Trump is "More Disciplined" in his 2nd term

That is what Jeff Bezos said in an interview with Andrews Ross Sorkin on CNBC.  Bezos also said, “Trump has lots of good ideas, and he’s been right about a lot of things.  You have to give him credit where credit is due.”

Bezos also said that the $35 million Melania Trump movie financed by Amazon was not an attempt to win favor.  

Really, he said that.

Info for this post is from Katie Robertson, “Bezos Praises Trump as ‘More Disciplined’ and Defends Cuts at Newspaper,” New York Times, (21 May 2026), p. B-4. 

Why we need "ranked choice voting"

Four candidates ran in the Pennsylvania 7th Congressional District primary yesterday.  Bob Brooks won, but not with a majority.  In fact, well over half of the Democratic voters preferred one of the other three candidates.  This means that Brooks is entering the November contest from a weak position.  

This is where Ranked Choice Voting would be helpful.  The voter ranks the candidates in his or her order of preference.  Mine, for example, would have been Crosswell, McClure, Obando-Derstine, with Brooks last.  Then you count the votes.  No candidate had a majority.  So then you take the candidate in last place (yesterday it was Obando-Derstine) and redistribute her voters’ second choices.  If no candidate has no majority, you do it again with the next lowest candidate until you reach the 50% threshold.  

You can also do a runoff, but ranked choice voting tends to make elections less nasty.

Four in ten Americans approve of Trump

That isn’t the way the headlines read.  The take was “Trump approval rating at lowest level in his second term.”  

That is so misleading.  If 37% of Americans approve of Trump’s presidency, that means that nearly four out of ten Americans think he is doing a good job.  Four out of ten!

What is it they approve of?  The ballroom?  Giving a million dollars to each of the people who stormed the Capitol, including the guy who shit on Nancy Pelosi’s desk?  Spreading measles?  Ending environmental protections?  Double-crossing Taiwan?  Separating thousands of kids from their parents in detention facilities?  Wrecking alliances?  The corruption?  The stupidity?  

Almost four out of ten. 

I am so not ready to have a big 250th celebration of our country.  

Signs at Polling Places

I don’t know which Democrat will win the 7th district primary tomorrow to run against Rep.Mackenzie in November, but I do know who I will vote for in November.  The Democrat.  I am a political animal, and there is no way I would vote for a Republican Congressman who would in turn help to elect Mike Johnson the House Speaker.  I vote for the party, not the candidate.  Anyone who has half a brain understands the difference between a Trump-supporting Republican House and a Democratic opposition House.  Doesn’t matter about the individual personalities.

Nonetheless, this is a low-information, low turnout election.  We have voters going to the polls tomorrow who don’t know the candidates, don’t know the issues.  So we put out signs with the names of candidates we support.  I do this every election.  I am aware that it probably won’t affect more than one in a hundred votes, but elections in a polarized America are now often won by one or two percentage points.

We covered 17 polling places in the Palmerton and Lehighton area.  We put out signs for Ryan Crosswell, and we asked people to write in Christian Bartulovich for the state house.  Our current state rep, Doyle Heffley, is trying to get Democrats to write his name in so in November we can have a Russian-style election with Doyle Heffley running in both parties.  

Democrats are asking people to write in Bartulovich to prevent that.  Bartulovich has quite a bit of support; he is dubious about A.I data centers, while Heffley is a data center cheerleader.  A successful write-in campaign is a rarity in politics, but I don’t mind tilting at a windmill or two.  

I’ll let you know what happens, although I am sure the write-ins won’t be counted for a number of days.

Therapy

I needed a break.  I mowed grass, read some poetry, watched birds (hummingbird, chickadee, redwing blackbirds, downey woodpecker, mourning doves, robins, a phoebe, goldfinch, catbird, and, my favorite, a raven strutting around in the back yard).

To end the day I watched one of the most romantic movies ever–“Moonstruck” starring Cher.

Sorry to disappoint.  Tomorrow it is back to saving the world.

