Category Archives: Current Events

Freedom vs Predation

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Americans, especially those of a particular political bent, love to exclaim that we love and cherish freedom. In America, the word ‘freedom’ is frequently used to amp up political rhetoric and to make people’s chests swell with pride with the aim of making us more receptive to a message. Particularly when playing Lee Greenwood’s song God bless the USA. This will not be the (n + 1)th valentine to freedom. Instead, my purpose is to reexamine a basic idea, i.e., certain pragmatics of freedom.

In America we thrive on a lumpy blend of civil liberties, freedoms and capitalistic ideals. Leading capitalists are both adored and despised, but not universally. Among many, being a millionaire or billionaire is tantamount to sainthood because if they are so rich, they must be doing something right. Luck is never part of the equation. In much of the USA, capitalism is raised to the level of a sacred obligation. Its principles are taken on hearsay or faith, and its boundaries are constantly pressing the limits of the law and ethics. In this way, capitalism is like a gas- it expands to fill the available space. Acquiring everything you can get away with is seen more as the act of a lone ranger. People have always admired a Robin Hood or a Jesse James character. Being one step ahead of the law is viewed as a righteous sport.

There is no doubt that capitalism has raised the level comfort, safety and wealth in America and elsewhere. One of the oft-cited merits of capitalism is that it seeks to raise the efficiency in the use of capital. From a distance that sounds like a dandy goal. Examples of the efficient use of capital are all around us and in ways that we may not recognize. Reducing the cost of doing business while retaining or increasing margins is a prime example of boosting the efficiency of capital. This benefits consumers if prices lower or remain level against inflation. But what about those who may have lost their jobs or their operating margins as the result of someone else’s boost in efficiency?

When the cost of doing business increases due to, say, tariffs, those afflicted are forced to raise their prices to pass along the costs. This is inflationary and most people understand this. But what about businesses not affected as much by tariffs? When they look around and see inflation raising prices by 6 %, aren’t they tempted to raise their prices as well? I would be. If customers are acclimated to inflation generally, they won’t mind if I raise my prices too, will they?

A misconception many people make is that if the cost of some raw material or labor drops, then the retailer will automatically pass that savings along to me. Ah, nope. They’ll bank the increase in margins. Why give away the boost in margins? This is just human nature.

The losses resulting from an increase in another’s raise in efficiency is part of progress. What about the buggy whip makers who went out of business after invention of then automobile? Who cried for them? A Pollyanna might say that they had a chance to expand their horizons into the automobile game.

After word processing became widespread and normal, it coincided with the extinction of the office secretary and typist pools. This helped to make Microsoft very wealthy at the expense of career secretarial staff. Today, most do their own secretarial work. Those who were once secretaries are now called administrative staff. Those of us who use word processors now spend our days on repetitive type setting chores.

Main Point

There comes a point where capitalism discolors into a shade of predatory behavior. The 1941 WC Fields movie Never Give a Sucker an Even Break expresses a sentiment held by many seeking easy money. It says that if I can take your money, you deserve it for being so clueless. In American history there are a great many incidents where a confidence man (conman) persuades an easy mark to part with his or her money. This kind of activity is always simmering somewhere. It involves a proposed cash transaction for something a doe-eyed sucker is anxious to exploit. Usually, the conman receives the cash and disappears leaving the sucker poorer and embarrassed. This extreme example is predatory behavior dressed up as a business transaction.

But capitalistic predators aren’t necessarily lone wolves tracking suckers. Many times, they operate from a store front as a legitimate business. Enron is a glaring example of a capitalistic enterprise that used the energy bull market of the 1990’s, creative accounting tricks and highly complex financial statements to mislead regulators and investors away from their felonious activities. So much money was being made that most were transfixed by their apparent success.

Obviously, business isn’t automatically fraudulent. But within the complex world of finance and accounting there exists a spider web of opportunities to lose your money. Predators may work in the shadows of crimes of omission rather than commission. The big investment people measure their strength and gain status through the contracts they land and the services they bill for. It is all very bewildering to outsiders.

So, what about the commercial onset of artificial intelligence, AI? It promises new vistas and opportunities by those who offer its services. Okay, but how and to whom? AI is already showing its worth in problem solving in many areas. Will AI understand context or counterpoints? Will AI eventually prosecute to the letter or to the spirit of the law? Will AI ever give a person a second chance based on past performance or extenuating circumstances in an HR situation?

