Random Thoughts #65

Random Thoughts #65

My posting on Syndey Sweeney has blown up my text messages and emails. Most of the comments, save Larry, Drummer and sometimes druhead are not made on my blog, which is perfectly fine if others don’t want to share them with the public. I would prefer that they are on the blog to generate more conversation and thought. There are still those who contend in all seriousness that the pun on genes was out of malice. Personally, I pun all the time, sometimes considered not in good taste but always in good fun. Get a life, ya’ll!

OK all the brouhaha made me look at the ads. What I noticed was that all the jeans had wide legs eschewing the super tight look. Does this mean we are going to have a recession? Or does it just mean that I am really old if the first thing I noticed were the wide legs?

Some so-called expert said that the most intelligent dog was the Border collie. Obviously, that person never owned a German shorthaired pointer.

OK so Trump can’t do math. Recall that he is going to make the drug companies reduce their prices by 1,500 percent? But what of the democrats who had this poster displayed at a hearing?

Who’s afraid of AI? I read where AI will create massive unemployment. Where have we heard that before? Seems like every shift in technology brings out the same dire warnings. The agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, the invention of the automobile assembly line, the mainframe computer (remember HAL or the Terminator’s Skynet?), the desktop computer and now AI all are (or were) forecast to bring poverty rather than prosperity. To have people wandering aimlessly in the streets. To force governments to have guaranteed annual incomes and augmented welfare programs. Give me a break. How many of us are toiling in the fields or sweating in factories or doing back breaking work? Yet we are employed and better off than previous generations. I am optimistic for my grandchildren’s future. So why aren’t you? BTW, a friend of mine kept wondering why was everyone getting upset over a steak sauce.

Australia is having Mitsubishi build their naval frigates amid efforts to build back their navy. Why can’t we do the same?

The Chinese are limiting the shipment of their rare earths to our military. Can’t say I blame them. Isn’t this tit for tat since we have banned certain chips being sold to the Chinese?

I am a deer hunter. The enduring value of Gore-tex is to allow hunters to hunt in all weather comfortably. The Swedish manufacturer Polarn has done the same for children’s outerwear. Now it is exiting the US because of Trump’s tariffs. They make their clothing in China and the tariffs on their merino wool clothing and insulated outerwear have gotten prohibitive. It won’t be the last to exit because of the tariffs (see my posting on Lesotho). Like the Canadians who drive their RVs into the states to fill them up on gas so they can siphon them off into their autos due to the high Canadian gas prices, I am wondering if we are going to see little kids coming through customs looking like the Michelin Man or the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

I was writing weeks ago that Fed governor Kugler’s expiring term offered Trump an opportunity to put his nominee (er, lackey) for chairman at the Fed starting in January. Now Kugler has resigned an lo and behold the media has discovered the same thing. I was once asked how is it that I can write something and soon thereafter it gets reported elsewhere. I guess that some things are so obvious because I know that all those folk are not reading my blog and Knoxville Focus articles.

The president has said that he is nominating Council of Economics head Stephan Miran to fill Kugler’s expiring term while he looks for a permanent person. That means that Miran will only be at the Fed until January. Then someone else will have to go through senate hearings. Pardon me if I don’t understand. Miran is no slam dunk given the democrats propensity to lobby against and delay all Trump nominees. He has to go through the confirmation process. Why do this a second time with someone else? It is bad sign – to me – that Trump did not have a permanent person already vetted and in place. Word is now that he is considering Judy Shelton again. He nominated her in 2019 but her nomination was withdrawn by Biden. Will the second time be the charm? Dr Shelton would be a superb governor. She is actually an expert on monetary processes and a staunch advocate of a return to a commodity standard like gold. She is a leading critic of the Fed. Her nomination would be consistent with Trump putting people in place at agencies at which they are critics.

Am I the only one tired of the president injecting himself into everything, no matter how trivial? Examples include extolling Mexican Coke (oops Mexican Coca-Cola) even though he drinks Diet Coke, threatening to withhold stadium funding for the Commanders unless they change their name back to the Redskins, saying ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’ because she endorsed Kamala Harris, then saying Syndney Sweeney was the HOTTEST!, firing obscure boards, terminating people left and right, firing Puerto Rico’s finance oversight board, putting on tariffs on every country in the world regardless of trade status, threatening to invade Panama and Greenland and so much more.

So what hath Trump wroth? Only total chaos in economics, world order, supply chains, national and international security, international relations, partisan politics, local, state, national and international governance, legal systems both home and abroad, and the daily news. That’s all.

Biden’s family got rich off of old Joe. Now Trump’s family is getting richer too. Hum, maybe side deals with tariffs?

So Lara Trump has decided not to run for the senate from North Carolina. She is a Trump by marriage and was born in Wrightsville Beach and went to NC State. I don’t know anything about if she would have been a good candidate or a good senator but that bar is very low. I do know one thing if her name were still Lara Yunaska she wouldn’t have even have a chance of being considered as a possibility.

Speaking of Trump-by-marriage rather than by birth. Tiger Woods is dating Vanessa Trump. Again this is a pseudo-Trump having been married once to Don, Jr. Vanessa was smart to keep the name Trump (as opposed to my ex and many like her who reverted to their family names). Hey would you want to be known as Vanessa Kay Pergolizzi? I think Trump likes this romance so that Tiger can help him with his golf game. Right now his swing reminds me of Charles Barkley.

Did Trump really cheat at golf in Scotland?