The following pictures were taken at the Tesla showroom in Santa Monica by Tom McMahon. We are all so terribly f*cked here in the country formerly known as the USA.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Saturday, March 15, 2025
No Longer a Democrat
After Schumer caved to the Republicans and passed the CR and validated Trump and Musk's destruction of the American Republic, I transferred my affiliation from the Democratic Party to Independent.
But the reality is that all the checks and balances failed. Trump / Musk do whatever they want and ignore the courts. Not that the courts are doing a very good job here. But even so, Musk and many Republican congressman are firm in their belief that even these pathetic attempts to enforce the constitution will be destroyed.
As a citizen, I have zero power to do anything about this. Its annoying to have the failure of the system and my impotence thrown in my face like this.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Speech by Malhuret Before the French Senate
[Note to my readers: I think this is what the self-appointed censors of the Internet refer to as "hate speech". In other words, a clear effort to support democracy and fight tyranny. Be warned.]
A transcript of Malhuret’s full speech, via the French Senate:
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, My dear colleagues,
Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened.
Washington has become the court of Nero, a fiery emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled jester in charge of purging the civil service.
This is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States. Trump’s message is that there is no point in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose more customs duties on you than on his enemies and will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you.
The king of the deal is showing what the art of the deal is all about. He thinks he will intimidate China by lying down before Putin, but Xi Jinping, faced with such a shipwreck, is probably accelerating preparations for the invasion of Taiwan.
Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy. Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally. Never has anyone trampled on the American Constitution, issued so many illegal decrees, dismissed judges who could have prevented him from doing so, dismissed the military general staff in one fell swoop, weakened all checks and balances, and taken control of social media.
This is not an illiberal drift, it is the beginning of the confiscation of democracy. Let us remember that it took only one month, three weeks and two days to bring down the Weimar Republic and its Constitution.
I have faith in the strength of American democracy, and the country is already protesting. But in one month, Trump has done more harm to America than in four years of his last presidency. We were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor.
Eight days ago, at the very moment that Trump was rubbing Macron’s back in the White House, the United States voted at the UN with Russia and North Korea against the Europeans demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Two days later, in the Oval Office, the military service shirker was giving war hero Zelensky lessons in morality and strategy before dismissing him like a groom, ordering him to submit or resign.
Tonight, he took another step into infamy by stopping the delivery of weapons that had been promised. What to do in the face of this betrayal? The answer is simple: face it.
And first of all, let’s not be mistaken. The defeat of Ukraine would be the defeat of Europe. The Baltic States, Georgia, Moldova are already on the list. Putin’s goal is to return to Yalta, where half the continent was ceded to Stalin.
The countries of the South are waiting for the outcome of the conflict to decide whether they should continue to respect Europe or whether they are now free to trample on it.
What Putin wants is the end of the order put in place by the United States and its allies 80 years ago, with its first principle being the prohibition of acquiring territory by force.
This idea is at the very source of the UN, where today Americans vote in favor of the aggressor and against the attacked, because the Trumpian vision coincides with that of Putin: a return to spheres of influence, the great powers dictating the fate of small countries.
Mine is Greenland, Panama and Canada, you are Ukraine, the Baltics and Eastern Europe, he is Taiwan and the China Sea.
At the parties of the oligarchs of the Gulf of Mar-a-Lago, this is called “diplomatic realism.”
So we are alone. But the talk that Putin cannot be resisted is false. Contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, Russia is in bad shape. In three years, the so-called second largest army in the world has managed to grab only crumbs from a country three times less populated.
Interest rates at 25%, the collapse of foreign exchange and gold reserves, the demographic collapse show that it is on the brink of the abyss. The American helping hand to Putin is the biggest strategic mistake ever made in a war.
The shock is violent, but it has a virtue. Europeans are coming out of denial. They understood in one day in Munich that the survival of Ukraine and the future of Europe are in their hands and that they have three imperatives.
This will be expensive. It will be necessary to end the taboo of the use of frozen Russian assets. It will be necessary to circumvent Moscow’s accomplices within Europe itself by a coalition of only the willing countries, with of course the United Kingdom.
