Trump's first 2 months
Trump was inaugurated just 2 months ago. After the euphoria of his first 2 weeks, reality is now setting in. Without doubt he took the reins with gusto. He was prepared. He selected a dream team of articulate, capable and anti-woke individuals. Almost all were confirmed by the Senate. They in turn, have taken the reins of their organisations and are generally settling in well. The pace has been hectic, and we cannot expect it to continue at this pace.
The decisions and executive orders that Trump initiated are starting to bear some fruit. Most notable is the success on the border. Border crossings are down 90%. This was achieved WITHOUT the new legislation the Democrats had been insisting would be necessary. Not a bit surprise, but worth noting.
In second place, IMHO, is the work of DOGE. Musk and his team have exposed unexpected levels of waste and fraud. Savings are already in the hundreds of billions, and are projected to reach $1 trillion pa. That is stupendous. Musk has suffered personal attacks, and his Tesla dealers are being terrorised. It seems the Democrats cannot stop digging their grave. How could any responsible citizen object to the elimination of fraud? No doubt most citizens do not. So the Democrats are picking the wrong battle, again.
There have also been some negatives. The handling of Zelensky with a public altercation in the OvalOffice was unseemly and unprofessional.Although Zelensky must accept some of the blame so must Trump and his team. JD in particular. He seems to me to lack nuance and finesse. This will become a real problem if he cannot learn, and quickly. Although a lot of commentary on the Putin Trump relationship seemed to indicate Trump has some rapport and would be able to come to an agreement relativley quickly. While Trump's claim of 24 hours for a ceasefire was always regarded as a 'rhetorical flourish', it is looking messy. Putin is toying at the moment, perhaps misreading Trump's ability to turn on a dime. we shall see soon enough. But at this stagre I expect Trump will have to force Putin to get serious, either by strengthening Zelensky via additional arms, or additional sanctions.
On the ISrael-Hamas war, Trump has gone as well as could have been expected. Hamas is crumbling but slowly. Trump and his team are giving good support and arms shipments are flowing.
On Iran Trump has issued an ultimatum give up your nuclear ambitions or have them destroyed. He has sgiven them 2 months. That period however is a problem, and I have read recently that Russia and China are now encouraging Iran to develop their bombs within the next 2 months. I take the report with a grain of salt as I cannot see either Russia or China wanting another nuclear state, especially an Islamist state, given the problems they have both experience with their Muslim insurrectionists. Still it is an issue.
Still on the negatives, the anti-Trump media has re-grouped and are back to their TDS. However, their supporters have diminished and many are re-structuring, and even aligning with Trump's policies.
The Democrats are in disarray; there seems to be no clear leaders, so the extremists, AOC, Warren, and Sanders, are making hay. The only coordinated action seems to be judicial, with over a hundred legal cases against the Trump administration's decisions. Local judges have put a halt to many, and the process will now continue to the appeals court and some to the Supreme Court. This was expected and will cause some delay, but most are expected to succeed.
That brings us to the most recent fiasco, where a reporter from left-wing Atlantic was 'invited' to attend what should have been secret meetings between senior members of Trump's executive team. This has been in the papers for a week now, and should die down, but it is the first serious failure of the team. I am guessing no heads will roll this time, but hopefully, there is some investigation being done to determine why this happened, and why Walz has the Atlantic reporter's personal number??
That is my short summary. But it is much better to hear from an expert. Here is a brief one from Victor Davis Hanson.
More Gaza demonstration against Hamas
It seems the demonstrations against Hamas in Gaza are no abating. In multiple cities demonstrators are out in force decrying Hamas for starting the war against Israel AND demanding the release of the remaining hostages. If only we had the same demonstrations and slogans from the Western world. We can only speculate that the war would have been over by now.
Still better late than never! Let's see if the pro-Palestinian demonstrators will change their tune and align their slogans with that of Gaza's Palestinians, calling for Hamas to release the remaining hostages. I suspect not.
Here is another video of the demonstrations.
Here come the Robots
I am a tech freak, having been weaned on engineering and science. Living in the late 20th and early 21st century, I have had a feast of technological developments. While robotics has already transformed large-scale manufacturing across the globe, most recently, our collective focus has been taken by AI with nary a new announcement every week. Without doubt, both disciplines independently are at the very beginning of their life cycle and will transform life on earth. The greatest impact, however, will come from their integration. AI will take over the cognitive functions, and robotics will enable execution. The world of Futurama, with intelligent humanoid robots, will present humanity with the possibility of eliminating all physical labour. Imagine a world where intelligent robots can do all the work required for housing, feeding, and entertaining a populace that can spend its time on whatever it wants. This can be viewed as a dream or a nightmare. Yes technology always presents new challenges.
