* Blog & notes for the current week.
DAYLOG MON 14 APR: Our national crisis continues to painfully evolve. This is clearly the biggest national crisis since the Civil War; some people say the Great Depression was bigger, but that remains to be seen.
Anyway, it's hard to track all the crisis all the time, so it needs to be taken a part at a time. Of course, there's the Trump global tariff war now in progress -- which, as much as anyone can figure out, is heavily driven by Trump wanting to get rid of income taxes. He has said as much.
Up to the early 20th century, most of Federal revenue was from tariffs, though there were income taxes every now and then. Of course, tariffs are highly regressive, hurting the poorest the worst. Trump keeps trying to claim exporting countries pay the tariffs, but that's a fraud -- we pay them. Anyway, more importantly, could tariffs actually replace income taxes?
One Michael Tomasky, writing in NEWREPUBLIC ("Donald Trump Really Is a Lot Dumber Than We Thought. Like, a Lot!", 4 April 25), says NO. During FDR's New Deal, Federal expenditures as part of GDP ran to about 10%, going up to 40% during WW2.
In the postwar period, Federal expenditures have hovered around 20% -- liberals want to get them up to 25%, conservatives down to 15%. The high was about 30%, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was on Trump's watch. Contrast this to 1900, when Federal expenditures were 2.5% of GDP. Do we want to go back to 1900? Just think: tiny military, no health / safety / environmental regulations, no health / retirement safety net.
Tomasky writes: "Trump is fantasizing about some America that no one, literally not a single American, wants to return to. Poverty was through the roof. Health care was abysmal." Of course, Trump & company want that, but the great majority of the USA don't want it at all.
Trump is talking up a trillion dollars a year from tariffs. Coming from Trump, that has to be a great exaggeration, and income tax brings in 6 trillion dollars. Getting rid of income tax is more Trump lunacy. The crisis flows on. We need to stay cool. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says: "They eat fear. That is why it is so important for us to remain focused. Chaos agents want you to spiral. Stay focused. Stay disciplined. Stay clear-eyed. The best way to fight back is by refusing to give them what they want."
DAYLOG TUE 15 APR: In the latest instance of America's national crisis, Harvard University, along with dozens of other institutions of higher education, was told by the Trump Regime to obey a list of dictates, or else.
The regime's demands were extensive, with Harvard to drop all diversity efforts; provide data on faculty & students for auditing; get rid of pro-Palestinian campus clubs & others deemed unacceptable; ban mask wearing; and otherwise cave in to trolls. An examination showed that the demands impossibly contradicted themselves -- and so Harvard replied with a NO, President Alan Garber writing: "No government -- regardless of which party is in power -- should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue."
The Trump Regime promptly froze billions in funding, with Trump threatening to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status. Harvard would certainly sue to maintain its exemption ... but anyway, it seems Harvard leadership understood that there is no safety in caving in to Trump. Trump works from the book: ART OF THE RAW DEAL.
It appears that having an endowment of tens of billions helps Harvard as well. In any case, it is good that Harvard stood up, and hopefully other educational institutions will do so as well. Barack Obama, a Harvard law alum who only infrequently posts to BlueSky, commented:
QUOTE:
Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions -- rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, ... while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let's hope others follow suit.
END_QUOTE
Incidentally, there is now not much trolling on BlueSky against Obama, I suppose in good part because I blocked the trolls there at the outset. There are still people who are demanding he do more, without being able to specifically say what. I block them, too.
* Getting a good night's sleep can be tough these days; I often toss and turn, worrying about this and that. Last night, I figured it out: only thinking about breathing in and out, working to relax myself as best I can. Surprisingly, it worked.
DAYLOG WED 16 APR: I mentioned yesterday that I've learned to focus on breathing and relaxation when I'm feeling unsettled at night. I was wondering if it would keep on working the next night, and found out that it did. I got a fair night's sleep.
Unfortunately, I check the news when I get up, and the ugly reality of things comes down hard. The Trump Regime is very busy making trouble on multiple fronts right now. Sometimes my fear & dread is manageable, sometimes it starts to paralyze me. However, over time I seem to get used to it and life feels more normal.
I still have to cope with the usual trolling online. When prominent folks like Obama post online, there's always someone complaining that they should do more, without specifying what. I just block the trolls.
More significantly, I see demands for a military coup against the Trump Regime -- and always push back: The military protects the Constitution, the Constitution says a coup would be illegal, end of story. The military can't, won't, and shouldn't do that. The chance of it happening is, if not zero, very small, and the long-term results might be very bad: Should the military be able to overturn a government the brass doesn't like? People shoot back that circumstances are desperate. Yes they are, but a coup isn't a solution.