Second, demand that any agreement be accompanied by the return of kidnapped children, prisoners and absolute security guarantees. After Budapest, Georgia and Minsk, we know what agreements with Putin are worth. These guarantees require sufficient military force to prevent a new invasion.
Finally, and this is the most urgent, because it is what will take the most time, we must build the neglected European defence, to the benefit of the American umbrella since 1945 and scuttled since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Friedrich Merz has just declared that Europe needs its own military alliance. This is to recognize that France has been right for decades in arguing for strategic autonomy.
It remains to be built. It will be necessary to invest massively, to strengthen the European Defence Fund outside the Maastricht debt criteria, to harmonize weapons and munitions systems, to accelerate the entry into the Union of Ukraine, which is today the leading European army, to rethink the place and conditions of nuclear deterrence based on French and British capabilities, to relaunch the anti-missile shield and satellite programs.
The plan announced yesterday by Ursula von der Leyen is a very good starting point. And much more will be needed.
Europe will only become a military power again by becoming an industrial power again. In a word, the Draghi report will have to be implemented. For good.
But the real rearmament of Europe is its moral rearmament.
We must convince public opinion in the face of war weariness and fear, and especially in the face of Putin’s cronies, the extreme right and the extreme left.
They argued again yesterday in the National Assembly, Mr Prime Minister, before you, against European unity, against European defence.
They say they want peace. What neither they nor Trump say is that their peace is capitulation, the peace of defeat, the replacement of de Gaulle Zelensky by a Ukrainian Pétain at the beck and call of Putin.
Peace for the collaborators who have refused any aid to the Ukrainians for three years.
Is this the end of the Atlantic Alliance? The risk is great. But in the last few days, the public humiliation of Zelensky and all the crazy decisions taken in the last month have finally made the Americans react.
Polls are falling. Republican lawmakers are being greeted by hostile crowds in their constituencies. Even Fox News is becoming critical.
The Trumpists are no longer in their majesty. They control the executive, the Parliament, the Supreme Court and social networks.
But in American history, the freedom fighters have always prevailed. They are beginning to raise their heads.
The fate of Ukraine is being played out in the trenches, but it also depends on those in the United States who want to defend democracy, and here on our ability to unite Europeans, to find the means for their common defense, and to make Europe the power that it once was in history and that it hesitates to become again.
Our parents defeated fascism and communism at great cost.
The task of our generation is to defeat the totalitarianisms of the 21st century.
Long live free Ukraine, long live democratic Europe.
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, My dear colleagues,
Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened.
Washington has become the court of Nero, a fiery emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled jester in charge of purging the civil service.
This is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States. Trump’s message is that there is no point in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose more customs duties on you than on his enemies and will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you.
The king of the deal is showing what the art of the deal is all about. He thinks he will intimidate China by lying down before Putin, but Xi Jinping, faced with such a shipwreck, is probably accelerating preparations for the invasion of Taiwan.
Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy. Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally. Never has anyone trampled on the American Constitution, issued so many illegal decrees, dismissed judges who could have prevented him from doing so, dismissed the military general staff in one fell swoop, weakened all checks and balances, and taken control of social media.
This is not an illiberal drift, it is the beginning of the confiscation of democracy. Let us remember that it took only one month, three weeks and two days to bring down the Weimar Republic and its Constitution.
I have faith in the strength of American democracy, and the country is already protesting. But in one month, Trump has done more harm to America than in four years of his last presidency. We were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor.
Eight days ago, at the very moment that Trump was rubbing Macron’s back in the White House, the United States voted at the UN with Russia and North Korea against the Europeans demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Two days later, in the Oval Office, the military service shirker was giving war hero Zelensky lessons in morality and strategy before dismissing him like a groom, ordering him to submit or resign.
Tonight, he took another step into infamy by stopping the delivery of weapons that had been promised. What to do in the face of this betrayal? The answer is simple: face it.
And first of all, let’s not be mistaken. The defeat of Ukraine would be the defeat of Europe. The Baltic States, Georgia, Moldova are already on the list. Putin’s goal is to return to Yalta, where half the continent was ceded to Stalin.
The countries of the South are waiting for the outcome of the conflict to decide whether they should continue to respect Europe or whether they are now free to trample on it.
What Putin wants is the end of the order put in place by the United States and its allies 80 years ago, with its first principle being the prohibition of acquiring territory by force.
