A picture of a presidency that would make sense—in 25 thoughts

If we lived in In a Sane World 

Steven Beschloss

Most days I try to take the daily onslaught of chaos and crazy as practically as I can. That doesn’t mean normalizing it—treating all the mad demolition as if it reflects “reality”—but rather accepting that this is the hand we’ve been dealt and confronting it as soberly as I can.

The more the unfolding stories involve extreme injustice and inequality, violent abuse, hatred and bigotry, the harder I find it to respond cooly and calmly. 

Some things are just deeply immoral and wrong—and I’ll be damned if I’m going to adapt myself to what I know must be grounds for battle.

But, honestly, when I think more deeply about these things, I don’t only try to differentiate true from false and right from wrong, but also to remember what should be obvious in a normal world versus what is happening that is just frankly batshit crazy. 

In an effort to both spotlight the ways in which our beloved country has been turned upside down this year and also hold onto my sanity, what follows are 25 brief reflections on what I think a sane world would include. Here goes!

In a sane world:

1. The voters would never elect a pathological liar, malignant narcissist, sadist and sociopath who hates most of the country’s people—a broken man who is chiefly interested in enriching himself, getting attention, creating havoc, savoring violence and seeking retribution against his perceived enemies.

It's a hoax!

Come and meet our next Charlestown Town Council member ON tUESDAY

Trump EPA’s Rollback of Wetlands Protections Is Latest ‘Gift’ to Polluters, Groups Say

MAGA gifts and grifts our drinking water

Julia Conley

Environmental justice campaigners say the Trump administration’s latest rollback of wetland protections was “a gift to developers and polluters at the expense of communities” and demanded permanent protections for waterways.

“Clean water protections shouldn’t change with each administration,” said Betsy Southerland, former director of the Office of Science and Technology in the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Water. “Every family deserves the same right to safe water, no matter where they live or who’s in office.”

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin proposed changes to the rule known as “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS), which has been the subject of debate and legal challenges in recent decades. Under the Trump administration, as in President Donald Trump’s first term, the EPA will focus on regulating permanent bodies of water like oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams.

The administration would more closely follow a 2023 Supreme Court decision, Sackett v. EPA, which the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found this year would remove federal protections from 60-95% of wetlands across the nation.

The Zeldin rule would eliminate protections for most wetlands without visible surface water, going even further than Sackett v. EPA in codifying a narrower definition of wetlands that should be protected, said the Environmental Protection Network (EPN). The rule comes after pressure from industry groups that have bristled over past requirements to protect all waterways.

Wetlands provide critical wildlife habitats, replenish groundwater, control flooding, and protect clean water by filtering pollution.

Don’t let food poisoning crash your Thanksgiving dinner

Turkey trots are no fun

Lisa Cuchara, Quinnipiac University

This is NOT an appropriate practice

Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends and feasting. However, amid the joy of gathering and indulging in delicious food, it is essential to keep food safety in mind. Foodborne illnesses can quickly put a damper on your celebrations.

As an immunologist and infectious disease specialist, I study how germs spread – and how to prevent them from doing so. In my courses, I teach my students how to reduce microbial risks, including those tied to activities such as hosting a big Thanksgiving gathering, without becoming germophobes.

Foodborne illnesses sicken 48 million Americans – 1 in 6 people – each year. Holiday meals such as Thanksgiving pose special risks because these spreads often involve large quantities, long prep times, buffet-style serving and mingling guests. Such conditions create many opportunities for germs to spread.

This, in turn, invites a slew of microbial guests such as Salmonella and Clostridium perfringens. Most people recover from infections with foodborne bacteria, but each year around 3,000 Americans die from the illnesses they cause. More routinely, these bugs can cause nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea within hours to a couple of days after being consumed – which are no fun at a holiday celebration.

Foods most likely to cause holiday illness

Most foodborne illnesses come from raw or undercooked food and foods left in the so-called danger zone of cooking temperature – 40 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit – in which bacteria multiply rapidly. Large-batch cooking without proper reheating or storage as well as cross contamination of foods during preparation can also cause disease.