Everyone has at some time has benefited from slack in the system, value judgements or another’s faith in your ability to improve. Will AI be used mainly to mete out discipline or strictness on the job? What happens when you are fired by an AI “staff member”? An AI staff member will be able to execute all manner of unpleasant duties in nearly every context. When will we have the right to be judged by a human being?

Moon Base vs Recovering Liberal Democracy

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I need to say that I have been an enthusiastic fan of America’s aerospace activities since the Mercury program in the early 60’s. Aerospace was an instrument of modernization and held promise for a bright and prosperous future. To be sure, America has gotten very good at aerospace since early WWII. The Soviet Union was an early achiever in space flight, ahead of the USA for a time. While they put objects and people in Earth orbit, our rockets blew up on the launch pad. Or so it seems. The Soviets have never been anxious to show the bad with the good.

NASA began the Artemis Program with the aim of America’s return to the moon. Our bragging rights from the 1969 moon landing are gathering cobwebs in the face of international space programs. At home SpaceBro Musk and his SpaceX business is eclipsing NASA in many ways, at least at the surface.

During the Apollo Program, the matter of allocating funds for the moon landing was openly questioned in public. With a list of social issues and a land war in Southeast Asia, why were we throwing cash at the moon? This splash of cold water in the face was largely ignored except for superficial explanations like being something for all mankind to celebrate. Another retort was “look at all of the beneficial technologies that have come from it”. Or the folksier example that Teflon frying plans arose from the space program though not true.

In the mid 1960s, the evening news featured space developments and footage from the Viet Nam “conflict”. We’d see images from the program then footage of F4 Phantoms or B-52s dropping napalm in the jungle. Then we’d hear Walter Cronkite reporting the daily body counts of Viet Cong and US soldiers killed and aircraft shot down. There would be sound bites from Henry Kissinger doing his shuttle diplomacy at the Paris peace talks or pictures of Robert McNamara scurrying with President Johnson out of meetings.

This was a time of contrasts. Glorious space flight against a backdrop of anti-war rioting students, shootings at Kent State, rioting in Chicago, the hippy and civil rights movements. In my locale, the generation of my parents and grandparents were firmly against protesters, conscious objectors and the civil rights movement. Communism must be stopped at any cost. While they could not elaborate on their opposition, they would carefully repeat the words of authority figures who defended clubbing protestors or tear gassing civil rights protesters. Out of respect for my elders, I would try to integrate these views into the overall picture of what I saw. Not until later in high school in another state where I met students who had a clearer understanding of politics did I come around to a more liberal perspective.

“Avoid land wars in Southeast Asia.” Advice from several possible sources.

Today, the President of the United States is close to sending troops to Iran without Congress, allies, or UN approval. Do we remember the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars? Gulf War I ended quickly because President Bush 1 declared victory after liberating Kuwait but before removing Saddam Hussein, who then stayed in power. Later, President Bush 2 invaded Afghanistan and Iraq in a failed attempt to fight terrorism, claiming that Al-Qaeda hates freedom. I have always felt this statement was a diversion and needed questioning. Do terrorists really hate our freedom, or do they oppose our support for Israel or view us as aggressive infidels?

Questions:

  • What tangible imperative sends us to the moon in a time of war and collapsing democracy?
  • A decision was made to shelve the lunar space station project and accelerate establishment of a moon base. Was this decision inflected by the current Iran war difficulties and a White House desire to distract? An easy correlation but difficult to prove secret motives.
  • Establishing an expensive moon base project while simultaneously burning a $1Billion/day in an illegal war of aggression makes sense because …?
  • What is it about stationing humans on the moon that feeds the national interest?
  • Would a Chinese manned moon landing before a US return landing be deleterious in any way other than prestige?
  • What is such prestige actually worth to US manned space progress? So China gets to the moon before our return. We got there by 1969. Does maintaining “leadership” in space internationally require an uninterrupted series of firsts?
  • Is there a scenario where the US will ever direct massive funding for national infrastructure refurbishing as well as better health care for the public?

Aerospace and defense contractors are a national resource and strategically critical to homeland defense. Both the Department of Defense and NASA understand this as well as the need to help keep these companies financially healthy by issuing contracts during the year for spare parts and new projects.

Our country has been in dire need of self-care for many, many election cycles.

As Americans we have opted to ignore aging infrastructure all over the country as a priority. This is a choice. Is the construction industry just too low on the lobbyist pecking order? Is America in need of a stronger construction lobby? Perhaps the home building industry has the bulk of attention.

