Money for the Rich

Jul 3 2025 Pete Buttigieg on Substack

Pete Buttigieg really knows how to distill the message to something clear and simple. The world needs more leaders like him.

Today proves that Republicans were serious about one promise: to cut taxes for the wealthy. All the rest was bullshit.

15 Problems with ‘OBBBA’

Jul 2 2025 The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget crfb.org

A lot of interesting information in this piece, I’ll just list the 15 points below. Link to the piece is at the bottom.

1. Adds $4.1 trillion to the debt through 2034

2. Would add $5.5 trillion to the debt if made permanent

3. Violates the House reconciliation framework by $600 billion

4. Accelerates Social Security and Medicare insolvency to 2032

5. Is littered with special interest giveaways and new tax and spending entitlements

6. Relies on numerous budget gimmicks

7. Undermines future budget enforcement

8. Increases future spending if made permanent

9. Makes the tax code more complicated and less fair

10. Explodes interest costs to nearly $2 trillion per year

11. Worsens deficits by even more using dynamic scoring

12. Increases the debt limit by $5 trillion in exchange for deficit increases

13. Makes the 3% of GDP deficit goal much harder to achieve

14. Uses up key offsets needed for debt reduction

15. Poisons the environment for bipartisan budget and trust fund deals

Good luck with the next election…

15 Major Problems with the Senate Reconciliation Bill

Twelve days in Gaza

Jul 1 2025 The Guardian

Twelve days in Gaza: what happened while the world looked away?

Afghanistan was pushed out of our news by the Ukraine war, Ukraine was pushed out for a while by Gaza, and Gaza was pushed out by the Israeli and US bombing Iran.

In our 24/7 news cycle, there will always be a new crisis to focus on, we should remember that problems do not disappear just because they are not in the news anymore.

This piece is about what happened in Gaza when we were focused on the Iran bombings. Below a short version:

*****

14 June, the second day of the Israel-Iran conflict, at least 20 Palestinians were killed.

16 June, at least 37 people killed

17 June, at least 59 Palestinians killed and hundreds more injured

18 June, central Gaza death toll 11, and at least 24 killed in airstrikes

19 June, 15 killed in central Gaza, elsewhere, about 60 killed in airstrikes

20 June, at least 24 killed

24 June, 25 Palestinians killed

New Normal

Jun 20 2025 The New York Times

The Nation Encourages Political Violence by Allowing It to Seem Normal

Before the next act of political violence seizes our attention, let us pause and preserve in memory Melissa Hortman, a member of the Minnesota State Legislature, and her husband, Mark. The couple became the latest casualties of our nihilistic politics on Saturday after a gunman killed them in their home.

The new culture of political violence is being reinforced. When we move on too quickly from an attack against our society’s organizing ideas, we normalize it. The next shooter, the next extremist, sees a society that accepts violence. Forgetting is dangerous. It encourages repetition.

The Reign of Error

Jun 6 2025 The Washington Post

This is an opinion piece by Dana Milbank, about the current US administration’s achievements so far.

I usually add some sarcastic comments into my posts about the things I write about, in most cases it is serious reporting and I think a bit of sarcasm brings the point out better.

But, I have to admit, this piece really does not need any more sarcasm, so I’ll let you get on with it.

They are not good at this

Forever War

May 25 2025 The Guardian

Trump refuses to accept that for Netanyahu and Putin forever war is the only option

There is too much to lose in Ukraine and Gaza, for peace negotiations to succeed.

Netanyahu and his far-right cronies deny Palestinians the right to an independent state – the exact same right asserted by Israel’s founders. Likewise, Putin rejects the reality of Ukraine as a sovereign country….

And would-be peacemakers, especially the US president, Donald Trump, fail to grasp another visceral similarity: neither actually wants lasting peace. Forever war is their preferred option, their default setting. They depend for their survival on violence. If the fighting stops, they know they face a potentially ruinous reckoning.

What will people say in Rostov-on-Don, Omsk or Nizhny Novgorod when thousands of returning veterans let on what really happened at the front? How long may Putin last when Russia’s elites begin to total up the mind-boggling economic and social cost of his failed gamble? When peace comes, Netanyahu will face elections – and probable defeat. Jail time for alleged bribery and corruption could follow. The international criminal court will demand their surrender. Both could be down and out.

That’s why they fear peace.

Press Freedom Day

May 3 2025 Unesco’s World Press Freedom Day

I am not a journalist, never been one, and probably never will be, I just write a blog. But I know that in a world filled with misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, the work journalists do all over the world is invaluable.

Today is World Press Freedom Day, but as it says in an opinion piece in The Guardian “There is a war on journalists raging across the world.”