Not all dishes pose the same risk. Turkey can harbor Salmonella, Campylobacter and Clostridium perfringens. Undercooked turkey remains a leading cause of Thanksgiving-related illness. Raw turkey drippings can also easily spread bacteria onto hands, utensils and counters. And don’t forget the stuffing inside the bird. While the turkey may reach a safe internal temperature, the stuffing often does not, making it a higher-risk dish.

Leftovers stored too long, reheated improperly or cooled slowly also bring hazards. If large pieces of roasted turkey aren’t divided and cooled quickly, any Clostridium perfringens they contain might have time to produce toxins. This increases the risk of getting sick from snacking on leftovers – even reheated leftovers, since these toxins are not killed by heat.

Indeed, each November and December outbreaks involving this bacterium spike, often due to encounters with turkey and roast beef leftovers.

Don’t wash the turkey!

Washing anything makes it cleaner and safer, right? Not necessarily.

What the Trump regime is Dismissing That Could Seed a Bird Flu Pandemic

One way to deal with a health care crisis is to pretend it doesn't exist

By Nat Lash for ProPublica

Nearly a million chickens packed the barns at Howe’s Hens last Christmas Eve when the first of them tested positive for bird flu. The deadly virus spreads so fast that even if only one hen is infected, farmers are legally obligated to kill all of the others. Massive mounds of carcasses soon appeared outside the Ohio egg farm, covered in compost. 

The slaughter wasn’t enough. The virus tore through industrial barns in Darke County and moved on through one of the most poultry-dense regions in America, crossing the state line into Indiana. Rows of raised earth became a familiar sight alongside the roads that crisscrossed the plains. The air stank of death, recalled cafe owner Deborah Mertz: “The smell of every bird in Mercer County, rotting.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture urged farmers to follow a longstanding playbook that assumes that bird flu is spread by wild birds and tracked into barns with lax safety practices. The agency blamed the outbreak on “shared people and equipment.”  

Three years into a brutal wave of the virus, industry leaders raised evidence that bird flu was entering barns differently and evading even the strictest protocols. They suspected it could be airborne and begged officials to deploy a proven weapon against the disease: a vaccine for poultry.

The USDA didn’t do that or explore their theory, and its playbook failed: In just three months, the virus that erupted in a single Ohio farm spread to flocks with over 18 million hens — 5% of America’s egg layers. All were killed to try to stop the contagion, and egg prices hit historic highs, surpassing the previous fall’s spike, which Donald Trump had cited as a massive failure of economic leadership in his successful campaign for the presidency.

After a quiet summer, bird flu is on the move again, and experts say it poses an escalating threat. While the virus doesn’t appear capable of spreading from human to human, it has killed people exposed to sick poultry. This year, the United States saw its first death from bird flu, a Louisiana senior with a flock of backyard chickens.  

Viruses are constantly evolving, and if a person catches bird flu while infected with a seasonal flu, the pathogens could mutate into a variant that infects large numbers of people. “The minute it transmits in humans, it’s done,” warned Erin Sorrell, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. 

Given the stakes — and the government’s limited investigation of this winter’s outbreak — ProPublica set out to examine the USDA’s continuing conviction that the spread of the virus can sufficiently be curbed by its safety practices.

5 Reasons Trump’s Economy Stinks and 10 Things the Dems Should Do About It

Finally, the public seems to get how badly Trump has trashed the economy

Robert Reich in Inequality Media

Donald Trump claimed last week on social media that “Our economy is BOOMING, and Costs are coming way down,” and that “grocery prices are way down.

Rubbish.

How do I know he’s lying? Official government statistics haven’t been issued during the shutdown—presumably to Trump’s relief (the White House said Wednesday that the October jobs and Consumer Price Index reports may never come out).

But we can get good estimates of where the economy is now, based on where the economy was heading before the shutdown and recent reports by private data firms.

First, I want to tell you what we know about Trump’s truly sh*tty economy. Then I’ll suggest 10 things that Democrats should pledge to do about it.

1. Prices Continue to Rise as Real Wages Fall

How Donald Trump punishes child sex trafficker

Trump's picture of a new America

 

How tiny woodpeckers deliver devastating strikes to drill into wood

Pecking with power

Brown University

Photo by Will Collette

It’s one of nature’s mysteries: How can woodpeckers, the smallest of which weigh less than an ounce, drill permanent holes into massive trees using only their tiny heads? New research shows that there’s much more at play, anatomically: When a woodpecker bores into wood, it uses not only its head but its entire body, as well as its breathing.

