Robot Jazz

  It is a Sunday, so there is not much to talk about headline-wise. But there is something that has been on my mind.  It is something that I like to call the 'GOP Wraparound'. Now, what is this?   A wraparound is video game terminology for when a video game character, say good ol' PacMan, moves so far to the right of the game screen that he instantaneously  wrapsaround  to the left side of the screen. It is a common aspect of old-school sidescrollers and looks like this: Right to left, round and round they go. Well, this spatial twisting of reality does have a real-world counterpart, and that would be the world of politics.  You can see it happening right now with the Republican Party. Under the influence of MAGA and Donald Trump, the GOP has moved so far right that it is now a party that advocates left-wing policies.   Take, for example, this recent madness of crippling tariffs imposed by Team Trump.  I am old enough to remember that pr...

  Behold your perverse god, MAGA, in all his shameful perfidy and obesity.  Just a quick entry tonight, but an important one. Today, over 600,000   Americans took to the streets to peacefully  protest the destructive fascism that has taken root in the nation's capital like a loathsome weed.   It is a glorious thing: Mass Protests Across the Country Show Resistance to Trump They came out in defense of national parks and small businesses, public education and health care for veterans, abortion rights and fair elections. They marched against tariffs and oligarchs, dark money and fascism, the deportation of legal immigrants and the Department of Government Efficiency. Demonstrators had no shortage of causes as they gathered in towns and cities across the country on Saturday to protest President Trump’s agenda. Rallies were planned in all 50 states, and images posted on social media showed dense crowds in places as diverse as St. Augustine, Fla.; Salt Lake City ...

  In my previous post, I predicted that the results of Trump's Smoot-Hawley 2.0 would be bad.  But even I didn't expect that two-day drop-off that we are witnessing in the markets: As the accompanying New Zork Times article relates:  The S&P 500 dropped more than 10 percent in two days and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index closed in a bear market on Friday, capping one of Wall Street’s worst weeks since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The U.S. rout followed losses in global markets. Worries about an escalating global trade war set off by President Trump overshadowed a positive reading on Friday about the health of the American labor market. To put this in perspective, over the last two days , Donald Trump has presided over a staggering   6.6  trillion dollar loss  due to his economic incompetence . To put that in perspective further, since taking office Team Trump has lost over 11 trillion dollars of economic value due to destru...

  In the late 1920s, two Republicans, Senator Reed Smoot of Utah and Representative Willis C. Hawley of Oregon decided that they had the solution to America's worsening economic situation due to what would become known as The Great Depression. Their answer was simple: tariffs. America would tax its way to prosperity - a tariff being nothing more than a tax on imported goods paid by the consumer.  Anyone with a high school education in either history or politics knows the results: an economic disaster that only worsened the depression. As  Wikipedia relates: Some countries protested and others also retaliated with trade restrictions and tariffs. American exports to the protesters fell 18% and exports to those who retaliated fell 31%.[18] Threats of retaliation by other countries began long before the bill was enacted into law in June 1930. As the House of Representatives passed it in May 1929, boycotts broke out, and foreign governments moved to increase rates against Amer...

  I've been struggling to get a handle on my recent effort to maintain a journal of the dark days we now find ourselves in as a country. My usual preference is to do a "deep dive" on one particular topic, but I realize that, at least for now, that will not be a viable method as I lack the energy and, frankly, enthusiasm for such a frequent task. So, instead, I have decided to do something easier, which is to say just a daily log of stories that catch my eye (and believe me, we are in a time where "when sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions").  ↓↓↓ Today's story is the ongoing market meltdown as a direct result of the Trump regime's destructive command economy dictates. As the New Zork Times reports: The S&P 500 tumbled 2 percent, marking one of its worst days since Mr. Trump’s election. The drop extended modest declines from earlier in the day, after the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure came in hotter than economis...

  Where to begin? I used to love to write. Indeed, at one point, I was a video game journalist with the supremely entertaining job of covering the ever-shifting world of PC gaming. However, as life shall we say  progressed, I lost my muse to real-world distractions, resulting in sporadic writing streaks at best, something easily seen just by perusing the publication dates of the entries for this blog.  From what I have heard, it happens to even the best writers. Writing is a habit or a hobby like any other. Once you stop practicing, it begins to fade. Throw Mama from the Train 's frazzled writing instructor Larry Donner concluded every class with the reminder that "A writer writes always!" That is the truth of it.  I want to try  to get back into writing because I believe we live in historic times. These times will have far-reaching consequences that we haven't seen since 1861 and the start of the American Civil War. I know that sounds hyperbolic. Perhaps it is....