Fascinating Article About Trump and MSM

4/18/25 Politico.  It is both an attack on what it sees as Trump's authoritarian attempts to crush mainstream news media and at times, an acknowledgement that they largely created him as an important public figure starting in the 1980s.  Why?  He made good copy and he understood news media and how to use them.  He comes across as evil genius:

"But as much as he was a user of the media, and the media a user of him, Trump was also a voracious and intuitive student of the same. “Donald Trump,” former Page Six reporter Corynne Steindler once said, “understands the media almost better than the media itself.” The strange ways ideas move. How fantasies and fibs can come to feel like facts. So he had to have felt the tectonic shifts: In the media, and therefore in politics, too, news, information, entertainment, gossip, celebrity — all of it was getting closer to one and the same in a 24-7 ether."

What is interesting also is how this article says that Trump's first term was good for many MSM businesses:

"TV ratings boomed. The Washington Post turned a profit for the first time in years. The New York Times went from less than 2 million digital subscriptions in 2016 to 4 million in 2018 to more than 6 million in 2020. “The Trump presidency was a major force behind the business transformation; his election riveted a divided nation, drawing millions of new subscribers and a surge in revenues,” Adam Nagourney wrote in his book about the Times. “The paradox of Trump’s view of the media only deepened after his election,” Jill Abramson wrote in her book Merchants of Truth. “Courtesy of Trump, they were more threatened than ever, but also more vital.”"

Timeless

It is a series on Amazon Prime, although with ads.  The pilot is sort of Sliders runs into The Time Tunnel if you are old enough to remember either.  I am looking forward to it.

I am required by my wife to rest for an hour between intellectually challenging tasks.   They wear me out.  She is right but it is still frustrating what the 2014 stroke removed 

I Wonder How Much AID Funding Loss Influences This

Revolver News reports that David Hogg's gun ban group is colapsing:

"What started as a media-fueled movement is now just another fading left-wing activist project that’s gasping for air. Turns out, screaming about gun bans and calling half the country “terrorists” isn’t a smart or sustainable business model. Who knew?

"The group just announced that it’s laying off nearly all its staff—meaning 13 out of 16 full-time employees are getting the boot. The group is citing “financial challenges.”

"It appears they’re desperately trying to restructure. Their new executive director is a 24-year-old Parkland survivor and original co-founder, who now says things would’ve looked different if Trump hadn’t won."

"

When Visiting France

Have some 1 Euro coins.  Most public restrooms require payment,  often one Euro or 1.50 Euros.  If you have a tap credit card, this will work.  The money covers cleaning and maintenance.   They were no cleaner or better maintained than American public restrooms.  I think American businesses just see this as a cost of being a public building.

Those of you old enough to remember Erica Jong's Fear of Flying, a slightly naughty book of the 1970s may recall her depiction of European nations by their toilets.  

None that I saw in France fit her description at all.  Her description of French toilets as being two places to put your feet with a hole between was nowhere apparent.  In Geneva, however, we walked through a park where one of the restrooms was in fact a hole in the ground with no seat, not even a rudimentary one. This was not a pit toilet. I am pretty sure this was intended for men as a urinal.  Women for whom this would be useful would best fit  into Jong's novel.

Who Did That?

Interesting 4/17/25 LiveScience article how the destruction of the Aral Sea is causing dramatic crystal movement.  The sentence that made me quiver:

"The uplift is due to the "quiet Chernobyl" environmental disaster that struck the region in the 1960s, when humans diverted two rivers that flowed into the Aral Sea for irrigation, scientists say."

Which humans?  That is a very imprecise word.  The correct phrase is "Soviet socialist economic planners."  The largest environmental disaster in recent history was the result,  not of capitalism,  or individual greed, but of bureaucrats who ignored even what little pricing information was available in a socialist economy to make very bad decisions.