In a study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, a team led by biologists at Brown University reveals how woodpeckers combine breathing and whole-body coordination to drill into trees with extraordinary force. 

“These findings expand our understanding of the links between respiration, muscle physiology and behavior to perform extreme motor feats and meet ecological challenges,” said lead author Nicholas Antonson, a postdoctoral research fellow in ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Brown.

Photo by Will Collette

The team studied downy woodpeckers, the smallest species of woodpeckers in North America, which populate forested areas throughout the United States and Canada. Most scientists who investigate woodpecker physiology focus on neck muscles, said study co-author Matthew Fuxjager, a professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Brown who has been studying woodpeckers for over a decade.

“We’re left to wonder, where does all the power come from?” Fuxjager said. “Where does the protection come from? Those questions stimulated our study, which took a more whole-body approach.”

In experiments conducted in Fuxjager’s lab, the scientists offered woodpecker study subjects some of their favorite types of wood and then measured the muscles the birds employed while drilling. The team used high-speed video to observe frame-by-frame, every 4 milliseconds, how the birds’ head positioning coordinated with activation of various muscles. They also measured air pressure and airflow in the birds’ airways.

Rhode Islanders: Protect yourself from COVID-19, Flu, and RSV

Vaccines and precautions can help you and your family avoid dangerous illnesses

Rhode Island Department of Health 

Respiratory Viruses | Department of Health

It’s common to get sick from respiratory viruses such as COVID-19, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), especially in the fall and winter. Each year, respiratory viruses are responsible for millions of illnesses and thousands of hospitalizations and deaths in the United States.

• Current Rhode Island Respiratory Virus Data trends
• Respiratory Guidance Snapshot Graphic (Spanish)

Respiratory Virus Guidance

Core Prevention Strategies

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all people use core prevention strategies. These are important steps you can take to protect yourself and others from respiratory virus illnesses.

• Stay up to date on your vaccines. Talk to your healthcare professional or pharmacist about current recommendations.
• Get your flu shot. Everyone age 6 months or older should be vaccinated every year.
• Stay up to date on your COVID-19 vaccinations.
• Learn about RSV immunizations for certain populations.
• Find out which fall and winter vaccines are right for you.
• Find a vaccine clinic or program near you.
• Practice good hygiene by covering your coughs and sneezes, washing or sanitizing your hands often, and cleaning frequently touched surfaces.
• Take steps for cleaner air to increase ventilation and circulation
• When you may have a respiratory virus:
• Use precautions to prevent spread. Stay home and away from others until your symptoms are getting better for 24 hours and you’re fever free without fever-reducing meds for 24 hours. Then take added precautions for the next 5 days.
• Seek health care right away for testing and/or treatment if you have risk factors for severe illness. Treatment for flu or COVID-19 may help lower your risk of severe illness.

40% of women under 45 want to leave the US

If the 15-year-olds leave, who will he date?

This story was originally reported by Terri Rupar of The 19th. Meet Terri and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and policy.

Forty percent of American women and girls age 15 to 45 say they want to permanently move to another country — an opinion shared by just 19 percent of boys and men that age.

And being married and having children doesn’t make a huge difference in that desire, even though it has in the past. 

The share of American women and girls age 15 to 44 who would like to move permanently to another country if they had the opportunity: 

• 45 percent of single women
• 41 percent of married women
• 44 percent of those who do not have children 
• 40 percent of those who do

That’s according to new data from Gallup, which has been asking people if they want to relocate since 2008. That year, 17 percent of younger women and 16 percent of younger men said they’d like to live elsewhere. 

Trump dismissed a question about the CIA’s finding that Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of a journalist, saying the writer was someone “a lot of people didn’t like.”

Trump Calls Saudi Prince ‘Respected Man’ as Serial Human Rights Abuser Ups US Investment Promise to $1 Trillion

Julia Conley for Common Dreams

A US-based journalist and human rights defender was dismissed as someone “a lot of people didn’t like,” and the Saudi crown prince who US intelligence experts found had likely ordered the writer’s killing was applauded as “one of the most respected people in the world.”

That was Donald Trump’s assessment of Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated in 2018, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday at a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House.

