It would be a shame (2017)....and now something IS happening to it

 

Coping with...all of it

Trump alone is a big task to deal with. Most of the voters do not want or need a president who is in the media daily with some new or recycled "tweet" and entire countries have fates that depend on his quirks.

But we have to move on. Last November I had some thoughts about my state and the blog picture was the first one of me out here on the edge of endless cornfields. And a city with a university.

The full force of Trump came in January, we are a week into it. The weeks were quite gloomy for weather and cold. I did spend time outside (recommneded!) about half the days. It is very springlike today. I took my hat off half way into the same walk. I think it is the same spot but maybe facing the other direction. The trees are similar.

We are all coping with reckless changes in Washington. Some have real fears "losing all" very soon as Congress goes and does what Trump and Musk want. 

ANXIETY

So we have a lot of frustration and anxiety. This is not a post to belittle any of it or make more dystopia predictions. We need to get on with our year. Yes, plan on that, a year.  I am retired so I need to "invent" each day. I do as many chores as I can without paying someone to do much at all. 

I know a young person who put a list together to deal with this, for you as a person.

1- Recognize your values: Living without regret begins with recognizing where to place your values, time, and effort. What are your values when it comes to this election season? Are the ways you spend your energy around it fulfilling? Are they adding to your values or distracting from them?

2- Review what actions you can take: Are there things I can do to make changes? This in essence is a review of what I could influence and what I could not. Consider which actions are realistically within your control and which are outside of your control.

3- Take Action:  Allow yourself to try new things and take calculated risks to broaden your experiences. Find organizations that support the issues you’re concerned about and begin to get involved. 

4- Enjoy the Moment: As you are participating in the areas that are important to you, focus on the present rather than worrying about what might go wrong. There will always be “more” to do but it is impossible to do it all. 

5- Observe and Adjust: Look ahead not back; are there adjustments to make in the present about your next actions? Can your time, talent, or finances be more effective elsewhere? Adjust accordingly! 

Some of the steps in a solid cope ahead plan for election season might include

• anticipating emotions
• connecting with a support system
• practicing healthy coping strategies
• managing media consumption
• engaging in positive or fun distractions
• and connecting with a community with shared values  

Downsizing and Other Preparations

It's a few weeks into the Trump term. Let's not kid ourselves, we have a dictator. And a racist one at that. We have states and courts, so it is not like we do not have some way to maintain democracy at the state level. Trump has little power over my basic freedoms at this point. But he has power over my income.

Congress is not doing much. The GOP is not resisting Trump at all. All their actions indicate we are headed to a US with no elections at all. Trump and Musk will then eliminate Medicare and Social Security.

This is where we get to downsizing. I have STUFF. I am keeping material on family history for about 70 years, pictures and all. And I have interests in retirement that made me buy books, mostly. My music collection has mostly stopped. These are topics that interested me for 10 years:

History, science, a bit of psychology. Those books and the stack behind them are not going. But I have college texts on many topics that I bought for less than ten dollars each. Those are all going. You can imagine a two car garage with recreational stuff. Only the newest supplies will survive. Camping gear will be reduced to the minimum for two. No cooking gear.

The Other Preparations

There is now some thrift in all our spending. I bought rather expensive bifocal glasses last fall. They will need to last two years. The frames certainly will. I do not use Medicare Advantage plans that give you "free glasses." The health care part there is an HMO.

Trump has been in power a few weeks. His thinking is mostly revenge and appeal to his base. The continuation of a Trump dictatorship in some groomed successor is unlikely. He may be thinking of his legacy, but those things are spur of the moment things. He won't bother with it till 2028. But even with that hopeful thinking, the damage Trump will have done will not return the federal government to its 2024 level.

On my part, it is quite clear we seniors will lose a lot. I am not in the worst group. Those are the ones renting and the ones on expensive medication. Losing social security payment will make them homeless.

I own a  house and a car. Presumably I can survive with those for two years and the income from withdrawals from retirement savings. Past two years,  the house is likely to go. We will be renters and since I own the house, the funds will get me 5-10 years. If one of us gets medical bills in the 5-10 years that go over 10 000 each year, then it will go quicker.

There is a bit of an advantage to downsizing first and then waiting to see. If you have less STUFF, and are renting, you can more quickly move to a new state or other place where you find more benefits remaining.

The downsizing will start this year. I will need to go through family history and minimize the materials. Slides can be scanned. But since Trump is forcing me into this, it will not be the fun wintertime activity it was supposed to be.

Will I afford to travel? I have flown overseas twice in the past ten years. Also one shorter trip out of the USA. I will need to really shop for routes and so on, maybe Iceland Air for most it. If things settle down by 2026 and the steam runs out for Trump as he loses the house, this will be a posssibility. If social security is completely gone, as opposed to reduced, it will still be difficult.