They diverted those rivers to grow cotton, what Stalin called "white gold."  As the Aral Sea evaporated,  the fisheries that provided employment for many in the region ended.  To keep the people packing fish employed, the Soviet Union flew fish in from the Arctic Ocean.   You know that costs of that in a market economy would have made for golden cans of fish.   This would have ended any capitalist attempt at ameliorate of the disaster.

Environmentalists are very reluctant to point fingers at a system that regarded capitalism as the great evil.

Interesting Problem. Interesting Solution.

This worm gear will go on the .5" polar axis shaft for the motor.  And another one for the skow motion control on the polar axis.  And another other on the declination axis slow motion control.

The gear's bore was 6mm (I think).  So it needed boring to fit the shaft.  Additionally, my plan was a slip clutch made of Delrin with a set screw that would allow slip but not too much.  So a .625" OD piece of Delrin with a .500" ID bore.

 

Problem 1: I cannot bore a .625" hole in the available space.

 

Solution: drill two holes through the face of the worm gear to attach a .500" ID x .5" wide Delrin ring.  I can tap a hole in the Delrin for the set screw to lightly hold the Delrin and therefore lightly hold the worm gear.

 "usa made" and carbide drill bit

Problem 2: Drilling two holes in the worm gear with repeatable precision for the Delrin ring requires finding the center of the gear.  The usual center finder for holes will not work with a .500" ID hole.  

Solution 2: Find worm gear center by finding center between vise jaws.  (I am assuming it is symmetrical.)  Zero Y.  Once you have that, go inside the hole and find inner edge. Zero X.  Find inner edge of other edge on opposite side of circle.  Verify this matches the caliper measure of hole.  Calculate real center.  Move finder to that spot and zero the X axis.

Now I can position the two holes.

Caliper says .573" diameter.  Edge finder shows same diameter.  Center is therefore (.265, 0).

I am currently planning to tap the worm gear and use through holes on the Delrin piece. 

 

UPDATE: There is not quite enough room in this worm gear to drill and tap 6-32 on the bottom portion. I have never used smaller screws except for pistol grip screws, but I looked to see long enough 4-40 or 3-48 stainless steel screws were available.  No.  But there is an outer portion of the worm gear that is wide enough for a 6-32 hole.  Not with any margin for error.  Another solution.  Turn the Delrin part to slide on to the exposed hub and tighten a set screw to it and then a set screw from Delrin to shaft.

I See Trump Is Pushing to Defund PBS and NPR

Not soon enough.   While PBS often provides interesting stuff on Nova and American Experience, so much of the rest is leftist propaganda.  Even if not, these are luxury expenditures that only nations that can pay their monthly bills can afford.

I Was Told Russia Was Winning

4/16/25 Al-Jazeera:

"On April 1, Russia began a new conscription drive with the goal of enlisting 160,000 military-age men between 18 and 30.

"It is the largest such call-up since 2011, aiming to fulfil last year’s presidential decree to boost the armed forces to 2.5 million personnel....

"“A year ago there was an age amendment, and now summons are issued to young people from 18-30 years old,” Ivan Chuviliaev, spokesman for the organisation Go By The Forest, which helps people escape the ranks, told Al Jazeera.

"Previously, the maximum age for conscription was 27."

100,000 dead contributes to that need.

Russia is already in a deep demographic bubble and Putin just keeps digging.  Putin wants to be remembered.   He may be remembered as the guy who made ethnic Russians a tiny minority of whatever replaces the PRC as it expands north and west.

The maximum conscription age is usually a sign of desperation.  I believe the U.S. was conscrpting 45-year-olds at end of WW2.

 

UPDATE: A reader noticed this was only a 20% increase in total conscripts.  Older but not necessarily a huge increase in total soldiers.

