First Looks category archive

Robert Reich looks at Donald Trump’s hissy-fit against Canada, which has long been one of the United States’s most dependable allies and partners until Trump decided to start a trade war of choice for no good reason except that he can’t stand it when people don’t follow his orders however–er–misguided they may be, and comments that

Trump is a peevish, angry, perverse child.

The question I ask myself is how much worse will his behavior have to get before Republicans and suck-ups around him take some action to stop him?

Sadly, my answer would be “never,” because today’s Republican Party, as the Founders feared might happen some day, has placed faction over governance.

But that’s just me.

Follow the link for the context of that excerpt.

Farron explains how and why Donald Trump has started playing the name game.

WHYY. my old NPR/PBS station in Philly, explores why younger persons are turning to “social” media as a source of news. Methinks it a worthwhile read given the state of dis coarse discourse.

Here’s a tiny bit:

(Media strategist Rachel–ed.) Lobdell said social media, by design, has made it so that individuals no longer need to turn to large platforms to receive news.

“It’s a much less controlled top-down environment,” Lobdell said. “That also has its downsides. There can be a lot of confusion over what is true and what is not true.”

Writing at the Kansas City Star, Terry Albright offers an unlikely theory as to the origins of Donald Trump’s desire to slap his taint on everything.

I say “unlikely,” because I suspect Trump has no clue as the the precedent Allbright posits. See what you think.

I find this worrying.

Microplastics were detected inside a third of insects across six streams within the Schuylkill River watershed, according to a new study by the Stroud Water Research Center.

Researchers at the nonprofit analyzed aquatic insects like mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies that were collected between 1998 and 2019. . . .

They’re everywhere, even inside our brains.

I doubt that’s healthy.

_______________________

*With apologies to Frank Zappa.

Family matters, in a good way.

A frolicking fence:

A Philadelphia woman whose Honda Odyssey was stolen in July says she later found parts from the vehicle being sold on Facebook Marketplace and exchanged text messages with the person selling them.

Off to drink liberally.

Things to do.

Walk the Line, about the life of Johnny Cash.

Whether or not you like country music, It is, by any standard, an excellent movie.

Thom argues that Trump’s attempt to create a new “red scare” is yet another Trump con. Rather, he suggests that

Americans aren’t embracing socialism—they’re rejecting 45 years of Reaganomics, billionaire rule, and an economy rigged against the middle class.

If you can find it on streaming (I saw it on Tubi), the Warner Brothers cartoon, The Dover Boys at Pimento Univeristy.

Bringing new meaning to the term “under cover cop.”

I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that, when (or is it if?) Republicans read the United States Constitution, the part about “promote the general welfare” somehow just does not register.

For example (via C&L):

A nationwide outbreak of explosive diarrhea is currently underway, and it’s tied to a parasite the CDC quietly dropped from federal surveillance back in July 2025. That timing lines up almost exactly with the Trump administration’s broader gutting of health and science agencies under the “government efficiency” banner, HuffPost reports.

A parasite called Cyclospora has sickened over 1,000 people across 29 states, with Michigan getting hit the worst of all. The CDC would probably have caught this sooner — if it hadn’t stopped watching for it.

Mageia v. 9 with the IceWM window manager. GKrellM is in the lower right; xclock, in the upper right. The wallpaper is from my collection.

I am starting to quite like IceWM.

Off to drink liberally.

They get fiendlier every day.