This idea is at the very source of the UN, where today Americans vote in favor of the aggressor and against the attacked, because the Trumpian vision coincides with that of Putin: a return to spheres of influence, the great powers dictating the fate of small countries.
Mine is Greenland, Panama and Canada, you are Ukraine, the Baltics and Eastern Europe, he is Taiwan and the China Sea.
At the parties of the oligarchs of the Gulf of Mar-a-Lago, this is called “diplomatic realism.”
So we are alone. But the talk that Putin cannot be resisted is false. Contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, Russia is in bad shape. In three years, the so-called second largest army in the world has managed to grab only crumbs from a country three times less populated.
Interest rates at 25%, the collapse of foreign exchange and gold reserves, the demographic collapse show that it is on the brink of the abyss. The American helping hand to Putin is the biggest strategic mistake ever made in a war.
The shock is violent, but it has a virtue. Europeans are coming out of denial. They understood in one day in Munich that the survival of Ukraine and the future of Europe are in their hands and that they have three imperatives.
Accelerate military aid to Ukraine to compensate for the American abandonment, so that it holds, and of course to impose its presence and that of Europe in any negotiation.
This will be expensive. It will be necessary to end the taboo of the use of frozen Russian assets. It will be necessary to circumvent Moscow’s accomplices within Europe itself by a coalition of only the willing countries, with of course the United Kingdom.
Second, demand that any agreement be accompanied by the return of kidnapped children, prisoners and absolute security guarantees. After Budapest, Georgia and Minsk, we know what agreements with Putin are worth. These guarantees require sufficient military force to prevent a new invasion.
Finally, and this is the most urgent, because it is what will take the most time, we must build the neglected European defence, to the benefit of the American umbrella since 1945 and scuttled since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
It is a Herculean task, but it is on its success or failure that the leaders of today’s democratic Europe will be judged in the history books.
Friedrich Merz has just declared that Europe needs its own military alliance. This is to recognize that France has been right for decades in arguing for strategic autonomy.
It remains to be built. It will be necessary to invest massively, to strengthen the European Defence Fund outside the Maastricht debt criteria, to harmonize weapons and munitions systems, to accelerate the entry into the Union of Ukraine, which is today the leading European army, to rethink the place and conditions of nuclear deterrence based on French and British capabilities, to relaunch the anti-missile shield and satellite programs.
The plan announced yesterday by Ursula von der Leyen is a very good starting point. And much more will be needed.
Europe will only become a military power again by becoming an industrial power again. In a word, the Draghi report will have to be implemented. For good.
But the real rearmament of Europe is its moral rearmament.
We must convince public opinion in the face of war weariness and fear, and especially in the face of Putin’s cronies, the extreme right and the extreme left.
They argued again yesterday in the National Assembly, Mr Prime Minister, before you, against European unity, against European defence.
They say they want peace. What neither they nor Trump say is that their peace is capitulation, the peace of defeat, the replacement of de Gaulle Zelensky by a Ukrainian Pétain at the beck and call of Putin.
Peace for the collaborators who have refused any aid to the Ukrainians for three years.
Is this the end of the Atlantic Alliance? The risk is great. But in the last few days, the public humiliation of Zelensky and all the crazy decisions taken in the last month have finally made the Americans react.
Polls are falling. Republican lawmakers are being greeted by hostile crowds in their constituencies. Even Fox News is becoming critical.
The Trumpists are no longer in their majesty. They control the executive, the Parliament, the Supreme Court and social networks.
But in American history, the freedom fighters have always prevailed. They are beginning to raise their heads.
The fate of Ukraine is being played out in the trenches, but it also depends on those in the United States who want to defend democracy, and here on our ability to unite Europeans, to find the means for their common defense, and to make Europe the power that it once was in history and that it hesitates to become again.
Our parents defeated fascism and communism at great cost.
The task of our generation is to defeat the totalitarianisms of the 21st century.
Long live free Ukraine, long live democratic Europe.
Monday, March 10, 2025
John Galt 1948-2025
My friend John Galt has passed away.