Not getting drunk or giving up

Here is a random selection of headlines from the New York Times on Tuesday, May 12, 2026.  Nothing special about that day–I just picked a paper at random.  

A.I. Push and Layoffs at Meta Pile Misery on Its Work Force (p. 1)

Trump Fumes at Iran Offer, Stoking Global Economic Fears (p. 10)

Conservative Group’s Links at State Dept. Raise Alarms (p. 14)

F.D.A. Moves to Allow Sale of Flavored Vapes (p. 15)

Scientists Press Congress on Trump’s Dismissal of a National Science Foundation Board (p. 15)

Cost to Fix Iconic Pool Increases Sevenfold (p. 18)

Land Conservation Rule Faces Repeal (p. 20)

Losing Science at a Federal Agency [That one is about the E.P.A. losing experts involved with wildfires, drinking water, and fertility, among other subjects.] (p. D1) 

I know we are supposed to be patient with people who voted for Trump.  I know that they were angry at Biden for failure to act on the border, for inflation, for a sense that things were out of control.  But damn it, we already had the example of four years of a Trump administration.  We already had four years of election denial.  We already had an attack on the Capitol.  We had a blueprint entitled Project 2025 which laid out the plans now being implemented.  

We are in a stupid war.  We are losing power to China.  We are trashing our environment.  We are emphasizing fossil fuels.  We are wrecking our alliances.  We are causing the deaths of Cuban children.  We are imprisoning and deporting people who were helping to build our country.  We have a President who calls his predecessors “treasonous.”  

I am so tired of this.  I am so tired of approximately four out of ten Americans continuing to support this crook and his enablers.  I am tired of ICE and Fetterman and the Supreme Court and the Republican Congress and Nick Fuentes and Marco Rubio and Kash Patel and Peter Hegseth and Elon Musk.

And no, I am not planning to get drunk or give up.  I am in this for the long haul.  I am hoping you are as well.

A Louisiana resident speaks on gerrymandering

My friend Bill sent me a Youtube link to a speech by a Louisiana resident on the redistricting in that state.  The testimony lasts under three minutes.  I recommend it.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/P58otkVgZ2U 

A rumination on modern times and A.I.

I am not doing well in today’s world.  I go into a drugstore in Allentown today to buy some Vitamin B-12, and when I go to the check out, it appears that all the customers are checking and bagging their own items, paying by credit card.  I finally locate a cash register with a real live checker who takes cash.

Then I stop in at Menchies (I think that is the name–it is a soft ice cream establishment).  I have been there enough times that I got a discount by giving my phone number.  That no longer works.  You need an App on your cell phone.  But I don’t have a cell phone.  When I got out my wallet, the young clerk seemed to sneer–“Oh, you are paying cash?”

I recommend an article entitled “A.I. Is Too Good at Teaching Us to Do Things” by Carl Benedikt Frey, an economist at the University of Oxford.  Dr. Frey notes that increasingly we are expected to ,perform our own tasks.  A.I. is taking jobs away from people who once made plane reservations, collected turnpike tolls, traded stocks, managed our bank accounts, kept our medical records.  We are now expected to repair our own computers and printers.  If we can’t figure it out, there is probably a YouTube video.

Frey notes that when a company shifts work to the consumer, a paid job has disappeared.  The work is still performed, but we perform it.  Labor productivity is improved and corporate profits are increased, but you are doing the work–without pay.  And you probably aren’t doing it very well.

Christian Bartulovich

The 122nd PA House district (all of Carbon County) has been represented by Republican Doyle Heffley since 2010, about 16 years too long.  The district is MAGA country, although the Dems have been making some inroads recently. 

This year no Democratic candidate gathered enough signatures to run against Rep. Heffley.  Heffley then sent out a mailer asking Democrats to write in his name to ensure he would be running in both parties, just like elections in Russia.

Democrats are countering this ploy by running their own write-in campaign for Christian Bartulovich, a Penn Forest Township Supervisor.  Penn Forest is the largest municipality in Carbon County.  The interesting thing is that Bartulovich is a registered Republican.  