There's talk about violent action in general, but I always shoot back that nonviolent action works better. Examples of violent movements do not show they work: American's Weather Underground, Germany's Red Army Faction, Italy's Red Brigades.
Nonviolent action can work, one Deborah Elizabeth Flynn posting online: "The regime is a precarious structure, held up by precarious pillars of power." She compares it to the game of Jenga, in which blocks are piled up into a tower, and then removed until it falls down. Nonviolent action chips away at the support for the regime, exploiting its instability.
Right now, all eyes are on the judiciary, as judges move towards contempt charges as the Trump Regime ignores court orders. There's a lot of cynicism about anything happening, but we don't know what will happen. In reply to a doubter, a legal journalist named Cristian Farias said: "Take a seat and witness history unfold, because we're all about to find out. And in the meantime, fight for the world you want."
I commented I couldn't have said it as well myself. Not incidentally, Kamala Harris posted today -- I thanked her, asked her to post more often: "It helps reduce the fear and dread ... You and your family stay safe."
DAYLOG THU 17 APR: According to an article in WIRED ("This 'College Protester' Isn't Real. It's an AI-Powered Undercover Bot for Cops" by Emanuel Maiberg & Jason Koebler, 17 April 2025), a New York-based AI company named Massive Blue is selling a product named "Overwatch" to some law enforcement agencies that "deploys lifelike virtual agents, which infiltrate and engage criminal networks across various channels."
The virtual agents include a "protest persona" that fakes a 36-year-old divorced woman with no children, and who is interested in baking, activism, and "body positivity." Other personas include "child trafficker", "pimp", "college protester", "juveniles", and so on.
Massive Blue and the associated law enforcement agencies only broadly provide information on what they're doing together, saying nothing that couldn't be easily guessed. The bottom line is that these days, it's almost impossible to tell a bot from a real person online. The broader bottom line is Massive Blue can't be the only company working on this tech, and there's no limit to the possible misuse.
I wonder these days if some of my pleasant online chats are with a bot. Since I say nothing risky, that's not such a threat to me. The amusing part is: what happens when two different and unrelated bots get into a difference of opinion? It might look like perpetual motion.
* WIRED also reports on the current measles epidemic, with antivaxxers claiming the outbreak is due to a "bioweapon" -- and selling dubious preventatives for big bucks. Why am I not surprised? Ah, the USA; trouble today, trouble every day.
DAYLOG FRI 18 APR: The Trump Regime, having sent the guiltless Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a prison in El Salvador -- and then saying they were powerless to redress the error -- was told by SCOTUS to "facilitate" bringing him back to the USA.
Of course, the regime appealed the decision. The 3-judge 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, led by conservative Reagan-appointee Circuit Judge Harvie Wilkinson, rejected the appeal, with the decision saying:
QUOTE:
The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order. Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done. This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.
END_QUOTE
The appeals court warned that a conflict between the executive and judiciary seemed to be looming, but said: "We yet cling to the hope that it is not naive to believe our good brethren in the Executive Branch perceive the rule of law as vital to the American ethos."
No hope: the White House released a screenshot of a NEW YORK TIMES front page, with the headline: "Senator Meets With Wrongly Deported Maryland Man in El Salvador." The headline was crudely marked up to read: "Senator Meets With [MS-13 ILLEGAL ALIEN] in El Salvador [WHO IS NEVER COMING BACK]." Juvenile internet trolls infest the White House -- how discouraging. The sneer clearly targeted SCOTUS, daring them to act.
We're headed for a Contempt showdown. What happens, I don't know. However, it is slightly encouraging to see again just how incompetent the Trump Regime is.
* Re Trump's idea of tariffs replacing income tax, FACTCHECK says that in March, they brought in $264 million a day, which over a year would amount to less than $100 billion USD. Assuming Trump's additional tariffs bring in ten times as much would get it up to a trillion, but it's obvious that imports will fall off dramatically with high tariffs -- so maybe $500 billion is what could happen, tops.
* Every day I endure the fear and dread. Over time, however, I feel it less. I know things are still really bad, I just cope with it better. This will not be over with soon.
There are times of change in anyone's life that lead to a transformation of self, to become a distinctly different person. It's not pleasant, but all the changes I'm seeing are improvements, shifting towards resilience and more courage. The hard part is not knowing how I might react in unpredictable circumstances.