What a Bizarre Idea

Trump is directing Social Security to stop making payments to illegal aliens and more interestingly:

"(ii)   The same audit report revealed that the SSA does not investigate or attempt to resolve reports of earnings received by individuals age 100 or older if the SSA has not recorded death information for such individuals, even when the reported wage-earner does not match the name or other personally identifiable information in SSA records, which may indicate identity theft, illegal work, tax evasion, or other unlawful activity.  The Commissioner of Social Security shall refer promptly to the Inspector General of the SSA all earnings reports for persons age 100 or older when the purported wage-earner’s name does not match SSA’s files.  The Inspector General of the SSA shall investigate such matters as appropriate and refer matters to the Department of Justice, other executive departments and agencies, or local prosecutors as warranted."

Are there many illegal aliens collecting SS?  Even if you are not retirement age, you may receive Social Security Disability payments. 

Checking the over-100s with suspicious information would be a good idea for all mismatched records, but that would be a lot of checking.   There should not be lots 100+ recipients, so this should be quick work.  If I had to go to a SSA office to verify my identity in the interests of keeping the system afloat,  I would have no problem with this.

Not MAGA

4/16/25 PennLive:

"The suspect in the arson attack at the Governor’s Residence targeted Josh Shapiro due to his perceived stance on Palestine, according to a search warrant obtained by PennLive.

"The suspect, Cody Balmer, called 911 following the attack early Sunday, identified himself by name and told operators Shapiro needs to know he “…will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” the search warrant written by police said.

"Balmer continued, saying he needed to “stop having my friends killed” and that “...our people have been put through too much by that monster,” according to the warrant, which says Balmer’s intonation and cadence sounded like he was possibly reading from a script."

The antisemitism of the left is so troubling because it does not fit with the Republican/Trump narrative of "literally Hitler."  Worse, Balmer's name and appearance do not suggest that the Palestinians are his people.  The left's willingness to identify with whoever is this year's designated victim group shows how destructive identity politics is: you do not even need to be a member to acquire membership status (at least in your own mind).

Lawfare for You, and You, and You

This looks like and may well be revenge for what N.Y. A-G did to Trump. Nonetheless, it would be quite appropriate for Ms. James to find out what it is like, even this turns out to be "the process is the punishment ."

The allegations in a request for criminal referral include:

1. Claiming a house she purchased in Virginia was her primary residence, when N.Y. law required her to be an N.Y. resident.

2. Misrepresenting a property in N.Y. to get a more favorable interest rate.

3. Claiming she and her father were buying a house as "husband and wife."

Going Grab-and-Go

One of the new trends in amateur astronomy is the grab-and-go telescope.   Instead of a behemoth that takes an hour to set up, you settle on some nights for a scope on a lightweight mount that you can just pick up and carry out.  This is also attractive for public astronomy where you go somewhere to share the night with friends or the general public.   It simplifies transportation a lot.

My Televue-85 is almost in that category.   I use it on an Orion EQ1 mount, which causes laughter in some circles.   It is the equivalent of a Porsche on bias-ply tires.

I take the mount out separately from the Televue-85 because it is a hideously expensive piece of optics.  If I drop the mount,  it likely will experience no appreciable damage; it only cost about $200.

I am going to be doing some public astronomy in Nevada next month.  Tonight. I was verifying that the mount tracks the sky adequately with the Televue-85 and its weight on it.  It does.  Jupiter was my test subject.  At 30x, all four Galilean satellites were easily visible.  At first,  I was disappointed at Jupiter.   But there was just too much sky glow.  As it darkened, several cloud bands appeared. 

My left eye is noticeably inferior in resolution, even with corrective lens.  My ophthalmologist says it is a fundamental aspect of the retina and is not correctable.  I am reflexively used to observing with my left eye.  I have to consciously use my right eye.

The downside of this cheap mount is that even a little vibration starts and it takes a whole to calm down.  The mount that I am building will not have that problem. 

Setting Circles

 I mentioned to my wife making setting circles and she reminded me that some years ago, I spent some time coding PostScript to produce them on paper.  My thought is to use the code for cutting a 6" circle of CFC, then sticking these on and applying whatever best protects the surface.  Polyurethane?

Advantages include that these markings are much finer than I can machine except with endmills so narrow that I am skeptical they will survive many strokes.  I was going to need to fill in the cuts with a little white paint and wipe away the excess.