Trump and bin Salman met to discuss a range of topics, from a US sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia to agreements on minerals and artificial intelligence.

Bin Salman also told the president he would increase Saudi investment in the US from $600 billion to $1 trillion.

The BBC reported that Trump “bask[ed]” in the $1 trillion pledge, telling the prince it was an “honor” to be his friend and saying the US “very much appreciate[s]” the investment.

“We’re doing numbers no one has ever done,” Trump said.

ABC News reporter Mary Bruce asked Trump about his family’s business interests in Saudi Arabia and questioned whether the bilateral deals presented a conflict of interest, before pointedly asking bin Salman about the Central Intelligence Agency’s finding in 2021 that the prince had likely personally ordered the killing of Khashoggi.

“Your royal highness, the US intelligence concluded that you ordered the brutal murder of a journalist,” said Bruce. “Why should Americans trust you?”

Trump was visibly angered by the question and demanded to know what outlet Bruce was with before telling her ABC was “fake news” and calling her comment “horrible, insubordinate, and just a terrible question.”

“He knew nothing about it,” said the president, contradicting the government’s findings.

Khashoggi responded to Bruce, saying, “It’s really painful to hear anyone losing his life for no real purpose or not in a legal way.”

Trump, said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, will “overlook the murder of Jamal Khashoggi to pad his pockets and boost the bottom line of the military industrial complex.”

Nice ICE

November 22: Holiday sale

Senator Whitehouse reports on his trip to the COP30 climate conference

Trump tried to block him from going

Steve Ahlquist

“Interestingly, we received no support whatsoever from the State Department, which is a first,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) at the start of his online press conference about his trip to Belém, Brazil, for COP30 as the sole representative of the United States Federal Government. “I’ve done a lot of codels [congressional delegations] and the State Department has automatically provided logistical support. [This time,] they wouldn’t even help get our badges. We had to do that through a private organization [the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Institute]. It was an interesting response from the Trump Administration, the first time.”

The United Nations’ 30th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP30) gathers heads of state, lawmakers, private sector leaders, environmental champions, and civil society leaders from around the world for what is advertised as the largest and most important venue for world governments to gather to solve the global climate crisis.

While at COP30, Senator Whitehouse participated in discussions on the future of offshore wind, clean shipping, and non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. He delivered a keynote at an SEEC Institute panel discussion with other global elected officials on the implementation of climate policies. Over the weekend, the Senator also participated in discussions on methane regulations, net-zero policy implementation, and the impacts of climate change on the world’s oceans, meeting with elected officials, international climate leaders, and business leaders.

“I went there to deliver four messages,” said Senator Whitehouse to reporters.

Conflicting Advice on Covid Shots Likely To Ding Already Low Vaccine Rates

Don't listen to Bobby Jr. - get your COVID shot because it works

Phillip Reese

More than three-quarters of American adults didn’t get a covid shot last season, a figure that health care experts warn could rise this year amid new U.S. government recommendations.

The covid vaccine was initially popular. About 75% of Americans had received at least one dose of the first versions of the vaccine by early 2022, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows. 

But only about 23% of American adults got a covid shot during the 2024-25 virus season, well below the 47% of American adults who got a flu shot. The vaccination rates for flu, measles, and tetanus are also going down.

Yet covid remains a serious, potentially deadly health risk, listed as the primary cause of death on roughly 31,400 death certificates last year. By comparison, flu killed about 6,500 people and pneumonia, a common complication of the flu, killed an additional 41,600, CDC data shows.

Trump Regime Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation

Trump's expanded campaign to protect pedophile rights

by Robert Faturechi and Avi Asher-Schapiro for ProPublica

Online influencer Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist who has millions of young male followers, was facing allegations of sex trafficking women in three countries when he and his brother left their home in Romania to visit the United States.

“The Tates will be free, Trump is the president. The good old days are back,” Tate posted on X before the trip in February — one of many times he has sung the president’s praises to his fans.

But when the Tate brothers arrived by private plane in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, they immediately found themselves in the crosshairs of law enforcement once more, as Customs and Border Protection officials seized their electronic devices.

This time, they had a powerful ally come to their aid. Behind the scenes, the White House intervened on their behalf.