He is, however, intelligent, engaged, concerned about data centers and what they do the the environment, a real environmentalist, and willing to listen.  Tonight he was invited to speak to the Palmerton Area Democratic Club.  The questions were pointed, but I believe Bartulovich handled himself well.  I’m reasonably sure he will get everyone’s write-in who heard him tonight.  I know he got mine–my ballot was mailed in about two weeks ago.

A formation of Canada geese

I have seen Canadian geese flying all my life, but I never saw what I saw today.  Usually they go over in huge Vee shapes, sometimes five or six giant Vees, all honking away.

Today I saw, and I will swear to this in court, four flocks, one after another, and each flock made a number, and it looked to me like they were forming an 8, then a 6, then a 4, and the last flock a 7.  

It was one of the few times I really wished I had a cell phone because I thought to myself, No one is going to believe this.  I just hope some other person witnessed it.  I have no idea why those numbers.

Sometimes they land in our fields, but I think these were probably on the way to Ontario. 

Venezuela as the 51st state

Today I was prescribed a steroid and an antibiotic, and I m feeling just a bit queasy.  So I’m not going to pontificate at length about Trump's proposal to make Venezuela our 51st state.  I do approve, however.  I think the incoming Representatives and Senators are likely to be Democrats.   

A Warning for Republicans

The gerrymanders just instituted are based on past performance.  Red congressional districts will now have additional voters who have no connection with the incumbents.  Voters have changed as well.  In 2024 Mexican-American voters in the Rio Grande valley went for Trump.  In 2026, I’m guessing not so much.  Same for younger voters.  

Remember that quite a few special elections in the last year and a half have ended with Democratic victories in conservative areas.  You might just be in for a shock. 

Lean Left PAC

Lean Left PAC is a Republican front group that is hoping to turn Democrats against one another so that Republican candidates can win in the general election.  The PAC recently sent out hit pieces claiming that candidates Brooks and Crosswell were pro-MAGA, and urged people to vote for Lamont McClure.  Obando-Durstine, the 4th candidate in the race, was not mentioned in the mailer

McClure, Crosswell, and Brooks have all condemned the ad.  Under federal law and Supreme Court decisions, independent PACS can say anything they want to as long as they are not in contact with a candidate.  The candidates have no power to stop them.  Think about how ingenious this ad is.  If you are a Democratic voter and you believe the ad, you may vote for McClure.  If you don’t believe the ad and think McClure had sponsored it, you will be angry at him.  It will create rancor within the party and make it less likely that the Democrats will unite to oppose the real MAGA candidate in this race, Republican Ryan Mackenzie.

Primary elections are low turnout elections.  Most Democrats will not investigate Lean Left PAC.  This is the kind of scurrilous campaign activity that turns people off and creates division within the party.  You can blame our campaign finance laws or the Supreme Court.  You can also spread the word about what is happening.

A Warning to Democrats

I am getting very tired of CNN and MSNOW repeating how Trump’s popularity has dropped.  It has not dropped very far.  After all the family enrichment schemes, a rather stupid war, Cabinet officials who couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if directions were written on the heel, and economic pain for farmers, drivers, and just about everyone else, Trump still has the support of approximately four out of ten Americans.  After ICE murders and $4 gas and ballooning deficits, Trump still has the support of about four out of every ten Americans.  It doesn’t matter how bad it will get–these are people who continue to worship Trump, and worship is the correct word.

They are concentrated in certain places.  The South, the middle of the country, Texas, rural areas.  They will do well in November.  And if the economy rebounds, if tankers are moving from the Middle East, if Democrats continue their usual infighting, the Republicans may do very well come November.

Remember also they are cheating like crazy.  MAGA followers will do everything in their power to game the system.  That’s their motto–if you can’t win fairly, cheat.

Tomorrow:  A warning to Republicans

Kind of like a guide to ticks

If you live in Pennsylvania you have seen warnings about ticks.  You probably know that you can’t get Lyme disease from dog ticks, which are about twice the size of deer ticks.  That doesn’t mean you don’t need to worry about dog ticks, since they can infect you with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  The best thing you can do is avoid ticks.