If you have not had the joy of coding in PostScript, it is very close to a write-only language.

%!

{1 exch sub} settransfer % only used for making negative images

showpage

/center {

/width exch def

/str exch def

width str stringwidth pop sub 2 div 0 rmoveto

str show

} bind def

/circletext {

circtextdict begin

/radius exch def

/centerangle exch def

/ptsize exch def

/str exch def

/xradius radius ptsize 3 div sub def

gsave

centerangle str findhalfangle sub rotate

str {

/charcode exch def

( ) dup 0 charcode put placechar

} forall

grestore

end

} bind def

/circtextdict 16 dict def

circtextdict begin

/findhalfangle {

stringwidth pop 2 div

2 xradius mul pi mul div 360 mul

} bind def

/placechar {

/char exch def

/halfangle char findhalfangle def

gsave

halfangle rotate

radius 0 translate

90 rotate

char stringwidth pop 2 div neg 0 moveto

char show

grestore

halfangle 2 mul rotate

} bind def

/pi 3.1415923 def

end




/in {72 mul} def

/LineWidth 1 def

/R 3 in def

/OriginX 4.25 in def

/OriginY 5.5 in def

/StartX {cos mul} def

/StartY {sin mul} def

/FontSize 18 def

/Times-Roman findfont FontSize scalefont setfont

/CompDegreeNbr {Angle 0 ge Angle 90 le and

{Angle} % 0-90

{Angle 90 gt Angle 180 le and %90-360

{90 Angle 90 sub sub} % 90-180

{Angle 180 gt Angle 270 le and % 180-360

{Angle 180 sub} % 180-270

{360 Angle sub} % 270-360

ifelse}

ifelse}

ifelse} def

/ComputeRotate {Angle 0 ge Angle 90 le and

{Angle 90 add} % 0-90

{Angle 90 gt Angle 180 le and %90-360

{Angle 90 sub 180 add} % 90-180

{Angle 180 gt Angle 270 le and % 180-360

{Angle 180 sub 270 add} % 180-270

{Angle 270 sub} % 270-360

ifelse}

ifelse}

ifelse} def

/CopyrightNotice

{gsave

/Times-Roman findfont 12 scalefont setfont

(Copyright Clayton E. Cramer 1989 All Rights Reserved) 12 0 1 in circletext

grestore} def

/TextLoc 1 in def

1 setlinewidth

% draw outer circle

OriginX OriginY translate 0 0 R 0 360 arc stroke

% draw center point for drill

0 0 1 0 360 arc stroke

% draw .5" cut marks

%0 0 0.25 in 0 360 arc stroke

% draw 1" cut marks

0 0 0.5 in 0 360 arc stroke

% draw 1.5" cut marks

%0 0 .75 in 0 360 arc stroke

% draw 2" cut marks

%0 0 1 in 0 360 arc stroke

% draw 2.5" cut marks

%0 0 1.25 in 0 360 arc stroke

% put out copyright notice

CopyrightNotice

% narrowest possible lines

LineWidth setlinewidth

% draw ten degree line dividers

/TenDegreeDividers 0.75 in def

/DrawTenDegreeLine {/Angle exch def R Angle StartX R Angle StartY moveto

R TenDegreeDividers sub Angle StartX

R TenDegreeDividers sub Angle StartY lineto stroke

R TextLoc sub Angle StartX

R TextLoc sub Angle StartY moveto

ComputeRotate rotate

CompDegreeNbr 10 3 string cvrs % string now computed

dup stringwidth exch -2 div exch % center string horiz

rmoveto

show ComputeRotate neg rotate} def

/FiveDegreeDividers 0.6 in def

/DrawFiveDegreeLine {/Angle exch def R Angle StartX R Angle StartY moveto

R FiveDegreeDividers sub Angle StartX

R FiveDegreeDividers sub Angle StartY lineto stroke} def

/OneDegreeDividers 0.4 in def

