WHEN PROTESTING BACKFIRES. Perhaps you’ve seen the clips of anti-ICE protesters forcibly blocking traffic, then get near runover by a car driver. My LW friends think this is just an inconvenience to the driver and they should just deal with it. Meanwhile my RW friends want to run over the protesters and wipe them out (damn right!). LOL. Consider that these protesters are fighting for the right for illegal immigrants to freely travel in America. But when they do so by oppressing the rights of Americans to also freely travel by blocking streets and freeways, then they have abandoned their noble cause. This when the protesters violate their own principles and at the same time seriously piss other people off. Local law enforcement needs to strictly prevent these kinds of so-called “peaceful protesters”. The guy in his car also has a right to freely travel in America. Get out of the damn way!
CONNOR BOYACK: The most revolutionary act in today’s world isn’t protesting in the streets—it’s raising critical-thinking kids who question political authority, who are skeptical of media, and who operate independently and self-sufficiently. https://x.com/cboyack/status/1935424278239031335
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? Trump phones? You’ve got to be kidding. Here’s a guy that puts a big tariff on iphones and Samsung smart phones made in Asia saying that he is going into the phone business. Typical Trump. Rigging the marketplace as POTUS and then finding a way to personally profit from it. Will this go down like Trump University? Trump Vodka? Trump Steaks? Or will this go down like the $2.9T in crypto assets his family has amassed. Trump has no principles other than enriching Trump. There is no consistent policy philosophy guiding his world view.
END THE WAR ON DAY 1? Trump took office to end the wars. There were 2 then. Now there are 3. Anytime a politician makes a “Day 1” promise, in this case end the Ukraine-Russia War on Day 1, your BS detector should be ringing loudly. This is just another Trump con man move and an appeal to voters to give him even greater power as POTUS to circumvent democracy.
MAGA LIBERTARIAN REGRET. There is a small but vocal number of self-proclaimed “Libertarians” that embraced Trump thinking they might get a few bones from him… as opposed to getting nothing sticking with their own party’s party. Dave Smith is the classic example. He supported Trump because he was going to get us out of foreign wars, and now Trump is getting America involved in a 3rd war. We tried to warn these guys that Trump was just conning people to get their vote. Now they are feeling the burn. We tried to warn them, but I welcome them back to the Liberty movement. Trump is not trustworthy. Trust doesn’t care about Freedom.
WORLD WAR 3? OK, this Israel vs Iran conflict is getting very serious. Israel claims they will meet all of their objectives (I assume taking out nukes) in 1-2 weeks. But some are calling for regime change in Iran. Meanwhile Trump is threatening to assassinate Iran’s religious leader. This entire mess could get very ugly if some irrational actors jump in. Imagine if Russia or China stepped in to defend Iran. Imagine if Trump decides to send in troops to take out Iran’s “weapons of mass destruction.” This thing can escalate quickly. Where does America stand? The right place IMHO is to oppose Iran and it’s leadership for a variety of reasons including US Hostage Crisis, Human Rights, separation of church and state, and much more. IMHO, Iran is the villain. US leadership needs to be as a vocal supporter of our inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This cannot turn into a war involving American troops, but I fear that it will. We have an irrational leader in the White House that likes proving he is better than everyone thinks he is. Trump and his bravado are going to make this worse. He is already calling for Iran’s unconditional surrender. And there’s still a chance of something completely unexpected that can escalate this conflict. Stay focused.
NO KINGS OR QUEENS. My LW friends are still reveling in their successful No Kings protest. Over 5M people took to the streets to protest against Trump’s authoritarianism. There was great energy here in San Diego with a large, peaceful rally in Downtown SD and smaller, peaceful rallies in communities all around San Diego County including nearby Rancho Bernardo. I considered attending as well, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I do plenty to speak out about Trump and his authoritarianism here on my podcast. What I should have done is brought a card table, 2 chairs, 2 microphones and 2 cameras and just livestreamed people’s thoughts and comments.
FAREWELL TO KINGS? Did the protest make that big of a difference? Time will tell. I am sure the protesters felt good about themselves and seeing the broad community support of their views. Will it be enough to oust Trump from office? I don’t think so.
JUNETEENTH INDEPENDENCE DAY #2. It is still remarkable to me that I never learned anything about Juneteenth in my student years. The more I learn about this holiday the more I see it as America’s Second Independence Day. This is when ALL slaves understood that they were free. Free at Last!
AMAZON AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, addressed his employees with an essay on the transformational power of AI. Jassy discussed the broader impact of AI at Amazon and industry wide… as well as an expected reduction in the corporate workforce at Amazon. Jassy talked about agents that you can speak to in natural language that will do tasks for you using a range of AI tools like writing a business plan, writing computer code, run errands, etc. The technology is moving fast. Amazon already has 1000 initiatives underway to improve the Amazon shopping experience for customers. The big message to me in this article is to fully embrace AI. Even as a 60-year-old, I have to use AI as a tool for me to achieve higher goals, to be innovative, and to make rote work effortless. If I want to remain productive well into my senior years, I need AI as a tool to give me an advantage. Otherwise I will be tilling my farm with an old plow and getting little productivity as a result.