Lara Trump: Illustrating Trump administration unqualified and incompetent

New White House sign

Lara Lea Yunaska married Eric Trump on November 8, 2014, in a ceremony at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. It was a match made in Looney Tunes and Lara Trump has amply carried this image forward with statements like 'Donald Trump isn't racist.' Here's another classic...

"He is gracious with his time and has a tremendous heart. He is an incredibly loyal person and never forgets those who are loyal to him. I feel very lucky to have a man like Donald Trump as my father-in-law."

During the 2024 Presidential campaign, on Fox News she compared Kamala Harris to a designer ‘trash bag.' In October of 2024, she was Called 'Dumb' as Husband Eric for Saying There Are 81 States in the U.S. And the headline, "How Dumb Can You Be" — People Are Slamming Lara Trump After She Questioned How Climate Change Could Be A Factor In California Fires. Here are some Indy 100 ridiculous and terrifying things she’s said...

Mocked Joe Biden for having a stutter.

Tried to claim the Trump family are “down to earth.” 

 Congratulated Trump for his “incredible” response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The above are just a few of the stupidities of a Trump family member who almost ran for the Senate in North Carolina and Florida. 

Okay, so what's my point?

If Lara Trump could convince Donald Trump to make her co-chair of the Republican Party--and she did and did in fact become co-chair--what might she urge him into when he returns to the White House? Of course, she would only be an extension of the unqualified and incompetent people Trump has nominated to run his administration. If a Republican Senate lets the future Oval Office maniac get away with such ludicrous picks, it will be a clear signal that Republicans don't intend to govern, rather to only seek revenge.

Aljazeera reports...

He has suggested using the United States military against an 'enemy from within'.

"He has threatened to prosecute lawyers, Democrats and others whom he falsely accuses of committing electoral fraud, and pledged to carry out the 'largest deportation operation. of undocumented immigrants in US history".

"And once he is back in the White House, he has said he will be a dictator during his first day."

The latter is the scariest and a clear indication of what we can expect in the next four years of Donald Trump's residence in the White House.  

One of most dangerous people in the world today

Elon Musk

Elon Musk has financially wormed his way into Donald Trump's world by helping to buy the election for him. Trump has rewarded him by allowing Musk the ultimate insider's spot. But the incoming Oval Office lunatic has recently let know that the world's richest man could be getting on his nerves. This, however, did not preclude Trump from appointing Musk, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, another Republican wanna-be, to head up the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The Mary Sue says, Elon Musk’s hatefulness makes him ‘More despised worldwide than Trump is.’ Here's the scenario...

He’s [Musk] currently using his vast wealth to fuel the flames of far-right groups in Europe, such as Germany’s AfD and Britain’s Reform. Then there’s the issue of the actual flames. Wildfires have devastating Los Angeles, and Musk is blaming everything but climate change, despite scientists agreeing that climate change was the root cause of the wildfires. Instead, Musk seeks to blame Governor of California Gavin Newsom, as well as “DEI” (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies. And he’s doing so using the most inflammatory language possible.

As Musk called California's Gov. Gavin Newsom  a “subt*rd" and a  “r*tard,” Newsom fired back accusing Musk of ‘encouraging looting’ with misleading claims which included...

"Factually incorrect posts shared by Elon Musk on his social media site claim California governor Gavin Newsom decriminalised looting."

Elon Musk rages on with malicious material like the above when at least 25 people have

GAVIN NEWSOM: Trump hasn't returned my phone calls

died in the Los Angeles fires, more than 12,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed, with over 150,000 still under evacuation notices. The comments on X (formerly Twitter) about Musk were not friendly but certainly colorful...

“I believe this loathsome, fear mongering sh*tbag may be even more despised worldwide than Trump is.” And even on Musk’s own social media platform, plenty of people agreed with her.

"Quite honestly, I find him to be the head troll, full of shit stirring, gaslighting and fake news. He's the biggest bag of toxic bile on this site."