US Constitutional Trip-Hazard

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It appears that the US has had a particular “trip hazard” within it all along. Not an error of commission so much as an error of omission. We have been so busy heaping praise and devotion to our Constitution that the cold eyes of criticism have not held sway. To be sure, here criticism also means “analysis and judgment of the merits and faults of a literary or artistic work“. For crying out loud, even Einstein’s theory of relativity, which has been endlessly validated, is still subject to criticism yet it is physics and based on mathematics.

Can it be true that the Founders were able to construct a constitution so tight, internally consistent and prescient that the future could never evolve in a way that calls for revision. Seriously, could they have believed this?

The view from 30,000 ft shows that there are circumstances wherein safety rails meant to restrain a runaway President have failed. To date the US President is still subject to many restraints except for a part requiring Congress provide effective a counterweight to the executive. The current circumstance is where the Congress chooses not to summon self-control enough to exert its constitutional responsibility to declare war or not. To declare war is to draft and execute a policy directing the US to summon resources and direct military engagement with another state. This was done properly and for the last time by FDR in 1942 against axis-aligned Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania (Google).

Perhaps the Constitution does not disallow a wide-eyed march into chaos and ruin by majority rule. In other words, within the constraints of this founding document, there are pathways to self-destruction. It is conceivable that the founders hadn’t considered a self-immolation led by a madman in the future. Could they have anticipated that 1 or 2 of the 3 branches of government would choose not to execute its responsibility to provide effective checks and balances? After all, why would rational citizens allow the nation they love to celebrate fall into collapse?

Actually, the Republican majority party in Congress probably doesn’t believe that there is a failure of checks and balances on their part. Why would they challenge the president, their national party leader and lord of the MAGA movement? The Trump network is large and powerful and getting ‘primaried’ is a likely outcome for sheep who stray from the flock.

In effect, accusations of constitutional disobedience spread across all party members is less fearsome than near-term personal electoral defeat. MAGA Republicans fear that their careers hanging separately is more likely than hanging together. Safety in numbers.

Somewhere there is a coterie of planners who, having drafted Project 2025 now underway, are busy plotting the transition to illiberal democracy. Who are these big-money usurpers, and how do we turn the rock over and expose them to the light of day?

# 47 Must be physically removed from office

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Unless Trump is physically removed from power, the current conflict in Iran will blossom into WW III as Iran bombs our bases in our allied countries. He will not relinquish the White House voluntarily even if lawfully removed from power, so the Congress must be prepared to drag him off-site. This will be the first step in the recovery of America. His little buddy, JD Vance, cant be trusted either but I don’t know how that can be dealt with.

Not that Iran will beat the US, but with the US distracted and bogged down with its foreign military projects and complete destruction of foreign relations, there is the likelihood of oil shortages throughout Asia. Our opponents will use this lull in US global hegemony to settle scores in other parts of the world. Does the invasion of Cuba really make sense now or ever?

How long will China and everyone else allow the US/Israel war to cripple their oil supplies by the blockade of the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz?

Russia and Iran understand asymmetric warfare. We do not. We strut around thumping our chests bragging about how great we are. Our weapons are indeed impressive as everyone has noticed. If only our grasp of international politics matched our facility with warfare.

N. Korea will use US distraction and it’s overextended military as well as lost international good will to invade S Korea. China may decide to invade Taiwan in a year or two. Do people honestly think that this all consuming American distraction in the Middle East will not be exploited by the bad actors of the world?

Trump is a madman who is leading our country into the graveyard of collapsed empires.

MAGAs are cognitively impaired enough to not see him for what he is and their elected representatives who have circled around him have everything invested in MAGA voters transfixed by him. MAGAs are cognitively impaired enough to not see him for what he is and their elected representatives have circled around him have everything invested in MAGA voters transfixed by him. By cognitively impaired I just mean that the the fear center in their brains can’t let go despite what they see and hear.

The Tyrannical Gov’t is Here. Where is the NRA?

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For decades a population of Americans citizens have been extremely vocal about the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution and their right to bear arms. A major element to their argument is to have protection from a tyrannical government. Legislation carrying even the faintest whiff of what they spit out as “gun control” is defeated. But, that is an issue for another day.

In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment codifies a natural right to keep and bear arms for self-defense. That right to self-defense extends to both private and public threats, including self-defense against agents of a tyrannical government. Source: Google.

Well, what if that tyrannical government is now materializing? Will they even recognize it? So far it doesn’t look like it. This population is heavily invested in Trump so could that possibly blind them to the situation? Or did they just shrug and sign up to work for ICE in large numbers?