But let's not get bogged down in the philosophy, have a look at some of the advances in robotics presented in this video.
That, of course, presents too many social problems to cover here.
Gazans protesting against HAMAS
It seems to have taken eons, but at last, we have demonstrations by 'innocent' Palestinian citizens against their Hamas overlords. Why should this be surprising? After all, in many Western cities, there are regular ongoing protests against Israel in support of Hamas. Yes, we have citizens of the free West protesting Israel's defensive war against a terrorist organisation that started the war and still holds hostages. Innocent civilians who happened to have attended a music festival some 18 months ago. While one can dismiss the atrocities that started the war as those of a barbaric group of Islamic terrorists, surveys of the population of Gaza just after the Oct 7 attack and even after the Israeli response including a ground invasion, and extensive bombing, the surveys showed about 80% of Gaza's population supported Hamas' atrocities. Yes, some 80%. Over the following months, Hamas' popularity dropped to about 60%, most recently to around 40%.
At last, it seems, those 60% who no longer support Hamas are now out in the streets calling for Hamas to leave. This is good news, and one could predict it to be the beginning of the end of Hamas. But let's not be overly optimistic, Hamas is still in control, and they may manage to quell this uprising. If they do, it will be brutal. We have seen their brutality in the past. But we live in hope.
The reporting of these demonstrations has been limited. I have seen it on SkyNews, X, and reported in the Australian. However, there is, at present, some reluctance in main stream, read left-leaning, media to report on this. After all, for 18 months they have been reporting extensively and enthusiastically on the demonstrations against demon Israel. So it is difficult to turn around and now report on the Gazans rejecting the very group that those demonstrations supported.
Here is the report from SkyNews.
Lockdowns do NOT work
Though a few years have passed, the pandemic is now a somewhat remote nightmare. Most of the world has moved on. Sure, a few million people died (actually some 7 million, according to Wikipedia). Sure, the authorities made some poor decisions. Sure, vaccination would have had some side effects, including some deaths, but it is claimed they were necessary to save lives. Sure vaccine manufacturers took some shortcuts in the testing of the vaccines. Sure, the media and medical authorities stretched the truth to get us to conform to vaccination and lockdown mandates. But it is claimed this unprecedented authoritarianism was for our own good. So goes the claim. But although, as Oliver Tearle said, "A lie is halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on", the truth does, eventually catch up.
The truth has been trickling out over the months. The truth that current COVID vaccination presents zero efficacy, that COVID vaccination has serious adverse events at a rate that makes it inadvisable for many, if not all, age groups, the truth that the lockdowns that were imposed in many Western democracies violated the human rights of the population.
Most recently, we learned that lockdowns are NOT an effective strategy for limiting the impact of a pandemic. In fact, quite the opposite. Here is a Prager video by Dr Scott Atlas, Senior Fellow in Health Policy at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, titled "COVID Lockdowns:The Real Cost". Well worth a view.
Much Maligned Musk manages miracle!
With US Democrats virtually losing their minds in a Musk-hate frenzy, we are unlikely to hear too much about the miraculous rescue of the marooned astronauts on the International Space Station. But miraculous it was. It elevates Musk in the eyes of anyone with a heart, but that condition may perhaps leave out many Democrats. Musk is a genius across many fields, and is widely respected across the world. Yet, in our politically polarized world when he dropped the Democrats and joined Trump's campaign the rabid Democrats have turned on him. Bogus investigations, campaigns to boycott companies advertising on Twitter, and most recently a violent campaign attacking Tesla dealerships.
It seems 'hell hath no fury like a "Democrat" scorned!
The rescue of the marooned astronauts did make the media, yet was quickly forgotten to focus on anti-Trump propaganda. Here is a brief video from Dave Rubin.
How to handle calls to boycott Israel
Sad to say politics has infiltrated every aspect of our lives. Local councils, whose sole raison-d'etre is "rates, roads and rubbish' are invariably hijacked by activists to pass resolutions that have nothing to do with their core function. We have councils that object to Australia Day being on 26th January, to wanting to fly a Palestinian flag, to celebrate Pride Day by painting roads multi-coloured, or imposing a boycott against Israeli goods. These types of issues are political in nature and a council decision will have a miniscule, if any, real impact. Usually, the position of these activist councils runs contrary to the government of the day and does not have community support. It is as if some minority clique has managed to take control of the local council, then flexing their power to enact radical policies to 'make a statement'.
While the examples I have given apply in Australia this issue is by no means limited to Australia. Indeed the following video shows how Rami Feinstein an Israeli citizen addressed Summit County Ohio council meeting when they were considering boycotting Israel. His response is succinct and comprehensive and serves as a template on how individuals should confront their councils when faced with political motions.
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