Tuesday, December 16, 2025
1969 British House of Commons voted 343-185 to abolish the death penalty
202 15-year-old killed 2, and herself, wounded 6, at Madison's Abundant Life Christian School
In bed at 9:15, up at 7:30 after spending part of the night on the LZB because of bad lower back pain. 20°, wind chill 11°, high of 37°!! Meds, etc. Morning meds at 9:20 a.m.
LTMW at a busy morning on the feeders. A female downy woodpecker is working away at the new seedcake feeder I bought at Walmart yesterday. A gray squirrel has just leapt from the ground to the top of the squirrel baffle and now has displaced the woodpecker on top of the seedcases. I need to move the baffle higher to prevent the incredibly athletic squirrels from eating me out of house and home. (Can they all leap to the top of the balffle, or only Jesse Owens?) Two mourning doves and a goldfinch flew away from the tray feeder as the squirrel mounted the shepherd's crook, replaced by a male and a female house finch. A white-breasted nuthatch is feeding on the tube feeder while a second and third gray squirrel are searching for intact seeds among the jetsam on the ground. Yesterday, I caught sight of a flock of cedar waxwings on our berry trees along County Line Road. O frabjous day, . . .
Today I had a dental appointment at 10 a.m. with Dr. Neary. My laptop calendar had it at 10, but for some reason my head had it at 11. I no-show on my part for which I am duly abashed. I'm rescheduled for December 30 at 10:30 a.m.😖😟😠😢
This is the paradox of politics: Every time you solve a major problem, you’re removing a weapon from your political arsenal. What happens when you lose your great issue? What happens when all that remains of that issue is its least popular aspect? Immigration remains in the news only because of brutal deportation practices. It isn’t “build the wall” anymore; it’s “Don’t arrest the poor guy working the line in a second job at the chicken-processing plant.” Americans don’t want that guy thrown out. The longer the deportations continue, the more unpopular and damaging to the administration they will become.
Will they? I'm not so sure.
There is the matter of his mouth. The president’s supporters have for 10 years put up with his babyish obsession with insulting people. They think of it as the Trump Tax, the price you pay for getting someone bold and tough. But his hate-stoking now, in an era of political violence, is going to get someone hurt. In his Truth Social post Tuesday night he used criminal language about the press—news outlets and reporters are “seditious, perhaps even treasonous,” They “libel and demean THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.” They are “true Enemies of the people, and we should do something about it.” Like what?
Like shoot them or burn their house. We shouldn't fool ourselves that he would find that a bad thing. Look at his obscene comment on the killing of the Reiners. He only gets happy when his 'enemies' are harmed, even lethally. The same is true for many of his followers. Surely not all, probably not even a majority, but nonetheless many of them.
It isn’t only inflation spreading unease. Artificial intelligence is coming. It’s going to change the entire employment picture in America over the next few years. It’s going to eat jobs, and people with imagination—and America is nothing if not imaginative—can see it coming. This is part of the background music in America: Americans who aren’t unemployed and do have a house are afraid that in the next few years they could lose their job, their security. And they’re worried about their kids.
"Worried" is too soft a word. Maybe terrified. What is there to give us hope about the future of this country? of the world? And don't stop at kids. They're in their 50s. What about the grandchildren? What kind of world are they growing into? I shudder.
He shows no sign of seeing any dark side to it, has no apparent plans to regulate it, and is beating back state attempts to impose limits. He’s given his friends the AI “broligarchs,” in Ed Luce’s term in the Financial Times, “carte blanche.” What happened the last time Mark Zuckerberg had carte blanche? Haven’t we read about all the billionaires powering AI who have safe houses and bunkers to which to flee if and when the world they’re inventing goes under?
Mr. Trump seems alive to none of this, but regular people are, and this has more to do with our economic unease than we credit.
From ChatGPT:
"Billionaires and ultra-wealthy individuals are increasingly investing in secure properties that range from fortified safe rooms to large underground bunkers. These aren’t just simple panic rooms — many include luxury finishes and extensive security infrastructure. Firms that build luxury shelters report rising interest from wealthy clients fearing geopolitical instability or global crises. Some of the buyers cited in past reports include well-known tech leaders and celebrities. High-end secure compounds: Exclusive projects like Aerie — a members-only doomsday bunker network — are under development. These aim to provide ultra-wealthy clients with protected environments that feature amenities and defenses against nuclear, biological, or technological threats.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg bought large parcels of land in Hawaii and is building an expansive compound — including a ~5,000 sq. ft. underground bunker with autonomous power and food supply — reportedly worth about $270 M in total. Workers are under strict NDAs.Reports over the past year have linked other tech billionaires (such as Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos) with the construction of fortified shelters or reinforced bases, though details vary by source and some are harder to independently verify.
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