They are getting a taste of their own medicine now!

Vance: If you can survive Greta Thunberg for 10 years you can survive Elon Musk for a few months.

Listening to news, Democrats and MAGA voters are both going to get a lot of painful news, when the other party is in power. I am not quite sure why the MAGA voters bother to watch Fox when they could just turn off the TV news for four years. Just watch entertainement. But they watched this.

A jogger was killed by an illegal alien. They are ALL criminals!

Those news items came daily, and the MAGA voters suffered watching awful things Democrats allowed. Because we defunded the police, apparently.

The facts presented by Fox are not facts. But the news clips offering the point of view were in fact real, mostly. They just did not represent the average. Or the statistically signficant.

Now they think: "They are getting a taste of their own medicine now!"

And we are in fact suffering with every week of Musk and Trump doing awful things.

We could, both sides of the debate, just sit back and assess what all this is doing to me. On the Fox viewer side, there was a belief that penniless immigrants were bringing fentanyl in their pockets to sell to their own teens in their community. They were a threat to joggers in every city, stealing and threatening. Because...why? They would not risk getting deported. The crimes, if any, were petty theft at best.

Now look at what we see happening under Trump. Medicaid gone, Medicare coverage reduced, rates going up on supplemental insurance. Human rights under attack as foreign looking people are rounded up. Do all of them carry their "blue card" at all times? No.

So the things we will suffer are all real, whereas the suffering MAGA felt would have disappeared by just turning Fox News off.

BIG GOVERNMENT

Did MAGA voters feel some sort of pain of negative feeling every while we still had a fully functioning government with FEMA and all the agencies? That was pushed by Fox News as well. But no, any angst they had about being suffocated by big government was all their own making. It does not compare in any way to the material suffering of being cut off from Medicaid and Medicare that we will get. The elder people will all go bankrupt before they die in this Trump World.

Trump: cruelty is the point

The voters acted based on fear and selfish motivations. There was no room at all in the 2024 election for any program directed at citizens from the Trump side. Some promises were there to protect the white majority from all kinds of evils they made straw men of. But no direct aid to any individuals. 

Bush senior made the Thousand Points of Light speech. At that point there was an assumption that you would take care of those in need. Even if it was only by charity. Medicaid was still there. Perhaps the Republicans of the Bush age still wanted their parents to get some care after they lost all and were in a nursing home. Even that is soon gone.

Trump has only revenge and cruelty to offer. It will entertain his voters in the "owning libs" sense. Black Lives Matter only led to the right rejecting DEI altogether. This is what we get for all four years of Trump. If he lasts that long. I think his revenge campaign lasts about a year. Then golfing, I hope. There is the danger that Musk is left in power past that time. He is going to be functioning in some role for about two years. He has his own goals to meet.

Trump, with a 1-2% majority, will suppress all opinions that make him look bad. That in itself looks awful. A petty dictator wannabee taking his revenge on evey one of us in the 50% that does not approve him. Trump disapproval is at 47-51%, depending on the poll. But the average will soon get to 55% when a few more planes fall out of the sky and when Musk does more stupid things.

The Voters

Trump voters look really bad now. They will make excuses, exclaiming what kind of awful people are in the Democratic party. If nothing else, they will claim they are honest hard working Americans. Democrats are lazy bums. Get a job!

The Trump coalition did include some ethnic groups. Those people will have to evaluate things for 2028. For now, they are making excuses as well.

Democrats are a coalition. We need to tolarate a large range of opinions and focus on the ones we share. It all looks really awful from our point of view. We have a good chunk of the educated people in our country supporting us. We try to focus on a future we can achieve with some long term planning. MAGA folk lack education and only think about the next paycheck. We have a problem with this unified "stupid" group. Who are proud to be....stupid. They do not use that word, but that is what it is.

I do have a new theory of why Biden was unpopular. Vaccinations. The vaccinations were carried out in huge events. Many a MAGA voter reluctantly took it. We have to get on with life. But the pandemic hung over us, the administration kept managing it  and Fauci lectured to us. That all was "too much government" hanging over his head. And he sure was not getting a second COVID shot. He never goes to the doctor, even. For healthcare now, the MAGA folk will enjoy "freedom" and no nagging CDC or other agencies sending out warnings.

As far as cruelty, the concept is rather alien on the Democratic side. We do not mind giving benefits to everyone, so cutting off benefits or making DEI disappear for groups that are not hired due to some prejudice all sound strange to us. The best we can do for revenge is that some of the awful things MAGA voters have brought us through Trump will make them suffer as well. Perhaps they won't bother to vote next time. They clearly had not idea the government does things beneficial to us. We are only cruel to the rich. They can afford it. Their lives are sad anyway. Bitter people with millions in property somehow feel like it is unfair. We have no sympathy.