Interviews and records reviewed by ProPublica show a White House official told senior Department of Homeland Security officials to return the devices to the brothers several days after they were seized. The official who delivered the message, Paul Ingrassia, is a lawyer who previously represented the Tate brothers before joining the White House, where he was working as its DHS liaison.

In his written request, a copy of which was reviewed by ProPublica, Ingrassia chided authorities for taking the action, saying the seizure of the Tates’ devices was not a good use of time or resources. The request to return the electronics to the Tates, he emphasized, was coming from the White House.

The incident is the latest in a string of law enforcement matters where the Trump White House has inserted itself to help friends and target foes. Since entering office for a second term, Trump has urged the Justice Department to go after elected officials who investigated him and his businesses, and he pardoned a string of political allies. 

Andrew Tate is one of the most prominent members of the so-called manosphere, a collection of influencers, podcasters and content creators who helped deliver young male voters to Trump. And news of the White House intervention on behalf of the accused sex traffickers comes as Trump is under fire over his ties to notorious child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his administration’s recent efforts to stop the public release of the so-called Epstein files.

How Trump Has Exploited Pardons and Clemency to Reward Allies and Supporters

With Trump, everything is for sale (or barter)

By Jeremy Kohler for ProPublica

The beneficiaries of Donald Trump’s mercy in his second term have mostly been people with access to the president or his inner circle. Those who have followed the rules set out by the Department of Justice, meanwhile, are still waiting.

Trump has granted clemency to allies, donors and culture-war figures — as well as felons who, like him, were convicted of financial wrongdoing. On Friday, he granted pardons to 77 people, including Rudy Giuliani and other allies tied to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, though they are mostly symbolic because federal pardons do not apply to ongoing or possible state prosecutions, which many of the grantees face. 

Those clemencies came on top of the commutation awarded last month to George Santos, the disgraced former New York congressman found guilty of defrauding donors and lying to the House of Representatives. Trump cut short Santos’ seven-year sentence after less than three months.

For those who followed the standard protocol set out by the Department of Justice, the sense is growing that the process no longer matters; they’ve watched the public database of applicants swell with thousands of pending cases, while Trump grants pardons to people who never entered the system at all.

In just over nine months back in office, roughly 10,000 people have filed petitions for pardons or commutations, about two-thirds the total of the 14,867 applications submitted during the entire Biden presidency.

Under Justice Department standards and requirements, people seeking pardons generally must wait five years after their release from incarceration, demonstrate good conduct and remorse, and file petitions through the Office of the Pardon Attorney. But Trump’s actions in his second term show he has largely abandoned that process.

Aboard Starship Trump

Oink

Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts

Grifting gets some pretty bizarre results

by Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan and Alex Mierjeski for ProPublica

ICE Barbie shooting a taxpayer-paid political ad at
Mount Rushmore

On Oct. 2, the second day of the government shutdown, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived at Mount Rushmore to shoot a television ad. Sitting on horseback in chaps and a cowboy hat, Noem addressed the camera with a stern message for immigrants: “Break our laws, we’ll punish you.” 

Noem has hailed the more than $200 million, taxpayer-funded ad campaign as a crucial tool to stem illegal immigration. Her agency invoked the “national emergency” at the border as it awarded contracts for the campaign, bypassing the normal competitive bidding process designed to prevent waste and corruption.

The Department of Homeland Security has kept at least one beneficiary of the nine-figure ad deal a secret, records and interviews show: a Republican consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to Noem and her senior aides at DHS. The company running the Mount Rushmore shoot, called the Strategy Group, does not appear on public documents about the contract. The main recipient listed on the contracts is a mysterious Delaware company, which was created days before the deal was finalized.

No firm has closer ties to Noem’s political operation than the Strategy Group. It played a central role in her 2022 South Dakota gubernatorial campaign. Corey Lewandowski, her top adviser at DHS, has worked extensively with the firm. And the company’s CEO is married to Noem’s chief spokesperson at DHS, Tricia McLaughlin.

The Strategy Group’s ad work is the first known example of money flowing from Noem’s agency to businesses controlled by her allies and friends.

Homeland Security wants your driver’s license data for citizenship checks

Trump's latest push to invade your privacy

By Jen Fifield and Zach Despart for ProPublica

Co-published with The Texas Tribune

The Department of Homeland Security says it intends to add state driver’s license information to a swiftly expanding federal system envisioned as a one-stop shop for checking citizenship.