Here is the link to the piece, and below a few quotes. There is a war on journalists raging around the world: let their voices be heard

Last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recorded the highest number of media workers killed since it began collecting data three decades ago.

According to that data, at least 124 journalists and media workers were killed in 2024 – nearly two-thirds of them Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank.

Journalists were also killed while doing their jobs in Sudan, Pakistan, Mexico, Syria, Myanmar, Iraq and Haiti. Hundreds more were detained and imprisoned elsewhere, while others were harassed, assaulted and faced relentless threats and abuse online, as well as in their communities and places of work.

Attacks on press freedom and independent news outlets by governments and authoritarian regimes from Russia to Turkey to Belarus are also rising, along with the tsunami of misinformation that is being disseminated on social media and the internet.

In the US, Donald Trump labelled journalists the “enemies of the people” in his first term, and is now waging lawsuits against leading news organisations and ordering federal investigations against others.

*****

The Guardian and its partners launched the Viktoriia project this week. “The Viktoriia project was formed to investigate the disappearance of Viktoriia Roshchyna, a 27-year-old Ukrainian journalist, and expose how Russia is systematically detaining and torturing an estimated 16,000 Ukrainian civilians.”

The following pieces from the project are not easy to read, but they should be read widely.

April 29 2025
‘Numerous signs of torture’: a Ukrainian journalist’s detention and death in Russian prison

April 30 2025
Inside Taganrog: beatings, electrocution and starvation at prison where Ukrainians were tortured

May 1 2025
Release of Ukrainian prisoners in Russia key to any peace deal, rights groups say

Uprising in America?

Apr 18 2025 The New York TImes

What’s Happening Is Not Normal. America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal.

Opinion piece by David Brooks, on defending institutions from trumpism.

In the beginning there was agony. Under the empires of old, the strong did what they willed and the weak suffered what they must.

But over the centuries, people built the sinews of civilization: Constitutions to restrain power, international alliances to promote peace, legal systems to peacefully settle disputes, scientific institutions to cure disease, news outlets to advance public understanding, charitable organizations to ease suffering, businesses to build wealth and spread prosperity, and universities to preserve, transmit and advance the glories of our way of life. These institutions make our lives sweet, loving and creative, rather than nasty, brutish and short.

…

Trump is shackling the greatest institutions in American life. We have nothing to lose but our chains.

Not All Tariffs Are Bad

Apr 15 2025 The Guardian

A good piece about the middle ground, which is totally lost in this polarised and partisan “you are either with us or against us” political environment.

Trump’s tariffs are reckless – but they hold a key lesson for Democrats

Policy-wise, Trump’s tariff-all-imports initiative lands on the “too many” side, ignoring some basic economic realities. In offering almost no implementation period, it provides industry no grace period to actually re-shore factories and other capital-intensive operations to produce goods in the US. In applying tariffs across the board rather than in a targeted fashion, Trump’s proposal makes few accommodations for commodities – from coffee and vanilla to various rare earth minerals that America cannot produce at scale within its own borders.

Trump’s approach is more a power grab than a trade policy – one forcing his erratic decisions on America without the consent of Congress. The strategy allows him to reprise his practice of preserving levies that hit political opponents while granting lucrative exemptions to reward big donors and powerful industries. The likely result: unnecessarily higher prices, industry-crippling retaliation, an uncertain policy environment that paralyzes investment, ever-more rampant corruption and few enduring benefits for the domestic macroeconomy.

That said, liberals’ suggestion that Trump’s behavior proves all tariffs are bad and the existing tariff-free trade policy is ideal – well, lived reality belies those arguments, too.

In addition to the quote above the piece has one important and often overlooked insight:

Trump’s trade war is part of his larger culture war.

If You Can’t Get Even, Get Mean

Apr 13 2025 The Guardian

George Monbiot’s opinion piece in The Guardian.

Rightwing populists will keep winning until we grasp this truth about human nature

As the headline says, Monbiot talks about right-wing populists, and the effect of rising inequality, which fuels resentment against the establishment.

I would argue that this is true for any populist, regardless of their political persuasion, be it right-wing or left-wing, and that this is especially true of any really revolutionary movement. Just look at any revolution in human history, the French and the Russian being prime examples. If you can’t get even, get mean, and totally destroy the old order.

We all know how those revolutions ended, and this piece is a good reminder for the people in power to actually do something about inequality, not just talk about it.

*****

And I should add that I am not endorsing left-wing or right-wing politics with my next comments. What I would like to see is long term responsible and strategic politics for the good of the society.

Left-wing politics has equality in its DNA, so it is often assumed that right-wing politics is against it. But responsible, strategic and long term focused right-wing politics will promote equality and will try to raise the living standards for everyone.