Trump and his cronies are constantly presuming authority over many areas of government that were statutorily or constitutionally understood to be outside the grasp of the executive. These people are constantly flooding the zone with acts of overreach backed by a republican SCOTUS and congress and enjoy a corrupt DoJ, DHS and, increasingly, a politicized DoD.

What does the term “liberal democracy” really mean? From Wikipedia-

It is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal democracy are: elections between or among multiple distinct political parties; a separation of powers into different branches of government; the rule of law in everyday life as part of an open society; a market economy with private property; universal suffrage; and the equal protection of human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, and political freedoms for all citizens. Substantive democracy refers to substantive rights and substantive laws, which can include substantive equality,[2] the equality of outcome for subgroups in society.[3][4] Liberal democracy emphasizes the separation of powers, an independent judiciary, and a system of checks and balances between branches of government. Multi-party systems with at least two persistent, viable political parties are characteristic of liberal democracies. Wikipedia.

Anyone who made it through 9th grade civics should have a background sufficient to realize that liberal democratic America is in existential danger. Not by violent overthrow but by a slow, painless slouch to illiberal democracy. A slouch because not enough voters will engage with money, votes or the gumption to step out and take a public stand against what is happening. A majority still have utilities, access to health care and safe neighborhoods and roads. So far the changes are rather abstract and distant for most citizens and it is easy to conclude that nothing personally serious is happening.

The US Constitution appears inadequate to provide a clear and muscular remedy against an abusive and malevolent single party control of all three houses of government. The Dems have had such control in the past, but did not seek to form an oligarchy or some dictatorial power grab. Were they just too dumb and timid to even try or is there something else? Maybe they know better.

In this country the Republicans have most of the lawyers, guns and money. But we woke liberals also have the 2nd Amendment at our disposal as well.

“Unspeakable Depravities”

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The reliable American MAGA/GOP fear machine shifted into overdrive on the Bad Bunny halftime show during the recent Super Bowl. Against the blinding glare of Trump’s never-ending stream of foul blather stands the latest upsurge of Christian puritanical indignation and accusations of unspeakable depravities freely broadcast over the public airwaves. A group of “conservative warriers” have been orchestrating a war dance from the corridors of Congress out into the MAGA world. Their legislative blunderbuss tactics and shrill accusations and are aimed at Bad Bunny, NBC, and the NFL.

The NFL and NBC stand accused by red state dullards of broadcasting “openly glorified sodomy and countless other unspeakable depravities.” The MAGA populist movement is a jealous and cantankerous mob, intolerant of competing populist stirrings including pop music stars. Roger Goodell, National Football League (NFL) commissioner, enthusiastically backed the selection of Bad Bunny according to Time. This was not a trick foisted on the NFL.

Opposition began after the announcement of the half-time entertainment lineup in 2025. Much of the backlash focused on Bad Bunny’s Puerto Rican identity and his status as a Spanish speaker, with Fox News and political commentators framing the choice as anti-American. 

The truly unwholesome aspect here is the extent to which American politics promotes and elects such Christian nationalist puritans to high office. Though politicians play to their home districts, their nationalist puritanical claims are broadcast widely, banking authority and credibility into their castle keep. Their words are cheap and easy to speak, but practically impossible to correct or refute. With Bible in one hand and the other reaching skyward in supplication, the sobbing preacher-man reads a verse and proclaims fealty to the invisible almighty and the President. It is at once moving and ridiculous. They know precisely what they are doing.

The Christian nationalist cult is intent on moving the US into a position where the rule of law is based on Biblical law, whatever that may be. Whatever it is, it will certainly place preachers into high-ranking, high-power positions of influence. If you listen to the TV preachers, they call for ‘Gods people’ to save America. All that matters is accelerating the return of the Savior to earth to trigger the end of times and banishment of the unworthy to a lake of molten sulfur.

I wonder if Biblical law would continue with parking tickets or tax law? If you wanted to change the easement on your property, would that be New or Old Testament, and would pastor Bob approve it?

What a strange way to run the universe.

Eastern European History

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In an effort to understand just what the hell is the deal with Russia, I enrolled in a university extension school spring semester course to study Eastern European history as it relates to capitalism and communism. It concerns the interwar period between WWI and WWII and why Eastern Europe adopted Soviet-style communism. Being from central USA, I’m familiar with much of the two world wars but only to the extent focused on histories written from the western allies’ viewpoint. This is the normal condition for most Americans.