"His money will never buy him respect..his support of felon trump was the kiss of death..Musk is a pathetic individual who will never achieve honour as there is none among thieves!"

Keep in mind, folks, the X platform belongs to Elon Musk. And Dr. Daniela Peterka-Benton, Associate Professor of Justice Studies at Montclair State University said...

“The online space has always held potential dangers for marginalized communities, and it appears to be getting worse.” With Meta rolling back its DEI policies in the wake of Trump’s re-election, it almost certainly will get worse. Social media has become a horrible place to be a member of any marginalized group and it’s all because of people like Musk. He deserves every last bit of the hate he gets.

This, folks, is what we have to look forward to for the next four years with the Donald Trump administration and his unprepared and incompetent minions. 

 

Will democracy finally throw in the towel?

Democracy Lost

I have read a lot of disturbing posts recently that document Donald Trump's plans for the next four years. None has been so frightening as a recent Axios piece that literally portrays the United States as maliciously mutating into an authoritarian government. With Trump as the emperor. And the U.S. Congress--including Democrats--as his lackies. Followed by a mass of U.S. corporate CEOs who are sucking up for future favoritism. Sounds to me like it is cut and dried and I wonder just how many of us are waving the flags of despair.

Axios starts with...

"It's rare, if not unprecedented, for a newly elected leader to have so many world leaders and CEOs shift their policies or posture so blatantly during the transition to curry favor with a new president."

Check me on this, but aren't we talking about the despot who was voted out of office in 2020, and the demagogue who the Washington Post reports made 492 suspect claims in the first 100 days of his presidency. A total of 30,573 misleading claims over 4 years. Yet we sent this blatant liar to the White House in 2020 and will send him back again this coming January 20. From the beginning, Donald Trump has demonstrated his racist attitude with actions against immigrants, most recently to deport even those who are legal.

Zuckerberg's Facebook has closed its fact-checking operation to match Trump's interests. News media has become more Trump-friendly. Democrats have basically shut down and now want to work with Trump. He has opened the door to Elon Musk who has taken advantage of every opportunity possible to pursue issues that will put money in his till. Trump's latest suck-up, Jeff Bezos, made a $40 million deal for a Melania documentary. Throughout all this Trump continues to berate a less trusted media.

And finally, Trump has asked SCOTUS to block the sentencing in his New York hush-money case, arguing presidential immunity should extend to the transition period. In addition, he even placed a call to Justice Alito. The wheels have come off and democracy is reeling.

 

Elon Musk told to "get lost" by his father

Elon Musk carving up Twitter

It all started with a $250 million dollar donation by Elon Musk to the Donald Trump campaign that helped Trump buy the presidential election. Then, Musk moved into Mar-a-Lago and, according to Trump allies, has recently overstayed his welcome. In his race for power, the world's richest man was instrumental in killing a bipartisan bill to fund the government. Following this, Donald Trump found it necessary to exclaim he had not "ceded the presidency" to the tech billionaire.

But Elon Musk didn't stop there, he decided to skip over the pond and tell the United Kingdom how to run their government. The Daily Beast says,,,

"He kicked off the new year with days of manic posts—many of them wrong or misleading—aimed at toppling the Labour Party government.

"Musk’s attacks on government ministers, whole-hearted defense of a jailed far-right activist, and bizarre request that King Charles dissolve Parliament have gotten so extreme that even his British friends would like him to kindly pipe down about a country he doesn’t call home."

The DB says that Musk has the money to donate enough to make his wishes come true. As an example...

"He’s reportedly toying with the idea of donating up to $100 million to Britain’s conservative Reform Party. A single $100 million donation would be worth almost as much as all political donations across all parties combined in the U.K. in 2023, which reached a record 93 million pounds ($116.8 million), according to The Guardian."

On another front, Harvard Law School graduate and Musk biographer, Seth Abramson, has expressed concerns over Elon Musk’s mental state. According to The Economic Times, in a post on X, Abramson said he has followed Musk’s online activity for two years...