The plan, outlined in a public notice posted on October 30, is the latest step in an unprecedented Trump administration initiative to pool confidential data from varied sources that it claims will help identify noncitizens on voter rolls, tighten immigration enforcement and expose public benefit fraud.

According to emails obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, DHS approached Texas officials in June about a pilot program to add the state’s driver license data, but it’s not clear if the state participated.

Earlier this year, DHS added millions of Americans’ Social Security data to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, system, allowing officials to use the tool to conduct bulk searches of voter rolls for the first time. According to the document filed Thursday, SAVE also recently expanded to include passport and visa information.

Incorporating driver’s license information would allow election officials whose rolls don’t include voters’ Social Security numbers to conduct bulk searches by driver’s license number. Ultimately, the system would link these two crucial identifiers for the purpose of citizenship checks, said Michael Morse, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

“It is the key that unlocks everything,” Morse said.

ICE’s ‘Frightening’ Facial Recognition App is Scanning US Citizens Without Their Consent

They can scan and store your face but you can't even see theirs

Stephen Prager for Common Dreams

Immigration agents are using facial recognition software as “definitive” evidence to determine immigration status and is collecting data from US citizens without their consent. In some cases, agents may detain US citizens, including ones who can provide their birth certificates, if the app says they are in the country illegally.

These are a few of the findings from a series of articles published this past week by 404 Media, which has obtained documents and video evidence showing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are using a smartphone app in the field during immigration stops, scanning the faces of people on the street to verify their citizenship.

The report found that agents frequently conduct stops that “seem to have little justification beyond the color of someone’s skin... then look up more information on that person, including their identity and potentially their immigration status.”

While it is not clear what application the agencies are using, 404 previously reported that ICE is using an app called Mobile Fortify that allows ICE to simply point a camera at a person on the street. The photos are then compared with a bank of more than 200 million images and dozens of government databases to determine info about the person, including their name, date of birth, nationality, and information about their immigration status.

What a malignant narcissist might do if all is lost to them

Trump's deeper descent into nihilism

By Rich Snowdon

Over the weekend, I was re-reading the history of Hitler's last days.

I found myself paying special attention to March 19, 1945. 

When he understood the war was lost, instead of taking responsibility for the mass destruction and death he'd caused, instead of surrendering to end the war, Hitler decided that the German people, being losers…

Did not deserve to live.

In his Gotterdammerung frame of mind, in his nihilistic despair, he issued what was called "The Nero Decree." 

He commanded that the infrastructure of Germany be destroyed—water systems, electrical grids, railways, food supplies, all of it. Scorched earth. He said it was to prevent the enemy from using any of those things.

But really...

He was punishing his Germans.

Because they had failed...

     Had failed him.

And if his Decree had been carried out, millions of Germans would have died. But Albert Speer and others flew around the country countermanding the order.

This morning as I watched the news, I asked myself: Why is Trump so…

Hellbent on destruction?

And Hitler's Decree came to mind.

All his life, Trump has been acting out, massively. He's always been desperate for genuine love, but he's never known how to get it. So he sucks attention instead. From anybody and everybody. From the whole world. He keeps hoping this will fill him up, which it doesn't and can't.

And now here he is, the most powerful man in the most powerful nation—for a second time!

What more could he possibly do? But it's not enough. It's not working. It's not saving him from his childhood pain...

So checkmate.

No moves left to make, no hope left, as more and more Americans turn against him. And why would this not trigger rage? A helpless, desperate nihilistic rage.

The way I see it this morning, Trump wants to…

Make America feel his pain.

He wants us to pay a price for failing him. An existential price.

Look at what he's doing. It's all destruction...

He's taking healthcare away from millions.

He's taking food assistance away from millions.

He's destroyed trade relationships that millions of Americans depend on.

He's deporting immigrants who key industries depend on and can't do without.

He's wrecking the institutions we count on.

He's destroying the rule of law.

He’s doing his damnedest to put an end to our country.

There's no greatness here, only a surrender to death, as he delivers his final message...

     "To hell with you, America."