Western European history, arbitrarily dating back to the Romans, is highly complex in the sense that the entire western Eurasian land mass has been repeatedly settled, conquered, and partitioned into empires, kingdoms, and duchies. The inevitable intermingling of cultures, languages, trade, and military might has combined to paint the map of today. Coastal nations had the advantage of access to fisheries and trade across long distances. On the downside, however, coasts were subject to easy invasion and wars of conquest.

This wall is covered and overprinted with diverse messages. So too is the Eurasian landmass overprinted with fragmented, missing and overlapping cultural and political domains over the last several millennia.

Much of Eastern Europe retains a strong Slavic ethnic identity. Along with the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church still holds a strong position in many regions, including Russia. Putin even has the cooperation of the Eastern Orthodox Church in his effort to promote his agenda and propaganda at all levels in Russia.

In addition to Slavic and other ethnic identities, Eastern Europe and Russia have been isolated from much of the world by distance, economics, and the high level of modernism that Western Europe embraced. Tsar Peter the Great was aware of the more advanced nature of Western Europe and spent time there in order to gather ideas for modernizing Russia, particularly in the area of naval ships.

The landlocked or nearly landlocked nations of Eastern Europe lacked ice-free, warm water ports, not just limiting trade and shipbuilding but also economic exchange with more distant parts of the world. The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, England, Rome, Portugal, and Spain in particular, established distant colonies and trade, generating wealth and power. With wealth, a kingdom acquires military strength and the ability to project power and conquest in resource-rich territories within just months or weeks of sailing time.

Conquest and the material wealth it brought was critical not only for an empire or monarchy to maintain or expand its holdings but also for self-defense from marauding armies looking for their own conquest. The various kingdoms, duchies, and empires were not entirely independent entities. The custom of the royal families to intermarry across empires and kingdoms assured continuity of the ruling families and wealth in the royal houses. This familial connection led to many alliances and specific choices in dividing up land.

The question of “what’s the deal with Russia” is about how it came to be that Russia is remote and standoffish to the point of being endlessly hostile and paranoid about the West. To American eyes like mine, the attitude Russia has about the West is peculiar and originates from … what? Even if Russia did not suffer overland invasions by Napoleon and Hitler, would they be any less paranoid? They would have less historical invasion baggage to drag along in some ways, but would other tragedies have befallen them? Impossible to say. It is fair to say that the Bolsheviks were keen on global-scale revolution and widespread implementation of Soviet socialism. They were not without imperialistic enthusiasm themselves.

President Putin continues to press the rhetorical but incendive argument about how the West is desirous of their resources. It is pitched as a clear and present danger to Russia. The West, he intimates, is crawling with greedy and perverted imperialists who want nothing more than to steal Mother Russia’s oil & gas, minerals, uranium, and timber. Any leader in any country could get mileage from this argument, and Vladdy-buck is pumping this handle with gusto.

The main thesis of my history class is that had Hitler not invaded the Soviet Union, the spread of Soviet conquest to its western frontier would not have happened. I’ll write more as this topic unfolds in class.

Apology to the World

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I hope that peoples of the world understand that America’s president, Mr. Trump, is mightily disliked in the US and his opposition is only growing. His behavior at Davos in particular was humiliating for a growing majority of my countrymen. On behalf of the millions of Trump opponents, please understand that this won’t last forever and that we regret that our friends and allies have been exposed to this blithering idiot.

The Republican party has surrounded him in exchange for political protection and votes, but lately Republican congresspeople have been jumping off the MAGA barge like rats in a fire. While he crosses over every red line and is excused by his party, the rest of the country is obeying the laws and norms of our national heritage. While he wreaks havoc on everything he touches, he tries to rule by decree. This is dictator behavior.

Alienating America’s friends and NATO allies while threatening annexation of sovereign nations can only be the work of a greedy and deeply ignorant man. On top of that he fancies that certain dictators in the world are his friends. His voters were primarily interested in a candidate who would “kick ass and take names”. They wanted someone who could eliminate what they called the “deep state”. Trump has a persistent group of about 1/3 of the conservative voters who support him through thick and thin, but they don’t sound very educated.

Now the hidden brainwaves working in the Trump White House have dreamed up the idea of the “Board of Peace“. Accepted are the countries of UAE, Bahrain, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Morocco and Vietnam have already signed up. Rootin’ tootin’ Putin too.

It is plain to see that the American Constitution is inadequate for this and other circumstances. What if he is removed by the 25th Amendment but refuses to acknowledge it? His executive branch controls the major law enforcement agencies. If they refuse to remove Trump from office, who will do it? Foremost is needed a mechanism for the physical removal of a president from the White House and confiscation of the nuclear codes that follow him. Such authority and mechanism should be defined in the US Constitution. The current US Supreme Court’s conservative majority has adopted a legal theory called “originalism” at least since Justice Scalia’s time.