Abramson wrote, “I'm a Musk biographer who has been tracking his online behavior for the last two years—and given that he's admitted to all of mental illness, heavy drug use, and crippling stress, it is now reasonable to fear he is deeply unwell.” He added, “Protect America from Elon Musk”.

"Abramson believes Musk's position as incoming head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration, combined with his ownership of X, creates a potentially dangerous situation. 'His holdings across many civilization-essential industries and the fact that he's the incoming POTUS mean that his madness and increasing incitement of violence endanger us all,' Abramson wrote."

And we thought Donald Trump was the scariest... 

aa 

Anti-democracy radical close to V.P. J.D. Vance

Curtis Yarvin

Curtis Yarvin, a “neoreactionary” thinker and far-right blogger, has been described as a serious intellectual influence of vice president-elect JD Vance and being close to several proposed Trump appointees. The Guardian says, "He’s anti-democracy and pro-Trump: the obscure ‘dark enlightenment’ blogger influencing the next US administration." Yarvin advocates an autocratic takeover of the US. Here's the scenario...

"The aftermath of Trump’s election victory has seen actions and rhetoric from Trump and his lieutenants that closely resemble Yarvin’s public proposals for taking autocratic power in America."

Donald Trump's goal is to install himself in the position of dictator, eliminating the laws of democracy, and ruling the U.S. until he dies. But you know what, no one could be his successor, and all successful tyrants want someone to carry on their work. His narcissistic personality would not allow for an ending, so you would have to assume this egomaniac would be looking for a process that would keep him alive forever. I did a blog recently, "Who wants to live forever with a Donald Trump?" 

My premise was, who would want to live endlessly if Trump had the same advantage. My post, above, looks at an article from National Geographic, "Could humans live forever?" The Nat'l Geo piece is very complex and I try to make the most of the author's contention that someday we could live forever. But enough of the terribly frightening thought that Donald Trump could live eternally. Back to Yarvin and this scenario...

"Trump’s legal moves against critics in the media, Elon Musk’s promises to pare government spending to the bone, and the deployment of the Maga base against Republican lawmakers who have criticized controversial nominees like Pete Hegseth are among the measures that resemble elements of Yarvin’s strategy for displacing liberal democracy in the US."

Michael Anton, a writer and academic was appointed by Trump to work in a senior role

under secretary of state nominee Marco Rubio. Anton has a podcast on which Yarvin has appeared with his ideological conservatism. And, the Verge reported that no one online has shaped Vance’s thinking more than Curtis Yarvin. Robert Evans, an extremism researcher and the host of the podcast Behind the Bastards said...

“He didn’t fall out of a coconut tree. He emerged into a rightwing media space where they had been talking about the evils of liberal media and corrupt academic institutions for decades.

There's more...

 “He has influenced a lot of people in the incoming administration and a lot of other influential people on the right. But a lot of the stuff he advocates is the same windmills Republicans have been tilting at for a while.”

Evans added...

“What’s unique is his way of rebranding or repackaging old reactionary ideas in a way that appealed to libertarian-minded kids in the tech industry, and in eventually getting some of them to embrace a lot of far-right ideas.

"That’s the novelty of Yarvin and that’s his real accomplishment.”

I dare say the corruption of innocent minds by conservatives is not a novelty. We all know it dates back to Newt Gingrich, eventually moving forward to Karl Rove. This guy has simply resurrected a typical Republican strategy.

Will Musk allow Trump's world dominion

Lately Elon Musk has been calling the shots in Donald Trump's procession of lunatic maneuvers. They are both crazy with power and the major objective for most of us - those that are sane - is just who will come out on top. Just a few months ago there would have been no doubt. Today, after Musk bought Trump an election, it isn't clear. What we do know, it is the Oval Office maniac's style to turn on his opponents when they threaten him. The question is when this will all come to a head?