It is a no-brainer; commerce likes stability and predictability, and an equal and well functioning society will provide that. An equal society, which has a large middle class, and a good social safety net, will be a good and safe place to invest in. Investments create jobs and steady jobs mean higher living standards, and higher living standards promote equality and thus societal stability, which is good for investments. A positive cycle and a classic win-win-win situation.

Probably do not need to remind anyone reading this blog, that business in general does not like uncertainty and unpredictability, they are very bad for business. And from a long term point of view, one of the worst options is a revolution.

A good social safety net takes care of the less fortunate, and prevents economic anxiety turning into resentment and division. By promoting trust in government, a functioning safety net basically takes away the rationale from populists politicians.

All responsible and sensible politicians will promote equality and a stable society, the differences are mainly in the how to do this, not if we should do this.

*****

Obviously, as we all know, not all politicians are responsible or sensible, there are some in powerful positions, who could be described as toxic populists.

We do not live in a perfect world, yet. But that does not mean we shouldn’t try to make this world a better place to live in.

How to be a Leader

Apr 13 2025 The New York Times

Stanley McChrystal on fear, anxiety, division and hatred, and how to prevent societies from crumbling.

Be Not Afraid

We live in a world of instability — jobs vanish, institutions falter, narratives shift by the hour. Every word we say, every action we take, is scrutinized, recorded and judged. The threat of digital mobs and public shaming doesn’t protect us; it paralyzes us. It breeds hesitation, then withdrawal, then division.

Fear isolates. It pushes us into ideological bunkers, surrounding us only with those who think like us. And when fear festers, it mutates. What begins as anxiety turns into resentment. Resentment hardens into hatred. Hatred strips away our ability to see others as people. The result is a society riven by suspicion and hostility.

A Stupid Achievement

Apr 10 2025 The New York Times

Producing Something This Stupid Is the Achievement of a Lifetime

A few quotes from the piece, emphasis is mine.

The percentage of fourth graders who score below basic in reading skills on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests is the highest it has been in 20 years.

*****

Andreas Schleicher, the head of education and skills at the O.E.C.D., told The Financial Times, “Thirty percent of Americans read at a level that you would expect from a 10-year-old child.” He continued, “It is actually hard to imagine — that every third person you meet on the street has difficulties reading even simple things.”

*****

What happens when people lose the ability to reason or render good judgments? Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Donald Trump’s tariff policy. I’ve covered a lot of policies over the decades, some of which I supported and some of which I opposed. But I have never seen a policy as stupid as this one. It is based on false assumptions. It rests on no coherent argument in its favor. It relies on no empirical evidence. It has almost no experts on its side — from left, right or center. It is jumble-headedness exemplified.

*****

Producing something this stupid is not the work of a day; it is the achievement of a lifetime — relying on decades of incuriosity, decades of not cracking a book, decades of being impervious to evidence.

More € for Defence

Mar 31 2025 The BBC

Germany decides to leave history in the past and prepare for war

The top General in Germany is talking about bringing back national service, and the parliament has lifted the debt cap on military spending.

Germany’s military is not in a good shape, and there will be a lot to do, but the important thing is, the need is recognised and the work has started.

This is a step in the right direction in Europe today.

Changing Time

Mar 29 2025 The Guardian

Changing your clock? Scientists are only just beginning to understand what this does to us

We humans evolved on this planet, and for the vast majority of our existence we have followed the natural cycle of sunlight and darkness. A bit more than 100 years most western societies have shifted time twice a year, after the introduction of “daylight savings time”.

We have known for a long time that the sudden change in time twice a year causes stress and disruption. As the piece says: “Research suggests that the spring clock change is associated with an increase in car accidents and heart attacks.”, and “Both men and women also reported a worsening of work-life balance following the changing of the clocks in October.“

So, why are we still doing this? The European Parliament voted to abolish this twice a year time change, already in 2019. Why are we dragging our heels on this issue? With daylight savings time we have to change time twice a year, every year, abolishing it only happens once, and we never have to think about it again.

This may have had some positive effect on the use of coal and energy during the First World War, when it was introduced, but now we know this is not good for human health. Any savings in energy we get today, will be minimal compared to the costs related to healthcare and work efficiency losses due to the time changes. And that calculation does not even mention the quality of life.

I’ll end this with a quote from the piece:

Our bodies have evolved to be carefully attuned to our environments. We thrive on having predictable rhythms around when we sleep, eat, work and socialise. These rhythms keep us in sync with our bodies and communities, helping to give us a sense of belonging and stability.

Getting Vaccinated

Mar 24 2025 The New York Times
Updated Mar 28 2025 The Guardian, and Mar 29 2025 The BBC

*****

Mar 24
Why I Got the Measles Vaccine at Age 63

I know I am preaching to the choir, anti-vaxxers most likely will not read this blog.