Originalism is a legal theory in the United States which bases constitutional, judicial, and statutory interpretation of text on the original understanding at the time of its adoption. Wikipedia

This philosophy seeks to limit interpretation of the Constitution to the language and meanings as well as the original intent of the 18th century document. In other words, it is frozen in time. Nobody believes that another amendment to the constitution will be supported by the required number of states. America needs a living document relating to 21st century American life.

Trump has an Edifice Complex. Apologies to Sigmond Freud.

Vice President JD “Gilligan” Vance is next in the line of succession and his inclinations as the next president are unclear. Ok, so we get rid of Trump only to have Gilligan take his place. Will he mindlessly continue the efforts of Trump”? Stay tuned.

Bye Bye Windows 11

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I’ve joined the migration away from Windows 11 specifically and Microsoft (MS) generally. The last few posts on this site were written from a Linux Ubuntu system. Whereas my Windows 11 machine became incompatible with the WordPress editor used to write this blog, my switch to Linux has gotten around this. It is unlikely that the issue was not a Windows 11 problem per se so much as a setting being changed somehow. I was unable to find such a setting.

In short, MS has gotten increasingly greedy not just in cash flow but also in their built-in machinations for automatic scraping of data from users. Its insistence on cloud storage and AI features seems to be based on a business model intent on monetizing every facet of a user’s activity. Superficially, monetization of features the customers value is just normal business strategy. What MS has been doing over time might be called creeping featurism. Product improvement is a competitive act by a manufacturer but also justifies price increases when a revised product is released, if the market allows it.

Alas. Microsoft’s cash cow is dying. Without planned obsolescence, whatever will Microsoft do? Poor miserable buggers.

MS has forced users to deal with Co-Pilot and to upgrade their older computers due to equipment upgrades required by Windows 11. In the past MS users have complied with the requirements of Windows (n+1) for the most part. But the jump to Windows 11 is different.

World wide, there is backlash to MS Windows 11 and data security is no small part of it. South Korea has banned it outright for government use. China, Brazil, the EU, and even Japan are backing off of Windows 11. US corporations are reevaluating going forward with Windows.

My main beef with Windows 11 is that decades of my muscle memory accumulated using Windows OS and MS Office apps has been disrupted. Familiar features, especially in Outlook, continue to trip me up because the menus have been changed to where my keyboard habits refined over many years now work differently.

Windows now requires annual payments for continued use and access to records and documents.

I wish I could reciprocate with a similar inconvenience to MS.

Russia Fires Hypersonic Oreshnik Missiles at Ukraine

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At a time when the Trump administration is making enemies in the EU with talk of a military adventure in Greenland, Putin has unleashed Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate range missiles at Ukrainian civilians. The targeting of civilians is nothing new for the Russians, but the Oreshnik missiles travel at up to Mach 10 (7610 mph) which makes shooting them down problematic. Russia has held back this missile system until now., though in 2024 it apparently had fired a test shot absent explosive warheads. According to Wikipedia the Oreshnik ballistic missile system is still in the experimental stage.

The Russians have gotten quite peevish lately, claiming that Ukraine targeted the sprawling home of Putin. Targeting civilians in Kyiv as well as Lviv in western Ukraine serves the dual purpose of reminding the NATO and the EU of the threat Russia poses to them. Golly. Imagine a warring state trying to decapitate the leader of its opponent. According to reports Russia has been trying to assassinate Zelinski, so a reciprocal decapitation effort should be expected.

While Russia burns through military resources and personnel, and while the Russian economy teeters on the edge of total collapse, the conventional military threat to Europe should weaken more by the day. They are taking roughly 1000 casualties per day while their recruitment effort is falling short of that number. However, the nuclear threat remains. It is an open question as to whether Putin refrains from releasing nuclear weapons as his tenure becomes endangered. The Oreshnik missile is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads- a fact that is lost on nobody.

It’s not in the nature of Putin or his Kremlin to admit even the slightest amount of damage or discomfort caused by Ukraine. One fine day the west will learn that Putin has disappeared and a successor has surfaced. What will Russia do then? A gesture of humanity, perhaps? That would be out of character. A Russian leader could never admit mistakes or defeat. Krushchev did it, but his tenure was cut short by the politburo with Brezhnev taking his place.