Axios expounds on Donald Trump's empire dreams...

"President-elect Trump has big plans to make America greater — in terms of square mileage, Axios' Dave Lawler and Zachary Basu write.

Why it matters: Trump has been in a strikingly imperial mood since his election victory. He has floated acquiring Greenland, reclaiming the Panama Canal, annexing Canada, and potentially invading Mexico — to the intense consternation of their leaders."

The epitome of megalomaniacs

Donald Trump is a megalomaniac with Axios saying his plans "would rival the Louisiana Purchase [of 1803] or the [1867] deal that netted Alaska from Russia." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is between a rock and a hard place... 

"already grappling with a contentious moment for his leadership and Donald Trump is adding fuel to the fire, taunting Trudeau with the prospect of making his country the 51st US state."

And the New York Times says taking Greenland and the Panama Canal is no joke. The world conqueror has completely flipped his lid on this one and it should be obvious where this imbecile is going and the serious trouble he will get the country into worldwide. Here's the scenario from Axios...

"Trump has little regard for the 'global order.' He thinks throwing foreign partners off balance — or, when possible, steamrolling them — better serves American interests."

A major concern is that a Republican Congress - and I do believe there are still some who are not just buffoons and who aren't completely incompetent - is still standing by and letting this idiot do whatever he wants. One must wonder the mentality of these politicians. With both Greenland and Panama exclaiming repeatedly that they are not for sale, the U.S. is once again a laughing stock on the international scene. In this new four years, Donald Trump could do enough damage to really hurt America's standing in the world.

And that's not all...

"Trump's allies have also been discussing a potential 'soft invasion' of Mexico, as one adviser phrased it to Rolling Stone. That could involve targeting cartels through cross-border special forces operations or drone strikes."

Axios defines it all as American imperialism. The Republicans can't even govern in the U.S. and they want to take over the world. The next four years could literally bring down this country. 

Elon Musk v. Donald Trump

Trump/Musk

The Trump/Musk wedlock may be just what the Democrats need to counter the ravages Donald Trump has planned when he re-enters the White House. A CNN analyst reports, "The Democratic Party has finally hit on an attack tactic which has found its target with Trump." I was beginning to wonder since the Dems haven't been able to come up with anything in recent months, precisely why Washington will become a Republican trifecta in 2025. But back to the new strategy  of posturing Elon Musk as being Donald Trump's decision-maker.

Here's the scenario...

"The strategy — used by multiple Democrats over the past weekend — is to take aim at the president-elect’s sense of security by suggesting his ally, Elon Musk, is really pulling the strings in his administration."

There's more...

They “are trying to tweak Trump’s vanity, mockingly suggesting that even after winning a second term, he is still not as powerful as the South Africa-born tech mogul whom he put in charge of slashing the size of government once the president-elect takes office,” Stephen Collinson wrote.

Democrats have jumped in to point out how Musk tanked Speaker Mike Johnson's spending

deal proving who is in charge. Trump doesn't like being overshadowed. The New Republic says Trump is "pissed." TNR reports...

"During his address at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona, the president-elect pushed back on claims that Musk planned to supplant him as president."

“No, he’s not gonna be president, that I can tell you,” Trump said. “And I’m safe, you know why? He can’t be, he wasn’t born in this country.”

TNR is not so much worried that Musk will take over the Presidency, more so that he already has...

"Last week, Musk issued his own set of marching orders to Congress, ordering Republicans to oppose a massive spending bill to avert a government shutdown, or face being primaried by a Musk-backed candidate. Meanwhile, Trump stayed more or less silent, and Democratic leaders began to criticize the president-elect for allowing Musk to lead his party."

 Amanda Marcotte of Salon as reported in AlterNet...

"argues that Musk has been acting like a 'shadow president' — and that Musk has been leading the 'aging and tired' Trump around 'by the nose.'"

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City has been very verbal on the Musk/Trump tango...