/DrawOneDegreeLine {/Angle exch def R Angle StartX R Angle StartY moveto

R OneDegreeDividers sub Angle StartX

R OneDegreeDividers sub Angle StartY lineto stroke} def

/HalfDegreeDividers 0.25 in def

/DrawHalfDegreeLine {/Angle exch def R Angle StartX R Angle StartY moveto

R HalfDegreeDividers sub Angle StartX

R HalfDegreeDividers sub Angle StartY lineto stroke} def

/QuarterDegreeDividers 0.25 in def

/DrawQuarterDegreeLine {/Angle exch def R Angle StartX R Angle StartY moveto

R QuarterDegreeDividers sub Angle StartX

R QuarterDegreeDividers sub Angle StartY lineto stroke} def

0 10 360 10 sub {DrawTenDegreeLine} for

0 5 360 5 sub {DrawFiveDegreeLine} for

0 1 360 1 sub {DrawOneDegreeLine} for

0 .5 360 .5 sub {DrawHalfDegreeLine} for

% 0 .25 360 .25 sub {DrawQuarterDegreeLine} for

showpage

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

% Draw Right Acension circle.

1 setlinewidth

% draw outer circle

OriginX OriginY translate 0 0 R 0 360 arc stroke

% draw center point for drill

0 0 1 0 360 arc stroke

% draw .5" cut marks

%0 0 0.25 in 0 360 arc stroke

% draw 1" cut marks

0 0 0.5 in 0 360 arc stroke

% draw 1.5" cut marks

%0 0 .75 in 0 360 arc stroke

% draw 2" cut marks

%0 0 1 in 0 360 arc stroke

% draw 2.5" cut marks

%0 0 1.25 in 0 360 arc stroke

% put out copyright notice

CopyrightNotice

% narrowest possible lines

LineWidth setlinewidth

% draw hour line dividers

/HourDividers 0.75 in def

/DrawHourLine {15 mul /Angle exch def R Angle StartX R Angle StartY moveto

R HourDividers sub Angle StartX

R HourDividers sub Angle StartY lineto stroke

R TextLoc sub Angle StartX

R TextLoc sub Angle StartY moveto

ComputeRotate rotate

Angle 15 div cvi 10 3 string cvrs % string now computed

dup stringwidth exch -2 div exch % center string horiz

rmoveto

show (h) show ComputeRotate neg rotate} def

/HalfHourDividers 0.6 in def

/DrawHalfHourLine {/Angle exch def R Angle StartX R Angle StartY moveto

R HalfHourDividers sub Angle StartX

R HalfHourDividers sub Angle StartY lineto stroke} def

/TenMinDividers 0.4 in def

/DrawTenMinLine {/Angle exch def R Angle StartX R Angle StartY moveto

R TenMinDividers sub Angle StartX

R TenMinDividers sub Angle StartY lineto stroke} def

/TwoMinDividers 0.2 in def

/DrawTwoMinLine {/Angle exch def R Angle StartX R Angle StartY moveto

R TwoMinDividers sub Angle StartX

R TwoMinDividers sub Angle StartY lineto stroke} def

/OneMinDividers 0.2 in def

/DrawOneMinLine {/Angle exch def R Angle StartX R Angle StartY moveto

R OneMinDividers sub Angle StartX

R OneMinDividers sub Angle StartY lineto stroke} def

0 1 23 {DrawHourLine} for

0 7.5 360 7.5 sub {DrawHalfHourLine} for

0 2.5 360 2.5 sub {DrawTenMinLine} for

0 0.5 360 0.5 sub {DrawTwoMinLine} for

%0 0.25 360 0.25 sub {DrawOneMinLine} for

showpage

There Are Many Northern Lights Videos: This One is Unique Because You Can Change Point of View

 

Is There a Social Security Fraud Problem?

The left wants you to believe that Musk is blowing smoke.  I do not think the possibility of widespread fraud is absurd. 

