Sure, the Supreme Court is being influenced by associate justices from Donald Trump's first term. And of course, it is a conservative court. However, their final decision for this season was announced today, and gives Trump what he wanted. Block birthright citizenship to children of illegal immigrants, and also, in effect, curtailing the power of individual district court judges. I can't believe they are colluding with him. They must be just buying time to avoid judgement day, for if Trump defies a major decision by them, he becomes a dictator, for the Supreme Court, and too the U.S. Congress, don't have any enforcement powers. The makers of our Constitution screwed up with this flaw. By what happened today, American Democracy seems safe until next October.
- Why? Blame President Donald Trump.
- What this means is you are paying more for imported goods. Maybe Trump is getting what he wished for, which is for you to only buy domestic.
- You are also spending more on international travel. Thus, many will now only vacation in the USA.
- Perhaps Trump's economic plan is working.
- Is this good?
- In July of last year, it was 162 Yen to the Dollar.
- This rate is 145 today.
- In other words, a dinner tab of $145 dollars in Tokyo last year would today cost me $162 today.
- Travel to Japan has been great for the past two years. However, this rate was 103.5Y to the dollar around Christmas time in 2020. So this same dinner would have cost $227 4.5 years ago. Of course, this was during the heat of the COVID pandemic, so no one traveled then.
- This fiscal condition remained going back to Christmas of 2013, when the exchange rate was around 103.
- However, during the winter period in 2012, the exchange rate was only 75Y to the $. This same $162 dollar today would have cost $312 in 2012.
- Going back further, in August of 1990, the exchange rate was what it is today, around 145Y to the dollar.
- However, in January of 1985 it was 254Y to the $, and in October of 1982 was 272Y to the $.
- October of 1975? 358Y to the $. Thus, this same $162 dinner today in Tokyo would have cost $73 in 1975.
- Of course, with inflation and all that, these dollar comparisons are meaningless. But the relativity applies, if you comprehend what I'm saying.
That endgame is nothing short of gutting. Though we do get the occasional glimpse of hope, it’s overshadowed by horror after horror, each revealing a new dimension of Director Hwang’s diatribe against greed. This doesn’t make Season 3 a rehash of Season 1 but a profound, frequently poignant, and, yes, thrillingly twist-packed deepening of its themes. It is, in particular, an acknowledgment that individual heroes, burdened by conscience and a disproportionately low share of resources, can only do so much in the face of systemic evil. As one wise character laments to Gi-hun: “Bad people do bad things, but they blame others and go on to live in peace. Good people, on the other hand, beat themselves up about the smallest things.” To pretend a Squid Game victory could be anything but pyrrhic would be to accept a fairy tale written by the worst people on the planet. The only true victory would be a victory over Squid Game. So, Hwang is asking, when will the millions of us watching impotently from the sidelines join the Gi-huns of the world?
Oh, one more thing. That fireball over the Georgia sky at 12:25PM yesterday was a meteor.
- Was probably a member of the Beta Taurid meteor shower which peaked on June 25.
- First seen 48 miles above the town of Oxford, Georgia, moving southwest at 30,000 miles/hour.
- Probably had a diameter of three feet and weighed around a ton.
- Exploded 27 miles above West Forest, Georgia, creating sonic booms.
- The estimate is that there is one daylight event per month from all over the world.
- Of all the reported fireballs, only one in 700 are reported in daylight hours, so the event yesterday was unusual.
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