In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter — which Musk owns — AOC said, "When Elon tweets something and when Trump tweets something…. Republicans don't know who their daddy is. They don't know which one they need to be listening to first."

There's more...

"AOC went on to say that Musk 'poses real political problems for Trump' and 'arguably…. may rival his power and influence.'"

If Trump starts driving a Tesla and decides to take a ride on Space X, do you think Musk will leave him in space? There's always the chance. 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Who wants to live forever with a Donald Trump?

The idea of living forever has been studied and evaluated for years. It kind of depends on what your religion is and whether or not you'd rather stay on earth or go to that promised paradise in the sky. Of course staying on earth would have to be accompanied by some means of maintaining physical and mental health which then addresses our biological side. In the past it has been much too complicated for scientists to arrive at a solution so the concept is relegated to the future. 

National Geographic has come up with something called the immortal jellyfish that defies death...

"One of the planet’s most extraordinary creatures floats in the Mediterranean Sea. The pale pink disk doesn’t look like much, but this jellyfish, called Turritopsis dohrnii, has a survival skill like none other: When injured or dying, it can return to its juvenile form, becoming young again."

There's more...

"That ability gives Turritopsis dohrnii its nickname: the immortal jellyfish. Scientists are studying these creatures closely, hoping to uncover secrets about human aging. Is it possible that someday we could go on living far into the future?"

Venki Ramakrishnan, Nobel laureate and author of the newly released “Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality,” says, "Science is making anti-aging progress. But do we want to live forever?" Here's the scenario...

"Ramakrishnan opened his packed Harvard Science Book Talk last week by noting the vast variabilities of lifespans across the natural world. Death is certain, so far as we know. But there’s no physical or chemical law that says it must happen at a fixed time, which raises other, more philosophical issues."

The next thing that comes to mind, will future generations be born with the ability to plan their lives all the way to their deaths? Kindergarten will provide the introduction to life for children that precedes future grades literally walking them through that life with all the joys one experiences mixed with the hardships they might encounter. After reaching the age of eighteen - an arbitrary choice - you decide how many years you want to live. Your decision would be based on the knowledge of your futuristic upbringing.

And if you still have a hankering to break the 100 mark, or maybe even 200, 400 years, read this article from Salon. Scientists have determined that death is “kind of arbitrary” and they "want to upload the brain so we can live forever." The piece starts with background on the latest quest for immortality, cryonics, that is a process which preserves biological tissues by storing them at extremely cold temperatures in the hope of someday reviving them.

Enter Dr. Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston, a research fellow at Melbourne’s Monash University who makes the case that cryopreservation is possible and should be more widely available. Zeleznikow-Johnston argues a human’s connectome — a high-resolution map of all their brain connections — could be theoretically recorded perfectly before they die. The concept is very complicated and there are many who disagree with Zeleznikow-Johnston. Are talking about brain without body?

My advice is, if you have a very scientific mind, read the article, If you're a layman like me, just take the man's word that someday we will be living longer, maybe considerably longer.

 

 

Could U.S. bird flu outdistance the covid pandemic?

Remember the covid pandemic? Of course you do, and like most of the rest of the world, you don't want to see a replay. Worldometer reports there have been 704,753,890 coronavirus cases worldwide with 7,010,681 deaths. In the USA there were 111,820,082 cases accompanied by 1,219,487 deaths. Now a new virus called bird flu is challenging the medical field and so far it is winning. There are 61 reported human cases of H5 bird flu reported in the United States. AlterNet reports...

"Nearly a year into the first outbreak of the bird flu among cattle, the virus shows no sign of slowing. The U.S. government failed to eliminate the virus on dairy farms when it was confined to a handful of states, by quickly identifying infected cows and taking measures to keep their infections from spreading. Now at least 845 herds across 16 states have tested positive."

Further...

"Experts say they have lost faith in the government’s ability to contain the outbreak."

Al Jazeera provides worldwide figures...

