What is the latest stupid thing he's done?

I thought of re-naming my blog using that as the title.  You all know to whom I am referring, and I am reasonably sure I could find something every day.  Sometimes it would be hard to choose.  That Easter message about opening the “fuckin’ strait” wasn’t really his, however, since there is no way he would have known to put in an apostrophe.  I’m thinking little Marco might have helped on that.

Now he wants to reopen Alcatraz as a prison.  It’s been closed as a prison for about 60 years and was always difficult to supply and maintain.  It would be incredibly costly to bring it up to prison standards, although Trump obviously doesn’t care about wasting tax dollars.  And while we are at it, let’s do one of those renaming things like the Gulf of America.  Instead of Alcatraz, we can call it Epstein Island Two and use it for pedophiles. 

Working on my income tax return

That’s what I spent most of Easter Sunday doing.  I’m not very good at it, but at least this year I should get it in early.  It is always a bad time for me.  Did you ever see the photos of people lined up at a post office to get their returns postmarked before the midnight deadline on April 15?  I’ve been in those lines more than once.  At least this year, if the preliminary figures are correct, I won’t need to sell the car to pay the tax bill.  (Yes, that really happened.)

It does seem to me that a country as advanced as the U.S. is should be able to produce a reasonably simple tax form.  Why should we have to pay someone to fill it out for us?  That shows to me the forms are way too complicated.  

Where do I put money I got for selling scrap metal and aluminum cans?  Is the small check I get for my New York Times stock a qualified dividend?  What makes it qualified or unqualified?  And that worksheet on what percentage of social security benefits are taxable is beyond my comprehension.

Plus the I.R.S. wants me to make quarterly payments.  Really?  They want me to do this FOUR times a year.  The heck with that.  I just pay the penalty.

It also amuses me when people talk about their refunds.  They forget that they still paid taxes.  I also bet that I pay more income tax than Donald Trump.  (I’ll be happy to compare if he would ever release his tax return.)

Trump's moods

My friend Anne sent me a link to a Wall Street Journal article by Peggy Noonan entitled “A Republic, Not a Mood.”  Noonan quotes Ronald Reagan late in his presidency:  “You don’t become president of the United States.  You are given temporary custody of an institution called the presidency which belongs to our people.”  He said he thought the presidency was “a sacred trust.”

Noonan points out that Trump governs by his “moods.”  The weightiest decisions depend on the President’s mood, how he feels personally at any given time, and people around him try to anticipate those moods.

Noonan explains that we live in a “democratic republic,” and both words are essential.  Democratic is the adjective; republic is the noun.  “In a democratic republic the people choose [their] representatives through elections with broad suffrage.  The republic brings with it constitutional limits, separations of power.”

Trump, of course, understands none of this.  Nor do his followers.  In a recent poll over 90% favor the war against Iran.  Note–these are not Republicans; these are MAGA.  MAGA is a cult made up of people who have no idea what a “democratic republic” involves.  Many of them are in Congress.  One of them is my Congressman, Ryan Mackenzie.

My statement to the Towamensing Township Supervisors

The Towamensing Township municipal workers are on strike.  So far the Township supervisors have spent more money fighting the union than the workers asked for.  Here was my statement I handed to the three Supervisors tonight:

Why we need more women in government

Male and female government officials often approach problems differently.  Men tend to see disputes in terms of winning and losing; women are more likely to see disputes in terms of possible solutions.  Women legislators are also more likely to answer constituent complaints than their male counterparts.

Males often think in terms of domination, of victors and losers.  Women more often think in terms of collaboration and problem-solving.  The domination-submission format works well in football games; the problem-solving format is more appropriate to fixing problems faced by governmental bodies.

The current Township labor dispute is an example.  I firmly believe that if we had three female supervisors (in the history of Towamensing Township, we have had a total of one and only one), this dispute would have been solved months ago.  It’s not all that complicated.  A mediator could suggest steps forward.  Yet here we are, spending tax dollars, seeing a decline in services, punishing long-term employees, and, I believe, for one main reason.

It is to show who is boss, who are the alpha dogs, who are the silverback gorillas.  It is not helping our township. 

Lay off Kristi Noem's husband

He has suffered enough being married to Kristi Noem.  He never said unarmed people shot in the streets of Minneapolis were terrorists.  He never bragged about how tough he was.  He never deported anyone.  

As far as I know, he never shot a dog.

What he did never harmed anyone, at least from what I’ve read.  He never went to Epstein Island.  He never raped children.  Focus your attention on those bastards who did.

A death penalty for Palestinians but not Israelis

That conclusion can be drawn from a law passed by the Israeli parliament last Monday.  The new law makes death by hanging the default sentence in Israeli military courts trying Palestinians who kill people in militant attacks.

Thousands of Palestinians are in Israeli prisons right now.  Trials would take place in military courts in areas under military occupation in Gaza and the West Bank.  The law could theoretically apply to Israelis, but hanging will only affect a murderer who acted to “negate the existence of the State of Israel.”  That wouldn’t apply to an Israeli who kills a Palestinian living in the West Bank.

I learned about this new law in an article by Aaron Boxerman and Johnatan Reiss, “Israel Passes Law to Allow Hanging of Palestinians Convicted of Attacks, New York Times, Mar. 31, 2026), p. 9.

Do I have this right?

While Putin is assisting the Iranians in targeting their missiles and drones against American bases, the Trump administration is also permitting Russia to sell more oil at higher prices while the Russians continue to battle democratic Ukraine.

That is insane.