His obituary is at the following link and a jpeg of it included below.
https://ottawacitizen.remembering.ca/obituary/john-galt-1092739989
Some other time I will discuss the wacky project we did with SONY and Disney and HDTV. Somehow and for some reason I got a trip to Disney's studio tour in Florida a month before it opened. John and I travelled together.
I am glad I took the opportunity to contact John perhaps 6-9 months ago to apologize for something that happened long ago when I lost my mind. Do not fail to sleep for months on end, I note to myself, as you do not always present your best side.
Let this also be a lesson to those who may read this post: if you have something to say to someone, say it now, even if they appear healthy, you never know. I am happy I reached out to John when I did.
Thursday, March 6, 2025
Why Hasnt Elon Musk Been Sanctioned by Tesla?
Why hasn't Elon Musk been sanctioned by his shareholders?
"If a CEO is found to have intentionally destroyed shareholder value, they could face legal action from shareholders through a shareholder derivative lawsuit, potentially leading to personal liability, fines, or even removal from their position. The board of directors is responsible for overseeing the CEO's actions and can take steps to remove them if they believe the CEO is not acting in the best interests of the shareholders." according to Google.
I suspect its another example of the failure of the so-called capitalist or market system.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Preferred Smashed Chocolate Cookies
¾ cup chocolate chips
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup unsalted butter (if salted dont add so much salt)
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
3 tbsp of plain Greek yogurt
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup/90 all-purpose flour
1 Espresso or strong coffee
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup/90 all-purpose flour
1 Espresso or strong coffee
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Make eggs from ground flaxseed . 1 tbsp flaxseed to 3 tbsp water per "egg". Let stand for at least 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Melt butter
- Add butter to bowl with chocolate chips, espresso and cocoa powder. The butter needs to be hot enough to melt the chocolate and/or use the microwave. Stir the mixture until glossy & smooth.
- In a separate bowl, add sugars, yogurt and eggs. Use mixer if you have one.
- Add vanilla & chocolate slowly and then add the flour. Use spatula to mix. The dough should be glossy and resemble brownie dough
- Distribute 2 tbsp per cookie, two inches apart, on parchment paper
- Cook for 8 or so minutes, pound baking sheets on table to cause dough to settle, then cook another 6=8 minutes. The recipe calls for less baking time, but I found that to result in a gooey cookie, too gooey.
- Let cool on sheets for at least 3 minutes
Taken and modified from the NY Times at:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025868-chewy-brownie-cookies
Saturday, March 1, 2025
Preliminary Granola Recipe
- 4 cups dry oatmeal
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup crushed walnuts or pecans
- 1 cup raisons
- 2 cups maple syrup
- 1 cup dried apricots
- 1 fresh apple chopped
- Zest and juice from one orange
- preheat oven to low
- spread mix on two pans to get surface area (parchment paper)
- bake in oven for 15 minutes, turn it over, bake for another 15 minutes or until it is not gooey.
- recipe is approximate
Sunday, February 16, 2025
Predictions 2/16/2025
I am going to predict the general destruction of large parts of the US government in the current situation.
Trump/Musk will not stop. The courts wont stop them. Congressional Republicans wont stop them. Congressional Democrats wont stop them. And then, when the Trump/Musk shitstorm has passed, no one will be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
First, Elon Musk and his fanboys and Trump with his orders will continue to violate the law and the constitution. They will fire people right and left, destroy Medicare and Medicaid, USAID, the Veterans Administration, DEI everywhere, the NIH, CDC, whole chunks of science, academia, etc. Who will stop them? Well, we can be sure that the Republicans in congress will not stop them and will not defend the constitution. As for the Democrats, they could potentially hold up the budget and shut down the government. But I dont think they will based on past experience. They are too weak and living in another universe. And even if they do, my guess is that Trump and the Republican congress will just ignore them and declare their budget law. Who would stop them? The courts? Not likely. Not only is the federal appeals system filled with complete jokes like Cannon, any court ruling would be appealed to the Supreme Court and we all know what that means. Nine tenths of the time the Supreme Court will support Trump and Musk even if they hide it a little bit to make things look a little better. Then the stupid press will suck down on that and talk about how Trump/Musk did not get everything they wanted, even though, of course, they did get everything they wanted. The DOJ and the FBI will attack any judge or officer who opposes this administration and people will be, in general, intimidated into compliance. Then of course there will be new laws, and who will fix them or go against them? Not the Democrats, that is for sure. Not the Republicans. Not the courts. If there is even the slightest protests that can be looked at as violent: say someone blocks a freeway for more than an hour, then Trump will declare a military emergency and call out the national guard. Besides, it is clear that Americans are too weak and dont really care enough about liberty to do anything. Not only does that mean that the Federal govt is wildly disabled, but many state governments will be as well. As I understand it, states like California will be thrown into chaos by a variety of actions that Trump/Musk will do. Again, who will stop them?