Since the virus was first detected nearly three decades ago in China, about 860

people have become infected in 23 countries, including China, Egypt, Vietnam and Turkiye, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Of those, 463 people died from the virus, giving a huge 52 percent death rate.

So, has the U.S. government dropped the ball on bird flu like Donald Trump did on the coronavirus pandemic during his administration? The Guardian says, "US repeating Covid mistakes with bird flu as spread raises alarm, experts say." Gregg Gonsalves, associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health believes the failure of this country to learn from past crises or simply a refusal to do so, could lead to another pandemic of bird flu. This is what is wrong with America. Here's the scenario...

"A lack of testing, opaque data, political divides, poor healthcare access and a sense of hubris – all have plagued the Covid response, and now these errors are playing across the bird flu response, Gonsalves said."

There's more...

“We have not really done anything to address what’s happening in terms of the onward spread of bird flu across the US – we’re back to the same old mistakes,” he said. “Right now, the imminent risk is low and we haven’t seen human-to-human transmission. But the point is, we don’t wait for that to happen. Right?”

In other words, we were completely caught off guard from Trump to Biden, and it looks as if the current apathy will continue, at least until Trump re-enters the White House. And then, will the Oval Office lunatic respond as he did before during the covid pandemic?...

“We have it [covid pandemic] totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”

          “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”

“I think the virus is going to be—it’s going to be fine.”

“The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… the Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

There is more of trump's drivel you can see here. The question is what will this maniac say when he is in charge of this country and responsible for your life?

Will Elon Musk have a desk in the Oval Office?

Elon Musk & Vivek Ramaswamy

It has become dangerously obvious that Elon Musk has assumed a major position in Donald Trump's political decisions. Trump is scheduled to go to the White House in January and it would appear that Musk will be his shadow. Here are some comments from Democrats...

"Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) accused President-elect Donald Trump of being Elon Musk’s “puppet” on Wednesday after Trump followed Musk’s lead in opposing House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) continuing resolution to keep the government open."

Musk knows that if a bill isn't passed by Friday, the U.S. government will shut down. Yet,

Musk said...

“This bill should not pass,” Musk posted Wednesday morning, responding to a post by Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-leader of President-elect Donald Trump’s advisory group Department of Government Efficiency.'

Musk and Ramaswamy have plans, "to slash government spending, including at least $2 trillion in federal programs, a figure experts have called unrealistic." Musk, described as the world’s richest person, is also against a pay increase for members of Congress. In my opinion this Congress does not deserve a raise, rather, they should receive a pay cut for the incompetency they have demonstrated. But with the close margin in the House, it is clear the Republicans will need Democrats to pass any bill.

Musk and Ramaswamy, Donald Trump appointed to lead the nongovernmental group called the “Department of Government Efficiency,” DOGE, spent Wednesday posting on social media pushing Republican lawmakers to vote against a bipartisan stopgap funding bill. Folks, we're just days from a government shutdown, which apparently Trump wants since he supports the Bobbsey twins efforts. Here's a similar situation from 1888 that Donald Trump, today, has brought to American politics...

"One Sunday in March 1888, former President Rutherford B. Hayes wrote in his diary, “This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government of corporations, by corporations, and for corporations.”

There's more,,,

"Hayes offered this private admission at the peak of the Gilded Age, when, as the historian Richard White put it, “corruption suffused government and the economy.” Businessmen amassed fortunes never seen before in American history and demanded government officials aid them in expanding those fortunes further."

And nothing has changed in the year 2024...

"For decades, the influence of money in politics has grown alongside the country’s increasing income inequality. Those who warned about this growing influence have been thoroughly vindicated. This year, Trump’s campaign was fueled by roughly $800 million from seven billionaire families. His administration will include more than a dozen billionaires, the wealthiest since President Warren Harding’s corrupt White House.

And as long as a misguided U.S. public chooses to follow this charlatan, nothing will change.