Conspiracy theories in politics: fun shared hobby to "blame the liberals and elites"

 

Conspiracy theories are filling up social media. Alex Jones is happy. He lives for conspiracies.

I was mainly interested in how the use of them is tightly joined to the right at this time. Jewish space lasers? Green had specific ideas with that. Wikipedia even dug up a Jewish business connection. See under Marjorie Taylor Greene.

It did not have the right impact without the "Jewish" part. The purpose is to at first grab attention and spread like wildfire. But there are parts that the person inventing the conspiracy wants to hang on to. She gets her people to share their ideas and make fun of elites. "Owning the libs."

Trump himself seems to grab onto a new one every time he can. If you can attach a country or ethnic group to it, even better. Trump has no use for facts. He needs these things like he needs rallies. Material for his stand up routine. He does not need to explain it well, like Hannibal Lecter. It is just there for a joke. He needs the crowds and social media for the stuff. He is going to be so depressed when he is nothing in a few years and TV has gone past him and his weird hobbies.

To sum up: My take is that there are only two goals: 1 distract and throw doubt on something, get political support of the regular folks in doubting the elites 2 togetherness, sharing.

With Trump there is a big factor that is maybe in all the wacko end of MAGA polticians: secret message to the faithful followers suggesting something rather disgusting about a group (Jews, foreigners, libs) without actually using the word. "They are eating our cats and dogs." It was too good not to use.

Something common among all MAGA voters is the reaction to everything the government (CDC, FDA) tells us: "who are they to tell me what to do?" It is this thought that preceded the details of most popular conspiracy theories. A few were also about individuals (Hillary).

There is a more serious part to conspiracies outside of politics. These people are just there to make a few dollars, so they cast doubt on Covid medications and vaccines and use their web site to peddle a few health supplements. The same junk you can get in a variety of forms at your local health supplement store. Dr Mercola was a pioneer way back from the Nutrasweet days.

Conversations with Average Republican Congressman

 On his FB page.

Day 2

BACON IS PROUDLY BEHIND ISRAEL 100% (NO MENTION OF GAZA)

Most of the comments below that are not on Israel, more like "do your job." I've copied my posts and those of "Tim" and others:

Me: Congressman Bacon won by 5000 votes. He is sbout to steal Medicaid from 41 000 in his district.

Tim: Steal Medicaid? Get real. Freebies be disqualified isn’t stolen. It’s not deserved

Me: Dump the nursing home patients on the street then? 60% of those in Omaha nursing homes. Medicare does not cover it. They are not "able bodied adults." Beyond that, hundreds of Omahans are working full time and now can't afford insulin or similar daily drugs.

Tim: Sure you got all the numbers there little buddy . Cant take care of the world . But maybe worry about Finland .

Me: I do worry. But I have paid American income tax and property tax for 50 years. I've never worried about "wrong people" getting insulin paid by me.

Tim: The country voted massively to reduce waste. If you don’t think there is not massive waste in all government to bad . Move back

Me: There is not massive waste. The work force is reduced from its peak and seasonal projects are all contracted out. Compared to Western countries, our expense is in the low end. The US federal work force is huge, but so is the country. Being America, there is only waste in courts as the government sorts out issues. More planes will crash under Trump, FEMA will be scrapped. Wait for the next Nebraska floods in spring.

Brian: I never imagined the United States would align with authoritarian regimes. Under President Trump’s administration, our nation has joined Russia, North Korea, Iran, Belarus in opposing a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This marks a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy, distancing us from our traditional European allies. It’s a stark reminder of how fragile democratic alliances can be and a warning of the potential erosion of our nation’s moral leadership on the global stage.

Connie (note she does not mention tax cuts): Republicans in Nebraska are counting on you to vote Republican Mr Bacon and to vote to eliminate trillions of dollars of debt! Thanks!

Joseph: Are you willing to turn your self into authorities for your part in the government fraud waste and abuse that has been knowingly funded by you and legislative branch since you have taken office?

Alex: It’s really weird to brag about your support of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. You should be ashamed, but you’re not because you’re a soulless monster.

Jim: How about your role model selling out Ukraine?? Also, you are OK with a 40% reduction in the DOD budget over the next five years?? You've been awfully quiet lately!!!