Moving forward, again it is not at all clear who will attempt to fix this catastrophe. Even if there is a clean sweep of Congress and the White House in 4 years most things will not be fixable. The Democrats dont have the will to take a stand. Remember Lejoy at the USPS? Biden couldnt even get rid of one person, and he had cause. Sure we can create a new USAID organization, maybe, or restore the NIH, maybe, but those research programs are already dead. The people in the third world are dead. Ukraine is destroyed. China will just pick up the slack. The Iron Dome will not be built, not really, because it is not practical to do so except in very specific geographical areas like Washington and Mar-a-Lago. It is far easier to destroy and fire people, then to get the budgets and hire people. By that time, there will be hundreds more Trump lovers on the federal courts, and the Supreme Court will be refreshed with two or three more Alito/Kavanaugh clones. Which means that any lawsuits will be dismissed.
So its a fait accompli. America will be diminished, the rich will get richer, silicon valley will do whatever the heck it wants with AI and so forth.
Of course, I could be wrong. The American people could stand up and the Republicans and the Democrats, working together, could remove Trump from office. Do you think that is a realistic possibility?
Sunday, February 2, 2025
Betar US
There is an organization called Betar which seems to be a reboot of an original revisionist Zionist organization that is working to identify those who were attacking universities in this country, supporting Hamas and its efforts to murder Jews. Their mission, among others no doubt, is to identify those who were here on student visas and deport them.
We support this effort.
This may or may not be a relevant URL:
A quote from the above web link:
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
One People, one Country, one Leader!
A work in progress based very loosely on the famous posters of Adolf Hitler. The slogan in German of course sounds better. One Volks, One Reich, One Fuhrer!
Sunday, January 19, 2025
A Pig Will Always be a Pig
I dont care what he does, he will always be a pig to me. Instead of honoring Jimmy Carter for whom the flags were half mast, this dickless wonder has to have the flags raised. He could have made the respect given Carter a part of his speech and been all the better for it. But that would show class, and this asshole has none.
Nothing has changed, he is still an asshole, but all the more dangerous for what he has learned over the last eight years.
If the people who had voted for Joe Biden in 2020 had voted for the Democrat in 2024, even if they were not all that sure about Kamala Harris, this would not be happening. He could be the best president in the history of the world, and he won't be, and I will still think he is a pig, because he is.
People get the government they deserve, I have heard.
Image by Midjourney
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Karl Sims Opening at the Museum of Mathematics, NYC, 11/7/2024
Karl Sims had an art opening at the Museum of Mathematics in New York City on 11/7/2024.
Also there was Pattie Maes, Ken Perlin, Trilby Schreiber, Tom Brigham and Jill Fraser.
Friday, January 17, 2025
Italian Whole Orange Cake Recipe
- preheat oven to 350 degrees
- make 3 fake eggs (1 tablespoon ground flax seed and 3 tablespoons water per egg)
- One whole orange, blended, organic, seeds removed
- One package Pane Degli Angeli (or 2.5 tsp backing powder and 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- 1 1/8 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt plain (or sour cream)
- add 3 fake eggs
- possibly add salt, perhaps
- 1/4 oz sugar (why I dont know)
- grease a loaf pan or similar
- bake for 50-60 minutes
- allow to cool
- make orange glaze with powdered sugar, salt, orange zest and orange juice, simmer over low heat stirring constantly and apply to cake while the glaze is still fluid
This is not what the cake looks like, but it is what I could easily get from Midjourney.
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Los Angeles Fires 2025
So far I know three people who have lost their houses in the Pacific Palisades fire. I also know people in Mandeville Canyon, Altadena and Calabasas who have not lost their houses so far.
Image by Midjourney
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