Two sides of death

Heaven and Hell

Thomas Paine was a deist, which is the belief in a God who created the universe but does not intervene in its functioning. He was an opponent of organized religion and Christianity, but he believed in a deity that was evident in nature. I am an agnostic, somewhat similar to Paine, and, in lieu of Christianity, I have a different opinion about the hereafter. Here is more Paine...

Paine believed that those who spent their lives trying to make others happy would be happy in the afterlife. He also believed that the wicked would be punished.

My opinion of the hereafter is a place where there is a huge chain-link fence to affinity, with one side bright, cheerful, upbeat and festive. The inhabitants reside in paradise, a blissful utopia that sees its residents in the prime of existence with no physical problems.

The other side dark, raining, sleeting, snowing with regular bouts of oppressive wind and engulfing surges of water. The occupants are all chained with a length that only allows them the room to get to the fence and wish they had led a better life.

There is a watchdog and it is his job to come up with methods to further torture those on the dark side. Like the denial of food and drink, forcing the bottom dwellers to disrobe in the cold, rain and snow. Making these poor souls walk on hot coals to get to the food and drink they are allowed.

Donald Trump will destroy democracy

These are two very specialized ideologies, but meant to be a simplification of the unyielding difference between right and wrong. We have lost our way in this determination today, particularly on the political scene. We have an incoming Oval Office lunatic that has threatened to jail Jan. 6 committee members and his enemies in general; He wants to deport 11 million immigrants and doesn't care if there are U.S. citizens caught up in the process; He has focused on unqualified and incompetent people to fill his administration.

There is more, much more, and the downside of it all is that Donald Trump wants to destroy our democracy and replace it with an autocracy. And, unfortunately, some of the American public, and it must be a relatively large portion, has turned into apathetics. They want someone to make their decisions, and for the life of me I will never understand how they want to trust Donald Trump with this task. The next four years could prove a reckoning and this includes Trump and all his minions.

Will Brian Thompson's murder end a corrupt insurance industry practice?

Doctors without authority

Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare was murdered and drew headlines like this on WGTC...

"‘He was a serial killer’: Americans have no tears to shed for murdered CEO who denied patients life-saving care."

This may seem callous to some but it is a pent-up feeling for years of those deprived of their rightful medical care. WGTC continues...

"UnitedHealthcare is the kind of insurance company that scams people, but we hardly ever hold it accountable. Well, some people on the internet haven’t forgotten about the company’s past."

Social media is screaming how UnitedHealth has the most denied claims in the industry and they do it by using AI. The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reported, "the nation’s insurers have been using AI-powered tools to deny some claims from Medicare Advantage plan subscribers," according to YahooNews.

There's more...

"The report found that UnitedHealthcare’s denial rate for post-acute care — health care needed to transition people out of hospitals and back into their homes — for people with Medicare Advantage plans rose to 22.7% in 2022, from 10.9% in 2020."

There is also a lawsuit accusing Brian Thompson and other executives of UnitedHealth of insider trading related to an ongoing Justice Department investigation, according to YahooNews. Here's the scenario...

"Thompson, 50, was one of three UnitedHealth Group executives named in a class action lawsuit filed in May that accused them of dumping millions of dollars worth of stock while the company was the subject of a federal antitrust investigation, which investors say wasn’t immediately disclosed to shareholders."

Taking advantage of this privileged access to inside information is considered a breach of the individual's fiduciary duty. And if you're willing to break one rule, why not another, which, of course, was Thompson's initiation of the use of AI for the purpose of denying claims. A move that ranks UnitedHealth the frontrunner in that process. 

Neiscope says the public's reaction is incredibly dark, with one person cracking the following remark, "Our apologies, but bullet wounds are only covered under our Platinum+ package." Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch commented...

"Let's be clear: any act of violence or loss of life is a tragedy. But the internet's indifference to Thompson's passing — and gallows humor about the notorious deficiencies of the private insurance industry — are simultaneously ghoulish and illustrative of America's profoundly dysfunctional medical system."