But if you happen to know someone who is unsure about vaccinations, show them this article, it just might tip them over to the vaccination side of the debate.

*****

Update Mar 28 The Guardian

Nearly 500 confirmed cases of measles across 19 US states, says CDC

The federal government reported on Friday that there have been 483 confirmed cases of measles across 20 US jurisdictions so far this year, with the largest outbreak in Texas, and 70 people across the nation needing to be hospitalized.

*****

Update Mar 29 The BBC

Top US vaccine official forced to resign, reports say

A top vaccine official at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was forced out of his job, US media reports.

Peter Marks offered his letter of resignation to Health and Human Services (HHS) officials on Friday, after being given a choice between resigning or being fired.

"It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies," Mr Marks wrote in a resignation letter, obtained by multiple US media outlets, referring to the agency's new leader Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Protests in Istanbul

Mar 28 2025 The Guardian

I’ve never seen such clampdowns in Istanbul. Turkey’s democracy is fighting for its life

Orhan Pamuk won the 2006 Nobel prize in literature

The jailing of President Erdoğan’s main political rival is the low point of a decade-long march towards autocracy – but the protesters aren’t done yet either.

In jailing İmamoğlu, Erdoğan doesn’t just sideline a more popular political rival – he also seeks to get his hands back on a wealth of resources he hasn’t been able to touch for seven years. Should he succeed, the next presidential election will feature only Erdoğan and his candidates’ faces plastered over the city’s walls and illuminated municipal billboards.

This is not a surprise for anybody who’s following Turkish politics closely. For the past decade, Turkey hasn’t been a real democracy – merely an electoral democracy, one where you can vote for your preferred candidate but have no freedom of speech or thought.

“How Much Dumber Will This Get?”

Mar 28 2025 The New York Times

Hillary Clinton: How Much Dumber Will This Get?

Really no need for me to say anything, here a quote from her piece:

It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity. We’re all shocked — shocked! — that President Trump and his team don’t actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws. But we knew that already. What’s much worse is that top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat. That’s dangerous. And it’s just dumb.

Signalgate

Mar 26 2025 The New York Times
Updated Mar 29 2025 The Guardian

Foreign Spies to Team Trump: 👊🇺🇸🔥

Top US officials included a journalist to group chat on Signal and chatted about Yemen strike plans.

That is not a line from Saturday Night Live or some other comedy show or even a stand up routine, that is what really happened.

And if you have forgotten, there is a war in Yemen, another in Sudan, and another in Gaza, not to mention Ukraine. So, you would think that this is a time to take security about war plans seriously.

I should stop now, before I write something totally unprintable about this. So, below is the first paragraph from the piece.

If you’re running the security directorate of a hostile nation, savor this moment. It’s never been easier to steal secrets from the United States government. Can you even call it stealing when it’s this simple? The Trump administration has unlocked the vault doors, fired half of the security guards and asked the rest to roll pennies. Walk right in. Take what you want. This is the golden age.

*****

Update Mar 29 The Guardian

The Signal chat exposes the administration’s incompetence – and its pecking order

The discussion revealed unserious people who don’t know when to keep quiet, with Stephen Miller as the real boss

No Medication Pain Relief

Mar 24 2025 The Guardian

Pioneering project by Welsh National Opera suggests music can alleviate chronic pain

A project led by Welsh National Opera has suggested music can help people suffering with persistent pain.

Participants in a pain management programme run by WNO with NHS Wales reported that singing and taking part in breathing exercises in sessions run by vocal experts eased their symptoms.

Those who had taken part had no illusions that they had been cured of chronic illnesses but said the programme had helped them manage their pain by giving them techniques to deal with it.

I have known for a long time, and from personal experience, that breathing deep and concentrating on your breathing calms you down and lowers your stress level, so this makes total sense.

Very good news in this day and age of over-medication and opiate epidemics.

Disease Watch List

Mar 24 2025 The BBC

UK draws up new disease-threat watch list

While the US is cutting science and research funding, the UK is publishing a list of potential pandemic candidates.

If this list does not make you want to get vaccinated or to fund research, I guess nothing will.

Anyway, here they are, two dozen nasty ways to die or get really sick:

Adenovirus

Lassa fever

Norovirus

Mers

Ebola (and similar viruses, such as Marburg)

Flaviviridae (which includes dengue, Zika and hepatitis C)

Hantavirus

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever

Flu (non-seasonal, including avian)

Nipah virus

Oropouche

Rift Valley fever

Acute flaccid myelitis

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV)

Mpox

Chikungunya

Anthrax

Q fever

Enterobacteriaceae (such as E. coli and Yersinia pestis, which causes plague)

Tularaemia

Moraxellaceae (which cause lung, urine and bloodstream infections)

Gonorrhoea

Staphlylococcus

Group A and B Strep