January 4

 Nice quiet Sunday with the sun trying to peek through the clouds. No errands today but I have one absolutely necessary one for tomorrow which shouldn't take very long. I got some very good stitching time in today watching the Premier League game which got rather interesting as traditional rivals (Leeds United and Manchester United) squared off. It turned into a 1-1 tie. Right now Fulham and Liverpool are in their second half at 1-0 in Fulham's favor. I will probably turn on the Bears vs Lions game after. Much more interesting than everything else.

Most of the news centers on the Venezuela escapade and Trump's assertion that WE will run things there. Well, the current Venezuelan Vice President has undercut Trump's narrative that she told our Secretary of State that she would fully cooperate with U.S. aims. Who is lying to whom? And, given Trump's business track record I wouldn't trust him to manage a public toilet profitably. 

Bill Astore sums up the whole sordid mess perfectly: Gangster Capitalism.

I just finished NATURE'S MUTINY: HOW THE "LITTLE ICE AGE" OF THE LONG SEVENTEENTH CENTURY TRANSFORMED THE WEST... . I don't get into the debate about whether Climate Change is real or not. It isn't worth my time. It is either real or not and we'll find out all too soon. However, I do enjoy reading history, politics, sociology, culture and the intersections of all of those. This book blends all of that.  

Robert Reich tells us to not get complacent since the courts seem to have stymied some of Trump's activities and the Epstein scandal seems to have produced a bi-partisan group to block him even more. However, he says that the people behind Trump, not MAGA or spineless Republicans, are still on his side. Those are Big Oil (who look to cash in big time with the Venezuela affair), Big Finance, Big AI etc. He has delivered big time for them and will continue to do so.

In his second article he says that Trump is creating "Thug World." Goes along with the Gangster Capitalism Astore wrote about.