It has occurred to me that we also need a guide to help us avoid people with irrational or absurd political opinions.  Let’s say you are reading a letter in the Times-News.  You don’t want to waste your time on reading drivel or nonsense.  If you come across any of the following terms or phrases, stop.  No need to read further.

I did my own research:  Turn the page.  They didn’t.  Or they might have, but their info was from a Florida podcaster making shit up.

Vaccines cause autism:  Run from these people.  They did their own research.

George Soros:  Mr. Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary, became incredibly rich, and has given away billions to strengthen democracies around the world.  Fascists hate him.

Millions of illegals vote:  No, they don’t, but you will never convince the bigots.  Don’t try.

Trump really won the 2020 election:  I have yet to hear how that election was stolen, but not the 2016 or the 2024 elections.  Did we forget?  

Remember, you will not change or convince these people.  Move along.  Nothing to see here.

The "Free Birth" Movement

We were watching the hospital drama series “The Pitt,” and a pregnant woman in distress came into the emergency room.  She didn’t want any invasive treatment for the pregnancy, just something for her headache.  The attendants ran some checks, and she needed all kinds of medical intervention to save both her and the baby.

She fought that idea, saying she was part of the “free birth” movement.  That is a new fad for pregnant women which involves having your baby with no other person aiding in the birth.  No doctor, no doula, no midwife, no husband in the kitchen boiling water.  

The theory is that these other people interfere with the natural process of birth.  The fact that midwives and helpers assist with births in the most primitive of tribes is ignored because of some internet fad.  

I can take you around Big Creek Cemetery about five miles west of our house.  The small tombstones, often decorated with lambs, are the graves of infants.  You see a lot of those from the 1800s and a few from the early 20th century, but none from recent years.  If this free birth movement takes off like the anti-vaxxer movement, we should soon start seeing them crop up again.

Cinco de Mayo

 When I moved back here from CA I overheard someone at the grocery story ask “When is Cinco De Mayo?"  My jaw dropped, and I thought, I got to go back, I got to go back.  

It’s better now.  Carbon County now has Mexican restaurants.  You can buy flour and corn tortillas at Mallard Market in Lehighton.  Now all we have to worry about is the Secret Police, a.k.a. ICE.  

Here’s a meme for you.

Israel and Max Makoka

Those are two boys18 and 15 years old from the Republic of Congo who were seized by ICE when they came out of their guardian’s home in Diamondhead, Miss.  They were here legally on F-1 student visas.  They changed schools last year, but nobody at the new school knew that would affect their immigration status.  One of their guardians, Gail Baptiste, tried to show her guardianship papers to the immigration agents.  One of the agents told her:  “This is worth nothing.”  

Israel, the oldest student, was weeks away from graduation.  Both boys were active in the local church.  They were on the Hancock High basketball team.  

I got this info from Christina Morales and Hamed Aleaziz,”On Way to School Bus, but Grabbed by ICE,” New York Times, (May 1, 2026), p. A 17.  

I mailed copies of the article to my representative Ryan Mackenzie and my two Senators, John Fetterman and David McCormick, asking them to find out what happened to the boys.  Below is a copy of the letter.  I’ll let you know if I even get a reply, but I am not holding my breath.  We really have become an evil country.

Here’s the text of the letter:  

I have enclosed a copy of an article from the New York Times detailing an action by agents of the U.S. government.  Both of the boys discussed were admitted to our country legally.  Neither has committed any crimes.

On this 250th anniversary celebration of our founding we should also be aware that we have terrible blots on our historical record–Trail of Tears, “No Irish need apply,” Japanese internment, and “Operation Wetback”–to name a few.  Now our country is repeating some of the ugliest policies of our past.

Can you do something about these boys?  Is there a private bill you could introduce to bring them back to their school?  Could you at least check on their status and current location?  If we lived in Russia or Iran, I would say there is nothing to be done, but this is the United States of America.  We must stop this.