The cost of medical care has gone up while the quality of care has gone down. But the epitome of it all this is there is now a company "whose business model depends on turning down payments for care recommended by doctors for their patients," according to ProPublica.org. (They sell this software to insurance companies). The name of the company is EviCore by Evernorth and they are owned by the insurance giant Cigna. Here's the scenario...

"A ProPublica and Capitol Forum investigation found that EviCore uses an algorithm backed by artificial intelligence, which some insiders call “the dial,” that it can adjust to lead to higher denials. Some contracts ensure the [insurance] company makes more money the more it cuts health spending. And it issues medical guidelines that doctors have said delay and deny care for patients."

There is no wonder the American people are furious over being conned out of the healthcare that is rightfully theirs. But when will the masses revolt against this wrong and others perpetrated by Donald Trump?                                         

Why hasn't Joe Biden issued blanket precautionary pardons?

President Biden has a list but this time it is a good one. It includes those who have actively opposed Donald Trump, and he is considering giving them blanket precautionary pardons. Daily Beast describes them "Trump’s biggest political foes," with a mix of Republicans, Democrats and former administration staff...

The main three are former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Adam Schiff, newly elected California Senator. There are more.

Here's a headline for you from Reuters: "Trump taps team geared toward retribution and remaking of government." A clearcut designation of loyalists who share Donald Trump's thirst for revenge. And, a promise to take away your democracy and turn it into a dictatorship. I don't believe the average person in this country wants to give up thinking for themselves and turn over their lives to an oligarchy. Only the double-digit Trump followers. 

And here's a kicker from Reuters: "Trump's team reflects preference for outsiders with disruptive mentality."

Kash Patel, Trum's current choice to head the FBI has bluntly "vowed to go after Trump's perceived enemies," according to Reuters. Listen to this from Politico..

"For years, Trump has peppered his speeches and social media posts with vengeful calls for his political opponents, his critics and members of the media to be prosecuted, locked up, deported and even executed. In the waning weeks of the 2024 campaign, he escalated those promises of retaliation to a fever pitch."

According to NPR, many of Trump's targets are lawyering up...

"It would be naive and foolish for anyone not to take this seriously," said Mark Zaid, an attorney who represents several people threatened by Trump. "We have to prepare as much as we can for what might be coming."

Zaid adds, although he is somewhat concerned, he hopes Donald Trump's vengeance objectives will not have to leave the country for protection.

Is this the kind of America you want to live in? For the anti-Trump group, it is an unequivocal no. 

Trump taking healthcare from most needy

 

Do you live in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah, or Virginia? There are three million of you who could immediately lose your health coverage if the Republicans cut extra federal Medicaid funding that's helped states to increase what you receive.. Here's the scenario from AlterNet...

"If Congress cuts federal funding, Medicaid expansion would be at risk in all states that have opted into it — even those without trigger laws — because state legislatures would be forced to make up the difference, said Renuka Tipirneni, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health."

There are forty other states and the District of Columbia extending this health insurance to 21 million people, a move that has brought U.S. uninsured rates to an all time low. In exchange, the federal government pays 90% of the cost to cover the expanded population. A lot of this does depend on politics at the state level. Here's another if..

"If Congress cuts federal funding, Medicaid expansion would be at risk in all states that have opted into it — even those without trigger laws — because state legislatures would be forced to make up the difference.

Republican states would no doubt oppose the above and let the program expire. The article points out that "Six of the nine states with trigger laws — Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, and Utah — went for Trump in the 2024 election.

"Conservatives oppose the ACA, saying "the program costs too much and covers too many people." Liberals say "the Medicaid expansion has saved lives and helped communities by widening coverage to people who could not afford private insurance." And here's an interesting fact...

"Nearly a quarter of the 81 million people enrolled in Medicaid nationally are in the program due to expansions." 

In other words there is a specific, established need here, but Donald Trump doesn't think it is necessary. I have come to the conclusion that the new Donald Trump administration is not necessary.