Skip to main content

TRUMP FOLLIES

Before Trump-time, a bit more about the Los Angeles County wildfire, which is approaching 30,000 acres.  How bad is that in the history of California?  

  • Tiny, but, location, location, location!  This fire destroyed an expensive portion of  the state.  Damages have already exceeded anything in the past, so far estimated to exceed $150 billion.  The 2018 Paradise fire was #1 in damages at only $12.5 billion.  
  • Over 10,000 structures destroyed, placing the LA fire at #2.  
  • The 10 so far killed could well reach and exceed the 2020 #5 North Complex fire with 15 deaths.
  • The 2003 Lahaina wildfire on Maui covered 3,453 acres, with 100 deaths., exceeding the #1 85 killed in the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County, California.
  • Note below that most of the worst have occurred in this first quarter period of the 21st century.

The five largest wildfires in California history

  1. August Complex fire (2020) in far northwest California: 1,032,648 acres
  2. Dixie fire (2021) in northern California: 963,309 acres
  3. Mendocino Complex fire (2018) in northern California: 459,123 acres
  4. Park fire (2024) in northern California: 429,603 acres
  5. SCU Lightning Complex fire (2020): 396,125 acres

The five most destructive wildfires in California history

  1. Camp fire (2018) in Butte County: 18,804 structures destroyed
  2. Tubbs fire (2017) in Napa and Sonoma counties: 5,636 structures destroyed
  3. Tunnel fire (1991) near Oatkland: 2,900 structures destroyed
  4. Cedar fire (2003) in San Diego: 2,820 structures destroyed
  5. North Complex fire (2020) in northeast California: 2,352 structures destroyed

The five deadliest wildfires in California history

  1. Camp fire: 85 deaths
  2. Griffith Park fire (1933) in Los Angeles: 29 deaths
  3. Tunnel fire: 25 deaths
  4. Tubbs fire: 22 deaths
  5. North Complex fire: 15 deaths

So on to the Trump follies, which might be too-lighthearted a title, for what has happened, with a lot more to come, will no doubt be dreadful and dangerous in all of U.S. history.

  • We have had 45 presidents in history.
  • 150 scholars a year ago placed Donald Trump at #45, in last place.
  • Knowing this, American voters still picked him to run the country again.  Incredible!  All the more so because he lies all the time with a horrible character bordering on being abominable.
  • Oh, Joe Biden came in at #14, with Abraham Lincoln #1, Franklin D. Roosevelt #2, George Washington #3, Teddy Roosevelt #4, Thomas Jefferson #5, Harry Truman #6 and Barrack Obama #7.

Today, Judge Juan Merchan officially announced that Donald Trump was guilty of 34 charges, and will forever remain a felon, but, because the Supreme Court passed a judgement protecting him, will receive no penalty.  On January 20, Trump will become the first U.S. president convicted of a felon.  Can you believe this?  He filed an appeal.

Yesterday, The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by Trump to bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing his two-volume  report covering both the January 6 coup and Florida documents investigations.  Trump's crony, Florida Judge Aileen Cannon then said the report could not be released for three days, which Garland appealed.  No matter, the Department of Justice will publicly release the January 6 report on Monday, while delaying the second volume on the matter of confidential papers because two co-defendants are on trial for being accessories to Trump's crime.  This means the incoming Justice Department will not be able to whitewash the proceedings.  Also, surely there will be a block-buster documentary, and maybe even film, sharing the details, to further embarrass and confine Trump.

From TIME magazine:

So on to more Trump follies:

  • Demanded that Denmark consider ceding Greenland to the USA.
  • Called for Panama to return the Panama Canal.
  • So he takes both by military might.  Who will fight America?
  • For his MAGA crowd, they probably will love all of this.
  • What's happening on the mass deportation front?  Watch this.  13 million?  20 million?  4% of the the U.S. population?  $315 billion cost?  
    • Who knows.

  • About his cabinet nominees.
    • Happens in the U.S. Senate, where there are 54 Republicans and 47 Democrats.
    • There are 1300 political appointee positions that require Senate confirmations.  Many, especially in the Department of Defense, go straight to the floor.  
    • However, Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing for secretary of defense will begin on January 14 in the Senate Armed Services Committee.  This could get painful.
    • Marco Rubio as Secretary of State.? Hey, these are his people.  Of course he will get through easily.
    • Maybe also next week, Tulsi Gabbard could come before the Senate Intelligence Committee.  This also will be difficult.
    • Also contentious will be Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of health and human services, who will face both the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, plus the Senate Finance Committee.  15,000 doctors have already signed a letter of non-confirmation, and Hawaii Governor Josh Green, a doctor, is in DC to plead rejection.
  • This list is a mere beginning of Trump's follies.  A lot more will come, like:
    • How many media opponents will be jailed in the coming years?  Democrat politicians?
    • How will Trump insure for Congressional dominance in the 2026 elections, which will be next year?
    • Trump will insure that the Department of Defense will support his next coup attempt to seal a dictatorship.  How will his overall plan proceed?  Could become unnecessary if the 7November2028 presidential election is cancelled.
With that, amen.
-
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases.  Very few are aware that a new one,   BA.4.6,  is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples .  However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6.  Here is a  reference  as to what this means.  A series of two injections is involved.  Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab  co-packaged with  cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on  subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicio...
Post a Comment
Read more

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics.  Thursday was my pandemic day for years.  Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments.  All these  subvariants  derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms.  One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell.  From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant,  BA.2.86,  also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to  lose hair  for...
Post a Comment
Read more

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These a...
Post a Comment
Read more