Some years ago (1990s?) I read a newspaper account of a woman in Sacramento who ran a boarding house for seniors.   When they died,  instead of notifying the local authorities and Social Security,  she buried them in the yard and continued cashing their checks.   Today, the money is paid by direct deposit not paper checks but I don't believe a clever fraudster would let that get in the way. 

This 4/14/25 DoJ release tells of a recent one fraud:

"According to court documents, Mavious Redmond, 54, devised and carried out a scheme to collect her deceased mother’s social security retirement benefits following her mother’s death in January 1999.  On multiple occasions, Redmond impersonated her deceased mother to keep her fraud scheme going.  For example, on June 4, 2024, Redmond personally visited the SSA office, posing as her deceased mother, and submitted a fraudulent SS-5 Application for Social Security Form using her mother’s name, date of birth, social security number, and forging her deceased mother’s signature.  Redmond visited the SSA office a second time on June 20, 2024, resubmitted her deceased mother’s documentation and the form with the forged signature.

"In total, from January 1999 through June 2024, Redmond collected more than $360,000 in social security payments intended for her mother."

Preparing to Cut Setting Circle

Somehow, I beat my Makefile into doing the right thing.  I still have not figured out how to beat this python script into producing text gCode.  At least, I should be able to cut a circle out of a square and cut the lines. 

Here is a test piece of Delrin scrap mounted to a rotary table.  The rotary table has a 3/8-16 threaded hole.  I milled a 3/8" hole in the plastic and tightened a bolt to hold it in place.  I will need to square the workpiece to the x axis to make arithmetic simple.   (Maybe I am complicating this too much for that step.)

This is much smaller than the part that I will cut, but it verifies all parts but the degree text.

I Feel So Stupid

C program declination.c references functions printProlog and printEpilog.  These are defined in prolog.c.

INCL=/home/sherline/vhal/.
CC=gcc
CFLAGS=-I$(INCL)
MAKEFILE=Makefile
DEPS=vhal.h parseargs.h $(MAKEFILE)

Makefile includes these in the all list:

all: parseargs.o flat.nc testparseargs flat yslot yslot.nc circle.nc ycylinderslot.nc cutcircle.nc cutcircle slicex.nc slicex declination.nc declination prolog.o


elsewhere

prolog.o: prolog.c $(MAKEFILE)
    $(CC) -o $@ -c -g $< -I$(INCL) $(CFLAGS)

declination: declination.c vhal.h prolog.o $(MAKEFILE)
    $(CC) -o $@ -g -lm declination.c prolog.c -I$(INCL) $(CFlAGS)
    chmod ugo+x $@

declination.nc: declination $(MAKEFILE)
    ./declination >declination.nc

When I run make, I get 

gcc -o prolog.o -c -g prolog.c -I/home/sherline/vhal/. -I/home/sherline/vhal/.
gcc -o declination -g -lm declination.c -I/home/sherline/vhal/.
chmod ugo+x declination
./declination >declination.nc
make: *** [declination.nc] Error 255

 

There Goea the Narrative

4/13/25 New York Times:

"A Wisconsin teenager has been charged in the killing of his mother and stepfather in what the federal authorities described as an attempt to obtain the money and autonomy he believed was necessary for a plot to kill President Trump and overthrow the government.

"The teenager, Nikita Casap, 17, was arrested last month in the deaths of his mother, Tatiana Casap, 35, and stepfather, Donald Mayer, 51, according to the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department....

"According to federal documents unsealed on Friday, the fatal shootings were part of a plan by Mr. Casap, who identified with a right-wing terrorist network known as the Order of Nine Angels, to assassinate President Trump in what he believed would “foment a political revolution in the United States,” federal investigators said.

Mr. Casap also paid, at least in part, for a drone and explosives that he planned to use in an attack, according to the documents, which were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin..

"A self-described “manifesto,” found on Mr. Casap’s phone and detailed in the federal documents, contained images and praise of Adolf Hitler, as well as instructions to others to make bombs.

“By getting rid of the president and perhaps the vice president, that is guaranteed to bring in some chaos,” Mr. Casap wrote."

