel all their passwords and clearance ratings so that they can never again cause us harm. And while he’s at it put a blanket hold on FISA warrant requests and stop spying on Americans altogether. That would really start the new administration on a patriotic foot. That would really be a change for the better.
And if he really wants to release records that need de-classifying let him de-classify the records of the operations that targeted Americans; including the Russia collusion hoax. Name names and appoint special counsels. Put those guys in jail. If need be, have the trials far away from Washington. Maybe a small town in Florida or Texas. They’re Americans too, I think. They can provide the jury of twelve men and true, I believe.
Well, I’m letting myself run away with things but as I said I’m more excited about all this than I thought I’d be. Good luck Donald Trump. We’re all rooting for you.
