Random Thoughts #85

Well if Bernie can do it then why can’t I?

The president decided to take another page from the socialists playbook and promise every adult American $5,000 If the republicans win both the House and the Senate. Well if Bernie can promise medicare for all, free college, free healthcare, free childcare, free transportation and goodness knows what else, the Trump can offer free money! Some critics say that this is a bribe. Well isn’t the socialist pie-in-the-sky promises a bribe as well? Some say that it would cost over $1 trillion. Those people are taking this too seriously. The president gets carried away with his own rhetoric. Trump simply has no filter and his fans love it. Here is what he said:

“Because we’ve done so well, and because our country is making so much money, that—only I can make this promise to you, and here is my promise—if the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic, tremendous economic success…I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”

Put that down with: “Build a wall and make Mexico pay for It”, “Eliminate the national debt in Eight Years,” “tariffs bring in ‘hundreds of billions’ from foreign nations, “tariffs are a tax cut for the American people.” And “You know, we’ve cut drug prices by 1200, 1300, 1400, 1,500%. I don’t mean 50%. I mean 1400, 1,500%.”

BTW, isn’t a midterm convention just a bit weird?

What’s in a Name?

Donald Trump has a well-known penchant for changing names, but Joe Biden was no different. There’s no single official government-wide tally, but nine Army bases named for Confederate generals were renamed in 2023 (Trump later restored the original names), and the Department of Defense identified more than 1,100 assets for renaming or replacement, on top of various federal buildings and wildlife refuges. Mount McKinley became Denali — and, of course, Trump restored that name too.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources — not Joe Biden, and certainly not Donald Trump — has officially renamed Stephen C. Foster State Park to Okefenokee State Park (Pogo would be proud). Foster, often called the “Father of American Music,” wrote “Oh! Susanna,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” and “Camptown Races.” He also wrote “Swanee River (Old Folks at Home),” which, like many of his songs, was featured in black-faced minstrel shows. Below is the first verse of the original lyrics — not the sanitized version most people know today.

(Old Folks at Home)

Written by Stephen C. Foster

Way down upon de Swanee Ribber,

Far, far away,

Dere’s wha my heart is turning ebber,

Dere’s wha de old folks stay.

All up and down de whole creation

Sadly 1 roam,

Still longing for de old plantation, And for de old folks at home.

Chorus

All de world am sad and dreary, Eb-rywhere I roam;

Oh, darkeys, how my heart grows weary,

Far from de old folks at home!

Now will Florida follow suit and rename its park too?

Bye Bye LSU?

The SEC has gone to court to seek authority to remove LSU from the conference over its intention to let athletes who’ve signed professional contracts return to college play. Hey, Ohio State Labron James has five years of eligibility left!

Tucker Carlson Loves El-Sayed

Tucker Carlson continues to show he’s lost it — and lost all credibility, at least to me. He has endorsed democratic socialist Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate race, apparently because they share a hatred of Israel. Carlson said he would not vote for the Republican, Mike Rogers, “at gunpoint,” calling Rogers “a tool of Israel” and praising El-Sayed for “taking on AIPAC”. He went on to say that Rogers is “basically a tool of Israel and the intelligence agencies.” Then, while admitting El-Sayed is a “full-blown leftist,” Carlson said El-Sayed’s populist message was “literally Trumpian.” Well I guess that is because both are economic socialists.

No More Maple Leafs?

Canada has officially retaliated against the US by imposing $20 billion in tariffs in a tit-for-tat spat, prompting Trump to threaten cutting off all trade with the country. He specifically called out aircraft maker Bombardier (already the subject of an earlier dispute), declaring there would be “NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES!” Trump then promptly banned Canadian dairy products, most alcoholic beverages and motorcycles. Trump also moved to shut Canadian products out of large, long-term US government contracts directing the General Services Administration to declare Canadian products ineligible for those contracts until Canada allows “full and fair reciprocity″ for American products.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “I don’t think you can be in a tit-for-tat with someone who’s 13 times larger than you are.” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, our trade representative who hates trade, seemed to contradict Bessent, saying the U.S. had little choice but to retaliate against Canada. “We’ve said enough, and so we’ve taken countermeasures. Our interest is in protecting American workers and protecting American supply chains.” Now I want to hear him explain how this is true given we are 13 times larger than they are.

Old (Redux)

Remember the post “How You Can Tell If You’re Getting Old”? Add prediction markets to the list. I don’t get it, but apparently you can bet on almost anything — the catch being you need to find someone willing to bet against you. Kalshi and Polymarket seem to be the market leaders, and I still don’t quite understand the appeal. For example, Kalshi banned disgraced former congressman George Santos and forced him to pay back his winnings after he pulled off what amounted to the dumb person’s version of insider trading. He bet on himself not to attend the State of the Union address, then conveniently skipped it. He won the bet but had to repay his $17,000 in “winnings” plus more than $80,000 in penalties to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates the market. Polymarket, meanwhile, lets users bet on questions like the color of a celebrity’s tie or as weighty as well as the eventual outcome of the conflict with Iranand is now worth more than $20 billion following  investments from Donald Trump’s son, Don Jr.

I’d bet there’s already a market on whether whoever sings the National Anthem at the Super Bowl will break Alicia Keys’ record of 2 minutes and 36 seconds.