Someone who idolizes literally Hitler wanted Trump dead.

Writing C

Cutting setting circles and a polar axis marker.   The setting circles are easier to explain textually.  

Declination circle identifies roughly celestial latitude and goes from +90 to -90 and back around to +90.  Ideally, this would have one degree divisions.  With the 10 degree lines labeled. The size of these setting circles and the low power of the scope that will ride on it makes one degree markings excessive and likely too small to see.  Even getting two degree divisions are probably sufficient. 

The Right Ascension circle is celestial longitude and goes from 0H 00M to 23:59.  Again eed a program that turns a rotary table by 10 degree intervals, at the .1" depth scribes a line towards the center of the circle and marks the Hour mark.  If these were foot diameter setting circles as observatory telescopes used before stepper motors, having 10 minute,  five minute and one minute dividers would be nice, but even 10 minute dividers might be useful.  (I fantasize about some vernier measurement similar to old micrometers allowing finer reading.)

One other circle with lines is harder to explain.   The polar axis points to the North Celestial Pole (roughly, Polaris).  There is a latitude scale used to help you get this reasonably precise.

This is only one quarter of a circle.  Even one degree dividers might be sufficient.  In practice,  getting perfect alignment on Polaris is difficult.   Unless you are doing astrophotography,  being a couple degrees off will seldom impair tracking for visual use unless you need it tracking for hours.

That bash script for hexagons was hard enough to debug that I am writing these circle cutters in C.  I have not written C in a couple of years.  This means a but of relearning.   How do I compile subroutine libraries and link them using gcc?  It will al come back once I pull out my trusty Kernighan & Ritchie.

UPDATE: This posting shows one foot diameter setting circles on an 82" reflector  

Imagine a Christian-Themed City Proposal in the American Redoubt

The mainstream media are fussing about anti-Muslim bigotry.  4/12/25 Newsweek:

"Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton were spreading "hateful misinformation" regarding proposals for a new Islamic themed settlement in the state, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim advocacy group in the United States, told Newsweek."

The First Amendment's prohibition on establishments of religion applies to all governments, even in very abstract cases such as aid to private religious schools.  Even ignoring the establishment of religion question, a city that had any clearly stated religious or ethnic them would certainly be considered to create a discomfort for people not members of that group.   Does anyone doubt that the ACLU would sue to stop establishment of a white-themed or Jewish-themed city as violating antidiscrimination laws?

How Equity Makes Blue Cities Hellholes

This is one example.  Six criminals charged with at least 70 racial motivated robberies.  12/15/21 KTVU:

"SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose police on Wednesday announced the arrest of six men who allegedly committed dozens of robberies, burglaries and thefts since last year, including many that targeted people of Asian descent.

"The suspects have been charged for more than 70 cases that occurred between October 2020 and this September, and hate crime enhancements have been added because the men frequently targeted Asian women, some of whom ended up injured in robberies, police said."

This was slightly remarkable in being targeted as Asians.  Most victims of violent crime are neighbors of the savages.  Thus, unsurprisingly, black people are the major victims of black criminals.   The net effect of using kid gloves against black offenders in the name of racial equity is to disproportionately injure that vast majority of well-behaved black Americans. 

I would surmise that knowledge of the disproportionate percentage of black offenders provokes racial fear. I read some years back that a black man in a suit would often have trouble getting a taxi in DC, a city whose taxi drivers are almost entirely black, often African immigrants trying to climb the ladder of success here. 

Abandoning racial equity for a traditional model of locking up violent offenders would likely both reduce suffering in the black community as well as the overall society.  Reducing racial fear of black people seems another likely consequence.  Unsurprisingly,  the left prefers reducing its white privilege guilt.

If This Was Not a New York Times Article, I Would Assume Fraud

4/12/25 New York Times reports that Gov. Whitmer (D-MI) was so embarrassed to be seen with Trump that:

I guess the fear of Trump political leprosy is strong.