EDITOR'S NOTE: More needs to be said about Trump's end game. As he continues to lose his grip and descend into madness, his reactions and actions have become bizarre and extreme. He has also become more aware of his own mortality speaking for the first time recently about whether he will "go to heaven" or the other place.

Psychiatrists deem him to be a malignant narcissist - he checks just about every box - and that makes him especially dangerous.  As such, it is impossible for him to accept responsibility for any failure or error. It's always someone else's fault and generally he will find some way to punish them.

I would add to Rich Snowdon's list Trump's fixation on nuclear weapons. Even in his first term as well as his second, Trump has blathered on about who deserves to be nuked, a list that has included Iran, China, North Korea, though not Russia. He has bombed Iran and Yemen and is preparing an invasion of Venezuela. 

He has threatened military action against Canada, Mexico, Panama, Greenland, Gaza in addition to his worldwide trade war. He has threatened to re-invade Afghanistan to reclaim Bagram Air Base, apparently not knowing that Bagram was actually built by the Soviets during their failed war with Afghanistan.

At a certain point, as Snowdon points out, none of this will feed his ego enough. His polls drop. The courts rule against him. Millions march in the street against him. November 4 was a humiliation for him. And he can see death's door ahead of him.

Of course, he believes none of this is his fault - it's ours. At what point will he decide it's time to make us pay the ultimate price?

- Will Collette

American justice

I wonder if Epstein meant it as a compliment or something else?

Study Reveals Why People Believe Lies, Especially From Friends

The roots of gullibility

By Society for Neuroscience 

Why do people believe lies? The answer may lie in how our brains process social connections and rewards. Recent research led by Yingjie Liu at North China University of Science and Technology suggests that our willingness to believe false information depends not only on what is being said but also on who is saying it.

By examining how people interpret messages from friends versus strangers, the study reveals that trust, emotional bonds, and the promise of potential rewards all play crucial roles in shaping whether we accept or reject a lie.

According to their JNeurosci publication, the research team used neuroimaging to study 66 healthy participants who interacted through computer screens while seated across from each other. When the exchange of information resulted in a positive outcome for both participants, it was labeled a “gain,” while information that produced a negative outcome was categorized as a “loss.”

Contributing author Rui Huang says, “The key reason we chose ‘gain’ and ‘loss’ contexts is that they illustrate how people adjust decision-making in response to potential rewards or punishments.”

How pecans went from ignored trees to a holiday staple

The 8,000-year history of America’s only native major nut

Shelley Mitchell, Oklahoma State University

Pecans, America’s only native major nut, have a storied history in the United States. Today, American trees produce hundreds of million of pounds of pecans – 80% of the world’s pecan crop. Most of that crop stays here. Pecans are used to produce pecan milk, butter and oil, but many of the nuts end up in pecan pies.

Throughout history, pecans have been overlooked, poached, cultivated and improved. As they have spread throughout the United States, they have been eaten raw and in recipes. Pecans have grown more popular over the decades, and you will probably encounter them in some form this holiday season.

I’m an extension specialist in Oklahoma, a state consistently ranked fifth in pecan production, behind Georgia, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. I’ll admit that I am not a fan of the taste of pecans, which leaves more for the squirrels, crows and enthusiastic pecan lovers.

Help your child live a longer, healthier life

Too much screen time in youth may set the stage for future heart and metabolic diseases.

American Heart Association

Research Highlights

• More time using electronic devices or watching TV among children and young adults was linked with higher cardiometabolic disease risk, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and insulin resistance, based on data from more than 1,000 participants in Denmark.
• The association between screen time and cardiometabolic risks was strongest in youth who slept fewer hours, suggesting that screen use may harm health by "stealing" time from sleep, researchers said.
• Researchers said the findings underscore the importance of addressing screen habits among young people as a potential way to protect long-term heart and metabolic health.

Screen time tied to early heart and metabolic risks

Children and teens who spend many hours on TVs, phones, tablets, computers or gaming systems appear to face higher chances of cardiometabolic problems, such as elevated blood pressure, unfavorable cholesterol levels and insulin resistance. The findings are reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

A 2023 scientific statement from the American Heart Association reported that "cardiometabolic risk is accruing at younger and younger ages," and that only 29% of U.S. youth ages 2 to 19 had favorable cardiometabolic health in 2013-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data.