Joan: when's your town hall Don? when are you going to explain to Nebraska why you sold us out to rapist, 34 time convicted felon. You may be scared of him, but you should be more afraid of the people you're selling out for a pat on the head

Democracy: a week gone and we are not doing so well

 

The Black Knight is optimistic. The stuff is just piling up day by day. Is there anything we can do? Sure, the voters WILL protest, espeecially in places like LA. In 2017 in congress there was good resistance to Trump. And his henchmen were incompetent. But so are Democrats now. My take is that the last hope they had of immediate action went with the Trump supreme court. After that there is nothing to do but wait. If we are lucky Trump will last 2 years. He only had a 1-2% win.

Well, the Democrats do not head any committees involved in any of this.

Anti-science

 

I had this written up when the book came out. Now with RFK Jr inserting wacko ideas into healtcare, it is again relevant.

Peter Hotez's book describes how anti-science has become problematic. It can even prevent government funding of research.

Biology is still quite a mystery to the layman. Their approach to it is political and grassroots activism. You can read about politics and Fox News' campaign to oppose science in the name of freedom in other books. However, here the opponents of vaccines are described quite accurately. The factors you do not immediately see are also explained to some extent. Consumers are consumers of misinformation spread by a systematic machine. It is not worth basing your opinion solely on social media.

Who benefits from opposing vaccinations? Hotez mentions at least the trolls hired by Putin on social media. They spread false information about almost everything. Disinformation here and elsewhere, as well as the chaos of the pandemic, were Putin's goals. Local groups then seize on the false information to spread as facts. Scientists with important titles were also hired to come up with false information. The book mentions Jeffrey Singer, who wants to popularize all science. Scientists should no longer be in the role of "gatekeeper", but with the help of the Internet, a person could compile the information themselves and act on it. Even if a substance had been found to be ineffective against Covid, if it does not cause medical harm in a certain dose, a person would be allowed to try any substance on themselves.

There is also a large group of peddlers of fake medicines and “vitamins” circulating on the Internet. Hydroxychloroquine and a couple of others were popular during the corona pandemic. The criteria by which medicines and vaccines are tested and developed are not easy to read with the experience and education of a layperson. It is easy to grasp the simplest explanation. It is easy to exaggerate the risks of vaccines. In the case of Covid, it was not known that the mentioned risks and health problems in the Covid vaccines were the same, but more dangerous if you got Covid itself.

The functioning of the immune system is not understood by the layman. It is only understood that when you get the vaccine, you need to wait a while for the immune system to be ready to fight the virus. But at least that is clear. Those who have been vaccinated are starting to doubt whether the vaccine was of any benefit if you got Covid anyway. The statistics that support vaccines are tables, and they cannot be summarized in some Twitter-style message.

The book lists political groups that work in the healthcare sector. There is also a section on climate change and those who oppose anything related. All the January 6th rebellion groups, the Proud Boys and the like, are involved in sending threatening messages to Peter Hotez. He came into the picture during the pandemic and was even on television much more often than Anthony Fauci.

Anti-vaccine groups were ready since 2015 in Texas and California. When Donald Trump was elected president, opposition to science was in full swing. All government projects during the pandemic had to be modified stop depriving freedom. Public health in the US operates at the state level. State recommendations put in place, and in each state there is a person in public health leading that.

Public health operates at state and county level. Quarantines and tests were ordered. Now this was seen solely as the enemy of the individual and no compromise was made if there was even the slightest risk to the individual. Before the pandemic, there was misinformation about vaccines and autism in children.  Now the opponents had to come up with new claims. After all, the people being vaccinated were mostly adults.

At the local level, school parent councils first intervened in the use of masks because vaccines were not initially available to children. The same group of patents continues to operate and is now acting with the support of Governor DeSantis by restricting anything related to gender and minority groups in school textbooks and teaching.

Hotez explains exactly what happened during the pandemic in a few paragraphs. In the rest of the book, he continues to offer communication as a solution. He himself, although he is mainly a researcher in a large hospital system in Texas, has gone to the media as a defender of science. Hotez suggests a campaign in which prominent figures are hired to communicate with the media. They should be supported by organizations, so that the skeptical would agree to listen to the message for a moment. If the state hires them, they will not be believed.

There is hope: the young people

 I am as tired of the first week of Trump as we all are. Trump got in and his politics are summed up by exclusion. His voters wanted to exclude foreigners. That is happening. Now the process continues to exclude anybody but the most conservative and the wealthiest. Inclusiveness and democracy have no part in the Trump four years.

I had a lecture today from Roman Pryjomko. He has been involved in world politics since the 1990s. His one slide showed some hope. This is a South African, Fasija Hassan, who came into politics demanding in. "We will break down the door." Old men and women were holding all the power. Nelson Mandela quit at 80. He said the octagenarians have no right to govern. They cannot understand change.

If you want change, here is your chance. Quit following news from Facebook and TikTok. Find out what is going on. Get involved. I'll come out put up your yard signs. It is your turn.